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Chapter Eighteen—Confrontation
"I'm glad that we don't have to stay at the school for the Yule Ball this year."
"Are you saying that the Yule Ball wasn't fun, Harry Potter?"
Harry leans his head back against Theo's shoulder with a quiet laugh. They're in their private classroom again, watching as Theo's illusions spread spinning blue and green shadows around the floors and the walls, making it look like they're underwater. "It was fun to shock and puzzle everyone. And it was fun dancing with you. But we can do that on our own."
Theo kisses Harry's neck. "We certainly can. Would you like to do it now?"
"Now?"
"Why not?" Truth be told, Theo thinks they deserve at least fifteen minutes of enjoyment after the sustained hours of attention they've given the books about soul magic that Sirius Black did indeed send Harry and the dusty old newspapers about Voldemort's attacks during the first war. They've been scouring those to see if they can identify locations important to him. Theo tugs on Harry's arms now.
Harry stands with a smile, and they move towards the center of the room. Theo twists his wand, and quiet music fills the air.
"You never did tell me why you got good enough at music charms to cast them silently."
"It was one of the few ways of enjoying myself that Father couldn't take away from me when I was a child. He could take my books and lock me in my bedroom without toys, but he couldn't take away the music that my accidental magic conjured. I was good enough at it to learn to control it within a year or so."
"That bastard. He died too quickly."
Theo has to kiss Harry for that statement, and for a moment, they stand snogging steadily enough that Theo thinks they're going to undertake a different form of dancing. But he moves back with a little shake of his head and takes Harry in his arms, and Harry smiles into his face as they spin through the motions of a slow waltz.
Theo is deeply content at the moment, in a way that he never imagined he could be when he was locked in his room and listening to the strains of music that he conjured as much from imagination as memory.
It's like a perfect moment, and of course it splinters with a sharp knock on the classroom door. Theo sighs and steps back. The music dies, and Harry turns to face the door with his wand out.
But it's Blaise, not an enemy, who thrusts his head inside, his eyes darting for a moment from Harry to Theo before they rest on Theo. "I think you need to come to the common room, Theo."
"Why's that?"
"Malfoy is mounting an extremely foolish challenge."
Theo lets his eyes fall shut as he takes a deep, silent breath. Then he reaches out and runs his fingers through Harry's hair. "I'll see you later, I hope," he murmurs.
"Of course." Harry smiles at him and turns back to the books and newspapers. Theo raises a ward around him that will do its very best to burn someone's arm off if someone who isn't Theo or friendly to Harry crosses the barrier. Harry twitches a smile at Theo that says he recognizes and appreciates the spell, and sprawls on the couch to read.
"That ward could kill someone," Blaise says quietly as they shut the classroom door behind themselves.
"Yes, it could," Theo says, and smiles at his best friend.
Blaise chuckles and winks at Theo. "I can't wait to see what you do to Malfoy."
Me, either, Theo thinks, and lengthens his stride.
The door slides open in front of them, and Theo walks into the common room with Blaise at his side.
People turn eager eyes to him immediately. It seems that dear Draco has been standing in the middle of the common room for a while, bragging, and some probably hope that Theo will save them from the sound of Draco's voice as much as anything else. Theo flashes them a small smile, and they decide to look elsewhere.
They might regret that wish, in the end.
"Theo! I was waiting for you!"
Oh, Draco is in fine form. His eyes shine, and he leans forwards as if he's going to jump over one of the couches in front of him and strike Theo in the throat with his wand. Theo gives him a faint smile, and Draco does think better of that, but he still wears a nasty smile. Some of Theo's anticipation grows.
"I was telling everyone who would listen that you're not responsible for your father dying, because you would never have killed him to satisfy the whims of a half-blood, but they've been reminding me of what you did to Tracey the other day. It seems that you've always been more bloodthirsty and less subtle than I thought. And killing your kin in the bargain?"
Draco, because he's an idiot, obviously thinks that blood kin is always more valuable than a chosen lover. But he's not alone in thinking that, from the way that people lean forwards on their chairs and couches, purebloods all, and seem to hold their breaths.
Theo inclines his head. Draco's smile widens across his face, and his hand twitches towards his wand.
The way that Draco's set up this challenge, Theo will lose if he wields the kind of violent magic that made Davis run away crying. But that's all right. Theo has other weapons at his disposal, and anyway, Draco didn't listen last year when Theo used a spell to break his fingers. This other means will make sure the lesson is more lasting.
Theo walks straight towards Draco, smiling. He doesn't draw his wand, and he keeps his stride relaxed and easy, his eyes fastened on Draco's face.
Draco stares at him. Then he whips his wand up, pointing at Theo. "Don't come any closer, Nott, or I'll begin the duel!"
"I had no idea you wanted to duel me, Draco," Theo says, coming to a halt and giving him a chiding look. "You do? I think that's a little crude, personally. And repetitive. I already showed what I could do in a duel when I beat Davis."
