Chapter Two

A/N: This fic was originally typed in one big document, but this author is a vain creature, and more updates mean more reviews, so she posted it in two chunks, bisecting it basically along the line where she took a year's break. See if you can detect the change in voice!

'You are Ms Brogan Fawcett, of Number Three, Charing Place?'

'Yes, your honour.'

The woman in the witness' stand was the same one whom Teddy had seen trying to chat up Scorpius Malfoy in Psychedelic Merlin on the night when he had been impersonating Albus. Now she was in court, spilling stories about how yes, you could get Pepper and Glitter and God knew what else at the club, how she had heard Malfoy doing business with the barman on more than one occasion, how she was sure that he was responsible for supplying everything you could get on the dance floor there…it was clear as day to Teddy that she had been buying the stuff herself, but nobody said it. That was a case for another day.

Hugo was beside him, tense and uncomfortable, but proud at the same time. His dopy Weasley face was turned up, chin tilted; see? it seemed to say. I deserve my place on the Auror squad, I can do my job, I'm bringing in criminals with the best of them. And I'm not at all guilty about serving justice on family friends, no.

And speaking of that…

The next witness into the stand was Albus Potter.

'Mr Potter,' the judge began. There was a faint, rustling murmur in the courtroom. In the gallery, Teddy's eyes picked out a movement: Ginny Potter, grasping her husband's hand. 'You were at the Malfoy residence on the evening of the twenty-third of November?'

Teddy knew he had been. He had been waiting outside in the freezing cold with, he remembered, no camera. It was really a shame about that. A crying shame.

'And on that night, Scorpius Malfoy made certain suspicious comments?'

'Yes, your honour. He never mentioned the exact nature of his business, but while testing the waters to see if I would be interested in getting involved, he made it clear that his ventures were of an illegitimate nature. I refused to have anything to do with it, of course.'

Next to Teddy, Hugo stiffened in his seat. It was rather endearing, how his whole body started humming with indignation at the sound of dirty dealings.

'Patience,' Teddy whispered.

'And you didn't think the matter work reporting at the time?' the judge was pressing.

'No.' Albus was a picture: noble, sorrowful, ashamed. 'I suppose…I hoped I might be wrong, your honour.'

'Hmph.' The judge sniffed, flipping a page of his notes. 'Mr Edward Lupin take the stand, please.'

Teddy stood up and moved to the witness' stand.

'How did you come to be involved with the Malfoy case?' the judge asked. His tone was different than the one he had taken with Albus. He disapproved.

'I was asked to investigate by Miss Bones of the Department for Magical Law Enforcement, due to certain suspicions,' Teddy answered.

'Miss Bones was your client?'

'Yes.'

'Please explain how you discovered that Mr Malfoy was involved in the dealing of illegal substances, Mr Lupin,' the judge said.

Teddy leaned back in the chair and spoke raffishly, just to wind him up. 'It was my partner over there who came up with the first lead,' he said, nodding in Hugo's direction. 'He was tailing Malfoy and observed him receiving bales of Venomous Tentacular seeds at a London dockyard. He obtained photographs of the contraband…'

The judge raised an eyebrow at Hugo, who snapped to attention and spoke.

'Five large crates of ripe pods, sir.'

The judge gave one dry little nod and turned back to Teddy.

'You also provided us with a tape-recording in which a speaker, presumably Scorpius Malfoy, makes various incriminating remarks,' he said. Out of the corner of his eye, Teddy saw Hugo frown. Albus had been at the dockyard too, and they had moved on to the tape-recording without mentioning it. Albus's statement that he had refused to work with Scorpius had not yet been challenged. Surely they were taking things in the wrong order? Teddy willed him to keep quiet, and kept his eyes on the judge.

'How was this tape obtained?' he asked.

'I bugged his house,' Teddy explained. He had been through the tape and edited out the pounding dance music in the background of the first half, using technology this magical court probably didn't even know existed. 'Bugging is a Muggle technique, in which recording devices are planted in a suspect's house to monitor his actions. My device recorded Malfoy's incriminating conversation with another man.' A man with a nice, generic voice. Nobody listening to the tape would realise that it had been Teddy in disguise.

