average human’s Reviews > Avada Kedavra > Status Update

Harry smiled, his eyes lighting up as they did every time he thought of his godson. “She is,” he said. “I’m trying to talk Theo into naming it Harry Theodore Nott.”

“That’s a terrible name,” Sapphire laughed.

Trent swung their clasped hands between them and grinned at her. “When we get married one day, we should have three kids, all boys, and we’ll name one after Harry.”

Sapphire stuck her nose up in the air. “I am not marrying you, Trent Isaac Bailey.”

Trent winked at Harry and dropped his voice to a loud whisper. “That’s what she said about being my girlfriend too.”

Harry laughed when Sapphire scowled at Trent and took off at a run for the Great Hall.

“If you can catch me maybe I’ll marry you in twenty years!” Sapphire yelled over her shoulder.

“Sorry, Harry, but you can be my best man,” Trent laughed before taking off after her.

Harry shook his head at the two of them.

Even though he just realized that he had a problem.

A big problem.

Worse than being a horcrux. Worse than being a ghost or an inferi.



“Rock, paper, scissors on which one of you guys is my best man this summer?” Harry smiled charmingly at Ron, Draco, Neville, Blaise, and Theo.

“Dibs!” Trent cried.

“Not you,” Harry told him. “Best man, Trent. Not kid.”

“This is bullshit,” Trent scowled and crossed his arms.

“This is bullshit,” Susan said with a death glare aimed at Harry. “I assumed that I would be the best man.”

“He said man, not best woman,” Blaise smirked. “And I want to do it. I was the first member of the gang.”

Good point.

“I’m your cousin,” Draco said quickly.

Another good point.

“Future brother in law,” Ron grinned.

Lots of good points really.

“Uh... I’m your first choice of us for a shag?” Neville laughed.

Not as strong of an argument as the others, but not the worst argument either.

Harry glanced at Theo. Theo was just picking at his dinner with a little smirk on his face.

“D’you not want to do it?” Harry asked him hesitantly.

“Oh, I do,” Theo said. He looked up at Harry and his smirk grew. “I was just giving the boys here a chance to make their cases before I stepped in and took my spot.”

Hermione and Luna laughed at his complete confidence, but Harry was confused.

“‘Took your spot’,” Harry repeated. “Why’s it your spot?”

Theo calmly sat his fork down and leaned back in his seat. He looked from Draco, to Ron, to Blaise, to Neville, before he smiled placatingly and put his hand on Hermione’s stomach.

“I’m your brother and I’ve made you the godfather to my son,” Theo said patiently. “I’d like to be your Best Man.”

“Or daughter,” Hermione said quickly.

“God damnit,” Ron swore under his breath.

“We can’t ever compete with a fucking baby,” Susan scowled.

Harry grinned and nodded at Theo. “Done.”

“Done,” Theo repeated. He smirked at the others. “You know that traditionally, there are three groomsmen in addition to the best man.”

And the arguments resumed.

In the end, Theo would be Harry’s best man, and Susan, Blaise, and Draco were groomsmen. Harry told Ron that he’d ask Fred to make him one of his groomsmen, even though George would obviously be his best man.

Luna asked if she could be a flower girl, and since Harry had no idea what that meant, he told her that she could be flower girl with Neville since Neville liked flowers. Hermione laughed until she cried at Harry’s announcement, but Neville looked pleased.

Trent pouted the whole way back to the common room.

“I thought we were friends,” he told Harry accusingly.

Harry sighed and looked down at his truly downtrodden face. “We’re godbrothers, that’s better than groomsmen or friends, Trent. The others were just here first.”

Trent bit his lower lip and looked up at Harry shyly. “They’re only groomsmen for a day, but we’re always going to be godbrothers, right Harry?”

Harry grinned and ruffled his hair. “Always,” he agreed.

***

“Alright, team, listen up.” Harry stood in front of his team the next day and looked them over carefully. Ron had replaced Daphne during Harry’s two weeks off with Blaise, which seemed a bit like favoritism, but Ron said he and Draco needed someone they could work well with since Daphne was forced to resign.

Harry had only seen Daphne a couple times since he’d been back, but he was pleased to see she didn’t even look at him.

