Chapter Seven of 'Imago'- Sanctuary Claimed

[lomonaaeren]

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Chapter Seven—Sanctuary Claimed

Theo kisses Harry lightly one more time and leads him back into the Great Hall. There are a few dances they can still do, but Theo also has part of his plan to put in motion before he goes back to the Slytherin common room.

Accordingly, he waits until Madame Maxime and Dumbledore finish a dance, and then steps up to them with a polite bow. The Beauxbatons Headmistress looks at him without any recognition, but Dumbledore fetches a sigh that seems to rise from his boots.

“Mister Nott?” he asks.

“I’ve come to claim sanctuary, Headmaster. As you promised in the letters that you’ve sent Slytherin students?” Theo adds, when Dumbledore’s brow furrows and he blinks with what seems to be honest confusion.

Dumbledore’s eyes widen a little. He raises his wand and casts a Privacy Charm around them so powerful that it makes the air shimmer and distort. Theo can see Harry waiting on the other side of the spell, and winks at him, although he doesn’t know if Harry can see it. The Privacy Charm doesn’t matter. Theo is going to be telling Harry everything later anyway.

“A rather bold claim to make in earshot of your Housemates, my dear boy,” Dumbledore murmurs.

“They’ve all received the letters from you, too, Headmaster,” Theo tells him softly. “They might not have decided to take you up on them, but we know who they were from. Now I’ve come to take you up on this.”

“Why don’t more of you?”

Oh, hell. Dumbledore’s eyes are big and seem to be—vulnerable? They’re probably not really, but Theo didn’t expect even the appearance of vulnerability from the Headmaster. For a moment, he’s fumbling amid his horror of possibly being expected to comfort the powerful wizard he thought he was going to get sanctuary from.

Then Theo gets control of himself, and shakes his head. “They’re worried about what the price would be, and what you would demand from them.”

“Truly? I never thought to demand anything from you.”

Theo glances sideways and leads Dumbledore’s gaze to Professor Snape, who’s currently sneering at a half-Veela girl pouting about being separated from her dazed Slytherin partner. “The way you haven’t demanded anything from other Slytherins?” Theo asks softly. “We know or suspect the price he has to pay, sir.”

Dumbledore doesn’t deny it, interestingly enough. He just looks back and forth between Theo and Professor Snape as if deep in thought. Then he asks, slowly, “And you and the other children think I would make you pay the same?”

“As near as you could, sir.”

Dumbledore looks into Theo’s eyes. Theo looks back unwaveringly at the point of his nose. No sense in letting Dumbledore use Legilimency on him now, after so many years of avoiding it.

“Does this desire for sanctuary have anything to do with your dating young Mr. Potter?”

“Yes. My father isn’t likely to be pleased.”

Theo thought of making his voice break here, his eyes fill with tears. It would probably make him look more sympathetic and malleable to Dumbledore, and easier to manipulate. But he hates the thought of appearing weak when he wants to be strong for his boyfriend, and Dumbledore might try to manipulate him away from Harry. So he stands there and says the words calmly, and watches silent stormclouds pass across Dumbledore’s face.

“Perhaps you should have thought of that before openly dating Mr. Potter?”

He wants me to have come to him first, so that I would be dependent on him, and Harry wouldn’t have fought so strongly for me.

Theo smiles. “Perhaps,” he agrees. “But I do have other plans in motion as well, and I really, really like Harry. I would do a lot to protect him. Hiding in the background and pretending that I find him shameful wouldn’t have helped with that.”

Dumbledore just looks completely puzzled now. Theo radiates the kind of confused innocence and sincerity he did during their session in Dumbledore’s office, and Dumbledore is the one who breaks first, looking away with a sigh and a pass of his hand across his face.

“All right. You can, of course, claim sanctuary with the school, Mr. Nott. We will protect you during the school year, and ensure that you have a safe place to stay during the summers and holidays. That place will not be at the school, but it will be behind wards.”

