Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or its entire franchise, that belongs to J.K. Rowling. Also, the song mentioned belongs to Hole
Throughout the halls, students were chatting about what to wear and who to go out with. Everywhere in the castle you could hear the girls gossiping about who would be going with who for the ball. You could also hear all the guys stressing over who they would ask to be their date. All the professors and students alike were preparing decorations for the school. No expense was spared. The portraits were gossiping about this new idea that the headmistress came up with. Those near the broom closets started asking their friends in other parts of the castle if they could meet up with them to avoid listening to couples sequestering themselves in the closets during the dance. House elves were scurrying around to prepare for the feast. Every being inside the castle was alight and excited for the event that would take place that night.
Except one student that was hiding away from the jovial atmosphere. The boy laid down trying to find a comfortable spot on top of the astronomy tower's roof. He had no reason to join the festivities nor did he care for the holiday to begin with. But he wasn't going to begrudge his fellow classmates or his professors for being excited, that's why he had slipped away right after classes before anyone would even notice his presence or lack thereof. He loosened the blue and bronze tie a little bit and untucked his shirt, no one else was up here so it didn't really matter what his appearance looked like.
Turning back to his thoughts, he thought back to when he was at his godfather's house for Halloween. He was glad he had found home at his godfather's, since his grandmother had died unexpectedly after he had turned 3 years old. He always found safety in his godfather's arms, and honestly thought of the man as his father. Even though his godfather had his own children, he never thought of the metamorphmagus as anything less than a beloved nephew. Uncle Harry had always treated Teddy as someone worthy of love and attention. Even though Teddy had concerns that he wasn't allowed to be loved since his parents and his grandparents were dead, Harry had taken the sniffling toddler in seven years ago and always lavished love and attention on the boy. Maybe it was because they shared a similar history, both being orphaned as a baby or maybe because Uncle Harry honestly cared for him. Teddy had become Uncle Harry's shadow within a year, and wherever he could find Harry he would stay glued to his side if he could. Harry had made Teddy's childhood as happy as he could, almost to the point of spoiling, but there was always something that was a bit different in the Potter household.
Halloween was not a happy holiday in the house for two reasons. One Uncle Harry had lost his parents on that fateful day so many years ago and was condemned to an unhappy childhood and awkward teenage years in the limelight of the wearing world. And two, Uncle Harry's marriage with Aun- no Ginny had fallen apart on that day. It had been a spectacular row that ended with Au- Ginny storming out the door to Grandma Weasley's house. Uncle Harry had gotten full custody of Jamie, Al, and Lily mainly because A- Ginny had thrown the biggest temper tantrum at court, it didn't even matter to the court that it was Harry Potter or that he had a good defense council. The case ended with Uncle Harry walking out of the courtroom with one godson, three kids and a restraining order on Ginny to keep her away from the now family of five and their household. It was a holiday of loss for the Potter household, and even though Uncle Harry had tried to make Halloween fun, Lilly started crying for her mommy. Jamie, in his four year old voice, said it was a mean holiday for taking mommy away and he didn't like Halloween anymore and Al started sniffling since Lily was crying, so Harry banished all the decorations and Halloween food and prepared a normal dinner.
Moving is train of thoughts, Teddy thought to two weeks ago, when Headmistress McGonagall declared as it was her final year of headmistress that there would be a Halloween Ball this year which would also be a costume party. Since then, everyone was getting into the spirit of things except the first year Ravenclaw that just kept eating his food as if the news wasn't worth noting. Even Victoire, who had been sitting next to him, was chatting away with her room mates of what she would be wearing that night. Teddy just continued his affairs like nothing had happened; although he had sent a letter to Uncle Harry discussing the ball and was worried that he wasn't going to be there when Al would be crying as he was now old enough to realize that it wasn't a good day even if he didn't know why. Uncle Harry had told him not to worry about things, that he was acting too much like an adult for his age and that he should try to have fun this year. He also sent Teddy a catalog of Halloween costumes and a note to say what costume he wanted so that Uncle Harry could buy the costume and send it to him. Teddy had smiled sadly as he thought of how his Uncle was trying to be as supportive as possible and that he didn't want Teddy to worry about him. But Teddy, even though he was only eleven years old, knew how much his Uncle was still hurting over the divorce; it was only a year ago, on top of everything seeming to go wrong on that day for him.
