[From Samhain to the Solstice]: Birds of Victory, Love in the Time of Eagles series, Harry/Theo, 5/9

[lomonaaeren]

“Gringotts is angry.”

The goblin who spoke was the tallest Harry had ever seen, and had a face like granite, and fingers like granite where he gripped his desk. Harry sighed and bowed his head.

“I’m sorry. I tried to convince Sirius not to trial his new prank products in the bank. But he said it was the only way that he would get to see how they worked against real magic, like yours, instead of the weak wards that wizards put up.”

The goblin paused. Then he said, “You are trying to flatter us.”

“Absolutely,” Harry said, his cheerfulness and honesty making the goblin pause again. “But we can also pay a fine if you’d prefer that.” He knew Sirius would insist on paying the fine, which was agreeable to Harry. The Black family certainly had a lot more money than he did.

The goblin drummed his fingers on the desk. Then he said, “Do you swear that you intend no harm to any member of the goblin nation?”

“I so swear.” Harry held out his hands. He thought swearing with his wand probably wasn’t a smart idea, since goblins weren’t legally allowed to have them. His hands began to glow with a soft golden light that was like the description he’d read in the books of the sacrifice that Eustace would—

No. Harry wasn’t going to think about that. Theo had trusted Harry to deal with this particular aspect of their business in the bank, and Harry was going to do that.

The goblin looked between Harry’s face and his hands. Then he sighed and asked, “And you intended no harm in the future to goblins?”

Harry smiled a little. They were trying to get a wizard as an ally in the future. Sirius was already opening his mouth to tell Harry not to swear that particular part of the oath.

“I so swear,” Harry said easily enough. He had no desire at all to harm any goblins, and maybe they would need their help with a Horcrux in the future.

“Harry—”

“Bad dog,” Harry told Sirius gently, and watched the golden glow rise off his body and swirl around the air in front of him, like a comet with a flowing tail.

The goblin grunted a little and leaned back. “Then we forgive the howling and the chase through the bank, as long as you leave and hold to your oaths. And you, Mr. Black, are not to come here in your Animagus form again.”

“Oh, really? The floors smelled kind of—”

Harry grabbed hold of Sirius’s arm, nodded to the goblin in respect, and hauled his godfather out of the bank.

*

“This is what my father died for. I want to be the one to burn the Cup.”

Harry nodded without hesitation. To be fair, Theo thought Harry would have agreed to that even without Theo bringing up Eustace’s sacrifice, but thought he would have wasn’t good enough for this. Theo had to be the one to burn the Cup. It was an aching necessity for him.

“Then let’s begin the circle.”

Black was the only one standing witness as Harry and Theo lit up the runic array. To Theo, that didn’t matter. In fact, this had been Black’s home for the last several years. It was—it was right that he be here.

Even if Theo would probably never admit that to Black himself.

Harry kept his eyes fixed on Theo’s as they ran through the names of the runes and the numbers of the Arithmancy equations, and Theo did the same thing. When the Fiendfyre appeared, this time in the shape of a demonic unicorn with spikes on both its horn and hooves and the curved fangs of a meat-eater, Theo said only, “Destroy it.”

The unicorn reared high and came down with sharp hooves on the cup. Theo let himself rejoice in the screams and the black blood that flowed from it.

Another part of Voldemort was dead.

As Harry took his head and let him out of the array, to Black’s applause and sniffling and the fading of the unicorn, Theo thought he was going to be there for the destruction of every part of the bastard’s soul, if he could.

*

“He wanted you to have it.”

Theo’s eyes were opaque. Harry hesitated before he reached for the ring that Theo held. Even if he was right and there was no mistaking the way that Eustace had wanted his bequests to be distributed, Theo might have his own feelings about it.

The ring was black and heavy, a little like the Horcrux they had destroyed. But it also had a shine of silver runes along the sides that lit up as soon as Harry touched it. Harry hissed in interest and bent down to trace the runes with his fingers.

“It was my uncle’s ring,” Theo added.

Harry blinked and looked up. “I didn’t know that you had an uncle.”

Theo shut his eyes. “He died when my father was still at Hogwarts. Father never said, but I knew that he thought his own parents had killed him on account of his being a weak wizard.”

“Not a Squib?”

“No. Just weak. The family of Nott does not tolerate weakness, as Father said whenever he described his parents. They did an awful lot to him, too.”

Harry swallowed. He wanted to know, but he didn’t know if Theo wanted to say. “What—happened to your grandparents?”

