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Chapter Text

Theo waits for Potter at the top of the staircase to the seventh floor. It’s a good place to wait, in the center of an alcove with a tapestry hanging in front of it. Other students flood past him in ones and twos, chattering excitedly about the Patronus Charm.

Theo clenches his jaw. If they can learn that, then Potter is ten times the teacher Umbridge will ever be.

And Theo intends to have part of the action. For him and Blaise. The others don’t matter. Draco is too content being Umbridge’s toady, Pansy is too content to follow Draco, Crabbe and Goyle are too content not to think, Millicent's too content to only study Potions, and Daphne is too content to smile mysteriously at everybody and walk away.

Theo waits until Potter comes trailing along the corridor, and hisses, “Potter,” beneath his breath, but in a way that makes Potter twist lightly on his feet towards Theo, his wand out.

“Who’s there?” Weasley demands.

Theo doesn’t waste time rolling his eyes. Weasley doesn’t deserve even that much from him. He’s such a non-entity that Theo doesn’t understand how Draco hates him, much less how Potter puts up with him.

"I need to speak with you, Potter," Theo says, stepping out of his hiding place and staring at his target.

Potter narrows his eyes a little, and for a second, his hand twitches as if he's going to draw his wand. Theo turns to the left so that Potter can see Theo's wand is already drawn and held down low at his side.

Potter's desire to protect the weak and the innocent and the Mudbloods comes to the fore, as Theo was expecting, and he jerks his head a little at his friends. "Go on," he says. "Nott wants to talk to me so badly, he can do that."

Weasley starts to say something, but Granger puts a hand on his arm and nods to Potter. "We'll be just a shout away, Harry."

Theo conceals a sigh as Weasley and Granger retreat down the corridor. There are times, he can't deny that, when such steadfast allies would be useful, but Potter also holds himself to their level, instead of going on to see what he could win from the world without the drag of them by his side.

Perhaps some people would say that of Theo and Blaise, too, but Blaise is different.

"What did you want, Nott?"

Potter watches Theo with a half-lowered head, his scar sticking out from beneath his overly-enthusiastic fringe. Theo eyes him and wonders if this is really the best people in the school have to work with when it comes to Defense. But needs must, and no one else is doing anything.

"I know people are learning the Patronus Charm from you," Theo says. "Blaise and I want to learn, too."

"Not on a bet. Anything else?"

Theo blinks. He didn't think it would be easy to convince Potter, but neither did he think that he would just receive a flat refusal, with nothing that he could take and twist to put a hook in Potter's soul.

"Why not?"

"You'll betray us as soon as you get bored or see a greater advantage elsewhere, and I'm not here to let my friends get tortured by Umbridge. We have means to keep our meetings secret, but I don't think you and Zabini will agree to those, either."

That's a cleverer and more comprehensive answer than Theo expected from Potter, but he can't let it stand--for Blaise's sake, if not his own. He steps forwards. Potter doesn't move, and doesn't look intimidated. Theo wishes for a second that he was more like his father. No one dares cross Tyrannus Nott, and not all of that comes from his reputation as a former Death Eater.

"Blaise and I can provide compensation that would persuade you to take the chance," Theo says.

Potter laughs, a jagged sound that cuts off a second later. Theo blinks again. That's not the sort of response he thought he would receive, either.

"You don't know me very well if you think money would persuade me," Potter says, and shrugs. "And you can't give me information that's worth the price of exposing us all to danger."

This is becoming inconvenient, and Potter isn't wise enough to run when Theo thinks that word, the way Blaise is. Theo moves a step closer. "How can we assure you that we mean you no harm to you and yours?"

"Sign the secrecy agreement."

Theo frowns and shakes his head. He promised Blaise, when they became lovers, that he would protect Blaise from the sort of assaults on his free will that his uncles and aunts love to practice. A secrecy agreement isn't as bad as the Imperius Curse, but still bad enough that Theo won't ask Blaise to agree to it. "No."

"Then we're at an impasse," Potter says, and sneers, and starts to walk away.

The mere thought of Blaise failing his OWL in Defense is enough to make Theo grab Potter's arm. That doesn't go as he planned, either, which was to swing Potter around and pin him against the wall. Instead, Theo is the one who ends up there, with a wand to his throat and Potter's knee pressed against his groin in a way that communicates more clearly than words what Potter could do next.

"Keep your hands to--"

The last word might be yourself, but given that the word is in Parseltongue, Theo can't be sure. He blinks and stares at Potter. Potter stares back, not moving either his wand or his knee. Perhaps he wants some guarantee from Theo that he won't ask again.

Potter is wilder than Theo thought, more impatient, less compassionate. That eliminates some of the possibilities Theo planned on to make the idiot give him and Blaise what they want.

On the other hand, it opens a few more.

Theo leans back, widening his stance, spreading his legs. Potter moves with him, probably thinking that Theo is intent on making him fall. But when his knee rests, instead, against Theo's fully erect cock, Potter's eyes snap to Theo's face, and he stares, and stares.

"There are other deals we can come to," Theo murmurs, and touches his tongue to the corner of his lips. He doesn't know if he's doing this right. Blaise is the only person he's ever seduced, and Blaise was practically begging to be seduced.

"Seven-o'clock tomorrow, meet me on the third floor and find a private place from there," Potter says, and releases Theo.

Theo ends up staggering, off-balance. Potter turns around and walks away, without even a glance over his shoulder to see if Theo is going to agree.

Theo licks his lips, and watches Potter's arse. Maybe they can't come to an agreement that will be mutually satisfactory to all parties. But Theo wants to try.

*

"And you really don't mind?"

Blaise shakes his head and ends the Shield Charm that he's been keeping up for longer and longer periods now. Theo is proud of how good he's getting at it, but he's also gloomily convinced that Blaise will never get any better at it without Potter's help. Defense is useless this year.

Blaise turns around to face him, and Theo suddenly has a hard time catching his breath. Blaise looks spindly enough sometimes that a strong wind might blow him over, but the smile on his face now reminds Theo why they got together in the first place.

"No," Blaise says quietly. "I told you when we started dating that I don't need you exclusively. I just need you to remain in my bed and available to me even if you start dating someone else." He comes up to lay a hand on Theo's cheek. "And I can't see you abandoning me for Potter. He doesn't need you to protect him the way I need you."

