Teddy raised a hand and knocked firmly on the door of the gamekeeper's cabin. Fang began barking from within, but Hagrid's voice growled over his through the door.

"I don' know anythin', I tell yeh, I'm not involved with the house-elf strike, never was, an'—oh, Teddy," he finished as he opened the door to regard the first-years on the front stoop. A smile appeared under his beard. "Sorry abou' that you two, been bein' hassled about the house-elf dispute... think I put 'em up to it... no matter, come in then," he finished, sweeping them inside with one giant hand.

"Why do they think you're behind it?" Teddy asked as he sat down at the table.

"Ah... I've always bin sympathetic with magical creatures. Got me expelled in me third year. Weren't my fault, see... accused o' somethin' I didn't do. House elves, though... if they want to work, ain't my place to say boo about it. I'm not sure we should be forcin' 'em to go back to work if they don't want to, but if they're bein' coerced out of their jobs, which they enjoy, that's not right either."

"Who's hassling you about it?" Teddy asked, momentarily forgetting their mission.

"Ministry ghouls," Hagrid said dismissively, waving a giant hand as though they should let the subject drop.

"Literal ghouls?" asked Julia, wide-eyed.

"Nah, nah. Just the likes which neither Harry nor the Minister for Magic can remove from the system due to certain deeds an', er, monetary incentives they've done to land 'em where they are. Thugs, really. Ain't the first time I've been hassled for similar things. So long as they don't send me to Azkaban, it isn' more than a nuisance. Don' worry yourselves about it. Now," he said, voice booming. "I'm righ' certain that the two of you are supposed to be in Transfiguration at the moment. Mind explainin' just what brings you down here mid-lesson?"

Teddy looked at Julia, who shot him a shaky smile. Teddy swallowed and stared at the ground. "I came to ask you some things about my dad."

Hagrid's eyebrows shot up. "I'm guessin' you mean when he was younger, since anythin' else would be more suitably answered by Harry."

"That's the thing," Teddy interjected. "Harry won't tell me a thing, he's being really evasive. He obviously knows the answer to my questions, but he just doesn't want to tell me."

Hagrid shook his head. "That doesn' sound like Harry."

"I know, and that's why I'm coming to you. Either it's classified for some auror reason, or he's trying to protect me from something."

"If tha's the case, Teddy, I'm not sure I want to answer your question even if I'd be able to. If Harry thinks—"

"Hagrid, I'm not going to let this go," Teddy interrupted firmly. "At least hear what I have to say before you declare your undying support of what Harry thinks is the best thing for me."

Hagrid frowned and nodded. "All righ'. What do you want to know?"

Here Teddy hesitated. "How well did you know my father when he was in school?"

Hagrid frowned in contemplation. "I didn' really know him beyond detention. Him, James, Sirius an' Peter arrived at my cabin on an almost weekly basis for their next trek into the forest. He was always really mild-mannered... kept smilin' when I mentioned werewol—" Hagrid suddenly trailed off with wide eyes and stared off into the distance, as though a manner to fix his sentence would come suddenly to him out of thin air.

"It's all right," said Julia and Teddy together. "I know," Julia continued.

Hagrid sputtered on for a second before trailing off and smiling at the two friends. "Good fer you, Teddy, trustin' yer friends."

"Ah... well, Julia somehow overheard me and Harry talking when I was in the hospital wing last month. Oliver and Winnie don't know," he said quietly with a blush, hair a light orange.

"Ah. Hardly an easy topic," Hagrid added, nodding. "Can' say boo about my bein' half-giant to most folk, they get all skiddish-like. Nothin' like our Julia here," he said with a smile, beckoning to the small girl whose eyes had immediately illuminated with intrigue at Hagrid's confession. Teddy smiled fondly at Julia, who returned the gesture at both of them before Hagrid returned to the conversation at hand. "All the same, he was a good kid. Had a few discussions abou' creatures, what was really dangerous and what wasn't. Seemed to trust me in the matter more than any o' the textbooks he was readin'. Booksmart like Hermione, sure, but practical like Harry."

"But you didn't know he was a werewolf until he was an adult?" Teddy prompted, somewhat desperately.

"Ah… I had my hunches. Still, it shocked me a might when I heard about it after he joined the Order when he was seventeen. In hindsight it all makes perfect sense… still, I didn' learn most o' what he'd done while he was at Hogwarts until the last few years before he, ah… before he passed, once he started teachin' at Hogwarts."

"He taught here?" Julia asked.

