[From Litha to Lammas]: Having No Objections, Harry/Theo preslash, 5/6, PG-13

[lomonaaeren]

“Mate! Mate! Over here!”

Weasley is waving madly from the other side of the platform. Harry waves back and smiles at Theo one more time before running towards his Gryffindor friends. It looks like Granger is there, too, and hugging Harry enthusiastically.

“You do not mind that?”

“Harry spent the summer with me,” Theo answers, not taking his gaze from his betrothed. Harry’s cheeks are flushed and sparkling as he laughs at something Granger’s saying. “He refused all invitations to the Weasley Burrow even when he was corresponding with them again. He places me first.”

“See that he does. You would not want to lose out to a Mudblood and a blood traitor.”

Theo is grateful that at least Father saved those words from when Harry was away from them. He turns to face Father. “Farewell. I will write to you when the first thing of note happens this term.”

Father nods, places a hand on Theo’s shoulder in the closest he will ever get to an embrace, and turns his back, striding towards the Floo they came from. Theo hurries to get on the train.

As happened last year, his Slytherin yearmates are sitting in a single compartment, except for Crabbe and Goyle. Theo raises an eyebrow at Draco as he sits down across from him, and Draco snorts a little. “They went to see if they could find the trolley lady and convince her to sell them some snacks early.”

Theo nods and leans back to look out the window. He’s in time to see Harry and Weasley and Granger all pile onto the train, and he relaxes a little.

“He matters to you.”

Theo glances over his shoulder at Millicent, who is so silent most of the time that it can be easy to forget she’s sitting there. She certainly doesn’t shine and sparkle the way Pansy and Daphne and even Daphne’s friend Tracey Davis do. And Theo isn’t used to thinking of her as that clever.

Now, she’s watching him with dark eyes in which the cleverness is so clear that he’s a little disgusted at himself for not realizing it before.

“He does,” Theo says, a warning in his voice.

“Good. Everyone should have someone who matters.”

And Millicent turns away and starts talking to Pansy about something apparently related to a conversation their mothers had. Theo stares at her shoulder with his eyebrows raised, and then shakes his head and pulls out a book.

He doesn’t know why Millicent, of all people was the one who brought up Harry. The rest of Slytherin spent last year tiptoeing around Theo when Harry came up. They saw the way that he dueled Marcus Flint when Flint said something about how Theo should get Harry to fall off his broom, and that was enough.

It should be enough, too. Theo sweeps his eyes around the compartment to see if anyone else is looking at him.

But no one appears to be. They’re talking quietly to each other, or reading, like Tracey, or complaining to no one in particular, like Draco.

Theo nods slowly, and immerses himself in his book.

*

“I really hate him.”

Theo nods in response, then reminds himself, again, that Harry’s hatred isn’t the same as Theo’s own. In this case, Harry probably just means that he wishes Lockhart would disappear and never come back to Hogwarts.

Theo, in contrast, wants to murder Lockhart and hide his body somewhere.

You must control yourself, Father says sternly in the back of Theo’s head. Remember, Theo, no one else will accept you the way you are.

Theo blinks hard and nods in response to Father’s unheard rebuke. Only then does he become aware that Weasley and Granger and Harry are all looking at him a little strangely. Theo smiles. “Sorry, what?”

“You just—had the oddest expression on your face,” Granger says, and squints at him.

Theo squints back.

It’s new, this time that they’re spending together outside of class. Apparently Weasley and Granger thought they should really get to know their best friend’s betrothed, and Theo was able to accept that, because Weasley and Granger really are fixtures in Harry’s life. So they met up in the library, as the most readily neutral ground available.

“It was really odd,” Weasley agrees.

“Don’t bother Theo about his odd expressions,” Harry says, and lets his Defense book fall open. “We can all agree that that class was a complete waste of time, right? Lockhart quizzing us on himself?”

“He’s a great wizard, Harry! Just look at all the things he’s done!”

“Maybe he’s lying about that, too,” Theo says.

“Why would he be?” Granger asks, and gives him a distinctly hostile glance. “Look, can we just work on our essays instead of discussing Lockhart?”

Theo holds up a hand in surrender, and they do just that. It’s worth putting up with Granger’s corrections and Weasley’s grumbles to see the light growing in Harry’s eyes as he glances back and forth between them.

Theo would do so much for that light.

*

“Is everything okay, Theo?”

“I ought to be the one asking that of you, when you were accused of Petrifying Filch’s cat.”

