Chapter 2 - Teddy's Dilemma
After telling Mike what Harry had said about Gladys, Teddy's friend was filled with a new enthusiasm for their project. Mike Apparated back to his parents house and collected two much larger guns which belonged to his brother, who apparently used to play something called Airsoft at university before joining the Army proper.
Real guns were not part of Wizarding society, or as far as Teddy knew, Muggle society in Britain either, knowing from Muggle Studies and listening to Mike that in general the Muggle Police did not use the devices. Mike, who himself had grown up surrounded by people who had first hand knowledge of firearms, identified one gun as an M16 assault rifle, and the other as some sort of sniper rifle. He explained, at some length, their capabilities to Teddy, who felt like he was at boot camp.
They set about charming a large collection of BBs, and Teddy figured out a method of enchanting more than one at once, which saved some time as the M16 could hold over 200 of the little things. Mike had the idea to add some charms to the gun barrels so the pellets would be more accurate when they were fired.
Teddy attempted the Gemino charm on Gladys, and it had actually worked. He had not been so successful with the larger guns however, making copies that misfired and one version of the sniper rifle that fell apart. Mike thought this was because they were slightly more complicated, though he did helpfully add "or you're still shit at Charms!"
They set about testing the guns by staging a mini-battle in the back garden, Teddy with the M16 and Mike with the sniper rifle. Teddy soon argued that they should swap, as Mike's Disillusionment charm was good enough to make him virtually invisible, allowing him to pick Teddy off at a distance without a clue where he was.
Somewhat dirty, and bearing a few welts where the pellets had hit their bare skin, the two boys returned to the house for some dinner. Andromeda, who despite being raised in a Pureblood family, hid an impressive knowledge about the Muggle world she had developed through her Muggle-born late husband, Teddy's namesake. She deemed the idea of taking Muggle gadgets and adapting them for Wizards to be a grand idea, and asked if there was any way either of them could fix the charms on an old record player she had hidden away. Mike, who's speciality was electrical gadgets, prodded it with his wand and muttered to himself for several minutes, before placing a dusty version of Abbey Road on the turntable. John Lennon's vocals to 'Come Together' were soon bursting out, and Andromeda smiled brightly before pulling out some gold and telling them to treat themselves to a night out on her.
Teddy tried to refuse but Andromeda told her grandson that if he didn't take it, she would hex the money to float after him and bash into his head until he put it in his pocket, so he relented.
"Where do you want to go?" Teddy asked, pulling on a stripy black and red v-neck jumper. He firmly believed he would try to avoid wearing robes ever again. Mike looked thoughtful for a moment, then broke into a dangerous smile. Teddy knew this smile and knew it would end with him face down in a gutter somewhere.
"Diagon Alley, we change up that gold for some cash, then we Apparate to my parents house in Reading. I think you're ready to actually go out to a Muggle pub in Britain."
"Mr Williams, I like you style," said Teddy, who had been to Mike's house before, but had never actually been out and about in his home town.
With a pop, they appeared in Diagon Alley, just outside Gringotts. The two young men went into the bank, now very much renovated from his godfather and his friends rather impressive escapades there during the war. They exchanged Andromeda's gold, and some of their own, and then both Disapparated, appearing again outside of the small semi-detached house where Mike and his parents lived.
Mike unlocked the front door and the two boys went inside. Mike's house was pleasant enough, though as neither his parents nor his brothers (when they were home) were magical, it was very Muggle. His friend disappeared into the kitchen and told him to make himself at home. Teddy became intrigued by a picture frame which he had at first assumed Mike had charmed to change picture magically, until he realised it was plugged into the wall.
"Clever that, innit?" Mike said, appearing from behind him, two beers in hand. "Muggles have stopped using film in their cameras now, all done digitally. This is like a little screen that shows the digital pictures." He handed Teddy his drink.
"We really need to get a computer working in a magical environment. Well, you do. I've got no idea where to start."
"I think now we're out of Hogwarts we might have a bit more luck. The environment there was just too magical to get complicated stuff like that working. I'll have another crack over the summer, I think."
"You'll have to let me have a go on the one you've got here again, so I know what I'm doing if we do get it working," Teddy said. "Plus, I want to see this internet you kept banging on about."
Mike laughed, chucking his jacket on the sofa. Teddy had learnt that apparently (even without the ability to perform warming charms) Muggles didn't wear coats on nights out.
"Right, lets make these train beers. Come on."
