Chapter 3: Chapter 3

Tp part 3

Teddy sat in his classroom thinking over his lunch with Lily two weeks ago. He knew he wasn't really supposed to sit at the Sytherin table, and Lily wasn't allowed to sit up at the teacher's table with Teddy, so they grabbed some food off of both tables before high tailing it back to the DADA room to enjoy their spoils. They had camped out on his desk, setting up a sort of picnic type display. Teddy thought about that meal with a smile gracing his handsome features, and his hair turning the color of Lily's enchanting green eyes.

Lily had changed. Not just her looks but also her attitude. She was very independent now and even got annoyed when Teddy had tried to open the door for her.

"I'm a grown woman, Teddy!" she said with a little jut of her little chin. "I don't need you to do everything for me like when we were kids." She shut the door before she opened it again and walked through it with an air of accomplishment. Teddy watched her, beaming and thinking that even though she did look like a grown woman, she was still just 16.

'She turns 17 in October,' murmured the part of Teddy's brain that would not let go of the memory of Lily pressed against him in that deserted corridor. As much as Teddy wanted to listen to this thought, he couldn't. Even when she was of age, he would be her teacher and she would be his student; it wouldn't be right. He could be fired and she would be ridiculed for the rest of her school days. He couldn't let that happen. And this was all assuming that she felt the same way about him. He knew she didn't. They had even talked about the kind of guys she liked at lunch.

"I hate it when guys drink. I don't understand why they would want to make a fool of them self in front of me." She said as she pulled a firewhisky away from Teddy disapprovingly.

"Lils, it's not that bad to have a sip every once and a while," He replied, making a grab for the delicious liquid. Lily quickly pulled it farther away from Teddy's reach.

"That may be true, but it's only noon Teddy Bear," she said using his old nickname and making Teddy feel a sudden warm feeling spread across his body. "If you're going to drink, you should at least wait until you don't have anymore classes for the day. That way you don't set a bad example for your students." She said logically. With these words, Teddy noticed the Head Girl badge pinned to her robes for the first time…which was strange considering how much time he had spent staring in that general direction lately…

"You sure you're not Aunt Hermione's daughter?" he asked playfully. Lily scrunched up her nose and laughed the way he hoped she only did for him. "So tell me Miss Head Girl, what do you look for in a guy? Perfect Attendance?" Lily laughed again and shook her head before answering.

"I want a guy who is comfortable in his skin, and not afraid to tell me he loves me in front of his friends." She got a dreamy look in her eyes as she spoke. Teddy knew that look… she had someone in mind.

"You know any one that fits that description?" Teddy baited, trying to keep it light and playful. Lily looked away and blushed. Teddy's heart dropped. "Who is it?"

"He's a guy I've liked for a really long time, and he recently became available, but he won't ever go for me." Lily sounded so upset.

"Lils, a guy would have to be blind, dumb, deaf, and just plain stupid to not like you."

"You really think so?" Lily looked up hopefully.

"Yeah, of course."

"How can you be so sure, Teddy?" she asked looking so damn innocent that Teddy got lost in her round green eyes.

"Well Lils… I mean look at you…y-you…you've got nice…skin," Teddy finished embarrassed. Wow, did he actually just say that she had nice skin? Out of all her wonderful traits he had to pick her skin? Not that her skin was bad, it was pale and soft and he wanted to touch it really badly, but still, she was going to think that he was creepy or something. To his surprise, she laughed again.

"You're so cute Teddy Bear," she said before ruffling his now blue hair a little bit. Teddy suddenly felt the urge to tickle her into oblivion. He lunged at her, scattering food across the floor and tackling a very surprised Lily in the process. He immediately went for the spot that he knew was her weakest, her sides.

"Teddy!" She shrieked in between bought of laughter. "Stop! No! That's not fair!"

"What? I can't hear you right now Lily; I'm a little busy," Teddy replied with a smirk. He continued his selected form of torture for a few more minutes before Lily pushed him over, causing him to fall on the floor.