“And you have procedures in place to ensure that my father can’t just claim legal custody of me?”

“Ah, well, that will be a bit more difficult, yes. The preferred procedure would be for your father to agree to a parting of the ways and surrender your custody to the Wizengamot or the Headmaster’s office.”

Theo smiles with all his teeth. That’s the way that Dumbledore is going to try and separate him from Harry, then: say that Theo can have sanctuary, but pretend there’s nothing he can do if Father makes a legal objection.

Unfortunately for Dumbledore, Theo has a plan already in place for that. It would be simplest to claim the sanctuary from Dumbledore that he’s promised, especially because it means that Theo wouldn’t have to shake Harry’s faith in Dumbledore so soon. But a Slytherin always has more than one path of escape.

“Well, of course,” Theo says softly, lowering his eyes, “if you can’t do it, sir, there’s nothing more to be said. Sorry to have troubled you.” He turns around and starts to step out of the Privacy Charm to return to Harry.

Dumbledore lays a restraining hand on his shoulder. Some people would call it gentle; Theo wouldn’t. “That doesn’t mean we will just give up at the first sign of trouble, of course. Perhaps you can write to your father in advance of the inevitable article coming out? Even our industrious Rita can hardly publish one before the morning.”

He wants to use me as a lever to manipulate Harry, and he can’t if I’m somewhere else. Theo gives a long sigh. “I’m afraid my father isn’t likely to be understanding no matter when I inform him.”

Dumbledore is silent, apparently thinking. Then he says, “Do you believe your father would force you into the role of a Death Eater?”

“I would estimate it’s about the same chance of your forcing me into the role of a spy, Headmaster.”

Dumbledore draws his hand back as if burned. “I was not suggesting such a thing, Mr. Nott. But there is another solution, it seems to me. You play this off to your father as your attempting to get close to Harry in order to serve Voldemort better, you let yourself be Marked, and you do turn spy.”

So you can have another Snape. So your chains on Harry are heavier than ever. Theo shakes his head. “I’m not willing to serve the man who wants to kill Harry, Headmaster.”

Dumbledore is apparently stumped now. Theo waits a little longer, but Dumbledore doesn’t renew his offer of sanctuary. Presumably the price Theo is willing to pay isn’t high enough.

Theo steps through the charm and walks over to Harry. Harry promptly grabs his hand, studying him. “What happened?”

“The Headmaster has been sending these letters to Slytherin students every year that offer us sanctuary if we need it,” Theo says, keeping his voice low. “I tried to claim it. First he suggested that he could give it to me but there would be a problem if my father mounted a legal challenge, and then he suggested that I pretend to be a loyal Death Eater and spy on the Dark Lord for him.”

“What?”

Theo pauses and looks at Harry speculatively. Harry’s jaw has dropped, and there’s anger burning in his eyes. Theo half-smiles. That anger is for him. Harry would do anything to keep him safe. He knew that, but every new affirmation of it sends a soft pulse of wonder through his chest.

“Yeah, not surprising, but disappointing,” says Theo evenly, watching Harry’s continued transformation—clenched fists, gritted teeth, hardening jaw. “So I’ll be finding sanctuary with Blaise instead.”

“Zabini?”

“Yes. His mother cares mostly about screwing people over in politics rather than standing with one side—well, that, and protecting her business interests. She would adore being able to get one over on my father and also rub it in Dumbledore’s face that she was able to protect me when he failed to do so.”

Harry clears his throat. “I’ve heard the rumors about her. Is she—safe?”

“As long as I don’t transform overnight into a fabulously wealthy and handsome adult wizard who owns a business she’d like to buy, I’m pretty safe,” Theo answers dryly.

He expects Harry to laugh, and he does, a little, but his eyes lower, too. He clears his throat and mutters, "I think you’re plenty handsome.”

Well, and that’s nice to hear in a way that sends a thrum throughout Theo’s body. He’s never prided himself much on his looks. He knows he’s thin, knows he’s pale, knows his eyes are his best feature and he’s usually looking at someone sarcastically. But Harry can think it, Harry can say it, and it’s nice that he does.