"That's not the only reason I'm at your side," Theo argues, leaning forwards to kiss Blaise.

Blaise returns the kiss, hard and hot and with tongue and interest, then steps back and gestures around the abandoned classroom they do a lot of their magic practice, and practice at other things, in. "I know," he murmurs. "But it's part of it. And as long as I have a piece of you that Potter can never claim, I don't mind letting him in to the rest of it."

Theo doesn't know how he got so lucky, even with the threats to Blaise and the war that his father will eventually expect him to participate in and their absolute useless idiot of a Defense professor. He and Blaise complement each other perfectly, and that's really the most important thing, far more important than the sentimental love Pansy seems to want to have with Draco.

Theo would die for Blaise, and he knows the same is true.

Now, they just have to convince Potter that he would die to have what they can give him.

*

Potter doesn't flinch when Theo shuts the door behind them as they enter a classroom on the third floor that was abandoned after a flood damaged the walls (a flood of what, Theo doesn't think he wants to know). He just looks around, nods distantly, and turns to face Theo, unholstering his wand. "How many people did you bring to ambush me?" he asks, glancing at Blaise for a second. "Zabini doesn't count, since I can see him."

"None," Theo says. "We're here to make you an offer that will convince you to teach us the Patronus Charm."

Potter snorts. "You'd have better luck just ambushing me and getting it over with."

"I don't think that's true." Theo has spent some time considering what pitch his voice should have, and he moves forwards with a slight bow of his head when he sees Potter's eyes widening. "I think that you might be bored with the kinds of things your friends can offer you, and that none of the people who form your Defense club in particular can give you what you want."

"You think you can?" Potter's voice is a little hoarse. He clears his throat. "You even think you know?"

"I know that you've been lashing out more often this year," Theo says. He glances at Blaise, who nods and starts walking towards them from where he's been leaning against the ruin of a wooden desk. "And I know that when people are satisfied in bed, that rarely happens."

Potter opens his mouth to object, or maybe yell. Theo doesn't wait to see which it's going to be. He grabs Potter's shoulders and steers him in close, placing his open mouth across Potter's and flicking his tongue against those closed lips.

They open in what's probably just a shocked gasp. Again, Theo doesn't care. He presses in, and twines his tongue around Potter's with skill that's been spent mostly on Blaise but formed with other people before that.

Potter squirms, and Theo lets him go. This is either going to work, or it isn't. He waits, as still as he can be, pretending that his own blood isn't thrumming through his veins. Potter isn't a great kisser, but being so close to that wild blood and magic and living heat under his skin is...impressive.

Potter squints at Theo, and then at Blaise. He spends a moment apparently considering his own response. Then he says, "I'm not gay."

Theo mouths the word, and glances at Blaise. Blaise just shakes his head. "I mean, yes, of course you're not happy, with the press conducting a smear campaign against you," Theo begins, in a voice as soothing as he can make it.

Potter barks an incredulous laugh. "No, I mean gay, you idiot. As in--" He stops, looks back and forth between them, and then snorts. "Purebloods," he mutters, in the same tone that most people in Slytherin use "Mudbloods."

Theo bristles. "What does our blood status have to do with it?"

"Gay is a term for homosexual in the Muggle world," Potter says. "Preferring the same sex. I don't like boys, I like girls. And you don't need to gape at me as if I'm talking in Parseltongue right now."

Theo shuts his mouth, but he does shoot Blaise another bewildered look. He's pleased to see that Blaise doesn't look upset about the assumptions that Potter is making, but shares Theo's puzzlement. Theo shakes his head at Potter.

"There isn't--I mean, why should you have an exclusive preference?" Theo asks. "Just because I'm with Blaise doesn't mean I want to be with Draco, of all people." He shudders. Pansy is not going to be pleased if she does ever get what she's spent so much time angling for. "It doesn't mean that I would go from boy to boy looking for another partner. Maybe I would find a witch next, or maybe I would go a long time without someone. And someone who has a witch as a lover might have a wizard next. Or you might be with two or three people. Why do Muggles think that lots of people prefer to have just a man or a woman?"

Potter is staring at him as if Theo is the one who's being strange. "You really don't think that way," he says faintly. "But--all the people I've ever spent time with or talked to closely have two parents who are a married man and woman."

"Let's think about this, Potter," Blaise says, somewhat to Theo's surprise. It's rare that Blaise bothers to engage with anyone outside their own House. "You've spent time with Granger, and apparently things are different in the Muggle world. You've spent time with the Weasleys, and yes, they have a mother and father who have just one husband or wife. The Weasleys are somewhat known for just having one partner, and they usually choose someone who they can have children with easily because, well, they want a lot of children and they can't afford the more expensive potions that would let men have a child with men, or women with women. That's a peculiarity of their families, not of the whole pureblood world. Did you really decide that everyone was exactly the same as Muggles because of two examples?"

Potter snarls. "I grew up with Muggles, you fucker. Besides, there's my parents, too."

Theo is still suck on the first statement. "But you couldn't have," he says, even though he knows it sounds stupid.

"Why not?"

Potter's voice has grown soft, a danger sign this year, but yes, Theo does have to keep pursuing it and can't let it go. "Because you're so good at magic. You have a natural talent, Potter, which is why you can tutor people in the first place. You--you had to have grown up with a magical family, even if it's a minor or a half-blood one, not Muggles. You're joking."

Potter rolls his eyes. "Oh, yes, I made up a whole background for myself just to impress two Slytherins I've never spoken with before."

Well, there's that, Theo has to admit, as well as the fact that Potter isn't known for trying to impress people. He hides from reporters and gives sarcastic comments to the ones who do corner him. Theo glances at Blaise, and sees that his lover is wearing a considering expression.

"What if we could prove to you that it was worthwhile to tutor us?" Blaise asks.

"You won't sign the secrecy contract. Nott already said so."

"I won't sign something that restricts my free will," Blaise agrees, with a mildness that seems to work better on Potter than Theo thought it would. Blaise strolls a few steps in Potter's direction, his wand out of sight and his hands tucked behind his back. "But if we could keep your secrets and give you a place to let out something that you can't with your friends..."

"I told you. I'm not gay."

"I actually meant your temper, Potter."

