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Third year had been pretty awful so far. With a mass murderer on the loose trying to kill him, which really only killed his freedom. The Dementors were ruining Quidditch. Buckbeak was on trial for something that was Malfoy’s fault. And now Snape was teaching Defence. Again. Could things get worse?
“Now,” Snape began silkily, “can anyone tell me why they called them the Dark Ages?”
Their greasy, hook-nosed Professor looked around the room, his beady eye falling on everyone except Hermione.
“No? No-one? Alright, Mr Potter, have a go.”
He didn’t know what made him say it. Hermione would certainly ask him later what he was thinking, but he said the first thing that popped into his mind. “Because there were so many knights, sir.”
There was silence in the classroom.
So deadly, you could have heard a pin drop.
Snape looked like he was about to have an aneurysm.
And then Harry heard it, the softest laugh-turned-cough. Coming from the most unexpected side of the classroom. The left-hand side. The Slytherin side.
Harry turned his head - along with everyone else, including Snape - to see Theodore Nott sitting in his seat, struggling to keep a straight face. Harry was so blindsided by that he barely heard Snape give him detention. He was far too busy watching Nott.
For the rest of the lesson, Harry kept Nott in the corner of his eye. He watched the sunlight glint off his brown hair. Watched him write elegantly with his quill. Wished desperately for some reason that Nott would turn back and look in his direction - just once.
~*~*~*~ Harry&Theo ~*~*~*~
Harry was walking across the courtyard searching for Cedric - he needed to tell him about the dragons - when Draco called out to him, about a bet he had with his father.
“Oi Potter! My father and I have a bet, you see. I don't think you're going to last ten minutes in this tournament. He disagrees. He thinks you won't last five!”
Turning to face Draco with a sigh, Harry watched as the dramatic ponce fell out of the tree, and a few of the Slytherins came sauntering toward him.
“When did you decide this? When you were brushing each other's hair? During a little Daddy/Son bonding time? Do you guys do each other’s nails too? Or is that dedicated to Mummy/Son bonding time?”
Draco went red with anger so fast that Harry was genuinely concerned his head was about to explode.
“Don’t you dare say shit about my parents, Potter!”
“Jeez, relax, Malfoy. Take a joke, would you?”
Draco made an incomprehensible screeching noise, but Harry’s attention was drawn to the soft laugh behind Draco. His eyes flickered back to the tree to see Nott standing there with Blaise Zabini. Neither of them part of Draco’s shenanigans, but looking on nonetheless. Harry was mildly pleased to see neither of them were wearing the badges.
“You just wait-”
Harry sighed and cut Draco off, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. Your father will hear about this. Tell you what, the day your father becomes something more than a toadying brown-noser is the day my hair lies flat. Bother me then.”
There was another snort from the tree, and Harry was feeling rather pleased with himself as he strode off. The few attempts he had made before to get Nott to laugh again had all failed quite spectacularly, but it seemed being witty to someone who was deliberately trying to rile him up was the key to Nott’s laughter.
~*~*~*~ Harry&Theo ~*~*~*~
Since that day in the courtyard, Harry had managed to make Nott laugh a dozen times, most of which had resulted in detention, but it was worth it to get some sort of reaction out of the intriguing Slytherin.
Harry had long since worked out why he was so fascinated with Nott, and he had come to the simple conclusion that he fancied him. Wanted the opportunity to make him laugh every day, to see his features light up from up close, to kiss him. Snog him senseless, maybe pull him into a broom closet and figure out all the fun stuff that came with dating, and he had vowed to put forth his very best efforts to get Nott to agree to a date.
However, whenever Harry had tried to talk to him, Nott always seemed to vanish, or Zabini would be there, arching an eyebrow in Harry’s direction that made him think maybe Zabini had learned a thing or two from his mother.
So he sent owls, some appallingly embarrassing, some blunt and to the point. None had been answered, but they also hadn’t been plastered around the school or the gossip circuit, so Harry took that as a sign that maybe Nott was a little interested, and Harry simply had to try harder.