"Oh my gosh, Teddy! I'm sorry, here, I'll help you up," she stammered before tripping over her book bag and landing directly on top of him.

Suddenly the laughter stopped. Lily was looking down at him with those damn green eyes of hers and her hair had fallen around Teddy's face; as if creating a small little curtain that hid them from the rest of the world. Teddy didn't move, he didn't dare breathe. Any slight movement might scare her and he didn't want that. This was the closest he and Lily had ever been. She was completely on top of him and he loved it. Their bodies seemed to be made for each other. His heart was hammering hard in his chest and he prayed to whatever god was up there that she couldn't hear it.

Lily continued to stare at him for the longest time with out moving or even blinking. Then, very very slowly, Lily began to drop her head down to his. She closed her eyes and leaned in until Teddy realized what was going on. He too closed his eyes and waited for her soft plush pink lips to touch down on his own. He felt the slightest touch and was sent into a whirl wind of happiness… before the bell signaling the end of lunch. Lily jerked away as though she had been burned. She quickly grabbed her stuff, and made a break for the door.

"I'm sorry, Professor," she stammered as she bolted. "This won't happen again I promise."

"Lily," Teddy called after her, trying not to notice that she hadn't called him by name. "Wait!" She didn't. She was out the door before he even had a chance to go after her. He wanted to chase after her and tell her everything, but he couldn't. It would look very suspicious for a teacher to go bolting after a student if they both came out of an empty classroom when everyone should have been in the Great Hall, eating. So instead he just watched her go, praying their newly rediscovered friendship hadn't been ruined forever.

Teddy snapped out of his reverie, remembering that he had students in his room and, even though they were just doing some defensive spell work, he should be correcting them; not thinking about the woes of his love life. No, it wasn't even a love life. It was the creepy delusions of a teacher who was dangerously attracted to one of his students.

He began to walk around the room, watching the wand work of the fourth years, and making small adjustments where necessary. Dominique quickly brushed off any attempt he made to help her, she clearly was still mad at him for dumping her sister. Sighing, Teddy returned to his desk and dismissed the class. Sure they still had 15 minutes of class time left, but he knew that most of them would do better if they tried again tomorrow, and he was finding it very hard to concentrate on these simple spells when he had the N.E.W.T. students next period, and that meant that Lily would be sitting in the second row, third seat in for the next hour.

Lily hadn't really talked to him that much since that day in his room. Sure she didn't go out of her way to isolate her self from him like she had when he didn't write her all those years ago, but she wasn't showing up in his class room to talk any more either. As much as Teddy relished the memory of the small pressure of Lily's lips on his, it barely counted as a kiss, and she had bolted from the room at an incredibly rate directly afterword. Why had she done it? Why had she even entertained the idea of kissing him when she was into another guy and he was so old?

'It was the heat of the moment. That was all,' Teddy convinced him self as his seventh years walked into his class. He smiled at them all, including Lily, who was currently very preoccupied with her parchment and quill.

"Good Afternoon class," Teddy said in his usual charming teacher tone. "Today we will be having a discussion on the reading you did last night. Any questions?" A hand rose up in the air. "Yes, Mr. Scamander?"

"Why'd you have us read such a sappy story about this stupid little witch and her crazy little love potion?" he asked in his typical egotistical voice. Lysander Scamander was annoying to say the least. He always questioned everything that Teddy said or did, and clearly thought that everything that didn't include flames flying from his wand or half naked women wasn't interesting.

"You read the story of Merope Gaunt and her tragic love story last night because I believed that it held a great amount of information about the dangers of love," Teddy explained patiently.

"But this is defense against the dark arts, and a love potion, though creepy and slightly amoral, does not constitute as a dark art," said Lucy Weasley, Uncle Percy's snobby daughter.

