She sighs. ‘I hate you.’
‘Right, of course, but more importantly���’ he pauses, placing his hand to his jaw in contemplation. ‘Have I ever made you cry?’
‘I wasn’t crying!’
Her fists clutch the sides of the wooden chair and she’s ready to refresh his memory of what it’s like to feel her fist against his flesh. But her tantrum is interrupted as the door to the Headmaster’s office opens and McGonagall walks out. She crooks a finger at the both of them and Thea is quick to rise and escape any more prolonged conversations with James Potter that she briefly forgets to feign a look of boredom. She hopes McGonagall doesn’t notice that she was moments away from repeating her transgression.
Professors Slughorn and Longbottom are standing near her desk, waiting in their nightrobes. Neither looks particularly pleased to be out of bed at this hour. Slughorn’s wrinkles look exceedingly more defined under the the low lighting that is Hogwarts castle at night. Longbottom’s disheveled hair makes her smirk.
The door closing behind her has a sobering effect as she realizes she and James are still in trouble and no amount of explanation will get her off the hook for punching James in the face. But it was worth a try.
‘After much discussion, your heads of house and I have combed through your statements and we all agree that both of your actions were inexcusable and childish.’ The woman glances towards James. ‘Mr. Potter, you as a Prefect, are held to a higher standard than the expectations of the general student body. I gave you that badge, hoping that your display of integrity and self-restraint would keep you from ending up in situations like this. For blatant display of drunken behavior and ungentlemanly conduct towards a fellow student, fifty points from Gryffindor. And you are suspended from the office of Prefect for two weeks. That includes all Prefect privileges.’
Thea wants to smile but she doesn’t because she knows her punishment will be similar. Though there is a distinct pleasure in watching the way his jaw flexes in frustration. He’ll blame Thea for this, fueling his continued rage for her.
‘Miss Malfoy, I implore you to channel that self-control you seem to have mastered with every other student encounter. While I understand the circumstances that lead to your actions, it does not excuse the fact that those actions were in direct violation of our code of conduct. I expect more from someone whose skills in problem solving have been a constant area of recognition amongst your professors. So, for resorting to violence, no matter the reason, I must deduct 40 points from Slytherin.’
She doesn’t protest because she doesn’t see how that will help her now. She knows the other Slytherins will only slightly vexed at the loss of points once they hear she was only punished for giving James a broken nose. No doubt Albus is already spreading the news.
‘I am disappointed in the both of you. This behavior will stop or I will be forced to take more extreme actions. This, whatever this animosity you two hold over one another is, will end. Am I understood.’
‘Yes, Professor,’ she and James say at the same time and the woman sighs.
‘You are both banned from the next Hogsmeade excursion-‘ James groans but is stopped short by McGonagall’s piercing gaze. ‘And you will sit detention with Professor Binns all of next week. Hopefully it will deter you from ending up in my office again.’
‘Yes, Professor,’ they say again, in unison.
‘Now to bed, with the both of you.’
There is only silence as they all exit the office and she and James part ways, escorted by their Heads of House. She can finally breathe when he and his ego disappear behind stone walls and she is left only in the company of Professor Slughorn.
He’s shaking his head because he expects more.
‘I expect more from you, Theodora.’ Internally she’s cringing at his predictability.
‘I understand, professor. And I take responsibility for my actions.’
‘I understand that it is difficult, being associated with such ancestry.’ Her annoyance is not internalized this time as her fists ball slightly at her sides. ‘But your brother seems to have no issue fitting in with the other students.’
‘My brother is an exceptional wizard, Professor. He does not allow things like, familial ties to hold him back from achieving his goals.’
Professor Slughorn, while exceedingly kind, has never been good at catching on with social cues. He does not hear the edge in her voice, the sarcasm dripping from her tongue. She assumes despite his age that he’s always been this way.
‘Don’t be modest. You, too, are an exceptional witch, child. By why is it you have such an issue acclimating?’