He was still trying to figure out a way when they had their first Defence lesson for the year - and what a joke that was. Even Snape was better than the toad the Ministry had sent. Although Harry would never voice that opinion out loud. Not even to his friends.
Case in point.
“Mr Potter,” she said, in that horribly girly voice, “do you really expect to be attacked in my class?”
Harry shrugged, “Yes.”
“Exac- excuse me?”
“Well, I mean, previously, four out of four Defence Professors have attacked me.”
“Mr Pot-”
Harry held up his hand and began to list them off his fingers, “Professor Quirrell trapped me in a room with fire and then tried to choke me to death.”
“Mr-”
“Then, ‘Professor Lockhart’,” he said, complete with air quotes, “tried to obliviate me, lucky Ron’s wand was broken and it backfired, thanks again for that mate.”
“No problem,” said Ron, grinning at Harry’s little show.
“Mr Potte-”
Harry continued as if he couldn’t hear her, “Professor Lupin really didn’t mean to, but circumstances at the school made him forget his wolfsbane potion. And he completely wolfed out on me, when he came to rescue me from Snape.”
Umbridge had given up trying to interrupt him at this point, and was simply waiting for him to finish, “Then Professor Moody turned out to be an escaped prisoner - really can’t keep them in Azkaban, can you? - and an ex-Death Eater to boot, and he arranged to have me taken to Moldypants. And when that didn’t work, he tried to kill me when I returned.”
Harry paused for breath and looked her dead in the eye, “so yeah, I do think I’m gonna be attacked in this class, because according to the statistics, there’s a one hundred per cent chance you’ll attack me in June, a seventy-five percent chance you’ll try to kill me, with a twenty five percent chance of an Unforgivable. Did I get that right, Hermione?”
Hermione’s yes was dull in Harry’s ears as they focused with precision on the soft chuckle Nott exuded. An almost breathless exhale of laughter as he tried not to draw attention to himself.
“Mr Pott-”
“Oh, I’m not done.” Harry said, “That’s not to mention the mountain troll and a three-headed dog attack in our first year. A rogue bludger, an acromantula and the basilisk in our second year, the dementors that tried to suck out my soul on the Quidditch Pitch, and then again by the lake, then, of course, the tournament I should never have been entered into. So there’s also a definite certainty that I will be attacked on at least two other occasions before June, and each of those attacks will have a ninety per cent certainty of being some sort of magical creature.”
Harry took a breath, “So all in all, it’s not even just this class, but at this school as well. I mean, facts don’t lie, Madame Undersecretary.”
“Detention, Mr Potter,” Professor Umbridge said, and this was the first time Harry had a bad feeling about detention.
~*~*~*~ Harry&Theo ~*~*~*~
“Are you insane?” a voice hissed from the shadows as he stepped out of Umbridge’s office later that night. Right hand dripping blood.
Harry spun around and moved toward the beckoning hand.
He walked into the nearby classroom, and the door was quickly locked and spelled behind him.
“Nott?” he asked, eyes wide with surprise.
“You can’t keep doing this! Not with her!”
“Doing what?” Harry asked, completely bewildered by the first actual conversation he was having with the object of his affections.
Nott’s voice had a musical quality to it, even when it was quivering with some unknown emotion.
“You can’t keep trying to impress me with your witty, sarcastic attitude!”
“So you did know what I was doing,” Harry said.
Nott sighed exasperatedly, “Of course, I knew. The whole bloody school knows. You’re not exactly subtle, Potter. Even my father knows.”
“Oh, is that a bad thing?”
Nott sighed again, “no, no it’s not.”
“So…” Harry said leadingly, “why have you been ignoring me whenever I try to talk to you? Or answered my letters?”
“Really? You’re asking me that?”
Harry shrugged.
“Well, okay, how about the fact that if it got out that I had acknowledged you, that we were talking, or Merlin forbid dating, then others in my house might try to use me to get to you? Might try to have me spy on you? Might try and hand me over to the Dark Lord to use as bait? Do you really think I want to do that to you?”
