When Teddy woke up the next morning he noticed that Vic wasn't in his bed. He also noticed that the soccer ball wasn't on Vic's dresser either and he grinned. He checked the time. They still had a good 5 hours before classes started and Teddy quickly got dressed before sticking his hands in his trunk and pulling out the Marauder's Map.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
Scanning the majority of the map Teddy's eyes finally rested on two random dots in the middle of the back field titled "Victor Sage" and "Roy Mustang."
Muttering a quick "mischief managed," Teddy stuffed the map back into the bottom of his trunk before running out of his room, down the stairs and through the portrait of the Fat Lady. When he finally arrived at the back field, Teddy found Roy and Vic at it again although this time it was a lot more of a skilful fight than when they'd first met.
Teddy noticed that the lone soccer ball sitting in the grass and sat down next to it. Tossing the ball between his hands he noticed that Roy was obviously the more skilful fighter. He minimized his movements and was much faster and precise than Vic to make up for his smaller size. Vic on the other hand was the stronger one but he threw his punches everywhere and Roy seemed to dodge or block them with ease.
Suddenly, probably sensing an opening, Roy grabbed Vic's arm, pitching the larger yet younger boy over his shoulders and slamming him into the ground. Teddy winced a bit on impact. Vic continued to lie on the grass, panting heavily and Roy joined him a few seconds later. Teddy took his opportunity to approach them.
"Nice moves," Teddy said, tossing the ball to Vic on the ground.
Vic grinned. "You won't get stronger if you don't practice."
"Yeah well, you won't get stronger if you don't eat either so hurry up and get changed or we're gonna miss breakfast."
"I'm taking a shower and getting my books. It'll be faster later if I dump them in your dorm." Roy said, as Teddy helped him up off the ground before bending over to do the same for Vic.
After showers and a quick breakfast the boys were back out in the field as Vic and Roy coached Teddy on how to dribble the ball and shoot properly. The last hour before classes was spent playing a three way soccer match with much laughter and shouting.
By the time the boys had dropped off the ball on Vic's dresser and gathered their books, the bell had rung, signalling 5 minutes before classes.
"Great. No one bothered to check their time tables huh?" Teddy asked.
"We've got Potions first, then Transfiguration, history of magic, herbology, astronomy, charms, flying and Defense is last. What about you Roy?"
"Same."
"Great! Onwards!"
Teddy laughed at Vic's enthusiasm before heading off towards the dungeons.
"Your common room's down in here?" Vic muttered when they arrived.
Roy shrugged, "It's not as bad as it looks."
The boys moved their way to the front of the class and sat down on the cold benches.
"Why'd we have to sit in the front?" Teddy thought to himself, not liking the idea of being so close to Snape who's hard stare made in uncomfortable.
By the time the boys had taken their books out, the rest of the first years had already filed in and taken their seats and Snape emerged from his office door.
Taking one look at Teddy and Vic in the front seat he sneered.
"Well, aren't you boys a fine circus act?"
Teddy tensed but Snape took one look at Roy who was sitting next to Vic and gave a slight frown before turning his attention to the class.
"Very well, as this is a shorter class we'll skip the introductions and start with a simple potion. It should only take five minutes to complete if done properly. You are all to page 3 of your textbooks and follow the recipe. All the information you need is in there. You may work in pairs or alone. I will be checking them 15 min before class ends and we are to discuss the procedure and ingredients tomorrow."
Everyone nodded and the room was filled with the noise of pages being flipped.
"I'll be with Teddy if Roy doesn't mind being alone." Vic said, turning to Roy who merely nodded without looking up from his textbook. Teddy and Vic got straight to work, who knows; maybe Teddy would be eased of the ridicule if he got this right.
"Alright, this doesn't look too hard, just 5 ingredients." Teddy muttered as he went up to the front bench to pick them out.
"He's trying to confuse us." Vic whispered to Teddy as they approached the bench and Teddy couldn't help but agree.
The potion ingredients were spread out along the entire table and Snape had mixed in some other random ones to confuse the students. Teddy watched as some students simply picked up the first 5 ingredients they saw on the table and went back to their bench.
"This shouldn't be too hard. Come on, what's first?" Teddy asked.
"Varnish root?" Vic asked, reading the ingredient off his book. "That doesn't sound very appetizing."
Teddy grinned, "We're brewing a potion, not cooking our dinner. Moving on, what's it look like?"
