Chapter Three: Heirloom (Wrap)
Teddy had spent most of the summer imagining what having Alfie and Ella staying with him would be like, and he was delighted to find that he wasn't disappointed. They were trying their best to keep Ralph out of their minds, and their conversations; although Teddy couldn't help but dwell on the situation before he went to sleep, he found himself being pleasantly distracted during the day.
Monday morning brought with it a pleasant surprise. When they came downstairs, Gran revealed that Uncle Harry had stopped by before work to drop off three broomsticks that he'd taken from the Potters' huge collection. The trio all gasped with delight and immediately went to examine them.
"There's an actual honest-to-goodness original Firebolt in here!" Ella exclaimed, much to Teddy's surprise, running her hands across the wood. He hadn't realized that she'd known anything about brooms. But then again, she was Ella. "That's a classic, isn't it? Oh, please, may I ride this one?"
"As long as I get this one," Alfie said admiringly, pointing at an elegant Nimbus 3001. "It's gorgeous."
"That's fine with me," Teddy grinned, pulling a Comet 500 out of the pile. "This one's my favourite—Uncle Harry taught me how to fly on it."
They wolfed down their breakfast with increased alacrity, desperate to get out on the pitch, which, in their case, wasn't really a pitch at all. Rather, it was a large meadow, located a few minutes out of Godric's Hollow. The area was fairly deserted, and well away from any Muggle settlements—all the better for the kids. Teddy was fairly certain that Muggles hadn't quite invented flying balls or brooms yet.
Gran accompanied them out to the meadow, stating that there was no way on Earth she was going to let them play Quidditch without some form of adult supervision. Although at first Teddy was a bit upset about her tagging along, he eventually realized that it didn't come without it's perks: she could easily levitate the heavy set of Quidditch balls that they would've had to drag along by hand otherwise.
The meadow was beautiful in the morning: the sun cast it's rays across the grass, which was slightly wild, in stark contrast to the perfectly manicured Hogwarts' pitch. Foliage littered the ground close to the trees on the edge of the meadow, and daisies dotted the grass.
"Is there a special way to play Quidditch when you don't have the normal number of players?" Alfie asked. "Like in basketball?"
"Basketball?" Teddy asked, his brow furrowing.
"It's a Muggle sport," Ella explained. "And no, there isn't. I guess we'll just have to improvise, then. Try out different stuff."
"Be careful with the Bludgers," Gran warned them. "In fact, I'd advise you not to use them."
"But Madame Hooch showed us how to bat them away," Teddy complained.
"Bludgers can still do some serious damage. Maybe you three should just work with the Quaffle and the Snitch for now."
"We could practice catching the Snitch," Alfie said, brightly. "It can be like a kind of competition, to see who can get to it first."
"That's not a bad idea!" Ella exclaimed.
Teddy walked over to the case of Quidditch balls and opened it up. Reaching inside, he clasped the delicate Snitch in his hand, and brought it out of the case. Before releasing it, he took a moment to admire it. He'd always loved the Snitch—ever since he was a baby, he'd loved how it shone when it caught the sunlight, loved the way that the gold shimmered. It was easily the best Quidditch ball; much better than the boring old Quaffle, and the Bludger which, if he was being quite honest, scared him a little bit.
He let go of it, and it hovered for a second, before darting away, out of sight. "It's out!" he exclaimed, and, mounting his broom, kicked hard against the ground and took off.
The sunlight made it difficult to see; he had to make sure that he was facing away from the light to avoid hurting his eyes. Every now and then, he thought he caught a glimpse of the tiny, golden ball, but it was only golden rays glinting off the dew on the grass. Ella and Alfie didn't seem to be having much luck either; they were simply flying around, searching.
"It can't go out of the meadow, can it?" Alfie called. "Then we'll have lost it."
"You know, Snitches don't tend to do that," Ella replied thoughtfully. "They always stay within the pitch. I don't actually know why."
"Good gracious, something Ella doesn't know!" Teddy chimed in. "However will she survive?"
"She'll look it up as soon as she gets back," Ella replied, before suddenly letting out a shrill, piercing shriek. Both Teddy and Alfie looked up with a start, afraid that she had had an accident, only to see her going into a controlled dive. "I THINK I'VE SEEN IT!" she shouted, in a very un-Ella like fashion.
