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i. 'Everything' and
'In-Between'
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★

FIRST AND FOREMOST, Thea Cindercroft knows there's nothing subtle about her. It hinders her sometimes, when she wants to blend into the shadows, and get on with her life without getting caught up in some drama. Like the storm her mother's shit campaign about Harry Potter and Dumbledore will cause for her when she goes back to school. But it helps her sometimes. Like now. She's making a stand.

Thea Cindercroft sits cross-legged in front of the fireplace, warming her hands on the burning pages of The Daily Prophet. She sees the flames spread over Harry Potter's face and her mother's name, signing off the article titled 'Potter's Descent into Madness'. Yes, it's thirty degrees outside, yes, she's got sweat dripping down her face, but if she wants to rebel, she can't stay comfortable. Subtlety won't cut it this time. This is the only way she might get her mother's attention, and when the woman comes downstairs and puts out the flames with a flick of her wand, Thea smiles.

"Theabel, why are you burning a fire today? That's such a waste –!"

Thea leaps to her feet, her heart racing and flickering with its own inferno.

"You're one to talk about waste! You have a platform to tell people the truth, to protect people, but you're wasting it to tell lies and hurt Harry even more!"

Lyra Vincent sighs at her daughter. "We've been over this, darling. I am protecting you, the Prophet and the Ministry –"

" – Are both full of shit?"

"Excuse me!"

Thea feels the tears start to sting her eyes as she says, "Just because you ignore something doesn't mean it's not there, mum."

"Darling, you know about that psychological phenomenon where if you tell yourself something enough times, you'll start to believe it." Her mother stands from her chair and folds her arms across her chest and looks at her with a measured expression.

Thea thinks it's sinister. She'd rather she was glaring at her.

"If you really care about Harry –"

"It's not that, you know that I barely even know Harry! But, I can see what's right under my nose! In fact, it's not just under my nose, it's whacking me over the head with a very heavy brick." Thea returns her mother's look with a raging glare.

She wants to leave, or she thinks she might set alight, like a torch.

Her mother narrows her eyes. "I don't like that tone, Thea."

"Well maybe if you didn't speak to me like I was stupid then I wouldn't take it," Thea snaps, as she feels her hands begin to tremble.

"Sweet, the Ministry has all of your best interests at heart. We don't want any of these rumours to tarnish your grades, on top of that poor Diggory boy's death –"

"His murder by You-Know-Who, you mean."

"Theabel, I won't have this! None of this is true, don't you think if he was really back, the Ministry –"

" – would be doing something to keep us all safe? Yes, I would have thought so, but you've most certainly proved us all wrong!" Thea explodes, "You're letting me down, mum! You're letting us all down!"

Thea turns on her heel and storms up to her room, locking the door and thankful for the Silencing Charm her mother had placed all over the house. Thea remembers that stupid Dolores Umbridge woman is coming over for tea tonight, and Thea's still so furious that if she were to stay downstairs, she might curse the hell out of the pair of them.

★

When she reaches King's Cross the next morning, she forgets the fury boiling in her blood towards her mother. She wants her to hold her close, stroke her hair and tell her that everything will be fine. This thought hurts her even more when she remembers that her mother has the biggest role in her pain at the moment. If there was an unknown hand behind the 'Potter Crisis Management' she thinks her mother's new role is, it would be easier to be angry, to rebel. But she's against the one person that she loves more than anything. At least, at school, she won't be arguing with her every day.

She hugs her mother goodbye, who sighs as they pull away. She looks at Thea, her features softening.

"Be careful, Thea. Not everyone is worth burning for."

Thea nods, smiling a little. Then, her mother disappears back through the barrier on the platform. Now she's all alone, she's desperate not to bump into Harry, or his friends.

Keeping her head down, she slips between families saying goodbye, and friends reuniting, and boards the train ten minutes early. This means it's easy enough to find an empty compartment, which she does, and settles down. She shoves her trunk onto the overhead storage, and lets Zelda, her cat, out of her cage.

She glances out of the window for just a moment, and her heart skips a beat when she sees Harry Potter stood with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger directly outside her window. Even though she wasn't that close with them, it was enough that she feels her heart jolt, when she realises that they don't like her. She supposes it's just how it goes in this world. If your parents are terrible, then you're even worse.

She wants to dissolve into thin air when Harry looks up and catches her eyes. He frowns a little and starts to mutter to his friends. Thea's neck almost snaps from how quickly she looks away. She's about to pull The Complete Works of William Shakespeare out of her bag when a loud female voice fills her ears.

