Mother Brother Knows Best
Theodore Nott x reader
Based on this request 🫶🏽
Summary: In which Theodore is no match for the sheer determination of a twelve year old fueled by sugar, pumpkin juice, and spite.
word count: 4.1k
©️ obsessedwithceleste. all works posted here belong to me and should not be reposted or copied in any way or form.
“Take a picture mate, it’ll last longer,” Mattheo says, collapsing onto the sofa next to his brooding friend.
Theo looks at the boy next to him in annoyance. Mattheo had been meant to meet him in the library thirty minutes ago, and while he was waiting on his habitually late friend, he’d been forced to watch the love of his life practically sit on bloody Cormac McLaggen’s lap. What you saw in that boy, Theo had no idea.
Theo had fancied you for what felt like forever to him at that point, and it’s not like he was exactly subtle about it. At least he didn’t think he was being subtle, but ask any of his friends and they’d say that holding eye contact from across the room for over 3 seconds did not count as a declaration of love. But what did they know. Not that it mattered anyway because somehow, he’d managed to lose you to the toadstool that the Gryffindor house claimed to be a fully functioning wizard.
“I wasn’t staring,” he mutters defensively, breaking his steady glare away unconvincingly.
“Sure you weren’t. How is little y/n anyway? Haven’t seen much of her since she and ole McLaggen started snogging and such,” Mattheo responds easily, an amused grin spreading across his face as he watched his friend tense.
“Fuck off. Don’t remind me.”
With a silent snicker, Mattheo leaned back in his chair. Ever since you had started going out with Cormac, it had been increasingly easy for Mattheo to ruffle Theo’s feathers. The boy really had been taken with you for months now, and Mattheo simply saw this as payback for all the hours he’d been forced to listen to Theo’s rather pathetic pining. She doesn’t even know I exist this, and we made eye contact for a whole 7 seconds that. You’d managed to bring the ever stoic Theodore Nott to his bloody knees, and you didn’t even know it.
“So, about that charms homework…” Mattheo says eventually, breaking Theo’s blazing gaze away from you and Cormac once more.
“No time. Carter should be here any minute since you, are thirty minutes late.”
Mattheo raises an eyebrow.
“You’re still gonna tutor that little gremlin? Thought you were just trying to get on y/n’s good side. No point now eh?”
For the past few month or so, Theo had been tutoring your younger brother in charms and transfiguration and, while Mattheo was right about his initial intentions, the little bugger had slowly grown on him. Like a fungus.
Theo shrugs noncommittally as he spots the young Slytherin from across the library.
“Not just gonna let Carter fail. He’s a good kid.” He mumbles.
“Aw Teddy, you’ve gone soft,” Mattheo teases as his eyes follow the young boy making his way excitedly towards them.
Making a face at his friend, Theo tosses a scroll of parchment across the table and Mattheo reaches out to snatch it.
“Get outta here ya tosser.”
With one last smirk, Mattheo rises lazily from their place on the sofas, nodding once at Carter who sidles up to him before making his escape, a completed charms essay successfully secured.
“Hi Theodore!” Carter greets, swinging his bag onto the sofa next to Theo before climbing up himself.
“Hey buddy, what’re we working on today?” Theo asks, a fond smile growing on his face as the young boy makes himself comfortable.
Usually Theo wasn’t one for children of any sort. He found them to be, sticky. But Carter almost reminded him of a younger version of himself. Feisty and energetic with a sharp tongue. The pair honestly got on like a house on fire and Theo actually looked forward to their tutoring sessions.
“Levitating charms,” Carter replies with a look of disgust. “Ew. Is that Cormac and y/n?” He asks, spotting his sister across the library.
Matching Carter’s face of disgust, Theo nods his head in confirmation, pulling out his own charms book.
“He’s the bloody worst. I wish y/n would date someone cool for once. She has a talent for always picking the worst ones. I heard Cormac say he wants to see what’s under y/n’s skirt once, so I told him that the only way he was going to get laid was by crawling up a chicken’s arse and waiting. He didn’t like that. But his friends all thought it was funny. But then he locked me in a broom closet. But it was fine cause Enzo found me a few minutes later and beat Cormac’s arse for me,” Carter rambles, flipping through the pages of his textbook.
Salazar, for a second year, this kid was certainly mouthy, Theo thought.
“Think Enzo mentioned that to me actually.” He replies off-handedly.
