Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Harry Potter; that would be J.K. Rowling. I do thank her though for allowing me and others to dabble and play with the fantastic world she created.
This story is also being published on Hogwarts Extreme
"Brilliant!" The young wizard said. "Think I'm gonna call it a night though." He said as he stood, packed up his books, and headed up to the dormitory.
The next morning the young metamophmagus woke at dawn like he usually did. He dressed quietly, reached in his trunk to grab the bag of owl treats, then made his way down to the common room.
The common room was awash in the new day's light streaming in from the high windows. The dust motes floating around in the beams of light were dancing in his wake as he crossed to the door and exited through the arched oak door.
The young wizard made his way to the owlery without difficulty; traveling the same path he had the day before. Today, however, he entered the drafty tower just as DÃlis was coming back from hunting. He extended his arm for the owl which she perched on. Stroking her chest he said to her "Did you have a good hunt? Hope you caught whatever you were after. Here, I brought something for you." The young Ravenclaw reached into his pocket and took out an owl treat. He then held one out in front of her beak. She chirped her thanks as she gently took it from him. Stroking her again he said "Well, time to start another day. I'll see you later." She took flight with a soft hoot and settled in the rafters.
Back in the common room, Teddy sat in one of the armchairs by the fire and read while he waited for the rest of his classmates to get up. When Ollie made his way down, rubbing his eyes, they went down to breakfast. It wasn't too long after the boys entered the Great hall that the post came. Ollie occupied himself with reading the Daily Prophet while Teddy talked with his classmates. All too soon it was time to go to classes once again.
"Well my fellow Ravenclaws, are you ready to go to Charms Class?" a bubbly Lucretia asked the first years as she waited for them all to assemble. Most of them nodded excitedly while a few seemed to be too sleepy to respond. "All right follow me." She said as she led them out of the great hall and up to the third floor. "There'll be someone else to lead you to your History of Magic Class from here. Have a good lesson." The prefect said once they got to the door.
This classroom was much like the others except for the fact that the professor was uncommonly short with unruly white hair and beard. He was wearing a set of green robes and standing on top of a stack of books at the front of the classroom. "Come in come in!" The professor squeaked. "No time to waste."
When they had all filed in and were settled he unrolled a scroll of parchment, made sure everyone was accounted for, and started the lesson. "Welcome to Charms. I'm Professor Flitwick." For the rest of the lesson they learned about the properties of charms and how they were different from transfigurations. "Now, before you go, your homework. I would like one roll of parchment on the difference between charms and transfigurations by your next lesson on Monday." Just then the bell rang and the students were dismissed.
As many had suspected, they did have a quiz in their History of Magic lesson. However, it wasn't very difficult in Teddy's opinion. The rest of the lesson went much the same way as it had the day before. As the lesson wore on the young metamorphmagus' gaze started to drift towards the window and it became increasingly more difficult to focus on the lesson. He knew the reason and had to force himself to concentrate. Finally, they were told to read chapter two and summarize it for their lesson on Tuesday. When the bell rang they headed to the Great Hall for an uneventful lunch.
Barnaby came over to the first year table at the end of the hour to cheerfully led them to their potions lesson in the dungeons. "Have a good lesson!" the tall prefect said as he dashed away after seeing them to the correct room. The first years started filing into the large classroom which contained a number of worktables, a stone basin in the far corner, and a number of cabinets along the walls holding ingredients, potions, and even some textbooks.
The young Ravenclaws quickly found their seats around the worktables and took out their potion kits, textbook, and note taking materials. While they were doing this the Hufflepuff students arrived.
"Ollie! Teddy!" Gildas called out as she rushed to join them at their workable. "It's so nice that we have a class together. This is my friend Skye." The girl that sat down across from Ollie was tall with brown curly hair, blue eyes, and a rounded face.
"Hello. It's nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you."
