lomonaaeren

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Chapter Four—Potter’s Weirdness

Potter’s grinning when he comes through the entrance to the kitchens. Theo leans forwards and sinks every ounce of seriousness he can into his voice. “Are you out of your mind?”

The news that someone staged a distraction to get Slughorn away from his office has spread around the school like wildfire. Theo knew what it meant as soon as he heard it—maybe the moment that the shriek of some infernal Weasley device woke him up.

He worried that someone would guess the target was Veritaserum, but apparently, Potter ruined so many of Slughorn’s potions that the professors don’t know exactly what the attack was meant to accomplish.

“Possibly.”

Theo rolls his eyes. Potter’s grin is too large. It looks like it’s about to cut the top of his head off. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Possibly.” Potter takes a vial of sparkling clear potion from his robe pocket and holds it up. “But I got you what you need.”

“There’s enough in there to question fifty people, you madman.”

“Who knows? You might have to.”

Theo sucks in a breath at the reminder that he still doesn’t know who managed to slip him the Amortentia, or how. He nods tightly as he holds out his hand, and Potter tosses the vial carefully to him, after casting a Cushioning Charm on it.

“You could have just given it to me.”

“Not without coming closer to you, and I don’t want to,” Potter says, sitting down on the bench on the other side of the table from Theo. He smiles at a house-elf who bustles up to him and requests a cup of hot chocolate. “Is there anything else I can do to help?”

Theo’s hand closes over the vial of Veritaserum. He knows this will work. Say what else you want about Slughorn (and Theo would like to), he’s a competent brewer. Theo will be able to find out who tried to get him humiliated now.

Potter did that for him. He wants to help in the vengeance but he’s leaving it up to Theo, and he forswore any debt to him, and he’s sitting far enough away from Theo not to panic him while acting like it’s his own idea, and…

Potter is the most confusing person on the planet.

“Not until I start potioning some people and figuring out what they know and don’t know.”

“Okay.”

Potter sounds so disappointed, and his eyes are so large, that Theo finds himself speaking again before he even knows what he’s going to say. “But I can hardly do this in the middle of the common room. I might need to capture some people and drag them off into abandoned corners of the dungeon. If you could provide another diversion, or stand guard so someone doesn’t come looking for them…”

Potter’s grin is fiercer and brighter and wider than the mad one he wore before. “Done.”

Theo stares at him, and then looks away. He doesn’t understand Potter.

Luckily, he’ll be doing something he does understand very soon.

The Veritaserum burns like a cold star in his robe pocket.

*

“Why are we here, Theo?”

It was easy enough to get Millicent to follow him. She’s never been all that bright. And she doesn’t care enough about politics to distrust Theo over it. She did what the Carrows told her last year, which was mostly to round up students trying to escape—they don’t seem to have thought she could cast the Cruciatus—and nothing else.

And she still finds attention from anyone flattering enough to follow Theo to a corner of the dungeons just because he said he would tell her a secret.

“I need to ask you some questions,” Theo says, and lowers his voice. “I thought you were the only one who might know the answers.”

Millicent preens. “People say things in front of me that they don’t even know I hear,” she says, which Theo knows is true. “You can ask me, Theo! I’ll tell you the truth!” She straightens and clasps her hands in front of her, waiting for an instruction.

“I know you will,” Theo says, and holds up a flask of wine that he’s already prepared with the three drops of Veritaserum. “But this is a special potion to improve your memory that I still need you to drink. That way, you can be sure that you’re telling me all the small details that might have escaped your attention otherwise.”

Millicent looks a little disappointed, as if she wanted him to trust her memory without the aid of the “potion,” but she still nods and reaches for the flask. It doesn’t take her long to drink the wine, and when she lowers it, her eyes have the glaze that Theo saw last year when the Carrows used Veritaserum on some of the students.

He was never subjected to such an indignity himself, thank Merlin.

“What is your full name?” Theo asks, just to make sure that the potion is working.

“Millicent Dolores Bulstrode.”

Theo blinks. He never realized that Millicent shared a name with their horrid fifth-year Defense professor. But he supposes it doesn’t matter. He just needs one more test question he already knows the answer to. “Why did you never become a Death Eater?”

“The Dark Lord never asked for me.”

Theo nods. The Dark Lord rarely Marked women, and none of Millicent’s relatives were among them. Millicent herself is strong but not great with a wand.

But she would have become a Death Eater if the Dark Lord had asked for her. Theo knows that, too. Millicent isn’t a good person, just a different flavor of Dark than someone like Pansy or Theo himself.

“What do you know about the plot to dose me with Amortentia?”

“Pansy was laughing that it might be funny.”

Theo swallows. This is more knowledge than he’s had since the potioning happened. “What exactly did she say?”

“She said that you were too haughty for someone who wasn’t really on the Dark Lord’s side and that you needed to be brought low. Draco said that it might be fun to make you crawl with Amortentia, and she laughed and agreed.”

