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Little bit of Theo for you today!
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xZoex
Friday loomed, as all Friday's do, with the promise of a full afternoon of free time, as long as you could make it through Potions. The first lesson, at the start of the year, had been rather stressful, what with Professor Snape looming over everyone and sneering with almost palpable hate.
Not that any of the Gryffindor's seemed to pick up on this behaviour; most of them seemed to enjoy themselves immensely. Especially after Professor Snape gave Harry house points.
But Theo was nothing if not observant. It was quite evident to him that, fairness and points aside, Professor Snape could hardly look at Potter without his face twisting up. The man genuinely looked to be in pain.
Then there was Harry himself, nice enough, bit on the quiet side, jumpy as a Mooncalf* in a Hodag** den. Theo had even seen Harry sneaking bread rolls in his pockets on more than one occasion.
And the boy was fast, like stupid fast. In Herbology, somebody had dropped and shattered a pot. Harry had gone from standing next to Theo, to the other side of the greenhouse in an instant.
Theo noticed this of course, because he himself was also very fast and good at blending in, and not drawing attention to himself, and placating angry people.
He had been told that Harry Potter, defeater of you-know-who, had been placed with relatives. What he understood now… Was that Harry had been placed with people who loved him almost as much as Theo's own father did, which was not at all.
Theo looked up from were he had been thinking at his shoes. They were nearly at the Potions classroom, making up his mind; Theo nodded to Tracey Davis, his current Potions partner. "Tracey, do me a favour?"
"Sure, what's up?"
"Partner up with Ron, for me?"
Tracey gave him a hard look; "You don't want me as a partner?" Her jaw tensed and her shoulders slumped slightly.
"It's not that!" Theo hastily said, "I just want to work with Harry, he… uh, it's." He sighed.
Tracey's face was scrunched up in confusion as she watched him flounder, he could feel his face pinking slightly.
"I'll explain it later today yeah? It's not that I don't want to work with you, okay? You're a great partner, I just want to talk to Harry about something, is that okay?"
She stared at him a moment longer, her eyebrows pulled down and her mouth twisting. "You'll tell me later?"
"Yes."
"And it's not cause I'm… you know, a half-blood or anything?" She said uncertainly.
Theo went pale, "Merlin of course not Trace, we're friends. Plus Draco said that doesn't even matter, just look at him and Hermione!"
Tracey brightened at his words, "Alright, fine. But you'll be my partner next week?"
"Of course! You're clearly the best."
Seemingly mollified at his words, Tracey Strolled over to a distinctive head of red hair and began chatting to the bemused Weasley.
Theo hurried over and stood next to Potter, smiling at him brightly, "Alright Harry? Fancy partnering up today? Tracey seems to have kidnapped your ginger."
Both boys turned to look at where Tracey and Ron were enthusiastically waving their arms at each other. Theo guessed she had immediately started taking about Quidditch, if first years were allowed to play, Tracey would have gone for chaser for sure.
"I don't know if we're allowed?" Harry hedged, shuffling on his feet.
To stop him running away, Theo copied something he'd seen Blaise do, and flung him arm round Harry's shoulders. "No worries, I'm sure it's fine! We'll just swap back if not!"
The door opened and they all piled in, Theo watched as Tracey steered Ron to a bench, without him clueing in. She saw Theo watching her and winked at him, Theo nodded back.
The lesson continued as they normally do, Snape flared his robes, called attendance, scowled at everyone (mainly Harry), and let them get on with it.
Luckily for Harry and Theo, Snape seemed to be circling the other side of the class, mainly watching Draco and Hermione, another curious pair of students. He kept stopping to watch them and ask questions.
Theo took this as an opportunity to chat to Harry about himself and slip innocuous questions into their conversation. Which is how they got onto the topic of accidental magic, and their first incidences.
"I was hiding see, from my Father," Theo explained as he sliced up some spleens, he saw Harry nod carefully as he stirred their potion clockwise. "He wasn't in the best mood and it's always better to get out the way."
He saw Harry stiffen slightly, but continue to stir. "Anyway, I was in the kitchen when he came in and I jumped in the pantry. But" he laughed, "turns out that's where he was heading. So anyway, he opens the door and I think I'm gonna get it," Theo pauses for a moment, but he can see Harry is now completely watching him.
