Teddy

Teddy wished that he had a bed to hide underneath again, but all this cottage had was a mattress on the floor. He sprawled on it and stared across the dusty floor. The only thing between him and the skirting board was his own duffle bag.

Draco Malfoy had offered him furnished apartments in London, a villa in Burgundy, a chalet in the Swiss Alps. He had pressed Teddy for details of his situation, but Teddy had given him none. He'd regretted the direction in which his unconscious had Apparated him as soon as he had found himself outside Malfoy Manor.

Mr Malfoy had taken in Teddy's appearance with a sneer but no comment, before inviting him inside to join the family for breakfast. Once Asteria, Narcissa and Scorpius had left the table, Draco had asked Teddy why he wasn't breakfasting with Saint Potter as he called him. It was jibes like that which had caused Teddy to stop visiting his Malfoy relatives many years before.

Teddy had just said that he wasn't staying with Harry any more. Draco had been helpful and generous, it had to be said. Teddy had felt like he was betraying Harry once again, though.

While he was there, an Owl had arrived for Teddy. Teddy felt sick at what its message might be. He didn't want to know. He asked the House Elf to burn the message. He and Draco had watched the unread parchment shrivel into embers in the study fire.

Draco Malfoy had leaned back in his chair then. "You're not going to tell me what happened, are you?" he asked.

"Nothing happened."

Mr Malfoy sighed. "And you won't accept my charity because..." he had paused as though seeking out the reason himself, "you don't like me."

"I do like you."

"Hm. As it happens, I have something of yours. Well, I have access to it and I've been maintaining it for you."

"Really?" Teddy couldn't think what it might be, nor why he knew nothing about it.

"It belonged to your mother. It was to have passed into your possession automatically upon your marriage. But, of course..." Draco smirked. Then he shrugged. Teddy couldn't look at him. He just wanted to leave but he had nowhere to go. Draco laughed, but not too unkindly. "It's a cottage."

Teddy stared at him. His heart fluttered and leaped. He owned a house! He had somewhere to live. "In Britain?" he checked. Then an ice settled in his chest. Why hadn't he known that? If he had been told then he wouldn't have had to stay with Harry. None of it would have happened. He wasn't thinking about what had actually happened. The morning's events had been reduced to just it. He caught Draco staring into his eyes and suspected Legilimency; he was glad of his own mental avoidance.

"Yes, somewhere dreadfully remote and bleak up North," Draco had dismissed. "It's not furnished or heated or anything. It hasn't even got an elf. You would be far more comfortable in one of my properties.

Teddy summoned up his own small smile then, and replied, "But you wouldn't give up trying to find out my secrets, would you, sir?"

"I shan't give up on that anyway. I do hope that you have upset Potter horribly. I should be so proud of you. I would be able to believe that you really were a Black after all."

"There's nothing to be proud of. Thank you very much for breakfast."

Then he had signed some parchments, and Mr Malfoy had signed some others. They had pressed their wands to maps and a family tree. It had all taken about half an hour and had concluded when Draco had lifted the lid of a small chest and indicated the large, rusty key within it.

"It's a Portkey. You just activated it. Off you go."

"Thank you, sir," Teddy had said, trying to be formal and cold rather than polite. Then he had taken his bag in one hand and the key in the other.

The problem with an empty cottage in the middle of nowhere was that there was nothing to do. Nothing but brood. That was mostly what he had done for two days, between bouts of deciding that he really ought to go somewhere to buy food, or considering lighting a fire. He didn't dare to go anywhere someone he knew might see him, unsure if he would be the subject of gossip or if Harry would have been too humiliated to have shared what he'd seen with others. Harry would not want his family to be the source of any kind of embarrassment. Teddy could not risk meeting anyone he knew; just in case they had heard. They might look at him like he was the worst kind of pervert, or they might berate him for his ingratitude. The worst of it was that he thought that he really was an ungrateful pervert.

The more he thought about it, though, the more he blamed James. The boy had been taunting him for weeks. It had been a long, slow, calculated seduction. He had displayed himself, Teddy hadn't really been noticing when he shouldn't have been. Teddy had worried so much about his inappropriate arousals, and it hadn't been his fault. He couldn't work out why James had decided to destroy him, though. The lad must have engineered it. He must have known that it was morning and that they would be interrupted. Teddy had thought it was still night. No, he hadn't thought at all.

He had been blinded by James' body. James had used that body, he had known Teddy's lust for it, and he had used that to destroy him. He wasn't the same sweet, straightforward boy that he had been when Teddy had left Britain. He had some nefarious plan. Teddy couldn't quite see what it was.

What was Teddy going to do now? How could he rebuild his reputation and connections in Britain with Harry Potter against him? Only now did he fully understand what an advantage it had been to have the Potters on his side, supporting him. Now he had the opposite and he might as well go back to Finland. If he did that, though, then his friends and colleagues there would want to know what had gone wrong in Britain.

He was supposed to be at work in Godric's Hollow tomorrow. Did he still have a job there? He couldn't face seeing George to find that out. If he just didn't show up then he would lose the job if it was still his.

He wrote a brief note excusing himself on the grounds of an unnamed illness, but he had no owl and getting to an Owl Post Office would mean going somewhere he might be seen. He wondered whether the cottage was connected to the Floo network, but concluded that that was unfortunately unlikely, before being glad about that. A shiver of dread ran through him at the possibility that someone might suddenly appear on his grate. He had no Floo Powder, so he couldn't check whether it was connected to the Network or not.

