NOVEL NEXT Chapter -016.
Chapter -16.
[Next day; morning]
"Hey there! I picked these up for you last night," Theodore said cheerfully as he walked into the dining room, handing a small bouquet of bright yellow roses to Bellatrix, who was sipping her coffee.
"Flowers?" Bellatrix replied, a bit puzzled. Inside, she was thinking, 'What’s up with this guy? Why is he giving me flowers?' A few curious thoughts started to bubble up, but before she could dwell on them, Theodore added, "I noticed your room looked a little gloomy, so I thought these might help brighten it up." A few petals fluttered as he spoke, making Bellatrix blush and misinterpret his gesture.
But hey, he brought her flowers! She couldn’t just ignore that. She gently took the bouquet from him, leaned in to take a whiff, and smiled, "These smell amazing, thank you!"
"Well, I put a little charm on them, so that makes sense!" Theodore replied with a grin. "Do you like them?" He looked at her, clearly curious about her taste.
Bellatrix brought the flowers closer again, inhaling their sweet scent, and then looked up at Theodore, saying, "Yes, they’re beautiful." It was clear she wouldn’t mind receiving them more often.
Catching on to her hint, Theodore smirked and said, "That’s awesome! I actually got them just a few blocks away, so if you ever want to grab some more, it could be a nice excuse to step outside for a bit." He held back a chuckle, clearly enjoying the moment of teasing.
"You..." Bellatrix clearly didn’t expect that response. She was taken aback and felt a surge of annoyance, realizing he was trying to tease her again. Just then, with a loud boom, Kreacher appeared in the dining room, holding a thick stack of papers. He made his way over to Bellatrix and said, "Mistress Bella, I’ve brought today’s Daily Prophet newspaper."
The moment Theodore heard "newspaper," his ears perked up. Even after causing that dark mark last night and leaving a little message that might've made that old Dumbledore a bit uneasy, he still hadn’t received any good news from the system.
He wanted to read the newspaper first, but then he thought it might be more fun to see Bellatrix’s reaction to the news. So, he decided to let her read it first while he sipped his coffee and watched her.
Ten minutes later...
‘What’s going on? Why isn’t she reacting?’ Theodore thought, watching her fold the newspaper after reading it completely. He felt a bit confused, but asking her directly would be a bit silly. So, he took the newspaper from her and unfolded it, only to exclaim, "It didn’t even make the front page?"
He scanned every corner of the first page, but there was no mention of the chaos he had caused last night. Annoyance bubbled up inside him as he quickly flipped through the rest of the newspaper. Just as he suspected, there wasn’t even a hint of the dark mark that had appeared in Diagon Alley.
"Is something wrong? You look like you were hoping to see something in the paper, but it’s not there," Bellatrix asked, standing up from her chair with flowers in her arms, leaning over Theodore, her petite belly almost brushing the back of his head.
"No, nothing’s wrong. I was just hoping to see a weekend sale or something in the paper," Theodore replied, folding the newspaper back up and looking at Bellatrix, who was still standing behind him.
"You’re such a cheapskate," Bellatrix said, almost startled by his reason. She turned to leave, but before she could, Theodore stood up and gently tugged on her hand, pulling her back. She almost stumbled forward into his chest but managed to catch herself by placing a hand on him.
Realizing how close they were, and that she was nearly in his embrace, her cheeks flushed red. She wanted to ask him to let her go, but before she could say anything, Theodore, with his hand now resting on her waist, ignored her hesitation and said, "How can you call a man who, despite being the dark out, brought you flowers? Isn’t that a bit much?"
Though he was surprised by how close they were. But he just wanted to tease her, so how could he let this moment slip away?
"Wait, didn’t you buy those flowers for me with my own money?" Bellatrix said, her heart racing. But instead of backing down, she held his gaze and said, convinced he had used the galleon she had given him.
"Actually, I bought them with muggle money—the cash I earned from my job in the muggle world," Theodore replied, keeping a straight face, as though he looked a bit hurt by her comment. Bellatrix noticed this and quickly said, "Oh, I didn’t mean it like that..." But just as she was about to finish her sentence of appology, Theodore burst out laughing, teasing her, "Got you! You should see your sorry face right now."
That was a mistake he quickly regretted when he saw the daggers Bellatrix was shooting at him with her eyes. She stormed out of the dining room in a huff.
Meanwhile, Theodore could only watch her leave. He turned to Kreacher, who had a look of confusion on his face, and asked, "Kreacher, did you notice anything odd in Diagon Alley today when you went to get the newspaper?"
Kreacher, still a bit dazed from seeing Bellatrix act so strangely, snapped back to reality at Theodore's question. "Well, now that you mention it, I did see some strong Aurors in Diagon Alley—the same ones who came to our door pretending to search the house when mistress was arrested. so I quickly grabbed the newspaper and hurried back home, worried they might come after Mistress Bella because of me."
"Really? Well, you did a fantastic job sneaking away from them," Theodore said with a smile, giving the house-elf a compliment. Then, with his mind buzzing with thoughts, he walked out of the dining room too.