Chapter Nine

"It's like over and over
You're pushing me right down to the floor
I should just walk away
Over and over, I keep on coming back for more
I play into your fantasy
Now that it's over
You can lie to me right through your smile
I've seen behind your eyes
Now I'm sober, no more intoxicating my mind

Even the devil wouldn't recognize you, but I do…
Even the devil wouldn't recognize you, but I do…
Even the devil wouldn't recognize you, but I do…
Even the devil wouldn't recognize you, but I do…
I do, I do, I do…"

- Madonna, "Devil Wouldn't Recognize You"

As Teddy turned around after closing the door, he found the tip of Al's wand pressed firmly upon his throat; Al's angry face hazardously near to Teddy's own.

"Don't think I won't dare to curse you if you try do make another false move on me, Professor…!" Al growled menacingly, and pushed his wand into Teddy's throat with added force; emphasizing that his threat was serious.

Teddy's infuriating apathy dissipated and Al saw that his former lover didn't attempt to fight back. But Al didn't take any chances.

"What do you want, Sir?" Albus cruelly mocked. "Come to play more of your sick head games on me? I don't think so…!"

"Albus, please…"

Al was thrown. He thought he had imagined Teddy actually pleading, but when he saw the penitent look on his face, Al could not deny that he had actually heard right. Also, not once did Teddy ever refer to him by his proper name.

"Albus… Please, put your wand down. I just want to talk to you…"

A gentle hand brushed Al's cheek. Teddy gazed at Al imploringly with his kaleidoscopic eyes, and Al slackened his grip on his wand. He did not, however, let his guard down just yet. Al then stepped away from Teddy and made to stand near the fireplace; fixing him with a suspicious look before addressing him harshly.

"Right. I still don't trust you, Teddy. Whatever the hell you want to talk about, you better make it a good one, because I won't stand for any more of your fucking bullshit."

Teddy slumped his shoulders and sighed dejectedly, as he slowly moved to his sturdy oak desk, and deposited himself in the high-backed armchair; covering his handsome face with his hands, as his hair morphed itself into another look.

The seconds ticked by, and the two men were still submerged in an uncomfortable silence. When Teddy finally looked up to him, Al had to stifle a surprised gasp. Teddy had reverted to his normal and original human appearance. He now sported a thick but slightly wavy head of medium-length dark chocolate hair, and his eyes a lovely shade of porcelain blue.

Almost anyone who were intimately familiar or was close to Teddy knew that it was extremely rare for him to sport his natural physical appearance, and when he does, it invariably meant that he was in a somber or melancholic mood. And by the looks of Teddy's expectant but sad expression directed to the younger man, Al immediately felt a sense of guilt and dread: guilt for his earlier defensive actions, and dread for what Teddy was about to discuss with him.

"Teddy… What's wrong? Look, I'm sorry if I tried to—"

Teddy cut him off. "No, Al. I'm the one who should be sorry. I'm so very sorry…" His voice started to prickle with emotion, and Teddy tried hard not to cry in front of Al. "I… Al, I want to apologize. For everything. I knew I hurt you badly when I—I left and… didn't write to you and all. Now, I come back without warning and I thought… Well, I don't know what I thought, really. I believed that things were still the same between us, but I guess you were right… You've changed…."

Al's discomfort turned to sympathy at the sight of the older man's seemingly heartfelt contrition; Teddy's eyes welling up with tears that refused to let go, as he bowed his head to compose himself. Albus frowned with a sense of self-culpability, and he inched closer to Teddy until he was crouching in front of him. He tentatively put a comforting arm on Teddy's back and patted softly; murmuring words of consolation.

"Hey… Teddy, it's okay… I-I'm sorry too… It's alright…"

Al ducked his head against Teddy's and they remained that way until Teddy's restrained sobs subsided and he slowly sat up straight to look at his godbrother; the hint of remorse still unmistakable in his sparkling blue eyes.

"Al… I just want you to know that I want us to have a clean slate and start over." Teddy rested his hand on Al's shoulder. "Not as… you know, but I want us to be friends again. I'll understand if you don't want to, of course. I could never force you. At least, not in the emotional sense. But know that I'll change for you… I—I don't want to lose your friendship, Al… It means so much to me more than you could ever know…"

Al did not trust himself to respond to Teddy's plea for reconciliation. At the back of his mind, Al still had residual feelings of doubt and emotional scars from the whole of sixth year when Teddy had never made contact with him. There was also the fact that there was always a catch whenever something involved Teddy; Al didn't forget that his godbrother was also a former Slytherin. He did, however, cradled the older man in his arms and continued with his soothing ministrations. They both fell into a lapse of silence one more, until Al decided he needed to break the ice.

"Hey… Are you gonna be okay?"

"Yeah… Yeah, I'm gonna be fine, thanks…"

Teddy smiled and swiveled around to reach out and open one of the desk drawers near him. His hand fumbled around the inside of the drawer, until Al saw that Teddy took out in what looked to be a thick and shabby-looking, leather-bound journal. Teddy clutched it tightly and looked at Al.

