Chapter Two
A/N: I OWN NOTHING!
The girl was dressed in an outfit, which hugged her curves in all the right places. If it hadn't been for the fact that Teddy had seen better looking women than her, he'd insist that the girl in front of him was the best thing to come into his life since sliced bread.
"Err…." he said, "girlfriend got a little too loud over the phone. Doesn't like that I'm doing a year abroad."
He thanked Merlin for the several years of Muggle studies, his grandmother, his godfather and Hermione Granger-Weasley that he knew enough to pass as a muggle. Who knew how badly this could fail otherwise?
"I see," she said, one eyebrow raised. "What brings you from…wherever the hell you're from?"
"Britain," Teddy said with a smile. "Year abroad study."
She shook her head. Teddy felt like she was eyeing him the way a buyer would eye a particular slab of beef and felt as if he should have covered up before answering the door.
"Well looks like we're neighbors," she said. "My name's Santana. Know it, learn it."
"Fear it?"
"Exactly," she gave a smirk and left, giving Teddy a nice view of her butt. Several times he had to remind himself that he had a girlfriend, and Victorie would kill him violently if he cheated on her. Then Fleur would bring him back and kill him again, only to revive him so that Victorie's father could kill him.
"Teddy, what have you gotten your self in now?" he muttered as he sighed, getting into one of the two beds.
He walked through the halls of Hogwarts, excited to get to class. Harry had told him that Neville was the best Herbology professor he could ask for, maybe not as good as Pomona Sprout but she'd retired last year.
"Oof!" he grunted as he ran into someone.
"Watch it," the older boy growled and Teddy gulped as he saw it was a Slytherin. Now the Slytherins weren't as evil as they were in the past, but they were still gits.
"Sorry," he almost muttered, and flushed as he knew his hair was probably changing colors freely. The boys laughed and somehow Teddy knew that it wasn't the kind of laugh he heard when his family was happy.
"Look who it is," the leader sneered. "The werewolf's boy. Why don't you howl for your daddy little firstie?"
"He can't!" another boy taunted. "Cause someone had the right idea to stamp out werewolves and their cubs. Bet he attacks us the first possible full moon."
The boys laughed again and left; leaving Teddy trembling with unshed tears. Instead of heading to Herbology, he ran to the lavatory and locked himself in a stall. Sitting down on the ground, he began to cry.
Teddy shot up in bed, wiping his now moist eyes. Whenever he felt secure about anything, that memory always came up to bite him in the rear. He sighed and laid back down.
Later that same day, he found himself in front of a rather unintimidating school from the outside. That changed the moment he stepped in and he got shoved into a locker. He hadn't even gotten his class timetable yet!
"Oi!"
He looked around and saw a small boy with brown hair run up to him.
"Are you alright?" the boy asked, and the thick accent led Teddy to believe that he was Irish. Teddy couldn't believe it. The boy didn't even know him yet he was making sure he was alright?
"Just a shove," Teddy was quick to reassure the boy. "Nothing I'm not used to with a big family."
The boy stared at him for a while. "You British?" he asked.
"Yes," Teddy nodded. "You're Irish. Now, if we're done stating the obvious I really have to get my class timetable—err…schedule."
He walked away from the boy, not really in the mood to make friends this early in the morning. He also wasn't ready to have the possibility of that boy luring him towards more bullies. That'd happened before.
"Oi! Lupin!"
A thirteen-year-old Teddy Lupin's head shot up and looked around for the person hissing his name.
"Over here!"
He got up and left the library. Teddy grinned when he saw that it was Michael Finch-Flechly. A Ravenclaw, Michael was only a year older than Teddy.
"Hey I was wondering," Michael said. "How's about you and I practice some flying later today?"
Teddy raised an eyebrow. That was new.
"Really?" he asked.
"Yeah!" Michael said. Teddy agreed, but it proved to be a mistake. Instead of flying, Michael lead him to a group full of the bullies from his first year and the others who made his life hell for the remaining two. Being peppered with questions and taunts, Teddy didn't react until shoves started being thrown.
"Leave me alone!" he shouted, his hair turning fire engine red as his eyes narrowed.
"Oh look. The freak's pissed off," one of the boys called out.
"Must be near full moon," another one chuckled. Teddy stormed off, peeved that he had thought Michael had really wanted to befriend him.
He shook his head free of his thoughts and opened the door to the office to get his timetable.
The office staff looked at him as if he was a mutant but he was used to that sort of thing from the kids at Hogwarts. Walking down the halls again, he saw the same boy get ruffed up by boys with very dated hairstyles.
