Chapter 2
In a hallway illuminated by the half-moon, Teddy rested his elbows on a windowsill and observed the stillness of the night. It was late, and he was supposed to be patrolling the Hufflepuff wing of the castle; it was his night for prefect duty. In his hand he turned the precious stone – a smooth river rock with a funny dip opposite a narrowed end, making it shaped rather like a heart. The stone alone wasn't noteworthy, but the inscription on the back was, in Teddy's mind, priceless. In unstable, childish writing it read, 'LOVE DORA TONKS.'
Dora Tonks herself had inscribed the stone with a sharp bit of rock at the age of five, and presented it to her mother Andromeda. After Nymphadora and her husband Remus's deaths at the Battle of Hogwarts, Andromeda had raised their son, Teddy, with the help of the boy's godfather, Harry Potter. Before boarding the Hogwarts Express for his first year at the school, Andromeda had tucked the stone into Teddy's pocket.
"Mum's stone. I put a charm on it," she whispered to him. "For good luck." The crow's feet around Andromeda's eyes wrinkled as she smiled, gently pushing her grandson towards the train.
Teddy knew any luck charm had worn off in the five years since that day, but still he carried the stone with him; he was a rather sentimental fellow, and it was a memento of his parents.
The son of a metamorphmagus and a werewolf, Teddy had inherited the condition of the former, but not the latter (although he did feel rather drawn to the full moon and enjoyed the taste of rare meat). He had seen pictures of his mother with her trademark pink hair, and was beginning to wonder if he shouldn't go turquoise himself. He liked to think it would suit him rather well, perhaps better than the dirty blond he wore currently…
Teddy's musings were interrupted by a loud hiss from the corridor. He turned to see a portly black cat, ears back and yellow eyes glowing. It was Dame Norris, Filch's cat and a most disagreeable creature. Hogwarts legend held that she was descended from a line of Norrises, and every bit as spiteful as her predecessors. Presently she was glaring at the archway that led downstairs, into the castle's Slytherin wing.
Teddy had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. Probably someone out past curfew to snog their girlfriend. "Who's that?" he asked, then to the cat: "tattling again are we?"
Receiving no answer to either question, he pointed his wand to the space under the archway. "Revelio."
His spell easily overpowered a rather flimsy concealment charm to reveal a scrawny boy who had short auburn hair and heavy freckles. With hunched shoulders and deep-set eyes, his appearance overall was a bit harrowed. Teddy recognized him vaguely from the Slytherin table, but didn't know his name.
The boy turned to escape down the stairs and presumably to the Slytherin common room, but Dame Norris had blocked the narrow archway and swiped at the boy's ankles. He flinched and stepped back, muttering something rude to the cat.
"What's that you've got there?" Teddy asked, noticing what the boy had been trying unsuccessfully to block from Teddy's view. At first glance they appeared to be typical textbooks, but Teddy had glimpsed a title that piqued his interest – and a flicker of trepidation.
"Nothing," the boy said.
"Just give it here, mate." Teddy held out his hand.
As the cat swiped again, the boy could see that there was no escape. Glowering darkly, he chucked the two books towards Teddy. On the lower right corner of each cover was stamped 'HOGWARTS LIBRARY – RESTRICTED.'
"Late night studying?" Teddy asked. The boy didn't reply. Sighing, Teddy tucked the books under his arm. "Off to your common room then, I'll see these safely back to Madam Pince. Don't let me catch you after curfew again or I'm obligated to take House points." He looked round the boy to address the cat. "That's plenty, Dame Norris, off with you as well."
Dame Norris paused languidly to wash her paw, as though considering whether one such as herself should take orders from a prefect, before sauntering off down the corridor. No doubt she would be searching for more students breaking curfew. Immediately, the Slytherin boy slunk through the archway and down the stairwell.
Teddy waited a moment to make sure that the boy wasn't coming back up the stairs before turning back towards the opposite side of the corridor. He would have to take these books back to the library before finishing his prefect rounds for the night.
