A/N - thanks for your suggestions for curses. My friend and i thought up a good one, but keep your ideas coming. I need a curse which would require a few days hospital wing rest and has no outside symptoms so get thinking!orginality! . For all you who suggested the sectumsempra, i'm using that later as well as the cruciatus curse. Thanks :) and enjoy the next chapter.

Chapter fourteen

"Teddy!"

"What?"

"You know what you're doing!"

"Do I?"

Victoire Weasley tapped the edge of her boyfriend's nose playfully. They were in their favourite haunt, the room of requirement, doing what they did most nights, kissing.

"You can't undo buttons," said Victoire, tugging at her shirt and sitting up on the sofa she was sharing with Teddy. Her hair was tousled but she simply swept it back and revealing her new 'V' shaped earrings which Teddy had purchased for her birthday. It was mid-November and the days were getting the shorter and the workload heavier. Mock exams would be directly after the Christmas holidays so the teachers were being stricter than ever. Somehow, Teddy and Victoire found time for one another without hindering their school work, well, Teddy did.

"I'm not that sort of girl," Victoire continued with air of elegance as she stood up and twirled around the room for no reason.

"Oh yes, of course, you're the sort of girl who blows up toilets, I forgot," teased Teddy, dragging her to sit with him in their mock Gryffindor common room.

"I'm never going to shake that off am I?"

"Nope, you're a bad girl for life."

"Brilliant," said Victoire putting her arms around Teddy and kissing him softly then resting her head on his shoulder. "I miss this, being close to you."

"What are you talking about? We're close every day, aren't we?"

"No, do you remember when we were kids? We were close then," said Victoire, "All the mischief we got up to."

"Of course I do, I practically mentored you in prank making."

Victoire laughed, "Do you remember our stupid historical re-enactments in my tree house? You made us do them exactly as you'd read them from some advanced history book and you'd get so annoyed if somebody flicked their piece of twig incorrectly for a curse or charm. You were such a nerd."

"Hey, those plays were fun," argued Teddy reminiscing fondly whilst stroking her hair, "We used to do the Grindelwald versus Dumbledore and of course the second war."

"Oh yeah, I remember that. We did the battle of Hogwarts for months. I was about the same age as Lily, wasn't I? And yet we were playing like it was real war. We were so strange back then."

"I loved that game."

"You always insisted on being Lord Voldemort, Claude was Uncle Harry, I would be Bellatrix, Rica would be Gran Molly and Lynne would be all the other characters, she was brilliant at that. And you'd morphed exactly into Voldemort, your skin would be all white and your eyes were red and slit-like and you'd grow to six feet tall. You used to scare me when you did that."

"Really?" said Teddy. Victoire nodded.

"You were the only person who ever scared me, Teddy, or made me cry."

"I made you cry?"

Victoire nodded again, thinking back, "Remember the day before you were leaving for Hogwarts and Harry brought you round to say goodbye? I started crying and you told me not to worry because you would always be my friend. Then of course, you met Caspian Malfoy and the rest, and all that was thrown out the window."

"I can't remember that," said Teddy, stroking her hair softly. He felt a bit remorseful, but he couldn't imagine little Victoire sitting at a window pining for long.

"I haven't cried since then," added Victoire looking him squarely in the eye.

"Really?" Victoire nodded proudly.

Teddy brought her closer to him and kissed her tenderly, "I'll never make you cry again."

Twenty minutes later, Teddy strolled into his dorm. It was midnight and Johnny and Hubert were already asleep. Caspian, however, sat cross-legged on his bed in only boxers and socks scanning the marauder's map, "Where the hell have you been?" he asked without lifting his eyes from the map.

Teddy checked to make sure the other boys were truly sleeping before answering, "With Victoire."

"I might've have known," Caspian muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" although Teddy knew exactly what it meant. Caspian had never approved of his best friend's relationship with the fifth year and had made it perfectly clear how he felt.

"Oh nothing," Caspian said coldly before tapping the map and saying "mischief managed," He watched his best friend get ready for bed.