Harry’s smile is a little wan, but he lifts his shoulders and let them drop. “It’s just people turning on me again. I got that last year after I refused the points and Slytherin won the House Cup. But you look a lot more pale than usual.”

Theo hesitates. Father sent him a letter about the Chamber of Secrets, but warned him to share it with no one.

On the other hand, Father ought to know how close Theo is to Harry, and that Theo would never ignore his own betrothed or keep secrets from him.

“Theo?”

Theo makes his decision and nods. “I can tell you. But we need to be in a more secluded place before then.”

Harry willingly follows him deeper into the dungeons, since they’ve just been standing outside Snape’s class. Theo feels as though Harry’s trust is a warm fire burning at his back. He takes Harry without hesitation to a place he found last year and, at the time, never intended on showing anyone.

“Whoa. What is this?”

Theo turns to smile at Harry as he closes the door behind them. They’re in a wide room that has a fountain splashing quietly in the middle of it, the water shed from the mouths of stone mermaids canted in different directions. The fountain, the mermaids, and a half-destroyed fresco on the wall are all made of a smooth blue material that Theo doesn’t know, but which feels like shell when he touches it. And there’s a small, eternally glowing chandelier that hangs from the ceiling right above the fountain.

“I don’t know for sure,” Theo admits. “An older student could have found it and transformed it for some kind of project. Hogwarts used to offer classes it doesn’t now. Or maybe it used to serve as a source of water for a class. But no one’s been here in years.”

Harry wanders around the fountain, gaping, and then pauses and smiles before he turns to Theo. “There are two of them.”

“What?” Theo walks around the fountain, and starts when he sees two blue-cushioned chairs there. He never noticed them before.

Or they were never there before.

A small shiver runs down his spine, but Harry hops into one of them and snuggles down into it before Theo can yell a warning. So Theo shrugs and does the same. The chair embraces him warmly.

It only makes Theo tenser, though. In his childhood, the soft and delicious things were traps.

“So what did you want to tell me?”

Right. Harry and the letter. Theo pulls Father’s letter out of his pocket and hands it over, because he can’t think of a way to explain it that won’t come across as slightly hysterical.

Harry reads the letter and winces several times. Then he leans back and blows air out his lips in what’s close to a whistle, something Theo treasures all the more because he knows how low-class Father would think it is. “So this happened before, fifty years ago? And people were Petrified, and someone died?”

“Yes.”

“Do you think that’s going to happen again?”

“I don’t know,” Theo says quietly. This is part of the problem with showing Harry the letter. Father meant it as a warning about the Heir, but it’s also a warning to Theo to stay out of this. Not that he can, if Harry is involved. “Last time, the Heir, or the monster, or the two of them together, were Petrifying people from the beginning. They didn’t start with a cat.”

“So maybe this is a warning…”

“Or the Heir had to leave quickly for some reason, or they mean to escalate.” Theo shrugs in irritation. “I don’t know, and we can’t act without more information.”

“What about Malfoy?”

“What about him?” Theo rolls his eyes. Sometimes Draco is a tolerable companion, and sometimes he blurts out stupid things like saying “Mudbloods” and claiming they’re all going to die.

“Do you think he’s the Heir?”

It’s a disservice to Harry when he looks so serious. But Theo can’t help the laughter he bursts into.

“Hey!”

Theo holds up a hand as he tries to get the loud chuckling and undignified snorting under control. Harry pouts above his folded arms. It’s adorable, and definitely the kind of thing that Theo could get used to seeing more of in the future.

“Sorry.” Theo clears his throat. “I honestly didn’t mean to laugh at you. But Draco as the Heir…” Laughter nearly breaks out of his throat again, and he shakes his head and forces it down. “He never would have got to the part where he Petrified people because he would be too busy bragging about being Slytherin’s descendant. It’s not him.”

“Are you absolutely sure? How well do you know him?”

Theo has to roll his eyes a little. “We grew up going to the same parties and playing together because quite often we were the only children of the same age present. Our fathers got together often because…”

And he trails off.

Harry just nods slowly, his eyes fastened on Theo. “Your fathers were both Death Eaters.”

“Yes.”

“I spoke to your father over the summer, you know.”

It’s so unexpected that Theo nearly gapes at Harry, and manages to shut his mouth just in time. “About…his being a Death Eater?’

Harry nods again. His eyes are calm and clear. “I wanted to ask him what he thought about Muggles, and about a raid Hermione read about. It said that he killed people.” Harry swallows air. “Including Muggleborns.”

