4. Chapter
It was late afternoon when Daphne woke up. Her body ached and her mouth felt dry. Carefully, she tried to move first her arms and then her legs. They were stiff and sore but they didn't hurt as much as she had expected them to.
"Thank Merlin, you're finally awake."
She nearly jumped at the sound – Theo, who must have been sitting next to the bed the whole time, came into view.
"I – I thought I'd lost you", he said, his voice breaking and eyes watering.
Daphne wanted to answer him, tell him that everything was alright, but she couldn't get the words out. Her throat was too dry and so she began coughing. Theo understood immediately and rushed out of the room to get her a glass of water.
"Here you go", he said when he returned and passed her the glass. Daphne gulped the cool water eagerly.
"Thanks", she said while handing him back the now empty glass, "You didn't get hurt, did you?"
She gave him a concerned once-over. Theo laughed and then suddenly started to cry.
"What's wrong?", Daphne asked alarmed. Before she could say anything else he grabbed her face with both hands and crashed his lips hard onto hers. She returned his desperate kiss with so much need it made her dizzy.
"Never ever scare me like that again", he breathed between their kisses.
He kissed her again and then looked her deep in the eyes.
"This might not be the most romantic way to ask you this, Daphne – but I thought you were dying. And that's when I realized that without you my life would mean nothing. I love you more than anything else and that's why – why I wanted to ask if – if – will you marry me?"
For a moment Daphne was speechless. She knew he loved her but she had never imagined that his love for her was this deep.
Theo, getting nervous due to her silence, drew back his hands.
"I'm sorry", he stuttered, avoiding her gaze, "It was a stupid idea to ask you like this -"
"No, Theo!", she grabbed his hand and he looked back into her eyes, "I do. I do."
He grinned and bent his head to kiss her again, but she stopped him.
"I have one condition though", Daphne closed her eyes for a moment and then said, "Remember when I asked you to get out? From all this Death Eater shit?" - he nodded - "Well, that's my term. Get out and I'll marry you."
"Daphne", he tried to calm himself from a rising panic, "You can't just quit being a Death Eater. You know that. There's nowhere to run. They would find me. Find us. They'd torture us, they'd rape you before my eyes and then, if we're lucky, they'd finally kill us."
"There – there is a way", she whispered, not daring to look into his eyes, "I spoke to Draco."
"You did what?", Theo exclaimed incredulously.
"I asked him to talk to the Order", she continued, meeting his gaze again, tears streaming down her face now, "They agreed to take you in, hide you from the Dark Lord."
Theo was quiet for a moment.
"Alright", he finally agreed, "If that's the only way for you to marry me, we'll run and hide with them."
"Not we, you", she choked, "I can't leave my sister. They'd kill her."
"Daphne, you can't be serious", Theo grabbed her face again, his own eyes still filled with tears, "Do you have any idea what will happen to you if you stay?"
"Yeah, you just explained it to me", Daphne answered, "But if I stay, my sister is safe. She doesn't mean anything to you, they wouldn't touch her. But if I go with you, they would."
"How do you expect me to go, knowing they do Merlin knows what to you!", Theo shouted furiously, withdrawing himself from her and pacing the room.
Daphne sighed and slowly lifted herself out of bed. She stumbled a bit and Theo immediately rushed forward and put his hands around her waist to steady her.
"It's the only choice we have", Daphne said, giving him a stern look, "If you stay, you will get killed. We both know that."
"And if I go, you're gonna pay the price for it", he snapped.
"I might have a plan", Daphne said, furrowing her brows.
Theo shook his head before he finally sighed. "Alright. I'll owl Draco to come over."
"This is insane!", Theo cried out for the third time now, shaking his head to prove his point.
"It could work, you know", murmured Draco, his brows furrowed and still deep in thought.
"Let me get this straight – you want me to fight and injure my own girlfriend and then you'll erase all other memories of us, so when the Dark Lord uses Legilimens on her all he'll see will be me fighting Daphne", Theo summarized incredulously, "And then we just hope that he buys it? You're mad – both of you!"
