Chapter
-21-

Genealogy and a Basket of Chocolate

March began with a week of unexpected snow, and a Quidditch match. As soon as the snow began, Teddy took his team out for extra practises for getting used to the weather.

"I think it's safe to say the novelty of Quidditch has worn off?" Kasia said innocently as Fred and James collapsed onto the couches next to her and Demi, where Demi was focussing completely on her Herbology essay. James moaned and sat up slowly, facing them.

"It was horrible," he croaked, feeling his cheekbones, which had thin cuts from the snow. "My cheekbones feel like they're raw."

"And my head hurts," Fred groaned, still slumped in his chair. Kasia looked at James quizzically.

"Bludger," James informed her, wincing, "Teddy was trying this new thing to see if the Beaters could try and deflect two Bludgers right after one another...I think he forgot to leave out that they'd be coming from different directions."

"And the worst part is," Fred added, sitting up and holding the back of his head, "he said we would have three more practises this week."

"I don't really understand how he's managing seventh year on top of this," James mused.

"And he had that huge break up with Callie Fischer," Demi added.

Teddy Lupin and Callie Fischer's breakup was one of those things that the entire school knew about. It had happened outside the Ravenclaw common room at the end of February, and to the rest of the school's dismay, Ravenclaws weren't gossipers. The few who did let the information slip didn't give any details on what it was about, but said it was one of the loudest things they'd ever heard. Anelia reprimanded Demi when she bugged her about it, saying that it really wasn't anyone's business.

Even so, the majority of people strongly suspected it was because of Victoire, which understandably annoyed her boyfriend, Joe Brooks, to quite a degree. They seemed to be arguing a lot also.

"Teddy's too focused to let a little thing like that bother him," James tutted, rolling his eyes.

"Little?" Demi scoffed, "The entire Ravenclaw common room was complaining about the noise. Teddy should count himself lucky that Fischer's friends aren't the type for revenge curses."

"Well, what about Teddy's friends?" Kasia asked.

"It's not good for a guy to curse a girl," Fred said obviously, "same as you don't hit a girl for Muggles."

"I still maintain that that originated from girls cursing back better," Demi said strongly. James and Fred rolled their eyes.

"Course you do," Fred sighed.

"You think it's just out of politeness that guys don't curse girls?" Demi said challengingly.

"Well, yeah!"

"You think girls can't curse better?"

"Ye−no!"

"You were going to say yes!"

"So what if I was?"

"That is so sexist!"

"I said no!"

"So you think that if you had to duel Kasia right now, you would win?"

"That's unfair!"

"Because she's a girl?"

"No! Because she's just better!"

"Thanks, Fred," Kasia grinned. "Means a lot."

"You sure it's not because she's a girl?" Demi shot back, ignoring Kasia.

"Yeah, I am! Because if you and I had to duel right now, I would win. And it wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that you're a girl and I'm a guy."

Demi scoffed. "You think you could beat me in a duel?"

"I know I could! I'm the son of George Weasley, for Merlin's sake!"

"What has that got to do with anything?"

"This is going for a little longer than usual, eh?" James said to Kasia, who rolled her eyes and nodded.

"I can see where it's going, too," Kasia replied.

"10 galleons says you can't beat me in a duel!"

"15 and you've got yourself a deal!"

"Done!"

They both fell silent, looking defensively at James and Kasia, who both had their eyebrows arched.

"Hey, don't look at us, it's your bright idea," James said quickly, "just don't –"

They were interrupted by Joe Brook's loud voice following Victoire into the common room.

"How can I ignore it when the entire bloody school thinks that Lupin ended it for you?"

The common room fell silent, listening curiously.

Victoire went beet red. "Because it's not true."

"Did he tell you that?" Joe exclaimed, "Because you two are just so tight!"

"We've been friends since we were born!" Victoire shouted back. "It's not my fault what the school thinks! And would you all stop eavesdropping!"

The common room quickly started busying themselves. Nobody wanted to get on Victoire's nerves when she showed her Veela side.

"Every rumour starts from some sort of truth!" Joe retaliated. "And people are counting the days left before you end this for him!"

"Well if you're so determined that we'll break up, then just do it!" Victoire yelled, tears springing into her eyes.

"Fine! You can have the half-werewolf now, it's over!" Joe spat.

