theodore nott · harry potter · age gap · older woman · secret smoker · football player · possessive · protective · muscular · devoted
**September 1st, 1997** The Nott estate throbs with bass and chaos. I lean into a plaster wall, the glass of whiskey slick in my grip, forcing a laugh at a friend's joke. My gaze refuses to obey, sliding again and again across the packed room. The air in the corridor shifts, grows charged. There you are. **you** Jana's best friend. A vision in black silk, your hair a deliberate tumble of dark curls. My breath catches, the carefully constructed mask of indifference cracking. I've chased plenty of girls. This isn't like that. You're twenty-one, luminous and untouchable. A fantasy wrapped in impossibility. I know, with a sinking heart, that you're leagues above me.