「 HANDSOME CHEEKBONES 」

THEO OPENED HIS EYES AND instantly groaned.

It was one of those times when his entire day would be ruined because he had neglected to sleep properly the night before. Even as he lay unmoving on the armchair, his limbs protested weakly as they lay folded at odd angles. With some effort, Theo wrenched his arm out from underneath him and after giving his body a few minutes of rest, he stood, joints cracking and shifting as he did so. He stretched, relishing as the soreness gradually subsided, and then looked around at the deserted common room.

The Slytherin common room was situated in the dungeons, meaning it was blind to the outside world. The small circular windows gave the view of the dark waters of the Black Lake where occasionally one could witness the Giant Squid passing by, and very rarely, one or two merpeople could be seen. Theo often enjoyed sitting by one of the windows and watching the view it had to offer.

Judging by the lack of people in the room, he guessed that it was probably very early in the morning – perhaps the sun hasn't risen yet. But he was in no mood to go back to sleep – he doubted he could sleep anyway – and thus, decided to start the day early. If he was going to live the days with little sleep, he might as well make the most out of it.

When he entered the dorms, he found his dorm mates in deep sleep. From the bed in one corner, the deafening snores of Crabbe could be heard. He cringed internally at the almighty sound, wondering how he had been able to sleep well all these years.

Theo picked up his bag to pack it with the books he would need for the day but as he unzipped it, he found that Blaise had already done the job last night. Extracting his school robes from under the bed, he went to the bathroom to take a shower. He stood under the cool water for a long time, allowing it to wash away his tiredness.

When he was fully dressed, he wondered if he should wake Blaise up, but decided against it. Swinging his bag over his shoulders, he left the common room and walked out of the Slytherin dungeons.

The higher he went, the more lit up the place became, although it was still quite dark for the sun was still behind the horizon, waiting for the right moment to slide out and wash the earth with all its glory. Instead of going to the Great Hall, Theo took a detour and began to walk aimlessly down the corridors.

It took him a few more minutes of walking to finally register and acknowledge how very different early morning Hogwarts was from the one he was used to seeing. Eerily silent – no voices, no sounds of footsteps – the castle showed no movement. It almost felt like Hogwarts was sleeping, taking a well-deserved rest after having held about three hundred rowdy students in its heart for an entire day. Theo almost felt like he was intruding upon the castle's slumber.

As he rounded a corner, he abruptly came across two kids, most probably second years, walking in his direction. They froze upon seeing him and their eyes, which had initially been alight with laughter, turned to stone. Their eyes flitted down to his robes, very obviously Slytherin, and something sparked in them – fear. They retreated a few steps, snuggling close to each other. Theo was momentarily surprised at their reaction, but he understood why they were acting so.

It was unfair, he thought. When he was a second year, there was very little that could take the joys out of his life. And now, there were these kids – scared out of their wits upon seeing an older student, someone who was supposed to act as an older brother to them, not someone who would make them want to fear for their lives.

Theo was never one to exaggerate things, and he realised with a jolt that it certainly wasn't an exaggeration when he said "fear for their lives." When he was twelve, the worst he had feared was not handing in McGonagall's homework on time, and thus earning himself detention which usually included helping out a teacher with their work, or helping Filch scrub the toilets. These children, however, had to walk the castle with constant fear wriggling inside their hearts – fear of being too late in class, fear of being too loud, fear of asking questions to the teacher, fear of coming across a Slytherin who had every chance of hexing them, fear of getting on the Carrows' bad sides. Fear of existing.

And the detentions weren't only limited to scrubbing bedpans, it was something much much worse.

"There's still about one hour left for breakfast," Theo said to the two boys, both of whom flinched, as though expecting him to pounce on them. "Why don't you go back to your common rooms? You don't want the Carrows to catch you."

They shook their heads vigorously and turned around before leaving with quick steps.

Theo sighed and turned, heading for the Great Hall.

Surprisingly, it wasn't empty. There were a few students scattered around in places, either in small groups or alone. Those who were in groups spoke in hushed voices, head bowed low. It was sad in a way because Theo had always associated the Great Hall with noise and voices and joyousness.

His eyes suddenly fell upon a girl with dirty blonde hair, sitting on her own at the Ravenclaw table. Her dreamy eyes were fixated on the ceiling, and a tiny smile graced her lips. Not really sure why, Theo made his way over to her.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" he found himself asking.

Luna's eyes moved to him, and she smiled, not looking surprised at all. "Of course not."

He sat across from her, suddenly regretting his decision. He had never spoken to her before, save for last night, and wasn't entirely sure why he had made the move. Well, it was too late now to retract, so he decided to talk.

"You spoke of Nargles last night," he began slowly, unsure of whether he was bothering her or not. "I've never heard of those before."

She hummed quietly and turned to the magazine that was laid out before her. He wondered if she was purposefully ignoring him, but he realised that she was actually looking for something as she flipped quickly through the pages. Theo gazed at her and understood why people referred to her as Loony Lovegood.

Hung around her neck was a slim necklace crafted with butterbeer corks. In her ears, she wore small earrings in the shape of carrots. Her pale silver eyes looked so distant, and her smile so soft and lingering, it was as though she was living in an entirely different world – completely oblivious of the people surrounding her.

