Luck of Nines

82

Harry slipped down from his shoulders, transforming to talk, but Theo was already moving from the entrance hall and through the secret passage which led to the smaller portion of the house which they both spent the majority of their time in.  Feeling the exhaustion and frustration that was practically rolling off Theo in waves he switched to a larger four legged shape, loping alongside.

They made it through the kitchen and up the stairs before finally turning into Theo's office and into what was essentially a large broom cupboard sized space where Theo had made his room. Without pausing to remove his boots or make himself comfortable Theo simply collapsed face first into the bedding with a long, drawn out groan.

Harry paused to watch them from the entryway, wary. He'd seen Theo have this sort of meltdown before, there was a test coming up in one class and another had assigned loads of homework, and Draco along with the other first year Slytherins and even some second, would not stop pestering for help. He had left the common room early that night, marching out after snapping his books shut with finality. When, Goyle had foolishly followed and pestered him, the fellow first year had ended up stuck to the ceiling, bound and gagged for the whole night, only being let down- falling with a loud thud- when Theo left for breakfast.

Theo might have been magically weak back then, but he'd known how to use his growing knowledge and skills alongside helpful artifacts to the best effect.

He was not magically weak now, and had not lost that brutally resourceful edge either.

Finally assured that Theo was not going to be volatile, he inched closer, resting his head on Theo's arm and sitting down to wait to finish the conversation.

Theo rose up with a groan, "Sorry." His voice even sounded tired and easily remembering the many nights he'd fallen and woken to the quiet noises of Theo in his office he had to wonder how much sleep the other had gotten.

His knowledge was limited, but from bits and pieces of knowledge gleamed from listening in to conversations going on in the office he knew Theo was assisting various magical research organization for favors and such, at least five separate projects that didn't include the one Hermione had been requested to get Theo's assistance on.

That he was also managing the aftermath and tracking the various escapees from the Azkaban break that Theo and Draco had planned and carried out with the help of the twins and Luna.

That Theo was a major assistant in the twins' smuggling operation as well and managed spies and spies on his spies in the ministry, knights of Walpurgis, Blue Cobalts, Order of the Phoenix, the Bulstrode's political party- despite being a major last resort support for them, and even Draco's own group, alongside keeping an eye on the goblins who were organizing amidst the chaos the other organizations were causing- weakening the government for them to strike and finally free themselves from the creature regulations that had been imposed on them.

And on top of all of that, Theo had slowly been increasing his control of the legal supply chains that flowed in and out of both the muggle and magical Britains which Draco's people and the twins mostly ignored.

Harry watched curiously as Theo tugged off his outer layer- which ended strewn atop a large pile of laundry on a precarious chair- and loosened the cloth at his neck before kicking off his shoes.

The room that was connected to his office really was cramped, the small, narrow bed took up more than half the space available. There was a shelf above it, littered with various knick knacks. The chair, where various articles of clothing hung or were strewn over the chair, was pressed between the wall and the bed, and a spare set of boots were tucked beneath the bed.