Blaise took some time to realise there was something odd with how sometimes Theodore Nott sneaked off the Slytherin common room, and came back almost by the time he would get in trouble for being out. For months, Blaise assumed he was just going to the library as he did almost everyday. For reading and writing his essays which was a very Theodore Nott thing to to, with his brilliant intelligence and his determination.
But, the more he paid attention to him, and Blaise Zabini paid a lot of attention to Theodore Nott, he started to notice Theo didn't carry around his books or his parchment, not even his quilt, he just walked out with a tattered bag hanging from his shoulder, which was mysteriouslyemptier the moment he came back home.
Blaise was not, of course, obsessed.
Of course not.
There was just this
slight curiosity, just that. Just because Theo was somehow someone who didn't seem to do what everyone else did, not because Blaise didn't think he was one of the most intriguing and interesting people in his year, or even his house.
A lot of the times Theo and Blaise left the common room the same time, when Blaise had his quidditch practice, and Theo did whatever he did during those lost hours Blaise didn't catch a sight of him. He could have asked Pansy or Draco to help, but the idea of having to endure the endless teasing from the two of them and their over the top and overwhelming ideas who would probably annoy Theo to an extent, made him realise he was better developing this mission by himself.
Because, of course, this became a mission.
What Theodore Nott Did During The Evenings He Had Quidditch Practice Mission.
A mouthful, really.
A normal person would think that Theo simply was hanging around with some friends, but Theo wasn't a normal person, and Blaise wasn't, either. And Blaise also knew, fairly too well, that there weren't many people Theo called his friends, particularly not outside the Slytherin house. Theo wasn't using those hours to be some social butterfly, and Blaise just got the itch of knowing what was going on.
A normal person would have also assumed Theo was maybe having an affair. Being besotted with a rosy cheeked girl, or boy, from either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff or even Gryffindor. Someone that would fit Theo's demure, shy and good nature, at the same time that would infuriate his father and would make everyone raise an eyebrow at the idea of Theodore Nott, only son of the eldest death eater, to date.
A part of Blaise burned with the idea of Theo dating anyone. Literal burn, he felt fire spreading through his limbs to his mouth when he thought that maybe the reason why Theo disappeared those evenings was for snogging someone behind the Whomping Willow. It was such an instinctive feeling, unable to fight against, that he found himself inspecting Theo's mouth, and immaculate neck and cheeks, during dinner when he came back from his small adventures. Looking for any kind of signal that gave away that, in fact, what was happening was simply some young love.
Another part of him snorted at the thought. Theo was the person who curled against him on one of the couches of the common room when Pansy got bold and loud about her love escapades, the one who blushed the prettiest shade of burgundy and red when Draco teased him endlessly, the one who turned bashful and coy when girls asked him to help them with their homework.
No, a romance couldn't be. Because, and this was the most important part. Blaise truly believed that, if someone had caught the eye and the attention of Theodore Nott, he would have told them. Maybe it would have taken some time, and it would have been between stutters and avoid of stares, but Theo would have told them.
So, Blaise was running out of options and irremediably, failing his mission.
So he had only a choice left: follow him.
It wasn't quite what Blaise wanted to do, it felt like somehow he was betraying the trust of his friend, because Theo was, indeed, his friend. But Blaise just wanted to know, and he hoped that giving the chance, Theo would forgive him.
The opportunity showed itself when he was on his way to the quidditch practice, a very agitated Urquhart told him practice was cancelled because the Gryffindor gits were occupying the quidditch field, again, even thought everyone knew Thursdays evening were the day when the Slytherin team had practice. Urquhart was in the mood of picking a fight, and Vaisey, Crabbe and Goyle were soon in the same mood. Even Blaise would have joined them if it wasn't because, the moment they stepped outside, he saw Theo, curled over himself, walking in the direction of the forest, and Blaise didn't give it a second thought. He followed him right away.
