This story takes place well after the Harry Potter and his generation of students have left Hogwarts. ElfFlame and I had created several sets of children from the various stories we've written, and since they were all around the same age, decided to throw them into school together. So this is a story, hopefully soon to be a series of stories based on several others. To help make more sense of these stories, it may help to read my story, De Die In Diem: From Day to Day, and ElfFlame's stories, Dragon's Tears, and Lost Love. Most of the kids come from those. We've also created many original kids not from our stories to help fill the ranks. Many of their last names may sound familiar to you. ElfFlame has files of the names and basic family trees of some of the children for all who are interested in finding out more background on these kids. Email her at ElfFlame@hotmail.com if you want them. We hope you enjoy these, we've been having lots of fun thinking about them!
Disclaimer: You know the usual, all of this world is JK's, and we thank her for letting us borrow it. Only the original characters are ours!
Arsinoe3: Yes, there's nothing like a dysfunctional family get-together for Christmas, is there! I don't think it's normally that bad, but with the baby, all of the tempers are flaring and people are on edge. Yes, I think there was definitely a bit of a lesson in letting the girls watch the birth. I don't think either Adriana or Lucius want to go through this again with one of their young girls. But at the same time, it all happened so quickly, that nobody really had a chance to tell them to leave or stay. Here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy it!
Wicked Lee: I'm so glad you loved the last chapter! It's always so flattering to get such a nice review like yours! Teecie getting grossed out with the birth was my favorite part of the chapter too! Here's another one I had fun writing, let me know what you think!
The Return to Hogwarts
The next morning, Teecie and Kali talked again about returning to Hogwarts early. Neither wanted to hurt their parents' feelings, but they didn't want to stay around Reni anymore. She was truly unbearable now. And both girls wanted to get out of the house and away from the memories of the previous day. Teecie thought maybe they could tell their parents they both had large papers to write and needed the library to do research. In the end, they decided that it was best to tell them the truth. Kali was afraid Teecie wouldn't be tactful and told her to keep her mouth shut and let her do the talking.
Kali and Teecie approached their father after breakfast, while Adriana was sitting in the living room with Hunter. Kali politely told their father that with Reni and Hunter needing so much attention, it would probably be best for she and Teecie to return to Hogwarts now instead of after New Year's.
Lucius sighed and massaged his temples before speaking. "I know it hasn't been the most...fun of holidays. Reni having the baby really threw everybody off and then people were in such bad moods yesterday. I wish you two would stay, but the house is feeling awfully small right now. Why don't you girls go pack and I'll help you floo back when you're ready. I'll tell your mother afterwards," Lucius said quietly.
Teecie and Kali went to their rooms and packed their bags with what they'd brought home and their Christmas gifts, and waited until Lucius had made sure Adriana was in Reni's bedroom with Hunter, before going into the living room. After watching Kali step into the fireplace and disappear in a flash of green light, Teecie hugged her father.
While in his arms, Teecie looked up and saw her father gazing down at her. "Your mum...you know she loves you, right? She's just very...excited about Hunter. She's never been a grandmother before, and is enjoying it very much right now. There isn't much in this world that excites your mother, or is new to her anymore. Just give her a little time to get used to it, then she'll get back to normal," Lucius said quietly.
Teecie sighed, then stepped into the fireplace. She took a handful of floo powder and threw it at her feet and said, "Hogwarts!" Her father's face faded from view in a green haze as she felt herself being whirled around in circles really quickly. Hot ash flew around her face, choking her as she attempted to breathe. The air felt warm and Teecie was dizzy before suddenly being thrown from her feet and onto the floor of a room she didn't immediately recognize.
Teecie moaned and closed her eyes, trying to get the room to stop spinning, but felt very nauseous. She felt hands under her arms, trying to lift her up. "Come on, sis, sit up and take a deep breath," Kali said to her.
"Ohhh, Kali, I don't feel so good," Teecie said, opening her eyes to look at her sister, and was overwhelmed with dizziness when she did so.
"Here, let me help her," Another voice said. Strong hands grabbed Teecie's waist and pulled her to a standing position.
Forcing her eyes open, she saw Uncle Sev holding onto her. "Uncle Sev?" She asked.
"Yes?" He asked, with a look of concern. Teecie looked awfully pale.
"I think-" Teecie stopped talking as her breathing increased. Suddenly, Teecie threw up-all over Uncle Sev's shoes. Once she'd seen what she'd done, she was humiliated and began to cry. The only positive thing to come from this was that Teecie felt much better now.
Kali came over to Teecie and put her arm around her to hold her up. "Take her to Wilkes," Uncle Sev demanded as he took his wand out of his robes to clean himself off. He wrinkled his nose disgustedly as Kali gently led her sister out of the room.
Teecie and Kali walked down from Uncle Sev's office and carefully made their way to the Hospital ward. Once they arrived, Kali told Master Wilkes what had happened. The healer gently led Teecie to a bed and helped her lie down. After laying a cool, damp cloth on her forehead, he went to prepare an anti-nausea potion for her to drink. After several minutes, Kali left to return to her room and unpack her bags.
Wilkes gave Teecie a soothing potion that tasted like ginger, to make her stomach feel better. Teecie sat up and buried her head in his robes and told him about throwing up on Uncle Sev's shoes. Wilkes patted Teecie on the head gently, and told her in soothing tones, that everything would be all right. Uncle Sev would get cleaned up and wouldn't tease her about it. Soon, more important things would come into her life, and she'd forget all about this incident.
After several minutes, Teecie felt better and stood up to leave. She thanked Master Wilkes and walked to the door. She told him she was going to go back to Uncle Sev's office to get her bags, but Master Wilkes assured her that he'd have had the house elves bring her bags back to her room, and that she should go unpack them. It would help her forget what had happened. Teecie walked up to her dormitory, found her bags at the foot of her bed, and went to work putting her things away. Once she'd finished, she left to wander around and see who was at the school still. In the Great Hall, she found the Engelmanns. They were Jewish and had already celebrated Chanukah a week earlier. As she left the hall, James and his mother entered the school through the main doors. James looked up, saw Teecie, smiled, and ran over to her. "Teecie! You're back!" He cried.
"James!" Teecie cried, holding her arms out and embracing him. James leaned his head in and kissed her. Teecie felt warm and broke away after a few seconds to catch her breath. When she looked up, she saw the amused look on Tonks's face. Blushing, Teecie looked away.
James turned around and saw his mother. Grabbing Teecie by the wrist, he led her over to Tonks. "Mum! You remember Teecie, don't you? She's my girlfriend now!" James looked as though he might burst with pride and excitement over saying that out loud for the first time.
Tonks walked up to Teecie and gave her a hug. "Of course I remember you. I'm so glad you and my son are so happy together," She said, smiling at Teecie. After a few minutes of chatting together, Tonks left to find her husband, and left James and Teecie alone together.
James gazed at Teecie for several moments before asking her why she'd come back early. Teecie told him how stressful the past few days had been and how she and Kali had wanted to get away from it. Once the conversation had died down, the two stood around, looking at the floor and the stairs, trying to think of what to say. After a couple minutes, James tapped Teecie on the shoulder. "What?" She asked.
"Uh...you're it!" James said, before running away from her. Teecie smiled and began to chase after James. They ran after one another through the school halls and up and down the stairs. Whenever one of them caught the other, they'd kiss before starting to run again.