Teddy darted forward on his broom, determined to catch the Snitch before Ella could. "You'd make a pretty bad Seeker if you yell out whenever you see the Snitch!" he shouted.
"Oh, shut it."
She had actually spotted it. Teddy noticed a little glimmer, moving away from him. He pressed himself down on his broom, speeding up as much as he could without losing control. He was moving closer and closer, past Ella, and when he thought he was within distance, he shakily removed one hand from the handle and stretched it out towards the ball. His fingers were just about to close around it, when suddenly, another, pale hand appeared and snatched it out from right under his nose.
"Gotcha!" Alfie exclaimed, his fist tightly clutching the tiny ball. "Bet you two didn't see that coming!"
Teddy, disappointed that he hadn't caught it himself, nodded weakly. "Good job, Alfie." He supposed he'd just have to get the next one.
But the next one went to Alfie too, as did the one after that. Alfie seemed to have an excellent eye: he spotted the Snitch before either Ella or Teddy, and seemed to know exactly when they were faking to try and trip him up. Even in their fourth game, when Ella and Teddy decided to join forces in an attempt to end Alfie's winning streak, he managed to snatch it up.
"You've got the makings of a great Seeker," Teddy admitted, as they landed in the meadow, exhausted after a good two hours of flying.
"I'm not that good," Alfie said, abashedly. He'd gone very red; Teddy knew that Alfie wasn't accustomed to getting compliments, and tended to think less of himself than others did. "I just caught a few, that's all."
"Alfie, you caught all of them," Ella told him. "And it's not that Teddy and I are miserable fliers. You're just really, really good. You should go out for the Hufflepuff team, you know, when we get back to school."
"You're kidding, right? Madame Hooch would never let me on, not after last year." He was referring, of course, to an unfortunate incident that occurred during a Flying lesson, when he'd gotten lost over the Forbidden Forest. He hadn't been hurt, but Madame Hooch hadn't trusted him, or his navigational skills, for the rest of the year.
"Yeah, but Madame Hooch isn't responsible for team placements," Teddy said. "That'll be Macey's responsibility." Macey Longstone was the intense, but very fair and friendly, Captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team. "If you're good enough—and you are—she'll let you on."
"Maybe I'll think about it," Alfie said. "But I am only a second year. And I can't go out for Seeker- that's Bella's position."
Teddy didn't quite know what to say to that. Bella Watson was now a sixth-year—she had played Seeker last year, and had ended up causing Hufflepuff to lose the Quidditch finals when she lost control of her broom and crashed into a post. There had been quite an outcry about the whole situation, and Teddy honestly wasn't sure whether or not Bella would be allowed back on the team. He didn't want to say anything, though; Alfie was very fond of Bella.
Ella, on the other hand, didn't seem to have any sort of misgivings about telling Alfie straight to his face that Bella's position was in jeopardy. "Who knows if Macey'll want her back as Seeker?"
"Yeah, but Macey didn't blame Bella for what happened. She'll be allowed back on." He shrugged. "If anything, I'll just go out for another position. Are you two thinking of trying out too?"
Ella shook her head. "No way. I'll have enough work, without adding Quidditch to the mix. Plus, I'm not as good as most of the people in Ravenclaw. Teddy?"
Teddy hadn't really thought about the Quidditch team. Like Alfie, he'd figured that as a second-year, he'd have a near-zero chance of actually making it on. But it would certainly be fun to represent his house, and it'd be great to get to fly often. After all, second-years no longer had weekly Flying lessons. "I dunno," he said, finally. "I guess I'll think about it. Maybe."
"You should try out!" Alfie exclaimed. "We could maybe get on the team together! Think about how much fun that'd be!"
Teddy brightened at the thought. "It certainly would be."
"Yes, and you two will leave me all alone." Ella pouted.
"You can be one of our groupies," Alfie suggested, jokingly.
Ella hit him on the arm, hard.
.oOo.
All three of them were famished by the time they returned to Teddy's house, and scarfed down lunch. Gran suggested that they lie down for awhile before they did anything else. "No point in getting too tired," she told them.
They were halfway up the stairs when the doorbell rang.
"Who do you think that is?" Alfie asked Teddy, who simply shrugged in reply. His gran rarely got visitors; they weren't necessarily a very social family. Every now and then, one of his gran's old friends from school might drop by, or Uncle Harry, but they usually didn't get unannounced guests showing up at their doorstep.
