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Chapter Four—A Meeting With Malfoy

"Are you sure that carrying all these things will prevent Malfoy from harming us?"

Theo rolls his eyes and places another crystal-bladed knife in his robe pocket. Harry stands off to the side, watching with intense skepticism. "No, or I wouldn't be taking all of them. But it's better to be—"

"Prepared than caught. Yes, I understand. You've said it enough."

Theo studies Harry's reflection in the mirror as he tucks an amulet around his wrist and then covers it with a Disillusionment Charm. Malfoy will probably note the charm, but he won't be able to probe through it since no one will be able to cast any active spells in the area they're meeting. "Are you irritated with me?"

Harry starts and looks up, locking eyes with Theo in the mirror. "What? Of course I'm not."

"You've been really quiet today, and you've interrupted me seven times, and you look as though you're going to wear a hole in the floor."

Harry halts with embarrassment, probably because he's in the middle of pacing again. He takes a deep breath and runs his hand through his hair. "I just—I can't be sure that you're going to be safe."

"Me? What about you?"

"I'm more used to fighting for my life than you."

"Only barely." Theo loops a non-magical locket around his neck, one that his father inherited from a great-grandmother. Malfoy will waste time looking at it, and that will hopefully distract him from the other weapons Theo is carrying. With his wand not working in the warded area where he and Malfoy will meet, the kind of protection they'll need is one that can be triggered at a touch. "And you're upset. Why?"

Harry swallows, his eyes dating away from Theo's. "When we were plotting with Blaise yesterday, all I could think was how good it felt to be doing something other than just sitting around your house and trying to learn Occlumency," he whispers. "And now—now I think of all the ways it could go wrong."

"I'll prevent Malfoy from harming you."

"What about you?"

"You're more concerned for my life than yours. Think about yours, Harry."

"I could say the exact same thing to you. Without the 'Harry' at the end."

Theo turns around and reaches out to catch Harry's wrists, pulling him closer. Harry lets him, but his face is pinched in an unhappy expression, one that doesn't go away even when Theo bends down a little to kiss him.

"We're going to be all right," Theo says softly. "We're going to be fine. Malfoy is less dangerous than Voldemort, and we survived a fight with him."

"While he was a baby and a wraith!"

"We still survived. Do you really think that Malfoy will be able to attack and kill us in an area where he can't even draw his wand?" Theo knows that he should probably say "me," but they'll both be in possible danger, and he won't let Harry forget that.

Harry takes a rattling breath and lays his head on Theo's shoulder. "No."

"Trust me, Harry. Think rationally. I'm not going to leave you."

Harry steps back and looks up at him for a long moment. He's still frowning, but now he looks intensely thoughtful, and Theo stands still and lets Harry drink him in all he needs to.

Harry finally says softly, "You'll use any Dark Arts you have to use and murder anyone you have to to come back safe to me, won't you?"

Theo nods. He would do worse than that to keep Harry safe, but he knows Harry will be intensely unhappy if Theo gets injured, or even if he doesn't but puts himself in danger to spare Harry danger. So Theo will keep both of them safe. It's good to know that, to walk into the situation knowing where his lines are drawn with clear eyes. "I promise."

Harry sighs and leans against him. Theo wraps an arm around his shoulder, and they stand there, swaying a little, until at last Harry draws back and Theo continues putting on his collection of amulets and other defenses.

He's already outfitted Harry with what Harry will accept and can use. There are a lot of Nott items, though, that will only allow a blood member of the family to wear or use them. Theo will just have to carry them and hope that he can act to save both of them if it comes to that.

If. Malfoy might not attack. Theo doesn't know exactly what he wants.

At last, half an hour before the meeting time, Theo's finished. He casts one more spell to still the click of some of the larger amulets that might shift against each other and leads Harry to the fireplace against the far wall of his bedroom.

Harry leans up and kisses him, a soft, lingering kiss.

Theo smiles and gathers up the Floo powder in his hand. He'll go through the fire first just in case there's an ambush waiting on the other side. "The Leaky Cauldron!"

The Leaky Cauldron lacked anyone who took much of an interest in them—or rather, in Theo, since Harry is wrapped in his Invisibility Cloak and the flames that spat him out probably just looked like ordinary guttering Floo flames to most people. Now Theo walks briskly through Knockturn Alley, shaking his head at a few hags who offer him trays of dubious Potions ingredients, a quarter of his attention focused on Harry walking on Silenced feet at his side.

The rest of his attention is on the wizards and witches around them. Theo hasn't bothered disguising his face. If someone tries to approach them, better they should know exactly how Theo is smiling.

No one does. They arrive at a bookshop called Amelia's Ancient Knowledge. The warded area is in the back, and Theo thinks it's probably the source of most of the bookshop's income, rather than the books. The front of the shop is dusty and the books on display in the window haven't changed, to Theo's recollection, since the last time he was here.

