Harry Potter Fic: A Small Spark Neglected, 1/3 (Teddy/James; PG-13/R)
Remember how I blabbered on forever about the long, long fic I was writing?
Welllll....reveals are up. I CAN FINALLY SHOW YOU GUYS.
Title: A Small Spark Neglected
Pairing: Teddy Lupin/James Sirius Potter
Rating: PG-13 to R
Word Count: 23,710
Disclaimer: I don’t own these characters; they belong to Jo Rowling, et al. Additionally, the title of this quote is taken from a Quintus Curtius quotation, the full text of which reads: “A small spark neglected has often kindled a mighty conflagration.”
Author's Notes: First and foremost: THANK YOU to secretsolitaire for the fabulous beta job; you are awesome beyond words. Secondly, a heartfelt thank you to snegurochka_lee; had I not read her decidedly brilliant A Life So Very Much Less Than Ordinary, I would never have been able to figure out how to play with large family casts. I still don't manage it nearly so deftly as she does. And finally, this was written for tnl_first_time, a brilliant little fest that I had a blast with. The original post of this story, with prompt, etc. included, can be found there.
Summary: Someone’s setting fires in Wizarding London, and Teddy Lupin’s going to have to marry a Potter.
Love is friendship set on fire.
-Jeremy Taylor
Teddy Lupin had read all the journals. He’d seen all the photographs. He’d heard all the lurid stories-or at least, the lurid stories that had survived. He knew better than anyone: waking up on a Monday morning with a vicious hangover was a time-honored Lupin tradition.
The knowledge wasn’t really much of a comfort.
“Fuck,” Teddy groaned, rolling over and swatting at his alarm. It blared on undeterred. He wondered if this was a punishment for throwing it into the wall last week, or if he was merely being paranoid. The paranoia was, of course, a possibility-then again, it was also entirely possible that the sunlight streaming through his window really was mounting an attack against him. He wouldn’t have been surprised.
“Wake the fuck up!” his alarm clock screamed. Teddy glared barefully at it.
“Charming,” he growled, sitting up against the protest of all his muscles. “Remind me to thank Albus for such a lovely gift.”
The alarm clock rang once more, managing to be haughty about it. “I’ll set an alarm for you,” it said, snidely, and fell silent. Teddy shot it one last nasty look and stood, scrubbing a hand through his hair.
“Even my alarm clock hates me,” he muttered. He stretched, and regretted it instantly. “How bloody depressing is that?”
“Very,” said an amused voice. Teddy froze for half a second, allowing what he remembered of the previous evening to wash over him.
“Bugger,” he said, with feeling, and turned.
“Not exactly,” James replied. He was leaning, tousled and grinning, in Teddy’s bedroom doorway, wearing a pair of flannel pajama bottoms and a white t-shirt. “Though you are looking lovely this morning, Auror Lupin, that vomit on your shirtsleeve is especially fetching.”
Teddy blanched, glanced down, and discovered that there was, in fact, something that looked remarkably like vomit on the edge of his sleeve. Most people he knew would reply to this discovery with embarrassment. Teddy, the exception that proved every rule, stepped into the sunlight and turned his hair a bright metallic silver, just to screw with James.
“Oh, fuck you,” James snapped, shielding his eyes. “The thanks you get for doing a bloke a favor, I ask you.” Teddy tried to grin, realized that even his teeth hurt, and sank pathetically back onto his bed.
“State your business,” he said, wearily. “That’s all the contrition I had in me, I swear.”
James sniffed once in feigned annoyance, and then let it go and sat on the bed beside him. “Made me promise I’d swing by, didn’t you? Bring you a hangover potion?”
Teddy felt hope swell in the pit of his stomach. “You’ve brought hangover potion?”
James at least had the good sense to appear ashamed of himself. “Uh, no,” he said, looking shifty all of a sudden, “fresh out. Sorry.”
“You got my hopes up,” Teddy moaned, and dropped his head into his hands. “God, I’m too old to go out drinking with you anymore.” James clapped him on the back in what Teddy could only assume was a gesture of support-it hurt like a bitch, and he made a noise to express that.
“Proof positive that you’re a pussy,” James told him, and Teddy lifted his head just enough to shoot him a dirty look.
“You’re awfully chipper, Potter,” he growled, suspicious. “Would you say you ran out of potion before or after you dosed yourself?”
“Hmmm…couldn’t say,” James replied, musingly. “Hard to remember these things. Alcohol does that to the brain, you know. Makes you forget.”
“Well, remind me to kill you when I can move again, then.”
James laughed and stood to crack his back. The sound was bright and clear and too loud for Teddy’s momentarily oversensitive ears. “I’ll get right on that.”
Teddy flopped backwards across his mattress. “Anything else, you wanker?”
“Yeah.” James reached out a finger, as though to poke Teddy in the stomach, and then clearly thought better of it. “Spoke to Dad this morning, he says he still expects you ‘round for dinner on Wednesday, and bring a dessert, because Lily’s volunteered to make tripe.” They both pulled a face. “And, damn, something else-oh, yeah. You said at the pub to remind you about breakfast?”
“What break-oh, bleeding hell, Gram,” Teddy breathed, throwing himself out of bed. “She’ll kill me if I’m late-can you pop down to my office when you go into work, tell Malfoy I’m running behind?’
James made a truly horrified face, but nodded. “Is that all, milord,” he asked, sarcasm dripping heavy and amused in his tone, “or shall I have a tray brought? You know how I love to please.” Teddy turned to find James leering at him and rolled his eyes, wondering vaguely what cosmic power had decided the hangover wasn’t punishment enough for his sins. “Isn’t there anything else I can do? Anything at all?”
“You can get the bloody fuck out of my apartment,” Teddy said, but he was grinning.
“Wish, command,” James replied cheerfully, and he threw himself into the Floo.
--
Breakfast with Andromeda was a painful affair.
“I just think,” she said for the thousandth time, pouring Teddy yet another cup of tea, “that a man your age should be thinking about settling down.”
“I’m twenty eight!” he protested. Then he pulled out his wand to conjure a cup of coffee, and she swatted at it.
To repeat: she swatted. At his wand. Teddy Lupin, trained Auror, Unspeakable of the highest order, no match for the swatting prowess of his 73 year old grandmother.
And she wouldn’t give him any hangover potion. Life was so unfair.
“Twenty eight is well past the appropriate age for marriage!” Andromeda insisted blithely, pouring cream and sugar into his tea and firmly ignoring his muttered protests. “I’m not old-fashioned about much, Ted, you know that, but I was married when I was twenty. So was Harry, so was-”
Teddy put his head down on the table and groaned his frustration. “Look, Gram, I know I came out to you, I remember it happening. Eighteen years old, burst into tears like an absolute prat, got snot on your favorite sweater? I’m sure you recall-”
“Well, of course I remember,” Andromeda snapped. Teddy was surprised to see she actually looked a little put out. “I can’t see how that makes any difference; both of Harry’s boys are, after all. And then there was my cousin Sirius and-”
Teddy lifted his head to give her a baleful look. “Don’t start about Dad,” he warned, and she, as was customary, ignored him.
“Now Ted, I know you don’t like to talk about your father and-that, but if things had been different, well, he and Sirius were practically married even before they were twenty! Not that he didn’t love your mother very much, of course. It’s just something to think about, dear, that’s all I’m saying.”
“Please, Gram. Please. Can we not discuss my father’s-urgh-bisexuality? Preferably ever again, but at least not before 9 A.M. I’m-I’ve gotten used to it and everything, but it’s weird, ok?”
Andromeda sniffed disdainfully. “It’s 9:15.”
“Oh, well, that’s all right, then.” Teddy rolled his eyes and stood, nicking a bun. “I’ve got to get to work, but I’ll owl you later, alright?”
“Fine.” Her expression softened after a moment, and she patted his hand. “I just want to see you happy,” she said, misting up a little. “I don’t really need you to get married-lot of fuss, this gay marriage business-but I would like to see you with someone stable, dear. Someone I could meet. To keep an eye on you.”
