Chapter Six: Tick, Tock
I: Midnight
Not much was known about how lycanthropy would affect the progeny of those afflicted with the disease. After all, there had been very few children born to werewolves over the years: the stigma, the prosecution, and the lack of monetary funds all made it very difficult to raise a family.
Therefore, when Teddy Lupin was born, unbeknownst to him at the time (naturally), his family had watched over him with a degree of trepidation. His first full moon, only a few days after he was born, was an event witnessed with a great deal of anxiety: would he transform into a cub? Would he show any sort of reaction whatsoever?
The effects of the full moon on Teddy Lupin only became visible when he grew up. He would become restless, unable to sleep. He would suddenly be very cold, and then very hot, very hungry, and then very full. He would walk around the house, trying to tire himself out, but would find himself with more energy than he had ever had before. He would develop a taste for barely cooked meat, he'd be thirsty like never before and his senses would sharpen so that he could smell, hear and see things that he could not at any other time of the month.
The full moon was an irritation to him. It meant a sleepless night, a heavy-headed morning after. But he thanked his stars every day that it was nothing worse.
A sleepless night was nothing compared to transforming into a werewolf.
That Thursday was the first full moon of the school year, and though Teddy attempted to sleep, he found that he couldn't. At around midnight, he slipped into the common room with his schoolbooks - at least if he couldn't sleep, he might be able to get some work done. After all, he did have a Potions essay due in a few days, and despite Ella's constant nagging, he had yet to start the reading.
Settling down on a sofa in the common room, he propped open a copy of The Trials and Tribulations of 19th Century Potionmaking and searched the index for the chapter on the Draught of Peace. He found it, and flipped to the correct page to begin reading.
He'd barely read two pages, however, when he heard footsteps. Alfie Hayes crept out of the tunnel to the fifth-year boys dormitory. His brown hair was slightly mussed and he was wearing his orange and blue striped pajamas. His green eyes, however, were wide open.
"You couldn't sleep, huh?" he said, climbing onto the sofa next to Teddy.
Teddy shrugged, looking up from the textbook. "It's a full moon. You know how it is."
He peered over at Teddy's book and made a face. "So you decided to work instead? Merlin, you're boring. You're becoming more like Ella."
Teddy raised an eyebrow. "Are you implying Ella's boring, because she certainly won't like that."
"Merlin, no!" Alfie went somewhat white. "Don't tell her I said that, please!"
"Relax," Teddy laughed.
"You know," Alfie shuffled around on the sofa slightly, turning onto his side and propping his head up with his hands. "We haven't gotten to know Leo Torricelli yet. And his date with Ella is getting awfully close. The Hogsmeade weekend is… well, it's next weekend."
"I know," Teddy sighed. "Things have just been so busy lately… the interviews, the… workload. Everything."
"Yeah, I know what you mean." Alfie paused. "Still, she's our friend, right?"
"Yeah."
Silence for a few moments, and then Alfie added, "So how do we talk to him?"
"Who?"
Alfie rolled his eyes. "Torricelli."
Teddy shrugged. "I suppose we just go up to him and… start talking I guess. I don't really know. Do you think Ella's going to like the fact that we're talking to him?"
"Why wouldn't she? We're her best friends and he's her boyfriend."
"They're going on a date. They're not technically dating yet."
Alfie looked rather puzzled at this. "Wait, but they're going on a date- doesn't that mean they're dating?"
"Yes, but…" Teddy hesitated. "Wait. I don't actually know. Relationships."
"Tell me about it."
There was another brief silence. Teddy opened his mouth to break it by asking Alfie whether Ella had mentioned anything about the date of late, when both boys were distracted by the appearance of a tall blonde with a Head Girl badge pinned to her school robes.
Alfie immediately went very red and began to smooth his hair down. "I'm not here," he whispered to Teddy, who gave him a rather severe look.
"Please, Alfie. In those pajamas you are very much noticeable."
Alfie went an even brighter shade of red. Teddy couldn't help but think that his face rather clashed with his nightclothes.
"Hello Teddy, Alfie," said Bella Watson.
"Hey Bella," Teddy smiled at her. "Could you not sleep?"
She shook her head. "Nah, I thought I'd… well... seventh year's rather stressful, and sometimes things just get a bit… stressful, and I just needed to, you know, get out of my dormitory for a while." She gave the boys what Teddy thought was a rather forced smile. "But, um, I should go back in. I'll see you later."
She began to walk towards her dormitory, but paused for a second and doubled back. "If you guys could… er… not mention that you saw me, I'd be grateful. It's just that, well, Laura Shipkins has it out for me -"
"We noticed," said Teddy.
"Right. Um, well, if she finds out about this… you know, me leaving the dormitory in the middle of the night because I'm… stressed, she might not be too happy and she might make a big deal and say I can't handle being Head Girl and Seeker and everything. So if you could… just not mention it."
"We won't," promised Teddy.
Bella smiled. "Thanks. Night."
"'Night."
It was only once Bella had disappeared into her dormitory that Teddy realised that when she had entered the common room, she had not, in fact, been entering from the direction of her dormitory. Rather, she had been coming in from outside the Hufflepuff basement. And the library was most certainly closed at this hour.
Although both he and Alfie kept their promises to not bring up the encounter again, he couldn't help but wonder where Bella Watson had been so late at night.
.oOo.
II. Smith, as compared to Macmillan
Defense Against the Dark Arts was miserable.
It wasn't normally so bad. It wasn't normally bad at all - in fact, Defense was one of those classes that Teddy found he actually quite enjoyed. But today, Professor Macmillan had been in what could only be described as a terrible, terrible mood. Their recent compositions hadn't satisfied him at all, and he lectured them for what felt like hours about how they all needed to start putting in more effort or the lot of them would fail their O.W.L.'s.
Needless to say, such a proclamation made for a rather sombre walk to Potions. Teddy and Alfie had both scraped A's; Ella had gotten an E and was actually upset about it, because she was aiming for an O in Defense. None of the three, however, dared to complain within earshot of Daisy Shipkins, who was raging about the P that she had received.
She was still complaining loudly when they entered the dungeon. Teddy would've thought that she might be a little embarrassed about her grade (he knew that he would be), but she didn't seem to care who heard - as long as they agreed that she most certainly did not deserve it and that Macmillan was being horribly unfair.
