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: Yeah I'm a lame person that never updates and breaks promises, but I've yet to abandon the story. Forgive me.
P.S. We need more Teddy/Rose fanfiction come on people.

Chapter 1: The Confession

When Teddy's mind began functioning again Rose was listing off places in Hogwarts. It took him awhile to realize she was talking about the places she had searched or possibly the places she needed to search; He wasn't quite sure. "It seems impossible to find," Rose sighed heavily.

"Well if you see it let me know. It's a small silver snake." Rose had pushed herself up off the ground.

"S..snake?" Teddy managed to finally spit out.

"Did you say something?" Rose held out her hand for Teddy. He hesitated a moment before grabbing it and allowing her to help him up.

Teddy coughed slightly trying to pull his thoughts together. "Snake seems a bit odd for Ravenclaw is all."

"Well the charms aren't for the houses," she blushed slightly. "They're for each person's name. It's silly really, but the first charm that was on it was a Rose for Rose and it just went from there. A crown for my father," Possibly she noticed the blank look on his face she elaborated, "Ronald can mean ruler or king." Rose tucked some hair behind her ear and began fidgeting. "Not that they're all like that. I have a teddy for Teddy, which is rather obvious and the star for, um well I'm probably boring you, sorry." Rose bit her lip when Teddy didn't say anything. It wasn't intentional; he was just trying to take it all in. Malfoy was the star and she still had a charm for him.

Rose motioned towards the door. "Well places to check and all that, so I'll just get going then."

Teddy shook his head. "Um, no, you're not boring me. I was…uh just trying to figure out the Albus/snake thing."

"Oh," Rose drew her eyebrows together. "It's just his initials ASP. See yah Danny." Rose gave him a half wave and a confused smile before leaving.

Teddy rubbed his face vigorously with his hands trying to bring some sense back into the world. The charm was going to lead back to Al and then the investigation would turn up what…that Al killed, no. There was just no way. And there was no motive.

It was just a coincidence. A quarter of the school was represented by a snake. It could still be anyone. Except that his was a portkey.

Teddy knew it was time to step back and let someone else take over the case. He was clearly too involved at this point. When Harry got the charm he would sort it all out and find out what was going on, but Teddy was already making his way towards the Ravenclaw tower. He never ended up doing what he knew he should.

He waited for a good half hour before the statue moved aside and Al came out still looking a bit ruffled from sleep. His hair could use a good brush and he had missed a button while getting ready making his collar stick up oddly. Teddy didn't hesitate. He just grabbed Al's arm and pulled him down the hallway.

Al didn't seem a bit phased by this rough treatment. "Hey Danny," he yawned out. "Have you seen what's for breakfast yet?"

Teddy felt a desperate desire to shake him. "We need to talk."

"Is this about Rose?"

Teddy halted yanking on Al's arm roughly. "Hey be careful, this is my good shirt." After the brisk walk they were now a fair distance away from the paths leading to the great hall. The hallway was empty, though the buzz from students traveling to breakfast could still be heard.

"Why'd you say Rose?"

Al yanked his arm out of Teddy's grasp and tried to straighten his shirt out a bit. "Well, I couldn't think of any other reason you'd drag me about the castle at this hour. It's not exactly a secret you've taken a fancy to her. Clearly you want to ask my permission, and let me say you are not making a good case for yourself." Al quirked up the corners of his mouth into an annoyingly smug expression. The urge to shake the boy was coming back with a vengeance.

"Damn it all Al," Teddy shouted slamming his hand against the wall. "This isn't a time for a laugh. I know that Posey's charm is a portkey."

"Ah, time for that talk is it. Well, Teddy," Teddy stopped breathing. He reached out for the front of Albus's shirt, but the boy narrowly dodged his grasp. "I think I've had enough manhandling for the day."

"You know!"

"Yes I know," Al rolled his eyes. "I am the one who got you here after all." Al pulled out his wand as Teddy lunged at him. "I said enough," he warned as he circled away from Teddy.

"How do you get anything done as an auror if your first response to everything is attack? Just calm down for a moment and think will you. I obviously brought you here for a reason."

"And what's that."

"To protect Rose, of course." Once again Teddy just wanted to shake an explanation out of the boy. The annoying know-it-all Ravenclaw side was really starting to shine through.

Perhaps Al sensed that he was treading in dangerous waters, because he lowered his wand slightly. "I'll put away my wand if you promise not to lunge at me again. And we can go find somewhere a little more private to have this conversation."

Teddy grit his teeth. "Alright."

Teddy followed Al down the hallway and through a corridor. Al paused in front of a yellowed tapestry of galloping centaurs and pushed back the fabric to reveal a hidden corridor. Teddy was familiar with the shortcut, as it had saved him ten minutes extra sleep on his way from Gryffindor tower to his early morning potions class sixth year.

"What the hell is going on here Al?"

"You care about Rose right?" Al asked abruptly.

Teddy was a bit startled and felt the heat rising in his face. "I don't see how I feel has got anything to do with well anything."

"I mean, if you could protect her you would right?" Al pushed on.

"Well of course. Just like I would for any of the Potters or Weasleys, within reason of course."

Albus furrowed his brow slightly at Teddy's answer. "Within reason, huh. Well, what if you had to choose between Rose's life and someone else's what would you do then?"

Teddy felt his stomach slowly starting to ice over with apprehension. "Al did you do something, something to protect Rose."