Teddy was touched, despite himself. He grinned at her, even as his hair flushed red with embarrassment. “You might give me that hangover potion if you want to see me really happy,” he quipped, covering the quiver in his voice, and her eyes were clear at once.
“No, you’ll learn from your mistakes. That’s what you get, running about with James Potter-now, he’s a rather fit bloke-”
Teddy groaned, long and low, and reached for her Floo powder. “Insanity isn’t a good look for you,” he told her, stepping forward. “Just so you know.”
He heard her laughter echoing after him as he was pulled into the flames.
--
Work was no better. He got exactly two minutes of quiet before James traipsed in without bothering to knock.
“How’d breakfast go?” he asked, picking up Teddy’s favorite paperweight and tossing it up into the air. It thwacked loudly in his hand as he caught it, and Teddy winced at the sound.
“Fine,” he said, “don’t you have work to be doing?”
“Not so’s you’d notice.” When Teddy glared James rolled his eyes. “Oh, fine. Internal Review is up there, some kind of safety meeting. I needed a place to hide.”
“Someday they’re going to fire you for being such a lazy shit,” Teddy said, pulling a file out of a drawer.
“Someday they’re going to fire you for being so obnoxious,” James shot back in good cheer. He tossed himself into one of the chairs in front of Teddy’s desk and leaned across it in interest. “Working on anything good?”
“You know,” Teddy murmured, “some days I think you’re after Unspeakable secrets, and some days I’m sure you’re just trying to torture me.”
“Awww,” James said, “can’t I do both?”
Teddy was just formulating an answer when Harry burst through the door, looking hunted.
“Oh my god,” Teddy said, “what do they do to you lot in those safety meetings?”
Harry blinked. “What safety meetings?” Then he saw James and sighed. “Oh, those. Jamie, for the love of Merlin, they’re mandatory for junior staff.”
James rolled his eyes. “Do they have any value?”
“No, not really-”
“Are you planning on firing me today?”
“Of course not-”
“Then I can’t see what it matters,” James shrugged. “I’ll clear out if you need to talk to Teddy, though.”
“How sporting of you,” Teddy muttered. “It’s almost like it’s my office.”
“Almost,” James agreed, winking. “Dad, you want me to go?”
“No,” Harry said, “I’m actually glad you’re both here. I, ah.”
He paused, and his face creased with a dark expression. Teddy exchanged a worried glance with James.
“Are you okay?” James said. “I’m sorry I skipped the meeting, I honestly didn’t think-”
“No, it’s not that.”
“Then what is it?” Teddy asked. “Because I’m always happy to see you, Harry, but if you need to yell at James I’d just as soon-”
“Do you think I made you gay?” Harry demanded, flustered. Teddy’s mouth dropped open.
“What are you on about?”
“I said,” Harry said, enunciating more clearly, as though that was the problem, “do you think I made you gay?”
“What the fucking-” James started, but Teddy waved a hand at him, and he quieted sullenly. He stood and shut the door; Harry was pacing like a caged animal, and James was bristling in his chair already, and Teddy really didn’t fancy the idea of his boss walking in on a full scale Potter brawl.
“No,” he replied, hesitantly, “I don’t think that’s how it works. Honestly-even if it did, you don’t-you’re not, uh. Particularly gay-making?”
James snorted. “I don’t know,” he drawled, “all the Quidditch and beer and fart jokes with Uncle Ron; that’s totally what turned me on to blokes. Dad. Come on.”
Harry looked only marginally relieved. “What about Albus?” he asked, desperately. “Was I at work too much? Was I a-uh, how did she-an ‘unavailable male influence?’ Did I do this to you kids?”
“Oh,” said Teddy, understanding creeping over him at last. James made a tiny sputtering noise in the corner, but Teddy felt justified in ignoring him. “Albus came out to Gin, then?”
Harry nodded, misery buried in every crevice of his face. Teddy sighed and gestured for him to sit. “Christ, Harry,” he muttered.
“I just-I’m fine with it, you know that, and so is she, she always has been, I think it’s just-three, you know? All three of you.”
But I’m not your son, Teddy opened his mouth to say, and thought better of it.
“Mom really said that?” James asked, sounding furious. Harry made a harsh noise in the back of his throat.
“She didn’t mean it the way it sounded,” he sighed, and scrubbed his face with the heel of his hand. “I know she didn’t. She just doesn’t always-fuck. I’ve said some pretty awful shit to her over the years, so I’m sure we’re about even.” He sighed again, and eyed the desk speculatively, as though he was considering beating his head against it. Teddy could certainly sympathize. “Maybe she’s right. Maybe you three want men because I wasn’t around enough.”
“All right,” Teddy said, trying to keep his voice in check, “you’re upset and you’re ancient so I’m not going to thump you for that, but let’s try to be a little less ridiculous, okay?”
“I think ridiculous is understating it a bit,” James snapped. “What the fuck, Dad? Do you think Lily would be out munching rugs if Mum’d played a few more rounds of Quidditch?”
“Well, no, of course-”
“What about George and Lee? You think their son is going to turn out gay just because his parents are? You honestly think this is about what kind of example people set?”
“No! I’m not some kind of-”
“Bigot?” James finished, glaring. “Homophobe? Arse?”
“All right, James, I don’t care how bloody upset you are, I am your father and you can’t talk to me like-”
“Yes I fucking can! I’m not five anymore and if you’ll let Mum fill your brain with completely unfounded drivel-“
“Don’t talk about your mother like that!”
“Don’t tell me what to do!”
“Shut UP,” Teddy yelled, effectively silencing them both. James shot him a dirty look; there was a vein pulsing in his neck and his eyes were flashing.
“What,” he snapped, “you agree with him?”
“Of course I don’t,” Teddy returned, “he’s being a tosser, but I don’t think he can help it.”
Harry squawked, but Teddy didn’t turn around; he put a hand on James’ shoulder instead. It moved under his palm as James took a deep breath, and then another. “Calm the fuck down,” Teddy hissed. “This is your father. Does he ever mean to be this much of a shit?”
James maintained his glare for a minute; then he dropped his eyes and sighed. “Probably not,” he admitted. “But, Teddy-”
“I know,” Teddy said, “even when he’s not trying he does a damn good job.”
James bit back a laugh as his father scowled. “I am right here,” Harry said, glaring at both of them.
“Yeah,” Teddy said, “you are. But this is my office, so I get to make the rules. Come on, Harry. Do you really think for a second that your work schedule makes any difference in your kids’ sexual preferences?”
“Your kids’ inborn sexual preferences?” James added sharply.
Harry glanced between the two of them in surprise. Then he winced as his thought process caught up to him. “Fuck,” he said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”
“Make massive demeaning generalizations about sexuality?” James finished dryly.
“Yeah,” Harry said, “that. Er. Any chance you’d be willing to forgive an old man his failings?”
James looked at him for a long minute. Then he shrugged; Teddy felt his shoulder move under his hand again, and realized he’d never actually removed it. He felt himself flush as he pulled away.
“I guess I can let it go,” James said, shooting Teddy an odd look. “Given that you did, you know, raise me and stuff.”
“And clothe you,” Harry put in, smiling a little. “And put food on the table-”
James groaned as Teddy laughed. “Hey,” he said, “you got off easy. You’re lucky this is James-Al would have made you sign documents to get him out of those safety meetings for a month.”
“Fuck Al,” James cut in suddenly. “He couldn’t have warned you he was going to tell Mum?”
“Not really his style, warnings,” Teddy sighed. “It’s a shame, though. I thought you and Ginny were getting along.”
Harry threw his hands in the air. “We are! We were, at least, but there’s always something. Don’t ever get divorced.”
“Not likely, considering,” Teddy returned mildly. James snorted and butted his shoulder but said nothing, and Harry gave them both an odd, inquisitive little smile.
“She’ll come around,” he told them, as though trying to convince himself.
