Chapter 8:

The Great Distraction

Donzo blinked stupidly, and even in the dimness of the entrance hall, Teddy could tell he was blushing. "Lupin... what're you... er... why are you...?" Frantically, he took the girl's hand and turned her around, like he was presenting her on a stage. "Do you know Lani Khetran?"

Victoire hiccupped a laugh, and when Teddy turned to look at her, her hand was over her mouth.

Lani stepped forward aggressively, hands on her hips. "Do you have problem with my name?"

Victoire shook her head. "It's just... Lani and Donnie... it... rhymes, sort of."

Lani's mouth twitched, then she laughed.

Donzo looked deeply uncomfortable. "What were you doing? Where were you going?"

"I suspect," a voice said from an adjoining corridor, "that you were all headed to the hospital wing, and one of you is so badly cursed that he or she needed three escorts to get there." Professor Longbottom stepped out into the dim light, Vivian a bit behind him, her mouth covered much as Victoire's was, her single good eye twinkling. Professor Longbottom raised his eyebrows. "No? Everyone seems in good health."

"We were just..." Teddy started, but couldn't finish. He looked to Donzo.

"Just, er..." He looked wildly at Lani.

"We were sneaking out," she said.

"Thank you, Miss Khetran," Professor Longbottom said. "For being honest, I'll only take five points from each of you." He rolled his eyes. "Go on back upstairs. Now."

Donzo and Lani ran quickly toward Ravenclaw, but as Teddy started up, he felt Professor Longbottom's hand on his arm. "What is it?"

"Teddy, you're safe enough inside, I think, but please don't sneak outside. The same goes for you, Victoire."

Teddy nodded, but Greyback seemed an extremely distant concern.

He walked Victoire back upstairs, quickly brought the Charms book Ron and Hermione had given him to the Common Room, and taught her how to make her roommates' shoes sing. He was not surprised to awaken the next morning to the sound of Celestina Warbeck's voice rising above the mixed laughter and irritation of the first year girls. To his relief, two of them seemed to be talking nicely to Victoire. She seemed to perk up a bit.

The loss of points from Ravenclaw and Gryffindor brought the evening's events to the attention of the entire third year, and Donzo's secret became the primary topic of conversation among the boys for the next week.

Maurice Burke pretended to be deeply insulted, as he was Donzo's best mate and hadn't known a thing. "She's probably just a groupie," he huffed after Divination one day. "He's probably embarrassed to be going out with a groupie."

There was much discussion of Lani's relative merits, and of Donzo's motivation for going out with her ("I like her!" he said helplessly when pressed on the subject, though this somehow didn't seem like enough of an answer). This discussion inevitably led to the more disturbing topic of whether they all ought to get girlfriends now, and how such a thing was done, and which girls were particularly interesting. Teddy dropped Ruthless's name into a list of girls they were talking about, and the response to the idea of her as anyone's girlfriend was such great hilarity that he thought it might be wise not to mention her again.

Teddy found himself flipping back through To The End of the Earth, re-reading the passages he'd skimmed, which dealt with love business, and particularly with kissing, as witches seemed to like this sort of thing, so he guessed it was what they'd expect. He was disappointed to find that it didn't actually explain how to kiss, except that stars were meant to explode and the sea was supposed to keep the rhythm, which sounded like something of a tall order.

From the depths of his fifth-year experience, Frankie Apcarne advised them that they oughtn't start going out until they found very special girls. He hadn't found such a girl himself, which was why he still didn't have a girlfriend. This was not a comforting line of reasoning. Zachary Templeton suggested that they ought to just take the plunge into the lake and get it over with.

"Are you lot going to?" Maurice asked them anxiously on the way to Care of Magical Creatures, after Donzo had gone ahead a bit to avoid being repeatedly called "Donnie" and having eyelashes batted at him. Maurice, looking deeply disturbed, said, "Brendan Lynch is going out with Honoria now. Since this morning. I heard him ask her in the Common Room."

This was met with general disgust. Tinny Gudgeon abruptly decided to run ahead and join Donzo.

"Franklin Driscoll asked Lizzie Richardson," Corky said. "But she said no. What do you do if they say no? Just pick another one?"

"Why'd she say no?" Teddy asked. "Franklin's a decent bloke!"

"I don't know," Corky said, mystified. "She didn't say. So are you going to ask anyone, Lupin?"

Teddy didn't answer. He was thinking that Ruthless's hands were sort of pretty, and he might like to hold one of them. "What about you, Roger?"