Vic shrugged. "Doesn't show. All it says is "Varnish root: A purple, thick root that gives off a faint odour when removed from the ground. When cut it emits a liquid that resembles varnish...and then it goes on as to how to cut it and stuff." Vic ended in confusion.
Well, that was certainly helpful, there must have been a hundred roots on the table and Teddy didn't think Snape would approve if he tried to cut all of them to see what spilt out.
"There's a picture glossary on the back." Roy muttered behind Teddy, not turning over to look at them.
Vic hastily flipped to the end of the book "Sweet! How'd you know that?"
"Footnote at the bottom." Roy replied, smirking and having gathered his ingredients he headed back to his spot.
With the pictures to go along with the descriptions, it was a lot easier to find the right ingredients and eventually, Teddy and Vic were running back to their seats, rather anxious to get started.
"Right, this isn't too hard. Just make sure the ingredients weigh the same as in the book and we're good." Teddy said.
After a few minutes Teddy and Vic dumped the ingredients into their cauldron and watched as the clear water turned into a dark pink.
"That looks about right" Teddy said, reading the description in the book again. He hoped that the potion was good enough. At least they hadn't accidentally exploded the cauldron like some of the Hufflepuff's.
"Time's up." Snape declared suddenly from his position at the front desk. "If your potion is complete and red in color stand up, if not then I won't guarantee any success in this class."
Teddy and Vic stood up and so did Roy and the two Slytherin girls in the next aisle beside him. Near the back of the room a few more people stood up but the majority of the class remained sitting, staring guiltily at their books.
Snape frowned before ignoring Teddy and Vic entirely and heading over to the girls beside Roy.
"Very nicely done but make sure you used the right amount of aconite, the potion shouldn't be bubbling like that." Snape said rather nicely.
As he made his way down the aisle Teddy and Vic started getting restless. After a few sneers and insults at the poor students, Snape returned to the front of the class.
"Never before have I had so many students fail such a simple potion. It looks like I've got my work cut out for myself since you all obviously know nothing about how to brew a proper potion."
As he neared Roy's cauldron his face suddenly broke out into a small smirk which Teddy believed one day could magically evolve into an actual smile.
"Now this is perfect." Snape almost purred causing Teddy and Vic to involuntarily shudder at the...happiness? Teddy didn't know such an emotion existed in Snape's world.
"Excellent, the perfect amount of ingredients and the proper temperature. 5 points to Slytherin."
Vic gave a Roy a smile "Didn't think you had it in you bro."
Roy kept his face impassive as Snape moved away before shrugging and muttering. "It's like chemistry. I'm OK with it."
Vic didn't have time to respond however for Snape had moved on to their cauldron and Teddy suddenly felt very nervous. He was certain that the potion was perfect, it was the right color, it wasn't boiling or steaming or doing anything out of the ordinary and both Teddy and Vic had double checked that they were putting in the right amount of ingredients.
Snape's eyes scrutinized their cauldron with his mouth set into a thin line. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Snape stuck his finger into the cauldron and frowned slightly.
"Quite surprising really," Snape said at last, looking up to meet Teddy's gaze.
"Obviously not from your father's genes." And Teddy's eyes hardened but he couldn't quite hold back his grin when Snape muttered a grudging "5 points to Gryffindor."
"Alright, here's your introduction. I don't want to put anyone to sleep so I'll keep it short. Who remembers my name?"
"The whole class erupted into a chorus of "Professor Bobo!"
And the transfiguration teacher gave them a smile from her position on top of the teacher's desk. "Good, I knew you all could remember it. Now, if anyone spells it as Boob or Bob I'll stick you to the ceiling. But that's enough of that. Moving on! According to your textbooks, transfiguration is 'the art of changing the form and appearance of an object and the vanishing of objects' which is basically just a fancy way of saying that you get to turn things into other things. Now pass the sheet around and read it on your own time. It's not that hard to understand. I can't teach anything in such a short period of time so we might as well play one of those stupid name games that actually seem to work. Who wants to go first?"
"I like her already." Vic said and Teddy nodded in approval, "Too bad her name sounds like a stuffed animal or something."
"This coming from the kid with the name Teddy." Professor Bobo said at the front of the class causing Teddy to jump.
Vic practically laughed himself off his seat and Roy was giving him a big smirk as Teddy blushed in embarrassment and amusement.
"Touche ma'am." Teddy said, grinning and he was awarded with a smile.