“She always does,” Teddy agreed. “Probably won’t take as long, this time.”
“Fuck, I hope not,” Harry groaned. A companionably silent moment passed, and then he stood and gave them a sheepish look. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to hijack your morning.”
James laughed. “I was way ahead of you on that.”
“Yeah,” Teddy muttered, “he started last night, actually. A menace to society, this one.”
Harry coughed hard, like there was something in his throat. “I’ll just be going then,” he said, and was gone before either of them could say anything further.
“Wow,” James muttered. “That’s not how I was expecting to start the day.”
“At least you have hangover potion in your system,” Teddy returned. “You do know how loud you were yelling, right?”
“Am I supposed to apologize to you now?” James grinned cheekily at him, a glint in his eye. “Oh, Teddy, I’m so sorry I took you out and forced you to have fun, I am a terrible person for saving you from your stodgy, boring existence-”
“I am not stodgy-”
“You would have spent last night with a stack of file and maybe a lager,” James laughed. “Do you deny it?”
Teddy flipped him two fingers. “Piss off,” he said, “some of us have work to do here.”
James rolled his eyes but slipped out the door. Teddy glared after him.
“Stodgy,” he muttered, shaking his head as he spelled an avalanche of files onto his desk and flipping into the first one with relish. “How ridiculous.”
--
He made it fifteen minutes without another interruption. They were a glorious fifteen minutes. Despite the hangover, the pressure behind his eyes, and the unshakable voice of his grandmother whispering “the right age for marriage” in his ear, Teddy loved his job.
He’d started as an Auror, of course. It was what was expected of him, his skills in defense being what they were, his godfather being who he was. And it had been his dream, as a kid, to follow in his mother’s footsteps-Gram had always spoken so highly of her, with such sadness in her voice. Teddy had expected to take to it like a fish to water, and had been dismayed and a little hurt to discover he loathed it.
It was just-brute force, all the time, and running into things without thinking, and asking questions later. There was a time and place for all that, Teddy was sure, and he didn’t object to it occasionally as a strategy, but it was no way to run a department. He’d been a Ravenclaw, after all, and Ravenclaws, if nothing else, knew when to do their bloody research.
He’d thought, though, that it might get better. It wasn’t like there was much to be done about it in any case-he couldn’t quit, because Harry would take it personally, and he couldn’t transfer to desk work, because he’d kill himself with the boredom. So he’d slogged along, miserable and silent, until Draco took him out for a drink a few days after his twenty-second birthday.
“Still enjoying defending the wizarding world?” Draco had asked snidely, and Teddy had stared at him in shock. No one had ever actually asked him if he liked his job before; they’d all assumed, and he’d never corrected them. Confronted with the direct question, Teddy found himself telling Draco everything, spilling it all forth.
It had taken him about half an hour. When he’d finished, he’d drawn a long pull from his beer and Draco had looked at him contemplatively for a moment. “Well,” he’d said finally, “I actually have a position I think you’d be rather perfect for.”
Teddy had flushed. “I told you,” he’d replied miserably, “I can’t quit, it’ll kill Harry.”
Draco had just arched an eyebrow. “I am decidedly unconcerned,” he’d drawled, unimpressed, “with what might upset Potter. That said, you wouldn’t actually have to quit, which you’d know if you’d bothered to listen when I tried to explain, instead of prattling on about your insufferable godfather.”
Teddy had stared. Draco had…explained, and a small, fluttering core of hope had started to swell wildly in Teddy’s chest.
That was six years ago. Teddy had gone to Harry with a proposal, trained with Draco for a year and half, and come out of it the first official liaison between the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the Department of Mysteries. He still drew his salary from the Aurors, but his office was down several floors from their headquarters, and he was, for all intents and purposes, an Unspeakable.
Teddy had never dreamed he could love a job so much. It was the excitement he’d liked about working as an Auror and the research he’d loved while being a Ravenclaw, combined with the delicate dance of political relationships and the rich, heady flavor of secrets. He still went out on cases, but only those that he handpicked, and he held ultimate power over every Auror but Harry. He made recommendations to the Minister himself-and of course, he got to work under Draco, who, while often less than pleasant, was a better boss to him than Harry had ever been. Unafraid to hurt Teddy’s feelings when he fucked up, totally unbothered if people thought he was showing favoritism-that was Draco. It was great.
They were working on a fascinating case now. There had been a rash of arsons in the last month and a half, but the Aurors had only recently thought to connect them. Teddy, of course, had noticed the massive spike in fires first, and had been working on the case for three weeks.
That was one of the other benefits of being an Unspeakable first and an Auror second-he didn’t have to tell the whole goddamn world about his hunches.
Still, there’d been four counts of arson in the previous week alone, and the case had exploded into a media frenzy. The Aurors, of course, were concerned with the criminal aspects of the case, the risk to life and limb of the Wizarding citizenry, and it wasn’t that the Unspeakables didn’t find that important. It was just-the magic involved was disquieting at best and horrifying at worst, and, unfortunately for the victims of the fires, it was brilliant.
Whoever was doing it, they had clearly developed a new, more intense variant on Fiendfyre. The blazes destroyed everything they touched nearly instantaneously. Remains of a few bodies demonstrated that it burned perhaps slightly slower on human flesh, but at best guess, someone trapped within the vicinity of the fire had about fifteen seconds to escape. More unsettling still was the fact that this fire seemed to be controlled, torching only the dwelling of the intended victim and then immediately dying out. In one case, the victim had lived in an apartment. Everything within the space had been destroyed-every lick of furniture, every scrap of paper, even the paintings hanging on the walls-but the walls themselves weren’t even charred.
Teddy had visited that crime scene. It was, somehow, worse than the houses that burned all the way to the ground.
And then there was the worst thing about the fires, worse than the speed at which they were executed and the Dark magic clearly afoot and the wily grace of their perpetrator: there had been fifteen cases of arson since the beginning of the month, and twelve of them had taken the lives of Ministry employees. Four of those employees had been incredibly high-ranking. Another two had been direct underlings of the incredibly high-ranking. Another three had been Auror trainees.
Needless to say, the Wizarding world was enthralled and furious. There were calls for the Ministry to be shut down until the perpetrator was caught, despite the numerous times Minister Shacklebolt had explained that the perpetrator could not be caught without the Ministry. The Prophet was rabid over the whole thing-Teddy privately rather thought that they might start setting fires themselves if another didn’t show up soon-and the Ministry itself was in an uproar. People were terrified for their lives, and it showed.
Teddy, for his part, found the whole thing as wildly interesting as he did worrisome. Of course he wasn’t in support of loss of life and risk to safety, but the possibilities of a controlled Fiendfyre were endless, and he was also fairly sure whoever was behind this was using some kind of remote trigger to enact the spell. He was just delving further into that possibility, flipping through the aggravatingly sparse case files, when a note appeared on his desk.
My office, it said, now. Draco.
“Bugger it all,” Teddy spat, and went.
--
Draco’s assistant, Pomarina Derrick, had been a few years above Teddy in school. She’d been in Slytherin, but her closest friends had always been in Teddy’s house, and he’d known her, if only nominally. Still, it was always nice to see a familiar face, and she ran Draco’s office with terrifying competency.
She raised an eyebrow at him when he approached. “Someone had a hard night.”
Teddy winced. “Fuck, is it that obvious?”
She laughed. “It’s usually a safe bet with you, on Monday mornings. But yes. You might have brushed your hair, at least.”
Teddy knew there was something he’d forgotten when he left the house. He wanted to beat his head against the wall, but resisted the impulse. “Awesome. He sent me a note-”
“I sent you a note,” she corrected, absently, flicking her wand and sending a massive stack of files toward the cabinet. “As per his specifications, of course.”
Teddy winced some more. “So he meant it to be that short? Bugger and fuck.”
She nodded grimly at him. “Didn’t even drink his coffee this morning. Just pounded on the walls for a few minutes and asked for you.”
Teddy groaned. “What did I do?”