Victoire gaped. "Half werewolf?"

"That's what he –"

WHACK!

Victoire looked at Joe lying on the ground in disgust, and then rubbed her knuckles.

"Punching hurts," she pouted. "You're just glad Teddy's not here, because he hits a lot harder than I do."

She spun on her heel and strutted to her dormitory, her two best friends – Leslie Carmichael and Amy Wagtail – close behind.

Most of the common room was in shock. Zac Petrelli, a friend of Joe's, helped him up. Joe's nose looked as if it was broken beneath the blood gushing from it.

"What style!" Demi said admiringly. "I don't think anyone but she could have pulled that off better."

"She's such a Veela," Fred chuckled.

"What a jerk," Kasia said disdainfully, watching as Joe and Zac hurried out of the common room to the hospital wing.

"He's not a bad guy," James said reasonably, "I mean he just let the rumours get to him."

"Yeah, completely ignoring the way he said 'half-werewolf' like it was Teddy's fault," Kasia growled.

"Yeah, besides that," James agreed quickly. "Obviously."

Demi sighed and stretched. "I'm off to bed. You coming, Zia?"

"Just a sec," Kasia yawned, gathering her and Demi's essays. "Night guys. You should probably go to sleep too, if you've got three more practises."

James and Fred groaned and slumped further into their couches.

oOo

The school was buzzing over Victoire's breakup with Joe Brooks. Unlike the Ravenclaws, lots of the Gryffindors were very open to gossip, and the rumours that Teddy ended his relationship for Victoire were circulating more than ever.

"Haven't heard about your father or grandparents for a while, Kasia," Fred noted at breakfast.

Kasia sighed. "I don't know where to look next. The only thing I can really keep looking for is whatever the Absc. thing is, and frankly, that's hopeless." Kasia waved her wand and made the cutlery dance absentmindedly. "I don't know. I'm starting to think I won't find them."

Her friends looked sympathetic.

"But you've been trying for so long," James told her.

"I realise that." Kasia said bluntly. "But I've looked everywhere."

"We can help you again, if you want," Demi offered sincerely. Kasia shook her head.

"I wouldn't know where to look. My grandmother was Head Girl, and my grandfather was Keeper one year for Ravenclaw. My father was born in February of 1972, two years after the First War started. The war finished when he was nine." Kasia sighed again. "There's nothing left to find."

"Besides your grandparents," Fred noted, "when were they born?"

Kasia thought for a moment. "Not sure. Oh! But I've still got to check out some lineage books."

"Do you want to go after classes today?" James asked, smiling.

"I suppose. Learn about my great grandparents and stuff."

Kasia was beginning to see that there wasn't much you could do with a list of names and dates. But after a painful double of History of Magic that afternoon, they went to the library to look at the lineage books.

There was a small selection of books on wizarding genealogy.

"They don't think of many original names, do they?" Fred mused, looking between Wizarding Genealogy in the 21st Century and Present Ancient Families.

"That is very true," Demi agreed, then stopped in her pacing. "Did I just...?"

"Agree with Fred?" James said absentmindedly, "Yes. The world is coming to an end."

"Can we focus, please?" Kasia said impatiently, taking out Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy and putting it on her desk. They spent a good twenty minutes scouring it, coming across familiar names such as Weasley, Malfoy, Potter, Longbottom, Black and...

"The House of Selwyn!" Demi exclaimed, pointing to the reference.

"There's my grandmother..." Kasia noted softly, "Calesca Selwyn, born in 1951...she has an older brother Alsius, and her parents Elladora Black and Campus Selwyn."

"Black?" James repeated, surprised. Kasia gave him a weird look.

"All pureblood families are related somehow," she said obviously, "you're related to Malfoys, Weasleys, Longbottoms...and Selwyn apparently."

"Very distantly though," Fred clarified, "like it didn't matter that my grandparents married each other, even though they were very distantly related."

"Alsius Selwyn...he was one of the worst Death Eaters," Kasia remembered, "my grandmother's brother!"

"Do you reckon he's still alive?" Demi asked. Kasia shuddered.

"If he is, I don't want to meet him. But I suppose I could check out the deaths in the war again."

"Every answer you get leads to more questions," James mused.

