Chapter Twenty-Seven of 'Winged Victory'- Making Waves

[lomonaaeren]

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Chapter Twenty-Seven—Making Waves

For a moment, Theo thinks the gargoyle at the bottom of the Headmaster’s stairs is going to cause a problem and not let him by, with the way that it straightens up on its pedestal when Theo sneaks past under the Invisibility Cloak. But then it huffs and turns its head to the side, as if to say it has better things to watch.

Theo smiles and speeds up the stairs.

He’s just in time to step through the door smartly behind Harry. It does help that Dumbledore leaves it up to Harry to close the door. Harry does without even a smile over his shoulder, which might have broken Theo to keep inside.

He takes up his position behind Harry’s chair, and makes sure the Cloak hangs completely to cover his feet.

Dumbledore takes his time setting up a tea service. Theo has to bite his lip to keep from laughing hysterically when he sees Dumbledore is making only one cup. Does he think Harry will be disappointed by that?

It’s too bad that leaning around Harry to see his expression is risky at the moment, because Theo really would love to see it.

Dumbledore finally leans back in his seat and directs a flat look at Harry. Theo risks a slight step to the side while Dumbledore is looking at his boyfriend, and yeah, Harry has the most fabricated expression of innocence to ever exist on his face.

“Do you know what you’ve done, my boy?” Dumbledore asks heavily.

“In this case, I would assume it’s more about what Malfoy’s done. Sir.”

“You made light of a situation that is extremely grave, Harry. That Mr. Malfoy is threatening to take you to Voldemort might indicate that he has been tasked with doing so.”

“Well, yes, I sort of thought he had. But if it’s so grave, sir, and you believe Malfoy is really going to do it, why are you interrogating me instead of him?”

Dumbledore takes a sip of his tea. Theo hopes it contains a Calming Draught.

“We cannot throw students out of the school merely for receiving undue pressure from their families,” Dumbledore says at last. “I would hope that you would understand that better than anyone, Harry, you to whom Hogwarts has been a sanctuary.”

“All right, sir. But that doesn’t answer the question of why you’re interrogating me.”

Dumbledore folds his hands on the desk and leans forwards a little. Theo is gratified to see that Harry immediately directs his eyes elsewhere, although it’s not obvious that he’s avoiding a Legilimency probe.

“Since you became involved with Mr. Nott,” Dumbledore says in a somber voice, “you have changed, my dear Harry.”

“Well, yeah. Falling in love will do that to you, sir.”

Dumbledore recoils a little. Theo switches to watching him, his curiosity too great not to. Did Dumbledore think that Harry wasn’t in love, or did he not expect him to say it?

“There is—that is a grave statement to make, my boy.”

“Why? I’m pretty sure that Theo’s plots involving me just contain couches and beds, not kidnapping me to take to Voldemort.”

It really is going to break Theo, holding his expression straight, if Dumbledore doesn’t stop reacting so openly. Right now, his jaw is hanging a bit, and he struggles to snap it shut and communicate with Harry the way that he probably thinks is dignified.

“You—Harry, you must understand that the Notts work with long-term goals. Everyone knows how close Mr. Nott and his father were.” Theo stuffs a hand into his mouth, barely managing to make sure that the Cloak still covers his arm. “Mr. Nott could still be working to trap you and take you to his Dark Lord.”

“Sir,” Harry says very slowly. “You’re aware that he killed his father, right? And that he helped me defeat Voldemort in the graveyard?”

“That doesn’t matter,” says Dumbledore, in such an ancient tone that Theo thinks he could be forgiven for thinking the Headmaster is made of stone like the gargoyle outside his door. “Not with such a long-term plan as the Notts are capable of concocting. And of course he would try to make you fall in love with him, Harry. That is what someone like Nott would do.”

“Someone like Theo?”

“Dark and driven, above all, to reclaim the prestige of his family.”

Theo really is going to burst out laughing, and then sneaking into the office will have been for nothing. He stares at the bookshelves and thinks about the way that Dumbledore might be using spells or rituals from them to come up with his own plan to trap Harry and kill the Horcrux in him.