"A P!" she exclaimed for what must have been the thousandth time. "How could he give me a P?"
"It's unfair, for sure," Morna Clemmons assented.
"I just don't understand!" Daisy whined, dumping her bag on the table and sitting down huffily. Teddy noticed that she still had her essay in front of her, and was looking at it with a mixture of disdain and contempt. "This should not have gotten a P! I worked really hard on this, you know!" Her voice quivered slightly as tears welled up in her eyes.
Ella groaned. "Please tell me she's not going to cry."
Daisy let out a tiny sob.
"Oh Merlin." Ella rolled her eyes.
"You'd cry if you got a P," Alfie pointed out.
Ella shot him a look. "I would never get a P."
Alfie paused. "Fair point."
"She's just crying for attention." Ella glanced over at Daisy, who was now surrounded by a gaggle of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw girls. "And it's working too - have you ever seen anything more nauseating?"
It was at this moment that Professor Smith entered the dungeon holding a stack of papers, and immediately noticed Daisy - it was somewhat impossible not to, considering that the vast majority of the class was gathered around her. Instead of commanding everyone to go back to their seats as Teddy had expected, he strode over to the distraught girl. The others parted to let him through.
"Is everything alright, Miss Shipkins?" he asked.
Daisy, whose cheeks were streaked with tear-tracks, shook her head. "No, Professor."
"Why are you crying?"
"Professor Macmillan gave me a P on my Defence Against the Dark Arts homework," the witch choked out. "And I w-worked r-really hard on it." Her voice trembled, and she dissolved into tears once again.
Ella shook her head with disgust and muttered, "Some people," under her breath. Teddy wasn't sure how he felt; somehow, he didn't think Daisy was just crying for attention - after all, it must be rather disheartening to do badly on something that you'd put a lot of effort into it. He wasn't torn up about getting an A on his assignment because, if he was completely honest with himself, he hadn't worked very hard on it.
"That is unfortunate," Professor Smith said, shaking his head. "Though perhaps this will cheer you up." He rifled through the papers he was holding and extracted one, handing it to Daisy, who glanced at it.
Magically, the tears vanished.
"An E?" She blinked up at Smith.
Smith nodded. "Any teacher who gives you a P, Miss Shipkins, clearly doesn't have a clear understanding of what you're capable of. Well done."
"Oh no." Ella grimaced.
"What?" Teddy asked.
"Smith gave her an E."
"Yeah, I heard."
"Smith gave her an E," Ella repeated. "This is going to make her more unbearable than normal."
.oOo.
III. Macmillan according to Laura
If you'd told Alfie Hayes that, at fifteen, he would be sporty, he probably wouldn't have believed you. He'd hated sports in primary - he'd dreaded the days when the teachers would take them outside to play team sports, he'd hated when other kids picked the teams because he was always picked last.
He didn't realise that the only reason he hated sports was because he hadn't found the right one yet.
In his first Flying lesson, it had become very clear, very quickly that Alfie Hayes was an absolute natural on a broom. Despite having never flown before, he showed the greatest skill in the class - somehow, he just instinctively got how to handle a broom, how to take to the skies. It was no wonder that in his second year, he had become the youngest Chaser in a very, very long time to be named to the Hufflepuff Quidditch team.
That evening, at the first and second string team meetings, it hit him that it was his fourth year on the team. Not even Bella Watson, who'd been named to the team in Alfie's third year upon the graduation of Hufflepuff's previous Seeker had been playing for that long. In fact, as he glanced around the room, he was probably the player who'd been on the team for the longest, apart from Macey Longstone, the captain.
An idea flashed into his head - Macey would be graduating this year; the captain position would be left wide open, and perhaps Macmillan would pick him.
He dismissed it quickly. There was no way Macmillan would pick him for the position. He wasn't nearly as good as some of the other players, and he'd never had to lead anyone before in his life. Whether he liked it or not, he simply would not make a good captain. There was no point in getting his hopes up; he might as well stay a Chaser, for at least he knew that that was what he was good at.
"Right," Macey Longstone began, brushing strands of her dark, corkscrew curls away from her face. "We ought to start, now that - wait," she paused, glancing around the room, and her eyebrows narrowed. "Where's Bella Watson?"
Silence. Alfie glanced around quickly; he couldn't believe he hadn't noticed, but the Head Girl was very much absent. He couldn't help but think that this was most unlike her. Bella was always on time for everything and it was one of the things he admired her for.
Faye Keyes, the first string Keeper, shrugged. "Maybe she forgot."
No, Alfie thought, people like Bella Watson did not simply forget.
Laura Shipkins snorted and tossed her hair (rather like a horse). "I knew this would happen," she said, addressing her words to the person next to her, but speaking loudly enough for the entire room to hear. Some of the sixth years exchanged exasperated looks, but Laura continued: "She's simply overextended herself, as I knew she would."
"Yes, Laura, very good," Macey sighed. "I'm sure it's got nothing to do with being Head Girl - she's probably just caught up with something."
Yes, Alfie thought, yes, that makes more sense.
Laura shrugged. "Suit yourself, Macey. We'll see who's right when she gets here. If she gets here."
It was at that moment that the door to the Quidditch team room opened, letting a cold stream of air rush in. Bella Watson entered, looking rather frazzled: her hair was a bit of a mess (though Alfie couldn't help but marvel at how it could look both messy and perfect at the same time), and her face was slightly flushed. "Sorry," she said breathily. "I'm sorry, I had a meeting with Macmillan that ran over. Head Girl stuff, you know."
An evil glint had appeared in Laura's eye. "Of course we do."
Bella shot her a look. "I didn't realise that the second string team was going to be here, Macey," she said.
Macey opened her mouth to reply, but Laura cut in: "Spending an awful lot of time with Macmillan lately, aren't you, Watson?"
Bella gave her a funny look. "Yes, and Longbottom, and Flitwick, and Klossy - all the Heads of Houses oversee my work, you know they do."
Laura muttered something under her breath that Alfie didn't quite catch. Bella, however, certainly did, and turned tomato red.
"If you're quite done, Laura," Macey said emphatically. "Perhaps we should move on to Quidditch. We're playing Ravenclaw in a few weeks, and we're completely unprepared!"
"We've been training," Lucas Mills, sixth-year, and Macey's fellow Beater pointed out. "It's not like we haven't been training, and the team is largely the same as it was last year, with the exception of Hannah," he nodded at a small third-year girl with large dark eyes. "We'll be fine, Macey."