Blaise's gentle mockery makes Potter flush. He darts a glance at Theo, who sees where Blaise is going and picks up the thread. "Yes, you can't strike back at the people you tutor, because they're your friends and presumably they wouldn't come back to learn from you if you expressed your anger. And striking out at Snape and Umbridge doesn't work. But us?"

"You wouldn't make good targets for the kind of spells I want to use."

"Why not?" Theo demands.

Potter curls his lip at him. "Because you can't defend yourselves well enough. I don't want to be labeled a murderer."

Theo arches an eyebrow. "An interesting idea. What about this, Potter? You teach us some defensive spells, and we show you some offensive ones. And then we can hold our shields against you as you try and curse us the way you're so obviously longing to curse someone."

Potter laughs a little. "So that means the offer of snogging and so on is off the table?"

"I wouldn't call it snogging," Blaise says. "I don't see why we have to call it anything at all. But kissing and wanking? Why not?"

Potter tilts his head to the side. "And what prevents someone from going to Umbridge and telling her about this?"

"The fact that I want to pass my exams," says Blaise. Potter seems to hear the passion behind his voice, and gives Blaise a curious glance. Theo doesn't; he knows all about the reason. Good marks are Blaise's ticket to a job in the Ministry or elsewhere that doesn't depend on his family and his family's connections. "And that I despise Umbridge with every corner of my being."

"You do? Why?"

Blaise sneers. "She decided that insults based on skin color are acceptable, as well as ones based on who might or might not have seen the Dark Lord resurrected."

Potter blinks a few times. Then he nods. "I suppose I should have assumed she would be terrible in all the ways she could, instead of only terrible to me." He touches the back of his hand and snorts bitterly. "Even if she's particularly terrible to me."

Blaise reaches out and captures Potter's right hand, turning it. "Are there words here?" he asks, voice so flat that Theo starts forwards in concern.

"Yeah. Umbridge and her fucking detentions and her Blood Quill."

Theo stares at Potter. Then he looks at Blaise. He's no longer as sure about involving Potter in their tutoring. Can someone who failed to protect himself from Umbridge to this extent really teach them to protect themselves?

But Blaise's face is shining in a particular way, and Theo realizes the battle is already lost. Blaise lifts Potter's hand to his lips and kisses the scar with a flickering touch of lips and tongue. Potter gasps, harder than he did when Theo kissed him, which makes Theo feel a little competitive.

"Then we can help you get revenge on her, too," Blaise states calmly, as if Theo agreed to this mad plan. "I think all our needs form an interlocking pattern that we can only strengthen by helping each other."

Theo thinks that might be a little strong, but Potter looks more inclined to trust them now. And his eyes are on Blaise's lips in a way that makes Theo think Potter might have forgotten about his strange Muggle terminology and ideas.

"If you betray me, I'll betray you," is what Potter says.

"Of course," Blaise says. Theo would have just looked the words, but Blaise is different. And he looks more alive and vital than he has since fifth year began and they found out they would have to deal not just with OWL's but a Defense professor who would teach them nothing. "In the meantime, why don't we enjoy ourselves?"

And he hauls Potter into a kiss.

Theo shakes his head, surprised but pleased by Blaise taking over in a turn of events Theo thought he was the instigator in, and moves forwards to join them.

Chapter Text

Like a collision of stars in the darkness.

It might be more poetic than sex with Potter really deserves, but that's the kind of thing Theo keeps thinking afterwards.

Potter snarled underneath them, bending back against the wall, turning his head from side to side as if he couldn't decide who to kiss in any given moment, and whether to kiss or bite. Theo was the one who placed his leg between Potter's, but Blaise was the one who reached down and twisted Potter's cock as if he'd been doing this for years.

Sitting in History of Magic and thinking about it now makes Theo shiver. Who knew that it would take sex with Potter to call up Blaise's confidence?

Potter shuddered beneath their touch and grabbed Theo's shoulders. His nails were curled, and pointed sharply enough to tear through Theo's robes. It didn't matter, Theo found. Nothing mattered except the driving, warm desire to get as close to Potter as possible.

They ended up sliding down the wall and fucking on the floor. Potter rode Theo's leg and Blaise's hand at the same time, and managed to work one free hand down between their bodies to touch the inside of Blaise's thigh and Theo's cock. Theo leaned against Blaise and rubbed himself off there, sometimes catching a scratching touch of Potter's fingers.

Theo is glad that Binns isn't a living professor to ask about the flush mounting in his face now. As it is, he's getting some subtle but interested sideways glances from Millicent and Daphne.

Blaise leaned against them both and squeezed himself in on Potter's hip, from what Theo can remember, which admittedly isn't very clear. It was fast and brutal, worlds apart from the way that Theo and Blaise usually like with each other. But wasn't that part of the point? That this is different, and Potter isn't part of the same bond that Theo and Blaise have with each other.

Theo thinks it was meant to be different. He thinks it was different. But only partial memories remain to him, like the twisted grimace on Potter's face and the arch of Blaise's neck as he came and his own thunderous orgasm.

Theo thinks he needs to experience it again, so that he can more fairly make a memory.

*

"Why do you keep speaking up in class, Potter? As long as you do, she's going to assign you detentions that tear your hand open with a Blood Quill."

Blaise's concern is muted, but there. Theo pauses in the entrance to their usual classroom, wondering if Potter knows how rare any expression of emotion from Blaise is, and bristling already with protectiveness. Potter had better not muck this up.

Potter utters a distinct barking sound that Theo probably wouldn't know was meant to be laughter if he wasn't watching Potter's face. "Because it happened. And if I went along with her and lied, then someone might die who isn't prepared for Voldemort coming back. And at this point, it wouldn't matter if I changed my mind. She would torment me anyway."

Potter prowls back and forth in the center of the classroom, the bloody words on the back of his right hand standing out. Theo catches his breath, and forces himself to approach slowly. Potter eyes him from beneath his fringe, not moving his hand out of Theo's reach but not making any move to offer it, either.

"You don't have to say that she's lying so loudly, though," Theo murmurs, drawing a jar of Murtlap Essence from beneath his robes. It was easy enough to get. Theo asked Professor Snape, and it was there. There are things Snape can't or won't do--and in the matter of intervening in Blaise's family, Theo has never been sure which it is--but practical and material things, he'll do for them.

Potter shrugs. "Like I said, it wouldn't make a difference. And before you can ask, I did try to talk to McGonagall about it. She just says that I should keep my head down."