Theo’s eyes glittered. “They died in a fire the night of my father’s seventeenth birthday. It was a mystery that was never solved.”

Harry smiled and leaned forwards to kiss him. Theo did the same thing, but he seemed a little surprised. Harry drew back. “Do you not want to kiss here?” he asked. They were in Theo’s bedroom, sitting on his bed. Theo hadn’t shown any inclination to move into the rooms Eustace had occupied, and Harry had to admit he was relieved.

“It’s not that. I—expected you to at least be a little disapproving about what Father did to his parents.”

“They deserved it after what they did to your uncle. And we’ve been going around destroying bits of someone’s soul, Theo. I don’t have any room to flinch.”

Theo stared at him with his mouth a little open. Harry hesitated. Theo was sometimes reacting strangely to things in the wake of Eustace’s death—

Theo made a noise that was full of hunger and sorrow and desire, and flung himself at Harry. Harry barely managed to put the ring on the table beside the bed before Theo was bearing him down, his eyes wild and his hands tearing at Harry’s robes.

“Theo?” Harry whispered.

“I want you.”

Harry shuddered and tilted his head back. Yes, evidence of Theo’s want was making itself known, and—

This wasn’t the way Harry had planned their first time, but then, he wasn’t really aware that he’d had any plans.

He cooperated in getting their robes off, their pants. Theo’s cock was a brilliant red and longer than it had seemed the few times Harry had felt it resting on his hip. He touched it with wondering, gentle hands, and looked up in time to see Theo letting his head fall back, his eyes rolling back so far that Harry couldn’t see them.

“Okay,” Harry whispered. “Okay.”

Theo began to thrust, and his erection alongside Harry’s was—there weren’t words. Harry arched up into him and took both their cocks in his hand, watching a flush only a shade deeper than the one on Theo’s cock work its way down his cheeks.

It was over so quickly that Harry only had time to catch his breath and cry out his pleasure once. Then Theo was rushing over him, and Harry was joining his boyfriend, and they pivoted and crashed into exhaustion that made Harry’s arms feel as if they were made of lead. He got them around Theo’s neck anyway.

“I love you,” Theo whispered. “Do you understand how much I love you?”

“I do, because I love you the same way.”

Theo turned his head towards Harry and sought his mouth with the same blind, urgent need he’d used to rub one off against him. Harry tangled his fingers into Theo’s hair in response.

They were alive, they were young, they were desperate, they were in a war. But they were with each other.

Harry needed no greater miracle.

*

Theo kept his eyes forwards as he stepped onto the train. There was no particular reason that anyone outside the family should know anything about his father’s death. The goblins wouldn’t have publicized it even if they knew, and Harry and Black and Theo himself weren’t going to say anything.

But it felt as though everyone was staring anyway.

“Why don’t you go and get a compartment?” Harry asked him softly. “I’ll speak with Ron and Hermione and ask them to leave us alone for this ride.”

“How are you going to do that without explaining what happened?” Theo asked, barely moving his lips, as they were passing a clot of particularly gossipy Hufflepuffs.

“I’ll tell them whatever I want.”

Harry’s posture was confident, his voice firm as he clapped his hand on Theo’s shoulder. He had grown, seemingly, since Father’s death, Theo thought, and he didn’t mean physically. Harry no longer seemed like the kind of person who would let anyone bully him into anything.

“All right.”

Theo continued through the train, wandering more or less aimlessly. He and Harry had arrived early enough that there were still empty comaprtments. Theo found one and started to shut the door.

“Wait.”

Theo glanced over his shoulder. Anthony Goldstein was standing behind Theo, staring at him in that unblinking way he usually looked at books.

“Yeah?” Theo asked. He didn’t really have a problem with Goldstein, but he hadn’t spent much time around them in the last few years, either. Padma had taken that position, and, well, Goldstein had seemed to grow so preoccupied with his Gryffindor girlfriend that he probably wouldn’t have spent much time with them even if it was on offer.

Goldstein nodded slowly, his eyes fastened on Theo. “I know something happened.”

Theo started to go for his wand.

“Will you listen, you relentlessly paranoid bastard?”

Sheer surprise froze Theo’s wand hand, and Goldstein leaned forwards far enough to say clearly, “I don’t know what, exactly. But I recognize the look that someone gets in the eyes, all right? And if you want to talk, I’d be open to it.”

And then he turned and left.

