Shampoo147: There we are. It sucks, but deal with it, i haven't been in a good mood lately.

Ayame: Just for future reference, Teddy is asexual until i say so. For my darling readers that have been faithful from the very very beginning, I don't plan on changing the pairing.

Magic Clay

Teddy was relieved to find himself out of P.E. Mandrake had made him jump rope faster than he was capable of throughout the entire hour. Then, he would literally kick Teddy until he got up if he fell down, which was often the case.

Teddy felt sure that he had some broken ribs from that sadistic psycho who had laughed as he kicked Teddy.

He gratefully sat down and looked around for his new tutor.

Several minutes passed before Teddy began to get up. True to timing, that was the moment the teacher chose to come into the room.

He was an average man, with short brown hair and dark blue eyes. He was wearing a simple suit and was carrying a book with files stacked on top of it.

His eyes caught Teddy's and Teddy could tell from their steely depths that this would be as bad as P.E . . .

Teddy collapsed into his bed, barely managing to kick off his shoes before falling. The entire day had proven to be as bad as Mandrake.

Mr. Jetyun, his new government teacher, had kept hitting him upside the head with the textbook if he wasn't paying attention, or if he got an answer wrong . . .

Then, Mrs. Bibbleweed, the Herbologist, had lashed him with a vine when he showed less than desirable behavior.

Ms. Jones, the geography tutor, used a whippy rod that stung like hell!

Mr. Stroud, the linguist, had a teak rod.

Then he was right back with Mandrake, who had made him run until he threw up and passed out. And then so helpfully threw him in the lake and told him to swim to land.

It was a bloody miracle that he was alive right now.

The only relief he had gotten all day was Ms. Lutyens, who was the art teacher. She was muggle and thereby thought that they were a wealthy muggle family.

Meaning that they had to stay in the courtyard with the stinging heat and the irritating bugs.

"Ouch!" Teddy cried as he slapped the back of his neck. Damn it, the bugs were doing nothing but biting him today.

"Are the bugs bothering you?" Ms. Lutyens asked, frowning as she looked at her distracted student.

Teddy rubbed his neck and replied, "No, I've suddenly contracted a painful skin disease on the back of my neck and decided to slap it."

Ms. Lutyens smiled and giggled, "Don't your parents use bug repellent?"

Teddy rubbed his ear and replied, "Yes, but they're not working now." They had to be disabled to allow a muggle into the courtyard.

Ms. Lutyens sighed before digging around in her purse, "Don't worry, Harry. I have some insect repellent." And with that, she withdrew a small can and commanded him to spread his arms, close his eyes, and hold his breath.

Teddy, fearing the possible repercussions of misbehavior on his part, quickly obeyed and shivered from the cold sensation he got while she sprayed him with something. "There you are." Ms. Lutyens remarked as she pulled back and Teddy opened his eyes. He smelled something funny.

As Ms. Lutyens started lecturing again, Teddy vaguely noticed that the bugs were leaving him alone now.

A year passed in this fashion, with him working hard under harsh teachers every day of the week. His only soft moments in the day being with Ms. Lutyens, and even that grew frustrating and difficult as the patterns grew more technical and her standards grew higher.

The teachers remained indifferent, but Ms. Lutyens, and Mr. Mandrake were what really stood out. Ms. Lutyens was soft and warm, but Mr. Mandrake was fierce and unrelenting.

Harry, as Winky, had told him that the fact that Mandrake was making him do so many difficult things was a sign of his confidence in him.

They had moved beyond jump rope and mere running, now Mandrake was making him do things like gymnastics and martial arts (he wasn't sure what kind or what level). Mandrake was even teaching him how to juggle.

Ms. Lutyens gave him papers showing leaves with the most complicated little patterns and scolded him if he got anything wrong.

Mathematics was up to Algebra.

In Herbology, he had reviewed the difference in incense herbs and their properties and myths.

In Ancient History, he was learning about the ancient Czech and Egyptians civilizations, both magical and muggle accounts.

Language wise, he had learned proper Latin, both modern and old, as well as its written version.

In Muggle science, he had been reviewed in Physical Science, and was currently working on Geology.

Geography was a pain, as it seemed to be a more hands-on landscaping class. He was learning how to observe this and that in his surroundings and the various environmental features in Europe.

