Antonin Dolohov – Convicted of the brutal murders of Gideon and Fabian Prewett.

Augustus Rookwood – Convicted of leaking Ministry of Magic secrets to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Bellatrix Lestrange – Convicted of torture and permanent incapacitation of Frank and Alice Longbottom.

Cyrus Nott – Convicted of Domestic Abuse and Murder of his wife, Eleanor.

Teddie looked up at Theo as he stared at the Daily Prophet laid out on the Slytherin table at breakfast. His gaze fixated on the image of his father as he laughed and lunged forward, as if trying his very hardest to break through the paper.

"He can't get you here," said Teddie, reaching for his hand under the table and squeezing.

"What about when we're not here?" Theo asked.

"Mo will just have to extend my protection detail to you, too," said Teddie, resting her head on his shoulder. "I made you a promise, Theo, and no matter what is happening in my life, I intend to keep that promise. I won't let anything happen to you."

Theo smiled and pressed his lips to the top of Teddie's head. He, too, had made a promise to protect her. Granted, he couldn't protect her from everything in her life, and he couldn't have protected her from the hurt that came with losing her parents, but he could protect her physically and he would to the best of his abilities.

"Black?" Blaise asked. "Do you think they mean - ?"

Teddie shot him a look and shook her head. "I thought he was dead," she said, quietly casting a glance at Parkinson and Malfoy. "I mean, I don't know everything that happened in third year, but I know that McNair was brought in for a reason."

"McNair?" Daphne questioned. "He was the executioner?"

Teddie nodded. "Why?" she asked, not liking the dark look that crossed Daphne's face.

"He's a supporter of You-Know=Who," said Blaise. "These people," he nodded at the paper, "are just the ones that were willing to go away for him. There are others out there that managed to talk their way out of a sentence."

"Like my dad," said Theo.

Teddie sighed and lay her head back on Theo's shoulder. She cast her gaze back at the black and white images, and her mind wandered to Harry. She suddenly sat up, her eyes gravitating to the Gryffindor table and, much to her surprise, found Harry looking back at her.

"Everything okay?" Daphne asked, biting into a piece of jam on toast.

"I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall," said Teddie, jumping from her seat and pulling her backpack out from under her seat. She slung it over her shoulder and left her friends, as she followed Harry out of the Great Hall.

~X~

The day following the breakout article, another decree appeared on the house notice boards.

BY ORDER OF –

THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS

Teachers are hereby banned from giving students any information that is not strictly related to the subjects they are paid to teach.

The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-Six.

.

Signed: Dolores Jane Umbridge

HIGH INQUISITOR.

Teddie rolled her eyes as she snatched the paper up, rolled it into a ball and tossed it into the fireplace. She watched the paper crumple in the flames before tearing her gaze away as a door opened nearby and Malfoy stepped out, a smirk on his face.

"-"

"Shut up," said Teddie, stopping him before he could get a word out.

"You didn't know what I was going to say," said Malfoy.

"I'm willing to bet it had something to do with Umbridge and her tyrant control over this school," said Teddie. "Something about how finally there was a teacher that cared about how the school was run, and how your father had a hand in it."

Malfoy's face dropped.

The corner of Teddie's lips curled upwards into a smirk of her own. "The answer is yes, by the way," she said. "You are getting that predictable."

Malfoy narrowed his eyes as Teddie waltz passed him, returning upstairs to arouse Daphne and get her school things for that morning.

The latest decree had obviously been introduced due to students asking professors what would happen now that Death Eaters were back on the loose, it also probably didn't help that this latest breakout and a lot more people believing Harry and Dumbledore's story about Voldemort being back.

This had been the last thing that the Ministry had wanted.

"I'll be surprised if there isn't an article in tomorrow's paper about how the Death Eaters are rallying because the Heir has been found," said Blaise, as he and his friends headed out into the grounds of Care of Magical Creatures.

Teddie shrugged indifferently. She wouldn't have been surprised either. "Fear and stimulant seems to be the Ministry's way of life these days," she said. "It's also propaganda. They'll blanket the pages of the Daily Prophet with my story to try and cover up what is really happening, making it so people are afraid of me and what's going on, rather than admitting they made a mistake."

Theo squeezed Teddie's hand.

Hagrid stood outside his hut, a large wooden box at his feet where a lot of yapping was echoing from. He looked a lot better than he had done before Christmas, the cuts and bruises on his face had gone, for the most part, but he still seemed skittish and had seemingly lost the enthusiasm he usually had during his lessons.

He had stopped showing them creatures like Thesterals and was only bringing creatures of a docile nature to class. A few students were thankful for that, but Teddie could tell that he was only doing it because he was on probation, which was why Umbridge was permanently shadowing his lesson.

Once the class was settled, Hagrid reached into the box at his feet and pulled out a small Jack Russel terrier like animal, except it had a forked tail.

"Oh!" Teddie cooed as the creature bounded towards her once Hagrid had put it down. It's little legs rested against her legs as she knelt on the ground and scratched it behind the years.

"Tha's a crup," said Hagrid. "I think he like's ya, Teddie."

Teddie grinned and scooped up the creature and continued to make a fuss of him, causing it's little forked tail to wag excitedly.

~X~

It was almost the end of the month when Harry called a new D.A. meeting. Teddie felt her gold coin burn against her thigh one afternoon during Muggle Studies and pulled it out after the lesson to check the time.

At 7pm that evening, Teddie and her friends left the Slytherin common room, under the pretense that they were going to the library to study with Mason and Astoria, before heading up to the seventh floor and the Room of Requirements.

