He was halfway to getting his wand back out of his jacket pocket when she reached over and touched his shoulder. Theo tensed – and he had no excuse for this, or for his jaw suddenly clenching, besides maybe surprise – but he froze for a moment unwittingly. There was nothing wrong with anything she had said – she had smiled at him perfectly kindly – but he felt a flash of hot resentment for her anyway.

But that was stupid, none of this was her fault. She was just another pawn in it, probably didn’t even know what she had been getting herself into with the Lestranges. “It was nothing I did,” Theo said, to brush her off (thanking him, in what world? – when he would have never had this way if he could help it; I would have begged him to stay, if I could); but, forcibly, he softened his face until he was smiling back at her. He ought to feel sorry for her, as sorry as he felt for himself.

Her undeserved earnest gratitude didn’t sit comfortably on him, so Theo concentrated on casting the cooling spell, settling his other hand on the non-burned side of her knee to hold her steady. It sent a bluish sheen over the area, the burn rippling underneath like a refracted scene underwater; Theo passed the spell over it a few times – it wouldn’t heal anything, but he hoped it would keep the pain at bay at least until they got out of here. (Who knew when that would be, but...) “How’s that?” he asked, glancing up again.

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