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xiv. Honesty's The Best
Policy
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THEA CAN'T PART with the strange energy haunting her body as she walks through the school alone to the Room of Requirement, her mind elsewhere. She can feel something in her bones, something that doesn't settle quite right. She shakes her head as though to force her atoms back into their normal place, but it doesn't work. As cosy and as wonderful as Hogwarts is, now Umbridge has taken over and stolen the joy from the air, it's a little scary walking the dark corridors. Especially with the threat looming over them outside of school that You-Know-Who – Voldemort – is back.

She slips into the room, a little late, which is apparent due to the fact that everyone's already stood around with their partners, wands out and faces fixed in concentration.

Thea smiles at Harry, who returns it when he sees her slip through the door. When she remembers what Daisy had said, about him liking her, the smile on her face grows into a beam. She walks up to Neville, who's stood awkwardly beside an arguing Hermione and Ron.

"Oh, Thea! Thank Merlin you're here!" Neville takes her arm and drags them away from Hermione and Ron, who don't even notice. "How Harry copes with that all day, I don't know!"

Thea shrugs. "Sorry I was late, and you had to suffer."

Neville laughs a little.

"It's alright T, I'm just glad to get away from them– they're like a married couple!" he gestures to Ron and Hermione.

Thea chuckles, "Maybe one day, they will be a married couple."

"We're on Patronuses today," Thea turns around to see Harry walking over to them, and her heart beat speeds up in her chest. "Do you want me to show you how to cast it?"

"Go for it, Harry," she says, smiling at him and getting a smile back in return.

Harry closes his eyes for moment, his lips parted in concentration, which Thea can't help but think is rather adorable. He lifts his wand and says, "Expecto Patronum."

Wisps of blue light canter out of his wand and curl into a gorgeous stag in the air. It loops around Thea a few times, making her laugh, before dissolving next to Harry.

"Harry, you really are amazing, you know that right?" she says, looking at him.

He coughs, before restoring the usual little smile on his face. "I've been told a few times."

"And you ruined it!" she gasps playfully.

"I'm not that amazing – all you have to do is think of the happiest memory you have."

Thea nods, watching him for a moment as he walks around the room helping the others. He really is cute, she thinks.

She closes her eyes, like he did, and thinks focus! Focus! What's your happiest memory?

She could use Dean, but the thought of him make her want to cry.

She could think of her mother, but the thought of her makes her heart shatter all over again.

Then, she thinks of Dean again, and what Hermione had said the other week.

She can think of herself.

Maybe it doesn't have to be a happy memory that she thinks of. Maybe it can just be a happy future.

Just for once, she can think of herself – she can imagine how everything will be once this war, both in her world and inside her is over, maybe in five years, maybe in ten, maybe even in twenty, but she knows it will be over eventually. She can imagine how it'll feel to be free, to be cool, not on fire all the time, to be with her friends, right after they've made it, right after she's made it. Maybe, once it's all over, she and her mother can be best friends again, like they always were.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Her eyes widen when she swishes her wand and the end glows with light, that trickles into the air feebly before fizzling out.

She breathes in again and imagines letting go of the pain of the past sixteen years. She imagines letting go of the agony, of everyone else's troubles and just thinks, me, smiling and light and happy, not hot or cold, not worrying about finding a salve or who deserves to be cared about and loved, just doing it, taking a dive and feeling like Thea, for once, for the rest of my life.

"Expecto Patronum!"

This time, her wand erupts with white and blue light and it flows out into the room.

It lifts up before taking its form.

A tiger.

It bounds across the room, drawing everyone's eyes to it and making them gasp.

She looks at Dean and he looks at her.

It's a tiger.

She feels like a soaring kite when she sees him smile, just a little, before turning away again.

Her eyes linger on Dean, Clare, and Seamus for a moment, and she beams at Clare clapping in applause for her. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Harry walk over to her, and she smiles widely at him.

"Who's the amazing one now?" she teases him.

"How did you manage that on the second try?" he manages to get out.

"I have no idea, I guess I just have a good teacher."

He grins. "You must do."

"Seriously though, Harry," she begins, stepping closer to him and taking a hold of his hand. "Thank you so much for doing this. It's fun, and most importantly, it's preparing us to fight. It really means a lot."

She watches his eyes brighten. "It's no problem, it was all Hermione's idea –"

"Harry Potter! Harry Potter!"

Thea frowns, and sees a House Elf come bounding over to Harry, still shouting his name loudly.

"Dobby?" Harry asks.

Thea's frown deepens when Harry's face falls, and realisation seems to dawn on his face.

"What is it, Harry? What's wrong?" Thea asks, frowning and tightening her grip on his hand.