The rest of the class was spent watching in amazement as Bobo transfigured random objects into animals as per the student's requests. She'd talk a bit after each spell, educating the students on what could happen should the spell go wrong, most of which had Teddy's mind filled with funny images. Near the end of the class Bobo transfigured a boy into a toilet when he had asked what the experience would feel like and Vic had actually laughed so hard that he fell out of his chair.
"Hurry up! Or we're gonna be late!" Teddy yelled at Vic from the bottom of the staircase.
"I'm coming I'm coming!" Vic shouted. "It's not my fault we never checked where the washrooms were around here!"
The three boys ran like mad to their next class but as they neared the corner Teddy collided with another boy going the opposite way.
"Oi, watch where you're going pipsqueak." The other boy growled.
"Sorry!" Teddy shouted over his shoulder as he continued to run before suddenly finding himself being grabbed by the back of his shirt collar.
"What's the rush kid? You think you can just bump into me and not expect to pay me some retribution? That'll cost you a galleon." The older boy growled dangerously and Teddy turned his head around.
"A galleon?! You can forget it!" Teddy shouted at him, trying to pry himself free of the larger boy's grasp only to have the grip tighten.
"You're Lupin's kid aren't you? Don't think you can escape my rules just because your father's a teacher. Now give me the money or you're gonna be in a world of pain."
Teddy continued to struggle in frustration; they didn't have time for this! Looking down at the other boy's robes he caught the telltale colors of green and silver.
"Slytherin. Go figure." Teddy thought to himself as he egged the boy on by shouting.
"I don't owe a dipshit like you anything now let me go." Teddy growled and braced himself for a punch to the face.
Suddenly, Roy's hand was holding back the fist that was mere inches away from Teddy's face.
"Let him go." Roy growled, stare not wavering an inch as the other boy glared at him. Teddy was half expecting that some sort of epic staring contest had just began when the hand on his collar suddenly relaxed.
Ignoring the other boy, Teddy huffed, turned and ran off to class with Vic and Roy close behind him.
"You're asking for it werewolf cub! Halfbreed freaks like you should be put in their place! I'll make sure of it!" the other boy yelled after him but Teddy paid him no attention.
"You OK Ted?" Vic asked as they ran off to their history class, ignoring the other boy.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks Roy."
Roy shrugged in response.
"Your hair was turning red; the blue's cooler by the way." Vic added just as the bell rang.
"SHIT!" Teddy cried out as the three boys practically doubled their pace. Teddy spotted Professor Croswell just about to close the door to their classroom and Vic launched himself into the air, jamming his foot in the door before it could completely close.
"Well, good of you to join us boys." Croswell said, opening the door wider to allow the boys to enter the room.
"Sorry sir." Teddy said panting. "We had a run in with...someone..." Teddy finished lamely.
Croswell smiled and ushered the boys to the remaining seats at the back of the classroom.
"By the way, who was that guy?" Teddy whispered to Roy as they sat down.
"Some fourth year. His last name was Kimblee, didn't catch the rest of it." Roy whispered back as Professor Croswell began to speak.
And from then on, the actual schooling kicked in. They went over a bunch of stuff but never once did they use any magic or even take out their wands. Croswell seemed to know that his class was boring and he often made fun of it which amused Teddy greatly. All in all, it wasn't too bad and when the class was over the students filed out with a smile on their faces.
And the day went on. Herbology was a bore. All they did was sit in the extremely hot and humid greenhouse as Professor Baille lectured them on how to safely handle some of the plants and how to tell the difference between the poisonous ones and the edible ones.
Astronomy wasn't much fun either. Professor Jarrod talked in a monotone voice that caused Teddy to almost fall asleep and not even Vic, who knew most of the answers that Jarrod asked, managed to express much interest in the subject.
"What's the point of this class if we take it during the day?" Vic muttered to Roy who had been doodling some mechanical contraption on his notes.
When charms rolled around, Teddy was downright bored but he shouldn't have worried. Professor Sloane didn't teach as formally as he dressed, which they soon found out.
After some customary introductions, the class was set out to work the simple task of mimicking wrist movements and the rest of the period was spent chatting. Sloane seemed to know a great deal of the current trends of the students and got along well with many of them, often cracking jokes and commenting on popular teen events like music and books.
"He's like a big teenager." Vic laughed as they walked to their next class.
Suffice to say, Vic was eager to enter his next class. As the three boys entered they found Professor Logan reading a comic book with her feet propped up on the desk.