"Listen, Al… I want you to have this. You'll know what it is after you've looked at it properly. I know it won't make up for my fucking things up with you, but… I figured it's better than nothing." He sighed and handed the diary over to Al, who graciously took it with a small smile on his lips. "And again, I'm really very sorry, Al… Please forgive me…"

And with that, a single tear managed to break free and trickled down Teddy's cheek. Al reached out and brushed it away, and pressed their foreheads together.

"It's okay… We're cool… Everything's gonna turn out fine."

Without thinking, Al closed the space between them and tried to kiss Teddy, but he found himself being gently pushed away.

"Al, don't…"

Teddy frowned slightly at him and finally stood up; Al looking at him with mingled surprise. Teddy walked over to a large cupboard and took out a bottle of Firewhiskey; pouring himself a generous measure inside a scotch glass.

"You better go, Al… You might miss your dinner." Teddy looked at Al earnestly, then turned away to sip his drink.

Al wanted to go to him and embrace Teddy, but thought better of it. He would have to talk to him another time when the dust would finally settle between them. Al stood up; his legs bristling with pins and needles from the prolonged squatting.

"We'll talk soon, yeah?"

Teddy glanced over his shoulder and gave a wan smile. "Of course… You know I'm always here. I'll see you tomorrow in class, Al…"

"Yeah… And, by the way… Thanks for…" Al gingerly held up the book in his hand, before putting it in his bag. He traipsed over to the door, and paused for a few seconds.

"Good night, Teddy…"

"Good night, Al…"

Albus pulled open the door and sealed it shut behind him; leaving Teddy to his forlorn thoughts as he made his way to the Great Hall to eat dinner, where Jeremy and Cindy were already waiting for him to arrive in one piece.

***

"You've got to be kidding me." Cindy said disbelievingly. "He actually apologized to you?"

Al nodded for what seemed like the thousandth time after he had told them both what happened in Teddy's office after class.

Jeremy swallowed the roast chicken he was chewing before speaking to his friend. "I don't buy it, mate. And what's this about a fucking book he gave you? I mean, what the bloody hell is that?"

"I don't know, Jeremy…" Al mused while he dug into his Asian chicken salad, "I haven't had a chance to look through it yet. And seriously, you guys, it's not like I totally trust him yet. I'm not that stupid. I just told him we were cool, and we'll talk soon to clear out more things before I even consider forgiving him."

Both Cindy and Jeremy mulled this over for a while, before nodding and smiling in approval.

"Well, I'm glad you thought sensibly, Potter." Cindy said, as she resumed eating her sushi. "Goodness knows what would happen is you'd let your cock do the thinking for you, like you usually do."

"Funny ha-ha, Cindy." Al retorted, as Jeremy choked on his fruit punch.

Cindy superciliously raised her brow at Al. "Oh, don't deny it, Al! Your cock practically twitches at the mere thought of having your queer perverted ways with men. And one particular Slytherin man, I might add…?"

She lowered her voice at the last part, and inconspicuously jerked her head backwards; referring to Scorpius Malfoy, who was sitting morosely at his usual spot with his Ice Squad buddies, looking fiercely protective of their friend.

Jeremy leaned over and gave Al a smug look. "Face it, Al… You are one fucked-up Gryffindor head over heels with a Slytherin, who apparently, is not looking too happy about that particular mark branded on his neck."

The subject of Scorpius's hickey and the identity of the mystery person who did that to the Hogwarts' Ice Prince still hadn't died down amongst the student body, despite the fact that the said love bite had already begun to fade away.

Al looked behind him and sneaked a peek at his crush, and as he did so, he locked eyes with a startled pair of mercurial orbs; Scorpius hastily turning away and picking the food on his plate. Al simply smiled and turned his attention back to his friends.

"Well, I won't argue with you guys… You know me all too well. And it's only a matter of time before Scorpius will submit himself to me."

Al's best friends fixed him a feral grin, and resumed eating their dinner. They were about to commence to dessert when Rose sauntered over to them and plopped herself beside Albus.

"Hey, Rose." Jeremy and Cindy hailed in unison.

"Hey, guys." Rose replied, and then turned to her cousin. "Right. It wasn't easy, but I got all the good bits for you right here." She extracted a small but thick portfolio of bound parchment sheets out from her magically extended beaded purse, and handed it over to Al, who carefully packed it in his knapsack.

Rose continued to explain further about the package she handed to Al. "All the information you need is in there. Just don't try and do anything outside of those notes that I gave you, okay? You're trying to win over Malfoy, not scare him away with your impulsive tactics."

Cindy snorted. "Right. I wouldn't exactly classify Al giving Malfoy an insane hickey in the library of all places to be impulsive."

