Thank you again for all the reviews! This story will continue to be updated at times, irregularly, alongside the more regular stories I am concentrating on.

Chapter Eighteen—Meeting the Tutors

"Hello, Harry. Please come in."

Harry hesitantly entered the sitting room that seemed to be done all in shades of pearl. Or maybe it was some other fancy color he didn't know. Eloise Nott smiled at him from her portrait on the wall. It seemed to be one of several she had in the house, and this one showed shelves dense with books and a table that had towering piles of papers on it.

"Yes, ma'am?" he asked, when he came to a stop before the desk that stood in front of the fireplace and echoed her table.

"None of that, Harry. Please call me Eloise."

"I—all right. You're sure? Not even Mrs. Nott?"

Her smile deepened. "Do you think that you should go on calling the woman who's going to be your mother-in-law someday by such a formal title? I believe it would be tiring."

"What," Harry croaked. Her words made him feel as though he'd been standing in a lift without knowing it, and the floor had suddenly rushed downwards.

Eloise studied him with a faint frown. "Did I say something I shouldn't have? I find that I'm more prone to that as a portrait than I was in life. I thought Theo had made his intentions clear, but maybe he hasn't."

"I was—" Right now, Harry couldn't remember if anyone had ever spoken formal words of betrothal. It would be betrothal, right? That was the kind of thing Parkinson and Malfoy talked about. He ran his tongue around his teeth. "I didn't think Theo would be that serious about marrying me," he whispered, and that at least was the truth.

"Why not?"

Eloise's astonishment was painful. Harry turned away and studied the gleaming wall for a long moment until he could find his voice. "I don't—belong here," he said at last. "I didn't grow up in this kind of luxury. I would be an embarrassment to Theo if he really wanted me to—live here—"

He shook his head, unable to say more.

"I believe Helios said you grew up with Muggles."

"Yes," Harry said, turning around, relieved that she had been the one to say it.

"Why should that be a problem?"

Harry paused, staring at her incredulously. Eloise only put up her eyebrows and looked a little like the Unspeakable Theo had told him she'd been.

"Because you're a blood purist? Your husband fought for a blood purist Dark Lord? I'm a half-blood? I grew up in the Muggle world?"

Eloise sighed. "I respected power, you know, not blood."

"Well, yeah, I've heard blood purists say the same thing, but then they claim only purebloods are powerful enough for them—"

"Just a moment, Harry. Please."

Harry had never heard an adult woman say anything to him in that tone. His professors all acted disappointed and disapproving, Aunt Petunia upset and disapproving. He blinked and fell silent.

"A portrait concentrates the essence of the person it's painted of," Eloise said quietly, gaze fixed on him. "The most important beliefs and thoughts and emotions enter the canvas and the paint. Memories, too, of course, but the way we think about them and talk about them is influenced by the more important things."

"All right," Harry said slowly.

"I was a blood purist when I was alive," Eloise said. "I can remember that. But that conviction didn't enter my portrait, because it wasn't important to me in the same way other convictions were."

"Such as?"

"Taking care of my son. Loving my husband. Swearing that I would protect and nurture the power of whoever Theo chose."

"I bet you wouldn't have been this understanding if he'd—chosen a Muggleborn, though." Chosen was a good word, Harry thought. It meant that he didn't have to say certain things it would be difficult to unsay.

"I think it unlikely, yes. But Theo came to speak to me about you yesterday evening. The way his face shone…I would do much to protect it in my son. And in you as well, if you think you can look at him the same way."

"I don't even know what way he looked."

"Well, perhaps I ought to let him describe that to you." Eloise settled back in her portrait. "But please believe that I am…more than pleased with his decision. And I am pleased to offer you tutoring in Astronomy and battle magic, Harry."

Harry walked slowly back towards the desk. "Isn't battle magic just Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

"Perhaps we might better call it Offensive Magic Against Anyone Who Would Hurt You. Rather like your wards."

"You're going to teach me wards?"

"No. Hexes, curses, and jinxes, but ones that are aimed to create such a dazzling or effective offense that your enemies will retreat simply because they do not know how to handle it."

Harry eyed her. Eloise leaned her arms on the portrait frame like a woman looking out a high window and smiled winsomely. Harry snorted. "I don't trust that you actually smile like a sweet little girl for a second."

"Oh, no. But I can teach you to make your enemies underestimate you, too, and control of your expression is part of that. There are even spells that can reinforce that."

Harry hesitated one more time. Then he nodded decisively. Whether or not Eloise was Theo's mother, he could learn a lot from her, and if there came a time when he got kicked out of Nott House—

Well, he would be able to take his knowledge with him. He didn't think Helios or Theo would try to Memory Charm him, no matter what happened.

"Good," Eloise said, her expression lightening. "Now, I asked Helios to put out a book that talks about the influence of stars on wards. It's true that it's faint most of the time, but you can still notice and incorporate it, if you want. The Stars Our Servants?"

