:D

Harry skipped lunch and spent all of his first Divination class mulling over Theodore. He was quite surprised to see Theodore waiting for him when he exited the trap door.

"Didn't you have Arithmancy?" Harry asked, eying him skeptically.

"Is just down the hall." Theodore motioned vaguely. "And we got out early. Was wondering what you..."

He stopped talking, eyes taking in Harry as if he'd just now noticed what kind of look he was getting. A small smile played onto his lips and he turned.

"Come on. Defense Against the Dark Arts is on the other side of the castle."

Harry fell into step with the taller Slytherin, but didn't speak.

Finally, Theodore stated, "Think I'm playing you?"

Harry, having already worked out that Theodore had figured out Harry suspected him, said nothing.

"Think I'm going to play you up and betray you?" Theodore's voice had rose only a fraction, but enough to let Harry know the other boy was seriously mad. "Think I'm trying to trick you? Think I'm like Malfoy and Crabbe and Goyle?"

"You're smarter than the others." Harry mumbled, hoping Theo would lower his voice. "And...you're the closest person to me."

Harry didn't realize until he'd taken a couple of steps that Theodore had stopped. Turning, he stared apprehensively at the other Slytherin, whose normally well-hidden anger was raging like blue fire in his eyes.

"Glad to see your Slytherin colors finally coming through." Theo said through gritted teeth. "Finally at least you're using your instincts and sense to keep yourself safe. Least I am now assured you can survive in our House..."

"Theo..."

"If you're going to cover someone, Harry," Theo's bored features were returning, but his tone was still icy. "Than you had better figure out who they are first...not decide later when they've come to the conclusion that they think they can trust you."

"It was Snape." Harry said hurriedly, not sure why he had. All he knew was he had to fix this. "He asked me to be wary of you because you're...smart."

"Snape?" Theodore's eyebrow raised.

"He's...a double-agent."

"He's a..." Theodore made a motion towards his left arm to indicate what he meant even though they were alone.

"No..." Harry corrected. "Well, yes...but he's really a spy."

"Against Dumbledore."

"Against Voldemort."

"DO NOT SAY THAT NAME!" Theodore yelped, eyes wide and his skin visibly paling. "Idiotic..."

"Sorry..." Harry mumbled, having forgotten after days spent at Grimmauld Place with the Order that most people weren't very welcoming to the Dark Lord's name.

Theodore rushed a hand over his bangs and seemed uneasy. "Well, if he's a spy, is doing a damn good job of it as both of us think he's working for a different one."

"Your father is certain Snape supports...You-Know-Who?"

Theodore shrugged. "No idea. If he thought otherwise...think he'd have said something to me before sending me to school."

Harry hesitated and then asked, "Theo...whose side are you on?"

Theodore gave Harry a narrowed-eye look. "Which do you think?"

"I don't know." Harry admitted. "You're hard to read. You hide your expressions and you...I don't know...sometimes...I think I see too much Slytherin in you...like Malfoy..."

"The Malfoys are cowards." Theodore hissed. "If they see trouble, they'll run. Both the families of Goyle and Crabbe are pathetic and useless, insults if nothing else...anyone who was loyal and worthwhile to his cause is locked in Azkaban."

"What about the Notts?" Harry inquired in a low voice.

"My father is a fanatic and also an old friend." Deadly blue eyes turned their heat away from Harry to gaze out a window. "His views he lays down heavily...but...he sees me as useless and worthless..."

"Why would he say that though?" Harry jumped in. "I mean, I know since your mother's death he's been grief-stricken, but..."

"Do you think it was her death?" Theo scoffed at Harry. "You don't know him to make that judgment."

"It wasn't because she had died?"

Theodore snorted, looking both bemused and disgusted. "No..."

"Than...why?"

"Bit of a personal question, that, Harry."

"Tell me...I want to understand."

Theodore shifted. "We should be in class."

"We've missed it."

"Not good to miss Umbridge's class, Potter." Theodore sneered, very much like Snape would. "She'll report nasty things back to the Minister."

"Let her."

Now, Theodore seemed really unnerved. He shifted again, eyes flicking over Harry and then away as if he didn't know what to say or do. He looked every bit trapped.

"Tell me." Harry repeated. "I want to understand, Theo."

"She lied." Theodore blurted the words as if saying them quickly would bulster his courage. It seemed to work as he continued. "She lied about her blood. She was taken in by her aunt and uncle after her parents had died, but her blood...she was a half-blood...her mother was a Muggle-born...and she lied to my father when he had questioned her blood. He believed her since her name fit, but...she told him...at her death bed...the truth..."

He was shaking so uncontrollably at this point that Harry was sure the stringy boy would fall over, but Harry couldn't bring himself to move. He was petrified where he stood as Theodore finished with, "After she told him...he helped her meet her end while I watched."

Harry swallowed hard, his mouth dry, but he still managed to croak, "How..." He had meant to ask "How have you been able to live without telling someone about that?" but his voice had caught and, worse, Theodore answered his question as if it had been what Harry had meant to ask.

"With my hands." Theodore's words were barely a whisper. "Holding my hands with his...he suffocated her."

A room couldn't have become more quiet if a silencing spell had been put over it. It took several minutes for Theodore to contain his trembling and just as long for Harry to decide he needed to comfort his friend, who had finally shared this unspeakable story. He took a step forward, but Theodore held up a hand.

"Don't..." Theodore's eyes were embers of what they had been before. "I don't want your pity nor your comfort. Leave. Just go. I want to be alone."

Harry didn't think to argue and did as his friend had asked. Without thinking he had gone straight to Snape's classroom where the teacher was currently lecturing some poor first year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. He gave Harry a dark glare at his arrival and asked why he wasn't in his D.A.D.A. Class. Harry didn't answer and instead slipped into his professor's office to sit.

It hit him while sitting there how much he and Theodore were cursed and it took the remainder of Snape's lesson before Harry had his stomach under control again while running through his mind the question: had Theo been lying?

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