Disclaimer: Harry Potter, the subsequent characters, and universe belong to J. K. Rowling.
Summary: Ron suspects that Rose might be dating Scorpius Malfoy. He enlists the help of Teddy to figure out if he's right, but Teddy becomes quickly entangled in the situation. Rose/Scorpius Rose/Teddy.
Author's note: I know it's been a while since I updated which is why I didn't make any promises about when I'll update. That's as close to an apology as you'll get and I know half of you are as bad as me and just as hypocritical.
Thank you for all of the reviews. They do encourage me to write. Even though my slow updates might make it look like they don't matter. Just imagine how slow the updates would be if I didn't have your encouragement. (Not intended as a threat, just a form of thanks).
Part 8: The Thief
Teddy had to get that charm away from Rosie. The second he had been free from the group he rushed to his Slytherin dorm to check the case file. After looking over the photograph again he was sure it was the same snake in the same position. Teddy jotted down a note on the file to check if there was any significance or symbolism to this type of snake or its position. It looked like the murder weapon may have been even more than a clever way to deliver poison. This snake could be the next dark mark and one of them was hanging off of Rosie's wrist.
Teddy shoved the file away when he heard the soft padding of footsteps on the stone stairway. He pulled out a text book and flipped it open to a random page.
Krivens entered the room wearing muddied quidditch robes and a satisfied grin. "Gryfindors don't stand a chance even with Potter on the team."
It seemed Krivens expected some kind of response. "I thought Potter was in Ravenclaw," Teddy offered.
"Oh he is. I'm talking about the girl Potter," Krivens explained with a gleam in his eye. Teddy could feel the hackles on the back of his neck beginning to rise, after all Lily was like a little sister to him. "Fifth year, bloody gorgeous, and not half bad at quidditch. But it was definitely the looks that killed us last term. Smith had a thing for her, and I don't blame him, but he let every goal she took slide by him." Krivens chuckled to himself as he reminisced.
Krivens tapped his forehead and made a knowing gesture. "But I caught on to Potter's game this year. Trained up Josephina Blanche for our keeper." Krivens frowned slightly as if he had just thought of something. "As long as she's not a lezzie we should be fine. Though if anyone could make a girl switch teams it would be Potter." Teddy tried not to grimace he really did, but he couldn't help the look of disgust that crossed his face. Honestly, how could anyone look at little Lily that way. She was barely fifteen and Krivens was treating her like some sort of a Veela.
Krivens cocked a sandy eyebrow. "What not your type?" he asked as he began to strip out of his dirty robes. "Oh that's right you go for the Ravenclaws, like Rose Weasley."
Teddy looked up sharply and began to splutter. "Wha..I don't"
Kriven's waved off his excuses. "It's obvious you like her. You spend practically every day with her."
"Not every day." Teddy said meekly.
"Uh huh." Krivens pulled a loose black shirt on and turned to face Teddy. "Well if you are going after Weasley, I feel I should warn you…"
"Malfoy already explained it to me," Teddy interrupted rolling his eyes. Honestly, since when did unspoken house rules become so dramatic? "Go out with a Weasley and face being cast from the house."
Blane smiled at him as if he were a very stupid child. "Look Danny. I don't care whether you like Weasley or not. A girl's a girl as far as I'm concerned and they're all worth a look. Hell, I'd date Potter if I didn't think she'd cut my balls off while I was sleeping." Teddy couldn't help but smile at the thought that little Lily struck fear into the hearts of strapping seventh year boys. "But you got to understand something about Rose Weasley."
"And what's that?" Teddy asked sincerely curious.
"She's Albus Potter's favorite cousin and you do not cross Albus Potter."
"Al?" Teddy said incredulously before he started laughing. However, Krivens face remained dead serious.
"I know you're all buddy buddy with him now, because Weasley has taken some kind of liking to you. But trust me when I say you do not want to be on the wrong end of that boy's wand."
Teddy just continued to look at him disbelievingly. I mean he was talking about Al, the shy boy who was nice enough to make friends with Slytherins. "He may not look like much, but he's the top dueler in the school. The last boy to make Weasley cry was in a coma for three weeks." Krivens had lowered his voice slightly as if he were afraid of being overheard. "They couldn't pin it on him, but he is Weasley's self-appointed protector."
