Thank you again for all the reviews!

Chapter Eleven—Politics

"Such delightful little friends."

From the beginning, Umbridge has irritated Theo, and it's worse now that they're all in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom for the first day. She pins her eyes on him and then on Harry, since this year the Slytherins and Gryffindors have it together.

Theo just smiles blandly back at her. Harry looks bored.

"If you will read the first chapter? There will be no need to talk."

Of course Granger's hand goes up. Theo conceals a sigh. Harry talked to her about what Umbridge was like, and how they would do best just to keep their heads down and let the professor's "teaching" slide past them, but it's not a surprise that Granger's Gryffindor principles can't stand that.

"Yes, dear?" Umbridge flutes, after she hasn't taken notice of Granger for several minutes. "What is your name?"

"Hermione Granger, professor. I just wondered what in the books talked about the practical use of defensive magic?"

"Practical?"

"Yes, Professor Umbridge. The Defense OWL has a practical portion. I just wondered when we'll get to practice those spells in class?"

Theo tilts his head. All right, that question is better-phrased than he thought it would be. Granger isn't just demanding to know what the hell Umbridge is teaching them, which Theo thought would be the tack she'd take.

"I'm sure that you'll manage just fine, Miss Granger."

"I'm not sure of that, Professor Umbridge. We don't get any practice in class at all?"

"From what I understand, you had very little practice last year, which was full of an imposter casting Unforgivables on you. And you managed to emerge from your exams just fine, didn't you, dear?"

"Because I practiced on my own!"

"Oh, dear, Miss Granger. I hope that you aren't telling me you are casting magic in the corridors or your common room?"

"No, of course not, Professor Umbridge."

Umbridge watches Granger in silence for a few more seconds, like the snake she's at least aspiring to be, and then nods and smiles. "Then I think everything will be fine, dear. You'll just do what you did last year, and everything will be fine."

She swings around abruptly and pins Harry with her gaze. He's "reading" the Defense book, but obviously paying attention to the conversation. "Unless Mr. Potter would like to add something to this discussion?"

"Sorry, Professor, I was paying attention to the book. What were you saying?"

"Do you think there's any necessity for a practical portion of class?"

Harrys shakes his head. Theo is actually a little surprised to see how cool and collected he is, but then, Harry has carried on practicing his Occlumency even now that they know his visions come from the Horcrux instead of some kind of mental connection. "I don't think it would be a good idea to practice spells like that in this classroom, Professor."

"And elsewhere?"

"Well, as your discussion with Hermione shows, that's against the rules."

Umbridge squints at Harry some more. Harry just sits there and smiles a little, as if he's eager to get back to reading the Defense text and doesn't know why she keeps staring at him. Umbridge abruptly says, "Do you think he's lurking out there, Mr. Potter?"

"Who, Professor?"

"You-Know-Who."

"Oh, well. It depends on your definition of lurking." Harry shrugs a little and leans back in his chair in an insouciant manner that makes Theo regret they're in class and there's a no touching rule then. "I do think that he might be somewhere, but he's unlikely to come near Hogwarts or the Ministry."

Umbridge doesn't look as if she knows what to do with that answer. She spends more time looking at Harry, and then turns her back with a cough. "If you will resume reading? There will be no need to talk."

More than one person is staring at Harry as if he's mad. They must be wondering why he would have put that story and memories of Voldemort's attempted resurrection in the Prophet if he doesn't believe that Voldemort's returned.

Theo conceals a grin as he bends over his book again. (He's going to smuggle another one into the class if this keeps being their daily routine). It's not Harry's fault that other people don't listen to the nuances of his words.

"Amazed that you're here instead of spending time with your boyfriend, Theo."

Theo pays as much attention to Draco as those words deserve, which is none. "We have to do other things sometimes," he says, and squints at the page in front of him before writing down the right answer to the Arithmancy equation with a flourish. "Since we are here to get an education."

"Is that what you call it?"

"The professors might be lacking, but not all of them, and not all the time."

There's a fuming silence from Draco's direction, and a more complicated silence from several directions in the common room. After all, everyone here who matters knows or has heard rumors about what Theo did to his father.

Theo keeps writing, and keeps the hard smile from his face.

"What do you think of Umbridge?" Blaise asks abruptly, leaning towards Theo. "Annoying?"

Theo shrugs. He and Blaise both know that there are Slytherins here who would report every word to Umbridge, on the orders of their parents or to get in good with the Ministry. Blaise set this up to flush them out. "No worse than many other Defense professors we've had, certainly."

"What does that mean, Nott?"

It's Davis again. At this point, Theo is convinced she's acting on her father's orders. She just isn't that forward and interested in her politics on her own.

"What I said, Davis. Is English not your first language?"

