A/N: Happy Halloween everyone! Here's the next chapter :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Recap: Victoire promised Spencer a few weeks ago that she would go out with them and the rest of their healing friends to celebrate all of them starting their residencies. Teddy made a plan to try to get information about the Holmwoods out of someone connected to them, in hopes of finding out Patient Zed's real identity. And a quick reminder that Cecilia's job is to write for a quidditch magazine.
How to Spend a Friday Night
Friday September 16th, 2022
7:10 PM
It had been quite a while since Victoire had gone out for the night with Spencer and their friends from healing school. Despite all of their best intentions, they had never had the chance to meet up after they finished their exams, and once they were all given their residencies, they had been too busy trying to survive their first few weeks to worry about arranging a time in which they could all go out and get sloshed together. Spencer was excited that he was finally able to schedule a time for everyone to go out together, and his excitement alone was pretty much the only reason why Victoire had not called him and told him that she wanted to cancel. She did not want to face his disappointment for skiving off on their night out, even though she also didn't really feel like going out anymore.
"Are you sure that you have to work tonight?" Victoire pouted to her fiancé as she sat on the edge of the bed and watched him put back on the auror's robes that he had only taken off two hours ago when he arrived home from his last shift.
Teddy gave her a soft smile as he straightened out the collar of his robes, "I'm certain that I have to work tonight. I can show you the work schedule where my name is written if you'd like."
"I'd rather not," She retorted with an even deeper pout.
He finished fixing his robes and sat down next to her on the bed, "I'm sorry Love, but there's nothing I can do about it."
"Maybe there's something I can do . . ." Victoire mused as she looked up at him from underneath her eyelashes.
Teddy smiled sadly, "I appreciate the offer, but I'd rather you not. I get enough flak from some of the other aurors because Harry's my godfather, I don't need my fiancée, the goddaughter of the head of the department, to get me out of a shift."
She sighed and leaned back onto the bed so that she was lying down on it, "I don't understand why you're scheduled to work tonight though. You got home barely two hours ago-"
He stopped her rant prematurely and patted her leg, "It's only for a handful of hours; I should be back by midnight. I'll just be sitting in the department doing some paperwork. It seems that earlier in the week, someone gave Mr. Penzik a long list of things he needs to crush the defense in court, and the time that the Wizengamot members have given him to collect the evidence is slowly running out. Everyone who is familiar with the case has been pitching in extra hours."
Victoire still didn't like it that he had to go to work instead of going with her to Spencer's outing, but she didn't think that she could complain anymore. He was right after all that it was partially her fault for setting out such an extensive list.
"And can you tell me how getting the items on that list are coming or . . . ?" She trailed off uncertainly.
Teddy considered his words for a minute before telling her, "It's coming along slowly but surely. We were able to obtain a few of the things on your list, but some are proving more difficult than others."
She nodded and let out another audible sigh. Teddy leaned down next to her and pulled her towards him in an embrace, "I know that you want me to go with you tonight, but I think you'll still be able to have fun without me. All of your friends from St. Mungo's will be there, along with Spencer and Ally."
"I was just excited to have you with me, not nearly as many strange men walk up to me when I'm with you," Victoire pointed out quietly.
Teddy sighed heavily at hearing this, he needed to be at work that evening, but he did truly feel bad for leaving Victoire to go stag that night, "Well if your engagement ring isn't enough to discourage some people, you could always pretend to be Spencer's girlfriend."
Victoire giggled and then scoffed, "I think it'd be more believable if I pretended to be Ally's girlfriend."
Her fiancé smirked roguishly, "That's something that would be fun to watch."
She just rolled her eyes and smacked his arm in response. He chuckled and pulled her even closer so that he could press a soft kiss to her lips, "I'm sure you'll be able to survive tonight. You are an incredible force to be reckoned with when you want to be."
"What a lovely compliment."
Neither of them could really tell if she was being sarcastic or not, but it didn't really matter. They were done with words for the moment. They lay together for as long as they could before Teddy realized that he really needed to drag himself off the bed and get to work. He kissed her fiercely before leaving, and it wasn't until he had disapparated that Victoire noted how odd it was for him to kiss her so desperately when he was just going to the Auror Office to do some paperwork.
She shrugged it off almost as soon as the thought had come up, and then decided that she should make herself look presentable for a night out, keeping in mind as she did so that she didn't want to garner too much attention if Teddy wasn't going to be with her.
About an hour later, she apparated down the road from the wizarding bar they were supposed to meet at for the night. She landed perfectly even though she was wearing a shoe with a slight wedge heel –her inner Dom had demanded that she wear them because it matched her shirt perfectly and she was too tired to argue with her sister even if it was just an imaginary version of her. Coincidently, she ended up meeting Donnie just as she was about to open the door to the establishment. He opened the door for her and gestured for her to go first, and once they were inside it was easy for them to discover where the rest of their 'party' was. Spencer was already there with Sarah and some other acquaintances of theirs, so they all spent a few moments sharing greetings and pleasantries with one another.
"We're still waiting on Lab Coat to arrive," Spencer told Victoire as he handed her a large fruity-flavoured-looking drink.
Victoire nodded her head, having noticed already that Ally wasn't there yet, and glanced at the drink her friend had handed her, "I didn't even tell you what I wanted."
"You didn't need to," Spencer replied with a charming smile.
"Well maybe I did, because I'm not planning on drinking tonight."
Spencer broke out into laughter and tapped her glass, "That's a good one Cinderella, now drink up because once everyone gets here we're going to do a round of shots, and trust me, you're going to want to be a few drinks in before we do that. Now where's Prince Charming? Didn't you bring him with you?"