"We've barely gone over Plan A, Lucas!" the captain snapped. "Ravenclaw's been working for weeks - they've probably gone over Plans A, B and C, and thrown Plan D in for good measure. I know that Piers McKone, he's probably had the team training since the summer."
"They hadn't selected the team in the summer," Alfie pointed out.
"Yes, but -" Macey floundered for a second. "You know what I mean. If we want to win the cup this year, we've got to focus. Okay?"
"Okay," the team echoed, dully.
"Again, with more enthusiasm."
"OKAY!" they chorused, louder.
"That's more like it."
.oOo.
IV. Snap
Victoire Weasley loved Hogsmeade weekends. She loved being able to leave the castle for a whole day and do whatever she wanted in town, with no adult supervision whatsoever. She could buy as many sweets from Honeydukes as she wanted, go to the Shrieking Shack without having to listen to her mother complain about how tacky haunted houses were, drink butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks with her friends and watch the sunset before going back to school. Occasionally, she'd even run into her favourite uncle, George, who owned Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and he'd slip her a few extra sweets and some unreleased joke merchandise that made her the centre of attention in the Gryffindor common room.
That morning, she met up with Riley Carrow after breakfast and they walked across the Hogwarts grounds to the gates. Victoire and Riley always spent their Hogsmeade weekends together - the Gryffindor thought it just wouldn't be as much fun without her best friend at her side.
For that's who Riley was to her: her best friend. She'd felt guilty saying it at first because, after all, Victoire and Teddy had been best friends since before they could remember. She'd felt as if calling Riley her best friend was some kind of betrayal. She still felt close to Teddy, but as they were in different years, they simply didn't see each other as frequently as they would like. She had classes with Riley, and they spent most of their time together - it was only natural that they would become close, and quickly.
It took her a while to realise that she could have more than one best friend. While there were some things that she'd only talk to Riley about, there were others that she'd be more comfortable sharing with Teddy. She assumed that he felt the same way - after all, he was incredibly close to both Alfie and Ella, and she was sure that he had a similar relationship to them as she did to Riley.
"What do you want to do when we get down to the village?" Riley asked, wrapping her Slytherin scarf tightly around her neck. "Can we get a butterbeer? My throat kind of hurts."
"Butterbeer's good," Victoire replied. She loved The Three Broomsticks; it was a great place to hang out with other people from school, to relax and socialise. She wasn't awfully fond of butterbeer - it was a bit too sweet for her tastes - but she drank it anyway in an attempt to be social. After all, it was easier to just drink it once in a while than to explain why she was having something boring, like apple juice.
They reached the gates, ticked their names off Knobbles' list of students permitted to go to the village, and passed through. Victoire surreptitiously glanced back, trying to see whether she could discern the remains of the dark mark on the iron rods. She could not; the teachers had made sure that any trace of it had long since been destroyed.
A slight movement near the gates caught her eye, and the blonde spotted Tabitha James standing by the bushes. It was amazing, Victoire thought, how she managed to blend in; she was wearing simple black robes, no make-up, and her hair was in a ponytail. She was completely unassuming (strange, considering that Victoire had thought her rather striking), and many students passed her by without a second glance.
Riley noticed the direction of her attention and glanced back, but said nothing. Instead, she seemed to become somewhat uncomfortable. Victoire couldn't fathom why. Tabitha James had seemed like a genuinely nice person, who was fair and committed to finding the people who'd kidnapped the poor muggleborn girls. Her interview hadn't been bad at all - Tabitha had even been nice enough to ask about her father, who she'd apparently been in contact with on a Gringott's investigation a few years ago.
But Riley, she realised with a start, had yet to talk about her interview. She must have had one - Victoire remembered her leaving class on her way to the Auror's office - but she just hadn't mentioned it.
"How was your interview with her?" asked Victoire.
"Who?"
"Tabitha James." Victoire jerked her chin in the direction of the Auror. "You didn't say anything."
"I must have forgotten," Riley replied dismissively. Victoire noticed that she didn't make eye contact with her. "It was fine."
"What did she ask about?"
"I don't remember."
"What did you think of her?"
Shrug.
"Did she mention your parents?"
"I said it was fine, okay?" Riley snapped, her green eyes flaring. "Leave it alone, Victoire! Why are you so pushy?"
Her outburst shocked Victoire slightly; she knew that Riley could be mean and temperamental - she'd seen the Slytherin's actions towards others - but she'd never acted like this towards her. "What's wrong with you? What did James say to you?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
This was a barrier that Victoire had been coming up against a lot lately. It seemed that whenever she asked Riley anything remotely personal, the other claimed she didn't want to talk about it, and quickly changed the subject. At first, Victoire had been accommodating, but now it was getting to be a bit much.
"You never want to talk about anything!" she shouted back.
Riley had the gall to look surprised at her tone, infuriating the Gryffindor further.
"What, so you can yell and snap, but I can't? Come on, Riley! I get that you're going through a lot, and that none of this can be easy, but it's not easy for anyone! Rosalind Kettleburn lost her best friend and has no idea what happened to her - you don't see her going around biting the heads off the friends she's got left. The muggleborns in this school must be terrified right now, because they think they could be next! You're not the only one who's being affected by this whole stupid situation, so stop feeling so … so … victimised."
Riley stared at her. "Victoire, I-"
"You know what," Victoire said, disgusted, "I don't want to hear it."
"But I'm sorry! I didn't mean to snap."
"Then what did you mean to do, Riley? We haven't talked about anything meaningful since term started - I try to tell you that you should talk to your Head of House about the bullying, but you don't want to talk about it. Any time anyone says anything to you, you run away to your Slytherin common room. You disappear for hours on end without telling me where you're going and you leave me worried."
"You shouldn't worry then!" Riley exclaimed suddenly.
"I thought you said you were sorry!"
"You didn't accept my apology," the Slytherin said, spitefully.
"Because you only apologised for one thing."
"So I'm supposed to apologise for you worrying about me? Why do you even care so much, Weasley?"
Victoire stopped in her tracks. She turned to stare at the Slytherin girl, and said, coldly: "Fine, Carrow. I won't care anymore."
"Fine," said Riley, her green eyes betraying no emotion. "You know what, I don't think I want to go for a butterbeer anymore."
