The next day found Teddy thrown head first into what parents and teachers loved to call the "education system."

Even though it was a short day to signify the first day of school, Ted found that his schedule was almost too much to bear.

"This year sucks," Teddy grumbled as he sat down at the dinner table that night.

The day would start out fine with Transfiguration and Charms but it just got worse and worse. Potions was the period right before lunch and Teddy already dreaded having to survive Snape's classes before making a bid for food and freedom. After lunch was Herbology, the class Roy refused to be a part of, leaving Teddy one friend less for two periods in a row (since rarely did they see each other during meal times). Plus, being in second year, the boys didn't have Flying classes anymore and Astronomy was only held every Wednesday night.

So, Ted was left with one restless Victor Sage and few classes that interested him.

"I can't wait until next year," Ted grumbled as he began piling food onto his plate.

Next year Ted would be allowed electives and he hoped he'd get into the more interesting classes like Care of Magical Creatures.

"Cheer up Ted. At least Defence is still last," Vic said with a grin as he too began filling his plate with food.

Ted nodded a bit thoughtfully. He loved having Defense last just to get that final thrill before the end of the day. At least he had something to look forward to and his Dad treated him no different than all the other students much to Teddy's constant relief. He'd long since accepted the fact that his father was a teacher and it was pretty easy to forget that they were even related when in the classroom.

"Still. I wish we had some electives. A kid can only take the same classes so many times before he snaps," Ted complained and Vic nodded in agreement.

"No kidding. No Flying? They expect me to sit in a classroom all day? Maybe we should join Quidditch again Ted," Vic said and Teddy shrugged.

"Go for it if you want to but leave me out."

"Aww come on. Travis is a good guy."

"It's not Travis. It's the sport. I suck at it. I blame my dad," Teddy replied with a grin and Vic laughed.

"Yeah. Everything can be blamed on genetics. Remember that," Teddy recited taking a rather stubborn bite of food, "Now come on. Let's get to the field and play some soccer. I need a good run."

Vic nodded quickly and the two boys wolfed down the rest of their dinners and were out the doors.

Soccer was rather uneventful. After a full year of practicing almost daily Teddy thought he was actually better at it than Quidditch. Not to mention, rather to Teddy's surprise, lots of students at Hogwarts liked to play too. On a good day at the right time it was pretty easy to find more kids to play with and soon a whole game could be started.

Even though some people, mostly the pure blooded crowd, scorned the idea of the game, it was still rather obvious how Muggle ways had begun to creep into the Wizarding world.

"Where do you want to go? The field's pretty crowded," Teddy said, frowning slightly at the mass of students that decorated the field. Funny, there weren't this many first years last year.

"We could go round to the back," Vic suggested, "by the greenhouses."

Ted shrugged, "Fine but don't blame me if I kick it into the water," he joked.

The greenhouses were at the back of the castle. And rarely did the boys ever need to be there unless for class of course. Teddy found it too deserted to be much fun. All it really had was flat land leading to the lake and mountains bared the path to Hogsmede.

But it would do and Teddy and Vic had managed to get into a the rhythm of a simple soccer drill before a low, booming voice echoed behind them.

"What're yeh boys doin'?"

Teddy looked over to find Hagrid standing several feet away with a bucket of who knows what in a grubby palm. Dressed in his typical fur skinned attire he regarded the boys with a curious expression before giving a grunt in the back of his throat and taking a few careful steps forward.

"Football," Teddy replied a bit confused as the half giant towered over the pair. If Teddy hadn't known better, he half suspected to the squashed by the half giant as he approached them.

"Is that bad?" Vic asked and Hagrid looked down at the kids once more. He seemed to frown at them for a second before his eyes softened.

"Well. Not particularly," the Hagrid said with an eventual shrug, "But someone's been messin' with things they shouldn' be around here. Left an awful mess o' the tomb."

"….The tomb?" Teddy asked, as he and Vic gave each other raised eyebrows.