An official brought out the tape and a small Muggle stereo and, after some embarrassing fumbling, managed to persuade it to play. The conversation filled the room, soft and punctuated by a little static. When the speech began to be punctuated with other, unmistakable sounds, the judge stared off into the middle distance with professional detachment, Scorpius Malfoy seemed to slip into some kind of cold, glaring trance, and Hugo's ears glowed scarlet. Teddy just steepled his fingers in front of his face to hide his very slight smile.

'Ahem. There we are,' the judge said at the end of the tape. Teddy had cut it just before Albus's shout had interrupted them from the street. 'Incontrovertible. Mr Malfoy, what do you have to say?'

'I don't deny any of the statements I made on the tape,' Scorpius said tightly.

'Can you tell us, please, who it was that you were talking with when this recording was made?'

'I would rather not say.'

'Hmm.' The judge turned to Teddy. 'Mr Lupin, can you offer us any illumination?'

Teddy shrugged frankly. 'Afraid not, your honour. The bug is an automatic device. I wasn't there.'

'Near the beginning of the tape, Mr Malfoy addresses his companion as "Al"…' the judge prompted. God, it was so obvious, Teddy thought. It was staring them all in the face.

'I don't know,' he said. 'Could have been anyone.'

The judge frowned, looking from him to Scorpius and back again. 'Of course, both of you understand that, as this man on the tape is clearly party to Mr Malfoy's activities, it would be very useful if we could identify him now…'

Behind his apologetic smile, Teddy gritted his teeth. Now, now was the moment when Hugo would come piling in, saying that it had been Teddy on the tape, Teddy dressed up as Albus which obviously meant that Scorpius trusted Albus with his secrets because Albus was up to the neck in schemes with him already, and after that would come tales of photographs and fabricated evidence and midnight duels and probably indecent exposure to boot…

Hugo stayed silent. Teddy could feel his eyes, no doubt wide, outraged and confused, boring into the back of his neck, but for now the boy trusted him enough to let him do things his way. Good. Hopefully he would go on trusting him for just a few minutes longer.

'I'll never tell you who I was talking to,' Scorpius said quietly, all pretence of civility gone. The judge glanced away from his as if he were too distasteful to look at, and Scorpius sent a long, burning look at Albus in the stands. It was so powerful that Teddy was astonished that the people didn't see it, even through the grey fug of parental Potter entitlement that they'd let build up in front of their eyes.

It didn't take much longer after that.

'Scorpius Malfoy, you are sentenced to a minimum of ten years in a penal institution to be decided by the probation officers of this court for possession and sale of class C untradeable substances…'

Outside the courtroom, Teddy started to hurry. He was sick of red plush and oak panelling; he wanted to feel the fresh air – even if it was full of drizzle. But before he could take more than a step down the long corridor, Susan Bones appeared in front of him.

'Miss Bones,' he said, greeting her with a half-bow.

'Nice job, Mr Lupin,' she said neutrally. Then she stepped a little closer and murmured, 'so Albus Potter wasn't involved after all? But you told me you'd seen them together.'

'I did see them,' he answered. 'More than once. But I couldn't put together anything that would hold up in court. I thought it better to just bag Malfoy for now. It'll have put a serious dent in the ring's operations, which can only be good for the systems of all those people getting plastered at the Psychedelic Merlin, and it may be that in time this will lead us to some more information. But, since I know my commission was to nail Potter, I'll understand if you don't want to pay me my completion fee.'

'No. I don't think I do,' Susan Bones said. She frowned at the carpet.

'What about my monthly fee? Do you want me to continue with the investigation, or shall we call it off?'