Al cast his eyes downward. "Did you know that Professor Wicks was my favorite professor? He said that I had an unrivaled talent for potions, and I could really do something with it. Last year he arranged with the head master to give me additional lessons." Al let out a slow breath.

"Well, one afternoon I came by and he had been meeting with Professor Trelawney. She excused herself when I came in, but right before she left she got a funny look on her face. Then she started speaking in this raspy voice and said,

'The rose born to two who destroyed the last dark lord,

Will be responsible for the birth of a new darkness.

Only the descendents of the black stars can save her,

And return peace to the wizarding world.'

After that she just continued on her way like nothing had happened. I spotted right away that it was a prophesy and that she was talking about Rose." Teddy swallowed back the dryness in his throat. There was a prophecy about Rose and the next great dark wizard.

Al's voice rose a bit and he looked at Teddy with a slight desperation. "But you know Rose; she would never do anything to hurt anyone. Not ever. But you know how seriously they treat prophesies at the ministry. If it's been prophesized, then you're already guilty of the crime. Not even Dad would be able to protect her."

"But Al, if it were true."

"But it's not. Half the time there's a prophecy it's self-fulfilling. Think about it Teddy, Dad would have never become the chosen one if no one had ever heard Trelawney's first prediction." Al did have a point.

"That's what I basically told Wicks. And he agreed with me. He and I were the only one's to hear it and we agreed it would be best not to tell anybody." Teddy felt relief wash over him, so Al hadn't killed Wicks. Of course he hadn't killed anyone. That was crazy to think that.

"But I had to cover my bases in case the prophecy was true. What if somehow Rose did bring about the next dark lord….not on purpose of course, but somehow? So I created a contingency plan. I made the charm on her bracelet into a portkey that I could activate in case I had to get her out of Hogwarts. And then I," Al's eyes slid away from Teddy's. "Then I sort of worked on getting the decedents of the black stars into play."

"And who or what are they?"

"Um well there's Scorpius. And I knew he had a bit of a crush on Rose, so last year I started encouraging rather than discouraging."

"Scorpius?"

"Well, it was pretty obvious as well. His grandmother was a Black. And all of the family was named after stars."

"Well so is my grandmother…"

Al cleared his throat. "Um yeah, I know…"

"So I'm in the prophecy then?"

"Could be. There are three possibilities. You, Scorpius, and Mr. Malfoy, but I highly doubt Draco Malfoy is an option."

"So you got Rose and Scorpius together." Al nodded once in response. Teddy paused to let that sink in for a bit. "But you haven't done anything to me. Your Dad assigned me to this project. And we hardly talked at all this summer. Shouldn't you have talked to me about this then?"

"Well, I couldn't trust you not to go to the ministry. You are an auror after all. So I had to…make sure you wouldn't betray Rose."

"But you haven't done anything," Teddy cried exasperatedly.

"Well that's not entirely true. Do you remember when Uncle Ron gave you the note from 'Scorpius'? Well, I wrote it and planted it where I knew he'd find it. And then when he came to me, like I knew he would since I'm friends with both Rose and Scorpius, I told him I didn't know anything." Al paused and took a deep breath, "And then I suggested that maybe he should ask for your help."

"You did what!"

Al had his wand in his hand faster than Teddy could register. "It was all to protect Rose. I just wanted you two to become a bit closer." Al's cheeks pinkened slightly. "And it sort of worked. When I visited Rose next she got a letter from you, but she through it in the fire without looking at it. So I figured things didn't go so well, so I tried to get you two talking at Dad's party. Then you and Victoire broke up, so I figured things were moving in the right direction."

Teddy rubbed his face with his hands. Everything that had happened this summer was all do to the machinations of a teenage boy. The confusing feelings for Rose the break up with Victoire. Okay, maybe the breakup with Victoire had more to do with him than Al, but still… "Al, you can't treat people like they're some pieces on a chess board. We have feelings. I really cared about Victoire, and what you're trying to do to Rose is wrong. You can't just go about mucking up people's lives!"

Al's eyes flashed menacingly. "But it was to protect Rose! I thought you would understand."

"I do understand, but it doesn't make it right."

"You know what they would do to her don't you? They would lock her up in Azkaban. Life sentence for something she's never even done. For the greater good and all that rubbish. They might even kill her just to be on the safe side." Al snarled viciously. And Teddy knew he was right. No one would risk the rise of a new dark wizard. The peace had been too good, and the war had been too horrible. Even if Harry weighed in with all of his authority, he couldn't stop her from being locked up or assassinated by some rogue wizard who was afraid.

"You know it too don't you. That's why we have to protect her."

Teddy lowered his head, but nodded. Al took a deep breath and continued. "So when Wicks wrote me this summer and told me that, 'he was sorry, but he felt it was his duty to let people know about the prophecy. He couldn't live with himself if something happened, so he was going to sell the story to the prophet,' I knew I had to get rid of him." Before Teddy could draw his wand Al shouted, "Immobulous." Teddy felt the muscles in his body immediately lock up in response. It bordered on painful, the feeling you get when your muscles tense right before a charley horse hits, except this was all over his body.

He gritted his teeth and glared accusingly at Al. Little Al to whom Teddy had given piggy back rides up to five years ago. Just as good as his younger brother. Al's eyes were slightly glassy with moisture. "Please, Teddy you have to understand." Al pleaded with him. "I didn't want to. I admired Wicks. I really did, but it was him or Rose. There was hardly even a choice."

And Teddy hated that there was a small part of him that agreed with Al completely.

AN: Once again forgive me.