"Well," Roger Young said, "I didn't mention anything, but I have a Muggle girlfriend back at home."

"You do?" Teddy asked. "What's her name?"

Roger thought about it for a moment, then said, "Her name is Jillian. She has blond hair, and she likes science."

"Do you have a picture?" Corky asked.

"Er... no."

Corky shook his head, then took a deep breath and said, "Do any of you guys like Laura Chapman?"

They all looked at him, grave doubts growing in their minds, and the next morning, he was seen at the Hufflepuff table at breakfast, smiling fatuously at pretty Laura while she ate the world's smallest breakfast.

At his Patronus lesson that night, Teddy was able to get a steady white glow, almost solid, and Uncle Harry praised him for his progress.

"I know you don't think you're getting anywhere, but that's quite good," he said.

"Thanks." Teddy cast it again.

"You seem a bit distracted, though."

"Do you think I ought to have a girlfriend?"

"What?"

"Well, you know - Donzo's got one, and Corky's going out with Laura, and..."

"Already?" Uncle Harry shook his head and sat down. "Teddy, there are better reasons to have a girlfriend than that all of your mates are doing it. It's not a race. Is there a girl you like?"

"Well... yes," Teddy admitted.

Uncle Harry looked surprised. "I didn't know that."

"Did you have a girlfriend third year? How do you ask?"

"Well, I - " Uncle Harry frowned. "I didn't, entirely. I asked Parvati to go to a dance with me, but Cho just sort of... followed me around a bit. And that was fifth year."

"What about Aunt Ginny?"

"I didn't so much ask Aunt Ginny as just kiss her - sixth year - and she got the point, but I don't recommend that unless you're really, really sure."

"I'm not."

Uncle Harry rubbed his scar absently and blinked, still looking a little stunned. "Teddy, has your granny talked to you about... girls?"

"About sex, you mean?" Teddy nodded. "When I was eight. Granny's a Healer. There were diagrams involved. I know how it works. Also, I've read some of Mum's books. I'm not sure how to make stars explode."

Uncle Harry turned very red. "I don't think you need to worry about exploding stars just yet, Teddy."

Teddy nodded, tried another Patronus charm (he thought he was beginning to see a sort of hovering shape in it), then said, "I was thinking of asking... someone... to have lunch with me during Hogsmeade weekend. The first one is Saturday."

"I know. Andromeda and I had quite a long conversation about whether or not you should have your permission slip. I convinced her you'd be easier to keep an eye on if you were with your friends than if you snuck in on your own. And we will be keeping an eye on you, which might not make for a particularly private lunch." He started to say something else, then just sighed. "Let's have some supper, shall we? Aunt Ginny sent a stew."

The next morning, Tinny Gudgeon was spotted talking chummily to Roger's roommate, Joe Palmer.

In the library after lunch, Roger said that he might ask Lizzie Richardson to go to Hogsmeade with him, or perhaps Jane Hunter.

"What about Jillian?" Maurice asked snidely.

"Jillian broke up with me," Roger told them, after looking puzzled for a moment. "I had an owl from her."

"You had an owl from your Muggle girlfriend, and the Ministry wasn't all over you?"

"She... well, we were so close that she had special permission to know. Anyway, do you think I should ask Lizzie or Jane?"

Maurice walked away in disgust, and sat down by the rejected Franklin Driscoll. Teddy would have followed, but Roger was still looking at him anxiously.

He shrugged. "Er... flip a Knut, or something."

Roger seemed stunned by the wisdom of this advice, and began rooting through his book bag for loose gold.

By Friday, the day before the Hogsmeade visit, Roger had worked up the nerve to ask Jane Hunter, the Muggle-born Slytherin girl who'd helped him explain dinosaurs to Professor Firenze. He seemed surprised to discover that, once they started talking, he actually rather liked her. "Her mum's a physicist!" he said, astounded. "And Jane wants to find out how broomsticks fly. I always wondered about that, too. I didn't know someone else did!"

Franklin Driscoll, who played Seeker on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, recovered from his rejection by Lizzie Richardson, asking his housemate, Connie Deverill. Lizzie, meanwhile, seemed to have got attached to a fourth-year boy. Maurice and Tinny were morally opposed to the whole business, and were going into town with Frankie. Frankie had asked Teddy to come along, but Teddy hadn't quite decided.

Or, rather, he'd decided what he meant to do, but hadn't quite worked up the nerve. He thought perhaps lunch would be a good time, but it was very crowded, and Ruthless was talking Quidditch with her fellow Beater, Skipton Royce. He tried to call after her before she walked out, but it came out in a sort of breathy squeak. Victoire looked at him oddly, then with dawning horror.

