Chapter 4: The Death Eaters plan.
"Albus stop it!" Teddy yelled as Albus tried to fling a chocolate muffin at James, who ducted and accidently threw the same thing back though he had hit Teddy square in the face. "Kids stop it!" He wailed, this time louder. Albus and James stopped immediately, though they still glared evilly over the table. Teddy grabbed a stray cloth and wiped the chocolate from his face; in his mind he made a mental note to never give the boys chocolate when their parents weren't home. He noticed Lily sitting in the corner with a book on her lap, she was always much brighter for her age. Teddy approached her. "What'cha reading there?" He asked as he hovered over her as she sat on Harry's huge chair. She looked up at him and smiled.
"The Three brothers!" She exclaimed, happily. "Aunty 'Mione gave it to me." She beamed at him; Teddy knelt beside her so they were the same height. "My dad was related to the third brother you know!" Teddy chuckled.
"I know, your father has once owned all the deathly hallows." She smiled and told him that Harry had already told her this before, he could not hide his smile, at eight years old she was the most mature of the Potter children- which was a shock seen as James (11) was a lot more childish than anyone!
"TEDDY!" Screamed Albus. Teddy and Lily spun around to see James put his younger brother in a head lock. Teddy sighed.
"James!" He scolded.
"He ate my muffin!" James screamed back, as though Albus had committed a crime.
"Oh, honestly! Even your sister is more mature than you and she's eight! You two are brothers, why can't you act like it?" James seemed taken aback by this but none the less he let go off Albus and apologized. Albus stared at him and eventually he nodded and both boys walked up stairs together.
"Wow!" Exclaimed Lily, fascinated. "Even mommy can't get them to stop! You're the best!" She dropped her book and threw her arms around Teddy's waist, he did not hesitate to hug back, it was a loud Crack! That gained their attention."DADDY!" Lily ran to her father and he caught her and she hugged him close. "Daddy, Teddy got Albus and James to stop fighting and apologize... To each other!" Harry looked impressed.
"Nice one Ted!" Teddy just noticed that Lysander, Lorcan, Rolf, Luna, Hannah and Neville were also now in the room, as well as Ginny and Harry.
"Thanks Lys," Teddy said high fiving Lysander. He grinned and that's when Teddy remembered the day in the prison. "Are you two alright?"
"Yeah we're fine!" Lorcan replied; he half looked as though he did not mean it, but that was not to be discussed now.
"Luna, Rolf. A pleasure as always!" He grinned at Luna and her husband, she smiled softly as she always did and gave him a hug, Rolf gave him a firm handshake.
"Ted," Harry said, Teddy turned to face him. "Would you take the twins upstairs for a minute please?"
"What about Lily, James and Albus?" Teddy replied.
"Ron'll be here soon to take them; Ginny is going to wait with them." Harry replied, calmly.
"Erm... Ok, sure." He turned to the twins and ushered them up the stairs, glancing back to see his godfather smile and escort Luna, Rolf, Hannah and Neville to the chairs by the fire. "Come on, we can go in my room." The twins nodded and followed him up the stairs, eventually they reached his room and walked in. "Make yourselves at home." He told them and they politely sat themselves- side by side- upon Teddy's bed. Teddy, however, took it upon himself to sit on a nearby wooden chair beside the window. They were all facing each other. "So... I bet it's great to be home!" The twins gave uneasy glances and Lysander muttered.
"Better than being in that hell whole." Lorcan put a comforting arm around his brother's shoulders. Teddy recalled how Lysander had been the one to come out of his cell unconscious, Teddy himself was slightly scared at seeing him like that, though he can only imagine how terrified Lysander must be.
"I'm just glad you guys came when you did!" Lorcan said loudly, he was always the more confident out of the pair.
"I am too." Teddy muttered.
"I gotta use the bathroom." Lysander muttered.
"Ok. You know your way right?" Lysander nodded and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. His footsteps echoed up the corridor.
