Dear Readers,

Okay, if you've stuck it this long (or you followed the author's note in chapter one) you have probably come to a few conclusions.

1. I have a lot of OCs… I know, I know, no one likes an OC, they aren't canon, they tend to be projections of the reader, or rather what the reader wants to be, etc. I get it, I never read OC if I can help it, but I would like to say that there is no one canon who is the same age as Teddy. I needed to put some other people in the ring with him, otherwise it would be Teddy sitting around, not doing much, and not really interacting with anyone. Which is lame, and transitions really well to…2. Nothing has really happened yet. I know I have given you 10 chapters, but nothing outstandingly exciting has happened yet, so allow me to explain myself. Interesting things will start happening. As of this chapter (once I get around to writing it). We are going to be going on a little bit of a Teddy and Holly save that day kind of adventure, starting this chapter. There are about three healthy sized chapters left in year one, I assume, then there will be a long ass time gap, which I assure you has a purpose (frankly I don't want to write another 35 chapters of nothing, and years 2-4 in my mind would be just that). As of about chapter 15 Teddy and company will start year five with all sorts of new issues and things to think about, all of which I have been subtly referencing these first 10 pointless chapters. Yet again, I assure you, things will get more exciting, and substantially so. Which brings me to…3. Things are going to start getting substantially heavier… From about chapter 12 till I finish the story really. I will definitely be inserting fluff and humor as best as I can, but I'm warning you this is not a feel good story. Which I'm going to try to make transition to…4. I've been feeling really shitty about neglecting this story as of late, which is why I'm posting this long winded explanation. That, and I feel I'm probably going to start losing people if I don't explain myself.

You are all lovely, except for those of you who are not, but I'm in no position to point fingers, so for the sake of flattery and continuity, you are all wonderful.

Oh yes, and I'm going to change to Holly and Teddy POV for now, because Phoenix doesn't do near as much as Teddy in the coming chapters, just so that you are aware.

Love and kittens,

potato-magic

Xoxoxo

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Teddy:

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Quinn was the first one to have a birthday that year. Her birthday was January 17th, and in addition to all the candy that our smirking heroes had bought her over the Christmas break, they decided they would present her with the best prank in the history of Hogwarts as a sort of birthday gift. They held a secret meeting one evening in the boy's dormitory, with the four of them sitting in a circle on the floor plotting the best prank ever.

"So we need something even bigger than the great pudding heist of 09." Sawyer said with a grin as he leaned back against the foot of his bed.

"More like the pudding debacle of 09…" Phoenix muttered.

"You're just sulking because you had detention with Professor McGonagall." Said Teddy with a smirk.

"She scares me…" Holly made a face.

"She's not too bad, just really old," said Teddy.

"You're just saying that because you got detention with Professor Thomas." Sawyer said, "You were probably hanging out while Phoenix was being terrorized."

"McGonagall is absolutely terrifying." Phoenix sighed.

"She's bound to retire any day now," Sawyer smirked.

"What if we spike the staff's pumpkin juice at breakfast so they all fall asleep in the middle of teaching?" Teddy said as the idea dawned on him.

"Or what if we spike their juice so that they all fall asleep in the middle of breakfast? Just think their faces in the scrambled eggs." Holly grinned at the thought.

"Or what if we give them sleeping drought at dinner and…" Sawyer began.

"And they can have a peaceful sleep?" Phoenix said with a smirk.

"No, we'll give them like the draught of living death or something, and they will all fall asleep for the whole day, and we can take Quinn's whole birthday off." Sawyer seemed very excited by this.

"Where on earth are we going to get a draught of living death?" asked Holly, "It's really ridiculously hard to make, and if we mess it up then we could kill them."

"So we pinch it from the potions storeroom next class," Sawyer said, as though it was blatantly obvious.

"It's still dangerous," Phoenix said with a look at Sawyer like he was suggesting poisoning the professors.

"Sleeping potions are difficult. We would need to make sure that it was only the staff that got the potions, and that they all got the same amounts, and that they didn't have too much. It's too hard to predict…" Holly said as she leaned back against the trunk that sat at the end of Phoenix's bed. "I mean if we put it in the juice itself then some people might not have any, while others will have three or four glasses."

"Thank you Professor Wiggins," said Sawyer with the slightest sneer. "Now, we need to figure something to do on behalf of Quinn."