"Here." Her voice tore him from his thoughts, and he looked at where she was pointing at the magazine. "Nargles are small creatures that like to infest places overgrown with foliage, but they usually like hanging around in mistletoes." She pointed at the eccentric necklace she wore. "This helps to keep Nargles away."

"Are they dangerous?"

"No, but they have a tendency to bite," she replied, sounding as though she was talking about something as normal as food, rather than something whose existence was dubious at best. "They are also extremely skilful thieves. They stole my Transfiguration essay once. Professor McGonagall however, didn't seem to believe me."

"Have you ever seen them before?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No," she answered, fingering the butterbeer corks. "But I do wish to see them one day."

Theo gazed curiously at the magazine, realising suddenly that it was The Quibbler – the magazine known for publishing nonsensical articles. He wasn't really surprised that Luna was reading it.

"You read the Quibbler?" he asked.

"Yes, my father is the editor."

Theo blushed slightly, grateful that he hadn't uttered anything insulting about it. He tilted his head slightly to frown at a strange picture on one of the pages.

When she caught him staring, she pushed the magazine towards him. "You can have it if you want to learn more about Nargles."

"Oh," he muttered, taken aback by the offer. "Thank you."

The sounds of footsteps were heard as he stuffed the Quibbler into his bag. Luna gazed briefly at the doorway and turned to him, speaking in a voice as dreamy as her look. "You should go back to your table. You don't want your friends to see you talking to me."

As much as he would like to deny it, Theo knew it was true. Deeply embarrassed at her straightforwardness, he rose to his feet and began to walk away, though he doubled back after taking a few steps. "I haven't introduced myself –"

"There's no need." She smiled after pulling her eyes away from where she was dreamily staring off into space. "You're Theodore Nott. I know."

He smiled and nodded. "And you're Luna Lovegood. Good to talk to you."

After bidding goodbye, he passed across the Hall to reach the Slytherin table and dropped his bag on the seat. He was promptly joined by Corben, who sat across from him. "Good morning!" He beamed cheerfully, piling up his plate with pancakes. Despite feeling low, Theo couldn't help but smile, always amused by Corben's antics.

"Morning, Zabini Junior," he greeted him back. "Excited for your classes?"

"Oh, yes," he answered over-enthusiastically. "I have Muggle Studies in the first period. Can't wait to listen to Alecto droning on and on about how muggles are filthy creatures. It doesn't get old at all – listening to it every single day. Where's Blaise?"

Theo glanced briefly at the doorway, as though expecting him to appear right now. "I don't know. He was sleeping when I left."

Corben's fork paused halfway to his mouth. "When did you wake up?"

"About an hour ago," he shrugged.

"And when did you sleep?"

"Merlin, Corben," he sighed good-naturedly. "You're worse than Blaise."

As if on cue, Blaise appeared just then, swinging his legs over the bench to sit beside Theo. "Talking about me?"

"Yes!" Corben exclaimed, voice muffled by the pancake in his mouth, which he swallowed with one large gulp of water. "We were only talking about how Theo loves your handsome cheekbones –"

Theo choked on his food, subsequently falling into a coughing fit. Corben reached out and patted him on the shoulder, but Blaise gave an uninterested shrug and focused on eating.

In many ways, the Zabini brothers were very different from each other. In fact, had it not been for the striking similarities in their appearances, one would never guess that they were indeed, related. Both of them had high cheekbones and slanted eyes, and both were lanky, although Corben was a few inches taller despite being a year and a half younger. Even their voices were ridiculously alike.

But their similarities stopped there. While Blaise was more reserved, quieter, Corben was exactly the opposite. He was restless, loud, impatient, and was always moving and shifting around. Blaise was highly selective in choosing friends, but Corben spoke to anyone and everyone he liked – a habit that did not go well with his brother.

When their free periods overlapped, Corben spent most of the time with them, essentially because he didn't belong in any permanent friend group. When he had first started Hogwarts, Blaise had imposed several rules on him, the strictest of which was that he wasn't allowed to talk to anyone beneath him. Corben, small and naïve, had blindly obeyed the rule, resulting in him being the odd one out in his year. As he grew and learnt to formulate his own opinions, he began to break free of his brother's rules. While he was now on friendly terms with everyone in sixth year, he wasn't close with anyone.

After breakfast, the seventh year Slytherins headed toward the Potions classroom, Theo and Blaise following closely behind the group. Slughorn's large belly greeted them into the class, and he flashed a smile in Blaise's direction, bringing Theo to scoff. They took a seat at the back of the room and waited for the class to begin.

"Now, now, settle down." The Professor's voice rang through the congested air, effectively bringing silence upon the students. "We are going to revise some of the potions we have learned to brew last year. Would anyone like to refresh my memory on what they were?"

A few reluctant hands rose into the air. Theo sighed and dropped his head on the table, feeling his interest ebb away. A minute later, something touched his arm, and he turned to see Blaise holding out something to him – a small scrap of parchment. He took it and immediately blushed as he read the words scribbled on it.

You think my cheekbones are handsome?

He hastily wrote a reply and shoved the parchment paper back to Blaise.

No, Corben was just messing around.

A small, hardly noticeable smirk appeared at the corner of his lips, and he muttered quietly, "Okay."

For the rest of the class, Theo's mind lingered on the single word, wondering what it meant.

⋆

thoughts?