Chapter 12

- Quarter-Breed -

"I still can't believe all three of you said yes to Slughorn's dinner party." Ron repeated for the fourth time as they all walked back to the train station. The Ravenclaw boys had broken off into their own conversation and Teddy was struggling to listen to both.

Harry shrugged his coat further onto his shoulder, shivering. "Like I said, Ron, Dumbledore's want me to get to know him."

"Wish he'd tell you what for." Teddy said. Hermione smiled, speeding up slightly in her steps. Ron took the chance to whisper to Teddy and Harry. "Did you hear what she was saying back in the pub there, on me and her snogging?"

Teddy smirked, slowing down to join Freddie and the rest of the gang. "They seem nice." Freddie said. He grinned in return.

"Thanks Freddie-"

A blood curdling scream cut him off. Leanne, a Hufflepuff girl who'd been walking a few paces ahead of them, was looking at her friend in horror. Katie Bell was lying on the ground, her red coat bright against the white snow. "I warned her! I warned her not to touch it." She yelled to the others as Teddy ran to her side. He bent down to help pick Katie up but suddenly he body jerked away.

It was a truly horrific sight, Katie seemed to be having some sort of fit. Her body was being pulled left and right by some invisible force and suddenly she was raised off the ground, hovering above their heads. Her mouth was open in a silent scream before she fell unconscious to the ground. There was a rhythmic thumping sound and Teddy turned around to see Hagrid marching towards them.

"Don't get any closer! Get back, all of you!" He yelled over the whistling wind, bending down and picking up the unconscious Katie. "Do not touch that, except for the wrappings! Do you understand?"

Teddy turned around to see who he was talking to. Harry was staring at an open package Katie had dropped. Inside was a ominous opal necklace. Leonard was beside Harry in seconds flat, levitating the necklace along with the packaging.

"And you're sure Katie did not have this in her possession when she entered the Three Broomsticks?" Professor McGonagall asked, staring at the opal necklace lying on her desk. Leanne was standing beside Harry, Hermione, Ron and Teddy, her back slightly bowed.

"It's like I said. She left to go to the loo. And when she came back, she had the package." She said softly. "She said it was important that she deliver it."

"Did she say to whom?"

Leanne paused. "To Professor Dumbledore."

Mc Gonagall, although looking very worried, didn't seem the least bit surprised. "Very well. Thank you, Leanne. You may go." She nodded as Leanne left, then her wise gaze turn to the other students. "Why is it when something happens, it is always you four?"

"Believe me, Professor," Ron sighed. "I've been asking myself the same question for six years."

The door to the Transfiguration classroom opened and a greasy haired figure walked in. "Oh, Severus." McGonagall motioned to the necklace. Snape lifted it with his wand, beginning to inspect it thoroughly. "What do you think?" She asked.

"I think Ms. Bell," he said in his usual deep voice, "is lucky to be alive."

"She was cursed," Harry blurted out and Teddy gave him a short sideways glance. "Wasn't she? I know Katie. Off the Quidditch pitch, she wouldn't hurt a fly. If she was delivering that to Professor Dumbledore, she wasn't doing it knowingly."

McGonagall was still staring at the necklace as Harry spoke, ringing her hands slowly. "Yes, she was cursed."

There was a silence in the classroom. Teddy glanced at Harry one more time and could tell he was about to say something stupid, and he did. "It was Malfoy."

Both professors turned around slowly. "That is a very serious accusation, Potter" McGonagall said, a silent warning in her voice.

"Indeed." The Potions Master agreed, his dark eyes boring into Harry's. "Your evidence?"

"I... I just know."

Teddy couldn't help himself from wincing. He wanted nothing more than to sink into the ground and never surface again. Snape cold expression turned even more icy. "You. Just. Know. Once again, you're astonished with your gifts, Potter. Gifts mere mortals can only dream of possessing." Teddy twiddled his fingers behind his back nervously. He knew Snape was angry at him but he could feel his fury in the air. "How grand it must be to be the Chosen One."

McGonagall stood forwards. "I suggest you go back to your dormitories. All of you."

Teddy was the first to leave the room, breathing in the calm air outside the classroom. He relaxed further when he saw his four friends waiting for him in the large hallway. "What happened?" Terry asked.

"Not here." He said, looking up and down the hall.

