Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry potter series, any of its characters, settings, ideas, plotlines or other such things. All of this belongs to the AMAZING J.K. Rowling!

Only 2 slight changes to cannon... Tonks and Sirius aren't related in this fic or else it could be a little weird AND Teddy never kissed Victorie XD

NEXT GENERATION

TEDDY POV

I'd met Carina Black on my first day at Hogwarts, it was as if the universe had been trying to draw us together. She was a scrawny kid, long black hair falling limply in front of her face. Her Hogwarts robes were at least two sized too big, her books being almost as tall as she was. To tell you the truth, she was adorably small.

I'd immediately been drawn to her, not dissimilar to a moth to light. Everyone knew of her heritage, of her mother's imprisonment in Azkaban, everyone had assumed she'd be sorted into Slytherin. I'd stood beside a young Ravenclaw boy, watching her be sorted. Contrary to most first years, she didn't look intimidated by the sorting hat. In fact, the hat barely had to touch the girls head before sorting her.

Gryffindor.

To say I had been shocked was an understatement; the whole hall had been shocked. Perhaps she was different to the rest of her family. It wouldn't have been the first time a Black had been sorted into Gryffindor. Funnily enough, she was more like her uncle than she cared to admit ...though at the time I had absolutely no idea of her relation to said Black.

Carina and I didn't exactly become friends until our third year. We had been seated next to each other during Transfiguration class. She'd had her friends and I'd had mine.

Carina's best friends were a prissy bunch of kids, a young Ravenclaw named Maria and a Gryffindor named Serina. I'd preferred to befriend those within my own house and hence hung around with a group of Gryffindor kids. We were rebel rousers, the type of people that teachers loved to hate.

Damion Feltcher, or 'headless', was my best friend and partner in crime.

Now, in the Fifth year, I couldn't imagine my life without her.

oOo

Carina came bouncing down the stairs that led up to the girls dormrooms, dressed in her quidditch gear. Unlike myself, Carina was rather good on a broomstick.

"Teddikins!" she mused "You're coming to watch the trials right?"

I nodded, smiling mischievously. There was absolutely NO WAY I was going to miss this year's trials.

She whacked me across the shoulder with her broomstick... what the hell?

"Don't be a twat Ted!" she said

I snickered, she knew me too well.

"I haven't even done anything yet!" I said, feigning innocence.

She sighed before pulling me alongside her. She and I had become the best of friends, in fact, she had become an honorary member of our group. Headless thought she was a laugh, Felicus (Rubens Quigg) had the hots for her and Piggy (Nicholas Trotts) followed her around like a lost puppy. The four of us got along like chalk and cheese.

Being a part of our group meant that she too had a nickname; we called her Ace... because it annoyed her. To my friends, I was Moony... just like my dad. Funnily enough, I had no idea that my dad had even been called that until a professor pointed it out to me. My friends had said that I acted 'weird' during full moons, the name just stuck.

Gulliver Helstrøm came storming into the dormroom, wrapping his arm protectively around Ace. They had been going out for at least three months at this point... and he still gave me the creeps. There was just something off about him, he looked at her as if she were a piece of meat. As much as I tried to put my dislike of him aside, it had proven to be impossible. I doubted anyone would be good enough for Ace... I was too protective of her.

"How's my prize beater shaping up?" he asked, being captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

She shrugged and placed a kiss on his cheek, I shuddered. Not only was his skin oily and pimply, he looked like a raging banshee.

Ace knew I hated Gulliver, there was very little that we didn't share with one another. She knew everything about me, more than anybody else would ever know. I talked to her about my parents deaths and she talked to me about her family issues. Her father was dead; her mother was a convicted death eater. Though death eater activity had slowed since the end of the third wizarding war, it had not ceased completely. Ace's mother had staged an assassination attempt; she had tried to kill my godfather.

The walk over to the Quidditch pitch seemed to take an eternity, Gulliver and Ace walking hand in hand. He was really beginning to piss me off!

As usual, Headless was being an annoying twat.

"Moony!" he said "moony, Moony, MOONY, MOONY!"

I looked over at him, glaring.

"What?" I hissed

He shrugged "Stop staring, you look like a stalker!"

I rolled my eyes at him, realizing I had spent the majority of the trip glaring at Gulliver.

