Eleven.
Teddy is eleven. It is exactly one month since he received his Hogwarts letter and he has not yet been to Diagon Alley to purchase his new school supplies. He is in no rush, of course- he does have until the end of August before he will need them, and that is three months away. But it is one of the things he is most looking forward to, and he thinks that if he were to get his supplies soon it would make the wait until September 1st seem a lot shorter.
He sits on the bench in the window and watches two girls playing across the street. They have neatly plaited hair and one is wearing red shorts, whilst the other wears blue shorts. They look similar, but they are not twins. One is taller than the other, so Teddy guesses that is the older one. They are new, and they do not yet know of the peculiar lady and her equally strange Grandson who live in number seven. It is best if it stays that way, he thinks. He continues contentedly reading his book- one he has acquired from Hermione, all about his new school. It is Hogwarts- A History, and Teddy has already read it from cover to cover twice. He won't be here long, of course- he is sure his Grandmother will soon have finished whatever it is she is doing in the kitchen, and then today will be the day that she will take him to Diagon Alley. It probably won't take them long, as Teddy practically knows the supplies list by heart, so if they set off in half an hour, they will have a good hour to do their shopping before the shops close at five.
A peculiar sound catches his attention. At first, he thinks it is someone shouting his name, but as he listens closer, it is more like some kind of chant, accompanied by an odd beating.
'Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around,
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground,
Teddy bear, teddy bear, reach up high,
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the sky,
Teddy bear, teddy bear, bend down low,
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch your toes.'
He looks up instinctively and out the window. The two girls are now skipping. They have tied one end of the rope to a lamppost, and one of the girls is holding the other end, whilst the second one skips. Teddy thinks it would be a lot easier to turn the rope if someone was holding the end tied to the lamppost. He looks around for his Grandmother, and after deciding the coast is clear, he takes it upon himself to help the girls out of their predicament by turning the rope for them. For perhaps the first time in his life, Teddy is going to bravely approach the two strangers and make some friends. Before he leaves, though, he runs upstairs and collects the bag of muggle sweets he made Harry buy for him. They are the same ones he remembers the three brothers having, and they actually look quite nice, he decides- even if they don't have collectable cards or peculiar flavours or they don't chase you around the room. He will share these, he thinks, with his two new friends once they have finished skipping. The prospect of sharing sweets with friends thrills Teddy, and he bounces back down the stairs and reaches the front door.
He can now hear the girls chanting something new. It is not the same as before, but the rhythmic pounding of the one girl's feet on the pavement as she jumps continues, keeping time for the other girl's song, and it mesmerises Teddy. It is steady and methodical and Teddy finds it strangely soothing, like a heartbeat. He cannot help but stand beside the door listening to the words of the new song.
'There's a rumour going round of a great big beast
Who lives in the woods and waits for his feast.
Little girls are his favourite meal, they say
He'll gobble them up if they come his way!
Nancy thought she was brave, and so
She went into the woods on her own- oh no!
Silently he crept from the shadows one night
Then howled and roared with all of his might!
The little girl ran as fast as she could!
What's the scariest monster living in the wood?'
The girl jumping begins to shout something. She seems to be replying to the song.
'A bear?' Teddy can hear her call. The first girl, who had been singing, laughs, and shouts back 'no!'
'A lion?'
'No!'
'A tiger?'
'No!'
The voices stop for a second, but the pounding of the feet continue. Teddy's hand is on the door handle and he is moments from emerging from his house to greet his new friends, when he hears it.
'A werewolf?'
'Yes!' The answer is lost as the two girls begin to cackle at what they think must be a very funny joke, but it is a joke Teddy does not understand. Perhaps it's a sister thing, he wonders, or maybe even a muggle thing. But if he were honest to himself, he knows it is neither of these- werewolves it seems are unanimously the scariest things in existence, in both the muggle and Wizarding world.
He wants to storm out there and shout at them; tell them they're wrong, that there are all sorts of worse things to be afraid of, and that werewolves are harmless most of the time, but it's their ignorance that makes people think otherwise.
But they would think he was mad. They're muggles, and they think werewolves are make-believe, and only exist in fairy tales and fables and can be killed by silver bullets. He can't march out there and tell them to stop being so narrow minded, and to stop thinking like a muggle, and that his father was a werewolf. He's fiercely loyal to his father, and if he could, he would stand up for him in front of those girls.
But he can't. And it's not because they're muggles. It's because he is not brave enough.
He no longer wants to join them. He returns to his seat by the window with his sweets, which are once again completely unappealing, and he picks up the book he had discarded. The girls have swapped positions now and Teddy can hear the monotonous dirge begin once again.
'There's a rumour going round of a great big beast…'
He wishes he could cast a silencing charm on the two girls. He can't wait to learn how to perform one at Hogwarts. In fact, he finds himself thinking yet again, he can't wait to go to Hogwarts.
