A Son of Slytherin

A Son of Slytherin

Chapter 2

The Truth

Theo left Professor's office and went straight to his dormitory. He pulled an old homework assignment out of his desk and tapped it with his wand. The writing faded and darkened into a page from The Quibbler. He sat down, pulled the curtains around the bed and began reading.

Theo scanned down the list of names Potter had accused of being Death Eaters: Malfoy, Avery, Crabbe, Goyle... Every one of them did business with his father. How could he have doubted the story? Draco had told him that his dad had once been charged as a Death Eater, but he had refused to believe that too.

He jerked back the bed curtains as Blaise came in. "Theo?"

"Later," he snapped grabbing his broom and pushing past his best friend. Blaise stood and looked at the empty doorway, then bent and picked up The Quibbler article.

Theo plunged into the common room but was immediately hailed by a seventh year who had hardly ever spoken to him before. "All right, Nott?" he greeted, then added sympathetically, "Too bad about your father. Shouldn't be in too long."

Theo stood in shock as the boy turned back to his gang of friends. Pansy walked by. "It'll be all right. Draco has some plans. Come over and join us."

"Draco has plans?" He repeated incredulously. She was walking toward the fireplace where Draco was speaking to an audience of admirers. Theo stared, then noticed other Slytherins looking at him. Their expressions were curious and cautious: some with a new approval, others with distrust. Everyone looked away quickly. Annoyed, Theo strode to the door and out to the passageway.

He made it to the great oak doors with out meeting anyone else. As soon as he was on the steps he mounted his broom and kicked off. He stormed the castle turrets until Professor Flitwick called him off. Then he raced around the castle walls. And when he finally landed, he had to wait for movement to come back to his fingers before he could free them from the broom handle.

Wanting to avoid his housemates, he held his broom close and took a long, quiet way to the library. Madam Pince looked up and smiled as usual, with just of a raised eyebrow at the broom. He didn't know how rare it was for students to be welcomed by her, or that the smile was almost exclusive to Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws.

He went to the history section first and began looking for books about the war with...Theo paused and thought bitterly, would it be under 'Voldemort', 'Dark Lord' or 'He Who Must Not Be Named'? He found a few recent histories and took them to a table in a back corner.

There was a section about Potter...not at all what he'd heard growing up. There was a section about Alastor Moody. Theo read it curiously. Word had gotten out that the Professor Moody who had made many of the Slytherin house suffer so badly, had not been the real Moody at all. The Moody described in the book sounded something like the professor, yet not quite the same. There were several chapters about Death Eaters in general, a few names of the ones killed, but nothing about people who had been charged and cleared.

Theo leaned back and considered for a moment. He walked over to the window and peered out over the grounds. Some students were playing Quidditch, or flying around on brooms. A lot of students were just lounging about on the grounds or swimming in the lake. Theo clinched his hand into a fist and fought the urge to run. He had to find answers.

After carefully re-shelving the books, he stood and stared unseeingly at the spines. Where could he look next? He didn't want to ask Madam Pince for help or to explain why he was reading about Death Eaters. He pulled one book back out, looked at the dates and went to the periodical section of the library.

Blaise found him several hours later in the back corner, on the floor, surrounded by piles of Quibblers and Daily Prophets and even copies of Witch Weekly. Theo looked up bleary eyed at his friend and mumbled, "I guess it's true." Blaise squatted down and picked up one of the magazines. There was a picture of Aurors surrounding Theo's father, a decade or so younger, but not young, even then. "Are you all right?"

Theo shrugged an answer. Blaise took a deep breath, and said, "You missed lunch. I have some food for you." He pulled back the edge of his robes to show Theo a package that would have Madam Pince chasing them out if she saw it. Theo waved his wand, sending the magazines to the re-shelve cart and the two boys left.

They walked in silence to their hidden spot. "If we ever get girlfriends," Blaise had once joked, "we'll have to work out a system to keep each other out." The place was still on the grounds, they hoped, but was in a wooded area, gone wild, and was rarely visited by students. From here Blaise and Theo could lie back, enjoy the outdoors, and watch what was going on without being seen.

They settled in and Blaise began unwrapping the bundle. There were two flagons of pumpkin juice, several sandwiches, apples and two large pieces of pie. "I wonder if he intended me to eat too?" Blaise muttered.

Theo's eyes opened wide. He thought perhaps Blaise had nicked some treats from the lunch table, but this was a nice spread. "Where did you get this?"

"You wouldn't believe me. I don't believe it and I was there," Blaise answered. Theo had already started eating, and gave Blaise a stern look. "It was Professor. He pulled me aside in the hallway and asked where you were. Then he told me off for not knowing,

and he Summoned this food for you."

"What did he say?"

"He said," Blaise lowered his voice to imitate their Head of House, "You have a responsibility as a Slytherin to take care..."

"No, no. What was the spell he used to Summon all this food?" Theo scowled at his friend. "You have to pay attention around Professor Snape, you never know when he'll teach you something useful."

"Pay attention! I thought he was going to hex me into oblivion!" Blaise protested.

Theo shrugged and continued eating, while Blaise watched with worried eyes. "The girls are all over Malfoy, and Crabbe. Blaise began to imitate them, 'You poor thing!' 'Oh your father must be so brave!' 'Oh, you must be so brave!' Draco's strutting around like some sort of hero, 'My dad the Death Eater!' and people are falling all over him. I'll bet he'll claim to know You-Know-Who personally."

Theo frowned. "He would! And people are really impressed?"

"It's been interesting today...Some of the older Slytherins are paying more attention to him now. A lot of the younger ones seem frightened. And the better sort are ignoring him all together.

"Just my luck, the better sort will ignore me too."

Blaise didn't answer at first. "No, I don't think so. Come on, you've read more Muggle books than the Muggle-born have!"

Now it was Theo's turn to study Blaise. "I didn't know. Stupid, idiot, I never believed Malfoy or Potter."

Blaise became very interested in his slice of pie. After a moment he said, "That's what some of us thought. I never believed it either. Do you have a place to go? Would you want to come stay at my house?"

Theo grinned. "Yeah, I would." he threw his crusts at Blaise and they both laughed. Theo became serious just as quickly. "I don't think your mum will go for it though. I'm sorry, Blaise, but sometimes I think our being Slytherin makes her nervous."

"She really likes you." He began to imitate his mother in a high pitched voice, "'Why can't you be more like Theodore? He's such a nice boy. So polite, so smart'... I hate it! If you weren't my best friend, I'd be jealous."

Theo smiled and threw an apple core at Blaise. They laughed again, and Blaise added casually, "Besides, we won't tell her."

Theo shook his head. "That won't do. We have to tell her the truth."

"The truth won't do, mate. Not at first." The boys sat in silence for a moment and Blaise offered, "All right then, we'll say your father was injured and you need a place to stay for the summer...That's the truth. We'll be as honest as a pair of Gryffindors."

"No, the whole truth," Theo insisted. "We can't do that to your Mum."

Blaise sighed and fell back, looking up at the sky through the leaves. "What is the truth anyway? I just have Draco's story. A bunch of Gryffindors jumped the Inquisitorial Squad then magically traveled to the London and took on a gang of Death Eaters." He felt suddenly awkward and added, "They won't get extra credit on their O.W.L.s for all that will they?"

Theo shook his head. "They'll probably earn back all the points the Idiots stole from them. Oh, well, I don't suppose winning the House Cup would have felt right anyway. Let's go and write to your Mum." Together they stood up, worked a few cleaning charms, and started back towards the castle.