“Yeah. He’s so cool. I think y/n used to have a crush on him a few years ago. Don’t tell her I said anything though. You’re cool too.” Carter says, looking down at his book. “Hey! Why don’t you date y/n? Then I could see you during holiday! Hopefully Cormac doesn’t stick long enough to make it to Christmas. I don’t want him to stink up the house.”
Theo feels his cheeks begin to redden at the boy’s statement and he begins to stutter. Damn he hoped his filter wasn’t this bad when he was twelve.
“Let’s just get back to the lesson,” he mumbles, hoping to redirect the young boy.
Lucky for him, Carter obliges, allowing the older boy to guide him through the precise wand movements essential to the spell in question.
“Windgardimum leviosum”
“Wingardinum liviosa”
“Windgarnium leviosauarasurausrus.”
“Now you’re just making words up,” Theo laughs as the boy fails to pronounce the spell correctly for what feels like the hundredth time.
“Because I am!” The boy says with frustration.
“Hey, c’mon, it’s fine okay. Ready? Win.”
“Win”
“Gaurd”
“Gaurd.”
“E-um”
“E-um”
“Wingardium”
“Wingardium”
“Nice! Now the second part. Lev.”
“Lev”
“E-o-sa”
“E-o-sa”
“Leviosa”
“Leviosa.”
“Great. Now put it together.”
“Wingardium Leviosa.”
“Perfect, now add the wand movements,” Theo instructs.
Moments later, Carter has a textbook floating through the air with ease.
“So will you date my sister?” Carter asks as he slides his books back into his bag.
Theo chokes on air. It had been a bit over an hour and the two had perfected the boy’s levitating charms and worked on turning a flower into a teacup, so Theo had assumed that their previous conversation was all but forgotten to the younger boy. Apparently not.
“Sorry?” He splutters, looking over at his companion.
“My sister. Will you date her? I saw you get all red earlier so you must like her, at least a little,” the boy says nonchalantly as if pointing out the most obvious thing in the world.
Theo feels the heat rushing to his cheeks once more.
“Look little man, I appreciate the support, but it’s not really entirely up to me to decide. Your sister is taken,” Theo tries to reason.
The boy just shrugs.
“We’ll just have to break em up then. Cormac is dumb as rocks, so it’s not like it’ll be hard,” he replies.
Theo can barely hold in his laughter. Salazar this kid was great.
“You know what Carter, if you can break those two up, yeah, I’ll ask out y/n,” he says, patting the young boy on the back.
“Deal.” Carter says, sticking out his hand. “But don’t think I don’t know that I’m doing you a favor too. I’ve seen you stare at my sister. Oh. And if I need help plotting, you have to help me too.”
Damn this kid was good. A right and proper Slytherin.
“Deal.” Theo replies, shaking the boys hand.
As he’s leaving the library, he hears Carter’s voice ring out.
“Hey Cormac! The village called and said they want their idiot back, so you better get going!”
Salazar he’d really found himself the perfect ally he thought gleefully. With a final snicker, Theo pushed open the library doors and headed back down to the dungeons.
You watch with silent amusement from the entrance of the Great Hall as your younger brother once again made Cormac’s life a living disaster, sending pumpkin juice flying all over the older boy’s robes. For the past week or so, you’d noticed your brother sabotaging your boyfriend’s every move with varying levels of discretion; from tripping him in the halls, causing him to trip into you, to sticking him to his chair in the library during a study date.
At first you’d found it annoying as you’d known your brother didn’t like your boyfriend, but thought he didn’t have to make the boy miserable. But then, as you were passing by what you thought was an empty classroom, you’d heard your brother’s voice whispering to one Theodore Nott.
“Do you think it would be too far to just get him expelled? If I have to see him snog my sister one more time, I’ll release one of Hagrid’s beasts on him myself!” You’d heard Carter exclaim, followed by Theo’s low chuckle.
“Easy there little basilisk. Let’s not get the guy expelled, as aggravating as he might be.”
You’d never really spoken to Theo much in the past, and aside from brief eye contact from across the classroom, you really couldn’t remember interacting with the boy at all. But he’d begun tutoring your brother a few months ago, and Carter would not stop going on about the boy. You knew your brother was quite picky with his friends, and very difficult to impress, so to be so taken with the bloke. You knew Theodore had to be something special. You’d started noticing him more after that, dark and broody, but also sharp witted and fiercely loyal to his group of Slytherins. Not to mention ridiculously handsome.