Theo was still standing, stuck in one place, when Harry arrived. He took one glance at Theo and immediately shut the door of the compartment, applying all the Locking Charms that Theo would have. “What happened?” he asked.

“Goldstein.”

“What did he say?” Harry turned towards the door in a way that made Theo think he might have to hide Goldstein’s body if he let Harry run off now.

Theo caught his arm and shook his head. “He recognized that I was hurting from something and said he would be open if I wanted to talk.”

“Oh. Well, if you decide that you feel like it, you should.”

“I can barely talk to you about what happened, and you think Goldstein would be a good choice?”

Harry gave him a half-smile that didn’t hide the unhappy look in his eyes. “In some ways, I’m the worst choice because I know all the details and I know the reason it happened. But you could use someone who would listen to your emotions and not get distracted by the reasons it happened.”

Not get caught up in analyzing the fact that it happened to allow us to defeat Voldemort, Theo thought Harry wasn’t saying.

Theo nodded slowly. “Thank you, Harry. And your mission was successful?”

“Ron and Hermione won’t bother us. Which means we can do whatever we want…”

Theo laughed in spite of the grief that sometimes still stabbed him in the soul with glass shards when he wasn’t expecting it. “I’m not having sex with you on the train, you deviant.”

“Then let’s talk about something that’s completely unrelated to anything else. Let me tell you why the Chudley Cannons are actually the best team in the league, and you can have fun tearing my arguments apart.”

*

“I wondered if you had made any progress with the mission that I entrusted you with.”

“Not yet, Headmaster.”

Dumbledore paused and looked at Harry above his glasses. Harry stood there and smiled placidly. He was sure that Slughorn knew nothing about Horcruxes that would be useful for the mission he and Theo had set out on, and he was also sure that Slughorn would never give him the memory. Harry had shown himself good enough at Potions to be in the NEWT class, but not exceptionally gifted or exceptionally interested in taking advantage of his fame, either.

“This is the most important task you will ever accomplish in this school, Harry.”

“Why, sir?”

“I cannot explain that to you until we have the information, Harry.”

Harry shook his head. “I’ve had both my godfather and a surrogate father teach me the importance of not just listening to someone who refuses to explain their secrets, sir.” Harry swallowed to get rid of what just the mention of Eustace still did to him. He had made sure to support Theo in his grief, but it meant Harry’s own grief sometimes ambushed him. “I’d like you to tell me what this information is, first.”

“When you speak to Horace, you will see why it is so important.”

“And you won’t give me even a hint of it before then?”

“It would be too dangerous.”

“But not too dangerous once we have the information?”

“I trust that you will bring it to me at once, Harry, so that no one can read it out of your head.”

Harry cocked his head. “You’re worried about Legilimency? Why? I thought the only ones who practiced it in the school were you and Professor Snape, and also that you trusted Professor Snape’s loyalty to be to you.”

Dumbledore sighed very loudly. “I will explain everything once we have the information in hand, Harry.”

Harry just shrugged and waited until the Headmaster turned and left. Harry did the same thing, walking to join Theo and Padma in the library, and thinking, as he went, that maybe there was a little information Slughorn might have that they didn’t.

Like the number of Horcruxes, and where they were located.

*

“The Dark Lord is planning to have Father lead a mass breakout from Azkaban.”

Draco’s voice was low, his eyes haunted. Theo felt a little of his attention pulled, unwillingly, to the conversation Draco was having with Harry. He had of course come along, but he had expected to just stand still and be lost in memories of Father, the way he often was these days when he didn’t have to pay a lot of attention to something else.

“Is it just because he needs whatever Bellatrix Lestrange can access for him?” Harry asked.

“No. I think—I think he wants other followers with him. He said something about how he had thought someone was loyal to him, but when he went to try and speak to them through their Mark, the wards repelled him.”

Theo indulged in a private smile. He didn’t know for certain that that was Father, but Father at least fit the description.

Even if he no longer would, having been freed from any concern of Voldemort speaking to him through the Dark Mark.

Theo swallowed and ignored the claws scraping at his soul. Harry squeezed his arm once and turned around to face Draco.

“Did they mention any names of who they were planning to break out? Beyond the Lestranges, I mean.”

“Probably the Carrows, the couple werewolves of Greyback’s pack who got arrested a few years ago, and the Fawleys. I didn’t recognize all the names.” Draco shivered for a moment. “Oh, and Crouch, of course. The Dark Lord is especially furious that he got arrested.”