By the time he'd finished his afternoon classes, there was no question of going to dinner. His stomach was twisting in very tight knots. He wished he'd never brought it up to himself, because now, if he didn't do it, he'd be a failure. He sat at his desk, taking deep breaths and letting Checkmate chew on the collar of his robes. He heard people start to come back in downstairs.

"All right," he said, and plucked Checkmate from his chest, setting her down on the desk, where she mewed plaintively. "You're Ruthless."

Checkmate didn't appear to care about her change in name, and continued crying, poking her nose up toward Teddy's shoulder. He put his hands firmly on her chest to keep her still, though he supposed that might not be the best approach with the real Ruthless.

"So... would you like to go into Hogsmeade with me tomorrow?"

Checkmate squirmed and lost her balance, then jumped down to the floor. A moment later, she was picking at his leg, begging to be picked back up. It didn't really seem like an answer.

He started to get up to go downstairs and wait for her, but sat back down. His blood all seemed to be rushing into his face, and it was making him dizzy. Miserably, he pulled the Marauder's Map out of his book bag and pointed Dad's wand at it. "It's Teddy," he said. "Tell me I'm an idiot, will you?"

James Potter's handwriting soaked up through the parchment: Mr. Prongs is happy to oblige Mr. Lupin, and to add that he's a rather disappointing Gryffindor.

Sirius Black: Mr. Padfoot greets Mr. Lupin, and defers to Mr. Moony in this matter, as that ought to be amusing.

Peter Pettigrew: Mr. Wormtail wishes Mr. Lupin good luck, and wonders where he left his backbone.

"That's rich, from you," Teddy muttered.

Dad: Mr. Moony salutes Mr. Lupin, who appears to have lost both his courage and his sanity.

"Hmmph. That's rich from you, too, as you married a girl with pink hair, and she had to bully you into it." Teddy sighed, then prodded the Map with his wand and said, "Mr. Ted Lupin respectfully requests that the Marauders share their wisdom on the subject of Miss Ruth Scrimgeour."

No response.

"In that case, he requests the honor of learning your wisdom about girls."

Still no response. They had apparently not decided that this was among the subjects about which they would pass their knowledge to future magical mischief makers, even if they were asked politely.

"Oh, all right, then. Good night." He cleared the Map and re-folded it to return to his book bag. He thought about trying Dad's ring, but his parents hadn't precisely asked one another out, and he had a feeling they wouldn't have preserved memories of asking other people out for him.

He braced himself. He was the only Gryffindor in his year. He was not going to be the only one to lose his nerve.

His knees shaking, he stood up, patted Checkmate on the head, and gulped. He could hear his heart beating, and he was quite sure everyone else would be able to as well, but when he descended into the Common Room, no one seemed to notice.

"Lupin!"

Teddy grabbed the edge of the mantel above the fireplace, his hand disappearing in the lush leaves of the Lionbloom that grew there. Ruthless was sitting on the floor, her Astronomy textbook open and a star-chart half-finished beside her. She was smiling perfectly normally, and said something that seemed to echo quite a lot.

"What?" he asked.

"I didn't see you at dinner," she said, with exaggerated care.

"I wasn't, er... well, I didn't... I wasn't... er..."

"Hungry?" Victoire suggested from a chair by the window, where she was sitting with her back turned.

"Right," Teddy said gratefully. "Hungry. I wasn't hungry."

"All right," Ruthless said. She looked at Victoire, who shrugged indifferently and went back to her book. Ruthless patted the floor across from her. "Do you have homework?"

"It's upstairs," Teddy said.

"Want some of mine? I was hoping to finish before Hogsmeade tomorrow, but they've really got it piled on."

"Will you... er..."

"What?"

"Will you finish it before curfew, do you think?"

Victoire snorted into her book.

Ruthless raised her wand casually and whispered, "Sedesambulosa." Victoire's chair suddenly scampered across the room, dumping her into a group of fifth year girls, who turned to glare at Ruthless. Victoire stood up, her face red, then grabbed her book and stormed up the girls' stairs.

Ruthless winced. "Didn't mean to dump her there. No one deserves that lot."

"Mm-hmm," Teddy said.

"I should go apologize. And take any sweet she offers me, right?"

"Sure."

"And then I'll put on a jarvey costume and dance around in the Great Hall insulting the teachers."

"Right."

She waved her hand in front of his face and snapped her fingers. "Lupin?"

