Chapter 1:
While most wizards Teddy Lupin's age grew up idolizing Harry Potter, Teddy idolized Allen Iverson. He idolized Harry Potter too, but his godfather was too close to him to seem like the heroes from stories or history books or chocolate frog cards, even though he featured in each of these categories prominently. He was a normal, loving, occasionally irritating godfather. Allen Iverson, on the other hand, was magical.
On April 20, 2003, in a first round playoff game against the New Orleans Hornets, Allen Iverson scored 55 points, dished out 8 assists, and captivated a sick Teddy Lupin on his fifth birthday. His grandmother had been planning a small party for the boy to be attended by their close friends, but he had come down with a fever the day before and the two of them had decided that it would be best to postpone the get-together until a later date. So instead Teddy laid on the living room sofa and watched whatever came on TV, and what happened to come on TV was game one of the first round Eastern Conference Playoffs series between the Philadelphia 76ers and New Orleans Hornets.
He had never seen basketball before, but Teddy got immediately caught up in the fluidity with which the players moved and dribbled and the rhythm with which they shot. It didn't take him long to figure out how the game was played, and even less time to figure out that Allen Iverson was playing it better than anyone else. He crossed people over, he drove the lane, he changed the pace of the game at will, and he did everything with swagger. If the defenders backed off of him he'd knock down a shot in their face. If they played him close he'd drive past them and make the layup or draw a foul. To Teddy, the game was a dance where nobody knew all the steps but AI.
For the few hours that the game lasted he forgot he was even sick, and as soon as it ended he pressed his grandma for more information on what this beautiful thing that he had just witnessed was. To his surprise she had never heard of basketball, but from the TV Guide they were able to figure out that the second game between these teams would be on in three days. Teddy watched Philadelphia win that game and go on to win the series. When they lost in the next round Teddy cried for hours. He would watch the rest of the playoffs, but he wanted to see more Allen Iverson.
He got his wish from Harry, who heard about Teddy's new obsession from his grandmother Andromeda, was willing to do anything to make his godson happy, and could navigate the muggle world well enough to obtain a stack of tapes of NBA games. Teddy went through the stack in a week, then went through every stack that was brought to him until the NBA season started again and he watched games as they happened. Over the ensuing years Teddy came to love not only Allen Iverson but Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter, Lebron James, Tracy McGrady, Luol Deng, and a host of others.
The summer after that first game he got a mini-basketball and mini-basketball hoop, then before too long a full sized basketball and basketball hoop. He played every day, and since he didn't know anyone who knew how to play he learned through trial and error and from watching his idols on TV. When his grandmother deemed him old enough he went into town and played against whichever muggle children would take him on, with time becoming the most skilled player in his age group.
He had to be careful not to let himself get carried away, as there were a few instances when he was particularly determined that he jumped higher than any muggle child should be able to, or his opponent's shot mysteriously fell to the ground on its way towards the basket. But these were the exceptions, and Teddy became the King of basketball on the playground through his own hard work and dedication to getting better.
When his letter from Hogwarts arrived and it came time for Teddy to leave home on the Hogwarts Express, he turned frantic at the thought that he wouldn't be able to play basketball for an entire year. Again his godfather came to his aid, as Harry told him about a room that would provide you with anything you required. Teddy followed his directions to the room the day after he arrived and, to his relief and delight, an entire basketball gym presented itself when he opened the door, complete with everything one would need to play the sport, as well as a small lounge area with a sofa facing a screen not quite like a television (Teddy knew no electronic devices would work within Hogwarts' walls, as Hermione had incessantly reminded him of the fact once she found out he was trying to pack a miniature T.V. in his trunk to watch NBA games) that would display any basketball game he wished to view.
It wasn't easy finding people to play with; there were a few muggle-born students who would occasionally indulge his requests for a game of one-on-one and the odd student who was simply curious about this strange sport with only one ball and one hoop to shoot it at, but none of them provided any real competition for him. Nevertheless, he went to the Room of Requirement as often as he could and was so excited about the gym that it was the only thing he wrote about in his first correspondence home, forgetting even to mention the fact that he had been sorted into Hufflepuff, information his grandmother requested of him in her own letter the following day.
Teddy developed well at school, more as a basketball player than as a wizard, but not at the bottom of his class in his magical ability either. While his colleagues dreamed of becoming Aurors or Quidditch players, Teddy's dreams still rested with the NBA. He was made to reevaluate these dreams the summer after his first year at school, when he and his grandmother where over at Harry and Ginny's house for supper, in the presence too of Ron and Hermione.
The adults were questioning him about school, his year, and life in general when it came up that he wished to become a professional basketball player. Hermione looked up from her plate and said, concerned but adamant, "But you can't really hope to play professionally, can you?"
Everyone turned to Hermione in silence, as was common when she said something she expected everybody else to understand but nobody did. It was Ron that broke the silence by saying "And why shouldn't he play professionally? All he's ever cared about is basketball, hasn't he?"