"I don't want to duel you! Stay back!"
"But I don't see a need to stay back when I'm trying to warn you," Theo says, with a slight, exasperated smile. He steps towards Draco. "Do you think that I would come this close if I intended to duel you? That I wouldn't draw my wand? I just wanted to have a private conversation with you so that I can clear up some misunderstandings. Very private. We can go to the dorm room."
"No!" Draco's voice emerges as a high squeal.
Theo smiles. "Draco, everyone present can hear me saying what I intend to do. You really think that I would hurt you if we left their sight? When if you came back in pain, all anyone would have to do is go straight to Professor Snape?"
"That's not—you're going to do something else!"
"Something other than hurt you?"
"Yes!"
"Well, you're right," Theo says, and spreads his hands. "I just want to talk to you, Draco. Find out what you were saying about Harry and me."
"I wasn't saying anything."
More than one person laughs. Theo smiles and cocks his head. "I think you were. I think that you wouldn't have looked so triumphant or expected me to challenge you to a duel if you were only talking about homework with Pansy or the like. So we can go to the dormitory, and we can talk about it, and we can clear up any lingering misunderstandings, can't we?"
"I don't want to go anywhere with you, Nott!"
"I promise it'll be innocent, Malfoy. I have no desire to cheat on Harry."
"You—stop talking like that!"
"Like what?"
By now, more than a few people are laughing. Theo keeps his hands spread and his smile small and friendly.
Draco, though? Draco can see the truth in his eyes. And he knows that going up into the dormitory with Theo would mean pain, although not the kind of thing that Theo did to Davis. That didn't deter Draco, so Theo would have to do something else.
And the promise of it is enough to melt Draco's spine. He moves backwards with a few stumbling steps, looks around for salvation, and then turns and runs towards the dormitory. All that other people will see is that Theo made him back down without any spells.
Theo turns and meets the eyes of the people who deign to look at him. Most of them glance away again at once.
I don't know why. I'm being so friendly, after all.
He saunters over to sit beside Blaise, who is grinning at him as he puts up a Privacy Charm. "Nicely done," he says.
"I have no idea what you mean," Theo murmurs tranquilly. He can feel heavy gazes on him, and knows he has to wait for a little while before he goes back to the classroom where he left Harry. The thought irritates him, but he doesn't let it show.
"Of course you don't."
An hour later, Theo is thinking that surely he's spent long enough in the Slytherin common room to show people that they shouldn't fuck with him when an alarm rips along his nerves as if someone is shredding them with a bone claw.
Theo is on his feet in seconds, his wand drawn. People pause in their conversations and stare at him. Blaise is starting to his feet in the same manner, although he doesn't draw his wand and just bends a frown on Theo.
"What is it?"
It takes Theo far too long to figure out, but then he hisses, "Harry." That alarm he felt was the breaking of the ward that he wound to protect Harry.
He takes off running out of the common room, through the corridors, not caring if people get upset or think that he's weak for retreating. He has no problem with coming back and destroying them if he has to, depending on what's happened to Harry.
It would be easy, if they had something to do with what's happened.
He and Blaise—he almost missed Blaise's footsteps behind him—come around the corner into the corridor that houses the classroom. Theo halts. There's a body lying on the floor, and a glance is enough to convince him that it's not Harry.
"Do you want me to…?"
"Examine him, if you would? Yes."
Blaise nods and kneels down next to the body. Theo strides past and through the choking, shifting coils of the ward. They're alive with his magic, longing to strike at someone like disturbed snakes, but luckily, they still recognize their creator. They still with little hisses, and Theo pets at them absently as he steps past into the classroom.
A hex comes flying at him.
Theo ducks and rolls, absurdly proud of Harry's reflexes. Of course, he does come back to his feet to see Harry looking horrified and guilty, and that snatches away some of his pride.
"It's all right, Harry," he says as soothingly as he can, coming over to put an arm around Harry's shoulders. "The ward defended you, the way it should. And I came as soon as I felt it go off. I'm sorry that I wasn't here." It's clear as moonlight to him now that Draco's ploy was coordinated with someone else to lure Theo back to the common room and get him away from Harry.
Harry tries several times to swallow. Then he says, "I—are you all right, Theo? They didn't hurt you?"
"I didn't even duel. What did you feel in here?"
"It felt as though someone was testing the ward a few minutes after you left, but it faded, and I was reading. I—got involved in what I was reading, and didn't check the ward as closely as I should have. I'm sorry."
Theo shakes his head and nuzzles his face down into Harry's shoulder. Harry makes a soft noise and leans his face against Theo's cheek. "No, it's all right," Theo murmurs. "That's exactly what the ward should have done, make you able to study without fear. And then what happened after that?"
"I heard someone cursing—I mean, not spells, just swearing." Theo nods. "I drew my wand and started towards the door, but I didn't want to get too close to it, just in case someone managed to cast through the ward. Then I heard screaming."
