Chapter Five
A/N: Please see the update to 'A Gleek By Any Other Name' for my reasons as to my long pause in updating. Sorry, but I'm lazy and kinda don't want to write it twice.
Oh, and I only own the plots to this story and the one in bold. Everything else belongs to either JK Rowling or Ryan Murphy.
Ginny grabbed the pages and began to read, "Chapter five."
Teddy woke up early to prepare breakfast. If he was going to keep up the image of having parents, he had to make it so they actually existed.
"Just tell her," Harry muttered out of the corner of his mouth. He knew how hard it was to hide things from friends.
"Morning Santana," he said as the girl walked out of his room. "Bacon and toast for breakfast."
She stared at him, and it honestly freaked him out. Didn't she ever just blink?
"Reminds me of Luna," Ginny chuckled. It wasn't really funny, and she didn't know why she was chuckling but she just felt like she needed to.
"What?" he finally asked. "There's cereal if that's what you want."
"Why?"
"Well cereal is what people normally eat for breakfast," Cooper pointed out.
"Why what?" he asked as he dried off the bacon. Santana sat down at the table.
"Why are you being so nice?"
Teddy gave her a small smile. "Santana, you might have been rude and cruel to the others but that doesn't mean I get to kick you when you're down."
"I would have if the tables were reversed you know."
"If if's and butt's were candys and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas," Burt stated.
"Meh. Why live life thinking about what others would do? That just takes the fun out of it."
He went back to the bacon, with his thoughts to his father. Would he approve about how he was handling things or think he was sticking his nose where it didn't belong?
"I don't think I can go today," Santana said softly. Teddy shook his head.
"You want to prove Finnocent right?" he asked.
Carol wanted to stand up for her son but she just couldn't. Not when she knew that he had outed one of his friends before she was ready.
"What?" Santana asked, her face posed in disgust.
"You said he called you a coward right? So by not showing today you'll just be proving him right."
"But what am I going to do?" she asked. "Everyone's probably already seen the ad—"
"Okay two things. One, is that why you slapped Finn after your group's Mash up?"
Santana nodded.
"Damn, now I can't kill him," he muttered. There was always public humiliation—which he would need to dig up dirt for.
"Please don't actually murder someone Ted," Harry whispered, as if praying.
"Alright Santana," he said. "We're taking a sick day."
"But you said—"
"There's what I said and what I'm saying," he said with a smirk. "How'd you like to help me take Finn down a peg or fifty?"
The look on Santana's face said it all. They, after Teddy changed his voice to call them in sick, planned the entire day about how they could do it.
"Surprised Santana didn't notice that," Carol pointed out.
"She was probably in shock," Ginny said with a small smile. "Muggles will ignore the subtle signs of magic as hallucinations or shock."
"I think plain out punching his lights out would work," Santana offered. "Or kicking him in the nads. That's how we do it in Lima Heights."
The men winced and tried to discreetly feel down there to make sure they weren't bruised or injured in some way. Ginny smirked.
"You are evil you know that?" Teddy whistled in appreciation. "But I think confrontation would work better. Now you said that Rachel had two gay dads?"
"She reminds us almost every day," Santana groaned. "I swear if I have to hear about the turkey baster one more time I'll go all Lima Heights on her ass."
Deciding he didn't want to know, Teddy shook his head.
"Nor do I," Cooper added, thinking of a future Blaine attempting that and mentally shuttering.
"Can you convince the Troubletones to be there?" Teddy asked.
"When are we doing it?" Santana asked.
"Tomorrow."
"They'll be there," she said after clicking her phone shut. After a minute, she said.
"John—"
"No thanking," Teddy said instantly. "Here's what you do. You go, live your life. That's how you can thank me."
Harry smiled at that. He certainly wasn't that mature at Ted's age—though Ted had the benefit of not growing up in a war so maybe it was a little give and take.
"Don't think we're friends now," Santana smirked.
"Never would dream of it," Teddy told her. "But speaking of people you could kick in the nads—"
"Rick the Stick's dead," she promised him. "He tried to hit on me a few days ago anyway.
"I swear I'm reporting that creep to Figgins!" Burt growled.
They shared yet another smirk and continued their work. The next day, Teddy walked into school with Santana; shooting a glare at whoever even looked at her the wrong way.
"Hey John!"
Santana had already walked off with Brittney as Kurt and Blaine walked up.
"Missed you yesterday at Glee," Blaine said. "Tina suggested we sing I Kissed A Girl for Sectionals."
"What kind of a song is that?" Ginny asked. "Also, how insensitive of this Tina to suggest that the day after her classmate got outed."
Teddy raised an eyebrow.
"You know," Blaine continued. "By Katy Perry?"
Teddy continued to give him a blank look.
"Honestly?" Blaine just shook his head. "Do you live under a rock?"
"Hogwarts is made of stone so possibly," Harry chuckled.
