XXIV:
Dorothea barely made it ten steps from the antechamber before she was accosted by another familiar figure.
"Dora!" Theo cried, running up to her and pulling her into a tight hug. "Are you alright? What happened? I just saw Weasley leaving looking angry. Did he do anything to you-"
The way her brother clutched his wand made Dorathea fear that one wrong word would send the Slytherin to challenge another classmate to a duel before the day's end. She hugged Theo back tightly and shook her head.
"No. Nothing at all. It was-" She hesitated over revealing the details of their meeting, but it felt bad to lie to Theo about this. "Ron proposed-"
"Dora!"
"And I said no," She hastened to add before Theo could pull away. He was suddenly all tense lines and wide, white eyes. Dorothea rubbed a comforting hand over his shoulder. "I think he was a little hurt, but took it well enough." Except for the parting shot about friends. Dora muffled a sigh as a headache started behind her left eye. Keeping track of two different lives was really hard.
"Good." Theo said and then hesitated, "Dora - are you looking to get married?" Seeing her expression, he rushed into the ensuing silence. "I mean, it just - two offers-"
"- in as many days," She concluded and nodded in weary agreement. "No, Theo. I can absolutely, 100% promise you that I do not want to get married. Especially not in my second year. I mean! I've just arrived here! I barely know you or our family and I'm not keen to align myself with any other families right now." Especially if something stuck once she went back to being Harry Potter.
Theo nodded, looking much relieved. "Good. Because Dora? If you left right now, I don't know what I would do. You're all that I have." He slumped against Dora, holding her tightly again.
Dora laughed a little- startled at the intensity of Theo's words. "Well, and Euphy," She reminded him, "And your- our- father." Theo looked a little uncomfortable at the reminder and Dora didn't blame her brother. Everything she had heard about Lord Nott made her happy that he was on his extended business trip. Though part of her wished he would come home so she could give him a piece of her mind about leaving Theo alone in the keep with a sick house-elf for company and only dry bread for food.
Instead, she looped her arm around Theo's and began guiding them to the hospital wing. "Anyways. I don't think I'll have any more proposals. People were probably just excited to have a new Nott in the world, so they got ahead of themselves."
"That makes sense," Theo said slowly, falling into step beside her. "But why Weasley?"
"Well, he was one of the first people I met," Dora hedged because that wasn't quite a lie. Both she and Harry had seen Ron first. "And Dumbledore wanted me to spend time with him over Christmas break."
"Dumbledore," Theo suddenly glared. "I bet he put Weasley up to this. He's close to their family. Too close. You've got to watch him, Dora. The stories my father told me…" He trailed off delicately as if the stories were too terrible for her tender ears. Dora didn't pursue the statement. She'd seen too many flashes of the calculating Dumbledore to ever fall for the grandfatherly act again.
After a few moments of walking, Theo glanced around their path, "Where are we going?"
"To the hospital wing," Dorothea said, "I want to see Hermione."
"Wow," Theo said, as Dorothea navigated them around a statue depicting a swarm of pixies, "You're learning the school really well. It took me until halfway through my first year to learn my way around anywhere." He gave her an approving glance, but Dora kept her eyes fixed ahead as her stomach dropped to the floor. Well, shoot. She hadn't even thought that having Harry's knowledge of the castle would raise any eyebrows. Why wasn't Theo in Ravenclaw? He was too smart for his own good.
"Remnants of Adriana's thread?" She said, referencing the spell that let her find Theo yesterday. "Or maybe because Hogwarts called me here? So I have an affinity?" It was a stretch, but Theo took to the idea.
"Maybe you'll come back to be a teacher here!" He said excitedly and they kept up a running conversation on future plans all the way to the Hospital wing. Theo, though against the idea of Dora marrying, was keen to tell her about all the opportunities in the wizarding world available for a clever, pureblood witch while still allowing her to travel back home every day for dinner. It was bittersweet to discuss their future, even in such abstract terms.
Harry had barely conceptualized a world outside of Hogwarts, much less what he might do after graduation. For him, the school was the end all, be all of his life: his sanctuary from the Dursleys, his connection to his parents, the only place he had friends. Beyond that lay nothing but blind terror. But for Dorothea, there were endless possibilities ahead for the only daughter of the Nott family- none of which involved marriage or settling down into a dead-end office job.
Apparently, Theo had spent a lot of time thinking about the future, even though he would one day be the official Head of the family. Theo seemed determined to make something of himself outside of that role. It was just that none of his ideas involved any other people! Theo had plans to be everything from a researcher (good) to an explorer in the strangest parts of the world (less probable) to joining a magical monastery (what?). Even his most likely plan to stay home and manage the Keep didn't involve any sort of politics, or marriages, or friends.
