filled with poison,
but blessed with
beauty and rage.

"Do you have a death wish?" Pansy fumed under her breath, considering the numerous lectures they'd received from the more peacekeeping members of the group (Graham, Astoria, and Millicent) to under no circumstances speak negatively of Tom in Talia's presence.

Did he have a death wish? A lust for life, definitely. His tendency to test the boundaries of his own life could be considered a death wish, but maybe he was just careless. Wild Theo Nott, without a care in the world. Was that not who he was—who he claimed to be? Brave Theo Nott, helping Talia Riddle despite the danger attached to her. Maybe he just held no regard for his own life— it had never been worth more than galleons and old-money prestige anyway.

'She's already erratic enough,' Graham had remarked the other day, after she'd had a fitful conversation with Daphne, a conversation that had left Daphne in tears, Astoria in a rare form of anger, and the rest of Slytherin in dismay. 'Do you really want to be the next victim?'

"Well, how can we send her back if we don't know who did this to her?" Theo snapped back. Clearly, he did have a death wish.

"Surely you could've been more delicate—"

"When have you ever been concerned about being delicate, Pansy?"

"In situations where I don't want to end up like that bedframe." Pansy pointed to her right, at the admittedly very ravaged bed frame.

Talia rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to blow up, so can the pair of you please get a grip on yourselves?"

There was a beat of silence while they all looked around at the once-pristine, now-destroyed dorm room.

She conceded, waving her wand in a few silent motions to restore the room's glory, with the green and silver drapes practically shimmering. "I'm not going to blow up, again." She corrected herself. When Pansy averted her eyes and Theo raised an eyebrow, she looked up in frustration. "Today. I am not going to blow up, again, today. Is that good enough?"

"Perfectly charming and reassuring." Theo nodded at her. "Would you like some parchment to write down that list of Tom's enemies that we were about to discuss?"

He ignored Pansy's narrowed eyes and chose to keep contact with Talia. She looked to be deep in thought. Theo would be lying if he said she wasn't unbelievably beautiful in that moment—in all moments, in fact.

"Get me the parchment then." She sat down at the desk that accompanied her side of the room while Theo easily summoned parchment, fishing through his robes for a spare quill.

"Here you go!" He said brightly when he found one, passing it to Talia, ignoring the granules of sugar nestled in his pocket and then also scattering around him when he handed it over.

"This is a...sugar quill." The corners of her lips almost turned into a laugh. "How many of those do you happen to have lying in your pockets?"

"Several, on a good day," Theo laughed, swapping it for a genuine quill and taking a bite of the sugared version. "Of course, I can't remember the last time we were in Hogsmeade, so I could well be running low."

A knock on the door sounded, and Pansy was only too happy to dart over and answer. Orion Lestrange was at the door, without his other half for once.

"Alright, Rion?" Theo called over to his friend, walking to stand by Pansy to greet him. "What do you need?"

"Oh! Mate, I wasn't expecting to see you here... Pansy promised she'd help me with the...Herbology paper." He offered lamely, avoiding eye contact with Theo.

"Pansy doesn't take Herbology." Theo replied out of confusion, to which Pansy groaned, practically pushing Orion out of the door with promises she'd be out in a bit.

"Two minutes, promise!" She shouted through the door before turning back to Theo with a scowl. "Don't you dare give me that look, Theodore. You wouldn't understand."

Theo shook his head, soothing his temple and growing migraine with his fingers. "I wouldn't understand? Pansy. Please do not tell me you're fucking around with Orion Lestrange." He spoke the boys name with caution, formally, as if they hadn't all grown up together in the same, albeit fucked-up, circle.

"Okay, I won't tell you then." She responded childishly, surveying herself in a hand mirror she had previously placed on her desk. Talia looked between the two in slight curiosity, but decided it wasn't worth her time and continued writing her list, frowning as she went.

"Pansy." Theo warned.

"Don't start, Nott. You don't get it."

"I don't get it?" He repeated scornfully. "Trust me, neither of you are as good at keeping secrets as you think you are, judging by that display."

"Just fuck off, Theo." Pansy's voice held a hint of finality, but who was Theo if he couldn't have the last word?