“And how do they plan to accomplish this? Your father doesn’t have enough Galleons to bribe all the Azkaban guards, surely.”

Draco shook his head. “They only spoke so much in front of me because they thought I was asleep. I must have stirred or they cast a diagnostic, because my father chased me out of the room then.”

“But they think they can accomplish it,” Harry murmured, his eyes shut and his fingers drumming against his thigh. Draco watched him with complete faith. Theo wasn’t sure why, honestly, since Harry had never tried to take advantage of his fame or his magical power in the past few years, but it was fine as long as Draco would cooperate with them. “All right. Thank you for the information, Malfoy.”

“Thank you for the Portkey that your godfather sent my mother.”

Harry opened his mouth as if he were going to say something, but Draco turned and slunk out of the classroom where they’d been meeting. Harry blinked and twisted around to look at Theo. “Did I say something that got him angry?”

“No. I think he just thought that was all he needed to say. Either that, or he was about to embarrass himself with his gratitude.”

“Gratitude could never do that.”

Theo laughed a little as he fell into step with Harry. “You have a very different perception of that than I do, or someone like Draco does.”

“I mean, sometimes gratitude is fun.”

“Is it?” Theo’s breath caught in his throat and made his voice thick, because Harry was looking at him with his eyes half-lidded, and Theo had suddenly remembered they would pass an alcove on the way that was secluded.

“For example, when someone’s thanking me for the way I use my mouth.”

Theo sped up. They still had twenty minutes before Charms, if they hurried.

*

“Was there something that you wanted to speak to me about, my boy?”

“Yes, Professor Slughorn.” Harry leaned on the table where his cauldron still sat, completely at ease. He had decided that subtlety was overrated. He was a Ravenclaw, after all, not a Slytherin, and also someone who hadn’t been close to this particular professor since the start of term. “I thought you might be interested in the runic array that Theo and I had developed.”

Slughorn blinked. “Well, I’ve never been much for Runes myself, my boy. Perhaps I could introduce you to someone who—”

“It can control Fiendfyre.”

Slughorn gasped and then looked as if he wished he hadn’t. Harry just smiled at him. Fiendfyre ash was a rare and valuable ingredient for some rather expensive potions, but for obvious reasons, was difficult to obtain.

“Control it?” Slughorn whispered.

Harry nodded. “The secret is the combination of Runes and Arithmancy. You do need two people to activate it, but you have so many people who would be willing to oblige you, sir, that I’m certain you could use it. And the Fiendfyre in it is completely tame, does as commanded, and goes out when you will it to.”

Slughorn was trying to hold a neutral face, but Harry knew what someone looked like drooling over knowledge, even though most of the time he saw that expression on the faces of people closer to him in age.

Or in the mirror, come to that.

Slughorn swallowed loudly, his eyes darting to the side for a moment. Then he faced Harry. “And how do I know that you won’t charge too high a price for it?” he demanded. “Something like that…you could ask a pretty Galleon.”

“My price is information, not Galleons,” Harry said softly. “But it might be that you will feel I’m charging too high a price.”

“What do you want?”

“What you told Tom Riddle about Horcruxes.”

Slughorn gaped at him, and for a moment, Harry was certain he’d been wrong, or Dumbledore had been, and the information that the Headmaster wanted from Slughorn had nothing to do with Horcruxes after all. But then Slughorn straightened. “My life is worth more to me than Fiendfyre ash,” he said.

Harry nodded, keeping his expression pleasant. “I do understand. You would surely be able to convince him, if he came after you, that you hadn’t told anyone else the information and that you hadn’t taken a simple step like Memory Charming yourself to remove it from your head. He’s known for listening to reason.”

It could have backfired, but Harry knew that Slughorn had decided to come back to Hogwarts and teach, a place that Voldemort could easily find him, simply because Dumbledore had asked, or he wanted the connections, or both. His fear didn’t overpower him.

“Now wait. Just wait a minute.”

“It’s only sensible to value your life over everyone’s,” Harry continued, blithely ignoring the way Slughorn’s mouth opened. “When we can’t defeat him because he’s immortal and taking over the world, you’ll be safe, at least.”

“Just wait—”

“I’m sure that you can tell him you were loyal to him, in your way, and convince him that—”

“I never said I was loyal to him!” Slughorn was flushed now, his voice echoing in the classroom. “We all make mistakes when we’re young, and who could have known that he would go on to become what he did?”