Victoire shook her head and eyed her drink again, "No, I didn't bring him with me. He ended up having to work tonight. Which is why I don't think I want to drink tonight, I don't like getting sloshed when he's not around to watch my back."
"I didn't say that you had to get drunk," Spencer pointed out, "Just have a few drinks. With your metabolism you know that you could have ten drinks before getting even close to sloshed."
She pursed her lips in response as she considered her drink again, "What flavour is this?"
"It tastes like green apple," Spencer replied triumphantly.
Victoire sighed in defeat and took a sip. It tasted really good, and she could barely tell that there was alcohol in it. Spencer had a point, she didn't have to get drunk if she didn't want to, and yet she could still have a few if she wanted.
She had been slowly sipping her drink, but Ally still didn't show up until Victoire was almost finished her first one. Victoire had spotted her cousin the second the brunette stepped into the bar, but Spencer wasn't far behind her.
"Miniskirt!"
Spencer had apparently discovered Ally's nickname for the evening. Obviously the jean skirt Ally was wearing with her navy-blue coloured top inspired the nickname, but in Victoire's opinion the skirt wasn't that short, Ally just had long legs that made the skirt look shorter than it was.
Ally had laughed good naturedly at Spencer's nickname while they gave each other hello hugs, but when they walked over to where Victoire was sitting at a table with Donnie and Sarah, Victoire could see the slightly harried air her cousin held.
"I'm sorry I'm late," Ally apologized after she and Victoire had kissed each other on the cheek, "It was a little hectic leaving my apartment."
Victoire passed Ally her glass and what was left in it as she asked, "Did something happen?"
Her cousin sighed heavily and chugged the few inches of drink that were left in Victoire's glass before replying, "Just had to have a chat with Dom about some of the life choices she was making."
"Ugh," Victoire moaned in sympathy, "What has she done now?"
Ally blushed and whispered to her blonde cousin, "It's more like who she's about to do."
Victoire made a fake gagging sound and then slammed her head down onto the polished surface of the table, "Please don't tell me-"
"Konstantin Krum," Ally supplied without being asked.
Victoire gagged again, "Uh, I told you not to tell me!" She took a minute to take a deep breath before adding, "I guess it could be worse."
"True," Ally agreed, "If she had agreed to give Clark a chance and then hooked up with Konstantin again, it would have definitely broken Clark's heart."
"Yes, thank goodness my sister decided to keep shutting down the hot professional quidditch player so that she wouldn't break his heart when she went back to hooking-up with the one bloke I keep asking her not to sleep with," Victoire ranted with very heavy sarcasm.
Ally patted Victoire's back, "Well what were you thinking of when you said it could be worse?"
"She could be sleeping with Kurt or Hayden, which would be much worse."
Ally's eyes widened as she considered her cousin's words, "Merlin that would be horrible and so awkward for Teddy."
"Exactly," Victoire agreed.
Spencer chose that time to deliver a new drink to both Victoire and Ally, and told them to hurry up because, he announced, once Cassidy finally showed her skinny ass, they were going to start in with the shots.
Ally took a tentative sip of the highlighter-pink coloured cocktail Spencer had given her before saying, "Speaking of Teddy, did he come with you tonight?"
"No," Victoire pouted in response before taking a large swig of her own drink, which was a dark navy colour, "He ended up having to work."
Ally patted her cousin's hand sympathetically, "I guess we're both going stag tonight."
"Yup."
Puddlemere United had a game against the Appleby Arrows that evening in Appleby, so Xavier was also away for the night with his team. Even though Ally had the option, as always, to attend the game, she had decided to stay behind so that she could make it to Spencer's night out. It seemed that Victoire wasn't the only person who didn't want to disappoint the American muggleborn.
"Is Xavier staying at a hotel in Appleby, or is he travelling back here after the game?" Victoire asked curiously as she took a slower sip on her drink.
Ally ran a finger around the lip of her cocktail glass, "He's going to stay in Appleby. Sandra and Kyle have decided that they are going to go to the game. They're taking some potential clients for their company I think– but anyway, they've decided that they're going to go out after the game and get a drink and I told him that it would probably be better if he just stays there overnight."
"Sandra and Kyle are going to the game? I didn't know that, but you know what? Now that I think about it I don't think I've contacted Sandra this week besides a few short text messages," Victoire admitted sadly.
Her cousin shrugged, "It's been a busy week for you Vic, between the night shifts and the trial. Moreover, Sandra's been working on a big presentation for the company. This is what happens when everyone gets caught up doing adult-y-things."
"Did you just say adult-y-things?" Victoire asked with a raised eyebrow as she eyed her cousin's drink. Ally had only had about half of it but it seemed that she was already making up words.
Ally just rolled her eyes at the blonde, "Yes, adult-y-things. Like working forty hour weeks, getting married, getting engaged, moving in together-"
Both of Victoire's eyebrows rose up on her forehead when she heard the last part of Ally's list, "Who's moving in with whom?"
Her dark haired cousin blushed brightly and Victoire had to try very hard to hold in a squeal, "Oh my Godric, are you and Xavier . . .?"
"We've been discussing moving in together, just moving in together," Ally added quickly when she could see Victoire's mind start racing.
The clarification didn't dampen Victoire's excitement, "That's so fantastic Ally! Brilliant! So are you going to move into his flat or . . . ?"
"That was an option we discussed, but I think the both of us are leaning more towards finding a flat of our own. It's not that his flat in the complex is lacking anything, it's amazing actually, but we both kind of want someplace that feels like both of ours, instead of just his," Ally explained.
Victoire nodded her head enthusiastically, "I totally understand, but the specifics aren't important right now, what is important is that you and Xavier are taking this next step. Are you happy about it?"