'Maybe there never was anything that would hold up in court…' Susan Bones muttered. If there was one thing Teddy had learned about her during the time she had been employing him, it was that she was a fiercely logical and mathematical woman. It wasn't often that he saw her doubting the calculations of her own mind. But the next instant she had pulled herself back together. She looked at him almost archly. 'I'll think about it,' she said. 'Meet me for coffee in a week. You can tell me any details you may have held back out of discretion, too.' Damn it, she was sharp.

She walked away, and he immediately saw Hugo Weasley standing behind where she had been.

Oh dear. His expression was outrage.

'What was that?' he demanded. He had a voice that still cracked upwards occasionally, but he was still doing a fairly good job of sounding threatening. 'You didn't even mention –'

'Lupin,' a quiet, cold voice said at Teddy's shoulder.

Damn. With one man in front of him and another behind, Teddy felt pinned. He almost wondered which of them he ought to be worrying about more. But he wasn't particularly looking forward to the conversation with Hugo, so he turned around.

'Albus,' he said nodding.

Albus took a step into his personal space.

'You fucked my boyfriend,' he hissed.

'Your boyfriend whom you threw to the sharks in there,' Teddy said, raising one eyebrow. Just for a moment, Albus blanched. Then he snarled.

'It was his idea. I can take you down better out here than I can by grassing you up for your pathetic little piece of attempted fraud and ending up in jail with him.'

'Take me down? I look forward to it,' Teddy breathed. 'Well-played, Al. See you around sometime?'

Albus's mouth twitched. His eyes searched Teddy's face for a moment, turned to shoot Hugo a look of pure venom, and stalked away down the corridor.

For a moment, Hugo seemed too stunned to continue with his attack. Then he drew breath and began again.

'What –'

'Look,' Teddy cut him off. 'My office. Now. You can apparate by yourself this time, and I'll explain everything.'

He stepped into crushing darkness that almost seemed welcome, and reappeared in the persistent drizzle outside his front door, fumbling for his keys. A moment later Hugo materialised beside him.

Teddy pushed open the door with its mottled brass plaque and stepped into the semi-darkness of the hallway. He felt Hugo's crowding, angry presence as the brat stepped in beside him.

'Now, what was that about?' he said fiercely. 'Why didn't you tell the judge that Albus had been involved, after all that effort we went to, when that was what Miss Bones paid you for in the first place? We could have had him!'

'We could have had him, if you hadn't let him catch you that night when you were taking photographs,' Teddy said. 'The idea was to take plenty and then chose a few generic ones so that Albus and Scorpius themselves wouldn't know when they had been taken, and wouldn't realise they had been faked. Well, Albus caught us, and so they could just say I had been fabricating evidence.'

'But the fact that Scorpius trusted you, in the guise of Albus Potter, proves that he was involved!'

'Yes, that nice old judge would have acknowledged that,' Teddy said dryly. 'He would also have had me hauled in front of a tribunal for attempting to pervert the course of justice, which would probably get me two years in prison, and made some summing-up remarks putting just the right spin on the case to ensure that I never got work again. No thanks.'

He turned away. Hugo stared after him.

'You let Albus get away with it to cover your own back!' he exclaimed, sounding so shocked that Teddy nearly laughed.

'Yes, I suppose I did,' he said.

'That's wrong! You can't let a criminal escape justice just to save face!'

'Save my job, you mean.'

'I told you you shouldn't have tried faking those photos.'

Teddy sighed. 'Look, you and I both know it would have come to the same thing whether the photographs were real or fake. We both saw them; we know they were working together. Unfortunately, the high courts don't see it that way. A faked photograph is a faked photograph. And if I hadn't pretended to be Albus, we'd still be chasing around and we wouldn't have Scorpius either.' He looked at Hugo sidelong. 'Why are you so keen to see Albus behind bars, anyway?'

It was a low blow, but it worked; Hugo went from indignant to flustered all in a moment.

'I – I don't – I don't want it; it's what has to be done!'

'All right!' Teddy smiled placatingly. 'Listen, I want to nail him as much as you do. Believe me. The only thing keeping him from accusing us of forging the photographs was not mentioning that he was involved at all, or he'd have taken us down with him, but this is just a setback. I'll get him one day, whether or not Susan Bones pays me. I promise you. I'll never stop. And you can help me. I like working with you, kid.'