"Really?" Teddy asked with a sly smile. "You don't think that I would bring up this story if it held no relevance to our subject did you?" Lucy looked away with frown. "I believe I said that we would be talking about the dangers of love, not love potions. Now, as the story says, Merope came from a long line of purebloods, but fell in love with a dashing young muggle from her village. He did not return her love and her father would not have approved of their relationship if he hadn't already been put in Azkaban along with her brother. Out of desperation, Merope put the young man under the influence of a love potion, and they ran off together. Merope and the muggle were married and soon she became pregnant. Shortly after this, Merope released her husband from her enchantment and he left her."

"Why would she do that?" Scamander interrupted. "If she had the guy and was going to have his baby, why not just keep him under the spell and live happily ever after? Isn't that what all chicks want?"

"Very good question," replied Teddy, ignoring the sexist remark. "Does anyone know why she did this?"

"Perhaps she hoped that he had actually fallen in love with her," answered a girl in the back row.

"Or maybe she thought that he would stay for the kid," replied a boy sitting next to her.

"Perhaps," Teddy said. "But either way, he left her and she, distraught, penniless, and pregnant, found her way to a muggle orphanage where she gave birth and died soon after. You see, her love ended up killing her. You must be very careful about who you give your heart to, class, because if you aren't careful, you could come to the same unfortunate end as our poor Merope. There are people out there who will try to use your heart against you, and you must not allow them to. You must be cautious, and weary of every body."

The class sat in silence for a few moments before a girl in the front row that looked too much like Victoire for Teddy's liking asked a very important question.

"What happened to her child? Did the father ever come back for him?" She clearly had a bleeding heart.

"No, I'm ashamed that the man never sought out his son. But the boy found his father later, and made him regret leaving."

"Who was the boy?" asked Lucy, suddenly very interested.

"Ah, that is the most important question of all." This had been the moment that Teddy had been waiting for the whole lecture. "Does anyone know the answer?" One lone hand rose into the air.

"Lily?" Teddy asked with a questioning tone, he was sure that her father wouldn't have told her this story; it was far too dark for the Chosen One's little princess. Lily had also been seemingly staring off into space since she practically walked in the door. Teddy found it interesting that she was paying such close attention that she knew the answer.

"Tom Riddle Jr." She said in a deadly low tone. The class looked confused.

"Is that important?" Scamander asked stupidly. "Wasn't he a quidditch player or something?" Teddy opened his mouth to speak, but was silenced by Lily before he had a chance to.

"No he most certainly was not a 'quidditch player or something'!" She said with anger. "He was the most terrible and dark wizard of all time. He's the man who killed my grandparents, uncle, and his," she pointed to Teddy, "parents. Tom Riddle was the man that you all know as Lord Voldemort."

Silence filled the room. Every one was taken aback, mostly because they all remembered the stories their parents or guardians had told them about the second war. Almost all of them had lost someone and were deep in reveries.

"That's enough for today class," Teddy broke the silence. "Pack up, but Lily, could you stay behind."

After everyone left, Lily walked to Teddy's desk.

"Yes, Professor?" She asked politely.

"It's Teddy to you," he replied with exasperation.

"Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?"

"No," Teddy said giving up. "I was just wondering why you went off on Scamander for not knowing who Tom Riddle was. It isn't a widely known story and even I didn't expect the class to know it. Do you have a problem with him or something?"

"He's my ex-boyfriend, but that's not why I got angry," Lily said, looking down. Teddy felt a clawing sensation in the pit of his stomach at the idea of Scamander and Lily together. "I got angry because he was disrespectful towards you."

"No he wasn't," Teddy said.

"He didn't know about your parents," Lily said still looking down. "He should have known, he can be that thick with me, but he can't do that to you."

Teddy slowly exhaled and let her words wash over him before he lifted her chin to meet his gaze.

"You were protecting me?" Teddy asked taken aback. "Why?"

"Because, Teddy, you're… different…," She said looking away again. Teddy tried to speak, but Lily cut him off. "I have to go," she said before grabbing her stuff and leaving. Teddy watched her walk away; her words still ringing in his ears.

"Because, Teddy, you're…different…"