The Heir & The Spare

Tremors of the Past

"Who did this to you Maia?" Theo asked firmly, she could see the anger in his eyes he was trying desperately to keep it under control.

"You never call me Maia Theodore" she joked trying to play down what had happened. Something she did all too often.

Theo's eyes were full of rage and worry, he had to take a breath before responding to her.

"Seven hells witch, will you just answer my shitting question!" he took another deep breath before speaking again "Is this where you went to after dinner? Is this what was happening to you? Whilst me and Draco were playing exploding snap and drinking Fire Whiskey you were being subjected to this? Does Draco know?"

Maia couldn't keep avoiding the questions anymore she had to tell him, she looked at him deep in his eyes, the crystal blue eyes now clouding over with rage. She put the tissue down on the dresser at the side of them.

"I'll answer in chronological order, Yes, this is where I went after dinner, Yes, this is what was happening when you and Draco were having fun and Yes, Draco knows this happens, but he doesn't know about this exact incident but I'm sure he suspected it might." She looked at the ground, her cheeks flushing red, sheer embarrassment at her best friend seeing her like this. She felt a hand gently pinch her chin and tilt her head upwards.

She hadn't had a chance to explain that Draco wasn't to blame, there was nothing he could do, Lucius was a twisted vile man who got off on the idea of no one hearing her being abused, no one able to save her, really drive the lesson home so he would cast protective wards on his study to prevent Draco from coming in and helping her.

The realisation crept over Theo's face that this wasn't the first time this had happened.

"It was Lucius, wasn't it? Because you were kind to the elf, to Mippy?" he continued to probe, she said nothing but just kept looking at him begging the tears not to start falling out of her eyes.

A single tear slipped out, rolling down her face and she suddenly felt him pull her into his embrace, his chest was warm, and he smelt like cigarettes, whisky, and pine. She felt safe. She could breathe again. He was stroking her hair for what felt like hours before he pulled back and placed both hands on her face gently wiping some of the blood off her face. Looking deep into her eyes.

"He will not ever hurt you like that again, everything is going to be okay, trust me. Because I love you, you're my best friend and I'm not going to let anything like this happen to you again. I promise Maia".

The way he spoke to her, she could tell he meant it, of course she knew it would happen again because Theo couldn't be around her every hour of the day but his promise, the way he spoke, the care in his face, the gentleness of his touch she almost believed him. He wiped his own tears away before pulling her back into his embrace and kissed her head.

As Maia stood in the safety of Theo's arms she felt it in her heart, deeper than she'd ever felt anything before, that she was terribly in love with the wizard. Theo was someone she could trust, trust with her life.

Maia was pulled out of her memory to the sound of knocking on her door and Draco's voice speaking to her. He was dressed now, his new branding hidden.

"Maia, he's here now" Draco declared. Draco had noticed the tears rolling down her face, she hadn't even noticed it herself. The memory of that night a year ago still sat at the forefront of her mind. "Are you alright Maia?" he asked, there was genuine concern in his voice.

She quickly wiped the tears away and headed to the door, "Yes, yes I'm fine no time to talk about it now" she replied quickly trying to shrug the whole thing off. The best thing about Draco was he never hovered; he never incessantly questioned her when he could tell she didn't want to talk about it.