He blinked. "I didn't bring my homework to do."

"Do you want to go get it, or do you want to play cards?" She held out an Exploding Snap deck.

"Cards," Teddy said, though he couldn't remember the rules, and lost seven hands before she finally gave up and put them away. The older girls had gone upstairs, and the only other people left in the Common Room were a pair of seventh year boys trying to build some sort of gliding machine for their Muggle Studies N.E.W.T.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked.

"Nothing," Teddy said, and his voice went up half an octave.

"Are you sure?"

"Mm-hmm."

"This isn't about some madman coming after you or something?"

Teddy shook his head, trying to remember what exactly she was talking about, as it seemed important. He gulped. His heart was beating very quickly now, as well as being loud, and he couldn't really feel his fingertips, though he supposed that might be because the cards had exploded in his hands several times. "Er... Ruthless?"

"What?"

"Are you going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"Do you... I mean... could you... would you... er... go with me?" He closed his eyes.

"I was thinking I would anyway," she said. "It's not like I'm about to roam around with my dormitory-mates, and it was dull going alone last year. Are you going in with Frankie and that lot?"

"No," Teddy said. "I thought... I mean, we'll see them... but I was thinking... maybe we could go to Hogsmeade together." He forced his eyes open just as Ruthless's tawny eyes went wide, and her skin went so red that her freckles disappeared.

"Oh!" she said. "Er... oh."

Teddy looked down at the carpet. "Oh. Sorry."

"What? No, I don't mean - " She shook her head. "Do you mean... go with each other? Did one of your mates dare you to do this? Is it a joke?"

Teddy shook his head rapidly. "No! I just... well, we get on well enough, and you're very pretty, really, and..." He looked at her, and she just seemed dumbfounded, which wasn't an entirely positive response. He guessed he'd be hanging about with Frankie and Maurice and Tinny after all. He stood up, arms crossed over his chest, chin drooping toward the floor. "Sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have... we can just go in with Frankie. I won't be weird."

"You're always weird," Ruthless said, but it was automatic.

Teddy started back to the boys' stairs.

"Wait," Ruthless said and ran over to him. They were now behind a large outgrowth of the Lionbloom, hidden from the boys with their glider. She was chewing her lip. "I didn't say no," she said.

"You didn't?"

"Well... I never fancied being someone's girlfriend, but I reckon if I did fancy it, I'd pick... well... I'll go to Hogsmeade with you."

"You will?"

She swallowed hard, then nodded firmly, her frizzy red hair bouncing and catching the firelight. "But... well, there need to be rules."

"Rules?" Teddy repeated.

Ruthless nodded, and he could hear her breathing in a quick, repetitive whistling sound. "Right. I don't fancy turning into some silly little girl who runs about fretting over her hairstyle and talking about her boyfriend. I'm not going to do that. If you're looking for that - "

"I'm not!" Teddy said, horrified.

"Well, good." She swallowed, then looked around the Lionbloom at the boys by their glider, who'd suddenly stopped talking. "Outside," she said, and walked quickly over to the portrait hole. She shut it behind them when they were outside, and started pacing, her arms folded over her chest. "First," she went on, "you're not to get googly-eyed on me. No staring, or talking about starlight and such. No poems."

Teddy nodded. In his first year, he'd found a love poem that his father had written to a girl when he was in school, and even reading it had been profoundly embarrassing, so he definitely didn't have a problem with that rule.

Ruthless glared at him defiantly, as if she expected him to break the googly-rule straightaway. When he didn't, she nodded. "Second, there's a wretched tea shop in Hogsmeade where all of those fifth year girls go with their boyfriends. I really don't want to go there."

"Me, either!"

"Good. And no holding hands or kissing or such in front of people. They all look."

That was quite all right with Teddy as well.

"Just don't start treating me like some kind of... girl. As long as we're still Ruthless and Teddy, we'll be all right."

"Who else would we be?"

"Have you seen Corky Atkinson over the last couple of days?"

Teddy had, and it was a sobering lesson. He didn't care to be caught feeding Ruthless a grape in the Great Hall. He agreed.

"All right, then," Ruthless said, and swallowed hard. Her pacing had carried her back to Teddy, and she was directly in front of him. He hadn't noticed that he'd got taller than she was. "Did you want to..." She breathed so rapidly that Teddy thought she might faint, then finished, "...kiss me or whatnot?"

"Is it allowed?"