“If you don’t know,” she said, primly, “I certainly won’t be the one to tell you. Wand, please?”
The handing over of one’s wand before entering Draco’s office had been common practice since a former Death Eater in the rictus of dementia had tried to murder him in there three years ago. Despite this, Teddy hung to his a little tighter this morning.
“Pom,” he said, “you remember that time he put Jelly-Legs on me, don’t you? I have a lot to do today and I really don’t have time to be tied up because I can’t cast a counter-curse, and you know the crazy bastard would do it-”
“Slandering me,” came a low, irritated drawl, “is not going to endear me to your cause, Mr. Lupin.” Draco emerged from his office, looking ready to throw a right strop. Teddy cursed under his breath.
“Your language isn’t appreciated either,” Pomarina told him sternly, and snatched his wand. “I’m sure he won’t hex you, Teddy. You’re in for a maiming at most.” Both men glared at her, and she smiled the cheerful smile of those too competent to worry about being fired. “Off you go!”
Teddy groaned again and walked into the office. Draco followed him. They dropped into chairs-Draco into the formidable black one behind the desk and Teddy in the designed-for-discomfort beige one in front of it. Draco cleared his throat.
“Look,” Teddy began, “I don’t know what this is about, but if you’ll just tell me I’ll go about fixing it and-”
Draco reached into a drawer, slammed it shut, and threw a copy of that morning’s Prophet down on the desk in front of him. Emblazoned in large, undeniable black and white on the front page was a picture of Teddy, sucking on the neck of a very fit bloke in a leather cat suit. Teddy himself was wearing nothing but a tiny black thong. To his horror, it appeared to be sparkling.
So that’s what he’d done last night. Fuck. He made a strangled noise and dropped his head into his hands.
Draco, having apparently decided Teddy had seen enough, picked up the paper and began to read. “‘Gay Romp in West London-Ministry’s Best and Brightest Caught in Scandal,’” he started, managing to sound both piqued and very, very angry, “this does sound interesting, doesn’t it? Let’s see-ah, yes, here we are. ‘Caught in flagrante delicto at The Wizarding Staff, London’s premiere gay dance club, was none other than Auror and rumored Unspeakable Teddy Lupin. Auror Lupin was seen to follow the man pictured above, who has yet to be identified, into the restroom mere moments after this photo was taken. Also in attendance was Auror James Potter, son of famed Auror and war hero Harry Potter. Notoriously elusive to the press, Harry Potter was unable to be found for comment before press time today.’”
Draco threw the paper back down on the table and raised both eyebrows at Teddy. “It goes on,” he drawled, “as you might imagine. ‘In these trouble times, it’s hardly right,’ etcetera. ‘Not focused on their jobs,’ etcetera. ‘Embarrassment for the Ministry,’ etcetera. What is wrong with you?”
“Hey,” Teddy said, lifting his head, “I had no idea the press was there, I would never have-”
“You were too drunk to be paying attention,” Draco drawled back, his voice icy and furious. “We’re in the middle of a very high-profile case, as you may recall-supposing there had been a fire last night, and we’d activated your tracking spell?”
“I would have cast a Sobrietus!” Teddy cried. “Jesus, Draco, I’m sorry about the bad press but it’s not like I meant for-”
“‘Rumored. Unspeakable. Teddy. Lupin!’” Draco shouted.
Teddy flinched, the volume playing havoc with his hangover, and Draco glared at him unapologetically.
“Do you have any idea,” he hissed, leaning forward, “what I’ve done to protect that information? Keeping you on the Auror payroll, the secrecy spells-do you imagine this has been easy? Do you even begin to understand the risk you draw to your exposure when you behave like this?”
Teddy felt regret creep up through his veins. He opened his mouth to speak and Draco cut him off. “You will not be an effective agent,” he snapped, “if everyone knows what they are up against. That is the whole fucking point of this bloody charade!”
Teddy pushed a hard, anguished breath out of his nose. “Am I fired, then?” he asked. He kept his eyes firmly on the floor and wanted to be sick.
Draco gave him a withering look. “No,” he snapped, “you are not fired. In fact, this is not this morning’s Prophet.”
Teddy’s head shot up. “What? What? What the fuck do you mean it’s not-”
Draco waved a hand. “This would have been this morning’s Prophet,” he said, sternly, “if I didn’t have spies in their offices, up to and including my own son. I received the owl with this mock-up at 2 A.M and was able to convince Miss Cuffe to pull the story before they went to press. She is, thank all the gods, rather more reasonable than her late father.”
Teddy breathed a heavy sigh of relief, and Draco looked him up and down. “That does not,” he added, severely, “lessen the importance of this transgression. You have to understand that with each idiotic stunt you pull you jeopardize this entire department and your position in it. What is our motto, Teddy?”
“Mundus hic mutus est,” Teddy murmered.
Draco peered at him sternly. “And what does it mean?”
Teddy sighed, reminded forcibly of his training, when he’d been asked to do this at the start and end of every day. “The world is quiet here.”
Draco nodded. Then he matched Teddy’s sigh, and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Look,” he said, “aside from all of this, you are the best agent we have. Nothing against the rest of them, they’re all very good at what they do, but we’ve never had anyone quite like you. You’re better at this job than I could have dreamed.”
Teddy flushed at the unexpected compliment. “I-thank you,” he said, quietly.
Draco fixed him with a glare. “And,” he added, as thought it pained him to do so, “it goes without saying that you are more-or-less family, and I am, despite myself, fond of you.”
Teddy nodded, and swallowed. Draco never played the family card unless he was going to ask for something unpleasant. Sure enough:
“I think,” Draco said, “it is time you got married.”
Teddy was so shocked he actually stood to run without realizing it. “What?”
“Do sit down,” Draco snapped, “and don’t feign deafness, it makes you look like an imbecile.”
Teddy sat and stared. Draco merely raised an eyebrow at him. “Have you been plotting with my grandmother?” Teddy asked finally, his voice cracking. Draco lifted the other eyebrow.
“I do not plot with the elderly,” he replied, coolly. “Though your grandmother is a very intelligent woman, and I would encourage you to take any advice she had to offer.”
“Oh my god, you are plotting with her!” Teddy cried, and dropped his head into his hands for what felt like the hundredth time since waking. “I should never have gotten out of bed.”
“Don’t be so melodramatic.” Teddy thought this was rich, coming from Draco Malfoy, but didn’t comment. “I just think a marriage would settle you down, help you focus on your career.”
“Draco,” Teddy said, feeling as though the whole world had gone mad while he’d been drunk, “people don’t get married to focus on their careers.”
“Just because you’ve had to overcome your mixed-blood heritage doesn’t mean you can ignore reality,” Draco snapped. “Marriage is a business transaction.”
“You’re crazy,” Teddy told him. “Absolutely crazy. Marriage is about love. And, and sex. And babies!”
“No,” Draco said, “marriage is about money, and status, and, yes, alright, I’ll give you the point about the babies. ‘Heirs,’ really, but you can say ‘babies’ if you wish to be uncouth.”
Teddy fixed him with a glare. “What, so you’re not attracted to Astoria?”
Draco rolled his eyes. “Of course I am attracted to Astoria,” he shot back, “have you seen Astoria? There are wildebeests attracted to Astoria.” A strange, soft smile flitted across his face for a moment and then faded as fast as it had come. “I also happen to love her,” he added, “but that was merely a lucky bonus.”
Teddy cast his eyes around for something sharp. Sure, he’d left his wand outside with Pom, but there had to be something in here with which he could hastily welcome the sweet release of death. Finding nothing, he instead turned to Draco and said, “What, so you’re firing me unless I get married?”
“No,” Draco drawled, and scowled. “That is, I am told, illegal these days. I am, as your boss, merely strongly suggesting that you consider the idea.”
“You do know that I’m gay, right?”
“Even if I hadn’t, that article would have enlightened me.” Teddy winced. “It makes not a whit of difference. Just-find a family you want to be part of, preferably with some wealth, and insinuate yourself. Man or woman, there are procedures that will do either way. The goal here is a binding legal contract, nothing more.”