Most of the D.A. was already present when the Slytherins arrived, and while many of them had grown used to having the snakes around, a few others, like Zacharias Smith were less than forthcoming.

Teddie ignored his digs and comments of 'oh, so you're still here, are you?' as she deposited her bag in one of the corners, along with her friends, and made her way over to Harry. He greeted her with a smile, and she returned it.

"Stupid question," said Teddie, sidling up to Neville before the class started and placing a hand on his shoulder. "But how are you feeling?"

Neville shrugged. "How do you handle the stares and whispers?" he asked, glancing around at those present.

"It's hard," Teddie admitted. "But I got through it with the help of my friends. If you're having any trouble, Neville, you know you can come find me, alright?"

Neville smiled and Teddie reached up to press a quick kiss to his cheek. She hated anyone being picked on and had always been the type of person who found it easy to stand up for someone else, which was why she was certain that she could fight Neville's bullies more so than her own.

The news that his parents attackers were on the loose once again, Teddie noticed that lesson, had changed Neville more than she could possibly have imagined. Other than answering her question about his wellbeing, Neville didn't speak to anyone else during the whole D.A. meeting, and turned his focus on the spells that Harry was teaching them.

It was like he was more determined now to get better at defending himself, like he had a mission to avenge his parents, and given her new perspective on life, Teddie couldn't blame him. She wanted to hurt Voldemort and Avery for taking her parents away, why shouldn't Neville have wanted to do the same for his?

~X~

Between D.A. meetings, classes, and homework, Teddie wasn't all that stunned when a notice appeared on the house noticeboards announcing the second Hogsmeade Weekend would take place on the fourteenth of February.

"Last year we seemed to have more Hogsmeade weekends," said Teddie one afternoon in the library. "How is this only our second?"

"Last year we had the Triwizard Tournament on," said Daphne. "Dumbledore probably went all out to impress Durmstrang and Beauxbatons."

Teddie gave half a shrug, "Fair point," she agreed.

"Why does it have to fall on Valentines Day?" Mason whined.

Teddie sniggered and yelped as Mason threw a rubber at her. "Hey," she cried, picking up the offending item.

"You don't like V-Day anymore than I do," said Mason, taking back his item and stuffing it into his pencil case.

Daphne smiled and dipped her quill into her ink well. "What's so bad about V-Day?" she asked. "I think it's cute."

Teddie rolled her eyes. "Is that your way of telling us you have a date?" she asked, poking Daphne in the side.

Daphne blushed and Teddie noticed Blaise perk up from across the table. He glanced at Daphne and then quickly looked back at his essay, but Teddie could tell that he was purposely listening to their conversation, seeing as his quill was stationary.

"So, do you?" Teddie asked.

"What if I did?" Daphne asked, staring at her parchment.

Teddie grinned as Astoria squealed.

"What's his name?" Astoria asked.

"Or her," Teddie added.

Daphne rolled her eyes. "They're not from Hogwarts," she admitted. "I met him last year during the tournament. He's from Durmstrang, and we've been conversing back and forth. We stopped when I came back to school, you know, since Umbridge has been reading everyone's mail. But he sent me a letter last week, asking if I were free for V-Day and if I would like to meet him. I'm glad that Hogsmeade weekend falls on V-Day."

Teddie laughed as Daphne's blush got worse. "So, I guess you're abandoning us for your date?" she asked. "Where is he taking you?"

Daphne shrugged. "I guess we'll find out when I see him," she said. "But I don't have to spend all day with him. We can always meet up with you in the Three Broomsticks later in the afternoon, and you can meet him."

"That's your choice," said Teddie. "Do you think he will want to share you though? Especially if this is the first time you've seen each other face-to-face since last year? Wait, it's not the bloke who asked me to dance at the Yule Ball, is it?"

Daphne laughed as Theo glanced up from his essay. She knew, quite well, that Theo had been jealous when he saw Teddie dancing with a Durmstrang bloke last year, and while he hadn't said anything it seemed that it still irritated him.

"No," said Daphne, shaking her head. "He is friends with him, though."

Teddie pursed her lips and then smiled. "Well, I for one am happy for you," she said. "I may not like V-Day, but if you're seeing someone that makes you happy then go for it."

Daphne smiled.

Out of the corner of her eye, Teddie watched Blaise grit his teeth and glare at his essay. The corners of her lips twitched upwards into a smirk, and she made a mental note to ask Blaise about it soon.

~X~

A week later, at breakfast on Monday morning, Teddie was stunned when an owl landed in front of her with a magazine tied to its leg.

"Um, hi," Teddie said, smoothing out its feathers. It had obviously got caught in a storm as it was completely wet, and it also looked windy seeing as the poor things feathers were askew.

The owl chirped merrily and then nipped at Teddie's fingers, offering her its leg. Teddie furrowed her brow and untied the magazine. She barely had got it off before the Owl spread its wings and took off into the air again.

"Did you pay for that?" Blaise asked.

Teddie shook her head.

"Someone else must have done it," said Marlene. "But since when did you read the Quibbler?"

Teddie stared at the front cover of the magazine where an image of Harry grinned back at her.

"Harry Potter Speaks Out at Last: The truth About He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and the Night I Saw Him Return." Theo read out loud as he peered at the magazine over Teddie's shoulder.

"Potter did what?" Daphne yelped, almost dropping her fork onto her plate and staring at Teddie with wide eyes.

Teddie blinked and looked back at the magazine in her hands. She stared at the title and Harry's image, unsure of whether or not she wanted to read the article that was on page three. She licked her lips, took a deep breath, and turned the first page.