EVERY WORD DRACO SPOKE WAS punctuated with a blow. Ophelia could see Draco lift Theo up by his collar and slam him to the wall before pummeling him mercilessly without a second thought.

"YOU SWORE—" Draco roared, aiming his fist straight into Theo's face, and a sickening crunch was heard after, accompanied by a groan of pain from Theo and a trickle of blood dripping down Theo's lips. "HOW DARE YOU?!"

Theo didn't fight back.

Not until the fifth punch.

It was when Ophelia had reached for Draco's shoulders with both hands, to pull him back, but Draco had shoved her away with his left hand, ignoring her presence.

That was when Theo had lost control and used all his strength to throw his fist straight into Draco's jaw.

"Stop it!" The blonde yelled, trying to get closer to them to separate her. But both boys just pushed her away when she got close. "Draco! Stop it! You're hurting him!"

At that moment, Theo dealt a harsh punch that sent Draco hurling backwards, straight into the wall.

"Just— fucking— listen—" Theo was trying to get Draco to calm down so he could explain, but it seemed like Draco would have none of it. Ophelia noticed Theo's shirt clinging to him tightly, like he was sweating a lot, but he didn't seem to care.

Draco did not so much as bat an eyelash. He didn't even acknowledge the pain. Instead, he went straight for Theo once more. "YOU BASTARD! SHE'S NOT ONE OF YOUR TOYS—"

"Draco! Would you just hear me out?" Theo grunted, a harsh sound of pain escaping his lips. "Fuck—"

All Ophelia could hear was Theo's grunts as he fought back, trying to hurt Draco enough to get him to stop attacking him.

In all her days, Ophelia had never seen Draco like this. Sure, she had known he got into fights, and he had a short temper, but she had never seen him like this. She had never seen his anger in the flesh. And especially with the anger directed at Theo, his best friend... They had always been so close.

Ever since she could remember, Theo and Draco had been best friends.

"YOU'VE BEEN SCREWING MY SISTER BEHIND MY BACK! SHE'S NOT YOURS TO FUCKING MESS AROUND WITH—"  Draco bellowed.

"I'M NOT JUST FUCKING AROUND!" Theo finally yelled, interrupting Draco. "I'M IN LOVE WITH HER!"

There was suddenly pin drop silence.

It was the deathly kind of silence, the silence that one hears at a graveyard, or when something awful has happened and everyone is too shocked to react.

It was the kind of silence that couldn't be broken easily, no matter how one tried.

Draco froze, as did everything and everyone else in the room.

Ophelia wanted to speak, to tell Draco it wasn't Theo's fault, but the situation was too fragile for her to open her mouth. 

This was between Theo and Draco.

"What?" he hissed hoarsely, his eyes narrowing as he glared at Theo with nothing but hatred in his eyes. "Since when?"

"You know since when," Theo growled angrily, his voice low and dripping with malice that was no doubt completely aimed at Draco.

What?!

Ophelia let out an inaudible gasp at Theo's words, furrowing her brows and trying to make a head or tail of their conversation. 

She opened her mouth to speak, fully prepared to ask both of them to explain whatever the hell they were talking about, because she did not understand a word.

Did Theo tell Draco he loved me before he confessed his feelings to me?

"How long?" Draco spat, pointing a bloody finger at Ophelia and Theo. Ophelia opened her mouth slightly, taken aback at suddenly being acknowledged by him.

"What?" she echoed, shaking her head slightly, her heartbeats growing more frequent by the minute. 

"How long has this been going on? Answer me, Ophelia." Draco ordered, his blue gaze unwavering.

"Since... Since Valentine's day..." she replied honestly, her voice a quiet murmur compared to the boys' yelling. 

Because that was when it had started, that was the first time she and Theo had gone on their first date, even though it was fake.

That was the first time she got a taste of what it would be like to date Theo.

That was the beginning.

She had already begun to explain that it wasn't Theo's fault when Draco punched Theo right in the ribs.

Once again, both boys went back to ignoring her.

Draco let out a grunt of disappointment, cursing under his breath before he hobbled over to Theo and aimed to strike another punch at him. "You could have anyone—" Draco grunted. "My father's going to kill you.. You just had to have her, didn't you? You just had to... You had to ruin her fucking innocence—"

But Theo dodged.

Draco, undeterred, directed another punch at Theo, a testament to his fury at finding out that his best friend had betrayed him and dated his sister behind his back.

"No," Theo growled, grabbing Draco's shoulders and flinging him backwards. "I couldn't have anyone!"