The beginning of Theo’s little rant made Harry think he was too scared, too worried about his safety, which he had every right to be and Harry was an idiot for not thinking about it. But his last question threw him for a loop.
“Do that to me?” he asked softly, “Do that to- you like me,” he said.
The certainty flooded through him as he stepped forward. Theo took a step back and looked away, scoffing.
“Don’t be so sure of yourself, Potter.”
“No, you do. You’re worried about me. About me with Umbridge, about what my association with you might do to me. You’re not even thinking of what it might mean for you.”
Theo shrugged, “I’d be alright, the Dark Lord wouldn’t risk offending my father just yet. He believes Father is loyal to him.”
“He’s not? You're not?” Harry asked, stepping forward again.
“We're both Nott,” Theo said softly as he looked up to meet Harry’s eyes.
It took him a moment to get the pun, but when he did, his lips twisted to the side just slightly.
“What if you were a Potter instead?”
Theo gasped lightly, but seemed to retain his composure quickly, even if his breathless voice told Harry something else.
“Proposing already? I haven’t even said I like you.”
Harry leant in, his nose tracing along Theo’s cheek as he brought their mouths closer together.
“I like you,” Harry said, “ever since that Defence class in third year.”
“You can’t be sure…”
“I’m sure that your laugh is the first thing I want to hear in the morning and the last thing I want to hear at night.”
Theo groaned, and the next thing Harry knew, he was surging up and pressing their mouths together. It was messy, awkward. Their teeth clashed, and their noses bumped, but when Harry’s arms wrapped around Theo’s waist, when the world slowed down around them, it was perfect.
~*~*~*~ Harry&Theo ~*~*~*~
It was over. It was finally over. He couldn’t believe it as he stood over Voldemort’s body, catching his breath. A body slammed into his, and two arms wound around his waist to crush his ribs. The only thing that stopped him from reacting was the familiar shape of the person who clung to him, and the scent that filled his nostrils.
He sagged into the embrace offered and wrapped his arms around Theo in return. The sounds of apparition popped around him, Death Eaters who had survived this far fleeing from the scene and the death of their master. Harry looked up to see Auror’s twisting away after them, using complex spells to follow their trails. They would catch some of them, he knew. Others though, would get away. For now.
People began to approach him, mouths open in shock and awe as they stared first at Voldemort, then at Harry, and then the man who stood next to him.
Harry followed their gazes to look into hazel eyes, and he smiled. Theo was safe, everyone was safe.
It was a miracle that none had died fighting. Slughorn had come through at Theo’s behest, brewing up cauldrons of Felix Felicis with the very best potions students Hogwarts had to offer, most of which were from Snape’s advanced potions class, Theo, Draco, Daphne, and Pansy. They had used a room within the Headquarters Neville had commandeered from the Room of Requirement, and they had slipped it to every person who had stayed in Hogwarts to fight against the Dark Lord.
Blaise, Tracey and several other Slytherin students had been in charge of the running. They, along with Neville and Ginny, had ensured the younger years made it out through the secret tunnels and then ensured that everyone had at least one teaspoon of Felix in their systems. Enough to grant them 24 hours of luck.
And what luck it was!
Lavender had remembered an ancient spell, a conjured silver spear, that she had read about once in their third year and had wounded Greyback enough that Bill, working together with Fleur, managed to trap and then decapitate the remorseless monster.
Percy had come back and resigned from his position in the Ministry in extraordinary fashion. And Harry was sure that if it hadn’t been for the Felix, Fred would have been caught in the explosion - but Percy had seen something, noticed something, because he had grabbed Fred’s arm and yanked. Harry had been so thankful, because he wasn’t sure that George could live in a world where Fred didn’t.
He had watched Remus dodge spells with outstanding agility, and he and Tonks worked together seamlessly as they created defensive barriers to slow the attackers into the hallowed halls of Hogwarts. Harry was sure there were more lives that had benefited from the Felix, was sure he would hear them all over a butterbeer or around a table. But for now, all he could really focus on was Theo’s warm body pressed against his and he was glad.