"Yes, here it is," Harry murmured, taking out a thick blue book from the pile. The cover had a moving image on it of the kind that was more usual in newspaper photographs, a swirling, dancing star in the center of a sphere.

Eloise smiled at him. "Excellent. Let's begin with Chapter One…"


Helios,

I will not chop my words like Potions ingredients. You are sheltering two boys who hurt my son in their different ways. I require payment of the debt.

Lucius.

Helios sneered at Lucius's handwriting. He had always despised the man, even when they supposedly stood as equals in the Dark Lord's favor. And to think that the man was ordering Helios to give up his own son?

He knew Harry had wrapped wards around Lucius and Malfoy Manor, but it was time that the man learned another lesson.

"Father."

Helios set the letter aside and looked up with a smile he didn't need to feign. Theo stood in the doorway of Helios's study, his back very straight and an expression that was far from a smile draped across his face.

"Yes, Theo?"

"I need to know how to—Harry is convinced that we'll kick him out of the house the minute he does something we don't like."

Helios blinked. "Surely he must know that we would not go to war as we have done for almost anyone else?"

"I think intellectually, he may know that," Theo murmured, pushing his hair out of his face. "But I also think that he was more comfortable accepting favors from me when he hadn't seen how much you and Mother love me."

"Ah." Helios hid his own discomfort. Of course he loved Theo, and so did Eloise. It just wasn't something they spoke of often. "So Harry believes that because we—care for you so much, all he would need to do is upset you, and we would get rid of him?"

"Yes. Mother was hinting at it after her session with Harry this morning, and although she didn't want to betray his confidence, I put what she said together with some other things that I've heard Harry say, and that has to be it." Theo drifted towards the chair in front of the fire that he had sat in most often as a child, and flung himself into it. "So I need to know how to speak to reassure him."

"I am not sure that you can."

"I must."

Theo's voice rang with determination, rather than the desperation Helios had thought he might hear. Helios waited for long moments, to see if anything would change, but Theo simply stared at him.

Good, Helios thought, with a small curving of his own lips. He has indeed chosen, and minor inconveniences and oppositions will not turn him aside from his course.

Not that Helios had thought they would, given what he had seen in Theo's memories and the way his son acted around Harry. But there was always the chance that he might have misjudged, led astray by Theo's own implacable faith in his devotion to Harry. Theo might have that faith, and yet crack when the time came to prove it.

"I cannot give you the exact words you need, son, because every situation will be different, and what would work if you had chosen someone different might not work in Harry's case. But I can give you permission to reveal certain secrets to him."

From the way Theo's eyes widened, he had anticipated what Helios would say to him. But Helios told him anyway, for the pleasure of seeing Theo's eyes widen even more, and the lightness in his son's step when he stood and left the room.

"He's chosen well."

Helios leaned back to look up at his Eloise, who stood in the portrait frame on his wall that held a fireplace and her own study. "Yes," Helios said quietly. "And yet…"

"Yes, husband?"

"If something happens to Harry, then Theo will experience what I did when you died. It is the only thing that troubles me about Theo's gift of his heart."

"We must defend Harry and teach him so well that he will not die as I did. So that he will survive the Dark Lord, and he and Theo can have the life after the war that we would wish for them."

Helios closed his eyes and remained still for a long moment, so that the trembling, shattered pieces in his belly could seal themselves back together. Then he nodded. "We will do so." And he reached for the much more interesting letter that had come that morning, in response to his request for a tutor for Theo and Harry in the History of Magic.

He had few associates he respected, and fewer enemies. But one of those enemies had written to him, and although he thought she was probably accepting his offer so that she could spirit Harry away from Nott House if she judged him in danger, that didn't matter. Helios would still welcome her presence in his home.

Anything, if would keep Harry and thus Theo's heart safer.


"Harry Potter. It is wonderful to meet you. My name is Andromeda Tonks."

Theo watched the way that Harry blinked in bewilderment at the tall, dark-haired woman, and managed to hold back a laugh. Harry looked so young at the moment, in a way that Theo suspected he rarely got to be. He did glance hesitantly at Theo for a moment before going over to shake Mrs. Tonks's hand.

"Um, hello, Mrs. Tonks. I don't know you…?"

"No." Mrs. Tonks had a sad smile that reminded Theo of the way his mother looked in some photographs he had of her. "But we have a connection nonetheless. I sometimes passed information to the Order of the Phoenix during the war—Dumbledore's organization working against You-Know-Who," she added, when Harry stared at her. "Your parents fought with them. And my cousin was your godfather, of course."

"What?"

"You don't know about Sirius?"

"No. Who's he?"

Theo blinked. He hadn't thought that particular piece of ancient history would come up during this meeting. Then again, he hadn't heard anything that suggested Harry didn't know the history.

Mrs. Tonks swallowed. "You don't know Sirius."

"Uh, if he's dead, how could I?"