She remembered Ally's reaction almost a year ago when she felt that she and Xavier were moving too fast and towards a future that she didn't feel as though she had any control over. It was important to Victoire to hear that Ally was excited about this new step, she was already certain without having to ask that Xavier was one-hundred-percent on board with it.
Ally gave her cousin a bright and slightly dreamy look, "I am so happy about it. When Xavier brought it up I didn't think that the prospect would be so exciting considering that we were already practically living with each other without officially moving in together, but the more I think about it the giddier I become."
"So you're planning on doing this sooner rather than later then?"
"Well . . . it all depends on us finding a place that we both like, and on me and Dom coming to some decision about the flat we share. She's fine with me leaving, but the both of us want to find her another flat mate before I go," Ally explained.
"Fair point," Victoire agreed as she considered the situation.
The flat that Ally and Dom shared was actually famous within their family. It was the same flat Victoire and Sandra had shared for their first year post-Hogwarts graduation, and since then it had been in possession of someone in Victoire's family. When Kyle and Sandra moved in together during their second year post-Hogwarts, Ally had moved in with Victoire and taken the vacant room. A year later when Victoire and Teddy found a flat together, Dom moved in with Ally. The two had been sharing the flat for exactly two years now, and now it seemed that Ally was moving out, and that someone new would need to move in.
The topic changed then back to Xavier's game which would have started a quarter of an hour ago, and Donnie, Sarah, and Spencer joined in on the conversation. Donnie loudly expressed his opinion that he couldn't believe that Ally would skip going to a Puddlemere United quidditch game no matter how many games she had attended in the past, and Victoire teased the obstetrics resident that she had never in her life met a muggleborn who was as obsessed with the wizarding sport as he was.
8:30 PM
"Merlin am I ready to just crash tonight," Anish Sharma announced wearily as he plopped down on the largest sofa in the room.
Baxter Weasley nudged Anish off of part of said sofa so that he would have room to sit down, and said, "Well if you are going to crash on my couch tonight, could you promise not to snore?"
Anish's expression said that he was insulted, "I do not snore!"
"Yes you do," Baxter retaliated, looking towards his other two friends in the room to back him up.
Matt Everheart smirked wickedly as he settled into a squishy armchair with a butterbeer in hand, "You sound like a muggle chainsaw."
"I do not!" Anish repeated, somehow even more offended now that two of his friends were ganging up on him.
"You kind of do," Louis Weasley added. He sat down on the empty loveseat with a bowl full of popcorn and rounded off the group.
Anish glared at Louis and pointed his finger accusingly at him, "You're one to talk, you mumble in your sleep sometimes, and do you want to know what you say?"
"I don't talk in my sleep," Louis brushed the accusation off before shoving a handful of popcorn into his mouth.
"Sometimes you do, and when you do you're just pathetically muttering disgustingly sweet things about Cecilia," Anish announced while making a repulsed face.
Louis rolled his brown eyes, "Well I'm sorry then that when we use to share a dormitory at Hogwarts that I used to dream about my girlfriend and talk about her in my sleep."
"You should be sorry," Anish chastised, still looking a little green, "I am very susceptible to suggestion when I'm half asleep. You have no idea the number of times I ended up accidently having a dream with Cecilia in it because you were whispering her name."
Louis glared at his friend, "And what exactly was going on in these dreams?"
Matt and Baxter chuckled while Anish rolled his eyes, "Don't get your knickers in a twist Louis. Most of those dreams were actually nightmares about your nutter of a girlfriend shoving me off my broom during quidditch practice, or trying to kill me during DADA."
"Are you sure those were dreams and not reality?" Matt queried. He wasn't able to get the question out without breaking out into laughter halfway through.
"Hence my use of the word nutter," Anish defended.
Louis rolled his eyes at the jest, "Cecilia's not a nutter."
"No she is, you're just so deeply in love with her that you can't see it," Baxter added mischievously.
"It's either that or you know that she's a nutter and you stay with her anyway because she's hot," Matt added.
Anish shook his head, "Nah, she's definitely crazier than she is hot, it can't be that."
The three other boys snickered at their own jokes while Louis crossed his arms over his chest and waited for them to finish, "Are you done insulting my girlfriend now?"
"We're just taking the piss," Anish told him sweetly. Matt added, "You know we love Cecilia, it's just, sometimes she can be intimidating."
"More than sometimes," Anish muttered.
Baxter waved his wand and summoned a can of soda pop over to him. He opened it up as he added, "I think we're just all jealous that we're spending our evening vegging out in our flat while Cecilia gets to go to the Appleby versus Puddlemere quidditch game."
"True," Matt added as he grabbed a chocolate frog package from the coffee table and ripped it open, "And she gets to meet the players too. I know I'm totally jealous."
Anish didn't seem to agree with Baxter and Matt, "She's meeting the players because she's there for work, to interview one of the players. Also, have you lot forgotten that her parents were both professional quidditch players? She's probably met all of these quidditch players before."
"It's still exciting for her, she gets to conduct her second ever interview," Matt pointed out. He looked at the famous wizard card that came with his chocolate frog and smirked, "Look who I got."
He tossed it to Louis.
The blonde barely needed to spare the card a second glance, he was very familiar with the face of the woman who was on it, "Hey there Mum."
The miniature picture of a twenty-ish aged Fleur painted on the card smiled widely back and blew her son a kiss. Louis pursed his lips at the card and tossed it towards Baxter, "Say hello."
Baxter rolled his eyes while Anish scooped up the card, "Merlin, I never realized how much Victoire looks like your mother."
