Look into Your Heart
Thirty minutes.
There was thirty minutes left until the end of breakfast and Thea had yet to show up.
This was a divergence from the usual routine in which she would have had only just finished her meal by this time and would have had headed off to start the day early. True, perhaps she had simply decided to sleep in, but Tom knew that she had double potions in the first period so it felt unlikely to him that she had done so. Though, it wasn’t as if he had been taking note of her habits, he was just… observant.
He doubted she would show up anytime soon and left the hall for the potions classroom in hopes of catching her there instead. To his favour, he found her seat occupied when he arrived, although the sight of her with her head down, resting on her crossed arms laid on the desk, had struck him with concern for her wellbeing.
Cautious as he approached his table, it was only when he gently pulled out his chair beside her that Thea took notice of his presence and lifted her head to regard him with a morning greeting. Her tone had fallen flat, however, and it was clear by the pale touch to her face and her obvious grimace that she was unwell.
“Is there anyone I should be aware of to have made you look so out of spirits?”
Thea tried a small lift to the corner of her lips. “No murders in the school, Tom. But no, there’s no one causing my demise other than my uterus at the moment.”
Tom parted his lips in understanding as he settled himself into his seat. “Would you like me to grab you something from the kitchens?”
“Thanks, but that’s alright. I’ll just seek Tally out after class and make myself some hot chocolate to relieve the cramps.” Her expression had eased up at Tom’s thoughtful offer and the comforting heat that he had ignited in her veins helped thwart her senses’ focus on the discomfort.
“Oh, your guardian, right?” Thea beamed at his recollection of her previous mention of Tally and nodded. “She’s here?”
Thea hummed. “Couldn’t bear the idea of leaving her completely alone for most of my years in Hogwarts so we had to talk to Dippet about allowing her to work in the kitchens while I’m here.”
“I see… If you’re feeling up to it, can you tell me more about her?”
Thea might as well have physically brightened up at his interest in Tally and she was touched beyond words when he paid genuine attention to her anecdotes on even the most uneventful of moments that she had shared with the elf. That had also provided her a distraction from the churning in her gut and soon, the class had filled up and lesson was about to commence.
Later, once Slughorn had signalled the students to start brewing their chosen potion for the day, Thea made to stand up so that she could go retrieve the needed ingredients but halted when Tom placed a hand on her shoulder.
“I’ll go get them this time.”
“But it’s Monday?” They had previously agreed that potions practical on Mondays were her turn with the ingredients as Tom readied the cauldron while the ones on Thursdays would have their roles switched for fairness.
“You’re in pain, no?” When Thea couldn’t deny it, Tom gave her a slight smile. “There’s always a ruckus in the insects’ aisle and we need three things from there this time. I imagine you’d end up losing your mind if you had to deal with that right now.”
Thea grimaced at the idea as she reminisced on her past experiences with the chaos in that specific aisle.
Terrible times, everyone would agree.
She looked to Tom in gratitude and expressed as much, “thanks, love.”
“Always, darling.”
Her appreciation for Tom didn’t end there, as it turned out. Thea had ended up in the same position as Tom had found her in that morning once the pair had finished their potions while Tom worked silently on an assignment so as to not disturb Thea’s makeshift peace within the frenetic air of the class – Slughorn had an announcement at the end of class so they couldn’t leave early, much to their dismay. It was then, when the class had finally finished up and the professor could speak about the potions project for the semester, that Thea looked back up and-
Oh.
A single paper crane stood proudly on her desk.
Her heart started beating in record speed as her thoughts jumbled up into a mess of feelings. Only two people knew of her fondness for paper cranes and she knew without a doubt that Tally couldn’t just waltz into the middle of class to give her an origami. That left her with-
Oh, Tom…
She hadn’t even been sure if he had paid any mind to her impromptu lesson on folding paper cranes but as she stared dazedly at the crane in front of her, paying barely half a mind at Slughorn’s voice, that was one uncertainty waived off.
Straightening up, she took the origami carefully and surveyed its ‘imperfections’ that proved its handmade quality that would have been absent had it been made with magic. She caressed its wings lovingly and only looked to its creator when the class had been dismissed. In the rushed commotion of students packing up and leaving, starry eyes met affectionate ones and Thea found herself at a loss for words upon seeing the intensity of Tom’s sincerity. When she stayed silent even as a beat passed, he gazed upon her in understanding and offered a hand, “shall we?”