He reaches to the side, as if scratching an itch on his thigh, and brushes his elbow against Harry's cloaked flank. Harry leans against him for a second, his breath in Theo's ear.

Reassured that Harry is still there, Theo walks around the side of the shop.

The area in back looks like it was once an alley, but someone has cleaned it up, widened the walls, replaced the stone with dirt that has flowers growing in it, and anchored anti-magic wards to it strong enough to make Theo's teeth buzz. A thin black gate that looks as if it might be made of Acromantula silk wound around iron blocks off the entrance to the patch, between the walls. As Theo watches, a tall witch steps out of the shop and walks towards him.

Theo raises his eyebrows. The Hogwarts gamekeeper is the only person he's seen taller than this woman. She has thick black hair, thicker black robes, and a gliding, balanced walk that he's only seen before on master duelists.

She comes to a halt in front of him and says, "I am Shanara Yewtree, and I am the manager of this garden. What is your name, and why are you here?"

"I was invited here for a meeting by Lucius Malfoy," Theo says. He speaks slowly and keeps his hands away from his body. He wonders whether it was a mistake to have Harry come under the Cloak, if Yewtree might sense him. But Harry told Theo that his Cloak was a special one and would keep him hidden unless someone had a magical eye like the one Crouch stole from Moody. Theo will just have to trust him. "He specified that it was to be in this garden and to start ten minutes from now."

"Do you know the rules of this garden?"

"I know that no one can cast a spell once inside it. I know that Lucius Malfoy reserved it for thirty minutes' time. Other than that, no."

"You are bound to keep the peace while you are here. When you pass inside the wards, not only does it keep someone from drawing their wand or casting a spell, but it means that they are bound as if with a vow not to hurt the other person or break the peace of the garden."

"Magically?"

"I do not understand your question. Of course the wards are magic."

"Sorry, Madam Yewtree. I meant, are we prevented from doing any kind of harm to one another? Or can we still lie and attack each other verbally?"

Yewtree's eyes widen a little. She studies Theo as if he's more interesting than she thought, then nods slowly. "Yes, you may attack each other verbally. That is none of my concern, or the garden's concern. Pain inflicted by wounds and spells is the only kind prevented by the wards."

"Thank you, Madam."

After long moments of more consideration, Yewtree steps aside. The gate opens as if swung by a spell Theo can't sense, and Theo moves forwards and ducks his head a little as he enters it. He can feel Harry practically treading on his heels to follow him inside.

He feels the difference between being inside and outside the wards right away. Crackling lines of magic settle around his body, binding him, tugging him back and forth in subtle ways that have nothing to do with make him sway or wobble. Theo swallows and glances around for a sign of the table that he assumed would be here.

"Here."

Yewtree gestures him to a black table that seems to be made of ebony, with a set of three chairs around it. It stands near the center of the garden and is surrounded by four clumps of tall blue flowers Theo doesn't recognize. Theo nods and sits down. "Thank you, Madam," he repeats.

Yewtree snorts and turns away. "I will have the tea delivered. I hope that you know what you are doing."

Theo doesn't offer a reply. After all, he wasn't the one who chose to meet here. He folds his hands in front of him, and after a moment, a silver tray with a gleaming porcelain tea service on it floats out from the back of the shop.

Harry picks up a slice of lemon from the tray, seeming to make it vanish. Theo smiles a little and settles back in the chair.

Then there is only the waiting.

Mr. Malfoy is punctual to his time, striding through the gate of the garden ten seconds, by Theo's watch, before the meeting is set to begin. Madam Yewtree doesn't come out to meet Malfoy. Maybe she knows that he's been here before and assumes he knows the rules.

Theo stands up and bows a little. He can feel Harry shifting behind him, but he says nothing.

"Mr. Nott. I appreciate your willingness to meet me."

"Of course, sir. I have to admit that you worried me a little with some of your letters, and I'm glad that we'll get the chance to clear it up in person."

Malfoy lets his silver-topped cane tap against the earth of the garden as he comes closer. He seems to be leaning on it more heavily than he usually does, but Theo discounts that. After all, that's probably just a trap.

"Have you been waiting long?"

"No, sir, only ten minutes."

"Punctual, even early. One might take that as a virtue."

"One might, sir. But I also think that I have more important virtues."

Malfoy sighs a little as he settles into the chair across from Theo and reaches immediately for one of the teacups and the milk. Theo half-wishes that he'd thought to ask Madam Yewtree whether the garden would permit its guests to poison each other. "I hope that you won't take this the wrong way, young Theo, but when I hear you speak, it's as though your father will come again."

"Oh, I don't take that the wrong way, sir."

Malfoy pauses for the barest moment in the process of pouring his tea. Theo sits back down and turns so that his shoulder brushes against Harry's. Harry brushes back without even a ripple of light from the Cloak. It really is a remarkable thing.