"Think of it this way," he said "I doubt he'll be smiling at the end of trials!"

I tried my hardest to suppress a laugh, eying Headless mischievously. Headless and I were renowned for our pranks. Damion had gotten his nickname after he'd led the Headless hunt through the great hall at dinner time. Professor Longbottom had a fit! If it hadn't been for my calming him down, I suspect he would have been suspended. Neville could be a little melodramatic at times.

One time, during a muggle study's excursion, we decided to take a muggle driving test. Who knew driving down a one way street in the opposite direction could be so fun?

Okay... Yes, we were a little immature.

Headless was the Gryffindor seeker, a rather talented one at that. It was extremely rare for him not to catch the snitch. Everyone knew he was going to be selected as seeker again this year, why not have a little fun in the process?

Let's just say, making the snitch a port key was my idea. Thanks to my Uncle Harry we knew that they had flash memories... just those fourth years wait until they caught that darned thing.

oOo

Long story short, Headless and I had been given two weeks detention for stranding Hally Mcguire in the Forbidden Forrest. Apparently it had been extremely 'irresponsible' and 'dangerous'. HA!

In truth, we hadn't expected Grwarp to find her... that had been the icing on the cake... and it wasn't exactly our fault that she had decided to wear an abnormally large amount of jewelry that day either.

Just for the record.

As usual, Mcgonagall had reprimanded us and sent us back to the dorm. We had missed dinner and hence were a little ticked off. Piggy and Felicus had been able to sneak us some chicken but it was abnormally cold and a little slimy. We were definitely going to have to make a trip to the kitchens tonight.

The house elves had once been willing to give us leftovers; they'd even refrained from telling Mcgonagall of our midnight outings. Since we'd slipped laxatives into the pumpkin juice at the beginning of third year, they haven't quite been so welcoming.

Luckily for us, Peeves had grown rather fond of us. He often helped us sneak food out of the kitchens. Those house elves would do almost anything to rid of him. Sometimes he was a little aggravating, in fact, he couldn't keep a secret to save his life.

Headless had gone to track down peeves, leaving me alone and rather hungry.

I sat in the commonroom pretending to read my Potions textbook, trying to pass the time.

"What the fuck are you doing Moon?" Ace pestered.

I shrugged, not really knowing how to answer her question. "Studying?"

She shook her head before sitting down on my lap "Like hell you are!"

I smiled at her, looking her up and down. She was rather pretty, her grey eyes staring intently into mine.

"There's a perfectly good seat right here you know?" I said, motioning towards the vacant sofa beside me.

She laughed

"You're cozier" she said, resting her head against my chest.

I wrapped my arms around her and used my wand to light the fire. She grinned up at me, knowing too well I'd done it for her benefit alone.

Ace was abnormally thin and hence felt the cold worse than most. She shut her eyes and began listening to the beat of my heart.

With anyone else, this would have been awkward.

"I got a howler today" she whispered.

I smiled halfheartedly at her, brushing stray hairs away from her eyes. I had always tried to be supportive of her family problems... but I couldn't exactly relate to them.

"My gram called me a filthy blood traitor," she said "Said that I was even worse than my 'bastard of an uncle'"

I ran my fingers through her hair in an attempt to calm her, it seemed to be working. She was staring up at me, blinking back tears.

"She said that Sirius 'got what he deserved'"

Tears were falling freely down her face now, I pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head.

"You know that's not true kitten!" I said reassuringly.

I had always hated her grandparents, filthy purists they were. Under different circumstances, I would have asked her to move in with me.

She nodded into my chest, wiping her tears on my robe.

I don't know how long we stood there embracing one another; all I know is that Ace slept in my bed that night. As she often did lately. There was more than enough room for the two of us, she was so darned tiny!

Both she and I slept through breakfast, barely waking up in time for our first lesson. Somehow Ace found time to shower and do her makeup; I scarcely had enough time to change my robes. I honestly don't know how girls manage it.

"Come on Moon," she said "Professor Flitwick will chuck a fit if we're late again!"

I smiled at her, wrapping my arm around her shoulder.

" We can't have that now can we poppit?" I teased

She smiled up at me, wrapping her arm around my waist. We laughed along with one another, joking about nothing in particular. I couldn't imagine my life without her anymore. She was my best friend, and I was in love with her.

If only she felt the same way.