Gently, Theo reaches out and pulls Harry’s chin around to face him. Harry bites his lip, and his face is still red in a way that isn’t with anger. Theo draws Harry with him towards a shadowed corner of the Great Hall. There are more of them now that some of the candles have burned down and a lot of people have left.

“Dance with me one more time?” Theo whispers.

Harry smiles brilliantly and reaches out to put his hands on Theo’s shoulders. They sway back and forth in place, a dance Theo didn’t explicitly teach Harry but they both know by heart anyway, eyes locked on each other’s.

Theo is burning, and calm. He’s wild, and content. He reaches out to frame Harry’s face with his hands and leans in to kiss him, more softly and sweetly than he once thought he would be able to kiss anyone.

Harry clutches at him desperately, pressing their mouths together, and Theo allows it. He wouldn’t have thought himself capable of this, either. Clinging and possessive and needy—it’s not the way he wants people to react to him.

But for Harry, there’s nothing he wouldn’t give.

*

“It looks like I’ll be taking advantage of your mother’s offer after all, Blaise.”

Blaise tenses for a long moment, staring down at the notes spread out in front of him. They have Charms right after breakfast, and Flitwick likes to give them sudden practical exams on a moment’s notice. Blaise slowly lifts his head to look at Theo.

“If that’s all right?” Theo adds calmly. He doesn’t think Blaise ever expected him to take up the offer, but he has that offer both verbally from Blaise and in writing from Madam Zabini. He trusts it, allowed himself to trust it.

Blaise says quietly, “You’re really doing it, then.”

“Doing what?”

“Breaking from your father.”

Theo gives him a tiny nod. Again, Draco could come of the bathroom at any moment; Vince and Greg, still snoring, could wake up any time. And all of them have Death Eater fathers who would want to know this. “I find that our interests don’t align anymore.”

“And the Headmaster?”

“Offered me sanctuary, then said he couldn’t prevent my father from taking me back, and then said I should become a Death Eater and his little spy while pretending to Father and the Dark Lord that I was only dating Harry for the look of the thing.”

Blaise’s face contorts with outrage. “He wanted you to do what?”

Theo explains a little more of the conversation from last night, and Blaise’s hands wrinkle his sheets with how tight he’s gripping the sides of the bed. At the end, he scowls and says, “I’ll write to Mother. She can poison him.”

Theo sighs. “Blaise, is it really the wisest course to have your mother poison the only wizard the Dark Lord fears?”

“I didn’t say it would kill him. Just make him suffer for a long time. She has one that would make him unable to use the loo for a week, and then after that he’ll wish he was still unable.”

Theo thinks about that, but there’s no way that Dumbledore wouldn’t connect it to what happened in his conversation with Theo, even if Harry didn’t. Regretfully, Theo shakes his head. “If you would tell her that I appreciate the idea…”

“It’s my idea.”

Theo makes a half-bow at the waist to Blaise. “Then I appreciate your courtliness and chivalry, O My Knight of the Black Widow.”

“Fuck off,” Blaise snarls, and throws a quill at him. But he’s smiling, and Theo smiles back.

*

“You are dating Potter!”

“You learned that just from the several hours we spent on the dance floor together? Congratulations, Draco, your comprehension time has improved.”

Draco snaps his mouth shut and glares at Theo across the Slytherin table. Theo gracefully selects a few pieces of fruit from the bowl and sits back to peel his orange, humming and ignoring the way that Pansy stares between him and Draco.

“Why would you want to date a Gryffindor?” she finally asks, sitting back with her arms folded and her nose high.

“You’re really asking why someone wouldn’t want to date you.”

Pansy’s eyes widen. “I was not!”

