Theo was in a pissy mood; to be honest to him, it wasn't as if he didn't have a really damn good reason to be. Nott Senior was back at home and more crazy than he had been before he'd gone into Azkaban. Theo thought he'd be safe in Hogwarts with his father back at home but Nott the older was exactly that, old, and well-versed in all kinds of ways to mentally torment his son from a distance, or so Theo thought.
He'd been ignoring the owls his father had been sending him until the fourth one came through a little like a Howler but... well, it almost gave him second-degree burns. He'd been replaying to them after that but, despite how he hated his father, he'd picked up a lot of his tricks and they were currently locked in a duel of sharp-edged tongues, dressed up in icy deference.
He'd been spending most of his time 'elsewhere' (read, watching Thestrals) but had to go back to his room at some point and he only stopped on his stalk through the common room to his bed because the snap as the book closed caught his attention. "Problems Gregory?" he asked, his tone balancing on sincere and scathing.