A New Arrangement
Title: A New Arrangement
Character(s): Theodore Nott, mention of Blaise/Draco
Prompt: effect of impact on stationary objects
Rating: pg-13
Word Count: 497
Summary: and time still drags you forward
although you keep resisting
Notes: thanks to sioniann for the beta. Title and lyrics in summary come from a Bright Eyes song. First fic for 7spells.
Theodore watches.
He watches the social circles around him undulate, taking some in while leaving others out, all at the nod of a head or the passing of a square of paper from one hand to another. He's not sure if he's part of any of them or not. Sometimes they talk to him, but they always look past him, twirling a piece of hair or inspecting their fingernails, waiting for something more interesting to pass by.
Silently and in shadow, he watches what happens in his dorm when people think he's asleep. He sees Draco get out of his bed, padding quietly over to part Blaise's curtains. He hears their whispers, sees the shadows of their bodies coming together, almost wants to touch himself but is afraid of making a noise, so he watches. He waits for them to finish, and it's almost as if he had been touching himself.
He watches all of Hogwarts joining sides, taking up arms, standing behind causes, and he tries to just keep watching. His fellow Slytherins are coming back from late-night excursions with self-satisfied faces and mangled forearms, branded. To those on the outside, the Gryffindors and the rest on the "good side", Theodore is clearly a Death Eater as well. They glare at him when he passes, cross to the other side of the hallway to avoid any contact. Those whose side he's supposed to be on treat him similarly, though it's less obvious. They speak in hushed whispers, sending nasty looks his way when they catch him staring.
Tired of being glared at, Theodore retreats to the library, where he can watch Ravenclaws studying as if the world isn't falling down around them, as if it's still important to know the exact date of the pivotal battle in the 4th Goblin Rebellion. Sometimes he picks novels from the shelves, watches the lives of the characters within them. Hidden in the shelves, he is free to watch.
The day comes, eventually, when Theodore can't watch anymore. His housemates corner him, asking where his loyalties lie, and he tells them the truth. They don't. He finds both sides quite unappealing, and would prefer to stay neutral.
Your father will hear about this, Malfoy growls, leaving Theodore alone on the cold stone.
Now he has to make a choice. He can join with the others, or he can become a casualty of war. Are there any other options?, he wonders, as he paces between the bookshelves.
A pack of Gryffindors walk by him, displaying their well-coordinated expressions of practised contempt, and Theodore looks back at them, thoughtful. Their house is meant to represent bravery, and his own is pitted as its direct opposite. Would a show of cowardice, then, be unexpected from one of his ilk?
So he runs. He runs from the library and he runs from the castle and he runs from the countryside and finally, when he's tired of running, he Disapparates with a pop, hoping that, wherever he ends up, he'll be allowed to watch.
-fin-
Character(s): Theodore Nott, mention of Blaise/Draco
Prompt: effect of impact on stationary objects
Rating: pg-13
Word Count: 497
Summary: and time still drags you forward
although you keep resisting
Notes: thanks to sioniann for the beta. Title and lyrics in summary come from a Bright Eyes song. First fic for 7spells.
Theodore watches.
He watches the social circles around him undulate, taking some in while leaving others out, all at the nod of a head or the passing of a square of paper from one hand to another. He's not sure if he's part of any of them or not. Sometimes they talk to him, but they always look past him, twirling a piece of hair or inspecting their fingernails, waiting for something more interesting to pass by.
Silently and in shadow, he watches what happens in his dorm when people think he's asleep. He sees Draco get out of his bed, padding quietly over to part Blaise's curtains. He hears their whispers, sees the shadows of their bodies coming together, almost wants to touch himself but is afraid of making a noise, so he watches. He waits for them to finish, and it's almost as if he had been touching himself.
He watches all of Hogwarts joining sides, taking up arms, standing behind causes, and he tries to just keep watching. His fellow Slytherins are coming back from late-night excursions with self-satisfied faces and mangled forearms, branded. To those on the outside, the Gryffindors and the rest on the "good side", Theodore is clearly a Death Eater as well. They glare at him when he passes, cross to the other side of the hallway to avoid any contact. Those whose side he's supposed to be on treat him similarly, though it's less obvious. They speak in hushed whispers, sending nasty looks his way when they catch him staring.
Tired of being glared at, Theodore retreats to the library, where he can watch Ravenclaws studying as if the world isn't falling down around them, as if it's still important to know the exact date of the pivotal battle in the 4th Goblin Rebellion. Sometimes he picks novels from the shelves, watches the lives of the characters within them. Hidden in the shelves, he is free to watch.
The day comes, eventually, when Theodore can't watch anymore. His housemates corner him, asking where his loyalties lie, and he tells them the truth. They don't. He finds both sides quite unappealing, and would prefer to stay neutral.
Your father will hear about this, Malfoy growls, leaving Theodore alone on the cold stone.
Now he has to make a choice. He can join with the others, or he can become a casualty of war. Are there any other options?, he wonders, as he paces between the bookshelves.
A pack of Gryffindors walk by him, displaying their well-coordinated expressions of practised contempt, and Theodore looks back at them, thoughtful. Their house is meant to represent bravery, and his own is pitted as its direct opposite. Would a show of cowardice, then, be unexpected from one of his ilk?
So he runs. He runs from the library and he runs from the castle and he runs from the countryside and finally, when he's tired of running, he Disapparates with a pop, hoping that, wherever he ends up, he'll be allowed to watch.
-fin-