Theo turns to face her and gestures with his orange. “Yes, you were, Pansy, because you judge everything in terms of yourself. We know that you’re pursuing dearest Draco here with the kind of vigor usually reserved for Crups and sticks, so it’s natural that you would see this situation in that light, but I have to tell you that I’m not interested, and learning why I’m dating Harry can’t help you in any way.”

Laughter spreads up and down the table. Pansy continues to stare at him, and then shoves her chair back and stalks out of the Great Hall. Draco leans towards him with a hiss of, “What do you think you’re doing? She was crying!”

Theo turns around and gives Draco a glimpse of his real self again. Draco recoils.

“She was prying into my dating life. I don’t appreciate it.” Theo smiles brightly at him. “Let it be a lesson, dearest Draco.”

Draco finds a reason to move down the table and sit between Greg and Vince.

Blaise shakes his head as the owls wing into the Great Hall carrying the morning post. “You can be vicious when you want to.”

“Vicious for a fourteen-year-old, I’m sure,” Theo says absently, his eyes on his owl Victoria bringing his copy of the Daily Prophet. He’s curious to see whether he and Harry are the lead story by themselves or only part of it. “Nothing compared to your mother or Dumbledore.”

“It’s interesting that you say that—”

Victoria lands, and Theo unrolls the paper with a sense of anticipation. He wants to know if it will bring a Howler from his father or a letter that will be furiously and coldly polite.

RUBEUS HAGRID: HALF-GIANT MENACE?

Theo blinks at the headline, and skims the article. Apparently Skeeter is convinced that Hagrid is a half-giant, and has a “source” that proves it—who sounds an awful lot like Draco in some of their phrasing—and is horrified that Dumbledore hired him to teach at a school. Theo has to flip to the second page to find a short article filled with more insinuations than statements about their “beloved Boy-Who-Lived” dating a Slytherin, “Theodorus” Nott.

Theo snorts. The Prophet could stand to hire a better quality of proofreaders.

“Theo, mate.”

Theo looks up and across the Great Hall at Blaise’s low words. Harry is red-faced as he glares at the Prophet, and it does look like the front page instead of the inside one where the article about the Ball is. Theo’s eyes narrow thoughtfully. Of course, Harry is taking the Care of Magical Creatures class, but there was something about Hagrid being his friend outside that, wasn’t there?

Clearly, Theo will have to do something about Rita Skeeter. He can’t have Harry upset.

He glances at the article once and nods, sure that the bit that sounds like dear Draco probably actually is, which means that Theo will have to do something about him, too. Then he stands up and marches across the Great Hall.

Weasley is saying something urgently to Harry, but he glances up, sees Theo, and promptly turns an even brighter red than he’s achieved so far. “Go away!” he yells, gesturing at the paper. “This is probably all your fault! You told Skeeter—”

“I’m sorry that you’re upset,” Theo tells Harry. “Do you want my help to do something about it?”

Harry looks up at him, and for a second, his eyes are wide with wonder. Then he stands up and reaches out, drawing Theo close. Theo puts his hands on Harry’s shoulders and notes happily that one side-effect of holding Harry like this at the Gryffindor table is that Weasley is actually stunned speechless.

“I want her to suffer,” Harry whispers. “And I want her to stop writing this stuff about Hagrid.”

“What about the articles she writes about you?”

“Hagrid is more important.”

Theo disagrees with that, actually, but he shrugs as if he doesn’t care enough to disagree. “All right. So we’ll stop her, and I think one of her sources is Malfoy. We can make him stop.”

Harry’s eyes widen, and he leans over and kisses Theo right in the middle of the Great Hall. Theo ignores the storm of yelling and comments and laughter that provokes, and kisses him back.

A thunk is either Weasley fainting or dropping something. Theo hopes he breaks his toes.

There, he thinks, as he draws back and watches Harry’s eyes brighten. Now I can help make him happy.

And if that doesn’t catch Father’s attention, nothing will.

But Theo knows himself well enough to realize that making Harry happy is the bigger part of his motivation at the moment.

It seems that he’s successfully manipulated himself into falling in love with Harry Potter, after all.