Note: Happy New Year to all faithful Meet the... readers, and anybody else who has taken the time to dabble!

There has been a lack of Carrie/Teddy fluff in the past few chapters...but never fear, that will be rectified soon enough! There's also more storytelling in this chapter...sorry about that! XD

I will warn you now that the type of fluff that is about to occur is by no means my forte, and therefore I apologise if it is rubbish.

Thanks to my lovely reviewers, it's great that people are still reading even now I update more slowly than I did during the summer! (Not to mention even more recently what with Christmas and the reviewers of Snatch and Grab guilt-tripping me into focusing on only one story and ignoring this and other ones!) And such lengthy reviews, too! Keep them coming, you make me smile! :-)

I would just like to take a moment to thank whoever it was who added both Meet the Lupins and Meet the Muggles to the community The Best of the Classics – I suspect it was Fallen-Petals15, so thank you very much for spreading the word about this series! This chapter is for you. :-)

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

6: Carter Cottage

A wash of purple and orange was just beginning to streak across the sky and the sun was dipping towards the horizon as Carrie Winters threw down her shovel in silent triumph, just in time for a voice behind her to call:

"Alright, Carrie? We're heading home!"

Carrie cast one last glance at the now dung-free enclosure in which a duo of chestnut winged horses were stood chewing contentedly upon the grass, before turning to clamber back over the fence, calling:

"I'm coming!"

The muggle landed upon the muddy path with a soft thud, and hurried along after the large crowd of wizards and witches who had abandoned their various tasks for the evening in favour of heading back towards the village. She half-skipped down the path until she caught up with the young man at the back of the crowd, before reaching to throw her arms around his arm with an exclamation of:

"Hi!"

"Hello Beautiful," Teddy Lupin greeted, pulling his arm free in order that he could throw it about her shoulders instead. Leaning to drop a kiss to her temple, the metamorphmagus asked: "Have you had a good day, shovelling dung?"

"I have, actually!" Carrie informed him brightly. "And your mum and dad took me up to the Stone Circle. We had a picnic at lunchtime!"

"Hm...they've been having a good day too, then?"
"Yep, they dropped me off with Edwin after lunch and then they disappeared off into the woods again. Your mum said they were off to wrestle hippogriffs."

"Naturally..."

"And your dad said they'd be back in time for dinner tonight."

"I see..."

"Is your mum good at wrestling hippogriffs?"

"Oh yes! She is certainly is, Sweetheart. She's won at least three trophies and half a dozen gold medals..."

They made their way back towards the village, chattering enthusiastically until they reached the edge of the woods and Carrie caught sight of a ramshackle little house set apart from the rest, nestled amongst the trees, and the muggle nodded towards the rather grim looking structure to observe:

"Well there's a haunted house if ever I saw one!"

Teddy was just about to open his mouth to reply, when in front of them Samuel glanced over his shoulder, face contorting into a scowl.

"That's one name for it!" the blonde haired young man commented darkly. Slowing his pace until he was walking at Carrie's side, the wizard hissed: "You'll want to stay well clear of there, Carrie. That's Carter Cottage!"

As they carried on down the path, Carrie couldn't seem to help but let her gaze linger upon the rather sorry looking little dwelling, it's windows grimy and the bushes about the windows long and overgrown as if attempting to hide the inhabitants away from the rest of the world. Despite the dark appearance, Carrie found herself feeling saddened rather than disturbed, and once they finally broke free of the trees and into the village clearing, she had mused that she would return there later to return Kit's jacket that she had borrowed the previous day.

Whilst Samuel disappeared on up the road with a group of friends, Carrie and Teddy headed back into Edwin's cottage, still chattering cheerily, and upon discarding their coats and discovering the main room empty, Carrie found herself towed by the hand across the room and into her designated bedroom.

"Ted..." she began, as Teddy reached to push the door firmly shut behind them, but the wizard promptly turned to throw his arms around the muggle, declaring:

"I missed you!"

"I missed you too," she told him, shifting until she could reach to slip her arms around his neck, silently cursing not for the first time that he chose to be so tall, forcing her to rise up upon tip-toes. "I thought I was going with you this morning, but nobody woke me up!"

Teddy smothered a snigger into her hair, grip upon her tightening.

"I did think you might be less than pleased." he admitted, one hand reaching to sweep a stray strand of hair back from her face. He regarded her somewhat seriously for a moment before informing her: "You really are rather beautiful, did you know that?"

"I'm covered in mud and I smell of horse dung." Carrie pointed out, nose wrinkling at the mere thought, and he offered her a raised eyebrow.

