Raised By Wolfstar: Slytherin Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince

Chapter Fifteen: A Very Frosty Christmas

'And you are positive that what Snape was doing offering Draco a helping hand?'

'If you ask that once more,' said Harry, 'I'm going to stick this cranberry branch—'

'Bloody hell, I was just being sure. You almost sounded like Allison there!' said Theodore quietly so no one but Harry could hear. They were standing at one end of the Burrow's kitchen picking cranberries off their bunches and washing them on one end while Ron and Ginny were peeling a mountain of sprouts at the other end. Christmas Eve was a full moon so Remus had Harry and Theodore with the Weasley's in the afternoon and was going to pick them up once the moon set the following morning. Harry felt bad that Canini and their adoptive father would be spending Christmas Eve and morning in pain in Stow-On-The-Wold Cottage while Harry and Theodore were warm and cozy watching the snow drifting past the window in front of them. One other bonus to them being at the Weasley's was that Harry's fellow tri-wizard champion, Fleur Delacour, was staying there with her fiancé Bill and she was very happy to see Harry again.

'Yes, Snape was offering to help him!' said Harry. 'He said he'd promised Malfoy's mother to protect him, that he'd made an Unbreakable Oath or something—'

'What do you mean "or something?" Do you not know what an Unbreakable Vow is? And are you sure Snape said he made one, because that isn't good at all,' said Theodore looking quite nervous. 'And are you sure Snape said he made one, because that isn't good at all.'

'Yes, I'm sure,' said Harry. 'And yes I don know, so what does it mean?'

'Well I guess the simplest answer is that you can not break an Unbreakable Vow...'

'I'd worked that much out for myself, funnily enough. What happens if you break it, then?'

'You die,' said Theodore simply. 'My father used to threaten me all the time that he'd make me do an Unbreakable Vow that I'd do all the chores in the mansion or die from being lazy. A couple times he even took out his wand and reached for my arm but I always managed to slip away...although I'd always get a furious beating later.'

Theodore's voice was a little shaky after saying the last part, as it often was when he managed to discuss the abuse he faced at the hands of his biological father. Harry managed to put a hand gently onto his shoulder, however before Harry could say anything comforting, everyone in the room was interrupted.

'Aaah, George, look at this. They're using knives and everything. Bless them,' said Fred as he and George entered the room. They were making fun of Ron and Ginny for not being allowed to use magic.

'I'll be seventeen in two and a bit months' time,' said Ron grumpily, 'and then I'll be able to do it by magic!'

'But meanwhile,' said George, sitting down at the kitchen table and putting his feet up on it, 'we can enjoy watching you demonstrate the correct use of a—whoops-a-daisy!'

'You made me do that!' said Ron angrily, sucking his cut thumb. 'You wait, when I'm seventeen—'

Harry and Theodore couldn't help but just watch this dramatic scene right in front of them.

'I'm sure you'll dazzle us all with hitherto unsuspected magical skills,' yawned Fred.

'And speaking of hitherto unsuspected skills, Ronald,' said George, 'what is this we hear from Ginny about you and a young lady called—unless our information is faulty—Lavender Brown?'

Ron turned a little pink, but did not look displeased as he turned back to the sprouts. He turned his head ever so slightly towards his sister. 'Gin, mind your own business.'

'What a snappy retort to your only sister,' said Fred. 'I really don't know how you think of them. No, what we wanted to know was...how did it happen?'

'What d'you mean?'