Teddy slung his coat on the sofa and slid his wand into the small pocket on his jeans, which apparently had no use whatsoever until he had magically expanded it to store his wand. They left the house. The night was actually remarkably warm, and Mike led him down the street, through an alley way, across another road, until they reached a small station and awaited the arrival of the train. Ten minutes later, they were in the centre of town and Teddy was following his friend through the streets of Reading, walking past several pubs which Mike pointed out to him were either 'shit', 'full of pikeys' or 'expensive', which meant they were not acceptable.
After a little bit of a walk they finally arrived at a quirky looking bar, which Mike proclaimed not only had cheap beer and an excellent jukebox, but would later be, as he so delicately put it, 'full of fanny'. Shortly after entering, they managed to bag a table, partly through some considerable luck, though mostly due to Mike elbowing a bloke out of the way. He hopped up onto a stool and pulled a ten-pound note from his wallet.
"I'm buying, you're flying, shithead. Get me a Carling," he said, leaning back in his chair and surveying the scene.
Teddy called him something rude in return and headed toward the bar. Though the pub wasn't exactly rammed, it was bustling with people, and it took several minutes for Teddy to get served and return to their table with two pints.
"Thought you'd absconded with my money, then," Mike said, taking a sip of his pint whilst Teddy handed him his change.
"Interesting place," Teddy said, admiring the table for the first time. It had a chessboard painted on it, along with a realistic looking wallet, some change and a particularly authentic railway ticket. He gestured at it. "Bet that stitches a few people up when they're pissed."
"Yes mate, when my brother brought me in here at Christmas a couple of years ago, I may have fallen for it after a couple too many Jagerbombs."
"Understandable," Teddy laughed, taking a sip of his own drink.
Mike looked thoughtful for a moment, took another sip of his drink before leaning forward and resting his elbow onto the table.
"So," he said slowly, before smirking, "Victoire looked nice the other day."
"Oh, fuck off, Mike," Teddy said, somewhat affronted. His friend just laughed.
"Mate, you couldn't keep your eyes off her. You couldn't have been more bloody obvious if you'd had a large flashing sign above your head." Teddy remained silent, taking a big gulp of his beer, so Mike continued. "Look, it's understandable, she's a very, very good looking girl, you've just been too thick to notice it! Perhaps this was the wake-up call you needed. Now the real question is, what are you going to do about it?"
"You appear to have jumped over the part where I actually say there is anything to do anything about," Teddy retorted.
Mike gave him a pointed look. "Stop being a bell-end." He said, shaking his head. "Anyway, I happen to know that as of Friday, which is two days away, that idiot Glen is off on his jolly holidays to wherever it is Wizards go on holiday. For two weeks."
"And?" Teddy said, not following.
"Well, a lot can happen in two weeks can't it? Two very old friends may reconnect in a completely different manner. Wanker boyfriends may be forgotten about. A Metamorphamagus may get to nail a part-Veela. Things like that."
"Seems a little underhanded," Teddy grumbled.
Mike's smirk grew. Taking another swig of his beer, he said, "All I'm saying, is that without fuckface around, you two should hang out a bit. Talk about our travels, get her to help with some ideas for our product line, anything at all. Just sow some seeds mate, lay in a bit of groundwork."
"You talk utter shit sometimes, sow some bloody seeds, my arse! What makes you think she's even interested?"
"Look mate, I hate to shatter your delusions here, but everybody knows Vicky has had a bit of a thing for you for years, you just chose to ignore it."
"Now I know you're talking bollocks," Teddy said, as if this was the end of the matter.
"Right, here we go then," Mike said, setting his beer down with more force than needed. "Third year, when you gave her that scarf for Christmas, she didn't take it off until it was like, May."
"It's cold in Scotland in May! Plus, she was in first year," Teddy said, "I very much doubt she'd stopped thinking boys were icky at that point."
"Think what you want. So how about fifth year when you went to Hogsmeade with Jenny whatsherface? She didn't talk to you for a week."
"That was because I blew her off to go on that date!" Teddy said.
Mike was looking at him sceptically. "Right, and this one is more of an overarching theme. How come all of your girlfriends hate her?"
"They don't? I know Danni wasn't too keen, but they didn't exact--" Teddy started but was cut off.
"Christ, you are blind Lupin. They hated her, all of them, every single bloody one, because not only is she a lot prettier, smarter and more fun than any of them, you two have this 'thing' with each other." He then added for good measure, "AND they can tell when another girl fancies their boyfriend!"
