Eleven Years Later (2009) \\ The Beginning of Forever and Always \\ WICELA

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series nor everything that comes with it. The rights go to J.K. Rowling. The only thing I own is the holes in her stories that I filled with my fantasies.

Character disclaimer: I searched around the web for Professors of Hogwarts and their names. My source is: Professors List from the Facebook liking page Harry Potter: the Next Generation. Great work people and the rights belong to you guys! However I did use some older professors we know from the Harry Potter series.

The Sorting Ceremony was behind the doors. Neville Longbottem - or as Teddy needed to call him: Professor Longbottem - was explaining the Houses to the group of children. It was a small group, according to what Teddy knew from Harry's experiences. Joel, Dayman, Demetrius and Osahar were already discussing in which House they wanted to be. Joel wanted nothing else than Gryffindor, Dayman said he quite liked Slytherin, Demetrius and Osahar weren't that sure either about in which House they would end up.

"Follow me, please." Professor Longbottem told them and they followed him to the biggest room Teddy had ever seen. Professor McGonagall was sitting on the Headmistress chair. She smiled to them and when everyone was quiet, Professor Longbottem called their names and the Sorting Hat put them in a House. Osahar was the first of them who had to stand up.

"Jabari, Osahar." Professor Longbottem called and there the boy went. He wasn't really nervous, because he thought every House was good.

"RAVENCLAW!" The Hat said and Teddy smiled to his friend. So he was smart, huh?

"Krum, Dayman." The boy smiled and walked convinced to the chair. The Hat didn't think about it that long, before it said Slytherin. Teddy knew that he was the one after Dayman and his nerves were back again.

"Lupin, Edward." Demetrius and Joel raised a brow by this name. Teddy tried to get his breath right. He would tell the guys later about this 'Edward'-thing.

"Hmmm…a Lupin, huh?" Teddy was for a second scared by the Hat, but then he realized nobody could hear him.

"Nervous, are you? No need to be, you've got a great mind. Brave, like your father. Loyal, like your mother. You're more like you mother than you think, little boy. You've got your fathers looks, true, but your mother is there too. Hmmm…what to do with you?" Teddy wasn't that afraid anymore, but he knew the Sorting Hat was choosing between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. Was he like his mother? People told him he looked like his father when you ignored his abilities as a Metamorphmagus and his gran said he reminded her of her daughter every time they were speaking, but she was the only one. He admired his mother, sometimes more than his father. Was he like his mother?

"Yes, yes, I know exactly what to do with you." The Sorting Hat said suddenly. Could it read his mind?

"HUFFLEPUFF!" He screamed and Teddy's eyes widened. Hufflepuff? That was…that was actually great! He stood up and walked to the table with the Hufflepuffs. Some first years smiled at him and an older boy shook hands with him. He was Prefect, Teddy realized, recognizing the badge. He quickly turned around to watch the fate of the rest of his friends.

"Paparkis, Demetrius." He looked nervous, just like the rest of the people without House. The Hat wasn't talking that long, before it screamed his new House.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" Teddy was somewhere glad that at least one of the friends he'd made was in the same House as him.

"Wood, Joel." He was the last person standing there, but nothing had made him afraid. Was there really nothing the boy was afraid for? Teddy laughed when the Hat didn't took long for saying the House Joel wanted so badly. Gryffindor it was for Joel.

The boys ended up in exactly the four different Houses. Only Teddy and Demetrius had someone they knew in their year.

"Happy?" Demetrius asked him. Teddy nodded.

"You?" The boy sighted and smiled at him.

"I don't know. If that old Hat is right, than I'm "just and loyal", "unafraid of toil" and "patient."' Teddy laughed.

"Can you live with that, you think?"

"I think I can, yes." The boy laughed back. After Headmaster McGonagall had said a few words the feast begun. There was an incredible amount of food.

"Wow!" Demetrius said immediately. Teddy wasn't this surprise at this whole dinner.

"How can you not be impressed by this?"

"With Christmas, we go to Nana and Granddad's house. There we have the biggest party ever and all the women of the family help Nana with the cooking, so then we have like as much food as we have on this table. Oh, and with Harry's party last year and the year before we celebrated the end of the war. The first one was because the war was over for ten years and the second one was, because practically everyone forced him to do so and Harry might have liked it too, so then we have a big party too." Demetrius looked at him like he'd said the most incredible thing in the world.

"What?" Teddy asked.

"Well, I should keep your voice down the second time you talk about your family. Rumor has it you're the Teddy Lupin - nobody recognized you when the Hat said Edward, what's the deal with that anyway? Everybody likes to know everything about everything and even more when that everything is Harry Potter. This is personal information, wouldn't share it with everyone if I were you. But, to react on your story: do you really have parties this big?"

"Well the Celebration party is the biggest, because the Christmas party is for family and family friends only." When Teddy had said that, only responding on the last thing, he suddenly realized his friend has said more.

"My official name is Edward Remus Lupin, but because my granddad died, who's name was Ted, they called me Teddy as a…nickname. I'm used to it, I guess. Nobody calls me Edward anymore, but if all those Professors here are going to do fancy, I won't ever remember that name again, I think." Demetrius nodded.

"Well, I'm full now." He said and Teddy laughed at him. They both were extremely full and tired of everything.

"Let us now sing the Hogwarts Song." Professor McGonagall said. She didn't look that pleased about the song, - Harry'd told him it reminded her of Dumbledore - but the song was on and it was officially the weirdest song ever.

Hogwarts, Hogwarts,

Hoggy Warty Hogwarts

Teach us something, please,

Whether we be old and bald

Or young with scabby knees,

Our heads could do with filling

With some interesting stuff,

For now they're bare and full of air,

Dead flies and bits of fluff,

So teach us things worth knowing,

Bring back what we've forgot,

Just do your best, we'll do the rest,

And learn until our brains all rot.