"Pretty much," Kasia sighed, "which is why I don't really even know what I'm doing anymore."

oOo

Trey had still not completely forgiven her, but he had seemed to accept that she wasn't going to tell him.

"It's not important, I suppose," Trey said grudgingly in Potions, "but I wish you would've just told me you weren't coming."

"I was so spaced out I thought it was the night after, actually," Kasia recalled. "Anyway! The Antidote to Common Poisons!"

"Antidote to Common Poisons," Trey repeated, flicking through Magical Drafts and Potions, "we need a Bezoar, mistletoe berries, stewed Mandrake, honeywater and unicorn horns."

The potion went pretty well. Kasia made sure that the Bezoar was grinded to a very fine powder, and Trey stopped her before she could put the cauldron on the fire at too high a temperature.

"You're getting better at this," Trey complimented her, "potions, I mean."

Kasia grinned. "Thanks. I don't know how well I'd go if I was doing it by myself."

"I'm sure you'd be fine," he assured her, "you've come a long way since you exploded that first potion last year."

Kasia laughed. "I was so disappointed."

"Why were you so determined to be good at Potions?" he asked curiously. His words were almost exactly as James had asked after that first Potions lesson.

"I didn't know you payed that much attention," Kasia laughed uneasily. It still was too early to be saying what she wanted to be. People would want to know why.

"It's hard to forget when somebody nearly melts the entire dungeon on their second day at Hogwarts," Trey chuckled, remembering. "I'm pretty sure some of it got onto my notes from History of Magic, which I'd just taken. After that I wasn't bothered with taking notes."

"Ah, so the reason that you don't pay attention in History of Magic...?"

"Because of your potion," Trey sighed dramatically, "if I get a D in fifth year, we know whose fault it is."

"Yeah, yeah..."

Kasia was glad that Trey had let the party thing go, and that he hadn't pushed her reason for wanting to be good at Potions. She'd almost forgotten how fun he was to talk to.

Three days before the match against Hufflepuff, Teddy was apparently feeling gracious and cancelled Quidditch practise, after being reassured that the weather would die down before Saturday.

And it did.

The snow had turned more of a peaceful sleet – although James and Fred insisted it would still be painful to fly fast through – and the wind had completely stopped.

Of course, one of the team's greatest peeves with Teddy being so prepared for the upcoming match was because it was against Hufflepuff, who hadn't won the Quidditch cup in ten years. But ever since they won a match against Ravenclaw the year before, Teddy had been sure not to underestimate them.

Turns out he was somewhat right.

The stands were almost in shock when Hufflepuff pulled ahead, 100 to 80. Jamie Butler, the sixth year Seeker for Hufflepuff, was new to the team, but she knew what she was doing. She had never seen the Snitch herself, but stuck close to James and cut him off every time he saw the Snitch. He'd seen it five times, and even pretended once, but she still cut him off. Unfortunately, she was also good at dodging Bludgers.

Finally, James and Fred seemed to have a silent conversation.

James shot towards Gryffindor's end of the pitch, and Fred batted a Bludger to where she cut him off, hitting her boot and throwing her into confusion. James then raced directly upwards and swiped the air.

"Gryffindor wins 230 to 80! A great play by Weasley and Potter!"

Jemima Parson didn't sound as excited as usual, but Kasia was still impressed how she managed to sound so upbeat when her own team lost.

The weeks seemed to pass much more quickly than they did last year, so when the teachers started giving them extra homework for study, Kasia was surprised.

"But it's only the beginning of April!" she said indignantly to Professor Longbottom.

"And exams are midway through May," he reminded her, "so you should start studying now if you want to do well."

"But Neville!"

Professor Longbottom raised an eyebrow. Fred ignored him.

"What's the point of second year? Things don't really count until fifth!"

"That's a terrible attitude," Professor Longbottom sighed, shaking his head. "If you keep that up, you won't be able to pass when it really counts."

"So you admit that it doesn't count now?" James grinned. Professor Longbottom looked a little troubled.

"I didn't say that!" he insisted.

"Did so!"

"Did n-!" Professor Longbottom stopped himself and sighed. "You two will be the death of me. I'll tell your parents!"

"My dad rode out of his seventh year on a broomstick!" Fred snorted.

"And mine spent his seventh year hunting Voldemort!" James added.

Professor Longbottom cringed at the name. "I'll tell your mothers."

