Chapter XIV

Teddy's Secret

Al and Will were strolling down the hall on their way back to the Gryffindor House. Will chatted endlessly about all the amazing things Al's father did while Al listened silently. Al agreed that it was amazing, but he still felt betrayed somehow. Will finally noticed that Al wasn't eager about the subject.

"Well, this week should be exciting!" Will exclaimed turning the topic around.

"What do you mean?" Al looked up at Will for the first time since they got out of the pensive.

"You know… the new elective classes that the first years get to try out."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that."

For the first time ever, first years would be given a whole week to try out new elective classes along with a few standard classes. Then they would have the option of choosing two electives and their class schedule would go back to normal.

"What's on our schedule again?" Al asked.

Will pulled out a sheet of crumpled paper from his pocket and read: "On Monday we have potions and our elective is called art and magic; on Tuesday we have flying lessons and our elective is languages of magic; then on Wednesday we have DADA with the elective of music and magic, on thursday we have transfiguration with elective choice cooking and magic; and finally on Friday we have magical creatures and…" Will paused glancing at Al and burst out laughing "knitting and sewing with magic: the art of fashion in the wizarding world!"

"What? We have to take a knitting/fashion class? You've got to be joking!" Al burst out laughing uncontrollably.

"No joke! It's all right here!" Will waved the paper above his head.

"Oh Merlin! I bet my grandmother will burst with joy if I knit her scarf or or something!" Al chuckled.

The boys continued to walk down the hall, joyfully talking about the new classes.

"Which class do you think you'll continue with?" All asked Will.

"Hmmm… is that really a question?" Will said with a sly grin and chuckle, "you know my life's dream is knit and make cute little hats and…"

"No! Seriously though!" Al laughed, "which would you choose?"

"Well, art has always been…" Will began but was abruptly cut off as they collided with a student whose face was hidden beneath a hood.

Glasses of potions slipped from underneath the student's robes.

As fast as lightning, Al drew his wand and said wingardium leviosa in his mind with a quick swish and flick of his wand. The potions soared right back into the air.

"Blimey, Al! It's you!" The student spoke, throwing back his hood to reveal the shocked face of Teddy Lupin.

"Oh, Teddy!" Al cried, delighted.

"Great Scott, Al! Are you levitating my potions… without even saying the charms name?" Teddy asked, surprised, as he gingerly picked each bottle out of the air and concealed them back in his robe.

"Yes… one of the only things that I can do."

"What are the potions for?" Will asked casually.

Teddy's face paled and he whispered, "Come. Let's not talk here."

Teddy led them past the Gryffindor House and up a flight of stairs to the third floor. Statues of grim and angry men covered in cobwebs lined the windowless corder.

"This place looks familiar…" Al whispered.

"Aye! Look at that statue, Al. It reminds me of the one outside of the door with the three headed dogs that you're dad escaped," Will whispered back.

"That's because it is," Teddy replied glancing back at Al and suddenly scooping him up in a hug.

"I'm so sorry you had to wait all these years to find out, but it is better this way. Trust me," Teddy said releasing a teary eyed Al from the hug.

"Thanks Teddy," Al managed to say without his voice cracking.

"So…" Will interrupted, his blue eyes flashing back and forth at the creepy statues, "what are we doing here?"

"Oh, right!" Teddy exclaimed, snapping back to reality.

Teddy walked over to to a statue of a man bent down in agony with an outstretched hand. All the fingers on the hand were closed in a fist except the pointer finger, which was curved outwards, in a gesture as if beckoning someone to come closer. Teddy grabbed the statue's hand, muttered something unintelligible under his breath, and broke the finger off.

The statue began to shake violently and suddenly, the eyelids which had been shut tight opened wide in fear. Al gasped and Will stumbled a step back. a strait crack began to travel down it's face, splitting the statue in two. Then slowly, the two halves separated, revealing a trap door in the floor. Teddy put the statue's finger in his pocket, opened the door, and motioned for Will and Al to follow.

"Blimey, Teddy! Where are we going?" Al asked trying not to tumble into anything in the pitch black darkness.

"Feueriskie!" Teddy shouted with a flick of his wand. "Welcome to my lab."

Torches on either side of the windowless room lit up, revealing a great work table with dozens of books and potions scattered across it. At the opposite end of the room was a huge cauldron, black smoke was rising from it. There were other smaller cauldrons in the corners of the room brewing something too.

"You have you're own lab?" Will asked, wide-eyed.

"Well…" Teddy replied, shifting uncomfortably from toe to toe while he started to stack even more potions onto his table,"… this isn't exactly supposed to be for me. But, it's abandoned and nobody uses it, or even comes down here anymore. It's sort of a secret room."

"Where did you get all these potions?" Al asked in awe.

Teddy blushed, "I promise, I really did find some of these on my own in the Forbidden forest, but I have been taking small amounts from Slughorne's cabinet…"

"You've been stealing?" Al gasped.