Theo has no idea what to say.

Harry glances to the side, then back to Theo. “He said that he didn’t know many Muggles and my relatives hadn’t impressed him. And he said that he regretted what he had done because it accomplished no clear goal.”

“And?” Theo whispers. It feels as though an enormous invisible weight has settled over his shoulders, like an essay he’s forgotten until the last minute.

Harry sighs. “It’s more than I expected to get from him. Less hatred, more indifference. But I’ll still never share his politics, and I’ll never share his opinions on Muggles and Muggleborns.”

“What does that mean for…our contract?”

“That I would prefer to live with someone else, as soon as your father can find a suitable magical guardian for me. And that you’re not your father.”

Theo relaxes a little and nods. “Thank you.”

“What do you think of Muggleborns? And Muggles, now that you’ve had a chance to venture into the Muggle world and meet some?”

Harry’s gaze is very direct. Theo doesn’t dream of lying, although he might have if this was someone other than his future husband. “I still don’t like them,” he says, staring into Harry’s face. “I don’t want them to learn about us. I think it’s dangerous for Muggles to know about magic, at least not without being bound by spells that means they won’t tell anyone else.”

“The Dursleys and Hermione’s parents never would!”

“I assume Granger’s parents are proud of her having magic, and your relatives wouldn’t tell anyone because of the embarrassment. But can you say that about every Muggle in existence? Especially the ones who are convinced that loving their Muggleborn children means denying them magic and keeping them close?”

Harry’s indignation falters. Then he mutters, “It’s still not a reason to torture and kill them.”

“No,” Theo agrees. That’s a part of his father’s past that he knew he didn’t want to imitate even before he found out he was betrothed to a Muggle-raised half-blood. “But I don’t want to spend time around them, I’m not fascinated with Muggle technology the way some purebloods are, and I never want to let you spend time in your relatives’ home again.”

“I’m not going to.”

“Even if my father doesn’t find you a magical guardian before next summer?”

Harry closes his eyes. Theo leans near in concern. He’s wondering now if something else happened in that Muggle house, something he should have asked about sooner.

“My aunt came to talk to me one day,” Harry whispers. “My uncle had said I wasn’t going back to Hogwarts, and I screamed at him that I was. She said that she hated me and never wanted me and wanted me out of the house, but she didn’t want me to be more of a freak, either. She wanted me in prison.”

Theo closes his eyes. He can’t contemplate the amount of hatred it would take to wish Azkaban on a child. He takes a moment to slow and soothe his breathing so that he can respond to what Harry really said, though, and not the caricatures of Muggles in his mind.

“What did you say to her?” he finally asks, opening his eyes.

“Nothing. I was too stunned.”

Theo reaches across the distance between their chairs. Harry grabs his hand and holds it.

“I can promise that you won’t go back there,” Theo whispers. “We’ll do another summer with my father if we have to, and you can just avoid him, and he can just avoid you. And then you’ll live in the magical world all the time.”

Harry gives him a trembling smile. “Even if people aren’t my friends anymore because they think I’m the Heir of Slytherin?”

“Even then,” Theo murmurs, and wins a wide smile from Harry.

*

Originally, they were supposed to have a dueling club earlier in the term, but maybe Lockhart has a grain of common sense after all, because he was sick the day he was supposed to “face” Snape. However, now it’s here, and now is the time that Theo learns Harry is a Parselmouth.

He would be angry about not being told, but from the way Harry’s jaw hangs open, he didn’t know himself. Theo supposes it would be pretty rare that someone in the Muggle world would go around speaking to snakes. From what he knows, they’re even rarer in the Muggle world than in the magical one. Wards can keep them out, but Muggle cities and streets are a better deterrent.

You are rambling, says Father’s soft voice in his head.

He is, and he can’t protect his betrothed like that. Theo breathes, smooth and easy, and moves in between Harry and Justin Finch-Fletchley, who’s accusing Harry of being evil and trying to set the snake on him.

“And don’t you think, if that was his wish, that the snake would have bitten you?” Theo asks mildly. “You’re not making a lot of sense, Finch-Fletchley.”

The Hufflepuff flushes. “It’s not the same for you, Nott, you are a snake!”

Theo makes a show of running a hand down his arm and over his cheek. “I must have missed the scales. And I seem to have got hair somehow. Are you sure?”

