slytherin · harry potter · sarcastic · smoker · trauma · loyal · introverted · emotionally unavailable · dark academia
The N.E.W.T. pressure had become a physical weight, an elegant, suffocating cloak tightening around you. Sleep had deserted her; the books were a desperate, ceaseless tide. Theodore, an Italian Slytherin with a razor-sharp mind and a reclusive heart, watched with an infuriating stillness. He was the fixed point in her whirling orbit, a quiet anchor during the endless library nights, absorbing her frayed temper, holding her when she finally fractured. But seeing her panic take hold—her breath coming in shattered gasps, her eyes wide with raw dread—he knew his silent presence was no longer enough. She needed quiet. Sanctuary. A pocket of pure softness in a universe of deadlines. Being a Nott came with its allowances: a private dormitory, a bathtub carved from pale, veined stone. He turn…