Once everyone was in and the bell had rung Professor Logan put down the book with a sigh. "Alright, let's get started". Logan announced to the class. "Put you're books away. I can't be bothered to stay in here all day. We're going on a field trip or sorts. Accio brooms." Logan finished, waving her wand and in an instant, everyone in the class had a broomstick in front of them.
"Now let's go. Come on now, we don't have all day." Professor Logan said, removing her feet off the desk and stuffing her hands in her pockets as she went out the classroom.
The first years followed her, most seemed taken aback at the blunt style of teaching but Teddy and the brothers raced on ahead, eager to get to the field first.
"Alright. Now, since this is a short class we'll just start with getting everyone off the ground. When we manage that then you guys can go frolic in the fields until the end of the period for all I care." Logan stated, waving her hand dismissively.
"Now, non flyers over here. People who have flown before over on the other side."
Roy and Vic ran over to the non flyers side while Teddy went over to the beginners. He'd flown a few times over at The Burrow with his godfather on his mom's Comet 260 and he didn't feel that he was too bad at it.
"You're telling me the Bird Boy here doesn't know how to fly?" Logan asked, looking at Vic who blushed.
"Not on a broom ma'am."
"Well, at least you're honest about it. Alright, let's see what our designated experts have to show. Mount your broomsticks."
Teddy and a handful of other first years mounted their broomsticks and, on Professor Logan's cue, shot off into the sky. When Teddy looked down he saw the professor giving the rest of the class instructions on how to mount and take off and within the next 15min, everyone was up in the air.
"This is so cool! No effort at all!" Vic said laughing as he preformed some rolls in mid air.
"Oi, Teddy, race you to the Quidditch pitch! This would be better if we had a ball."
"Accio football." Roy said, waving his wand while flying just under and to the left of Vic.
"What?! How'd you learn accio? I haven't even learnt accio!" Teddy asked, thoroughly surprised.
Roy shrugged as Vic's soccer ball flew over into his hands from the Gryffindor common room. "Professor Logan did it at the beginning of class. I just copied what she did...what?" Roy finished, raising an eyebrow at Teddy who had his mouth hanging open in shock.
"You literally remember everything you see."
It wasn't a question, it was a fact and Roy shifted slightly on his broom before giving a nod.
"I am so jealous of you right now. I've been trying to learn accio for months!" Teddy said laughing and Roy smirked.
"Trust me, it's not as awesome as you think it is but it does have its perks. Now come on, we've only got a few more minutes until the next class."
And the boys followed after an impatient Victor who had already flown over to the Quidditch pitch.
After a few minutes of tossing the ball through the hoops and testing if they could fly fast enough to catch a dropped ball in mid air they were joined by Professor Logan.
"Nice playing you three. You'd make great Quidditch players, you should try out for the teams. Even you." Logan said, nodding at Roy. "Your next class starts soon you'd better go now if you want to get that ball back into your room."
"Thanks Professor." Teddy said as the three boys flew down to the ground and handed their broomsticks over to her.
"If you want to borrow the brooms just let me know." Professor Logan told them as she flew back to attend to the rest of the class.
"We're still pretty early." Teddy said checking the time. "We can probably get back to the common rooms and be in class a good 10min before it's supposed to start."
Of course, being the ill fated group of kids that they are, they never quite made it to the common rooms for a door quite suddenly opened, smacking Vic in the face and causing him to drop his ball.
The ball rolled over to the feet of the person who had opened the door and Teddy froze when he looked up. For, standing in front of him was the most feared teacher of all: Professor Xavia.
"A Muggle toy?! Who on earth brought such a piece of trash into this school? You!" Xavia shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Teddy. "You're the little werewolf brat. I knew you'd be a problem to this school. How dare you bring such an atrocity here. As if your father wasn't bad enough!"
"Leave my dad out of this! He's not an atrocity!" Teddy shouted, he had tried to keep calm but Xavia just pushed all the wrong buttons at once and he had just exploded. He was fairly certain that his hair had turned red by now anyways so there was no hiding it.
"You dare talk back to a teacher? 20 points from Gryffindor. And an additional 20 for roaming the hallways during classes!"
"Professor Logan let us out early!" Vic protested angrily but he instantly shut up when Xavia suddenly pointed her wand at him.
