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xxi. Aches And Pains
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DESPITE HER WORRIES, as the countdown to return to Hogwarts reaches two days, Thea finds the heaviness on her shoulders is dissipating. Being in a place of love, with people that she trusts, is a breath a fresh air, it's a cure to the pain that haunts her nightmares.

Thea makes her way into the kitchen to make a pot of tea for her and her friends, when a familiar face surprises her.

"Oh, hello Fleur!" she exclaims.

She hasn't spoken to Fleur much before, nor does she know anything about her, but she vaguely remembers wishing she'd win the Triwizard Tournament over the others, just to prove a girl could.

"Ah, Zea! Good morning!" the woman says rather enthusiastically.

"Not to be rude or anything, but what are you doing here?"

Fleur simply smiles. "Bill Weasley and I... we are getting married!"

"That is adorable!" Thea squeals, before a loud voice interrupts her.

"Thea, darling, would you mind being fast in here? I need to get the breakfast on," Mrs Weasley bustles in, not looking at either Fleur or Thea.

"Oh, sorry Mrs Weasley – I was just going to make a pot of tea..." Thea trails off, the tension in the room clear.

"I 'ave just boiled ze kettle, Zea – you can use ze water if you would like," Fleur says, gesturing to the steaming pot on the fire.

Thea smiles. "Merci beacoup."

Fleur gasps excitedly. "Parlez-vous français?"               

Thea grins back, nodding. "Oui, je l'ai étudié moi même, et ma mère parle espagnol, mais je préfère français."

"I am impressed, Zea –"

"I'm sorry to rush you, Thea, but I need the space." Mrs Weasley interrupts, her face red with impatience.

"Sorry, Mrs Weasley – do you have a tray?"

"Just in the cupboard above your head, dear." Mrs Weasley says as she begins to start what looks like a beer barrel's worth of scrambled eggs.

Thea smiles one last time at Fleur, before picking up a tray of four mugs, a pot of tea and a plate of biscuits and taking it upstairs to Fred and George's old room, where her friends are gathered.

She places it down on the cardboard box between them, before taking a seat next to Harry on the bed.

"But what about when he said, "Don't forget to keep that one safe?" That sounded to me like Borgin's got another one of the broken objects, and Malfoy wants both."

The trio are already in the middle of a conversation, Ron and Hermione looking very bored, and slightly annoyed. Harry's eyes are gleaming with ferocity.

"You reckon?" Ron says, more interested in his broom handle and the biscuits Thea has just brought upstairs than what Harry is saying.

"Yeah, I do. Malfoy's father is in Azkaban. Don't you think Malfoy'd like revenge?"

Hermione seems to shoot Thea a pleading look, almost begging her to interfere to get Harry to stop talking.

"Harry, it's really pointless obsessing over this – " Hermione tries to say, for the millionth time, it seems.

"I'm not obsessing, I'm just curious! Malfoy's up to something, and I want to know what!"

Thea sighs, and sits closer to Harry.

"Harry," she says softly, meeting his gaze. "How are you so sure about this? You haven't seen him since July, since school finished last year, have you?"

"Saw him acting weird in Knockturn Alley. In Borgin and Burke's." Harry looks up at Thea, his eyes glowing, as though hopeful to get Thea on his side.

Thea looks away, her heart staring to hammer in her chest, and her voice starting to waver.

"You saw him shopping? That's hardly evidence to point a finger at someone, Harry." Thea frowns, leaning forward and pouring out four cups of tea, Hermione and Ron taking them and Harry staring at her.

Guilt is slowly choking her, making it difficult to breathe. But so is I don't want you to perish.

"In Borgin and Burke's, Thea! He's up to something, and I think we should take it seriously. His father's a Death Eater and –"

Harry freezes, his eyes staring past Hermione.

"My mum's a Death Eater and I'm not – Harry, that doesn't mean anything..." Thea trails off, feeling bile rise in her throat at the lies she's spewing to her best friends, the thought also overridden by I don't want you to perish.

"Yes it does, Thea! He's one of them!"

I'm a good person.

Harry rounds on Thea again, a new excitement filling his features. "They want you on their side, Thea! Can't you find out?"

"Harry, come on, that would be really dangerous for Thea!" Hermione starts.

Thea is more grateful than she has ever been for Hermione.

"Your scar's not hurting again, is it?" Ron asks, his brow creasing in worry.

Thea tilts her head at Harry curiously. "Your scar hurts?"

Hermione glances at her. "Yes, it hurts him, it's part of his connection to Voldemort. I forgot you barely know anything, sorry."

Thea rolls her eyes. Her gratitude towards the girl fizzles away, like a glowing orange ember being drowned in water.

"Draco Malfoy is a Death Eater. He's replaced his father as a Death Eater." Harry suddenly announces, cutting through their conversation.