Theo smiles.
"Did the ward kill someone?"
"You don't sound too distressed if it did," Theo notes idly, his fingers straying through the curly hair at Harry's nape.
"I'm so sick of being the bloody victim," Harry says, his voice low and guttural and insanely attractive. "The Heir of Slytherin, the supposed cheater who put my name in the Goblet of Fire when it was just someone trying to kill me as usual, the victim of Umbridge's Veritaserum and detentions. Or I would have been, without you. Even the supposed victim of Sirius Black. If someone was trying to hurt me and paid the price, for once, I don't bloody care."
Theo smiles and kisses Harry's temple. He would like to get into more interesting activities, but there's still the matter of Blaise and the probable body outside the classroom door, so he pulls back reluctantly. "Come on, we might as well see who managed to get themselves nearly killed."
"Or all the way killed."
Theo wraps an arm around Harry's shoulder in silent promise of more, later, and guides him towards the door.
"Daedalus Rosier."
Theo raises his eyebrows. Of course he knows that the boy has, or had, some relatives who were Death Eaters, but Theo's never interacted with him, and never heard him say anything about Harry, either. Rosier always gave Theo the impression of someone who considered himself above politics of any kind, either Slytherin or Death Eater, and just interested in making as much money as possible. He runs some kind of gambling ring among the other seventh-year Slytherin students.
"Someone who knows a lot of curses?" Harry asks, leaning over Theo's shoulder to study the body where it lies on the floor. Well, "body" isn't accurate, really. Rosier is still breathing. But intense burns seam his face and his hands, and he'll certainly never be normal-looking again.
If he survives. Theo thinks he might not.
"Maybe," Blaise says. "He's never demonstrated them that I'm aware of." He leans back and raises an eyebrow at Theo.
Theo has to nod. "I don't think he's even taking Defense. Charms, Transfiguration, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, maybe a few others. But not Defense."
Harry grunts and uses his wand in a short, silent jab to flip Rosier over. There are scorch marks all along the sides of his robes, but not as many as Theo expected. He uses his own wand to probe at Rosier's clothes, and yeah, there are dragonhide linings on it.
Rosier came prepared for a burning ward. Someone told him.
Or he's been spying, and Theo never noticed him.
He's not sure which possibility concerns him more.
When Theo tells Harry and Blaise about the possibility that Rosier knew exactly what he would be facing and only didn't succeed because he didn't plan for an intense enough ward, Blaise closes his eyes and swears. Harry is the one who asks, "Did he know Legilimency?"
"Why would you ask?"
"Because I'm not good enough at Occlumency to keep someone out of my head all the time yet. And Ron and Hermione could have come here, sensed the ward, and gone away again. And he could have taken the truth from their minds."
Theo nods slowly. Then he raises his wand and casts the spell that will cause the ward to show who passed by it in the time since Theo left.
Shadowy impressions appear and flare. Theo concentrates harder, pouring his power into the spell. He hasn't actually managed to cast this before, since the wards are themselves a new spell and ever modification makes them harder to control.
The shadows calm down and form into faces, bodies, movement, although not voices. Weasley and Granger appear and retreat. Harry himself shows briefly, looking out from inside the classroom. And then Rosier.
"If he got it, it must have been from Weasley and Granger," Theo murmurs, lowering his wand. "They left long enough before he arrived that he could have used Legilimency on them." He sighs and turns to look at Harry. "What do you think we should do with Rosier?"
"Is he alive?"
"He might wish he wasn't," Blaise says, admiration in his voice. Theo preens a little, knowing that admiration is all for his ability to create deadly spells. "He'll be disfigured. But yes, he's breathing, and there's no reason to assume that he'll stop soon."
Harry sighs and turns to Theo. "I suppose that we can't demand Ron and Hermione learn Occlumency."
"We'd have to tell them why. Do you want to?"
"No. And I think Hermione might be good at it, but Ron wouldn't, and they would want to know why, and—I want to stay friends with them."
Theo squeezes Harry's hand in comfort for a moment. It's disheartening, it must be, to know that Harry thinks his friends wouldn't stay his friends if they knew everything he was doing. But it's disheartening enough that Theo doesn't have to keep harping on it. "All right. Then we need to punish Rosier in such a way that everyone will take warning from it and not try to harm you again, or lure me away to do you harm."
"Would the burns be enough?"
"Not when Rosier probably won't tell anyone how he got them," Blaise says, sitting back on his heels. "And not when he'll probably be hidden away in the hospital wing to have them treated. He might even be sent to St. Mungo's."
Harry nods. His face is distant, but firming even as Theo watches. "All right. Can you take him back to your common room and make it clear what will happen to anyone who tries to get in the way of your protecting me? And get the truth from his mind about what happened?"
Theo grins, and sees the way that Harry's pupils dilate in reaction to that grin. It makes it even easier to purr, "It would be my pleasure."