From the Grasps of the Vulture
"Professor Moody is like, so cool but creepy. Kinda creepy."
You were left in awe after the new Defense-Against the Dark Arts teacher's first class. She and Luna were walking to their house tables for dinner in the dining hall. Luna scoured for wrackspurt free seats.
"He was an auror. He fought and captured many high profile dark wizards" Anthony Goldstein, the lanky, blonde try-hard boy, interjected from his seat. "He was the most reputed auror the min-"
"Oh shut up." Terry unceremoniously shoved a bread roll in his mouth, "You guys can sit here." He offered the seat right next to Anthony and looked at Luna with a smile, "No wackspruts- or whatever- here, the coast is clear."
Luna smiled and sat down next to you who were too hungry to care for wrackspurts, or anything else really. Today your plate was decked with mashed potatoes, chicken soup and a side of bread rolls. Speaking of bread rolls- Anthony had barely managed to swallow the one stuffed in his blabbering mouth- "Where's Padma?"
"You couldn't make it less obvious?" Terry smirked. Anthony's freckled face turned red, "Well, She's missing dinner! I'm just looking out for her, a-as a friend you know..." Terry shoved another breadroll in his mouth, a bit too violently, causing Anthony's protests to muffle.
Terry sighed ,"Go tell Padma that, you buffering idiot. She's probably waiting for you to declare your love to her. Maybe even write a poem about her other-worldly beauty." Anthony was too busy chewing to rebuke. Luna's airy voice chimed in," Padma has shifts with Madam Pince in the library. She's doing it for extra credit."
"Beaten at your own game Goldstein" Terry glanced at Anthony, " Looks like she'll top your report card this time." Anthony urgently swallowed his breadroll to make another lame excuse. You stood up from the bench, not wanting to listen to Anthony's poorly disguised crush on Padma, "Luna, let's get some food for Padma, she's probably starving." Luna nodded and picked up a breadroll and you, a bowl of chicken soup.
The two of you headed to the library looking a bit awkward with an entire bowl of chicken soup and bread rolls in hand. Luna was talking about the latest issue of her father's magazine. "Daddy's got an article about piranha soup this issue. It was very nice and detailed." You made sure not to wince. Frankly speaking, although you loved Luna to death, you couldn't for the life of you understand her and her father's views on things.
You halted at the door of the library , cutting of Luna's recipe for freshwater pimply stew short. "I don't think Madam Pince would be too fond of a hearty dinner in her precious library." You said. Luna smiled, " Don't worry I have some books I need to get, I'll be asking Madam Pince for some help."
You beamed, " Thanks Luna! I love you!" Luna went into the library and started busying the vulture-like librarian with her requests. You sneaked in with the food and dived into the dark and musty Potions section to dodge any encounters with anyone, especially Peeves.
The potions section in the library was one of the most dreaded spots in the school, including Professor Snape's dungeon. Any contact with the books there were detrimental to one's mental wellbeing and students avoided it like the plague unless absolutely necessary, like the night before an exam. Except this one Slytherin guy perusing through a shelf.
You had nothing but praises to sing about Hogwarts cooking, but you were wishing that it hadn't been so fragrant because the entire aisle of bookshelves was smelling strongly of chicken soup. The masochistic guy turned around," What the-"
....
"Uh-hey" You said, it was so awkward, "Nott is it? We're in herbology remember? Slytherins and Ravenclaws, the greenhouse, Professor Sprout, Venomous Tentaculas? Ring a bell?"
"Yes." he answered while he glanced at the plate of food in your hands. With the completely normal reaction he had, it made you wonder if people bumped to him on the daily with their dinner in their hands.
He wasn't too bad on the eyes. Fluffy brown hair and eyes dipped in eyeliner- was he one of those goths that she kept seeing in muggle fashion magazines back at home? She must have been staring too long because Nott raised an eyebrow-"Would you please not disturb me? It seems like you have a lot on your- plate. "
"Oh yea-yes." You nodded, "Really sorry for interrupting you, I'll leave." Just as you turned about to exit the aisle you saw Madam Pince and Luna up ahead, "Silly girl, stop wasting my time! In all my time here in the library I have never heard of a book about nargles!"