You subconsciously take a step closer, listening to the two boys.
“I don’t understand why she likes him. He’s so dumb. And mean. He’s always picking on me and my friends when y/n isn’t around. And he thinks he’s so cool because he’s a bloody Gryffindor. I don’t know why she wouldn’t just date you in the first place. You’re the best,” you hear Carter grumble as you feel yourself blush.
You hear Theo laugh again. “Let’s finish this chapter and then you can continue plotting Cormac’s demise okay?” You hear him say.
“Fine. Do you think y/n will break up with him if he smells? I wanna hide a dung beetle in his robes.”
“That’s actually not a bad idea. Now- quill pen into a telescope, let’s go.” Theo says with a snort.
After that, you’d begun to take your brother’s words to heart, noticing Cormac’s rash reactions towards the younger students, and loud outbursts whenever something didn’t go his way. You’d always assumed Carter was just goading at your boyfriend, but maybe he had a point.
Breaking away from your usual group of friends, you divert your attention to your younger brother who was now sitting alone at the long green and silver table on the other side of the hall.
“Morning Carter,” you greet, sitting down next to him at Slytherin table, quiet chatter filling the Great Hall.
“Didn’t want to sit next to your boyfriend covered in pumpkin juice?” Your brother asks innocently, taking a sip from his own pumpkin juice filled glass.
“Mm. I saw.” You respond dryly, side eyeing your brother as you filled your plate.
“It was an accident.”
“I’m sure. So, how are your tutoring sessions going? Mum and dad gonna be on you next holiday?” You ask.
“No way. Theo has me getting top marks on all my assignments. He’s the best,” Carter brags.
“Yeah? You seem to like him. A lot more than Cormac that’s for sure.” You comment.
“Well duh. Theo’s like, one of the coolest blokes in Slytherin, and Cormac is one of the biggest tossers in the whole school. Bit of an insult to even compare Theo to that wank-cloth to be honest.”
You struggle to maintain your composure, holding in your laughter, and before you’re able to probe your brother any further, a plate is plonked down across the table.
“Carter! My favorite little second year!” Enzo says brightly, taking his seat.
“Enzo it’s too early for you to be this cheery. No one is that cheery at 7:30 am let’s reel it in,” Mattheo groans, sitting down on Carter’s other side.
“Theo!” Carter exclaims as the brown haired boy takes his spot across from you.
“What’s up little man, how’d that charms exam go?”
“I got the top score in my class,” your brother responds proudly as you gaze across the table at his tutor.
Theo really was handsome.
Quickly shaking the thoughts from your head, you force yourself to zone back into the conversation.
“I remember being in second year charms,” Mattheo was saying.
“No you don’t, you never showed up,” Enzo snorts.
“Shut up pretty boy.”
“Speaking of second year. Where are your friends in second year?” You interrupt, suddenly realizing that your brother was in fact surrounded by a whole gang of sixth years.
“They’re all scared of them,” Carter shrugs nonchalantly, gesturing towards the boys around you.
Mattheo’s jaw drops open in mock offense.
“I can assure you y/n, we are prime role models for young Slytherins.” He says.
“Didn’t you and Draco just get a detention for sending a hoard of rabid pygmie puffs after a group of firsties?” Carter asks, taking a large bite of his eggs.
“Minor details.”
“Right. Note to self, Theodore is the only one of you to be left alone with Carter. Got it.” You joke, almost missing the tinge of red in Theo’s cheeks as he ducks his head, suddenly very interested in his breakfast.
“That’s fine with me. Theo skips class all the time too, so I won’t be missing much,” Carter says matter of factly as he proceeds to drown his pancakes and eggs in syrup.
Now it’s Theo’s turn to drop his jaw at the young boy.
“Little snitch, you said you wouldn’t bring that up,” he says, throwing a bit of his toast at your younger brother.
Carter just laughs, tossing sticky egg right back.
“That’s on you for trusting a twelve year old, I can’t be held responsible for my actions, I’m just a kid,” he replies, sticking his tongue out at his tutor.
You watch the scene before you play out, a smile growing on your face.
“Oh he’s going to make Slytherin house proud,” Mattheo says with a grin as Theo proceeds to throw a bit of muffin back your brother’s way.
“Woah woah woah there Theodore, leave y/n’s brother alone,” a voice says from behind you.
