Ride or Die

Brotherhood

Chapter 14: Brotherhood

"Greg, man, I'm sorry," Theo said, shaking his head. "I don't know what to tell you."

"Susan's fucked up over this, Theo," Greg muttered into the phone. "I don't know how to help her other then promising her we'll look into it. And I can't do that without you and Draco."

Theo shook his head, pacing the hospital corridor. "You have to talk to Draco, then, not me. I've got no influence with Tom - "

"I don't want Tom on this," Greg said, growling slightly. "There's a reason I'm not calling him."

"Still," Theo pressed. "This is something you need to bring up to Draco. If he's in, then - "

"You fucking know he's not in," Greg snapped. "He's only in if you talk him into it."

"So - what, then, you want me to convince him?" Theo asked, scoffing. "Fuck, Greg, we've sort of got a lot on our plates right now. I can't make promises."

"I'm not asking for promises, Theo," Greg said. "I just know that if anyone's going to make sense of what happened, it's going to be you two."

"Fuck," Theo muttered under his breath. "Fine. I'll talk to him." He wandered back into the waiting room, looking around for him. "Don't know where he is, but - "

"I gotta go, Nott," Greg interrupted. "Susan, she's - she's really upset. Her aunt was important to her."

"Yeah, I got it," Theo sighed. "I'll talk to Draco and we'll see what we can do, okay?"

"Thanks," Greg said, clearing his throat. "I really appreciate it, Theo."

"Yeah," Theo muttered, hanging up and tucking his phone in his pocket. He looked around, rubbing his eyes as he sought out Draco in the waiting room; nothing.

Fuck, he thought wearily, trying to ignore the exhaustion throbbing in his bones. To think he'd started the night hoping it would end somewhere completely different.

He thought of Fleur for a moment and felt something that was both an immediate rush of warmth in his chest and a disturbing throb of his cock, still tense from her ungodly skill at foreplay. He shook himself of the thought, beginning to wander the hospital until he finally gave in to the incessant tapping of his conscience, heading up to his father's room for a distraction.

"Dad," he said quietly, opening the door and slipping inside. "Hey."

Theodore Nott Sr had been sleeping, but he cracked one eye as Theo shut the door quietly behind him. His father groaned incoherently, shifting slightly in the hospital bed.

"What the fuck," Nott rasped, promptly interrupting himself with a loud, unsettling cough, "are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you too, Dad," Theo remarked, falling into the chair beside his bed and propping his feet up beside his father. "Things going well?"

"Fuck off," Nott muttered, but he pursed his lips, eyeing Theo. "So gracious of you to stop by, Theodore."

"Mulciber was stabbed," Theo informed him, waving absently in the direction of the ER. "Showed up a few hours ago." He paused, eyeing his hands. "Has Riddle mentioned anything to you about the Greyback fiasco?"

"He mentioned you fucked it up, yeah," Nott supplied crisply, closing his eyes. "So this is Greyback's doing, then?"

"We think so," Theo replied, glossing over the insult. "Though it may not be the only thing Greyback's been up to."

"Yeah, well, he likes to keep busy," Nott grunted. "That's been true far longer than you've even been alive."

"And I suspect it will continue long after I'm dead," Theo added. At his father's low huff of disapproval, Theo looked up, meeting his eye. "What?"