Chapter Ten

Boxing Day

Oh Wise Teddy Lupin


Victoire had always been so beautiful that people tended to forget that she had a brain under that mass of blonde hair. People would stare at her – Roxie, Lils and I used to say it was the Veela in her but there was more to it than that.

Victoire always had a way with words too, always so perfectly placed and the way she pronounced words, well, let's say she never slurred or stuttered.

It had started off a typical Christmas at the Burrow. Nanna made enough to feed all us Weasleys' – and the whole of Hogwarts as well. Mum and Dad bought me a watch, they bought Hugo new Quidditch gear and Al had got me an assortment of phone cases for the non-existent phone I had received. And I guess just in case I needed a different phone case for every day of the week.

After our Boxing Day dinner Victoire Lupin decided it would be a perfect time to yell and scream at Teddy and left with Remus and that is why I am laid up here with Teddy Lupin in James room – which is by the way, at my house where me and my parents live.

"Your cousin," Teddy starts, "Has to be the hardest woman on the planet."

Teddy stood at the door way of James' room. A mess of blue hair and eyes that almost matched. He was covered in tattoos and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. Now I remember why I had a crush on him for most of childhood. Victoire had called him an interesting array of names when Teddy turned up on Christmas day drunk and now he is stuck here.

"Nah, she's not," James said, throwing a frozen snitch and catching it. "You're just a git."

Teddy scoffed. "I would hardly call having a few drinks with the boys being a git."

"James is right," I add. "You are a git."

Teddy raises an eyebrow. "Oh yeah, because you know all about relationships don't you, Rosebud."

Both Teddy and James snigger at me. I feel my face turning red; these two always thought they were so cool. "You both better shut your traps before I get you evicted. You two both have your own homes; you do know that, don't you?"

Teddy frowns. "Like I said, your cousin is a hard woman! I want to go home and lie in my own bed!"

"Don't get so bleeding drunk that you can't walk then!"

"Christmas drinks with the boys!" Teddy moans. "Just a few drinks with the boys!"

James walks over to his part time-brother. "It's ok, Teddy. I know how it feels when dad takes someone else's side. It isn't fair..."

"Your dad was right, drinks could have waited for a time that wasn't nine o'clock in the morning," I say rolling my eyes.

"See, typical of you to take dad's side, just because you share a birthday with him," says James.

Uncle Harry and I were born on the same day so we shared a birthday party most years. But this has nothing to do with anything, I don't even know why I am sitting here thinking about it. "I think your dad is just being responsible, you know someone has to be when they have you two-point-five idiots for sons!" referring to the fact that Teddy was somewhat bought up by Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny too.

Teddy frowns again and his hair darkens slightly. "I miss my son."

"Go and see him! At your house. Where you live. With your wife!" I moan at him.

"The wise Hermione Junior here to rescue us all!" James laughs.

I scowl at the two of them. "I would love to sleep in my own bed tonight so I would really appreciate it, Edward, if you could go home."

"My name's not Edward!" Teddy says turning his hair black.

James and I both laugh this time, the Potters anr5d I always called him Edward just to piss him off.

James pushes past Teddy to leave his room. "Going to hassle Hugo and see if he'll let me borrow his gear this season," he calls over his shoulder.

Teddy makes his way over to James bed where I was and lies down by my legs. "Victoire is going to kill me."

She sure was. She was going to kill him and then resurrect him so she could kill him again. "She is going to murder you."

"I hope its Muggle style; I think I would be better suited to a dramatic exit: Teddy Lupin dies from being shoved in washing machine."

He was crazy. But no crazier than the rest of us. "I don't think you know much about the Muggle World, do you?" Did he understand that he wouldn't be able to fit in a washing machine? Not enough leg space.

He shrugs. "Just whatever Harry's told me."

"Yeah..." I say, my Uncle may have been brought up in the Muggle World but he hadn't been a part of that world in a long time. "So you don't know much about the Muggle World do you?"

"Enough about washing machines!" he says and he prods my leg with his wand. "How about you? How's shit? And I mean the real shit. Tell me about how shit your life is so I don't have to think about Vic."

Oh charming, how lovely is he?