Laughter erupts around them. Finch-Fletchley turns bright red in a way that makes him look like an angry Draco. Theo knows that he might have to pay a price for the joke, but he’s not frightened of Finch-Fletchley.

And better him than Harry.

“Mate, come on…”

Weasley and Granger are herding Harry out of the Great Hall, which is just as well. Theo turns to face the Hufflepuffs gathered around him and shakes his head sadly.

“What?” demands Zacharias Smith. He’s one Theo usually thinks of as having more than Lockhart’s grain of sense, but right now he’s just as red and angry as all the others.

“You think Harry is an evil of Heir of Slytherin who was going to command the snake to bite Finch-Fletchley,” Theo says, and nods at where the snake is still lying docilely on the floor. “Instead, he practically turned it to stone. The great and all-powerful Heir of Slytherin, going around making snakes into his pets? That’s the villain you’ve imagined?”

“He could strike later!”

“He wouldn’t do it in front of the professors!”

It’s Susan Bones who says that, and Theo chooses to turn to her, with a little smile. “Oh? But Finch-Fletchley here was saying that Harry did intend to set the snake on him. That he was angrily hissing at it to get it to attack.”

“Well, obviously he changed his mind!”

Theo rolls his eyes. “So he’s evil but a coward, is that what you’re saying?”

“Evil people are cowardly!”

The argument is cut short by Professor Snape swishing his wand and Vanishing the snake. He walks past them without a glance, but Theo isn’t entirely surprised to hear him say, “Mr. Nott, with me.”

Theo goes, although he rolls his eyes at the smug looks on the Hufflepuffs’ faces. If they think that Snape is going to punish Theo for defending Harry, they don’t know the professor very well.

Snape hates Harry, but he has accepted the necessity and existence of the betrothal contract by now.

At least, Theo thinks, narrowing his eyes at Snape’s back as they leave the Great Hall, he had better have.

*

“What did you think you were doing, Mr. Nott?”

“Defending my betrothed, sir. And exposing the logical fallacies in what passes for an argument in Hufflepuff House.”

Snape seems to pause for a moment, but doesn’t cease writing on the piece of parchment he started writing on the moment he sat down, and doesn’t look up. Theo sits in the chair he was directed to, patient and waiting.

Snape can disbelieve him all he wants. He isn’t the one engaged to be married to Harry Potter, and he isn’t the one who’s breathless at the sight of Harry’s smile.

Probably better not, Theo thinks, a little queasy at the thought of all Snape’s hatred towards Harry turning to gooey love. Ew.

Snape chooses that moment to look up. Theo does his best to make sure none of his emotions are showing on his face. He also looks a little off to the side. Even Father isn’t sure whether Snape is a Legilimens, but Theo thinks it can’t hurt to play it safe.

“You would do wisely to distance yourself from Potter.”

“I told you last year, sir, the contract was sworn in blood and magic by our parents. Even Headmaster Dumbledore doesn’t know how to break it.”

Theo keeps his voice polite and bored. It’s as much for his sake as Harry’s. Snape would probably try to dig into this if he thought he could, because he hates Harry so much he’s convinced no one should be bound to him. Theo needs him to leave it alone.

The contract can’t be broken by any means Theo knows of, but it might be broken by Dark Arts he doesn’t know much about.

And if anyone in Hogwarts would be familiar with Dark Arts like that, it’s Snape.

Snape folds his hands on his desk. “You are content to be married to a Parselmouth rising Dark Lord who Petrifies people?”

“Why do you think Harry’s the Heir, sir?”

“Is it not obvious?”

“No.”

Snape pauses, considering Theo as if Theo is less smart than Snape always thought. Theo just sits and keeps a passive expression on his face. It’s helped him get through conflicts in the Slytherin common room and arguments he didn’t really want to have with Father. He thinks it’ll help him again here.

“Only descendants of Salazar Slytherin can speak Parseltongue. I am as surprised as anyone else—” not that Snape’s voice really shows this “—but apparently Potter is descended from Slytherin’s line, and that means he must be the Heir.”

“There are other answers, sir.”

“Such as?”

“Some of the seventh-years in Slytherin know Dark Arts that would allow them to Petrify people, and maybe even open the Chamber of Secrets. If it exists,” Theo has to add. Even Father’s letter didn’t say for sure that the Chamber’s existence was established. “And maybe seventh-years in the other Houses.”

Snape regards him through half-lidded eyes. Theo remembers about possible Legilimency and looks down at his hands again.

“You seem oddly reluctant to trust me, Mr. Nott.”