"Beautiful." he insisted, thumb attempting to scuff a stray spec of mud from her cheek. When it failed to budge he let out an exaggerated sigh, and Carrie slumped forward, burying her face in his chest with a giggle.

"Well?" he asked rather impatiently, reaching to ease her face back so that she was looking up at him again. "Aren't you going to give me a kiss well done? I've been worked half to death today, I'll have you know! Edwin's a slave-driver, he's worse than Mum!" When Carrie made to snigger again his eyes widened quite comically and he demanded: "Quick! Before Mum and Dad are back!"

Struggling to contain a giggle, Carrie leant to kiss him, and promptly forgot that anything was amusing at all.

There was nothing more magical in the whole entire world than kissing Teddy Lupin, Carrie was absolutely sure of it. Indeed, without doubt flying broomsticks, conjuring flowers and the art of apparation had absolutely nothing on him. He was so perfectly gentle, and yet entirely irrepressible, he held her so tightly as if he might lose her, and yet his hands upon her back were soothingly calm. She felt a wonderful sense of warmth spread throughout her body and Carrie found herself entirely lost to the world, consumed by the eruption of butterflies in her stomach, the soaring sensation in her chest, the array of fireworks in her mind...

As per usual, time disappeared in wash of kisses, fumbling hands and trailing fingers, and after a blissful age she suddenly found that they had seemingly floated across the room, and before she could think much of it, Carrie felt soft fur against her back. It took some while for her to make a connection and realise quite what that might mean...

She opened her eyes just in time for Teddy to lean to press a kiss to her ear, and as she gazed rather blankly up at the ceiling, she heard him breath:

"I think we're misbehaving."

As she lay, half sprawled upon her bed, the comfortable weight of the young wizard pressed atop her, Carrie swallowed a sudden lump in her throat and dared to look down. She eyed the surprisingly good progress that she had managed to make upon his semi-buttoned muddy shirt and agreed:

"Yes...I think we are."

"I suppose it's a rather good thing nobody else is home yet, then."

"Mm..."

"And it's not our fault, anyway."

"It isn't?"

"Of curse not. I've not seen you all day!" Teddy heaved himself back up into a standing position and looked down at the muggle, regarding her rather thoughtfully. "Do you know, Miss Winters," he said, one eyebrow raised rather mischievously. "You do look awfully cold, lying there like that."

"I'm not." Carrie insisted, failing not to snigger, and the wizard folded his arms firmly across his chest, expression comically disbelieving.

"Rubbish!" he declared. "You look utterly frozen! Here, let me help you..."

An instant and on Carrie's part rather feeble struggle ensued as Teddy seized hold of the blankets and set about throwing them about the muggle, and upon her sigh of defeat a minute later, he demanded: "Well, budge up then, I'm bone tired!"

Snuggled up together under the furs and blankets a moment later, Teddy stifled a yawn into Carrie's shoulder in order to ask:

"Did Mum and Dad tell you all about the Sisters, then?"

"Mm..." Carrie mumbled, shifting closer to him so that she could tangle their feet together and rest her hands against his chest. "It was...rather creepy."

"I bet it sounded far more creepy up on that hill, with the statues! Compared to sitting in a classroom listening to a teacher tell it, I mean."

"Why on earth would a teacher tell a class a story like that?"

"I don't know...to grab our attentions, I suppose."

"Did it work?"

"No...Joshua fell asleep halfway through."

At mention of Teddy's school friend Joshua, Carrie failed not to wrinkle her nose a little, and the wizard instantly rolled his eyes.

"I do wish you wouldn't pull faces like that." he muttered. "I really don't see why you dislike Josh so much."

"I don't dislike him!" Carrie protested, nose wrinkling even more. "I think he's...he's lovely..."

"Liar. Last Christmas you told Victoire that he was a nasty little toerag!"

"Well maybe I did...but that was just after I found out he'd gone through your mum's potion supplies and dropped a...a rat's eyeball or...or whatever it was in my orange juice!"

"You have to admit, that was quite funny..."

"It wasn't the least bit funny!"

"Mum laughed her head off..."

"No she didn't! She thinks he's a toerag, too! I heard her telling your dad!"

"Mum thinks ninety nine percent of the world's population is made up of nasty little toerags. She's an Auror, that's what they think!"

Carrie heaved a sigh of defeat at this observation, because she rather supposed it was true. Rolling onto her back she gazed up at the ceiling, a small frown creasing her brow.

"She's a bit funny sometimes really, isn't she?" she mused as Teddy reached to sweep the hair back from her face, fingers lingering idly upon her forehead. "Your mum, I mean."