"He has a girlfriend, Pansy! One of our closest friends." He argued, his face taut at the thought of Millicent Fortescue, always so brilliant and kind, finding out about this needless act of betrayal. Millie was the girl who guided lost first years, the first to rebel against her blood purist parents, the first to suffer the consequences and still return as the warm person she had always been. She was the shining light among Slytherin's snakes, and Theo hated that they'd done this to her.

"Can you stop judging before you know anything about the situation?" Pansy's wish fell upon death ears, and she wasn't in the mood to prepare herself for a self-righteous Theodore Nott lecture.

"It's not right, Pans. She's not a random Ravenclaw."

Pansy's resolve almost crumbled alongside her expression, but she shoved past Theo on her way to exit. "You're one to talk, Theo. Don't be such a hypocrite." She spat out under her breath, only nodding goodbye to Talia.

"It seems like you want to vent," Talia began, hugging her knees to her chest. "But I really don't want to listen, so could you please—"

"She is so unbelievably stubborn." Theo had already started grumbling, so Talia's request had also fallen on deaf ears.

"Haven't you been in this situation before?" Talia raised her eyebrows, referring to Pansy calling him a hypocrite.

Theo's expression shut down. "Completely different circumstances." He muttered, moving Pansy's desk chair closer to Talia so he could sit.

"I don't want you to explain, really, so you don't have—"

"For one, Diana wasn't even dating Amory when we shagged— they weren't even on speaking terms after Alaric's stunt in Potions!"

"Theo, I really don't care—"

"So Pansy can't talk about hypocrites when she knows damn well that Millicent is in love with Orion!"

"And Pansy's the stubborn one." Talia rolled her eyes so hard that they could've possibly been permanently stuck in the back of her head. "You seem oddly invested in Pansy's sexual life. Millicent's too. Do they still hold those Slytherin orgies these days?"

"Slytherin what?!" Theo paled, spluttering, aghast.

"So they've been discontinued then."

"Orgies?!" Theo repeated, still in pure shock.

"Well, yes. What else can be expected after living in such close quarters with everyone for so long?" Talia remained nonplussed.

"I would've never thought orgies," Theo shrugged. "That, quite literally, was never a thought I had in my head. Threesomes, yes. A foursome? Occasionally. But an orgy?" He tilted his head. "Does that mean my great-great-great-whatever grandfather participated in orgies?!"

Talia's eyes lit up at the idea of torturing the boy. "Merlin, of course. Victor led most of them. He enjoyed a good time as much as anyone, perhaps more."

Theo's face screwed up in disgust. "Too much information. Did you ever..."

"Participate?" Talia laughed. "Of course not." Her words held an edge of derision. "It was more uncouth then than it sounds now."

"It sounds pretty cool now, actually." Theo pointed out. "But no, we don't have wild sex parties in the common room nowadays—I'd say our generation is actually quite boring."

"Wild parties is an exaggeration." She laughed. "It was maybe five, or six? Of those who were determined to live to their utmost potential before they were forced to wed their betrothed."

"These days, those that want to live to their potential usually do it with just one partner." He informed her, thinking back to before his engagement with Daphne was called off.

"Thank you for the unnecessary information. So why do you care so much about who Pansy has intercourse with, then?"

"She's like my sister." He explained, drumming his fingers on the desk. "Millicent is too. We all— that is, us, the Lestranges, the Greengrasses, the Averys, Graham, Evelyn, and Damian— grew up together. Our parents were all allied to the Dark— your brother." The foundations of the Slytherins' relationship were built upon the shaky ground of the Death Eaters' loyalty— money cementing over the cracks in their love. "I've always been closest to Pansy, out of the girls, but Millie and I are also close." They had been born on the same day, in the same room of St Mungo's freshly built 'Felix Rosier' ward. "I am—torn."

Talia queried, "How so?""

"I want the best for both of them. Millicent loves Orion, but it's for the best if they break up, even if it breaks her heart. He is, and I say this because he's my friend and I know him, using them both. Neither deserve that." Theo found it oddly quite, well, nice, confessing his thoughts to Talia like so. Nobody else ever really paid enough attention to their surroundings like he did, except maybe Blaise— and Blaise was currently dealing with his own Niffler, or Nargle, or whatever, related problems.