"Good, shit's good. Potions is great, and you know, the other subjects."

Oh and the fact that I think I might like Malfoy, but you know, they say the less you know...

"Still getting it on with Oliver Woods' son?" he asks waggling his eyebrows. For a guy who can change his face to whatever he likes, you can imagine just how waggly those eyebrows are.

"Who? The guy that I have been dating and then had a major argument with and now I don't know if I am still dating him?" I blurt. "Yeah, it's going spiffingly well."

"Woah," Teddy says holding up his hands. "Must be bad if you've used the word spiffing. Spill, girlfriend," he says using what he must think sounds like a woman's voice.

Where do I start? Would it be around about the place where Malfoy became a mute and lost his fingers? Or would it be around the part where he learned new studying techniques? Or was it when my friend – who just happens to be his girlfriend – practically told me I was a bitch in not so many words?

"Life," I say instead.

"Life?" Teddy asks, obviously not convinced.

I nod. "Life."

"If I wanted to hear about life I'd go back home to my wife."

"I think you should go home to your wife before she becomes your ex-wife."

Teddy laughs. "Don't you know your cousin at all? She needs breathing space first. Then I will go home with a new toy for Remmy and a nice bunch of flowers for Vic and then we'll play make-up all night."

I choke. "Don't say that! That's disgusting, she's my cousin!"

"If you're so disgusted then just pretend I meant literal make up, powders, brushes etcetera."

I decide to let go a little, now I can hear Malfoy saying 'live a little' in my mind. Teddy always got me talking, he was never judgemental. I could always confide in Teddy. "It's not life," I say.

Teddy pretends to be shocked. "No!" he says sarcastically. "Really?"

I kick him. "Stop being a prat!"

"Sorry, continue."

"Dion is a dick and I don't think we're together which really doesn't bother me. But it's Malfoy."

"Scorpius?"

"No," I say rolling my eyes. "Draco."

"Well..." Teddy starts. "Yes, that would be a matter of life. Because you wouldn't have one if your father found out that you liked a very old, creepy idiot. Life ended."

"Oh hah-hah," I say sarcastically.

"Well the answer to your Dion problem is that you need to dump him! Get rid of him; don't waste your time on something you don't care about."

Huh, just like that Teddy comes up with dump him? As if there wasn't anything more to it. "Dump him?" I say quietly.

Teddy makes a sound like I'm the stupid one. "You don't know if you're together anymore and you don't seem bothered by it so end it! Uggh, Bud, I thought you were smarter than this!"

It was so simple but I was holding onto nothing right now. Dion wasn't the fun, exciting guy he used to be. I got more enjoyment out of listening to Al talk about Belle all day than I did spending time with Dion. "Right. I will dump him."

"That's our Bud!" he says trying to reach up and ruffle my hair. "Now, Scorpius. Throw it at me, I know shit about everything. I should become a shrink."

He's a mute. His owl died. He likes to encourage me to smoke in the Astronomy Tower. I snuck him into the house last night.

I like the hell out of him.

"I-I-I..." I trial off.

I have feelings for Malfoy. Zoe is a git and she didn't deserve him. I feel like shouting it, I feel like trying to erase the kiss at Christmas, I want to illegally apparate to his house and tell him that it was a mistake because you shouldn't kiss your best friend because it will make said best friend a little mental. I was going mental, I had to be.

"Yes?" Teddy asks.

"We're friends again."

Teddy shakes his head. "Right, now that you're friends again we can all start living our lives again," he says sarcastically.

"When did you realise that you loved Vic?" I ask him.

Teddy sits up and smiles then clicks his fingers as if he was born for this moment. "Make sure you repeat this to her so I can be in the good books," he says. "I realised I loved Victoire Lupin when I couldn't stop thinking about her and being around her made me happier than I had ever been," he says simply.

Seemed simple enough. Love was simple right? That was the whole point of loving someone, it was supposed to be as easy as breathing.

That settles something then, I am not in love with Malfoy because he makes my life harder and he was so multi layered that just thinking about him was stressful. But lately he has been a whole lot of good, so much so he fell asleep on my bed and I had to get him out of the house before anyone woke up.

"Is it hard being a dad?" I ask now.