“I trust you, sir. I just don’t trust that it’s a good idea to separate from Harry.”

“Hmm. You know that he might never come to love you? That he might be incapable of it?”

Snape said something similar last year when he was trying to talk Theo out of continuing the betrothal. Theo holds back a sigh as he answers. “Yes, sir. Not all arranged marriages succeed. I do know that.”

My parents’ must have succeeded less than I thought.

Theo puts the memory out of his mind. He will think of his mother in his own way, and that’s not the way Father does.

“I did not mean that, Mr. Nott. I mean that his father was incapable of love, and Mr. Potter could be the same way.”

There’s no mistaking the loathing in Snape’s voice when he talks about James Potter. Still, Theo doesn’t really care. Just as he is not his father, he can’t imagine that Harry is exactly the same as his own.

“All right, sir.”

Snape obviously gives up and sits back, shaking his head. “Far be it from me to dissuade you if you wish to put your hand in the fire, Mr. Nott.”

“Yes, sir.”

Theo escapes to find Harry, before he can tell Snape what he thinks is the truth: Snape doesn’t have the right to an opinion on Theo’s betrothal. It’s not like he has to marry Harry.

Theo, the one who does, is quite content with his future.

*

“But even Ron seemed to think it was bad.”

“It’s not.”

“But he seemed to think it was.”

Theo sighs and shakes his head at Harry as they walk down towards the Great Hall and the breakfast that is waiting for them before they go join Theo’s father for the Christmas holidays. Harry has kept up a brave front since the dueling club, but this morning, someone found Justin Finch-Fletchley Petrified. It doesn’t matter that Harry was sleeping in Gryffindor Tower at the time and has four witnesses to say so. People are still muttering and staring.

“If Ron doesn’t believe in me, who does?”

Theo narrows his eyes. “I had the impression Weasley did believe in you.” He halts outside the Great Hall and turns around to seriously consider Harry. If Weasley has said otherwise, Theo is going to do something non-permanent but painful to him.

“Well, that’s what I mean. Not that he thinks I’m bad, but he said it was bad.”

“Your Parseltongue.”

From the way Harry flinches, he hates the reference to it. Theo steps up to him and puts his hands on Harry’s shoulders.

“I think it’s amazing,” he says softly.

Harry stares at him with his mouth dropping open, then blurts, “You do? Why?”

“It’s almost unknown for anyone not descended from Salazar Slytherin to have it. But you do, and I don’t know exactly how. It’s another mystery, something that we can explore when we get married. And even when we’re just friends. Where does it come from? How does it work? Can you talk to painted snakes in portraits and get them to do things for you? There’s so much we can learn about this, Harry.”

Harry swallows and reaches out to clasp Theo’s hand where it rests on his right shoulder. “You always make me feel better,” he breathes.

Theo smiles.

“You’re my best friend.”

It’s something that Theo doubts Harry will ever tell Weasley or Granger, and he knows that they’re still Harry’s friends and Theo isn’t really in competition with them. But it still makes something dark and eager swell inside his chest. He would like to be able to hunt someone down for Harry, make them hurt if Harry wanted him to.

Or he could stand here and hold Harry’s shoulders.

“Thank you,” Harry says, and then he steps back and smiles at Theo. “Let’s go on. I could stand to get out of the school for a few days.”

Theo nods and accompanies Harry to the Slytherin table. Harry could sit with Gryffindor, only about half of them believe that he’s the Heir, but the Hufflepuff table is closer to the Gryffindor one and about three-quarters of them believe that Harry Petrified Finch-Fletchley. They’re so united in glaring that Theo isn’t surprised when Harry ducks his head and eats quickly.

Theo glares back at the Hufflepuffs, and some of them decide to look away. But Macmillan and Smith and Bones don’t.

Fine. If they want a fight when Theo and Harry come back from the holidays, Theo will give them one.

He happens to look up and notice Headmaster Dumbledore gazing in Harry’s direction with his hand beneath his chin. Theo scowls at him, too. He hopes Dumbledore isn’t stupid enough to believe Harry’s the Heir, but on the other hand, Dumbledore didn’t seem to notice when Harry spent most of the summer with Theo and his father. So he doesn’t check in on Harry at any regular interval.

Dumbledore raises an eyebrow.

Theo turns away and concentrates on shielding Harry so he can eat in peace. He’ll be happy when they’re out of here for a few days, too.

Comments

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

I like how much Harry and Theo support each other.