She stormed off, leaving a steaming Victoire behind her. "Fine," the blonde yelled after her. "Go around alone, Carrow! You have no friends anyway!"
Perhaps, she thought contemptuously, 'best friend' was an exclusive term rather than a category. And Riley Carrow was most certainly not her best friend.
She tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder, and marched down into Hogsmeade in search of Teddy Lupin.
.oOo.
V. The first date
The Knightley Bookshop was in an alley behind the Three Broomsticks, wedged in between two residences. It was small, with small window displays and a small square sign that could easily be missed if you didn't know what you were looking for, but the shop was still full of witches and wizards perusing the many titles on its wooden shelves.
On that Saturday, Ella Anderson and Leonardo Torricelli were near the back of the shop, browsing titles in the 'Transfiguration' section. Ella couldn't help but think that there was something poetic about it: they had bonded over a Transfiguration project, and here they were, on their first date, chatting casually about books on the subject and skimming through the latest titles.
"This place is amazing," she marvelled, as she extracted The Transfiguration Conundrum from the shelves. "I've been looking for this everywhere, but both Flourish and Blotts and Winklemeyer and Blotts said that they didn't stock it anymore."
Leonardo nodded. "They're supposed to have odd sorts of books here. The kind that you can't find anywhere else."
"Isn't that the best kind?" said Ella dreamily.
Leonardo laughed. "Definitely. There's something about reading books that no one else has that has a special kind of charm to it."
"It's like you're part of a special club," she assented, running her fingers across the spines of the books. "You've got knowledge that only a few other people have."
"Exactly."
There was silence for a moment - not an awkward silence, but one that came about naturally as they both took a few moments to look at the books nearest to them and add them to their growing piles of books to be purchased.
It was Ella who broke the silence. "I'm glad you brought me here."
Leonardo blushed slightly. "I'm glad you like it."
She grinned back. "I might not have found it otherwise - I usually come to Hogsmeade with Teddy and Alfie, and they have a time limit for me when it comes to going to Winklemeyer and Blotts. I get one hour, and then we move on."
"That doesn't sound very nice of them."
"Oh it's fine," she said, waving a hand dismissively. "It works well, actually - Alfie only gets an hour inside the Quidditch shop, so I don't have to spend too long looking at brooms and polishers and mechanical hands that catch the snitch for you - honestly, what is the point? Surely you'd want to catch the snitch yourself."
"I'm sure," Leonardo agreed, although he looked as if he didn't really have an opinion.
Ella continued on: "And then we all go spend time together in the Three Broomsticks, or we take our butterbeers outside if the weather's nice. It's fun to spend time with them, but at the same time, I really like...you know, this. Being in a bookshop with no time limit, browsing the shelves, buying a mountain of books - and you know, there's something nice about doing it with another person. Like Teddy and Alfie come with me to Winklemeyer and Blotts, but they're not as interested - Alfie especially, you can practically see him counting down the minutes until we leave." She laughed lightly. "But yeah, I'm just really glad that you brought me here. Not just because of the books, but because...you know, because you're here too. It's nice to have you here. I really like you, you know, and I'm glad that… you know, we didn't just do the Transfiguration project and leave it at that. I'm glad that you asked me on a date, and I'm glad that I accepted."
She had been so wrapped up in her little monologue that she hadn't noticed the subtle changes in Leonardo's expression. It was only when she concluded that she noticed him staring at her, his mouth slightly open.
"Wait, what?" he asked. "A… date?"
.oOo.
VI. Stew
For someone who didn't like being alone, Riley Carrow was finding herself alone fairly often these days.
She walked around Hogsmeade Village quietly, not stopping, not going into any of the shops, just walking. Hogwarts students were milling around, but for once, no one seemed to pay her any heed. She was just the lonely, invisible girl; no one cared one bit what happened to her. She could disappear and no one would notice - and even if they did, they wouldn't care.
She caught sight of the Three Broomsticks and a pang ran through her - she should be in there with Victoire, laughing about something or the other, instead of out here in the icy wind, all alone. She quickly changed directions and headed for the small green patch near the edge of the village. She was unlikely to see anyone she knew - or rather, anyone she cared about - there.
Theoretically, she could just walk into the Three Broomsticks. Theoretically, she could just go up to Victoire and apologise for the way she'd been shutting her out. Theoretically, she could take it all back, and they could talk, and she could tell her everything.
But practically, it just wouldn't work. Riley Carrow, the girl who seemed fearless, was too scared to face her best friend.
(There was a reason, after all, why she was not in Gryffindor).
If only Victoire hadn't brought up Tabitha James. If only she'd stayed well away from the whole mess of the kidnappings. If only she wasn't so damn curious and touchy-feely. It was all her fault.
And yet, deep down, Riley knew that she couldn't blame her. Secretly, she was glad that Victoire had cared enough to ask, to show concern, and yet she had still just blown her off, shouted at her like she was in the wrong when really, Riley was bursting to talk to someone about what was going on.
But would Victoire even understand?
Though she would never admit it, Riley had always been jealous of Victoire: she was a Weasley. All her family was in the Order, they were the kinds of people that wizarding society idolised, that everyone wanted to be like. She was a Gryffindor. She was everything Riley had ever wanted to be.
It was too bad that Riley would never be Victoire. She knew it, and everyone else knew it too - especially Tabitha James. Just the thought of Tabitha made Riley want to throw up; she hated her with every fibre of her being.
And, because the world is full of unpleasant coincidences, particularly if you happen to be Riley Carrow, the very object of her hatred chose that exact moment to appear in front of her.
"All alone, Carrow?" Tabitha James asked (although it was more an observation than a question).
Riley made a big deal of looking over both her shoulders, before facing Tabitha and shrugging. "Gee, looks like it, doesn't it?"
"No friends?"
The Slytherin bristled, but attempted not to show it. "They're busy."
The Auror raised a knowing, infuriating eyebrow. "No friends then. Not surprising."
"And just what do you mean by that?"
"Well, I've only ever seen you with that Weasley girl. Not surprised she blew you off - a Weasley would never be friends with a Carrow."
"Then you don't know Victoire," Riley snapped.
Tabitha shrugged. "Maybe not, little Carrow. But you don't know what she told me in her interview."
Riley paused. "What?"
"You heard me." A smug smile spread across Tabitha's face.
No, the younger witch thought. There was no way that Victoire had said anything about her. She was too loyal a friend, she wouldn't.