"She knows, doesn't she, Dobby?"

"Umbridge?" Thea says, feeling an awful nausea in the pit of her stomach.

"Is it Umbridge, Dobby?" Harry's free hand goes to hold the elf's tiny arm.

The elf lets out another wail.

"Has she found out about this?" Harry demands, letting go of Thea's hand and crouching to Dobby's height, now with him practically in an embrace to stop him trying to headbutt Harry's knees.

"Yes, Harry Potter, yes!" the elf wails.

"Shit!" Thea curses, before looking at the rest of the group, who look horrified and completely frozen.

"What are you waiting for, you idiots?" Thea shouts.

"RUN!" Harry calls after her.

Their voices seem to mobilise them. Everyone rushes towards the door, panicked exclamations cutting through the air.

Thea can't make out which voice belongs to who, until Harry addresses her.

"Thea, I've got my Invisibility Cloak," he says, digging into his bag.

"Harry, it's fine," she says, wondering how on earth he has one of those.

For a moment, he ignores her, and continues searching frantically for the cloak in his bag, before Thea exclaims, "Harry – Potter! I don't want it!"

Harry stops suddenly, straightens up and looks at her. "What? Why?"

"I'm not going to just hide whilst the rest of you get in trouble. Not anymore."

"Thea –"

"Harry, I've made my choice. I want to help you, and I want to fight with you. Even if that means my mum gets sacked – at least there'll be less horrible articles about you if she is, that's a good thing."

"But Umbridge – I don't want her to hurt you, not if I can stop it."

"And you're my friend, Harry. We're in this together, right? That was the point of this, wasn't it? For us to fight together."

His eyes are wide, and his mouth is gaping open in shock. "Thea –"

Without thinking, Thea steps forward and hugs him, before pressing a small kiss to his cheek. Then, she steps back, holds out a hand for the Elf to shake, and says to Dobby, "Thank you for warning us, Mr. Dobby!"

"Mister?" The Elf says incredulously, as he shakes her hand. "You're very kind, Thea Cindercroft!"

She gives them one last smile, walks towards the shouting crowd of students, and forces her way through, managing to slip out of the door.

"Thea, what in the name of Merlin are you doing here?"

The voice takes her by surprise, and she yelps when a hand takes hold of her arm. She's about to go straight on the defence, but she realises the person is soft and careful.

"What do you care, Jude! Get off me!"

Jude lets go of her and he looks at her exasperatedly.

"You need to get away, you can't let her find out you're with them."

His voice is threaded with fear.

"What if I want her to?"

Thea looks around and sees only Dean and Seamus in an alcove, both keeled over from running. At the sound of Jude and Thea's voices, they look up, watching the exchange cautiously.

That's when Jude glances at her friends too.

"Go on, you get one and I'll get the other, just pretend you were with me."

Thea swallows hard and pauses, her heart jolting hard when she sees Jude's eyes full of concern.

"I can't."

"Thea, you have to!" Jude exclaims, his eyes wide with panic.

"No, Jude, I don't. I need to stick with my side, I can't let them all get in trouble and just get let off the hook myself."

"Thea, please!" Jude's voice is strained and desperate. "This isn't just about Umbridge anymore..."

She cuts in, saying, "I know Jude, but I can't, I'm sorry –"

"I thought we were going to help each other!" he interrupts, "I'm trying to help you, Thea!"

"I know," she replies quietly. "Thank you, but I can't take your help."

She stares at him.

Part of her wants to hug him, and let him help her, but then she thinks of Harry again, Harry and his side and the feel of his hand in hers, the butterflies in her stomach when she had kissed his cheek just a few minutes ago. It keeps her firmly to her spot, staring up a Jude with a resolute and brazen expression.

He pauses for a moment, staring at her with wide, sorry eyes, before he shakes his head and stalks off.

"Thea?"

"Dean, I'm sorry, I didn't realise it sooner, you were right –" she begins, her voice rushed.

"Ah, Miss Cindercroft, you caught two of the little devils!" a high voice fills the air and hangs heavily, suffocating her like smoke.

She hears Dean breathe in sharply. "Yes, she caught us – we tried to get away."

Thea's blood runs cold at Dean trying to protect her, but then she thinks back to her Patronus, the tiger, and her heart ignites. It reminds her how much she cares for him, how much she loves her best friend, and she knows that she can't let such an evil woman anywhere near him. She has to take Umbridge's attention away from Dean and Seamus.

"No, I didn't – I was with them, Professor,"

Umbridge's eyes narrow into slits. "Pardon me, Cindercroft?"

"I'm one of them. I'm in Harry's club." There's a sickly silence that buzzes in her ears, and then Thea shrugs and breaks it. "Sorry, Professor. But honesty's the best policy, right?"