“When was this?”

“About three weeks ago. I don’t remember the day.”

“Where was I?”

“You were in the library doing homework or something. I don’t know.”

Theo takes a deep breath and forces his hands to unwind from their clench. He doesn’t know the exact night Millicent is talking about, and so he can’t remember where he was and why he was absent from the common room.

It might not matter, either, except that a timeline of a couple days or weeks wouldn’t give someone enough time to brew Amortentia. That means that the person who gave him the potion might have bought it from somewhere.

Unfortunately, that expands his pool of suspects to everyone with the gold instead of restricting it to people with the brewing skills.

Theo takes another deep breath to calm himself down and asks, “Who do you think gave me the Amortentia?”

“I don’t know.”

“You must know!”

Millicent remains silent, staring past him. Theo nearly curses her until he remembers the way Veritaserum works. He didn’t ask her a question, right. She can only answer when he does that. The potion is powerful enough to control all other reactions, including emotional ones.

“Why don’t you know?”

“That was the only time I heard anyone talking about it. I don’t know who did it.”

Theo swallows. Yeah, that fits. And it means that his effort in potioning Millicent was wasted.

Well, it doesn’t matter. I have plenty more Veritaserum, thanks to Potter.

The Veritaserum will wear off on its own in a few hours, so Theo simply Obliviates Millicent and then spells her to sleep in the corridor. This is distant enough from the common room that he isn’t worried about someone stumbling across her accidentally. He turns and goes back to the common room, all the while thinking deeply.

Millicent heard Pansy and Draco talking about it, so there’s at least the chance they’re involved. Unless someone else heard them and decided to do it on their own…

Theo shakes his head sharply. He knows himself well enough to realize that thinking too long on those lines will lead him to explode and destroy walls or seek out someone to curse in his frustration. This investigation needs to be subtle.

He glances up, wondering for a moment why, until he realizes that he’s passing under the approximate place where Gryffindor Tower stands. He wants to see Potter. Potter would listen to him and understand. He might even provide Theo with an outlet for his frustrations.

Potter is not subtle.

Theo turns away from the temptation, as he must now from every temptation except finding out who gave him Amortentia.

*

“Mr. Nott, I wish to speak with you after class.”

Professor Flitwick murmured those words to him as he passed the desk Theo has to himself near the back of the NEWT Charms class. Right now, they’re practicing the charm that allows someone to Banish an object into what is essentially a floating pocket dimension invisible to others, and call it back at need.

Theo needs that charm. He needs to be able to store food and drink there when he starts eating, or pretending to eat, in the Great Hall again so that he can check it later for signs of tampering.

He bowed his head then, trying not to show how much he resented Flitwick for breaking his concentration, and murmured back, “Yes, sir.”

Now he’s alone in the classroom with Flitwick, and the professor is standing too close. It doesn’t matter that Theo is more than twice his height due to Flitwick’s goblin blood. He’s still a master duelist, and all Theo can feel is cold crawling up his back at the closeness.

He takes a subtle step backwards, then hates himself for showing weakness.

Flitwick gives Theo a faint smile and steps nearer again, as if he thinks that Theo won’t be able to hear him otherwise. “I noticed that your class performance, Mr. Nott, is—”

“Pardon me, sir! I think I left my hat here!”

Theo whips around. He kept himself from looking at Potter all through class, the way he has in the classes they share for the last week. He still hasn’t managed to figure out a way to use Veritaserum on Pansy or Draco, who are too wary of him to let him close, and so he’s denied himself the solace of looking at Potter, or listening to him, or seeking him out.

But here the madman is now, barging through the door of the Charms classroom with a huge, stupid smile on his face, bobbing his head at Flitwick and peering around dim-wittedly. Then he laughs loudly. “I forgot! I didn’t even bring my hat to class with me today!”

“Mr. Potter—”

“But I thought I did! Is there a charm to find your hat and Summon it at the same time, sir?”

Theo has managed to move back from Flitwick in the middle of Potter’s distraction and now he stands, breathing quietly, a short distance away. Potter bobs his head at Theo with the same stupid expression, and Theo finds himself wishing they were alone in the kitchens and Potter would look at him with wild eyes and that same refusal of a debt between them.

Those things drive Theo mad, for different reasons, but now that he’s gone a week without them…

He didn’t know he needed them. It’s another weakness, a terrible one, but it’s better to know that than fall to the weakness at an inopportune time.

“No, Mr. Potter, no such charm exists.” Flitwick shakes his head at Potter, although his eyes slide to Theo for a moment, as if to make sure that he hasn’t left. “The reason is that if you don’t know where your hat is and you Summon it, then you have the hat, so you would not need to discover its location.”

“Aw! There’s no charm like that?” Potter slouches and pouts. Pouts. Theo stares at him. He didn’t know Potter could do that. “But what if you really need to know where your hat was? What if someone stole your hat and is holding it prisoner?”

