Temptation

He didn't fall asleep for a long time last night, it might have been because of the confused thoughts about the young Malfoy, or maybe because he didn't take care of his business when he needed to and he didn't really feel like taking care of it himself, so he let it bother him for the rest of his sleepless night. Then early, too early in the morning, Blaise woke them up, something about getting to the Quidditch pitch and preparing for this year's tryouts, which Theo's hungover brain didn't comprehend the best, so it took him a good old water splash from his mates to wake him really up. He gasped at the sensation, water dripping down his face and soaking his favorite pillow. As they laughed at his surprised face he picked up the closest thing he had to himself, which happened to be the empty bottle from last night, and he threw it in their direction. He expected a loud crashing sound, glass everywhere but it never came, his eyes darted to the levitating bottle just near Draco's leg, and Draco who held his wand in his right hand, staring at him...

„Keep that for the pitch!“ Draco reminded him as he awfully slowly levitated the bottle back on the nightstand. For a second there Theo couldn't believe his eyes, he expected his friend to react completely differently, but this calm response made Blaise and Theo exchange confused looks. Draco was usually the type to match the energy, certainly not the one to calm situations down, those parts in this friendship belonged to either Blaise or Enzo, it depended on who was there at the moment, but never Draco.

If Theo wasn't awake before, he was now, though his head was torturing him for last night's choices. Even though he was wet already, he needed a quick shower, it's the start of a new school year and he can't get out looking like whatever. But before the shower he used his wand to dry the pillow and sheets, not bothering to make his bed.

Of course, he had to wait for his two mates in front of him to finish showering as he was the last one to wake up.

The cold water felt better now that he was awake as it splashed his face. It felt good, it ran down his body, the cold brought him back to reality, out of his morning thoughts. He grabbed the towel and threw it around himself, walking out of the bathroom half naked, something that the boys grew to become comfortable with. As he put his clothes on, his eyes darted to the clock on his left, catching the number 7:40, meaning breakfast had already begun, and the rest of his friends were waiting for him in the common room. His hand gripped the Quidditch equipment that lay under his bed and before taking his wand he made sure to put his pack of cigarettes in his pocket. He'd sooner forget his wand and head than his cigarettes, an addiction he discovered two years ago, and never got rid of it, better say, never wanted to get rid of.

Ancient runes were his first period, he stuffed his books and quill together with his quidditch equipment.

As he headed downstairs to the common room he could hear the voices of his friends discussing their class schedule for this year, and by the way, they groaned he could tell they were not happy with it.

„Here is our princess! Sleep well?“ Mattheo's voice rang in his head as the hungover made sure he didn't forget about it.

„So good I could hear you snoring!“ Theo responded, the boys laughed, Mattheo and Enzo, along with Goyle, were in the room next to Draco, Blaise, and Theo, and Theo knew that if it weren't for both Muffliato and the Silencing charm, he and the ones around him would go crazy.

„Maybe you would've slept better if you saw Cormac's face last night when he saw us, really, a shame, it's the kind of thing you have to see in person...“

„I doubt it is the last time though...“ Enzo added.

„Let's hope it's not the same reason because then it might just be the last time for him!“ Draco's voice was serious and joking at the same time. They all laughed. Though Draco was joking, Theo and the others knew he a part of him was serious.

Just as they exited the common room they were welcomed by the beautiful black-haired Slytherin. Pansy was leaning on the wall next to the entrance, her hair and makeup perfectly in place, not a trace of last night's party on her face. Of course, there won't be. A smirk crept on her slightly crimson lips as she greeted them.

A whistle came out of Mattheo's mouth.

„Good morning to you too!“ She responded. „Heard you had some fun last night, huh?“ The arch of her dark brow was almost natural.