"How d'you mean?" Teddy wondered, and the muggle puffed her cheeks in consideration before admitting:

"I always thought she was an optimist, when I was younger. I always thought her glass wasn't half empty...or even half full, I always thought it was brimming."

"That's what everybody thinks." Teddy told her. "That Mum's the optimist and Dad's inherently pessimistic. But they're wrong. About both of them."

"Your dad's always optimistic...about me, anyway." Carrie mumbled. "He always believes in me, no matter what I do...but your mum doesn't. Sometimes...sometimes I think she doesn't think a great deal of me."

"Don't be silly, Sweetheart." Teddy told her, leaning to press a kiss to her hairline. "Mum loves you to bits!"

"Just because she loves me doesn't mean she doesn't think I'm useless."

"She doesn't think your useless..."

"Yes she does. I've heard her talking to your dad..."

"You know, Carrie," Teddy interrupted, voice quite stern. "Mum and Dad aren't pessimists or optimists. You don't get pessimistic or optimistic fighting in wars. Wars breed realists. Mum doesn't think you're useless, she simply knows you've a whole lot up against you in the world."

"Do I?" Carrie wondered dully, and Teddy gathered her up in his arms, hugging her tightly.

"Of course you do, take a good look at your life since you met me!"

"At all the trouble I've caused? Yes, it's dreadful..."

"Oh? I suppose it was you who provoked Ambrose Kraft to start Obliviating muggles left right and centre, was it?"

"Well, of course not, but..."

"And you absolutely begged my parents to go to St. Mungo's that day, didn't you? When you knew as well as they did that they'd end up in Azkaban..."

"Obviously not, I wanted to stop them, but..."

"Of course you knew exactly what a time turner looked like too, didn't you? That's why you fiddled with it..."

"Ted be quiet!" Carrie complained, reaching to bury her face in her hands. "I know...I know you're trying to make me feel better, but...but the fact of the matter is most of the time things have gone badly wrong because I've been stupid!"

"You've been ignorant. There's a difference." Teddy insisted, reaching to prise the hands away from her face.

"Ted..."

"I said you've been ignorant, not stupid! And that's all there is to it." He stifled any protest that she attempted to make with a long kiss, and Carrie was just forgetting their conversation entirely, mind wandering and lost in the sensation of his lips against hers when he drew back from her and wondered: "What's brought all this nonsense on, then?"

"Nothing..." Carrie mumbled, only for him to frown disbelievingly.

"You're a dreadful liar." he observed, and she couldn't decide how best to avoid his questioning, so she resorted to sticking her tongue out at him instead. He managed to beat back a grin, serious face mere inches from hers as he gazed at her thoughtfully.

"I'm not a liar..." Carrie mumbled half-heartedly, fidgeting where she lay.

"That's not what I said." Teddy reminded her rather sternly. "I said you're a dreadful liar."

"Well...well I'm not one of those, either!"

"Perhaps not. Perhaps you're an utterly appalling liar instead!" Carrie was about to open her mouth to protest some more, when he decided: "It's Mum, isn't it? She's...said something...something stupid and insensitive."

Despite her determination to dodge his questioning, Carrie's eyes widened and she asked:

"How do you know that?"

The wizard gave a shrug, smug at his seemingly flawless powers of deduction.

"Well it was hardly going to be Dad, was it?" he scoffed. "He hasn't an insensitive bone in his body!"

"It might have been somebody else..."

"I doubt it, you spent half the day alone with the two of them."

"Well...well it might not have been anybody!"

"Except it was. What did Mum say? Was it one of those 'a muggle walks into a cauldron shop...' jokes? She likes those ones..."

"What? What joke...no! No, it wasn't...in fact it wasn't anything! She didn't say anything...I...I did. I said something...something thoughtless and I think...I think I offended her. In fact I think I offended your dad too, he's just far too nice to show it!"

Teddy let out an exasperated groan, reaching to run a weary hand across his face.

"Carrie," he began, the syllables drawn out as if dignifying her by continuing the conversation was an enormous effort. "Honestly, I really can't imagine that there is anything you could possible say to my parents that would genuinely upset them..."

"I told your mum she had Bellatrix's eyes."

"...you what?"

"I said I told your mum..."

"Why in Merlin's name did you tell her that?"

"I...I don't know, I just thought...I should say something nice..."

"Something nice...?"

"I know it sounds stupid..."

"Just a little, Sweetheart!"

"Well it wasn't what it sounds like! I...I was trying to explain! I...that wasn't what she was upset by, anyway! In fact I think she thought it was a compliment..."

Teddy squeezed his eyes shut, reaching to squeeze the bridge of his nose with a sigh.