The team had a handful of practices since Harry returned, and Harry could admit that Blaise wasn’t a bad flier. He, personally, would make him officially tryout if he wanted to play again next year, but Blaise was good enough for their last two games for the current year.

“It’s been a weird year, yeah?” Harry said to them all. “I know Ron’s had to step up quite a bit this year, so let’s show him that his work wasn’t for nothing and go out there and fuckin destroy Ravenclaw!”

“Yeah!” The team cheered, brandishing their brooms in the air like weapons.

Harry caught Ron’s arm on his way out the door.

“I’m going to tell Snape to make you captain next year,” Harry told him.

“Really?” Ron’s eyes were wide.

“Yeah.” Harry shrugged. He kind of doubted that he’d be at Hogwarts next year, but, just in case... “On two conditions,” Harry grinned.

“Anything, mate!”

“Keep me on as seeker.”

Ron laughed and bobbed his head quickly. “You’re the best seeker in school, how could I replace you?”

Harry smirked. He was the best and he didn’t want replaced in case he managed to kill Timmy this summer.

“What’s the second condition?” Ron asked.

Harry grinned and clapped his shoulder a little harder than perhaps necessary. “And we have to fuckin win today; prove you’ve been training hard, yeah?”

Ron set his chin stubbornly and nodded. “We’ll win.”



And they did.



Blaise seemed determined to prove that he’d earned his spot for more than just his friendship with Ron and managed to score a couple goals in between winking out at the spectators.

Oscar and Declan were vicious as they aimed their bats and the bludgers at the Ravenclaw players.

Trent was practically a blur in the goalposts as he dipped and dodged and rolled to block any incoming quaffles, much to the cheers of Sapphire who sat with Harry’s friends in the Slytherin stands.

Ron and Draco were ruthless, and anyone could see how much Ron wanted to win. He tore across the sky with fire practically trailing him as he stole the quaffle and scored.

Even Luna, who mostly commented on cloud shapes and personality traits of the players, pointed out that Ron obviously refused to lose that match.

By the time Harry caught the snitch, he felt a weight off his chest. If he didn’t come back next year, too busy hunting Timmy or if he was actually dead, then he knew Slytherin would still be the best quidditch team in the school.



“You’re being quiet,” Susan sang softly as she slid up to Harry during the celebration party that night.

Harry hummed and took a drink of his butterbeer. He watched as his friends all drank and danced and sang horribly off-key. He grinned a little to see Luna purposefully ruffling up Draco’s hair, and Hermione rolling her eyes at the way Theo kept hovering around her. He watched Trent and Sapphire bounce around the dance floor section of the common room, adorably and childishly in love as they made goofy faces at each other. Ron and Neville were chatting up a group of fifth year girls, and Ron looked like he was channeling his inner-Blaise as he leant against the wall and smirked at them.

Blaise, of course, had long ago disappeared with what Harry had been pretty sure was a witch and a wizard both.

“I don’t think I’m gonna come back next year,” Harry told Susan quietly, using the sound of the party to mask his voice. “If Timmy’s still alive, I’m not coming back. And... if we get a chance to kill Timmy, then I might not be here anyway, will I?”

Susan slipped her arm around Harry’s waist and leaned her head on his shoulder.

“I’m not going to let you die,” Susan said. “Snape’s a god damned genius, isn’t he? He won’t let you die either. And,” Susan dropped her voice to a whisper, “if it comes down to it, I say we let Timmy live.”

Harry sighed. That wasn’t the first time Susan said that, but...

Harry didn’t want to die, he really didn’t. But he also didn’t want to let Timmy live.

“Abracadabra, Sue,” Harry murmured. “Neither can live while the other survives.”

Susan’s arm tightened in Harry’s waist. “Not abracadabra, we’ll figure it out.”

Harry nodded and finished off his drink.

Knock, knock, noseless. Just a friendly reminder that I fucking hate you.

How can you hate me, Little Horcrux? We are the same.

Harry pushed Timmy back out of his mind as he kicked around restlessly in his bed.

‘We are the same’ was kind of the reason why Harry hated Timmy.

***

“Today’s the day.”

“I know.”