„Mandatory fun...“ Mattheo smirked. Theo's eyes fell down at her skirt that was just above her kneecaps, something you can't really see within every girl here. But as he brought his eyes back, he was met with her gaze. Pansy was really the boy's girl best friend, a sixth member of the group, who just occasionally allowed herself to have fun with them, but only ever to blow out some steam, both for herself and them, and she didn't come alone, she came in a package along with Daphne Greengrass, who was maybe in Theo's top 5 favorite occasional hookups, the first spot for now still holding a girl one year above them, who likes to come by Theo's when her boyfriend doesn't take proper care of her. He smirked as she caught him staring.

„Heading to breakfast?“ She asked.

Blaise shook his head no, „We'll be there in 20 minutes, 30 tops, we have to take these to the pitch!“ He explained and she nodded.

„You're missing your other half!“ Enzo brought to everyone's attention.

„Yeah, she forgot her wand somewhere so I'm waiting for her here, so we can get breakfast!“

A few moments later they parted ways. The cold September air hit them hard, Theo's lungs immediately craving the warmth of the grey smoke. So he didn't wait long to light up the first cigarette for today, pulling the smoke in until he could feel it reach the bottom of his probably rotten black lungs. Then handing it to Mattheo who craved the same.

They finished at the quidditch pitch fast, Mattheo and Theo sooner than the others. 

He turned to blow the smoke into Draco who was approaching them, Draco, unlike Theo, was an occasional smoker, he didn't really smoke, until he got mad. Blaise gets a few smokes out when he's with his mates, Enzo too, while Mattheo and Theo rather breathe in smoke than clear air for the rest of their lives.

Once they were done, and headed back, the group walked through the halls as if they owned it, the younger kids avoiding them, and the others eyeing them out.

The Great Hall turned the attention to them as they entered, at the end of the Slytherin table, around where Pansy and Daphne were sitting, open seats were waiting for them, as per usual.

Theo took the seat next to Daphne as he threw a hand around her shoulders, greeting her.

„Hello to you too!“ She smiled at the brunette. Since they arrived for the new school year Daphne and Theo haven't seen each other, somehow, always missing one another.

„You look good!“ Theo complimented and she smiled. He liked her, she was a good friend, and a good fuck, but nothing above that, and she knew that, and she never looked for anything deeper than that, she wasn't that kind of girl.

„You're not bad yourself...“

She was interrupted by Pansy who was holding a cup of tea in her hand, sipping it gracefully.

„Have you heard the news?“ And news that enters Hogwarts always goes through Pansy, who then, depending on how good it is, shares it wider. „Snape is going to be teaching DADA this year!“

„What happened with Professor Lupin?“ Enzo ate the sausage.

„They didn't say, they only said that Snape is taking over, but it's probably for the better, the fool last year didn't teach us much...“

„Like you care about learning!“

They continued their talking, Theo didn't care much to join or to listen, instead, his eyes fell on the familiar blond who just entered the Great Hall, holding her books to her chest as she talked to the brunette, Daphne's sister, Astoria. They seemed like they were going to join them but didn't, they sat a few seats down, never once glancing over here, probably for the better, because they would've caught Theo staring. Astoria seemed to have placed her things down and unlike Cassiopeia, she walked over to them. Everybody knew her, and even though she didn't hang out with them, they all treated her kindly, she was Daphne's little sister after all.

„Just came to say hi, and Daph, did you accidentally take my potions textbook, I can't find it anywhere and I need it?“ Her older sister glanced over at the pretty brunette and shook her head.

„I'm not sure, you can go check in my dorm...“ The two sisters didn't look alike one bit. Daphne was blonde, sharper features, but more of a bitch, whereas Astoria had long deep brown hair and much softer features, but was much nicer. Daphne tends to be quite overprotective of her younger sister, keeping her out of trouble and things she is in, including this friend group.

„Wait!“ Pansy yelled at the brunette before she managed to walk away. „Why don't you come sit with us here, tell your new friend to join us!“ Draco glared over to her and she just smirked and shrugged it off. Astoria didn't wait long to call the blonde over. They took a seat and Theo could see that younger Malfoy was avoiding older Malfoy.

Pansy jumped over to take a seat next to her and shook her hand. „Draco's sister, huh? I see the resemblance. We haven't officially met, I'm Pansy, we're going to be great friends!“ They shook hands and Theo's eyes were trained at his best mate.