James had just caught and kissed Teecie underneath a painting on the fifth floor, when the person in the picture spoke, startling them. "I must say, you two have been quite the kissy-faces today. Your headmaster gave me a message to pass onto you if I happened to see you. He said there's to be no more kissing in public anymore. Now off you go, and be on your best behaviour," The man in the painting said to them.
"Oh, leave them alone! They're not doing any harm!" A man in the painting across the hall called out. "It's quite refreshing to see people expressing their feelings in public, if you ask me!"
James took Teecie's hand and led her away from the paintings as they continued to argue with one another. "Well, that was strange," James said as they walked, "Want to go get something to eat?" He asked. Teecie looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding her head and walking with him down to the Great Hall.
Teecie hadn't known what that meant, but did now. The paintings watched what the students did. "The walls have eyes," Peeves had said to her the night he'd visited her room. Teecie hadn't known what that meant, but did now. They spied on them, and told Uncle Sev what was going on. So that's how all the professors seemed to just know what was going on at the school. But that one painting hadn't agreed with making them stop kissing. Could it be that not all the paintings reported to Uncle Sev? Maybe they weren't loyal to him. Teecie wondered how many of those there were around the school, and how she could find that out.
Suddenly the world was full of possibilities. If she could use the paintings that weren't loyal to Uncle Sev, she could have them act as spies, to get into places her other spies couldn't. She could send them into the Slytherin common room and dormitories. They'd be able to report Lisette's plans to her. Teecie would have a whole line of communication open to her that could move and be secret and get to her from anywhere inside the school. The question was how to find out which ones were loyal to Uncle Sev, and which ones weren't.
Teecie mulled all of this over while she and James walked into the Great Hall. They sat with Professor Lupin, Tonks, Sirius, and Peter. While talking, Sirius looked up and saw Kali sitting alone at the Ravenclaw table and called out to her to join them. Looking somewhat startled, Kali looked at the Gryffindor table, saw Teecie, smiled, and stood up to join them. Once at the table, Kali talked with Professor Lupin and Tonks while James and Teecie held hands under the table. Sirius and Peter talked and joked as they ate. Peter spilled his goblet of pumpkin juice across the table and Kali jumped up just in time to miss getting it all down her lap. Peter blushed and apologized quietly.
As he sipped his coffee, Professor Lupin looked at James and Teecie. He knew they were now a couple. Remus saw the looks of happiness on their faces and felt happy for them, yet nervous at the same time. He and Draco had already talked about this issue on a few different occasions, and each conversation had ended in raised voices and accusations. Draco seemed to think Remus wasn't helping to prevent the situation enough. Remus believed that trying to forbid the children from seeing one another would only force them together sooner. Letting the children explore their feelings for one another in a controlled environment, where they were supported and shown the proper way to act around one another, was the best way to deal with the situation. He just couldn't get through to Draco. Tonks had promised to talk to Draco about it soon. Hopefully that would help.
After the meal, the kids wandered around the school, talking and laughing. The rest of the day passed quickly and pleasantly. That evening at dinner, Teecie received a letter from her mother. Opening it, Teecie read what it said:
My Darling Daughter,
I owe you an apology for the way I've treated you over the past few days. My behaviour's been completely inappropriate, and you deserve better treatment from your mother.
I'm sorry that you felt unwelcome in your own home and wanted to leave early. I have talked to your sister about what she did, making you sleep in the barn. I should have been more conscious of what was going on and put a stop to it earlier.
This entire Christmas holiday has been a disaster, to put it mildly, and it's been all my fault. I should never have let Severus into the house with all that alcohol. I should have thrown both of those men out of the house as soon as the trouble started. I'm so sorry that you had to witness their behaviour.
I will make more of an effort in the future to provide you with a loving, peaceful, and comforting home environment. You deserve to have a good home to come to, not just because you are my daughter and I love you, but because you are a human being who deserves to be treated better than you've been treated lately.
I hope you can forgive me. I love you very much.
Your Mother,
Adriana
Teecie knew her mother was feeling horrible right now. She was probably crying her eyes out at their house. Teecie ran up to her room, took out her favourite pink feather pen, and pink paper, and wrote a note back.
Dear Mum,
Don't worry, I love you very much. Please don't be sad because I am OK. After I got to school, I threw up on Uncle Sev's shoes, so you don't have to feel bad about letting him and Draco get drunk yesterday. Christmas wasn't so bad, and dinner was great. I just missed James and wanted to see him again, that's why I left early.
I love you very much.
-Teecie
Teecie didn't know why she told her mother about being sick, but thought it might make her feel better to know that, since nobody was perfect. After rereading the note, she sent if off to her mother. Once done with that, Teecie opened her Transfigurations book and practiced some of the spells they'd be learning in the next couple of weeks.
It was past midnight before Teecie started getting ready for bed. Once in her nightgown, Teecie left the bathroom, and decided that since the school was so empty, now was the time to talk to that painting. After putting on her dressing gown, Teecie made her way out of the tower and down to the fifth floor. Using her wand as a torch, she found the painting that had said he'd enjoyed seeing James kissing her. The painting who'd argued with him, behind her, was asleep, so Teecie whispered at the one in front of her. "Excuse me, sir?" She whispered. The painting stirred and slowly opened his eyes.
"Hello, my dear. What brings you here this late?" He asked.
"Well-" Teecie glanced at the painting's title. "Edmund Halstead, Died as a martyr in the Goblin Uprising of 1678." "Mr. Halstead, I was wondering why you thought it was all right for us to disobey the headmaster's wishes today."
"That man is an idiot! He'll never be the headmaster Dumbledore was! He's ruining the school! I don't pay any attention to any of his decrees and commands. Besides, there's nothing wrong with a little youthful exuberance," Edmund said, his voice growing louder.
"I understand. You know, my mother was good friends with Albus Dumbledore. She told me all about how wonderful he was. I wish I could have known him. Maybe you could tell me about him sometime," Teecie whispered, smiling and fluttering her eyelashes at Edmund.
"It would be my pleasure," He replied, smiling and bowing slightly.
"And...perhaps you know of other paintings who know a lot about Dumbledore. I'd love to hear from them to learn about the legend that was Albus."
"Well, I know all the paintings in the castle. There's maybe...nine or ten of us who don't like Snape."
"Oh, well, maybe you could tell them to come to the painting in my room for a visit sometime. So I can get to know them all, and learn about Albus from them."
"I'll do that! And I'll stop by myself, to teach you all I can. I feel it is my duty, seeing as you children are the future. Maybe I'll come over tomorrow night," Edmund offered.
"Great, I'll see you then. I can't wait to meet all of you. That way I'll get to know all of those paintings out there who love Albus as much as I do," Teecie said, smiling.
"Right! I'll spread the word!" Edmund called out as Teecie walked away.
Once on the next floor, Teecie's wand began to vibrate. Mrs. Otis, no! Teecie looked around for a place to hide and saw the cat stroll around the corner and start running towards her. Teecie turned around and started to run the other way, and was startled when Old Man Filch popped out of a doorway and caught Teecie by the arm. "Aha! I got you! Let's take you to my office and see who you are," He cackled while dragging Teecie towards the stairs down to his office. Teecie had turned out her wand and therefore it was too dark for Filch to see who he had caught.
"Let go of me!" Teecie squealed while struggling against him. "I was just going up to my room!"
"A likely story!" Filch snarled, pulling Teecie along as he walked. Once they'd reached his office, he lit a lamp after pushing Teecie down into a chair. Looking over to see who it was, Filch frowned and looked disappointed. "Oh, it's you," He said, glaring at Teecie.
