OK. I'm not really sure wtf happened. I was writing and writing, ideas were flowing and I was totally determined to finish this story...and then the weekend came...and after 2 hrs of chemistry tutorial, 2 hrs of physics tutorial, 1 hr piano lesson and 2 hrs of math tutorial I totally got unmotivated (my weekends suck) _
But. On the positive side. English class is so boring now a days that I have to do SOMETHING and this is the result :P
"Finally!" Vic shouted as he ran outside, Roy and Teddy right behind him. Madam Pomfrey had made Vic stay in the Hospital Wing for most of the morning but by lunch time Vic was jumping off the walls so much that he was deemed all clear and free to go.
Classes were cancelled for today as much of Hogwarts needed repairs and students were enjoying their free day. The most studious of them locked themselves away in the library or their rooms to prepare for upcoming exams in a months time but not the golden trio.
Vic had insisted on one soccer and Roy and Teddy didn't have much of a rebuttal so soccer it would be. The three practiced some passing and dribbling for Teddy's sake before Vic had deemed it a go for an all out game. They were joined by a few more students and soon, the Quidditch pitch became a soccer field of running and laughing students…..
At least, until a certain Jason Kimblee came by with his pack of Slytherin fourth years…..
"Oi! It's our turn to use the pitch you little runts so get lost," Kimblee shouted to the other students. Several of the students stepped back from the Slytherins but Teddy and his friends stood their ground.
"We were here first Kimblee," Teddy growled and Kimblee scowled down at him.
"Respect your elders wolf cub now move it, Kimblee answered, taking out his wand and the others took out theirs as well.
"Don't back down Ted!" Vic shouted, getting into a fighting stance as several other students took out their wands behind Teddy.
Things deteriorated pretty quickly. Teddy narrowly avoided a stunning spell before throwing down his own.
Vic flew up into the air and managed to smash two of the Slytherin's heads together while Roy fended off a bunch of them from harming two Gryffindor first years.
Children from all houses and all years ran all over the field blasting away at each other until one of Kimblee's men fired a hex at Vic.
Vic easily flew around it but it smashed into a small Hufflepuff boy who just so happened to be protecting the soccer ball.
The ball flew out of his hands right into a Slytherin teen's outstretched hands. With a sadistic smirk and a nod from Kimblee, the boy dropped the ball to the ground and kicked it with all his might.
Teddy and the rest of the students stared open mouthed as the ball went sailing well over their heads. It fell several feet away from a giant tree, rolling and bouncing until it came to stop by one of its roots.
"I'll get it!" Vic shouted, taking off for the ball but Teddy grabbed his ankle in mid flight.
"Are you crazy? That's the Whomping Willow!" he shouted and he turned to glare daggers at Kimblee and his gang.
"Well, we'll be going now!" Kimblee said much too pleasantly and all the students stared dejectedly at the ball amidst the swirling branches of the Whomping Willow.
"Now what?" A Gryffindor girl asked as she sat down on the grass with a dejected look on her face.
"Cheer up. We can grab some brooms and play some Quidditch," another girl said but the first girl shook her head.
"But I wanted to play football!" She complained as she and the rest of the students glumly filled back into the castle.
"Well now what?" Teddy muttered, shooting Kimblee's crew a glare even though they were halfway through the grounds by now.
"Now we get my ball," Vic said determinedly before flying off to the direction of the Whomping Willow.
"Hey! Wait up!" Teddy shouted, running after his friend only to make a dive to the ground as the Willow's longest branch whipped past his head.
"Maybe we should stay here," Roy muttered as he pulled Teddy to his feet and Teddy was just about to agree when a root suddenly wrapped around his ankle.
He and Roy shared a split second look of panic before Teddy felt himself being jerked upwards violently.
Roy, acting on impulse, grabbed Ted's arm but logic wasn't working then and he too was sent flying.
"Vic!" Teddy shouted, grabbing onto Roy to make sure he wouldn't fall, "Vic! We could use some help here!"
"Busy!" Vic shouted in reply and from Teddy's view upside down he was vaguely aware of Vic ducking and weaving through the air trying to avoid the wild branches.
"This was a stupid idea," Teddy heard Roy grumble before it rose to a shout, "Just get over here Vic!"
Vic tried his best to obey his brother and when Vic was close enough Roy grunted and conjured up a small flame. The flame burnt through the tree root that was holding Teddy and Teddy felt a small surge of hope as the iron grip disappeared.