"Yup," Louis agreed with a nod.
"Speaking of women-" Matt began only to be interrupted by Baxter.
"Wait a minute, I don't think I want Auntie Fleur staring at me during this conversation," Baxter said. He plucked the wizard card out of Anish's hand and placed it on the coffee table facedown.
Matt rolled his eyes, "All I was going to do was ask about how Eliza Parker is doing."
"Rowan turned a month-old on Sunday, so the three of us –Baxter, Cecilia, and I– stopped by on Wednesday afternoon to see them. Rowan seemed fine, and Cecilia and Eliza had a long chat that Baxter and I weren't privy to, but she seemed fine as well. When we left, Cecilia did mutter something insulting about Benjamin Dickinson though," Louis explained.
"Poor Eliza, she's such a nice girl. She doesn't deserve to be stuck with a prat like Dickinson for the rest of her life," Matt mused.
Louis was the only one who seemed to notice that Baxter was having a hard time with the topic, so he quickly tried to change the subject, "So Anish, meet any cute muggle girls at college?"
Anish's mother was a muggle, and even though she was happy to send him of to Hogwarts to begin his magical education, she still insisted that he keep up with some muggle subjects during the summers such as math and science. It was easy for him to do so since she was a high school teacher. After graduating Hogwarts, since he wasn't sure what he wanted to do yet, his parents encouraged him to take the muggle college entrance exams. He passed them well enough and was presently enrolled in a muggle university and on track to earn a general degree in science at the end of his four years.
"There are a few in my classes, but no one specific that I'm working my way towards yet," Anish admitted, "I'm trying to be cautious. It's really hard to sit through a day full of lectures without accidentally doing magic, but when the topic of the lecture is interesting I can usually get through it."
"I for one can't believe that you of all people would agree to attend four more years of school after graduating Hogwarts," Matt told Anish, shock still in his tone.
Anish pouted, "I take offense to that."
"I think you're supposed to," Louis told him with a smirk.
Anish rolled his eyes, pulled out his wand, and pointed it towards the wireless in the corner of Louis and Baxter's living room. A minute later, the room was filled with the commentary from the Puddlemere and Appleby game.
" . . . And now Martell of the Arrows has possession of the quaffle! He dodges Cassano! He dodges a bludger sent to him by Westin . . ."
8:45 PM
Teddy threw on another heavy sweater over top of the shirt he was already wearing, and then slipped his auror robes back on overtop of his now warmer clothing.
"Are you sure that you want to do this?" Harry asked his godson worriedly as Teddy readied himself to leave with the portkey that he was supposed to take in the next fifteen minutes.
"We've discussed this Harry," Teddy reminded his godfather and superior auror, "We know that there are probably only two aurors that he will agree to see. One is me and the other is Jilly, and there is no way in Hell that I'm letting him get within two-hundred metres of Jilly."
Harry folded his arms against his chest, "Well I doubt that he'll be able to get anywhere near Auror Donaldson since she has tonight and the rest of the weekend off until her shift Monday morning."
That was the one part of this situation that Teddy was happy with; the fact that Jilly wasn't even presently in the country. Kurt and Teddy had owled Caleb Cooke on Wednesday afternoon after they had decided to do this, and they strongly suggested that he take Jilly away for the weekend. They couldn't tell him more than that, but the professor was an intelligent man and was able to realize that the note from Kurt and Teddy was more of an instruction than a suggestion. Jilly had been more than a little suspicious when her boyfriend called her and told her that he wanted to take her to Germany for the weekend, and even more wary when Auror Weasley –who was in charge of writing out the schedule that week– told her that she had the whole weekend off and wouldn't even be scheduled to be on call. She knew what Teddy, Kurt, and Caleb were up to, but she went along with it because she couldn't honestly say that she would mind being out of the country for what was about to happen.
"He may not even agree to come in for questioning," Teddy reminded Harry. The metamorphmagus wasn't entirely sure how he felt about his own words. A part of him would prefer if this whole situation ended with his visit that evening, but another part of him knew that he needed to be successful in his visit or they would never get the intel that they would need.
Harry also didn't seem as though he knew how he felt about the possible outcomes of the situation either, "I really don't like the fact that you're going to Azkaban without any of your partners."
Teddy rolled his eyes and double-checked that he had his wand and auror badge on him, "Just because I'm not going with Hayden or Kurt doesn't mean that I'm going alone. Auror Jiang is coming with me, and there are also the guards who are posted at Azkaban-"
"And let's not forget about all of those dementors," Kurt replied with a faux cheery tone as he and Hayden slipped into the room in their casual clothes.
"I'll be fine," Teddy said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
Hayden smirked as he started to search the pockets of his jacket, "Of course you will; I'm sure before you left your flat that Victoire gave you an extra special happy memory to use for your patronus tonight."
Teddy ignored the suggestive teasing and looked down at his shoes, "Actually . . . I didn't tell Vic that I'm going to Azkaban tonight."
Kurt and Hayden shared a surprised look while Harry let out a low whistle. Hayden stopped searching in his pockets for whatever it was he was looking for and asked Teddy, "So where did you tell her that you're going tonight?"
"She doesn't know that I'm going anywhere actually, I told her that I was doing paperwork," Teddy admitted a little ashamedly.
"Alright," Kurt said slowly, "So, I for one will certainly miss you."
Teddy rolled his eyes again, "I'm not going to die at Azkaban."
"No, but when you get back here your fiancée's going to kill you for not telling her about your little visit to the wizarding world's maximum security prison," Hayden stated.
"And let's not forget that you're going there to visit the man who almost killed her twice, assaulted her four times, and tried to kidnap her four times. And that you're going because you're trying to convince him to agree to give us information on his organized crime family," Kurt added.