Teecie folded her arms and looked around his office. Drawings of torture devices were strewn about the walls, along with lists of banned items that Filch kept an eye out to confiscate from the students. Nowhere, though, was there any picture of her. Draco had told her Filch kept a picture of her that he used as a dart board. "You do not have a picture of me!" Teecie said out loud, more to herself than to Filch.
"Why would I have a picture of a whiny brat like you?" Filch said, sneering at her.
"My brother told me you keep a picture of me that you use as a dartboard," Teecie explained.
"Well I don't...but that's not a bad idea...," Filch said thoughtfully.
Teecie rolled her eyes and snorted loudly as she sat back in her chair, folded her arms, and crossed her ankles. "So, do anything fun for Christmas, Mr. Filch? Was the dinner good? Get any good presents?"
"That's none of your business, and don't try to change the subject! Now what were you doing out of bed?"
"I was hoping I'd get caught by you so that I'd be able to have this wonderful conversation with you," Teecie replied, looking at her fingernails.
"Oh, don't get cheeky with me girl! What were you really doing?"
"Well...," Teecie started, trying to think of what to say. She decided to take the advice from Captain Jack Sparrow, a man she tried to emulate whenever possible, and tell him the truth, knowing he'd never believe it. "I've decided to become the next Dark Lord. That Harry Potter guy sure was stupid for getting rid of the last one, but it does open up the market for me! I figured the best way to get practice was to start my own mafia! I've been using the older students and forcing them to protect the younger students. I figure out what they need, and give it to them. I've had to snog with 7 boys so far! I've set up all the girls I know with dates for the older boys. Then the younger students owe me favours in return for the protection I provide. They worship me. I use the house elves, my friends, anybody I can who'll be of any help to me. And it seems to be working, because the Slytherins have begged me to call off my business. A sixth year Slytherin boy promised to give me five hundred galleons to call it all off, but I said no! I told him my people need me! And I will not abandon them! So, anyway, tonight you found me just as I was finished speaking to one of my numerous informants. I intend to lead an uprising among the students to gain even more power," Teecie said, smiling cockily and crossing her arms.
"Like I believe any of that!" Filch snarled. "You know, if Snape wasn't such a...," Filch trailed off, sneering at Teecie and narrowing his eyes before speaking again, "He'd let me use the old ways to get the truth out of you. Corporal punishment, public humiliation, those never get old. I'd hang you from the ceiling by your fingernails and put weights on your ankles. You'd be screaming, crying, begging me to let you go...Now tell me the truth!" Filch slammed his hand on the table to emphasize his speech.
"All right...I'll tell you the truth," Teecie sighed, looking nervous and wringing her hands. "I'm almost failing my Transfigurations class and I remembered about a book I need to practice spells with. I was almost asleep, but got out of bed, put on my dress robes and ran off to get to the library and get that book. I know it was awfully late, and it was thoughtless of me. And I must have worried you terribly to have a student out of bed, doing who-knows-what at all hours of the night. I'm very sorry you had to get out of bed to make sure I was safe, but I am. So...I should go...get some sleep. And let you get back to sleep too," Teecie said, looking very concerned for Filch's lack of sleep.
"You think you can just get off that easily? That I'd just let you go? You must be punished for being out of bed! Perhaps I'll take this to the headmaster and let him handle it," Filch snapped.
"Will you? Great! Let's go right now!" Teecie replied excitedly.
Filch was livid by this point. He'd never known he could loathe a person the way he hated and despised this girl. "Why would I do what you wanted you little prat? No...you will report to the medal room after breakfast. You'll polish every trophy and medal until it shines-by hand! When you're done with that, you'll scrub every square inch of floor in the Great Hall with your own toothbrush! And when you're done with that, maybe for fun, I'll let you stand outside, with a bucket of water in each hand. You'll hold them out for...a half hour, and you'd better not spill a single drop, or I'll make you try again until you don't. Yes, that's what I'll do...Now get out of here and go straight to your dormitory!" Filch was almost screaming by the time he'd finished. Teecie felt nervous as she saw the glint of pleasure in his eyes as he described what he would do with her the next day.
Teecie thought about what she'd gotten herself into as she walked back up to her room. It was the first time that she'd had to really think about the choices she'd made, like starting the bodyguard business, and the reasons behind it. She only wanted to help her fellow students. Yet she'd get in trouble if she was caught. This was one hell of a punishment to face up to for the sake of her business. She hoped she was up to it. The only comforting thought, was that, hopefully, Uncle Sev wouldn't be informed of what had happened. She hated lying so much, yet it was necessary to keep from getting caught.
Once back in her dormitory, Teecie went to bed and fell into a restless sleep for the rest of the night. The next morning, Teecie dressed in shorts and a tank top, knowing she'd be working up a sweat with all the scrubbing and polishing she'd be doing. After a hearty breakfast, Teecie went to the trophy room and found Filch waiting for her. "Took you long enough!" He said to her in greeting. In his hands he held a bucket of rags and silver polish. Thrusting the bucket into Teecie's arms, he said, "Here. Now get to work! I'll be back in three hours to check on you. And you'd better do a good job or I'll make you do it all over again!" With that, Filch turned on his heel and stomped out of the room, leaving Teecie alone.
Teecie took a deep breath and walked over to the first case, opened it up, and started polishing the medals and trophies. She worked as thoroughly as possible, and after a while, her arms were sore. After an hour or so, she came across a medal with her father's name on it. Teecie knew he'd played Quidditch and had been a prefect while he'd attended Hogwarts. While polishing, Teecie read the names off of the medals, and wondered if she knew any of their children. James Potter, must be related to Harry; Tom Riddle, she didn't know any Riddles; Sirius Black, she'd heard of him before, he was related to Draco; Charlie Weasley, Teecie loved him, he was such a great person; Kali! Kali had her name on one of the trophies, along with the rest of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team from her second year. Professor Weasley had been Head Girl. Reni had won a medal for her achievements in Potions class. She also found medals for Uncle Sev and Draco too. So many people had made names for themselves at the school. Teecie wondered if anybody would remember her after she left.
By the time Filch returned to check on Teecie's progress, she'd just finished polishing the last trophy in the third case. Filch inspected her work and pointed out a few spots she'd missed. Teecie cleaned those and when there was no more to be done, Filch grunted unhappily and led her out of the room, and over to the Great Hall. Teecie was allowed 20 minutes to eat a meal and run to the restroom, and then it was back to the trophy room.
Teecie's shoulders screamed in pain with each movement of her arms. Teecie's movements slowed as the pain increased. Each medal seemed to grow larger as she held it in her hand to polish it. Her neck ached from looking down all day long. Her legs ached from standing for so long. Hours passed, and soon it was dinnertime.
Filch returned and allowed Teecie another 20 minute break. Once the time was up, she returned to the trophy room to finish the last two cases of medals. Two hours later, Teecie finally finished. Putting the rags in the bucket, Teecie set the bucket outside the door of the trophy room, and left to return to her dormitory.
Looking at the stairs, Teecie realized it was a long way up. Four floors was a very long trek when she was as exhausted as she was. She stumbled a few times on the way up, hitting her knees and shins on the stairs. After the third fall, Teecie was startled by a voice calling out from behind her, "Teecie, are you OK?"
Turning around, Teecie saw James running up to her. "I just got done polishing every trophy in the school. I'm just tired," She explained. James walked up next to her, putting one arm around her waist and holding her tightly to his side. Teecie put an arm around his shoulders and held onto him for support. James helped her walk up the rest of the stairs, a look of extreme concern on his face the entire time.
