"Any idea what's been bothering Draco?" Theo asked.

He was laying on his back on my bed, holding a book above his head that he was pretending to read. I shifted in my chair to turn around to look at him. My homework could wait a few moments.

"What are you talking about?"

"You tell me," he shrugged. "Since you got back from the ball, he's been moodier than ever. And for him, that's saying something..."

"Has he? He's seemed the same more or less, to me," I replied.

Well, that was somewhat a lie. He'd been the same as he was the night of the ball, anyway.

I'd seen him regularly since the ball. Apart from prefect duties, we still had classes together and were often together in the Slytherin common room at the same time or doing some other shared activity.

Typically, he would try to make some sort of conversation, but if it didn't naturally flow, he didn't push or try to get me to talk. In a way, it was disappointing since I liked the progress we were making. It was short lived, but sweet.

The conversation, however, was oddly polite for him. He didn't make snide remarks, no insults... perhaps a distasteful comment here or there about a student or someone breaking the rules, but never about me, or surprisingly even my friends. I could only assume that it was his way of trying to break that barrier that we put up the night of the ball, despite the fact that I told him I forgave him for his outburst.

It wasn't a lie, either. I genuinely did forgive him for being short with me at the ball. I couldn't really care about one minor setback after the rather large and enjoyable breakthrough we had over the course of the whole weekend.

"He's definitely not been the same," Theo shook his head, sitting up and turning to face me. His shoulders slumped, giving him a relaxed look. His hair was a bit messy as well from lying down.

"'Moodier than usual'," I echoed, "with you, or people in general?"

"Both, I guess. Especially during quidditch, I've noticed during our practices that he has way more aggression than usual."

I looked at him quizzically, to which he elaborated by explaining that Draco had been at fault for multiple teammates being knocked off their broomsticks, causing arguments, and injuring a few people, all in addition to pushing himself to work harder than before. It was very unlike him. Typically he was aggressive, but not to his own teammates or causing stirs on practice time.

"I've been with him plenty of times since we got back and I haven't seen any of that. Quite the opposite, actually."

"He might be bottling it up around you. Blaise has noticed it, too. We talked about it during lunch today... there's something up with him."

Seeing how he's behaved (around me, anyway) I could tell he was certainly capable of being tame and polite when he wanted to. It wouldn't surprise me that he had the ability to act that way, but I couldn't figure why he would bother being pleasant around me and even nastier than usual to everyone else, according to Theo.

"His father must have spoken to him, then," I huffed, trying to return my attention to my homework again. This attempt was proven feeble when Theo quickly caught my attention again.

"Huh? Since when does Lucius care about how Draco treats everyone else?"

"You should've seen him at the ball. Draco was practically shaking when his father made it clear he was disappointed in him, and for something so miniscule."

Theo shrugged. "Maybe he does want him to be nicer to you. You are his wife, after all."

I visibly cringed at that. "Say it a little louder next time? I don't think all of Hogwarts heard you."

He laughed lightly. I'd missed his lopsided grin while I was gone. "Sorry, I forgot you don't want people knowing."

"Let's talk about something else, shall we? I just got back from home, I don't need to revisit the topic so fast. Back to this arithmancy sheet, hm?"

"You know I'd rather not talk about homework," he flopped back on my bed with a thud. He stared up at the ceiling with his legs spread out slightly, and arms resting near his head. "I just got you back from your trip and all you want to talk about is school," he chuckled.

"Unless you've got something more interesting to discuss?"

He paused for a moment. I heard a humming sound come from him before he piped up again.

"Slug Club's first dinner is coming up soon."

This, however, piqued my interest. I had been so preoccupied with other things that Slughorn's festivities totally slipped my mind.

"Right, that's this Friday. Merlin, I'm stupid... I should have brought back a dress or something from home to wear."

"Your normal clothes will be fine," Theo dismissively replied. "You always look nice, anyway."

"Still, I'd rather not look awful if this is a Slughorn event. I've seen the types of parties he hosts, they're pretty sophisticated, if you ignore the fact that the guest list is made up of dumb teenagers."

"Not so dumb, actually. Sluggy is pretty selective about who makes the cut."

"I suppose so. You know anyone else who made the list?"

"Blaise, actually. McLaggen... I don't know for sure, but I suppose Potter would be there, too."

"At least we'll know people then. You and Blaise can sit together."

"You won't be sitting with us?" he sat up from his laying-down position on the bed. He used his arms behind him to support his weight, still in a slumped position with his shoulders pressed up against his neck. With a turn of his head, he flicked his shaggy brown hair to the side and out of his eyes.

"I mean... Cedric will be there too, so..." my voice trailed, a little shy at the mention of him after our previous encounters where he was a little more flirty than desirable. Actually, it was desirable. Just not acceptable.

The end of his lips tugged up in that half grin of his that I knew so well. The look of it sent a blush to creep up my neck and tint my face pink.

"You and Diggory, eh? I swear, he seems like the one you'll never forget. Even a marriage can't keep you two crazy kids apart."

"Theo!" I playfully threw a pillow at him, causing his hair to mess up and the both of us to laugh.

"At least it was a pillow and not a shoe like that one time at the Black Lake," he chuckled, throwing the pillow back at me.