Teddy looked at Ollie with a startled expression before looking at Gildas who didn't seem the least bit perturbed. "I'm not sure how you could have heard a lot about us, we've only just meet this week." The startled youth replied.
"You make quite the first impression." Skye added with a wry smile while taking out her potion materials.
Before anymore could be said on the subject the the professor called the class to order and made sure all his students were there. "Now that we have that out of the way." he said while rolling up the parchment with the students names. "Good afternoon. Welcome to first year Potions. My name is Professor Zabini and I'm the Potions Master at this school."
Professor Zabini was a tall, dark skinned man with high cheekbones and long, slanting eyes that were looking at each student in turn as he talked. He was wearing pristine emerald green robes embroidered in silver. His short curly black hair was flawlessly groomed along with his mustache.
With the introduction out of the way, their lesson had begun. The remainder of the double period was spent taking notes on how to properly brew a potion, why it was important to follow the directions explicitly, what could happen if one deviated from the directions, and how the various instruments in their potions kit were used. "Now, in preparation for your next lesson I want you all to write me a one scroll essay on why you should follow the directions when preparing a potion. That is all, you are dismissed." The last words were uttered right as the bell rang.
Teddy put his potion kit back together and fit everything back in his bookbag. "I have a feeling we'll never be fully caught up on homework, will we?" He said as he looked at Ollie.
"Maybe when we graduate." The young wizard said with a smirk.
"Wanna go play gobstones?" The metmorphmagus asked hopefully.
"Yeah!" He practially shouted as he snatched up his bag and dashed out of the room with Teddy.
That evening was spent like the last one with the exception that Teddy became more and more restless as the night wore on. Finally he slammed his book closed at quarter after ten saying "I just can't concentrate any longer. I'm going to bed."
Ollie gave him a sympathetic look as he gathered his books and headed up to the dormitory. He put his bookbag in his trunk and climbed into bed fully dressed. He waited impatiently for the rest of his dormmates to fall asleep. Finally, when the last one had entered the dorm and gone to bed he waited just a while longer for his breathing to even out. It was hard to restrain himself.
Carefully he climbed out of bed and went over to the mirror. Looking into it the mirror Teddy debated about how he wanted to change his appearance. Should he morph to look like one of the professors? Or go for one of the prefects? It would probably be better to go for one of the professors, though he would have to go for one of them that he knew well. The best choice would be to appear as his father, however, he was sure the staff new of his condition.
Glancing out the window he saw that the sky was clear and the full moon bright. His father would not be roaming the halls this night but would be under the effects of the Wolfsbane Potion; still transformed into a werewolf but able to keep all his mental faculties. He had told him once that during these times he just curls up under his desk in his office and sleeps.
Looking back at the mirror he pondered his dilemma. Who to morph his appearance into...Thinking back to the teachers who were at supper he decided on Professor Sinistra who taught Astronomy. He had heard quite a bit about her from his pop and thought he could possibly pull it off. Wrinkling his nose and furrowing his brow he focused on what he wanted to happen, slowly he grew taller, his hair grew longer and turned black, his skin darkened, and his face changed to a more circular shape with higher cheekbones. An uncomfortable feeling broke his concentration and caused him to look down. He quickly realized his robes were a few inches too short and quite tight compared to that of a normal eleven year old.
Now what am I going to do. He thought as made his way over to the staircase and crept down into the common room. Once there he looked about carefully to make sure he was alone, seeing no one he thrust his hand into his pocket and brought out the Marauder's Map. Tapping it with his wand he whispered "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!" before muttering "Lumos" so that he could better see what was on the map. Glancing about the map he quickly found what he needed in the basement; he knew he had seen it before when studying the map the night Harry had given it to him. The laundry; It was the perfect place to get a set of robes. Looking at what was around the room he saw that there was a staircase near there that went all the way up to the corridor just outside the common room. If he was careful, really careful, he just might make it there without being seen.