Teddy starts laughing. "Being a parent is the hardest fucking thing in the world!" he says. Teddy's son Remus was one. "Crying, eating, crapping, it's hard! Do yourself a favour and never have kids!"

Just having to look after Remus in the holidays was hard enough, "I will take your advice."

"Vic, Remmy and I are moving to Hogsmeade next year so I can take over Care of Magical Creatures," he says quietly as if it was nothing.

"What?!" I say patting his blue hair, "You're joking!"

Teddy! Right there with us at school – hopefully without getting pissed and thus pissing Vic off. It was going to be great! We had a place to visit, and we could see Vic and Remus all the time.

"Not joking, I knew you guys would be happy. Now we can keep an eye on you, you don't want to do anything that might ruin your chances of being Head Girl!"

"I won't make Head Girl," I say. In all honesty, there was a high chance but there was more to it than just good marks in class.

"Your mum didn't think she'd become Minister but here I am, in the Ministers house..."

"Hmmm... you're right."

Teddy sighs and then looks at me in the eye. "If you think you might have feeling for Malf-"

I stop him. "I don't!" I say a little too quickly, good one Rose, you're not going to convince anyone!

Teddy eyes me. "Ok, well, let's say you did. Just make sure your happy."

That was it? That was the great advice from Teddy Lupin. All of that talk lead up to that one sentence. What shit advice. Because I was so happy at the moment, I could float away.


"You made a huge mistake, 'Mione!" dad calls from the lounge.

Mum is in the kitchen makes the loudest sigh ever just so dad could hear it, he looks at me with a grin, knowing he had just pissed mum off. "I did not!" she calls back.

Dad's face turns serious this time. "Calling Bill was the right choice was it? Next time we see Teddy he will have his balls around his neck as jewellery!"

Hugo snorts and starts laughing. "Oi dad," he whispers. "Get Teddy to Morph a set of balls around his neck next time he sees mum and see if she dies!" he says through his laughs.

Dad laughs with him and I can't help but think it is a little extreme wanting mum to die from seeing that.

"Good one Hugh!" dad says.

Yes, excellent wanting our mum to die.

Mum pops her head out into the lounge room from the kitchen. "Don't be so dramatic, Ronald. Bill is a calm and collected man, I'm sure he is not going to physically harm Teddy."

"Mentally then?" Hugo asks. "And then he might end up in the Altered Minds Unit."

"Stop being so morbid, Hugo!"

"Yeah, stop being so morbid Hugo!" dad says and then waits for mum to go back into the kitchen. "I'm more worried about Fleur, what's a bet Teddy will get a free trip to Paris and we'll never see him again?"

"Maybe it will trigger his wolf blood and he will become a leader of a pack?"

"Uggh, you two are stupid!" I say.

Dad just stares at me. "You ok, Rosebud?"

How do I tell him that listening to him and Hugo talk shit all the time was starting to wear thin? "You two are crazy, do you know that?"

"You're angry," Hugo states.

"Women, son."

Women? "I'll tell mum you said that," I say to dad but I give him a wink to say that I was joking.

James comes in and plonks himself down on the couch between me and dad. "Where've you been?" dad asks him. "You're Aunt just got Teddy in trouble!"

"I did not! I was just trying to encourage him to go home to that place where he lives!" mum calls from the kitchen.

"Teddy's going to get his balls cut off and made into a necklace," Hugo adds.

James seems unphased by all this information, shit, has he really been living here so long that he is not surprised that my mum may or may not have got his adopted brother killed or that my mum is a nark?

"Been out and about," James says breezily. "Went to go and see Leah."

"How is Leah?" I ask and James gives me a suspicious look as if wondering why I was asking.

I had a genuine interest.

Not really, I just never hear much about Leah. Lesath on the other hand...

"Why don't you invite her over for dinner?" mum calls from the kitchen.

"Is she wearing an extendible ear or something?" dad mutters.

"James can invite her over to dinner at his own house with his own parents," Hugo says. I high five him at the same time as dad goes to elbow him in the ribs. "Ouch!" he says putting down his hand.

"How many times do I have to tell you Hugo Fred Granger-Weasley, that this is my house too now? These are my parents too!" says James.