They both paled. "Never mind, sir!"

Demi and Kasia were having a silent fit of laughter as Professor Longbottom looked pleased with himself.

"You two should stop laughing if you want any help with Transfiguration study," Fred huffed to Demi and Kasia, who immediately regained their composure, holding back snorts of laughter.

oOo

When Easter came around again, Kasia tried not to listen when her friends talked about it. She'd assured them that she didn't mind, because if not for the fact that Easter was based around the full moon, she was sure that she would love it.

"We'll save you a basket of chocolate eggs!" James reassured her as she left the common room.

"An entire basket?" Kasia asked, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"Definitely!" Demi grinned. "Look forward to it!"

She did. After taking her potion, and going through the ripping transformation, Kasia ran deep into the forest, making sure to steer clear of the centaur heard, so that she wouldn't be able to see and hear the feast.

When it was dawn, Kasia didn't even realise until she transformed. In the middle of the forest.

"Crap." Kasia got her wand out. "Lumos."

She shivered and quickly made her way through the forest. It was a good thing she knew it so well. But every so often, something that she'd come across as a werewolf scared her. A spider, as tall as her knees, scuttling in the bushes, making clicking noises. Her senses were going into overdrive.

"You're in Gryffindor," she reassured herself, "this doesn't scare you."

She heard the sound of hooves to her left, but didn't sense centaurs, and she couldn't see anything. Instead she smelt...raw meat? Slightly disturbed, she started running.

"Not too far now," she told herself, "nearly there...a basket of Easter eggs is waiting for me."

Kasia smelt rust and saw some sort of light, before starting to sprint out of the forest. What on earth was rust doing in a forest?

Finally she reached the edge, and, thanking the stars that she didn't just get killed by some giant spider or carnivorous creature, ran all the way up to the Gryffindor tower.

Kasia let herself fall into the couch, and sighed in exhaustion.

"They got you some eggs," Teddy said quietly, nudging a basket full of Easter eggs in her direction. Kasia couldn't help but smile. They promised they would.

"I know it's ironic," she told him, "but my favourite food is Easter chocolate. There's something about it that's different from ordinary chocolate."

"I know what you mean," Teddy smiled, taking a bite from one of his. "It's the time of year. Makes it taste nicer. Why are you so puffed anyway?"

"Transformed back into myself in the middle of the forest," Kasia cringed, "it's pretty scary in there when nothing runs away from you."

"Crazy," Teddy said absently.

They ate in silence for a few minutes.

"I'm surprised you haven't asked me about Callie Fischer and me."

"I guess it's none of my business," Kasia said thoughtfully, "but because you've mentioned it, you obviously want to talk about it."

"I do not!" Teddy insisted, affronted. After a second or two, he huffed. "The entire school thinks it was because of Vic."

Kasia laughed mentally. Didn't want to talk about it?

"Well, was it?"

Teddy's hair turned pink, differing from its usual natural brown on full moon nights. He claimed it took too much effort to Metamorph on the full moons, so Kasia supposed she could say she'd seen the real him.

"Did you just blush with your hair?" Kasia asked in disbelief. His hair went a deeper pink.

"No!" he pouted, running his hands through it and making it black, "And it wasn't because of Vic."

"I don't think you're even fooling yourself with that, Teddy," Kasia laughed, and forced herself up. "I'm going to bed. You should too. And if you're still hung up over Victoire, then what did she tell you she broke up with Brooks for?"

"He was being too paranoid."

"Or he was exactly right," Kasia corrected, "I don't think I'd like to be with someone who the entire school insists is going to end up with someone else."

She turned to the stairs.

"But she's like my family!"

"Keep telling yourself that, Lupin," Kasia called back, and started up the perilous journey that was the stairs to her dormitory.

Sumimasen!I made a mistake last chapter! Teddy's in seventh year, not sixth, but I changed it, so remember that he's in 7th! And also, Leslie Carmichael is in 6th, a year above Victoire, but she's still one of Vic's closest friends.

Also, can you guys guess what the rusty thing with the light was in the forest?

Anyway! Thoughts? Suggestions? Lemme know! Hope you enjoy, and oh! I'm not sure whether to finish this one after second year, and just make a new story for the next two or so years, or to just keep going? Because it's getting really long, and sometimes that can be a bad thing. So let me know about that please!