Hello there, new chapter down below as requested urgently by Pinkmoonflower who simply "can wait anymore!" (I have a lot of schoolwork to complete, so i apologise for the intervals between chapters.)

Thanks for all your reviews. I'm glad the dumbledore thing went down well. Just to answer some reviews:

Gabriellaphoenix: Prewett is a teacher, ProperT: Teddy is the most intense person in the world, he cant relax!

Thank you to Verbally enhanced for making me laff and twouble for being sweet. I love everyone who reviews like a fat kid loves cake. So if you keep reviewing, you get cake. (is that the moral of the story?)

Chapter Twenty-One

I've got to get out of here.

Teddy hastily put all his clothes into his school trunk as he started to think of his escape route. He was not going to stay here, get caught and be thrown into Azkaban like a common criminal. The thought of Gran or Harry coming to visit him amongst death eaters and murderers was too much to bear. He started chucking his textbooks into his trunk. He needed to get out of Hogwarts. Where could he go? It had to be abroad, somewhere the aurors wouldn't find him, somewhere remote and random, like Iceland, or Alaska or Albania. He'd use the shrieking shack to get out of Hogwarts and apparate from Hogsmeade. Once the drama had died down, he could come back to England with a new face so no one would recognise him. Teddy nodded to himself as he went through his plan again in his head. He picked up the only book he had yet to place in his trunk and frowned at it. "Very Advanced Dark Magic" The book that had caused all the trouble, thought Teddy furiously. Suddenly the door opened and Teddy automatically drew out his wand and disarmed the person entering.

"Oi!" said Hubert looking at the spot where his wand had been. His eyes swiftly turned to Teddy who stood with his packed trunk by his side, his wand in one hand and his invisibility cloak hiding the other. "Where are you going?" he asked suspiciously. Teddy thought for a moment about lying but what was the point? Hubert was already back, which meant the teachers would be arriving any moment from now.

"I was trying to run away," said Teddy his eyes locked on the door, he would curse anyone who came in to capture him.

"What? Why?"

Teddy looked at his friend in pity "Prewett was using Legilimency on you, Hubert. He opened your mind and so now he knows I attacked Vanessa and Roman. They won't even expel me, I'm of age; they'll send me straight to Azkaban."

"No they won't," said Hubert evenly.

"Hubert, are you that stupid?" said Teddy in frustration, "Prewett can see straight through you! He used legilimency!"

"And I used occlumency," said Hubert calmly.

There was a short silence as Teddy stared at his friend.

"Hubert, you've never learnt occlumency," he said.

"Until about an hour and half ago," said Hubert with a broad grin at Teddy's amazement, "Caspian taught me."

"What?" said Teddy in shock.

"We overheard Graeme Dash from Ravenclaw telling his friend that Professor Prewett had been weird when he was interviewing him. He said that it was like Prewett was in his mind or something. When he said that, Caspian suddenly like froze and pulled me into an empty classroom. He told me that Prewett was going to use legilimency on us and that if I didn't learn how to close my mind, we were all going to be in a lot of trouble for lying to Sprout, then I told him that you attacked Rosier," Hubert paused and looked at Teddy nervously, "I had to, I was so afraid that Prewett would read my mind and find out. After I told him that, Cass taught me how to block out all the thoughts of you attacking Vanessa and Roman. He told me to block out everything to do with you. He even placed a snitching jinx on himself just in case he was tempted to rat you out."

"Cass did that?" said Teddy hollowly. Hubert nodded.

"And you know what? Even though I only knew the basics, I didn't think about you once, not once Teddy. I promised you I wouldn't tell anyone and I didn't. You're safe. No one will ever know. You can stay." Hubert smiled broadly and Teddy returned the smile, he wasn't a fugitive. He was safe. Caspian had saved him.

Suddenly, the man in question walked through the door and after glancing briefly at Teddy and Hubert indifferently, turned to walk out again.

"Cass, wait," said Teddy pulling back his former best friend. Caspian looked at him curiously and they stared at each other awkwardly, "Why did you do it?" asked Teddy earnestly.

"I could ask you the same thing," Caspian snapped, "What do you mean by attacking Rosier, as if Vanessa wasn't enough?"

Teddy could feel his hair and cheeks flushing, "You weren't there, he deserved it, he was about to attack me."

"Who deserves being almost killed?" retorted Caspian bitingly, "You're twisted Teddy."

"If I'm so bad why did you put so much effort into protecting me?" asked Teddy.

Caspian blushed and he stared at his trainers before looking up and mumbling: "because you're my best friend and as much as I hate you right now, I don't know what I'd have done if you were expelled." Suddenly, without looking back, he hurried out of the room, leaving Teddy feeling lonelier than he'd ever done before.

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The rest of the week flew by in haze for Teddy. The Yule ball was cancelled and it was announced there would be no Hogsmeade trips until the Hogwarts attacker was found. Although the last day of term was on Friday, the school was virtually empty by Thursday morning, parents not wanting to risk their children's safety for one day longer.

