Teddy looks into the Mirror of Erised. Part of my Mirror of Erised series! This is being re-posted as I've deleted the muliti-chapter story that it previously belonged in.
Disclaimer - I don't own anything to do with Harry Potter; they all belong to thier respective owner.
Enjoy!
"Damn, damn, damn!"
Teddy Lupin had caught his foot on the hem of his trousers and gone flying down the last two steps, landing in a heap at the foot of the stairs.
It was not an unusual scene; a turquoise haired third year sneaking down from the boys dormitories into the common room in the middle of the night, as quietly as possible. Which was usually quite loud, considering the young boys dire clumsiness.
He pulled himself up, moaning and rubbing his elbow as he did so. The common room was silent and Teddy could see that the fire hadn't been out long; there were still a haze of grey emitting from the dying embers. He crept through the common room, past the fireplace and comfy chairs and had almost reached the door when;
"Teddy! You're sneaking out. Again!" Victoire had leapt up from her space in front of the fireplace and cut him off just as he had reached out to open the door leading to the rest of the castle.
"Oh, Victoire! Whadda you doing here?" He recoiled slightly at the sight of his younger friend, who looked surprisingly intimidating in her pale blue dressing gown.
"Waiting for you, obviously. You're always sneaking out in the middle of the night, and don't try to deny it," she held her hand out to silence any protests he had been planning to make, "Hannah told me she saw you two nights ago, and Cora saw you last week. So where have you been going?" she demanded, crossing her arms across her chest.
He contemplated not telling her but he had always been hopeless at lying… especially to Victoire. "I just… go and look around, really. Different places. The castle's so big and I like to explore when there's no one else around to stop me." He stuttered, trying to sound convincing. It wasn't a lie; he had been sneaking around the castle at night a lot recently but he hadn't wanted anyone to know in case they wanted to come too. The whole point of exploring at night was so he could be alone, but evidently his clumsiness had cost him that luxury.
She kept quiet for a few seconds, before nodding and though sensing his thoughts said, "I want to come too."
"No way!" he answered immediately, shaking his head at her.
"Yes way! Or else I tell Mcgonagall what you've been up too."
"You wouldn't!"
"I would!" She cried, and the pair stood staring at each other, each daring the other to speak first.
"Fine! But you need to keep quiet!"
She grinned with glee and followed Teddy out of the portrait hole.
"Who's waking me at this ho- oh. It's you again, boy. Well then…" the fat lady drifted off to sleep once more as though she hadn't been disturbed in the first place.
The pair wandered seemingly aimlessly for the better part of half an hour, mainly in a silence that was only broken when Victoire would ask where they were going which always got the same reply.
"I've told you, Victoire. We're exploring. If you're tired, then you can go back." But to his annoyance, she didn't and so the pair kept on walking along corridors, down staircases, past classrooms until they came across a locked door hidden away on the second floor, behind a large tapestry of a herd of centaurs.
"Teddy, I don't think we should go in there; that's where Filth always hangs around."
Teddy examined the door, which was different to any other in the ancient castle; considerably smaller and shabbier with a thick metal lock binding it shut.
"No-one goes in there! It's an unspoken Hogwarts rule!" she continued as Teddy looked at the door with interest.
"All the more reason to check it out." He smiled at her and she looked again at the door nervously but unmistakably excited.
He pointed his wand at the lock on the door, "Alohomora." Nothing happened. Sighing with disappointment, he turned to Victoire who, to his surprise, had already drawn her wand.
"Oh, that's easy!" she pushed past him, clutching her wand determinedly, "Aunt Hermione taught me how to break powerful locking spells ages ago." She pointed her wand at the lock and muttered a spell that Teddy didn't recognise and almost instantaneously, the lock clicked and the pair cringed as the ancient door creaked open, the sound bouncing off the surrounding walls. As if to escape the noise, the pair darted through the door and pulled it shut behind them.
Teddy immediately fumbled around the inside of his sweater and pulled out what looked like a tatty piece of parchment. He put his wand to it and whispered as quietly as possible without being inaudible, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." He sniggered as Victoire gaped at the parchment as ink swirled into shapes and hundreds of stationary dots appeared out of nowhere.
"It's alright, Filch is up on the sixth floor. There's no-one around." He pointed his wand at the parchment again and the ink disappeared as quickly as it had appeared after Teddy whispered, "Mischief managed."
"What is that?" Victoire asked, her face laced with wonder and her eyes bright and wide with interest.