"To the point, then," Malfoy says, after sipping from his tea and setting his cup down with a gentle clink. "How many holes are you aware of in your wards?"

"Seven, sir."

Malfoy sits up, his eyes narrowing. Harry tenses next to him, or so Theo is certain from the way that cloth brushes his elbow. Theo just sits where he is, and smiles placidly when Malfoy hisses like a cat.

"You would do well not to joke, young man."

"I don't see how what you asked can possibly be a serious question, sir. Therefore, I think it appropriate to respond with a joke."

"You know that I said you weren't in full control of your wards. That is because you are not. If I wanted to, I could storm through the hole and destroy the boy that you're so proud of twisting around your finger."

Oh. Threats, then.

Theo sits up a little and smiles. Malfoy's eyes widen. Theo is giving the smile that he almost never uses, but which has made Draco back down and which Mrs. Longbottom glimpsed before Theo drove her away from the Nott property.

"If you tried," Theo says softly, "you would die."

"Threats are not permitted in this garden."

"I asked Madam Yewtree, and she said they were. It's magic against someone else that's not permitted."

"You are vulnerable. I am trying to help you. I was hoping for an alliance of the kind that I maintained with your late father—"

"I will never enslave myself to Voldemort," Theo says precisely, and enjoys the way that Malfoy flinches, his hand for a moment hovering over his left arm. "So you're wasting your time."

"You young, insolent idiot. Do you think the Dark Lord is to be defied?"

"Of course. I've done it. Harry's done it. Even Black and some of the other people living with me have done it."

"All of them are the Dark Lord's enemies or related to his enemies. The insult is different, and greater, when we are talking about the child of one of his Death Eaters. He will come for you, Mr. Nott. I am the only one I know of willing to intercede and become your ally despite that. I only need a few concessions, and I will offer my valuable services as a go-between to make sure the Dark Lord will forgive you."

"I don't give a damn what Voldemort wants. I might have given a damn what you want, which is the reason I came to this meeting, but I see that you're not going to be less cryptic in person. This was a waste of time."

Theo doesn't think he's imagining the trembling sigh of relief from beside him. He stands up and walks towards the entrance of the garden. He knows that Harry is faithfully keeping pace with him, and he's not worried about an attack from Malfoy at his back, but he's curious to see what the man will do.

He's opening the gate before Malfoy calls in a strangled voice, "Wait!"

Got you.

Theo keeps a perfectly bored expression on his face as he turns around. Malfoy is on his feet, his hands clenched and his teeth bared. Theo has seen far worse from his own father, though, and even Pettigrew in the graveyard. He raises his eyebrows.

"I have—memories of the Dark Lord pointing out the holes in the Nott wards," Malfoy finally mutters. "I am willing to share them with you for a price."

"What is that price?"

"Harry Potter."

Theo shakes his head. He regrets it, because Malfoy does sound like he's telling the truth now and Theo will have to go over the wards even more carefully to make sure that he can find the holes, but there's no way that he would even pretend to give Harry up. "I don't think so."

"Wait."

Harry is the one who's speaking. Harry is the one who's standing next to Theo and taking the bloody Cloak off. Theo spins to face him, his hand clawing, but Harry steps back and shakes his head a little.

And Theo remembers that Harry didn't make the same kind of promise Theo did, not to put his own life in bloody danger.

"Would you be willing to share those memories if I made the deal with you?" Harry asks, searching Malfoy's face with his eyes. "If I acted in a way that would benefit your family and place you in higher standing with Voldemort if he ever comes back?"

"Harry."

Harry kicks Theo's ankle without taking his gaze from Malfoy. Theo restrains the temptation to kick back. They probably already look childish enough in front of Malfoy.

But for the love of Merlin, this was not the plan.

Malfoy, of course, is smiling now. He inclines his head and taps with his cane as if he's a harmless old grandfather. "Of course, of course! I understand that I may not be able to get everything I want. Some cooperation on your part would be better than the none I understand now that I'll get from Mr. Nott."

Harry nods. "Then let's do it."

Theo seizes Harry's hand where it's dangling down by his side, out of Malfoy's sight, and squeezes viciously. Harry flinches a little, but doesn't turn to look at Theo. He just squeezes back and starts bargaining with Malfoy.

Who's lying, Theo knows he is, and who will be working as hard as he can to both get the benefits that Harry is haggling over and to hand Harry to Voldemort the instant that he returns.

There's a reason that this wasn't in the bloody plan!

But Theo and Harry can't afford disunity in public, so Theo stands there and smiles and interjects a word now and then to make sure that the bargaining won't go too badly for Harry, dreaming all the while of the talk he and Harry will have when they get home.

It's time that Harry understood some things about how he protects Theo.