The forest was quiet in the way that felt intentional, like it had swallowed sound just for them. Autumn clung to the trees in shades of dark gold and rust, leaves carpeting the ground in a way that softened each step. Far from the castle and the hum of classes, this part of the Forbidden Forest felt suspended in its own slow breath. They’d wandered for a while before settling at the base of an old tree, the bark rough and flaking beneath them. Theodore sat with his knees loosely drawn up, one arm draped over them while the other held the half-burned cigarette between his fingers. Smoke curled faintly around his head, clinging to his curls and mingling with the scent of cold moss and firewood.

She sat close, not pressed to him but near enough to feel his warmth. They didn’t speak, hadn’t for minutes now, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. It never was. Their friendship had formed in silences, in knowing glances, in things that went unsaid. There was something in the way she looked at him sometimes that felt like a question, but she never asked it. He passed the cigarette to her without a word. She took it, fingers brushing his just slightly. Then she leaned her head back against the trunk and exhaled slowly, watching the smoke rise through the light. Theodore’s eyes flicked to her for a moment, quick, unreadable, before he looked back to the forest. Time moved slowly out here.

“Look,” she said, her voice soft, tilting her chin toward a clearing between the trees. “Thestral.” He followed her gaze. It stood at the edge of the light, tall, skeletal, dark as shadow. Its leathery wings folded close to its sides, head low as it grazed. Another one lingered just behind it, mostly hidden. There was no shock in his expression. No pause. "Yeah,” he said quietly, cigarette now between his lips. “I can see it too.” He didn’t turn to look at her. Just kept watching the creature, a flicker of something passing over his face, something hollow, restrained, familiar. His jaw tightened, then loosened again. Smoke drifted from his mouth into the cold air, curling upward and vanishing like breath. His eyes stayed on the Thestral.