He must have read something in the look on Teddy’s face. “Yes,” he sighed, “you may even try for one of the Potters, if they’re who you want, though I deplore of your taste. Surely one of them piques your fancy?”
Teddy shook his head, making a face. “Well then,” Draco said, “work on that, or choose another family.” Teddy sighed and nodded, and stood to leave before Draco waved him back into his seat. “There was one other thing.”
Teddy’s jaw tightened, and he waited on tenterhooks to be told he needed to produce an heir by the end of the fiscal year. Draco, however, merely pulled a file out of his drawer and tossed it over to Teddy.
“Another fire,” he said. “Confirms the Fiendfyre theory beyond a shadow of a doubt; I went over and saw it myself this morning.” He shuddered briefly and then continued. “The Aurors should just be getting hold of it. Go supervise, will you? Don’t let them touch anything, the bumbling idiots.”
“Sure,” Teddy said, relieved to be dismissed. He was almost to the door when Draco cleared his throat, and Teddy turned, apprehensive.
“I am fond of you,” Draco said, flipping through a file and not looking up. “Do try not to do anything else this week that forces me to consider terminating your employment.”
Teddy half-smiled and shifted his hair to a deep, army green. “Yessir,” he answered, in his best American accident, offering a salute and standing at attention.
The expression on Draco’s face put every dirty look he himself had ever given to shame. Teddy laughed about it all the way to the Apparation bay.
---
The Aurors had beaten him to the scene. Teddy scanned the ruin of the house, taking stock. He only saw three of them: Harry, looking calmer than he had the last time Teddy’d seen him, Dean Thomas, disturbingly quiet and disarmingly competent, and Ron. Team leaders all, and well liked; the old guard. Teddy nodded his approval at Harry’s choice-a team like this, small but notorious, and all with stellar war records? It would do a lot to ease the concerns of the public if the press showed up. It said “This is not a big enough threat to bring out the whole force, but we do have our best and brightest on it.”
Still, despite himself, Teddy was a little disappointed. He’d rather hoped to get a chance to talk to-
“Oi,” James said, directly behind him, “is standing around in the shadows a necessary Unspeakable procedure or something?”
Teddy wheeled, feeling a strange tightness in his chest ease slightly. “If it was, I couldn’t tell you, now could I?”
“Mysterious wanker.”
“Bad influence.” Teddy said it lightly, but with just enough steel in his eyes that James swallowed and took a step back.
“Ah. So you’ve, uh, remembered what happened last night, I gather.”
“No,” Teddy said, grimacing. “I was shown what happened last night.”
James’ eyes widened as Teddy briefly rehashed his meeting with Draco, carefully leaving out the part about marriage. “Cor,” he breathed, when Teddy had finished, “I’m sorry, mate, I’d never have-”
“Oh, forget it,” Teddy said, easily enough. “Not fired yet! But let’s look around so I don’t get fired, yeah?”
James nodded, still looking a little guilty, and they drew their wands and moved into the ruins of the house. Teddy waved hello to Harry, Ron and Thomas, who nodded back at him. They were looking at what remained of the outer molding, and Teddy didn’t feel like telling them they were wasting their time. There hadn’t been anything in the molding of any of the houses, including the apartment in which said molding had remained intact.
“They’re barking up the wrong tree, aren’t they?” James whispered. Teddy grinned and nodded, not looking at him. James broke away to distract them. It was something they did, when they worked cases together-the Aurors, even old friends like Harry and Ron, didn’t particularly like taking orders from Teddy, and James was good at redirection.
Teddy watched James’s arse out of the corner of his eye as he walked away. There was something to what Draco had said-he had always longed to be a Potter, to be real family with the people who’d loved him best. And his grandmother had been right, James was quite fit, in his own way. He thought about it.
“What am I doing,” Teddy muttered, shaking his head. The man was his best friend, practically his brother. It didn’t bear considering.
He went back to examining the arson site. The rubble, like every case before it, reeked violently of something Teddy couldn’t identify; one of the Muggle-born Aurors had insisted it was petrol. But Teddy had done some research, and petrol was a dangerously unstable accelerant, which-how were they managing to control all these supposedly uncontrollable variables?
He sighed, pulled a sterile evidence bag out of his pocket, and scooped up a lump of ash from the most pungent part of the wreckage for further testing. Then he waved everyone out and cast Stasis wards on the whole place, which would allow them all to look, but nothing more.
Harry walked over a moment after he finished grounding the spells. “My men aren’t going to like that,” he said, mildly enough.
“Take it up with my boss,” Teddy shot back, a wry grin dancing over his face. He knew how much Harry hated having to talk to Draco. “My only instructions were not to let anyone touch anything.”
“That certainly sounds like him, the little bastard.” Harry was scowling, but even discounting that, he looked a tighter than usual around the eyes. Teddy recalled the morning’s argument and felt bad for giving him lip.
And then-well, Harry was fit enough, wasn’t he? Older, sure, and god, he’d be James’ stepfather, which would be horrifying, but they’d get past that eventually. Teddy had gone for older men before. He’d had a ridiculous crush on Draco as a teenager, hadn’t he? Not to mention that guy A.J., who’d been at least 40, and a few others that Teddy could recall.
There was, of course, the fact that Harry was straight. But then, Teddy mused, was he really? He and Ginny had gotten divorced after years of what looked like a picture-perfect marriage, and he hadn’t been seen dating anyone since. It had been two years! Maybe that was why they’d ended it-they’d both been ridiculously closed-mouth about the whole thing, the press had been rabid. Harry could be gay, and closeted.
It was improbable, Teddy decided, but it wasn’t impossible.
“Teddy!” Harry snapped, and Teddy jumped, ripped abruptly out of his thought process. “You all right?” Harry actually looked a little worried…which was adorable, and not fatherly. Not at all. Of course not. “You checked out for a second.”
“I’m fine,” Teddy replied, brusquely. “Look, I know you’re stressed about Ginny and Al-why don’t you come ‘round my place tonight? Drink some beer, watch the Quidditch match. Take your mind off of things.”
Harry looked taken aback for a moment, and then he laughed. “You sure I won’t cramp your style? I hear you’re running with an awfully young crowd these days. Wouldn’t want to stomp on your buzz.”
Teddy tried to convince himself that the phrase stomp on your buzz was retro in a cool way. It was a losing battle. Still, he pressed on.
“Hey,” Teddy said, “after last night, I could do with some more mature company.” He made what he thought were suggestive eyes.
Harry squinted at him. “I think you should try to find some hangover potion,” he said, finally, “your face is twitching something awful.”
Teddy sighed and gave it up. “I’ll grab a pizza if you get the beer,” he said, wearily, and Harry shot him an uncertain look.
“Seriously,” he said, “you don’t have to-I’ll be fine, I didn’t mean to guilt you into having me by, coming to your office like that this morning.”
“Harry!” Teddy snapped, frustrated. “Come watch the game with me. I swear this isn’t a pity invite or something James put me up to or any of the things you’re thinking, ok? I just want to hang out.”
Harry gave him one more nervous glance and then, apparently deciding to take him at his word, grinned. “Great,” he said, “balls up at 8, so I’ll see you at 7:45?”
“Sounds perfect,” Teddy said. He looked at Harry’s arse as he walked off, and focused all his mental energy on finding it attractive.
It wasn’t the easiest thing he’d ever done, but Teddy was sure he could manage it if he tried hard enough.
--
At 7:45 precisely, there was a knock on Teddy’s door. Punctuality, Teddy thought, I like that in a man.
He opened the door. Harry was wearing a leather jacket, which Teddy approved of, and a Chudley Cannons t-shirt that bore the legend “World Cup ’99.”
Ok, Teddy thought, steeling himself, you know how old he is. Don’t let it get to you, Lupin.
Teddy smiled, took the six pack from his hand, and said, “Hey, make yourself comfortable.”
