The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition

Team: Holyhead Harpies

Position: Chaser 2 Never Have I Ever (S6)

Prompts Used: (object) invitation, (dialogue) "This isn't a game.", and (character) Teddy Lupin

Word Count: 2,216 words

Warning for Muggle!AU, Everyone Lives!AU, and a slight bit out of character. I would like to take this time to thank everyone who beta read this story for me. It truly means a lot that you would take the time out and help me like this. So, thank you very much!

Teddy Lupin had been surprised when he had received the invitation to the party that the most popular kid in his year had been holding. He and Fred Weasley II didn't get along at all. They'd been in some kind of feud since their reception year and Teddy just couldn't remember how it started. But he was pretty sure that it would end with this party. He'd make sure of it.

"What's that you've got there, Teddy?" asked his mother, noticing the piece of mail in her son's hand. "Is that your first secondary school party invitation?"

Teddy felt his face heat up at how excited his mother sounded at the prospect of him going to a secondary school party. He wished he'd thought to stuff the thing in his back pocket or something like. But then again, his mum would have found the invitation somehow.

"Yes, Mum," Teddy said, trying to hide the name of the person who was inviting him to the party. He knew that if his mother found out who it was, he'd be told that he shouldn't go. He knew he shouldn't go, but he wanted to experience what it was like to be the rest of his class. The ones that got the invitation every week.

"Whose party is it?" his father asked, having heard the words party and invitation all the way out in the living room. Teddy could swear his father had some kind of superpower with how well he could hear.

"Just some kid in my class," Teddy mumbled, trying to move past his parents. He could see the look of concern on his parents' faces and felt bad. They just wanted him to fit in so badly that they got excited about the smallest of things. "I don't even know if I really want to go."

"But Teddy, going to parties is a part of being a teenager," his father said, amber eyes glowing with memories of the past. "I remember this one party that me and my mates held when we were…."

"What your father is trying to say is that you need to get out there and make some friends," his mother said, using that comforting tone of voice that she usually used when she was trying to talk him into doing something. "We don't want you to be left out in some of the most formative things you'll experience during your childhood."

"But Mum," Teddy said, clutching the invitation in his hands still, "what if they only invited me as a prank?"

"Then you'll still go and you'll try and have fun and make the best of the worst-case scenario," his father said, a knowing tone in his voice. "What is making you so concerned about this party, Edward?"

His father only used his real name when he was in trouble or when he knew that something was wrong. Teddy looked down to see that his father was looking right at the name of the sender of the invitation. His father knew who was inviting him to the party and he still wanted Teddy to go.

"It's just…"

"You and Fred don't get on very well," his father said, watching as Teddy nodded his teal-haired head. "You think that this is some kind of trick that is being played on you and you don't trust it?"

Teddy nodded miserably.

"What if it's not a trick and Fred is holding out an olive branch to you, son? Don't you think you owe to yourself to go and find out?"

"Remus," his mother said, chiding his father for what he was saying.

"Nymphadora," his father answered gently, "he has to face up to his bullies sometime. Maybe this could be the start of something else entirely?"

"Or maybe he will end up hurt," his mother said, watching Teddy like he was still a small child that had been pushed down on the playground. "If Teddy doesn't want to go to this party then I stand behind his choice."

Teddy looked between his encouraging father and his mother's smiling, kind face. He knew that no matter his decision, his parents would support him. But he couldn't help but think his father was right about this. Maybe this could be the start of something else entirely and if he didn't go, he'd miss out on it.

"I guess I'll go," Teddy said, trying to sound cheerful about it. He couldn't help but think that the invitation had been a prank from his prankster enemy. But he'd go to the party and make the best of things like his father had suggested.

Teddy clutched the invitation tightly in his hand as he walked up the front walkway of the Weasley household. He'd have it ready just in case no one believed he'd been invited to the party. He could already see the disbelieving face on his godbrother, James Sirius, as he and Fred answered the door.

"Teddy," Fred said, smiling like they were the best of friends and not enemies, "I'm so glad that you could come. Come in! Make yourself at home! Have a drink." He held out a red solo cup full of something that Teddy had seen before.

Teddy didn't know whether he should take the cup or not. But in the end, he went with taking the cup as not taking it would have been bad manners.

"Thank you," Teddy said, moving into the crowded room. He looked around the Weasley house and could see numerous pictures of Fred with all of his friends.

"What is Lupin doing here?" someone asked, the voice sounded like Fred's long time friend Alaster Nevermore. "Did someone invite him as a prank or something like that?"

"I invited him," Fred said, moving forward to stand in between the two boys before a fight could break out. "If you don't like that you know where the door is, Alaster."

Alaster glared at Teddy before turning back to the conversation at hand with his two cronies that looked like they could easily beat up anyone there. Every once and while the blond boy would glare over his shoulder at Teddy as though to remind him he didn't belong here.

"Stick with us," Fred said, putting an arm around Teddy. "We have your back, right, James?"

James Sirius nodded. He seemed much more sure of Teddy's being there now than he had when Teddy had first arrived. Fred confirming that Teddy was supposed to be there must have done the trick in relieving that tension.

