A/N: Since it's my birthday this weekend, I thought I would give you guys a little gift: The next chapter!
And you know what would make a great gift for me? Reviews? No, seriously, I've only gotten one review in the last few chapters, which is way behind where I was in my last story so I'm starting to wonder if anyone else is reading this. Give me some love, people :)
Chapter 6
An Unexpected Visit
x-X-x
Teddy walked out of the examination room in the basement of St. Mungo's and felt his whole body relax. The exam hadn't been easy but he thought he had done himself proud. He'd been studying all week and it seemed to pay off. He'd even aced the practical when his antidote successfully saved the poisoned mouse he had been given. All in all, he was pretty happy.
And now, to make the day even better, he was going to get to see Victoire. When he had initially received the letter from James the night before, he had been worried, afraid something had happened with Yaxley. He rarely heard directly from James and, even though he had managed to block the escaped former Death Eater from his mind and concentrate on studying, he was still worried.
But when he opened the letter, it was instead a suggested way to meet up with his girlfriend and one he was quite happy to take advantage of. Teddy didn't know why James was being particularly helpful but, right now, he didn't care. He was just excited to see his girlfriend. He'd missed her over the past month, the longest they had been apart since before he could remember.
First though, he headed to his parents' house for dinner.
As soon as he was in the door, he was hit with a red-headed ball of energy.
"Ugg. Hey Lils."
"Hey Teddy! Did you know I'm ten now?"
Teddy laughed appreciably. "Course I knew. I was at your birthday dinner last on Tuesday, silly."
"I know," Lily answered in a huff. "But I still have two more years until I can go to Hogwarts."
"Ah yes, the bane of a fall birthday," Teddy said as he ruffled her hair. "So, where are mum and dad?"
"Kitchen," she answered. "I think mum was trying to help with dinner," she said with a grin.
"Oh, no," Teddy said with an exaggerated groan. It was on ongoing family joke how dangerous Ginny Potter was in the kitchen. "Well, why don't you go play with some of your birthday presents while I go save dad in the kitchen?"
"You don't want to play with me?"
Teddy almost caved at the big round eyes looking up at him. Ten years later and his sister could still wrap him around her little finger. He still remembered the first time he saw her. He was nine and was not looking forward to another baby. Both he and James remembered well how loud Albus had been when he was born not even two years earlier and they were not looking forward to it happening again. But the minute he saw the tiny baby girl in his mum's arms, he was lost. James was a little slower but soon even he was wrapped around her little finger. And boy did Lily take advantage of it!
But today, he held strong. If he let her drag him up to her room, there was no way he would make it to Hogwarts tonight.
"Sorry, Lils. I can't today. But I'll come by tomorrow and play. How about that? We can even have a tea party," he added as extra enticement.
"With a quidditch game, too?" she asked, her big eyes batting up at him.
Teddy just laughed at the perfectly mixed tom-boy and girly-girl who stood in front of him. "Yes. A quidditch match too."
"Yay!"
With that, Lily bounded up the stairs, leaving Teddy free to finally wonder back to the kitchen.
"Hey Dad. Mum."
"Teddy!" his mum exclaimed, the knife she was wielding slipping off the cutting board, sending the carrots flying. "Oops."
"I see you've kept her away from the stove," Teddy said with a smile.
"Hey!" Ginny said as she swatted her eldest son before enveloping him in a hug.
"Definitely safer that way," Harry said as he stirred a pot of something Teddy couldn't see on the stove.
"You be quiet," Ginny said tossing a towel at Harry who only ducked, letting the towel fall to the floor as he laughed. Ginny ignored him and turned back to Teddy.
"How was the exam?" she asked.
"Good. I really think I nailed it. I mean, I don't love poisons and antidotes. It's not a field a really want to work in but I still think I really did pretty well."
"That's great, Teddy," Harry said turning from the stove. "We're really proud of you, you know that?"
"I know, Dad," Teddy said, his cheeks flushing a little.
"So, what's next?" Ginny asked.
"Dunno. They haven't said what our next unit is yet. Guess I'll find out on Monday." Turning to Harry, he asked, "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Absolutely not," Harry answered. "I'm making your favorite to celebrate the end of your exam and I think I can trust your mum with the salad," he said, shooting a humorous look at Ginny, "so the most you are doing is pulling out the Elf Wine I have chilling."
"The sweet kind?" he asked, excited.
"Of course. I know that's your favorite," Harry answered, a smile on his lips.
"Awesome." Teddy headed over to the pantry and grabbed the wine from the box with the cooling charm on it. Coming back out, he pulled out three glasses and poured him and his parents some before turning back to his dad, who was rinsing the pasta in the sink. "So anything new at work?" he asked pointedly.
"A few new leads but nothing substantial yet. On the plus side, the few sightings that have been reported have all been down near Cornwall so it doesn't look like he's headed to Hogwarts."
"That's good."
"I think so." Harry dumped the pasta into the pot on the stove and began mixing it into the sauce. "You want to go grab your sister? Dinner's just about done."
"Sure," Teddy said, heading back out of the kitchen, his mouth already watering at the smells wafting from the stove.
x-X-x
Back at Hogwarts, James and his friends were eating dinner at the end of the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. Victoire was actually with them today, her stomach cooperating for the moment. She sat in the middle of the group, sipping at a basic noodle soup that was part of the dinner spread. James wondered if the house elves knew when students were ill, as there always seemed to be some lighter fare on the table when one of them didn't feel well.
While he was glad his cousin was eating, he was worried about the tension at the table. On the one side, he, Owen, and Freddie were hiding their knowledge of Victoire's situation from the girls and also hiding that Teddy was coming. And they weren't doing a very good job of hiding it. Owen wouldn't look at Victoire and Freddie kept fidgeting with his napkin.