"Oh, it's called the Marauder's map. My dad and his friends invented it when they were at Hogwarts and it allowed them to know where everyone in the castle was. Harry gave it to me. Cool, eh?" he placed the map back inside his pocket.
"Yeah!" she turned and her eyes widened in shock, "What the heck is this place!"
"Dunno. I've never been in here before; the door was always locked!" He looked around the large room, feeling elated at the overwhelming amount of stuff. It was as though the room had been used as a dumping ground for centuries; there was barely any floor space unoccupied in sight, save that of a small path winding out of view behind a large statue of a two-headed goblin. The room was dusky due to the fact that only a few lamps were lit but they were able to see relatively easily regardless.
"Well c'mon! This is awesome!" Teddy sprinted straight past the statue of the two-headed goblin, taking in some of the smaller, silver treasures on a tattered table beside it.
"Teddy, wait!" she dashed after him but soon lost him amidst the mishmash of objects.
Teddy stumbled over the leg of a chair not far from where Victoire was now looking for him, and landed firmly on his rear. With a groan he looked up and gasped at what he saw.
"Oh, wow! Victoire, come look at this!" he shouted over his shoulder and when receiving no answer he turned around, tearing his eyes away from the treasure he just found. The mirror towered over him, even as he stood up to his full height, and hid anything that might have been behind it.
"Victoire?" he contemplated turning back to find her so that he could show her the mirror, but something stopped him.
He gazed into the mirror, feeling entranced by the dilapidated form and the slightly blurred reflection of himself. He watched his brow furrow; his turquoise eyebrows pulled down and towards each other as two shapes, slightly bigger than himself, began swirling into life on either side of his reflection.
"Teddy..?" he heard faintly, obviously Victoire was some distance away.
He ignored her. He felt his breath hitch in his throat as the shapes materialised into two forms he knew so well, yet not at all. He spun around on his heel to look behind him. There was no-one there.
"I… don't understand." He looked into the eyes of his father first; Uncle Harry had told him that he was intelligent so he would surely be able to explain why he was there? With him but… not?
He looked different to the pictures Teddy had been shown by his relatives, Harry and the Weasleys. That man had looked tired in the majority of the photographs, and considerably more lined than he appeared here. His shabby robes were the same, though but he didn't seem to care. His hair was less slicked with grey and thicker and he looked contented, though a small, sad smile besieged his lips. His warm amber eyes bored into Teddy's own, deep blue tonight, and he felt a surge of warmth down his cheek.
The reflection said nothing but placed a hand on Teddy's shoulder and although he felt sudden warmth, there was nothing there when he looked down. A vacant space where something should be. As though surrounded by their ghosts, he placed his hand over his father's but only the wool from his homemade sweater greeted his palm. He looked back to the mirror and his shoulder a few times to make sure he wasn't dreaming. But his father's reflection was definitely there, standing beside him, a hand now enveloped between Teddy's shoulder and hand.
"Mum?" he tore his eyes away from his father and looked at the second form, eyes drinking in every detail.
The second reflection nodded and her mouth burst into a wide smile, dark eyes twinkling. She looked more like the pictures Teddy had seen; the same pretty heart-shaped face and short hair, the exact shade of bubble-gum. Grandromeda had told him it was her favourite style and colour to wear her hair and Teddy had found himself waking up with the shade subconsciously most mornings since he had found out this information, before he had a chance to change it. She was only slightly taller than he was and he watched in awe as she rested her head gently against his reflection's, before placing a kiss on his temple. His watched his reflection touch the spot she had just kissed; it felt warm.
The boy watched with longing as his own reflection was then attacked with hugs and kisses from his mother, feeling only slight warm sensations on his cheeks as the reflection of his mother kissed them, her arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders. His father had joined in now and was holding his wife and son close and Teddy could hear the ghosts of their laughter whispering in his ears.
He could feel them, but where were they?
He felt his chest heaving as he lurched forward, down onto his knees, slamming his clammy hand against the cool glass. His reflection was the only one left; his parents had disappeared. A cold, empty feeling spread through his hand and down his torso and he felt his stomach drop.
They had left him again.
"Teddy? This isn't funn- oh! There you are!" Victoire rushed to his side. "Why are you on the floor? Teddy? Are you alright?" she fussed, kneeling to his level but he quickly pushed her away, ashamed at the tears that had formed in his eyes.
"I'm fine, Victoire. Let's go; it's late." He pushed himself up, pausing only to look into the mirror again. It was empty.
She followed obediently, pretending she didn't see the tears.
"Teddy," she said softly, as they reached the door "I'm sorry, but your hair's pink and I know how much you hate that colour."
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