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Tweak says, "Viva La Vie Boheme!"

Theodore Nott (booksmart_devil) wrote in wished,
@ 2009-09-29 21:38:00

Entry tags:

!1997: 09, !complete, dean thomas, theodore nott

Who: Dean & Theo
What: Avoiding the Quidditch rabble... and there are thestrals
Where: Astronomy Tower
When: The evening the Quidditch roster goes up
Warnings: TBA

Merlin but he hated Quidditch.

He was beginning to get the impression that he was the only Slytherin that hadn't tried out for the stupid sport, and certainly the only one that didn't worship it like it would end all their woes and lavish them all with chocolate frogs or whatever.

He couldn't escape it in his bedroom and escaping to outside the Common Room was even worse - at least the Slytherins had some sense of decorum. Out here it was pandemonium. He disentangled himself from a balloon (deciding, in the end, to just burst it) before getting the hell out of there and retreating to the Astronomy Tower. It wasn't late enough for lessons and Theo had a talent for being inconspicuous when he had to be, sneaking into it regardless of rules. He needed to be high up to see the thestrals and he was pleased to find that no couples had snuck up here for a quick snog.

He rested his elbow on one of the sills and looked out, watching as they came up and flew round occasionally, like bats, looking strangely graceful in the sky. He avoided looking down and he wasn't thinking of jumping.

Not seriously anyway. Call it more of an educational interest.

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deanthomas
2009-09-30 03:35 am UTC (link)

Dean was fairly sure that unless Ginny really thought one of the younger years would step up and outplay him, he would be safe enough. Which meant the endless speculation in the common room about whether or not they'd make it onto the team, and who was going to play Reserves, and the like was getting just a little old. He nipped out of the common room and grabbed his sketchpad. He had most of his work done for the night, so he could afford to go goof off.

He'd planned to head outside, but it was a bit rainy-looking, so Dean changed his mind midway toward the doors, heading back upstairs instead, winding through the halls and making his way to the Astronomy tower. When there wasn't anyone up there trying to snog, it had a nice view. He didn't get much practice sketching a prospective from above, usually. It'd be good for something new to do.

He walked up, starting to make a bee line for a window when he realized he wasn't alone. He stopped, following the Slytherin's gaze and seeing the shape of the flying thestrals. He'd never seen them fly much. But then, he hadn't seen them at all until after Cedric died. "Didn't think anyone would be up here," he offered.

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booksmart_devil
2009-09-30 08:51 pm UTC (link)

Theo heard someone coming up the stairs long before Dean showed - part of the reason why stone floors were so helpful, and why he felt he could keep his back to the doorway. Either that or he was just more suicidal than merely morbid.

He spoke without turning around, unsure of who the voice belonged to but pretty secure that it wasn't a rogue DE or the like come up behind him to stab him in the back. Or a teacher. Or Snape. "No one usually is." he replied, his tone even and purely factual. "It is out of bounds."

He turned and saw that his companion was a Gryffindor, some kid that he only knew by sight. He caught sight of the sketchbook and turned back to watch the macabre pegasus fly. "Came up here to draw?" He enquired.

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deanthomas
2009-10-01 02:27 am UTC (link)

Dean wasn't the sort who stayed on constant alert, really. He was observant, but not in the same way, really. He noticed things with an eye for art and beauty, not for who might creep up stairs behind him. Having his back to the stairs, staring out the window - neither struck him as odd.

"Usually not too out of bounds, during the day at least." They were meant not to come up outside of class, but it wasn't the sort of thing the Prefects would hound them about, probably.

Dean shrugged one broad shoulder. "If something seemed likely. Mostly just escaping listening to everyone go on and on about who's getting what team spot." He was more than a little wary, just talking to Theo. Slytherins usually didn't have much to say to him that wasn't them being prats to him, after all. Even if he saved them from giant squids - though Greengrass had been civil enough. "You just up for the view?"

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booksmart_devil
2009-10-01 04:51 pm UTC (link)

Theo tilted his head to the side in an approximation of a semi-shrug. "I'm escaping the Quidditch talks too." he admitted easily. "And thestral watching. I suppose that could be counted as the view."

While Theo wasn't the kind of person to be snide just because someone was in a different House to him, it didn't mean that he was Mr Candyfloss, nor that he couldn't be just as anti-social as his prejudiced housemates in his own way. However, the cold shoulder he could be seen to be giving Dean wasn't that at all; he simply had no time for the nuances of friendly body language or the excess run-off of verbal conversation.

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deanthomas
2009-10-02 01:49 am UTC (link)

Dean looked out at the flying creatures. "Creepy things, a bit. But I've never seen them fly much. Less creepy when they're in the air," he admitted, echoing Theo's shrug and then walking over to lean against the wall between the windows, a window's space between him and Theo, watching the odd creatures swoop and turn.

Dean was, for the most part, friendly. But he wasn't without his own prejudices - he'd learned them for a reason, over the years. Nott wasn't doing anything though, so Dean had no reason to be irritated by him. The cold shoulder was milder than most, anyway. Dean could chatter and talk when he wanted to, or when he was brought out by someone else talking. But he could be quiet on his own too, and after a moment he shrugged, twisting to perch in the edge of the window, raising a knee to prop the sketchpad on and flipping it open, back against cool stone as he started to sketch.

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booksmart_devil
2009-10-04 02:35 am UTC (link)

Theo watched the thestrals and inclined his head slightly in Dean's direction to show that he'd heard the other student, but he didn't verbalise his reply. As far as he was concerned there were a lot of things far creepier than his fascinating thestrals and he didn't find them creepy even when they were aground.