She answered by swallowing another couple of quick breaths, then putting her hands on his shoulders, bouncing up on her toes, and bringing her face up at him like she meant to sucker-punch him with her nose. At the last minute, she tipped her head, then her lips pressed quickly against his. They were hot and dry, and a bit rough, and she came in at such a speed that they mashed his own lips back against his teeth. She was gone before he had a chance to do anything with his mouth, drawing back with her face considerably redder than her hair. Her eyes came up briefly, then she looked away and opened the portrait hole again. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, then," she said. "I'll... we could meet at breakfast. Just like always." She smiled somewhat madly, then went back inside.

Teddy wasn't entirely sure he could walk up the stairs to his dormitory. Or get through the portrait hole, for that matter. His whole body felt light-headed, like his brain had somehow turned into bits of dust and started to travel around to share the news with his toes and fingertips. He replayed the whole business in his head, from the feel of her strong, pretty hands on his shoulders to the way the torch-light looked in her hair, to the very brief feel of her lips mashing into his. Little sparks were spiraling up through him, traveling along his nerves toward his mouth like pilgrims wanting to get a look at a particularly wonderful relic. He imagined the sparks flying along, nodding to each other, "Yes, this is where Teddy Lupin was kissed. By a girl. Right on the mouth." They would stop and marvel at this for a moment, but then move on, as more sparks were coming along behind them to see what there was to see.

"Do you mean to go inside?" the Fat Lady asked.

"Hmm? Oh. Yes."

"Password?"

For a moment, Teddy's mind was completely blank, then he remembered, "Vires Leonis." The portrait swung open, and Teddy drifted in. One of the seventh year boys grinned and saluted him.

Teddy thought that saluting back would probably be against one of Ruthless's rules, but he couldn't help smiling. He went up to his room and lay down on his bed, not playing the moment in his head anymore, wondering instead when he could try again, maybe try doing something himself. Checkmate tucked herself into a neat ball at his feet. He fell asleep with the vibration of her purring against his toes. In his dreams, Ruthless didn't pull away from him nearly as fast, and he always had the right thing to say.

He was up long before breakfast the next morning, which was a good thing, as he couldn't seem to decide what he ought to wear, which was a problem he'd never had in his life. He guessed "clean" was probably the first rule, so he picked the jeans he'd only worn once since the last time the elves had taken his laundry, and mentally checked off most of the t-shirts. It hadn't been cold yet, so all of the jumpers were in more or less good shape. He put on the one Molly had made for him last Christmas - it was deep crimson with a few gold flecks - and was surprised to find that it had got tight across the chest and shoulders. He started to morph himself, then decided that he would expand the jumper instead. He overdid it and ended up looking like he was playing in one of Hagrid's shirts, so switched to the one Molly had made him for his birthday, which fit a little better. It was blue.

He waited until he heard the other Gryffindor boys moving down the stairs before he went out, and headed to breakfast without looking for Ruthless, which was good, as she was already there. She was wearing her glasses today. Her hair was tied up in a fluffy ponytail, and she was - to his complete shock - wearing a skirt. It was baggy denim and came halfway down her shins, but it was a skirt. He couldn't see what sort of top she had on, because she had put on a huge cardigan. She smiled shakily and waved him over.

He sat down beside her. "I decided on the glasses," she said. "The Clear-Eye Concoction... I don't like the taste."

Neither one of them ate much before joining everyone else for the walk into Hogsmeade. Frankie looked at him with deep admiration; beside him, Maurice looked at him with deep disgust. Donzo was with them, as Lani was a second year and couldn't go to Hogsmeade.

"Are you to be protected from Fenrir Greyback?"

Teddy jumped back from the quill in his face. Honoria Higgs, wearing a checkered tam over a smart sort of dress, had a scroll out. Behind her, Brendan Lynch, to Teddy's utter bemusement, was wearing a tie that matched her tam, and looking highly uncomfortable. "What?"

"Are they making special arrangements to protect you from Greyback in Hogsmeade?" She pointed to the front of the line, where Uncle Harry and Ron were among the half-dozen Aurors in town for the day.

"It looks like it," Teddy said.

Honoria looked between Teddy and Ruthless avidly, then ground her teeth, apparently remembering that she wasn't meant to be reporting gossip, at least until she was back on the newspaper staff. She scurried off toward the Aurors, and a moment later, she was trying to get Uncle Harry to talk to her. Ron distracted her and steered her back into line. Brendan tagged along after her.