That calms him down, all right.

“Theo’s never showed the slightest inclination to reclaim the prestige of his family,” Harry says, and the way he’s rolling his eyes is visible in his voice even though Theo doesn’t look back at him in time to catch it. “He just wants to be with me and help me defeat Voldemort. And we’ll figure out other things later.”

“You think he cares nothing for the prestige of his family?”

“I just said that. Sir.”

“I cannot,” Dumbledore says, and shakes his head as though to clear it, “believe that, Harry. The way that purebloods are raised differs from you and me. They are raised to put family first, always, and to disown children who do not.”

I wonder if you would think differently if you had heard how many times my own father threatened to kill me.

“You make them sound like they’re not human, sir.”

“Merely another variety of human, my dear boy.”

Theo stares at him, and is glad that the Cloak covers his face so there’s no way that Dumbledore can see his dropped jaw. It really sounds like Dumbledore is approaching blood prejudice from the other direction.

“You sound like one of them, sir.”

“What?”

“Claiming that there’s some difference in humanity between us. You sound like Malfoy talking about Muggleborns—although he wouldn’t have called them that—and how they’re so different that there’s no way they can be treated humanely.”

“Of course I did not mean it that way, Harry.”

Harry stands up. Theo can’t take his eyes off him, and not just because he loves him. Harry is so powerful in that moment, standing there with his hands on his hips and his chin lifted. His green eyes blaze with sorrow, not magic, but he’s more compelling than any Dark Lord Theo can imagine.

“You sounded as if you did, sir,” Harry says quietly. “And I should have known that you weren’t really going to bring me here to discuss Malfoy or even my behavior at breakfast this morning. Of course it was going to be about Theo, and how you don’t trust him.” Harry shakes his head. “I’ve had enough of this, sir. I don’t want to talk to you about the topic again.”

“Harry—”

“No, sir.” And Harry turns and walks out of the office, leaving Dumbledore staring after him with a lost expression.

Theo suppresses the temptation to mess something up in the office and follows. After all, he would rather be with Harry than causing trouble for Dumbledore.

Harry is waiting a good distance down the corridor, beyond the gargoyle, probably because he thinks it would spy for Dumbledore. He hands Theo a warm smile even before Theo takes off the Cloak and steps forwards to kiss him.

Theo returns the kiss eagerly, trying to say without words how much he admires Harry, loves him, wants him, desires to stay at his side. Harry seems to feel the same, because his hands firm on Theo’s shoulders and trail down to his hips.

“Want to find a place to snog before class?” Harry asks breathlessly, drawing back to smile at him.

“Isn’t our next class Potions?”

“Could Snape hate you or me more?”

Theo laughs and drags his boyfriend away.

*

“Why do you have to learn all these spells, Harry?”

Granger’s voice is soft, but Theo can still hear her, especially since he just finished his own practice of a spell that Tonks assigned him. This one is supposed to tell you whether a Horcrux, or some other artifact infused with soul magic, falls inside a certain portion of a map. Theo lowers his wand and turns to look at Granger and Harry.

Harry appears a little bored, but he manages a perfunctory smile for Granger. “I told you that I can’t tell you all my secrets, Hermione.”

“Why not, mate?”

“You know why, Ron.”

Granger and Weasley look at each other. They seem lost, but also working towards some confrontation. Theo conceals a sigh. He’ll intervene if he has to, but honestly, things would be so much easier on both of them if Harry would just walk away from this stupid pair.

“What would we have to do to make you tell us all your secrets?” Weasley asks.

Theo bristles at the thought of anyone making Harry do anything, but Harry reaches back and rests a hand on Theo’s shoulder without even looking. Theo relaxes. “You would have to swear oaths to keep the secrets within a certain group,” Harry says gravely. “You wouldn’t be able to tell Dumbledore or any of the other adults even if you thought it was a good thing to do.” He considered, then added, “You could tell Sirius. But no one else.”