"I'm serious! You know how I felt— feel... whatever it is I happen to think of him. Your joking doesn't help the situation."

"And I feel like you should consider what you're doing here," he replied, suddenly appearing a big more somber. I raised an eyebrow in response, to which he seemingly picked up as confusion.

"I mean you should be more careful," he shook his head. "As much as I like Cedric, I really do, you can't be fooling around with him so much."

"Theo, we're not together. We're just... spending a lot of time together."

"Spending time with your ex boyfriend who you still have major feelings for isn't the most... couth thing for a wife to be doing."

"You're calling me uncouth?" I was almost offended. Was he accusing me of cheating?

"Not necessarily. Just... watch yourself, okay? I love you, but it's getting harder for me to split my loyalties between you and Draco."

At that, I was genuinely irritated. What did Theo need to split loyalties for? He always supported me in everything, even when he didn't think I was making the best decisions. Now he was suddenly having some enlightenment about his feelings regarding loyalty? It was all backward in my mind.

"I think you're mistaken, Theo, there's nothing to worry about. And you don't need to 'split loyalties' either."

"It appears I do," he sighed, looking more uncomfortable. "The closer you get with Diggory, the more upset Draco will be. I don't know if I can keep defending you when it's so obvious you want him. If you're so close with Cedric, then you're lucky Draco won't be there."

"At the Slug Club you mean? Why would that matter?"

Theo gave me a face that seemed to read as nothing other than "duh", with eyes wide and brows furrowed together. He lightly laughed before shaking his head in a jokingly condescending way.

"It's pretty obvious, y/n."

"I mean, I'm sure Draco would have some outburst at the dinner but that's how he always is. That's probably why he didn't get an invitation from Slughorn in the first place."

"You're totally missing my point," he chuckled. "You must be joking."

"I'm really not, Theo. We both know how Draco is, he's just pretty prone to random fits—"

"You're being serious?" Theo cut me off, giving me a much more focused look.

I shrugged. "Yeah? So tell me what you're thinking, because I don't follow."

He rolled his eyes. "Y/n, I love you, but you're utterly clueless sometimes."

"About what? Seriously, Theo, tell me—"

"Draco would be jealous."

My eyebrows knit together and I let out a quick snort of laughter, to which he simply rolled his eyes together. There was no way Theo could be serious; that would never happen with Draco and I.

"I think you're mistaken, Theo. We don't have that kind of relationship. It's strictly cordial, maybe even friendly at this point if we've made it there."

"You are married, aren't you?"

"Of course we are, but you know the whole situation with that isn't really romantic, per se."

He shook his head, letting it roll back before looking at me again. He looked a tad frustrated, perhaps annoyed with me which I wholeheartedly returned. The feeling was mutual.

"Y/n, I really doubt that... but even so, assuming that's the case, he can still be jealous even if you two haven't had any sort of romantic feelings yet."

"Not really, Theo. That doesn't make sense for him to be jealous if he doesn't feel anything."

"Think about it this way: if the situation were reversed, would you like the idea of him being with another girl? Having feelings for her? The way that you do for Cedric..."

I suppose I hadn't really considered it much. I remember toward the beginning of school, Theo did casually mention something that alluded to the fact that Draco was probably seeing other girls. But at the time, I hated him; I didn't care if he was interested in other girls because it simply didn't matter to me.

Now? I couldn't quite say.

"I... I guess I see what you mean, a little bit..."

He smirked again, looking smug with himself. "Now imagine that, plus feelings involved."

"Theo, I doubt he has any feelings for me—"

"Fine. Just imagine it."

I thought of Cedric being with another girl. The concept alone made my blood boil. The difference was with Cedric, I had undeniable feelings for him and it was obvious enough that Theo could see it, even if we broke up months ago.

I then thought of Draco with another girl, plus imagined myself having feelings for him. If the thought of Cedric with someone else made me upset, the thought of my husband with someone else could push me to the brink of insanity. I felt a psychotic anger bubble up inside of me that I didn't know how to process, like my mind was being tugged in a million different directions.

I then came back to reality and remembered that I was just imagining how it might, hypothetically, be. I had to remind myself that Draco and I didn't have any romantic relationship, just were legally married.

In a way, that did make me somewhat possessive over him.

I always figured husbands and wives should be loyal to each other, which is why I broke up with Cedric when I did. After our relationship improved to the point where it was after the ball, I did feel some type of... jealousy?

It wasn't a romantic jealousy, that I necessarily felt like I needed to have his affection. It was more of the fact that he's my husband, not someone else's boy toy. He shouldn't be wasting his time moving around from girl to girl when he knows he belongs to me... legally, in terms of our marriage, he does.

"I see what you mean," I grumbled, looking down and avoiding his gaze.

"And we all know that Draco is even more territorial than you, y/n."

"I know," I huffed, "it's one of the things I always despised about him."

"You're missing the point, again," he rolled his eyes.

"Then what is the point?"

"It's in his nature to want you all for himself."

---

A/N: Happy Saturday everyone! Hope y'all are doing well and navigating life well. I'm currently very deep into a Lorenzo Zurzolo/Theo obsession and I just HAD to put him in. I was originally considering making Daphne the friend that y/n was speaking to here, but why not Theo? I definitely chose the better option.

vote + comment! xoxo