"What?" snapped Teddy feeling his eyes upon him.

"Do anything interesting with your girlfriend?"

"Nothing I need to tell you, pervert," Teddy said sardonically.

"You're spending too much time with her."

"Jealous?"

"Hardly,"

"Then why do you care?" asked Teddy, he could hear the anger in his voice, "Just back off. When you finally get Samantha, you won't hear me bad-mouthing her."

"I'm not bad-mouthing Victoire," began Caspian diplomatically, "I was just wondering how you're managing to develop your invention whilst seeing her every evening."

"The invention is going exactly according to plan," Teddy said coolly.

"What is it?" asked Caspian, "I mean potion, hex, charm, curse?"

"It's going to be a potion."

"Going to be? You mean you haven't DIE'd yet? You haven't started Development, implementation or experimentation yet?"

"I didn't say that," lied Teddy. The truth was he was still in the research phase; he hadn't had time to read all the books concerning the topic his potion was based on. But that wasn't because of Victoire. Or was it?

"So you have started developing the potion? Trying out ingredients, quantities, volumes etc,"

"Yep, I've done all that."

"LIAR," Caspian stared Teddy; he seemed more Malfoyish than ever. A sneer played across his lips, his eyes were narrow and fierce. A few metres away from them, Johnny stirred in his sleep.

"Will you keep it down?" snapped Teddy.

"You haven't started work on the invention yet have you?" Caspian stared at Teddy and Teddy knew he was using legilimency on him. He cleared his thoughts away.

"By the mere fact that you're using occlumency against me, I know that I am correct," said Caspian smugly.

"Fine, I'm still researching at this point, but I will start practicals soon."

Caspian stuck out his tongue and muttered under his breath but didn't pursue the subject. Teddy got ready for bed; Caspian was right, he was being awfully slow with his invention. He could hardly expect Damocles Belby to wait for him to make it before resigning the health minister post. Teddy sighed and patted his pillow, before closing his eyes.

Nobody apart from Caspian knew that Teddy was intending to create an original potion or that he was doing so to obtain Belby's job in the government. Harry had written numerous times this autumn term to inform his godson that he was doing all he could to make sure Teddy was the front runner for an assistant job in the health department, unbeknownst to him however, Teddy had no intention of being a lowly assistant. His letters to Harry were always friendly and happy. He knew his family would be alarmed about some of the things he got up to. He hadn't even bothered to tell Harry about his recent foray in cross-dressing so he was surprised when a letter arrived for him the next morning.

Dear Teddy,

Neville owled me the other day and he wrote that you and Caspian Malfoy dressed up as girls to aid another student. I'm not sure of the details and I hope you'll fill me in on them one day, but I'd really thought I'd heard the last of your strange exploits with Caspian; although this appears not to be the case. No doubt the idea was all the young Malfoy's.

Anyway, James says hello and also asks whether you've got him 'you know what', from the 'you know where'. I don't know what you're planning with him but if anything is set on fire, I shall blame you. Albus sends his love and so does Ginny, but with her love comes the warning not to eat chocolate as a substitute for a solid meal. I really don't know where this myth that you don't eat is coming from. You're always round for dinner with us in the holidays; it's an effort to stop you eating our food.

Lily refuses to send her love, her theory being that if you have no love, you will come home more quickly. She misses you much more this year for some reason. As for me, I'm counting down the days until you returned home for Christmas and steal all the dessert.

Love,

Harry

P.S – I'm being very indiscreet here but which do you prefer maghony or teak brooms?

P.S.S – write back, I'm bored stiff. Where have all the dark wizards gone eh?

Teddy smiled; Harry's letter reminded him of how close the Christmas holidays were. He had only a month left in school. Caspian was right; he had to start developing his potion quickly. That morning he had a free lesson by himself and spent it in the library reading up on the uses of dragon's eggs in the dark arts. He added them to his list of possible ingredients along with several others he could use in his invention. He also found time to reply to Harry's letter.