Once in the common room, James made Teecie sit down on one of the sofas while he sat behind her and rubbed her shoulders. At first, the kneading of James's fingers on her sore muscles was as painful as polishing the medals had been. Tears sprang to her eyes for a couple minutes until she was able to start relaxing and felt the muscles loosening up.
Teecie's arms throbbed too much for her to lift them anymore, but she wanted to hug James for being so kind, so she turned around and kissed him instead. They broke off suddenly as the door to the common room opened and Sirius and Peter entered. "Oooh, James! Snogging with your girlfriend on the sofa! Better not let pop catch you!" Sirius teased.
James blushed before thinking of something scathing to say in response. "Oh yeah? Well, at least pop never caught me doing anything embarrassing like you! Stupid wanker!"
It was Sirius's turn to blush. "Hey, shut up!"
"Oooh, nice comeback!" James replied, sneering.
Sirius looked angry now and punched James's arm. James stood up and threw himself at Sirius, and soon the two were wrestling on the floor. Teecie looked down and watched for several seconds as the boys rolled across the floor. Growing bored with what they were doing, Teecie looked up at Peter and told him to sit down next to her. "So, are you looking forward to coming here next year?" She asked, trying to start a conversation with him.
Peter cleared his throat and looked at Teecie with wide eyes before responding. "Yes, it should be fun," He said in barely more than a whisper.
"What house do you want to be sorted into?"
"I...I suppose Gryffindor. James and Sirius and father are already here."
"Good choice! And what do you do now, when you're still at home? Do you go to school or does your mum teach you herself?"
"Well, mum's busy. She's an Auror. So I go to school each day."
"Do you like it? I never went to school before Hogwarts. My daddy taught us all at home."
"Yes, it's lots of fun, but I have to be careful not to tell the Muggles about our world," Peter replied.
At this time, James crawled away from Sirius, who was nursing a skinned knee, and back over to Teecie. "Hi," He said, looking up at her.
"Hi, having fun?" Teecie asked, smiling down at him.
"Not really."
"I'm sorry. Look, I think I'm going to take a bath, and relax my arms, they're still killing me. But I'll come back down when I'm done, all right?" Teecie asked.
James seemed disappointed that he couldn't go with her. "OK, but come back down soon!"
Teecie smiled and nodded her head as she stood up from the sofa and left the room to go to the bathroom.
After a nice, long, soothing bath, Teecie changed into her nightgown, dressing robe, and slippers before going back downstairs to the boys. Teecie was surprised to see Professor Lupin and Tonks sitting with them as she walked into the room. The professor smiled at Teecie when she sat down on the sofa next to James and took his hand. After several minutes of watching James and Teecie staring dreamily at each other, Remus stood up from the chair he was sitting in and moved in between them and wedged his way into the sofa. "There we go now, isn't this comfy and cozy?" He asked, putting one arm around each child.
Professor Lupin proceeded to tell them very boring stories about the history classes he used to go to at the school. Remus droned on and on and soon he was rewarded by the sounds of a snoring child on each side. Peter had drifted off to sleep in the chair he was sitting in, and Sirius was asleep on the floor. Remus looked over at Tonks, who was sitting on the far end of the sofa, and grinned at her. "Well, honey, all the kids are asleep," He whispered seductively. "Why don't we put them to bed, and then we can...put ourselves to bed?"
Tonks smiled and laughed quietly. "Sounds good to me," She whispered.
"I'll take care of the kids, you stay here," Remus said, standing up carefully, picking James up and placing him over one shoulder and walking over to Peter and putting him over the other shoulder, then walking out of the room to bring them up to James's dormitory.
Several minutes later, Remus returned and picked Sirius up and carried him up to his room. Once he'd returned, Tonks asked him about Teecie. "You can't carry her up to her room, and it seems a shame to wake her up," She whispered.
Looking around, Remus found a couple blankets and together with Tonks, they tucked Teecie in on the sofa. Tonks looked down at Teecie and ran her hand over her curls. "Look, honey, isn't she adorable? Kind of makes you wish we'd had another child, doesn't she? A little girl?" Looking up and seeing Remus' horrified expression, Tonks laughed softly. "Don't worry dear, I'm not looking for any more kids," She assured him, while standing up.
After turning out the lights, Tonks and Remus walked arm-in-arm, out of the tower and over to his living quarters, where they enjoyed one another's company for the rest of the evening.
The next day was much more pleasant for Teecie. She spent the majority of it playing in the snow with the other students. She, James, and Peter built an enormous snowman, and then built an entire family for it.
After a hearty lunch, the kids went back outside again, where James stood in front of Teecie and stared as she made snow angels on the ground. He was startled out of his trance by a snowball hitting him in the back of his head. Whirling around, he ducked just in time to miss a second snowball thrown by Sirius. Within minutes, all the children were embroiled in a snowball fight. Teecie hit Peter in the chest with a snowball, and Kali flew past them on her broom, with a bucket of snow that she dumped on everybody, laughing as she did so.
Teecie was hit in the side by a very large snowball, and looked up to see that Professor Lupin had joined them. He was bent over gathering up more snow to throw at his next victim when Teecie took the handful of snow in her hand, ran up behind him, jumped on his back and dumped the snow down his shirt. Remus stood up before Teecie had a chance to let go and she remained clinging to his back as he tried to see who had done that to him.
Remus reached around and grabbed Teecie, who smiled up at him. Holding her in his arm, he tickled her, laughing as she squealed in his hold. Peter saw the two of them and ran over to them, tackling his father's legs and sending him toppling down into the snow. James and Sirius watched and ran over too, throwing snowballs at their fallen father and jumping on him. Remus was crawling around in the snow, gathering the white powder in his hands and tossing it at the children, laughing the entire time. Kali flew past them again and dumped another bucket of snow on Remus. She was flying low enough for him to reach out and grab her by the ankle, sending her falling off the broom and into the snow. Keeping a hold of Kali's ankle, Remus grabbed a handful of snow and tossed it in her face. Kali twisted out of his hold and stood up before jumping on him. Remus barely felt her on his back and turned around, calling out to the kids to come inside for hot chocolate before grabbing Kali's legs and giving her a piggy-back ride back into the school.
Tonks was waiting for the group as they tromped into the Great Hall. Remus set Kali down next to her and began to pour hot chocolate into mugs for all of the students. Once they'd gotten theirs and had taken seats around the Gryffindor table, he poured mugs for Tonks and himself. They sat together and watched as the kids chatted together. Sirius and Kali were talking about Quidditch, Peter was talking to the Engelmann kids, and James and Teecie weren't talking at all, but were looking into each other's eyes, as though trying to memorize one another. Remus couldn't help but think they were pretty cute together. He hoped they enjoyed themselves while their feelings were new and strong before they burnt away as most first loves did. Remus only wished for the two of them to remain friends once it was all over, for he didn't know if he could deal with his son's broken heart again.
Once the kids had finished their drinks, they left the hall to go out to play again or to return to their common rooms. James and Teecie walked up to their common room while holding hands. Uncle Sev was walking out of his office just as they passed by. "Hi, Uncle Sev," Teecie called out, smiling at him. She'd decided to forget about Christmas and to just move on, even though he had scared her.
Professor Snape stopped and looked at the two children. "My, my, what a happy couple you are. Just make sure you behave yourselves in public," He said to them before walking away. Snape smiled briefly to himself as he walked down the stairs. She was so much like her mother in so many ways...But his thoughts turned melancholic as he thought of Adriana and how happy she was with Lucius. Sighing, Snape thought that maybe someday, he'd find the right person for himself to be happy with. But someday seemed very far away right then.