The silence crowding in from the various corners changes direction. Not everyone appreciates Davis standing up and getting involved, then. Theo knows that it doesn't even necessarily come from hatred for her half-blood status. Slytherins like certain things to be predictable, or they like warnings when the large things are about to change. And Davis's complete reversal in personality is neither of those.

"Of course it is!"

"Then you should understand what I said."

"It doesn't make any sense."

"I recommend that you study comparatives."

A wave of soft laughter moves through the common room. Davis flushes so hard that she looks as if she's going to burst a vein in her head, but there's fear in her eyes. Theo leans back in his chair and gives her the kind of even look that he hopes will convey how unwise it will be to ask more.

Perhaps it does, but Davis charges ahead anyway. She must really be afraid of her father. Theo wonders if he can make her more afraid of Theo himself, or not. "I think I should tell Professor Umbridge that you don't respect her."

"Go ahead."

"What?"

Now heads are swiveling back and forth between Theo and Davis, as if hoping for a smell of blood on the air. Even Draco has looked up from his strategy planning session with the rest of the Quidditch team.

Theo just leans back in his chair and smiles at Davis, letting everyone see how deeply unbothered he is by all of this. "Go ahead and tell her that. Then she can call me into her office, and I can go and explain the truth to her myself."

"The—truth?"

"That you don't understand English very well, and you tend to complain a lot and waste everyone's time."

Davis looks around at their audience, not at all subtly. She doesn't seem to be reassured by the smiles she gets in return. Theo doesn't think most people in Slytherin have a problem with Davis, not really, but there's that problem with uncertainty that Theo thought of before, and she's also not a pureblood.

To those to whom that matters. Theo thinks they're stupid, but he has absolutely no problem using them.

Whatever Davis sees, it convinces her that pressing this further isn't a good idea. Her hands tremble as she scoops up her parchment and quills and books, and practically runs up the stairs.

"Was it wise to drive her away like that?" Blaise asks, eyes firmly on his own essay.

Theo has already turned back to his. He shrugs without looking up. "Was it wise for her to press me in public, where I would have to defend myself harder than if she'd simply approached me in private or even with a smaller audience?"

"Perhaps not."

Theo grants a thin smile to his best friend, and dives into the somewhat absorbing task of finishing the Arithmancy in such a way that it will entertain him. In truth, most classes bore him now.

He anticipated that result when he killed his father, however, and faced up to the best and fiercest challenge of his life. Even Voldemort won't provide as much personal satisfaction if Theo gets to destroy his Horcruxes.

Unless he's stupid enough to face Theo in person on a battlefield, perhaps.

Theo loses himself in dreaming of all the spells he might cast then to the point that he almost misses the call to dinner. And the first thing he notices when he gets to the Great Hall is that Harry isn't at the Gryffindor table.

Theo narrows his eyes in a way that makes Crabbe and Goyle move down the table from him, but he also makes a point of eating his dinner in a quick, neat way. His wand is at hand. His mind is quiet and clear and empty.

When Harry needs him, he will be ready to move.

"Umbridge gave Ron detention."

"Why? I didn't think Weasley had done anything to antagonize her."

Harry grimaces and rakes a hand through his hair. They're in the classroom they used for dance practice before the Yule Ball last year. Theo's Transfigured bits and pieces of broken old furniture into a comfortable couch, and Harry has charmed the walls to glow the soft, steady grey shade that's in the sitting room they used the most often at home.

"It was something that happened outside class." Harry huffs out a breath and closes his eyes, slumping against Theo's shoulder. Theo strokes his hair. "She—saw him coming out of the library with a Defense book and made another comment about how much we must have learned from our Defense professor last year. So then Ron told her Moody was really Crouch and how a Death Eater helping Voldemort proved Voldemort was alive."

Theo just sighs. He supposes he should have anticipated something like that. "And she made him write lines, you said?"

"Yes. But—not normal ones."

Harry hesitates before he lifts his eyes. Theo catches his breath in delight. He didn't realize it was rage animating Harry like this.

"She made him use a Blood Quill."

For a moment, the words batter against Theo's ears, not making sense. That's so illegal that's he surprised a Ministry official would risk it, no matter how much she might want to shut down talk of Voldemort.

Then he sees the way Harry is shaking, and he leans forwards and puts his arms around his lover. All right, so Umbridge dared. Her motivations don't matter that much. What matters is that she hurt someone who belongs to Harry, and therefore, by extension, someone who belongs to Theo, no matter how much he might dislike Weasley personally.

"I can make sure that she doesn't survive past dawn."

"No!"

Theo raises his eyebrows. "Do you think she would have defenses on her office that could keep me out?"

"No. That's not the point. Everyone knows that you killed your own father, Theo, even if most of them think it was just him, and just in self-defense. If Umbridge turns up dead tomorrow, you're going to be the only suspect."