Dear Harry,

I shall regale you with the wonderful tale of my half hour in drag when I see you in the holidays but I would like to inform you now that it was my idea and not Caspian's, although he was adamant on keeping the high heels he wore.

Please let Ginny know that I've gained a pound since the summer and hope to increase that amount when I help you get rid of all that food in your house. Tell James I have his 'you know whats' and shall give them to him over the Christmas holidays. As for Albus, tell him I say hello and remind Lily how much I miss her.

Take care; I'm also counting down the days until the holidays. I envy you for being bored. I can't find enough minutes in the day to do all the things I have to do.

Love

Teddy

P.S – Teak please

P.S.S – don't wish for things you don't want i.e. Dark Wizards.

He put away the letter with the intention of sending it in the evening and contemplated his potion again. He wasn't sure about how many more ingredients he needed for it, but he was pretty sure he could get all of them from school.

He spent lunch in the room of requirement, which for him, had turned into the potions room. He found ingredients in the potion's cupboard and poured various ones into his cauldron just to see the effects of the volumes he was experimenting with. By dinner, he had finished testing three of the ingredients he was planning to use. He stood up and stretched, looking down at his work. At least he had made a start, he thought, which would be something to tell Caspian. He left the room of requirement and walked straight in Victoire.

"Hey," said Teddy, taking a quick look around. There was nobody in the corridor so he kissed her quickly. "What are you doing here?"

Victoire raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean what am I doing here? We always meet up at seven on Thursdays."

"Oh…yeah,"

"What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play stupid, Teddy," said Victoire, "I saw you coming out of the room of requirement. What were you doing in there?"

Teddy glanced at his girlfriend for a moment; there was no reason not to tell her what he was planning to do. After all, all he was trying to do was secure a job, surely that was perfectly allowed. But then again, would she be supportive of the way he was intending to get it? There was nothing wrong in trying to make a new potion, especially one which would revolutionize the Wizarding world but if people knew what he was doing, they might try to copy him, steal all the glory for themselves. The thought worried Teddy immensely; he wanted the glory, the praise, the power.

"Don't you trust me?" Victoire asked, breaking his thoughts.

"Of course I do," said Teddy quickly but didn't say anything else.

"No you don't," snapped Victoire, "Fine, keep your secret. No doubt you've told Caspian Malfoy." She walked off in a huff.

"Victoire," Teddy began, walking after her, "It isn't like that, Caspian is helping me with it."

"With what?" Victoire said turning round and facing Teddy. Her hazel eyes appeared startlingly green in the lighting and she stared at him eagerly.

"I can't tell you yet."

"But you told him."

"That because…"

"Because what?"

"Caspian is my best friend and you're just…"

"I'm just what?" Victoire snapped so viciously Teddy couldn't answer. She stalked off and Teddy didn't bother to follow her. She was being childish, he decided, as she so often was. He went instead to common room, where, sitting in their usual seats closest to the fireplace, were the Gryffindor sevenths. Chastity and Johnny, who reconciled a few days after Teddy dressed up a woman, were sat on chair together.

On the sofa were Samantha and Caspian assisting Hubert with his transfiguration homework. The latter looked up at his approaching friend, "Hey Teddy."

"Hi," replied Teddy sitting on the arm rest next to his three friends. He searched around the room and found Vanessa consoling a little first year.

"He lost his favourite quill," explained Caspian who was following Teddy's gaze. Teddy sighed as he watched Vanessa. She was so considerate and helpful. She truly embodied the title of Head girl whereas Teddy had let his love life take over his duties.

"Where have you been all day?" asked Chastity as she placed a kiss on the forehead of Johnny. Teddy felt a pang of jealous. As much as one side of him thought Victoire was distracting him, the other side would love to be sitting where Johnny was with Victoire planting kisses on his face. Why was he so conflicted? "Earth to Teddy…Ted…TEDDY!"

"What?"

"I asked you where have you been all day," snapped Chastity, "This is the first time today that I've set eyes on you. Not that I've seen you very much in months."