That evening, James kissed Teecie goodnight before she left for her dormitory. Teecie fell asleep that night thinking about James and how her holiday had vastly improved after returning to the school.
Disclaimer: You know the usual, all of this world is JK's, and we thank her for letting us borrow it. Only the original characters are ours!
Arsinoe3: Yes, there's nothing like a dysfunctional family get-together for Christmas, is there! I don't think it's normally that bad, but with the baby, all of the tempers are flaring and people are on edge. Yes, I think there was definitely a bit of a lesson in letting the girls watch the birth. I don't think either Adriana or Lucius want to go through this again with one of their young girls. But at the same time, it all happened so quickly, that nobody really had a chance to tell them to leave or stay. Here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy it!
Wicked Lee: I'm so glad you loved the last chapter! It's always so flattering to get such a nice review like yours! Teecie getting grossed out with the birth was my favorite part of the chapter too! Here's another one I had fun writing, let me know what you think!
The Return to Hogwarts
The next morning, Teecie and Kali talked again about returning to Hogwarts early. Neither wanted to hurt their parents' feelings, but they didn't want to stay around Reni anymore. She was truly unbearable now. And both girls wanted to get out of the house and away from the memories of the previous day. Teecie thought maybe they could tell their parents they both had large papers to write and needed the library to do research. In the end, they decided that it was best to tell them the truth. Kali was afraid Teecie wouldn't be tactful and told her to keep her mouth shut and let her do the talking.
Kali and Teecie approached their father after breakfast, while Adriana was sitting in the living room with Hunter. Kali politely told their father that with Reni and Hunter needing so much attention, it would probably be best for she and Teecie to return to Hogwarts now instead of after New Year's.
Lucius sighed and massaged his temples before speaking. "I know it hasn't been the most...fun of holidays. Reni having the baby really threw everybody off and then people were in such bad moods yesterday. I wish you two would stay, but the house is feeling awfully small right now. Why don't you girls go pack and I'll help you floo back when you're ready. I'll tell your mother afterwards," Lucius said quietly.
Teecie and Kali went to their rooms and packed their bags with what they'd brought home and their Christmas gifts, and waited until Lucius had made sure Adriana was in Reni's bedroom with Hunter, before going into the living room. After watching Kali step into the fireplace and disappear in a flash of green light, Teecie hugged her father.
While in his arms, Teecie looked up and saw her father gazing down at her. "Your mum...you know she loves you, right? She's just very...excited about Hunter. She's never been a grandmother before, and is enjoying it very much right now. There isn't much in this world that excites your mother, or is new to her anymore. Just give her a little time to get used to it, then she'll get back to normal," Lucius said quietly.
Teecie sighed, then stepped into the fireplace. She took a handful of floo powder and threw it at her feet and said, "Hogwarts!" Her father's face faded from view in a green haze as she felt herself being whirled around in circles really quickly. Hot ash flew around her face, choking her as she attempted to breathe. The air felt warm and Teecie was dizzy before suddenly being thrown from her feet and onto the floor of a room she didn't immediately recognize.
Teecie moaned and closed her eyes, trying to get the room to stop spinning, but felt very nauseous. She felt hands under her arms, trying to lift her up. "Come on, sis, sit up and take a deep breath," Kali said to her.
"Ohhh, Kali, I don't feel so good," Teecie said, opening her eyes to look at her sister, and was overwhelmed with dizziness when she did so.
"Here, let me help her," Another voice said. Strong hands grabbed Teecie's waist and pulled her to a standing position.
Forcing her eyes open, she saw Uncle Sev holding onto her. "Uncle Sev?" She asked.
"Yes?" He asked, with a look of concern. Teecie looked awfully pale.
"I think-" Teecie stopped talking as her breathing increased. Suddenly, Teecie threw up-all over Uncle Sev's shoes. Once she'd seen what she'd done, she was humiliated and began to cry. The only positive thing to come from this was that Teecie felt much better now.
Kali came over to Teecie and put her arm around her to hold her up. "Take her to Wilkes," Uncle Sev demanded as he took his wand out of his robes to clean himself off. He wrinkled his nose disgustedly as Kali gently led her sister out of the room.
Teecie and Kali walked down from Uncle Sev's office and carefully made their way to the Hospital ward. Once they arrived, Kali told Master Wilkes what had happened. The healer gently led Teecie to a bed and helped her lie down. After laying a cool, damp cloth on her forehead, he went to prepare an anti-nausea potion for her to drink. After several minutes, Kali left to return to her room and unpack her bags.
Wilkes gave Teecie a soothing potion that tasted like ginger, to make her stomach feel better. Teecie sat up and buried her head in his robes and told him about throwing up on Uncle Sev's shoes. Wilkes patted Teecie on the head gently, and told her in soothing tones, that everything would be all right. Uncle Sev would get cleaned up and wouldn't tease her about it. Soon, more important things would come into her life, and she'd forget all about this incident.
After several minutes, Teecie felt better and stood up to leave. She thanked Master Wilkes and walked to the door. She told him she was going to go back to Uncle Sev's office to get her bags, but Master Wilkes assured her that he'd have had the house elves bring her bags back to her room, and that she should go unpack them. It would help her forget what had happened. Teecie walked up to her dormitory, found her bags at the foot of her bed, and went to work putting her things away. Once she'd finished, she left to wander around and see who was at the school still. In the Great Hall, she found the Engelmanns. They were Jewish and had already celebrated Chanukah a week earlier. As she left the hall, James and his mother entered the school through the main doors. James looked up, saw Teecie, smiled, and ran over to her. "Teecie! You're back!" He cried.
"James!" Teecie cried, holding her arms out and embracing him. James leaned his head in and kissed her. Teecie felt warm and broke away after a few seconds to catch her breath. When she looked up, she saw the amused look on Tonks's face. Blushing, Teecie looked away.
James turned around and saw his mother. Grabbing Teecie by the wrist, he led her over to Tonks. "Mum! You remember Teecie, don't you? She's my girlfriend now!" James looked as though he might burst with pride and excitement over saying that out loud for the first time.
Tonks walked up to Teecie and gave her a hug. "Of course I remember you. I'm so glad you and my son are so happy together," She said, smiling at Teecie. After a few minutes of chatting together, Tonks left to find her husband, and left James and Teecie alone together.
James gazed at Teecie for several moments before asking her why she'd come back early. Teecie told him how stressful the past few days had been and how she and Kali had wanted to get away from it. Once the conversation had died down, the two stood around, looking at the floor and the stairs, trying to think of what to say. After a couple minutes, James tapped Teecie on the shoulder. "What?" She asked.
"Uh...you're it!" James said, before running away from her. Teecie smiled and began to chase after James. They ran after one another through the school halls and up and down the stairs. Whenever one of them caught the other, they'd kiss before starting to run again.
James had just caught and kissed Teecie underneath a painting on the fifth floor, when the person in the picture spoke, startling them. "I must say, you two have been quite the kissy-faces today. Your headmaster gave me a message to pass onto you if I happened to see you. He said there's to be no more kissing in public anymore. Now off you go, and be on your best behaviour," The man in the painting said to them.
"Oh, leave them alone! They're not doing any harm!" A man in the painting across the hall called out. "It's quite refreshing to see people expressing their feelings in public, if you ask me!"