"You tell him, Jamie!" mum calls from the kitchen.

Dad stares at the kitchen door. "You didn't feel the same way about Teddy!" dad calls.

"I would really love to get to know Leah better!" I say.

James scowls at me. "You know her."

"I don't know her, Jamie."

Dad looks in between James and I. "I sense a bit of hostility..."

"Hostility? Never!" James says grinning at dad.

No one knew Leah really. We see her around the Common Room and around the castle but James never bought her over. I wanted to know more about this girl and truly what she meant to James. Maybe it would help me keep my mind occupied.

Dad doesn't look convinced by James but sighs and says; "I hope Teddy is ok."

"HE'S FINE!" mum shouts from the kitchen.

"Shit dad, you might be the Teddy to mum's Victoire," I say.

Dad just glares at me.

"Did I hear you talking to yourself again last night?" Hugo asks.

I try to remain calm but I could feel my heart beating so hard it was going to come out. "Yes."

"Yes?"

"Well you asked if I was talking to myself again, and it's a yes," I say trying to cover up. I didn't think Malfoy and I were talking that loud but maybe Hugo has supersonic hearing.

"You have to stop doing that, Bud," dad says. "It's not normal."

"I was just going over my homework!" I say trying to sound like it was normal. Merlin, my family will think I'm a freak.

"It's Christmas! Stop worrying about it!" dad says.

At least I won't have to explain why Malfoy was here in the middle of the night, even if I look like the biggest nerd out.


"Slumber party!" I yell at Albus.

I was standing in Al's bright red room. There were books, brooms, underwear and letters scattered all over the floor. He obviously must be on strike because there is no way a room should be this much of a mess at any stage in your life. Not even after a divorce or a bad case of the flu.

"Does he have the flu?" I ask Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny who were both standing behind me. "Because I literally can't see him through the mess..."

Aunt Ginny sighs and Uncle Harry tries to stop her. "Gin," he says weakly. "Don't..."

She doesn't take his advice, just like she always doesn't. "Albus Severus Potter! Get your lazy arse up!" she shouts.

I hear a series of groans, one from behind me from my uncle and another from under a pile of washing near where Al's bed was, or at least used to be.

"He's been in here all day. He went out with Dom and Fred last night to stay at their place," Uncle Harry says. Rookie mistake, they weren't having an innocent slumber party, they would have been having a full on, firewhiskey skulling, beer popping, champagne spraying party. "I tried to keep it low key from - " he points at Aunt Ginny, "- But I think she could smell it on him."

Now she was in the room whacking him with a broom. "You get up and tidy this place or you will get a room under the stairs and then that way you won't have the space to mess up!"

Uncle Harry shudders. "Not the stairs," he mumbles.

I keep watching the scene unfold before me. Aunt Ginny whacks Al as he tries to find pants; she whacks him as he's picking up discarded brooms. Uncle Harry just watches in awe and something tells me he might like an angry Ginny...

"Sorry Bud," Aunt Ginny says smiling at me after she had finished prodding Al with her wand. "He's all yours... if not a little broken but he'll be ok."

Al yells out to his mother. "Mum, can I have a potion! My head hurts!"

Aunt Ginny whips around. "You want to drink with the big boys; you cope like the big boys!"

"It was Dom though," Uncle Harry adds.

Aunt Ginny laughs humourlessly. "She's the biggest boy out of the group when it comes to Firewhiskey."

"Just like you, huh?" He replies cheekily and this earns him a whack from the broom Aunt Ginny was still holding.

I walk into the much cleaner and tidier room and Al was lying on the bed, his hands covering his eyes and he groans. "Bud, I'm dying."

The more time I spent around my family this Christmas, the more I noticed how almost every member of my family called me Rosebud or Bud. They always have since I was a kid. It used to annoy the shit out of me but right now, here at Al's death bed; I wondered if this would be the last time I ever heard him call me that.

"Don't drink with the big boys," I say opening the curtain to blind him. "You heard your mother."

Al shrieks just as a Vampire would. "Don't be mean, shut the fucking curtain!"

Oh no, Al swore! "You sound just like your brother right now."