"SHE'S NOT ONE OF THOSE OTHER GIRLS OF YOURS!" Draco hollered, spittle flying from his lips. "SHE'S DIFFERENT!" 

He looked like he would murder Theo. Ophelia knew, deep down that if Draco had his wand in his hand, he would have used the Cruciatus curse on Theo.

"I KNOW SHE'S DIFFERENT!" Theo argued back, his right hand gently pushing Ophelia away from where she was trying to wipe the blood off his nose and mouth. 

"YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT?" He looked down at the floor, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the floor. 

WHAT ABOUT ALL THOSE GIRLS WHOSE HEARTS YOU'VE BROKEN FOR A QUICK FUCK?" Draco cut him off, suddenly grabbing Theo by the collar and slamming him harshly against the wall, pointing his wand at his neck. 

"What about them, huh? You couldn't fall for one of them?"

"No," Theo spat, grunting painfully and shaking his head, pushing Draco back but failing, looking directly into the eyes of his best friend. 

"Wanna know why? Because none of them are her. None of them..." He pointed to the side, using his blood-coated finger as emphasis to his words. 

"None of them will ever compare to her..."

Ophelia gasped softly, staring at the two boys who looked at each other with hatred in their eyes, looking like enemies instead of the brothers they were.

"You swore you'd never go near her," Draco breathed raggedly, too tired to pummel Theo any more. 

His shirt was rumpled, bruised knuckles coated in Theo's blood, and it looked like he would be sporting a black eye soon and several bumps on his pale skin, on all the other places he had been hit. 

"We had a pact. You broke it..."

This time, it was Theo's time to lose control. He grabbed Draco's head and slammed it straight into the wall, unable to control the anger that boiled through his very veins.

He was angry. So fucking angry at Draco, who had made him swear to stay away from his Lia, the one and only good thing in his life. Angry at himself, for being foolish to listen to whatever bullshit that had left Draco's mouth all those years ago.

"Theo!" Ophelia gasped, walking up to her boyfriend and grabbing his wrist, wrenching his hand away from her brother. "Stop it!"

Theo ignored her, but he didn't hit Draco any more. 

"Should I tell her, Dray?" the Nott heir asked, cocking his head to the side. "About what you told me?"

"Tell me what?" Ophelia demanded, utterly frustrated at both the boys, who seemed to pretend she was invisible, refusing to even acknowledge her presence in the room. 

Once again, she was ignored.

"I've loved her for soooo fucking long, but I had to—"

"Stop talking," Draco hissed, narrowing his eyes. "She's right here..."

"I don't care," Theo dismissed Draco, continuing his monologue. "Did you know she's in love with a fucking mudblood? Creevey? Did you?"

Draco seemed to glare harder at Theo, wanting to clobber him for the shit that left his mouth.

"And you knew... You fucking knew how much she meant to me—" Theo continued, tiny droplets of blood leaving his lips with every word he croaked out.

"Shut. Up," Draco hissed. "I don't want her finding about—"

"I SAID I DON'T FUCKING CARE!" Theo shouted, punching the wall right beside Draco's ear, cursing under his breath when the pain shot up his arm, and Ophelia's heart clenched and shriveled up when she heard the obvious crack that signaled several broken bones. 

"IT'S ALL YOUR FUCKING FAULT!"

"What's going on?" Ophelia yelled, a little bit louder over the two shouting boys. "Can someone explain? You don't want me finding out about what?"

Theo seemed to finally turn his attention towards his girlfriend. "He doesn't want you finding out about that time he threa—"

"Nott, I swear to God, one more word, and I'll Crucio your ass until—" Draco growled, pressing the tip of his wand into Theo's neck.

Theo scoffed, spitting blood on the floor one more time, cradling his broken fingers. "Nothing will ever hurt as much as what you've done."

With that, Theo instantly stepped back, disentangling himself from Draco completely, before grabbing a box of cigarettes and leaving through the open door, making sure to slam it loudly behind him, leaving Ophelia and Draco alone in the dormitory.

The room went deathly silent once more, caressing Ophelia and her brother in its awkward melody of quietude.

Ophelia was left in the impact of Theo's absence and the last words he had spoken before he exited the scene, left to ponder over the conversation that had happened between him and her brother.

Yet however long she went over the conversation, she still didn't understand a thing. All she knew was that Draco had known about Theo's feelings for her, and forbidden him from acting on them.

"What did he mean?" Ophelia finally asked Draco sharply, her piercing gray eyes capturing his in their embrace, preventing him from ignoring her question. "What was Theo talking about?" she demanded.

