Chapter Nine: Meeting of the Minds

Lucius was sipping tea waiting for Harry and who he thought was going to be Ron and Hermione. When Theo entered the back room he blinked, "Theo what brings you here?" he asked obviously not making the connection straight off.

"That would be Harry," Theo said chuckling, "He's off collecting the other two for tea; they promised to meet him at Zonko's."

A loud crash and then Harry came skidding in the room patting his arm which was on fire and chuckling. Fred came rolling in the room with a squirt gun which he used to put the flames out and George came in wearing a pink tutu. This whole scene had Theo and Lucius blinking rapidly, before Harry leapt and tackled George to the ground while Fred threw glitter everywhere.

After watching the two scuffle on the floor Theo cleared his throat, "Harry why are you attempting to commit murder?" he asked as Harry tried to strangle the one twin while the other twin cheered both on.

"He caught me on fire," Harry said sending a winning smile at Theo, "Want to lend me a hand?"

"That would be cheating!" George gasped out before flipping them. Getting kneed in the stomach he yelped and let go of Harry to crawl towards the table, yet Harry grabbed his ankle, "Parlay!"

"No fair," Harry pouted before standing up, "You can't keep calling parlay when you're about to lose, that's just wrong."

"I think I might need something stronger than tea," Lucius mumbled which had Harry and the twins looking at him as if having forgotten he was the reason they were all in the same area, "This is so not worth the risk."

"Hey I take offense to that," Fred said sitting down, "Spending time with Harry is worth a risk no matter-"

"If it's breaking into Hogwarts-" George picked up.

"Having tea with a Death Eater-" Fred picked up once again.

Both finished with, "Or being chased through New York City covered in nothing but bubble wrap with angry werewolves chasing after us!"

"I almost forgot about that," Harry said giggling, "Ah tuna."

"Um…you have to tell me that story some time," Theo said grinning.

"Certainly," Harry said before saying, "But you can never tell another living soul, because well…it's all rather illegal and well…yeah never take them on a trip with you…"

"Can we ask about this R now?" Fred asked with wide puppy dog eyes, "Pwease?"

"Yeah go ahead," Harry said sitting down and summoning some tea for the four who did not have any, "But first," looking at Lucius he raised an eyebrow, "What we say will not go to anyone but R right?"

"Correct, I've sworn an unbreakable vow with him," Lucius said rolling his eyes. He was finding the teen to be rather insane at the moment and was not sure why his friend had fallen for the basket case.

"Okay, Fred you may ask the questions about R, George you may ask the questions about Courting," Harry said before smiling at Theo, who sat next to Lucius, "Watch and learn why I wanted them with me today."

Suddenly Fred and George both went very still before sitting on either side of Harry both had their eyes focused on Lucius. George asked first, "It is true that Courting is mainly a Pureblood custom, so you obviously know more than we do as we were not raised in the Pureblood ways."

"You also have firsthand experience with this R character, we don't want his real name, no that would ruin the mystic air about him," Fred said. Both had dead serious voices, something that shocked the hell out of Theo and Lucius.

"Now tell us," George said leaning in slightly, "When one is courting another is love involved?"

"Yes the suitor must hold some form of love in his or her heart," Lucius said calmly, the intense looks were making him nervous but he would not show it. He watched as Harry nodded his head and realized this scene before him reminded him of a movie he had seen on American Mob bosses. Harry was the boss and the twins were his muscle.

"So this R loves Harry, he's not just playing some game with him?" Fred asked, getting a nod he continued, "So you know this R, how old is he?"

Lucius blinked, "To tell the truth I'm not certain how old he is, he looks about twenty or twenty two at the latest," which was not a lie he was not certain how old the Dark Lord was.

"Harry has accepted gifts that were part of the courting; does this mean anything of significance?" George asked. The two were afraid that by taking the gifts Harry was somehow agreeing to something that could be harmful for him.

"It simply means that R has permission to continue writing, each gift he sends is sort of like a question of whether or not he's still wanted around," Lucius answered. The intensity was thick in the air and he did not like it, he had no clue having tea with Harry Potter would feel like he was about to be executed.

"What does this R like to do for fun? His hobbies," Fred asked which had Harry glancing up from the wall he had been staring at.

Lucius thought for a moment, he could have answered with taking over the world but did not think that would go over well. So he thought back on what he knew the Dark Lord did in his spare time, "He likes to read, and he writes…not sure what as he lets nobody read them…he likes to take walks in gardens and by streams says it clears his mind."

"That's good," Fred said cutting him off before grinning; the sudden grin broke all the tension in the air, "Well Harry my dearest-"

"Favoriest-" George continued.

And both finished with, "Brother we love you but have to get back to work," they each licked Harry's cheek before turning sharp eyes on Theo, "You watch our baby or we'll rip your snaky tongue from your body," and then they grinned once more and left happily talking about wanting cantaloupe.

Theo blinked before looking at Harry who simply sipped his tea, "Those two are scary."

"Really?" Harry asked setting his cup down, "They don't scare me."

"That could be because they seem to think you need protecting," Lucius said which made Harry blink at him and tilt his head, "What?"

"They scared you," Harry pointed out before grinning, "I knew it was a long shot that they could, and they did…wow I guess I didn't believe in them enough, hmm…wonder how they'd do against Dumbledore."

"He still bothers you about me?" Theo asked pouting; he did not like how Dumbledore was always pulling Harry off to the side to talk.

"Yeah but no worries, he just can't believe you let me slap you with a pancake," Harry said with a grin, "So…now what?"

"You have no more questions about R?" Lucius asked blinking. He had expected a bunch of childish questions, like 'what's his favorite color' and 'does he like Quittditch' not questions about intentions and courting.

"Not really," Harry said shrugging, "Eh I'm still a Lion and we don't tend to think of things we just jump into them."

"But you think things through all the time," Theo pointed out.

"And that is why I'm a bad Lion," Harry laughed