"Come on," Teddy whispered to the other two, and they scampered up the stairs and hid near the landing, so that despite being out of sight, they had an excellent view of the entrance.
Gran opened the door to reveal two unfamiliar looking individuals. One was a tall, muscular wizard with dark hair and sunglasses, while the other was a smaller woman with pale blonde hair. Both were dressed in black and red robes—Ministry regulation—and had a tiny crest embroidered above the breast that Teddy recognized immediately. "Aurors," he whispered. "They're from the Auror department."
"Mrs. Andromeda Tonks?" the man said.
"Yes," Gran replied. "How may I help you?"
The man showed her some kind of identification badge. "Auror Hammond, ma'am. This is Auror Felix. We need to ask you a couple of questions about the—er—incident at Knockturn Alley. We were told that you were a witness."
"That's correct. Can I invite you both in? I can put some tea on."
"That'll be fine, ma'am." It was the woman who spoke this time. "We won't take up too much of your time. We just need to know what exactly you saw." She got out a little notepad and a quill from the pocket of her robes. "Now, we understand you were outside Selwyn and Shafiq. If you don't mind my asking, what exactly were you doing in Knockturn Alley?"
"I was taking my grandson to see a Lycanthropy expert. Mr. Dawkins, he should be in your system of registered Potioneers."
Auror Felix looked at Hammond, who said, "We don't have any record of a Lycanthrope at this address."
"You wouldn't, because he isn't one. My grandson only has tendencies as a result of an—accidental injury, he sustained as a child. His father was one—Remus Lupin. He was married to my daughter, Nymphadora Tonks."
"Alright." Auror Felix jotted something down on her notepad. Teddy shifted uncomfortably; he didn't want his grandmother to get in trouble because of him. "And was anyone else with you?"
"My grandson's friend, Alfie Hayes. He and another friend, Ella Anderson, are staying with us for a week."
"Where are they now?"
"Upstairs, resting."
"Mrs. Tonks, to the best of your knowledge, did you see anything?" Auror Hammond asked.
Gran shook her head. "We were walking down the Alley, and then there was a sudden burst of smoke. I focused on ensuring that both Alfie and Teddy were safe. When the smoke cleared, I saw the symbol, and got the boys out of there."
"And did the boys see anything?"
Teddy bit his lip. He wondered whether Gran would tell the Aurors about what they had told Uncle Harry the previous night.
"Yes, my grandson's friend claims that he saw an individual named Ralph Lewis arguing with a man at Selwyn and Shafiq. He says that Ralph was the one who cast the symbol. This has already been told to Auror Potter."
"I see." There was a pause as Hammond consulted a piece of parchment he had taken from his pocket. "Ralph Lewis, a Hufflepuff student who recently graduated Hogwarts with top marks in his N.E.W.T.S.?"
"I'm afraid I don't know many details about this boy, but yes, he was a Hufflepuff student."
"Hm," Hammond made an odd noise, as if he didn't quite believe her. Teddy looked at Alfie and Ella and saw his own confusion reflected back at him. It was only then that he noticed a glimpse of Hammond's tie: yellow and black. The Hufflepuff colours.
"If you'll forgive me, ma'am, a Hufflepuff committing such a crime seems…well, unlikely."
"If you're implying that my grandson and his friends are lying, I can assure you, you are mistaken. They wouldn't do such a thing." Gran's voice had become much colder.
"Would they, perhaps, lie to protect someone?"
"What?" Alfie whispered. "What's he getting at? Who'd we be protecting?"
"I'm afraid I don't quite follow."
"Hammond—" Auror Felix started, but Hammond held up a hand.
"What is your maiden name, Mrs. Tonks?"
"I don't see what that has to do with—"
"What is your maiden name?"
Gran paused, and lifted her head, so that she was staring defiantly into Auror Hammond's eyes. "Black. My maiden name is Black."
"I see. Would that be the same Black family that Bellatrix Lestrange belonged to? That numerous supporters of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named belonged to?"
"Yes."
"And what Hogwarts house were you in?"
"Slytherin."
"I see."
There was a pause.
"Auror Hammond, forgive me for asking, but what exactly are you attempting to say here? Are you implying that I had something to do with what happened at Knockturn Alley?"
"I don't know, ma'am. Did you?"
Ella let out a little gasp. Teddy held his breath; he couldn't see his grandmother's face, but he knew that she would stolid, icy. That very fact was reflected in her voice, when she said, calmly, but sharply, "How dare you."