"Nox!" He muttered putting himself back into the darkness. "Mischief managed!" he tapped the parchment, folded it up, and put it in his pocket while he made his way across the room and out into the corridor. With his heightened sense of hearing and vision, he crept carefully down the corridor towards the same staircase he had taken just that morning towards the owlery. Once there he paused to make sure he was alone before going down to the next landing. He continued in this manner all the way to the basement.
In the basement he had a bit of a shock. He could hear a voice shouting in the distance. It wasn't until he crept closer to the laundry that he could make it out.
"Wee little elvsies! Wash wash wash! All full of suds! Go splotch splotch splotch!"
When he peered around the corner he could see floating in the air, just before the far door to the laundry facing in his direction but distracted by the elves trying to leave, a little man dressed in a red pants with orange stripes, a bright orange coat with stars, a bell covered hat, and a revolving green bow tie. He had black hair and slanted orange eyes that were gleaming wickedly as he sang his little ditty while lobbing handfuls of soap suds at the scampering elves who were just trying to do their work.
Teddy had heard about the school's poltergeist from his Godfather, aunt, uncles, and his father. The being was a menace. He did nothing but cause trouble and lots of it. The teacher's could sometimes get it to obey their wishes, but more often than not the only thing that would work was if the Bloody Baron - the Slytherin house ghost - gave him an order. Taking a deep breath Teddy looked down and realized what he had in mind most likely was not going to work. He was still dressed as a student so there was no way Peeves would take him seriously.
Then he remembered a story about when his Godfather had gotten Peeves to leave. Harry had been in the hospital wing and needed Kreacher the house-elf's help with something so he summoned him and Dobby, another house-elf, came as well. The two of them had been fighting while Peeves was watching, so Peeves showed up in the hospital wing to continue watching. He was egging them on when Harry pointed his wand at them and used a jinx which glued the poltergeists' tongue to the roof of his mouth. Unfortunately Uncle Ron had not shared what the spell was. Thinking about it, he doubted that he would even be able to perform the spell correctly on his first try anyway.
Deciding that maybe the better option would be to take advantage of the distraction the young metamorphmagus looked around for another entrance. Seeing one closer he wondered if he could make it. Then he smacked his forehead, of course he could! He went back down the hall, furrowed his brows and wrinkled his nose as he concentrated. Slowly he shrunk down and made himself appear to be a house-elf. By the time the process was complete he was three feet tall and had large bat-like ears, a balding head, a long pointed nose, spindly arms and legs, and large tennis ball sized eyes. He piled his clothes in the corner while stuffing his wand and map underneath them; he would only be gone a minute.
Dashing quickly around the corner he darted into the laundry, and rummaged around until he found the area where the professors had their robes washed. He was in luck - one of Professor Sinistra's robes was down here. He didn't think she usually stayed at the castle, so maybe it was a spare that had gotten dirty. He grabbed it and as a last minute thought rummaged around until he found a spare house-elf uniform; a tea towel with the school crest. That might come in handy at a later date. Looking around to make sure he was still safe he dashed out without being seen. Once around the corner he scrunched up his nose, and resumed the form of Professor Sinistra. Quickly changing into her robes he stuffed his wand and Marauder's Map into his pocket.
Now, to finally get outside. He thought with relief. He had been feeling the desire to be outside all day. It was like this with him every full moon; an insatiable desire to be in the woods. When he was younger his mother had tried to prevent it, but eventually she just let him go when she realized how restless he got. Once he was outside and in the woods it was like his body could be at rest. He was lucky though, that was really the only "adverse" effect he had with being part werewolf.
Heading back up the staircase he paused on the ground floor, pulled out the map and checked it over again. Smiling in relief he realized that the training grounds entrance was to his left and he could exit it and be out of doors. He put the map away and headed outside.
It was a crisp, clear, moonlit night and the stars were shining brightly as he headed towards the forest. He had just gotten into the trees when a booming bark echoed across the yard coming from his right making him jump.