James took Teecie's hand and led her away from the paintings as they continued to argue with one another. "Well, that was strange," James said as they walked, "Want to go get something to eat?" He asked. Teecie looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding her head and walking with him down to the Great Hall.
Teecie hadn't known what that meant, but did now. The paintings watched what the students did. "The walls have eyes," Peeves had said to her the night he'd visited her room. Teecie hadn't known what that meant, but did now. They spied on them, and told Uncle Sev what was going on. So that's how all the professors seemed to just know what was going on at the school. But that one painting hadn't agreed with making them stop kissing. Could it be that not all the paintings reported to Uncle Sev? Maybe they weren't loyal to him. Teecie wondered how many of those there were around the school, and how she could find that out.
Suddenly the world was full of possibilities. If she could use the paintings that weren't loyal to Uncle Sev, she could have them act as spies, to get into places her other spies couldn't. She could send them into the Slytherin common room and dormitories. They'd be able to report Lisette's plans to her. Teecie would have a whole line of communication open to her that could move and be secret and get to her from anywhere inside the school. The question was how to find out which ones were loyal to Uncle Sev, and which ones weren't.
Teecie mulled all of this over while she and James walked into the Great Hall. They sat with Professor Lupin, Tonks, Sirius, and Peter. While talking, Sirius looked up and saw Kali sitting alone at the Ravenclaw table and called out to her to join them. Looking somewhat startled, Kali looked at the Gryffindor table, saw Teecie, smiled, and stood up to join them. Once at the table, Kali talked with Professor Lupin and Tonks while James and Teecie held hands under the table. Sirius and Peter talked and joked as they ate. Peter spilled his goblet of pumpkin juice across the table and Kali jumped up just in time to miss getting it all down her lap. Peter blushed and apologized quietly.
As he sipped his coffee, Professor Lupin looked at James and Teecie. He knew they were now a couple. Remus saw the looks of happiness on their faces and felt happy for them, yet nervous at the same time. He and Draco had already talked about this issue on a few different occasions, and each conversation had ended in raised voices and accusations. Draco seemed to think Remus wasn't helping to prevent the situation enough. Remus believed that trying to forbid the children from seeing one another would only force them together sooner. Letting the children explore their feelings for one another in a controlled environment, where they were supported and shown the proper way to act around one another, was the best way to deal with the situation. He just couldn't get through to Draco. Tonks had promised to talk to Draco about it soon. Hopefully that would help.
After the meal, the kids wandered around the school, talking and laughing. The rest of the day passed quickly and pleasantly. That evening at dinner, Teecie received a letter from her mother. Opening it, Teecie read what it said:
My Darling Daughter,
I owe you an apology for the way I've treated you over the past few days. My behaviour's been completely inappropriate, and you deserve better treatment from your mother.
I'm sorry that you felt unwelcome in your own home and wanted to leave early. I have talked to your sister about what she did, making you sleep in the barn. I should have been more conscious of what was going on and put a stop to it earlier.
This entire Christmas holiday has been a disaster, to put it mildly, and it's been all my fault. I should never have let Severus into the house with all that alcohol. I should have thrown both of those men out of the house as soon as the trouble started. I'm so sorry that you had to witness their behaviour.
I will make more of an effort in the future to provide you with a loving, peaceful, and comforting home environment. You deserve to have a good home to come to, not just because you are my daughter and I love you, but because you are a human being who deserves to be treated better than you've been treated lately.
I hope you can forgive me. I love you very much.
Your Mother,
Adriana
Teecie knew her mother was feeling horrible right now. She was probably crying her eyes out at their house. Teecie ran up to her room, took out her favourite pink feather pen, and pink paper, and wrote a note back.
Dear Mum,
Don't worry, I love you very much. Please don't be sad because I am OK. After I got to school, I threw up on Uncle Sev's shoes, so you don't have to feel bad about letting him and Draco get drunk yesterday. Christmas wasn't so bad, and dinner was great. I just missed James and wanted to see him again, that's why I left early.
I love you very much.
-Teecie
Teecie didn't know why she told her mother about being sick, but thought it might make her feel better to know that, since nobody was perfect. After rereading the note, she sent if off to her mother. Once done with that, Teecie opened her Transfigurations book and practiced some of the spells they'd be learning in the next couple of weeks.
It was past midnight before Teecie started getting ready for bed. Once in her nightgown, Teecie left the bathroom, and decided that since the school was so empty, now was the time to talk to that painting. After putting on her dressing gown, Teecie made her way out of the tower and down to the fifth floor. Using her wand as a torch, she found the painting that had said he'd enjoyed seeing James kissing her. The painting who'd argued with him, behind her, was asleep, so Teecie whispered at the one in front of her. "Excuse me, sir?" She whispered. The painting stirred and slowly opened his eyes.
"Hello, my dear. What brings you here this late?" He asked.
"Well-" Teecie glanced at the painting's title. "Edmund Halstead, Died as a martyr in the Goblin Uprising of 1678." "Mr. Halstead, I was wondering why you thought it was all right for us to disobey the headmaster's wishes today."
"That man is an idiot! He'll never be the headmaster Dumbledore was! He's ruining the school! I don't pay any attention to any of his decrees and commands. Besides, there's nothing wrong with a little youthful exuberance," Edmund said, his voice growing louder.
"I understand. You know, my mother was good friends with Albus Dumbledore. She told me all about how wonderful he was. I wish I could have known him. Maybe you could tell me about him sometime," Teecie whispered, smiling and fluttering her eyelashes at Edmund.
"It would be my pleasure," He replied, smiling and bowing slightly.
"And...perhaps you know of other paintings who know a lot about Dumbledore. I'd love to hear from them to learn about the legend that was Albus."
"Well, I know all the paintings in the castle. There's maybe...nine or ten of us who don't like Snape."
"Oh, well, maybe you could tell them to come to the painting in my room for a visit sometime. So I can get to know them all, and learn about Albus from them."
"I'll do that! And I'll stop by myself, to teach you all I can. I feel it is my duty, seeing as you children are the future. Maybe I'll come over tomorrow night," Edmund offered.
"Great, I'll see you then. I can't wait to meet all of you. That way I'll get to know all of those paintings out there who love Albus as much as I do," Teecie said, smiling.
"Right! I'll spread the word!" Edmund called out as Teecie walked away.
Once on the next floor, Teecie's wand began to vibrate. Mrs. Otis, no! Teecie looked around for a place to hide and saw the cat stroll around the corner and start running towards her. Teecie turned around and started to run the other way, and was startled when Old Man Filch popped out of a doorway and caught Teecie by the arm. "Aha! I got you! Let's take you to my office and see who you are," He cackled while dragging Teecie towards the stairs down to his office. Teecie had turned out her wand and therefore it was too dark for Filch to see who he had caught.
"Let go of me!" Teecie squealed while struggling against him. "I was just going up to my room!"
"A likely story!" Filch snarled, pulling Teecie along as he walked. Once they'd reached his office, he lit a lamp after pushing Teecie down into a chair. Looking over to see who it was, Filch frowned and looked disappointed. "Oh, it's you," He said, glaring at Teecie.
Teecie folded her arms and looked around his office. Drawings of torture devices were strewn about the walls, along with lists of banned items that Filch kept an eye out to confiscate from the students. Nowhere, though, was there any picture of her. Draco had told her Filch kept a picture of her that he used as a dart board. "You do not have a picture of me!" Teecie said out loud, more to herself than to Filch.