However, on the other side, there was an uncomfortable tension between James and Mandie as well. James had gotten back from his date early. It had been a bust. Not surprising really, considering he had only asked Catherine out to force himself to try and give up on Mandie, who had been turning him down for years, claiming she didn't want to ruin their friendship. So he had come back early and hung out with Freddie and Owen in in the Great Hall, waiting for the girls to come down. When they finally did, Mandie hadn't even spared a glance at James and was currently sitting as far from James as she could get without leaving their little group.
"Soooo," James said, breaking the awkward silence, "How was everyone's day?"
"I'm sure not as good as yours," Mandie muttered at the end of the table, just loud enough for everyone to hear. Beside her, Sara placed a calming hand on her arm but didn't say anything.
"We actually had fun up in the dorms," Victoire said. "We had a relaxing girls day. We even gave ourselves facials."
"Ugh," Freddie said, mock gagging. "Estrogen fest."
"Admit it, you're jealous," Sara said, grabbing the napkin out of his hands.
"Not even a little."
"Well, what did you guys do in Hogsmeade while you were all full of your testosterone?" Victoire asked sarcastically.
"We gorged ourselves on sweets, I will have you know," Fred responded cockily.
"Oh, did you bring me back some licorice wands?" Victoire asked excitedly, totally losing her mocking tone.
"Of course," Owen said with a grin. "Can't let you suffer a loss of your favorite sweets. And we grabbed a few chocolate frogs for you Mandie and some candy floss for Sara too."
"You guys are too sweet," Sara said.
"Yeah," Owen said, leaning in and looking around the hall. "But don't let it get out. It'd ruin our tough guy reputations." They all laughed at the very idea of Freddie and Owen as tough guys. Pranksters, yes. Tough guys, not a chance.
"And there were no problems with the aurors or anything suspicious," Victoire asked, looking at James.
"Naw. Dad said there would be some aurors in Hogsmeade but I didn't even notice them so they were hiding pretty well. And I didn't see any sign of Yaxley."
"That's good. It's weird. I wonder what he's after." Victoire answered.
"Dunno," James said, "but I keep getting these odd feelings like something is wrong so we should all watch our backs. I'm not as good at sensing trouble as my dad but I still don't want to dismiss it completely."
"Why didn't you tell us you were sensing something," Mandie said, finally looking at James.
"I didn't really put it all together til this morning. It's happened a few times this year but only once since we found out Yaxley got out. I guess I just didn't connect the dots."
"Well, now that we know, we'll all be careful," Sara said, interjecting a calm logic to the conversation as she usually did.
"Right," James said, eager to change the topic. "So, I was thinking that after dinner, we could all hang out. It's been awhile since we all just sat around playing Exploding Snap."
"I don't know, James," Victoire said hesitantly. "I'm kind of tired."
"Come on," Freddie piped in, sensing where James was going. "You guys were relaxing all day. You can't be tired now."
"Yeah," James said. "I figured we could sneak off to the Room of Requirement. That way nobody would bother us."
"James, you know it's not nice telling your brother to bugger off every time he asks to play," Mandie said.
"Ugh, but he's and ickle firstie," James said.
"Not nice James," Sara said, not even looking at him.
"Fine. But tonight, let's go to the room. We haven't been there all year."
"Yeah, let's do it," Owen said.
"I guess," Victoire said, giving in, "but someday, you're going to have to let your brother play, James.
"Not if I graduate first," James muttered, causing Victoire to reach over and slap him.
x-X-x
Later that night, Teddy found himself climbing out of the one-eyed witch, the invisibility cloak wrapped around him. He briefly wished James would have thought to leave the Marauder's Map so he could check that the coast was clear before he surfaced but he settled for listening carefully for any sound. When he decided the silence was a sign he was alone, he crept out of the witch and headed up to the seventh floor.
When he reached the Room of Requirement, a door appeared in the wall. He smiled and pushed the door open. As he walked in, the door disappeared behind him and six sets of eyes turned in confusion. Realizing he was still under the cloak, he pulled it off. The looks of confusion stayed but excitement joined in.
"Teddy!" Victoire squealed, causing Teddy to wince as he enveloped the blonde in a hug as she threw herself into his arms.
"What are you doing here?" she asked as she pulled back.
"Thank James," Teddy said, indicating his brother. Victoire looked around, a questioning look in her eyes.
"Actually, it was Freddie and Owen too," James said. "And we wanted to surprise you." He got up and was quickly followed by the other two boys. "We thought you might miss him. And that you needed to talk," he added with a pointed look. Victoire's eyes went wide as she realized what he was implying. James just nodded his head slightly, causing Victoire's eyes to fill with tears.
Teddy noticed and immediately pulled her close again. "Hey, what's wrong, Vic?"
"Uh, I think that's our cue to leave," James said. As he passed Teddy, he patted his shoulder and said, "Just send the cloak back with Victoire or leave it where you found it. Either way." With that, he headed out, followed by Owen, Freddie, Sara, and Mandie.
Once they were alone in the room, Teddy directed Victoire over to a couch and pulled her down into his lap. Then he again asked, "What's wrong Vic? It's not like you to cry."
"I know," Victoire said, her voice thick. "This seems to happen all the time now. I mean, I knew it was a symptom, but it's getting ridiculous."
"Symptom of what? What's wrong Vic?" Teddy asked once again, this time pulling back so he could look down into her eyes.
Victoire, however, couldn't meet his gaze. Looking down into her lap, tears still leaking from her eyes she said in a small voice, "Promise me you won't hate me? I don't think I can handle it if you hate me?"
"Victoire, I could never hate you. Now, tell me what's wrong. You're scaring me," he said, genuinely worried.
Victoire took a deep breath and then looked right up into Teddy's eyes.
"I'm pregnant."
