Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing.

3: Godric and Helga

The town of Eddington, within whose outskirts the Winters' new home was situated, was much smaller than Tillbury where Carrie had spent her years at primary school. Carrie discovered this upon the second full day that she and her family had spent in the new house, because she had accompanied her mother and her brothers on a walk around the town and it had taken a mere fifteen minutes for them to reach the shops at the town center. There were not a great number of shops to look around, either, but Carrie was pleased to discover that there was at least one toy shop that seemed to sell quite a wide variety of toys and a tiny pet shop with, to Carrie's delight, a cage at the window containing three adorable kittens.

It was whilst stood before this window, her nose pressed to the glass as she peered at the little bundles of fur, that Carrie heard somebody step up next to her, and a voice asked:

"What are you looking at?"

Carrie glanced sideways towards the sound of the voice, just in time to see Teddy Lupin, today sporting a bright turquoise bucket hat, lean to press his own nose to the window.

"Cool, kittens!" the boy said, reaching to tap his fingers upon the glass in a vain attempt to get the creatures' attention.

"You like cats?" Carrie asked him, turning her attention back to the window.

"Yeah, I wanted one for my birthday, only Mum says Godric and Helga wouldn't like it."

Carrie turned back to offer him a bemused look.

"Who're Godric and Helga?" She was sure that she had never heard of anybody called Godric before, it was a funny name.

"Godric belongs to Dad and Helga's Mum's." Teddy explained, only half paying attention as he banged a little more loudly on the glass. The ginger kitten finally looked up from sniffing the litter tray and stared at him with big, dark eyes.

"Right..." Carrie still thought Godric was an absurd name, but she decided not to comment. She did not want a repeat of what had happened the last time that she and Teddy had spoken in the garden. "And...what are Godric and Helga?"

When Teddy answered, Carrie was sure that she had misheard him.

"They're owls."

"Pardon?"

"I said they're owls."

"Owls?"

"Yes. Godric's an eagle owl and Helga...well Mum claims she's a great grey owl but there's nothing great about her, she's a midget."

Carrie couldn't help it, she giggled.

"That's ridiculous!" she exclaimed, and Teddy finally straightened up and looked round at her questioningly. "Nobody keeps owls as pets! They're wild animals!"

Teddy reached to adjust the hat upon his head, nonplussed.

"Dad's taking me to buy one next week." he went on, as if he had not heard what Carrie had said. "So that I can take it to school with me."

Again, Carrie giggled.

"You can't take an owl into a school! What on earth would the teachers say?" When Teddy merely shrugged his shoulders, Carrie decided to stop talking nonsense and asked him: "Are you going to be going to Oakhurst Manor?" It would be nice, she thought, to be able to recognize somebody on her first day, even if that person was a boy as strange and silly as Teddy Lupin. To her disappointment, Teddy shook his head.

"No, I'm going to be going to boarding school."

"Gosh," Carrie said, trying not to sound too disappointed, after all they barely knew one another. "How exciting! But won't you miss your parents?"

Teddy pursed his lips together, thoughtful.

"I think I'll miss Dad more." he decided, frowning a little as if he had not given his parents' absence much thought before. "Since Mum's always at work anyway."

"What does she do?"

Teddy's thoughtful expression was suddenly replaced by a broad grin.

"She chases the bad guys and throws them in jail."

"So...she's a policewoman?"

There was a long pause before Teddy opened his mouth to reply, only for a voice behind them to make both children jump.

"You know, Teddy, when I said you should go and play in the garden I wasn't aware that the garden fence stretched quite this far."

Carrie and Teddy both spun round, the boy fixed a suitably innocent expression onto his face and for some reason Carrie found herself mirroring his action.

"Hi Dad!" Teddy greeted cheerfully, and Carrie looked up at Mr. Lupin, relieved to see that he looked only mildly disproving of his son's behavior. Personally, Carrie could not even imagine just how furious her own father would be if she were to wander off into town on her own, but for some reason she was not entirely surprised at Teddy's father's lack of anger.

"Your mother will be home within the hour and you haven't finished tidying the kitchen."

"Oh..." Teddy mumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking sheepish. "Sorry Dad, I forgot about that..."

Mr. Lupin hmmed somewhat disbelievingly, before turning to Carrie and offering her a bright smile.

"Good morning, Carrie."