"Well obviously that's because my mum's mental." he pointed out, and despite her increasing embarrassment, Carrie failed to suppress a rather loud giggle. But almost as soon as her amusement had gone again, and her eyes fluttered closed with a heavy sigh.

"I asked if they thought there was such a thing as bad blood." she murmured. "Your mum and dad were...unimpressed."

Teddy was thoughtful for a long moment, mulling this revelation around in his mind before he asked:

"Did she hex you?"

Carrie barely resisted the urge to hit him.

"I'm trying to be serious, Ted!" she snapped, only for the Auror's son to agree:

"So am I. So, did she?"

"Of course not!"

"Well then, she wasn't offended. But it was probably a close thing."

"How do you know that?"

"Well last time Uncle Charlie joked about mum's bad blood she hexed him through a kitchen window."

"She what?"

"It's alright, the window was open at the time...he did crack his head on the window sill, though. Uncle George nearly died laughing!"

"I don't believe you."

"It's true, ask them!"

"There's no point, I won't believe them either! She's your mum, Ted, not your maniac great aunt!"

Teddy gave an exaggerated sigh and rolled his eyes at her.

"Alright, alright! I might have been exaggerating slightly..."

"A whole lot, I bet!"

"But the point is you're being daft! You've nothing to worry about, Sweetheart, it doesn't matter what you said, Mum isn't going to hold it against you. And I wish you wouldn't always think like you do. It's dreadfully silly and it makes me sad."

There was a long silence and as she felt her cheeks reddening, Carrie leant to bury her face in the front of his shirt.

"I don't want to make you sad." she mumbled, and he gave a rather dejected little sigh and hugged her tightly. Feeling quite guilty at the suddenly gloomy atmosphere, Carrie withdrew her face from the refuge of his shirt and leant to kiss him.

And the glorious haze was soon seeping back into her mind as he kissed her back, his hands instantly reaching to tangle in her hair, and time slowed to a wonderfully slow pace as the two of them became quite lost to the world.

Sweet Merlin, Carrie thought somewhat numbly as she felt him reach to wrap his arms tightly around her waist, if anybody decided to come home just then she might very well hex them...

And that would be impressive, too, given her complete and utter lack of magi...

She was cut off mid-thought as Teddy shifted her sideways until she found herself sandwiching him against the mattress. Hands coming to rest against her hips to steady her, he blinked against the waterfall of her wavy chestnut hair that had promptly fallen in his face, and, beaming, murmured:

"You're utterly gorgeous, did you know that?"

"I thought I was really rather beautiful, last you said."

"Well which description would you prefer?"

"Can't I be both?"

"No, that would be terribly immodest of you."

Carrie found herself with little time to decide upon her preferred compliment because they promptly distracted themselves once again from conversation, his fingers toying with the hem of her jumper.

Carrie closed her eyes, shivering at his lips upon her jaw, and as his hand drifted every so slightly further under her jumper she silently willed it higher...

Higher...higher...a little bit higher...just a little bit hi...

Too high!

She flinched, instantly rigid and a hurried scramble ensued until clothes had been straightened and their hands were entirely to themselves again. At his deeply apologetic smile, Carrie felt her face blossom pink in embarrassment.

"Sorry..." she mumbled, eyes darting to find something other than his face to stare at. "I was being...um..." Childish. Silly. Frustrating. Annoying. And one of these days your going to be sick of being dreadfully teased and...

"It's fine." Teddy said, reaching to give her a rather cautious hug, and she very nearly groaned.

It was always fine, Carrie recalled, when she panicked, when she ruined things. It was always fine, always alright.

Except it really wasn't, she was convinced as much, no matter what Teddy said. She wished she wouldn't panic, that they might grow closer after being together for as long as they had, because surely there ought be no embarrassment amongst soul mates, surely they should be above such things...

And yet...

"I um...I think we should..."

"Mm..."

"I might just..."
"Yes."

"Exactly."

Scrambling back onto her feet, Carrie looked searchingly around for some form of distraction, and when her gaze came to rest upon Kit Carter's discarded jacket in the corner of the room she hurriedly went to snatch it up.

"I should probably take this...take this back..." she decided breathlessly, and as he watched her hurry towards the door, Teddy mumbled:

"Carrie..."

"Ted?" she said, pausing halfway through the door, and there was a long silence as he seemingly thought better of whatever had come to mind. Instead he told her:

"Don't be long, will you? Because...you know...it's getting dark and um...and Mum and Dad'll be back..."

"Right...no, I won't be long at all. I'll just...you know...drop it to the door." Turning to leave, she found his confidence boosted a little at the sight of her back to him, for he hastily added:

"I love you, you know."

