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Chapter Nine—Uninvited

"Should Cassie be bringing tea, Master Theo?"

"If you don't mind, Cassie."

She stares at him skeptically enough that Theo thinks she's waiting for orders to poison Dumbledore's tea or something of the kind. But Theo maintains his pleasant, open expression, and Cassie finally shakes her head and vanishes with a mutter that Theo doesn't listen to about wizards' whims.

Dumbledore settles in a large purple chair near the fire that Theo has always avoided. Of course, he brought them to this particular sitting room because he thought Dumbledore might favor the chair. He's pleased to see he was correct. The Headmaster is peering around the sitting room as if judging the art, all plain landscapes. "A pretty place."

"Thank you, Headmaster."

Harry has sat down on the couch beside Theo, practicably vibrating with anxiety. Theo reaches out and puts one hand on Harry's arm. Harry closes his eyes and slumps against Theo's shoulder, sighing.

Dumbledore is watching them with such sadness when Theo looks up that he bristles. "Did you have something to say, sir?"

The Headmaster clears his throat, but Cassie appears with the tea service then, and he closes his mouth again. Cassie hands out the tea and cakes with little waves of her hand, and then she turns and stares at Theo.

Theo nods. "That will be all, Cassie."

His elf squints at him for a long moment before she vanishes. Theo ignores that, only making sure that Harry has a teacup and a good plateful of the little cakes before he turns back to Dumbledore. "You were saying?"

Dumbledore takes several sips of tea before he says, "I have done my research. I did not want to believe what I was seeing, but I believe I am correct."

"You haven't said what about, sir."

Dumbledore stares into his teacup. Theo contemplates reassuring him that he doesn't need to practice Divination to tell the truth, but he holds his tongue. He's starting to think that Dumbledore really does intend to tell them something horrible, and has to gather his courage to do it.

From the way that Harry presses against Theo's side, shaking, he thinks the same thing. Theo wraps an arm around his boyfriend's shoulders without taking his gaze from Dumbledore.

Finally, the Headmaster looks up at them. "I struggled with whether to tell you the truth, but I think you do need to know it," he whispers.

"Yes," Theo says, holding his eyes. "I think we do."

Dumbledore nods, sips once more at the tea, and sets it aside. "I have been studying how Voldemort managed to resurrect himself, and what he was trying to do with the ritual in the graveyard. I also began to study how he had managed to become a wraith in the first place, instead of dying when you deflected the Killing Curse onto him, Harry."

Harry swallows and nods.

"There are a number of methods by which he could have achieved immortality, but only a few that could have accounted for what he and you both experienced. One by one, I have eliminated the most common. And even then, when I began to figure out what had happened, I had to do some—unorthodox research. Voldemort is even madder than I thought. He has surpassed the limits that even those who created this method of immortality laid upon it."

"Tell me, sir, please."

Dumbledore's eyes shine with horrible gentleness as he looks at Harry. "Voldemort has made Horcruxes, containers for pieces of his soul that in turn bind his soul to the world. But he has made multiple Horcruxes, whereas even the most foul wizards and witches in history before him only made one." Dumbledore breathes in, as though preparing himself for a duel. "And I fear that one of those Horcruxes lies within your scar, Harry."

Harry stares at Dumbledore with eyes so dead that Theo turns to shield his boyfriend from the Headmaster. Harry stares at Theo then. His brain seems to have stopped. Theo can see nothing of Harry's vital spirit in that gaze.

"No," Theo whispers.

"I wish it were not so. But I am afraid my research has eliminated other likely candidates."

"Tell me how to destroy a Horcrux," Theo demands, without looking at Dumbledore.

"There is no way to do so other than the utter destruction of its vessel. The diary that Harry fought in your second year was one of them, and it had to be destroyed by basilisk venom. The Killing Curse might be another method. I am sorry. Truly."

"I have to die to end Voldemort," Harry whispers.

"No," Theo snarls. He feels as if he's come around a corner on a steady path and seen it end before him on a plunge into the snow, but that doesn't matter. He won't let it matter. "I'll find a way to remove the Horcrux from you so that you don't have to die."

"The best minds in history have sought for such solutions, and have never found them," Dumbledore says. "Do you think you can?"

"Yes."

Dumbledore says nothing for a time after that, apparently disconcerted by Theo's voice. Theo isn't disconcerted himself. He knows what he wants. He knows what he's going to achieve. And it's not just Harry's life. It's the removal of the dead look from Harry's eyes.

"My research has revealed no way to remove the Horcrux from a vessel and place it somewhere else. It has revealed no living Horcrux before this, either. I do not think that you can invent a whole new field of magic, Mr. Nott."

"Fucking watch me."

"Mr. Nott! Language!"