„Cassiopeia, nice to meet you!“ She spoke, her voice was much softer than last night.

„Look at that, a friendly Malfoy!“ Pansy smirked in Draco's direction. „Never thought I'd live long to witness that...“

„Piss off Pansy!“ He rolled his eyes as he stretched his hand out to pick an apple from the bowl in front of him.

„Mattheo, nice to finally meet the girl for whom we beat up a guy last night! We have to thank you, didn't have such a productive back-to-school day since ever!“ She smiled.

„I'm sure my brother is the only one deserving of the thanks!“ She finally shot a look at her brother, who seemed to be the one ignoring her now.

„This is Blaise, Enzo, Daphne, and Theo!“ Pansy introduced the bunch and Theo caught the glance she left on him for a bit too long.

„Nice to meet everyone...“

The two siblings looked awfully alike, though she took quite some of her mother's beauty, Theo smirked at her, but she didn't even spare him another glance. Her hair fell gracefully down her back, two long strands were pulled back in a silky black ribbon, and on her neck a pearl necklace, no doubt those were real pearls, as you would never see a Malfoy walking around in fake jewelry. As the girls proceeded to talk Theo saw his best mate get up, putting out a lame excuse of going to class, they still had 20 more minutes. He chose to follow. Nodding to the rest to stay put.

Draco was clearly upset, though Theo didn't understand why.

„Hey, hey, wait!“ Theo ran after his best friend. „Where are you going, we both know you aren't going to class, so what's up?“ He asked as they walked through the corridor.

„Nothing, she's just going on my nerves...“

„Who, your sister?“ His question didn't receive an answer for a second, he assumed Draco was debating what to answer.

„Yes, I don't have time to always look over her, I mean, last night she wasn't even supposed to be at that party, I don't even know how she got in, or whatever...“ Instead of taking the stairs that led to the Ancient Runes classroom, Draco strolled down the corridor to the castle's backyard which tended to be quite empty at early times like that. He stopped behind a large stone pillar and leaned on it.

„You've got any cigarettes left?“ He was mad. Theo pulled out his pack from his pocket handing one to Draco while taking the lighter and lighting it up for him. Draco took a long pull, letting the smoke burn his lungs for a bit before blowing it out. For a moment both stayed silent, appreciating the warmth the cigarette provided them with.

„Gotta say, it's funny seeing you get mad over shit like this mama bear...“ Theo let out an unintentional snort laugh, making Draco shoot him a dirty look.

„Glad one of us gets to laugh!“

„Come on, is it not? You getting yourself all worked up because of your sister, bloody amazing, if I knew she'd get you this mad all of the time, she'd be here sooner... By the way, how come she's here, she wasn't here before, right?“ Theo's jokes might just have intentionally or unintentionally led to his main question, he was thinking about awfully much, and needed to get out of his head.

The next pull might have been longer than the first one. „No, she just transferred. Beauxbatons.“ In just a few words Draco answered many questions in Theo's head. Beauxbatons. Makes sense, though why not Hogwarts? It is the top school when it comes to magic and surely is much closer than France. More questions.

The cigarette hit the floor and Draco pulled his wand out, with a silent Evanesco it disappeared into thin air.

No words were needed to get them going to class, they had 5 more minutes, just enough to get there in time.

Before they entered the classroom Draco turned to his best friend and looked him in the eyes. Draco's eyes seemed more serious to Theo this year than before, his whole demeanor did, and that probably came along with his sister. „If I'm not around, and you see a guy running around her, get rid of him, I don't care how you do it, especially Cormac!“ Theo did not expect this but gladly took it.

„Alright Mama Bear!“ He laughed at his best friend, turning away not to catch his salty face when he glared at him. Theo and Draco knew each other fairly well, so it always kind of surprised Theo when he'd get to know new parts of his mate.  And this older protective brother agenda suited him well, maybe because Cormac was involved in this, and Theo disliked him as much as the next guy.