House: Ravenclaw
Class: Charms
Category: Standard
Word Count: 1831
Prompts: Title: The Clock of Shadows
[Word] Peculiar
Major Warnings: Mentions Character Deaths and Deals with Grief
The Clock of Shadows
Teddy Lupin's concentrating brown eyes stared intently at a large, stone corridor wall inside Hogwarts.
"I know you exist, why aren't you showing yourself?" The sixteen-year-old wizard grumbled at the wall.
A pair of teenage girls, one a Gryffindor and another a Slytherin, giggled at Teddy's bizarre conversation with the wall as they strode by. The Hufflepuff boy ignored them as he moved closer to the wall. He placed both hands on the great stone wall and pushed against it. To no one's surprise, except Teddy's, the wall had not budged a single inch.
"Come on!" He grunted as he tried to force the wall, or something in the wall, to move.
Another teen Hogwarts student walked through the corridor but, unlike the other girls, she stopped to look at the turquoise-haired boy. The beautiful young woman's blue eyes transfixed on the amusingly curious scene in front of her. "What on Earth are you doing, Teddy Lupin?" She asked as she shifted part of her long blonde hair to sit behind her right ear.
Teddy jumped at the sound of the girl's voice. He stopped pressing on the wall and spun around to face her.
"Oh, wotcher, Vic! I didn't see you." He mumbled sheepishly, his fair skin flushed into a deep pink.
Victoire Weasley waited patiently for an answer to her question as Teddy gathered his thoughts.
"I was-um…trying to open something." He attempted to explain in a flustered babble.
"The wall?" Victoire tried to clarify, raising a dubious eyebrow.
"What?" He shook his head rapidly, his face turning a darker shade of pink. "No, no of course not! I was looking for the uh…the um…blimey, what's it called?" He thought out loud as his memory failed him.
Why couldn't he remember the name of the room he was looking for? He huffed as he cursed his own head for making him look like such a fool in front of his girlfriend. "The secret room" was all he could manage.
Victoire knew what he was talking about, she remembered how Aunt Hermione mentioned the room over the Christmas holiday. She knew Teddy would be even more embarrassed if she gave him the answer, so instead she tried to help refresh his memory. "This secret room," she began, "is it something that you find if you require something?" She emphasized the hinted word.
The young Metamorphmagus snapped his fingers and his eyes seemed to sparkle. "That's it! The Room of Requirement! I'm looking for the Room of Requirement." He spoke more clearly, and his skin began to return to its normal shade.
Victoire's thin lips curled into a small smile. "You do know you can't physically force it out of the wall, right?"
Teddy rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, yeah I know that. I just thought it was being difficult." He answered. "It's supposed to show itself if you know it exists."
"It's not just that. You have to have a real need for it." Victoire explained. "What do you need from the Room of Requirement?"
"I need for it to open." Teddy responded playfully.
The blonde girl rolled her eyes. "Now I see why you were pushing on the wall." She reached out and grabbed the teen's hand. She leaned in closer and whispered in Teddy's ear. "Close your eyes and think about what you need."
Teddy nodded and turned to face the wall. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, not letting go of Vic's hand. He thought about what he would need from The Room of Requirement. What the young man thought he needed was a place to explore. He craved an adventure, just like so many others in his life had. He didn't want danger, but something cool to find. He wondered what magical artifacts were held within the enchanted room, there wouldn't be anything too dangerous at the school, right? He opened his eyes, but the wall still remained as it was, large, stony, and without a door.
"Something you need, Teddy." Victoire stated as if she could read his mind.
"Right." Teddy agreed. He closed his eyes and tried again. He thought about his family. He grew up without his parents, but he never felt like he didn't have a family. He had his grandmother, Harry, and Harry's family, but a part of him still missed his parents. He would've wanted nothing more than a few moments with his mom and dad, but The Room of Requirement couldn't give him that. What he needed was a way to feel closer to his parents, and by seeking adventure like he thought his parents did, he could feel like he was walking in their same footsteps. He sighed in defeat as he opened his eyes again. Suddenly, to Teddy's surprise, a door had appeared.
"What?" Teddy gasped, his jaw nearly reaching the floor.
While Teddy stared dumbfounded at the door, Victoire tugged impatiently at his arm. "Come on, Teddy! Let's go!" She exclaimed.
Teddy quickly closed his mouth and let his girlfriend take the lead as she continued pulling him to and through the Room of Requirement door. On the other side, they found that the room appeared to be a massive storage room. Chairs were stacked ten feet high, tables placed haphazardly on top of each other, and all sorts of magical artifacts cluttered the space.