Theo captures Potter's hand and smears some of the Murtlap Essence on it. It probably stings, going into those enchanted cuts, but Potter doesn't make a sound. He watches, his eyes flicking back and forth between his hand and Theo's face, and doesn't grimace in relief when the cuts begin to seal up, either.

"What about Dumbledore?" Blaise asks. "I always thought you had a special sort of relationship with him."

Potter snorts bitterly. "So special that he won't even look me in the eye this year, and forbade my friends from writing to me all summer."

Theo blinks. It's not that he would really write to anyone except Blaise, and Draco if he wants to taunt him, but it seems strange that Weasley and Granger, whom Theo thinks of as fairly stubborn, would obey the Headmaster. "Why did they listen to him?"

"They thought he was right."

That's not really what Theo wants to know, but from the stubborn line of Potter's jaw, he's also not getting anymore out of him right now. Theo holds his peace, using a charm to dry the Murtlap Essence into a thick coating around Potter's hand. It ought to hold up to ordinary activity like spellcasting and writing with a quill. How much it'll help with a Blood Quill, Theo has no idea.

"We have to punish her," Blaise says, sounding eager.

Theo shoots him a look that Blaise ignores, focusing on Potter. Theo sighs. "How, though? Oh, calm down, Potter, we said that we would, we're just discussing how it'll work," he adds with a slight sneer, when he sees the shutter that appears to have slammed down over Potter's face.

"She talks about discipline all the time," Potter mutters, scratching absently at the dried Murtlap on his hand until Theo reaches out and slaps his left hand away. Potter glares at him then, but his eyes are blank in a way that Theo knows Potter isn't really angry with him, more the situation. "The most humiliating thing would be to give her a taste of that. But I don't know how to get her to write with a Blood Quill."

Blaise laughs softly. "I do."

Theo whirls around and glares at him. Blaise looks back, his lip lifted in a smile that Theo never normally sees outside their private interactions. "No," Theo says forcefully.

"No, what?"

"You're not casting it."

"You would stand in the way of my exercising my free will? And yet you didn't want me to sign Potter's secrecy agreement," Blaise persists, his voice gentle in the way that says he has an idea and he's going to do whatever he wants with that idea, Theo and caution and safety and his own peace of mind be damned.

Theo stalks up and grabs Blaise's shoulders. Blaise goes wide-eyed and still under his touch, but he doesn't say he won't do it. "You are not casting the Imperius Curse," Theo snaps.

He expects more reaction than a short gasp from Potter, but he doesn't get it. When Theo glances over his shoulder, he sees Potter standing still, watching them avidly, but not moving away from the far wall.

"I can if I want," Blaise says. "And you're right that it would be dangerous to cast on them. But I want to cast it on someone. Umbridge is the perfect target."

"Potter," Theo says tightly.

"What about him? He hasn't objected so far." Blaise flashes Potter a smile that startles Theo, as if he's remembering private moments from the sex they had last week, even though there were no private moments.

"He's a Gryffindor, of course he's going to--"

"You don't know me very well, Nott," Potter interrupts with a vicious laugh that makes sharp tingles of confusion run up Theo's spine. "I'm not going to object just on the grounds that it's an Unforgivable. I went through all three Unforgivables in the graveyard. I think I should be able to get back at my enemies with them for once, if they're going to toss them around all the time anyway."

Theo licks his lips, unsure what to say. Blaise is the one who takes the lead. "What do you mean, you were subject to all three? You're standing here, so the Dark Lord can't have used the Killing Curse on you."

Potter smiles, a pulsing crease of darkness across his face. "He did. He used the Imperius Curse on me, and I threw it off. He tortured me with the Cruciatus. He tried to use the Killing Curse on me, but I cast the Disarming Charm at the same time, and our wands locked." He shrugs.

"Locked?" Theo asks.

"They're brother wands. The spells turned to a cage of golden light that locked us in place, and the ghosts of Voldemort's victims came out of his wand."

Theo has something to say, if he can find it. He stares at Potter, and says nothing, in the end.

Blaise is the one who smiles and murmurs, "Then it is right that the Imperius Curse should help punish Umbridge for what she did to you."

Theo has something to say. He does. But against the force of Blaise's smile and Potter's slow, answering one, it has nowhere to go.

*

"Are you sure that you can control it from this distance?" Theo whispers. He and Blaise are around the corner from Umbridge's office, but it's still a distance, especially with the closed door in between that means Blaise can't actually see his victim. Blaise has his eyes closed, and light drops of sweat stand out on his forehead.

"Yes." Blaise doesn't bother looking at Theo, but that settles and reassures him rather than getting him upset. He leans back against the wall and watches as Blaise murmurs instructions to Umbridge, moving his lips but not speaking aloud.

There's no shriek to tell them of their success. Then again, a shriek would probably mean that Umbridge broke free of the Imperius. Theo still shivers as he stands there, listening intensely and waiting for someone to come up the stairs and catch them.

He nearly shrieks himself when a small door seems to open in the air, revealing Potter's smirking face. "Come along," he murmurs. "I think you'll be pleased."

"What does that mean?" Theo demands, but the door flips shut and Potter's face vanishes again. Only when Theo catches a swirl of silvery, shadowy material does he realize that Potter is probably wearing an Invisibility Cloak.

"I think it went fine," Blaise says.

"It did," Potter says from ahead of them, his voice making Theo think of legends of dead family members who weren't strong enough to form ghosts. "Come and see."

It takes more courage than Theo thought it would to open the door of Umbridge's office, but the alternative is letting Blaise go in by himself. He straightens his shoulders and walks in to see Umbridge sitting in front of a piece of parchment, staring blissfully at the far wall with a bloody quill in her hand.

And there's blood all over the back of her hand, too. Theo gulps back his gorge. This happened to Potter, too, he reminds himself. He glances at the hovering head that's beside him again, and Potter's eyes are devouring every flicker of Umbridge's humiliation.

"What did you have her write?" Theo asks Blaise.

Blaise smiles. "I must not hurt children."

Theo swallows. Well, that would appeal to both Blaise and Potter. They've both been victims of abuse from Umbridge, and in Blaise's case, from other people in his family--

Is it really just Blaise?