"Your relationship with them is—sweet. All of them. All of you." Her voice was sharp, yet her words were sentimental. "You're very clearly codependent on each other, but I think it's nice that you all have each other. That you grew up together, and can rely on each other. Like family. It makes all of this better." Her head dipped a little as she finished thinking aloud; she was clearly looking back upon her own mismatched found family.

"I suppose, yeah." He frowned at the mention of codependency. "I think we all just raised each other."

The boys learning how to fly, while the girls were already in the air above them, having actually paid attention when the professional coaches from the Holyhead Harpies had been hired to teach the crew. Evelyn being his first ballroom dancing partner. Graham teaching them all how to style dress robes. The girls all charming their hair pink in solidarity after Daphne unfortunately messed up a potion. Sliding down bannisters in Malfoy Manor. Hide and seek in the orchards behind Theo's own family mansion. Mrs. Fortescue treats them all like her own. Saturday night dinners at the Yaxleys' Manor. Theo looked back on these memories fondly, beacons of light in the otherwise bleak darkness of his childhood.

"What went wrong with Draco, then?" Talia deadpanned.

Theo laughed, although Talia had meant it completely seriously.

"Malfoy isn't all that bad. He shows up when you need him. I actually find him quite likeable when we haven't spoken in a few hours."

Talia didn't look too convinced, but she shrugged all the same. "I suppose we'll see, since you seem way too focused on reminiscing than reading this list I spent so much time writing, I may as well get used to all of you."

"Sorry, sorry," Theo quickly refocused and remembered what he had come here for. He studied the list, Talia's perfect penmanship scrawling across the page.

Theo read the list aloud.

"Dante Rookham,

Levi Alstwell,

Petunia Markim,

Delilah Bell,

Lucine Browne,

Kiana Morgan,

Rush Caldwell,

Jennifer Woodsen,

Otto Sharpe,

Stephen Thomas,

Eloisa Rosier,

Calum Evans,

Martin Scamander,

Christopher Spinnett,

Celia Markham,

Horvath Weasley,

Alistair Mason,

Cora Avery,

Dorothea Abbott,

Albus Dumbledore."

Theo looked up in confusion. "The last one...yeah, Dumbledore's a bit of a twat, but—"

"He always suspected Tom. Never pandered to his charm like others, like Slughorn did. Maybe he was too smart for it. But he absolutely didn't like Tom and didn't trust me."

"Okay then." Theo sighed, looking at the list in front of him, familiar surnames popping out to him. He had been right to assume that Tom had a lot of enemies, and he voiced as much. After a warning look from Talia, he went back to reading.

"I ranked them all, from least hatred to most severe hatred, as of current events." She mentioned, reading over the list herself as a reminder. "Tom was always very charming. Yet he made enemies because he just couldn't help stepping on those in his way, showing them just how much power he had and how easy it was to wield it. The majority of the school adored him, but these people?" She tapped her wand on the piece of parchment. "They'd be the most likely to exact revenge."

"Good starting point." Theo sighed. "I suppose we could start with Dumbledore; maybe speak to his portrait?"

"If we have to." Talia looked annoyed at the thought. "I really think—" Before she could continue, she was disrupted by a scream so loud that it had Theo paling, jumping out of his seat, and rushing out of the room. Honestly, his hero complex would inevitably get him killed one day. Yet Talia followed, not wanting her staunchest ally to disappear.

—

The common room was filled with those who had also come to see what the fuss was about. Lo and behold, Daphne Greengrass was still screaming, despite the comforting arm Perseus Lestrange had around her waist— an arm that Pansy was staring at angrily, despite Orion on her left.

Talia's eyes darted between the three, wondering how much more complicated this could get. She preferred concentrating on the love triangle? Rectangle? Merlin knew how many sides to this shape there were, but she preferred trying to figure it out rather than acknowledging the stab of annoyance in her gut when Theo rushed to Daphne's side immediately; she had been informed of Theo's dating history by an all-too-gossipy Pansy.

"You think exes should stay in the past too, I'm assuming." Blaise commented lowly from next to her, causing Talia to almost jump out of her skin in shock.

"Sneaking up on girls, Blaise?"

