Chapter Seven of 'Winged Victory'- Diagon Alley

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Chapter Seven—Diagon Alley

“You’re ready to go?”

“Yeah.”

Theo carefully looks Harry over, while Harry rolls his eyes to tell Theo how unnecessary he thinks this is. But he’s not the one who will be gripping his wand the whole way, ready to respond with violence to anyone who comes close to Harry.

Harry has a Portkey in the form of a button on his robes that should prevent people from noticing it, a protective amulet around his wrist that can deflect simple hexes, and a few cuff bracelets that can be worn by people not from the Nott family that will warn him of things like strangers approaching him with hostile intent. He won’t accept anything more, and Theo has to admit that at some point, he would start clanking when he moved.

“No one is going to try and do anything.”

“Really? We know that Voldemort has a body of some kind back, and you don’t think he’ll try anything after that story you put in the papers about him?”

Harry leans forwards and lets his forehead rest against Theo’s. Theo’s breath shortens at the intimacy of it, especially since they’re standing near the open doorway of Harry’s bedroom, where anyone could see them.

Although not without triggering the proximity wards and alarms Theo has set up, admittedly.

“I don’t think that a strike in broad daylight in Diagon Alley is his style,” Harry whispers, leaning close enough that his breath slides over Theo’s lips like a kiss. “Especially since we’ve deprived him of three of his Death Eaters.”

“That might only make him angrier.”

“If you thought there was a real risk, you would be insisting we stay home today.”

Theo grimaces, but nods. He does think that Harry’s argument that he can’t just hide in Nott House forever and needs to be seen by his “adoring” public has merit, but he would have no problem raising the war wards if he didn’t.

“So we should go and get our school supplies, and we should meet up with Ron and Hermione to show them that I’m not a prisoner in your dungeons.”

“Would you like that?”

Harry shivers, which was…not the reaction Theo expected to that taunt. Then he pulls away from Theo and clears his throat. “Let’s not talk about that right now.”

“Having trouble walking?”

Harry shoots him a glare in the mirror and adjusts the cuff bracelets around his wrists again, then shakes his robe sleeves over them. Theo approves of his caution. No need to warn people that Harry is carrying extra forms of protection.

Theo wears short sleeves, though, with his wand in its holster strapped to his arm and his own bracelets—of a more proactive nature than Harry’s—on prominent display. If someone wants to fuck him with him and Harry, even seeing how Theo guards himself, then they are perfectly welcome to do so.

“I notice that you didn’t give Neville any of these—things.”

“I offered. He declined. And so did Black,” Theo adds, before Harry can ask about that. “I believe there was a certain amount of yelling about how I wanted to corrupt him by putting Dark artifacts on him involved.”

“Sirius is trying.”

“I know. I wouldn’t kick him out of the house if he wasn’t, unless he was distressing you, but I would be taking steps to ensure that he couldn’t interfere.”

Harry abruptly spins away from Theo, facing the mirror again and adjusting his sleeves and hems even though they don’t need it. Theo blinks at his back. “What?”

“You need to stop saying things like that.”

“Because they make you angry?”

“Because they make me hard, Theo.”

Harry lifts his head, and Theo is the one who catches his breath and stares at the shimmering reflection of his eyes. He’s the one who gets hard then, and Harry gives him a sweet little smile and turns around to walk out the door of the bedroom.

Theo ends up casting a charm that deflates his erection before he can follow. Harry is waiting at the top of the stairs, although he begins walking down them before Theo can even catch up. Theo is left to helplessly watch his arse move.

From the smile he catches a glimpse of on Harry’s face, Harry knows perfectly well how he’s affecting Theo.

Merlin, I love him.

Theo also wants Harry, but that will just have to wait a while. On the other hand…

He almost hopes that someone comes up to Harry in Diagon Alley to try and catch his arm or yell in his face, now. He’d love to make Harry hard again when he fights them.

*

“We should get lots of parchment! And planners! This is our OWL year!”

Theo holds back a sigh. Harry wanted to meet up with Weasley and Granger in the Alley, and what Harry wants, Harry gets, as far as Theo is concerned. But Granger appears to have lost her mind even though the OWL exams are ten months away, and she’s adding significantly more items to their shopping list than Theo originally planned on.