There's a silence.

Then, Ron starts to guffaw, Hermione sighs loudly and Thea closes her eyes.

I don't want you to perish.

She feels her heartstrings twinge and her mind flashes back to the dark circles under Draco's eyes, the new twitch Jude's hands have acquired and the shadows under Eden's cheekbones that have blossomed, seemingly overnight.

"Malfoy? He's sixteen! You think You-Know-Who would let Malfoy join?"

"They were going to let Thea join," Harry says quietly, looking at the girl who's sipping her tea silently.

Ron quickly stops laughing, starting to munch on another biscuit with his eyes trained on the floor.

"So I'm a suspect as well, am I?" she snaps, glaring at Harry, her blood beginning to boil.

"No, I'm just trying to prove my point!" he retorts, equally annoyed.

"And what are you going to do when you prove your point, Harry? I don't think it'll go too well if you storm up to Malfoy, all 'I know your secret, you evil blond ferret.'"

Harry looks at her one last time. Then, he huffs angrily and snatches up some filthy scarlet Quidditch robes, before storming out of the room, the door slamming loudly on his way out.

After a moment, Ron starts to laugh. "I know your secret, you evil blond ferret – Thea, that was brilliant! Ow!" he exclaims, falling quiet when Thea launches an old trainer at him.

✦

Eden Hedge sits on the edge of her bed, thinking about her spit with Jude earlier that day and Luna Lovegood. She can't get her soft blue eyes and long, almost white curls and weird outfits out of her head. Everything about Luna is good, right down to the core. That's why she was the last person that Eden had expected to like her, but she had been her solace at school.

Ever since they had both reached out to stroke the Thestral's nose at the same time, and touched each other's hands. By accident, of course. Neither of them had heard the other approach. But Eden wanted to stay with Luna all afternoon. She is the only person Eden has met who can see the Thestrals.

Her heart leaps when the door bursts open and in storm Lyra Cindercroft and Bellatrix Lestrange, both gripping one of Jude's arms each.

"You are useless, Atlas –"

"It's Jude – "

"Enough! Stop talking!" Lyra snaps, holding her hand up to Bellatrix.

"Don't tell me to shut up like I'm your little brat, Lyra, you're the one the Dark Lord isn't impressed with!" Bellatrix hisses, throwing Jude from her and striding over to Eden. "Karma finally got you, just like I promised when I first saw you'd come crawling back to us!"

Lyra shoots her a deathly glare. Eden hopes it's enough for Bellatrix to drop dead, but to her dismay, it's not.

Then, Bellatrix looks right back at Eden and meets her eyes.

So, Eden stares right back.

"Your aunt is in hot water, I'm afraid – so is your filthy, traitorous cousin, Merlin, I wish I'd killed her when I'd had the chance."

"Don't talk about Thea like that – ow!"

Jude is given a harsh blow to the side from his mother.

"So what does any of this have to do with me?" Eden asks, finally having a chance to speak.

Lyra saunters forwards and smiles at her niece. "It has everything to do with you, dear. You see, you're close to Thea, aren't you? You care about her?"

"Of course I do. She's family," Eden replies immediately, her heart beating faster and one terrifying question spinning in her mind.

What are they going to ask her to do?

From the look of things, the adults are going to ask the teenagers to save them, to right their wrongs...

" –  help her?" Lyra's voice raises like she's asking a question, which Eden realises she didn't listen to a word of.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

Lyra closes her eyes and smiles. "You teenagers – you really ought to get out of your head more – that was always my Thea's problem." She clears her throat. "You need to help Thea see what's right – with the help of lover boy over here." Lyra points to Jude – Atlas? Lestrange? What's his name again?

Eden wants to hex that malevolent grin off her face.

With that, Jude still in their hold, the women stride out of the room, leaving Eden to her thoughts.

How on earth is she going to help Thea see what's right, when she doesn't even know herself anymore?

✦

Thea is sat next to Harry, in a compartment with Luna and Neville on the train to Hogwarts. She's in high spirits, since she'd always liked Neville and had grown rather close to him last year, so much so that the unmistakeable pain of the fire in her chest ignites when he is around too.

"Are we still doing DA meetings this year, Harry?" Luna asks, fiddling with her copy of the Quibbler.

"No point now we've got rid of Umbridge, is there?" he replies.

"I still wish I'd seen her get dragged away by centaurs," Thea says absentmindedly, causing Harry to roll his eyes but chuckle at her.

"I liked the DA! I learned loads with you!" Neville protests to him.

"I enjoyed meetings, too. It was like having friends. I can't imagine Eden would come again though; she didn't write once over summer," Luna says softly, though there's no sadness to the words.

Thea and Harry fall silent.

A moment later, there's a shuffling and a loud eruption of girlish laughter that boils Thea's blood almost instantly.