And yet she was angry at Riley - who knew how long the irritation had been building up?
"You don't know what you're talking about," she told Tabitha, but was decidedly less sure of herself.
"What are you doing out here?" the Auror asked, abruptly changing tracks. "There's no one else around."
"Except you."
"Where I go is my business, not yours. Why are you here?"
"I wanted to be alone."
"Funny place to be alone."
"How so? As you said, there's no one else around."
"Not meeting anyone?"
"No."
"Good place to meet someone if you don't want to be overheard, isn't it?"
"I said I'm not meeting anyone."
"Really?" she feigned surprise. "I didn't hear you."
Like hell you didn't, Riley thought. "Listen, I have to go."
"To meet someone?"
"No! Are you thick, or something? I'm going back to the castle."
She turned and walked away from the Auror, feeling sick to her stomach. She wanted to get back to the Slytherin common room, go up to her dormitory and lie on her bed, all while attempting to forget that this day had ever happened. Perhaps if she wished hard enough, she'd open her eyes after a nap and everything would be back to normal.
.oOo.
VII. The first date?
"It's...it's not a date?" Ella Anderson said, looking up at Leonardo Torricelli with wide, slightly terrified brown eyes.
What was wrong with her? Why did she make these assumptions? She never made assumptions in anything else- not in her schoolwork, not in her conversations with Alfie and Teddy, nothing! She was so particular, so careful - how had this slipped past her? Of course it wasn't a date. How could she be so stupid? Now she definitely had no chance with him.
He did not reply and she began to talk excessively again. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have just assumed - I shouldn't have said anything at all! Oh no, Leo, I'm so sorry. I've made this awkward, haven't I?"
The silence continued, and with each passing moment, Ella became more and more worried. Why was she such an idiot? It was no wonder, really, that no boys had ever asked her out before Leonardo - and even Leonardo hadn't asked her out, not really. She was just a clueless individual. She was fine when it came to schoolwork and books and all of those straightforward sorts of things, but apparently when it came to interacting with people who weren't Teddy or Alfie or Madhuri Lodi, her roommate, or Victoire or even Riley, if she was really pushing things, she was hopeless. Absolutely and completely hopeless. She might as well confine herself to the library for the rest of her days; at least she couldn't embarrass herself in there.
"Please say something," she said quietly, looking up at Leonardo earnestly through her glasses. How could she make this all better? "I'm sorry, honestly, I didn't want it to be awkward like this. I promise, I'll never bring it up again."
"Ella -"
"I'm really sorry, honestly, I mean, I want to be friends with you, and I like being friends with you. It's not your fault that I'm such an idiot, I'm so sorry!"
"Ella!" Leonardo interrupted. "It's fine, honestly -"
"-But it's not!" She waved a free hand around as she spoke. "It's not, I've put you in a difficult position, and it's not fair to you."
"It's fine, really," he said, and there was something about the tone of his voice that calmed her down slightly - he seemed earnest. "Look, I...I admit I hadn't intended this to be a date."
Ella flushed and tried to hide her embarrassment by becoming very interested in the book that she was holding. The blurb was so fascinating, she forced herself to think - developments in Transfiguration during the 1600s were so much more interesting and straightforward than boys. Boys were confusing, Transfiguration was not. Transfiguration was straight with you. Transfiguration didn't say "it's a date" without meaning "it's a date."
All of a sudden, she found that she was no longer as embarrassed as she had been - rather, she was just irritated with Leonardo. Why wasn't he straight with her? Did he think that it was funny to mess with her feelings?
Boys.
"But that doesn't mean that I don't...well, that I don't want it to be a date."
She was going to give him a piece of her mind, that was what she was going to do. She was going to tell him that he needed to be clear about his intentions, rather than simply saying things without any understanding of what they might mean to another person.
Wait, what?
"Er...did you not hear me?" he asked, and she realised she'd said the last part out loud.
"No, no, I did," she added quickly. "I...er...yeah, I did."
Silence.
"Um, so...I guess…"
"Mm?"
"Are we both on the same page?"
"Not exactly."
"I...I would really like to go out with you, Ella," said Leonardo. "I think you're smart, and funny, and really sweet, and I think we'd have a lot of fun. Together. I might not have asked you out originally, but I was just afraid of you saying no."
"I wouldn't have said no!" she replied almost indignantly.
"Yeah, but I didn't know that."
"Fair enough." She smiled at him. "So, um, are you asking me out now?"
He nodded, and said, more confidently: "Yeah. Yeah, I am."
Her heart leapt. "Then yes, I would love to go out with you."
They both stood opposite one another for a few moments, giving each other dorky smiles as they tried to figure out what to say. Ella felt slightly disoriented - she'd never had a boyfriend (for that was what Leonardo was now - her boyfriend) before, and it felt somewhat strange, and yet exhilarating.
Her boyfriend.
"Um, so what do you want to do now?" Leonardo asked. "I mean, I feel like...well, now that it's established we should - you know -"
"Go on a date?" Ella supplied helpfully.
"Yeah," he said, laughing slightly. "One where we both know it's a date."
She grinned. "I'd like that."
"Shall we get butterbeers at the Three Broomsticks, then? I know it's a bit commonplace, but I can't really think of anything else to do."
"Butterbeers sound lovely," Ella said.
.oOo.
VIII. Pub fights
The Three Broomsticks was always busy on a Hogsmeade weekend, and yet somehow, Teddy always managed to find a seat when he wanted one. He was sitting in a booth with Victoire, drinking a large butterbeer and listening to Victoire rant. The Neon Cauldron's newest album was playing in the background and formed a good soundtrack for Victoire's complaints.
She'd caught up with him not long after he'd left Hogwarts, raging about Riley. It took her a while to calm down enough to explain what she was so steamed up about, but once she did, she was forthcoming and open. It was one of the things that Teddy loved about his friendship with Victoire - they could always be completely honest with one another and not have to worry about anything.
Even though he didn't like to see her angry, he was glad that she'd come to find him. His Hogsmeade weekend had been looking rather bleak, what with Ella off on her date with Leonardo Torricelli, and Alfie having caught a rather bad chill from playing Quidditch in the rain and being confined to bedrest for the day. He was faced with a rather lonely Hogsmeade trip - he could seek out Michael Goshawk, but there was always the chance that he'd be with Terence Gates, he didn't quite fancy playing third wheel to Victoire and Riley, and he hadn't seen Matilda Goshawk at all.