Teddy and Ruthless looked at each other, then moved moderately closer to each other than they were to other people, and started to walk along slowly. Ron stopped them at the school gate and tapped them with his wand several times. "It's a security spell," he said. "In case you need us quickly. All you need to do is raise your wand and call for help. The spell will do the rest. It's just until you've all learned to do Patronuses."

"That's new."

"Harry's had George working on it. He made one for children too small for wands as well. Rosie says it itches." Ron looked at Ruthless and grinned. "Well, Teddy, good luck."

They passed the gate, and went on into the village. The streets were crowded, and they had to shout to hear each other, which was actually helpful, as it seemed more like a normal day with Ruthless than like a date, though they couldn't decide what they wanted to do. The Hogsmeade branch of Weasleys, which nearly everyone still called Zonko's (George had given up and just called it "Weasleys' Zonks") was a zoo, as the owner, Verity Jordan, had got her husband Lee to broadcast his Wizarding Wireless show from the front porch. Ruthless, who had a Lee Jordan t-shirt and quoted him every time he lit into the Wizengamot, wanted to get his autograph, but abruptly changed her mind when she saw how long the line was.

"It's all right," Teddy assured her. "We can do that if it's what you want to do."

"It sort of isn't." She gave him an odd look, then said, "What do you want to do?"

They fought through Honeyduke's, coming out with rather large bags of sweets, and tried for lunch at the Hog's Head, but it was nearly as crowded as the Three Broomsticks, which they both thought was too much to bother with. Teddy wasn't entirely sure when he'd picked up on it, but he was fairly sure that she wanted to kiss again, and that meant finding somewhere that no one would see it, which wasn't particularly easy, given that most of the school was there, and Aurors were tracking anyone who broke away from the group to go toward the hills, or visit the road by the Shrieking Shack, which had apparently become popular again as people believed the haunting had recommenced. Teddy didn't want to show it to Ruthless. Talking about his house might be a little much.

They'd circled the village three times by noon, and were no longer pretending to look for a store or pub to go into. Ruthless poked her nose into an alley and turned back, her nose wrinkled. "Corky and Laura are back there."

"Oh."

"I think we should go back to school," Ruthless said. "Just have a nice walk."

Teddy nodded. The crowds thinned, and the Aurors would probably let them go back to the protection of Hogwarts easily enough. They started down High Street, slipping between their classmates, going past the seamstress shop that was the last business before the school road began. Several students were gathered, looking surly at having to waste their Hogsmeade day being measured for new clothes.

After the seamstress's, the crowd disappeared entirely. Anthony Goldstein kept the far edge of the Aurors' watch, and stopped them on the way. "Are you already leaving?"

"It's quite crowded," Teddy said. "We're just going back to school."

"Lots of homework," Ruthless added for good measure.

"Mm-hmm. I'll walk you to the gate."

There was no avoiding it. He called for another Auror to take his place at the edge of town, and then accompanied Teddy and Ruthless all the way to the great, hulking gate. He sent a Patronus in, but before anything happened, another one fell out of the sky, and formed itself into a stag. "Aurors to the village, missing students." Uncle Harry didn't sound particularly worried - it was most likely just a few who'd wandered off - but Goldstein frowned. "All right," he said. "Someone should be here in only a minute. Do not leave the shadow of the gate." He did something with his wand, and Teddy guessed that the mention of the shadow wasn't just an admonition to stay close.

He passed the school's Apparition border and was gone, and then Ruthless grabbed the front of Teddy's sweater, and this time she left her lips on his long enough for him to move his around, though he had to take a guess as to which way to move them, and it hurt a bit when the cut on his lip from last night's kiss raked across his front teeth. He put his hands in her hair, and it was very warm and a lot softer than it looked. Her lips weren't dry today, but he was very aware that his were.

"Ow! My hair!"

Teddy let go. His finger had got tangled in her curls, and was tugging it tight against one of the clips near her ponytail. He extracted it as gently as he could. "Sorry!"

"It's all right. I should have left it loose." She pulled the band out of her hair and started picking at the clips, cursing it as colorfully as ever, and, although Teddy very much wanted to try kissing her again, to see if they could manage it without actually injuring each other, for a moment, it was just like Trollsbane Tarn again.

He smiled. "You cut my lip last night, you know." He turned up his upper lip to show her.

"Oh, charming." She laughed. "I think maybe we need to practice this."

"I think we should practice a lot."

She came at him again, and he braced himself for whatever novel way they'd manage to hurt each other this time, but something suddenly erupted from the tall grass just beyond the shadow of the gate. A ragged-looking woman emerged, and smiled at them around her sharpened teeth.