Beta Love: Freya Ishtar


A Promise Unspoken

By Kittenshift17


CHAPTER SEVEN


Thorfinn found Antonin watching him from his bed in the dungeons several hours later. He had his arms folded over his chest and he was reclining on his bed, watching and waiting for Thorfinn to finish bathing and to be on the way to bed. It had taken him hours to get his essay finished. Hours of sitting in the library with a certain little lioness perched on the cushion between his legs and reclining against his chest as though she belonged there.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Antonin asked without preamble. Their fellow seventh years were already asleep, having turned in much earlier.

Thorfinn could see Pucey's arm hanging off the edge of his bed, one leg thrown free of the sheets. Across the room, snoring obnoxiously, Thorfinn could also see Bulstrode's massive form. The other three boys sharing his dormitory all had their curtains drawn or were yet to retire to their beds for the night. Shaking his head at his fellow Slytherins, Thorfinn focused his attention on his best friend, towel-drying his hair with one hand and making two of the gold beads tangled in it click together repeatedly.

He didn't have to be a genius to know what Antonin was referring to.

Granger.

Granger and her beads and the understanding they'd come to.

"Yeah, I do," Thorfinn nodded his head slowly.

"You've got a bloody understanding with her?" Antonin demanded. "Have you reciprocated? How long have you been wearing those things?"

He nodded his head towards the four beads now at home in his hair.

"She put two in it weeks ago," Thorfinn shrugged. "And I acknowledged it. Haven't reciprocated yet, but I mean to. Waiting for an excuse to give her something without making her suspicious immediately. If she keeps up with editing my bloody homework, I'll give her something as a show of gratitude for getting me through my bloody exams."

"Fuck!" Antonin cursed,]. "Weeks? You've had an understanding with the witch for weeks and you didn't fucking tell me? She's a filthy mudblood, Thor!"

"It's not like I'm actually going to go through with it, you idiot," Thorfinn rolled his eyes. "She's going to learn what it's like to have her life ruined, I get my revenge, and I can get on with shit without my folks nagging me."

"You…" Antonin began hotly before he stopped, "You're not actually going to marry her?"

"What the fuck do you think?" Thorfinn scoffed. "It's just an understanding. It'll drive anyone who knows what's what in our world away from her and she'll find herself screwed over when she learns what else I've done to exact my revenge. Dropping her at the end of all this mess will only hurt her prospects further."

"And until then? Those types of arrangements come with fidelity clauses and shit, mate. Violating them has unsavoury effects, alerts the other person, makes them volatile and cranky. What are you going to do when she's old enough to start screwing around and you fly off the handle and kill someone? You already have fuck all control over your temper. "

"She's twelve," Thorfinn rolled her eyes. "And she won't know about that. Hell, she won't even know about the understanding unless she looks it up at some later date. Or unless it's still in effect by the time someone else tries to form an arrangement with her or tries to bloody marry her."

"Do those kinds of things even work that young? Magic is about intent, if she doesn't know what it's supposed to represent in our culture, she won't have the intent to spark the bond," Antonin mused.

"Oh, it works," Thorfinn told him, smirking and tossing his towel on top of his trunk. "Every time she puts another bead in my hair, I can feel it strengthening the bond that's already forming."

"How are you going to reciprocate? When we graduate she's not going to keep sending you beads or be putting shit in your hair. And if you keep in contact with her once we're out of here, she's going to think that you're playing her, especially if you ever asked her for more beads. The bond will fizzle out if you don't renew it often enough with physical touch, additional trinkets or regular meetings."

"I'll send her things anonymously," Thorfinn shrugged, "Birthday gifts and that sort of shit. Something new every year will uphold it until I can unveil how thoroughly I intend to fuck her over. Until she grows up old enough that I can actually fuck her, too. She'll think she has an admirer and she doesn't know the meaning of being given jewellery in our culture. She had no clue how serious a thing she'd done when she put the first bead in my hair. Shrugged it off with a "They're just beads," comment."

"And if she doesn't wear them? You won't know if she does or doesn't unless you stalk her."

"You think I'm an idiot, mate?" Thorfinn chuckled. "Quincey knew what had happened the minute Granger put the bloody things in. She's giving me daily reports on every move that little lion cub makes. She and the Potter kid are apparently trying to get their hands on something called the Philosopher's Stone."