"Aye. Old man Dumbledore's tomb. Down disrespectful to be defacin' it those ungrateful buggers. When I get my hands on 'em..." Hagrid trailed off as he noticed the rather innocent looks Teddy and Vic were giving him.

He quickly coughed, "O' course I don' suspect yeh boys. Especially Remus' boy," he said with a smile and a hard ruffle of Teddy's hair.

Teddy blushed but felt a little bit of pride seep into his heart.

"So yeh boys keep yer eyes open an' tell me if yeh see anyone suspicious," Hagrid told them before giving Vic a pat on the back as well and walking off.

The boys were silent for a beat, simply watching Hagrid continue on, swinging his bucket and whistling casually as he went.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking Ted?" Vic said in a whisper as Hagrid disappeared back into the castle.

"Yeah. Come on. We're checking out the tomb," Teddy said, tossing the soccer ball back to his friend and heading towards the shore of the lake.

Dumbledore was the only Headmaster to be buried at Hogwarts and his grave, as all students knew, was located by the shores of the Black Lake. People rarely visited the place, some not caring while others didn't feel like they had any right to impose on the Headmaster's final resting place. Teddy was one of the later and while he had given the grave small glances in passing he had never actually stopped to take a close look.

The tombstone was rather small in Teddy's opinion but it was carved in white marble, nestled almost softly before a large tree that shaded the whole area. It was close enough to the lake that if you stood at a certain spot you could feel the salty spray of the lake's waves on your skin. Rocks left over from the shore surrounded the area giving the area a secluded and quiet atmosphere.

Teddy and Vic picked their way through the rocks and stopped when they arrived at the clearing containing the grave itself. The boys gave each other a glance before Teddy took a few hesitant steps forward.

The grave itself was simply a large slab of white marble that seemed to be embedded into the ground. It was the cover of the coffin and Teddy stared silently at lid before he crouched down and traced one of the lid's intricate designs carved onto it.

"It's peaceful here," Teddy mumbled and Vic stayed silent, staring at the simple gravestone, lost in thought.

Teddy turned his attention back to the grave, following the curves of the marble and the delicate designs with his eyes. He skimmed the words and smoothed out the small leaf carvings until, rather suddenly, they ended.

"It's cracked," Teddy observed, hand touching the edge of the grave where marble should have been. Instead there was only a harsh, biting crack; jagged in all sides and it felt rough under Teddy's skin.

It looked like someone had taken a bite out of the corner of the grave and Ted had frowned distastefully at it.

It wasn't the cause of decay or bad weather. The missing chunk of the corner of the grave was too sharp. It could have only been made intentionally.

Someone was trying to get inside.

"Hey Ted," Vic said, interrupting Ted's thoughts, "Remember that sound we heard last night?"

Teddy frowned in concentration. He did remember a sound. A sort of clang like something heavy had been dropped onto a hard surface….or someone trying to break open the cover of a grave…

Teddy and Vic shared a glance.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Vic asked after a sizable pause.

Ted shrugged, "Whatever it is. I think someone's trying to get in. The question is why?"

Vic shrugged, "We'll think of that later. Let's get out of here. Roy's probably looking for us by now."

Teddy nodded in reply as the boys made a dash back to the castle. Leaving Dumbledore's grave standing alone behind them.


"So? What do you think?" Vic asked as he and Teddy peered anxiously down at Roy sitting at the table before them.

The boys had managed to grab Roy upon re-entering the castle and dragged him off to a secluded section of the library.

Roy, in response to his brother's question frowned, "Well there're two possibilities: Either you guys are nuts and the whole thing's a mistake. Or someone really is trying to get into Dumbledore's tomb."

"Think we should tell someone?" Vic asked and Teddy shook his head.

"We don't know who did it or why. All we know is the same as what Hagrid told us: Someone's been messing around with the tomb."

"What're you guys talking about?"

The three boys jumped slightly as a small voice interrupted them from behind.