"OI!" he yelled running up to him. Maybe he wasn't interested in getting a friend, but he could stop someone from suffering the same thing he'd suffered through for six years.
"Oh, another foreigner," the leader sneered. Teddy saw red. It was bad enough that he had to deal with labels at Hogwarts but he wasn't going to take crap from someone with a hairstyle that his grandfather would have thought to be bad.
"Yeah, I'm a foreigner," Teddy shot back. "But at least I don't look like I've got a rodent on my head."
"What did you say?" the leader asked, as the group got quiet. Teddy saw the boy run off and was glad at least one of them was going to get out alive.
"You heard me," Teddy smirked. "A rodent's on your head. I'd get that checked out if I were you."
He made to leave but the boy grabbed him by the shoulder.
"No one, and I mean no one, disses the hair," the boy growled as Teddy was shoved into a trash bin. The group laughed and walked away.
"Hey," a freakishly tall boy came up to him, the Irish boy in tow. "You alright?"
"I'm good," Teddy said, struggling to get out. The boy offered a hand, and Teddy took it.
"I'm Finn, and this is Rory," the tall boy said. "Rory said you helped him out?"
Teddy shrugged. "Just did what I thought was right. But if sticking up for others is a big no-no at this school, thanks for letting me know."
He made to leave but Finn chuckled.
"It's not," Finn said. "Us glee kids get picked on all the time. It's nice to see someone other than another Gleek stick up for us."
Teddy grinned.
"So Blondie," Rory said with a smirk, "mind telling us your name?"
Teddy thought for a moment. If he told his real name, then he'd get mocked for the rest of his time here. It was time for a normal name. He'd been sure to register under a different name too. Just in case the Aurors started looking for him.
"Jonathan," he said. "Jonathan Thomas."
"Can we call you John?" Finn asked.
"You call me whatever you want as long as it's not late to dinner," Teddy said with a smirk. They walked down the halls chatting before bumping into some girls wearing uniforms.
"Hey Brittney," Rory called but the girl ignored him.
"Hey Santana," Finn said to be friendly.
"Hey Frankenteen!" Santana shouted back. Finn took it in stride but Teddy saw the flinch.
"So John," Rory asked, "do you sing?"
"Happy Birthday," Teddy responded, "not the Beatles version."
"The Beatles have a Happy Birthday version?" Rory asked while Finn looked confused as to who the Beatles were. Typical Yank. Wouldn't know good music if it bit them in the rear.
"Yeah, but why do you ask?" Teddy asked.
"Glee needs members," Finn said. "Guy members. We need twelve members to compete at Sectionals and we've only got ten."
Teddy shook his head.
"Sorry guys. Don't count me in to that. I usually don't get involved in after school events."
He walked off only to be met with a shove into a locker. Every minute that wasn't class time was usually met with either a locker push or someone knocking his books down.
"Hi," a very vibrant boy came up to him after seventh period Spanish, "need some help?"
"No thanks," Teddy said with a grin, something which was rare for him. He normally didn't smile during school but there was something about this boy with his bright red shirt and black pants that made him want to smile. "I've got this."
"Blaine!" another boy called. "Wait up!"
"Kurt, I'm not going anywhere," Blaine said. "Just seeing if he needed some help."
Kurt smiled at the other boy and then noticed Teddy.
"I'm Kurt Hummel," he said, introducing himself," and this is Blaine Anderson also known as the boy who played the best Tony McKinley High has ever known."
"Kurt, I think I'm the only Tony McKinley High has ever known," Blaine corrected him kindly.
"Jonathan Thomas," Teddy said. "Just an average student who'd like to get home right now."
"Wouldn't we all?" Kurt saw straight through to the humor. "You're new aren't you?"
Teddy nodded.
"Fair warning, McKinley isn't the nicest to new kids," Kurt said and dragged a protesting Blaine off. Teddy could hear Blaine go on about how they hadn't been too bad with him and Kurt shot back with something about how no one could possibly hate him.
Arriving to and from school to his little oasis from the bullying across the pond was easy. He just had to disappear, apperate and presto! He was home.
"Hey dad?" he whispered as he petted his cat. "It's me again. Umm….I know I haven't talked in a while but this is important. Am I doing the right thing? It just seems like I've traded one set of bullies for another."
He paused for a moment.
"At least no one knows me here. I can make friends without wondering if they're only into being my friend because I've got a famous father, mother and godfather."
Still silence.
"Dad?" he whispered again. "I love you Dad. Please, just send me a sign so I'm not just talking to myself."
He fell asleep in the chair, not noticing the fact that Moony was purring louder than he'd ever done before. Almost as if he was saying I love you too son.