Ah it made sense to Teddy now. Malfoy was Rose's over zealous defender, but no one in the school knew about them, so they just assumed Al was responsible. The Hogwart's rumor mill must be churning extra hard to transform meek little Al into a big bad wolf. Teddy wanted to role his eyes, but instead put on Dannyboy's best thoughtful/thankful look. "Wow, thanks for warning me," Teddy breathed out.
If Krivens noted any sarcasm in Teddy's voice he didn't remark on it. Teddy spent the rest of the evening and most of dinner creating a plan to get a hold of the charm on Rose's bracelet. The sooner he got that snake off of it the better. It could be just a harmless charm, but he'd much rather play it safe.
After dinner was finished he slipped into an alcove hidden by a tapestry, being related to Weasley's and Potters did give him a better background knowledge of the school than the average student. Plus, he had once been in possession of the famed marauder's map until he had passed it on to the next generation of trouble makers.
Thinking about the map made Teddy's blood freeze. Whoever was in possession of that map would know Teddy Lupin was inside Hogwarts. After the moment of heart freezing terror had passed Teddy was able to rationalize the situation. After all he had graduated before any of this generation started school here. Merlin, he was getting old. Anyways, the holder of the map wasn't likely to recognize his name. They'd probably just think he was a first year or something. Unless of course the Weasleys or Potters had it, but then they probably would have already discovered him, so in all likeliness Teddy's identity was safe.
Teddy was drawn back to the present as he heard more people leave the great hall. He scrunched up his face in concentration before shrinking over a foot and growing long dirty blonde hair and girl parts. Teddy did not like changing his male anatomy. It made him feel funny, and he always had the irrational fear that he would get stuck this way. It was these kinds of things that brought the rare bitterness out in Teddy. His mom should have been there to talk him through being a metamorphmagus, but she couldn't because she was dead. He never managed to figure out exactly who he was angry at. He only knew he was angry.
However, there was no way getting around being a girl, a real girl; it was the only way to get a hold of the bracelet. Teddy transfigured his robes so they would fit and he was now sporting Ravenclaw colors.
Teddy shivered at the feeling of wearing a new skin. He didn't think he would ever get completely used to the sensation of switching bodies. He tripped up the stairs after a gaggle of Ravenclaw fourth years hoping they were heading towards their tower and still trying to adjust his stride to the new height.
Two hours later he was standing outside of the entrance to Ravenclaw. Mind you he had found it about 1 hour and 50 minutes ago and spent the rest of the time trying to figure out the damn riddle the stupid door kept asking him. At the moment a chubby thirteen year old girl stomping about outside a statue and swearing like a 23 year old auror was catching a few inquisitive glances, but no offers to help her get into the tower.
The statue repeated once again:
I cover cities and destory mountains,
I make men blind, yet help them see.
"Oh shut up already! That's the stupidest vaguest riddle I've ever heard," he told the door petulantly in a high pitched voice.
"Sand," said a voice that came from a height no human voice should come from. Teddy spun around with a girlish shriek which caused him to blush furiously. Great now he's acting like a thirteen year old girl too. He looked up to see the floating form of the Grey Lady.
"Excuse me," Teddy stuttered slightly.
"The answer is sand," she repeated morosely.
"Oh thanks," Teddy said noticing the door had sprung open.
"Wait I don't think I've seen you before," the apparition began to say, but Teddy had already skipped through the door into the jewel blue common room. He didn't have much time to waste considering it was now rather late.
He looked at the stair cases. Hmm, left or right. He took a tentative step up the left staircase wondering if this was indeed the girl's side and if it was would his disguise fool the spell on the collapsing stairs. You would have thought that Teddy Lupin would have tried this before as he was just as curious about the girl's dormitory as the next bloke, but he really didn't like having girl parts. Besides it would have been to embarrassing to confess to his friends how he had managed to climb the stairs anyway.
Teddy edged up the stairs carefully and looked for a sign marking the seventh year dormitory. He went up three flights of stairs before locating the right dorm. Before entering he cast a quick disillusionment spell on himself. It wouldn't stand up to even a passing glance in the bright firelight of the common room making anything behind him overly fuzzy, but in the darkened room he should be near invisible. He cautiously edged open the door hoping everyone was asleep or staying out past curfew.