But now they were falling...and Teddy had just enough sense to let loose a scream, screwing his eyes up for the inevitable impact with the ground.
"Vic!" Roy shouted as the fell. The root hadn't gone silently and instead had flung its prey towards the main trunk. Right where Vic was.
"Gotcha!" Vic shouted as he grabbed both Teddy and Roy's arms. Unfortunately the momentum of the two boys caused them to crash to the ground and Teddy managed to get up first with a groan.
"You alright guys?" he mumbled but Vic was already up and running for his ball still lying innocently by the willow's trunk.
"Got it!" he shouted happily only for Teddy and Roy to instantly widen their eyes and scream a warning.
And then as if in slow motion, a lone branch came up to slam into Vic's back sending him toppling forward, right through the ground and out of sight.
"...What just happened?" Teddy shouted as he and Roy watched Vic disappear right before their eyes.
Roy was lying flat on the ground so that the branches of the Whomping Willow had less of a chance of hitting him but he was still staring in amazement at where Vic had been just seconds before.
"Vic! Where the bloody hell are you?" Teddy shouted as he dived out of the way of an incoming branch.
"Here!" a faint voice replied after a pause and Teddy and Roy gave each other a confused look.
"Where?" Roy shouted at last and suddenly, Vic's head popped right out of the ground.
"Here!" he shouted, waving his arm around only to quickly duck back down as an enraged root nearly took out his head.
From their positions, Roy and Teddy's eyes almost bugged out as it looked like Vic's head was missing its body but they quickly collected themselves.
"I think it's a tunnel and my ball rolled down! I'm going in!" Vic's voice resonated and Roy and Teddy shared another look.
"Do you really need that ball Vic?" Teddy asked only for Vic's head to pop back up again, "Of course I do!" he shouted back, looking at Teddy like he was a moron for even suggesting leaving the item in the dark pit of Merlin knew what.
"Well fine but wait up! We're coming!" Teddy shouted as he and Roy made a mad dash towards the entrance to the tunnel.
Branches whipped overhead as the two boys ducked and dived out of their way and after what Teddy felt was far too long, they finally reached the tunnel and Vic dragged them inside.
The tunnel was fairly small and Teddy looked down to realize that all he saw beneath them was a pitch black void.
With an adventurous gleam in his eyes, Teddy started his long trek downwards after his two friends, hands and feet slipping on mud covered slope.
Once they'd reached the bottom they realized they were at a tunnel.
Roy silently conjured up a small flame and the boys took in the large stone passage that twisted and turned all through the bottom of Hogwarts castle.
"Accio ball," Roy muttered and eventually Vic's precious soccer ball came floating up to him.
"You couldn't have done that earlier?" Vic asked as he happily passed the ball back and forth in his hands.
Roy shrugged, "didn't come to mind until you went down the tunnel and I can't do it if I don't know the general direction the object is in," he replied not that everyone didn't know that magical alternatives weren't Roy's forte.
"So. We've got the ball. Can we go now?" Roy went on with a pointed look at Vic only for him to give his brother a cheeky grin.
"Sure. Which way?"
"My bet's on that way!" Teddy replied as he and Vic grinned in unison and practically dragged Roy further into the tunnel.
With a grumble Roy shook the two off before leading the way down, "you guys better remember how to get back," he muttered.
The trek through the tunnel was relatively silent other than the soft dripping of water from unknown sources. The tunnel was made out of stone from floor to ceiling but weeds had long since pushed their way through the cracks in the rock to grow undisturbed.
Other than that there wasn't much to it really. Teddy wondered if they were off Hogwarts grounds yet but figured that it'd be impossible after only such a short distance.
But when they reached the end of the tunnel all there was was a small beaten up door.
With a hesitant hand, Roy opened it and the boys found themselves looking into a small dark room. The room was relatively old, made of wood which Teddy noted had several gashes and chunks missing in the door frame almost like...
"We're in the Shrieking Shack..." Teddy whispered, feeling a sense of awe and fear at this realization.
"Kinda creepy isn't it?" Vic asked, "Been here before Ted?"
"Never inside it. They said it was inaccessible from the outside,"
"Well we got in," Vic said face full of pride and eyes eager for excitement.