"Why would I have a picture of a whiny brat like you?" Filch said, sneering at her.
"My brother told me you keep a picture of me that you use as a dartboard," Teecie explained.
"Well I don't...but that's not a bad idea...," Filch said thoughtfully.
Teecie rolled her eyes and snorted loudly as she sat back in her chair, folded her arms, and crossed her ankles. "So, do anything fun for Christmas, Mr. Filch? Was the dinner good? Get any good presents?"
"That's none of your business, and don't try to change the subject! Now what were you doing out of bed?"
"I was hoping I'd get caught by you so that I'd be able to have this wonderful conversation with you," Teecie replied, looking at her fingernails.
"Oh, don't get cheeky with me girl! What were you really doing?"
"Well...," Teecie started, trying to think of what to say. She decided to take the advice from Captain Jack Sparrow, a man she tried to emulate whenever possible, and tell him the truth, knowing he'd never believe it. "I've decided to become the next Dark Lord. That Harry Potter guy sure was stupid for getting rid of the last one, but it does open up the market for me! I figured the best way to get practice was to start my own mafia! I've been using the older students and forcing them to protect the younger students. I figure out what they need, and give it to them. I've had to snog with 7 boys so far! I've set up all the girls I know with dates for the older boys. Then the younger students owe me favours in return for the protection I provide. They worship me. I use the house elves, my friends, anybody I can who'll be of any help to me. And it seems to be working, because the Slytherins have begged me to call off my business. A sixth year Slytherin boy promised to give me five hundred galleons to call it all off, but I said no! I told him my people need me! And I will not abandon them! So, anyway, tonight you found me just as I was finished speaking to one of my numerous informants. I intend to lead an uprising among the students to gain even more power," Teecie said, smiling cockily and crossing her arms.
"Like I believe any of that!" Filch snarled. "You know, if Snape wasn't such a...," Filch trailed off, sneering at Teecie and narrowing his eyes before speaking again, "He'd let me use the old ways to get the truth out of you. Corporal punishment, public humiliation, those never get old. I'd hang you from the ceiling by your fingernails and put weights on your ankles. You'd be screaming, crying, begging me to let you go...Now tell me the truth!" Filch slammed his hand on the table to emphasize his speech.
"All right...I'll tell you the truth," Teecie sighed, looking nervous and wringing her hands. "I'm almost failing my Transfigurations class and I remembered about a book I need to practice spells with. I was almost asleep, but got out of bed, put on my dress robes and ran off to get to the library and get that book. I know it was awfully late, and it was thoughtless of me. And I must have worried you terribly to have a student out of bed, doing who-knows-what at all hours of the night. I'm very sorry you had to get out of bed to make sure I was safe, but I am. So...I should go...get some sleep. And let you get back to sleep too," Teecie said, looking very concerned for Filch's lack of sleep.
"You think you can just get off that easily? That I'd just let you go? You must be punished for being out of bed! Perhaps I'll take this to the headmaster and let him handle it," Filch snapped.
"Will you? Great! Let's go right now!" Teecie replied excitedly.
Filch was livid by this point. He'd never known he could loathe a person the way he hated and despised this girl. "Why would I do what you wanted you little prat? No...you will report to the medal room after breakfast. You'll polish every trophy and medal until it shines-by hand! When you're done with that, you'll scrub every square inch of floor in the Great Hall with your own toothbrush! And when you're done with that, maybe for fun, I'll let you stand outside, with a bucket of water in each hand. You'll hold them out for...a half hour, and you'd better not spill a single drop, or I'll make you try again until you don't. Yes, that's what I'll do...Now get out of here and go straight to your dormitory!" Filch was almost screaming by the time he'd finished. Teecie felt nervous as she saw the glint of pleasure in his eyes as he described what he would do with her the next day.
Teecie thought about what she'd gotten herself into as she walked back up to her room. It was the first time that she'd had to really think about the choices she'd made, like starting the bodyguard business, and the reasons behind it. She only wanted to help her fellow students. Yet she'd get in trouble if she was caught. This was one hell of a punishment to face up to for the sake of her business. She hoped she was up to it. The only comforting thought, was that, hopefully, Uncle Sev wouldn't be informed of what had happened. She hated lying so much, yet it was necessary to keep from getting caught.
Once back in her dormitory, Teecie went to bed and fell into a restless sleep for the rest of the night. The next morning, Teecie dressed in shorts and a tank top, knowing she'd be working up a sweat with all the scrubbing and polishing she'd be doing. After a hearty breakfast, Teecie went to the trophy room and found Filch waiting for her. "Took you long enough!" He said to her in greeting. In his hands he held a bucket of rags and silver polish. Thrusting the bucket into Teecie's arms, he said, "Here. Now get to work! I'll be back in three hours to check on you. And you'd better do a good job or I'll make you do it all over again!" With that, Filch turned on his heel and stomped out of the room, leaving Teecie alone.
Teecie took a deep breath and walked over to the first case, opened it up, and started polishing the medals and trophies. She worked as thoroughly as possible, and after a while, her arms were sore. After an hour or so, she came across a medal with her father's name on it. Teecie knew he'd played Quidditch and had been a prefect while he'd attended Hogwarts. While polishing, Teecie read the names off of the medals, and wondered if she knew any of their children. James Potter, must be related to Harry; Tom Riddle, she didn't know any Riddles; Sirius Black, she'd heard of him before, he was related to Draco; Charlie Weasley, Teecie loved him, he was such a great person; Kali! Kali had her name on one of the trophies, along with the rest of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team from her second year. Professor Weasley had been Head Girl. Reni had won a medal for her achievements in Potions class. She also found medals for Uncle Sev and Draco too. So many people had made names for themselves at the school. Teecie wondered if anybody would remember her after she left.
By the time Filch returned to check on Teecie's progress, she'd just finished polishing the last trophy in the third case. Filch inspected her work and pointed out a few spots she'd missed. Teecie cleaned those and when there was no more to be done, Filch grunted unhappily and led her out of the room, and over to the Great Hall. Teecie was allowed 20 minutes to eat a meal and run to the restroom, and then it was back to the trophy room.
Teecie's shoulders screamed in pain with each movement of her arms. Teecie's movements slowed as the pain increased. Each medal seemed to grow larger as she held it in her hand to polish it. Her neck ached from looking down all day long. Her legs ached from standing for so long. Hours passed, and soon it was dinnertime.
Filch returned and allowed Teecie another 20 minute break. Once the time was up, she returned to the trophy room to finish the last two cases of medals. Two hours later, Teecie finally finished. Putting the rags in the bucket, Teecie set the bucket outside the door of the trophy room, and left to return to her dormitory.
Looking at the stairs, Teecie realized it was a long way up. Four floors was a very long trek when she was as exhausted as she was. She stumbled a few times on the way up, hitting her knees and shins on the stairs. After the third fall, Teecie was startled by a voice calling out from behind her, "Teecie, are you OK?"
Turning around, Teecie saw James running up to her. "I just got done polishing every trophy in the school. I'm just tired," She explained. James walked up next to her, putting one arm around her waist and holding her tightly to his side. Teecie put an arm around his shoulders and held onto him for support. James helped her walk up the rest of the stairs, a look of extreme concern on his face the entire time.
Once in the common room, James made Teecie sit down on one of the sofas while he sat behind her and rubbed her shoulders. At first, the kneading of James's fingers on her sore muscles was as painful as polishing the medals had been. Tears sprang to her eyes for a couple minutes until she was able to start relaxing and felt the muscles loosening up.