‘Why should I acclimate?’ she asks, her voice steady. ‘Everyone is so bothered because I’m a Malfoy, and yet every Slytherin here can trace their family back to one dark wizard or another.’
‘Yes, this is unfortunately true. And yet, the other students do not perpetuate the attitude of upholding certain…attributes associated with those ancestors. Do you understand my meaning?’
Thea stops halfway down the spiraling steps and he is several steps below her before he realizes she is no longer following. He looks up at her, questioning.
‘Professor, the moment I walked into Hogwarts, the other students had already made up their minds about me. They assumed, despite contradiction to common logic, that I was the result of some insidious time-traveling plot to uphold some dark tradition exaggerated by rumors surrounding my family’s downfall in my father’s youth. Do you understand what it is like to have your legitimacy constantly in question? To have people believe you are destined to be evil because of baseless rumors? To be thought of as the bastard daughter of Lord Voldemort?’
Slughorn doesn’t answer except for a few shifts of discomfort. He doesn’t like the name and never has and she knows that is a product of the times. Lord Voldemort was a monster and the rumors flying around in her earlier years at Hogwarts made her a monster as well. And despite hers and Albus’ attempts at redeeming her reputation, and that of her family, still they looked at her with apprehension.
‘I act the way I do because I refuse to bend to the will of the masses who have already decided for me who I am. If they refuse to understand the real me, then perhaps they don’t deserve to know.’
‘That is a very bleak outlook, my dear.’
‘It is, what it is, Professor. They want to watch me fall. So I give them a show. At least this way, I keep my self-respect.’
‘And that is to say, of course, that your brother-‘
‘My brother found his own way to adapt. I do not fault him for that.’
Slughorn simply nods because perhaps he understands the perspective she’s enlightened him with. Her perspective, the perspective very few take the time to truly understand. He doesn’t answer but there is pity in his eyes when he turns away and continues down the stairwell. They reach the bottom, greeted by enchanted lights that glow brightly as they reach the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room. She glances up at him once more and she can see he wants to speak so she pauses.
‘Maybe there are some who are…unwilling, as you say, to see the real you. But it should be noted, that despite your attempts, some do see that girl. The one who rises above. The one with a future beyond her family name.’ Her eyes fall at his words.
‘Perhaps,’ is all she can say because she’s said enough. She’s tired and vulnerable and she should get some sleep before she starts to defy her own reputation.
Her reputation is all she has. She’s spent the better part of almost six years creating that image and she isn’t about to let a little thing like a compliment make her soft now.
ALBUS
On Monday their sunny weather is replaced by an overcast haze that hangs in the air and by the afternoon the rain becomes torrential. Despite his usual somber temperament, Albus has little love for such dreariness.
‘Concentrate,’ Thea hisses from their place on the rickety bridge where they are seated. She ignores the fact that they
are in the way, several students grumbling in annoyance as they are forced to walk around them but Thea would not be moved.
She’s sitting, cross-legged, on the ground and Albus is pretending not to notice the bit of skin revealed by her hiked skirt on her upper thigh and he clears his throat, looking away as the blood flushes quickly to his cheeks.
‘I’m trying,’ he replies, watching as she peeks out at him from under her lashes and he quickly looks down at her palms in her hands, inspecting the lines as carefully as he can manage. ‘It would be easier to do this in a quiet place. Not outside where the I get wet every time the wind blows the rain sideways.’
‘You should be able to do this under any number of distractions, Al,’ she says. ‘It’s been twenty minutes and all you’ve done is stare into nothing.’
They’re supposed to be practicing for Divination though he’s not sure why either of them signed up for the class to begin with. He managed an Acceptable in Divination last year and somehow, due to her wild imagination and proficiency for bullshit, Thea pulled off an impressive Exceeds Expectations. Neither has much of a knack for Seeing and yet she seems determined to spend their free period practicing the trivial art of palm reading.