"More or less," Teddy said with a bashful smile. "But you understand why, don't you?"

"For the luck potion?" Will asked.

"Yes, but more than that. The luck potion will take years to make. In the meantime though I'm making… other potions." Teddy explained while he began to work on mixing different potions together and poring them into the cauldron.

"So what are you making then?" Al asked, his eyes sting from the black smoke.

"Oh, um…just a little transformation potion… nothing to big," Teddy said shrugging his shoulders.

"Teddy," Al said with a smile, "I know you well enough to tell when you're lying."

Teddy stopped stirring the potion and turned to face Al and Will with a grave face.

"You know that my father was bitten by Fenrir Grayback now, yes?"

Will and Al nodded.

"Greyback was a complete lunatic. He wanted revenge and to turn innocent muggles, wizards, and witches into beasts like himself. Voldemort gave him that chance and he took it. Of course he knew Voldemort's true feelings for him, but Voldemort gave Grayback the chance to be the monster that he truly was. He started biting children… and having children of his own, something that werewolves rarely due… and raised them to hate the wizarding world. Now, they've grown more and more, aliening themselves to other dark beings who wish to 'be themselves' , something which would normally land them in a cell at Azakaban. They want to be treated as equals, but how can that be if they want to act as monsters at the same time?"

"But, you're dad was a werewolf and he wasn't a monster," Al said.

"No, he wasn't a monster. My dad faced who he was and lived with dignity about it. It's unfortunate not everyone treated him as an equal."

"So then not all dark creatures are bad, necessarily."

"No, not all of them. But most of them are being persuaded to join and fight for their right of acceptance in the wizarding society."

"Am I the only one here who doesn't see why that's a problem? Why shouldn't they be accepted?" Will piped up.

"Because they no longer want to hide from the urge to bite and kill, along with being accepted in society."

"Isn't there a potion of something that keeps them with there… er… human minds?" Will asked.

"Wolfsbane only prevents werewolves from mindlessly ripping their best friends to pieces. If they're left alone though, they generally tend to attack themselves for being who they are… if they are in the presence of other animals though, it distracts them from attacking themselves, and since they only attack humans, the animals are perfectly safe. That's what happened with you're grandfather and my dad," Teddy explained.

"What of the Graybacks that are here? Do you think they're spies?" Will asked.

"Of course they're spies! They've been raised to hate us, so why else would they come?"

"Well, maybe they really do want to become wizards and witches…" Al added.

"Aye, that they do! The werewolves need all the magic they can get right now, even if they hate wizards. "

"But what if they don't want to be werewolves?"

"Al! They were raised for the sole purpose of becoming proud of being a werewolf. The Grayback children have never tasted wolfsbane before, Fenrir Grayback won't allow it."

Teddy was becoming extremely upset and began chopping up some root with gusto.

"Ok… but what's the potion?" Al asked.

Teddy sighed, "You two swear never to tell anyone?"

"What about Rose and my dad?" Al asked.

"Especially not your dad! And don't tell Rose, she might feel the need to tell her parents too."

"Is it really that bad?"

"Do you swear?" Teddy demanded.

Will and Al agreed.

"OK," Teddy took a deep breath and quickly blurted out, "I'm going to try to become animagus!"

"Teddy! It's dangerous though! And illegal if you don't have permission from the Ministry!"

"I know! I know! But you promised not to tell!"

"OK! We won't tell. But I don't want you to get hurt in the process."

"I won't, potions are kind of my thing," Teddy said giving the worried Albus a smile.

"So you think being animagus will give you an edge while fighting?" Will asked.

"Yes, even if I turn into a bumble bee!"

"You'd make a great bumble bee!" Al laughed.

"Why thank you!" Teddy bowed and Will and Al smiled.

Teddy finished up mixing his potion and led the two back out of his secret lab. Teddy then placed the finger back on the statue's hand an the statue closed back together, it's eyes closing, and cobwebs falling all over it.

"So you two promise to keep this between ourselves?" Teddy asked one last time as they walked back to the Gryffindor House.

"Yes!" Will and Al said at the same time.

"Good, because I'll need some help during the transforming process."

"Which will be?" Will asked nervously.

"At the end of the week."

Thank you so much for reading! Hope you enjoyed that chapter, even if it was a bit dark. PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW! And let me know what you liked or didn't like.

And to my one reviewer, Hillary, I can' t thank you enough for your feedback… this whole chapter was pretty much inspired by your review! So, thank you so, so much! It meant an awful lot for me to know that someone enjoys reading my story. And to answer you're question about the creepy DADA teacher, that will be answered hopefully in the next chapter. Once again, thank you for the food for thought… without your review I think I'd still be pondering on what to write next. So, even though devoting chapters probably doesn't mean a whole lot coming from me, I'm devoting this chapter and the next to you! So…

This chapter is devoted to Hillary for her inspiring review. :)