"Apologies for scaring you." He grinned. "You didn't answer me, though."

Talia folded her arms, scowling petulantly. "If exes should stay in the past, what does that mean for time-travelling girls?" She deflected easily enough.

"Well, in this time-travelling girl's case, I'm not sure Theo wishes you'd have stayed in the past." Blaise pointed out as the screaming finally stopped. Theo had begun clearing the room of anyone who wasn't in their inner circle.

Talia had no time to answer as the questioning had begun.

"What happened, Daphne?" Pansy asked, her voice almost laced with fear.

"I-I had another vision." She spoke slowly, shrinking back as she heard the harsh intake of breath coming from just about everyone, showing their innate judgement. Daphne's visions were never really spoken of outside of this select few; they weren't even sure her parents knew she was a Seer.

"This one was bad, though." She knotted her fingers together and looked down at her robes. Evelyn had dashed into the room and enveloped her in the biggest hug, which freed Perseus up to go stand by Pansy's right. "I saw all of them— all of your parents." She looked out at the sea of defected death eaters in sheer distress, "Escaping from Azkaban. And I saw...him." Another set of sharp breath intakes followed; there was no question of who 'him'  was. "He was back, and I don't know how. My visions have never been wrong before, though; you know that." She finally looked out to the crowd, to her dearest friends, tear tracks staining her otherwise pearly skin. "I'm not crazy." She insisted, almost like she was trying to convince herself.

"You're not crazy." Evelyn repeated fiercely, hugging her harder.

Everyone murmured the sentiment and showed their support, but it was clear tension filled the air, and all eyes were on Talia.

"It can't be a coincidence." Alaric Avery spoke up from his slouched position, leaning on the doorframe. "That she shows up, and suddenly Voldemort's coming back and our parents are out, waiting for us." His brothers, Amory and Alexander, looked substantially more green as the full effect of fear truly set in.

"Want to say that a bit louder?" Talia spoke icily, taking a step towards Alaric. Blaise stepped in front of her, forever chivalrous, justifying by saying, 'I don't want to see any more blood spilled today.'

"She's already got you all wrapped around her finger." Alaric shook his head. "Consider the real possibility that she's been sent to kill us all before you shag her, Nott. Show some self-preservation."

Theo wordlessly walked over and punched him in the face.

"Don't be disrespectful, yeah?" He got a second hit in before Blaise hauled him away, Draco snickering as he followed.

Talia laughed too, helping a wounded Alaric off the floor. "He really didn't need to defend my honour." She remarked with a sweet smile, kneeing him in the exact place a man would never want to be kneed. "That's from me. Don't ever insinuate anything like that about me again." She mentioned nothing in regards to his suspicions of her loyalty—what could she say, really?

Alaric was groaning on the floor, and his brothers were too busy laughing to help him up. Only the kindhearted Serpens Black helped him up, propping him on the sofa, then retreating back to Theo— he was the boy's shadow in every way.

"Mate, you are stupid." Graham Montague was quick to add in between chuckles, "Did I not say she was already erratic enough?"

"Enough." Millicent Bulstrode was clutching her stomach, gasping, "I can't laugh anymore; stop it, Graham."

"Millie?" Alaric frowned. "Seriously?"

"You deserved it," She asserted, once she had sobered up. "I have half a mind to hex you myself. You know better than to be such a dick, whether she's a Riddle or not."

Alaric slouched back into the sofa, admonished.

Meanwhile, Draco and Blaise had taken Theo back to his dorm.

"Starting fights over her, Theo? I knew she was going to be a problem." Draco stressed.

"I have no problem punching you too," Theo added. "If that helps."

"Why would that help?" Blaise asked.

Theo shook his head. "It wouldn't. I just really want to punch him."

"Oh yeah, really charming," Draco sneered. "Do you want to know what I think?"

"No."

"Not at all."

"I mean, maybe—" Serpens started to speak, his people-pleasing nature shining through.

They never got to hear what Draco thought, because Harry Potter burst into their dorm room, panting and pushing his glasses further up his nose.

"We have a huge problem." He struggled to admit, but it was out there nonetheless, as Harry Potter stared at them in despair.

jim taught me that
loving him was
never enough.