"I beg your pardon?"
"How dare you come into my house and implicate me in this? Simply because I am a Black and a Slytherin. Do you have any idea what the Death Eater's have done to me?"
"Ma'am—"
"Voldemort tore my family apart."
Auror Felix flinched. "Ma'am, please refrain from—"
"Using the name? A great man once told me that fear of a name only increases the fear of the thing itself. The Death Eaters killed my husband, my daughter, my son-in-law. They left my grandson an orphan. Blood purity took my family away from me. How dare you imply that I would support such a destructive movement?"
"Ma'am—" Auror Felix tried, but Gran wasn't having any of it.
"Out," she said coldly. "Out of my house."
"Ma'am—"
"I don't want you here. My grandson and his friends are upstairs. You are disturbing them. If you have any further enquiries, you may send Auror Potter."
And with that, she slammed the door in their faces.
Alfie, Ella and Teddy exchanged stunned glances and slunk away to Alfie and Teddy's room before Gran realized that they had overheard the entire exchange.
"Can you imagine, them blaming your grandmother like that?" Ella whispered, when they were behind closed doors. "Just because she's a Slytherin? That's so—"
"Completely unfair," Teddy finished for her. He didn't know what else to say; he'd always had faith in the Aurors, he'd always thought them a beacon of light that could solve any problem and was always completely fair. This experience had disillusioned him. How could he trust people like that to find Ralph and to treat him appropriately?
He felt like he couldn't. He knew that some Aurors, like his godfather, were the responsible adults and people he'd always known—or rather, thought—them to be, but if others like Hammond and Felix were handling Ralph's case, he was worried.
.oOo.
The week went by in a flash, and before Teddy knew what was happening, Alfie and Ella were getting ready to leave. Ella was to be picked up by her chauffeur—Teddy and Alfie both still couldn't get over the fact that she even had one, but they had become somewhat accustomed to the fact that she had more money than both of them put together—while Gran would be dropping Alfie back to Oxford via a hidden Floo in one of the older colleges.
They hadn't really had a chance to talk about Ralph; Gran and Uncle Harry had kept them busy, and they'd been too exhausted to stay up very late, talking. Plus, Teddy got the feeling that Alfie and Ella didn't really want to talk about Ralph—any attempt he had made to bring up the subject had been greeted with reluctance, at best. They seemed to believe that it was best left in the hands of the Aurors, even though they'd seen what had happened with Hammond and Felix.
Once Alfie and Ella were gone, the summer seemed to wrap up. Victoire visited frequently; Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur hadn't told her much about what had happened at Knockturn Alley, and Gran had made him swear not to tell her. Apparently, they didn't want her more worried than she should be. Although Teddy was dying to tell her, and she was positively dying to know, he kept quiet. After all, Ralph was dangerous, and he didn't want the threat against Alfie and Ella to extend towards Victoire too. All he'd told her was that there'd been a weird mark on a door, nothing about who had cast it, or what it meant.
There hadn't been any more news about Ralph. Uncle Harry had told him the Aurors had gone around to his registered address, but the woman who opened the door had told them that Ralph was away on an extended holiday—fairly common behaviour for someone who'd just graduated from Hogwarts. As the Aurors had no real evidence against Ralph, they hadn't been able to find out anything more, and the woman hadn't exactly been forthcoming. Teddy was disappointed; he was sure that Ralph hadn't really taken an extended holiday, and was probably hiding out somewhere, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Before he knew what was happening, his things were away in his trunk, and it was the last night of the summer. He and Gran were invited to dinner at Uncle Harry's—an invitation that they had eagerly accepted. His aunt Ginny cooked a mean roast, and it was a chance to see his little cousins before he went away to Hogwarts. James in particular was extremely happy to see him.
"Teddy's going to take me with him to Hogwarts," he exclaimed at the dinner table.
This was news to everyone, including Teddy, who looked up with surprise. "I am?"
"He is, is he?" Gran raised an eyebrow.
James nodded enthusiastically. "Yup, yup. I'm going to stow away in his trunk. I've got to go do it after dinner."
"I see," Aunt Ginny said.
"I'm going too!" Albus piped up excitedly. "I'm going to stow in Teddy's other trunk."
"I only have one trunk," Teddy told the boys.
James stuck his tongue out at Albus. "Looks like you can't come."