“Today’s the daaaaaay.”

“I know.”

“It’s the day.”

“WE KNOW!”

Harry shook his head at Susan. She was practically vibrating with glee as she kept watching the windows for the inevitable post.

“Eat, Susan,” Hermione said, fighting her own smile. “It won’t get here any faster because you aren’t eating.”

“I can’t eat,” Susan wailed. “I’m too excited.”

Harry sighed. “Lue, how long until it gets here?”

“Hmm... probably less than eight hours,” Luna said seriously. “Definitely less than twenty-four.”

Ron and Draco laughed at Susan’s look of utter horror, but she perked up almost immediately as the first owl flew in to the room.

Harry’s entire group fell silent as they waited for the large grey owl (fuck, Harry forgot to get Susan a birthday present... Ron too, actually) carrying a huge box to swoop down to them. The owl placed the box in front of Harry, but Susan immediately slid it in front of her and opened it.

“Ladies and gentlemen...” she breathed.

“Boys and girls,” Hermione smiled.

“Ghosts and goblins,” Luna said.

“Inferi and owls,” Harry added.

“Welcome to the ruin of Dumbledore,” Draco whispered gleefully as he snatched one of the books Susan pre-ordered from the box.

Susan laughed loudly enough to draw quite a few looks from the nearby Slytherin students. A couple of them actually inched away from Harry’s group, probably worried that anything that made Susan laugh was sure to be terrible.

“Everyone take some,” Susan ordered them as she began handing out handfuls of books. “Don’t come to lunch until you’ve handed them all out.”

“How many did you order?” Hermione asked as Susan thrust a stack in her direction.

“Fifty,” Susan said. “Harry’s taking me to dinner when he gets his first payment for the sales.”

“Am I?” Harry asked, bemused.

Susan winked. “You are.”

It was a small price to pay for half of the school to get copies of ’The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore’.

“Come on, Harry,” Theo grinned. “Let’s let Hermione go with Susan to pass theirs out. You and I can go scour the grounds to hand ours out.”

“Can we come?” Draco asked, already on his feet with his arms loaded down with his and Luna’s books.

“No,” Theo said firmly. “We’ll see you guys at lunch.”

Harry shrugged at Draco, just as confused about Theo’s refusal as he was. Harry grabbed a handful of books and a few pieces of toast. “Let’s do it.”

Harry followed Theo through the Great Hall, stopping to hand out a couple books to a Ravenclaw girl who waved at him. Theo didn’t head for the doors though, he turned towards the main staircase.

“Where we going?” Harry asked as he kept up with him.

“Slytherin’s Chamber.”

“Er...” Harry glanced around and cocked his head at Theo. “Not many people down there to hand books out to, is there?”

“You’re right.” Theo grabbed Harry’s books from his hands and set both stacks on the landing. “There! Done!”

Harry blinked at Theo then subtly pinched himself in the leg. Not dreaming then.

“Why?” Harry asked him.

Theo shrugged and turned down the corridor towards the bathroom. “I want to talk, and it’s private down there.”

“It’s private in our dorm?”

Theo grinned and held the bathroom door open for Harry. “Not private enough. Plus, I feel like it’s our place now. You know, to plot murder and whatnot.”

Harry perked up at the thought of plotting murder and quickly opened the entrance for them. “After you then,” he grinned.



Theo didn’t say anything as they slid through to the chamber entrance. He didn’t even look around curiously, like he did the first time, and he didn’t look nearly as sick as he did when they came to brew the potion to kill Umbridge.

... Harry made a mental note to ask Snape if they could just poison Dumbledore as well.

They both made noises of disgust when they got close to the area where Lockhart was buried.

“Bubblehead charm?” Theo asked.

Harry, who felt like retching, nodded quickly before applying the charm to them both. With the bubbles on their heads, they couldn’t say anything until Harry had to dispel his to open the main chamber.

“God, much better,” Theo sighed as he ended his own charm. “Hey, Harry, watch.”

Harry watched as Theo screwed his face up in concentration and silently summoned the two chairs that Harry once conjured for them.

“Bravo,” Harry clapped. He grinned at Theo as he recalled the first time he brought him down there. “Did you bring me down here to kill me?”

