Theodore glanced over at Zach, and then cast a charm around him and Tracey to muffle the sound, knowing that there was a good possibility this would get louder. She was upset, he could see that, and he wasn't going to require her to keep her voice down when she was receiving possibly the worst news of her life.
The awful part was, he had answers for her now. He hadn't entirely understood it until he had read that part of the book - he'd skipped around at first in his attempt to discover what his father hadn't written about it, and then started from the beginning - but now he had a much better idea. He scooted his chair closer to her, taking her hand in both of hers, hoping that he could reassure her. "It makes you complacent," he said gently, quietly. "It makes you comply with, and believe, that everything the Ministry or the Death Eaters say is reasonable and justified. It helps them rule the population with scare tactics, but the people will never fear - or question - them."