"More like sneaky and boorishly Gryffindor of him to bloody well dare something like that, which we completely admire him for…!" Jeremy finished for Cindy; smiling profusely at Al, as he grabbed a plate of mini apple tarts and offered them to the group.

Rose popped one in her mouth, and went on. "Yes, well, that's all so very nice, but all I'm saying is that you, Mr. Potter, would do well to try some more refined forms of seduction that just mauling somebody up a wall and drive them insane with desire."

"This is why I have you, my dearest cousin, to help me in my carnal endeavors." Al put an arm around Rose and shook her good-naturedly. "Because without you, I am nothing."

"And what are we, chopped liver?" Cindy grumbled as she swiped a streak of whipped cream on Al's face with her finger.

"Hey!" Al exclaimed in surprise; wiping the cream off his cheek with his finger and licking it off. "Relax, Cindy. Of course I can't forget my shamelessly dependable but crazy best friends."

"Yeah, yeah… Put that in writing, will 'ya?" Jeremy quipped, as the four friends laughed frivolously as they devoured the whole plate of mini apple tarts before heading back to their respective common rooms to start their homework.

And Albus missed the searching gaze fixed upon him by Scorpius, who was still rooted in place at the Slytherin table; his dinner only half-eaten, with Massimo and Verity giving him worried looks on their beautiful faces.

***

While most of the Gryffindor common room was generally empty by the time midnight rolled around, Al, Cindy and Jeremy lounged around to inspect the leather-bound book that Teddy gave him earlier. After performing a series of spells to ensure that it wasn't booby-trapped, the trio huddled together in front of the blazing fireplace; clad only in their underwear, and took their time scanning the pages.

What they saw had them looking at it in sheer, astounded silence. Extensive and detailed accounts of more than a year of Teddy's global trekking were written in his strong and legible masculine script. Teddy's text was supplemented with a plethora of magical photographs of himself clearly enjoying his travels and newfound clique of international Muggles, witches, and wizards, as well as various other addendums scribbled by other people's handwriting; commenting on Teddy's highly adventurous and unreserved personality.

Here and there, the three Gryffs read in awe to some very exciting moments in Teddy's backpacker life as they browsed through the diary's pages: dabbling in experimental Charms work in Paris, and afterwards mastering Tantric sex and Ashtanga yoga in India; staying with a coven of attractive vampires in Rome who occasionally feasted on his blood, to exploring the lush rainforests in Brazil; spending a considerable amount of time in China and Japan to learn the more advanced art of potion making, then toured with a group of surfers in the Pacific islands to ride massive pipelines; to being a hardcore groupie and eventually inducted member for an artist's collective of Wizarding writers, dancers, photographers, models, actors, multi-disciplinary artists, poets, fashion designers, musicians, and DJ's in New York City where he frequently indulged in wild sex parties and many other scandalous activities in the lively Wizarding quarters of Manhattan.

The last few pages described the final month of his travels: how he had bumped into Professor Morningwood in Marrakech while shopping for rare spices, and ultimately being offered the post of Potions master at Hogwarts after Professor M. learned about his impressive apprenticing stint with Potions in East Asia; virtually spending a week in the Himalayas to engage in deep mediation with the Buddhist monks in an effort to cleanse himself of his personal demons, only to be slightly sidetracked by an impulsive detour to party one last time in the white sand beaches of the Philippines when some of his Wizarding friends from Australia accosted him when he had already returned to Britain just days before Hogwarts was about to begin its new school term.

And written on the very last page was a sincerely heartfelt letter of apology: to Harry and his family, to Nana Andromeda, to Victoire and to her parents, to Teddy's close circle of friends from his Hogwarts days, to his long-deceased parents, and lastly, to Al…

On the inside of the back cover lay a glued Muggle black-and-white photograph of Teddy himself, apparently taken by a photographer friend of his during his stay in New York. He was in his original human appearance, nude, and posing artfully; staring at the camera with such emotional intensity pouring through his striking blue eyes, while the light and shadows in the photo captured the perfection of Teddy's wonderfully naked form.

When the three friends had finally finished reading the journal, it was already a quarter to two in the morning. Al sighed and looked at Jeremy and Cindy, who looked at him with acquiescent expressions. And with a nonjudgmental nod of their heads, Al stood and draped the Invisibility Cloak on himself, stowed the Marauder's Map in the folds of the cloak, and dashed out of Gryffindor Tower…

***

Teddy groggily woke up to the sound of a soft but incessant knocking coming from the door of his suite. Not bothering to hide his nearly naked form with a dressing gown, he trudged to the door.

"Alright! Alright! I'm coming!"

And as he swung open the heavy wooden door, there stood Albus in his underwear, with an expressively open look upon his ruggedly handsome face. Teddy furrowed his brows at him.

"Al? It's two A.M., what's wrong…?"

"I forgive you…"

And Al launched himself upon a surprised but extremely elated Teddy Lupin as the two men passionately battled tongues and the door magically bolted itself shut behind them…