Chapter 6

Teddy couldn't stop worrying as he paced in his godfathers office on Saturday night. Harry was due to arrive with James any minute now, and they had agreed to meet in the Head Auror's office as it had a private floo access.

With a sigh, Teddy checked his watch for the sixth time in the last few minutes. Suddenly the floo activated and Ted stopped his pacing immediately. In front of him Harry stepped out of the floo, his clothes casual, but his expression business-like. He murmured a quick greeting to his godson and then turned to the floo where James was stepping out to stand next to his father.

James looked nervous, but Teddy thought that was probably to be expected. In an attempt to move things along, he went straight to protocol.

"Right, I've put the paperwork on the desk for both of you to sign. James, I also need your wand."

His brother handed over his wand without a word and then waited his turn to sign the papers after his dad.

With his part of the procedure done, Harry excused himself, but not before he had shared some comforting words with his son and a reminder to behave himself.

And then, way too soon for Teddy's liking he was alone with James. The teenager looked uneasy and uncomfortable, and Ted tried to convey some sympathy with a reassuring smile as he explained what would happen next.

"Right, we're going to head down to the holding cells. There's no one else down there at the moment and we shouldn't meet anyone on the way. But just in case, keep your head down."

"Okay," James answered, and the with a moment's hesitation amended, "Yes, Sir."

Teddy grimaced and shook his head.

"There's no need for that, Jamie. With another officer maybe, but not with me."

He led the teenager through the deserted Ministry halls, and soon they arrived at the holding area. He took James all the way to the end of the long corridor of cells. The last five were separated by an extra security barrier. It was this section that was reserved for minors, intoxicated or sick detainees. Not only were these cells away from other more dangerous inmates, they also featured a series of special monitoring charms ensuring the welfare of the person within. It was a far cry from the old days of chucking someone into a dark cell in Azkaban.

And thank Merlin for that, Teddy thought as he closed the final security barrier behind them. He motioned to the small table with a stack of trays on it.

"You need to empty all your pockets, take off any jewellery, your watch, and place them in the tray. When you're done, take off the hoodie and remove your laces."

James quickly obeyed and within a minute was stripping off his large hoodie.

"I don't have any laces," he said in a quiet voice that was so unusual for James that it felt like a punch in the gut to Teddy. He cast his eyes to his brother's shoes and realised that he was wearing slip-ons.

"That's alright then," Teddy said accepting the hoody from James. Swallowing hard he forced himself to say:

"When you're ready I need to scan you for any other items. Can you stand facing the wall for me, hands against the wall?"

Whatever emotions James felt during that instruction, he masked it with a stony face and a short nod. Ted however wished he could be as far away from this situation as possible. That wasn't an option though, so getting this over with quickly became his recourse action. He scanned the items in the tray with a flick of his wand, but unsurprisingly what little possessions James had brought came back clean.

Moving quickly he placed a hand on James' back to keep the teenager still while his wand scanned up and down James' body. He finished with the compulsory body search although he knew it was pointless. Harry would have made sure that James didn't carry anything unusual.

"You can turn back around and put the hoodie back on, Jamie," Teddy said and handed the pack of tissues that had come out of James' pockets back to him.

"You can keep these, the other items will be held for you."

With a thanks James accepted the tissues and stuffed them back in his pocket. With no reason left to stall Teddy swallowed hard and unlocked the cell closest to them. He gently took James by the arm and led him to the no open door.

"Remember, it's only 24 hours. It will all be over quicker than you think."

James nodded weakly and followed his encouragement to step into the cell.

"I'll be okay," James assured Ted, but his eyes darted around the small room nervously. A bed and small table bolted to the wall were the entire content of the small room. There was a part of the cell partitioned off, which held in no real privacy a steel toilet and sink.

"I'll check on you in the morning," Ted said standing in the cell door. "Try to get some sleep."

He waited for James, standing lost in the middle of the room, to give a small nod and then the young Auror forced himself to take a step back. With a flick of his wand the heavy door fell into its lock leaving James to his fate.

Ted could honestly say that that night shift had been the hardest of his career so far. It had been a quiet night, which had left plenty of time for Teddy to pace and worry. He had suppressed the urge to check in on his godbrother several times. He knew it wouldn't have been helpful for either of them. However, that didn't stop him from checking the monitor charms almost hourly. They had been perfectly fine every single time and didn't go off once. Consequently, James was fine also, a reasoning that Ted repeated to himself religiously that night.

Come morning his anxiety had reached butterfly level. He balanced the tray of James' breakfast in one hand, while opening the cell door with a flick of his wand. The image that presented itself in front of him made Ted's breath hitch.

James was sitting on the bed, knees drawn close to his chest and hugged by his arms for comfort. He was hunched over, his face hidden, but he must have realised that the door had opened, because his head slowly came up and suddenly their eyes met.

'He cried,' Teddy realised instantly although there were no tears now. Yet, the puffy bloodshot eyes were a clear sign of James' misery. Ted had certainly seen it often enough that a night in a cell could turn a boisterous 15-year old into a tearful, contrite youngster.

"Hi," James mumbled, stretching his legs out to place them on the floor.

"Good morning," Teddy answered slowly finding his voice again.

He placed the breakfast tray on the small table letting the silence linger between them. It wasn't easy to suppress the urge to ask his godbrother how he was feeling. But what would have been the use, when it was obvious that James wasn't fine. There was no comfort that Ted could offer apart from the large sugar portion he had sneaked into porridge and tea.

"You should eat something. It will make you feel better," He urged. "I'm off now, just hang in there and I'll see you tonight."

He waited for James to reply, but the teenager only gave a faint nod in answer. His lack of talk was seriously disconcerting, but Teddy didn't allow himself to linger on it. Checking on James had been his last duty for the shift, so he quickly handed over the young Auror who Harry had also briefed for this, and then apparated home, downed a sleeping potion and quickly succumbed to blissful rest.

AN: Credit for beta-reading goes to 4fan. ci. Thank you for all alerts, favourites and reviews. Please feel free to drop me your thoughts or criticism in a review or PM. There's two chapters left, the next one being from James' POV. I'm currently rewriting it, so please be a bit patient with the next update.