"Hey, Lupin!"
"Hello, Gordon, Pierce," Teddy replied nervously, staring up at the broad Slytherin boy and his thin blonde sidekick from where he, Aiden, Mathew, and Erin had been cornered against one wall of the dungeon the following morning, less than an hour after Teddy had been released after a carefull checking-over from Madam Pomfrey. "So tell, me, Lupin, is it true?"
"Is what true?" he queried, confused.
"Is it true your dad was a monster?"
"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," Teddy said.
"He was a monster, that's what my mum told me. A dirty monster that attacked kids!"
"I highly doubt that's true," Aiden said, "Seeing as he fought in the battle of Hogwarts to save kids."
"Yeah!" Teddy exclaimed angrily. "What about your father? What did he do?"
"My father," Gordon replied stiffly, "Works in government. And my mother runs the employment office at the ministry, unlike your father, who was unemployed!"
"Well, my father was a great man," Teddy said.
"You're a freak!" Pierce challenged, his eyes narrowed.
"I'm a metamorphmagus," Teddy corrected, "A point I believe I've raised four times today. Please, leave us alone. We're going to be late for lunch-,"
"You're a color changing freak," Pierce spat, "And your mother was a color changing freak, and your father was a monster!"
"You're a freak, Lupin!" Gordon said, stepping forward.
Teddy slid a few inches sideways on the wall.
Why were there suddenly so many more of them? And were they all Slytherins? Some of them were so much bigger than he…
"Freak!" a boy of around fifteen jeered.
"Freak!" sneered a girl a few years younger, her dark ponytail sticking out the side of her head.
"Freak! Freak! Freak! Freak!"
More and more of them picked up the chanting, and soon it was echoing off the walls.
"Come on!" Mathew hissed in his ear.
"Move!" Erin whispered.
He shouldn't have had to run, he reflected, but he did so anyways, feet pounding the stone corridors as he and his friends ran pell-mell through them. He didn't really have a choice.
Behind him, jinxes began to ricochet off the walls.
"Teddy!" Aiden whispered, gasping for breath, "We're going the wrong way!"
"Who cares?" Erin hissed back, "Keep moving!"
"Seriously, this is just going to take us deeper into the dungeons!" Aiden replied.
"It doesn't matter, I can still hear them!" Mathew said, "We're going to get hit!"
"Point taken," Teddy muttered. "Turn here!"
He grabbed Mathew's arm, and the four scrambled through another corridor and around several bends. He'd lost track completely by the time Aiden slowed, gasping, "How many of them are actually chasing us?"
"Keep going!" Teddy said. "There are seven different footfalls, so some of them have to be big kids who know real curses!"
"How can you tell there are seven?" Aiden said, surprised.
"I just can!" Teddy said, louder than he should have, and Aiden looked surprised.
"Good hearing," Teddy mumbled.
"Here!" Mathew said quickly, pulling open a door at the edge of the corridor to reveal a narrow set of stairs.
"Down?" Aiden said. "I didn't know you could go any further down from the dungeons."
"Well, maybe they don't know either," Mathew replied, running a hand through his mousy brown fringe and proclaiming, "Let's go!"
"HEY! DOWN THERE!"
"Merlin!" Teddy breathed.
"Go!" Erin hissed.
They shut the door behind them as quietly as they could and took off, running as fast as their legs could carry them. Oddly, the passage didn't branch, and after a few moments they hit a solid wall.
"No!" Mathew complained, kicking it.
"What are we going to do now?" Teddy said desperately, running a hand along the wall. "We're completely doomed-,"
"Stop!" Erin said suddenly.
Teddy froze.
"Teddy, what seems different about this corridor?" She asked.
Teddy frowned, studying his surroundings.
"Oh!" Aiden exclaimed a moment later.
"I get it," Teddy added. "The floor is solid concrete, not stone tiles like the rest of the dungeons."
"But how will that help us at all?" Mathew asked.
"The block of stone where your hand is, Teddy, it's raised higher than the others."
"So…" Teddy jammed the palm of his hand into it, harder than he'd meant to, then frowned, rubbing at the scrape the rough stone left. "Ouch."
Suddenly, deep beneath their feet, there came a low rumble.
"What did we just do?" Aiden asked, panicked.
"I think we're about to find out," Teddy said uneasily.
The floor beneath their feet began to tilt towards the wall, and Teddy felt his feet begin to slide.
"We're going to crash!" he exclaimed.
No one contradicted him. Teddy stared, wide eyed with horror, as he fell toward the wall, unable to stop. He flung his arms out to catch himself, and his right hand slammed into the block of stone he'd already pressed. His gasp of pain was swallowed in amazement as the stone sank into the ground, bringing with it the blocks beneath.
"Duck, Teddy!" Erin shouted behind him.
Teddy let himself drop to the ground just in time as he slid through the gap in the wall down the concrete chute, deeper and deeper into the school, the others whizzing behind him, mouths gaping in astonishment.
Moments later, the chute leveled out, and Teddy rolled roughly onto the ground. His wrist jarred and he immediately clenched it to his chest and curled into a ball, his face screwed up in pain.
He heard a shriek from behind him as Erin's heels jammed into the floor and she went flying, landing hard on top of him, followed by Aiden crashing to the ground on their right, Mathew on their left.
"What in Merlin's name-?" Aiden said in awe, clamoring to his feet and staring around.
They appeared to be in a stone rabbit warren, a smooth concrete cave around the size of the average classroom, with stone tunnels and passages leading off in all directions. There were entrances to passageways everywhere, at least two dozen of them, at all levels of the walls or as manholes on the floor; some were even visible on the low ceiling.
"Teddy!" Erin said suddenly. "What's the matter?"
"My wrist," he replied through gritted teeth from his position on the floor, "I think I broke it when I hit the wall."
"Oh," Mathew said, biting his lip.
"Let me see, Teddy," Erin instructed gently, dropping back to her knees beside him.
Cautiously, he bent it towards her, grimacing.
She winced as she pulled his sleeve up off it.
"Looks pretty broken to me," Mathew asserted. "You'll need the hospital wing, Teddy."
"That'll be a trick," Teddy observed glumly, indicating back at the way they'd come with his good hand.
The other three followed it, then stared in horror. The stone slab was now completely vertical, forming a solid stone wall where there had before been an exit. They were trapped.
Author's Note:
Hey there!
I'd never really tried a cliff hanger on this story before, that was interesting...
What I have for you now is a two part deal. I've officially decided to close this story at the end of Teddy's first year. Where do you fit into this?
Well, If this story has 100 reviews by the end of the story- not to tall an order, you'll have plenty of time- you'll get a special present.
Because I'm far from done with Teddy. Regardless of reviews, there's going to be a sequel (a ridiculously long sequel, the way it looks at the moment)- published soon after the conclusion to this story if I get enough motivation to write it. The more reviews, the faster I can write. If I get 100 reviews by the end of the story, not only will I be spectacularly impressed, but I'll give you the Prologue to Teddy's second year.
Just to get you interested- 10 reviews to this chapter, and I'll give you the title of the next book.
Please- I don't like bargaining for reviews, but I need feedback to make sure this story is something you will enjoy. If you think something's dull, If you think a part needs more detail, if you don't understand something, tell me so I can fix it!
And if anyone was wondering- I haven't forgotten about Lily. Just wait. : )
Wizard of Night