The Changes of Spring
Challenge Eighteen: March Madness Redux
Title: The Changes of Spring
Author: veritybrown
Wizard/Witch: Theodore Nott/Eloise Midgen
Rating/Warnings: G/PG
Genre: Romance/Drama
Word count: Exactly 500
Prompt: 27 - Maypole ribbons
Summary: In the spring of his fifth year at Hogwarts, Theodore Nott is unhappy with the changes he foresees in his life. Can change be a good thing?
Theodore Nott shifted his weight, seeking a more comfortable spot for watching the Maypole dance. The lawn was still bumpy from the winter frost-heaving, and the grass wasn’t lush enough yet to cushion it.
Only after he’d cast a Pulvinarus Charm on his folded-up cloak, and was watching the dancers gather, did Theodore realize that his discontent was more than physical.
Letters from home were full of dark hints. Hints only, since High Inquisitor Umbridge had started inspecting the post. But hints were enough, after the Azkaban breakout, after the Dark Lord’s return last summer. Things were changing.
He didn’t like it. He preferred things as they’d been. As the youngest son of an old and rich family, he’d always had the option of choosing his own way in life-maybe a posh Ministry post, maybe travel...there were always possibilities for interesting work in Egypt, and the exotic magics of America had a sort of lurid appeal. His brother Hannibal might even dare to introduce him to certain forbidden delights of the Muggle world, once Theodore was out of school and out from under his parents’ thumbs.
But now, with war coming, service to the Dark Lord seemed inevitable.
Theodore had almost not come out to watch the Maypole dance. He was not in a particularly festive mood. But it was traditional. It didn’t change. And that, perhaps, was the thing that mattered to him today.
“Aren’t you going to dance?”
Theodore looked up from his dark reflections. A Hufflepuff girl was approaching. A fourth year, he thought. Not terribly pretty-there was a hint of old pockmarks on her cheeks... oh, it was Eloise Midgen. The bubotuber pus must’ve done some good-he almost hadn’t recognized her without the spots.
“I hadn’t planned on it,” Theodore said.
“We need another boy, and I bet you know how.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Well, you’re a Slytherin. I thought you kept up with the old ways.” Eloise blushed faintly. Oddly, she looked prettier for it, despite the fact that it threw her scars into greater relief. It was as if the blush proved there was something more to her, under the skin.
“So you came over here because I’m in Slytherin?” Theodore let the corner of his mouth tweak into what he thought might be a rakish grin. “Do you even know my name?”
“You’re Teddy Nott,” she said, the blush deepening.
“Theodore,” he said; his grin faded instantly.
“Sorry,” Eloise stammered. “I didn’t know you didn’t like your nickname. My Muggle aunt calls me Weezee, and I hate it.”
“Muggle aunt?” Theodore cocked an eyebrow. Of course, she was in Hufflepuff. And the Midgens had never been known to be supporters of the Dark Lord.
“My mother’s sister. I...oh....” she trailed off, and her face flattened to a pocked sheet. “I don’t suppose a Slytherin would want to dance with someone with a Muggle aunt.”
The Maypole ribbons floated temptingly behind her.
Theodore stood up. “Try me.”
Author's Notes: The Latin word for "cushion" that I used in the spell was typically used to refer to the couches of the gods--I figured he'd know something really posh. Hannibal is one of Theodore's older brothers in my A Merciless Affection AU universe; he's a bit of a black sheep in the family-he shacks up with a Muggle girlfriend in London.
Proof-reader: ladywhitehart