Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J K Rowling owns it all.

11: The Plan

"...so that's why you gotta help me!"

Chester eyed Teddy with a somewhat bemused expression over the rim of his goblet. There was a long silence as Teddy stared back at him expectantly.

"Well?" The metamorphmagus asked at last, folding his arms firmly across his chest. "Say something!"

Another few confused seconds passed before Chester finally complied.

"That's bloody mental, mate." He said at last. Indeed, Chester had never heard anything as crazy as breaking into a teacher's office.

"But Ches..."

"No, seriously Ted, your dad would completely flip."

"But he won't even know!"

The two boys were in the Great Hall eating a dinner of sizzling fat sausages and creamy mashed potato. Around them the room buzzed with talk of their fellow students' antics in Hogsmeade earlier that day. However Teddy and Chester were well passed talk of their exploits and had now moved on to discuss Teddy's plans for later on that evening. Shoveling potato into his mouth, Chester turned to look up at the High Table where the teachers sat. He watched Remus pass a jug of pumpkin juice to Professor Vector. The boy swallowed his mouthful of potato and slowly shook his head.

"Yeah but he could find out, and then he'd probably kill us."

"Ches, this is really important!" Teddy insisted as he drowned his sausages in gravy. "I'm gonna need all the help I can get..."

"I'll help!" Came a voice from just behind him and he jumped at the sound of it. A girl with long silvery blonde locks slid into a seat beside him. "Hey Teddy!" She greeted enthusiastically, reaching to help herself to some food.

"Hi Victoire." Teddy said, offering her a smile. "Gravy?"

After slopping a generous amount of potato onto her plate the second year Weasley accepted the gravy boat from him, beaming.

"Thanks! So what do you need help with, Teddy-Bear? Sounded important."

Teddy's smile faltered somewhat and he hurriedly preoccupied himself with his dinner.

"Oh nothing." He mumbled through a mouthful of greens. "It doesn't matter really. Me and Chester can sort it."

"You're on your own, mate." Chester told him bluntly. "I'm not sneaking anywhere, it was bad enough last time without all this snooping about."

"Oh!" Victoire exclaimed, leaning closer to the two boys and dropping her voice conspiratorially. "Are you planning a midnight feast or something? That would be cool!"

"No, we're not." Teddy said quickly, shaking his head in emphasis. "It's okay Vic, we don't need any help or anything. Besides, we could get in trouble if we're caught so you probably shouldn't come..."

"Why not?" She asked, frowning deeply and sounding rather offended. "You think I'd get you caught or something? You think I'm not smart enough?!"

"No!" Teddy almost choked on his dinner in his hurry to answer her. "No, it's not that at all, I just figured you wouldn't want..."

"You listen here, Lupin!" Victoire hissed angrily, jabbing a finger into the turquoise haired boy's chest. "My Uncle George owns the biggest shop for pranksters in the whole of Britain! I hardly think I'm incapable of getting away with a trick or two!"

Both boys stared at her in bewilderment at this little outburst. The girl blushed slightly and stared down at her plate.

"She's lost the plot, Ted." Chester whispered in his friend's ear.

"Sorry Teddy." Victoire mumbled, drawing patterns in her mashed potato with her fork. "It's just...well I had a bad time in Defence the other day and it's still bugging me."

"What happened?" Teddy asked, shooting Chester a warning look.

"Well it was all Lucinda Robertson's fault!" Victoire told him angrily. "She was being horrible! I thought I'd just ignore her, but then...then...oh Teddy she started teasing my friend Emma too! I told Emma to ignore her, but then the nasty cow said Emma's ears made her look like a house elf, and Emma got so upset! She's really sensitive about her ears, she thinks they're terrible! Then Lucinda said, you'll never believe this..."

Teddy forced himself not to roll his eyes as he listened patiently to the long list of Lucinda Robertson's crimes, until it occurred to him suddenly Victoire looked as though she was about to burst.

"...I couldn't stand it anymore!" The girl cried, gripping hold of her knife and fork with such force that Teddy feared they would snap. "So I hexed her!"

At the mention of somebody being hexed, Chester suddenly seemed much more interested.

"Cool!" He enthused, and Teddy glared at him.