Theo laughed and took one of the chairs, prompting Harry to sit in the other one. “No,” he said. “I want to know what’s bothering you.”

Harry adopted a blank mask and quirked a careless brow at Theo. “Who said something’s bothering me?”

“I did,” Theo said simply. “Why’d you give Ron your captaincy for next year?”

Harry shrugged. “I’ve been captain for three years, seems like Ron should get a turn.”

Theo nodded slowly. “Riiiight, because you’ve always been so selfless and fair.”

Harry’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you think I gave it to him then?”

“I think that you’ve got a horcrux inside of you and you’re planning on dying.”

Harry’s mask slipped. “Who told you?” he demanded. He didn’t think Susan would betray him, but—

“You did.”

Fuck.

Harry’s memory really had been shot lately.

“When?” Harry sighed, slumping down in his seat.

Theo’s face crumpled and he looked suddenly miserable. “Harry, no... I- I was hoping I was wrong.”

“You just told me that I told you?” Harry said, confused now. He used his fingernails to pinch his wrist, but he had already been fairly certain that it hadn’t been a dream.

Theo ducked his head and rubbed at his eyes before looking up and blinking quickly at the ceiling. “You asked me about them, then disappeared for two weeks,” he said hoarsely. “Since you got back, you’ve just... just seemed down. It was a hypothesis. I didn’t want to be right.”

Snape was going to kill Harry.

“Snape’s going to kill me,” Harry groaned. He rubbed his forehead in irritation before running a hand through his hair. “Damnit, Theo.”

“‘Damnit Theo’?” Theo repeated. He jumped to his feet and glared at Harry. “DAMNIT HARRY! How long have you fucking known?!”

“Don’t fuckin yell at me,” Harry snapped. He got to his own feet as well. “The day I left is when I found out.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Theo took a step closer to Harry.

Harry wasn’t scared of Theo, which he proved by taking a step towards him. “It’s a fuckin secret, stupid. What was I supposed to say ‘hey, Theo, guess what? I’ve got Timmy’s soul inside me so either I die or he lives, cheers’?”

Theo growled and grabbed at his own hair, pulling his hair harshly. It wasn’t until Harry took another step towards him that he realized Theo’s eyes were rather wet.

And Harry quickly took two steps backwards from him.

“You can’t die!” Theo yelled. “You’re my brother! I can’t- I can’t raise a fucking baby without you!”

Harry laughed, really more of a bark of surprise. “What? You don’t need a godfather to raise a kid. I didn’t have Sirius around for thirteen years, did I?”

Theo sank back down in his chair and buried his face in his hands. Harry watched him silently for a few moments before he saw his shoulders were shaking slightly beneath his robes.

Harry really, really, hated seeing people cry. Nothing made him itch more than tears.

“Er... I mean, Fred will still be here if I die, yeah?” Harry said bracingly. “And you could make Blaise or someone else backup godfather if you wanted, couldn’t you?”

Theo looked up and Harry saw that he actually had been crying, still was apparently, even though he was glaring at Harry again.

“I don’t want them, you fucking brain dead idiot,” Theo snarled. “I want you, my brother. The one person I know would kill me if I hurt the baby. I want you, period. Fuck killing Timmy, let’s just trap him in a tower like Dumbledore did Grindelwald.”

... another idea to mention to Snape.

“Maybe,” Harry said, unconvinced. “Snape thinks he has an idea how I can live, but we’ll see. Wait—” Harry blinked at Theo as he processed what all he said, “—why are you hurting my fuckin godson?”

“See?” Theo cried, throwing his hands up. “This is why I need you, Harry.” He used his robe sleeve to wipe his face off and he stared Harry down intensely. “Snape has a plan to get the horcrux out without killing you?”

Harry shrugged and barely refrained from picking at his very abused looking cuticles. “He says so,” he said quietly. “So... I guess we’ll see.”

“What’s the plan?”

Harry sighed and shook his head. “I can’t tell you, I already told you too much. Snape was pissed when I told Sue, wasn’t he? He’s making Tonks teach her occlumency now.”

Theo’s lips curled into a slight smirk. “I know occlumency,” he said. “Tell me, please?”