"And I love you." she assured him in a mumble, and with that she fled.

Carter Cottage looked sinister by moonlight, tree branches leaving shadows to stretch across the walls like long, clawing fingers, the windows grimy and black, so much so that Carrie wondered if there were any lights lit inside. It looked abandoned and in the eerily quiet surrounding trees the wind blew, a gentle hiss as Carrie found herself compelled to creep forward towards the front door. At a sudden fluttering sound, Carrie paused, looking around searchingly, only to spot a small bird flitting amongst the treetops, and as it dropped down towards the overgrown garden path of Carter Cottage, Carrie gave an involuntary shudder, the sight instantly reminding her of her icy tumble into the stream the previous day. She watched the little creature land upon the leafy dirt pathway, and there it stood, hopping from foot to foot for a moment...

And then something quite extraordinary happened. The bird seemed to puff itself up, and up and up until it's little body had ballooned beyond all reasonable proportion, and Carrie watched in astonishment as its legs lengthened to enormous stilts, its wings stretching and shedding feathers that vanished into thin air before they reached the ground, and within a startled blink of the muggle's eyes she found herself not looking at a bird at all, but a very familiar young man instead.

Kit Carter took a moment to brush a stray feather from his hair before setting on up the pathway, only to pause by the door, turning to look searchingly amongst the trees.

Carrie gave herself a little shake to dispel her shock, before stepping out from behind the tree that she had unknowingly been hiding behind. Upon spotting the muggle stood clutching his jacket to her chest, staring at him, a bright smile broke out upon Kit Carter's face.

Feeling a little foolish to be caught no doubt what looked like spying on him, Carrie hurried forwards.

"Hello!" she greeted rather breathlessly as he took a few steps back down the path towards her. "I um...I've come to return your jacket!"

"Oh, yes!" Kit said as she came to a halt just in front of him. "I'd quite forgotten about that! Thank you...um..."

"Carrie." she reminded him as she reached to push the jacket into his arms, and for a moment he forgot to grasp hold of the garment.

"Carrie. Of course." he said, finally taking a hold of the jacket. "Is um...is that short for something...Carolyn, perhaps? I um...I had a cousin Carolyn. She left us once she'd finished at Hogwarts."

"I'm a Caroline, actually."

"Ah, I see."

The pair stared at one another for a long, awkward moment, and Carrie wondered quite what she ought to say. She supposed she ought say something about the awful scene the previous day and how dreadful she thought the other villagers had behaved towards him, and yet she couldn't help but observe:

"You um...you were the bird, weren't you? The bird by the stream yesterday. Because you're an Animagus."

Kit Carter looked quite alarmed at this accusation, so she hurriedly explained:

"I saw you just now, you see. I know that's what you are." Despite how uncomfortable he looked to be discovered the muggle positively beamed up at him as she told him: "I've never met an Animagus before! Or...or rather I have, the Headmistress at Hogwarts is one, Remus says, but I've never seen...you know...her transform or anything! It's very impressive!"

Kit Carter smiled vaguely.

"Well," he murmured, "I'm glad you think so. Nobody else finds me impressive in the slightest..."

He was cut off abruptly by the ramshackle front door be flung back on its hinges, making Carrie jump. The muggle hurriedly turned to look through the doorway, but nobody was there, indeed the place was so dark that she could barely make out what was beyond the threshold.

"FOR GOODNESS SAKE BOY, WOULD YOU STOP MOPING OUT THERE AND COME AND LAY THE TABLE?" a wizened, hoarse voice demanded from somewhere within, and Kit grimaced a little, only to call back:

"I'm just coming, Uncle!" The Animagus turned back to Carrie, smiling apologetically. "I'm sorry about that," he murmured. "He does that a lot..." he looked the muggle up and down before telling her: "Won't you come and meet him, my Uncle Alucard? He'd be delighted to meet you!"

"Oh..." Carrie mumbled, feeling quite taken aback at this suggestion, gaze flickering over to the grim little cottage reluctantly. "That's um...that's very kind of you, but..."

"I'll put the kettle on, we'll have tea?"

"I really ought be getting back for dinner, it's getting dark and everybody will wonder where I am..."

"Just one cup, then? Then I can walk you home? We don't have visitors very often, Uncle Alucard and I, and I don't suppose he's ever met a muggle before!" Kit's face was so hopeful, so lit up at the idea that Carrie wasn't sure she had the heart to say no to him.

"Well...alright then." she consented after his very hopeful pause. "I don't suppose one cup will hurt."

"Great!" Kit exclaimed, positively beaming, and she felt pleased to make him smile so gladly. He led the way up the remainder of the dirt path and they passed across the threshold, he reaching into his pocket to draw out his wand.