Theo wants to sneer that they're not in Hogwarts and he can't lose Slytherin any points, but he ignores that idea. Nothing matters but the feel of Harry shaking in his arms, and his sudden, deep need to know everything Dumbledore can tell him.

"How did Harry become a living Horcrux, if there's never been one of them before?"

"I do not know everything…"

"You know something." Theo turns to face Dumbledore again, sheltering Harry behind him. "Or you wouldn't be here bragging about your research."

For a moment, Dumbledore's nostrils flare, as if he badly wants to snap back. But in the end, he helps himself to a small cake and then nods as he finishes it. "Very well. I believe that Voldemort came to Godric's Hollow intending to create a Horcrux with Harry's death. He would have seen the death of a significant enemy as a propitious time to make another, and perhaps even the night of Halloween. Voldemort is a superstitious man.

"He had the means prepared, likely an artifact that he brought with him. But when Lily Potter faced him—well, he gave her the chance to step aside. That, I believe, is the key factor that made her defense of Harry different, and not her love alone."

"Why did he give her the chance to step aside?"

"I could not say, my boy."

"That is technically the truth, Headmaster. Very technically. I think you can say. I think you're choosing not to. Why should we trust you if you're playing word games and concealing some of what you know?"

Dumbledore pauses, staring at Theo. Theo stares back. He's confident in his Occlumency to let him feel if Dumbledore tries Legilimency, if not to keep the probe out completely. And right now, he would lash out with traps that would make even Dumbledore wince.

"I cannot say because it is not my secret to speak."

"Whose is it?"

"That I also cannot say. It is a matter of promises and oaths I made," Dumbledore adds, before Theo can express his opinion of that answer. "But trust me when I say that Voldemort had a reason to give Lily a chance to leave, and she did not. He accepted her offer to trade her life for Harry's, and then he attacked Harry anyway. Given the fragile state of his soul after the creation of multiple Horcruxes, it is not a surprise, I think, that he shattered once more from the reflected Killing Curse, and that a piece of his soul latched onto Harry even as the main soul was disembodied."

Harry shudders in Theo's arms. Theo rubs his shoulder for a moment, and then nods. "All right. How many of these Horcruxes do you believe you made?"

"Did you not hear what I said about the Horcrux you are holding, Mr. Nott?"

Rage grabs Theo in talons so sharp that when he turns to face Dumbledore, the man rears back and fumbles for his wand. He's apparently forgotten that it's all but useless when he left the majority of his power outside the wards.

"His name is Harry."

"You—yes, he is a person," Dumbledore says, and sits back, holding out his hands as though Theo will accept what he said with that gesture. "But you must see that you cannot save him, and that this relationship you have, gentle as it is, is useless."

Theo stares at Dumbledore. In the back of his mind, he did wonder why the Headmaster consented to speak to them both about this instead of waiting until he could catch Harry alone or he wore them down into Harry talking with him by himself, but now Theo knows.

Dumbledore thinks that this is going to destroy what Harry and Theo feel for each other. As though Theo would ever be that shallow.

"I love Harry. I am not going to abandon him. If you really thought that this would make me do so, you're—" Theo shakes his head. He can't speak his true opinion of Dumbledore without being expelled from Hogwarts, most probably.

"You must see that there is no hope, Mr. Nott. I do not even know what kind of impact a Horcrux would have on a living being, let alone whether it would be possible to remove one. This is doomed."

"No.'

"You cannot know that."

"You can't know that I won't find a way to solve this problem, either."

"Years of magical theory—"

"As you've pointed out, Headmaster, Harry's situation has never happened before. It's just as likely that I'll find something out as all the people who've spent years not researching it." Theo cradles Harry close and bows his head to whisper into his ear when he hears the soft whimpers coming from Harry, "Do you want him to leave, so we can talk alone?"

After a long moment when Theo thinks he isn't going to get a response, that Harry is too far into shock for that, Harry nods violently.

"You heard Harry, Headmaster. You need to leave."

"I have more to impart."

"What is it?"

Dumbledore hesitates.

Theo nods. At the moment, he doesn't think Dumbledore has any new information to share, just more sad statements of hopelessness and the like. "I'll show you to the door, and you can pick up your magic again outside the wards. At the moment, I think we'll all feel more comfortable with you gone."

"I am sorry, my boys."

Dumbledore is sorry that he thinks Harry has to die, or he's sorry that he didn't manage to convince them that it's hopeless, Theo knows. So he ignores the apology and guides Dumbledore carefully to the gates. Cassie appears and walks beside him, giving Dumbledore doubtful looks from time to time.

When they reach the gates, Dumbledore clears his throat and says, "I must ask for an oath from you, that you won't speak of this to anyone else."

"And do you plan to swear the same thing?"

