The mortifying ordeal of falling in love with your entire secret study group

7th year: Theo

On his way to the dormitory's shower the next morning, Theo nearly walked into Blaise, and... Theo stared.

Because Blaise was in front of him, very close, suddenly, with wet hair and water dripping down his face, running over his cheekbones and dropping to his collarbones, where his Rune pendant rested. And Theo froze, eyes fixed on Blaise's lips.

... Maybe that wasn't the best place to stare at, strategically.

"Theo," Blaise said, and stepped even closer.

Naturally, embarrassingly, Theo's mind blanked, and he didn't hear what Blaise said next. "What?"

"I... I'm sorry. It was me who... you killed Carrow because of me," Blaise explained.

Theo was so distracted he looked up into Blaise's eyes. Blaise seemed tense and conflicted, face full of sorrow. "Huh?" Theo said intelligently. He remembered Blaise skillfully duelling, and the fall of his hair when he leaned over Alecto to draw the runes, the proud smirk he'd given Theo and Theo alone. Theo had been too out of it to comprehend, probably, but now he was more awake. A little bit more awake, and his back hurt from staying at Daphne's bedside. Still, that was no excuse for his wits to leave him in a way this pathetic. Theo forcefully dragged his attention to the present.

"I made you a murderer," Blaise continued. "I wish I could undo it."

"No," Theo said. Yes, he'd been terrified, yes, the whole thing kind of blew up in their face, but he hadn't even considered regretting anything. Because it was Blaise. Theo knew himself well enough by now that the lines between dark and light magic were blurry for him when it came to protecting his friends. He had a Dark Lord's mark on his arm, and he got comfortable with the scent of decay that hung around his family's library and the taste left in his mouth after an act of magic that swallowed the light.

He closed the space between them and grabbed a hold of Blaise's neck. The towel Theo had been carrying on the way to the shower dropped to the floor, but Blaise's skin was wet and warm to the touch. Theo would kill Amycus Carrow again if it meant Blaise and Daphne were alive, and he'd kill many more if he had to. He pushed past the haziness still settled around his mind. This knowledge settled in his heart, and he knew it to have been true for a long time. And Blaise – Blaise was not allowed to feel bad about it.

"Look at me. I want you to take whatever guilt you think you feel, and throw it into the trash, where the Carrows both belong. So I said an unforgivable curse. What do I care if I am forgiven or not? Did you miss the fact where he was going to kill you? How he might have killed Daphne? How he threatened to crucio our idiotic classmates? I didn't have to think about it then, and I knew what I was doing, and I know what I did, and I am glad."

"But..."

"Blaise," Theo said. "I choose you. I have chosen you. I will choose you. Always. And if I sacrifice my soul to Death in the process, if I walk over corpses, if I die in an attempt to keep you alive – it will be my choice. Don't you dare feel bad about it."

Blaise's eyes cleared. He said, voice steady, "Only if you let me do the same."

"You already are doing that," Theo pulls Blaise close. He felt cool water through the thin shirt he was wearing, and for a moment all he could process was the citrusy shampoo and soap Blaise had favoured for years. He probably got Blaise all dirty again with the dried blood still on his robes. A simple cleaning charm would have taken care of that. What kind of wizard was he?

"... I forgive you, even if nobody else will," Blaise whispered. His hands were hot on Theo's back. He changed the subject with his signature smirk. "What do you think about the rumours that Daphne will be the next Dark Lady?"

Theo snorted as he unwrapped his arms from Blaise. "She will be loved, not feared."

Blaise smiled back at him, and made no move to step back.

So that was... that. After a moment that dragged out too long, Theo remembered that he did need to use the bathroom.

He sat on the floor in the shower, and contemplated his life and his choices.

His inner organs felt weird. But, good weird. And all it had taken was a conversation with Blaise, and Blaise smiling again. Honestly, Theo was too tired to consider this mush inside of him. He could put the weird feelings running through his entire body into a very small box in the back of his mind... yeah, Theo nodded to himself.

It was a foolproof, genius plan.