16. THIS IS YOUR MISSION SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT

Theodore stood and held his hand out for Elara, and when she took it, he pulled her up and they walked to the Gryffindor tables. She let go of his hand and walked towards where Harry sat and placed both her hands on his shoulders. The younger boy jumped, causing Elara to laugh. "Just me Harry. It's fine."

"El." He sighed in relief, before frowning. "You're mean."

"Thank you." She winked. "Right, I've come here to tell you to stop trying to find boyfriends for me and stop setting me up on blind dates." She directed this towards Fred and George who grinned at her.

"They've been trying to set you up with people?" Hermione asked.

"Oh yeah, them and Bia. They thought it was a good idea. Didn't work out so well for the other guys, trust me." She smirked. "Anyways, I have a boyfriend now, so, not gonna happen anymore."

"Wait- boy- what! El! Who?" George called out after her. She turned around.

"Try and guess Georgie." As she was turning back around to Theodore, Hermione's head moved from Theodore to Elara and she raised an eyebrow. Elara's response was a little smile causing the younger to grin happily.

Elara grabbed Theodore's hand and dragged him out of the hall. As they were walking up the stairs, he spoke. "They've tried setting you up on dates?"

"Yeah, it was terrible." Elara looked at her boyfriend to see the glimmer of a frown appearing on his face. She squeezed his hand. "Should have seen what I did to them. It was beautiful."

Theodore knew she was trying to make him feel better without directly telling him anything. "I wish I had, Lara."

"You know they're never going to guess that we're dating unless someone tells them or they see us kiss."

"Why is that?"

"Because I always hold your hand, and kiss your cheek, and hug you. I'm clingy." She shrugged.

"I wouldn't have it any other way. And you say until they see us kiss?" Theodore smirked.

"Yeah?" The black haired girl had a confused look on her face that disappeared when Theodore swooped down and planted a strong kiss on her lips, causing her eyes to widen momentarily before she returned the kiss gladly.

He pulled away, turned around and smirked at the shocked group that stood at the base of the stairs. Fred and George's mouths were wide open, Lee was grinning as though he knew this was coming, Harry was smiling, and Ron looked gobsmacked. Hermione just looked smug that she had found out before.

Elara rolled her eyes before smacking Theodore's arm. "Cheeky bastard."

The boy only smiled at her, so she wrapped her arm around his and they continued up the stairs, leaving the Gryffindors still at the base of the stairs. The couple separated as Elara headed for Ancient Runes and Theodore headed for Arithmancy.

They later met up for lunch and after eating, they headed outside to the lake and sat leaning against a tree. Theodore had his head down on the grass and his eyes closed, while Elara had pulled out some parchment, a quill and ink to write her father a letter.

Dad,

Hi Dad, I've missed you lots. I assume you knew the Triwizard Tournament was happening this year, and that was why we needed dress robes. That means I won't be coming home for Christmas, considering they're probably going to have some dramatic thing during that time.

Anyways, the real reason I wrote you is to tell you that Theodore asked me to be his girlfriend and I said yes, so now I have a boyfriend.

Love you lots,

El

"Ok I wrote it." Elara stuffed the letter into her bag before she leaned her head against the tree and closed her eyes. "My list. We need to finish it this year, well, most of it, won't have much time next year with N.E.W.T.'s and all."

"Yeah, good idea, and hey, I just remembered, didn't you say you had some Veela in you?" Theodore asked.

"Yeah, but it's not to the point where it really affects people. Draco has some too, considering Aunt Narcissa has it. Guess it runs in the family, but I'm fairly sure my dad doesn't have any."

"Thank Merlin he doesn't. I've heard stories about how your father was a player back when he was in Hogwarts, imagine how much more he would have been had he had the Veela gene."

"Oh yeah, I'd have 10 other siblings." Elara smirked. Then, she rummaged through her bag and took out the last and her quill. She dipped it in ink and then crossed out number 16. Fall in love.

"Which one did you just cross out."

"Number 16, fall in love." She smiled down at him, and he opened his eyes, leaned up, kissed her and then dropped his head again.

"I think we can complete a few of them easily, but others will take a bit of work."

"A bit of work is an understatement, darling. You want to ride a bloody dragon."

"Will you do it with me?" Elara tucked the paper back into her bag safely before she returned to running her fingers through his hair.

"Bloody no."

"Fine, but I have an errand to run tonight, so, I won't be sleeping in the dorm."

Theodore opened his eyes and sat up, looking Elara directly in the eye. She had a guilty smile on her face. "Elara Black what are you going to do?"

"Just going to spend the night in the Forbidden Forest, not a big deal, I'll be alright."

Theodore groaned in exasperation and dropped his head on her shoulder. "You're going to be the death of me."

"I'm sorry Theo." Elara fingers played with the hairs at the base of his neck. "I love you."

"I love you too." He stayed there for a while. "Please be careful Lara, I don't like seeing you hurt."

I promise I'll try my best to avoid danger, but I can't promise you anything. It's the Forbidden fucking forest."

"Stop, I won't let you go if you keep talking like that."

"Ok, ok, keeping my mouth shut."

And so, later that night, Elara dressed in some thick tights, a pajama shirt, and threw on a hoodie overtop. She grabbed a blanket and after kissing Theodore goodnight, she cast a disillusionment charm on herself and made her way out of the castle and to the forest.

She snuck across the grounds, hidden under her charm, with her wand in one hand and her blanket in her other hand. She made it into the Forest, and decided not to wander too far in, and so she stayed where she could still see the castle.

Elara picked a sturdy looking tree, and dropped her blanket on the ground, placed her wand in her mouth, and began climbing. Once she was high enough that nothing could disturb her, but not too high that if she fell, she would get hurt, she sat upright, and flicked her wand.

"Wingardium Leviosa." Her blanket floated up to her, and she plucked it out of her air and wrapped it around herself. Then, she muttered a charm to stick herself to the tree branch until she said the counter charm. That way, she wouldn't go tumbling to the ground in the middle of the night.

Then, she stuffed her wand into her boot, leaned against the trunk of the tree, and closed her eyes, hoping for some sleep.

After an hour or so, she opened them once more. "Looks like I won't be sleeping tonight." The girl muttered to herself. She took her wand out, unstuck herself and then climbed back down to the ground, with the blanket on her shoulders. Then she sat down on the forest floor and leaned her back against the trunk of the tree.

She made sure she still had the disillusionment charm on her, before getting her wand out and practicing some spells for part of the night. She eventually got up and walked around a little, before sitting once more and doing spells again.

When the sun finally began to rise, Elara walked back to the forest line, gazed up at the castle and sighed in relief. She did it, spent the night in the Forbidden Forest, and now she could tick number 1 off her list.

She decided to walk back to the dorms, maybe get an hour or so of sleep before she needed to be up for classes, and so that's what she did. She walked back into the castle, all the way down to the dungeons and entered the Slytherin common room.

When she arrived at Theodore's dorm door, she removed the charm and slowly opened the door, wincing slightly when it creaked. She walked in, shut the door and climbed into the bed beside her boyfriend.

"Lara?" He grumbled, opening his eyes wearily. Once he saw the black headed girl beside him, he closed them again and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.

"Mission success." She yawned. "I need a nap." But before he could respond, she had already drifted off to sleep, and he smiled lightly and closed his eyes, going back to sleep.