"Oh, Theabel, I've missed your gorgeousness!"

Thea's grin threatens to break her face in half as she jumps up to embrace Daisy, Polly and Clare, the girls she shares her dorm room with. She ignores the fire in her heart.

"Hey, T," Polly says quietly with a soft beam, as the three girls sit down again and Zelda leaps into Thea's lap.

"Did you have nice summers? How was Spain?" Thea asks, looking at Daisy for the last question.

"Spain was good. Brilliant, actually. Mum wants to move there, isn't that crazy? I've told her to wait until I've at least finished school!"

Thea laughs. "That would be wise."

"I literally just revised the whole summer. It was horrendously boring," Clare adds, reaching over to give Zelda's fur a stroke. "I can't believe you live in the Lake District, T, you might as well live in space. I really hoped we could've come and seen you this year, my dad always goes on about how beautiful Windermere is."

Thea smiles. "You're always welcome! But to be honest, my summer wasn't brilliant either. My mum's leading the 'Harry Potter and Dumbledore are dimwits' movement and won't listen to a word I say anymore, and this stupid Umbridge woman keeps coming round for tea –"

"Dinner –"

" – Tea! Anyway, yeah, my mother's new best friend won't leave me alone. She kept asking me questions about school, and Harry...like I knew anything about Harry, for a start –"

Daisy grins. "You wish you did."

Thea's face burns. "Daisy, I said he's good-looking, that's all –"

Clare shrugs. "He is, to be fair."

Daisy snickers.

"So I couldn't even go and make food without being interrogated. And now, I'm going to have the awkwardness of having to face him in lessons, could one of you maybe just, kill me now or something?"

Daisy grimaces. "Everyone knows it's your mum leading it all, so it's gonna be rough."

"I can always count on you to tell me the truth," Thea says wryly.

Daisy nods, "Of course."

"But – I don't believe what my mother's writing. Surely, that will go a long way?" Thea asks her friends.

She glances at Clare, who's been quiet ever since they found Thea. Clare looks back at her and smiles weakly. "It'll be hard to stand up for it though. Everyone will be too scared to join in. Maybe it's wise to just go along with your mother for now."

Daisy frowns. "What is it that makes you think he's back, T?"

Thea sighs. "After everything Harry's been through, and after all the destruction You-Know-Who caused last time, I think you'd have to be a terrible person to lie about all that for attention."

It's not long before the train pulls into Hogsmeade station, and Thea can let out a breath of relief. No one's spoken for a while, letting Thea's words hang in the air.

"I am starving." Thea announces, as they stand up and get their belongings.

"I told you to get something from the trolley, did I not?" Clare says, snickering.

"Well yes, but I wanted to save myself for the feast," Thea replies, pushing between students already filtering into the corridor. She's excited for the feast, and she's excited to go to bed.

Thea regrets pushing her way out of the compartment first, because it's not long before her friends have been separated from her. And she's still one of the last ones off. She rolls her eyes exasperatedly as she manages to force her way off the train, but pushes herself with so much force that she bumps into someone.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't –"

Oh shit.

" – looking where I was going..." she trails off, making herself look at Harry. She's got to face this, head on. "Hi."

She tries to smile at him, but he just stares at her, like he wants to say something, but he can't. She looks away and sees Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger stood behind him. Her gaze drops to her shoes.

What the hell does she say? I'm sorry? I believe you? This was the moment she had been preparing herself for, but she didn't expect it to happen so soon, and now she's just standing here, like a lemon. Panicking and saying nothing.

Hermione scoffs. "Come on, Harry. She's not worth it."

The three turn around and walk off towards the carriages, leaving Thea stood alone. The only people left on the station platform now are stragglers, including her. Thea feels like crying.

An unpleasant cold wraps around her, despite it only being early September. There's a bitter freshness in the air that makes her teeth start to chatter a little, but before it settles into her bones, she's made it up to the warmth of the castle. The courtyard is chilly despite the shelter from the castle walls, and is already full of students pulling their robes closer. All she can hear are mutterings about Cedric Diggory, Harry Potter and You-Know-Who.

As she makes her way over to the Gryffindor table, she spots Clare and Daisy a few feet away. She frowns and winces at the flickers of pain in her chest, but makes her way over to them, ready for a year of uneasiness...and fighting. As her friends' faces light up at the sight of her again, with Polly exclaiming, "I'm so sorry we lost you!" the only thing on her mind is the comfort of the Gryffindor common room, the start of term feast, and finally being with her friends again.