It was incredible how fast their first week went by and how busy they already were. Because they shared classes with other Houses, Teddy and Demetri were soon reunited with Joel, Osahar and Dayman. They were nice pales, however Teddy didn't like Dayman that much - the kid was scary. Osahar was always the smart know-it-all, which Teddy reminded of two people: Victoire in her 'I Know Everything'-phase and Rose, who was just two or three years old and already reading books and everthing. It was a pity that Osahar just was this learn freak almost all the time, but sometimes he could be nice too. Joel was the one for jokes and pranks. Teddy knew them, because of the stories of George and Lee. His cousins Fred and James were even pranking with their too-young-and-cute-for-pranking excuse. Dayman always came with the meanest pranks, so to prevent that, Teddy joined them. Demetri had warned him, but what bad things could a bit of pranking do? The people or hated him or loved him and the fact that he was a Metamorphmagus, wasn't exactly helping. Now with the pranks, people knew he, Dayman and Joel were weird, so he finally could wear his "normal" colour, blue.

Teddy loved his potions lessons from Professor Slughorn. He knew the teacher already from the Celebration parties, just like he knew Professor McGonagall, Professor Trelawny, - who would teach him "the art of Divination" in two years - Professor Hagrid and Professor Flitwick - who taught him Charms.. Professor Longbottem was another story, but yes, he did know him. It was strange for Teddy to know that much teachers at almost first name basis, but he was still enjoying his classes, like Defence Against the Dark Arts - better known as DADA. Professor Kennard was a very young professor and everybody liked him. He was cool and wasn't too hard on the class if they were late or didn't do their homework. Herbology was given by Professor Sprout and that was, next to potions, Teddy's favorite course. Professor Longbottem was her assistent and rumor had it Professor Sprout would retire in five years. Teddy really hated Transfiguration (Professor Rozard) and Astronomy (Professor Sinistra). His flying lessons from Professor Hooch were really exiting. Teddy found it amusing he knew so many of the Professors. These professors had taught at Harry and Ginny and even his father the art of potions! Harry had told him about Madam Pomfrey and Filch too and they were still there too. Suddenly the magical life Harry had told him about, was true and was existing. It wasn't this strange thing anymore, but it was actually something. He still missed home sometimes, but he wrote them as much as possible.

Dear Vic,

I'm still alive and you're still my friend.

Teddy

It wasn't like Teddy didn't want to write Victoire, but he didn't know what to write to her. Was it cruel to tell her all the stories he'd told Harry about Hogwarts, because it seemed like it was and then she might think he was the most unbearable person in the world - typically something for Victoire to say that. Maybe this was enough. Teddy wrote a more detailed letter to Harry, knowing that he was very curious. Teddy told him he'd made some friends, that he was a prankster from time to time and that he wasn't nervous anymore.

Teddy had get to know some people at Hogwarts. It was strange how many names were names of people Teddy had seen articles in the papers. Holly Carrow for example. Teddy had red her father was a Death Eater and in prison. Before he was caught he'd obviously made a girl pregnant. Rumor had it she carried her fathers name, because her mother worshipped him. Holly was a Slytherin and yes, there was much you could say about her father, but the girl was hot! Joel had already claimed her after Dayman introduced her to them. Next to Holly, you had Crystal Rowle. She was very blond and Holly's best friend. Dayman only tolerated Joel wanting Holly, because he wanted Crystal. Teddy, Osahar and Demetrius only laughed at their friends. They only wanted to become friends with people when Teddy told them the stories about Victoire and his other "cousins". They were lovely people, true that, but still. The girls in his family were some kind of…girly.

"But Dominique and Roxanne aren't like that, I must add." Teddy said. The other girls were too young to judge, but Do and Roxy were always climbing trees and that kind of stuff. They made jokes about Molly - the poor kid - and Victoria - not so poor. Teddy always had a good laugh about the two girls, but there weren't any girls like them at school, so they had boy friends. Osahar had a Ravenclaw friend named Jeremy Stretton. His father had apparently the exact same name. The other friend was named Thomas Burrow. Jeremy and Thomas's fathers were apparently chasers for the Ravenclaw team back in their days. The boys were both too exited for their next year where they wanted to become chasers. Teddy and Demetrius had met some fellow Hufflepuff students named Jack McManus - his father was a Hufflepuff too - and Andrew Brown - muggleborn. Their pack became bigger, although Teddy mostly hung around with Demetrius, Jack and Andrew. It was difficult, having friends in other houses, but they managed. Teddy didn't want to know most of the guys, because they all seemed to think they were amazing. Demetrius, Jack and Andrew were more like him, more like the friends Teddy had missed at home.

"Teddy, isn't that your owl?" Andrew said, when Teddy was telling them about his family. Seeing the white owl Harry had bought for him, Teddy smiled.

"Yes it is."

"A pink letter?" Jack laughed.

"You didn't tell us you had a girlfriend!" Demetrius teased. They all knew how he thought about girls. Teddy just grumbled while opening the letter.

Teddy,

Will you never do that again? I'm your friend, remember! I want to know everything, every detail, every inch of what happens at Hogwarts! Well, let's do that again.

I'm happy to discover we're still friends, but friends tell each other everything, so please tell me more about what happens back there at Hogwarts! We had a family meeting some days ago and uncle Ron - of all people - knew more about you than me! That's partly of course because uncle Ron and uncle Harry gossip like two old ladies, but don't tell them I said that. I might be not as old as you are but surely I understand what you're talking about. Take Rose for example, she knows everything, while she's like three or something? That's not normal! So I can do that too, don't ever ignore me like that.

Oh, and by the way: I'm still alive too.

Love, Victoire