Merry Christmas everyone!
Wow, it's been so long since I've put up a new chapter. Hope you all know I had laptop problems so dont blame me, I havent abandon this fanfic although I have an idea for a new one :)
Thanks for your reviews, they make me happy. (esp. Pinkmoonflower although i hope you arent indeed dead). Glad you all liked the potion because as you will see it is very very important.
Lots of things are starting to happen so keep your eyes peeled for new devolopments. Don't get too comfy :)
The snow had barely melted before mock exams were upon Teddy and his classmates. The transfiguration exam was a nightmare and he could have written a few more inches for Charms, but overall Teddy was fairly certain he'd sailed comfortably though the exams. In fact, he was feeling quite cheerful by the end of History of magic which was his last exam. Caspian had planned a small post-exams celebration so Teddy hurriedly packed away; he was in the mood to party all night. Well, he was until he bumped into Victoire and Roger Dolohov.
Teddy didn't even spare a second to glance at them; he knew if he did he would end up hexing Roger to oblivion. Every time he thought of them, together, he felt like howling in rage so he walked straight past the two of them but behind him he could hear Roger's shrill laugh and his wand arm twitched. Stay cool Teddy. Don't give him what he wants.
Teddy took a deep breath and continued walking, he tried not to think about Victoire and Roger once he was in the common room but it was useless and thus he was thoroughly miserable.
"Merlin Ted, cheer up. You're making me sad" cried Johnny who had stopped dancing with Chastity to turn to his friend. Caspian had managed to cordon off a large part of the common room for the seventh years much to the annoyance of everyone else in Gryffindor. In their little VIP area, Chastity had provided music using her iPod and Vanessa had managed to obtain food from the kitchens. The only alcohol was a sole bottle of fire whiskey and a couple bottles of Faerie vodka but that didn't stop everyone being in high spirits.
Teddy tried to smile but his heart wasn't in it. Johnny shrugged and turned to Chastity but she was staring down at Teddy with a stern face. "Teddy Lupin, we have just had a week of mock exams. I will not allow you to sit there looking glum, what on earth is wrong with you?"
Teddy sighed, "Nothing."
"It must be something," urged Chastity sitting beside Teddy.
"Leave it Chas," said Caspian who was pouring Samantha a glass of fire whiskey.
"No I won't leave it, Cass," snapped Chastity turning back to Teddy, "I don't see why you have any reason to be upset; I mean you're virtually guaranteed to get top grades in all your exams."
"This isn't about the exams Chastity," said Teddy as he caught sight of Vanessa dancing with Hubert. When the hell did everybody get into couples? Even Hubert had someone, and that made Teddy feel even more depressed.
"What's it about then?" Chastity pressed.
"Bloody hell get off my case Chastity," Teddy groaned, "It's alright for you, you have Johnny. Everyone has everyone apart from me!"
Teddy stood up angrily and made his way upstairs to the dorm room. He got straight into bed and grumpily drew the curtains. It wasn't long before the curtains were opened again and he felt Caspian sit at the foot of his bed.
"Don't worry about me. Go back to the party," Teddy said shortly.
"Ted, you're my best friend, of course I'm going to worry about you. When's the full moon?"
"Why does that matter?" mumbled Teddy.
"Because if you're this petulant now…" Caspian was cut short by Teddy's pillow which hit him full in the face.
Teddy sat up with a frown on his face, "Are you ever going to get tired of moon jokes?"
Caspian smirked, "Ted, you're the only son of a werewolf I'm ever going to meet. How the hell could I get tired of making fun of you?"
Teddy laughed but his smile was replaced with sad one a few moments later.
"What's wrong?"
Teddy looked up; his face was etched with seriousness. "Be honest, this thing with Victoire and Roger. You don't think…you don't think it's real do you?"
Caspian refrained from sighing, "Ted I've told you a million times. She's just trying to make you jealous."
"She's doing a fantastic job of it," said Teddy bitterly.
"Don't let her win, Ted," Caspian told him sternly, "She isn't over you, which is a good thing but she's just trying to do to you what you did to her. She'll get tired of this charade soon enough."
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"Merlin, I am never going to get tired of winding Teddy Lupin up!"
Mandy Wood glanced up from her potions book to look at her best friend, Victoire Weasley who was grinning madly. It was the day after their last mock O.W.L. exam and they were sitting up in their dorm room getting ready for breakfast.
"You should have seen his face Mandy," Victoire continued as she got dressed, "His hair flashed red, which means he was livid. Roger and I nearly died of laughter. You should have been there."
"Evidently," replied Mandy flatly as she watched Victoire brush her short black hair into a tiny ponytail, "Victoire…"
"Hmm?" Victoire looked up.
"Don't you think this thing with Teddy is a bit childish?"