Harry cleared his mind and stared hard in to Theo’s eyes.

Legilimency, Harry thought, focusing hard on pushing his thoughts in to Theo’s mind.

Where he immediately ran in to a wall that jolted him backwards, caused him to blink, and broke the connection.

“Told you so,” Theo said. “Your magic feels like how a hurricane smells.”

That didn’t make a damn bit of sense.

But Theo clearly knew occlumency.

Harry did make him swear not to tell anyone, including Hermione, which Theo did easily.

“Snape’s plan is for me to kill Dumbledore,” Harry told him. “Step one was use a rock to talk to a ghost. Step two is kill Dumbledore. Step three is to master death, I guess.”

Theo leaned forward. He blinked at Harry. He tapped his leg a few times. Then he sat back and let out a heavy sigh.

“Explain, in more detail, please,” he said.

So Harry did.



By the time Harry was done talking, Theo was on his feet and pacing the chamber.

“That sounds like... a long shot,” Theo said carefully. “I’ve never heard of the hallows before. I’ll admit, I never considered it before, but your cloak is obviously powerful and unique. And...” he gave Harry an apologetic sort of look. “You’re certain that you actually spoke with your mother?”

Harry scowled and crossed his arms. “I didn’t fuckin dream it, Theo,”

“Sorry.” Theo held his hands up and then continued pacing. “But you did think you were a ghost for a while, so...”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Fuck off.”

Theo stopped and looked like he was in pain as he stared at Harry. “Snape’s risking your whole life on a storybook,” he said quietly. “I don’t like it.”

This was what Harry and Theo had in common that Susan could never understand.

Harry and Theo knew that adults weren’t inherently trustworthy or all knowing simply because they were adults. The two of them knew that people who were supposed to have your best interests in mind, didn’t always.

Harry didn’t trust anyone in the world more than he did Snape, but he didn’t trust anyone in the world 100%.

“I don’t like it either,” Harry told Theo. “I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

Theo sighed and stepped over by Harry. He slowly put his hand on Harry’s shoulder.

“I guess we trust Snape,” Theo said quietly. “Well, I guess we kill the headmaster, again, then we trust Snape.”

Harry looked up at Theo’s solemn face and laughed.

Headmasters of Hogwarts were beginning to have as many problems as the Defense Professor’s used to.

When Harry and Theo emerged from the chamber, causing Mavis to squeak at them in such a high pitch that Harry thankfully couldn’t understand the insults he spewed, Theo immediately went to the dorm ‘for a shower’ and Harry wandered around aimlessly.

He had been feeling rather beat down from talking with Theo and having his own dark fears confirmed, but the more he wandered the halls, the more he cheered up.

Everywhere he went— in alcoves in the corridors, in clumps in the library, in groups on the stairs— there were students reading Rita’s book. Harry even saw Flitwick hidden behind the book as he passed by his classroom.

Harry, personally, hadn’t read it, but Sudan did. And she told him that it painted Dumbledore in a terrible light. It talked about his friendship (and supposedly ‘more than friendship’) with Grindelwald, the death of his sister that he’d been implicated in, and how at one point of his life Dumbledore would have given anything for a bit of power.

When Harry had been a baby- Dumbledore ordered Hagrid to take him from his godfather and place him with the Dursley’s.

When Harry had only been twelve years old- Dumbledore expelled him and sent him right back to the Dursley’s.

When Harry came back from the graveyard- Dumbledore called him a liar.

Granted, Harry had been lying. But it wasn’t as if anyone would believe him if he’d started screaming about ‘You-Know-Who’.

And it all came to a head last year when Dumbledore tried to kill him, probably planning on taking down one of Timmy’s horcruxes in that moment.

Dumbledore may have had ‘good intentions’, as he’d once told Harry, when it came to his decisions, but they’d fucked Harry over every time.

And, as Harry saw everyone reading all about Dumbledore’s life- all the things he’d rather keep secret- Harry finally felt like he was finally getting a little bit of the revenge that Harry always hoped he would get.



And damn if it wasn’t the best thing that had happened to Harry in a long time.

Chapter End Notes

Up Next: “Get your cloak and your Susan. Come with me.”