Teddy sent Kurt a glare as he was trying his best not to dwell on what he was about to do. Mainly, go beg a man whom he irrefutably hated for information that would help them win their case.
"Yeah, either way you're going to Azkaban so you're going to need these," Hayden told Teddy as he searched his pockets again and pulled out a couple of chocolate bars. He handed them to his friend with an apprehensive smile.
"I brought you some too," Kurt piped up, handing Teddy three more chocolate bars.
Teddy looked down at the chocolate and noticed that the chocolate bars were Dementor Depression Desserts. The sweets were created by Weasley's Wizard Wheezes about a decade and a half ago, and they were chocolate bars that bared the title of being 110% cocoa. They were super strength chocolate bars that tasted awful on regular conditions, but were literally medical grade if you were suffering from dementor exposure. Both the Auror Department and St. Mungo's had jumped on the merchandise when they were first released, as Angelina had helped George create the chocolate, and both places had long standing orders with the company to buy chocolate directly from them. The sweets were such a revolution in restoring wizards and witches who had been exposed to dementors that Victoire had actually learned in a course in healing school that giving a person Dementor Depression Desserts should be the first step when encountering a patient who had been in contact with dementors.
All aurors had at least one of those chocolate bars in their desks at all times in case of an emergency, so Teddy already had one chocolate bar stashed away in his robes. He accepted the other chocolate bars from Hayden and Kurt with a gracious smile, and stuffed them in his pockets as well.
Kurt and Hayden verbally wished Teddy good luck then, and quietly vacated the room. When they were gone Harry reached into his robes and pulled out another chocolate bar, this one slimmer than the others.
"You too?" Teddy questioned with a raised eyebrow.
Harry smiled and placed the bar in Teddy's hand, "I wouldn't be doing my duty as your godfather if I didn't give you some."
Teddy smiled in response and looked down at the bar in his hand, "This isn't medical grade."
"No, but it is your favourite," Harry replied smugly. He seemed very proud that he had remembered that. It was quite an impressive feat considering all of the chocolate that Teddy consumed as a child and a teen; Teddy had a horrible sweet tooth so he had never been picky when it came to sweets.
"Getting sentimental?" Teddy teased.
Harry rolled his eyes, "No. I just know from experience that when the effects of the Dementor Depression Desserts start to kick in, that chocolate will start to taste horrible. That's when most people realize that it's working and think they're cured, but it's smart to continue to consume smaller amounts of chocolate even hours after dementor exposure. I figured you'd need some chocolate that would actually taste good at some point this evening."
"You sounded a lot like Victoire with that explanation," Teddy pointed out playfully.
Harry crossed his arms over his chest, "Speaking of my niece, she is not going to be happy that you lied to her."
"It wasn't exactly a lie . . ." Teddy trailed off uncertainly.
"Whatever you say," Harry replied holding his hands up defensively, "I for one know better than to get in the middle of this."
Teddy frowned and turned for the first time towards the portkey that was sitting on the table in the room, "There isn't anything to get in the middle of."
"Come on Teddy, you're too smart to believe that," Harry told him as the portkey began to glow brightly with magic.
The metamorphmagus didn't have time to reply as he needed to touch the portkey right away. When he did so he felt a sharp jerk around his navel and then he was suddenly transported from the room.
10:34 PM
"That game was fantastic," Charley Larson exclaimed excitedly to Cecilia as the two of them slowly made their way through the throng of people that were exiting their seats at the end of the Puddlemere-Appleby game.
Charley was another reporter from Cecilia's magazine, although she had been working at the magazine for a few years already, and while Cecilia was in charge of interviewing someone from the Appleby Arrows about the game Charley would interview a Puddlemere United player.
"Your brother played brilliantly," Charley continued as the two young women made their way through the stadium halls and towards where the teams' locker rooms were, "I think I'm going to see if he'll give me a quick interview. I mean he was only one goal away from a shut-out tonight."
Puddlemere had beaten the Arrows 50-10, in what could be considered a relatively close game for a quidditch match. The only goal Xavier let in was scored near the end, and by none other than Elijah Martell.
Cecilia didn't know Charley Larson too well, but one thing she had caught on to rather quickly was that the witch, who was only a few years her elder, didn't necessarily need another person to reply to carry on a conversation.
"I mean he should be in a good mood since Puddlermere won, so he'll be fine with giving me an interview, right?" Charley continued to prattle on as they came closer and closer to the part of the stadium that housed the changing rooms.
Cecilia just shrugged. Most people would be happy to have won a game by only letting one goal in, but her brother was a Wood, and he did hold himself up to a ridiculously high standard that only he expected of himself. She honestly didn't know how he'd feel about giving an interview after being so close to a shut out, but she did feel that it was it important to give Charley one piece of advice.
"As long as you focus on the game and the sport of quidditch in general you should be fine," Cecilia told her.
Charley frowned uncomprehendingly, "What do you mean focus on quidditch? What else would I ask him about?"
"I don't know," Cecilia answered honestly. She really didn't know the other woman besides what her writing style was like, "But I can promise you that if you ask him anything about his relationship that he'll probably shut down and never want to have an interview with you again."
Even though her words seemed harsh, Cecilia tried to put a soft look on her face. She was honestly trying to warn Charley. With the mood Xavier had been in lately, even a person from the media innocently asking him about Ally would probably send him into a tailspin. She knew for certain that he still hadn't forgiven their grandmother for what she'd said to him during their fateful Saturday morning brunch.
Charley started nodding empathetically, "Got it, no questions about his personal life." She seemed so sincere that she even took out her notepad and wrote a note to herself reminding her not to bring it up later.