"He's not dead. He's in Azkaban, for betraying your parents." Mrs. Tonks pulled her hand back and folded her arms, swaying a little in place, although Theo didn't know if even she knew she was doing that. "He was their Secret-Keeper, the one who told You-Know-Who where to find you on the night your parents died and you lived."

Harry closed his eyes for long moments. "Why did he do that?"

"No one knows." Mrs. Tonks's voice was gentle. "He was your father's best friend all through school, and he despised You-Know-Who and his family, our family. But I suppose perhaps You-Know-Who offered him something he wanted. I don't think anyone has ever asked him."

"What did he say when he got arrested?"

"He was found just after he'd killed over a dozen Muggles and Peter Pettigrew, another of his friends, and your father's." Theo watched Harry instead of Mrs. Tonks's voice, grim although her voice was, watching as the words slammed into Harry. "He was laughing and saying it was all his fault. I think at that point, he was considered so mad that the Aurors saw there wasn't much point in questioning him."

"Harry?" Theo asked softly.

Harry turned towards him and opened his eyes, and Theo reached for him instinctively. Harry was burning alive with rage, it seemed, standing there, and Theo wanted to save him and draw him closer, help him, protect him.

"It's his fault," Harry hissed, and he sounded remarkably like a snake. "I could have grown up with my parents if not for him! Had a normal childhood! Not been Voldemort's target like this!"

Mrs. Tonks gave a soft gasp at the sound of the Dark Lord's name, but Theo ignored her, focused on the most important being in the world. "It was probably both of their faults, but Voldemort's more than Black's. He turned him into a Death Eater somehow…"

"I still never knew. I want to talk to him. Find out why. Yell at him, if nothing else. Make him pay." Harry whipped around to face Mrs. Tonks. "What's their policy on visitors at Azkaban?"

Mrs. Tonks stared at Harry as if she thought he had gone mad in turn. Theo held him gently, but managed to flash her a smile when Mrs. Tonks briefly met his eyes. Father had said something about how she had probably accepted the commission to teach them history in order to make sure that Harry wasn't being tortured or something similar.

Know who you're dealing with. Harry is as Dark as me, my chosen.

Mrs. Tonks cleared her throat and turned her face away for a moment. Then she said in neutral tones, "You might be able to arrange a visit to the island. But the guards who are normally the only ones there would—have to be contacted, and bribed."

"Because I'm a fugitive now. I know." Harry was already calming down again, but his skin felt warmer than normal where Theo's fingers rested against it.

"No, because they wouldn't be able to resist bragging about seeing the Boy-Who-Lived. A fugitive? What are you talking about?"

Theo raised his eyebrows. He would have thought Father would have told Mrs. Tonks all about the way he and Harry had fled Hogwarts before inviting her to the house. But he said only, "Professor Snape and Headmaster Dumbledore confronted Harry without warning, and he lashed out with his accidental magic. He wounded the Headmaster, and we don't know for sure what happened to Snape."

Mrs. Tonks stood still for a moment, her eyes darting over them. Then she said, "I don't have news of Snape, either, but Dumbledore has pressed no charges. He's told no one that Harry fled the school, in fact."

Theo narrowed his eyes. He could guess at a few reasons for refraining from doing that, but none of them were ones that he would have guessed.

Harry shifted restlessly in his arms, and Theo reminded himself of what was most important. He drew Harry closer and said, "Whether or not Dumbledore chose to alert the Aurors, he'll be looking for Harry. I'm not going to hand him my chosen on a silver platter."

"I doubt he would expect Harry to go to Azkaban."

"But as you pointed out, the guards might still gossip."

"I need to bribe one of them," Harry said intensely. "I need to get in there and make Black pay. But I don't have that much money in my trust vault. Do you know of any guards who might want something else, Mrs. Tonks?"

Theo stared at Harry. Harry seemed to feel his gaze, and swung around to glare.

"I'm going. You can come with me or you can stay here, but I'm going!"

"Listen to me, Harry. Why would you think that you don't have the money to bribe a guard?"

"Why would you think that I do? I have a single—"

"We'll help you with the bribe money, of course. You git."

Harry blinked and stared at Theo. Mrs. Tonks cleared her throat and moved back, looking around uncomfortably.

"You—would?"

"Of course. When will you accept that we wanted you here for a reason?"

Harry just blinked and stared some more. Then he said, "I thought that was partially about securing a political ally for you and your father. And for—for—because of the way that you feel about me."

"Of course it is."

"But you would bribe people for me?"

Theo leaned close, uncaring of the way that Mrs. Tonks was creeping towards the wall, and stared into Harry's eyes until he watched them nearly cross. Then he said, "I would do anything for you."

Harry stared at him for a cascade of heartbeats.

Then he surged up and kissed Theo, and Theo kissed him back, feeling the desperate strain in Harry's body, in the press of his lips, in the clarity of his mind and the way that Harry was giving soft desperate sobs of relief.

Later he thought Mrs. Tonks had probably left the room at that point, but he honestly didn't care.