Theo looks at Potter as he whips off the Invisibility Cloak, chattering his thanks to Blaise and his desire to make Umbridge pay even more. Theo can't believe that he never thought about it before, but--yeah, Potter is thin, and the Muggle clothes hang off him as if he's spent time hitting them all with Enlargement Charms. And he did say that he lived with filthy Muggles, no the naive and kind magical family Theo thought had him.

No, Theo thinks slowly, his mind going back to what Potter said about his friends' letters and his bitterness on the matter of Dumbledore not looking at him. I don't think it's just Blaise.

"What are you looking at?"

Theo studies Potter, the wary stance and the way he's gripping his wand already, and decides that this isn't the right time to bring up his insight. "Nothing," he says, with high insincerity, and looks away.

But he's already wondering if there's a way to protect Potter that would complement his protection of Blaise.

*

"You know the Shield Charm already." Potter's voice is calm and business-like, nothing remaining of the vindictive glee that he showed over Umbridge's punishment. "How well can you hold it?"

"I'm quite good." Blaise is smiling at Potter, and Theo feels a frisson of something move through him. He's not even sure who he's really jealous of, Blaise or Potter.

"All right." Potter backed up a step. "Raise the shield, and I'll hit it with some hexes and jinxes. We'll see."

Theo remains silent as Blaise waves his wand, and the air in front of him turns bright silver as the shield forms. He doesn't need to intervene. Potter isn't hurting Blaise. And practice is necessary if they're both going to learn the spells they promised each other and get good enough to pass the Defense OWL.

"Good," Potter murmurs, his tone detached and pleasant as he studies Blaise's shield. "I'm about to let the spells go. Are you ready?"

Blaise's eyes narrow. "Stop fussing already and do it, Potter."

Potter breaks into a terrifying grin. Theo opens his mouth to say that maybe this isn't as good an idea as they thought, but Potter spins in place as if he's about to Apparate and then unleashes a terrifying barrage of spells.

Theo flinches as they slam into Blaise's shield like crackling fireworks. There's a Stunner, a Jelly-Legs Jinx, a Body-Bind, and numerous others coming too fast for Theo to recognize. They're not the worst offensive spells Theo has ever seen, but they're fast, and this is much more like being in a real duel than any demonstration Theo has ever been subjected to by his father.

In seconds, Blaise is faltering. He bites his lip and struggles to hold onto the shield, but a long crack splits it like glass down the middle. The next second, it breaks, and Blaise flings himself aside from the following jinx.

"Good job," Potter says, his voice measured. "That's a good start."

"I had to run!" Blaise's hair is clinging to his temples, and he stares at Potter as if he thinks the bloke's about to go mad. Theo steps up to his side, trying to make sure that Blaise doesn't look weak. Blaise squeezes his hand, but doesn't look away from Potter.

"Well, yes." Potter nods as though he doesn't understand why that would make anyone upset. "But running when you can't face an opponent is better than getting slaughtered in battle, you know. And it shows that you have good instincts. I think it'll be much easier to train you to hold the shield than it would be to train you out of standing your ground when you shouldn't."

"Let me guess," Theo says. "The difference between training Slytherins and Gryffindors?"

Potter gives him a hard, bright smile. "Still not telling you anything about what happens in the D.A. under the secrecy contract."

"Does that really stand for Defense Association?" Blaise watches Potter in a way that makes Theo slowly let go of his hand. He can stand on his own, and he's not shaking with either fear or horror. That's better than Theo expected after a defeat like the one Potter inflicted on Blaise. "Or Dumbledore's Army?"

Potter sighs, and casts a spell that dries some of the sweat on his brow. "I don't feel the best about Dumbledore anymore, but I'm absolutely sure that he's not on the side of bitches like her." He spits the word, and his eyes flare with hatred in a way that makes Theo feel dizzy. "Or Voldemort."

"Do you have to say that word?" Theo snaps.

"Is the itsy-bitsy-little Slytherin scared?" Potter's eyes flare again. "Voldemort, Voldemort, Vol--" He breaks off with a sharp cry, and clutches at his forehead.

Theo draws his wand, and Blaise steps back. They exchange glances, and Theo nods at the silent plea he can see in Blaise's eyes for him to take charge. He moves forwards, and Potter turns away from him, eyes shut and hands still crossed under his fringe.

"Potter." Theo makes his voice coaxing, the way he does with Blaise when he has a nightmare. "Let me see."

"You'll make fun of me," Potter mutters.

That's an odd thing to come to the forefront of his mind, Theo thinks, but he can only assume that someone did make fun of Potter in the past. Maybe those Muggles he lived with. "Let me see."

Potter seems to make a sudden choice and turns around. As he takes his hands away, Theo sees that they're smeared with blood. It's less blood than the wound on his hand shed, or the one they made Umbridge inflict on herself with the Blood Quill, but it doesn't seem like that to Theo's stunned gaze.

"See? I'm weak. I can't control the emotions and impressions that he sends through the scar."

This time, the bitterness in Potter's voice is searing, but it doesn't matter. Theo has helped Blaise through harder things than this in the wake of his aunts and cousins using the Imperius Curse. He pushes Potter's fringe out of the way and stares as dispassionately as he can at the bleeding scar on Potter's forehead.

"Will Murtlap Essence help?" he asks.

"I don't know," Potter says, staring at him. "No one's ever tried to give it to me to put on."

Theo takes out the small bottle, and reaches towards Potter's forehead. Potter watches him come with cautious eyes, and jerks away after just a second of rubbing. The scar on his forehead is bubbling like a pot.

Theo stares at him. It looks agonizing, but Potter isn't screaming. He just wipes away the Murtlap and the blood and shakes his head.

"I don't know why it isn't working," he mutters. "I don't know anything about this fucking scar."

Theo lets his hand drop back to his side. An odd, hollow feeling drums in the middle of his chest. He wants to help, and he can't. It's a long time since that's been true. Most of the time, the only one he cares about helping is Blaise, and he's always managed that.

"You need to focus on something else, Potter," Blaise says bracingly. "Teach me how to hold a stronger shield. Or let us teach you some offensive spells."

Potter stands there with his back to them long enough that Theo wonders if he's about to change his mind and walk out on their bargain. Then he turns around with his head proudly uplifted and nods. "All right. Teach me some offensive spells. That's the only thing this mood ought to be good for."