“Not Professor Lupin?”

“No. He’s too loyal to Dumbledore.”

“Dumbledore’s just trying to protect you,” Granger whispers, but her voice is wavering as though she no longer thinks that.

“Do you know what he wanted to talk to me about in his office today?” Harry asks, and goes on without leaving them time to answer. “Not Malfoy. Not what he could do to prevent someone from kidnapping me from the school. About Theo. About how Theo is supposedly trying to corrupt me and give me to Voldemort—” flinch, flinch “—and still obeying his father even though he killed his father. Does that sound like he wants to protect me to you?”

“If he really thinks that about Nott…” At least Weasley has the grace to flush as he turns to Theo.

“I don’t believe he does think it,” Theo says, because this much he can share. “Or he would have tried harder to separate me from Harry if he believed I was a real danger to him. He’s just upset because I’m more loyal to Harry than I am to him, and I keep Harry from being manipulated by him.”

“But why would he care about that? Or why would he be upset that Harry has a loyal protector?”

“You’d have to swear the oaths to know that.”

Granger and Weasley trade an uncertain glance. Then Granger turns to Harry and asks in a stiff little voice, “What about my parents? Or Mr. and Mrs. Weasley?”

“No. They can’t be involved.”

“Harry, that’s not fair.”

Theo doesn’t expect the harsh laugh that makes its way out of Harry’s mouth, hardly different from a cough. He leans forwards and looks at his friends with unblinking eyes. They stare back like rabbits caught in a snake’s gaze.

“It’s not fair that this has all happened to me,” Harry whispers. “It’s not fair that I got marked and hunted by Voldemort—” flinch, flinch “—from the time that I was a baby. And it’s not fair that we fought last year and Sirius was in Azkaban and Dumbledore is more focused on trying to take my boyfriend away from me than he is giving me help to fight Voldemort—” flinch, flinch. “But that’s the way things are, and I don’t want to listen to you just complain, Hermione. The two of you will swear the oaths or be content with what you already know.”

For some reason, Granger and Weasley don’t puff up and lash out the way Theo thought they would. They just stand there, and then they turn and whisper to each other. Theo valiantly doesn’t try to listen in.

Granger is the one who turns back, with a resigned expression.

“I wish that we could just work together with Professor Dumbledore,” she says uneasily. “But if you say that it’s important to swear these oaths so we can know what’s going on and we can help you, Harry, that’s what we’ll do.”

Weasley nods behind her, although he looks a little green. He probably knows more than Granger does about the implications of oaths and what they do to you if you break them, Theo thinks, having been raised in the magical world.

“Okay,” Harry says, and he does look happy as he draws his wand. “These are the words you have to say.”

*

When the oath is finished, Harry tells them about Horcruxes without mincing words. He’s as blunt as Dumbledore was about the Horcrux in his head, which Theo thinks might not be the best choice, but does at least answer some of the questions he thinks Weasley and Granger would have raised about why they can’t work together with the Headmaster.

Weasley is the one who can’t get past it, which is a little surprising. Theo thought it would be Granger, who has more of a sense of righteousness.

“He wants you to die, mate? Are you sure?”

“He’s made it clear,” Harry says quietly. “And more to the point, he’s made it clear to Theo. He thinks Theo should walk away from me because I’m a tainted thing with no chance of survival.”

Granger gives a single noisy sob, but then masters herself. Theo will give her credit for bravery. She wipes her eyes as if they’re streaming more tears than they in fact are, and says grimly, “Then we have to make sure you survive.”

“I’ll do that,” Theo says.

Granger spears him with a glance. “And we’ll help.”

Until the next time that you think he’s cheating or some such thing, and then don’t care if he lives or dies. But Theo only nods, because hopefully that won’t happen again, now that they know the matter is bigger than Weasley’s pride.

“Do you have any idea how you can survive, mate?” Weasley asks, sounding desperate. “I mean, any at all?”