Before she could question that missing element, they arrived at the doors of the hospital wing. Even in this body, Dorothea felt a stab of disquiet at the familiar entrance. Harry had spent far too many hours in this wing his first year. Though at the time, he'd just been grateful for the attention and care. Dorothea gave her brother a quick smile and slipped into the infirmary. Theo followed her.
The first thing Dorothea did was check in at the visitor's log. The signatures were sparse considering they were only days into the start of this term, but she recognized a few names of the older Ravenclaws. Apparently, some of their over-the-holiday spell practice hadn't been quite as thorough as they'd hoped. She also saw Ron's name several times, but he had hardly been the daily visitor that he'd claimed. Dorothea signed her name with an elaborate flourish- just in case Ron thought to look at the log.
As she set the pen back down, a small house elf popped into existence at her right elbow. It was dressed in a starched white uniform and gave the twins a critical glance.
"Hello. Who is you wishing to see?"
Dorothea had never actually visited anyone in the hospital wing before so she hadn't expected a welcoming committee. However, Theo seemed nonplussed so Dorothea gave Hermione's name to the elf.
"Miss Granger is not seeing anyone at the moment," The house elf informed her. "I can be taking her a present if you like."
Was this what had happened when Harry had been unconscious after the philosopher stone disaster last year? He'd woken to a neatly organized tableful of treats and chocolates, but had never given a thought to how they arrived. All in all, Dorothea rather preferred the idea that this efficient house elf ferried the treats from well-wishers to his bedside rather than having had a gaggle of concerned students gather around his bed while Harry had lain unconscious.
Dorothea gave the house-elf a warm smile, "Yes, please. I'd-" She glanced around and saw the display of sweets just to the side of the visitor log. Chocolate frogs, acid pops, cockroach clusters- it was like a curated version of the snack cart from the Hogwarts Express had come to rest here. Dorothea reached for the Sugar Quills- which she faintly remembered that Hermione liked sucking on while studying- but the candy refused to be budged. Then she saw the sign below: 'All candy: 3 knuts.' A reasonable price, except she didn't have any money.
"Here." Theo had already pulled the required change from his pocket and leaned past her to slip the donation into the small box before the display. Before the twins had left, Euphie had scrounged up a handful of change from the hidden corners of the castle and pressed the old knuts and sickles into the twins' hands. Dora had left her purse in her dorm trunk, but Theo had had more forethought.
She gave him a bright smile of thanks and then quickly penned a note with the provided parchment.
Hi Hermione. Missing you. Let me know how you are doing. Would love to talk about what happened. Feel better soon! Dorothea -
Theo wasn't so crass as to peer over her shoulder as she was writing a letter, but he'd already proven himself to be scarily smart. She didn't want to risk him seeing some detail about the potion or the night that she'd changed, so she kept the note vague.
As the house elf disappeared with both card and candy, a weight lifted off Dorothea's shoulders. She had been neglecting Hermione. Over the past weeks, she'd only seen Hermione once, and during that visit, Hermione was clearly not ok. But had Dorothea followed up? Or gone to see her again? No. She'd been distracted-
"What's wrong, Dora?" Theo asked as they left the hospital wing and headed back towards the Ravenclaw tower. "Is it anything I can help with?"
Dorathea worried at one of the braided bracelets around her wrist. Harry had never had anyone who cared to hear his innermost thoughts. Ron and he could talk for hours about quidditch, chess, or wizarding cards but nothing emotional while Hermione, as much as Dorothea loved her, was equally as unconnected to her emotions. She preferred the safety of abstract thought and intellectual exchange. But over the course of their time together, Theo had proven himself to be the best sort of listener. He was curious and quiet, able to ask the right questions to tease out Dorothea's thoughts and then share his own experiences.
"It's Hermione," She said after a moment because she knew Theo wouldn't let a simple 'nothing' or 'I'm fine,' go unremarked. "I'm worried about her."
"Granger?" Theo's wrinkled in what Dora hoped was astonishment. "Why?"
"Well, she was there when I first arrived," Dorothea said and, again, it wasn't quite a lie. "I'm worried that my- well- what if there was some magical backlash that hit her and that's why she's in the hospital wing?"
