Cedric was a little concerned. The new boy, Teddy was a little weird, and Cedric wasn't sure how to act around him. In the middle of their first conversation he seemed to just shut down, for no reason at all, and Cedric hadn't seen him the rest of the day. In the days since, Teddy had been friendly, but had made no move to initiate any social contact with him, or anyone else in Hufflepuff. Cedric had been watching Teddy off and on, and he seemed to be nice; he was kind to all those near him and very polite. He was already standing out in class for his intelligence as well, though whenever someone commented on it, Teddy always downplayed his abilities and seemed very uncomfortable. The only time he opened up, and seemed relaxed was when he was with his brother. The two of them must have been inseparable before Hogwarts, despite the age difference. As far as Cedric could see, Teddy was about as nice and calm as one could get, but one thing ruined that picture: his first defense class.

Two days after Teddy had arrived, the seventh year Hufflepuffs had defense against the dark arts with Professor Moody. Cedric thought Teddy looked a little anxious before the lesson began, which was different from how he was with the rest of the teachers. Class started normally enough, with the exception of Moody's comments on Teddy's unusual arrival to the school. But then Moody announced the lesson for the day; that everyone would be put under the imperius curse and Teddy immediately freaked out.

To be fair, most of the combined Hufflepuff - Slytherin class was not very happy about the idea, but Teddy seemed to have a mental breakdown. He didn't make a scene, even just a few days with him had Cedric sure that such a thing was impossible, but Teddy turned white and one could see his heart rate visibly increasing. The whole class quieted as Teddy put his hand in the air, arm shaking slightly.

"Excuse me Professor, but what is the motivation for this… lesson, and why do you feel that it is necessary or recommendable to do this?"

"It's CONSTANT VIGILANCE! You always need to be prepared, and if being put under the imperius curse in a controlled environment is enough to make you be careful then so be it. Moody seemed to growl out this response, staring down Teddy. "Now if you've got a problem with that…"

Teddy stared back at Professor Moody, before sharply shaking his head no, still looking furious. Moody continued with his intro, listing what would occur. Cedric zoned out slightly, slightly worried himself. Everyone hated being embarrassed, and he was no exception. And, while their defense professors had never been quite adequate, he knew that for something to be considered absolutely unforgivable, it must be completely awful. There were a lot of completely terrible spells with no redeeming qualities that were not listed as such.

"Mr. DIGGORY, Moody growled out, and Cedric jumped to attention. "You're first." Cedric walked to the front of the classroom, a little reluctant. He waited for Professor Moody to begin, anxious.

"Imperio."

He was floating, with no worries or cares. Something told him that he should really frog hop over to Marcus Flint, and Cedric could think of no reason that he wouldn't want to do it. Once he got there Cedric just stared straight ahead. He had accomplished his task, and there was nothing left to do until something told him to do something else.

And suddenly, he was back in the real world. Cedric tried to think back on what had just occurred but the only memory left was of a pleasant silence. He looked questioningly at Professor Moody, who only responded with a lifted eyebrow and a smirk. Was that really what the imperious felt like? He made his way back to his seat almost normally, trying to piece together what had occurred. The experience seemed to have been nice when he was under it, but this lack of memory was disconcerting. Cedric could see how this could be used for nefarious purposes.

One by one the rest of the class went up. Flint, Summers, Jackson, his friend Anna, and then Teddy. Teddy was stoic as the curse was placed on, and unlike all the other classmates remained that way. His expression looked pain filled, like he was concentrating too hard. Teddy's feed dragged on the floor as he walked over to Moody's desk, before abruptly halting. He screwed up his face and shouted NO!, eyes snapping into awareness.

Moody lowered his wand and chuckled meanly. "Guess I underestimated you," he said looking Teddy up and down, sending Teddy back to his seat. "Now, class, that is the textbook example of breaking the imperius curse. Now, if I had things my way, we would be working all year until every last one of you could master it. But, someone has informed me that we have to cover other topics, so that will not be occurring. MONGSTEN!" he shouted suddenly, calling out the next person in line.

Cedric looked at Teddy, who was still tense. "You okay?" he whispered. Teddy thought about it for a second then simply shook his head no, the first time Cedric had seen Teddy admit to not being fine. "Is there anything I can do?"

"After," Teddy whispered back. Cedric smiled a little. Maybe not occurring under the best circumstance, but finally he would be able to talk to Teddy.