Government, however, was the worst. He had always known that the law was too dry and argumentative for him to be fully interested in. Now he hated it. The tutor had first taught him the consequences for broken laws and their aspects (what they 'meant'). Then the tutor taught him the laws themselves. Just last week, he had to give a fully oral explanation on the laws regarding magical creatures from memory.

He was quite relieved when Harry/Winky had popped into his room and told him that he was getting the week off from tutoring . . . not to mention suspicious.

"Up up up!" Came a squeaky cry, startling young Teddy out of his bed, resulting in him falling face-first onto the floor.

"I would've thought that Lavos would've taught you better than that, maybe there are more differences in our worlds than I assumed." Winky's voice chimed. Teddy scrambled into standing position and glared at the creature beside his bed.

"What do you want?"

"To get out of this body." Bob.

"Why?" Teddy asked, feeling irate at being awakened in such a rude manner.

Winky glared at him and Teddy almost laughed at how ridiculous it looked on a house-elf.

"Why do you think? I'm a she-elf! Her private parts hold no interest to me (not that they would if she was human) and I have to keep pulling back every few hours; meaning that I don't get as much done as I would like. Not to mention, oh, I don't know, I WANT MY BODY BACK!"

Teddy yawned before looking at the irate house elf, "Why would it mean so much to you? Haven't you spent the last eight years as nothing more than a separate consciousness in my mind?"

Winky sniffed before replying, "That's different, your body was once mine, too. I knew what you were feeling, but I didn't feel it myself. I felt nothing but emotions and thoughts. Physical discomfort, urges, and cravings were nothing more than memories and something to observe in you. Now, I'm an elf. I feel the need to pop away every time someone says my name. I need to exercise my magic, now that I have body, and such a surge of power would surely destroy this elf's body!"

Teddy frowned, "Well, why did you have to wake me up for this?"

Winky suddenly straightened and replied, "I had to wake you up because you're going to help me."

Teddy's eye twitched, "And, pray tell, how am I going to do that?"

Winky gave off a wicked smile, looking quite foreboding for a house elf, "You, dearest Teddy, are going to create me a body and animate it for me."

Twitch twitch, "Explain it to me, please."

"Well, with your stellar artistic ability, you won't have too much trouble creating a human sculpture out of magic clay. Then, you simply concentrate your magic into the sculpture, the house elf magic making it easier for me to channel myself into it!"

Teddy glared at the demented house elf, "Okay, what are the risks for me?"

Winky shrugged, "Magical exhaustion, dehydration, poisoning, things like that. Oh, well, there's also the chance that you'll be the one that goes into the body, but the chance of that actually happening is really pretty small."

Teddy scowled, "Right, I'm not doing it."

Winky glared this time, "Sorry, Harry, I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. You're doing this, whether you like it or not."

Teddy hesitated, "What are you going to do to make me?"

There was a moment of silence before something seemed to ripple from Winky and hit Teddy head on. There was a moment where he remained suspended in the air, before he blew back and hit his shelves of art, collapsing to the ground with a resounding crash, his artwork falling in shambles around him.

"Don't forget, little Harry, I'm stronger than you'll ever hope to be, even in this body. I've allowed you to get away with much insolence, thus far, don't try my limits." Came a threatening hiss, and Teddy was viscously reminded that the Dark Lord himself had raised the other Harry.

Then all was black once more.

Teddy opened his eyes, feeling sore all over, with a horrible taste in his mouth and a layer of slime over his teeth.

"Drink this, it'll make the nastiness go away." Came a sudden command. Teddy, recognizing the voice as Mr. Mandrake, obeyed and was pleased when the potion did what Mandrake had said it would. He turned his head and looked at the larger blonde.

"What happened?" was all Teddy could ask.

Mandrake shrugged, "How the hell should I know? Your elf came to me and told me that you were hurt and had a project to work. I'm here to make sure you're good to go through with it." Teddy flinched, realizing that Harry had brought him a personal slave driver that could keep him healthy.

"Feeling better?" Mandrake asked and Teddy was surprised to find that he was, indeed, feeling much better. So he nodded and Mandrake gestured to several large blocks of clay that looked a bit . . .

"Magic clay." Mandrake said suddenly, making Teddy jump. "Your elf said that you're to make a full-sized human out of it."

Teddy gazed at it for a few moments before drawing up his sleeves and pulling his hair back with a bandana. "Well, I might as well start now." He said as he began to mentally sketch the older Harry's body for reference.

This would take a while.