He was startled out of his depressing thoughts when someone had climbed up to the roof and sat next to him. Turning to face the intruder, he noticed the knowing smirk on Victoire's face. He sat up and turned to face his childhood friend, "I thought you would be downstairs figuring out what costume to wear."
"Oh I already figured it out ages ago, and I also know that you've been sulking here ever since Charms class ended." She said pulling her hair back into a ponytail as the wind was blowing her hair everywhere. Noticing he was about to deny it, she said "Come on Teddy, you've been sulking ever since you found out about the ball, people are noticing that the ward of the Savior of the Wizarding World is sulking about Halloween. That and your hair has been switching from blue to red nearly every day, I thought you had more control over your mood swings already." Looking straight into Teddy's eyes, she said, "Uncle Harry is ok with you having fun at the ball, so why don't you?"
Teddy flushed in righteous eleven year old anger. "For your information, I just don't like the holiday to begin with and two, Ginny went bat crazy last year at Uncle Harry on Halloween so forgive me if I don't like being reminded of it."
Victoire just rolled her eyes, "Teddy, how are you a Ravenclaw? You're such an idiot. Sulking about Halloween is making people think that you never had a happy Halloween, which means that Uncle Harry made everyone miserable on Halloween-"
"He never did!" Teddy interrupted angrily.
"I know that, and you know that, so don't yell at me. You're acting like a Gryffindor. I know how much he means to you but some people including those whose parents went to school with Uncle Harry may start thinking that he robbed you of happy memories of Halloween." Victoire stated. "It may snowball into he is not a good parent, considering the divorce last year, people may start thinking that the Savior finally snapped. You know how the media has been concerning our families. They'll rip him to shreds like they did when he was a student here."
"What the hell Victoire? You're a first year just like me why are you concerned about the paparazzi?"
"Just like why are you, as a first year, so empathetic to your godfather whose scars spanned from before you were born. Our families have been so active in both wars which was ions ago for us because we were babies at the end, but for them it's like it was just last year. It's not right and it's not fair. We don't have normal lives because of what they did and we can't have normal lives because of the paparazzi, so forgive me if I want to have fun at the ball and forget about the crap we have at home." And with that, she slinked down to the balcony and stormed to the dorms, leaving Teddy there.
Teddy went back to looking at the stars while tears were threatening to spill but he had no idea if he was going to be interrupted again so he didn't let them fall. Yes it wasn't fair what the world did to them their entire lives just because of what their parents did, but he didn't hold it against his parents or his Uncle Harry. After all, Uncle Harry did his best to give him the most normal childhood as possible and avoided letting the press even see his family. He knew that these thoughts weren't exactly normal for eleven year olds but everyone in his family had to mature faster than others. After all, how many people can say they are raised by the heroes of the Wizarding World, let alone being the godson and ward of the Savior? But Victoire was right, life wasn't fair and he didn't want to become more of a burden to Uncle Harry because some stupid rumors started up at school because he was avoiding everything. As Victoire and all the professors love reminding him, he took up the role as representative of Uncle Harry and if things didn't seem absolutely normal with him, they would immediately look to his Uncle to see if the Savior was treating him correctly. With that in mind, he decided to hop off the roof and head back to his dorm. Uncle Harry's package was waiting for him since he left it there that morning. He might as well take the advice and have fun for his Uncle Harry's sake.
When he got back to his dorm, he made a bee-line to the package innocently sitting on his bed. He tore the wrappings and pulled it out to look at. Closing his curtains since he didn't want anyone to see his costume before the feast, he was actually starting to get excited. He was surprised but he just shrugged it off as he looked at the contents of the package, it wasn't exactly a costume since it was illegal to make this outfit as a Halloween costume but he did ask Uncle Harry if he could borrow it. Uncle Harry provided him a list of some of the charms he had requested with the outfit and he set off putting the charms in place and changed into his costume. It also helped that his mum was a metamorphmagus and passed the gift to him. Victoire thought he was just going to sulk the entire time, but he was going to have the last laugh.
He waited until everyone left for the feast before sneaking out. Using the secret passages Uncle Harry said in passing remarks since he wasn't allowed the Marauder's Map until he was 13, he got to the Great Hall and made sure all the charms were in place. Uncle Harry was going to be so proud of him. After the last person entered the Great Hall, he snuck out of hiding and waited by the door.
When Professor McGonagall's speech was finished, he slammed the doors open and everyone whipped their heads to look at him. And McGonagall banged her head on the podium in frustration.