The other woman didn't have time to ask Cecilia any more tips on how to approach a potential interview with Xavier, because they had just reached the doors that led to each teams' changing rooms. Charley moved to the right to enter Puddlemere's, and Cecilia moved to the left towards Appleby's. After flashing her press badge at the security wizard who was standing outside the room, Cecilia pushed the door open. She found that the door led to another, much quieter hallway, and Cecilia read the names of the doors as she walked by. One read as the team manager's office, one was titled as the female change room, one titled as the men's, and the final room on that floor read Team Room.
Cecilia wasn't entirely sure how she was supposed to go about contacting a player for an interview, as this was only her second one and her first one with Valentin had been scheduled for her, but she figured her best bet at finding a player who wasn't in a state of undress would be the Team Room. She wasn't by any means a shy person, so she didn't need to muster up any of her Gryffindor courage before pushing open the door to the Team Room.
Fortunately for Cecilia, it seemed like the coaches and players of the Appleby Arrows seemed well versed with their post-game routine. When she opened the door, she could hear that they were expecting an interview.
". . . So to repeat myself, we have practice starting at noon tomorrow-," One of Appleby's coaches announced to the first string team that was sitting in front of him with their backs to the door where Cecilia stood.
Some of the players let out a slight groan, which their coach just smirked at hearing. The coach then noticed that Cecilia had slipped into the room, and he continued with his speech, "Also, we've had a request from Up in the Air to do a post-game interview with one of their reports, so I'll need one of you to kindly volunteer-"
Almost all of the players let out a much louder groan this time, and the coach smirked even wider and finished, "To kindly volunteer to speak with Miss Wood over there." The coach punctuated his sentence by gesturing towards where Cecilia stood by the door.
All of the players present were male seeing as their one female player had been listed on the injury list for that game and a second string beater had been called up to take her spot. At their coach's insistence they turned to glance at Cecilia. Three of the men stood up immediately, all of them within a few years age of Xavier, and took steps towards her all offering at once to give her an interview.
Cecilia took a step back in surprise at the chaos that was suddenly unleashed, and she wasn't entirely sure what to say at first. Before she could respond to any of the men who were speaking to her, one other man stood up and spoke above all of the others, silencing them at the same time.
"I'll give Miss Wood an interview."
Cecilia let out a sigh of relief and nodded her head, "Thank you Mr. Martell."
Elijah Martell walked over to the door, opened it, and gestured for Cecilia to move first. She did so but waited to follow him as he led her to a different room down the hall that she hadn't noticed before. The door read Conference Room, and Elijah opened the door for her once more so that she could walk through it. They both took seats on either side of the table that was in the room, and there was a small moment of silence before Cecilia broke it.
"Thank-you for agreeing to do this interview Mr. Martell."
He had started to wave of her thanks before she was finished, "It was no problem, and probably for the best anyway. I know my teammates and some of them would probably have embarrassed themselves with you. The younger ones don't do well with pretty interviewers such as yourself. And please, call me Eli; Mr. Martell makes me feel old."
Cecilia blushed a little at his words and flipped open her writing pad, "And you can call me Cecilia." She cleared her throat and gently began asking her questions about the game.
Eli Martell was charming, witty, and very easy to talk to. He sort of reminded Cecilia of her father, which made sense considering that they were friends who use to play on the same team at one point in their careers.
"So how do you feel about scoring your team's only goal in the game?" Cecilia asked him curiously.
Eli grinned a little, "I'd love to say that it was simple and brought a change in momentum for my team for the game, but it was probably just dumb luck. Your brother was distracted by both bludgers and he still almost saved my goal. I don't think that it would have gone in if the wind hadn't been on my side."
"I don't think you give yourself enough credit Eli," Cecilia replied.
Eli casually got up from his chair and walked towards a mini fridge that was in the room, he kept speaking to her as he did so. "Or perhaps you think that I'm giving your brother too much credit?" He replied shrewdly, sending her a smirk that told her he was teasing.
"I know how hard siblings can be on each other, I bet that's why your magazine sent you to interview my team instead of Puddlemere. Not that I'm complaining of course, quite the opposite really. It's been a while since I've completed an interview with a writer who actually wanted to know my thoughts on the game and not just about my personal life," Eli continued as he turned to the fridge, "There are some beverages in here, would you like one?"
"I'll take some water if there is some," Cecilia replied politely. She was very glad to hear that he thought she was doing a good job with her interview. It was only her second one after all, and even though they were both nice men it was a different experience interviewing Eli Martell compared to Valentin Krum.
Eli closed the fridge and came back to the table with a bottle of water, two plastic cups, and a small bottle of something else in his hands. He sat down as he replied, "There is water, but even more excitingly, there's firewhiskey."
Cecilia eyed the second bottle that he meant and shook her head as graciously as possible, "Thank you for the offer, but I think I'll stick to water."
He passed her the water bottle, but still gestured to the bottle of alcohol, "Are you sure? I for one think you deserve a little indulgence as a celebration. You've almost made it through your second interview and you've done a spectacular job."
Cecilia smiled in response but held her ground, "No thank you, it's probably best not to drink on the job."
"Ah, to be young and to be worried about being at your best and professional, I wish more of the seasoned media was as concerned with providing an air of professionalism like you are," He told her approvingly. He poured himself a small drink but didn't put the cap back on the firewhiskey bottle yet, "And are you sure I can't tempt you into even a little bit? Less than half a glass shouldn't impair your judgement . . ."
She shook her head again, but before she could reply, Eli smirked at her and eyed her astutely, "Unless of course you're like your father in that regard. Oliver was never the best at handling his liquor either."