"Surely you know that Wizards and Witches are prohibited from partaking in competitive Muggle Sports by the Statue of Secrecy," said Hermione.
"And why would I know that?" he asked.
"Really, Ron. You worked in the Ministry for five years and you don't..."
But Teddy lost track of the conversation, his whole world shook by this revelation of Hermione's, spoken as casually as any other meaningless factoid she had stored in her brain. He got up from the table and hurried away from the room to a place where he could stifle his sobs in his palms. His grandmother followed close behind though, so he turned and cried into her shoulder as she told him how sorry she was.
He stopped crying after a few minutes, thinking to himself that he was twelve and ought not to behave like this any longer, but the anguish he felt upon hearing that his dreams were impossible remained, stabbing him incessantly in his gut. Harry came into the room before long and asked if he could speak to Teddy, to which his grandma nodded, patting him on the shoulder as she left the room.
Harry took her place crouched next to Teddy. "You alright?" he asked.
Teddy took a sniffling breath and answered "I s'pose."
Harry rocked back into a sitting position and said "Y'know, just because the Ministry says it's illegal to become a professional basketball player doesn't mean you have to give up."
"Oh yeah, how's that?" Teddy asked a little aggressively.
"I just mean there's usually a way around things. Or a way to change what you want a little bit without giving up on your dreams completely. The Ministry's been making exceptions or alterations to their rules for years; there's no way to know what things will be like in the future. And you have pretty good connections in the government if you want to go that route."
"Yeah," said Teddy, somewhat skeptical but a little reassured. "I dunno."
"Just keep working hard and focus on getting better. You can still dream about the NBA." Harry stood up and nodded towards the door back into the dining room. "You can come back in whenever you like. Hermione was crying harder than you when she realized just what she said."
Teddy nodded and after a few more minutes did rejoin the table, where Hermione burst into tears once again and hugged him and told him she was so sorry and she should have thought to tell him earlier only she didn't know he wanted to make basketball his career as Harry and Ron had never told her and soon enough Teddy tuned everybody out and thought about what he was going to do.
Harry was right, of course, that he wouldn't give up on basketball. That thought never really entered his mind. He really should have thought about restrictions on wizards playing muggle sports, but he'd been so wrapped up in the idea that all he had to do to make the NBA was work hard that it had never entered his mind to consider this. He wouldn't be making himself nine feet tall or levitating himself around the court. He would only rely on his skills as a basketball player, not his skills as a wizard. But there was no way the ministry could know he would stick to that. If there was some way to reassure them that he'd play the game honestly . . .
But Teddy couldn't think how. And when he went back to school and asked professors they couldn't think how. Even Hermione couldn't think how. It seemed to be a simple fact of life that sports was one area where the worlds of muggles and wizards could not overlap. The only exception was rugby, in which there was a longstanding tradition of making sure at least one Squib made the Scottish national team.
Teddy followed this train of thought one morning while extracting juice from Gurdyroots in Herbology and got the attention of Professor Longbottom who was watching the class nearby.
"Professor Longbottom," Teddy said. "Is it possible to pretend you're a squib? Or to become a squib for a few hours, like through transfiguration or polyjuice potion or something?"
Professor Longbottom shook his head. "I shouldn't think so. Polyjuice potion only changes your physical appearance, not your magical abilities. And transfiguration is much the same. Everyone used to think I was a squib, but then I got my letter from Hogwarts just like any other wizard. I don't think it's something you can pretend. If you're wondering how Filch gets around the castle so quickly, it's mostly the secret passageways. That and his stupefyingly old cat."
"No, it isn't that," Teddy said.
Professor Longbottom bent over to see Teddy's face better, looking rather concerned. "Are you alright, Teddy? Something the matter?"
Teddy looked up and wiped the water out of his eyes. "No, it's just all these Gurdyroots. Do you really serve this stuff at the Leaky Cauldron? I've never seen anybody buy it."
Longbottom straightened up. "Well, we get all sorts at the Leaky Cauldron. And Hannah makes sure to keep a steady supply in case one of the Lovegoods drops in."
Teddy didn't get much encouragement from his Herbology professor, but he at least had a new direction to look in, and he started getting books from the library about squibs: their history, their status, and their abilities. It was mostly dull reading. Nothing much of interest had happened since Angus Buchanan, and he had written My Life as a Squib over one hundred years ago.
Teddy finally found an answer to his conundrum, or at least the possibility of one, in a scroll from the fourteenth century. Inventing spells was made into something of a competition in that time, and wizards would come up with numerous incantations with little to no use or purpose. To most, the spell Teddy came across would be no exception, but to him it was, at long last, a way to achieve his dreams of playing in the NBA.
There was a cost to it though, and Teddy's decision as to its justification would speak to the duality that had been within him since that fateful birthday seven years before.