"Bloody hell," Antonin sighed, shaking his head slowly though a cruel grin was crawling across his face. "You mean to hijack her entire life, don't you?"

Thorfinn smirked widely.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

"Damn it, Entwhistle, you're not even trying to help!" Thorfinn snarled a week later as he and his friends attempted to pull their senior prank to tick number ninety-three off all of their lists.

"Fuck you, Rowle!" Entwhistle growled in return from the other side of the statue they were all attempting to levitate into the middle of the teacher's lounge. The biggest statue they'd located within the school – a wretchedly ugly piece shaped like the terrible spawn between a troll and a Thestral. Something, incidentally, which had already been dropped on Entwhislte's foot more than once.

"All of you jam the arguing and hurry the fuck up before we get caught," Antonin snapped. "If we get expelled when I've only got three Merlin cursed things left on my fucking list, I'm going to personally murder the whole lot of you."

"Bite me, Antonin," Pucey snapped, having been put in a sour mood by also have the heavy statue dropped on his foot.

Some shoddy healing spells later and they had been on the move again but the bastard was pouting.

"I'll bloody well start with you, Pucey, you fucking pussy!" Antonin snarled in retort.

Thorfinn laughed as he listened to his friends argue, levitating the statue along the corridor. They'd had to enlist the assistance of a few first years, namely the kid of Nott and the Malfoy brat, to play lookouts for them. They'd decided on a three part prank. Move the enormous, hideous statue into the teacher's lounge; rig up the Great Hall with a surprise for everyone at breakfast tomorrow that would activate the minute Professor Flitwick – always the last to the breakfast table – began eating his porridge; and enlisting the assistance of the Bloody Baron and Peeves to stage a fake-murder scene at the bottom of the moving staircases.

While his friends continued to argue with one another, all of them cranky with this part of the prank, Thorfinn heard the sound of the kid of Nott arguing with someone.

"Shut up, you mob of cunts," Thorfinn hissed. "Someone's coming."

"Oi! Damn it, Granger! Where do you think you're going? I just told you that you can't go down this corridor. You're going to regret it. Peeves is down there and he's got his hands on some fake-blood leftover from Halloween, combined it with all that candy from Halloween that what's-her-name tried to give to Rowle and he's covering people in both. You've heard the tar and feather bit, right? Same concept."

"Theodore Nott, do you actually believe me thick enough to buy that?" the bossy voice of none other than Thorfinn's little lioness could be heard in response. "You're covering for someone, which means you're trying to keep me from going down here where I'll likely find someone breaking the rules."

"What? You don't think I'm a good enough person to stop poor, unsuspecting girls such as yourself from ending up covered in blood and lolly-wrappers?" Theo argued in retort, his voice smooth and even.

The kid had potential to be a great liar one day.

"I might've believed you, Nott, if it weren't for the fact that Malfoy is also trying to stop people going down here. I think we both know that the potential for seeing me come to some misfortune is not something he would attempt to interfere with. Meaning there's rule-breaking going on down here and you're the lookouts," Granger argued. Thorfinn smirked over how quick the girl was, even if it was an inconvenience right then.

"Damn it, Thor," Antonin growled in a whisper as they tried to hurry and move the statues faster. "That fucking lion cub is going to be a problem."

"Granger, I can't let you down there," Nott was saying and Thorfinn heard the sounds of footsteps as the girl obviously tried to step around the kid.

"What you can't do, is stop me, Theodore," Granger argued with the boy. "Get out of my way, or I'll hex you."

"Threats? From the likes of you? What happened to being a rule-follower, Granger?" Nott attempted to taunt her. "Forget about the 'no duelling it he corridors' rule, did you?"

"That kid's good, but he's got no chance of stopping her," Antonin hissed.

"OI!" Theo shouted, hissing in pain over an apparent hex. Thorfinn was betting it the boy had just been hit with a Stinging Jinx. "Damn it, Granger! That's my bloody wand hand!"

"That'll teach you not to argue with me then, won't it?" the witch's voice could be heard in retort, sounding rather smug.

Her footsteps followed and Thorfinn could hear Theo trying to stop her again, racing after her.

"Fuck, if that one catches us at this, we're done for," Antonin growled. "Fucking meddlesome brat! Thor, get your witch before she gets us all expelled."