Cecilia blushed, opened her water bottle, and took a deep drink of it. He might have hit the nail on the head but she wasn't going to admit to it.
"You look just like your mother," Eli continued, "But it seems I've finally stumbled upon a little part of Oliver in you."
"I will admit that Xavier, and even Brogan, seem more like Dad than I do, but I'm a lot more like him than some might think," Cecilia said casually, "I even played keeper a few times in school."
Eli smiled at her and took a sip of his drink, "But you prefer chaser?"
"How'd you guess?"
He smirked and let out a low chuckle, "Cecilia, your father was a professional keeper and your mother was a professional chaser, I doubt there were any other positions offered to you to learn."
"It's easier to play a backyard game of quidditch without beaters and seekers," Cecilia replied with a shrug.
"I'm surprised that you didn't consider playing quidditch professionally," Eli told her conversationally, "I'm sure that you would have been just as talented a chaser as your mother was."
Cecilia looked down at her notepad shyly, "I play quidditch because it's exciting and fun. I was afraid that turning it into a job would take the fun out of it."
"That's a very understandable fear," Eli agreed with a nod.
She picked up her quill again and turned the conversation back to the game. He answered a few more questions and then Cecilia brought the interview to a close. She thanked him for allowing her to interview him, and they walked out of the room and even out to the public part of the stadium together.
Waiting outside of the visiting team's change room were Katie, Oliver, and Brogan, and just a little ways down the corridor was Xavier, Sandra, Kyle, and three other people that Cecilia didn't recognize. Katie gave Cecilia's hand a squeeze as she walked by her, and Cecilia continued towards Xavier so that she could congratulate him on his game. Eli stopped to speak to Oliver and Katie, and Cecilia could tell by the looks her mother was sending her that Eli was telling them about her interview. From the proud look on her father's face, she assumed that Martell was complimenting her work. The thought made Cecilia smile, and the tiny ball of tension that had been in her stomach since the game ended slowly began to loosen when she let herself believe that she did a good job.
10:20 PM
Victoire finished her fifth drink and decided that it was going to be her last for the evening, she was actually having a good time, and she didn't think that drinking any more alcohol would change that. Once her glass was back on the table, Spencer grabbed her hand and dragged her to the dance floor. There they met Sarah and Cassidy, who had finally shown up to the party only ten minutes after Ally had, and the four of them started dancing together.
At one point Spencer had twirled Victoire around in a series of spins that left her dizzy, and afterwards she staggered off the dance floor and towards the bar. She didn't want another drink, but she needed to lean up against something solid until she regained her equilibrium. As she recovered her balance, she gazed around the bar. Down the left side of the bar closest to where their tables were, Ally and Donnie were sitting at barstools, cozied up together as they listened to the wireless at that end of the bar that was playing the Appleby-Puddlemere game.
While she watched them Ally and Donnie jumped out of their seats and high-fived each other happily. She couldn't hear what they were saying to each other, but based on their jubilant expressions she concluded that Puddlemere had won the game. She indulgently rolled her eyes at them and ordered a round of drinks for her friends. Sarah and Cassidy came up to her just as the bartender was handing her drinks, and they carried them to one of the tables.
Spencer had invited more than a dozen people to the bar to hang out, but by that time in the night, they had broken off into smaller groups with Spencer moving between all of them. At that moment, Spencer sat down at a table with Donnie, Sarah, Cassidy, Victoire and Ally, and brought up a topic that he didn't had the chance to discuss yet.
"So Cinderella, how was your meeting with the famous Healer McDavid on Wednesday?"
Everyone stared at Victoire with curiosity on their faces; including Cassidy even though she had already asked her friend about it on Thursday.
Victoire took a sip of the soda pop she had order for herself and smiled, "It was great. We discussed what we were both looking to do with this research, and then laid the groundwork on what information we were both familiar with."
"So what topic are you going to single out?" Donnie questioned.
"We're going to work on creating a general use spell that will erase scars made by dark magic," Victoire explained.
Sarah nodded, "But why has Healer McDavid decided that he wants to focus on scars made by dark magic?"
"Apparently he has done a lot of metadata research and he's found a trend that many people who have been cured by dark magic still have complaints of pain in their residual scars. This fact sounds rather obvious I know, but he's of the opinion that some of these people have pain because some of the dark magic is still stuck in those scars," Victoire explained.
Cassidy smiled, "So he's thinking that if he can create a spell that heals scars, it'll also heal the dark magic left in those scars."
"Exactly," Victoire said smiling at her friend, "And if he can create a spell to erase little parts of dark magic left in scars, perhaps that spell can then be manipulated and be used to heal larger portions of dark magic in patients."
Donnie nodded impressed, "While I still prefer obstetrics, I think that that sounds like quite an interesting research project."
"I'm excited about it," Victoire agreed, smiling widely.
"So what's your first step with something like this?" Ally asked her cousin curiously.
"My first step is to do a lot more research about magical scars, Healer McDavid is way ahead of me in that respect, but he's given me a list of important things to read, as well as encouraged me to find information of my own," Victoire explained.
Spencer frowned, "Now that part sounds a little boring."
"No, it's exciting, like piecing together a puzzle!"
Sarah smirked, "A puzzle that you don't even have all of the pieces of."
"True," Victoire replied with a smile as she took a sip of her drink.
11:00 PM Azkaban
Having to wait almost a whole hour for some guard to find the right paperwork once they finally arrived at Azkaban, was not something that Teddy or Auror Jiang were happy about. They had portkeyed to the island closest to Azkaban as was protocol, and following protocol they took a wooden boat (similar in looks to the ones at Hogwarts but thankfully larger in size) and drifted for about an hour until they finally reached the shores of the island that Azkaban sat on.