He tried to keep a prudent distance between the two of them, he really didn't want to get caught red handed. It wasn't too long of a walk, before Theo stopped in a clearance of the forest, and he opened the bag of his shoulder, and he started to speak in a very low voice. Blaise stood behind a tree, completely bewildered because, Theo was taking pieces of raw meat from his bag, and they were disappearing off his hands, and Blaise only thought this was any kind of advanced magic of course someone like Theo could perform.
But then, he put two and two together, and the sight made him smile.
Thestrals.
Theo was
feeding the Thestrals.
All those days Blaise thought he was reading, or hanging out with someone or even snogging a faceless boy or girl that made Blaise gut clench in jealousy, he came to the forest, and spent
hours feeding the Thestrals.
Of course.
What
such a Theodore Nott thing to do.
He probably snickered to himself way too loud, because before he noticed, he heard Theo gasp, and then his expression turned shy, insecure when he saw him there, standing behind a tree like a creep. “Bloody hell Zabini!” He exclaimed anyway, and his expression was like the one of a child caught by their mother doing something they really shouldn't have. Like eating biscuits before dinner.
“I can explain.” Blaise said, walking to where Theo was standing, looking around, because he couldn't see the Thestrals, but he wondered if the Thestrals could see him, if they were afraid of him, or if they were indifferent. If maybe he was disturbing a special time not only to Theo but to them. “I... I wondered where you were going.” He admitted, knowing being honest was the way to go, plus, he was never good about lying to Theodore Nott. He caught his lies easily.
“And did you think it was the best of the ideas to almost give me a bloody heart attack?” He asked, a little more confident, but his cheeks were still flustered and he was still holding half a piece of raw meat in his hand.
“Did they run away?” Blaise asked, looking around again, and trying to re-conduct Theo's anger and attention from himself, to the Thestrals.
“Some of them.” Theo admitted, looking behind him. His hand moving to touch the head of a smaller Thestral right behind him. Blaise just saw his pale hand curling and moving through the air. “There are two smaller ones here.” Blaise narrowed his eyes, moving closer, as if he would see them any better, and it made Theo chuckled, a happier, youthful expression on his face. “Do you want to try to feed them?”
Blaise blinked, surprised at the request, and then looking at Theo again. “Will they allow me to?”
Theo nodded again, kneeling down, and Blaise mimicked his actions, kneeling next to them. “They will trust you because you're with me.”
And then Theo raised his hand, and soon Blaise could see how the remains of the raw meat disappeared quickly, leaving only rivulets of blood. Theo rummaged through his bag again, and without much of a warning, he dropped a heavy, squishy and bloody piece of meat on Blaise's hand. He couldn't help the faint expression of disgust on his face and Theo rolled his eyes at him, but then, a tiny piece of meat was cut off from the main chunk, and the expression changed to a beam. “They are eating.” He added, emphasizing the obvious.
But Theo was beaming too, looking happy, instead of guarded and demure. Maybe glad he was sharing this with someone else, instead of being ashamed of it. “I told you they would trust you.”
And like that, they fell quiet for a while, and Blaise got to share this small routine and ritual Theo had with the Thestrals sometimes. He couldn't see them at all, but he could feel the meat disappearing from his hand, and Theo's kind, kind, hands touching what Blaise assumed to be the head, or the loin or the snout of a Thestral.
“How do they look?” Blaise broke the silence after a while, mesmerized by the last chunks of meat disappearing in front of his eyes between mouthfuls of teeth he couldn't see. He had seen in books illustrations of the Thestrals, skeletal and macabre looking, with hollow eyes and bat wings. Half horses, half curse. A tell-tale about the fact why only those who has seen death could see them.
Theo fell silent for a while, and Blaise assumed he was looking at the Thestrals, maybe trying to find the right words to describe them, but when his mouth finally opened, the description wasn't what Blaise expected to hear.
“They look peaceful.”
And it was then, when Blaise understood why Theo disappeared sometimes for hours, and how his What Theodore Nott Did During The Evenings He Had Quidditch Practice Mission ended.
Peaceful.
That was exactly what Theodore Nott deserved.