His warmth travelled through her cool nerves as she took his offer. “We shall.”
The paper crane remained in her grasp even as she sipped on her mug of hot chocolate in the kitchens later, a heat pack on her stomach that she had gotten numb to at this point.
“Is that a special one?”
“Hm?” Thea glanced at Tally who had nudged her chin towards Thea’s hands. “Oh, the paper crane?”
At Tally’s affirmative response, Thea parted her lips to reply, but paused when she questioned herself further. Is it special, indeed…
Physically, no. There was nothing out of the ordinary with the way its head was tilted slightly, proof that it had been pinched into shape, nor was there anything new with the lack of crease in its wings that had been pulled apart symmetrically. It was as normal as any other paper crane and emitted no sparkle that would have caught a crowd’s attention. But as she stared longingly at it, memories of her time spent with Tom continued to rush through her mind and gave her no intermission to defend herself against the emotions that began to fill her heart.
Definitely not special, she thought as her fingers ran its course across the span of its wings.
As typical as a paper crane could be, she patted its head lightly.
Nothing unique about it, her smile had yet to leave her face since.
Oh, damn it all- who was she fooling.
“Yeah, it’s special.”
The sentiment rang true, still, even hours later in the afternoon as she worked on a charms assignment in the library. Thankfully, her pain had alleviated by the end of Arithmacy class and she was able to focus on her work. Engrossed in her task, she had missed the approach of two figures and glanced up with a start when shadows loomed over her parchment. There, in front of her and separated by the table, stood the two women she had seen talking with the boys recently.
Walburga Black held her head up high, lips shaped into a tight line, and her notable grey eyes of the Black family stared strong as if daring her enemies to obstruct her path. Her midnight hair was knotted into a bun and her uniform, not a piece out of place.
Druella Rosier had a smile to her lips, her back straight and shoulders down; the perfect vision of a lady. Her friendly façade gave away none of her true intentions and Thea had to quickly ransack her brains to remember if she had somehow unintentionally offended both ladies.
Conscious of her manners, Thea made to stand up to meet the pair of ladies head on. She felt safe enough from the lack of hostility brewing up to let a careful smile slip on and spoke up, with a slight incline to her head out of respect, only once she had been addressed.
“Grace, is it?”
“Yes. Theana Grace, sixth-year Hufflepuff student of Hogwarts.”
Unlike the boys, the women made no indication of having been taken aback by her formality and reciprocated it without a blink of an eye.
“Walburga Black, of the most ancient house of Black.”
“Druella Rosier, of the most ancient house of Rosier.”
Thea met their handshakes as they each introduced themselves. “To what honour do I owe the pleasure of meeting the ladies of the most ancient houses of Black and Rosier?”
“Before that, shall we have a seat first?”
“Of course.”
Walburga and Druella took their seat across from Thea and the latter took the initiative to open up the discussion. “It’s lovely to meet you, Grace! We’ve actually heard about you from the boys and thought it’d be appropriate to get to know the one who had single-handedly gotten us into Riddle’s circle!”
Druella’s cheery attitude allayed the nerves of uncertainty in Thea and she opted to match her energy. “It’s wonderful to meet you too! I’m glad they’ve taken my advice into consideration and I hope the boys have been treating you well. It really is preposterous that they’ve excluded you thus far!”
“I know!”
Walburga gave a slight grin at the lightness in the air and entered the conversation, “we’d like to thank you for what you’ve done. With this connection to the boys, they now have access to our social circles while we have now gained the power to play the fields into our aligned favour. It is uncommon, what you’ve achieved, to convince a group of men to accept women into their ranks.”
“They have also given us the rundown of their goals and ambitions, crediting you quite a number of times for reasons they’ve hinted at but aren’t quite keen to voice out yet.” Druella shot Thea a knowing look which she could only react to similarly. “Some of them really aren’t the subtlest of people. ‘Cassandra-sent and Merlin-blessed’, they’ve dubbed you.”
A tiny hint of pink dusted Thea’s complexion at the admiration. “Only doing what I can to knock some sense into the right people.”
“Quite right of you!” A chuckle left Druella.
Before the silence could stretch, Walburga spoke again, “if it’s quite alright, there’s actually something we’d like to talk about.”
“Of course, how can I help you?”