Teddy said nothing and lent back in his chair. Maybe Vic had fancied him for a bit, but it didn't really mean a lot now she had a boyfriend. Though, his mind wandering to his godparents, wasn't this somewhat similar to how Harry and Ginny had been before they had got together? He shook his head and drained the remainder of his pint. It was a stupid thing to even contemplate, him and Victoire being together like that, they were just very good friends.
"Your shout, dickless," Mike said, rattling his empty glass on the table and pointing to the bar.
"I went last time!" Teddy complained, but rolled his eyes as Mike was clearly not going to move. "Fine, you lazy shit."
Teddy went to the bar again, this time noticing that the pub was beginning to fill up with people. As predicted by Mike, there were a great deal of attractive girls in here tonight. 'Not as attractive as Victoire though,' said a little voice in his head, which he mentally told to go forth and fornicate.
Mike did not broach the subject of Victoire again, so they sat there, drinking their beers and chatting about what other things they could transfer to the Aurors from the Muggle police and army. Helmets and body armour charmed with Protego were thrown about, along with personal radios, proper handcuffs and flash-bang grenades. Night-vision, using modified Omnioculars was considered a good idea.
"..so what I'm thinking is we pinch some of my brothers' old fatigues and see about getting some old riot helmets from somewhere and go into..." Mike stopped mid-sentence, staring open-mouthed at something to his left.
"What?" Teddy said, looking round, trying to work out what his friend was looking at. Mike stood up and walked toward a tall, slim girl with jet black hair which was cut into a short pixie style, and tapped her on the shoulder.
She turned and looked at him, her face wrinkling in thought, then with almost unnatural speed she flung herself on him, pretty much squealing "Ohmigod!" into his chest. Mike just laughed.
"Hey Chloe," he said, Teddy just about able to hear. "Long time no see!"
"Where the hell have you been for, what, the last eight years Williams?" she said, releasing him from her grip, a broad grin on her face. "We're about to move up to Secondary School and next thing you know, your parents had whisked you off to some boarding school somewhere, and I don't see head nor hair of you until eight years later and we're stood in the middle of the Pavlov's fucking Dog. What the hell was up with that?"
"Er, long story. Might take a minute actually," Mike said, and gave Teddy a significant look. Their cover story was well practised after a year abroad, but it was one thing to pull it off to people who didn't know you, to those who did. "Hey, you wanna sit down? I'm over there with my mate." He gestured in Teddy's direction.
"Of course, you've got to tell me everything.. Let me just speak to my friends here first. That your friend in the stripy jumper?" Teddy waved and smiled. Mike patted the girl on the arm and she turned back to her other friends. Mike sat down quickly and leant in conspiratorially.
"Right, you know the drill on this, but you might have to follow my lead on some things," he said. "She's not exactly some randomer we've met in a San Diego bar."
"No worries. So, who is that exactly?" Teddy said, eyes flicking the girl who was chatting to her friends and pointing in their direction excitedly.
"That, dear Teddy, is Chloe Davies. Me and her were friends from the first day of primary school until the day I left for Hogwarts; and I haven't seen her since. Technically, you're her replacement."
"Fucking charming," Teddy said, with a laugh, "How have you not seen her since? You come back every summer!"
"No mate. Too many awkward questions, it's part of the policy on Muggle-borns at Hogwarts. Why do you think we stayed in the house all the time you were here in Reading over the summer?" Teddy contemplated this, it had struck him as a bit odd how they had always stayed in the house, but all Mike's Muggle gadgets had kept him plenty entertained.
"So what, you weren't allowed to leave the house?" Teddy asked.
"It was heavily implied I should try and cut my connections to the Muggle world other than my family whilst at school to avoid 'complications,'" Mike said, somewhat bitterly.
"You're not gonna blow the International Stature on Secrecy tonight after a few beers are you?" Teddy said, looking at Mike seriously. "I don't fancy having to call Harry to get your old mate here Obliviated."
"Nah, no worries, mate. Eyes front, here she comes."
Chloe Davies approached again, and Teddy got his first proper look at her. She had high cheek bones and very white skin, which with her short black hair made her heavily eye-lined blue eyes stand out even more. She was wearing a black halter neck top with gold sequins on the front, and a pair of shorts, with some sparkly flat shoes, which showed off a very impressive pair of legs. She was smiling brightly as she approached.