Harry pulled off his jacket, throwing it across the chair next to him and nearly knocking over Teddy’s favorite lamp. Teddy thought about making a quip about how comfortable was too comfortable-but that would be more father-son than first date, wouldn’t it? Would it? Fuck.
“Thanks again,” Harry said, flopping down onto the sofa. “I would have just moped about at home, thinking about Gin and Al and the whole thing, if you hadn’t asked me over.”
“I know,” Teddy said, and grinned. “Someone has to save you from yourself.”
Harry smiled back. “It’s a full-time job,” he deadpanned, and Teddy laughed. He’s charming, Teddy thought, desperately, unassuming and funny and charming. Definitely things I like it a man.
Harry cracked a beer and waved his wand at Teddy’s Floo. The game screamed to life in front of them. Then he turned to Teddy and gave him a quizzical look. “You planning on sitting down?”
Teddy realized he’d been hovering. “Yeah,” he said, his voice cracking with apprehension on the word. “Just-the pizza.”
“Oh, yeah!” Harry said, brightly. “I’m starving, that sounds great.”
Teddy grabbed it, wordlessly, from the counter, and put it on the coffee table. Harry waved his thanks and snatched a piece, munching away happily. They settled into an uncomfortable silence. At least, Teddy felt uncomfortable. Harry, as far as Teddy could tell, hadn’t noticed.
Harry was looking at the game, but Teddy was looking at Harry, taking inventory. Gorgeous dark hair (that I imitated until I was 6), a warm, inviting gaze (that watched me learn to walk), beautiful broad shoulders (that I used to spit up on), large capable hands (that changed my fucking nappies, oh my god). He was fit, by all accounts, but there was no getting around it-thinking about sleeping with him made Teddy’s stomach roil unpleasantly.
I can get over that, Teddy thought, trying to convince himself. Draco and Gram think I have to get married and I love the Potters, and Lily’s not an option and neither is James, ha, and Albus is so BLOODY annoying--
Then Harry leaned back his head and let out a long, low belch. He coughed, satisfied, and grinned at Teddy. “Not as good as I used to be,” he said, contemplatively, “but man, I could get you to laugh for hours with one of those when you were eight.”
Teddy stared at him. After a second, the full ridiculousness of the whole situation washed over him-Jesus, this man was practically his father, and he’d invited him over here to-to what, exactly? To chat him up? To seduce him? He started laughing, wildly, at the thought of it. Harry Potter. Harry Potter. It was ridiculous.
Harry, obviously encouraged, let out another burp. Teddy howled with laughter, leaning into him. “I’m sure it’s just that I look ridiculous,” Harry said, smiling a little bemusedly, “but it’s good to know some things never change.”
--
The next day, Teddy was feeling considerably less cheerful. He’d woken to an owl from his grandmother, entreating him again to “just consider it, Teddy, for me, I won’t be around much longer.” That had been followed shortly by an owl from James, taking the mickey out of him for wanting special bonding time with Harry.
What, James had asked, and Teddy could just see the smug smirk on his face as he read it over, did ickle Teddy need some attention? Is ickle Teddy feeling unloved?
You have no idea, he’d thought, grimly, and gone into work.
There had been an owl for him there, too. Distinctive handwriting, no signature, just Come to the Manor.
So now Teddy was staring at the austere wrought-iron gates of Malfoy Manor wondering, as he always did, what the next step was. Did he knock? What was there to knock on? Should he yell? That seemed uncouth. But there wasn’t a button or anything, and Teddy knew in his bones that Draco had designed it this way on purpose, to make people uncomfortable. He probably had a recording charm going, so he could watch everyone fidget over and over, cackling.
Teddy gave up, and sent his Patronus. It seemed the only logical thing to do.
The gate swung open a moment later. Even the creaking managed a sort of haughty self-importance; Teddy sighed and followed the winding path up to the house. An entire murder of crows appeared to be nesting in one of the trees. “It’s sunny out,” he told them, “your effect is lost in this weather,” but they merely cawed impetuously. He sighed again and finally reached the front stoop, where Astoria, in a pair of sweatpants and a clingy t-shirt, opened the door.
To her credit, they appeared to be couture sweatpants.
She smiled at him. Always gorgeous, today her hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail and she was wearing gardening gloves. Teddy had marveled, even when he was little, at her lithe grace, the easy, relaxed beauty she brought to everything she did. She was almost the polar opposite of Draco.
“Hey, Aunt Astoria,” Teddy said, grinning. He’d missed her.
“Hey yourself,” she said, yanking off a glove. “Sorry about the state I’m in; things have been a little hectic.”
He raised an eyebrow in a rather poor imitation of her husband, hoping to communicate his curiosity at how hectic things could be with an army of house-elves at your beck and call. She laughed, but it sounded a little forced. “Oh, you know how it is,” she said, and then she pulled him in for a hug.
“This is bad,” she hissed in Teddy’s ear. He put his arms around her to return the embrace, listening intently. “He’ll explain, but I’m counting on you to fix it. Don’t mention it, or ask about my business, or anything, until he gives the okay. Squeeze if you agree.” He did, and he felt her heave a sigh of relief.
Then she released him, smooth and smiling, like nothing had happened. Teddy thought-not for the first time-that she’d have made a pretty fabulous Unspeakable. She patted an errant hair back into place and led him into the kitchen.
“I like the remodel,” Teddy said, looking around. It had been awhile since he’d come by for dinner, which he felt a bit guilty about.
She waved a hand. “More counter space.” She flicked her wand at the kettle, which started hissing instantly. Then she looked at him. “You’re a coffee drinker,” she said-not a question. He nodded anyway, and she made a delicately horrified face.
“Foul American swill,” she muttered, but she snapped her fingers. A house-elf appeared at once. He was, unsurprisingly, far cleaner than any other house-elf Teddy had ever seen, in a pristine white sheet-toga. Draco had a thing about that.
“Lindy,” Astoria said, “would you make Teddy a cup of coffee, however he takes it? You know I’m terrible with the stuff.”
The house-elf nodded and clapped his hands. Instantly, Teddy’s own palms were wrapped around a mug of steaming dark roast. He took a sip-cream and one sugar, exactly how he liked it. Astoria smiled.
“Thanks, Lindy,” she said. Lindy bounced once, excited at the praise, and vanished. Astoria herself poured a cup of tea from the kettle, and was able to take one long, slow sip before the house-elf reappeared.
“Lindy is sorry to bother the mistress,” he said carefully, “but Master Draco is sending for you and Mr. Lupin.”
She sighed and nodded; the house-elf vanished again. Smiling a little sheepishly at Teddy, she pointed her wand at her chest and jerked it once. Her sweatpants transfigured instantly into a pair of crisp khaki slacks, and her t-shirt-which Teddy had thought looked nice on her-reconfigured itself into an infinitely more flattering swoop-necked purple blouse. Her socked feet were suddenly strapped into a pair of expensive-looking heels, and her neck was adorned with a delicate diamond necklace that she certainly hadn’t been wearing the moment before.
“I do loathe this lady-of-the-manor business,” she murmured, and then, before Teddy could ask her what the hell was going on, continued loudly, “I’ll show you into the drawing room, Mr. Lupin.”
He followed her, mute and confused, to Draco’s home office. “Draco, your guest has arrived. May I present Mr. Theodore Lupin.” She stepped aside, and Teddy was able to enter the room.
Instantly, he understood her clothing change.
“Minister Shacklebolt,” he said, surprised.
The large man nodded at him. Teddy, who knew perfectly well when to adopt a speak-when-spoken-to persona, said nothing further, and the Minister turned to Draco.
“I apologize again for the inconvenience,” he said. Draco smiled up at him.
“Not at all,” he purred. “Of course, I completely understand. Given the circumstances, you haven’t much choice.”
The Minister cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I hope you know that this doesn’t lessen the Ministry’s appreciation of your, ah, generous contributions.”