He looked down at the two books in his arms with a lingering curiosity. The first one was heavy, with a rigid black cover. The gold lettering in the center read 'ARTIFACTS DARK AND LIGHT' and in smaller print underneath, 'Published by the Royal Cult of the Magi, MDCCLXI,' and then in even smaller print, '1812 Translation by Rembrandt Von Deeter IV.'
The title was accompanied by a symbol of an eye above an upside down wand. Teddy considered the book's cover for a moment before tucking it back under his arm. It was the other one that had caught his eye.
The second book was bound in some type of animal hide, with the coarse hair still attached. The title at the top said simply 'WEREWOLF.'
Teddy had always had a particular fascination with werewolves – after all, his own father had been one. He felt drawn towards the subject because it was an opportunity to learn more about his father's plight – to connect with him in a way.
Holding the book up to the stream of moonlight coming through the window, Teddy gently lifted the cover. The title page showed that the title of the book was in fact much longer: Creatures of Evil Volume III: The Werewolf. This was accompanied by an illustration of a bipedal canine animal with saliva dripping from its jaws and huge, clawed hands and feet.
As Teddy quickly flipped through the pages, he could see that the text was a very old, cramped, and elongated script. Nonetheless, certain words jumped out at him. 'Beastlie,' 'derange'd,' 'hellhounds,' 'unfit for life.' Many of the pages had additional illustrations depicting werewolves attacking children, graphic injuries, and transformations from man to werewolf. It wasn't hard to imagine why the book was in the Restricted section. Teddy felt a rather cold pit in his stomach as he continued to turn the pages, unable to look away. He knew that werewolves had been hated and feared for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, but he had never seen this hatred up close and personal. Surely his father had never attacked someone so savagely…had he?
Teddy shook his head, as though waking himself from a stupor. He knew he shouldn't think that way. By all accounts Remus Lupin had been a kind, wise, and loving man who did everything possible to keep his affliction under control. He would never have allowed an innocent person to come to harm.
Close to the back of the book, Teddy flipped to a page marked 'Treatments.' He paused, a bit surprised, then concentrated hard to read the first paragraph, squinting to decipher the handwritten text.
'Although there be little hope for the Werewolf after he transform, one clever potion hath shewn some promisse in the treatments of these derange'd fellows. This partikular concoction, if drunk one gobletful each nite, for seven nites preceding the Full Moon, shall allow the creatur to retain the state of his human mynde, even throughout the transforme'd physical state. When prepare'd, take care not to understew the monkshood leafs, as they are moste poisonous in the raw. To the contrarie, a slip of raw monkshood into the goblet may beget a more desirablle effect.'
The book went on to list a recipe for Wolfsbane potion, which Teddy knew was still used today to treat werewolves, allowing their minds, if not their bodies, to resist the transformation.
As he went to close the book, he noticed that the corner of the page was folded, marking its place. Curious, Teddy looked again at the black book. Looking at it from the side he could see that indeed a page was marked in this book as well. He opened the book, unable to resist.
The marked page had long, flowing script, though much easier to read than the other book. At the top was a section title: 'Helga Hufflepuff and the Panacea.' Teddy read on.
'Though the tomb of Helga Hufflepuff is shrouded in secrecy, many scholars believe that the Hogwarts co-founder was buried with a portion of her family's substantial wealth. A small subset of scholars, to which we, the authors, belong, suspect that this family wealth includes one of the legendary artifacts, the Panacea. An object of Light, the Panacea is of the sacred alchemical tier. It bestows upon the blessed recipient the cure for any illness, sickness, pain, or disease. Its power is all conquering and unrivalled by any modern remedies magical or otherwise.'
In a flash, it clicked. Teddy's eyes skipped down the page to a paragraph near the bottom.
'Treasure-seekers have spent years hunting for the lost tomb, to no avail. Not a whisper of Hufflepuff's grave has been found, not a single Goblin coin or golden ring. Although serious seekers postulate that she is buried deep underground in the belly of the earth, citing a rumor which has existed since almost immediately after her death…'
Teddy snapped the book shut, certain of what the Slytherin boy had been up to. Werewolves…the Panacea…the marked pages. The boy was trying to cure lycanthropy.