"Good morning Mr. Lupin." Carrie replied politely, she felt far less shy upon meeting Teddy's father for the second time. He seemed to be very easy going compared to most adults she knew.

"I was just about to say thank you for the cookies." Teddy explained, turning back to her and mirroring his father's smile, in fact, Carrie thought, they looked startlingly alike when they both did that. "They were amazing!"

"You're very welcome." Carrie told him, and quite suddenly his face lit up as if he had an idea.

"Dad!" Teddy exclaimed, rounding on his father and fixing him with an expectant look. "Carrie doesn't believe me about Godric and Helga! Can she come back with us and see them?"

The expression upon Mr. Lupin's face when presented with this question was somewhat hesitant.

"You...told Carrie about Godric and Helga?"

"Yeah, can she come and see them?"

There was a long pause, Mr Lupin pursed his lips into a thin line and Carrie could not help but get the feeling that he was not entirely pleased with his son's proposal.

But as soon as the expression had appeared it was gone again, replaced by a smile.

"Of course she can, if her mother doesn't mind."

Carrie was so excited at the prospect of seeing a couple of pet owls that she ran the length of the high street to fetch her mother, who was busy browsing the window of the local florist.

"Mum!" she cried excitedly as she skidded to a halt, startling Mrs. Winters, who almost dropped her shopping. "You'll never guess what!"

Mrs. Winters took a moment to readjust her grip upon her shopping bags before asking:

"What's that, Carrie love?"

Carrie drew a deep breath to announce the astonishing and all together exciting news that their new neighbours kept a couple of wild animals as pets, only to think better of it. What on earth would her mother think of such a strange revelation? Being the scrupulously tidy individual that she was, Carrie was pretty sure that the mere thought of having owls inside a house would not impress her mother in the slightest. Besides, the girl mused as she took a long moment to simply grin excitedly, she didn't want her mother to think the neighbors were really weird (even if it was becoming increasingly likely that they were exactly that), if she did she might not want Carrie to mix with them. And Carrie liked them, she realized with slight surprise at herself. She liked Teddy Lupin's quirky little obsession with brightly coloured headgear, and she liked how he spoke so normally about downright bizarre and all together silly things, she could see him being a lot of fun. And she liked how friendly Mr. Lupin was and how he didn't ignore her like lots of adults do when children are around. She liked how completely unlike her own mother Mrs. Lupin was, how she appeared to be so completely unlike the norm and yet perfectly approachable with a mood as bright as her hair.

Carrie liked the hair, too. It was very cool.

"I just bumped into Teddy Lupin outside of the pet shop." Carrie told her mother, resisting the urge to hop from foot to foot with excitement. "He asked me if I wanted to go round to his house for lunch today. Can I go?"

"What does his mother say?" Mrs. Winters asked, and when Carrie informed her that Mr. Lupin said it was fine, she muttered: "Very modern."

Carrie wasn't entirely sure what her mother meant, so she asked:

"So can I go?"

"I don't see why not." Mrs. Winters said, staring over the top of Carrie's head. Carrie spun on her heel to see what her mother was looking at, and spotted Teddy and his father walking down the street towards them, midway through a rapid yet quiet conversation. Teddy looked rather red in the face, Carrie thought as the conversation came to a rather abrupt end when Mr. Lupin interrupted his son's murmured babble with:

"Well I suppose we shall just have to wait and listen to hear what your mother has to say about it, won't we?"

Teddy visibly flinched. His father seemingly didn't notice because they had come to a halt before Carrie and her mother, and he was too busy reaching to shake hands with Mrs. Winters with a polite greeting. Carrie shuffled over to Teddy's side, leaving the adults to the customary niceties of parents meeting for the first time.

"Did I get you in trouble again?" she whispered to the boy, who was digging at the gaps between the concrete paving stones with the toe of his shoe.

"What?" he glanced up at her with a questioning look, and she felt herself blushing at his bemusement. She opened her mouth to reply, only for Mr. Lupin to step sideways and gesture towards his son with one hand.

"This is my son Teddy."

Teddy turned his attention to Carrie's mother and stepped forward to offer her his hand.

"Hello Mrs. Winters," he greeted warmly, his smile somewhat identical to that of his father. "My mum said you baked those cookies for me. Thank you very much, they were the best cookies I've ever tasted."