"Mmhmm, for one year, until people found out he was a werewolf. 'Course, Dumbledore wouldn' ever have fired 'im, but he resigned anyhow and got out of dodge before the owls started bringing in angry letters, or worse. But like I say, as a kid I barely knew 'im outside o' detention. Ev'ry now an' again I'd see him studying out on the grounds and exchange a few friendly words, but other than that, there wasn' a lot of contact between us. Except…" Hagrid frowned and poured himself some tea. "There was one time, I think it was yer father's third year, when he stayed with me in this very cabin for about two days. Strange times, though; he wasn' himself."

"Why'd he stay with you?" asked Teddy.

"Not sure," Hagrid said simply. "Never was told the reason."

Teddy exchanged a glance with Julia. "What do you mean?"

"Dumbledore brought him here for an emergency, but kept it all a secret. Brought him here in the middle of the night, bangin' on the door like I was hard o' hearin' or somethin'. I get out o' bed and open the door and there's Dumbledore, robes torn up, gashes all over his face, with a scared-lookin' boy with him…."

-

"May we come in, Hagrid?" Dumbledore asked quietly, interrupting Hagrid's words of astonishment at the state of him. He kept his left hand firm on the boy's shoulder while his right held his illuminated wand at the ready. "Pardon the intrusion, but I'm afraid it's rather urgent."

"O' course, Professor," Hagrid said, sweeping them inside with a gigantic hand.

"Thank you." Dumbledore guided the boy in, softly instructing him to sit down at the large wooden table in the centre of the cabin. "Some tea, if you wouldn't mind, Hagrid."

Hagrid nodded and placed the kettle on the stove. "This is Rubeus Hagrid, our gamekeeper," he told the boy. "I'm sure you've met before, with the frequency that you and your friends find yourself in detention as of late."

The boy mumbled something indistinguishable. Hagrid puttered awkwardly around his tiny kitchen, hesitant to sit down at the table for fear of interrupting. "Just two cups of tea, Hagrid, I'm afraid I won't be staying very long. There's been a series of accidents today at the castle that I must unfortunately attend to. I am merely seeking a refuge for Remus until the danger has passed," Dumbledore said delicately.

"What happened? Is everyone all righ'?" Hagrid asked, gesticulating at the Headmaster's robes.

"It would be best if Remus stayed away from the castle for a while." Dumbledore continued as though he hadn't heard. "Would it be an intrusion if he stayed with you for a few days?"

"Not at all," Hagrid said immediately. "Although I don'…"

Dumbledore waved his wand and a squishy purple sleeping bag appeared on the floor at the back of the cabin. Hagrid petered off and smiled at the Headmaster. "Nevermind," he said quietly.

"Thank you, Hagrid. Now, if you wouldn't mind accompanying me to the door, I have a matter to discuss with you. Remus," he turned to the boy. "You must stay put, do you understand? You aren't to leave the cabin unless it is in absolute emergency. You are not to attend classes. You are not to see your friends. If they sneak out in an attempt to visit you, you must send them away in whatever manner you can. I will certainly keep you apprised of the situation, but if you need to speak with me, you know what to do."

Remus nodded and started at the table. Dumbledore clapped him gently on the shoulder before striding to the door beside Hagrid. "Professor," Remus said suddenly. Dumbledore turned on the spot and regarded the boy evenly. "Will I have to leave Hogwarts?" he asked shakily, voice cracking.

"I will do everything within my power to ensure that doesn't occur," Dumbledore said. Remus swallowed hard and nodded slowly, meeting Hagrid's eyes momentarily before returning his gaze to the table. Dumbledore watched him for a moment before pushing open the cabin door and placing Hagrid between himself and the boy.

"You must keep him within your sight at all times," Dumbledore told the gamekeeper under his breath. "He's not to be around any other students or, in fact, anyone besides myself. If at any time you cannot locate him, you must alert me immediately. I cannot stress this enough: it is a first-rate priority."

"If you don't mind me askin'… what happened? Maybe I'm lookin' into things, but when he looked at me just a minute ago, I saw a… a wildness in 'im, yeh know?"

Dumbledore stared at Hagrid for a moment. "Unfortunately, for the protection of this boy as well as the one who is lying in the hospital wing at this moment for the second time today, I feel I cannot disclose that information. I apologize, Hagrid; it is not an issue of trust. The only three people who are aware of the full situation are myself, Remus Lupin, and Poppy Pomfrey, and I fear that's the way it must stay. I must ask that you don't pursue the matter, which includes not asking the boy what happened. All right?"