By dinner the last defense class had occurred and the school was bustling with gossip. Out of all the students fourth year and up, only three had managed to repel the imperius curse; Harry Potter, Teddy, and Teddy's brother, James. No one was too surprised about Harry, but questions started swirling about the two brothers who had just arrived and who had both managed to resist the curse. Bringing on even more rumors was the fact that James was hanging out with Harry's group of friends, the three known to be secretive and honestly, a little unfriendly to those who interrupted them. And James had managed to join them in only a few days. Teddy was also getting more looks too though, and now Cedric was not the only one who was being slightly stalker-like.

But Cedric was happy to know that he was the only one who was actually able to talk to Teddy. After Defense, the two had headed back to their dorm, where Teddy spilled a few facts about his family. How his dad was able to resist the imperius, and how other family members had been hit with it before You-Know-Who was vanquished. Teddy was pretty vague with the information, but it was enough to give Cedric the idea that his family had been completely shattered in the war, and that they had picked up the pieces as best as they could, but the picture would never be complete.

James was trying his best. Less than a week in and he had almost messed up so many times. First was the time that he called Harry dad when waking up, but luckily he could pass that off as morning confusion. Then there was when the trio introduced him to the marauder's map and he showed no signs of surprise. All he could think was how lucky he was that his name showed up as James Black, because that's how Dumbledore put his name in the Hogwart's registry. James figured he would just look extra shocked if they ever showed him the invisibility cloak or something like that. And lastly, just this morning, James blurted out the fact that Hermione hated scrambled eggs, something he shouldn't have known yet. Merlin, it's hard to talk to people you already know so much about.

James wished that his arrival had been more inconspicuous, but between his entrance, hanging out with Ron, Hermione, and Harry, and being able to throw off the imperius, everyone seemed to know his name. Because of Harry, everyone had known who he was back home, and he had been hoping for some change to that, but no such luck. However, it did allow him to connect a little to Harry. James had briefly mentioned how weird it was, and Harry nodded with a knowing look.

James had been hanging out with those three for most of the time. They didn't seem to mind his presence which was interesting. In a conversation with Dean, someone he had met a handful of times in the future, James learned that they tolerated people around sometimes, but most of the time liked to be alone together. But, they liked James apparently, often calling him over from across the room to join their conversations. None were too deep; James had "learned" a little about the three's adventures in the first few years, but not more than what seemed to be common knowledge. Instead they talked about schoolwork, about quidditch, and to a lesser extent, James's past. Hermione especially was fascinated about his schooling, and was putting James's lying abilities to the test.

But today's conversation revolved around a letter from someone named Snuffles, and the trio were talking among themselves, trying to be subtle. James remembered his dad telling him a little about Sirius's animagus form, and he had always thought his dad was exaggerating, but maybe he would have the chance to see if Snuffle's size was true. For now however, he had to pretend to ignore them and work on homework as they discussed the topic in whispers. He checked his watch, noting that it was ten thirty, and started packing up his things. James had gotten the vibe that Harry, Ron and Hermione wanted to be alone, and it was late enough that he could make his excuses without making things awkward. James made his goodbyes and headed up to his dorm room, planning to work up there.

An hour or so later, James was ready for bed and Ron and Harry had finally arrived. Ron dashed straight to the bathroom, but Harry stopped James as he moved to his bed.

"Sorry, we haven't been including you in everything." He sighed. "There's just a lot of stuff that I don't feel comfortable sharing with you; I feel bad keeping stuff from you, but most of it is just too personal. I know that means it is awkward for you, but I… em, enjoy having you around and talking, and I hope I'm able tell you about some of this in the future, but it's just too soon." He laughed uncomfortably. "I mean, we've only known you what, a week? You just, somehow feel right in our group, like we were missing something, and I hope even if I can't tell you some stuff, you'll still be our friend."

Harry looked so awkward saying his speech that James instantly smiled and nodded. "I understand. Believe me, there's plenty of stuff I can't tell you about yet either. But, you're right, I really like hanging out with you guys, and I know we will get to that point eventually."

Harry broke into a tentative smile, which made James even happier. Harry always seemed a little unhappy and stressed, so it was good to see him smile. The encounter seemed to help James as well. One always wonders if they would be friends with themselves, or with their parents, or some other important person in their life if things were different. And James could definitively say yes, he would be. At least with his dad. James had only seen Ginny a handful of times, and hadn't spoken a word. In fact, considering the two got married, it was surprising how little Harry and Ginny interacted. James didn't dwell on it much though; he had bigger problems to deal with. He was legitimately friends with his future parent, aunt, and uncle, and would have to decide whether his new friends were worth abandoning his past.

A/N

You always hear about how stressful college is, and it's just as stressful as they say.

Also, because I'm in college, I don't have copies of HP on me, so I hope I'm remembering everything accurately. Luckily there's google.

Thanks for reading