As her mother beamed delightedly at Teddy and Mr. Lupin seconded the boy's opinion, Carrie was left to wonder what Teddy was in trouble for this time. Perhaps, she mused hopefully, it didn't have anything to do with her. After all, Teddy had wandered off without telling his father where he was going; maybe Mr. Lupin had been more annoyed than he had first appeared. If that were the case, Carrie wouldn't have blamed him...

"Well then Carrie," At the sound of her name, the girl was brought back to the present and she looked up at her mother with a smile. "You will behave yourself, won't you, love?"

"Yes Mum."

"We'll have her back in time for dinner." Mr. Lupin said as Mrs. Winters stepped forward to peck her daughter on the cheek, and with a brief exchange of farewells he led the way back up the street, Carrie and Teddy walking just behind him.

A car was not the only modern amenity that the Lupin family appeared to lack, Carrie discovered upon stepping through their front door, wiping her shoes carefully on the doormat. Indeed, when she had followed Teddy to the doorway of the living room and watched Mr. Lupin take a seat in an armchair, she had almost wondered aloud: where's the television?

Maybe, she thought as Teddy leant against the doorway, folding his arms across his chest, they're some of those people who believe television rots your brain or something...

"Can you make us some hot chocolate?" Teddy asked his father as Carrie peered around the room curiously.

"Give me five minutes, Ted." Mr. Lupin murmured as he snatched up a stack of papers that had been left upon the floor beside his chair. "I need to send these off first, the deadline's today."

Carrie finished her inspection of the wallpaper (a rather serene shade of green) and somewhat oversized stone fireplace, just in time to see Teddy sigh heavily, puffing his cheeks.

"Sure, Dad." he mumbled somewhat dejectedly, and Mr. Lupin glanced up briefly before reaching to pick up a stack of envelopes from the coffee table.

"What's the Golden Rule, Theodore?"

Teddy's face contorted moodily.

"The Golden Rule sucks, Dad." he gestured to the pile of papers upon his father's lap. "This sucks..."

Carrie edged back a step and averted her eyes, feeling suddenly awkward.

"This is what it is, Teddy, we don't sulk about it. Now why don't you take Carrie to see Godric and Helga? I'll bring you the drinks up in a moment."

Teddy looked sideways at Carrie as if he had forgotten she was there, and his cheeks visibly reddened.

"C'mon Carrie," he said, attempting a smile as he hurried towards the stairs. "You can help me give them some lunch."

Relieved that an argument had been avoided, Carrie dashed up the stairs after him, her unease suddenly forgotten, replaced by excitement.

Owls! Real pet owls!

Teddy led the way across the landing to the narrow staircase that lead up to the attic room which, he informed Carrie somewhat more cheerfully, was where the family kept their pets. The room had white washed walls and was dimly lit by a single lamp that sat upon a battered old sideboard up against one wall. The curtains were firmly drawn across the windows and Carrie had to squint through the gloom to spot two large bird cages, in which were sat...

"Owls!" Carrie squealed aloud, eyes widening in surprise at the sight of the two creatures who were both regarding her with large, bright eyes.

Teddy appeared to be back to his former cheery self, for he grinned widely as he turned back to look at the girl from next door.

"I told you so!" he declared as the smaller of the two owls, a round ball of light brown feathers that Carrie guessed was named Helga, gave itself a little shake and hooted softly.

Carrie bounded across the room to get a closer look, Teddy following behind her.

"She's cute!" Carrie announced excitedly as she peered through the bars, and Teddy gave a chuckle.

"She's fat." he corrected, reaching to poke a finger through the bars and wiggle it temptingly at the female owl, pulling it out again when it attempted to peck at him. "When my godfather and his family come to visit the children stuff her full of owl treats."

"Owl treats?"

"Yeah."

"Like...like dog treats, but for owls? Where on earth do you buy those from?"

When Teddy simply shrugged and turned his attention to a small chest of draws that appeared to contain some sort of bird feed, Carrie shuffled over to get a better look at Godric. The enormous grey owl stared unblinking at her with bright orange eyes, sat upon it's perch as if it were a king upon a throne. That was until Teddy produced a plastic box from the chest of draws and gave it an enticing shake. At the sound of rattling food, both Godric and Helga began to fidget upon their stands excitedly.

Carrie enjoyed helping Teddy tip a generous portion of food into a couple of dishes and posting them through gaps in the bars, watching the owls pick at the food contentedly.

Who would have thought it, she mused as Helga cracked a pellet of food in her beak. Real pet owls...

It was strange. Very strange indeed.