Although thoroughly confused, Hagrid nodded. Dumbledore smiled grimly and grabbed Hagrid's arm affectionately. "Thank you, my friend," he said.

"Bah," Hagrid said, waving aside the apology with a smile. Dumbledore nodded at Hagrid and swept back up the hill toward the castle.

-

"He was with me for two days. Didn' say a single word; I'd ask him questions and he'd nod or shake his head and we'd go about our own business, me goin' about the grounds an' him followin' me with his nose in a book. Eventually Dumbledore came down an' told him he could go back ter school. He was so glad he cried a little, and then asked what happened with the boy. Dumbledore'd only say that he wasn' at Hogwarts anymore and wouldn' elaborate. I asked Dumbledore abou' it later but he only shook his head an' asked me not to ask again, so I ne'er did."

Teddy swallowed hard in an attempt to swallow this new information. "Did you ever hear what happened?"

"Nah. Eventually I forgot… long time ago, yeh know. One time I did ask Remus directly, when he was with the Order, but he turned pale and asked if we could change the subject. I never knew if he got attacked or the other boy did, an' one of 'em got in the way of t'other, or if he attacked Remus an' Remus hurt him in self-defense…" Hagrid shook his head. "Never caught word."

"Hmm," Teddy said pensively. "But you knew a lot of the talk between teachers, didn't you? Sort of knew what strange things were going on inside the castle?"

"Not back then, no. Never been one for spendin' much time inside the castle, let alone the staff room. Anythin' I knew, I knew from Dumbledore."

"Well that's disheartening," Teddy said with a knitted brow. Julia patted him consolingly on the back.

Hagrid frowned. "Why are you askin', anyway?"

Teddy sighed and gesticulated for a moment, searching for the right words. "Lately I've been smelling Riley, and I don't know why. Just… smelling him. Faceplant into his ribcage. I'm crazy about his internals for some reason. I've learned to control it for the most part, but it's still worrisome. I get this… this hunger..." Teddy swallowed. "Harry and Madam Pomfrey will both tell me that it's happened before, but they won't say who, when, or why. Julia, having excellent powers of deduction which I clearly lack, noted that it may have been dad that it happened to before, and that they're reluctant to tell me for reasons of protection or something."

Hagrid frowned. "Yer in the same house as he is, aren' yeh?"

Before Teddy had a chance to respond, the back door of the cabin burst open; Winnie tumbled in excitedly, while Oliver fell in behind her in an attempt to hold her back. "It's a curse!" she exclaimed as she scrambled toward the table. "Think about it, Teds. The day Julia joins our house, not to blame her or anything, you start smelling Riley. It's weird, right? But Slytherins are weird! And they weren't too pleased when we gained the brilliant advantage that is Julia Wright."

"I tried to hold her back, I'm sorry," Oliver breathed, looking indignantly toward the flushed girl.

Teddy, Hagrid and Julia all stared at the pair. "You were listening at the door?" Teddy asked croakily.

Winnie nodded, not bothering to be shy about it. "Started wondering where you and Julia went off to, so we caused a distraction and snuck out while Everard was dealing with it. Saw you creeping into Hagrid's cabin, so we followed suit. Got held back by that wanker Filch—"

"How much did you hear?" Teddy interjected calmly but assertively.

Winnie shrugged dejectedly. "Just the tail end of Hagrid's story… how your dad was almost expelled but no one knows why. Interesting that you think your case of the Smellsies might be genetic. Don't really know what the story has to do with it, it's probably that horrid Vincent Vorkson. But don't you want to hear about how we got away from Filch?" she finished excitedly. Oliver rolled his eyes behind her.

Teddy waved her off, ignoring the latter part of her outburst. "Don't you know it's rude to eavesdrop?"

"Well, since we weren't invited to the party in the first place, you didn't exactly leave us with many options," she stated crankily. "If you'd prefer, we could leave…" she made toward the door.

"Oh for pity's sake, stay," Teddy said resignedly, relieved that he hadn't been discovered.

Winnie smiled and plonked herself down on a chair beside Hagrid, helping herself to one of the biscuits on the table. Oliver, with an apologetic smile at Teddy, sat down beside her. "For the record, I'm not convinced the Slytherins have anything to do with this," he said.

"What makes yeh think the Slytherins have anythin' to do with it?" Hagrid asked.

Winnie shrugged. "They don't like us, and they know we don't like them. Makes more sense than anything else."

