Paying My Dues

After showing us around the barn and explaining all of our chores, all of which sound fucking exhausting, I am slumped in a bench on the porch next to Theo. Mr. Heart has left to fetch his other granddaughter and introduce us. I’m not sure I have the capacity to interact with another human being. I can’t believe the extent of the work we have to do here. There’s so many tasks and they never end. And we have to do them all without magic. I miss my house-elves. When I get home, I will definitely make sure to show them my appreciation.

Theo sighs and I glance over at him.

“Are you okay?”

I don’t really know why I’m asking. We don’t really talk about stuff like this.

“I’m fine,” Theo says shortly. He twists the hem of his shirt in his hands.

Theo’s jaw works and I would wager he’s still stewing over yesterday.

“Famed Death Eater, Quincy Nott, sentenced to the Dementor’s Kiss for the murder of innocent Muggles, torture of Ministry officials, and abuse of his son, Theodore Xavier Nott.”

Theo had been silent about the article prior to our own trial. But he had carried that same vacant look on his face as he displays now. Theo softly sighs and looks out at the farmyard, not really focusing on anything.

We’ve been friends since we were kids, our families always intertwined through their pureblood beliefs. When Theo’s mother died, my father had strictly instructed me to stay away from Theo for the appropriate amount of time. That had turned into the whole summer, he was in the house with his father. When I was finally allowed to see him, shopping for our very first year at Hogwarts, his arm was in a sling and he was thinner than a skeleton. It was the first time I cried around him. I had felt so fucking guilty for leaving him with his father. He was eleven. We were eleven. I had thanked Merlin for the escape to Hogwarts, although my father managed to ruin it by reminding me I was a failure to the Malfoy name if I didn’t manage to make friends with the new famous boy. That didn’t work out so well. But come every year end, I would hug Theo tightly and pray that he stayed safe. I would come up with any and every excuse to go over to their house. Often, I would question my father about all the women that came and went. He would always tell me I’d understand when I was older.

Theo had survived by doing what he does best. Being stronger than anyone knows, holding his head high, and burying it with humour. I want to tell him how grateful I am to even have him sitting here beside me. There were a lot of times during the war that it was touch-and-go. Mr. Nott wanted a Death Eater son. And he would stop at nothing to achieve that.

I don’t know how Theo feels about his father being sentenced. I want to ask but again, we don’t talk like that. I choose a safer route instead.

“What are you thinking about?”

He turns to me, breaking his staring into the distance.

“Nothing.” I narrow my eyes at him. “My father,” he sighs.

“Ah.”

We sit in silence for a moment before Theo speaks in a small voice.

“Do you think he deserves it?”

“Yes.” I answer with finality. I’m quite sure that if anyone deserves the most fatal punishment known to the wizarding world, it’s Theo’s father. “Do you?” I ask quietly.

“I don’t know. He…he isn’t perfect. And he- I.. part of me wonders if he’s still the same man that would take us for ice cream and let us run around Diagon Alley when we were little.” The words spill out from his mouth, like a rushed confession. His shoulders slump and he stares firmly ahead, not looking at me.

“Theo…” I say softly, “I understand that you might hope for that… but he deserves worse for what he did to you.”

Theo turns to look at me now. I hold his gaze for a minute before he stands and strides away, pausing at the very edge of the steps to the porch. I watch him survey the yard again in silence.

Our tranquillity is broken by the creak of the porch door swinging open. Mr. Heart walks through accompanied by two women. I shoot to my feet, causing Theo to look around.

One of them is Iris. She is now chickenless, but still as captivating. Her sister, I’m guessing, stands in front of her.

“This is Emily,” Mr. Heart introduces the second girl.

I study the two girls. Iris is much shorter than Emily. And while Iris has bright, shiny blue eyes, Emily has much darker almost navy blue eyes. Her cheekbones are drawn higher, causing her appearance to be much more sharp and drawn. She offers a confident hand and I take it.

“Draco Malfoy,” I offer.

“Pleased to meet you.” She speaks stiffly and her jaw is set. Theo swoops in after me and plasters on his most charming smile.

“Theodore Nott, darling. Incredibly pleased to be here.”

I roll my eyes. This fucking idiot. She shakes Theo’s hand firmly and does not reply to his flirtation. I grin internally, I love when women are immune to Theo’s charms. It always throws him off. I bite back a smile as Theo blinks confusedly while Emily walks down the stairs, talking to us over her shoulder.

“I’m sure my grandfather showed you everything you’ll be working on.”

“Yes,” I reply, seeing a potential opening here. “You know, it would go a lot easier if we were able to use magic to-”

“If you’re looking for sympathy, you’ll find none with me, Death Eaters scum,” she spits at us angrily. Well there goes that plan.

“Em!”

A softer voice speaks up from behind us. I turn and find breathing hard momentarily. Iris is standing close to me, her arms crossed and her brow furrowed.

“I thought we agreed,” she says sternly.

“Yeah whatever. I’m bringing the horses in.”

Emily marches off towards the barn. Iris sighs and rubs her temple.

“I’m sorry about that. I told her this is your second chance, your atonement. We should be helping you move forward and learn, not throwing it in your face.”

I grin. This girl is all sunshine. It’s adorable. But naive. She wouldn’t have lasted an hour in the war.

“So you think that we’re here to, what? Change our beliefs?”

She looks at me confused. “Isn’t that why you came here?”

Theo scoffs. “Sweetheart, we came here because we were ordered to. The stupid Ministry made us. We’re here because we did what had to be done and I don’t fucking regret it.” Theo sneers, a bit harshly I think privately.