"What?"

"Do you plan to swear that you won't speak of it to anyone else either?"

Even if Dumbledore tried not to, he pauses a moment too long. Theo nods again. "Then we won't swear the oath, Headmaster."

"If you only understood how important this is," Dumbledore whispers.

"That's another thing you can't reveal, I suppose? Just like you can't reveal how you know about Harry's mother asking Voldemort to spare her life?"

Dumbledore still looks surprised when Theo speaks the Dark Lord's name. "Yes, I can't reveal it."

Theo smiles at him.

"If you would trust me—"

"You came here today intending to separate me from Harry, probably so that you could persuade him to risk his life, or just give it up, to get rid of Voldemort. You don't get to ask for trust."

Dumbledore, in the end, puts down his head and plods through the gates. He turns when he gets there and says something about being on the same side that Theo doesn't listen to. Harry is leaning heavily against him, and the weight grows as the moments pass. Dumbledore Apparates before Harry seems to draw a deep breath.

"Can we—talk?"

"Of course," Theo says, and leads Harry up to his own room, pausing only to leave instructions with Cassie to watch over his door and turn away anyone who tries to enter. The last thing they need right now is to be interrupted by even Neville, never mind Black.

Harry swallows as Theo shuts the bedroom door behind them and leans against it. Then he begins pacing around the room. Theo expected that, so he just watches Harry calmly as he runs his hand through his hair.

But when Harry clenches his hand down and begins to tug, Theo steps forwards and reaches out to put a hand on his arm. "I'm sorry, Harry, but I'm not going to allow you to hurt yourself."

"I wasn't trying to—hurt myself."

"Really? Because it looked to me as if you were."

Harry stares at Theo for a long moment, and then closes his eyes with a shudder. "I just—Theo, how can you stand to touch me? I'm tainted."

"Really? Because I see the same boy I've loved for the last ten months," Theo says evenly. "And because you aren't the Horcrux, whatever Dumbledore might want you to think, and because we're going to destroy this thing without harming you."

"You heard what Dumbledore said about the magical theory and how no one had ever destroyed a living Horcrux or even made one before."

"That he's aware of."

"What?"

"The Nott library contains a lot of Dark Arts that even other pureblood families lost long ago. Partially because they tended to flaunt it more than we did and got their books or artifacts confiscated." Theo smiles at Harry, the kind of deep, wild smile he rarely lets anyone see, and watches Harry swallow and relax. "There might be something there that Dumbledore doesn't know about because he's never read those books."

"But what if there isn't?"

"Then I'll make a solution. Like I told him. Like I told you. Do you think I would let you die?"

Harry hesitates. Theo bites back the temptation to say something about how much it hurts that Harry doesn't trust him. He thinks it's more than that. He waits as patiently as he can, and Harry finally mumbles something.

"What?"

"I'm saying," Harry says, and he lifts his chin and his eyes and his voice all at the same time, "maybe you should let me die."

Theo feels his smile transform again, and if there's something terrible in it, he doesn't care. He moves forwards a step, crowding Harry against the wall. Harry lets him do it. His courage doesn't visibly waver, either, Gryffindor that he is.

"I'll never let go of you," Theo whispers. "I never let go of what I love, of what's mine. I've had little enough in this life. Didn't I warn you about this before? You should have chosen someone else, Harry, if you wanted someone who would let you go when you asked."

"But—if I really asked—"

"No."

"Theo, isn't—isn't holding onto someone who hurts you a little—insane?"

"I don't care if it is. You're mine."

Theo knows it. He knows it down to his bones. He knows that he would nod and smile and agree if Harry wanted to leave him, but he would make every effort to convince him to come back. He can no more loosen his grip on Harry now than a goshawk can open its talons when it binds to its prey.

And in any case, Harry only wants to "leave" because he's convinced he's tainted or some such. He's fallen into the trap that Dumbledore set for Theo.

Probably Dumbledore thought Harry would be the more loving one.

"Theo, are you sure?"

Harry's voice is low and raw and charged. Theo recognizes the tone. Harry doesn't want to turn his back on Theo, doesn't want to leave or die, any more than Theo wants to let him go. Not truly. But he wants reassurance.

Theo leans back and opens his arms.

Harry gives a sob and grabs him, holding so tight that Theo's ribs hurt. It doesn't matter. He's holding Harry, he's holding the only person he loves, the one he intends to stay together with and cling to and love forever and slay Voldemort with.

Your trap almost worked, Theo thinks in Dumbledore's direction. Although you didn't anticipate the prey who would fall into it.

But in the end, you lost. You'll lose as thoroughly as Voldemort.

Harry is mine more than he's Voldemort's, Horcrux or not, and we're going to defeat him. I swear it on all we are.