“The boys have also mentioned the inbreeding issue and, well, we’re not exactly enthusiastic about it.” Hesitance halted the typically-unwavering girl for the briefest of moment and she placed a hand on her abdomen. “You see, I’ve always wanted to be a mother. Their sparkling little eyes and quiet mumbles of indistinguishable words; adorable little darlings, aren’t they?”
Druella placed a soothing hand atop her friend’s shoulder. “While I’ve never really had strong opinions about it, the idea that they might end up having to suffer because they were born into an inbred family – for something we’ve done… I would never wish that upon my child.”
Thea watched their downcast frowns with compassion, touched at the ladies’ rare unguarded expression of their hearts, and she knew, woman-to-woman, that they trusted her to keep their vulnerability a secret. With that in mind, Thea resolved herself to improve their future families the best she could and extended a helping hand. “If you’re open to it, would you both like some assistance with convincing your families to get you out of your betrothal arrangements?” When their doubts of success showed through, she continued, “I can whip up a presentation on the consequences of inbreeding that’s supported by scientific and magical research and walk your families through them. If I’ve managed to convince over a handful of people just by the basic facts alone, I’m positive that a fully-fledged out discourse will manage to – at least – get a start into the others similarly. As we all know, your families place a high regard in their ability to produce an heir who will make them proud. If birthing and caring for an heir is as important as they’ve claimed it to be, any dangers or risks that would hinder their desires would be sure enough to scare them out of resuming the practice of inbreeding.”
Both women were now sporting wide eyes as they heard Thea out attentively. Hope coursed through them that perhaps, Thea was right and that it wasn’t too late to rectify their future. They were now keen to agree with the description that the boys had given her and shared their reliefs that Thea had somehow ended up as an ally and not a foe. They could almost imagine the unseen disasters that would doom her enemies and unanimously decided to never cross her bad side.
“Will you really do that? For us?”
“Sure!” Thea reassured their disbeliefs. “We, women, deserve more than being wedded off into contracts that we have no say in, just as no child deserves to face the consequences of their parents’ actions.”
Walburga grabbed Thea’s hand that was on the desk with both hands and gripped it with the intensity of her gratitude. “Oh, Grace- you have no idea how much that means to us!”
For all the upright poise that Walburga Black has shown in public, Thea was glad that the woman had retained her humanity still and hoped to Magic that nothing should ever try and take that away from her.
Druella looked at Thea with much the same thankfulness and added, “please, do let us know if there’s anything we can help with. You are doing us a favour and we’d like to grant you the ability to call us for one, anytime.”
“Thank you, both, really.” Thea gave them a kind smile as they all shared an air of mutual respect. “As for help, could I run through the presentation by you once I’ve prepared it? Let’s say… this weekend? It would give me an opportunity to improve it with your critiques so that it’ll be even more solid by the time I share it with your- well, I was thinking your parents only, first? Doing it with your entire families would only bring about mayhem.”
“Of course! We’d more than love to help you with that. And, I agree. A parents-only gathering would be much more viable for starters.”
“That settles it, then!”
There, in the library, two strangers to one all became friends and the three ladies would cause havoc upon anyone who would threaten their blossoming bond.
The bell for dinnertime rang with great timing and the two Slytherins were quick to invite Thea to join them at their table.
“Are you sure? Word will definitely reach your families and I wouldn’t want to cause you any trouble.”
Both women shook their heads assuredly and insisted. “You’ve been seen with the boys a couple times now and our parents already have an idea as to how valuable Riddle is for our generation. Some more sweet words regaling your magical abilities on top of the fact that Riddle is fond of you should be more than enough to endear you to them.”
Walburga’s wording of Thea’s closeness to Tom had her flustered, which only pulled out a teasing smirk from Druella. Before the merry girl could hound Thea with playfulness, however, Thea relented. “If you’re sure, then, yes! I’d love to join you for dinner.”
As they walked towards the hall, they got to know each other better. Surprised but welcoming greetings were exchanged once Thea was led to the empty spots beside the boys and she took a seat adjacent, across from Tom, who sent her sweet smile when she beamed at him – only a touch shy as memories of their enjoined hands from morning came rushing into mind. Her growing affections for him only increased that evening when a glass of hot chocolate had appeared – courtesy of Tally – out of reach from Thea, and Tom went to grab it for her, unprompted. A small act, perhaps. But she got to learn that there were things in life that reminded him of her and that he accepted those thoughts voluntarily.
He cared about her, and that was enough to keep her heart aflame.