"It's been a long time since we've seen each other," James said, smiling at Teddy like he was some long lost friend and not someone that he and his best mate bullied for years. "Remember when we used to hang out all the time?"

Teddy did remember that. James's father was Teddy's godfather after all. Plus Teddy's father was like the father that James's father hadn't had the pleasure of getting to know. The families had spent plenty of time together over the years.

"I remember," Teddy said, grinning as the memories washed over him. "Do you remember the time that I convinced you that you could fly by jumping out of the tree in my yard?"

James laughed. "I remember thinking for one moment that I was truly doing it and then breaking my arm because I didn't."

All of a sudden a commotion came from the direction that Alaster had been left in. Teddy, James, and Fred all shared a look before racing back in that direction. When they reentered the room they found two guys fighting and a girl a little bit away from the pair, sobbing.

"What's going on here?" Teddy asked, looking at the scene in front of them.

"We were just playing a game that my parents told me about," Alaster said, a smug smile working its way across his face. "Why don't you three join us? It'll be fun and we can learn some new stuff about our new friend, Teddy, while we're at it." He turned a glare on Teddy as though asking him to say no. "What do you think, Lupin?"

"What game is it?" Teddy asked, wondering why Alaster was being so horrible to everyone. It almost seemed like Alaster was setting either Teddy or Fred or both of them up for something. He'd always thought that Fred was the one with the problem but Fred had been nothing but nice to him since he stepped foot in the house. Alaster seemed to be the true problem.

"Never Have I Ever," Alaster said, the smugness growing in his voice.

Teddy looked between his godbrother and Fred as though trying to work something out. He was pretty sure that Never Have I Ever wasn't a game.

"This isn't a game," Teddy said, hoping that he was right. He'd never been to a party like this before and he didn't know if it was a game or not. "It's a statement."

"No. It's a game. You state something that you haven't done and every time someone has done what you stated they take a drink."

"That really doesn't sound like a game."

"But it is. Are you in or out?"

Teddy looked back at James and Fred once more. He could see them nodding their heads reluctantly. He could understand why they'd be reluctant to join this game. It seemed like the sort of game that could and would ruin lives.

"I'll join your silly little game," Teddy said, knowing he'd probably regret it.

"I'll go first just to show you how the game works, alright?" Alaster said, rubbing his hands together gleefully. He kind of looked like a villain in one of those cartoon shows that Teddy's dad loved to watch with him on Saturday morning. "Never have I ever stolen a car."

Teddy blinked as a couple of the boys nearby looked at the ground and slowly took a drink from their cups. This was sort of like the game truth or dare. His mother had told him about the time that she and her friends at school had played and...Alaster was pure evil. He was getting people to admit to doing things without them even having to say a word. That was why those two guys were fighting when Teddy, James, and Fred had entered the room. That was why the girl had been sobbing her eyes out.

"Never have I ever had a secret crush on someone that I was once best friends with," Alaster said, making people boo at him. Some of them even left the room and went about conversations that Alaster had stopped for his important game. Alaster surveyed the scene, looking for anyone who had taken a sip from their cups.

Teddy felt his heart hammering in his chest. Fred and he had, at one point, been best friends. They'd done almost everything together. But there was a secret that he hadn't told anyone. One that he thought no one knew about. Teddy had had a crush on Fred since they'd started secondary school. He'd just hoped that no one would find out about it and make fun of him for it.

Fred lifted his cup nonchalantly and downed the whole cup. He looked around as though asking to be questioned about what he'd just admitted to. No one said a word. Not even James Sirius, who looked relieved for some reason.

Teddy took a quick breath and downed his cup. He could hear the explosion of chatter around the room. People were shocked and couldn't believe what was going on. Teddy couldn't blame them either. For years he and Fred had become like mortal enemies and now they were admitting to having crushes on someone that used to be their best friend.

"I didn't know you had a crush on me," Fred said, grinning as if he'd just won the lottery. "I've kinda had a crush on you since we were little kids. It's sort of the reason I started teasing you and being mean. I just didn't know how to express myself and I didn't think that you'd feel the same way towards me."

"I didn't know," Teddy whispered. "I've had a crush on you since the first year of secondary school." He looked around and then it dawned on him. Kids not knowing how to express themselves usually were mean to the people they had crushes on. He should have seen it from the start. They weren't enemies. Fred had a crush on him. "I was wondering…"

"Would you like to go on a date with me?" the two asked at the same time.

"Yes," they both said at the same time, causing the crowd around them to burst into laughter.

For the rest of the night, Teddy and Fred talked and drank and kissed. They had a lot of time to make up for that they could have been dating. But now they knew that they had all the time in the world.

Teddy would hold on to this party invitation for the rest of his life. It would be a reminder that things could change just as easily as that. It would be a reminder of the night his and Fred's love story began.

Also for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry:

Caligraphy: The Dark Lady: Task 10 - Write about trying to keep something hidden/secret.

August Auction: Day 17, Auction 1 Liza's son/Teddy (character) Teddy Lupin

I hope you all enjoyed The Night Our Love Began as much as I enjoyed writing.