CHAPTER SEVEN.
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Theo
Please come to the Manor at your earliest convenience. We shall drink to your success.
Draco
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Theo frowned down at the small piece of parchment that he held in his hands. His success? He didn't know what he was supposed to have done, but if the note hadn't borne his name, he would have thought it a mistake. What was Draco talking about?
He had no desire to return to that Manor, having seen the horrors that had taken place there, but he knew that his mind wouldn't rest until he had been to hear what he was supposed to have achieved. Sighing, he put the note on the dining table and picked up his cup of coffee just as Harvey walked into the room with an exhausted looking Hermione behind him.
"Morning." She grumbled, smiling at Harvey when he handed her a cup of wonderful caffeine.
"Morning." He greeted, "Sleep well?"
Hermione snorted and shook her head as she cradled her coffee in both hands, closing her eyes as she took a sip. He watched as she pulled out a chair and fell heavily into it.
"What's that?" Hermione asked, pointing at the note from Draco.
Theo shrugged and slid it across the table to her, watching a frown form on her face as she read it.
"What have you done?" She asked as she slid it back to him.
"I don't know." He replied with a frown of his own, "But he obviously seems to think I've done something. Will you be alright if I visit him this afternoon?"
"I'm sure I'll cope." She chuckled, "Did I see a pool down the corridor where my bedroom is?"
"Yes." Theo snorted, "Olympic sized, whatever that means. Thinking of going for a swim?"
"I love swimming." She told him with a smile, "Haven't had the chance to go in a long time."
"Well, have at it. I never use it, so you might as well." Theo shrugged and she frowned at him. "I can't swim."
"Really?" She gasped, "I could teach you, if you wanted?"
"Maybe." Theo chuckled after a pause.
He finished his coffee, instructed Hermione that if she needed anything then she could call for Harvey and left to get dressed before flooing to the Manor he had so far managed to avoid.
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Theo exited the fireplace into a huge panelled room and was immediately assaulted by haunting bad memories of the atrocities that had taken place in it. He could picture the muggle girls, raped and tortured before being disposed of like they were worth nothing to anyone. The death eaters punished for their mistakes at the end of a wand.
He took a deep breath and rested his hand against the mantle to steady himself, trying to focus on his reason for being here. He heard footsteps echo behind him and turned to find the familiar grin of his blonde haired friend.
"Theo!" He greeted cheerfully, "You are a genius my friend!"
"Sorry?" Theo asked, thoroughly confused.
He watched as Draco crossed to one of the sideboards and picked up a newspaper before returning to him and holding it up in front of Theo's face. He groaned.
HERMIONE GRANGER: WHERE IS SHE?
The headline screamed out of him and his heart started to race in his chest. He reached out a shaking hand and pulled the newspaper out of his friends hand, glaring down at it as he read further.
The article went on to say that she had last been seen making a hasty exit from Weasleys funeral a week earlier before she was spotted at the Three Broomsticks. With him. He was named as a party of interest in the case of her dissappearance. Shit.
"This is bullshit." He muttered, handing the paper back to a still grinning Draco.
"You should be honoured!" Draco exclaimed, "Tell me, how did you do it?"
"Do what, Draco?" Theo sighed, leaning back against the mantle for support.
"Well did you Avada her? Or is she chained up in your dungeons?" Draco laughed and Theo gawped at him.
"WHAT?!" He yelled, "Have you lost your fucking mind?!"
"Aw come on, man. Tell me, what are you planning for the mudblood bi-"
Theo say red and flew at Draco, feeling his fist connect with bone as Draco cried out in surprise and pain. He watched as his friend fell to his knees, clutching his face and glaring at Theo through cold, hard eyes.
"What the fuck!?" Draco exclaimed and Theo loomed over him, furious.
"Do NOT use that word in front of me." He growled and Draco laughed.
Pushing himself up from his knees, Draco flicked his own wand towards his face and Theo heard a crack as he fixed his nose. Draco turned to him, his eyes filled with anger.
"You never stopped me from using it before. Gone blood traitor, have you?" Draco snickered and Theo glared at him.
"You are more and more like your father every day, Draco." Theo muttered, shaking his head sadly.
"And? What's wrong with that?" Draco snapped, offended.
"What isn't wrong with it?" Theo chuckled ruefully, "He beats his wife and uses unforgivables against his own flesh and blood. Have you forgotten how much sick pleasure your father got from seeing people tortured?"
"Do not bad mouth my father, Theo, I'm warning you." Draco snarled and Theo shrugged.
"Your father is as sick a bastard as mine was." Theo said, "And I'm clever enough to know that his beliefs were bullshit."
"Bullshit?" Draco laughed, "Mate, are you telling me that you never enjoyed that rush of power that came from aiming your wand at a mud-"
"Draco," Theo hissed in warning, "And no. Every face of every person I ever pointed my wand at is permanently etched in my mind, haunting me. I have never, now will I ever, enjoy hurting people who do not deserve it."
"You're weak, Theo." Draco told him, his voice cold. "Our fathers always said it, but now I see it." Theo shrugged.
"Rather that than insane." He told the blonde. "Goodbye, Draco."
Theo turned and plucked some powder from it's jar in the mantle, throwing it into the flames and stepping in. Before he could speak his destination, though, he heard Dracos voice calling out to him over the roar of the flame.
"Keep the mudblood bitch safe, if I find her I will do the job."
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Theo stepped out of the floo in his bedroom and roared as he pulled his hand back and pounded it into the wall, drawing blood. Seeing the red stain against the white wall, he fell forward and rested his forehead against the cold plaster, breathing heavily.
"Theo?" Came Hermione's timid voice from the door and he turned his head to see her wringing her hands nervously. "Are you… Are you okay?"
Theo couldn't talk. He crossed to his bed and sat heavily on the edge, dropping his head into his hands and shaking his head. He heard her soft footsteps approaching him and looked up when her feet appeared next to his own. She was looking down at him concernedly. He watched as she dropped to her knees between his knees and gently took his bleeding hand.
"What happened?" She murmured as she pulled her wand out of her sleeve and he watched as his hand healed under it.
"He's insane." Theo croaked and cleared his throat, "He wanted to congratulate me for… Well for doing something to you."
Hermione gasped and he dropped his head again, concentrating his vision on the floor between them. He was ashamed that people he would once had considered his closest friends would be so evil. That he had been a part of that, however reluctantly.
"How did he connect us?" She asked shakily.
"Prophet." Theo grunted, "Front page, I'm the last person who was seen with you, and now I'm a suspect in your disappearance."
"Oh, Theo. I'm sorry." She murmured, "I'll write a letter to Harry. Hopefully that will set the record straight. Can I… Can I tell him where I am?"
Theo nodded and she smiled gently at him before getting up and rushing from the room and Theo flopped back, exhausted, on his bed.