"I'm on it," Thorfinn sighed, lowering his wand and watching his friends struggle with the statue for a moment as he strode away to intercept the witch. He kept his wand drawn, ready to hex the little brat if he had to.

"Granger! Don't go down there, I mean it," Theo was arguing with the witch, still trying to stop her from catching the senior boys in the act of rule-breaking. Thorfinn had to admire his spirit and his loyalty to the cause.

"You're only trying to stop me because you're protecting someone, Nott," Granger argued hotly with the boy and Thorfinn rounded the corner in time to see the little witch trying to shove the kid out of her way. He was making a valiant effort of stopping her, despite the way he kept one arm tucked into his side gingerly, protecting the swollen limb where she'd hit him with a Stinging Jinx.

Thorfinn didn't blame the kid. The witch had a mean hex on her. He'd been on the receiving end of it more than once throughout the school year. He knew all too well how it stung like a thousand hornets.

"I should've known you be involved if there's rule-breaking going on," Granger declared when she spotted him striding down the corridor.

"Thor, I'm sorry," Theo spun, beginning to apologise when he saw Thorfinn coming. "I tried to stop her."

"I know, kid," Thorfinn grinned at the first year boy. "Heard you trying to deter this one from around the corner. Don't sweat it. This little lioness is as stubborn as a mule."

He flicked his wand at Granger, who immediately looked scandalized while Nott snorted in amusement.

"Don't try to deny it, Kitten," Thorfinn told the girl, turning his attention to her. "You know you're a spitfire. Now, be a good little lion cub and run on up to your tower via a different route."

"Or you'll what, Finn?" she challenged, narrowing her eyes on him daringly.

"Or I'll hex you, Baby-girl," Thorfinn warned in return, narrowing his eyes right back at her.

"You're breaking the rules again, aren't you?" she demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. Thorfinn noticed she was still clutching her wand like she might use it on him or Nott.

"Don't reckon you want me to answer that, Kitten," Thorfinn smirked, winking at her. "Else you'll be implicated in our misdeeds, too."

"Can't be sex in the corridors again," she rolled her eyes. "You've actually got your trousers on this time. Colour me shocked. And you've got first years on the lookout to warn people away. Meaning you're doing something big and likely extremely against school rules. You know I'm going to report you, don't you?"

Theodore Nott was looking at Granger like she'd lost her brilliant mind, clearly shocked and beyond horrified at the idea of her back-talking him. Thorfinn smirked. The rest of the firsties were all scared of him, but not his little spitfire of a witch.

"You know I'm going to make my revenge on you ten times worse than whatever you even potentially bring down on me, don't you, little lioness?" Thorfinn retorted.

Thorfinn watched the way she began striding up the corridor towards him, planting her feet firmly, defying his suggestion of running along to Gryffindor Tower via another route.

"Granger," he warned, his voice lowering dangerously.

"Did you know that when you try to look intimidating like that, you just look kind of constipated?" she sneered at him, stalking up the corridor and intent on investigating their rule-breaking, especially when he heard what sounded like Antonin cursing foully about something as though he were in pain and furious.

Thorfinn glanced over his shoulder when he heard a bang.

"What was that?" Granger demanded. "What are you up to?"

Thorfinn turned back towards the little witch, letting her come a little closer before he lifted his wand and fired a non-verbal Stunning Spell at her. Her eyes went wide in surprise at the idea of being attacked magically by him. She toppled backwards towards the floor and Thorfinn stepped forwards to catch her before she could hit it and crack her head open. Looping an arm around her back, he caught the suddenly limp and unconscious witch, bending to toss her slight frame over his shoulder before straightening once more. She weighed next to nothing, so it was difficult to tote he like a sack of potatoes.

"Bloody hell," Theo muttered, looking up at him and then at Granger's unconscious form. "I knew she was barmy, but Salazar, she's completely batty, talking to you like that Thor."

Thorfinn smirked at the kid looking up at him with something akin to awe – or as close to awe as a snarky, pompous pureblood kid could get while still maintaining his dignity.

"She's a bloody nightmare, mate," Thorfinn grinned. "Keep watch a bit longer, yeah? Pretty sure those bastards just dropped the statue on Dolohov's foot."