"Tell me yeh don' buy into this alleged rivalry," Hagrid challenged.

Winnie raised her eyebrows at Hagrid. "Need only walk into one of our Transfiguration classes to see that it's more than alleged."

"Maybe for you, Win," Oliver said. "In case you haven't noticed, the rest of us are merely ignoring it."

"Pacifist," she said teasingly, sticking her tongue out at Oliver.

"Hardly," Oliver said. "Merely not seeking conflict where it could be avoided."

"Pah-sih-fist," she enunciated again.

"Hey!" Julia shouted suddenly. Every head in the room snapped in her direction, shocked at the outburst. "Did you come here to help Teddy, or not?" she asked Winnie, eyes blazing.

Winnie opened her mouth to reply, faltered, and opted to nod instead. "Sorry, Teds," she said sincerely.

Teddy cracked a reluctant smile and shrugged. "Next time, just walk through the front door."

Winnie returned the smile. "So, in all honesty, why do you think your father might have something to do with it?"

Teddy stared at her and blinked. "I just don't know a lot about him. If it happened before and everyone's hiding who and when from me, it makes sense that it might be a… a genetic problem that they're afraid to endow me with. Unfortunately I can't make that judgement for myself, so I have to get Hagrid to make it for me."

"All right, all right, no need to get defensive," Winnie said, throwing her hands up. "Is there any chance that this event that Hagrid described could be connected?"

Teddy and Julia shrugged. "To be honest, even if they're not connected, I'd like to know more about what happened," Teddy said. "Unfortunately I doubt Madam Pomfrey would be willing to tell me anything, and Dumbledore is about as available to ask as is my father…"

Hagrid frowned. "I wonder if that's so. You've have to get permission from McGonagall, mind, an' she's a might busy at the mo'…"

Teddy lit up suddenly with comprehension. "Dumbledore's portrait?"

Hagrid nodded and smiled. "Shadow o' the man himself, o'course, but…"

"No, Hagrid, that's brilliant. I… I don't suppose she'd just let me up there to talk to him if I asked her, though…"

Hagrid waved a hand. "I go up to talk to him often, don' see why she should suspect that I'm smugglin' anyone under me cloak…"

Teddy broke into a slow grin. "Hagrid, are you sure? I mean, you are a professor… will you get in trouble?"

Hagrid stood from the table. "Don' you worry abou' me. If Harry's not willin' to help yeh, I don' see why I shouldn'. It's what he would have done. For now, though, you lot have to get to class, all of yeh. Git!" he said, ushering them out the door.

Winnie stared blankly. "Oh. Yes. Please. Please can we go to History of Magic. It's such my favourite course, I could just die from excitement."

Oliver ruffled her hair with a grin. "Come on, Wins. You were just complaining about what a shoddy sleep you had last night, you could use the nap."

Winnie brightened as she followed Oliver out the front door. "That's true! Plus I've got to recover from my excellent escape from Filch, which everyone has yet to ask about…"

"Cheers, Hagrid," Teddy said once the pair was out of earshot.

Hagrid smiled. "I'll meet yeh outside yer common room this evening at seven, all righ'?"

"Sounds good," Teddy grinned. He closed the door behind him and started up the hill after Oliver and Winnie. "Julia, can I ask you to…" Teddy peered around him. "Julia?" Seeing her nowhere around, Teddy ran back to Hagrid cabin and peered inside the window. It was clear that he and Fang were the only ones inside. Frowning, he ran to catch up with the others. "You lot see where Julia went?"

Oliver stopped and pirouetted on the spot. "She's gone again, hasn't she?"

Teddy frowned at this wording. "She's hasn't gone, she's just…"

"Gone?" Winnie prompted with raised eyebrows.

Teddy frowned harder. "I wish she'd just tell me what keeps happening, or where she keeps going, or… what's going on."

"Hardly the epitome of divulgence yourself, mister definitely-hiding-something-in-there," Winnie said, nodding toward the cabin. "It's your prerogative whether you want to share or not, but I hardly find it fair that you expect to be told when you aren't telling." She turned on her heel and stomped off toward the castle by herself.

Teddy stared after her. Oliver shook his head beside him. "The day we figure girls out will be a glorious day for both of us, mate," he said, clapping him on the shoulder and heading slowly up toward the castle.

Teddy blinked hard. Standing alone on the grounds, he peered around once more for Julia. Seeing no sign of her, Teddy felt he had no choice but to head to Professor Binns' classroom alone.