“Mr. Potter—”

“I just mean, stranger things have happened.”

“Mr. Potter—”

“And then what if someone poisons the hat and you put it back on and all your hair falls off?” Potter waves his hands wildly, which means that the Charms book he still has under his arm falls to the floor, which means he has to stoop for it, which means that a quill slides out of the satchel on his shoulder. “That would be terrible! And you could have avoided the poisoning and the hair loss if you just knew where your hat was in the first place!”

“Mr. Potter, I am trying to have a confidential conversation with Mr. Nott.” Flitwick raises his voice a little. “If you could just—”

“Sir,” Potter says, in such an earnest voice that Theo never would have believed him capable of it, “I am trying to have a very important conversation with you about people poisoning my hat.”

“There is no such—”

“Not a charm, but a potion, maybe.” Potter’s head bobs back and forth. “But then you wouldn’t know about that, would you? Because you’re a Charms expert and not a Potions expert. Hey, do you think I should go have a conversation with Professor Slughorn?”

“I would suggest—”

“But then, I don’t know if he knows about hat poisons.”

Theo takes the chance that Potter is obviously trying so hard to give him, and slips out of the room. He makes sure to walk briskly until he’s around the corner, in case Flitwick manages to glance away from his conversation with Potter.

Then he leans against the wall with his arms clasped in front of his stomach, and breathes.

He’s fine. Flitwick didn’t get too close to him for too long, didn’t try to touch him. Theo’s magic is lying down beneath his skin like a wild animal going to sleep.

It could have been bad.

But Potter showed up to save him again.

Theo bows his head. How is he ever going to repay Potter? Why does Potter keep doing this? What does he have to gain?

Theo supposes that Potter could just be bored since the war’s end, and seeking some new cause. But then Theo would have expected more interference and not the kind of deference Potter is showing him. And definitely not the kind of thing where Potter keeps secrets from his best friends. In the stories he told Theo on that night, Weasley and Granger were right there with him for almost everything.

He hears the loud footsteps coming down the corridor—deliberately loud, he’s certain—and stands up. Potter comes around the corner and halts the usual distance away.

“Are you all right?”

“How did you know that I was in trouble?”

“Didn’t see you come out with the rest. I thought at first you might have just stayed behind to avoid some of the other Slytherins, but then I saw the rest of them leave, and I know that you don’t take that long to pack up.”

“Been watching me, Potter?”

Potter blinks. “Of course,” he says as if the answer should be obvious.

Theo blinks back. Then he looks away, feeling his cheeks flush. Just because he’s done his best to stop himself from watching Potter and needing him wouldn’t mean that Potter would necessarily do the same thing. Of course.

“You realize I owe you another debt?”

“Nope.”

“What do you mean, nope?”

“I looked up the oath that I accidentally did the other day. It means that you can never owe me any debts again, not just one from one time.”

Theo takes a deep, frustrated breath. Technically, that’s true. He just didn’t think Potter would bother to look up the oath, given that he doesn’t seem to have studied how to break the wards on Slughorn’s office at all.

“Do you know how frustrating this is for me?” Theo whispers. “To have you just keep doing things for me, with no means of paying you back?”

Potter studies him in silence for a long moment. Then he asks, voice subdued, “Would it make you feel better if I let you do something for me?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Since the war, my magic’s been more volatile. I’m not sure why.”

Potter’s eyes dart away from his, and Theo is suddenly sure that he’s lying. He frowns. Is Potter lying because his magic hasn’t really been volatile and he’s just trying to do something charitable, or does he know the reason?

Theo remembers the cauldron blowing up in the kitchens, and decides that Potter isn’t lying about the volatility, at least.

“All right. What does that have to do with me?”

“I remember reading once that some people are better with controlling their magic than others. If they have strong wills. You must have an iron will because you managed to resist—what you did. Would you train me to get my magic back under control?”

Theo stares at Potter. Potter stares back at him, silent and stubborn.

Theo knows well enough that Potter himself has a strong will. Witness the way he broke Slughorn’s wards to help Theo and steal Veritaserum. The way that he keeps himself from approaching more closely to Theo even when he clearly wants to. The way he defied the Dark Lord.

This is charity, of a sort.

But Theo wants to do something to make up for the debts he owes Potter that will otherwise just keep piling up. And he’s unwilling to take the obvious alternate path, of pulling back from Potter and refusing to associate with him in the future.

He wants Potter’s company. Potter admires him, doesn’t pity him, wants to help him, and is strong enough not to be taken down by Theo’s unknown enemies while still being restrained enough to let Theo seek his own vengeance.

Theo won’t find better.

He swallows and nods. “Meet me outside the kitchens after dinner tonight for your first lesson,” he says, and revels despite himself in the warmth of Potter’s smile.