Pairing; Daphne/Theodore. Set during the Deathly Hallows, whilst the Trio is off searching for Horcruxes.

Written for the Matchmakers, Oh, Matchmakers Competition, and the Wand Wood Competition, category Cypress.

Word Count: 466

"No bloody way. He's vile, Pansy," snapped Daphne, readjusting her green tie in the ornate mirror settled in the dormitory bathroom.

"Well, who else? Unless you'd like to snog some Mudblood," replied Pansy in a lofty tone, putting extra emphasis on Mudblood.

Daphne wrinkled her nose and turned to look at her friend, who was flicking sparks of yellow light at the sink lazily. "Obviously not," she scoffed. "But not Theodore. He's vile, Pansy, and just because you think you got Malfoy wrapped around you does not mean I need to be suffocated by some git."

Pansy rolled her eyes at her friends antics - if she says she hates him, he's disgusting, then why did Pansy herself catch Daphne looking at him out of the corner of her eye during Dark Arts? "Really, though? Aren't your mother and father expecting you to have a pureblood Slytherin marriage? Who else could it be with... Crabbe? Goyle, perhaps?" jeered Pansy.

"Neither," replied Daphne hotly. "None of those three, and if anyone's going to marry Malfoy's cronies, it'll be Bulstrode."

"Just give it a try. Seriously. If you're not interested then, that's your problem."

"Why," huffed Daphne. "would I be interested in him?"

"You can't deny that he isn't good looking," said Pansy smartly.

Daphne opened her mouth to retort, but finding she couldn't speak, she closed it promptly.

It wasn't a lie that Pansy spoke - Theodore Nott was quite handsome, in fact, and Daphne knew very well her parents would approve; he was a pureblood, too, and they weren't related (surprised how many fourth cousins marry each other, Daphne thought).

"Are you going to talk to him?" Pansy prompted. Lately, Daphne felt like wringing the girls' neck - she could never, ever shut up about her and Theodore.

"No, go away, I'm eating," replied Daphne irritably, and kept shoveling her breakfast plate into her mouth in a rather unfeminine manner, seated at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall the next morning.

Pansy shrugged and returned to her own breakfast. A few minutes later, Daphne recieved a sharp pain on her thigh, realized Pansy had pinched her.

For good reason, too, as none other than Theodore had sat across from her, face expressionless. "Parkinson, Greengrass," he greeted stiffly, and Daphne nodded towards him in return.

After a few minutes of unsure silence, he looked Daphne straight in the eye. "Next Hogsmeade weekend, I need to visit a few places. I was wondering if you'd like to accompany me."

She felt another searing pain in her thigh (Pansy again, no doubt) and from both unsure feelings and Pansy's insistence that they were soul mates, she heard herself give a tentative, "Yes."

His straight expression didn't change, but Pansy swore there was a new twinkle in his eye.