He glanced down at her right palm and he lets his thumb trace gently over her head line. Her fingers curl back slightly at his touch, revealing her immaculate black polished nails and she holds back a giggle, biting her lip gently. Perhaps the only place Thea Malfoy actually is ticklish is her hands. He can’t contain a chuckle of his own.
‘I think, the short head line here means you’re running short on bullshit excuses not to tell me what happened on Friday.’ He looks up to see her smile fade into a frown and she pulls her hands slowly into her lap.
‘Albus,’ she warns. ‘Can we drop it? Please?’
‘Since when do we hide things from each other.’
‘Since when do you care about my failed relationships.’
‘Since you stopped talking about them. Since whatever happened between you and Dom got you so worked up. Worked up enough that an encounter with my stupid brother caused you to break his nose.’
‘I told you that was an accident,’ she says, her voice sounding more irritated this time and he gives her a knowing look. ‘The first time, it was an accident. The second time he had it coming.’
‘I don’t doubt it,’ he says because he knows his brother and how he gets when he’s had a few pints too many. ‘But it was still unlike you. You can cut James down without lifting a finger. What did he say that got to you?’
Her mouth opens to speak but words don’t form as she looks at him, shaking her head.
‘He���’ she begins, taking a deep breath and she laughs as she sighs. ‘It wasn’t even him! I was already upset and he just made it worse. Pushed me over the edge. Wrong place wrong time sort of thing, you know.’
‘Thea���’
‘Honestly, it’s true. Dom and I, we had a row. She said all this���.this stuff. This stupid, horrible mind-fuck stuff and then I ran into James. It was all shit luck.’
He stares at her, watching because they don’t lie to each other, not about important stuff, not ever so he can see that she’s telling the truth even if maybe she’s downplaying it a bit. Thea likes to make everything important seem secondary, whilst the little things get blown out of proportion. She says it keeps things more interesting that way.
First Friday was definitely downplayed.
‘You do realize you lot are in the way, don’t you?’ a voice says and they both glance up to see Roxy and Bas standing above them. Roxy is smacking her gum, big pink bubbles of sticky sugar, and Bass is toying absently with a muggle lighter, his tattooed thumb clinking open the metal contraption with ease.
‘We’re studying, Sebastian.’
‘Studying what exactly?’ Roxy asks and Thea raises her hands and wiggles her fingers as she places them back in Albus’ open palms, face up.
‘Ah,’ Bas says in amusement. ‘Palm reading, are we? A bit trivial for N.E.W.T. levels.’
‘It’s a handy tool,’ Albus says, repeating Thea’s words from earlier when he’d said the same thing. He tries not to laugh as he says it. Thea eyes him curiously.
‘More of a party trick,’ Roxy scoffs. ‘How big is that class anyways. I’m surprised there’s even enough of you for them to allow the class to continue this year.’
‘Maybe,’ Bas says, smiling. ‘But some of us actually know what we’re doing in there.’
He crouches down, placing the lighter in his pocket as he does so and he loosens his crimson and gold tie. He reaches out then, placing his hand face up and glances from Albus to Thea and back.
‘What’s this? Slytherins scared of a little truth?’ Bas asks, taunting them and it’s no surprise when Thea’s hand shoots forward at the challenge.
Bas takes her small hand in his larger one and her milky flesh contrasts with his. He’s concentrating, much more effortlessly than Albus, as he traces his fingers over her delicate lines and it seems as though the rain is no distraction for someone like Bas. Bas doesn’t have to bullshit his way through Divination like the rest of them. His brows furrow slightly as he pauses on the crease that curves near her thumb.
‘Very funny,’ she whispers. ‘I may not have your inner eye, but I know very well there is nothing you can tell from my palms that would frighten me.’
Bas’ distant look changes quickly at the sound of her voice and he meets her eyes with a small grin.
‘Just says you are soon to expect two dark strangers in need of assistance,’ he says finally.
‘And in need of herb,’ Roxy adds and Thea pulls her hand from Bas and rubs it absently with her own as she stands.