Teddy felt the effect of the dementors before they even reached the island. Beside him Auror Jiang, who had only graduated auror training a few months ago, started to rub his hands against his arms as if he was trying to keep himself warm. Teddy eyed the dark sky warily when he and Auror Jiang got out of the boat and followed the guard who was there waiting for them up to the prison building. As they walked, he easily spotted the dementors that were flying around the building. The effects of the dementors permeated through Teddy's body with every step he took. The chill came first, and then came the dullness. The feeling would stay and slowly turn into a feeling of loneliness, which would turn into a feeling that all of the happiness in his life was being sucked out of him. He knew that the feelings would only intensify if a dementor actually came close to him.
There was a bit of a reprieve from the feeling as they entered the prison and met the guards who were looking for their paperwork to allow their visit, but the coldness and the feelings of apathy and melancholy stayed. When the guards had finally cleared their paperwork, one blank-faced guard –who told Teddy to refer to him as Carter– led Teddy and Auror Jiang up two flights of cold stone staircases and down two hallways before coming to a stop.
"Your guy is in cell number 186. You'll have to walk by several cells before you get to him. Some of the prisoners in the cells will disregard you, but others may try to callout to you or try to get you to respond. It's easier if you just ignore then until you get to your guy," Carter (Teddy wasn't sure if that was his first name or his last) told them firmly.
Teddy and Auror Jiang nodded their heads.
"So you have authorization to offer him a trip out of here and into the Auror Department to question him?" Carter questioned.
"Yes, I'm not here to ask him any specific questions to get information tonight. This place wouldn't be conducive to prising information from him, so I'm only here to convince him to agree to come to the Ministry. We're thinking for Sunday," Teddy explained.
The guard nodded his head and then gestured for the two aurors to continue with their mission.
Teddy was a few feet ahead of Auror Jiang as they strode down the hallway. He passed twenty cells, ten on each side, and ignored the looks he was getting from their occupants. They weren't exactly curious as the ever-present presence of the dementors made it difficult for the prisoners to feel anything besides apathy, and most of them stayed silent as they passed.
Teddy and Auror Jiang came to a stop outside of cell 186. The man inside the cell looked up hurriedly, got to his feet, and walked towards the bars of his cell when he saw that he had visitors.
Teddy swallowed thickly as he looked into the eyes of Jean-Paul Boisvert, a. k. a. J. P. Holmwood, a. k. a. Richard Lassoder.
As Teddy stared into the cold eyes of the man whose actions almost caused the death of the woman he loved, the prisoner himself smiled back evilly.
"Well, well, well. Auror Lupin, what a pleasant surprise this is."
A/N: Okay everyone, I know that this seems like a cliff hanger, but I have my reasons. 1.) This chapter was getting long and I needed to end it around here for practical purposes. 2.) I decided that I wanted most of the Lassoder interaction to be in one chapter, so I needed to end it here.
So, how many of you think that Teddy's plan is going to work?
Next Update: I have it written, so you can have it next week :) (Unless something big comes up).
Next Chapter: Victoire and Teddy have an argument; Victoire does some research at St. Mungo's; and Teddy, Hayden and Kurt try to convince Lassoder to give them information on the Holmwoods.
Teaser for Next Chapter:
""Where did you go tonight Theodore?"
Victoire could count on one hand the number of times she had called Teddy by his full name. Usually when she was being serious with him, she would use the name Ted, which in itself was a nickname. The fact that she had pulled out all three syllables meant that she was beyond serious at that moment."
Thank you to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed this chapter!
An Especially BIG thank-you to:
liverpoolss, crumer, Jilly98, rosesnlilies, zvc56, AngelTwins527, no cure for crazy, Guest(1), MuggleCreator, jeremiah123, Seher Syed, SUPERFLARROW, Guest(2), azngurlz093, and Jennifer Jules.
liverpools: The next few chapters will be focus heavily on Vic/Teddy because they concern his case, but we will see Colton and Anastasia in three chapters time, Eliza, Rowan, and Benjamin's next entrance will need to wait a little, but when I do get to their next chapter, it will be good. We will get to see Cecilia, Louis, Ally, Xavier, Clark, and Mark in the meantime though. So hopefully that'll tide you over.
Jilly98: The pureblooded couple who Victoire did a test for in the obstetrics ward are a 'new couple' and I specifically didn't name them because they are not too important. Obviously they will move the plot forward a little bit (as I don't usually write things that are not in some way connected to the plot), but it's not necessarily Vic's storyline that will ultimately move forward because of this development. You'll understand in three chapters what I'm talking about, it won't take long for that point to resurface.
rosesnlilies: You had a good guess, but I hope in the proceeding chapters I wrote it well enough that you start to remember who he is.
azngurlz093: Thanks for the insight :)
Jennifer Jules: You were completely right, it is Lassoder.
AngelTwins527: I'm always open to suggestions even though they may not get written or may take a while to do so, what would you like to see from Teddy's point of view?
no cure for crazy: I'm glad that you thought Mr. Bronson's approach was true to his personality.
SUPERFLARROW: All I've said about Baxter is that he 'works as a shop assistant', but we will learn a little more about his job in three chapters' time. And Konstantin works for the Bulgarian's import/and export trade division out of Vratsa, he and Nikolina became involved in the auror investigation because the re-selling of the stolen artifacts seemed to be going through Bulgaria and they caught that end of the case.
So, I hope that you lot liked this chapter,
If you have any questions, comments,or concerns, then please leave me a review:)
Once again, Happy Halloween,
And until next time DFTBA!