「 DEMENTORS AND SNOW 」

THERE WAS SOMETHING ODD ABOUT fighting with your friends that Theo hadn't noticed earlier - you start missing small parts of them that you wouldn't usually pay attention to. Not that he and Blaise were fighting; he was just a tad bit bitter toward him to pay him more attention than was necessary, but he realised one late October evening as he sat alone in the Slytherin common room doing his homework, that he missed the presence of Blaise around him.

He couldn't exactly say that Blaise was pleasant company. He was more like a statue than a person - an obnoxious statue that liked breathing down his neck and demanding him to go to bed early, to eat more, to stop focusing so much on homework. Even now Theo wished Blaise was sitting beside him and criticising his choice to study rather than go out for a walk. He realised he missed walking along the dark corridors with Blaise, he missed the curt way he said goodnight to him every night before bed, he missed how his hands felt on his skin every time he dragged him out of the common room into the dormitories...

Theo blinked several times and stared at the book in front of him, confused out of his wits. Why was he thinking so much about Blaise? He had made it clear that he did not approve of him hanging around with Luna, and besides, Luna was much better company than him. Theo had started sitting with Daphne during classes and mealtimes, and he liked talking to her although sometimes he got tired of listening to her droning on and on about how her sister could do so much better than Draco Malfoy.

"Theo."

Theo jumped and nearly dropped the large book out of his hands. He didn't need to look around to know that it was Blaise standing behind him. He didn't say his name like a question. He had merely stated it like he was announcing names to summon people for their death sentence.

Blaise sat on the arm of the armchair he was on but Theo didn't look at him. His legs propped up on his chair, he continued staring at the book although he was hardly registering the words in his mind. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Blaise scrutinising him. It made his skin tingle, but he ignored him completely.

"Are you ever going to talk to me again?" asked Blaise in the same monotonous voice he always used. Theo wondered how he did it.

"Theo, stop being so childish," Blaise snapped all of a sudden, causing him to start. But he didn't deter in his determination to ignore his friend. "You can't ignore me forever. You're just being stubborn."

"I notice you still haven't apologised," Theo spoke finally, not looking up from his book.

"For what?" Blaise had the gall to ask.

"For trying to control who I talk to," began Theo, lifting his eyes at Blaise. "For calling Luna a nutcase."

Blaise scoffed.

Theo turned back to his book again, laughing derisively. What else could he expect?

After several more minutes of him ignoring Blaise like he was just a painting on the wall, Blaise left. The initial anger Theo had felt upon his appearance dissolved as soon as Blaise disappeared into the dormitory and he found himself losing any little interest he had in studying. He wished he could go and talk to Luna right now, but since it was past dinner time and curfew would hit soon, he doubted he could do that.

November came with a flurry of snow and wind. The weather turned so monstrous that all classes that took place in the grounds were cancelled. Not that it mattered to Theo, for all his classes were inside the safety of the castle. Students could be seen huddled close together as they crossed the corridors and even the Carrows seemed reluctant to venture out of their offices more than was necessary. The only ones who seemed to thrive in this cold were, of course, the dementors.

It was a terrifying feeling, coming out of the class or the library and seeing a hungry dementor hovering outside the window, staring intently at the Hogwarts castle like it wanted nothing better than to swoop in and devour some poor soul. It seemed like they have grown restless, coming closer and closer to the castle each day, where the promise of fresh souls awaited them. Theo wasn't sure if it was because of the cold weather and that they would move away once temperatures started to rise, or if they were just getting hungrier by the day, regardless of what the weather was like. He wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer to that question.

One morning, he sat at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall with Daphne, munching miserably on a piece of toast. The Hall was deadly silent and mournful. The teachers spoke quietly amongst themselves and terrified faces looked around at the high windows every now and then, as though expecting a dementor to glide in at any moment. Every second passed in terror; even the members of the Inquisitorial Squad, the ones who happily followed the Carrows, didn't seem to be all that happy with the presence of the hellish creatures.

"I don't think the dementors will stay long," whispered Astoria, who had moved from her place among her friends to join her sister at the table. In the silence, her whisper sounded like a firecracker going off. "Draco overheard Professor Slughorn speaking to Snape yesterday. Slughorn said he was concerned for the safety of the students, and Snape told him that he would try to convince the Dark Lord to have them removed from Hogwarts."

No one, however, seemed reassured by the news. How effective Snape would be against the creatures who only seemed to get greedier by the day, was doubtful.

"It's awful," said Daphne, shivering a little. "It was scary enough in third year when Fudge released all those dementors in school, but now it's a hundred, a thousand times worse. Look at them! Is it just me or are they gliding closer to the castle?"

A pregnant silence followed her question, confirming her doubts. But Theo registered how grave the situation must be that Daphne didn't bother to comment on how Astoria was speaking, perhaps regularly, to Draco, and how they were on first name terms with each other.