'Even though I argue with you like this?' Hugo looked a little taken aback.

Teddy grinned. 'Yeah.' He shrugged out of his coat and made to hang it up.

Hugo was looking at him strangely.

'What?' he asked, and then noted the exact nature of Hugo's expression. He looked from Hugo to the coat and back again. Of course. It was the same coat he had been wearing on the night of the duel. He only had the one.

He grinned broadly and openly, not bothering to put any intonations into his smile. Hugo's ears glowed red.

'I should have made you a copy of the tape,' he said. 'Sorry I didn't think of it.'

He had expected Hugo to spontaneously combust. Instead, Hugo stuck out his chin and said,

'I've still got the photos.'

Well. Teddy only just held back a laugh at the kid's unexpected brazenness. Another moment, though, and the full significance of what he had said sank in.

'Oh shit, so you do,' he said.

They stared at one another for a moment.

'I can tell what I know,' Hugo said.

'Don't,' Teddy said quietly.

A pause.

'Seriously, don't.'

Hugo took a step towards the door. Teddy moved quickly. He grabbed Hugo by both wrists, got between him and the entrance and pushed him back a step.

'Hugo, be reasonable,' he said, very evenly.

'Let me go!' Hugo demanded, his voice high and boyish. Looking down into his face, Teddy could almost hear the question that flashed through everybody's mind, no matter how liberal they were, when they were faced with the son of a known werewolf.

'I don't bite,' he said quietly. Hugo's face twitched; not, Teddy thought, with pure fear. Interesting.

'If your evidence isn't cast-iron, Hugo, he'll find a way to slip through the net,' he said. 'He's got the patriarchy on his side.' He smiled lopsidedly. 'And is it really worth it, getting me into trouble? Think of all the good I could be doing, solving crimes, that I won't be able to do if this gets out.'

Hugo glared. 'All the good, sure. Don't try that one on me; we both know you'd work for anyone as long as you get your gold. You're just a mercenary –'

Teddy jerked him close and kissed him, hard, on the mouth.

'And you,' he said, 'are just a little voyeur. Shush, now.'

Hugo stared up at him, opening and closing his mouth like a fish. Weasleys always had been rather gormless. But very charmingly so. And looking down at him was reminding Teddy that he and Scorpius Malfoy had never had the chance to finish what they'd started, either.

'Come on,' he said, or rather purred, moving closer. Hugo stepped back with every step he took forward. Teddy was slowly edging them back towards the door of his inner office. 'When you and I get him, it'll be something bigger than a petty drug-running charge. Something better. I can feel it. We'll nail him. And in the meantime…' He let his gaze soften. 'Well, Hugo Weasley, I think I'd rather like to nail you.'

Hugo jumped. 'I don't sleep with just anyone!' he said in a high voice.

'You don't?' Teddy murmured. Because I'm sure you have a precedent for that, at your age. 'Well, just a kiss, then?'

Hugo didn't answer. He swallowed once, hard. Smirking, Teddy put a hand on his shoulder and nudged him, just a little harder than was strictly friendly, into the office. It was a good room in all respects, he reflected with satisfaction, as he looked over his familiar décor. Low lighting, plush velvet armchairs, a slight nip in the air that might prompt two scantily-clad people to huddle closer for warmth. A good, solid desk.

Teddy kicked the door shut.

A/N: You know how this is RACHEL's Christmas fic? Well, the thing is, she actually commissioned it last Christmas. As in, 2010-11. Yay deadlines! Hopefully (if her deadline-skills are any better than mine), this will one day be one of a series of fics about Teddy-and-Hugo being badass spies and fighting crime, and Teddy getting with everyone in the process. I had intended there to be a bit of Albus/Teddy chemistry, now I come to think of it, but never mind.

*Carves notch in fandom to signify new fandom entered*

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