"If only we could string Lennox up the flag pole by her stockings, I think Quinn would appreciate that." Holly grinned at the idea of the blonde bitch hanging from a flag pole.

"Greg Lennox? The seeker? What does Quinn have against him?" Teddy looked rather confused.

"Not the seeker, the blonde girl in our year. Ashley, I think her name is." Phoenix said.

"What does Quinn have against Ashley Lennox?" Sawyer asked.

Holly gave Sawyer a look that he couldn't quite figure out. "Maybe it has something to do with the fact she's a total cow."

"Is she?" Sawyer asked, "What does she do?"

"She's mean to Quinn." Holly said as though it was obvious.

"What? Why?" Teddy asked, looking perplexed.

"What did Quinn do to her?" Phoenix also sported a rather confused look.

"Quinn didn't do anything to her." Holly felt a bit uncomfortable telling them this.

"Maybe she's just jealous?" suggested Phoenix.

"Why would Lennox be jealous?" Teddy was starting to look angry.

"Maybe it's because Quinn's nicer, smarter and more talented than Lennox?" Sawyer was now, also, looking a bit annoyed.

"Probably something like that…" Holly said, looking down. She knew why they talked about Quinn, but she figured the boys wouldn't understand. Lennox and the other girls in their dorm tended to pick on Quinn for a number of reasons, one of which was her tendency to hang out with Teddy and Sawyer, who the girls seemed to fancy. But they also harassed her for her boyish tendencies. Quinn was not a particularly attractive girl. She had pale skin which was littered with freckles, a rather large nose, and dark eyes which were also a bit oversized. Her hair was rather awful too; it was mousey, short and tended to stick out at strange angles. For an eleven year old girl she was abnormally well versed in quidditch, exploding snap, and general gallivanting. She was also very vocal about her dislike of the skirts they had to wear under their robes, which Lennox and the other girls thought were great. Needless to say the girls had plenty of fodder.

"Well we need to show this bint what's what!" Sawyer said, sitting up with a slightly dangerous look in his eyes.

"What can we do to them?" Teddy asked, looking determined.

"What if we turn their hair green?" Phoenix suggested.

"That's not enough," Sawyer said, obviously thinking about it. "What if we charm something really annoying to follow them around?"

"Like what?" Holly asked. She hated to admit it, but she was getting excited by the prospect of pranking those girls.

"What about Beagles?" Phoenix suggested, prompting all the others to stare at him.

"…Beagles?" Sawyer looked confused by the suggestion.

"It just came out…" Phoenix was too busy turning a violent shade of red to notice Sawyer's grin.

"You know, that might just be what we were looking for." He said with a wicked look in his eyes that could only many beagle related tomfoolery.

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Holly:

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That night Holly crawled into bed with visions of pranks dancing in her head. The plan really was simple, they were going to get three beagles (they hadn't quite figured out how they were going to do this yet, but might I digress), and they were going to charm the girls to be completely irresistible to beagles (they hadn't quite figured out how to do that part either, but Teddy was going to look into it), and then they were going to get the beagles to follow the girls around and bark at them constantly for a whole day (they weren't really clear on that bit either, but Holly trusted that the boys would resolve all the details).

She was quite tired and sleep claimed her quickly.

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There is a brightly lit room with quaint furniture decorating the space. It looks rather cozy really, with a soft bed and cheery light pouring in through the windows. As she turned around to take in the rest of the room, she spotted a sad, scarred looking boy. It was Aubrey, a pale, sick looking Aubrey. He looked as though he hadn't eaten in weeks, his sickly looking skin was pulled tight across his bones, and his cheeks and eyes looked hollow. There were dark rings under his eyes as though he hadn't ever used that lovely looking bed. Holly's heart was beating fast as he walked over to the mirror hanging on the wall over the dresser. With thin, shaking fingers he undid the button up shirt he was wearing. As soon as he cast the shirt aside Holly gasped. His starved body was covered in horrible scars, some of them looking very new, perhaps not even a day old, while others had already turned to angry looking markings.

Aubrey ran a finger across a particularly nasty looking scar that ran all the way across his shoulder. Holly was terrified, she wanted to run over to him and take him away, save him from whatever it was that was hurting him.

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"Aubrey!" Holly was screaming and tossing in bed.

Quinn shook her, "Holly?"

"No! Aubrey! No! Please!" Holly was thrashing, still asleep.