"Hey again." Mike said, "This is my mate Teddy from school. Teddy, Chloe; Chloe, Teddy." She smiled at him and he gave a small wave as she sat down on the stool next to Mike.
"Nice to meet you," Teddy said.
"You too," she replied, before turning to Mike. "So then, Mikey Mike, want to tell me what you've been up to?"
"Well, to cut a long story short, some old Army buddy of my Dad's managed to get me a place at this posh boarding school in Scotland. Thus I went. They have funny terms so I'm never actually here during the time when normal kids are enjoying their holiday except maybe a few days over Christmas. That's about it," Mike finished, this part of the story also well practised from years of telling it to relatives.
"It was like you disappeared, Mike. I did worry," Chloe said, with genuine concern. "So Teddy, you went to school with Mike? Were your parents in the Army too?"
"Yeah," Teddy replied. Though technically not true, the Aurors were the closest Wizarding equivalent, and they had fought in the War. "They both were for a time. I got a special scholarship."
"Did they mysteriously whisk you off from your friends aged eleven too?" She asked, looking at Mike incredulously. Teddy hated lying about this question.
"No, er, they died when I was really little. Car crash." He said bluntly. Chloe's face fell. "I was brought up by my Gran and godfather, he's in the Army too, quite senior."
"Oh, I'm really sorry. Don't I feel like an idiot. So, school..." She frowned, then smiled, with a clear intent to change the subject to happier things. "How did your A-Levels go? I bet you got straight A's Michael, you always were a clever clogs."
Mike had explained A-Levels to Teddy before they left, as they were bound to come up in conversation. They were basically the Muggle equivalent of NEWTs apparently, except in subjects like Maths and English instead of Defence Against the Dark Arts and Potions. They had decided to pretend to have done the same subjects so Mike could cover Teddy if someone questioned a bit deeper into the topic.
"Heh, 5 A's" Mike said with a smug grin. He was very proud of his 5 'Outstanding' grades he'd achieved. "What did you get Ted? 4 A's and B wasn't it?"
"Sod off, you know that poxy maths exam was rigged. Two marks dammit!" Teddy said. Though very proud his grades, those two marks in Arithmancy which separated him from an Outstanding were probably going to haunt him for the rest of his days.
"Christ almighty. That must have been some hell of a school." Chloe said, clearly impressed. "I'm guessing you're both at uni now then?"
"Been on a gap year for the last year, so we've not had chance to apply. Next year," Mike said. "How about you though? You at uni?"
"Yeah.."
Chloe told Teddy and Mike all about her degree; she was studying Law at the University of Cardiff, which she described as excellent, and just far enough away from Reading that it was too far for her parents to pop in for a visit on a whim, but also close enough that it wasn't a pain to go home. It did however, she proclaimed, mean that she had started to pick up a couple of phrases from the South Wales lingo, and had been known to occasionally say "Where you too?" and "Butt" instead of "Where are you?" and "Mate".
Chloe and Mike talked about an assortment of things over several drinks, and Teddy was feeling increasingly left out. There was a definite spark between Mike and Chloe, and Teddy had noticed that they had been working from 'old friends bumping into each other and chatting' through 'old friends clearly flirting with each other' and were now distinctly looking like 'old friends making goo-goo eyes at each other,' leaving Teddy as a proper third wheel.
Eventually, he was rescued by Chloe's friends, telling them that they were going onto a nightclub round the corner, and they were welcome to join, looking pointedly at Teddy. Fuelled by seven pints of Carling at this point, he leapt up somewhat ungraciously and began to speak enthusiastically with some of the group.
Teddy made a point of getting to know the three girls, Aimee, Sara and Katie, and stuck with them as they left the pub. They were collectively rolling their eyes at Chloe, who was walking along the street holding Mike's hand, talking away as if there was nobody else in the world. They entered the club and headed straight for the bar, whilst Mike had peeled off with Chloe at some point headed for the dance floor. Teddy ended up doing shots on the bar with Chloe's friends and was soon dancing away with the group of them. They were very friendly, but Teddy found himself somewhat put out by Mike's abandonment, and found increasing excuses to visit the bar. Soon, the floor began to wobble beneath his feet, and he plopped down into a booth away from the racket of the music.