Theo sighs a little. He hates it when Harry is right like this. But he is. Theo was already questioned by Umbridge, and Umbridge will have either bragged around the Ministry about targeting Harry, or actually been told to do it. Of course they would think it was Harry's boyfriend who killed her.

Probably even if I didn't have a previous record of murder at all.

"Fine," Theo mutters.

"You're adorably sulky when I won't let you commit murder."

At least Harry sounds fond and gentle, and Theo tilts his head down and returns Harry's kiss. When he pulls back, Harry looks a little calmer, which is good in itself.

"So what do you want to do about it?" Theo asks.

"I trust that you can find or brew the potion that will keep Ron's hand from scarring."

"Yes. And also obliterate the curse that the Blood Quill would put into the words he was writing on the back of his hand."

"Curse?"

Merlin, Harry is so—when he draws back like that, his eyes flashing, Theo just wants to pin him onto the couch and climb on top of him. He restrains his instincts with difficulty, and nods. "Yeah. Depending on what she had him write, Weasley might find it difficult to tell lies from now on, or disobey the Ministry, or otherwise resist the command. What was it she had him write?"

"I must not tell lies."

Theo nods again. "We definitely want to make sure to give him more than just Murtlap or Dittany, then. Those would stop the bleeding, but they won't get rid of the long-term effects."

"Why would anyone use something like that?"

"A Blood Quill can bind someone to an oath. Of course, when it's used for its legitimate purpose, such as to make sure that someone abides by what's in a contract, it's fine."

"I want to kill her."

Theo really does have serious trouble keeping his tongue in his mouth. It means that he takes a moment to clear his throat, and then he says, "They would suspect you even faster than they did me."

"They don't know how hard I've been training with Dark Arts."

"Right. And we want to keep that secret for a while."

Harry is the one who's sulking now. Theo kisses him lightly and doesn't point that out.

"Will Weasley be all right with drinking the potion? And not defying her in the future?"

"He should be fine. I'll tell him I stole the potion from Snape. And he didn't mean to defy her this time. His temper just got the better of him, and he really didn't expect to see her there, you know."

Theo just nods. He suspects that this isn't the last time one of Harry's friends will have an encounter with the Blood Quill. If nothing else, Granger will have trouble keeping her tongue behind her teeth.

But it doesn't much matter. What matters is holding Harry's eyes and reaching past him to cage Harry with his arms against the couch, as he whispers, "Have I told you how hot you are right now?"

Harry's eyes are brilliant with lust a moment later, his mouth hot, and Theo happily forget about Weasley and Granger's problems for a while.

"Mr. Nott, if you could stay after class."

It's Snape speaking, so of course Harry flashes Theo a look of concern. Theo gives him a small smile and turns to face Snape. They already brewed the potion for Weasley, all made from ingredients that Theo already had, so they didn't need to steal anything from Snape. And Theo will count on his Occlumency and his refusal to meet Snape's eyes to protect any secrets they truly need to keep.

Harry, reassured, leaves the class with his friends. Theo waits, an amiable expression with a smile on his face, his eyes fastened somewhere on Snape's robes.

"I do not know what you are doing. But it will not work."

"I have a lot of plans in motion, Professor. Could I know to which you're referring?"

Snape bangs a hand down on his desk. Theo just waits. Loud noises don't frighten him by themselves, the way they might frighten someone like Harry, who grew up with loud and raging Muggles.

Father preferred more subtle methods of punishment.

"You are trying to detach Harry Potter from the Headmaster," Snape hisses, and leans closer. His eyes are boring into Theo's forehead. Theo studies the fascinating wrinkles in his professor's dark robes. "It will not work. The boy will never value you above the Gryffindor principles he has dedicated himself to."

Theo really does have to work to keep the laughter off his face, given the way that Harry took to lessons in the Dark Arts. "Harry values me more, sir."

"The way that he went and spilled the news of the Dark Lord's survival to the papers? A purely Gryffindor move."

"He did it for me. I might not have wanted him to do it if we'd had a chance to talk before that, but I can't doubt his motive."

"You will be hurt."

"That's a risk I choose to run, Professor."

Snape stares at him with a sneer cracking down the middle of his face. Theo just waits.

"To think that I always considered you one of my more intelligent Slytherins in your year," Snape snaps at last. "Very well. I will cease my attempts to talk you out of this, to make you see that a Potter is never worth loving. Go ahead and break your foolish, childish heart if you choose to do that."

"Thank you, Professor. Your blessing means a lot."

"Get out of my sight."

Snape's voice is so low and vicious that Theo just turns around and walks away. He shakes his head as he goes. He already knew that he couldn't count on Snape for much, not after some of the things that Snape said to him last year after he started dating Harry.

But he does wonder if Snape was trying to detach him from Harry on the Headmaster's orders, or if his ideas come from some kind of skewed protective instinct when it comes to defending Theo's heart…

Or if it's something else altogether.

Theo will keep an indirect eye on Professor Snape.