You turn to see Cormac approaching the table, dried pumpkin juice still staining the front of his shirt.
“Piss off Cormac,” Mattheo tells him, a scowl quickly taking over his face.
“Don’t think I will. Can’t stand by and watch my girlfriend’s brother get bullied,” he says, placing a protective hand on your shoulder. His gesture might’ve been nice a week ago, but at the moment you wanted to hurl.
“Right. Like you weren’t the one who locked Carter in a broom closet the other day you bloody bastard. How’d you like a replay of our little encounter?” Enzo sneers, going to rise from his seat only to be sat back down by Theo.
“I’m sorry, you did what?” You ask, fury rising in you as you whip around to face your boyfriend-for-not-much-longer.
“Relax, it was just some man to man bonding,” Cormac says, giving Carter a pat on the head. Carter smacks his hand away.
“Salazar Cormac, are you always this stupid, or do you just show off when we’re around? Get lost,” Theo says, the annoyance clear in his voice.
“Yeah! If I wanted to hear from an asshole, I’d just fart!” Carter adds, glaring up at the boy with crossed arms.
With a scowl, Cormac sneers at the group of Slytherin boys glaring right back at him before giving your shoulder a tug.
“C’mon then y/n. You shouldn’t be hanging out with this filth anyway,” he practically growls.
You frown at the Gryffindor. What on Earth had made you like this boy? The mix of sheer embarrassment, disgust, and rage sends a shiver down your spine.
“Fuck of Cormac. We are so, so done. And my brother isn’t filth.” You snap, abruptly turning your back on him.
You’re met with a satisfied smirk on Theo’s face as the other boys jeer at Cormac as he stomps away.
“Bloody hell, who let me stay with that tosser for so long?” You mutter, stabbing at one of your sausages.
“Not to say I told you so, but I totally told you so,” Carter says through a mouthful of egg.
“Point very well taken.”
The five of you eat in silence for a moment, but when you look up, you see Carter mouthing something furiously at Theo who looks mortified.
“What’re you two on about?” You ask, breaking the silence as you glance back and forth between the two boys.
“Yeah Theo, what are we on about?” Carter says pointedly at the older boy.
Mattheo and Enzo, now also fully invested, look between Carter and Theodore as well, a sinister grin spreading across Mattheo’s face as realization grows.
“Oh I think I have a good idea of what they’re on about,” he says, taking on a playful tone.
“Don’t you start.” Theo grumbles.
You look blankly between the boys as they seem to be having a silent conversation amongst themselves.
“Well this has been lovely really. So glad you all got a front row seat to the drama that is my life, but I think it’s time I head out,” you say finally when none of the boys speak up.
As if coming to a stalemate, four heads turn to you, and you leave to a chorus of “Bye, y/n’s and see you laters.”
You found yourself once again seated in the library, scribbling away on your DADA assignment. It had been a bit over a week since you’d dropped Cormac and you’d forgotten how bloody nice it was to not be constantly dragged down by him when studying. As you continue to scratch away at your parchment, a loud thud shakes you out of your focus.
“What’s up sissy?” Carter says, his bag joining his large stack of books on the table as he makes himself comfortable in the chair next to you. “Matt over here!” He whisper tells, gesturing frantically to the curly haired boy who was quickly making his way over to you.
“Ah y/n! Perfect timing! Been such a pleasure chatting with you for the last several hours eh?” He says, sliding into the seat across from you.
You furrow your eyebrows in confusion.
“Huh?”
Just then, a miffed looking Theo bursts through the library door, eyes quickly zoning in on Mattheo and your brother.
“What did you two do?” You hiss as the boy begins stalking over.
“Nothing!” Carter says quickly.
You glare at the two boys.
“We might have allegedly started a small fire in the dorms,” Mattheo grumbles, trying to look invested in one of the random textbooks that had been strewn across the table.
“You did what?” You whisper yell across the table.
“Allegedly!” He emphasizes, still not looking up.
“I know it was you two. And also probably Enzo.” Theo states unamusedly, walking up to the table, arms crossed.
“Us? We would never! We’ve been here studying with y/n this whole time!” Mattheo says, looking very offended for someone who was in fact guilty of what Theo was accusing.
“Yeah?” Theo asks. “You’ve been here reading Advanced Love Spells in the third edition?” Theo says, raising an eyebrow as he gestures to the book Mattheo was holding.