"Shite," Theo said, paling. "I'm staying down here out of his way."

"Probably smart," Thorfinn laughed. He turned away and strode back up the corridor, he was even to the corner before Nott called out again.

"Hey, Thor?" Theo asked quietly.

Thorfinn glanced at the kid over the shoulder that wasn't toting a tiny witch. He raised one eyebrow.

"Did she really catch you shagging?" Theo asked. "Like, saw you naked?"

"Three times now," Thorfinn smirked. "Nearly got me expelled the first time, too. And she'll pay for that."

Theo's eyes darted to the prone form of the witch dangling over Thorfinn's shoulder again before he nodded his understanding. He adjusted his swollen arm slightly and turned his attention back to guarding the corridor and keeping others away from catching them in their mischief.

"For fuck's sake, Bulstrode, when I'm through with you, your grandchildren will be thicker than fucking stumps!" Antonin was growling when Thorfinn rounded the corner with the witch over his shoulder to find Antonin standing over a rather intimidated looking Cygnus Bulstrode.

He was favouring one foot and his nose was bleeding as he snarled threats at the other wizard.

"Got your knickers all in a twist there, Toshka?" Thorfinn needled his best friend and he watched the way the rest of their motley crew looked relieved to see him returning.

Thorfinn knew they were all afraid of Antonin. The bastard was a right cold fucker when he wanted to be and would hex the bollocks off a man, slow and painful, if he lost his temper. He had a nasty habit of inventing curses too, most of which no one knew the counter curses for.

"You better be carrying that little bitch because you need me to help you hide the fucking body, Thor, or so help me I'm cursing the pair of you," Antonin spun on him.

"Dropped the fucker on your foot, didn't you?" Thorfinn smirked, ignoring his threats and the way the dark-haired wizard narrowed his eyes hatefully on Granger.

"Bulstrode tripped over his own fucking feet, shoved the cunt forwards into me, crushed me against the wall and then dropped the ugly fucking bastard of a statue on my damn foot when he lost concentration and broke the spell. Fucking disgrace of a wizard, can't even maintain a simple fucking hover charm! How the fuck are you even still breathing, Bulstrode."

"Oi, Toshka?" Thorfinn asked, drawing the irate wizard's attention once more when he looked like he was about to hit their friend with his signature purple-fire curse that burned a person to a withered, charred husk from the inside out.

"Fuck you, Thor, I'm getting real sick of this bullshit with you not letting me curse people who fucking deserve it," Antonin immediately hissed at him, his eyes narrowing furiously.

"Blow me, mate," Thorfinn told his best friend. "And jam your fucking wand up your arse while you're at it. If you don't point it somewhere else, I'll do it for you right after I lodge my foot so far up there that you choke of the fucking dragonhide of my shoe."

He narrowed his eyes on his friend, one hand resting on Granger's lower back to balance her while he got right up in his friend's face and glared down at the irate Russian bastard. Antonin proceeded to curse in his mother-tongue foully, muttering threats, cuss words and other foul things that would've offended just about anyone who wasn't Thorfinn if they knew what the phrases meant.

"Why the fuck did you bring that cunt of a lion cub down here?" he demanded, glaring at the witch hatefully again. "Is she knocked out."

"I stunned her. She hexed Nott and was coming this way to catch the lot of us."

"Oh yes, makes perfect sense to bring her in here then," Antonin growled, cursing again in Russian. "Why don't you just wake her up and tell her what we're doing so she can give a full account to fucking Dumbledore."

"You got a better idea of what to do with her that means she won't know and can't rat us out?" Thorfinn demanded.

"Oh, you bet your arse I bloody do," Antonin hissed darkly, lifting his wand once more with murder glittering in his eyes. The rage inside of him thanks to how long the prank was taking, the pain he was in and the frustration he felt at dealing with the other morons of their year mated with his hatred from Granger. Thorfinn just knew the red-haze was covering his friend's gaze and likely to make him do stupid things.

Thorfinn punched him.

He didn't even think about it before his fist - still gripping his wand - was suddenly in motion and colliding with his best friend's cheekbone with a dull thud. Antonin groaned and staggered sideways, clutching at his head and closing his eyes against the pain. He blinked stupidly a few times, trying to right himself and trying to get his bearings. Thorfinn wold bet his ears were ringing.