"Now I sympathise with him, I know his pain when he goes out drinking and then the next day he feels like shit, I will never yell at him when he's hung over again!"

"Not really Al Potter's finest moment, is it?" I tease.

He attempts glaring at me but he can barely keep his eyes open. "First time having more than a few quiet drinks with Granddad, I saw Dominique kiss like a million different people and Freddie lost his head. I saw things I will never be able to erase from my memory, Rose."

This doesn't surprise me at all. Those two together were loose cannons, or rogue wands or just freaks in general. "You're lucky your parents let you go," I say handing him a glass of water that I'd just summoned.

He grabs the water and kisses my hand. "Thank you, I knew it, you would never let me die," he takes a sip. "I don't think they knew that was going to happen..."

I snort. "Yeah right, Al. They know Dom and Freddie; they knew something was going to happen, and its Christmas, maybe they wanted a bit of free time."

Al shudders at the thought. "That explains why Billy had to go and stay with Teddy and Vic."

"Don't get me started on those two," I say.

Al moves over in his bed so I have space to jump in. "Slumber party is it?" he asks.

I nod. "Yup. Got the Bertie Botts Beans and everything," I say pointing at my bag.

"Thank Jesus and Merlin. I'm so hungry and something tells me mum isn't feeding me tonight!"

"I think if you eat anything it might find its way up."

Al smiles. "We haven't done a slumber party in ages. We should have invited Scorp!"

I feel a lump in my throat. "No!"

"No?" Al says frowning. "I thought you two made up?"

"We did!" I say quickly again. Shit, I really had to stop with these quick, suspicious answers. How many times did my mouth have to betray me?

"Then what's the problem?" he asks. Oh sweet, innocent Albus. He always looked at the bright side of life, the side where your best friends aren't fighting and one isn't falling in love with the other and one of them hasn't lost his owl.

"Nothing's the problem, Ally boy!"

Ally boy? What in the actual of fucks...

"Rose," he warns me, "What's going on?"

If I couldn't tell Al, I couldn't tell anyone. In fact, I had pretty much told Teddy over Al. That wasn't right. Al was like my brother, Al was my everything, and Al and I were the only two people in the world for a long time. If I couldn't tell him anything then who could I trust? He was my Harry to my Ron Weasley.

"Shit Rose, you're not the same anymore."

Hmm. "You have a foul mouth now don't you?"

"A few drinks will do that to you. I've seen things."

It was now or never. It was now or never, ever, ever. I would have to take it to the grave.

"Al," I start, taking a deep breath. "I think I'm starting to like Malfoy."

"Scorpius?" he says blankly. Why in the hell do people think it could possibly be someone else? As if he has a twin brother or it could be his cousin.

"Yes!" I snap.

Al just keeps staring at his hands. "Like a crush?"

I don't think it's a crush; it was a hell of a lot more than a crush. "Ever since he stopped talking to me, I realised how much I missed him and now that we're talking again, it's become a lot more."

Al doesn't even look at me. "Scorp?"

"Yes, not Draco..."

"Draco?" he asks.

"Don't get me started."

Al turns his head to look at me. He's staring at me. He's looking at me with those Harry-like eyes like I've done something wrong. "He's Scorp, Bud! You don't like him. You have a crush on him because he studies now!" he says with a laugh. "Wait until after OWLs, it'll be back to Rose and Scorp fighting again."

I don't find this as funny as my cousin does. "Yeah," I try and say as lightly as I can. "You're right."

"You're like my sister, if that dick-head ever annoys you, just let me know, I'll deal to him."

"I don't think that him annoying me has anything to do with me liking him… Besides, you did nothing to help when he stopped talking to me."

Al shrugs. "I've seen things last night, Rose. I've seem Dominique stick a wand up someone's nose."

Something tells me that Albus Potter has not listened to a word I've said.


Author's Note: No, not abandoned everyone. I'm just useless! I have made a come back though and hoping to be more consistent. Thanks you to everyone who has reviewed, even if it's to ask me if I have ditched lol! I'm sorry, time just gets away! Anyways, please review more! I love all my reviews and appreciate every single one of them - the good, the bad and the constructive xx