Pulling out his mobile, Teddy looked at it sadly, flipping it open and working his way down his phone book. He got to 'Tessa G' and then it immediately skipped a couple of letters going straight to 'Wanky Jeff', a fat, loud mouthed Geordie with an unfortunate nickname they'd met in Malaysia. He drunkenly wished there was an entry in the 'V' section for Victoire. Mind addled with too many drinks, Teddy considered their relationship.
It was true, Victoire was very, very pretty. Beautiful even. She was fun to be around, and made him laugh, plus she got his jokes. He missed her massively when she wasn't there, and that feeling he'd felt when he'd seen her the other night, she made his heart soar. Teddy knew that this were not the sorts of feelings you had for a platonic friend, and he was beginning to acknowledge that he maybe felt a little bit more, a lot more in fact. In a moment of drunken clarity, it became blatantly clear that he was madly in love with her.
A glass of water was plonked down on the table in front of him and he found one of Chloe's friends, Aimee, a short brunette looking at him with a funny expression.
"Drink." She said, pointing at the water. Phone still in hand he managed to manoeuvre the glass to his lips. "Consider this an intervention before you send a drunken text to some girl you fancy."
"Can't. She hasn't got a phone," Teddy said, still looking at his phone sadly.
Aimee sighed. She took Teddy's phone from his hand, closed it and locked the keys, handing it back to him, smiling. "What's her name?"
"Victoire."
"That's a cool name, is she French?" she asked. Teddy had the distinct impression she was humouring him and attempted to perk up a bit.
"No, her Mum is though," he said, before adding. "She's got a boyfriend anyway."
"Plenty more fish in the sea, Teddy."
"Not like this there aren't," He mumbled, somewhat bitterly.
Aimee lifted his chin, from where he was looking at his lap to meet her eyes. "Tell me, it might help."
And Teddy did. In a long, drunken, uninterrupted ramble, he told her how after his parents had died, he'd been jointly raised by his Grandmother and his godfather Harry, also an orphan (she didn't ask how thankfully), who had been all but adopted himself by Molly Weasley and her family. How Harry had married her daughter Ginny, and Ginny's brother Bill had married a beautiful French woman called Fleur, and how he'd been friends since birth with their daughter, Victore. How Vic had been his first word, how they'd played together forever and got along since childhood, how they'd gone to school together, and how close they were. Finally, he spoke of the kiss they'd shared before he'd left and of how he'd come back and seen her like never before. And how she had that stupid boyfriend, Glen.
"Well, that is one hell of a story," Aimee said. "And eternally more complicated than I'd imagined. I thought this was just gonna be about some girl who works in the chip shop or something."
Teddy laughed, he was speaking more fluidly now, having been sat down for a bit and drunk his water. "Yeah, sorry for unloading all that on you. I've just been coming round to the concept myself! I mean, what the hell do you do in a situation like this?"
"Look, from everything you've told me, you probably don't really need to do a lot. I mean, look at those two..." She gestured toward the bar, where, leant against a wall, Mike and Chloe were kissing deeply. Her hands placed round his neck and his stroking her lower back. "And they hadn't even seen each other for eight years! She told me all about him when we started Secondary school actually, and for the longest time I thought she'd made him up, but they were always inseparable when they were little. Guess you just need a little nudge sometimes."
"Or ten pints," Teddy laughed. "Though there is the eternal boyfriend question."
"Fuck her boyfriend," Aimee said, and Teddy was quite surprised when it left her mouth. "You think that he can compete with all that history, all those years of muddled, mixed up feelings? Sometimes you gotta draw battle lines, Teddy."
"Yeah but..."
"No buts," she said finally. "Look, they've been going out for what, three months nearly? Compared to the better part of eighteen years of time together, that's nothing. You just need to spend some time with her, alone time, now you know things are changing between you, and gauge her feelings towards you. Drop some hints, that kinda thing. You've clearly got it pretty bad for her and I highly doubt it could have got this way if it wasn't mutual. Maybe you just need to nudge things up to the next level a bit."
"He is going away for two weeks..." Teddy said thoughtfully. Though the alcohol may have been playing with his mind a little bit, this did not entirely sound like a bad idea.
"Perfect. You gotta fight for it Teddy, but make it a subtle war. Show her you're not only interested, but much better for her than whatshisface. He'll catch on pretty fast when he's back, so you need to be ready for that too."
Teddy thought about this for a moment, and Aimee hopped up in the silence, "Come on, one last dance and we'll get a taxi home before those two start shagging against that wall.." She gestured at Chloe and Mike who were still kissing deeply.