"Found the stairs," Roy called out, pointing to them in the darkness of the room. Without so much as a glance the boys walked up the steps and found themselves in a larger room this time with an old bed covered in dust in the corner.
"This is where dad went to transform," Teddy thought to himself looking around at the dusty place before him. "For eight years of his life and maybe even more he had to be locked up in this dreadful place so he wouldn't hurt anyone," Teddy wondered what it would have felt, to be locked up in such a miserable place to await a time when you humanity was torn apart and-
A huge gust of wind made Teddy shiver, cutting off the rest of his thoughts and his mind finally realized how damn cold it was in here.
"Come on, it's freezing, let's go back," Teddy said, pulling Vic by the sleeve.
"I know but don't you find it weird?" Vic asked suddenly and Teddy paused.
"Wait. What? Did I just miss something?"
"The wind. You'd think if there was no place to get in then at least it'd stop the bloody wind from getting in too," Vic muttered as they descended back down the stairs, "at least outside the sun didn't make it feel so damn cold. Come on, let's get out of here."
"No wait," Roy suddenly spoke up and Teddy and Vic turned to the last one of the party.
"Vic's right. It's weird that so much wind is getting it..." Roy muttered before he frowned down at the flame in his hand. Upon careful inspection, Teddy realized that it was flickering mildly as if it was being blown at from a certain direction.
"Over here!" Vic shouted from his place by the staircase.
"I think it's coming from behind here," Vic mumbled as he tried to pry apart the floor boards at the bottom of the staircase.
"Out of the way. You'll never get it like that," Teddy said as he took out his wand.
"Dissendium," he said and to his delight the floor boards retracted to reveal a hidden passageway.
"Dad taught me that one," Teddy said happily as Vic gave a hoot of triumph and leapt down the hole that had just appeared.
Without further ado, Roy and Teddy followed Vic down the hole and through the tunnel that ran adjacent from it. It was a lot smaller than the previous tunnel, a full grown man would have to crawl to get through and even then it would be a tight fit. It seemed pretty new too; the earth under Teddy's hands felt soft and fresh as if the tunnel had only been dug for a few weeks at most.
Teddy was so caught up with inspecting his surroundings that he didn't notice Vic stop in front of him until he'd cashed into him with enough force for Vic to fall forward.
"Whoa!" both boys shouted in unison as they tumbled out of the tunnel.
"Ugh. Where are we?" Teddy mumbled, getting up and rubbing a sore spot on his head.
"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," Roy muttered from behind them and Teddy raised his head to take in the scene before him. They were on a hill. Behind them was the Shrieking Shack and in front of them was a pleasant little road that led to an all too familiar town.
Confused Teddy turned his head back to Roy.
"Of course we're not in Kansas! We're at Hogsmeade!" he replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Roy and Vic shared a glance before they both broke up into a collective sigh.
"You know Ted. One of these days we're gonna sit you down and watch some good old fashioned movies," Vic said, slinging an arm around his friend.
Teddy, still confused, shrugged it off and Vic stood up and started down the hill.
"Where're you going?" Teddy asked, rushing after his friend who gave him a cheeky grin.
"Well. We're already here. Might as well enjoy it while we're at it!" he said as he broke out into a run over to Honeydukes, "Come on Ted! We can get your dad some chocolate! I had to lie in bed all morning and I tell you it was torture! Can you imagine what it's like to be stuck in there all day?" Vic shouted over his shoulder.
And Teddy and Roy shared a grin before sprinting off after him.
The trip through Hogsmeade was about as exciting as all the other trips but it was the thrill of being there when you weren't supposed to that made Teddy and his friends feel so proud of themselves.
After emptying the little money they had at Honeydukes, the rest of the time was spent the rest of the time browsing through Tomes and Scrolls and the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes outlet that had once been Zonko's Joke Shop before the war. They made sure to steer clear of the Three Broomsticks in fear of what might happen if Madam Rosmerta ever found Hogwarts students in Hogsmeade when they shouldn't be.
And all was fine until Vic saw the corner of today's Prophet lying innocently on a nearby park bench.
"Uhh. Ted? I think you should take a look at this," Vic called out and Teddy noted the worried and uncertain tone his friend's voice had taken.