TK stood behind them with a curious expression, a stack of books in his hand. He was followed by a thin boy behind him. Ted glanced at the other boy, noting the earrings and a purple streak down his shoulder length hair.

"Nothing. Just going over some History of Magic homework," Roy covered and Ted and Vic nodded dumbly.

"How's Hogwarts?" Teddy asked in an attempt to change the subject.

"It's great. Snape's kind of scary but your Dad's class is really fun," Tomi replied, nodding his head in agreement.

"Did you make a new friend?" Vic asked helpfully, pointing to the sulking boy behind him.

"Yeah. This is Clair. We met at lunch," TK said happily, and the boy behind him gave a small nod.

"Hello," he mumbled.

"Clair? Isn't that a girl- OW!" Vic cried, suddenly rubbing his shin as he shot a furious look to his brother behind him.

Roy instead was busy staring at Clair with a rather suspicious look on his face.

"Ignore them," Teddy interrupted as he paused to look at Clair more closely. The boy was lanky and stood hunched with his hands in his pockets. His fringe of hair covered his eyes making it almost impossible to see where the other boy was looking at.

His ghostly pale skin contrasted sharply with blood red lips and Teddy found it oddly disconcerting.

"Well. Nice to meet you Clair," Teddy said, noticing that an awkward silence had started to form amongst the group.

"Well come on then. I'll show you guys round the library," Vic suddenly interrupted, looping an arm around and excited TK and dragging him off.

Mentally, Teddy thanked his friend for finding an easy escape route.

"Aren't you coming Clair?" TK asked behind him but Clair merely shook his head.

Teddy and Roy exchanged a glance as Vic dragged TK down the aisles of books behind them.

"So. Hufflepuff I see," Teddy said in an attempt to make small talk.

Clair just nodded before speaking up himself, "You were talking about something."

Teddy and Roy exchanged another glance.

"So," Roy said with a cough, "As I was saying about the tomb."

Teddy's heart leaped and he spun around to face Roy with a look of shock on his face.

"It says here that Dumbledore's tomb was opened by Lord Voldemort once in 1998. Split it open from head to foot with a great crack," Roy said, pointing to a vague book lying on the desk, "You might want to put that in your essay Ted."

Teddy gaped at his friend like a dead fish before realizing Roy's cover and deciding to play along.

"Yeah but how's that relate to the topic? Mr. Croswell wants to know about the life of Dumbledore. Not of his tomb."

"Yes but it does sound interesting," Roy supplied casually, "The very idea that Voldemort could not be the one to kill Dumbledore making him go back to attack him when he's already dead? Sounds like a grudge to me."

"No," Clair suddenly said, "Voldemort wanted the Elder Wand."

Teddy and Roy were left speechless for a very long time, both staring in somewhat shock at such a blunt observation from the boy behind them.

The Elder Wand and the rest of the Deathly Hallows' resident locations had been kept fairly hush hush even after the war. While many now knew of their existence it was rarely mentioned where the Hallows now lay to prevent another war over them.

The few people who did know were Order members and last time Teddy checked, there had been no "Clair" on the family tree.

"What's the Elder Wand?" Roy asked, playing dumb and Clair shrugged, "The most powerful wand in the world. They say it was placed with Dumbledore when he died. That's what Voldemort was looking for and when he was defeated they returned it to the tomb."

"Who says?" Teddy asked, now deeply curious as to where Clair was getting his information.

"Professor Heartfilia," Clair said with a shrug.

Teddy frowned at this news. For one thing. That meant Clair was one of Heartfilia's students and another was that the Professor might just be spreading the whereabouts of the Hallows to the rest of her students.

"Well I don't believe it," Teddy said half heartedly, "And I've got a paper to write. Come on Roy. You've gotta help."

Roy nodded, packing up his books and walking after Ted.

"What year are you in by the way?" Roy asked as he went by.

There was a noticeable pause and for a second Teddy didn't think Clair would answer.