Well, they have the time. Theo is only concerned about how more and more stares turn their way the longer they spend in Diagon.

He might get that chance to show off in front of Harry after all.

Whispers course after them as they visit the shops, buy their books, acquire new robes, and linger outside Quality Quidditch Supplies until the force of Blasting Curse Granger drives them on. Theo sees that most of the glances are unfriendly. Even if people like Harry generally, they’re suspicious about him living with a Death Eater’s son and splashing that story of Voldemort’s return all over the papers.

And, of course, we can’t forget that they thought him a cheater just months ago.

Theo finds himself stalking alongside Harry with his mouth slightly open and his hand on his wand. He does his best to mute both signals, not because he’s worried about frightening someone else but because they might give an attacker too much warning that Theo is on high alert.

It’s as they’re entering the apothecary Theo favors, the Silver Cauldron, that the approach happens.

Harry jerks to the side, one arm rising. One of the bracelets that warns him of people with hostile intent must be trembling. Theo spins smoothly into a battle position, crouched so that he presents a smaller target, and raises a Dome Shield around all of them.

A slender witch with long blonde curls stops, her eyes growing wide, as she stares at the shimmering silver shield around Harry, Theo, Neville, Black, Lupin, Luna, Granger, and Weasley. Then she swallows. “I—what is this?”

“You were approaching Harry with hostile intent,” Theo says. She flinches at the sound of his voice. He doesn’t care. “You can leave, or you can make a fuss. But either way, you aren’t going to touch him.”

“I just—I just wanted to know if it was true that he’s taken up with a Death Eater’s son.”

“Who are you and why should I care about your opinion?”

Oh, no. It turns out that Harry drawling like he’s Draco Malfoy—but hotter than Draco could ever be—makes Theo react the way Harry did to the mention of Theo attacking people.

“I’m a Muggleborn. You’re supposed to fight for people like me! If you’re dating a Death Eater’s son, then you’ve turned against us! You’re a bigot just like he is!”

A huge murmur of agreement comes from the crowd around them. Theo can imagine Harry being intimidated by that last year, but this time, he just rolls his eyes. “And you’re probably some of the same people who thought I put my name in the Goblet of Fire and I was the Heir of Slytherin in second year. I don’t care about people like you. You’ll believe anything of me you like, anything you read in the papers. I’ll spend my time with the people who actually trust and believe in me, thanks.”

“Harry,” Granger says softly. “Maybe you should—”

“No.” Harry doesn’t say that loudly, but he says it sharply enough to make Granger pause. “No matter what I say, they’ll doubt me, so why should I say anything? Theo is the one who gave me a home and fought for me against Voldemort.” He ignores the wave of shrieks that name produces, too. “So I’ll defend him.”

“You’re a bigot!”

“You’re an idiot.”

The witch who was approaching Harry appears stumped now, but her face is violently flushed, and Theo doesn’t trust the way her hands keep straying near her wand. “You’re supposed to be a hero,” she says, her voice small and hurt. “My fellow Hufflepuffs told me all about you. How you fought for Muggleborns.”

“I was one when Voldemort came and tried to kill me! And in the times that I’ve fought him since, it just makes people hate and doubt me. So you can bugger off.”

The witch’s mouth falls open this time. She seems to try and think of words that will convince Harry, but maybe she knows that nothing will. She shakes her head and steps back into the crowd with a little flounce of her robes.

Theo doesn’t think she carries it off.

He keeps the shield up while the crowd shifts back and forth, obviously trying to decide what they should do now that Harry hasn’t bowed and scraped to them. Harry glares impassively at the lot of them, then yawns.

“I want to go get our Potions supplies,” he says, turning to Theo. “If I’m going to do well in Potions this year no matter what Snape thinks, then I’ll need good ones, and you said this shop was the best.”

“I certainly think so, Mr. Potter.”

Theo watches the figure who’s stepped out of the Silver Cauldron for a long moment, but it does appear to be the owner, Pearl Hopelight. She’s a tall witch with long white hair that moves around her like a thestral’s mane and cadaverous features. Theo would think her a vampire, except that he’s seen her too many times in the sunlight for that.

“Who are you?”

“The owner of this fine establishment.”

“Oh, Madam Hopelight?”

