Maybe it was the woody perfume you left behind when you walked among the students, or the way your delicate fingers held your wand every time you explained something in class, or maybe the way you looked sitting at your desk, but there was something inexplicable that made Theodore feel attracted to you.

According to Pansy—one of his friends who believed herself to be an expert in Muggle psychology—he was attracted to older women because he had experienced the loss of his mother at an early age. But that wasn't it, Theo knew very well that it wasn't that, it was you. There was something that the young Italian did not find in any of the girls his age at Hogwarts, something that he only found in his deep and firm gaze.

He had tried as hard as ever to have good grades only in the subject you taught: Senior Potions. Theodore burned his eyelashes to receive little notes written in red ink every time you corrected the essays he prepared for you. His friends teased him that he had become a bookworm.

“I don't care about the grades, I just want her to notice me.” He had told Blaise with a winning smile in the dark Slytherin common room. Every day he came up with a new plan for you to see him.

You were the only teacher who was ever interested in him and his problems—since you once found him smoking and offered to listen to him. With that simple gesture on your part, he became obsessed. He knew he had to pay attention to girls his age, but he didn't want to, he only wanted the attractive Potions teacher.

That's why when he saw his failed exam with a small note that said “come see me after class” he didn't hesitate for a second to get up from his seat to go talk to you as soon as the classroom was empty. “Did you want to see me, Professor?” he asked you with the exam in his hand and a calm voice while you read some essays from other students.