Blaise's face clears as he spins his wand between his fingers, and he says, "This is the Lightning-Calling Curse." He turns, and lightning leaps out from his wand with a soft incantation, slamming into the wall and scorching the stone.

"Brilliant!" Potter says, and starts trying to imitate him. He doesn't manage more than a fat spark, but he looks determined instead of discouraged.

Theo watches, and hopes that he'll find his place, his ability to help, soon. At least Potter's hand looks better since they put Murtlap on it.

And since Blaise commanded Umbridge to never use the Blood Quill on another student again, to never tell anyone what they did to her, and to do something special on the day before the Christmas holiday is scheduled to start.

*

"Students. I am afraid I have some terrible news."

Dumbledore looks pale as he stands up at the front of the Great Hall. Theo doesn't feel sorry for him. He notices the way that the man keeps his face averted from the Gryffindor table, so that he won't look at Potter even by accident. Potter is staring into his glass of pumpkin juice, and seems neither to pay attention to Dumbledore's behavior nor to anticipate what's going to happen next.

Theo finds himself wanting to tell Potter that he was the one who came up with the idea, even though Blaise is the one who executed it. He manages to still his tapping foot and looks up at Dumbledore again as he clears his throat.

"Professor Dolores Umbridge took her own life last night by leaping off the Astronomy Tower." Dumbledore looks down at his food and then back up, bracingly, as if trying to get the students through shock and horror. Interestingly, the only one at the Slytherin table who looks horrified is Draco, but he did rather hitch his wagon to her Abraxan. "I hope that none of you have any insight into what prompted this horrible action and kept quiet, as doing so will make you party to an action that could scar so many young minds..."

Theo tunes the man out with a quiet snort. Yeah, right, spread the guilt around, when it belongs to Dumbledore in the first place for letting Umbridge teach in the school and not doing anything about the Blood Quill.

He glances at Potter, unable to help himself, and encounters wide, startled eyes. Theo inclines his head in a deep nod. That's the only thing he'll do to confirm Potter's suspicions in such a public place, but yes, they're the ones behind it.

Potter laughs.

The sound cuts through the mutters and half-shouts and loud chatter, and people turn to stare at Potter. It's the same kind of judging stare that says he's mental which Theo has seen all year.

This morning is the first time that Potter doesn't seem affected by it. He winks at Theo and Blaise, and lifts his cup in a salute that wouldn't seem directed at them unless you already knew about the time they were spending with Potter.

"To Dolores Umbridge!" Potter says, strong and clear. "May she rest. Forever."

A few of Potter's friends copy him, but most of them seem too stunned to do so. Theo smiles at Blaise, and they touch their cups together below the level of the tabletop, where most people in the Great Hall won't be able to see them.

It's a victory. And at least as much for the fact that Potter's eyes are bright again, and the way he sits relaxed, as for the fact that they might get an actually competent Defense professor in place of the toad.

Theo feels very, very good as he sits back and finishes his breakfast.

Chapter Text

"You stayed here for the Christmas holidays, Potter?"

Potter glances at Theo and nods once, before he goes back to casting Cushioning Charms and other spells on the walls of their classroom. Theo stands there, waiting for more of a response, and Potter finally mutters, "Would you want to spend one more minute around Muggle relatives who make you cook and clean endlessly than you had to?"

Theo takes a long, difficult breath. Blaise hasn't arrived yet; he decided that he wanted to taunt Draco about something and didn't need Theo around, and Theo tries to let him show every bit of confidence that comes to him. He watches Potter guiding blankets he's conjured into place, and decides he'll never have a better chance to say something.

"Do they abuse you?"

Instead of the explosive reaction he thought he might get, Potter turns to him with a blank face. He studies Theo for a long moment. Then he shakes his head and says, "Not in comparison to Blaise. No Imperius Curse. No endless lectures about how I should be out Muggle-baiting and making my family proud."

Theo stares at him. He wasn't aware Blaise told those things to Potter, but they speak to another level of confidence, and one of trust, that he hadn't known Blaise could show anyone besides him.

Potter has been good for Blaise.

That practically obligates Theo to do the best he can for Potter, in return.

"I wouldn't expect them to do those things, because they aren't magical," Theo says. He hopes his voice sounds gentle enough. Potter hasn't turned his back and gone back to his casting yet, so maybe it does. "But did they do something?"

"Chores. I told you."

"What else, Potter? There must have been something else."

He knows he's made a misstep when the silent mask on Potter's face cracks to let a sneer through. "Why? Because all Muggles have something wrong with them, and are dirty and filthy and ignorant and hateful?"

"I think these particular Muggles are ignorant and hateful," Theo says softly, leaning forwards to stare into Potter's eyes. "If I'm wrong, tell me. Am I wrong? I don't think I am."

Potter stands there for another moment, balanced between options Theo isn't sure about. Then he sighs and shrugs. "They can't stand magic. They used to call me a freak all the time, and they raised me utterly ignorant of the fact that I'm a wizard, that I would go to Hogwarts, that my parents were killed by Voldemort, everything."

Theo looks at him, and tries to imagine what that kind of knowledge would do to someone. He can't. He sometimes thought Potter ignorant, in the past, and spectacularly and unforgivably so, as he tries to navigate his fame and his Parseltongue and his godfather being an escapee mass murderer and all sorts of things that Theo is sure just about anyone would have handled better.

But for someone raised in absolute ignorance? And then coming to Hogwarts within a few weeks or months of finding that out, and being plunged into the cesspool of ignorance that frequently is the magical world?

Potter's been doing spectacularly well.

"Is that it?" Theo asks, when he realizes that Potter is watching him with a guarded expression and hasn't said anything one way or the other about Theo's silence.

"They had me sleep in a cupboard until I got my Hogwarts letter addressed to it, and then they thought someone was watching, so they moved me to a bedroom," Potter says quietly. "They called me a freak a lot. They told me I couldn't eat. My cousin chased me and beat me up a lot. My aunt's swung a frying pan at my head.

"Did I get tortured? Beaten up every day? Hexed? No."

Theo licks his lips. He feels detached, floating, and the last time he felt like this was so long ago that it takes him a moment to recognize it. Yes. He felt like that after he learned what Blaise's family had done to him.