"Do you have a better idea?", Draco sighed.
"Yes", Theo snapped, "Daphne comes with me!"
"I already told you I won't leave Astoria behind!", shouted Daphne.
"Then we'll take her with us", Theo brought his hands up in desperation.
Draco shook his head. "The Order agreed to take you in, no one else."
"Theo, please", Daphne begged, "Please!"
"Let's pretend for a second that I actually run and hide with the Order and the Dark Lord believes our story and nothing happens to you – then what?"
"Then we wait until Potter kills him", Daphne said.
"Which could take years!", Theo barked, "And what – Merlin forbid – if he doesn't make it? What if Potter can't defeat the Dark Lord?"
"Then we die", she whispered.
Theo gave a dry laugh. "And where does the marriage part come in?"
"Marriage?", Draco gaped at his two friends.
"I proposed", Theo casually filled him in, "Why do you think I'm even willing to have this conversation?"
"When the hell did that happen?", Draco exclaimed in surprise.
"About an hour ago", his friend answered.
"Boys, could we please focus on the main problem here?", Daphne sighed exasperated.
"You realize of course that we won't see each other again until Potter wins this war?", Theo asked hoarsely, "Which – like I mentioned before – could take years."
"Yes", Daphne gulped, "But I'd rather not see you for a while than see you dead."
"She has a point, mate", Draco agreed, "You had too much failures in the last couple of months. It won't take long before the Dark Lord will want to get rid of you."
Theo was silent for a couple of minutes. Then he sighed and threw his hands up in surrender.
"Fine. I give up. Let the Order know I'll take their offer."
"Thank you", Daphne breathed and then threw herself at him, crying, "Thank you so much."
In the meantime, Draco took a piece of parchment from the living room table, scribbled a short note and then fastened it on the leg of Theo's owl.
They were all sitting nervously on the couch in the living room when the flames of the fireplace finally turned green. They immediately jumped up, at the same moment as Blaise Zabini emerged out of the flames.
"That's who you've been contacting?!", Theo exclaimed astonished.
"Oh shut it, Theo", Blaise rolled his eyes before his gaze darted toward Daphne, "It's good to see you." - he walked over and pulled her into a hug - "I'm glad you're okay."
"It's good to see you, too, Blaise", Daphne answered and breathed in his familiar scent.
"Yes, yes, we're all happy to see him", Theo snapped, "Now take your hands off of my girl, Zabini!"
"Wow, someone's in a mood here", Blaise smirked while letting go of the blonde.
"Stop it, both of you!", Draco barked impatiently, "You're behaving like little children. We have a job to do – so, Theo, if you want Daphne to be safe while you're gone it's time to play along now."
"Fine", Theo muttered.
"Alright", the blond sighed before addressing Blaise, "We came up with a plan."
He filled Blaise in and then turned to Theo and Daphne.
"You two have to stage an argument. Theo, you want to run – Daphne, you try convincing him to stay. After that, Theo will hurl you into the wall with a simple spell, leaving you unconscious for a couple of minutes. That's all we need for it to look real."
"This is ridiculous!", Theo complained, "I can't hurt her!"
"Imagine who will hurt her if this plan fails", Blaise snapped at him, "If what I heard is true, Warrington will be the first one to claim her."
Theo's face turned red and Daphne had to interfere before he exploded.
"He's right", she said softly, "You want to protect me? Well, that's what you have to do."
He closed his eyes for a moment.
"Okay."
And so they tried to play their parts as best as they could. After the fourth time, Draco and Blaise were finally satisfied with their work.
"I feel slightly dizzy now", Daphne winced and held her head, "After crashing into a wall for four times."
"Alright", Draco sighed, "Time to say goodbye. When you're gone, I'll erase her memories. After the Dark Lord's interrogation I'll give it back to her."
None of them took notice of what Draco said. Daphne threw her arms around Theo's neck and began to cry.
