Dear Teddy,

I'm a brunette. Yes, that's right. You should have seen the looks I got when I walked out of the bathroom, a new brunette. I even got a few winks.

Let's start from the beginning, shall I? Hannah asked me if I wanted to go with her to Hogsmeade. I think she's trying to make amends, even though she did nothing wrong. I may as well play along. I agreed to go, and guess who went too? Alison and Toby. And Zac, of course. It wasn't that awkward though. We talked. And laughed. I'd forgotten what it was like to laugh like that. Or talk to people like that. Maybe this is a step in the right direction.

We went to the Three Broomsticks, but didn't stay long. Good thing too, since Hugo was there snogging his girlfriend. I didn't look, it was disgusting. I mean, he's my cousin. It's wrong.

We went our separate ways after that, with Alison and Toby left to explore the Shrieking Shack. It doesn't shriek anymore, so what's the appeal? Alison and Zac left too, to go to Spintwitches, to check out the new Nimbus or something. Whatever it was, I'm pretty sure Mum already has it.

So that left me alone. Bored out of my brain, I went to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. I haven't been there in ages. I saw George, but I didn't say hi. I just kept my head down and looked around. They've really turned Zongo's around. It's blooming, really. Have you been?

I was looking at... well, I'm not really sure, to be honest- when James came up behind me.

"Delicious Dye?" he asked, grinning madly. Ever since he started working here, he's been really hyper.

"What?"

He nodded to the bottle I was holding. So that was what it was. "Delicious Die. It's sort of like a polyjuice potion, but different. Just take it every few days and you can change your hair colour to whatever you want, whenever you want. It's pretty cool, huh."

"Like Teddy's," I mumbled.

"Where do you think we got the hair from?"

I put it down quickly and ended up getting some regular dye they were selling. I was lucky I didn't know employee, but he recognised me.

"A Weasley, huh? Lucky girl," he mused as he put the bottle in a bag. I pushed my hair behind me back as if that could hide it, and nodded. "Which one are you, then?" he asked.

"Molly," I lied.

He laughed. "Nice try, Lily." I forgot you can't lie when you're famous.

"If you knew who I was, why did you ask?" He shrugged and handed me the bag. I grabbed it roughly and headed out of the store. Creep.

Maybe you should sit down when you read this next part. If you're reading this at all. First of all, I'm not a creep, I'm just curious. Secondly, I had reason. Thirdly, you're not my father, don't yell at me or anything. And don't tell my father. Alright, you can keep reading.

As I was walking out, I saw Professor Helwood walking a few metres away. I was going to call out his name, but he seemed like he was a guy on a mission. He had his hands in his pockets and was strolling casually, but with intent. He waved at some students and said hi to them. When he was a good 10 metres away, I started to follow him. I didn't see a lot of teachers walking around Hogsmeade on the weekends, so it made me curious. I followed him as far as Tomes and Scrolls, and stopped just outside.

So, I'm a little creepy. But I had my reasons. He was wondering around, aimlessly looking at books. It kind of made me smile. So I oh-so-casually headed into the bookstore behind him. It wasn't empty, but it wasn't crowded, which was lucky. I ran my fingers through my hair, pushing it out of my eyes, and came over to where he was standing. He was flipping through a book.

"What're you reading?" I asked. He jumped and looked at me, surprised.

"Oh, nothing." He put it away quickly but I saw the cover. A biography of my dad, yet another one. "Just going over course content."

"Course content?" I hesitated for a second. "Oh no."

He smiled maliciously at me. "Oh yes."

"Even me?"

"You're no exception," he said.

"I am so, I've lived with the guy my whole life! Can't I go to the library or something during the lessons?"

"You know everything about your father?"

"I know enough."

"To pass an exam?"

I shrugged. "Try me."

"Alright, come here." He grabbed my arms gently and led me out of the store, up the street into a smaller lane. There were no students around, so we started to stroll. It was the way back to Hogwarts. I frowned, wondering what he was doing, going back to school in the middle of the day. But I followed him anyway and didn't think about it too much.

"Are you going to test me or something?"

"Alright. What do you know about your father?"

"Broad question. Care to narrow it down?"

"When did your father defeat Lord Voldemort?"

"1988. That's easy, everybody knows that."

So he tested me like that. For a long time, until we found ourselves on the grounds of Hogwarts, near the Quidditch pitch. He was genuinely surprised when I knew most of the answers. Shows how much faith he has in me, right? He stopped when we were a few feet away from the Forbidden Forest. "Can I show you something?" he asked.

"In there?" I nodded to the forest. "No thanks."

"It's fine. I'll be with you."

I agreed reluctantly, and he grabbed my hand and headed into the forest. I won't go into detail, I'm sure you're been in there, but it's dark and really quite scary. He kept saying "there's nothing dark in here anymore, you're okay," every time I squeezed his hand. Things were scurrying in the ground and everything was really dark and I swear roots came out of nowhere.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Here." He stopped as we approached a clearing. It was still quite dark and I was pretty sure I wasn't allowed to be there but I didn't say anything.

"It's nice." It wasn't nice. It was just a plain clearing. It was like everywhere else, but without trees.

"This is it."

"Oh..."

"You don't know what 'it' is, do you?" I shook my head and gave a sheepish smile. "This," he said, reaching his arms out wide. "Is where a part of your father died."

"There were many parts of my father that had died over the years. Which one are you referring to?" He gave me an almost sympathetic look and started to explain. Explain how my father sacrificed himself to save the Wizarding World, knowing he will die. I felt bad, not knowing about it. But it's not like I could ask, could I? You've seen his attacks, I don't want to be responsible for causing one.

"It was heroic," he told me. I agreed, just so he would stop talking about how much of a hero my father was. When I looked over at him, I realised how close he was to me. Like, really close. The story must have been so riveting I didn't notice.

"You almost make it sound interesting," I laughed.

"You don't find it interesting?" I shrugged. It was getting too heavy for me. I took a step away from him casually. He stepped right in front of me. "How about now?"

And... well, okay, I'll tell you.

I got my first kiss in the Forbidden Forest by Drew Helwood.

TELL A SOUL, AND I WILL NEVER SPEAK TO YOU AGAIN. INCLUDING DAD. NO, ESPECIALLY DAD.

Sorry this letter is so long, my head is still spinning. I don't want to eat unless I lose the taste of him. It was worth it, Teddy. I'd do it a million times over. I wish I could.

Write me and remember not to tell anyone,

Lily xx