He was broken from watching them as Dean shifted, turning to see the other boy rearrange and then start to draw. Theo immediately burnt with curiosity, but he quelled it (easily enough considering the punishments that particular trait had wrought him as a child) and continued to watch the flying creatures and the sun as it set; he could almost say that he was enjoying the comfortable, if not companionable, silence between them.

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deanthomas
2009-10-04 03:24 am UTC (link)

Dean wasn't usually very comfortable around Slytherins. He'd learned to watch his back. But Nott was just quiet, and watching, so Dean settled in. It was a good few minutes before Dean shifted, stretching a little against the cool stone and looking at Nott. Dean sketched people about as much as he did anything else, but Theo might just get brassed if he did. "The shape of their heads is a bit odd. Not quite like a horse. Hard to get right from far away," he offered. Just for something to say. It was true, though. The sketch was coming out a little too equine, not quite alien enough.

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booksmart_devil
2009-10-05 06:47 pm UTC (link)

Theo had almost drifted off into a trance, locked in his own thoughts by the time Dean shifted. He felt the pressure of Dean's eyes on him before the Gryffindor spoke; it was getting darker, the sun low against the line of the horizon, turning the edge of the world ruby and painting the sky in lurid colours of bruise with the dark of the night pressing down on top of it.

He looked over towards Dean's picture before he spoke. "Think more... greyhound or Borzoi than horse." he suggested.

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deanthomas
2009-10-06 03:37 am UTC (link)

The deepening sunset was a pretty enough sight that Dean half wished he'd brought up colors instead of just pencils to sketch. But he never managed a sunset that looked right anyway. So he didn't worry too much about it.

"Borzoi?" Dean asked, frowning a little. "Oh. Right. Kind of dog, yeah?" Dean liked dogs. The intricacies of purebreds and what kind looked like what though were mostly lost on him. Greyhound though, he knew, and he cocked his head thoughtfully, trying to picture the lines and bones of the face. "Yeah, that might work," he agreed after a moment, throwing Theo a quick smile. "Thanks."

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booksmart_devil
2009-10-09 11:55 pm UTC (link)

Theo nodded his head slightly in confirmation of Dean's question - his father liked having huge and lanky dogs around and he'd grown up around the animals, Irish wolfhounds, greyhounds, deerhounds, molossers (which were a different kind of dog but oh well). He'd just never seemed to see them around for very long, and he knew who's temper he could attribute that to.

He lifted his shoulder in a half shrug in acknowledgement of Dean's thanks. "No problem." He was having a... reasonable time, which was unusual for Theo, who was a boy of tepid emotions at best.

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deanthomas
2009-10-10 05:33 am UTC (link)

Dean wasn't the sort to mind a bit of quiet, it was true. But he was used to his Housemates and family. no one was. . . that quiet. He felt like he had to try to carry some kind of conversation, a bit. But at the same time, he was pretty sure that Nott was good with the almost-silence when it settled again. The quiet was broken up only by the wind outside and the skritching sounds of the pencil moving over the sketchpad.

The light was dimming enough though that if Dean was going to keep sketching, he'd have to light his wand, and he decided that it was probably better to give it up anyway - since all but one of the Thestrals had landed, and that one was drifting out of view. Sketching the treetops and the view from the tower would be hard to do with no light, wand or no.

"Not too bad, I guess," he decided after a moment, unfolding himself from his perch and holding the sketchpad out in offering for Theo to see if he wanted.

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booksmart_devil
2009-10-10 11:20 am UTC (link)

There were no thestrals left and had Theo not been watching as the sun went down, allowing his eyes to get used to the darkness then he wouldn't have been able to see very much.

He likewise shifted himself out of the moment he was in and reached out to take Dean's sketchpad cautiously, all the scribe related curses he knew flitting through his mind before he dismissed them as baseless paranoia.

He studied the picture and raised an eyebrow, which was as close as Theo ever got to going 'WOAH, cool!'

"You have talent." He offered honestly, studying the picture, the thestrals almost exactly the way they had been against the sky. He could be decietful, if the situation called for it, but his downfall was often being too brutally honest with his opinion. If Dean had known that he would have known that this was praise indeed.

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deanthomas
2009-10-10 11:41 am UTC (link)

Dean had mostly been offering just for something to say. If he'd been thinking about it, he probably wouldn't have, since it was just giving a Slytherin an opportunity to poke fun.

The compliment instead was surprising, and he lifted his eyebrows, taking the book back when Theo seemed done and then smiling. "Thanks," he answered. He hesitated and then gave Theo a friendly clap on the shoulder. "Guess we should get back down before Prefects come searching. See you around, Nott." Not that often, usually, but they passed in classes or the halls, often enough.

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booksmart_devil
2009-10-10 12:02 pm UTC (link)

It would have been unfair to Theo to say that he flinched almost imperceptibly (but not quite) as Dean's hand came down on his shoulder, but it would have been accurate. His fingers twitched like they wanted to go for his wand and he tensed up but managed to restrain himself because if he had drawn his wand and hexed Dean over something as insignificant as a pat on the shoulder he wouldn't have been able to live with himself from the embarassment. "I suppose." he replied, to both, but didn't make a move to leave himself.

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deanthomas
2009-10-10 12:41 pm UTC (link)

If Dean saw the flinch, he gave no sign. And really he'd expected it anyway. Slytherins weren't on friendly-smack status with muggleborns, after all. Nott would probably have to run and shower or something now. But the other bloke had been friendly - if you could call it that - so Dean did the same.

He threw Theo a quick grin and a wave and then started down the stairs, leaving Theo to leave whenever it suited him. He wasn't a Prefect, he wasn't going to try to tell anywhere where to go if they didn't want to.

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