“Not yet. We know how to destroy a Horcrux, but the methods would only work for killing me or killing an inanimate container.” Harry reaches out and slings an arm around Weasley’s shoulders when his friend makes a noise of distress. “I promise, it won’t come to that.”

“Even if you’re trying to save people with your saving people thing?” Granger mutters.

“I would knock him unconscious and take him out of the country before I let him walk to his death,” Theo promises her.

“He might act before you knew.” Weasley is blinking rapidly.

“I know him too well,” Theo says, and smiles at Harry, who gives a smile back as hard as the one with which he looked at Dumbledore.

That smile says Harry will live for Theo, no matter what happens. He might be forced at wandpoint to walk to his death, but he would never do it on his own.

I love him so much, and he’s going to live.

*

“Theo.”

Theo whips around, alert. Even though he’s most of the way to the Slytherin common room, there’s no reason to think he’s utterly safe in this corridor. And even though he knows that voice, or thinks he does…

He does.

Luna creeps out of a corridor that Theo doesn’t think he’s ever seen someone take, her expression wan.

Her feet are bare and bleeding.

Theo falls so quickly into the heart of icy rage that he’s actually surprised at himself. He takes a slow step forwards and bends down to heal Luna, making the movements of his wand obvious so that he doesn’t scare her further. Luna lets out a small sigh when her feet are healed and stop bleeding.

In the meantime, Theo Transfigures two little pieces of rock lying near one of the walls into slippers—he’s not great at shoes—and gives them to her. Luna puts them on and then stands there in the middle of the corridor, fragile and hopeful and making Theo want to kill something.

“Who did this to you?” Theo whispers. He’s prepared to hear it’s either Ravenclaws or Slytherins, honestly. Some of his Housemates don’t learn.

Luna looks up at him with big eyes. “A couple of the Hufflepuffs who still think Harry was the Heir of Slytherin,” she whispers.

Well. Apparently some of the other Houses need teaching, too.

“All right. Can you give me their names?”

“One of them was Ernie Macmillan. And one of them was—” Luna braces herself as if she doesn’t think that Theo will believe her. “Susan Bones.”

Theo just nods. There are Gryffindors who might not have believed Luna, he supposes, or even Slytherins. Susan Bones is the niece of Amelia Bones, and supposedly she’s as honorable as her aunt.

But Theo has grown up knowing that honor has to be demonstrated, not assumed. Just like love. Just like power.

“Did this happen for the first time tonight, or did it happen other times, too?”

Luna stares at the floor. Theo waits.

“This is the second time,” Luna finally whispers. “But you’ve been so busy with Harry and—the secret meetings that you’ve had—and defending Harry—I didn’t want to be a bother.”

“You’re not a bother, Luna. But you don’t need to wait next time.” With an effort, Theo keeps his voice gentle. She’ll close up if he snaps. “You can tell me as soon as it happens, and I’ll take care of it.”

Luna lifts her head and stares at him, her eyes as distant and bright as sunshine through a secret passage. Theo just looks at her steadily. He’s not lying, so there’s no reason for her to think he is.

“All right,” Luna finally whispers.

Theo smiles at her and adds, “And since everyone already knows that you’re Harry’s friend, you don’t need to stay at a distance from us, either. Why don’t you come join us the next time we’re in our classroom?”

“Would Harry be all right with that?”

“Of course he would. Why wouldn’t he?”

“He—the two of you might want some time alone,” Luna says, and stares directly at Theo as if she can see his intentions to snog Harry written on his face.

Theo laughs despite himself, but stops when he sees Luna shrinking back. “I’m not laughing at you,” he says. “Only surprised that you would think we have a problem with just asking you to turn your back if we want to kiss. Or waiting until we’re alone.”

Luna beams. “That’s all right, then.”

It is, in several ways, but it’s about to become not all right for several Hufflepuffs. Theo is planning a slow revenge this time, though, because there’s no advantage to Macmillan and Bones knowing who did it the way there would be with his own Housemates, and Dumbledore might go mental if Theo does something else.

No, this will look entirely accidental.

But it will ensure they can’t bully Luna anymore.