"He's been awfully quiet since he woke up," Lorcan said quietly. Teddy listened with great interest. "He told me what they did to him... It was terrible." Teddy took note on how the boy shuddered as though he could hear his brothers words echoing in his head.
"What did they do?" Lorcan met Teddy's eyes and it took him moments to look away before replying.
"They questioned him about the Order and about who was in it; he said he wouldn't tell them a thing. They got angry and cursed him, he still didn't give in. He stood up and they started taunting him, saying that if he didn't say anything that they'd come after..." He gulped. "...Me. He got really mad at that and tried to fight his way past them, thinking he could get out and get to me, but he was outnumbered. Malfoy- Draco Malfoy- took him down, cursed him and allowed the other death eaters to beat him, eventually he blacked out. That's when the Order found him." Silence flooded the room instantly and Teddy let out a deep breath, he knew the twins had a strong relationship and though Lysander's moves seemed foolish, Teddy supposed that he would have done the same thing.
Lysander wondered back into the room seconds later and dropped himself back on the bed beside his brother and looked to Teddy. "Exploding snap?" Teddy offered and the twins nodded. During the game Teddy would look up and wonder why something so cruel could happen to those so innocent like them, the boys had always been exceedingly clever and bright, great friends and pretty popular at school, but then again being in the Order had shown him that it is mainly the innocent that have the worst look and to him it seemed so unfair.
"Teddy! Lorcan! Lysander!" Shouted Harry. "Can you all come down here?" The twins did not need to be told twice, they walked- silently- down stairs with Teddy following behind. Harry, Hannah, Neville, Luna and Rolf stood in the centre of the main room. "Everyone else is meeting us at Grimmauld place." He said, simply. The three nodded and held hands, instantly Teddy got that sickening feeling that he had so many times before, although, this time it was not as bad.
When they arrived in the room it was true that the Order was already seated around the table and the room. The twins stayed by Teddy's side-against the wall- and waited for Harry to start the meeting.
Teddy glanced around the room and his eyes landed on Victoire, she did not meet his eyes but this seemed intentional, of course she must have registered his presence when he had apparated here so she must be pretending not to notice. Harry walked to the head of the table and sat down, which knocked Teddy out of his day dream of how he could get Victoire to listen to him.
"Alright. Today we were going to discuss the allies going into the prison, however, as I've been informed by Miss Weasley," He said directing a hand towards Victoire. "Lysander and Lorcan have some information for us regarding the death eaters' plans." Teddy looked down to see Lorcan looking determined and serious; however, Lysander was looking down and avoiding everyone's eyes.
"Come on guys." Said Teddy as he started to escort them towards Harry so they could tell their story, but Lysander pulled back- his face white as though he had been petrified. "Lysander?" But the young boy looked around the room and shook his head, Lorcan tried to reach towards him but Lysander ran out of the room and up the stairs. His brother tried to follow but Teddy said. "No, you stay here and tell the others what happened and I'll check on your brother." Lorcan made a protest but Luna approached.
"Yes son, I am sure Teddy will be just fine," She looked at Teddy and smiled, dreamily. "Thank you." She said and walked her son over to Harry and so Teddy left and walked upstairs to find Lysander. He found him sat in Teddy's room on the bed, his head buried in his hands. Teddy took a deep breath and entered the room and sat, yet again, on the wooden chair beside the window. An eerie silence engulfed them for a few moments before Lysander, sensing another presence, spoke up through his hands.
"You think I'm a coward right?" His voice was muffled and Teddy could not help but feel incredibly sympathetic towards the young boy. Though, Teddy would have called Lysander's moves brave and daring and for that he certainly could not be a coward.
"You're wrong," Teddy said calmly. "Look, Lorcan told me what you did, how you tried to help him before the death eaters could get to him." Lysander dropped his hands from his face and looked at Teddy as though the older boy had just slapped him, clearly he did not want anyone, other than his twin, knowing what had truly happened that day in his cell. "If you can do that to help your brother, you are certainly a lot braver than you think."