“It’s really over,” he heard a voice say, and it took a moment for the thick Scottish brogue to penetrate his mind. “It’s truly over at last. You did it, Mr Potter.”
“Yeah,” Harry said, his voice carrying over the silent Great Hall, “we all did. Every one of us.”
He lifted his hand to Theo’s face, cupped his cheek and kissed him. Right there, in front of everyone. He really couldn’t care less, he hadn’t seen his boyfriend in over a year, and the feeling of finally being here… being back with Theo…
“Er- Harry?” Dean said, interrupting them, “You know that’s Theodore Nott, right?”
Harry pulled back and arched an eyebrow in Dean’s direction, “I’m perfectly aware of who my boyfriend is, thanks.”
Theo buried his head in Harry’s chest and laughed softly. Harry’s insides warmed at the sound, he had almost forgotten just how much he loved hearing Theo laugh.
“Come on,” Harry said softly, dropping his hands to take Theo’s in his. “I could sleep for a month.”
He raised his voice again, “If anyone needs me… well, don’t need me.”
With that, he tugged Theo out of the hall and up to the Room of Requirement, where it reformed into a bedroom suite for just the two of them.
~*~*~*~ Harry&Theo ~*~*~*~
Harry woke the next morning to the feeling of another person in his arms. Instantly awake, his eyes sprang open, and he sought out the face that occupied his bed, his heart slowing as he realised it was Theo.
He settled back into the softness of the bed, and he pulled the blanket back into place, gently bringing it up so it covered Theo’s back and shoulders.
Theo shuffled in place. The hand he had on Harry’s chest tightened briefly as he sighed in his sleep. Smiling, Harry slowly moved to wrap his arm around Theo once more, and he lay there watching him sleep as the window in the room slowly let in more and more light. The sun lit golden glints in Theo’s hair as it rose and cast warm colours across the room. Theo’s eyelids fluttered as he dreamt, and sometimes he murmured softly to himself, his plump lips twitching with unspoken words. Suddenly, he hummed, something deeper thrumming in his chest. Theo inhaled sharply, and his body began to stretch in Harry’s arms. Theo paused then, as he pressed up against Harry, and he opened one bleary eye before the most beautiful smile spread across his face.
“Hi,” he said quietly.
“Morning.”
Theo finished his stretch and rolled onto his stomach, pillow bunching in his arms as he lay his head on it. “Been awake long?”
Harry shrugged, he didn’t really know how long he had been awake, it had been dark before the sun rose, but it had been so peaceful here, just watching Theo sleep that he hadn’t felt inclined to move.
Theo grinned, “Alright, been watching me long?”
Harry’s lips twitched, and he felt the blush try to stain his cheeks, but he stoically shrugged again, and Theo laughed. Soft and musically, and Harry felt his stomach flip.
“I love you,” he suddenly said.
No build up. No prompting. No reason other than the bubbling, swirling emotion inside his chest that made his heart feel full and real and whole.
He supposed he had meant to say he loved Theo’s laugh, or maybe that he loved that Theo was here, in his bed. Both of which were true. But he couldn’t find fault in his little unintentional slip. Not when it felt true. Not when it felt right.
Not when Theo’s face lit up like the sun and his smile warmed Harry’s very soul.
“I love you too,” he said simply, and for a while, they did nothing else but lie there. Staring into each other's eyes as they shared secret smiles meant only for the other. Slowly, they came together, as if they had all the time in the world - and perhaps now they did.
Lips pressed gently at first, then more passionately until there was nothing left but their hunger for one another. Their need. Their bodies became as entwined as their feelings were, as their lives would be from now on, and with that age-old dance, their love became more than simple words, more than complicated emotion. It ingrained itself so very deep within their cores and they would be forever changed because of it.
~*~*~* Harry&Theo *~*~*~
Eventually, they had made their way down to the Great Hall, taking in the damage that had been done to the castle on the way. Harry slowly pushed open the door to the Great Hall and was surprised to see it looking almost as it always had. It seemed the house elves had been busy last night. There was a bit of rubble left, and scorch marks still on the walls, but most of the debris was gone and the four long tables had been replaced.