He curled up in a ball on the mattress, ignored the world and eventually fell asleep.

It was dark when he woke. He couldn't be bothered to cast a Tempus. He was hungry. All the shops were probably closed.

He looked out into the unpunctuated darkness of the country night and thought about lights. He remembered the speeding coloured Muggle lights as viewed from a train. When they had been youngsters and Arthur Weasley had still been mobile, he had taken a gang of his grandchildren on a Muggle train. Teddy had been just old enough to notice the worried glances Harry and Audrey had shared. In the end, Auntie Hermione had persuaded Arthur that she should come to sort out the tickets and the money. That had persuaded everyone that their children would be safe.

He couldn't have been that old, because Lily and Hugo had been deemed too young. He remembered them in prams, waving on the platform.

Arthur's gang of grandchildren had quite naturally included Teddy. Nobody had questioned it. Twice now, through Arthur's real grandchildren, Teddy had destroyed that comfortable acceptance.

It had been dark when they had travelled home. He couldn't remember where they had gone to, the point of the adventure had been the trains. The Muggles had lit up everything with their electric lights. He had seen a petrol station with a shop attached. There had been shelves full of tins and brightly coloured packets. Customers had been buying things in there after all the other shops were shut.

He tipped the contents of his duffle bag all over the dusty floor and pulled out the wallet with his Muggle money in it. With that in his pocket, he picked up his wand and he closed his eyes. He concentrated on that garage he had seen from the train, and went into a spin, not knowing whether it still existed, nor what would happen if it did not.

There were more Muggles around than he had expected, and he was surprised by a clock which said that it was only just after nine o'clock. He tried to check that against the next clock he saw, but that flashed the number 21:13 at him, and that clearly wasn't even a time. The garage shop smelled of soap powder and sold all sorts of bizarre things, racked up on shelves. Teddy picked up some food. He wondered whether any of the other things might be useful in his new home. As he browsed, he couldn't help thinking how excited Arthur would have got, looking at these widgets and doodahs. Wondering whether he would ever see Arthur again, he dropped something called an ice scraper into his wire basket and determined that he would, and that when he did, he would give that thing to Arthur.

He ate and then he slept again. When he woke, he felt a lot better about the cottage. He rather liked it, actually. This place had belonged to his mother, Malfoy had said. He wondered whether she had left anything of herself here. He explored the place properly and began to make plans. It was early, still. He had time to get to work. He would work. How bad could it be?

He Apparated into Goathland and used the Owl Office to send his letter to George. At the last minute, he corrected it so that it said that he was so ill that he would need the whole week off, not just a couple of days. Luckily, he saw no-one he knew, and Apparated back to the cottage immediately.

He only had time to get into the kitchen and charm the kettle before he heard an owl tapping at his window. At first he thought that it was a reply from George, probably firing him, but then he reasoned that it was too soon. George wouldn't even have received his message yet. He could have done with an owl earlier, it would have saved him the trip to Goathland.

He snatched the parchment from its leg and glanced at the address: only his name, that was a good thing. His location was still a secret then. It was from James. Sorry about yesterday? He crumpled it in disgust and read no further. Sorry? Well that proved that James' actions had been malicious. There was his admission of guilt, his acceptance of blame. What good would the apology do Teddy now?

After another couple of hours spent on the mattress, staring into space, he rallied again, and started to make the cottage a little more homely. He should have picked up an Owl order catalogue for furniture and curtains and things when he was at the Owl Post office, but he had been too agitated then. All he had was his wand, but with his wand he could certainly make a difference to the place.

He had a lunch of cheese, bread and something which he had picked up the night before called Monster Munch. It had looked interesting and weirdly Muggle, but tasted only of sharpness. He felt energised afterwards, but as he cleaned the plate, a deep gloom started to descend again and he was thinking about going back to bed when there was a knock at the door. In his shock, he snapped the plate.

Nobody knew he was here. Who could possibly be knocking on the door of his sanctuary? He stood holding half a plate in each hand and stared at the inside of the closed door. It knocked again. He could pretend not to be there and hope that they would go away. But if he did that, then he would never know. It was a Muggle neighbour. That was all. Or Draco with news. Or an angry mob of Weasleys and Potters with pitchforks and burning torches.

He edged to the window and peeked out. He had a clear view of the doorstep. His heart leaped. Joy flooded his body automatically when he saw James. He stepped back and calmed himself. That was a ridiculous reaction. That conniving little shit was the last person he wanted to see. The lad was determined to destroy him. He was too dangerous.

Teddy couldn't stop himself from moving back to the window. Only this time James was looking towards the window, too. Their eyes met. James grinned. Teddy grinned back. What the hell was he playing at?

"Teddy!" James walked over and placed his palm against the glass. "I've been looking all over for you! Open the door?"

"No," Teddy croaked. His hand lifted itself in spite of him, but he didn't place it against James', because there was still broken crockery in it. "How did you find me?"

"Draco Malfoy."

"Oh, Merlin, you didn't tell him anything, did you?"

"What? Like what?"

"Like what... you know... what your Dad saw. Why he kicked me out."

James looked devastated. "Malfoy acted like he knew. I thought you'd already told him."

"You stupid little boy!"

"Teddy. No. Let me in."

"Haven't you done enough?" Teddy thought he was angry, but he discovered tears in his eyes. "Come to finish me off?"

"We need to talk."

"You've talked enough. Leave me alone."

"Teddy, I love you."

Teddy shook his head, he backed off into the room to where he couldn't see James any more. But then – he didn't know what possessed him – he opened the front door.