"I can't believe her," Victoire said grumpily, for what must have been the thousandth time. "She thinks that she can just treat me however she wants. The little…" she hesitated, and changed track, "I've been nothing but supportive towards her. All I did was ask a couple of questions. She didn't need to blow up."
"No," agreed Teddy. "She didn't."
Victoire bit her lip. "I am being a good friend, aren't I?"
"I'm sure you are," Teddy said comfortingly. "You're always a great friend, Vic, you know the right things to say and when. Riley'll get over it."
"I mean, I know that all this must be hard for her. But I feel like it's hard for everyone, you know? Like there are two people missing. Two people who should be with all of us at Hogwarts are just...gone, they've just vanished into thin air and nobody knows what's happened."
Teddy felt a slight shudder run down his back; there was something chilling about the way that Victoire said it so bluntly. "It's scary."
"Yeah," she said, softly. "It is. It's scary for all of us."
There was a moment of silence. Teddy sipped his butterbeer, letting the sugary substance run down his throat and give him a degree of comfort. He didn't like thinking about the kidnappings, and yet it felt like it was all he ever thought about.
And if it was all he ever thought about, he couldn't imagine what the situation was like for Riley.
She wasn't directly implicated - even though he didn't know her as well as Victoire did and was never able to read her, he felt like four years of acquaintance had told him enough about her to know that she wasn't involved. And yet everyone's behaviour towards her had changed because of her last name. It was instantly assumed that her family must have something to do with the kidnappings because of their past dealings. He remembered what she had been like after McGonagall had revealed that the dark mark was painted on the Hogwarts gates: small, meek and frozen.
He was angry at her for the way she had acted towards Victoire, and yet his heart, unbidden, went out to her. The craziness was enough to drive any sane person mad.
"Hi Weasley, you're looking particularly lovely today."
Terence Gates appeared by their booth and casually rested an arm on top of Victoire's seat. Both she and Teddy looked at it as if it was some sort of disgusting creature.
"Go away, Gates," Victoire said, glaring at him.
One would think that as Victoire Weasley was well-known to be Teddy Lupin's childhood friend, Terence Gates would automatically hate her (as he did so many others associated with Teddy). But alas, this was not the case. Instead, he seemed rather taken with her beauty, and kept hitting on her and asking her out - much to her annoyance, as she continued to refuse. It was not, she had said on many occasions, because of her loyalty to Teddy, but rather because she thought Terence was an arrogant prat.
Teddy didn't blame her one bit.
"Aw, Weasley, you know you don't mean that," Terence said, grinning at Victoire.
"I do, Terence," Victoire said sharply. "Get away, now."
Terence Gates had many faults, and one of them was that he simply didn't know when to give up. It was as if he'd never heard the word 'no' growing up, for he didn't seem to know what it meant. Instead of leaving, as Victoire had asked, he slid his arm around her shoulders. The younger girl visibly tensed up, and brought her fist down on his elbow. Hard.
"Ouch!" Terence jumped away, rubbing the spot on his arm where Victoire's hand had left a visible mark.
"You heard me, Gates," she repeated. "Leave."
"Say you'll go out with me. Leave this loser here," he gestured towards Teddy, "and come with me - I'll show you a good time."
"Leave her alone, Terence," Teddy said.
Terence turned his gaze onto Teddy and quirked an eyebrow. "Did I ask you, Lupin?"
"No, but Victoire's my best friend, so whatever you have to say to her concerns me too."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Really," Victoire chipped in.
"I must say, Weasley, I thought you had taste," the fifth-year Gryffindor said, shaking his head at her. "Lupin? Of all people? Even Carrow makes a better best friend than he does. She might be a death eater brat, but at least she's not a filthy half-breed."
Victoire gasped, her mouth falling open in shock. "You take that back!" she shouted. A few people around them turned to see what was going on.
"At least she has a best friend," Teddy snapped at Terence. "What do you have?"
At this, Terence went very red. His upper lip curled and he had a dangerous look in his blue eyes. It was one that Teddy had seen many times before, and he knew now to expect the worst. His hand instinctively went towards his wand.
"Take that back, Lupin," Terence growled.
"Not until you take back what you said about me."
Terence scoffed. "As if! What I said was the truth - you know it, I know it, everyone in this bloody pub knows it. You're nothing but a disgusting, filthy half-breed. You think you're so wonderful because you can change your appearance at will - look, isn't it cute, your hair is going red - and because your parents were murdered in the war and that somehow makes them heroes-"
"Shut up," Teddy warned.
"- but they're not. Your father was a feral beast and your mother couldn't have been any better if she fell in love with him, and -"
"SHUT UP!" Teddy roared, jumping up from his seat and pushing Terence roughly. The blood was rushing to his head, and he couldn't think straight; all he knew was that Terence had insulted him and his family one too many times, and that he'd crossed a line by bringing up his parents.
Instead of looking shocked, angry, or hurt, however, Terence appeared bemused, much to Teddy's confusion. "You started it," the Gryffindor said simply, and drew his wand, pointing it squarely between Teddy's eyes.
"You won't do that," Teddy said. "You'll get into too much trouble."
"You're right," Terence said.
And before Teddy knew what was going on, Terence's fist had collided with his jaw.
.oOo.
IX. Unexpected conversations
There are a great many things in life that cannot be predicted.
Alfie Hayes knew this perhaps better than anyone - after all, he'd never have thought that he would be at a school of magic, learning Potions and Transfiguration and Charms. He'd never have thought that he'd have friends as wonderful as Teddy and Ella. He'd never have thought that any of this would happen.
He still thought it was a dream sometimes.
He'd been in his dormitory all morning thanks to an unfortunate cold he'd picked up while playing Quidditch in the rain. Macey Longstone had absolutely freaked out - she was determined that the entire first string team should play in the Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw match, and commanded Alfie to stay in bed until he was recovered. But there was something rather oppressive, suffocating about staying in the same place all day, barely moving. Macey and the rest of the team were in Hogsmeade, after all, it wasn't as if they'd know if Alfie decided to roam around the castle.
So that was exactly what he did. He got dressed and went down for lunch, and after consuming copious amounts of pumpkin soup, decided to have a little stroll around the castle. The sun was bright, and though there was a chill in the air, he was protected well enough not to really feel it; he thought that the fresh air might do him good.