"Well, this is not what I was expecting." Victoire admitted quietly as they walked the narrow pathways around the room's contents. "What did you say you needed?"
"It's complicated, Vic." Teddy admitted. "I guess I needed an adventure. Sort of…like how my parents went on adventures."
"There's not much to explore here. This all looks like junk." Victoire shrugged. However, when she saw a blue dress draped over a dress form, she gasped in delight. "I take it back. This looks stunning!" She let go of Teddy's arm and ran her fingers up and down the silk dress robes.
Teddy rolled his eyes, uninterested in women's fashion. He decided to wander a little further into the winding storage room. To the side, he noticed a peculiar object. It looked like a dark oak grandfather clock decorated with silver. Unlike the clock from the Weasley's house, this clock appeared to be an ordinary Muggle clock. The only odd thing about it was that both hands were frozen on the twelve. Why is this here? Teddy wondered as he took a few steps closer to it.
Suddenly, he heard whispers. The faint voices sounded oddly familiar, but Teddy struggled to place them. He turned around to see his girlfriend remained entranced by the dress robes. "Vic, do you hear that?" He hollered over to her.
"Hear what?" She asked as she looked around, expecting to hear a specific sound.
The whispering voices seemed to increase their volume. Teddy could detect two voices. "The voices?" The young man clarified.
Victoire gave her boyfriend a concerned look. "No, I don't hear any voices except ours. Teddy, are you all right?"
Teddy returned his gaze to the Muggle looking clock. The voices seemed to be coming from it. Teddy took a few steps closer to the grand clock. The two voices belonged to a man and a woman.
Don't call me Nymphadora, Remus.
"Mum?" Teddy muttered, bewildered by the voice he was hearing.
"Teddy?" Victoire stepped away from the dress and began to walk cautiously over to the clock.
It is the quality of one's convictions that determines success, not the number of followers.
"Dad?" Teddy's vision began to blur, and he felt like he had a lump in his throat.
"Teddy?" Victoire attempted to get Teddy's attention again as she approached him from behind.
I was trying to make a world in which he could live a happier life.
"I know." Teddy said as a single tear rolled down his cheek. "I understand. I just wish things could have been different." The voices grew even louder, almost as if they were beckoning him.
"Who are you talking to?" Vic asked as Teddy reached his hand out and placed it softly on the clock. As soon as he touched it the clock chimed, and a faint dark smoke poured out of it. Suddenly, the boy's hair turned from its usual turquoise to bright white and he collapsed onto the Room of Requirement's floor. "Teddy!"
Teddy sprung up from his Hospital Wing bed gasping and coughing. He felt a firm hand on his shoulder encourage him to lie back down. "Easy, Teddy. Take it easy."
The young Hufflepuff recognized the voice instantly. "Harry?" He mumbled as his eyes adjusted to the brightly-lit room. He turned to see his godfather standing next to his bed. Harry was smiling, but his green eyes were still filled with worry. "I'm sorry." Teddy blurted without thinking.
"Sorry? For what?" Harry asked.
"For making you worry." The teen responded plainly.
"You don't have to apologize. We're family after all."
"Is Vic all right? Did she tell you what happened?" Teddy asked, rubbing the back of his neck.
Harry nodded slowly. "She's all right. She told me you two went exploring." Harry handed Teddy a cup of water that was on the side table next to his bed. Teddy drank from it as Harry continued. "I was curious about something. What did you want from the Room of Requirement?"
Teddy finished the contents in the cup and placed it back on the table. "I wanted a place to explore. That was all." The young man answered.
"Was that all? A desire to explore wouldn't have summoned that magical artifact."
Teddy tilted his head. Did Harry know more about the clock? "Why? What was that clock?"
Harry took a deep breath and adjusted his glasses. "It's a cursed object called The Clock of Shadows. It lures people to it by echoing the voices of loved ones who have gone. If you touch it, it feeds off your emotions like a Dementor. The object was too dangerous to store anywhere else except Hogwarts. I never thought it was possible for someone to summon it."
Teddy felt if he could trust anyone with what he experienced, it would be Harry. "I heard my dad. I heard mum too."
"Teddy-"
"I still miss them a lot. I don't think I'll ever stop missing them. Maybe that's why the Clock of Shadows appeared for me."
Harry stared at the boy sympathetically. "Teddy, if anyone understands how you feel about your parents, it's me. I can't lie to you, I still miss my parents too. I also know I can never replace yours."
Teddy smiled. "I never saw you as a replacement, Harry. I always saw you as my family, and I couldn't ask for a better family to have."
That night, before Harry left Hogwarts, he spoke with Headmistress McGonagall about The Clock of Shadows. They agreed to enchant the Room of Requirement to never reveal the clock again.