Teddy spent the last two days of school finishing his third draft of the potion. He was at the testing stage now and without an assistant, he could move no further in the potion's development. Friday came and before he knew it, he was sitting on the Hogwarts express next to Johnny and Chastity, watching the castle fade into the distance. Caspian whom Teddy hadn't spoken to since that Wednesday was sitting in another compartment with Samantha; and Vanessa and Hubert spent much of the train journey scurrying from one compartment to another until Vanessa had had enough.

"Why can't we all just be friends?" she cried exhaustingly as she slumped opposite Teddy.

"Because Caspian Malfoy is a prick," said Johnny shortly, still pissed off that Caspian had spiked Chastity's drink.

Vanessa sighed, "He said he was sorry, what more do you want?"

"Ness, he spiked your drink too," Chastity pointed out.

"Only because he wanted to break up Teddy and Victoire Weasley," said Vanessa.

"Who tries to break up his best friend's relationship?" said Johnny looking at Teddy for support but Teddy had been having mixed feelings about the whole situation. Of course he missed Victoire terribly, but she seemed happier than before with her new look and attitude. Maybe it had been for the best.

"Well, I just hope that after Christmas, everything goes back to normal," said Hubert who reading a magazine; once again Teddy's ex-girlfriend Lucy Bennett was on the front cover discussing life after the death of her millionaire husband.

"What are you doing this Christmas 'Bert?" asked Teddy conversationally.

"Nothing much, muggle Christmas with my dad's family, wizard Boxing Day with my mum's side," said Hubert, "Then New year's eve with my brother, his wife and their new born baby. Yuck."

"Hey, babies are wonderful," Chastity protested, laying her head on Johnny's shoulders, "I'm going to have six babies. No seven, six is the devil's number."

Johnny turned a deep shade of red and Teddy chuckled at his embarrassment before asking "What are you doing for Christmas Chas?"

Chastity smiled happily, "Father is putting me in charge of organizing the church nativity play. It's taking place just before the Midnight service but we're going to do a special one for all the little kids who can't stay up till then. And then on Christmas day and I'm off to the orphanage to sing carols and give out presents. The whole church visits the homeless centre on Boxing Day with food and-"

"I thought you were coming to mine on Boxing Day?" interrupted Johnny. Chastity frowned.

"I told you I couldn't come that day. Father would know I was gone," she said curtly.

"I didn't tell you to sneak out. Don't you think it's about time he knew about us?" hissed Johnny angrily. Chastity eyes darted to the rest of the group who were pretending not to hear the argument.

"Can't we discuss this later?"

"I'm sick of discussing it later," muttered Johnny. There was a painful silence in the compartment.

"So what are you doing this Christmas Vanessa," said Teddy in an overly loud voice.

"Well Teddy," replied Vanessa in an equally booming voice, "I shall be spending Christmas in Ecuador with my mother and grandfather."

"That is good," yelled Hubert.

The five of them spent the rest of the journey discussing the exams after the holidays and soon they were in London and Teddy was suffocating in his Grandmother's fierce embrace.

"Welcome back Ted!" she said as she let go of him finally, "Where's young Cass?"

Teddy diverted her attention by asking about Harry and the rest of the family and the subject of Caspian Malfoy didn't come again until he was back in his home sitting on his warm, soft bed, reading up on his charms notes.

"Teddy, may I come in?" asked his Grandmother through the door. Teddy immediately knew something was up, Andromeda Tonks never asked permission from her grandson.

"What?" said Teddy sharply as she sat on his bed beside him.

"Don't take that tone with me, Theodore."

"Sorry," Teddy mumbled.

"What's going on with you and Caspian?"

"Nothing."

"Teddy, you've hardly said three words since you got back and I know it has something to do with Caspian Malfoy."

"We fell out."

"Fell out?" said Andromeda with a snort.

"Yeah."

"I don't believe it. You two are friends for life."

"Well not anymore."

"What happened?"

Teddy looked up at his Gran, he loved her so much but could he tell her the whole story? Would she approve of the fact he had a relationship with Victoire Weasley? She had often remarked on the brotherly relationship they had had when they were younger. Would she think it was wrong?

Teddy sighed, "Nothing, we just fell out."

Andromeda also sighed, she knew by now that Teddy was as educated as his father about keeping things to himself, "Well, it seems such a shame. Best friends don't grow on trees. I know this sounds strange but my sisters were my best friends when I was your age and when they disowned me, I felt so low. I felt like dying. I thought I couldn't go on, but you can. You can always go on." She kissed the top of Teddy's head and exited the room.

"Gran?" Teddy yelled after her.

"Yes?"

"I love you."

"I love you too, Teddy."

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"Ok, so Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at the burrow, Christmas Dinner at your Aunt Mabel's, Boxing Day at Grandma Lupin's and New years eve at the Potters. Phew, it's tiring having family," laughed Andromeda as she wrote down the Christmas timetable one December morning. But her smile didn't reach her eyes and Teddy guessed that she wished that she had her real family around her at this time of year. Teddy patted her shoulder and she squeezed his hand. Christmas was a tough time for Teddy's grandmother so Teddy tried to make it as pleasant as he could. However, he also had exams and his personal life preoccupying him. And whether he admitted it or not, he was thoroughly miserable.

