Teddy busied himself with corking inkbottles, rolling up pieces of parchment, and putting locking charms on his diary so that Ginny and Harry wouldn't see how shocked he was. As soon as the door slammed shut behind Harry, he froze, listening hard. He could hear their footsteps, a shout he couldn't make out, and then the whoosh of floo powder working. He listened more intently hoping, this time, to hear where it was they were going. The silence stretched, and Teddy wondered suddenly if only one was going after all. But just when he thought this, he heard Ginny's voice, clear and confident, and easily carrying to his basement bedroom, shout, "The Juggling Ghost!"

Teddy gathered up his writing materials, and made his way to Harry and Ginny's room, thinking hard. He had heard enough stories of his parents from Harry to know what traits he had gotten from each of them. The obvious answer from his mum was his metamorphmagus abilities. He was also, he had learned in his first few years of life, quite clumsy, though not as much as she had been. Most people thought he had grown out of this as he grew older, but this was not so. Instead, he had developed a careful, deliberate way of walking, his way of making sure he didn't fall or trip over something. He also had his mum's intense love of adventure. He'd heard that his dad had that too, but was more reserved. Teddy wasn't reserved at all. He would rush (aka walk carefully) into any opportunity that presented itself. However, Teddy did have his dad's love of writing and reading, and he'd kept a diary almost as long as he could remember.

Sitting on the bed, he opened up his diary and finished his latest entry.

14 July 2016

It is now very late, and therefore after midnight and therefore Lily's birthday! She is 8 years old. And I'm 18…Blimey I'm old! Out of Hogwarts! James, Molly, and Lorcan keep shutting themselves up to discuss their first year.

Something odd's happened. The Ministry found a Death Eater camp for muggle-borns, and they saved a bunch of kids. Every family's taking some in, because they havn't got last names or anything. The Minister brought four to our house tonight, that's why I'm still up. They are:

Delia, 14

Curtiss, 13

Dion, 9

Geoffrey, 2

The girl and the baby are sleeping in Lily's room, the older boy with James and the younger with Al. I hope they fit in but they seemed very scared. And a bit standoffish.

Harry and Ginny just came down to my room, said they were going out, and asked me to baby-sit! Then I heard them floo to the pub outside Charlie's flat. Harry hasn't gone out this late since he switched to the Auror reserve. And Ginny never has. And they have never, ever let me baby-sit. They always get another adult to do it, Hermione or Hannah, usually. And why they would go to Charlie's, I can't fathom.

Also, I got a letter from Victoire. She said she missed me! But I get to see her tomorrow at the party. She said she'd save me a dance! If there is a dance this year. There might not be, with everything going on. But I think I'm going to give her a dance anyway, even if there isn't an official one.

Teddy smiled as he closed the little blue book, and locked it in the special way Bill had taught him, thanking his stars he'd taken arithmancy. No one but him could open it easily, unless he or she was a curse breaker, and even then it would take at least an hour.

He lay back on the bed, thinking happily of tomorrow and seeing Victoire. With these happy thoughts, he had soon drifted off to sleep, all responsibility and mystery forgotten.

He was woken an hour and twenty minutes later by a frantic beeping coming from the side table. He jumped out of bed, his head spinning. Where was he? Why wasn't he in his room? What was he doing in… Harry and Ginny's room!? And what was that infernal beeping?

Beeping! Teddy spun to face the Dark Detector on the bedside table. It was an advanced form of the sneakoscope, and the beeping meant something was wrong with the house, or one of the kids! Snatching his wand he dashed out of the room, tripping as he crossed the doorway and landing sprawled in the hallway. He got to his feet slowly, holding his breath, cursing his clumsiness. If this didn't teach him to slow down, nothing would. He slowly edged around the corner peering into the hallway. Then he crept into the hall, into the kitchen. The window had been shattered, and a blood red envelope was sitting on the table, smoking furiously at the corners. Before Teddy could grab it, the envelope burst into flame. A voice, loud and drawling, shouted one word through the house again and again, from many rooms.

"MURDER!"

In the three bedrooms in the hall, girls screamed and boys shouted. In the kitchen, Teddy sank into a chair, shaking. In the den, the fireplace flared green