"You ask him!"

"No, you!"

Narrowing her eyes, Thea gets to her feet and opens the sliding glass door.

"Can we help you?" she demands.

It's a pretty girl with long dark hair and huge eyes, who is slightly taller than Thea. She smiles sweetly at her, but Thea can tell it's artificial.

She wants to hex it right off her face.

"We want to talk to Harry," the girl says, stepping into the doorway and batting her eyelashes at the extremely uncomfortable boy.

"Well he doesn't want to talk to you," Thea says back coldly, about to shut the door when the girl's foot stops it.

Thea huffs and sits back down next to Harry.

"Hi, Harry, I'm Romilda, Romilda Vane. Why don't you join us in our compartment? You don't have to sit with them," Romilda eyes Neville and Luna, "or crazy pants over here." She points at Thea.

Thea narrows her eyes. "Do I even know you?"

Thea feels Harry place a hand over hers, and her lips curve into a smile. Those damn butterflies. The burning in her chest erupts into an inferno, so strong that she has to close her eyes for a moment. But she keeps holding on tight to his hand. Harry has her back.

Romilda's eyes turn to slits.

"They're friends of mine."

"Oh. OK," Romilda spits, glaring one last time at Thea and Harry's intertwined hands before turning on her heel and flouncing off.

There's a silence, which Luna fills with a question directed at Harry and Thea.

"Are you two going out?"

"No!"

"We were just holding hands...um, as friends." Harry says, pulling his hand away from Thea's and diverting his gaze.

Thea stares at Harry, her eyes wide, but he keeps his eyes trained on Zelda, who is curled up, and fast asleep next to him.

"He always knows how to make things awkward, doesn't he?" Luna attempts to whisper to Neville.

The compartment door slides open again, and Hermione and Ron walk in finally, taking seats opposite Thea.

"Wish the lunch trolley would hurry up, I'm starving – Harry, mate, are you alright? You look like you're about to be sick." Ron frowns at his friend, who has turned a pale colour.

Thea tries to bite back a laugh. "Harry's just fine, aren't you?" she teases, earning a fierce glare from him, before he turns back to Zelda and tickles her head.

Ron and Hermione stare at them with raised eyebrows for a moment before Ron starts to speak.

"Guess what, Malfoy's not doing prefect duty. He's just sitting in his compartment with the other Slytherins –"

"Was Eden there?" came Luna's mystical voice.

"Who's Eden?...oh, yeah, Hedge... yeah, she was, why?" Ron shares a look with Thea, who purses her lips.

"I'm just curious," she says, looking out of the window through huge colourful glasses and slipping back into her own world.

"What did Malfoy do when he saw you?" Harry asks, changing the subject back to his growing obsession.

"Harry, please don't start –" Thea groans, glancing at Hermione, who mirrors her anxious expression.

"The usual," Ron interrupts Thea, replicating a rude hand gesture that she assumes Malfoy gave him and Hermione. "Not like him, though, is it? Well – that is –" he shows them his middle finger again, before continuing. "but why isn't he out there bullying first-years?"

"Maybe he preferred the Inquisitorial Squad. Maybe prefecting seems a bit tame after that," Hermione says.

"Merlin, Hermione, we weren't out there using the Cruciatus curse on anyone who didn't have their shirt tucked in!" Thea exclaims indignantly.

"I don't think so," Harry starts, ignoring Thea. "I think he's –"

Much to the irritation of Thea, the door slides open again, and a third-year girl steps in, with some parchment in her hand.

"I'm supposed to give these Neville Longbottom and Harry P-Potter," she stumbles ever so slightly over Harry's name.

Thea wants to roll her eyes, but she doesn't like to be unnecessarily mean.

Harry and Neville take the scrolls and the girl leaves.

"What is it?" Ron asks quickly, peering over Harry's shoulder as he opens his letter.

"An invitation..."

"Harry... I would be delighted if you could join me for a bite of lunch in compartment C. Sincerely, Professor H.E.F Slughorn..." Thea reads the letter aloud over Harry's shoulder.

"Who's Professor Slughorn?" Neville asks, rather confused.

"New teacher," Harry says. "Well, I suppose we'll have to go, won't we?"

"But what does he want me for?"

"Neville, you haven't done anything wrong. School hasn't even started yet! You'll be fine." Thea smiles.

Neville returns her smile feebly.

"Neville, let's go under the Invisibility Cloak, then we might get a good look at Malfoy on the way, see what he's up to."

Once the two slip out of the compartment, Thea looks at Ron and gives him a harsh slap on the arm.

"What was that for, you idiot?" he shouts, rubbing his arm.

"For setting Harry off again. He'd only just shut up about Malfoy!"

Ron looks at Hermione, as though for backup, who merely shrugs her shoulders before picking up the Muggle book beside her and starting to read again.