Note: Again, a bit short, but I wanted the next part to fit nicely into one chapter, so this one has ended early! Thank you to my reviewers once again, you make me smile. =)
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing.
13: Teddy Returns
The incident by the school gates appeared to have worked its magic, for when Carrie and Cleo headed out of school the following afternoon, the cluster of bullies gave them no trouble at all.
"If we hurry." Cleo said as they crossed over the road and set off towards her house, "we can get hold of the computer before Bowie gets home. If she gets there first we'll never stand a chance, she can chat in chat rooms for millions of years."
As it turned out, Cleo's house was located just up the road from Oakhurst Manor, in a quiet little turning off of the main road named Old Oak Crescent. The house itself was similar in appearance to Carrie's own, though it was smaller and from what Carrie could see it did not have an attic room. They were just making their way up the narrow concrete driveway when a voice called from over the road.
"Alright there, Cleopatra? Turned anybody into a frog recently?"
As Carrie turned to look searchingly over her shoulder, Cleo continued on up the drive.
"Piss off!" the scruffy girl muttered darkly as she set about extracting her keys from the depths of her blazer pocket.
Sat upon the front step of the house opposite, Carrie saw, was a broad shouldered girl with a round, podgy face and long, dark brown hair tied in pigtails just behind her ears. Carrie watched the stranger snigger uncontrollably, before she heard Cleo call:
"Come on then!"
Once they were both inside, Cleo slammed the door shut and set about dumping her school bag beneath the coat stand.
"Who was that?" Carrie asked, and immediately regretted being curious because Cleo's face contorted into a furious scowl.
"That was Amanda Goyle." she muttered, kicking off her shoes, causing each to strike the wall with a thud. "She makes fun of me because I'm a witch. She's just jealous, though. I hate her guts."
"I think if you stuck a pin in her, she'd go pop." Carrie said as she set her own bag down and reached down to unbuckle her shoes.
Cleo offered her an appreciative grin.
"If you think she's fat, you should see her big brother! At least I don't have to put up with him anymore."
"Why not?"
"He goes to boarding school or something. Amanda's going to be eleven next year, so with any luck she'll disappear off there too. Then I won't have to deal with either of them."
After a rather lengthy discussion about Amanda Goyle's poor taste in dresses and how her thick eyebrows made her look as though she had a small forest growing upon her face, Cleo's mood brightened considerably and the two girls spent an enjoyable few hours examining Cleo's favorite websites on magic spells and potions. Carrie attempted to memorize as much of the nonsense as she could, so that she could write to Teddy and tell him all about it. When Cleo's older sister came home they found themselves evicted from the computer room because Bowie, whose Barbie doll-like appearance, made Carrie stare in astonishment, wanted to check her email.
"She doesn't look anything like you!" Carrie had hissed as Cleo led the way up the staircase towards her bedroom.
"I know." Cleo grinned, pausing to lean over the bannister as she announced: "If Barbie dyes her hair much more often it's going to snap off!"
"Shut up, you little slug!" Bowie called back cheerily, and Cleo sniggered as she turned and bounded on up the stairs.
Cleo's bedroom reminded Carrie of the cupboard under the stairs at Teddy's house. It was a small, narrow room that seemed smaller still for the countless shelves that lined the walls, and a damp, earthy smell hung in the air. As Cleo flopped down onto her bed, Carrie stood in the doorway, unsure of where to look first. Several shelves were littered with what seemed to be different pebbles and rocks, a few sea shells and a large collection of twigs. Another was jam-packed full of glass jars with...stuff...inside of them. Closest to the door was a shelf lined with books and when Carrie ran her eyes over the collection she saw nothing but books about magic and witchcraft. The carpet was littered with all manner of objects, from laundry and scribblings upon note paper to a small cage set under the tiny writing desk, from which a soft scrabbling noise could be heard.
"What's that?" Carrie asked, pointing to the cage, and Cleo rolled over onto her stomach and edged towards the edge of the bed, reaching to pull the cage out for Carrie to see.
"That's Ethelbert." she informed Carrie proudly. "He's my Familiar."
Carrie stared down at the toffee coloured guinea pig, clearing her throat to smother a giggle.
"He's cute."
"I wanted a black cat, but I'm allergic."
Carrie couldn't help it anymore. She dropped down upon the edge of the bed and dissolved into a giggling fit.
The following week, Carrie invited Cleo back to her house after school, and so begun a weekly routine of taking turns to visit each others houses. Cleo's obsession with magic often had Carrie in stitches of laughter, though she made an effort not to let Cleo know, since the wannabe witch had been somewhat indigent after Carrie had laughed at Ethelbert.
Carrie rarely caught sight of Mr. or Mrs. Lupin after watching them through the fence. Afterwards she had felt somewhat guilty for intruding on their privacy and so had ceased all such probing activities. She occasionally exchanged a greeting or two when she came across one of them in their driveway, and she had bumped into Mrs. Lupin and a tall, thin lady with grey hair and dark eyes who turned out to be Teddy's grandmother, in the high street when Carrie and the twins had been on the way home from the sweet shop. On no occasion did she witness any magic. It was disappointing.