"Obviously not," Kurt said. "Loving the outfit today John."
Teddy looked down and saw that he'd accidently dressed in his Hogwart's uniform, minus the cape.
"Robe," Harry and Ginny corrected.
"Sorry," he loosened his tie. "Ran a little late this morning."
"Never apologize for a fabulous outfit," Kurt shook his head. "Voting's today. Don't forget."
"I told you I'd do it," Teddy chuckled. The bell rang. "Oh, got to go."
Burt and Harry both smiled at that—Harry because Teddy was keeping a promise to a friend and Burt because it meant someone at that school besides Blaine cared about Kurt's happiness.
All through the day, Teddy couldn't help but hear the school gossip chain at work. Honestly, these people were worse than his classmates in the Wizarding world.
"Hey blondie," Santana called to him as he saw her. They both walked into the choir room.
"Plan is set?" he asked.
"Are you questioning my Queen Bitch title?" she shot at him, eyebrow raised.
"Who would willingly call themselves something like that?" Ginny asked.
"Never even crossed my mind," Teddy reassured her. They walked in and separated. Finn was not yet there, which was surprising as he usually walked in with Rachel, and she was already there.
"Hey San," a black girl said as she walked in. "We missed you yesterday at practice!"
"Yeah," Santana nodded. "I had something come up, if you know what I mean."
She winked at the others, who giggled like she knew what she meant. Teddy mentally shrugged. Girls were weird. He'd been around them for seventeen years and they still made no sense to him.
"Preaching to the choir, Ted," Harry chuckled.
Target sighted, he said with an inward smirk as Finn walked in the room.
"Hey Finn," he said with a grin.
"Hey dude," Finn said with his goofy grin. Teddy realized something. Finn was so stupid that he made it hard to be mad at. Not that Teddy didn't try.
"I'm not even going to deny it," Carol sighed.
"So I found something interesting that you might need to check out," he said off hand, emphasis on the word out. Finn froze, gathering the attention of Rachel.
"What?" she asked, walking up to them. Teddy could have jumped for joy. If Santana's information was accurate, she had two gay dads.
"She does," Burt nodded. "Good customers too. Leroy always seems to know more about cars than I do at times."
"Ask your boyfriend." Teddy said gently, shrugging. Finn glared at him, though not knowing why. Teddy inwardly grinned. He wasn't even trying, and he was getting a rise out of Finn. He didn't expect though the shove that came from Finn.
"Finn!" Carol gasped. Hadn't she taught him that actions spoke louder than words?
"Dude!" he heard Puck shout. But Teddy shoved Finn back, which started a huge shoving match.
"This is actually pretty hot," he heard one of the girls state loudly. Finn got a fist to Teddy's midsection, leaving him gasping for air.
Harry winced, figuring that had to hurt. Ginny clenched her jaw, her inner mother writhing to try and get out of where they were and get to Ted.
"HEY!" Schue broke them apart. "Knock it off you two! Finn, John outside!"
Teddy walked out to the hall, not hearing Mrs. C mention Santana's name. He honestly couldn't breathe. Finn was bigger than him and stronger.
"Pointing out the obvious," Cooper chuckled.
"John?" Schue asked. "Do you need to go to the nurse?"
Teddy shook his head and took a deep breath.
"What was that about you guys?" Schue asked. "From what I saw before, you two were great friends."
Teddy would have scoffed if he hadn't known that the whole Glee club was listening in right behind the door.
"Oh we were just having a little disagreement about a certain commercial that aired a few days ago," Teddy told Schue, who nodded with understanding. Santana had only given Teddy permission to talk about the commercial, not the information in it.
"Good friend," Burt smiled softly, not wanting to get Carol upset but glad that someone was willing to stand up to even casual homophobia.
"Mr. Schue?" Mrs. C stuck her head in. "I need your help in here."
Screams came from the room and the three males ran into the room. To their surprise, Brittney and another girl were going at it.
"Brittney!" Carol and Burt gasped.
"Who's that?" Harry asked.
"A really calm girl who's a Cherrio," Burt explained. "She's also my son's ex-something. I don't know how to explain it," he elaborated at Ginny's raised eyebrow.
"Brittney, stop it!" Quinn shouted as she and Tina held Santana back from joining the fray. Santana was shouting at the other girl in Spanish.
"Now would be a good time Schue!" Mrs. C shouted as she tried to separate the two girls. Schue ran to her aid, while Teddy glared at Finn while he went to sit down. Finn's punch had knocked the wind out of him.
"Are you okay?" Blaine asked quietly. "That was some fight you got in with Finn."
Cooper smiled at his little brother's words. Always looking out for those who couldn't help themselves.
"I'm good," Teddy grinned at the dark haired boy. He missed being able to change his hair whenever he wanted to but it was nice that he could control it unless he was sick.