Draco smiled again. It looked, Teddy thought, like the smooth, easy smile of the trained politician, unless you knew Draco very well. If you knew Draco very well, it looked dangerous. “Let’s hope,” he said, demurely, “that things wrap up smoothly. I would so hate to have to…reevaluate my finances this year.”
“Yes,” Shacklebolt said, making that same uncomfortable sound. He picked up his hat and made to leave. “Good day, Mr. Malfoy, Mrs. Malfoy.”
“And to you, Minister,” Astoria murmured, stepping aside.
“Auror Lupin,” the Minister said, reaching out a hand. Teddy shook it.
“Minister,” he repeated, feeling more than a bit out to sea. Then the door shut behind Shacklebolt, and they all listened for the tell-tale sound of Lindy ushering him out the front entrance.
They breathed easier when they heard the gate clang shut. “Fuck,” Draco muttered, just as Astoria cast the spell to switch back into her gardening clothes.
“Do you think they’ve bugged the house?” she hissed, barely audible. Draco sighed.
“Not in here, I’ve got wards up,” he said. “But the rest of it? I wouldn’t be surprised.”
Astoria swore under her breath. “Can I keep working?”
“You’ll be safe with your tamer clients,” Draco replied. “I’d hold off on anything class C tradable or higher-doesn’t matter what permits you have, they’ll use whatever they can get for this one. Definitely don’t send Longbottom that Venomous Tentacula until we know more.”
Astoria swore again. “So I’m your run-of-the-mill florist until further notice?” she asked bitterly. Draco laughed, sounding only slightly strained.
“You’re never run-of-the-mill, darling,” he said, and won a small, wan smile from her. “But otherwise-yes. I’m sorry.”
She made a face. Teddy, sick of being in the dark, cleared his throat.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” he said, sounding anything but, “but what the fuck is going on?”
Draco and Astoria sighed together. “Do you want me to tell him?” she asked, and Draco raised an incredulous eyebrow at her. She laughed. “Sorry, sorry,” she said, “I’ll just go finish the Concealment spells on the back garden.”
Draco nodded, and she bent down to press a light kiss to the side of his mouth. “I love you, for all you’ve gotten yourself into trouble,” she murmured, and then she was gone.
Draco sighed, and gestured for Teddy to sit. “This arson case,” he started, and then he paused.
“Yes?”
“Every victim, excepting the first two, visited my office in the days before their death,” Draco said slowly. Teddy gaped at him. “Yes,” he snapped, correctly interpreting Teddy’s expression, “I know how that looks.”
“Do you?” Teddy said, finding his voice. “Do you really? Jesus Christ, Draco-”
“It is a coincidence,” he said, firmly, “or someone is trying to set me up.”
“Well obviously I don’t think you-”
“I wouldn’t blame you if you did. The evidence is rather damning.”
“Like I give a fuck, you’re my uncle-”
“I’m your second cousin, actually,” Draco said nastily. “So if you’re uncomfortable-”
“Oh shut up,” Teddy snapped. Draco The Boss-who could fire him and humiliate him and order him memory-wiped at will-bordered occasionally on being terrifying. Draco The Uncle-whom Teddy had known since he was three and who was often whiny and obnoxious and who had gotten drunk and thrown up over Teddy’s balcony one time-was about as frightening as burnt toast. It was a complicated way to relate to a work superior, but Teddy had found he didn’t mind it. James thought the whole thing was an easy case for hostile workplace, but James worked for his dad, so Teddy tended not to think much on his opinions of normal employment environments.
Granted, if James knew about the new “get-married-or-else” aspect of their working relationship, he might have a better case.
“I’m not planning on deciding you’re a traitor and carting you to Azkaban,” Teddy continued, annoyed and not afraid to show it. “Partially because it would be hell to explain to your wife and partially because you’re family whether you want to admit it or not, and mostly because I do actually trust you, despite my godfather’s best efforts. Would you just tell me what’s happening? Why are you here? Why was Kingsley here?”
Draco gave him a considering look. Then he stood, pulled a bottle of Firewhiskey from the bottom drawer of his desk, and took a long pull from it.
“I’m under house arrest,” he spat.
Part Two
Welllll....reveals are up. I CAN FINALLY SHOW YOU GUYS.
Title: A Small Spark Neglected
Pairing: Teddy Lupin/James Sirius Potter
Rating: PG-13 to R
Word Count: 23,710
Disclaimer: I don’t own these characters; they belong to Jo Rowling, et al. Additionally, the title of this quote is taken from a Quintus Curtius quotation, the full text of which reads: “A small spark neglected has often kindled a mighty conflagration.”
Author's Notes: First and foremost: THANK YOU to secretsolitaire for the fabulous beta job; you are awesome beyond words. Secondly, a heartfelt thank you to snegurochka_lee; had I not read her decidedly brilliant A Life So Very Much Less Than Ordinary, I would never have been able to figure out how to play with large family casts. I still don't manage it nearly so deftly as she does. And finally, this was written for tnl_first_time, a brilliant little fest that I had a blast with. The original post of this story, with prompt, etc. included, can be found there.
Summary: Someone’s setting fires in Wizarding London, and Teddy Lupin’s going to have to marry a Potter.
Love is friendship set on fire.
-Jeremy Taylor
Teddy Lupin had read all the journals. He’d seen all the photographs. He’d heard all the lurid stories-or at least, the lurid stories that had survived. He knew better than anyone: waking up on a Monday morning with a vicious hangover was a time-honored Lupin tradition.
The knowledge wasn’t really much of a comfort.
“Fuck,” Teddy groaned, rolling over and swatting at his alarm. It blared on undeterred. He wondered if this was a punishment for throwing it into the wall last week, or if he was merely being paranoid. The paranoia was, of course, a possibility-then again, it was also entirely possible that the sunlight streaming through his window really was mounting an attack against him. He wouldn’t have been surprised.
“Wake the fuck up!” his alarm clock screamed. Teddy glared barefully at it.
“Charming,” he growled, sitting up against the protest of all his muscles. “Remind me to thank Albus for such a lovely gift.”
The alarm clock rang once more, managing to be haughty about it. “I’ll set an alarm for you,” it said, snidely, and fell silent. Teddy shot it one last nasty look and stood, scrubbing a hand through his hair.
“Even my alarm clock hates me,” he muttered. He stretched, and regretted it instantly. “How bloody depressing is that?”
“Very,” said an amused voice. Teddy froze for half a second, allowing what he remembered of the previous evening to wash over him.
“Bugger,” he said, with feeling, and turned.
“Not exactly,” James replied. He was leaning, tousled and grinning, in Teddy’s bedroom doorway, wearing a pair of flannel pajama bottoms and a white t-shirt. “Though you are looking lovely this morning, Auror Lupin, that vomit on your shirtsleeve is especially fetching.”
Teddy blanched, glanced down, and discovered that there was, in fact, something that looked remarkably like vomit on the edge of his sleeve. Most people he knew would reply to this discovery with embarrassment. Teddy, the exception that proved every rule, stepped into the sunlight and turned his hair a bright metallic silver, just to screw with James.
“Oh, fuck you,” James snapped, shielding his eyes. “The thanks you get for doing a bloke a favor, I ask you.” Teddy tried to grin, realized that even his teeth hurt, and sank pathetically back onto his bed.
“State your business,” he said, wearily. “That’s all the contrition I had in me, I swear.”
James sniffed once in feigned annoyance, and then let it go and sat on the bed beside him. “Made me promise I’d swing by, didn’t you? Bring you a hangover potion?”
Teddy felt hope swell in the pit of his stomach. “You’ve brought hangover potion?”
James at least had the good sense to appear ashamed of himself. “Uh, no,” he said, looking shifty all of a sudden, “fresh out. Sorry.”
“You got my hopes up,” Teddy moaned, and dropped his head into his hands. “God, I’m too old to go out drinking with you anymore.” James clapped him on the back in what Teddy could only assume was a gesture of support-it hurt like a bitch, and he made a noise to express that.