Luna spotted you at the end of the aisle Madam Pince was just behind-if she caught you it would be detention at the mercy of ol'Filch. You gave her a panicked look but your heart stopped as Madam Pince stopped in her footsteps, " Why on earth does the library smell of chicken! In the potions section too. I bet it's some fool who couldn't curb his appetite."
Luna panicked "Wait!-" But it was too late Madam Pince, being the vulture she was, swerved into the aisle hoping the catch some troublemakers.
"Good Evening, Madam Pince." Nott greeted gentlemanly ,"Is there anything bothering you?" Madam Pince stopped in confusion to find the aisle empty save for Nott, "Good evening to you too Nott. I smelt some food here, and you know about the rules." She cleared her throat," It must have been some other aisle..." She walked away with Luna diligently at her heel, "What about the book I was trying to find?- Spotting Nargles in the......."
"Whew, thanks Nott, I nearly saw my life flash beyond my eyes. If it weren't for you-
"You would've been dead meat."
"What a nice way to put it."
....
"You are planning on moving aren't you? My back hurts." ,you complained. He moved away in the flash of a moment and you clambered out from your spot.
Right when Madam Pince had whiffed the air, Nott quickly ushered you to hide under a dusty desk tucked into the bookshelves, his legs blocking you from Madam Pince's sharp eyes as he stood.
You felt gratefulness rush into your heart for him," Thanks again Nott, and I really mean it. Here, have a bread roll." You gave him one of the rolls from the plate. He eyed it suspiciously, "You even cared to sprinkle it with the dust and spiderwebs from under the desk over here, how thoughtful." Just when you had started thinking of him as a kind of a nice guy, you were promptly brought back into reality.
"It's all I have" You said, wishing you could shove that mouth of his with a breadroll like Terry did to Anthony, but you were polite. You turned from him and checked if the coast was clear, you weren't taking any more chances to let Nott-the-goth white-knight you again.
You couldn't hear Madam Pince's shrill voice, so she was probably a safe distance away, searching for non-existent books on Nargles and trouble-makers. Padma would unfortunately have to do with cold dinner in the common room, you thought as you started walking briskly through the library doors and outside into the corridors.
"Hey!" You turned behind to see who it was calling. It was Nott. He was standing at the door .
"It's Theodore. Theodore Nott."
You smiled and pointed at his hands, "Are you planning to keep that bread till it gets moldy Theodore Nott?"
Theodore chose to keep his peace and turned back towards the library without responding. The soup was already cold as is, and you couldn't afford anymore temperature drops so you walked to the dormitories as quickly as you could.
Later that evening, you, Luna and Padma huddled around the fireplace in the common room. Padma offered to reheat the food with Incendio, she tried it on one of the rolls first. The rolls burned red hot like coal for a second and were reduced to ashes.
It was your ingenious idea to warm the soup with the fireplace, you weren't a Ravenclaw for nothing.
"Padma, you better get 110% on all your subjects, or I'll jinx you." Luna said faintly, unusually tired. "Madam Pince wasn't very nice. She kept saying nargles didn't exist while I saw one fly past her ear! She also has a very sharp nose, she smelled the soup a mile away in the library! You were very lucky that that gloomy Slytherin boy helped you Y/n"
"Gloomy Slytherin boy?" ,Padma wasn't one to miss the details, especially entertaining ones. So, she listened with rapt attention to your details of what happened while Luna absentmindedly stargazed at the twinkling night sky tapestry on the ceiling. "Oh?" She smiled, not unlike Terry Boot.
"Stop being delusional, he's just an insufferable eyeliner wearing prick." You sighed and heaved yourself up from the armchair you were folded in. "I'm going to bed, wanna come with?" "I'm tired too" Luna stood up and yawned. "You guys go on without me" Padma was cleaning up the mess of food on the table.
"Goodnight Luna." "Goodnight Y/n"
As you climbed into your four-poster bed, you couldn't stop thinking of Theo- wait, Theo? Since when did you start referring to him with nicknames? It was unbelievable. Padma must've gotten into your head. You steered your mind clear of any thought about him, with a determination not unlike a monk's to abstinence.
Well that's it for chapter 1! It's a bit of an unusual start, but I wanted to start with a bang so here you go. Please like and comment if you enjoyed, I would really appreciate the support <3
Thank you for reading!