"Uncle?" he called as Carrie carefully set about wiping the mud from her shoes upon a filthy doormat, the state of which made her wonder if attempting to clean her shoes was worth the effort. "Uncle, I've brought a visitor!" When there came no response he sighed heavily and wondered: "Why are we standing in the dark? Here..." He gave his wand a wide wave and the dim lamps upon the walls lit themselves, casting a dim light around the room.

It was a small sitting room, similar in layout to that of Edwin's cottage, yet much more cramped, stuffed with furniture and miscellaneous items, all of which looked positively ancient, a mass of hoarded grandeur surrounded by peeling brown wallpaper and a thick layer of dust.

"Goodness..." Carrie murmured, taking a small step further into the room and promptly wishing she hadn't opened her mouth. "What a...what an interesting room..."

"Uncle Alucard doesn't like to throw things away." Kit explained, sounding a little embarrassed by the state of the place.

"Oh, I see." Carrie said, gazing around at the clutter in an attempt to think of something polite to say about it. "It's rather like a treasure trove, isn't it?" she decided, forcing herself to smile brightly, and Kit let out a relieved chuckle.

"Yes, I rather suppose it is!" he agreed. "In fact it's...it's really rather fascinating, Uncle has all sorts of...of family heirlooms and things...if...if you like that sort of thing. Can I take your jacket?"

Carrie wasn't entirely sure she wanted to take off her jacket, for the cottage didn't seem to be all that much warmer than the gathering cold of the evening outside, but nevertheless she shrugged it off and handed it over with a mumbled thank you. As Kit went to hang both his and her jacket up upon an elaborate wooden cloak stand in the corner, stepping over an abandoned pile of dusty books and pieces of parchment to reach it, Carrie took another glance around the room. She tried her best to shake off the conclusion that this was quite possibly the most strange and grim looking places that she had ever seen to tell Kit:

"Actually I do like that sort of thing a great deal! I'm studying History, you see. At University."

"Well then, you should get on famously with my uncle." Kit said as he picked his way back across the room towards her, only to lead the way further inside. "He knows everything worth knowing about the history round here. He could tell you the most brilliant stories!"

"I'd like that."

"Yes, he'd like it too, nobody comes to visit anymore, he's going to be so pleased to meet you...Uncle? Uncle did you hear me? I said we've got a visitor!" When yet again there was no response Kit sighed heavily and explained to the muggle: "I'm afraid he's going a little deaf. I'll um...I'll just fetch him..."

Carrie watched the young wizard hurry towards the nearest bedroom door, and as he disappeared inside she chanced a look towards the shabby kitchenette in the corner, a mound of dirty dishes piled in the sink. Carrie hadn't seen such a messy place in all her life. It was like a giant and even more cluttered version of her best friend Cleo Clancy's bedroom, and such a thought made her was to snigger and shudder all at once.

The bedroom door slowly creaked back open, and Carrie turned to watch Kit step back into the room, followed slowly by a stooped, wizened man with a thin, gaunt face, scraggily grey hair and a pair of thin golden spectacles perched upon the end of his nose.

Alucard Carter eyed the girl stood in his sitting room with squinting eyes that made Carrie want to fidget.

"This is Carrie, Uncle." Kit informed the old man rather loudly. "I met her yesterday, do you remember?"

"Ah, the drowning girl." Alucard recalled, and Carrie felt her cheeks tinge pink as both uncle and nephew stared at her for a long moment. She supposed she ought say something in greeting, and settled on a suitably loud:

"It's lovely to meet you, Mr. Carter."

The elderly wizard cracked a broad smile, revealing a line of crooked, yellowing teeth.

"And it's lovely to meet you, my dear!" he wheezed, setting about making a stiff, shuffling progress across the room towards her. "Very lovely indeed. Isn't she lovely, boy?"

"Yes Uncle," Kit agreed, shooting Carrie a rather apologetic smile over his uncle's shoulder. "She's utterly charming. Do you take sugar, Carrie?"

"No thank you." Carrie mumbled, trying not to feel too uncomfortable at the stranger's enthusiastic assessment of her.

Alucard came to stand before her, gazing at her almost in wonder, eyes a little glazed and Carrie forced herself to smile at him.

"Kit tells me you know a lot about history, Mr. Carter." she said, musing that from the looks of him the poor man was growing senile with age.

"Oh yes!" Alucard exclaimed, and quite suddenly he reached forward to grasp hold of the muggle by the wrist. Carrie struggled not to jump. "Come, come!" he cried, face lit up in delight. "Come and sit down, come and sit by the fire."