Soon, it was Christmas Eve and Teddy and his grandmother left in the morning for the burrow as they did every year with a trunk full of gifts for everyone. As soon as Teddy took one step into the house, Lily Potter had engulfed him in a hug.

"Teddy!" she screamed nearly suffocating him with her hair, "EVERYBODY TEDDY'S HERE!"

Suddenly the whole gang of Weasley grandchildren were encircling Teddy and his gifts.

"Is this one for me?" asked James who seemed to have grown a foot over the autumn term.

"Merry Christmas to you too," said Teddy sarcastically as he lifted Rose up on his back and ruffled Hugo's hair. He turned to Albus who was standing away from the rest, "Merry Christmas Al." He chucked a weird shaped package to his god-brother. The nine year old perked up as he fingered the package and hurried off to place it under the tree.

"Alright kids, Let the poor boy breathe," laughed Molly coming into the hallway with Ginny Weasley by her side, the kids disbanded with their presents and Molly kissed Andromeda whilst Ginny hugged Teddy.

"You're thinner than a twig," Ginny commented harshly.

"You're practically wasting away," Molly added pinching Teddy's arm in concern. Andromeda burst in giggles and led Molly and Ginny away from a thankful Teddy who immediately found himself in the tight embrace of his godfather.

"Merry Christmas Teddy!" he cried, pushing back his godson to arms length so he could look at him more closely, "wow, you've grown taller than your father." Let it pass Teddy told himself as he forced himself to smile.

"Hey Harry, how have you been?"

"Alright, a bit stressed out with this whole Hogwarts attacks thing," said Harry as he led Teddy to the living room where most of the Weasley family had congregated. After greeting, Arthur, Ron, Hermione, George, Angelina, Percy, Penelope, Bill and Fleur, Teddy managed to slip away to the garden where all the children were. The younger ones were making angels in the snow, James was throwing snowballs at gnomes whilst the teenagers stood by the shed recounting their autumns, but Teddy couldn't find who he was looking for. He went back inside and walked straight into Bill Weasley who was carrying two mugs of hot chocolate into the living room.

"Oh sorry," said Teddy automatically, "You haven't seen Victoire anywhere have you?"

Bill smiled, "She's upstairs in the room she's sharing with Amelie and the twins. She's studying!" he added excitedly, "I don't know what happened to trigger it, but I think it's this whole black hair business. It seems to have made her more focused, it's incredible."
Teddy tried to smile, but he felt horrible inside. So Victoire was better without him? Which made what he was about to do all the more daunting. He found Victoire, just as Bill had said, in her room at the burrow which was on the second floor and had four beds squeezed into it. She was lying face down on one of the beds with what appeared to be a potions book in front of her. She was absent-mindedly running her fingers through her short, black hair and didn't notice Teddy walking towards her.

"Where did you come from?" she snapped in surprise once she finally realised he was hovering in front of her. She sat up and a magazine fell out of the potions book she'd had been reading. Teddy smiled slightly. Victoire scowled, "I was studying! I was just taking a break."

Teddy chuckled but Victoire didn't respond she simply stared at him with the same repulsed expression. "Teddy what are you doing here?" she asked finally.

"I came to see you," said Teddy earnestly, "We need to talk."

"I don't want to talk," said Victoire automatically, "There's nothing to talk about."

"Look Victoire, what happened at the Christmas ball…"

"Is history," finished Victoire.

"What about us?"

"There is no us."

"How can you say that?"

"Teddy, you purposely broke up with me!" cried Victoire, biting her lip so she wouldn't cry. The memories were so painful. "I don't think I can ever forgive you. Do you know how much will power it's taking not to hex you right now? I can't stand to be in the same room as you!"

"Really?" said Teddy feebly.

"Yes really!" replied Victoire, "Did you think I would just forgive and forget? After everything you did. You knew how I felt about you and you just…you just tore it apart." There was a small silence and Teddy knew what he had to do, he had to tell Victoire how he cared about her, express somehow everything she was to him. He needed a succinct way to convey that emotion. Three simple words was the answer and he opened his mouth to utter them. However Claude-William Weasley, Victoire brother, took this moment to walk into the room. Like James, he had grown at least half a foot since the summer and his wiry auburn hair was down to his shoulders now. But he still had that same weird smile across his lips as he said, "Am I interrupting something?"

Teddy glanced at Victoire but she was looking fervently at her book. Teddy looked at her for a moment, before turning to Claude-William and saying with a sigh "No." Teddy stood up and left the room. This could well be your worst Christmas ever, Teddy bear.

What do you think?

Review!

That chapter was a kind of sowing the seeds chapter...it's building up the next chapter which is killa! (i hope)

Chapter twenty-two spoilers: Harry, Caspian, Teddy, CW, firewhiskey, guest appearance (might be cut) and potion.