“Yes, Mr. Potter.” Hopelight smiles, backing towards the shop and gesturing at the entrance with a sweeping, circling hand. “I am gratified to find that Mr. Nott has spoken of me.”

“Yeah, he did.”

Granger, Weasley, and Black appear a little worried about the way that Hopelight looks, and Lupin is audibly sniffing the air, but Theo ignores them. Harry tramps towards the shop, unafraid, and Theo finally drops the shield and follows him.

His back feels as if it’s alight with sparks, waiting for a more violent attack from behind, but nothing happens. Maybe the people who are waiting now lost all their courage because of Harry’s dismissal of the Hufflepuff witch.

The inside of the Silver Cauldron smells the same as it always does, a combination of sweet dust, iron, and blood. Theo draws it in and smiles, then steps up to Harry’s side as he feels Hopelight watching him.

“It is always good to see those who have chosen each other so thoroughly.”

Hopelight’s mouth is slightly open, her nostrils moving. Theo can see the dart of a tongue inside her mouth he’s reasonably sure is forked. He inclines his head to her in respect. Maybe she’s not a vampire—probably not—but she’s still a predator of a kind. “Yes, Madam.”

“How long have you known Theo? Can you tell me any secrets about him?”

Hopelight turns and stares at Harry in what seems to be astonishment, while Theo’s face burns brightly. Then Hopelight laughs in a way that sounds like the scratching of claws down a blackboard at Hogwarts. “I can tell you that he was a little killer in waiting from the first day that he stepped in here.”

“What!” Granger, of course.

“Yes,” Hopelight says dreamily, her tongue darting out again, as if she’s feasting on memories. “I knew right away that he would kill to defend what and whom he loved, but he did not appear to love anything at the time.”

Theo manages to keep his blush from taking over his face this time as Black and Lupin and Weasley and Granger all stare at him with varying degrees of horror. They’re either capable of that kind of violence themselves, or they are weak.

Either way, Theo owes them nothing, any more than Harry owed the crowd outside.

“Harry, are you sure—”

“Yes, Hermione, I’m sure.”

“I wish that we could be as sure, mate,” Weasley says unhappily, eyes on Theo. “That’s all.”

“Theo won’t hurt anyone I like,” Harry says, and winks at them, and turns away to walk further into the Silver Cauldron. Theo follows him, noticing with some entertainment that Weasley is muttering under his breath.

“What if you stop liking us?”

Theo can’t imagine any world in which Harry would stop liking Weasley and Granger, unless they betrayed him completely. But it will provide Weasley and Granger with some interesting things to worry about.

Quickly enough, the atmosphere of the apothecary wraps around them, and Theo forgets to listen for taunting material. He’s not interested in Potions as a Hogwarts subject, the constant instructions and recipes and demands that they brew precisely to those things, but for the potential that he can glimpse in places like this. He gathers up a bronze cauldron, an array of new knives, and a handful of glistening hair that makes Granger gasp.

“That’s unicorn hair!”

“Yes, Granger? You know that people use it. Probably some people you know have a unicorn hair in their wands.”

“But it brings a curse if it’s not willingly given!”

“This was willingly given,” Hopelight says, popping up near the shelf and making Granger flinch and stumble back. “There are some unicorns who grow so old that they will die of age. They are not immortal, you know. But they like to preserve the fiction that they are, and so they go out of sight of the herd and call me. They give me the hair and other ingredients, as well, in exchange for keeping their deaths private.”

Granger stares at Hopelight as if not knowing whether to believe her. Theo smirks and uses the moment of distraction to grab a vial of unicorn blood. He can think of all kinds of uses for that, and it doesn’t matter that it’s expensive, not when he has the weight of all the Nott Galleons behind him now.

“Not really,” Granger says at last.

“Miss Granger, what do you think I am?”

“I never told you my name!”

“All who pass the threshold of my shop reveal their names to me.”

For all Theo knows, that’s true, but Granger seems to have forgotten that he called her by name just a minute ago, and Hopelight would have heard.

Theo shakes his head and slips away into the shelves, where he finds Harry hesitating before a cauldron as silver as moonlight. “Why not get it?” he asks softly.

Harry jumps, then laughs a little. “I was just thinking—it’s expensive, and I only have one more year of Potions left. Is it really worth the purchase?”