He reaches out and takes Potter's shoulders in his hands. Potter watches him calmly. This close, though, Theo can't mistake the twitches under the surface. Potter is already thinking about what he told him and regretting it. Theo wouldn't be worth anything if he couldn't figure that out.

"We'll get you the help you need," Theo whispers.

He plans to go on and explain what he means, but Potter steps back and rips his shoulders out of Theo's grip. His eyes are narrowed, and he looks so displeased that Theo finds himself raising his hands in the air.

"That's what other people said," Potter whispers. "The people who saw how thin I was and promised to help. None of them ever did it. The Dursleys are persuasive. If you tell magical adults, then they'll just say the same thing. I'm there for a reason, apparently. Something to do with being protected from Voldemort there."

Theo flinches at the name, but then he laughs. Potter narrows his eyes and stares at him.

"You thought we would involve adults? Potter, you do remember what we did to Umbridge, don't you?"

Potter smiles abruptly, and something in Theo relaxes at the sight. If Potter isn't too far gone to smile, this might be easier than Theo envisioned. "Of course I do. Best damn day of my year so far."

Theo nods to him. "We didn't ask the adults in Blaise's family for help, either. They believe in that insane idea of toughening him up by using the Imperius Curse. Or they are under the curse."

"We're going to get him out of there, aren't we?"

Theo feels as though his heart has unfolded with the we. "Of course we are. I have several ideas. And Blaise and I will get you out of there, too."

"I don't see how, though," Potter mutters. "You'd still have Dumbledore and apparently everyone else thinking that I need to go there for protection. And no one comes to watch how my relatives treat me."

"There are ways around that, too," Theo says, and thinks of the one good side of Blaise's mad family, that they've exposed him to unusual spells that can be implanted in an object instead of a wand.

Potter stares over Theo's shoulder for a minute, then turns and looks him in the eye. "I'm almost afraid to hope. I did, before, and it never happened, so I stopped hoping. I'll probably hate you forever if you can't make this work out."

Theo takes Potter's shoulders and holds them, shaking them a little. "Whatever we do," he says, "I promise that you're going to be in a different situation by the end of summer."

And that seems to be enough for Potter, who gives Theo a short nod, and turns to the door as Blaise enters.

*

"You have to strengthen your happy memory, Nott."

"How, though?" Theo tosses his sweat-soaked hair out of his eyes. He has no idea how Potter, who's just as soaked as any of them, keeps going. And honestly, sometimes he wonders if they should keep going, now that the real Auror Alastor Moody has been brought back as Defense professor. Potter has kept the D.A. going, and told Theo that he and Blaise can join when they like.

In the end, though, Theo has decided that the private lessons are a good thing. Blaise shines in them in a way that he doesn't in class, especially when Moody scowls at them suspiciously for being from Dark families. And there's the matter of the secrets they keep.

Potter studies him for a second, and then says, "You have to want it."

"I do want it," Theo snaps. "I want to be able to defend myself from Dementors, and Blaise from Dementors, and to get the extra points I've heard they award you on the Defense OWL--"

"That's not enough." Potter looks at Theo as if he's older and wiser and more experienced, and knowing that's not the case at all might be driving Theo mental, if he didn't feel completely mental already. "You have to want the Patronus Charm itself, the protector. You have to want what it is, not just what it does."

"And you can still create one?" Theo asks. "With all the lack of happy memories you have?"

"Of course I can." Potter faces the far wall of the classroom, where Blaise has been waiting and watching since he almost drove himself to exhaustion trying to attempt a sharper Shield Charm earlier, and lifts his wand. "Expecto Patronum!"

Theo swallows as he watches the silvery stag leap out of Potter's wand. The stag has antlers with many tines, and fierce eyes as he glares around and stamps his hoof. Then he steps up to Potter and lowers his head.

Potter's face transforms as he strokes the stag's head. And Theo knows what Potter means. Potter wants this stag, wants to interact with it, not just the abstract protection from Dementors that it inspires. That's why it's so easy for him to call it when no Dementors are nearby.

"Let me try again," Theo mutters.

Potter nods and steps back, and Theo lifts his wand and closes his eyes. He focuses on the memory of Potter and Blaise half-asleep in his arms after the first sex they had, here in this classroom. He sharpens the memory as he works on it, given that he can't remember everything about that afternoon: the scent of their sweat, the murmurs that passed among them without words after the sex was over with, the way Potter's cheek fit against his as he turned his head to the side and yawned.

"Expecto Patronum!" Theo calls when he feels he's ready, stronger and louder than he ever thought he could call.

The mist bounds out of his wand, and for a moment, forms a shape that has wings and brilliant eyes. Then it dissolves. Theo stares. It's gone, but he saw it for a second, he thought he did, he knows he did.

Potter whoops aloud and runs over to him. Theo finds himself bracing, not sure what's coming next and what it'll be, but Potter grabs the scruff of his neck and pulls him into a rough kiss.

It's different than Blaise's kisses, which are born of long familiarity, and it's wonderful. Potter's hands are roaming under his shirt before Theo can think to say anything, and he sags back against the wall as fingers work his nipples, his muscles, and then dive beneath his waistband. Theo catches his breath, and loses it to the slide and pull of Potter's hands.

Theo doesn't take long before he comes, astonished and delighted, but mostly astonished. He leans against the wall, panting, staring at Potter, who examines the liquid on his hand and then licks part of it off, before making a face and using his wand to clean up the rest.

"What was that, Potter?" Theo demands. His voice is shaky.

"Your 'I called a Patronus' celebratory wank," Potter says, and winks at him with a sharp grin that doesn't have the edge of madness to it that it often seems. "You didn't manage it fully yet, but when someone gets this far, I know they're going to be able to do the whole thing. So you deserved it."

"Where's mine?" Blaise asks from his spot by the wall. Theo glances at him in concern, wanting to make sure that he doesn't feel left out, but Blaise, guessing his mood the way he usually does, shakes his head in a slight motion.

"Have you called a Patronus yet? I don't think so."

"You didn't even have me try yet!"

"Well, try."

Blaise marches up to the front of the classroom with his wand out. Theo staggers over to sit where he was sitting, sliding down with his bones feeling Transfigured to water and a silly smile on his face.

Blaise manages the mist and gets the celebratory wank, too. Theo isn't sure which one's making him grin more.

Perhaps it's because he takes Potter in hand when Potter's finished with him, though, and the way that Potter is leaning his head on Blaise's shoulder and practically purring by the end.