"Don't exaggerate," said Teddy. Had he really been so elusive this past month? Was it because he was spending too much time with Victoire?

"No, Chastity's right," said Samantha, "I haven't seen you at all in the evenings."

"Well I've been busy."

"Busy doing what?"

"Leave him alone," said Caspian suddenly, "you know what Ted's like, he's probably already revising for the mocks and so he should be, the amount of subjects he's doing." He smiled at his best friend and Teddy felt grateful that Cass had taken the heat off him. However his gratitude was short-lived when later than evening, whilst alone in their dorm room, Caspian commenced on his daily 'I don't like you seeing Victoire Weasley' lecture.

"So I expect you were with Vic during dinner?" he began as he read his favourite muggle music magazine.

"Vic?"

"What? Oh I suppose you have more endearing pet names for each other by now. I bet you're Teddy bear and she's Toitoi."

Teddy laughed and imagined himself as a huge teddy bear. "So where were you?"

Teddy smirked and lay flat on his back, "I was in the room of requirement trying out ingredients for my potion."

"Really?" said Caspian excitedly. "So you've decided to take my advice and get a move on?" Caspian sat up on his four poster bed, "What ingredients did you try out?"

"Bat wings, unicorn blood and water."

"And did they seem like they would work?"

"A little, the thing is, I'm just trying out things fairly randomly. It's not like I have anything to work from, no body has ever tried to do what I'm doing or at least not the way I attend to do it."

"This potion," said Caspian, trying to keep the excitement out of his voice, "What is it? What will it do?"

Teddy grinned, he was proud of Caspian for having not asked him this question thus far but it was still too early to reveal anything to anyone, "I can't tell you yet."

"But if I knew, I could help you," protested Caspian, "I'm just as good at potions as you."

"I know you are," said Teddy hurriedly, "but this isn't really about potion skill. It's more about the dark arts and that is definitely my area of expertise. I will need your help once I've got the ingredients and everything ready. I'll need you to help me reproduce it and test it out."

Caspian grin couldn't have been wider, he loved testing things out. He and Teddy had been George Weasley's chief joke testers in their earlier years at Hogwarts.

"Ok, but as soon as you need me, let me know."

"I will."

"And hurry up making it."

The rest of the week flew past and so did the weekend. Victoire ignored him during Quidditch practice and he wasn't particularly bothered by that, it gave him more time to develop his potion. But by Monday, he was missing her and resolved to find her and win her back. He snatched the marauder's map which Caspian was hogging everyday and found she was in the kitchens, no doubt trying to weasel more food from the house elves. He hadn't seen that there were two other people with her, and as he made his way through the kitchen door, was surprised to see her with Mandy Wood and a boy he knew by face but not by name. They sat on a wooden bench eating cake as house elves bustled all around them.

"Hi."

The gang of three turned round. Mandy smiled politely but Victoire and the boy frowned. "What are you doing here?" Victoire snapped.

"I need to speak to you about…Quidditch," said Teddy glancing at the boy who was sitting very close to Victoire. He was a tall boy, though not as tall as Teddy, with blond hair. He was very good-looking, but not as good-looking as me, Teddy thought.

"They know by the way, about us" said Victoire coldly, "so drop the pretence."

"Fine, but I still need to speak you," said Teddy.

"Well I don't want to speak to you," countered Victoire. The boy who sat extremely close to her, sneered at Teddy who could feel his blood rising.

"Don't make me dock points, Weasley," Teddy hissed.

"You wouldn't dare."

"Consider five points taken off from Gryffindor for that remark."

"That's not fair!" cried the tall boy, standing up and taking a step towards Teddy, as the house-elves present wisely left the room, "We're in your bloody house, mate."

"I would tread carefully if I were you. Mate," said Teddy acidly, "what's your name?"

The boy suddenly blushed and stammered out a response, "R-roger…"

Teddy rolled his eyes, "I've never heard of a Roger in Gryffindor,"

"My real name is Mikhail," the boy said, then gulped, "Mikhail Dolohov."

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