"But I was scared," He admitted sadly. "I knew what they wanted from us and what they were capable of doing but I pushed it, I was scared the minute we were caught and I still am now!" It came out in a rush, in which he had to catch his breath. Teddy calmed him by removing himself from the chair and kneeling on the ground so he could look the-quite small- boy in the eyes.
"Someone once told me that man is not brave because he is fearless, he is brave because he stands up in spite of his fears- and that's what you did Lys, you were brave and you still are." Lysander shook his head in denial. "Y'know I was scared when I first joined the Order but I still wanted to make a deference, despite the danger it put me in. I don't regret joining but I do admit to being afraid, but I still stood up and that is what made the difference."
Lysander gave Teddy a genuine smile which seemed contagious, they sat there for a moment in silence but after a while Lysander started to frown, Teddy had asked if he wanted to talk about what happened and Lysander shook his head.
"I'm not ready yet, Lorcan is enough for now... But I will when I'm ready," Teddy nodded and an understanding smile crept to his lips. "Thanks Ted." Teddy nodded.
"Let's go downstairs and see what's going on," He saw Lysander bite his lip a little and so to comfort him Teddy said. "Everyone down there can keep you safe, you can trust us." Lysander nodded and dominated the same determined look that his brother had at the start of the meeting. Together they walked downstairs and slowly entered the room, everyone looked up and Lorcan stopped talking abruptly and went to his twins' side, they shared a thought and Lorcan smiled and the pair went to stand beside Harry.
"Alright," Said Harry. "Now that we have Lysander and Teddy back, would you boys mind telling us the full story of the death eaters plan?"
"You haven't gone over it already?" Teddy asked as he moved to stand beside Hermione- who was sitting down. Harry shook his head.
"We all need to be here, we've been talking about the allies and which of them would be best to have on the mission." Teddy nodded, though he didn't smile.
"I overheard them talking outside my cell." Said Lorcan. "They were talking of building more followers; they said they were attempting to secure the crimson orb." Everyone looked at each other, silently wondering what this could mean.
"Are you quite sure that's what they said?" Asked Hermione. Lorcan nodded.
"Oh-no this is not good, not good at all!" Exclaimed Kara. Keith gave her a questioning look and she answered it. "Hermione and I took the same course when we went through auror training, the course was: Mysteries and superstitions of the Dark Arts. It spoke mainly about the type of dark magic that was rumoured, dangerous but also unheard of. If it exists the consequences could be disastrous!"
"Yes," Hermione continued. "Crimson meaning red was said to be related to blood, mostly muggle blood which was more richly found in muggleborns', half bloods are sometimes useful but you get more power from the most vulnerable kind of wizard, which is one born from a muggle family that do not posses enough- if any- magic to pass through their childs veins. Anyway, it fuels the orb which then creates power- once this is drunk from the orb itself and touches the lips of those who have killed it makes half bloods and muggleborns' alike incredibly weak and defenceless, it could eventually kill them but the only way to stop it is for someone who is pureblood and never used an unforgiveable curse to sacrifice their own blood to the orb and drink it themselves. Disgusting yes but it is also the only way."
Everyone was silent for a moment as they could not believe what they were hearing, it sounded so inhuman and if this ever happened it would be frightening to think about having a friend suddenly go weak and or eventually die before your very eyes. Teddy's mind was in freefall, he looked to Victoire who had paled and looked to the half bloods and muggleborns' in the room. Keith and Sebastian were muggleborn and Kara was half blood, as well as Hermione Granger being muggleborn, and Harry being half blood as well as all the others. Even the twins were half blood because Rolf Scamander- their father and Luna's husband- was a muggle.
Silence flooded the room, nobody spoke and nobody moved. The tension was so thick that no-one dared take a breath or make a move. This was a lot bigger than they anticipated, a lot bigger.