This is the way it should be, Theo thinks as he watches Potter kiss Blaise with care instead of carelessness, calmness instead of wildness. We should be at our strongest when we're able to help each other.

*

"I just worry about you spending all this time alone with them, mate."

"You don't need to."

Potter's voice is light, but Theo still stops when he hears the note at the back of it. It astonishes him that Weasley and Granger could keep arguing with Potter when it appears, but they don't seem to know him and his moods as well as Theo and Blaise. Theo peers around the top of the stairs and sees Potter and Weasley on the flight below. Potter leans against the banister with his arms spread along it.

Granger, who's been standing on the stair below Potter, speaks up then (Theo didn't know she was there because generally, he would have heard her long before now). "But what are they having you learn and do? You go into that classroom, and shut the door behind you, and not even the twins' Extendable Ears can hear what you're doing in there."

Theo hides a sneer. Yes, that would be because his charms to keep sound from escaping a room were first tested on the Floo antechamber in Blaise's mother's house. No one can know that Blaise regularly escapes to Theo's house during the summer, or there would be more than threats of torture with the Cruciatus.

"I promised that I would keep their secrets," Potter says simply. "The same way that we keep the secrets of the D.A. under the contract. But you know that they're not hurting me. You can see that for yourself." He lifts an arm as if to show off the lack of bruises.

"It's just not safe or right, mate," Weasley says gruffly. "You disappear for hours with two Slytherins and won't tell us anything about them? That's not right."

Weasley does have rather a lack of vocabulary for the relevant situation, Theo thinks, and wonders idly if that's contributing to Potter not having been rescued from his abusive Muggle "family" yet.

"I can have secrets," Potter says. "The same way that you and Hermione have secrets about where you go alone for hours when you leave the Gryffindor common room."

Both Weasley and Granger turn bright red. Theo holds back a chuckle that might cause them to turn in his direction. Yes, Weasley and Granger would undoubtedly think their secrets harmless compared to Potter's, but so what? They gave up the chance to either tell Potter about their budding relationship--Theo assumes--or demand complete honesty from him already.

"You noticed?" Granger asks in a low voice.

"Yeah." Potter shrugs. "And if you're dating, I'm happy for you, and if it's not that, you still don't have to tell me. Because friends don't. Friends can trust each other to keep secrets without stumbling into danger."

"Not you, mate. The Headmaster said--"

"For you not to write to me last summer?"

There's a long, awkward, embarrassed silence. Theo is delighted to see that Potter evidently isn't letting it make him uncomfortable. He still stands and smiles at his friends with an edge that Theo recognizes. It's the way that Blaise smiles at other people he's nominally friendly with, but who aren't Theo. Or, lately, Potter.

"Can you at least promise that you're not doing something dangerous?" Granger finally sighs.

"I'm still here, aren't I? And in a better mood than I was at the beginning of the year?"

They assent to it with loud relief. Theo rolls his eyes. That "moodiness" made sense to him once he learned about Potter's home, summer, and connection to the Dark Lord, combined with the shit everyone's piled on him since, like Umbridge and the judging stares, but Weasley and Granger just seem relieved that he's stopped.

When they leave, Potter shifts and looks up the stairs. "I knew you were there."

"Did you?" Theo takes his time about coming around the corner, but Potter really doesn't look surprised. His lip wrinkles when he smiles. Theo tries not to stare at it too much.

"Will Weasley and Granger interfere?" Theo asks, because he has to.

Potter snorts. "They'll probably come back and ask me more questions, but I'll just put them off. I know you can do the same thing, and so can Blaise." He walks up to Theo and slings a casual arm around his shoulders, turning them towards the classroom. "Why don't we go along and practice some more?"

Theo appreciates the way that Potter won't speak the name of the Patronus Charm outside the classroom, to defend their privacy. He appreciates that Potter holds to that rule of secrecy even with his closest friends.

He appreciates the way Potter arches his neck, too, and how green his eyes look from the side when he's staring forwards and thinking about something else.

If this is falling, Theo isn't lying when he says that he doesn't particularly want to climb back up.

*

"Expecto Patronum!"

The silvery mist coming from Blaise's wand has a defined shape, now. Theo applauds along with Potter when he watches it turn into a stalking tiger, turning its head back and forth and snarling at the corners of the room. Then it paces over to Blaise, but it fades halfway there. It's not as strong or solid as Potter's stag.

It doesn't matter. It's still something Theo thought neither of them would do at the beginning of the year, and it's still a source of Blaise's shining pride and Potter's narrow, approving smile.

Then Potter turns to Theo, and says, "Now you."

Theo readies his wand and closes his eyes. The memory that prompts his Patronus is no longer that of the first sex they had, which is a blurred one, anyway. Instead, it's Potter and Blaise plotting together about what to do about his Muggle relatives, heads close to each other, eyes intent on the book between them, and Potter laughing aloud when he realizes how simple it will be to take care of the problem.

"Expecto Patronum!"

The words echo in Theo's head as well as the classroom, and he opens his eyes when he hears Potter's loud gasp. The creature in front of him doesn't look familiar until it turns its head, and Theo sees the blank eyes and long, narrow jaws.

A thestral.

After thinking about it for a moment, Theo decides that's appropriate. He's always accepted the presence and necessity of death, from the passing of his mother when he was young to the knowledge that someday he'll be able to kill Blaise's abusers. And Umbridge counts in there, too.

"Wonderful, Theo."

Theo turns around and looks at Potter, who looks back at him with more pride than anyone except Blaise ever has. Blaise is standing behind Potter, clasping his shoulders and smiling at Theo with more confidence than he's ever shown. This year has been good for him so far.

Theo looks back, and he sees the future unwinding before them, or part of it. He's sure that all three of them will be able to perform their Patronus well during the OWL practical exam. He's equally sure that the three of them will spend time together, become closer, and perhaps turn into a true triad.

He's surest of all that the small device Blaise has been showing Potter how to design, a magically-charged stone that holds the Imperius Curse, will function as it's supposed to, be built before the end of the year, and go back with Potter to the Muggle house for the summer, where it will function to allow Potter to control his relatives, protection and revenge both at once.

Theo smiles, and looks from the future to the present, standing before him, both of the people he wants.

He says, "Thank you, Harry."

The End