Victoire scowled, "What do you mean? You know what he did to me, Mandy."
"Oh Vic, I do," said Mandy delicately, "but this isn't the way to get back at him and it's not fair the way you're leading Roger on."
Victoire looked away and started fiddling with her hair, "I'm not leading him on. He knows exactly what I'm doing. He agreed to pretend to be my boyfriend."
"As if he would disagree," Mandy pointed out, trying to keep her voice level, "Vic, he's besotted with you."
"Don't be silly," snapped Victoire putting on a pair of earrings, "He'd do anything to help me. He's a good friend like that," she added with an edge to her voice.
Mandy looked at her sharply, "What are you trying to say?"
Victoire smiled innocently, "Nothing, it's just some friends help and some friends just sit there waiting to criticize," she said coolly.
"That's not fair," said Mandy angrily, "I've stuck by you this whole time. When Teddy cheated on you I was there. When you dyed your hair, I helped you. I've been the best friend I can even though I don't really know who you are anymore."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Mandy narrowed her eyes before continuing, "Ever since you dyed your hair, it's like you're a different person. You're so cold and horrible to everyone, you're no fun anymore. I know Teddy hurt you and you deserve to be upset but you also have to get over it. All that bitterness is turning you into…a bitch."
Victoire appeared shocked but she stood up calmly and said, "If being a bitch means I won't get hurt by people I care about then maybe I want to be bitch. And if you can't accept me for who I am, then maybe you're not my really my friend at all." And with that she departed for breakfast.
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Despite going to bed earlier than his friends, Teddy was the last one down for breakfast. He walked slowly to his usual seat, passing Mandy Wood who was sitting alone and Amelie who looked very tired. He sat opposite Caspian who greeted him in his normal way which was to throw baked beans at him.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" asked Teddy helping himself to a slice of toast. His eyes were darting around the table for Victoire but he couldn't see her anywhere.
"You looked so sweet, teddy bear, it would have been a crime to wake you," said Caspian with a grin. Teddy noticed that Caspian was not sitting beside Samantha. In fact Samantha was sitting relatively far away in deep conversation with Vanessa but before he could press the matter the morning owl delivery came through and large package landed on Teddy's lap.
"It's my new big fat book of Wizarding families," explained Teddy as Caspian, Hubert and Johnny looked at him curiously.
"What happened to your old one?" asked Hubert in between mouthfuls of porridge.
"Gave it away to Victoire's brother," said Teddy absent-mindedly as he surveyed his purchase. The new edition was much fatter than the one he'd given Claude-William and as he flicked through it, he found many more family trees and came with a supplement book about the second war. He couldn't wait to read it.
However two weeks later and he'd still hadn't read a single page. Caspian had decided to take the genealogy book as his own. The weather was milder now that February was upon them and most nights Teddy would find Cass sitting in just his boxers immersed in the big fat book of Wizarding families.
"Cass, when do you reckon I'll be able to read my book?" Teddy asked wearily one night as he got ready for bed.
"Read the supplement," Caspian said shortly, his head lost in the pages.
"I don't want to read the supplement," said Teddy. The book had come with a small history book called: The second war heroes. It was largely about the people who had fought and died in the second war which included a rather large biography on his own parents which was why didn't want to read it.
"Hey, do you know that you and I are almost cousins?"
"Really?" cried Hubert who sat on his bed reading an ancient runes book.
"Unfortunately yes," said Teddy on his bed, "Draco Malfoy is my mum's cousin. I've told you before."
"I know," exclaimed Caspian excitedly, "you know what that means? Scorpius is your cousin and my cousin. So we're all one big happy family."
"You do know that the Lupins and Malfoys will never be one happy family right?"
"Why not?"
"The Malfoy are historically known to be pure blood fanatics. Everyone from my mum's side of the family is probably burnt off their tree. My grandmother married a muggleborn and my father was a werewolf. It's a coup that I'm even allowed to go into Malfoy manor," finished Teddy.
"But you're parents were legends!" argued Caspian, "I bet if they were alive Draco would welcome them with open arms."
Teddy snorted and put on his pyjamas. He was about go to sleep when Caspian let out a small scream. "What?" cried Johnny waking up in alarm.
"Get this, Serena Yaxley, you that really really hot Ravenclaw girl in the sixth year is my third cousin!" Caspian said in horror.
"Is that it?" Johnny said going back to sleep.
"I snogged her!" cried Caspian in disgust, "Shit, I wonder how many cousins I've made out with it," he turned his focus back to the book but a couple of minutes later there was another cry of dismay, "Not Karla, I nearly…I can't believe this, Charlotte, no way! Tiara? Felicity too? Shit."
"You've never kissed Felicity," Teddy pointed out, sitting up.
"No, but I'd like the chance to," Caspian countered grumpily, "That's it, I'm making a list of eligible girls."
