A/N: Meh, not sure that I did Daphne and Theo justice, but I did try :/

Drabble VII

Title: Standing by You

Pairing: TheoDaphne

Rating: K+

Summary: True love is when you stand by a certain person, no matter what. Theo shouldn't have doubted that one bit.

VII – TheoDaphne.

"Are you okay?"

He took one look at her face, and decided against lying; and what good would it be, lying to her, when she could see through him perfectly, anyways? "No," he sighed, rubbing his temple. "No, sweetheart, I'm not okay."

She kept her hand on the doorframe, an eyebrow raised. "Tell me," she demanded, her tone leaving no place for disagreement. She held up a wand. "Or I'll-"

"Never mind." Sometimes, he berated himself for choosing to move in with a Slytherin girl; everyone knew that they were mistresses of blackmail. Then again, he had been Slytherin, himself; his skills were more than a match for hers. Today, though, he wasn't exactly in the mood for a blackmail-fest.

He looked up at her, his dark eyes tired, the shadows more pronounced than ever. "His trial," he started slowly, hesitantly, "is today afternoon."

She seemed to sag. "Him?"

"Him." He sighed again, burying his face in his hands. "And I know that the lawyer said that we had a chance, sweetheart, but – well, I have a feeling we're going to lose." Tracing a circle with his finger in the aged wood of the kitchen table, he continued steadily, "You know what that means – he'll be in prison for life."

She approached, putting her hand on his shoulder. It felt cool, smooth, relaxing; to him, it felt like home. "Malfoy got off," she murmured, "and he did-"

He shook his head numbly, not even bothering to look at her. "Father did worse things than Lucius," he muttered. "He told me, himself. There's a specific hierarchy in the Dark Lord's ranks. Lucius was one of his spies, high in the ranks. Father was one of the lower henchmen who specialised in – well, the dirty work."

She hesitated. What could she say, really? Everything that he had thrown to her was one hundred percent right; it was perfectly logical for a traitor to be punished less than a serial killer. Plus, their lawyer was nothing but crappy. "Well," she started, nuzzling his neck with the soft skin of her cheek, "I'll stand by you either way, Theo, be assured of that."

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