"But of course Professor Lupin saw me do it and he was furious!" Victoire continued, impaling a sausage on the end of her fork.

"What did he say?" Chester asked excitedly.

"Well he helped Lucinda off up the floor and told one of the boys to take her to the hospital wing. Then he took fifty points from Gryffindor! Fifty! In front of the whole class! And he said that it was disgraceful behavior and I ought be ashamed! Then he gave me detention!"

"Well I'm sure you're not the first to get detention for hexing somebody..." Teddy began, but trailed off at the furious look she shot him.

"That's not the worst bit!" She cried, face now a deep scarlet. "He then said he was surprised at me, and that he thought I knew better! Then Olga Lynch laughed at me!" She took a large bite of food and chewed somewhat viciously. Teddy was sure he heard her mutter know better?! You'll see!

"That's bad." He said feebly, glancing over towards where his father sat. The boy wondered if Remus had any clue that his words had fueled such an explosion of anger.

"Please let me help, Teddy!" Victoire begged, giving him her most pleading look as he looked back round at her. At the sight of a miniature Fleur Weasley batting her eyelids at him with the smallest of pouts Teddy numbly heard himself agree to her request.

"Great!" Victoire exclaimed, grinning widely at him. "So what's the plan?"

They decided to head back to the Gryffindor Common Room to discuss the plan as there would be fewer people to overhear their plotting. After Teddy had explained the situation to Victoire she had frowned and shook her head.

"You can't get in there at night, Teddy." She told him as she sat curled up on an armchair before a blazing fire. "Teachers leave wards on office doors to stop students getting in. No, your only hope is to wait till he's in the office, then make sure he leaves in a hurry. That way he's distracted and he won't have locked and warded the door."

"She has a good point." Chester agreed, and Teddy wondered just when his friend had changed his mind and become keen to participate in their crime.

"Yeah. But how are we gonna distract him?" Teddy asked, only to jump slightly at a sudden wail that came from the chair next to his own. He and Chester looked to find Victoire trembling in her seat, looking positively mortified. She gave a large sniff and wiped her nose of her sleeve as tears began to trickle down her cheeks.

"Uncle Remus!" She sobbed, clutching at strands of hair in horror. "I can't find Sylvie! She's gone! I can't find her anywhere, you've got to help me find her! She belonged to my grand-mere!!"

From her spot lying on the floor in front of the fire, Victoire's fluffy silver tabby cat glanced up at her mistress' outburst with a look of vague interest. Both boys followed the cat's lead and simply stared.

"That'll do it." Chester finally decided, positively stunned.

Teddy found it difficult to hold back laughter as he and Chester hid behind a suit of armour just round the corner from the Defence teacher's office, watching a hysterical Victoire Weasley practically drag Remus off down the corridor by the sleeve of his robes.

Though he was unaware of it as he nodded to Chester and hurried round the corner and into his father's office, Teddy was a mere hour away from telling a lie which he would desperately want Remus to believe. But for now he was much more interested in having a good poke around the small room, whilst Chester kept a close eye on the Marauders' Map. He went through every draw in the desk, peered at the huge number of books in the bookcases and even searched under the grindylow's tank. After ransacking a chest of draws and finding nothing of interest Teddy began to loose hope, until he spotted a small chest that stood against the side of the desk. Finding it locked, Teddy drew out his wand and muttered:

"Alohamora!" At the sound of the lock clicking undone he felt a small rush of excitement as he raised the lid and peered at the object that lay within.

It was a small stone basin with odd marks carved into it's rim. Tracing them with a finger, Teddy's eyes came to rest on the centre of the basin, where a tangle of silver threads seemed to weave in and out of one another, glittering as they went. Feeling somewhat memorized Teddy leaned closer to the basin, squinting at it as shapes seemed to form in it's midst. Was that a tree, he wondered, and what was that moving along past it? Teddy leaned closer still and the image seemed clearer. A figure in a shabby looking cloak was hurrying along a path, hood drawn up over their head as the wind blew furiously. As he leaned a little closer Teddy was vaguely aware of Chester asking him if he had found something, but before he could answer the basin suddenly seemed to expand, until there was nothing else. Teddy was falling...