"What's up with you?" Teddy asked light-heartedly only to pause as Vic showed him the front page. For there, right in front of his eyes was a certain Teddy Lupin sleeping next to a huge werewolf in the middle of Hogwarts' Great Hall. The headline read "WEREWOLVES INFILTRATE HOGWARTS," in huge bold font with a smaller caption of "Werewolf child tames savage beast,"
Teddy skimmed through the first few sentences, "...Fenrir Greyback leads pack under plot to infect Hogwarts children...using Remus Lupin...Plans were foiled by son...There's no mention of you two in here," Teddy said as he continued to skim, "...pack will be placed in court today at 1pm...parents claim Lupin must be fined for putting their kids in danger? That's bullshit!" Teddy shouted and several people on the streets turned to look at him.
"Ted keep it down," Roy mumbled as several people seemed to realize the boy making so much noise was the same boy that was on the front page of the Prophet.
"But they made it sound like it's his fault!" Teddy protested angrily, not wanting to read the rest of the article and and tossing it into the nearest garbage can.
"Relax Ted, anyone can tell he was forced into it. Even people who've killed others under the Imperio don't get fined," Vic said, slinging an arm around his friend, "Besides, there's no fine if there's no proof and there's not a soul in Hogwarts who would say shit about your dad. He's the best Defence teacher Hogwarts has had in like fifty years! Even the Slytherin's think so!" Vic shouted with much enthusiasm before he paused, "well…most of them anyways," he admitted with a shrug.
Teddy sighed in response.
"Come on, we should be getting back. It's almost dinner time," Teddy said as he lead the trio back to the entrance of the tunnel at the foot of the Shrieking Shack.
"Think we should close it up?" Roy muttered as they re-appeared back into the Shack's gloomy interior.
"Yeah sure but how?" Vic asked and Roy shrugged.
"Well. We'll just put the floorboards back for now and deal with it some other time," Teddy said, nodding his head as if agreeing with himself that this was the right thing to do. To be honest though Teddy was quite happy having found a secret passageway on and off the grounds and he honestly suspected that it could be useful in the future.
"Got some big ideas eh Ted?" Roy asked with a smirk as the boys moved the floorboards back to cover the hole.
"Who knows?" Teddy replied with a cheeky grin as he walked out of the room.
Getting through the tunnel and out through the roots of the Willow was easy enough. Getting away from the Willow's swinging roots and branches was not but after a few minutes the breathless boys managed it.
"OK," Teddy said as he collapsed on the ground, face to the sky, "next time we're gonna find an easier way to do this," he said with a groan as he panted for breath.
"Agreed," Roy mumbled as he too sat on the ground and tried to regain his breath.
"Hey, at least it'll always be exciting!" Vic shouted pessimistically and Teddy laughed.
"Come on. We'll get cleaned up, give your dad some chocolate and then get some dinner. I'm starving!" Vic said as he heaved Teddy to his feet.
In no time at all, all three boys had preformed their cleaning rituals in their respective dorm rooms and were out the door.
When Teddy and his friends had speed on down to the Hospital Wing they were brimming with excitement and Teddy couldn't wait to tell his father about his day.
"Hey Dad!" Teddy shouted as he reached the end of the Hospital Wing to where his father no doubt lay behind the thick privacy curtain.
"Guess what we fou-"
And Teddy paused when he snatched the curtain aside and realized that the bed was empty.
"Where'd he go?" Teddy wondered out loud, looking at his equally confused friends.
"Don't look at me," Vic protested, "when I woke up all you would hear was Madam Pomfrey demanding he stay in bed all day….and maybe a few more after that too," Vic added.
"That's very true. He should have stayed in bed," a stern voice said from behind them causing all three boys to jump slightly and turn around, "but I guess you can't argue with the Ministry," Madam Pomfrey went on with a disapproving frown on her face.
Teddy and his friends gave each other a look before Teddy braved the awkward situation and spoke up.
"So….umm….where's…uhh… Professor Lupin?" he asked, always finding it odd calling his father by that title.
Madam Pomfrey turned her attention to the boy that had spoken with a confused look as if it was the stupidest question in the world and Teddy felt the pit drop out of the bottom of his stomach at the witch's answer:
"He didn't tell you? He got called down to the Ministry."
Review please!
And if you still don't get it. The one little thing discussed here was that now we know how the Death Eaters got into Hogwart's grounds...just putting that out since I didn't think a sentence like this really fit in the dialogue :S
Next chapter might be out a bit late. I have tests and a presentation to prepare for...and by the time those are over with it'll be another weekend -_- But bear with me! Almost done!