"Hush, yeh silly creature! 'Spect 's on'y a studen' wanderin' around."
Teddy stopped dead in his tracks. He knew that voice. It was Hagrid the school's gamekeeper and Care of Magical Creatures Professor. He was over eleven feet tall and was quite wide. He had shaggy long hair and a beard - both of which were black flecked with bits of grey. His eyes were black and his hands and feet were enormous. He frequently wore a moleskin coat that had more pockets than Teddy could keep track of which held any number of items - one time there was even a live owl that he extracted and sent off with a letter. At this moment, Teddy was quite afraid of the thought of meeting the half-giant. He knew he wasn't supposed to be out of bed after hours and especially was not supposed to be out of the castle and in the Forbidden Forest.
Turning towards Hagrid he started walking that way telling himself to stay in character; he was Professor Sinistra after all. If he pulled this off just right he could stay out of trouble. Hagrid came into view carrying his crossbow with his faithful boarhound Fang at his side.
"Professor Sinistra, wha're yeh doin' out here?"
"It's such a beautiful night, I thought I'd take a walk." the young wizard replied nervously.
"In the Forbidden Forest?" The gamekeeper said while eying the imposter suspiciously.
Teddy shifted his feet he said "It's a clear crisp night, perfect for stargazing." He had shifted just enough that he was now standing in a ray of moonlight that was streaming through the branches of the ancient oak.
Hagrid leveled his crossbow at the young metamorphmagus and demanded "Who are yeh?"
The young wizard quickly furrowed his brows and scrunched up his nose. In less than a minute he morphed back into himself. Shrinking down he clutched the robes that were now too large for him. "It's me Hagrid, Teddy Lupin! Please don't shoot me!"
"Blimey Teddy! I coulda shot yeh!" He said while lowering his bow "Wha're yeh doin' out here?" He grabbed the youth by the shoulder, turned around and said "C'mon lets get some tea at me hut. Though I could do with somethin' stronger."
He was led to a small wooden hut at the edge of the Forbidden Forest north-west of the greenhouses. It had a fenced in garden behind it which could dimly be seen in the moonlight. Inside there was one room which supplied everything Hagrid needed. A massive bed with a patchwork quilt was in one corner, in another corner was an enormous armchair beside which was a large rumpled up dog bed that Fang promptly curled up in. Along the wall opposite the armchair was a large wooden table with four chairs. Hanging from the rafters were all manner of things: unicorn hair - "Find 'em snagged on the branches all the time.", pheasants, herbs, and vegetables. Over by the fire in between the bed and the table Hagrid was busy getting the tea prepared.
"Have a seat an' tell me why yeh're out at this hour." Hagrid said after the tea was done and he ushered the boy to the table and set down the mug. Grabbing a large glass and filling it with an amber colored liquid he sat down and took a deep swallow before he nodded for the young wizard to begin.
So, Teddy told him all about being a half-werewolf and what that did to him every month. He also explained how he was a metamorphmagus like his mother. When he was finished he found that it felt as if a weight had been lifted and he was filled with a sense of relief. The kind eyed man did not look at him with judgement or anger but with sympathy and understanding. He had talked to Hagrid a few times at his Godfather's parties, but never about such things as this. He felt that the gamekeeper at least partly understood his struggle with being different.
Hagrid in turn told him about his struggles with being a half-giant and how that had shaped his life when he was a student at Hogwarts and beyond. After a while the burly man stated that Teddy should get some sleep but that it was too late to go back up to the castle. He suggested that the youth sleep in the hut tonight and return to the castle in the morning. After pulling another quilt and blanket out of the cupboard the professor made up a bed for him in his large armchair.
"Thanks Hagrid!" Teddy muttered as he settled in for the night. He found that with the window cracked while being this close to the forest his desire to wander the wooded landscape wasn't as strong and he was able to fall asleep rather quickly.
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