"So Katie was under an Imperius curse?" Terry was sitting on the edge of his bed. For the first time since Teddy arrived in the Ravenclaw Tower he wasn't busy tending to his broom or doing his homework.

"And that curse necklace was made for Dumbledore?" Freddie gasped, sitting on the large mat. "Golbin's toes!"

Teddy was busy packing up his school bag, grabbing a spare bed sheet, clothes for the morning and some of the sweets Freddie had offered him. "That's what they said."

"Who would do such a thing?" Terry said, his twisted into one of slight loathing.

Teddy stuffed a crumpled up shirt in his bag. "Harry reckons it was Draco." Terry and Leonard looked at each other, they both look intrigued.

"Who do you reckon it was?"

"I don't know, Freddie." He said, which was a half lie. He knew a Death Eater had to someone be behind it, he didn't know their name. "Anyway, I'm off." He pulled the bag over his shoulder.

"Have fun." Freddie said, then blushed. But Teddy just laugh, walking to the door.

"Alright. See you guys in the morning." He closed the door, his footsteps echoing as he walked down the hall. Freddie watched as the door closed behind his friend.

"Have fun?" Terry said, an eyebrow raised.

"Well what would you say to a Werewolf just before a full moon?"

Terry rolled his eyes, his lips pursed as he laid back on his bed and stared at the ceiling. Leonard seemed to be deep in thought, sitting on one of the tall piles of books surrounding his bed. "Half-Werewolf, technically."

Freddie cocked his head. "Hey, if Werewolves are considered half-breeds and Teddy's half Werewolf... would that make him a quarter-breed?" A small smile spread on Leonard's face while Terry let out an exasperated sigh. "I mean, just think about it."

"Maybe you should ask Tesdon." Leonard suggested.

"So where exactly is he going for the night?" Terry asked, scrunching a piece of parchment into a small ball and throwing it up in the air before catching it then repeating the action. The starry ceiling cast hundreds of small beams of light around the room.

"To his old room I think." Freddie said, putting on his pyjama's. "Down of the first floor."

"Has anyone seen his room?"

"No, Dumbledore enchanted it," Leonard said, strolling across the room towards the large windows. "So it allows only Teddy and the professors to go inside. Heard that a student once confused the charm with a Polyjuice Potion on a full moon, but Dumbledore quickly changed that."

Terry sat up suddenly. "A student let Teddy out on a full moon. Are they nuts?"

Leonard and Freddie's eyes narrowed at the tall boy. But before Freddie could say anything Leonard surprisingly chipped in. "Teddy's not dangerous on full moons, Ter. He's fully in control."

"You don't know that! He still left his room didn't he?"

Freddie sat on the edge of his bed. "Teddy said it was because he could sense his father in the castle, although he didn't know it at the time."

Terry didn't seem convinced as he tossed the ball of paper into a nearby bin. "Yeah, but what if he accidentally bite someone?"

"Like I said," Leonard leaned against the window pane. "He's half Werewolf, we don't even know if he can pass on the lycanthropy disease."

"Draco got scratched, in Teddy's third year."

Leonard rolled his eyes as if he'd said the most stupidest thing he'd heard all day. "One, Werewolves aren't made by scratches, only bites and two, Teddy was in human form at the time. And why is this suddenly important to you?"

"This has always been important to me." Terry said, pointing to himself as he shouted. "Hogwarts is supposed to be a safe place, yet each year we've been put in danger. First it was a serpent-"

"Basilisk." Leonard corrected.

"Next there were escaped prisoners and Dementors, then life threatening competitions, next Umbridge and now Werewolves." Freddie and Leonard looked at her each then shrugged. "You've guys have been put in danger so many times you don't even recognise them as dangerous! Daniel, you agree with me, right?"

Daniel finally looked up, his face emotionless, but not as much as usual. "Teddy's nice." He said, surprising all four boys with his response.

"Terry, if Teddy was so dangerous he probably would've attacked someone by now." Freddie tried reasoning with his best friend. But Leonard just looked at the window, glancing up at Leonard occasionally.

"Well, maybe he's already tried."

Leonard's eyes widened in shock. "Terry, you're not suggesting..."

"What if he had given Katie that necklace-?"

"Enough!" Leonard shouted and the room feel silent. "Terry, I don't know what it is you have against Teddy but even I know he wouldn't do anything to hurt anyone. Just give the guy a chance." But Terry had already walked out of the room, the door slamming behind him.

Freddie huffed. "What's his problem?"