Iris pales a bit. The optimism in her eyes dims and she looks down at the dark wooden boards.

“Oh.” Somehow the word carries more disappointment than I was expecting. It also affects me more than I thought it would. For some reason, I feel the urge to comfort her.

“Well, either way, you’re here to work. So we should get you guys accustomed. Come with me.” Her voice is back to the firm tone she used earlier.

We follow Iris down the stairs, my eyes staring at her ponytail swishing back and forth. I nearly stumble as I ignore where I’m walking, captivated by the back of Iris’s head. Theo snorts but I throw him a glare that silences him.

The sun is almost set now as Iris leads us over to the small chicken shed. Fenced in, a small building stands alone, with one small door and a chicken-sized entrance at the bottom. Iris swings the metal gate open and we step through. She latches it securely behind her. I see Theo checking out her ass as she walks towards the door. My fists clench in frustration. That fucking prick.

“So this is the chicken coop. Every evening we come in here, check their food and water, collect their eggs, and make sure everyone’s inside. The Muggles reintroduced wolves back into the ecosystem and they’ll go after the chickens,” Iris explains. She opens the door and steps inside. I follow her.

Inside the chicken coop is thin and cramped and I struggle to find enough space to let Theo in. The floor is covered in shavings and stray chicken feed. It smells and I crinkle my nose and try to ignore it. My eyes track on Iris’s movements instead. She checks the water bowl, the feed bowl, and begins collecting eggs from the wooden shelves stacked on the opposite wall. She collects the eggs in a small woven basket, which she hands to Theo.

She stops and places her hands on her hips. I watch her glance around.

“What are you looking for?”

“I’m counting the chickens. We’re missing one.”

She purses her lips and sighs. She turns to me and gestures to leave. I do, holding the door open for her to pass through.

The sun has fully sunk behind the hills and I can barely see anything. I glance around. I still have my wand for now.

“Lumos,” I whisper. My wand tip ignites and I look down to the ground.

“HOLY MOTHERFUCKER!”

A giant chicken stares up at me. I scream, very undignified, and stumble backwards.

“Oh there you are Milo!” exclaims Iris brightly. “Excellent, now we can get her into the coop, if you could just grab her-”

Too late. I’ve already backed as far away from the chicken as possible. Unfortunately, the chicken seems to not want to be parted from me, and follows me.

“Fucking Merlin what do I do?!” I yell, panicking. “Help! Make it stop!”

“It’s just a chicken, pick her up!” Iris giggles.

I side step the bird and quickly run towards the gate. But the bloody chicken follows me.

“AHHHH!!” I yell, bursting into a sprint. The chicken wobbles after me, determined. I race towards the gate, only to see Theo on the other side. He is holding the gate latch firmly shut and bent over laughing. Merlin, I hate him sometimes.

“For fuck’s sake someone help me!!” I cry, changing directions. The chicken sprints after me, clucking and hooting. I attempt to shoot a stunning spell at it, but it’s too small and is moving too fast. It won’t stop, I’m pretty sure it’s trying to kill me. Is this my karma? Really? Death by chicken?

Wham. I’ve run straight into a barrel on the ground and end up falling face-first into the earth. My nose aches and my fingers scrape the pebbly ground as I try to push myself up. I cautiously turn over and see the chicken staring at me, about a yard away.

“Fuck!” I yell, scrambling onto my back and away from the chicken. It slowly advances, it’s head cocked to the side. I clamber backwards until I hit the fence.

Just as I’m sure I’m going to die, Iris swoops in from behind and grabs the chicken. Her arms wrap around the chicken and she scoops it up.

I can breathe again. Iris sets off with the chicken while Theo walks over to me, practically howling.

“Please, please do that again tomorrow Draco,” he laughs.

“Fucking wanker. It wouldn’t stop. It doesn’t like me,” I snarl angrily. Theo doubles over laughing again. I growl in frustration and attempt to brush some of the dirt off of myself. I’m so fucking embarrassed and mad. I’m going to strangle that stupid, bloody chicken. It hasn’t even been a day and I fucking hate it here.

“Hey, are you alright? I’m sorry about Milo, she was-”

I storm away before Iris can finish her sentence. I’m mortified she saw that, and I’m thanking Merlin my father will never hear about this.

Theo leaves me alone to brood for the rest of our chores. We assist Iris with the goats and tending to the gardens, which involves lugging giant water buckets from the pump and back. I’m exhausted by the time we finish. Iris offers us dinner but I turn it down. I want to be alone. Theo declines too. My feud with the cursed chicken seemed to temporarily brighten his mood, but he’s since returned to his quiet pondering. Before we leave for the barn, Mr. Heart stops us. He asks for our wands and I begrudgingly hand mine over. Theo reluctantly gives his up and we trudge back to the barn in silence, with only a small lantern to light the way.

As we lay in bed, light long extinguished, I glance over at Theo’s bed. The room smells, the beds are so lumpy and uncomfortable, I’ve been humiliated and punished worse than ever in my entire lifetime, and yet…the only thing bothering me right now is that Theo is in conflict. I want to say something to reassure him, but neither of us are good at this. Again, we don’t talk like this.

“I..I will always take your side… Always,” I say into the darkness. I think perhaps Theo didn’t hear me or is asleep until he mutters back a reply.

“I know. I’m grateful…for you, I mean.”

“Me too,” I say softly. We say nothing else. That’s enough for us.