"What the hell is going on?" the shout came from the bed across from Holly. The other girls had woken up from the screaming and lashing out coming from Holly. And they were peering over to see the girl in the midst of her fit.

"She's having a nightmare," Quinn shot at them before turning back to Holly. She shook her with a bit more force, "Wake up Holly!"

And just like that her eyes bolted open and her fit ended. The ringing in the dorm from the yelling had instantly ended, and the silence that followed was chocking. She was trembling now out of fear, as she was gasping out, choked sobs. Holly's large doe eyes were brimming with tears, "Quinn?" he voice was little more than a squeak.

"Are you okay?" Quinn was very relieved that Holly was conscious.

"I… I'm alright." Holly sat up, shakily.

"What on earth were you dreaming about?" Lennox asked. Her eyes were fixed on the other girl, as though she thought any second Holly would jump up and attack her.

"It was about Aubrey…" Holly looked down intently, not wanting to meet the judging looks that the other girls were giving her.

"Aubrey again?" Quinn looked at her friend, concerned by the Aubrey dreams. She recalled the vision Holly had had over the holidays.

"Yeah…" Holly shakily slid off her bed.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Quinn asked.

"I need to get some fresh air." Holly said, still not looking up. Her voice was as unsteady as her legs.

"Okay, let me go with you." Quinn said as she hopped up from Holly's bed.

"No…" she picked her cloak up, off the end of the bed where she had tossed it earlier that night. "I'm sorry; I just need to be alone right now."

"You don't look too good," Pam said as she watched Holly's shaking hands as they fastened the clasp on her cloak.

"I'm fine, just go back to bed." The words were a bit harsher than Holly had intended, but she didn't care. She slipped on her shoes and went out the door without looking at any of them. She needed to walk, to think and to breathe.

She clung to the banister as she walked down the stairs, her legs still not entirely stable. Walking became simpler as she slid out of the portrait hole, and began to wander the halls.

It was Aubrey, she thought, it was Aubrey and McGonagall lied to us… but why? What is he hiding and why is McGonagall covering up for him? Did he get attacked again? Was the first attack even him? What if that wasn't from an attack? If it wasn't then what was happening to him? What if someone was hurting him? What if his parents were hurting him? How could she help him if his parents are hurting him and McGonagall is covering up for them? Shouldn't McGonagall try to save him from his parents? At least he was at Beauxbatons… unless it was the people at Beauxbatons who were hurting him. What did the French do for discipline?

She was so lost in her train of thought, that she didn't realize she was at the base of the astronomy tower until she had begun to mount the stairs. She felt a need to see the sky, as though the sky would hold the answers to the questions which haunted her.

When she got to the top of the tower she scanned the space for any sign of people who may potentially pester her, and when she saw no one she went over to the opening in the wall which presented the clearest view of the sky and particularly, the moon. She leaned against the banister and looked out over the sky.

All the stars were out that night, and there was not a cloud in the sky. It was a cold night, but it was crisp and dry, and she breathed the air in greedily. That night was the sort that bites at your nose and sends shivers down to your bones. The moon was bright and full, and it cast ample light over the grounds of the castle. The moon was eerily similar to the one that had lit her first vision, only a month ago. A shiver passed through her, and this time it was not entirely from the cold.

"Holly?" A tentative voice called out in the dark. The girl turned to see Teddy looking at her with an unreadable look on his face.

"Hey…" she tried a smile.

Teddy came up and leaned against the banister beside her, "So what brings you here tonight?"

"I had a dream… well a vision." Holly fiddled with the sleeve of her cloak, "I just needed to go for a walk, and I ended up here… What brings you here? Trying to figure out how to tame beagles to do your bidding?"

Teddy let out a little chuckle, "No, I think Sawyer got a little carried away with the beagles, to be honest."

Holly studied him for a moment, "So why are you up here in the middle of the night, if not beagles?"

Teddy looked out over the grounds, "… I don't know. I couldn't sleep, and I felt the need to come up here and look at the sky."

"The sky must have a real draw tonight." Holly said as she followed his gaze, taking in the landscape.

"It's the moon," he said as he pointed at the orb which gazed down at them, lazily.

"It must be…" She said as they both watched the moon.

A comfortable silence passed between them as they basked in the lunar glow. The stillness was eventually broken by Teddy, "What was the vision?"

"Oh…It was Aubrey."

"Again?" he turned to look at her.

"We don't know if it was him before." Holly played with her sleeve again.

