TW Blood

- - - - -

January 13th, 1998

I get to Dark Arts about ten minutes late. Theo and I skipped lunch and went up to my dormitory and lost track of time. We usually are good about time, but today neither of us remembered to check the time, which is how we both ended up ten minutes late to class.

I quietly open the classroom door, Theo following behind me. Amycus Carrow is facing the front of the room so his back is turned towards us. All of the students have their textbooks out and are silently taking notes on something.

I take my seat next to Pansy while Theo sits down behind me, next to Draco. I glance over at her book and see that we're supposed to be taking notes on concealment charms. I start to take out my book and parchment.

"Mister Nott and Miss Rosier," Professor Carrow says. He turns around and looks at us. "You're late, detention."

"Sorry, Professor," We both mumble.

Carrow glances at Theo and scowls. "And fix your tie, Nott," He says, but it's more of an order than a suggestion.

Theo quickly adjusts his tie and I can feel my face turning pink as the class snickers about it.

He doesn't say anything else before he goes and takes a seat behind his desk. Pansy gives me a look that is somewhere between pity and "I want to know all of the details behind the reason that you're late". I duck my head and start taking notes so that I don't get another detention.

The entire class is completely silent. Every time that there's so much as a whisper, Carrow sends a glare in the direction of the whispering and it stops immediately.

I'm about halfway through the second passage when a folded piece of paper lands in front of me. I quickly glance back at Theo, who is pretending to take notes, and he just nods towards the paper.

I set the paper in my lap so that it's under the table and Carrow won't be able to see it.

Scrawled in Theo's messy cursive, is:

Sorry for being the reason you got detention - T

I shake my head and bite back a smile. I write Theo back and discreetly send the note back to him.

If I remember correctly, I'm the reason that we were late, not you - A

I go back to taking notes or at least attempt to when Theo sends the note back. Pansy sees it and peers over my shoulder to try to read it. I pull it away and mouth 'I'll tell you later' to her.

You're right. It was completely your fault, you seduced me, not the other way around - T

I smile and tuck the small piece of parchment into my bag before I turn my full attention back to class.

Half an hour later, Carrow dismisses us, and I'm out of the door as quickly as possible. Pansy walks beside me while Theo and Draco trail behind us.

"Was it worth being late?" Pansy asks.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I say with a smile. Pansy bumps our shoulders together and tilts her head at me. "Okay, yes it was."

I glance behind me to see Draco saying goodbye and turning down an adjoining corridor. "So what's up with you and Draco then?" I ask.

Theo comes up beside me and drapes his arm over my shoulders.

"We're fighting," Pansy answers. "And I'm not talking to him until he apologizes."

"I don't think I've ever heard Draco apologize," I say.

Pansy shrugs, "He has three days and then I'm dumping him, again."

Theo raises his eyebrows but doesn't say anything. We walks with Pansy and I all the way to Transfiguration since the three of us have the class together. Daphne is in the class as well and she's standing outside the classroom talking to Blaise when we walk up.

"Guess who has detention with Carrow tonight," I say to them.

"Oh shit," Blaise mutters.

Dansy frowns, "What for?"

Theo and I exchange a look but neither of us can say anything before Pansy is answering the question for us. "They were late because they were shagging," She says.

"Mate, I told you if it's during the school day you gotta set an alarm," Blaise says. Daphne gently hits him in the arm and laughs.

"I'm not going to set an alarm," Theo says.

"Yeah, I second that," I add.

Blaise rolls his eyes and smiles. He kisses Daphne and says goodbye to all of us before going to his next class.

- - - - -

Dinner comes and goes, and Theo and I are heading up the stairs to the third floor for detention. The corridors are crowded since everyone is attempting to get back to their common rooms and it's loud. Once we finally branch off into a side corridor, where the Defense Against the Dark Arts, or Dark Arts, classroom is located.

It's my first detention of the school year, so I have no idea what Carrow will want us to do. None of my friends have gotten detention yet either, so they were entirely unhelpful.

"I hope Carrow doesn't keep us here too late," Theo says as we reach the classroom door.

"Why? Got a hot date?" I joke.

Theo laughs, "Yup. Blonde hair, green eyes, extremely short-"

I knock my shoulder against Theo's. "Shut up otherwise I'm going to get detention again for hexing you," I say.

"I love it when you talk dirty to me, baby."

I give Theo a threatening look before I go to knock on the classroom door. Just as I'm about to knock the door opens and Amycus Carrow is standing in the middle of the classroom waiting for us.

"Mister Nott, Miss Rosier, take a seat," He says, gesturing towards the table in front of him.

Both of us are silent as we sit down next to each other at the directed table. There's two quills and rolls of parchment on the table, but nothing else.

"You're going to write lines," Carrow instructs. "'I will not be late to class'."

"Professor?" Theo says. "There's no ink."

Carrow smiles-, I don't know if smile is the right word, it's more of a sneer. "You don't need ink," He says. When Theo and I give him confused looks, Carrow shrugs. "I picked it up from an old colleague."

I glance over at Theo, and he just shrugs, still looking very confused.

"You can start," Carrow says. "And you can be done when the message shinks in."

Theo starts writing and I copy him. I grab the quill and start writing on the parchment.

I will not be late to class.

The back of my hand stings and I stop writing to look at it. Cut into the back of my hand is 'I will not be late to class'. There's blood dripping from my hand and onto the parchment. I glance over at Theo, who is currently staring at the blood boiling at the surface of his skin.

"Keep going," Carrow orders.

I continue writing lines, becoming increasingly aware of the writing being carved into my hand. Each stroke of my quill stings.

After about fifteen minutes of writing, with Carrow yelling at Theo and I to be quiet everytime one of us winced about the pain, we're both dismissed and sent back to the Slytherin common room.

By the time that I'm standing in the corridor, the wound on my hand has stopped bleeding. The skin is red and there's dried blood on my hand and blood threatening to drip onto the floor, with words carved into the back of my hand.

Theo exits the classroom behind me and the door slams shut behind us.

"Are you okay?" Theo asks, grabbing my hand.

"I'm fine," I say. I turn our hands over so that I can look at his hand. "Are you?"

Theo nods, "Yeah, I'm okay. Is that even legal?"

"Probably not," I say.

Theo and I stare at each other. "Come on, let's go clean up your hand," He says.

"And yours."

Theo shakes his head. "Only after you're taken care of."

I don't argue with him. We both start walking back towards the dungeons. A silence hangs between us as we walk into the common room, and it just gives me more time to overthink about how pathetically I like Theo. I should probably start putting up some boundaries so my heart isn't completely broken when we inevitably 'break-up'.

None of our friends are in the common room, so we head up to Theo's dormitory. The room is empty so I go and sit on the bathroom counter while Theo grabs a washcloth from the cabinet. He wets it with warm water then reaches out for my hand, which I let him willingly take.

He's so gentle with me that it makes my heart hurt.

"You don't have to," I say. "I could do it myself."

"I know, but I want to," Theo says quietly.

I rest my head against the mirror and look at him. Theo is standing between my legs with a concentrated look on his face. He finishes cleaning off the blood and reaches for his wand.

"Why?" I ask.

Theo shrugs, "Because I care about you." He hovers his wand over my hand and I wince slightly as my skin starts stitching itself back together. Theo inspects my hand then presses a kiss to the back of my hand before turning it over and kissing my palm.

I let myself get caught up in the gesture for a minute before I remember that this is all fake. I pull my hand away from Theo.

"Okay, your turn," I say.