"That's enough! I'll have you know that I am of pureblood decent and I will not stand to have the son of a filthy half-breed talking back to me!" referring to Teddy. "And you're the flying boy aren't you? A true freak of nature that's what you are! No wonder your parents di-"
And suddenly Roy had wedged his way in between Vic and Xavia's wand, grabbing the tip of the wand as he did so.
"I am of pureblood decent and I will not stand to have you threatening my brother." He growled out in a form of rage that Teddy had never heard from him before.
Xavia seemed to be truly taken off guard at Roy's sudden interference with his brother and if it were in any other situation Teddy would have laughed at her face right about now. However, his attention was drawn to the rather alarming steam that was emitting from Xavia's wand.
"What the hell's going on here!?"
Everyone quickly turned their attention to the speaker. Professor Croswell and Professor Bobo had just rounded the corner and suffice to say, Teddy was quite relieved to see them.
"What do you think you're doing Xavia? You can't just start jamming your wand into student's faces!"
Croswell said sternly and Xavia quickly pulled her smoking wand free of Roy's grip before sticking it back into her robes.
"It does not concern any of you two." She growled menacingly before turning swiftly and walking down the halls.
"That bitch!" Teddy heard Bobo mutter under her breath.
"Kate. Language."
"Oh come on Mark, you can't deny it, just because she's older than all of us she acts like she owns the place yet she's really just a spoiled baby that complains whenever she doesn't get what she wants. I can't believe she's in the same house as me!"
Croswell didn't reply, instead deciding to turn back to the boys.
"You guys OK? What happened?"
As Teddy explained the events he heard Roy and Vic muttering to themselves behind him.
"You OK? Did she hurt you?"
"I'm fine Roy. Thanks."
"Someone has to watch your ass."
When Teddy finished his explanation the boys were ushered off on their way.
"Can't have you boys late for your next class. 50 points for Gryffindor for sticking up for each other. Oh and 10 points for Slytherin too." Croswell finished, giving the boys a wink before leading Bobo down the rest of the hallway.
When Vic went to retrieve his forgotten ball from the floor Teddy sighed, checking the time.
"Come on. We've only got a min before the 5min bell. If we hurry we can still make it."
When the boys finally made it to the Defense classroom right at the bell Professor Lupin raised an amused eyebrow at the trio before settling down to address the class.
Once introductions were over and half the class had settled into the amusing task of observing the various Dark Creatures Lupin had displayed throughout the room, Teddy turned to Vic and Roy.
"So, what do you think about Quidditch."
"Seeker!" Vic shouted out causing several people to turn around.
"So I'll take that as a 'yes, I will try out for the team next week Teddy, thanks for asking'." Teddy laughed.
"You Roy?"
Roy shrugged, not looking up from his doodling, "If Vic wants to be seeker then I'll be seeker too. Otherwise competition wouldn't be any fun. You?"
"I dunno. I guess a chaser, but hey, I'm fine with just about any position...except keeper..."Teddy thought to himself. The prospect of having to sit in front of a bunch of rings for every match as everyone else got a piece of the action didn't really appeal to him. The boys entertained themselves by talking about random things and occasionally checking out the creatures around them until the bell rang signalling the end of classes.
"Finally!" Vic said as he stuffed his books into his bag.
When the majority of the class had already left, Teddy launched into a rather epic explanation of his day to his father who was sitting behind his desk.
"I got us 5 points in Gryffindor for my potion! Professor Bobo's cool. Professor Croswell's cool too but Baille and Jarrod are kind of a bore...
"Especially Jarrod, Even I wasn't paying much attention to him by the time his class was over..." Vic muttered.
"Professor Logan said I was a good flyer and that I should try out for the Quidditch team! Think I should dad?" Teddy asked expectedly.
"Of course you should. There's no harm in trying out," his father told him and Teddy beamed.
"Now, before I forget, I believe this belongs to you Roy." Lupin continued, passing Roy his Rubik's Cube from yesterday.
Roy's eyes literally lit up as he snatched the Cube out of Lupin's hands. Enlarging it and giving it a few twists and turns Roy shrunk it back down to size again before hanging it around his neck.
"Thank you sir." Roy said, bowing a bit in thanks.
"No problem. Now you boys better head out and get cleaned up, otherwise you'll be late for dinner."
At the prospect of food Vic's eyes practically bugged out and he jumped up into the air.
"Can't miss dinner!" Vic called out as he ran out the door.
Teddy and Roy shared a grin before waving goodbye to Lupin and running out the door after Vic.