"But he reaches right over my head and doesn't even glance at me! Turns out, I was invisible; I couldn't even see my own arms!" Theo grimaced, "I was invisible for two hours after that."
Harry was silent as Theo chucked the spleens into the lowly bubbling cauldron. He shifted his glasses uncomfortably on his face, before speaking hesitantly.
"I could unlock doors when I was little, my aunt would always get… um, anyway… oh and once I got on the school roof when I tried to get away from Dud… um, jump over some bins…"
Theo nudged Harry's arm, "I once turned our house elf green." He said trying to lighten the mood. "She was trying to get me ready for a dinner."
"I turned my teachers hair blue!" Harry laughed.
"Well I once made a flock of birds spell out rude words!" Theo stuck his nose in the air.
"Well I set a python on my cousin Dudley at the zoo." Harry said grinning from ear to ear.
Theo laughed, "Alright Harry you win that one! How'd you get it to chase him?"
"Well he didn't chase him really, I just made the glass disappear." He said with a cheeky smile, "Poor thing just wanted to go to Brazil, said he'd never been. I hope they didn't catch him too quick." Harry sighed turning back to the potion as their timer went off.
Theo watched eyes widening comically. Parselmouth, Potter was a Parselmouth.
He quickly plastered a smile back on his face as Harry turned back round.
"Nearly done!" Harry said happily, "I think the colour is nearly spot on, don't you?"
"Uh yeah?" Theo peered into the cauldron for something to do. "Not bad!"
They both waited patiently for Snape to check over the room, before Harry went to collect a vial from the front.
Okay, so he'd confirmed what he suspected about Harry's home life. Looks like his cousin would chase him, probably with violence at the end, and his aunt would lock him in somewhere. The snake thing would have to wait for later. He was not going to freak out in potions class. He had an entire afternoon to have a melt down.
His eyes travelled around the room before meeting with a pair of grey and brown ones. Draco and Hermione were watching him intently. He shot them a smile, but they both continued to stare. He stuck his tongue out, and they turned away laughing.
Professor Snape was billowing round the room again, this time awarding points to every passable potion. He stopped in front of Theo and glared down into the cauldron. Theo watched with interest as Snape hissed out a breath, before awarding two points to Slytherin. He went to walk away, but Harry was standing behind him.
"And Gryffindor, Sir." Theo interjected quickly. "Harry worked with me on this one."
Harry beamed up at Snape, as the man hissed out more points to Gryffindor. "Thanks Sir!" Harry said, completely unaware of Snape's agitation, "Potions is my favourite!"
Draco snorted from somewhere on the left, and Snape turned a strange shade of grey. Their Professor then told them to label their vials, put them on the desk and to tidy up. He didn't address the class further, except to dismiss them.
As a mass, the class surged up to lunch. Theo walked along amicably with Harry, Ron joined them shortly after.
"Hey Ron! How'd you get on with Trace?" Theo asked
"She's cool," He shrugged, "got no taste for Quidditch teams though, she actually thinks the Wasps are cool."
"Like the Cannons actually have any class." Tracey said as she passed, flicking her hair over her shoulder, "They haven't won since 1892, and have remained bottom of the league since."
"It's not about winning!" Ron exclaimed, "It's about the love of the game and doing our best! At least the Cannons have true fans! We stick with them no matter what!"
"Oh gods what have I done…" Theo stared as Ron followed Tracey to the Slytherin table and plonked down next to her. "Come on Harry," Theo threw his arm round the boys shoulders, "I'm not listening to that, I'll sit with you for lunch."
Harry just shrugged as Theo steered him towards the Gryffindor table, Blaise and Neville joined them a few minutes later.
"Change of scenery," Blaise commented lightly.
"You want to sit near them, be my guest." Theo tipped his chin towards where Tracey and Ron were both stuffing their faces and still talking about Quidditch. The rest of the first year Slytherins and Hermione sat beside the pair. Draco and Hermione, however, were as far away from the chewing duo as they could get.
Blaise wrinkled his nose, "Disgusting, no manners. I'll stay here if that's alright with you chaps?"
Harry Shrugged, glancing to Neville who enthusiastically nodded. "Sure, Hermione and Ron seem to have taken your spots anyway." The bespectacled boy said with a small smile.
The bench suddenly jolted next to him and Theo whipped round coming face to face with a demonic grin, a shit ton of freckles and lurid red hair.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here then?" One of the Weasley twins was grinning and leaning far too close for comfort. "Ickle snakes sitting in the lions den? Whatever shall we do with you?"