Carrie wrote to Teddy at least once every week, and she was both relieved and excited each time he replied. For the most part, though she missed her best friend, Carrie was content with life, though at any mention by Teddy of Joshua Henderson she could not seem to help but feel a stab of jealousy. Worse still, she seemed to be feeling more and more this way as the weeks went on, for Teddy and Joshua were apparently becoming very firm friends. On several occasions, whilst failing not to sulk, Carrie had grown tired of Cleo's incessant babbling, and at lunch one day, having just read that Joshua had been attempting to persuade Teddy to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas, Carrie had barely resisted the urge to grasp hold of Cleo's shoulders and give her a good shake. You're not a witch, she'd wanted to scream, you're just a normal girl! A normal, boring girl, just like me!
Sometimes she worried that Teddy was going to change, that he would return for the holidays a different boy, disinterested in boring muggle things and more interested in the wonderful world that had been under his nose the whole entire time. Hogwarts could open his eyes, and change him forever, and ruin Carrie's life. And when she thought such things, Carrie almost found herself wishing that Teddy would not be coming back.
And so it was that Carrie was glad when the weather began to turn dull and frosty, and at school the students began to murmur excitedly about the approaching Christmas Holidays.
Before she knew it, the last day of school was ending, and Carrie and Cleo were practically skipping towards the school gates in euphoric triumph, only to come to an abrupt halt when Carrie saw that somebody was there waiting for her.
"Do you see that boy?" Cleo chuckled as she came to a halt at Carrie's side and pointed to the spot where the bullies were usually gathered. "Look at his hair!"
But before Cleo had even finished her sentence, Carrie had made a run for the gates, as somewhere inside her head a crowd seemed to break out into cheers.
"TED!"
At the sight of Carrie Winters running full pelt towards him, her school bag swinging wildly at her side, Teddy Lupin braced himself for impact. He had not, however, been quite prepared for the arms that were flung around his neck, and as the children around them stared at the pair, he patted Carrie gingerly on the back.
"Hi..." he managed to choke out when her strangle hold upon him finally loosened, and Carrie took a step back, pink blossoming upon her cheeks.
"Sorry..." she mumbled, shifting her feet awkwardly. "I just...well...when did you get back? You didn't say you'd finished school yet."
"I came back yesterday," Teddy explained, seemingly oblivious to the small group of Year Eight girls who were behind him, pointing at his hair and whispering to one another. "But I had to go and stay at Gran's house, because Mum was stuck at work and Dad was sick again."
"Oh...is he better today, then?" Carrie asked as Cleo stepped up next to her, staring at Teddy's hair along with the rest.
"Of course." Teddy grinned, shoving his hands into his pockets, eyes coming to rest upon the disheveled looking girl at Carrie's side. "Hi." he greeted, prompting Carrie to remember to explain:
"Teddy, this is my friend Cleo. Cleo, this is Teddy."
"Nice to meet you, Cleo." Teddy nodded, apparently unabashed by Cleo's blatant staring.
"Your hair's turquoise." Cleo told him, and he raised an eyebrow as if this piece of information surprised him.
"Ted lives next door to me." Carrie explained, and Cleo took a turn at raising an eyebrow, adjusting her grip upon her school bag.
"I know he does, Carrie. You don't shut up about him." she sniggered as she offered the other two a little wave, announcing: "I have to get home, I'll call you!" And with that, Cleo slipped past the group of Year Eights and headed off up the road.
Left alone with Teddy, Carrie felt her cheeks warming even more as she mumbled:
"She's exaggerating..."
Teddy didn't seem to be listening as he turned to look through the railings at Oakhurst Manor School.
"Your school looks pretty nice," he commented brightly, and at that moment Carrie suddenly wished that he had not decided to meet her from school, yet another reminder of the gap between them.
"It's okay..." Boring. Normal. Lacking in dungeons and turrets.
"I like it."
Determined to change the subject, Carrie turned her back on the school and, saying the first thing that came to mind, said:
"It's a bit chilly out here, isn't it? We should go home." She set off up the pavement, and Teddy turned to hurry after her, reaching to tug the scarf from around his neck.
"Here," he said, seemingly beaming with pride as he reached to drape the red and gold stripes around her neck. "I'll let you borrow my scarf, but only because I reckon you're a Gryffindor too."
"What makes you think that?" she asked, with a smile of thanks as he proceeded to tug the bag from her shoulder and up onto his own.
"You've willingly eaten my mum's cauldron cakes. Only people with true Gryffindor courage can manage something as brave as that."
As she let out a puff of laughter, her breath rising in a pale cloud before here, Carrie beamed too.
She had her best friend back. And he wasn't different, not at all.