“Uh, yeah,” Mattheo responds.
“Really? Because it’s upside down,” Theo replies, snatching the book and turning it right side up before giving it back to Mattheo.
“I enjoy a challenge.” Mattheo retorts, doubling down as he snaps the volume shut.
Theo just dead stares his friend for a moment before sighing and slumping into the last remaining seat.
“I’m not covering for you if Snape asks me who did it.” He says eventually.
“But you won’t snitch?”
Theo glares at his friend.
“Don’t insult me.” He grumbles. Then turning towards Carter. “I’m advising to Snape that I begin tutoring you in potions too before you burn the entire castle down,” he tells him.
Carter just grins bashfully.
“Great! Now that that’s all settled, I’ll be off. Y/n, pleasure as always. Boys.” And with one last nod, and a sarcastic salute, Mattheo is off.
“One day, I’m going to murder him, and drop his body in the Black Lake,” Theo says under his breath.
“Alright. Which one of you is going to explain?” You ask, looking sternly between the two boys you were left with.
Before Theo has the chance to get a word in, Carter shoots up.
“I just remembered that I need to get a book for our tutoring session tonight! Be right back!” He exclaims, running off.
“Well I suppose that answers that,” Theo mutters.
“Are my parents going to get an owl? And if so, how bad will the howler be on a scale of 1-10?”
“I don’t think they’ll be owled. If anything, Matt will take the fall for the three of them,” Theo assures you.
“So what exactly happened?”
“Not entirely sure, but from what I gathered, Matt and Enzo decided that they would be able to help your brother with his potions homework, proceeded to forget about the cauldron sitting on an open flame, and then had the audacity to be surprised when a stack of parchment caught fire because Matt’s side of the dorm is a mess.”
You purse your lips.
“Yeah, that sounds about right. I’m so sorry. You share a room with them don’t you?”
Theo nods his head.
“How’d you know that?”
“Carter hasn’t shut up about you since you started tutoring him.” You reply with an awkward laugh. “Thanks for doing it by the way. And for letting him hang around you lot. He seems so much happier lately.”
A small smile appears on Theo’s face.
“We like having him around. Kid’s a spitfire. And an excellent alibi. Not that we’d ever get him into trouble,” he says quickly.
You let out a light laugh.
“I’m very sure that Carter would find trouble with or without you lot. He tends to go looking for it.”
The two of you fall into a comfortable silence as you wait for Carter to return, and you try to turn your focus back to your assignment. It’s significantly harder to concentrate you find however, with the handsome Slytherin sitting across from you fingering idly through one of the textbooks he’d picked up.
“Someone’s deep in thought.”
Theo’s voice jolts you into the present, and you blush knowing he’d definitely caught you staring.
“Just annoyed with this bloody DADA assignment,” you mumble, hoping he hadn’t realized just how long you’d been staring.
“Did it earlier. It’s a bit of a snooze.”
You nod your head in agreement.
“Would you want to work on it together sometime?” He asks suddenly, words practically tumbling from his mouth.
You look up at the boy in surprise.
“Um, I’m not sure a really need a tutor…” you say trailing off.
Theo gives you a lopsided grin, shaking his head a bit.
“I meant as a study date.”
You feel yourself blush for what feels like the thousandth time.
“Oh. Then yes. I’d like that.” You say, holding back the huge grin that was threatening to take over your face.
“I’m back!” Carter sings, skipping his way back to the table and effectively ending the moment. “Was that enough time for you to ask her out? I can only stare at those dusty shelves for so long before I start going crazy.”
Your jaw drops as you turn to your brother.
“Did you really just set me up?”
“Duh. Christmas is only a few weeks away, and you clearly don’t have good judgment. I can’t risk having to see some stinky loser over break! And Mattheo said Theo’s had a crush on you since forever, so it was really a win for everybody.”
Now it was Theo’s turn to look embarrassed and offended.
“You didn’t need to tell her the last bit,” he hissed at your brother.
Carter just shrugs in response.
“This is what you two get for putting a twelve year old in charge of your love lives.”
“Carter, I don’t think either of us put you in charge of our love life,” you tell your all too satisfied younger brother.
“Well you should’ve. I got better results in a couple weeks than you two did in sixteen years.”
And that’s a wrap! I know I strayed from the rec a tad bit, but hopefully I did your request justice🫶🏽 Anyway, live laugh love Carter🙌🏽
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