“What do you mean, one more year of Potions?”

“How likely do you think it is that I’ll get into Snape’s NEWT class, Theo, really?”

Theo frowns and leans around Harry. Harry has a dull, accepting expression on his face. It’s different from the kind of expression he wore when the school turned against him last year, which just said that’s what he expects. This time, Theo can tell Harry has no intention to struggle through and win.

“I promise that you will.”

“I don’t think even you can threaten Snape into accepting me into his NEWT Potions class with less than an Outstanding, Theo.”

“I think I can do something other than threaten,” Theo says, and smiles. And yes, this was nothing more than a fleeting idea, but they’re in an apothecary, which means he can buy all the ingredients he needs for the potion.

“What are you thinking?”

“Persuasion.”

Harry narrows his eyes, but before he can ask the obvious question, Neville calls him from further into the shop. “Hey, Harry, do you think you can help me choose a cauldron?”

This isn’t over, Harry mouths at Theo, but he walks over to help Neville. Theo shakes his head. Harry doesn’t know much about cauldrons. Neville probably asked him just because Harry is his friend and he values his friend’s opinions.

Theo is proud of himself for understanding that much.

He turns around and nearly runs into Luna, who is staring at him with bright eyes. “You have unicorn blood,” she says.

“Yes.”

“Unicorn blood is used for some very rare and expensive potions.”

“Yes, it is.”

For a moment, they stand there like that, with Luna beaming at Theo and Theo waiting for her to get to the point, and then Luna looks down at the floor of the shop and sighs a little. “Could I have some of it?”

“I’ll give you the Galleons for it, but you have to choose the vial for yourself,” Theo says. “That’s what my father taught me, and amazingly, some of his teachings are true.”

“Oh.” Luna considers that, eyes wide in a manner that makes some of the silver light shimmering around them reflect in odd ways. “Why do you have to choose a vial for yourself? And is it unicorn blood, or all ingredients?”

“It’s all ingredients that could bring a curse with them, and you have to choose them for yourself because that’s the only way to tell if they will harmoniously blend with your magic. Go and choose the best vial. It’s dangerous working with cursed ingredients, as well, so you’ll want to be absolutely sure that you’re not choosing a cracked vial.”

“Or one that doesn’t harmonize with my magic. Very well, Theo.”

Luna bounces off. Theo rolls his eyes a little and goes up to the counter to pay for his own ingredients.

Hopelight is watching him much the way Luna did, except with the focus of a predator instead of a strange person. “You have many more friends and companions than you did the last time I saw you, Mr. Nott.”

Considering that Theo has been to the Silver Cauldron exclusively alone for years, that isn’t difficult. But he nods, admitting the justice of Hopelight’s observation.

“I hope that you will not base your morality on theirs.”

Theo smiles a little. “There are things I wouldn’t do because Harry wouldn’t like them, but I would snap even that chain if it meant that I was defending his life.”

“Ah. Then you have not changed so much?”

“I have learned some things. But I have not changed in my essence.”

Hopelight doesn’t take her eyes from Theo as she takes the Galleons for his cauldron, the unicorn hair and blood, and his other ingredients. “I hope you have not. I hope you will not. It is so unusual for me to recognize my kin among humans that I am not anxious to see you change.”

Theo pauses, then inclines his head. He doesn’t think that means he will turn into whatever kind of creature Hopelight is. It’s more that she recognizes another predator, another ruthless creature who can taste blood and tastes of it.

Who will kill if need be.

“Thank you,” Theo says, and steps aside to wait for the others.

Neville, who’s found a cauldron that seems to satisfy him. Luna, who ignores the way that some of the others look wide-eyed at her vial of unicorn blood. Black and Lupin, whispering furiously. Granger, who has a single jar of beetle eyes and a frightened expression. Weasley, who is watching Theo with a strategist’s face.

Harry, who bought the silver cauldron after all, along with a handful of unicorn hair and a book that talks about spells useful in Potions.

Theo smiles. Harry matters the most out of all of them, although Theo will protect the others because it’s what Harry would want.

But if someone else betrays Harry, turns against him, tries to join Dumbledore’s side fully because they’re convinced it’s the best thing to do…

They will welcome death when I’m done with them.