"First," Clair finally said and Roy made a "hrmm" sound before walking off.

"Vic? We'll meet you at the usual spot," Teddy called and Vic gave him a thumbs up as he continued to show TK around the library.


After making a none too subtle escape from the library Ted and Roy decided now was a good time to head to the Astronomy roof.

"What was that about?" Teddy asked as he glanced at Roy beside him.

"He said he was a first year but I don't remember him at the sorting," Roy said with a frown.

"You mean you actually pay attention at the sorting?" Teddy asked, incredulously.

Roy shrugged, "For most of it anyways. It's not like I had anything other to do. I'm the only Slytherin boy in my year," he said with a scowl.

Teddy snickered.

"So? Maybe he wasn't at the Sorting. Harry once told me he and Victoire's uncle Ron accidentally skipped the Sorting in their second year because they missed the train.

"Maybe," Roy said with a frown as they vaulted through the Astronomy window and climbed up onto the roof.

"Between you and me I'm more worried about Professor Heartfilia. I mean, she sounded nice and all at the Feast but still….."

"You think it's her? The person breaking into the tomb?" Roy asked and Teddy shrugged again.

"I don't even know if someone's breaking into the tomb in the first place," he said with a sigh before something from before had him leaping to his feet.

"Sit down before you fall off," Roy said, grabbing Teddy by the arm as he staggered on the slant of the roof.

"No wait. I just realized. The Elder Wand! Remember? Harry said he put the Wand in a place nobody would find it. I bet you he put it in Dumbledore's tomb. That's what Clair said right?"

"How do you know he's telling the truth?"

"But if you think about it it makes sense. Nobody would want to open up a tomb unless there was something worth taking and who wouldn't want the Elder Wand?"

"But they say the Wand only works for one master," Vic said, poking his head out from the window.

"Not necessarily. If you're not the master, the wand just acts like a regular wand but it still works," Roy said as Teddy helped Vic up onto the roof.

"So either way. You're guess is that it's the same guys who took the Invisibility Cloak," Vic said turning to Ted who nodded.

"It makes sense doesn't it? You take the Cloak. You go for the Wand next. Someone out there wants to the Master of Death," Teddy urged.

"Yeah but I thought they were Muggles. They can't get onto Hogwarts grounds."

"Well they might not be fully Muggles. Maybe they were wizards dressed as Muggles. Or maybe whoever's behind it all hired some wizards to take care of the job this time."

Vic and Roy frowned in thought at all the possibilities.

"Whatever the case. I'm sure someone wants the Deathly Hallows and I'd bet you a thousand galleons that the Elder Wand is in the White Tomb," Teddy said exasperatedly.

"Alright fine. Say the Wand is in the Tomb and someone really is after it. How are they going to find the Resurrection Stone? Harry said he dropped it in some random place in the Forest," Vic argued.

"But that's not the point! The point is they're going for the Wand next and we're going to catch them before they get it."

Teddy regarded his friends curiously for a moment as both of them turned that information in their heads.

"How do you suppose we do that?" Roy said at last, "Your dorms are at the other end of the castle and I'm in the dungeons with no windows. We can't sit here every night for the rest of our lives until something happens."

But Teddy just grinned.

"We'll use the Map duh!" he said, "It's too old to show the tomb itself but it still shows the patch of land where it is. We'll just mark it and check it to see if anyone's there."

"So you're going to stay up all night just staring at a spot on the Map?" Roy said disbelievingly.

Teddy frowned, "Well..no. Maybe I can set up some sort of alert system to tell me when someone's been where..….I'll ask my dad tomorrow."

"I thought you didn't want to tell anyone yet. Not until we get actual proof," Vic said and Teddy grinned.

"True but I can get him to do it without telling exactly why."

Vic grinned back, "Said like the son of a true Marauder I'd say."

And even Roy smirked.


Exam failure is inevitable...so I decided to publish this before I fail them all at least.

Reviews appreciated.