"I love you", she whispered, "And I'll miss you so much."
"I love you, too", he answered, cradling her head against his chest, "Stay safe."
And then he kissed her, hard and passionately.
Then he let go of her and followed Blaise to the fireplace. Before stepping through he turned around toward Draco.
"Promise me to keep an eye on her", he said, his eyes pleading, "Promise me!"
"I promise."
And then he disappeared in the flames.
Draco looked at Daphne who was still crying.
"Now comes the hard part", he said seriously, "Are you ready?"
"Yes."
"Let's pray that it'll work", Draco took out his wand and pointed it at Daphne, "Obliviate!"
Theo stood awkwardly in the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place. The room was empty except for Zabini, Potter and the youngest Weasley boy.
He had arrived about an hour ago, had had to endure instructions after instructions from all the Order people and had then finally been shown to his bedroom which he would have to share with Zabini. Most people here didn't seem to know how to react toward him, the only ones who were actually friendly to him were Potter and Granger, to his surprise.
He was about to say something, not longer able to stand the silence, when the door opened and Cormac McLaggen walked in.
Both men froze.
"You", Theo finally growled and was about throw himself at his former school fellow, but Blaise held him back.
"Calm down", he said, "I've already broken his nose for what he did."
"Just look at him!", McLaggen shouted, "I can't believe we let him stay here – just look at how aggressive he his!"
"Cormac -", Harry started, but Theo cut him off.
"You nearly killed my fiancé!", he screamed outraged.
"Fiancé?", Blaise echoed in surprise but no one took notice of him.
"It would have been fair", McLaggen roared, "You killed my aunt! You and your father -"
"I didn't have a choice!", Theo screamed in return. Blaise was still holding him back, while Potter and Weasley exchanged a helpless glance.
"Should we get Lupin or something?", Weasley murmured, but Potter only shrugged his shoulders.
"We always have a choice", spat McLaggen in the meantime, "You could have chosen not to become a Death Eater."
"You think I chose being a Death Eater?!", Theo yelled furiously, "I became a Death Eater to protect my family and my girl! I was born into a Death Eater family – what do you think would've happened to my mother and father if I had refused? They would've been slaughtered – and then they would have done things to Daphne I don't even wanna say out loud. So how about you shut your fucking mouth and use your brain before you go around judging people for their actions when you have now idea what they had to endure!"
A deadly silence followed.
"I – I didn't know", McLaggen stuttered.
"You should go", said Potter and his former class mate was only too eager to obey. Blaise let go of Theo, who was breathing hard, and both of them sat down.
"So – fiancé, huh?", Blaise eventually asked.
"Yes", Theo answered, "So keep your hands off of her!"
Blaise groaned. "Oh for fuck's sake, Theo! It was years ago and you two had broken up when Daphne and I had Sex!"
Theo was about to respond when Weasley suddenly snorted.
"Looks like you have a thing for ex girlfriends, Zabini."
Theo raised his eyebrows and looked from Blaise to Weasley, who looked murderous.
"Hermione and I had … a rough time", Weasley answered Theo's unspoken question, "about six months ago. We fought a lot and one night it was just too much – so we broke up. Two days later I caught them both in the act."
"Oh please, that's a totally different story!", Blaise argued, "Daphne and I were best friends back then! I wanted to cheer her up – so we got drunk and one thing led to another. After that our friendship was broken."
"Didn't look like it earlier that day", Theo murmured.
"We still like each other", Blaise sighed exasperated, "Whereas Granger was – sorry, Weasley – but she was just some random hot girl I fucked. End of story."
"I wanted to get her back!", Ron shouted and jumped up from his seat, "You destroyed everything!"
"Alright, I've had enough for today", Harry finally snapped, "Could you please stop? Blaise, with me, we're supposed to meet Lupin at the safe house. Ron, take Ginny and check for any news about Tonks – Nott, make yourself useful and clean up here."
Great, Theo thought, from Death Eater to cleaning lady.
His time at Headquarters was going to be fucking fantastic.