Draco shrugged, perching himself to sit on his bed, where he instantly sunk into the mattress. "It doesn't matter, it happened in the past," Draco muttered, brushing her off sullenly.

"No, you can't give me that answer—" Ophelia moved closer to her brother, placing her hands on her hips. "I want to know, especially if it involves me—"

"Is it true you're in love with Creevey?" Draco asked suddenly, sharply tilting his head to face her, staring at her in a way that silently demanded answers.

It was such an unexpected question directed at her, and Ophelia found herself completely taken aback.

 It was so sudden of him to ask her a question that belonged to such a sensitive topic that she hadn't even realized he had changed the subject and avoided answering her question.

His gaze held her in place, forbidding her from evading his question.

She nodded, slowly, afraid of giving him a verbal answer in fear of being on the receiving end of his wrath, now that she had seen what he was capable of when angry, even towards his best friend.

"You cannot be with a mudblood," Draco finally said gruffly. "You already know why, I don't have to explain it to you."

Ophelia let out a loud breath, feeling a mix of emotions, hurt, sadness, confusion and most of all, anger, too stunned by the revelations of the evening to say a single word or shed a single tear.

"And you can not be with Theo," Draco ordered sharply, placing a hand on her wrist firmly. "He's a fuckboy, and he'll break your heart when he gets bored of you and moves on to a different girl."

For a moment, Ophelia was about to protest and defend Theo, but then, she noticed the concern in Draco's eyes.

"He's slept with half the school," Draco explained. "I've known him since we were three. This is what he does. He's with a new girl every week, and once he gets bored of them, he breaks up with them."

"We've been together since Valentine's day, he said he loves me," Ophelia protested, gently tugging her wrist away from Draco's grasp.

"That's what he's told every girl he's been with, just to get them to sleep with him," Draco continued, moving Ophelia's hair back from where it fell into her face. "I know him. And I'm warning you to be careful, because I don't want anything to happen to you."

Ophelia's lips parted, staring down at where Draco sat looking up at her standing figure. He had never been this raw with her, this emotional. He had always put up an authoritative and assertive air whenever he spoke to her.

It was different this time, Ophelia could see the true love and care in his eyes.

"Trust me, Ophelia," Draco said softly. "I love you."

At that point, her emotions were too muddled for her to even react. She wanted to cry, but there were no tears, she wanted to scream, but her voice had taken flight. She wanted to find out the answers to the questions she asked, but no one would give her any answers.

She couldn't say a word. She nodded and stood there as Draco patted her arm affectionately and lied down.

"Could you leave me alone for a bit?" Draco asked her, his voice a silent murmur. "I need some space... I need to be alone..."

The blonde, who knew all too well what Draco meant when he needed space opened the door and shut it behind her, standing there for a few seconds, overwhelmed with an unholy cocktail of controversial emotions. 

She was too engulfed in Theo and Draco's emotions to even process any of her own. 

No, Ophelia was too overburdened by the baggage of emotion to even cry.

She was processing this all awfully calmly, for someone who was normally so emotional. For someone who cried at any small thing that happened.

She couldn't think straight, she couldn't think rationally, not with everything that was going on. Her thoughts had completely submerged the contents of her head in a toxic blend of emotions that would explode if she did not let them out soon.

However, despite everything that clouded her mind, there was one thing that stood out, one little ray of sunshine amidst the darkness that inundated her fragile thoughts.

One thing that would help her calm down and help her think.

And slowly, her fingers took solace in her pockets and she allowed her feet to lead her to the Astronomy Tower.

{ i loved writing this chapter so much. i have been waiting for this for two years, and i cannot believe i have finally reached this point in the story. we are so close to the deathly hallows, i cannot wait for you to see what i have in store!
i wanted to thank you all for those lovely messages you wrote last chapter. i still think about stopping this story, but then i think of all of you guys, and how much you have supported me to go on. if some people don't like my book, that's up to them. i won't stop writing just because of a few hate comments. this is my book, and i am writing it because i did not find any theo fanfiction like this. i am writing it for me. i wanted to thank you guys again, for writing your sweet comments that helped me realize this. i also hate incomplete stories, they annoy the hell out of me. so i will try my absolute best to give you a completed story. i love you all so much.
please vote, comment, follow and share. spam me with comments, i'd love to know your thoughts and opinions about what you think will happen in the next chapters. i listened to elvis whilst writing this. at the moment, i'm very obsessed with vintage music.
anyway, take care, i love all of you guys so much.
do join the discord server and follow me on spotify. my discord is dessertoholic and so is my spotify.
lots of love,
jasmine, xoxo }

{ SEP 24. 2024 }