Teecie's arms throbbed too much for her to lift them anymore, but she wanted to hug James for being so kind, so she turned around and kissed him instead. They broke off suddenly as the door to the common room opened and Sirius and Peter entered. "Oooh, James! Snogging with your girlfriend on the sofa! Better not let pop catch you!" Sirius teased.
James blushed before thinking of something scathing to say in response. "Oh yeah? Well, at least pop never caught me doing anything embarrassing like you! Stupid wanker!"
It was Sirius's turn to blush. "Hey, shut up!"
"Oooh, nice comeback!" James replied, sneering.
Sirius looked angry now and punched James's arm. James stood up and threw himself at Sirius, and soon the two were wrestling on the floor. Teecie looked down and watched for several seconds as the boys rolled across the floor. Growing bored with what they were doing, Teecie looked up at Peter and told him to sit down next to her. "So, are you looking forward to coming here next year?" She asked, trying to start a conversation with him.
Peter cleared his throat and looked at Teecie with wide eyes before responding. "Yes, it should be fun," He said in barely more than a whisper.
"What house do you want to be sorted into?"
"I...I suppose Gryffindor. James and Sirius and father are already here."
"Good choice! And what do you do now, when you're still at home? Do you go to school or does your mum teach you herself?"
"Well, mum's busy. She's an Auror. So I go to school each day."
"Do you like it? I never went to school before Hogwarts. My daddy taught us all at home."
"Yes, it's lots of fun, but I have to be careful not to tell the Muggles about our world," Peter replied.
At this time, James crawled away from Sirius, who was nursing a skinned knee, and back over to Teecie. "Hi," He said, looking up at her.
"Hi, having fun?" Teecie asked, smiling down at him.
"Not really."
"I'm sorry. Look, I think I'm going to take a bath, and relax my arms, they're still killing me. But I'll come back down when I'm done, all right?" Teecie asked.
James seemed disappointed that he couldn't go with her. "OK, but come back down soon!"
Teecie smiled and nodded her head as she stood up from the sofa and left the room to go to the bathroom.
After a nice, long, soothing bath, Teecie changed into her nightgown, dressing robe, and slippers before going back downstairs to the boys. Teecie was surprised to see Professor Lupin and Tonks sitting with them as she walked into the room. The professor smiled at Teecie when she sat down on the sofa next to James and took his hand. After several minutes of watching James and Teecie staring dreamily at each other, Remus stood up from the chair he was sitting in and moved in between them and wedged his way into the sofa. "There we go now, isn't this comfy and cozy?" He asked, putting one arm around each child.
Professor Lupin proceeded to tell them very boring stories about the history classes he used to go to at the school. Remus droned on and on and soon he was rewarded by the sounds of a snoring child on each side. Peter had drifted off to sleep in the chair he was sitting in, and Sirius was asleep on the floor. Remus looked over at Tonks, who was sitting on the far end of the sofa, and grinned at her. "Well, honey, all the kids are asleep," He whispered seductively. "Why don't we put them to bed, and then we can...put ourselves to bed?"
Tonks smiled and laughed quietly. "Sounds good to me," She whispered.
"I'll take care of the kids, you stay here," Remus said, standing up carefully, picking James up and placing him over one shoulder and walking over to Peter and putting him over the other shoulder, then walking out of the room to bring them up to James's dormitory.
Several minutes later, Remus returned and picked Sirius up and carried him up to his room. Once he'd returned, Tonks asked him about Teecie. "You can't carry her up to her room, and it seems a shame to wake her up," She whispered.
Looking around, Remus found a couple blankets and together with Tonks, they tucked Teecie in on the sofa. Tonks looked down at Teecie and ran her hand over her curls. "Look, honey, isn't she adorable? Kind of makes you wish we'd had another child, doesn't she? A little girl?" Looking up and seeing Remus' horrified expression, Tonks laughed softly. "Don't worry dear, I'm not looking for any more kids," She assured him, while standing up.
After turning out the lights, Tonks and Remus walked arm-in-arm, out of the tower and over to his living quarters, where they enjoyed one another's company for the rest of the evening.
The next day was much more pleasant for Teecie. She spent the majority of it playing in the snow with the other students. She, James, and Peter built an enormous snowman, and then built an entire family for it.
After a hearty lunch, the kids went back outside again, where James stood in front of Teecie and stared as she made snow angels on the ground. He was startled out of his trance by a snowball hitting him in the back of his head. Whirling around, he ducked just in time to miss a second snowball thrown by Sirius. Within minutes, all the children were embroiled in a snowball fight. Teecie hit Peter in the chest with a snowball, and Kali flew past them on her broom, with a bucket of snow that she dumped on everybody, laughing as she did so.
Teecie was hit in the side by a very large snowball, and looked up to see that Professor Lupin had joined them. He was bent over gathering up more snow to throw at his next victim when Teecie took the handful of snow in her hand, ran up behind him, jumped on his back and dumped the snow down his shirt. Remus stood up before Teecie had a chance to let go and she remained clinging to his back as he tried to see who had done that to him.
Remus reached around and grabbed Teecie, who smiled up at him. Holding her in his arm, he tickled her, laughing as she squealed in his hold. Peter saw the two of them and ran over to them, tackling his father's legs and sending him toppling down into the snow. James and Sirius watched and ran over too, throwing snowballs at their fallen father and jumping on him. Remus was crawling around in the snow, gathering the white powder in his hands and tossing it at the children, laughing the entire time. Kali flew past them again and dumped another bucket of snow on Remus. She was flying low enough for him to reach out and grab her by the ankle, sending her falling off the broom and into the snow. Keeping a hold of Kali's ankle, Remus grabbed a handful of snow and tossed it in her face. Kali twisted out of his hold and stood up before jumping on him. Remus barely felt her on his back and turned around, calling out to the kids to come inside for hot chocolate before grabbing Kali's legs and giving her a piggy-back ride back into the school.
Tonks was waiting for the group as they tromped into the Great Hall. Remus set Kali down next to her and began to pour hot chocolate into mugs for all of the students. Once they'd gotten theirs and had taken seats around the Gryffindor table, he poured mugs for Tonks and himself. They sat together and watched as the kids chatted together. Sirius and Kali were talking about Quidditch, Peter was talking to the Engelmann kids, and James and Teecie weren't talking at all, but were looking into each other's eyes, as though trying to memorize one another. Remus couldn't help but think they were pretty cute together. He hoped they enjoyed themselves while their feelings were new and strong before they burnt away as most first loves did. Remus only wished for the two of them to remain friends once it was all over, for he didn't know if he could deal with his son's broken heart again.
Once the kids had finished their drinks, they left the hall to go out to play again or to return to their common rooms. James and Teecie walked up to their common room while holding hands. Uncle Sev was walking out of his office just as they passed by. "Hi, Uncle Sev," Teecie called out, smiling at him. She'd decided to forget about Christmas and to just move on, even though he had scared her.
Professor Snape stopped and looked at the two children. "My, my, what a happy couple you are. Just make sure you behave yourselves in public," He said to them before walking away. Snape smiled briefly to himself as he walked down the stairs. She was so much like her mother in so many ways...But his thoughts turned melancholic as he thought of Adriana and how happy she was with Lucius. Sighing, Snape thought that maybe someday, he'd find the right person for himself to be happy with. But someday seemed very far away right then.
That evening, James kissed Teecie goodnight before she left for her dormitory. Teecie fell asleep that night thinking about James and how her holiday had vastly improved after returning to the school.
