Like Father

Theodore's father was a Death Eater, and people seemed to think this was the be-all and end-all of him: he was defined purely as the son of a Death Eater. And everyone expected him to follow that same path, without knowing anything about him - without even knowing anything about the father they judged him by.

When he put his hand up to say he could see Thestrals, several people looked at him: some oddly, some curiously. Later Draco had asked, with a disturbed eagerness, who he'd seen die. Was it because of his father?

It wasn't because of his father. Why would his father's being a Death Eater mean he'd seen someone die? That was stupid, and Theodore had told Draco so.

They weren't friends, Theodore and Draco. Their fathers weren't friends either, despite their links. Theodore had seen Lucius Malfoy several times last summer, and the mild disdain he had for Theodore's father. Draco did not have that same disdain for Theodore. It was the other way around, if anything.

When the Quibbler article came out, people that had previously ignored Theodore avoided him. He had read the article several times over to check that it said what he thought it said. Then he had burnt it.

Professor Snape had wanted to talk to him about it, but Theodore was sullen and didn't hear a word the professor said. Draco had wanted to talk to him, and it was unsettling to see Draco in such a way.

When they had sent Theodore's father to Azkaban, Dumbledore called Theodore to his office to talk to him. Theodore had accepted his fate calmly. He couldn't have seen it turning out any other way. And his father would be out soon, so what was the point in fretting?

"Aren't you worried in the slightest?" Draco had asked him. Draco was furious. Draco was nigh murderous. When Theodore had said it was only what he expected, Draco had slapped him. When Theodore didn't say anything in response, Draco had stormed off.

Nobody talked to Theodore after that, but very few had talked to him beforehand, so it didn't bother him. Draco glared at him when they went to bed each night, and seemed perturbed when Theodore didn't respond to that either. Draco was filled with anger and he would have loved to take it out on Theodore. He couldn't, so he took it out on Vincent and Gregory instead.

Once Draco had looked like pleading and said they had to stick together. Theodore had nodded, but hadn't done much else.

When Theodore found Draco and his cronies on the train, he had slowly and carefully performed counter-jinxes until is was just three boys shaking in anger. Draco had refused to talk to him, and had glowered in a corner of the carriage. When they were pulling up at King's Cross, Draco asked where Theodore was going over the summer. Draco knew Theodore's mother was dead.

Theodore was going to stay with an uncle, and he told Draco so. Draco nodded, and told him he might get in contact over the summer. They weren't friends, but Theodore understood.

"They'll get out," he had told Draco. He wasn't sure if Draco heard or not. When they got off the train, Draco went straight to his mother; Vincent and Gregory lumbering behind. Theodore went to sit and wait for his uncle to arrive. Draco waved to him before he left. Theodore waved back.

Theodore's uncle spoke to him gruffly when he arrived, and Theodore followed him to a place that wasn't home in silence.

Theodore's uncle thought his brother had deserved what he got, and told Theodore not to go down the same path. Theodore did not tell him he was on speaking terms with a Malfoy, or he would've got a lecture. Theodore kept quiet, as he always did, and wondered at a time when he hadn't been defined by the fact his father was a Death Eater. It seemed so very long ago.