Theo glanced nervously to Blaise who rolled his eyes and snorted. Feeling a little bolstered by how relaxed his housemate was, Theo met the twin's blue eyes.
"Why don't you lean in a little closer and find out?" Theo batted his eyelashes and pouted.
Blaise made a strange coughing sound and Neville's juice went down the wrong way, causing all the people round him to smack him really hard on the back. Some a little bit too enthusiastically. What was up with these people and hitting others?
"Maybe when you're older." The ginger laughed, ruffling Theo's hair. "Fred."
"Theo."
George, dropped into place on the other side of the table with a snicker, "He's not Fred I am!"
The first years all gave each other bewildered looks, before what could only be another Weasley walked past and smacked the back of George's head.
"Be nice." He hissed.
"Piss off Percy!" The twins said in unison, flipping the prefect off.
The one sitting next to Theo shot him a wink, "only joking, I am Fred really."
"Right…"
Theo chose this as a good moment to occupy himself with eating as much food as possible, before he went and found a nice quiet corner to freak out in. His eyes travelled across to Harry, who was also happily taking a bit of everything.
Harry Potter, defeater of the Dark Lord, was a Parselmouth. He might even be a relation to Salazar Slytherin, most people recorded as having the gift were.
Which beggared the even more unnerving question… Was Harry a relative of You-Know-Who?
Theo didn't notice the rest of the meal, and floated away in a daze to think about his place in the universe, after it had finished.
It was only hours later, after finding himself staring into the bottom of the lake, that Theo realised something. It didn't matter to whom Harry was related, or that he could talk to snakes. Theo liked Harry and they had more in common then they were likely to share with others.
Theo leaned his head against the glass and stared into the murky water. He was going to look after him. But he couldn't do it alone. He caught a reflection in the glass and turned to see Tracy entering the room with Daphne and Pansy.
He waved to Tracy and she trotted over to him with a bright smile.
"Fancy that chat now Tracy?"
"Sounds good! I'm free."
"Lets go for a walk, I'm gonna need your help with something."
She tilted her head to the side, "alright, lead the way."
Later that evening, Draco burst into the Room of Requirement like fluffy was on his heels. "Hermione you won't believe what they're doing! I cannot believe Theo!" He flung his bag to the floor and collapsed onto the cosy red sofa, draping himself across her.
Hermione had been doing research up until that point, and pointedly ignored Draco to continue writing her newest letter.
"Hermioneeeeeeee." He whined pathetically from her lap, hand pulling at her arm.
She let out a pained sigh and resigned herself to losing the rhythm she had going.
"Yes Draco. Please tell me, I'm all a quiver." She relayed in monotone.
"He's started a potions club! It was just a joke, only a joke! I didn't know he'd overheard! Oh gods…. He wants us to join."
"Does he want badges?" Hermione asked with a smile.
Draco ignored her, but his face had gone red.
"Oh my Draco! Did you already offer badges? What about a name?"
Draco covered his face and mumbled something, finishing with a loud groan. He took a breath, let his hands drop and gazed up at her with wide eyes.
"I thought he was joking..."
"Oh you didn't…"
"Yep… Potion pioneers."
Hermione let loose a loud bark of laughter, and rocked back in to the cushions as she gasped for air.
"It's not that funny." He grumbled. Turning his face away, arms crossed in a sulk, he huffed against her knee. "He's gonna tell everyone I picked the name, and before you know it, I'm going to be known as the potions boffin. No one will remember it's Theo's club. It'll be mine."
Hermione ran her fingers through his hair idly, "if it makes you feel any better, it'll be good for the kids. It can be like the DA."
She smiled softly, "Give them a support network, you know, people to rely on. Maybe no one will have to feel alone this time." Leaning down she placed a kiss on his forehead, "Good Job, well done, ten points to Slytherin."
Draco's entire face flushed and he spluttered incoherently for a few moments before squeezing his eyes shut to avoid her gaze.
Hermione chuckled softly; leaving one hand in his hair, she picked up her letter and checked it over.
'Dear Madam Bones,'
*Mooncalf's are shy skittish creatures that only come out of their dens to perform a dance under the full moon. Their main predator is the Hodag.
** Hodag's are roughly the size of a large dog, with a toad like face and horns. They prey mostly on Mooncalfs.