"What was it this time?" Teddy had an edge of concern in his usually gentle voice.

"I think someone's hurting him…" she didn't look at him.

"Why do you think that?" the concern overtook his voice.

"He was all cut up and scarred and looked like he hadn't eaten or slept in weeks. I was scared, because he looked so… hurt."

"You think someone's hurting him?"

She looked down at her hands and nodded sadly, "Something's hurting him, but I don't really know what to do. We can't go to McGonagall, she brushed us off last time, and we can't go to his parents because they might be the ones who are doing this to him."

"We could always write to Beauxbatons… maybe they could help us?" Teddy said.

"What if they're the ones who are doing this?" Holly looked down again.

"I doubt it." Teddy's brow creased as he thought about this.

Holly sighed, "You should have seen him, Teddy. He looked like he had been torn to pieces."

"Maybe it was all part of the attack that you saw before, but maybe it hasn't happened yet?" he asked.

"I really hope… maybe we can keep it from happening." Holly sighed; she remembered what Professor Bramston had told her about trying to control the future. But isn't it true that those who control the present control the future? Masters of your own destiny and all of that…

"We can write to Beauxbaton in the morning, and see what they've got to say about it…" Teddy said as he looked at the girl beside him. A silence passed between them, filled with steady breathing and glances over the frost bitten land below.

"Have you heard from him?" Holly's voice was soft and small.

"No… Have you?"

"Just that once after I wrote him." She said with a sigh. Teddy gave a nod, knowing what she was referring to. After she had sent him the letter asking him to explain himself to Sawyer she had gotten a letter back. It was short and left her with more questions than answers.

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Holly,

Please tell Sawyer that I am fine. I moved to France because my father got transferred here, that's all. I'm sorry if I worried him, I should have written when I found out. Maybe one day I will be able to give you a better answer.

Aubrey

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When she showed Sawyer the letter he had gotten even angrier with the absent boy. It got so bad that everyone had stopped even mentioning Aubrey around Sawyer for fear of him throwing a fit. Holly understood to an extent, Aubrey had just up and left without giving word to any of them, he didn't respond to any of their letters, save the one which Holly had sent, and he had mentioned a better answer, implying that there was a better one to be had. It was all so puzzling...

Teddy broke her train of thought, "I could always ask Harry to look into it, and see if he could find any information in all of this."

"Do you think he would?" It was probably their best shot at helping him. How could things possibly go wrong with Harry Potter on their side?

"If I told him what was up, he might." Teddy shrugged.

"I think that would be a good idea. Between him and Beauxbatons someone should be able to help us." Holly said.

Teddy bit his lip as though he was thinking of something particularly difficult. Holly noticed he looked sad that night, his hair was a dull brown and was hanging in his face, his eyes were lacking some of their usual sparkle and his face was without any of the usual 'pizzazz' that he usually put into it.

"What is it?" Holly asked.

"We shouldn't tell Sawyer about this until we've gotten all of this figured out." He didn't particularly like the idea of not telling one of his best friends what he was up to, but he also hated seeing Sawyer upset.

"Maybe we should just keep this really quite…" Holly also didn't like sneaking around, but she figured the others would only make things more difficult.

"That's probably for the better." Teddy sighed. The pair stood there for another minute before the door opened and a rather annoyed looking Ravenclaw prefect came in, causing them to whirl around. Busted.

"What are you two doing up here?" he looked them over.

"I had a nightmare and needed to get some air…" Holly looked at her feet.

"You do know the astronomy tower is out of bounds, don't you?" the prefect said, his badge gleaming in the moonlight.

"Yeah… I just needed to come up here." Holly was mumbling more than talking. The prefect turned to Teddy who was looking surprisingly nonchalant, "What are you doing up here then?"

"I couldn't sleep, so I came up here and found her." Teddy gestured to Holly.

The prefect looked them over again, assessing their stories, "You both Gryffindors?"

They nodded.

"Alright, twenty points from Gryffindor." Holly looked up at that. "And get back to bed before a teacher finds you and you get detention." He said as he held the door open to allow the pair through before he followed them down the stairs that led out of the tower.

The walk back to the portrait hole was a quiet one, neither Teddy nor Holly were quite sure of what to say to the other. All they knew was they were going to be embarking on their first ever secret adventure and that thought scarred Holly. She was a Wiggins after all, and Wiggins never went on adventures.