Teddy laughed, "You can't be serious Cass."
"I will not risk fathering a cretin with inhomogeneous eyes and gift for frenzied violence."
"But if you think about it, everyone is going to be your cousin," Hubert pointed out, "You'll have to restrict yourself to muggleborns then."
"I'll have a cut off point," replied Caspian obtaining a piece of parchment from his schoolbag, "I'll have no-one below fifth level of cousin hood."
Teddy stood up and sat on Caspian's bed, reading over his shoulder, he had charmingly titled his document: "The Shag List."
"Oi, take Amelie Weasley off the list."
"She's eligible."
Teddy growled and Caspian hastily crossed her name off.
"Eliza Perkins…Maria Sixpence….Mandy Wood, since when have you liked her?"
"Ted, there's nothing sexier than a girl who can play quidditch better than me."
"Fair enough," Teddy eyes drifted to the page Caspian was on and the name Lola Wilkes. Was that same Lola who played for Slytherin? Why was her surname familiar? He remembered suddenly, he'd seen it the War heroes supplement book. He was pretty sure Wilkes was the name of a death eater. He had pleaded insanity and spared Azkaban. Teddy made a mental note to ask Lola about it the next time he saw her.
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The mock exams results were out the next day. As expected Teddy received top grades in everything, even the Transfiguration exam he thought he'd messed up. The rest of the Gryffindor gang did excellently too, even Hubert although he didn't seem happy about it.
"What's up 'Bert?" Teddy asked him the following day after dinner. Caspian had skipped dinner to finish an assignment but Teddy had a feeling he was actually trying to avoid Samantha either way with Johnny engrossed in Chastity and Vanessa otherwise engaged, it was only Hubert he could walk with back to the common room.
"It's just the exam results," mumbled Hubert, "I tried really hard and I did crap."
"Bert, you did really well," Teddy protested, "Wasn't it an O, 2 Es and 2 A's?"
Hubert nodded, "But I need an E minimum to be an auror!"
Teddy paused before saying as carefully as he could, "Hubert, why is it that you want to be an auror all of sudden?"
Hubert blushed and didn't answer until they had turned into a deserted corridor; he stopped and looked up at his friend, "Promise you won't laugh?"
"Of course,"
"I want to be a hero."
Teddy hope Hubert didn't see his lips twitching, he tried to compose himself, "A hero?" he repeated.
Hubert nodded, "When everybody thought I'd found Vanessa after you hit her with that spell, it was like…it was like people looked at me differently. They respected me and I felt proud and confident. I could handle anything. I was fearless. Vanessa kept thanking me and it felt so good to help someone even though I didn't actually do anything. Next time, I want it to be real. I want to feel like that all the time, Teddy." Hubert waited for a response, but Teddy was in a mild state of shock. He'd never heard Hubert speak so dynamically.
"You really want this don't you?"
"I'd give anything."
"Don't worry then, I'll help as much as I can." Teddy said. Hubert smiled gratefully and they went to the common room where he found Caspian waiting for him.
Caspian and Teddy had planned to work on the potion that night. Although it was perfect in its primary function, the side effects and the time confinements were not ideal. So they made their way to the room of requirement with the aim of trying out more ingredients or changing ratios anything to enhance the potion and make it the greatest invention of all time.
"It's a pity that we have to sell this potion to the ministry," Caspian said casually as they climbed up the staircase that took them to the seventh floor.
"Why's that?" said Teddy. The whole point of making this potion was to secure a high profile job in the ministry.
"Think of the cool things we could have done with the potion if we kept it for ourselves."
"Like what?"
"We could bring back the dead," said Caspian his eyes were bright with excitement, "If we could just get over the ten second rule, we could bring anyone back. Grindelwald, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, maybe we could bring your parents back."
"What?"
Teddy stared at Caspian. The thought of bringing his parents back had never even occurred to him.
"Bring my parents back?" repeated Teddy more to himself than Caspian. Could he do it? How? He had no idea… but if he could…oh if he could… they'd be alive. They'd be living and breathing and not just photographs, stories and dreams. He'd have everything he'd ever wanted. Teddy looked at Caspian who stared back at him alarmed. Teddy's face seemed distorted, he looked both hysterical and calm and his eyes were flickering dangerously between yellow and red. Yet he was smiling, his grin was huge, he looked almost mad as he said quietly, "Caspian, you are a genius."
He was going to bring back his parents. He would bring them back even it killed him.
Review please or I wont put up a new chapter! haha blackmail.
Spoiler for ch. 26/27: Amelie, Death, Shag list and Argus Filch.
Plus of course, Teddy the mad scientist.
Happy holidays see you in 2008? Actually I might squeeze a chapter out before then. I owe you lot :)
xxxxxxx