"I REFUSE TO SHARE THE CHIOR ROOM WITH A DYKE!" the girl finally shouted. The entire room froze, all eyes on the quarreling girls. Puck started to rise, but Mike held him back. Rory looked confused.
"Does that choir rely on her funding?" Harry asked softly, mentally making the preparations to wean the Troubletones off of Motta's money.
"Yeah," Carol reply, her heart aching for Santana.
"George and Ron will want to help," Ginny whispered to her husband, not wanting him to take this on alone.
"Ms. Motta, please go to my office," Mrs. C said calmly as if several kids weren't about to kill her student. "Brittney I'll see you at practice?"
Brittney shrugged, and Mrs. C nodded. It was clear to Teddy that no one wanted to be around Motta.
"Duh!" Cooper growled.
Eyes fell on Santana, the only one still struggling in both Rachel and Quinn's arms.
"Santana," Schue said quietly. The girl went and sat down, glaring at everyone. Schue passed her a slip of paper, something on which must have offended her for she shot him a death glare.
"Would someone please tell us what the hell that was about?" Puck asked.
"That's up to Santana," Schue said. "If she doesn't want to say, it's none of your business."
"But what about that fight between John and Finn?" Rachel asked. "Seeing as that affects Glee Club, wouldn't that make it our business?"
"Unfortunately, she's got a point," Burt sighed. He loved Rachel but sometimes she could get a little grating.
Schue sighed and looked at Santana.
"Oh please Mr. Schue, it's not like they don't already know," Santana said.
"Alright," Schue sighed. Just as he opened his mouth, Mrs. C knocked on the door.
"Schue, Figgins wants to see us, Finn and Santana," she said. Schue nodded, but Finn looked confused. Teddy guessed that's what that slip of paper was about. The three left the room, leaving all eyes on Teddy.
"What?" he growled a little. He didn't like attention.
"Who does?" Harry asked.
"Malfoy," Ginny pointed out.
"Rhetorical question love!"
"So why the fight with Finn?" Mike asked. "You two seemed cool on Wednesday."
"Times change," Teddy shrugged and winced as he did so. Before anyone could answer, Santana stormed in the room steaming and Finn looked still confused.
What was that about? Teddy wrote on a scrap of paper and tossed it to her.
I'll tell you tonight, she wrote back, which surprised him. They weren't really friends. More like allies.
"Better informed allies than uninformed friends," Ginny pointed out.
The bell rung and everyone rose to leave.
"John," Schue walked over to him, "are you sure you're alright?"
"Yeah," Teddy nodded. "I've got some god brothers at home. Finn's the same as them."
Schue nodded and Teddy shook his head at his back. Schue was an idiot if he believed that lie.
"Not really a lie though," Harry stated. "He does have god brothers and they have left Ted gasping for air a time or twenty."
"Yo Blondie!" Santana shouted. "Come on!"
She gestured to a car she was standing by. "Puck said he'd give us a ride!"
Burt shuddered softly at the idea of Puckerman driving anywhere. He was a good kid but he needed to work on his driving.
Teddy grinned and jogged over. He could see Finn and Rachel walking over just as he was.
"Hey Finn," he said with a smirk.
"John," Finn nodded stiffly, neither one of them wanting to back down. Rachel looked at the two of them in alarm.
"What's with you two?" Rachel asked. Santana tapped Teddy's shoulder, causing him to jump.
"Hate when people do that," Ginny grumbled.
"Easy spring load," she said. "Just me."
Her eyes landed on Rachel.
"Ah hello elf," she said with a smirk. Then she glared at Finn. "I'm not going to thank you for preventing Figgins from suspending me for two weeks Frankenteen. You deserved that slap."
"Another thing I have to talk to Finn about," Carol sighed.
"Santana, what are you talking about?" Finn asked.
"Don't you watch TV?" she spat. "There's a commercial from one of Sue's opponents, based on a certain conversation that you revealed in the hall."
Finn blanched. It seemed like he finally caught on.
"Again," Harry muttered to Ginny, who bit her lip to stifle a snicker.
"What are you two talking about?" Rachel asked. Finn leaned down and whispered something in her ear. Rachel's eyes got huge and then she narrowed them.
SLAP!
Teddy honestly was impressed that such a small girl like Rachel could reach Finn's face.
"Me too!" Burt, Cooper and Ginny all exclaimed.
"I can't believe you did that Finn Hudson!" she yelled and then stormed off.
"Gee thanks John," Finn said in a sarcastic manner before running after Rachel.
"ANYTIME!" Teddy shouted after him before high-fiving Santana. Phase one was complete.
"I don't want to know," Harry sighed. "But I think Teddy's embracing his Black genes."
"It was bound to happen," Ginny consoled him. "Who wants to read next?"
"I'll do it," Carol sighed. "I'm not look forward to it, but I'll do it."