One glance at the fire pit in the middle of the room told Carrie that there wasn't any fire to speak of, but nevertheless she allowed herself to be towed across the room and deposited in a moth-eaten arm chair.

"I can tell you such stories that you wouldn't believe!" Alucard was telling her as Kit set about making the tea upon the little space he could find upon the cluttered kitchen counter. "I know all the best stories, don't I boy?"

"That's right, Uncle." Kit agreed as Carrie waited for the old man to let go of her wrist, wondering just how long she needed to wait until pulling herself free ceased to seem rude. "Uncle Alucard knows all the best stories. All the ones other people have forgotten."

"We pass them down the generations, you see." Alucard murmured, still grasping hold of the muggle's wrist. "We Carters don't lose our history, you see. We keep it all safe and sound. Up here!" At long last he let go of Carrie in order to tap a finger against his temple with a grin.

"You must have an extraordinary memory." Carrie said, leaning back as far as her seat would permit, only for the wizard to lean closer still as he agreed:

"Yes, yes I certainly do!"

"Why don't you sit down, Uncle?" Kit suggested loudly. "I'll bring you a cup of tea to drink before supper."

Carrie was beginning to wish that she hadn't agreed to join them for tea at all, but refused to allow Alucard's mannerisms to unnerve her. After all he was being perfectly kind and friendly, if a little odd. Old people were like that sometimes, Carrie recalled, like her Great Aunt Beatrice with her obsession with spring cleaning, or Teddy's Great Grandma Tonks, who Dora claimed had not only been a muggle but had also been completely and utterly batty. It didn't do to be unkind to people like that. People of a certain age deserved respect and patience, no matter how odd they seemed.

"Do you know," Alucard was saying as he stiffly lowered himself down into another chair, squinting over at Carrie through the dim light of the room. "The tale of the Maiden and the Dragon Master?"

"No, I don't think I've heard that one." Carrie admitted, and the old man's voice dropped to almost a whisper as he immediately launched into the story.

"Once, many, many years ago when the Sanctuary was still young and the Sisters were still living, young Matthias Carter, youngest son of Alaric Carter and the Sister Imelda Gray, was waiting at the outskirts of the village to catch a glimpse of his beautiful cousin Tabitha Layne, youngest daughter of the Sister Zelda Gray and Francis Layne. Miss Tabitha was the most beautiful girl in the valley, so breathtaking was she that men would stop and stare at her as she passed! And Matthias was utterly enamoured with her. He wished beyond all else to marry his cousin, but alas! Tabitha had, for many years, already been promised to another man! Nevertheless Matthias waited for hours just for her to pass and for the two of them to speak, and when she did finally pass she told him that at long last a date had been set for her wedding. Matthias was so overcome with grief at the idea that he confessed his undying love for her there and then! He begged her to run away with him! Tabitha was overwhelmed by his adoration, and yet she had no time to make a reply for at that very moment he arrived!"

"Who?" Carrie asked as Kit at long last came to press a chipped cup and saucer into her hands.

"The Dragon Master!" Alucard hissed, slit-like eyes widening ominously, and Carrie found herself whispering as she asked:

"Who was he?"

"Nobody knew his name!" Alucard told her, taking the cup Kit offered him and clutching it tightly in both long-fingered hands. "But he came to speak with the Sisters and came across Matthias and Tabitha upon the outskirts of the village! He told Matthias that he wanted to ask the Sisters to begin sheltering dragons in the Valley. But Matthias told him that there simply weren't the resources or indeed enough space for the sanctuary to take in dragons! The Dragon Master grew terrible angry, but Matthias told him to leave...and that was when the Dragon Master left a terrible curse upon the Valley! He said a maiden would die, when the dragons did come!"

As she took a sip of her tea, Carrie rather wanted to muse aloud that the maidens of the Six Sisters Valley did seem to have quite a bad lot in life, but she supposed that might sound terribly rude.

"What happened?" she asked instead. "Did any dragons come?"

"Just the one, that very same day!" Alucard recalled, before leaning forwards in his chair and announcing gravely: "But it only takes the one, my dear, it only takes the one!"

"How dreadful!"

"It was, my dear, it was dreadful indeed! The Dragon Master returned upon the back of the most fearsome dragon that ever there was! And he burnt the forests with great bursts of fire, and crushed houses with a swipe of the terrible beast's tail! It rampaged through the village until it came upon this very house in which we are sitting now!" The old man paused for dramatic emphasis, staring at Carrie as if expecting some sort of response, and so the muggle leant forward in her chair, eyes wide as snitches.

"Then what, Mr. Carter?" she asked, gaze flickering towards Kit to note that he looked utterly delighted at her enthusiasm.