The room was dark but the light cast from the stars and moon coming through the open windows gave him enough light to manage with and from the look of the closed curtains most of the occupants had settled in for the night. The room resembled any other dormitory, but the four posters had blue curtains instead of red or green. Teddy also took note of some makeup bags lining the armoire and he let out a breath he was holding. At least he had picked the right set of stars that was an improvement after his earlier abysmal start.
He edged along the beds as quietly as possible checking the tops of nightstands and closed trunks for any sign of the charm bracelet. However, it looked like all of his good fortune had been used up in locating the correct room. He did after a closer inspection manage to find with 89 certainty Rosie's bed. There was a stack of books poured haphazardly on the nightstand next to it and he recognized Rose's untidy scrawl on one of the pieces of parchment.
He carefully opened the top drawer of the nightstand to begin his search for the bracelet. He failed to stifle a gasp of surprise when he saw all of his letters to Rose staring up at him. Teddy, despite being on a mission, had continued to write to Rosie in an attempt to lighten her attitude towards himself. Of course he hadn't received any responses, and he had informed her similar to Victoire that she would be unable to contact him. However, he had only half-expected her to actually be reading them.
It had become a bit of a ritual writing a letter every other day to Rose as well as his muggle father. In Rose's he had at first been apologetic, then rather formal, and finally he had begun revealing the stress involved in his mission (without details of course). It had become more like writing in a diary than anything else when he wasn't to receive a response. He suddenly felt rather embarrassed about the growing insecurities he had been disclosing to Rosie unthinkingly.
The letters to his muggle father had been rather therapeutic as well. To Rose he reveled in telling someone who he truly was. In the letters to his father, he finally had a chance to have the relationship he always desired. The letters he received from the muggle were rather short and slightly awkward, but Teddy always thought there an understood fondness and a hint of pride. Teddy wrote to Jack, his muggle father, a lot about Rose. It might not have been the smartest thing to do considering it could get back to Harry, which would be an (oh sooooooo) awkward thing to explain, but Jack's responses brought him a lot of comfort.
Teddy shook himself back into reality and began rummaging through the pieces of parchment and envelopes. He had slightly forgotten the need for discretion and was making more noise than strictly necessary. He was about to close the drawer and move on to Rose's trunk when the blue curtains next to him were flung open and a wide eyed Rosie rasped out Lumos.
Teddy had little time to do anything but withdraw his hands from the open drawer. He dared not move after that. He should have cast silencing spells on all of the beds; it had been stupid not to take more precautions. She looked around wide eyed before noticing the partially open drawer. Her brow furrowed slightly, but after a moment she just reached out of bed in order to close it. As she was leaning her hair brushed Teddy's arms and sent the hairs on his arms on end. As her hand touched the edge of the drawer he heard her breathe in deeply.
"Teddy?" she said in a confused whisper. Teddy nearly choked, but managed not to move or make a sound; though his breathing seemed to be unnaturally loud tonight. Teddy could not see her face from this angle, but he was sure her expression was the one she used when figuring out an especially difficult rune translation. After a moment she shut the drawer with a snap. "Must be the letters…or I'm going crazy," Rose chuckled slightly to herself.
As Rose extinguished her lumos, Teddy finally relaxed enough to notice the gleam of silver on her wrist. Rose didn't close her curtains before lying back down to sleep. After nearly half an hour of staring at Rose's closed eyes awaiting the smallest flutter of her eyelashes Teddy finally relaxed his muscles. After another half hour of her continuous deep breathing he was brave enough to move his arms and step closer to the bed.
It took him another hour to finally work up the courage to attempt to take the bracelet. In all likeliness it would have taken much longer, but he realized daylight would soon be breaking.
He held his breath and reached out towards her wrist which was lying next to her head cushioned by a mass of curls. He couldn't fathom how the charms didn't become tangled in the mess of hair. He carefully pinched the snake charm between two fingers holding it taught on the connecting chain. He then used a severing charm and the snake came loose with surprisingly little resistance. A small lock of Rose's hair had accidentally come loose as well. He hesitated a moment before grabbing that as well and rushing out of the room down the stairs and sneaking back to the Slytherin dormitory.