The reasoning might have been untrue, but the guilt was real. After all, Hermione would never have turned into a half-cat if Harry hadn't been dead set on sneaking into the Common Room. The more Dorothea thought about the past year and a half, the more she realized how much danger Harry had put her two first friends in with his reckless actions. Yes, the other Gryffindors could have refused to follow him, but he'd neglected Hermione's good sense and Ron's common sense, and look where it led them.
"You worry about everyone too much," Theo said, interrupting her thoughts with a small smile. "You already saved my life, Dora. And Euphies. You don't have to save everyone else."
"What?" Dorothea stared at her brother in astonishment. The words were simple, but the idea was revolutionary. Or, at least, unexpressed to her before. Theo shrugged, half amused at her incredulity.
"What? You think you apperated to the magical world and now have to fix everything?" He teased, then sobered with a quick shake of her head. "Look. There are mediwizards and witches who have studied for years taking care of Granger. Let them worry about her. You've got more important things to do."
"Like what?"
"Like being a Nott."
"And what is a Nott supposed to do?" Dorothea said in exasperation.
"Practice the yearly rituals, protect the family ties, maintain the family honor," Theo answered so instantaneously, Dorothea knew that these answers weren't made just off the cuff.
"That's it?" She demanded.
"That's it."
"But- but - what about being a good person? Helping those in need? Doing your best?" Dorothea asked. It was hard to think of a better replacement for any of those provisions. The Dursley's certainly had never bothered to live up to any values - other than a wholehearted attempt to be as normal as possible.
"You can do those too if you want," Theo said with a shrug, "As long as they don't contradict the family goals."
"So you're telling me," Dorothea said severely, "That so long as I practice the yule festivals with you, protect you from harm, and maintain the Nott honor, I could be a- a- mass murderer and you'd be ok with it?"
"Well, I'd prefer you weren't," Theo said with an amused twist to his lips, "But, knowing you, they'd probably deserve it. And I'd probably be a mass murderer as well since I wouldn't let you go on a killing spree alone. So, it's sort of the Caldron calling the Crucible black if I complained about it."
Dorothea laughed. It was really rather freeing to know that Theo's list of acceptable behavior was so concrete and so doable. It was so much easier to follow than the vague comments about doing one's best that you heard in school.
"Well, how can I argue with that?" She asked, slipping her arm around Theo's, "Though speaking of family honor…" She filled her brother in on everything that had happened during the meeting with Lady Malfoy. Theo listened attentively. Though by the end, his pale forehead remained uncreased with the worry tormenting Dora.
"Well?" She demanded of her brother, "What should I do?"
"About Draco?"
"And Pansy. And Daphne. And about finding us allies." How could Theo be so calm when there were half a dozen threats whirling around them? But her brother just shrugged.
"Oh. Well. If Draco tries something again, I'll just challenge him to another duel. And I don't see the girls as being particularly dangerous, so you can just ignore them." Theo said. Dorothea thought that the Slytherin was grievously underestimating both Parkinson and Greengrass, but he ignored her exasperated scoff and plunged forward. "And for allies- I'm not going into politics. Ever. If people want us as allies, they can come to us. We are the Nott's after all."
Dorothea didn't know how to word the concern building in her chest. There were undetermined fears of shadowy figures plotting in dark corners, and malevolent schemes being devised in whispers, while through it all, Theo sailed in perfect ignorance. What if the Nott name and bloodline weren't enough to protect him? What if something happened in the political system that made his name a target? Lady Malfoy certainly thought so. But - Nimune!- Dorothea didn't know anything about politics.
Maybe she could ask Lady Malfoy for an overview the next time they met. Maybe she'd need to ask someone else for another opinion.- just in case Lady Malfoy was over-exaggerating the threat to make Dorothea more dependent on her? Were any of the other Ravenclaw girls politically connected? She wasn't sure. Mandy would know, probably. Still, before the polyjucie potion was finished, she would try to at least set Theo up with some slightly better relationships.
"Well, as long as you are sure," She said and then another thought struck her, "Do I need to be worried about you?"
"Me?" Theo asked, eyebrows rising in astonishment, "What could you possibly worry about me?"
"Oh, you know," Dorathea said airily, "Who do you hang out with when you're not with me? What do you do in the Slytherin common room? I don't want Draco or Pansy targeting you as revenge on me."
Theo gave a low, delighted laugh, "I'd like to see them try."
Dorathea shivered at the anticipation in her brother's voice and wondered again about Lisa's assertion that the Nott's were a dark family. Maybe he had just spent too much time around the strange girl. Or the Slytherins. Or alone in Nott Keep.
At that moment, Dorathea raised 'make Theo a new friend,' to the top of her list of pressing tasks.