One of the many things that Alfie loved about Hogwarts was that there was always something new to discover. The grounds were expansive, and despite spending five years at the school, he had yet to explore them in their entirety. So as he wandered, he made an effort to diverge off the paths that he'd been on before, to discover new places that he'd never seen before. Instead of turning right behind the Astronomy Tower, he turned left and walked for a few moments before coming across a meadow that he'd never seen before. It was small, but rather peaceful, with long grasses and flowers dotting the lawn.
He liked it instantly. It made him feel calm.
It took him a few moments to realise that he was not the only one in the meadow. A girl was sitting by a tree near the edge reading a book; he could barely make out her features from the distance, but he thought there was something familiar about her. He debated for a few moments about whether he should leave her alone, or approach her and ask her if it was okay for him to be there (for even though it was a public space, Alfie felt as if he was intruding on her).
As he approached the girl, her face became clearer and, with a start, he realised who it was.
Riley Carrow looked up from her book and blinked, surprised to see him. "I didn't know anyone else knew about this place," she commented.
"I didn't," he admitted. "I just found it. I can leave if you want me to."
She raised an eyebrow, as if the answer was obvious, and he was about to turn, when she suddenly said, "You can stay if you want. I don't really mind."
"Um...okay." He sat down near her, somewhat unsure of what to do. Although he'd spent time with Riley before, he wouldn't say that they were close, or even friends, really. Their relationship was comprised of a series of other relationships: she was his best friend's best friend's best friend. It was weird to be with Riley without Victoire or Teddy around. "I...um...weren't you in Hogsmeade?"
"I left."
"How come?"
"Didn't really feel like being around people."
"Do you want me to leave?"
She rolled her eyes. "No, Alfie, it's fine."
There was an awkward silence; Alfie began to rifle around in his bag for something to do (he hadn't brought a book with him because, despite Ella's attempt to instill a love for them into him, he did not enjoy reading in any way, shape or form). Eventually, he found a small notebook, and a quill and opened it, with the intention of doodling absentmindedly.
He did not notice that while he was doing this, Riley had not gone back to her book, as he had expected her to. Rather, she was staring straight at him, her eyes wide and unblinking, as if she was in some kind of trance, or simply thinking about something very intensely.
Therefore, Alfie got quite the shock when she said, "Tabitha James thinks that I know something about the kidnappings."
"What?" he exclaimed, almost dropping his notebook.
Riley looked rather surprised herself at her unusual candour, but she pressed on anyway; it was almost as if she couldn't quite help herself. "I don't know why - well, that's a lie, I do know why. She thinks that I know something because of who my parents are. She knows just as well as I do that they're not death eaters, but, well, they move in those sorts of circles. Pureblood circles. It's not a jump to think that they'd interact with people who might support the kidnapping of muggleborns."
She seemed to have forgotten that Alfie was a muggleborn. He nodded nervously, unsure what to say.
"I don't know anything about the kidnappings," she continued. "I have no idea who's behind them, or why they took the girls, or where they took the girls. I'm just sick of people thinking that I do. I'm sick of people assuming that I believe in pureblood superiority just because of my last name. I'm sick of it all."
"I can imagine," Alfie murmured.
There was a brief silence, before Riley said: "I fought with Victoire, you know. She wanted to know about my interview with Tabitha James, and I...I didn't want to tell her."
"Why?" asked Alfie. He wasn't really expecting a response (after all, if Riley hadn't wanted to tell Victoire, why on Earth would she tell him?) but he got one regardless.
"She thinks Tabitha James is fair - hell, she probably thinks all Aurors are fair. I didn't want to break that for her. I didn't want to talk about the way Tabitha accused me, as if I was just some kind of criminal. I didn't want to…" she broke off for a moment, before quietly adding, "to make her realise that she agreed with Tabitha."
For the first time, Alfie felt a great deal of sympathy towards the Slytherin. "You know," he said tentatively, "Victoire wouldn't…"
"Yeah, I know," she said, sadly. "I know."
"You should apologise."
"I know."
Pause.
"Will you apologise?"
"Probably not. Unless she does first."
There was another brief hesitation before Alfie asked, rather bluntly, "I don't mean to be rude, but why are you telling me all of this?"
Riley paused for a second, cocking her head to the side as she considered the question thoughtfully. A few heavy moments passed by before she finally made eye contact with him and said, "I don't know. I don't usually talk like this."
"You don't say."
She shrugged. "I guess I...I don't know. I wouldn't say this to anyone I really care about, you know."
Alfie wondered whether he should be wounded by this - she seemed to be searching for signs of hurt. Her demeanour had changed: she was no longer being open and candid, but was rather more closed off, more like she always was. He felt strange - it was odd, in a way, to see a side of a person that you'd never seen before, that you'd never really expected to see.
He knew in that moment that he'd never look at Riley in the same way again.
.oOo.
X. Pub fights: second half
For a moment, all Teddy saw was red.
Slowly, the world came back into focus. He saw Terence Gates standing over him, fist still clenched. He became aware of the aching pain in his jaw, and the metallic taste of blood in his mouth. And then, he became acutely aware of the mixture of anger and adrenaline that coursed through his veins.
Without thinking, he dragged himself to his feet, tightly clenched his fingers into a fist, and, ignoring Victoire's protests, hit Terence squarely in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He stumbled backwards, and Teddy, filled with rage unlike anything he'd ever experienced, got ready to hit again. He blocked the Gryffindor's punches, and attempted to swing another hit. Terence dodged it.
"Teddy, what in Merlin's name are you doing?" came a shrill voice. He looked up towards the doorway to see Ella Anderson rushing over to him, Leonardo Torricelli a few steps behind. He hadn't realised that she was in the pub.
Terence took advantage of his momentary distraction to aim a kick to his knees. Teddy stumbled and fell over, but quickly managed to get up again. Terence was cackling loudly, and Teddy wanted nothing more than to wipe the smile of his smug little face. He lunged for him, but was stopped: Ella and Victoire had grabbed his arms and were holding him back.
"Let me go!" he shouted at Ella, who was struggling to keep hold of him. "You didn't hear what he said about my parents."
"He's not worth it!" she shouted back. "He's not worth getting in trouble for!"
"Let me go!" he pulled against them, but couldn't break free without hurting them. Terence, highly amused by the sight of Teddy being restrained by two girls, began to laugh even louder.