Almost instinctively, Theo looked around the table until his eyes fell on Blaise. He sat beside Draco, their heads close together as they spoke in low voices. An odd sort of pain tinged inside Theo and he quickly looked away, confused.

That afternoon, just before lunch, Theo stood on top of the Astronomy Tower again. He had agreed to meet Luna here; it had become sort of their haunting place for no one dared come here in fear of the dementors as the tower overlooked a large part of the grounds. And even now, he could see the creatures patrolling the place like some otherworldly guardians. Except guardians did not feel your veins with intense terror.

Luna arrived shortly, giving him a brief hug which managed to drive away the cold that gripped his bones. She noticed him shiver, for she smiled a little. "Do you purposefully not wear warm clothes or are you just forgetful?" she asked with a hint of a smile. Surprised, Theo looked down himself and realised that he was wearing only a jumper, which certainly wasn't enough to protect him from the bitter cold.

"I - don't know," he said, a little embarrassed. "Forgetful, I suppose."

"You can have my shawl," she said and pulled out the same shawl she had given him a few weeks ago. "I figured you might forget again, so I brought an extra."

Theo looked at her, surprised. He had no excuse to reject her offer, and anyway, now that she had mentioned it, he started to feel cold. He wrapped the shawl tightly around himself and relished in the warmth that engulfed him immediately. "Thanks."

"I was hoping to give you this week's edition of the Quibbler," said Luna, looking out into the Hogwarts grounds. They stood a considerable distance away from the edge of the tower as if that could stop a dementor from claiming them if it got the chance. "But I didn't receive it. The Carrows must have confiscated it."

"Why?" he asked, frowning. "They let you have the previous ones."

In fact, he was surprised that the Carrows had allowed the eccentric magazine to enter the castle at all. All mail was being strictly inspected by the Carrows before it could be allowed to enter or leave the castle. Perhaps they didn't think the magazine that wrote about Nargles and Crumple-Horned Snorkacks was capable of posing a threat in any way.

"Oh, my father has started writing about Harry Potter," she explained. "Telling people to support him, and all that. I'm sure the Carrows didn't like it."

"I bet they didn't," he said, giving a small smile.

"Did you hear?" asked Luna suddenly and Theo looked curiously at her. "They're going to allow us to go into Hogsmeade next weekend. Apparently, Snape has convinced the Carrows that there was no way we could form a rebellion in that village."

Theo frowned at her. "But what about the dementors? They're going to devour us whole."

"I think it's a good sign," said Luna. "I think it means that Snape is going to remove them finally. Otherwise, no one would want to get into Hogsmeade under this condition."

"Or maybe the Carrows are just hoping that whoever gets into Hogsmeade is going to be killed by the snow or the dementors. Keeps the blood off their hands, you know?"

They both laughed but Theo knew what they were both thinking. That it was perfectly plausible that the death eaters would do something like that.

"I'm pleased they're allowing us to go," said Luna. "I feel suffocated in the castle. It would be nice to go out with my friends."

"You'll go?" Theo asked in surprise. "In this weather? With the dementors?"

"Oh, I'm sure the dementors will be gone," she brushed him away like it was nothing. "And I can manage the weather. I don't forget to wear warm clothes, you know?"

Theo laughed. His cheeks felt stiff as he did so, possibly because he hasn't laughed in a long while.

They turned around to exit the tower. It was nearly lunchtime.

Theo suddenly remembered he was still wearing Luna's shawl and he took it off to return it to her. Luna, however, refused. "No, you can keep it. It's awfully cold."

"If I keep it, I'll forget to wear it like the rest of my own jumpers," he said with a smile. "Better you keep it and bring it to me when I'm freezing my fingers off."

She accepted it with a smile.

As they descended the stairs that led to the interior of the castle, Luna said in a quiet voice, "I'm sorry if I'm causing tension between you and your friend."

Theo stiffened a little. "You're not, Luna. Don't worry about it."

"But I do worry," she pressed. "Am I not the reason you're not talking to him anymore?"

He didn't answer her. Luna gripped his hand and they stopped walking as she turned him around to face her.

"Please, Theo. I wasn't offended by him. I understand why he doesn't want you to be my friend. But you see me as a friend and that's all that matters to me. I don't care about his approval, and I would hate to think that I'm the reason you guys are apart."

Theo didn't say anything for a minute. He hated to admit it, but he did care about Blaise's approval. They were friends after all, ever since their first year, and his opinion mattered to him more than he would care to admit. But Blaise's opinion placed Luna in an inferior light, and he didn't think he could forgive Blaise for that.

Perhaps the reason he was refusing to speak to Blaise was not the fact that he had spoken ill of her, but rather the fact that it was him, Blaise, his best friend, who had done so.

"Luna, you don't have to worry about us," he said in a flat tone. "I'll talk to Blaise when I feel like it, and currently, I just want to stay as far away from his as possible."

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