A few people were present, lingering over breakfast. It was a mostly quiet affair until someone spotted Harry and everyone began to clap and holler.
Harry quietened them all after a moment, knowing it was important for them to celebrate at least a little. Something Theo had told him as they dressed - after Harry had expressed his concerns that everyone would flock to him now - he had said, ‘Well, of course they will. You saved them from Voldemort, and I know- you can say as much as you like that it was a joint effort, but Harry, you were the one who gave them hope. You were the one we all rallied around. Let them congratulate you, and then turn the topic.”
Advice which Harry was going to try now, he waited for some of the hollering to die down a little and then raised his hand for a bit of quiet. They fell silent almost immediately.
“Thank you, I er- I just want to say that I couldn’t have done it without you all. Knowing you were all here, fighting every day, protecting those that couldn’t protect themselves - and then being here, for the battle. Standing up to him, to his followers. Showing them that you couldn’t be cowed. That you wouldn’t give in. You’re the inspiration.”
He shuffled his feet, and his stomach rumbled and he grinned, “if you all don’t mind, there will be plenty of time for speeches later. I’d really like to eat my breakfast, spend time with my loved ones,” he squeezed Theo’s hand in his, “maybe sleep for another week, I’m sure we could all use the rest.”
Everyone laughed, and started to sit back down, and Harry saw Ron waving at them from the end of the Ravenclaw table. They were almost about to take their own seats when Draco stepped in front of them.
“Potter.”
“Malfoy.”
“I wanted to say- thank you.”
Harry looked at him in surprise, “er, right. You’re welcome.”
“Not just for getting rid of Voldemort. But for the files too, Granger handed them over to the Aurors last night.”
“Right, that. It’s not a big deal.”
Theo glanced between Draco and Harry, “files? What files?”
“He didn’t tell you?” Draco asked, shocked.
Harry frowned at Draco, “I’ve had a rather lot of other things on my mind, Malfoy.”
“What files?” Theo pressed.
Draco waved an absent hand, “Nothing much, just a metric fuck tonne of evidence exonerating my family, your family, Snape and a few others from the deeds they were made to perform under the Dark Lord’s special brand of duress.”
“You- Wha- Harry…” Theo gasped.
Harry shrugged at Theo, “I didn’t want anything to happen to them, to you. Part of what we worked on while we were hunting was gathering what evidence we could so we could present it to the Aurors at the right time. I didn’t want anyone going to Azkaban who shouldn’t be there.”
“You’re something else, Harry,” Theo said, leaning over to press a kiss to Harry’s cheek.
Harry just smiled down at him and wondered if he looked as besotted as he felt.
“That brings me to another point,” Draco said, and it was only the sudden sternness in his voice that pulled Harry’s eyes away from where they had been locked with Theo’s. “Theo is a very good friend to me, if you hurt him-”
Theo sighed loudly, cutting off Draco from speaking any further, “Yes, yes, we know. Your father will hear about this.”
Harry couldn’t contain the laughter that bubbled up inside him, and nor did he want to. It burst forth, free and wild, and he fell into the seat next to him, dragging Theo onto his lap as he continued to chuckle at the look on Draco’s face.
“Well,” Draco said, clearly disgruntled, “so long as that’s clear.”
Harry laughed again, “Come on, don’t be a git. Theo’s far scarier than your father, if that ever happened to be the case.”
Theo poked him in the ribs and slid onto the seat next to him, “and don’t you forget it, Potter.”
Harry grinned and leaned in to kiss Theo again, for perhaps the hundredth time that morning.
“Urgh, Harry,” Ron complained, “come on, not at the table.”
Harry looked pointedly between Ron and Hermione, who at least had the decency to blush.
Ron grinned and threw his arm around her shoulders, “Alright mate, point taken.”
The rest of the morning was spent stuffing themselves full on the wonderful food that the Hogwarts elves cooked and generally just basking in the simplicity of friendship.
And if Harry’s hand rested on Theo’s thigh for the duration of that meal, well, it just made it all the better.