“I don’t think you could have,” Harry said, which was only true. “But I also think that now you know what he is, and you’re obstructing our path to his defeat out of mindless fear, not logic.”

Slughorn closed his eyes and stood there. Harry waited. He had another plan if this one didn’t work, but he rather hoped it did.

Slughorn took a deep breath and opened his eyes. “I would need someone else to activate the array, you said.”

“Yes, sir. One person to chant the runes, one to chant the numbers.”

“And you haven’t offered this to anyone else?”

Harry almost smiled. Slughorn, he thought, wasn’t really allowing greed to overpower him as much as pretending that so he could save some kind of face. Harry could admire that, in a way. “No, sir. Honestly, we invented this for a different purpose. Partially to see if we could.”

“Ravenclaws,” Slughorn murmured, but he looked like he’d cheered up. “You need Slytherins to show you how to make practical use of your inventions.”

“Sometimes, yes, sir.”

Slughorn breathed in and out. Then he said, “Seven.”

“Pardon me, sir?”

“That was how many bits of soul Riddle wanted to have. Six Horcruxes, and one piece of soul in his body, since he was so fascinated by powerful numbers.” Slughorn clenched his hand for a moment. “And he had rather a fascination for Founders’ artifacts, as well…”

*

Dumbledore listened intently to what Harry had to say about the information he’d got from Professor Slughorn. Theo thought that Harry wasn’t being particularly careful to hide that he’d known about Horcruxes already, but maybe that was a good thing. Theo knew that he got impatient with the kinds of games that Dumbledore played, himself.

At last the Headmaster leaned back behind his desk and said, “I really would have preferred that you get the memory, my boy, not just the information. Horace could have been lying.”

“If that’s the case, sir, then why don’t you go and talk to him about it? You’re the Legilimens here, not me.”

Theo pressed his foot against the side of Harry’s boot for a moment. A reminder, a warning. Harry had sounded belligerent enough that Theo could see Dumbledore possibly taking offense.

“I was expecting you to get the memory,” Dumbledore said. “And with some method other than bribery.”

Harry leaned slightly forwards. Theo looked at him, and then recoiled at the look on his boyfriend’s face. He wasn’t sure that he’d ever seen Harry look that angry.

“Then you should have said that,” Harry said softly. “Instead of giving me vague instructions and acting disappointed when I interpreted them creatively. Your preference for secrecy and cryptic words has come back to bite you in the arse, Headmaster.”

Dumbledore looked at Harry without moving. Theo hoped that Harry wasn’t looking him directly in the eye, but it was hard to tell from the angle of sitting next to Harry.

“You don’t seem to be surprised by the fact that it’s Horcruxes, my dear boy.”

Theo concealed a snort with difficulty. It seemed that Dumbledore didn’t think he could win an argument with Harry in the terms Harry had couched it, so he was just skirting around that by moving to a different subject.

Harry smiled slightly, and didn’t answer.

“Did you know?”

Dumbledore’s voice was so low that Theo found it hard to tell what the emotion in it was, but he thought it might have been anger.

“Yes.”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“Did you tell me about the investigation into who put my name in the Goblet of Fire in fourth year, Headmaster? Did you tell me in plain terms what you wanted me to get from Slughorn? Have you been honest with me even now about what you already knew about the Horcruxes and why you thought the number of such importance?”

“I am an adult, Harry, and you are—”

“Someone you thought should get the information from Slughorn while conforming to impossible standards you didn’t explain.”

Dumbledore closed his eyes. “I so hoped that we could be allies in the quest to defeat Voldemort, Harry.”

“I’d say we’re allies, Headmaster. We all want him gone. I just don’t want to play your games or be your soldier.”

Dumbledore was still. Theo watched him. He knew how fast the Headmaster could move in battle, having seen some of his father’s memories. If he tried to attack Harry, he would have two wands to contend with.

And Theo didn’t intend to stick to legal curses.

Dumbledore finally swallowed and looked up. “I cannot be plain with you about all I know, since there is still the chance of Legilimency scooping the plans right out of your brain. But I will be happy to work with you and share information.”

“That’s good, sir.”

Harry’s smile didn’t reach his eyes, and Theo thought even someone like Dumbledore, who let hopes get in the way of his discernment so often, could probably tell. But at least they settled in to an amicable exchange of information.

Well. Harry and Dumbledore did.

Theo watched Dumbledore, and wondered.

Specifically what Legilimens Dumbledore was worried about, when the two in the school were apparently on the side of the war against Voldemort.