Umbridge's piercing eyes are trained on Thea. She's stood between Seamus and Dean, only a little behind them, as though the boys are protecting her. Thea feels a bout of hatred spew up inside of her, red hot and burning. Umbridge's face is bright red, and Thea knows it's taking everything inside the woman to keep her composure. This provides her with a sense of pride, so much so that she can't stop the smirk on her face.

"Your mother's position will be terminated immediately. She can't possibly be trusted by the Ministry when her daughter is so against it." Umbridge turns to storm away, but turns around as though she had forgotten to say something.

"Your position on the Inquisitorial Squad is also terminated, now give me back that badge!"

Thea has already taken the pin off her robes and makes her way over to Umbridge, who glares at her fiercely, but this only causes Thea to smirk more.

She drops the badge into Umbridge's open hand. "Thank you ever so much for the opportunity, Professor."

"Four – weeks – detention – Miss Cindercroft – starting tomorrow night, my office, five 'o' clock." Umbridge enunciates every syllable, her voice dripping with venom.

The squat woman finally disappears out of Thea's sight. Despite her detention, she has never felt so free and so like herself, and she leaps at Dean and Seamus and pulls them into a huge hug.

"You alright, tiger?"

"I've never felt better." she smiles into Dean's shoulder.

She feels his arms tighten around her waist.

"Need I remind you that you just got your mum and you sacked, and you've got a month's worth of detention with toad-face?"

"Well, you just did," Thea groans. "Although, I'm glad to get shot of that stupid Squad anyway – and we're friends again because of what I just did; I'd do it all again, just for that."

She smiles at her best friend, and he smiles back.

★

The next day at breakfast, eyes are glued to her the whole time.

She can see the Slytherins laughing at her, and are waving copies of the Daily Prophet in her face, ones that are emblazoned with hers and her mother's faces, and the headline:

LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE: LYRA CINDERCROFT'S ONCE EXEMPLARARY DAUGHTER LED ASTRAY BY HARRY POTTER, COSTS HER MOTHER HER JOB - Rita Skeeter reports.

The excitement from last night has completely worn off. She's glaring angrily at her bowl of cereal, and just as she starts to wonder if she should regret her choice, the bench shifts a little under someone's weight as they sit next to her.

"Thea, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean –"

"You didn't do anything wrong, Harry," she says immediately, looking at his panic-filled face.

"Why are you upset then? It's my fault, I should've covered for you –"

"Harry, stop it," she cuts him off. "You offered me your cloak, didn't you?" she looks at him and smiles. "And Dean and Seamus were going to cover for me too. I didn't let them because I didn't want to. I did this for myself," she tells him calmly but firmly, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

A little of the panic in his face melts away, and the tension in his shoulders dissipates a little.

"OK." He says simply.

"It's not that I'm upset," she says, removing her hand and reaching for some toast. "I'm just angry at this whole situation."

He sighs as he pours himself a cup of juice.

"Tell me about it."

"I have four weeks of detention with Umbridge –"

"What?" Harry demands, a little too loud for someone addressing the person sitting just next to him.

"I know," she replies grimly.

"Thea, you can't have four solid weeks of detention with her, it'll kill you! You know how bad she is! Please find an excuse not to go – I'll forge a note from Dumbledore."

"Harry, calm down. I won't die. She won't listen to Dumbledore's note anyway, even if it were really from him, but thank you. You don't need to worry about me."

"But I do," he says softly.

She feels her heart swell about ten times.

"I will be fine," she tries to convince him.

She can tell from the look on his face that he isn't convinced whatsoever, but Thea knows that he also knows – frustratingly – that there's nothing he can do; instead of replying, he simply gives her a weak smile and continues to eat his toast.

A few moments later, the mail comes swooping in. Thea feels her heart drop when she sees her mother's black owl land before her. It lets her take the letter before soaring off again.

"It's off my mum," she tells Harry as she opens it.

Dear Theabel,

I wish I could convey to you through a letter just how disappointed I am with you currently. You know it is not safe to be around Harry Potter. I hope that you mull things over and realise what a mistake you have made to lose Professor Umbridge as an ally. I cannot express how much it pains me to have to cut ties with her and the Ministry because of your lack of self-control and your insolence.

Do not bother replying with anything but a decent, plausible explanation.

Lyra.

The corners of Thea's eyes prick with tears when she realises that she hasn't even signed off the letter as 'mother'.

She exchanges a look with Harry, who doesn't appear to know what to say.

She puts down the bite of toast she has left, her appetite abandoning her and leaving her to stare at her plate.

She's starting to think that as soon as one thing goes right, another crumbles to dust.