"That's not fair!" Albus exclaimed. "Mum!"
"Neither of you are stowing away in Teddy's trunk," Ginny told them firmly. "And there's no point sulking about it—you wouldn't fit, anyway, it's full of books."
Still, it was difficult to convince the two boys to let go of Teddy and go to bed after dinner. There were tearful goodbyes from both; Teddy was grateful that Lily was too tired to make any kind of major fuss.
Teddy hung around upstairs in Uncle Harry's study while his godparents put the children to sleep. The room was pretty spotless; Uncle Harry barely ever used it, except for the occasional day when he was feeling under the weather and couldn't go in to work. One of the main ground rules his godfather had established was the total separation of work and home life; as far as he was concerned, they didn't mix.
Bored, Teddy walked around the room, investigating. There were a few photos on the wall of the kids—including one of Teddy. He smiled when he saw it; he always loved how Uncle Harry made him feel like he was part of his immediate family. As he looked at the photo, he leaned against the desk.
Bad idea. The desk obviously had weak legs; it shuddered, and the front drawer fell open, revealing a single, old piece of parchment. Teddy, seized with curiosity, checked to make sure that no one was coming, and then picked it up.
It was completely empty on both sides. He wondered why Uncle Harry would have a random piece of parchment sitting in his desk; he couldn't possibly intend to use it to write on, it looked far too old for that. But there was absolutely nothing on the paper.
"What are you doing?"
Teddy jumped and turned around to see his godfather standing behind him. "I'm sorry," he said quickly. "I just—I was—this fell out of your desk." Not entirely true, but it was the easiest explanation.
To his surprise, his godfather smiled. "I was wondering when you'd find this."
"What?" He was caught off-guard.
"I always expected you to find it at some point—in fact, I always thought it'd be earlier. But this is a good time."
"I don't understand," Teddy said, staring at the piece of parchment. "It's just blank parchment. Isn't it?"
Uncle Harry shook his head. Walking forward, he took the parchment from Teddy's hands. "This, Teddy, is not a blank piece of parchment. This is, in fact, a very special map."
"It doesn't look like one."
"Hold on a second." Uncle Harry pulled his wand out of his robes and tapped the parchment with it. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
All of a sudden, the parchment began to change. Ink swirled from the point where Uncle Harry's wand had touched it, and began to create webs across the paper. Teddy watched with fascination as the map filled out. "What is this thing?"
"It's called the Marauder's Map. It's a map of Hogwarts—it shows you every corner of the castle, and everyone who comes and goes. You can use it to locate anyone in the castle."
"I didn't know you could do that," Teddy commented, marveling at the map.
"It's very advanced magic."
"Did you make it?"
"No." Uncle Harry paused. "Your father did."
"What?" Teddy looked up at Uncle Harry, shocked. "My father—made this?"
"He had help. From my father, and their friends, your Uncle Sirius, who you never met, and Peter Pettigrew."
Teddy had known that his father had been friends with his godfather's father at Hogwarts, but he'd never imagined that they'd created something as fantastic as this during their time together. "It's amazing," he said, unable to take his eyes off it. "I wonder how they did it."
"Advanced magic," Uncle Harry repeated, with a smile. "I'm afraid I don't really understand it all myself—your aunt Hermione probably does though." He held out the parchment to Teddy. "It's yours, you know."
"What? It can't be."
"It is." Uncle Harry didn't move, and Teddy found himself reaching out and taking it from his grasp. It felt delicate, and yet he had an odd confidence that it wouldn't tear. "It belonged to your father. By default, it should now go to you."
"But it belonged to your father too," Teddy protested, albeit half-heartedly.
"And I relinquish my possession of it to you," Uncle Harry said, simply. "Keep it. Use it, if you will, responsibly and wisely."
"Thank you," Teddy said, quietly. Looking down at the map again, he felt overcome with emotion. He knew it was silly, but he felt as if a small part of his father was in the map, guiding him. "I will."
A/N: Hey guys! I'm so sorry about the late update- thank you for sticking with me! Essentially, I have a lot going on right now, and I am very very busy. I'm in the process of moving and starting university, and I've been going through some family stuff. Thank you for your patience. Chances are updates will be a lot more irregular now thanks to uni work that'll be starting soon, but you can keep up with me on sincerelynymph and make sure to follow this story so you don't miss a chapter! Thank you for your patience and your general amazingness!