"Young Matthias and his darling Tabitha were in the house. They were hiding from Tabitha's mother, who had caught wind of Matthias' declaration of love and wished to separate them for the sake of the upcoming wedding! And when they heard the dragon approaching Matthias made to hide the two of them in the house, but Tabitha broke free from his embrace and despite he cries of protest that beautiful girl ran straight outside...and snap! The dragon snatched her up and swallowed her whole!"

"How horrible!" Carrie exclaimed, and the old man's eyes glinted proudly at his storytelling skills as he whispered:

"And then, the Dragon Master and the beast...just flew away!"

There was a long silence at this conclusion as Carrie stared thoughtfully down into her by now empty cup, only for a knocking upon the front door to make her jump.

"Well?" Alucard snapped abruptly, turning to look at his nephew. "Get the door, boy!"

"Yes Uncle."

Carrie leant forward in her chair so that she could more clearly see the door, and Kit went to pull it open, revealing a very familiar looking figure indeed.

At the sight of Remus Lupin stood outside, smiling faintly, Carrie felt a sudden stab of apprehension in her stomach...

She'd quite forgotten sitting here listening to Alucard's story that she ought be back in time for dinner. Before either Kit or the werewolf could utter a word, the muggle had hastily deposited her cup and saucer on the cluttered coffee table and had leapt to her feet.

"Sorry, sorry!" she cried as she hastily straightened her jumper. "I...I was just coming..."

"I'm afraid Carrie's dinner is growing rather cold." Remus informed Kit with the same mild smile that made Carrie suspect that he was in actual fact not the least bit amused by her tardiness.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Lupin," Kit murmured. "It's my fault, I...I asked Carrie in for a cup of tea..."

"It's quite alright, Kit. No harm done." Remus said as Carrie paused halfway to the door to turn and hurry back to where Alucard was sat, seemingly entirely unconcerned by Remus' arrival.

"Thank you for having me, Mr. Carter." she told him loudly. "It was very nice to meet you." She jumped a little when his hand shot forward to grasp hold of her by the hand, and though she made to turn it into a handshake he did not move.

"And you, my dear, and you!" the old man wheezed, thumb scuffing her hand as he gazed up at her intently. "You really must come again!"

"I'm sure I will." Carrie agreed, and there was a long pause before she dared gently prise her hand free from his grasp. As she hurried tot he door and Kit handed her her jacket, Remus gazed around the cluttered room rather thoughtfully before reaching to usher the muggle outside.

"Good Evening to you, Mr. Carter." the werewolf called, and Alucard at last looked over at him.

"And to you sir, and to you." he murmured in disinterest.

"Goodnight, Kit." Remus told the young man at the door, and Kit offered his back a rather shy smile as the werewolf turned and began to hurry Carrie along the muddy pathway with a hand upon her shoulder.

"Thank you for tea!" Carrie called back over her shoulder, and as Kit called goodbye, Remus gave a rather strained chuckle.

"Tea with the Carters!" the wizard muttered as they reached the end of the pathway and set off through the trees. "What were you thinking? Do you have a mind to see the four of us evicted?"

"I don't see why I can't have tea with them!" Carrie protested indigently. "They're...they're perfectly nice...if a bit...unusual...and you can't disapprove, not after all you said this morning!"

"Of course you should have tea with them if that's what you want." Remus agreed, his footsteps stomping upon the leafy ground. "I just wish you'd be a little more discreet about it. Being late for dinner at Edwin's because you've been sitting drinking tea with Kit Carter and his uncle isn't going to go down terribly well now, is it? We don't want to cause any drama."

"Are you saying I have to pretend I was somewhere else?"

"Merlin no...Teddy already announced where you were in front of the entire family! Edwin was all for marching over and blasting the front door down, but I suggested I go and knock politely instead." Remus pulled Carrie to an abrupt halt just before they broke out of the trees. He turned to look down at her, expression firm. "You can't change these people, Carrie." he informed her rather solemnly and Carrie frowned deeply.

"Don't you think we should try?" she asked, and she felt it a betrayal of his nature when Remus bluntly told her:

"No."

"But...why not? It's...it's unfair! It's horrible!"

"Because I don't want to cut short and ruin Dora's holiday because Edwin's kicked us out of his house." Remus said, eyes upon Carrie imploring. "And because, Carrie, you can't banish prejudices in two short weeks!" he sighed heavily and reached to run a weary hand through his hair as he murmured: "They run much too deep."
And with that, he set off towards the house, hands shoved deep into his pockets, and Carrie trailed along behind him, utterly dreading following him through Edwin's front door.