"Not as strong as you look, eh, Lupin?" he said, sauntering off. Teddy began to struggle more fiercely, but the girls managed to pool their strength and pin his arms together behind his back. They only let go when Terence had shut the door of the pub behind him, and when Teddy had promised that he wouldn't go after him.
"I can't believe you did that," he said, glaring at Ella.
"What would you have rather I had done?" she snapped. "Watched and cheered you on?"
"You didn't hear what he said!"
"Whatever he said, it's not worth getting expelled for, Teddy."
"That's easy for you to say! You don't know what it's like!"
Ella's expression did not change, but there was something in her eyes and the way her lips suddenly became very thin that reminded Teddy that she did, actually, know what it was like. "I- I'm sorry," he said. "I'm just angry and…"
"I know," she said, although she did not sound pleased. "I suppose we'd better get you back to the castle."
"Probably a good idea," Victoire murmured. She was looking a little shaken by the encounter.
"Just give me a second." Ella got up and quickly ran back to where Leonardo Torricelli was standing rather awkwardly. They exchanged words in hushed voices; Ella turned rather red, and was fiddling with her hands like she always did when embarrassed. Leonardo kept nodding, and Teddy noticed that he did not look thrilled - quite the opposite, in fact.
There was silence as Teddy, Ella and Victoire walked back up to the castle. Victoire attempted to make conversation, but neither Teddy nor Ella responded. Teddy was still angry - he didn't really want to go back to the castle, he wanted to find Terence and make him pay. No one should be able to get away with insulting his parents like that - if only Ella hadn't come in and pulled him off. Victoire hadn't been doing anything until the Ravenclaw arrived - she understood that Teddy needed to do what he needed to do.
It was only when Victoire left to go back to her common room that Ella turned around and began to shout at Teddy: "What is wrong with you?"
"What's wrong with me? You're the one who interfered!"
"I had to!"
"No, you didn't!"
"Would you have rather have been expelled?"
He hesitated, and she took this as a positive affirmation. "Exactly. I had to intervene, and you know it. For Merlin's sake, Teddy, don't you know by now not to let Terence get to you? This is exactly what he wants - a rise!"
As much as he hated to admit it, she knew he was right. "I'm sorry," he mumbled.
"That's not good enough!" Ella exclaimed. "You're always sorry after it's all over, but you just don't think. It was so embarrassing for me to walk in on you like that - you're my best friend, can you even imagine what Leo must have thought?"
"Hang on," Teddy said, angrily, "since when is this about you?"
"What you do affects your friends too, you know! It was my first chance with a guy, Teddy, and you had to blow it."
"This isn't about you!" He raised his voice, ignoring her. "You didn't have to intervene!"
"We're back to this, are we?"
"You don't care about me getting expelled at all!" His temper was rising again - he couldn't believe that Ella had such warped motives. "You just care about how I made you look in front of your boyfriend."
"That's not true!"
"It is!"
"It is not! Not entirely!"
"You know what," he said, disgustedly. "Forget it."
"Fine!" She glared at him, tossed her long dark hair over her shoulder and pushed up her glasses. "I'm leaving!"
"Fine!"
Ella turned around and stormed off in the Ravenclaw common room, muttering something under her breath.
"What was that?" Teddy yelled after her.
She rounded the corner, as if she hadn't heard him, and disappeared from sight, leaving Teddy alone and fuming
.oOo.
XI. In retrospect, it all seems inconsequential
Angus Munroe didn't know what he had done to deserve this assignment.
He was young - he'd been accepted to the Auror training programme straight out of Hogwarts, thanks to his excellent grades, and had spent three years learning everything there was to know. This was his first major case, coming not a moment too soon a year after graduation. At first he'd been excited: it was high-profile, and was exactly the kind of thing that he'd always wanted to work on. It would be the dream job - if only he had a different partner.
Tabitha James was a legend in the Auror office, but she was a legend that Munroe now realised was nothing like the reality. Tabitha James was a crabby, self-entitled woman who seemed to think that she knew best (to her credit, she often did) and that no one else should have any sort of say in the workings of the case. He had wanted to learn from her, but it was difficult to learn anything when she told him nothing and gave him only tiny assignments that "he couldn't screw up."
That was why he was patrolling Hogsmeade that evening. He didn't know why he was doing it - in fact, it was rather boring strolling up and down the streets. He passed the Three Broomsticks again and again; his throat was dry and he yearned for a drink, but he was on the job, and if Tabitha found out he'd had so much as a butterbeer, his head would be on the chopping block.
That was why he was stuck with this job. He could not appeal for a transfer, because if he did, he would have to explain to Robards that he did not want to work with Tabitha James. And Robards was practically in love with Tabitha James (in his defense, she had solved several major cases) - to insult her would spell the end of his career.
He was thinking up excuses that might be acceptable when he first saw the message.
It didn't appear until the sun began to set. As the rays began to disappear over the horizon, the words appeared on the windows, slowly becoming brighter and brighter as the world became darker until each letter was neon and clear. People streaming out of shops began to whisper and point, and Munroe, who was near Honeydukes, stared at the words in silence, reading them again and again and again.
We have Melissa Cooper and Leslie Stiles. They are alive, and will continue to be if you meet our demands. All muggleborn Ministry of Magic officials are to step down and be replaced by those of more worthy blood. This is the first demand. You have until six PM tomorrow. Do as we say to avoid the consequences.
And, as if to ensure that no one thought it was a hoax, it was signed with a large, grotesquely detailed dark mark.
Instinctively, Munroe pulled out his wand and silently cast his patronus - a cocker spaniel. The little dog bounded off to the Ministry of Magic; Robards needed to know, and he needed to know now so that he could inform the Minister. He hesitated for a moment before casting a second patronus. This was not the time for workplace grudges; no matter what he thought of her, Tabitha James needed to be informed.
He hesitated for slightly longer before sending the third patronus, but did not regret his decision to do so.
The next morning, the front page of the Daily Prophet carried the message in full.
A/N: 10,491 words later - congratulations on making it through this mammoth of a chapter! It was one of my favourites to write, and I really hope that you guys enjoyed reading it! As usual reviews make my day, as do follows and favourites.
Chapter Seven will be out in two weeks (10th of August) because (a) I'm travelling and (b) these chapters take forever and a day to write! See you then xx