"So it's like that, then?" Antonin asked when he'd shaken the fuzziness away, his cold brown eyes settling on Thorfinn while he still clutched his head.

"It's like I'm not letting you go to fucking prison over a mudblood kid, you tosspot!" Thorfinn retorted, seeing the betrayal glittering in Antonin's eyes over the idea of him defending Granger. Again. He subtly shook his hand out, his knuckles aching as he suspected he'd just cracked Antonin's cheekbone and two of his own knuckles with that punch.

"One day, mate," Antonin said quietly, lowering his voice and speaking coldly, "You're not going to be able to protect that little cunt from me. And I'm going to relish the things I do to her."

Thorfinn narrowed his eyes in return. That tone in Antonin's voice, that cold expression on his face, they were all indications that he was at his most dangerous. Like Thorfinn, Antonin had a temper. He was slower to anger and more prone to cruel words and deeds than Thorfinn, but he was also quick to let that anger go again when it was over stupid things. Thorfinn was the fiery one. He'd lose his temper, unleash his rage and revel in the destruction that followed. Dolohov was crueller about it. He'd snarl about things, pull a mean prank or arrange some misfortune to befall someone who annoyed him, but he had more control over his rage. And that made him more dangerous. Because when he reached for that control he got quiet and deadly. Like a snake in the wood-shed, he'd lay coiled and quiet, unnoticed until the precise moment to strike and deliver his deadly poison.

"Until I'm done with her, you'll keep you wand and your hands off her or I'll skin you, Dolohov," Thorfinn told him, drawing himself up to his full height and fixing his friend a cold stare in return. He had a number of plans in place to ruin the little muggleborn's life and they would not be cut short by an irate Antonin Dolohov. They sure as hell wouldn't be interfered with just because the bastard was in a foul mood.

Dolohov curled his lip in retort and began cursing foully in Russian once more while Thorfinn glared at him before healing his broken foot, his fractured and rapidly swelling cheekbone and the nosebleed his friend was dealing with. The bastard didn't have the decency right then to say thank you. He fixed his own knuckles with a faint hiss of annoyance, still glaring at the cursing Russian.

"You fuckers need healing too?" Thorfinn asked, turning to Pucey, Bulstrode, Entwhistle, Flint and Selwyn when Dolohov turned away from him and walked around the far side of the statue once more, still muttering darkly under his breath in his mother-tongue.

"Yeah," Selwyn sighed out a breath. "Pretty sure I cracked a few toes."

Thorfinn rolled his eyes at the lot of the, flicking his wand at each of them and listening to them all groan as he healed their broken bones. Everything else could be dealt with later.

"Do I want to know why you and Antonin are arguing about a firstie?" Pucey muttered to him when they were all once more levitating the statue along the corridor and towards the Teacher's Lounge.

"The little brat's got a smart mouth and too much bravado for her own good," Thorfinn muttered back, adjusting Granger's slight frame over his shoulder. "She got mouthy with him and he's got his wand in a knot over it. She's the one who nearly got me expelled when I got caught in the library, too."

"Then why are you carting her around and letting him go easy on her?" Pucey wanted to know, looking confused.

"I'm ruining her life," Thorfinn smiled. "Revenge is a dish best served cold, my friend. And it will be stone cold when I rip her apart once she's all grown up."

"Details?" Pucey asked, his eyes lighting up at the idea of a well-thought-out long-con on the little witch.

"Win her trust. Dig into her life and slowly, quietly overtake all of it. Follow her every movement. She put these in my hair a few weeks ago," Thorfinn reached for the beads the little witch had plaited into his blonde mane.

"Bloody hell!" Pucey exclaimed when he spotted the small gold trinkets amid the tawny locks. "She initiated an arrangement?"

"She has no clue what they represent," Thorfinn smirked. "Mudblood, see?"

"You're going to ruin her through that?" Pucey asked, raising one eyebrow.

"By the time she's old enough to consider forming an engagement with anyone else, she'll be so thoroughly tied to me that it will ruin her life completely."

"You're a cold bastard sometimes, Thor. You know that, right?" Pucey laughed.

Thorfinn smirked widely at his words, jostling the still unconscious witch upon his shoulder and planning how best to deal with her just as soon as he was done with the boys.