‘Of course. I should have known you two wanted something,’ Thea says, reaching her arm to help Albus who takes it in his own. ‘Sorry but as I told you both at the beginning of term, I’m not holding this year. I promised Albus I wouldn’t,’ she says, placing her arm around Albus’ waist.
‘Rose said you got your dorm ransacked by the prefects. No doubt it turned up clean,’ Bas says, reaching back into his pocket and Albus can tell he’s once again fixated on the lighter despite not removing it.
‘Obviously,’ Thea says, nonchalantly as she grabs her bag from the ground and pulls it over her shoulder.
‘You may not be distributing but you and I both know you have a stash somewhere. Care to share how you managed to slip contraband past check in? And keep it hidden from search spells?’
‘Why? Having your best friend on the Prefect’s Council not enough? I doubt James would order a search of your dorms seeing as it’s his room as well. And we both know he has a fine collection of whiskies stored away in his wardrobe. I doubt he’d want that stumbled upon.’
‘How did you���’ Bas starts but Albus throws his hands up.
‘Have you both forgotten that I’m standing here?’ he says and both Thea and Bas look at him strangely. Only Roxy seems amused by his outburst. Thea simply pats him on the shoulder.
‘No of course not, darling. You’re not forgotten,’ says Thea and then places an indiscrete hand over the side of her mouth as she whispers loudly, ‘Needs constant validation, this one.’
‘I’m serious,’ he says. ‘The less I know about your indiscretions, the better.’
‘Lighten up, Albus,’ Roxy says, throwing an arm over his shoulder. ‘It’s all just a bit of fun. You Slytherins do know what fun is, don’t you?’
Albus rolls his eyes at his cousin’s taunts.
‘Do Slytherins know fun, she asks. If only she knew,’ Thea says and she has that mysterious glimmer in her eyes as she holds Roxy’s gaze for one second too long as she turns away. She doesn’t bother with goodbyes.
They are out of earshot of the other two when Albus and Thea pull their wands out simultaneously, creating glowing umbrella’s to repel the rain, with what continues to be one of Albus’ favorite spells. Several first years run by, covering t
heir heads with books and hoods, looking at their charms with envious eyes.
‘Why do you do that?’
‘Do what?’ she asks, her question buried in a faux innocent high pitch.
‘The thing. The thing about the fun. It’s like you want them to know.’
‘Maybe I do want them to know,’ she says, shrugging. ‘It’s more fun if they know. Gryffindors live to think they’re better than us. I just like to remind them, from time to time, that they’re most certainly not. As if they know anything about fun.’
‘Yes but you do that thing, the thing with the eyes and now Roxy is going to tell Rose and Bas will tell James that you did said thing with your eyes and they’re going to know you’re trying to hide something. If they find out about the party.’
‘Albus,’ she says quickly, turning and placing a hand on his cheek. ‘Where is this coming from? Why are you all of a sudden freaked out about���’ she pauses and Albus swallows as her eyes narrow.
She glances up at him, his eyes and how they dance around and she steps closer, placing her face against his jumper and inhales. He shifts slightly at her closeness. Her head jerks up quickly, her eyes wide and she gasps.
‘Albus Severus Potter!’ she whispers, hurriedly. ‘Are you high?’
‘No,’ he attempts to argue but she’s shaking her head.
‘Merlin’s Beard you are! You smoked something from the stash.’
‘I thought it would help me concentrate. You know how I get during Trelawny’s lectures,’ he says, admitting his transgression and her expression flashes several times between concern, amusement, and disappointment.
‘First, I can’t believe you did this without me. That is just…it’s unfair and selfish. And second, you need to ask before you just reach in and smoke something in there. If you were having trouble concentrating, I would have mixed something else for you, made you a nice tea.’
She knows he doesn’t prefer smoking like she does. He doesn’t mind the high, in fact he is pretty sure it helps him relax better in social situations. But he doesn’t have much tolerance for smoke. That’s why she’s disappointed and now the high is making him anxious.
She whispered Page 46