Something Golden

88.

Theo remains frozen in the doorway, his jaw hanging as he stares at me like I'm some sort of ghost. He aggressively rubs his eyes and when he looks over at me again he seems even more surprised that I'm still standing before him.

"Theo.." I say as I cross the room. He raises both of his hands, warning me to not come any closer but I keep stepping forward. One step and then another and another. I can hear the sound of his unsteady breaths as I take one final step in. "Theo." I say once more. "It's fucking good to see you brother." As soon as my hand rests down on his shoulder he throws his arms around me. We've never been the affectionate sort but just like the last time we saw one another, we make an exception. His fingers claw at my jacket like I'm about to vanish into thin air at any moment.

"You're alive." His voice wavers. "You're fucking alive."

"I won't be for much longer if you keep squeezing me like this." I choke out as his arms slowly crush my ribs. He releases his hold on me and takes a step back only to then swing his arm around, his fist making direct contact with my jaw. "What the fuck was that for?!" I ask, spitting the blood from my mouth onto the floor and working my jaw.

"That's for not telling us that you were still alive, you son of a bitch!" He ridicules. "Do you know how many nights I spent consoling Pans because of you? How many bottles of firewhiskey I consumed because I thought my best friend was dead? Even Blaise was messed up! He didn't make a single joke for a whole month. A MONTH! Do you know how bad he had to have been for that to happen? And this whole time you were alive?!"

"It's not like I was given a stationery kit while in prison to write you some love letters Theo." I argue, my voice remaining calm while his only grows angrier.

"If I know anything about you it's that you're fully capable of charming whoever to get whatever it is you want so don't give me that bullshit mate!" He shouts as he goes to punch me again but this time I stop his fist with my hand.

"Calm down."

"Fuck you!" He swings his left fist around but I stop that one as well.

"Theo!" My voice raising as I push him up against the wall. "Calm. Down."

"You let me believe that you were dead!"

"Not on purpose."

"Three years mate." His voice cracking as his anger fades and tears begin to fill his eyes. "Three fucking years. I thought I lost you. I.. I t-thought I lost my family."

"I know, I'm sorry." I sigh. "But you should've known you couldn't get rid of me that easily." The corner of my mouth lifting up into a smirk in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"You're a proper git, you know that?"

"I'm fully aware." Releasing both of his fists, I pull him into me again and whisper "I've missed you mate." He hesitates for a moment but eventually wraps his arms around me, soft sobs escaping the back of his throat.

"I missed you too."

-*-

Once Theo was able to calm down he and I spent around an hour catching up. He tells me that thanks to the wards I implemented they were able to stay at the France estate this entire time without any disturbances. I was hoping they would hold up, I didn't know if my father would attempt to go there.

My father.

Why does he keep getting brought up? First Pansy's dad and now Dolohov. And why can't they just tell me what it is I apparently don't know? I'm not a Ravenclaw for fucks sake, I don't get off on figuring out riddles. Some bluntness would be greatly appreciated.