“Proof positive that you’re a pussy,” James told him, and Teddy lifted his head just enough to shoot him a dirty look.
“You’re awfully chipper, Potter,” he growled, suspicious. “Would you say you ran out of potion before or after you dosed yourself?”
“Hmmm…couldn’t say,” James replied, musingly. “Hard to remember these things. Alcohol does that to the brain, you know. Makes you forget.”
“Well, remind me to kill you when I can move again, then.”
James laughed and stood to crack his back. The sound was bright and clear and too loud for Teddy’s momentarily oversensitive ears. “I’ll get right on that.”
Teddy flopped backwards across his mattress. “Anything else, you wanker?”
“Yeah.” James reached out a finger, as though to poke Teddy in the stomach, and then clearly thought better of it. “Spoke to Dad this morning, he says he still expects you ‘round for dinner on Wednesday, and bring a dessert, because Lily’s volunteered to make tripe.” They both pulled a face. “And, damn, something else-oh, yeah. You said at the pub to remind you about breakfast?”
“What break-oh, bleeding hell, Gram,” Teddy breathed, throwing himself out of bed. “She’ll kill me if I’m late-can you pop down to my office when you go into work, tell Malfoy I’m running behind?’
James made a truly horrified face, but nodded. “Is that all, milord,” he asked, sarcasm dripping heavy and amused in his tone, “or shall I have a tray brought? You know how I love to please.” Teddy turned to find James leering at him and rolled his eyes, wondering vaguely what cosmic power had decided the hangover wasn’t punishment enough for his sins. “Isn’t there anything else I can do? Anything at all?”
“You can get the bloody fuck out of my apartment,” Teddy said, but he was grinning.
“Wish, command,” James replied cheerfully, and he threw himself into the Floo.
--
Breakfast with Andromeda was a painful affair.
“I just think,” she said for the thousandth time, pouring Teddy yet another cup of tea, “that a man your age should be thinking about settling down.”
“I’m twenty eight!” he protested. Then he pulled out his wand to conjure a cup of coffee, and she swatted at it.
To repeat: she swatted. At his wand. Teddy Lupin, trained Auror, Unspeakable of the highest order, no match for the swatting prowess of his 73 year old grandmother.
And she wouldn’t give him any hangover potion. Life was so unfair.
“Twenty eight is well past the appropriate age for marriage!” Andromeda insisted blithely, pouring cream and sugar into his tea and firmly ignoring his muttered protests. “I’m not old-fashioned about much, Ted, you know that, but I was married when I was twenty. So was Harry, so was-”
Teddy put his head down on the table and groaned his frustration. “Look, Gram, I know I came out to you, I remember it happening. Eighteen years old, burst into tears like an absolute prat, got snot on your favorite sweater? I’m sure you recall-”
“Well, of course I remember,” Andromeda snapped. Teddy was surprised to see she actually looked a little put out. “I can’t see how that makes any difference; both of Harry’s boys are, after all. And then there was my cousin Sirius and-”
Teddy lifted his head to give her a baleful look. “Don’t start about Dad,” he warned, and she, as was customary, ignored him.
“Now Ted, I know you don’t like to talk about your father and-that, but if things had been different, well, he and Sirius were practically married even before they were twenty! Not that he didn’t love your mother very much, of course. It’s just something to think about, dear, that’s all I’m saying.”
“Please, Gram. Please. Can we not discuss my father’s-urgh-bisexuality? Preferably ever again, but at least not before 9 A.M. I’m-I’ve gotten used to it and everything, but it’s weird, ok?”
Andromeda sniffed disdainfully. “It’s 9:15.”
“Oh, well, that’s all right, then.” Teddy rolled his eyes and stood, nicking a bun. “I’ve got to get to work, but I’ll owl you later, alright?”
“Fine.” Her expression softened after a moment, and she patted his hand. “I just want to see you happy,” she said, misting up a little. “I don’t really need you to get married-lot of fuss, this gay marriage business-but I would like to see you with someone stable, dear. Someone I could meet. To keep an eye on you.”
Teddy was touched, despite himself. He grinned at her, even as his hair flushed red with embarrassment. “You might give me that hangover potion if you want to see me really happy,” he quipped, covering the quiver in his voice, and her eyes were clear at once.
“No, you’ll learn from your mistakes. That’s what you get, running about with James Potter-now, he’s a rather fit bloke-”
Teddy groaned, long and low, and reached for her Floo powder. “Insanity isn’t a good look for you,” he told her, stepping forward. “Just so you know.”
He heard her laughter echoing after him as he was pulled into the flames.
--
Work was no better. He got exactly two minutes of quiet before James traipsed in without bothering to knock.
“How’d breakfast go?” he asked, picking up Teddy’s favorite paperweight and tossing it up into the air. It thwacked loudly in his hand as he caught it, and Teddy winced at the sound.
“Fine,” he said, “don’t you have work to be doing?”
“Not so’s you’d notice.” When Teddy glared James rolled his eyes. “Oh, fine. Internal Review is up there, some kind of safety meeting. I needed a place to hide.”
“Someday they’re going to fire you for being such a lazy shit,” Teddy said, pulling a file out of a drawer.
“Someday they’re going to fire you for being so obnoxious,” James shot back in good cheer. He tossed himself into one of the chairs in front of Teddy’s desk and leaned across it in interest. “Working on anything good?”
“You know,” Teddy murmured, “some days I think you’re after Unspeakable secrets, and some days I’m sure you’re just trying to torture me.”
“Awww,” James said, “can’t I do both?”
Teddy was just formulating an answer when Harry burst through the door, looking hunted.
“Oh my god,” Teddy said, “what do they do to you lot in those safety meetings?”
Harry blinked. “What safety meetings?” Then he saw James and sighed. “Oh, those. Jamie, for the love of Merlin, they’re mandatory for junior staff.”
James rolled his eyes. “Do they have any value?”
“No, not really-”
“Are you planning on firing me today?”
“Of course not-”
“Then I can’t see what it matters,” James shrugged. “I’ll clear out if you need to talk to Teddy, though.”
“How sporting of you,” Teddy muttered. “It’s almost like it’s my office.”
“Almost,” James agreed, winking. “Dad, you want me to go?”
“No,” Harry said, “I’m actually glad you’re both here. I, ah.”
He paused, and his face creased with a dark expression. Teddy exchanged a worried glance with James.
“Are you okay?” James said. “I’m sorry I skipped the meeting, I honestly didn’t think-”
“No, it’s not that.”
“Then what is it?” Teddy asked. “Because I’m always happy to see you, Harry, but if you need to yell at James I’d just as soon-”
“Do you think I made you gay?” Harry demanded, flustered. Teddy’s mouth dropped open.
“What are you on about?”
“I said,” Harry said, enunciating more clearly, as though that was the problem, “do you think I made you gay?”
“What the fucking-” James started, but Teddy waved a hand at him, and he quieted sullenly. He stood and shut the door; Harry was pacing like a caged animal, and James was bristling in his chair already, and Teddy really didn’t fancy the idea of his boss walking in on a full scale Potter brawl.
“No,” he replied, hesitantly, “I don’t think that’s how it works. Honestly-even if it did, you don’t-you’re not, uh. Particularly gay-making?”
James snorted. “I don’t know,” he drawled, “all the Quidditch and beer and fart jokes with Uncle Ron; that’s totally what turned me on to blokes. Dad. Come on.”
Harry looked only marginally relieved. “What about Albus?” he asked, desperately. “Was I at work too much? Was I a-uh, how did she-an ‘unavailable male influence?’ Did I do this to you kids?”
“Oh,” said Teddy, understanding creeping over him at last. James made a tiny sputtering noise in the corner, but Teddy felt justified in ignoring him. “Albus came out to Gin, then?”
Harry nodded, misery buried in every crevice of his face. Teddy sighed and gestured for him to sit. “Christ, Harry,” he muttered.
“I just-I’m fine with it, you know that, and so is she, she always has been, I think it’s just-three, you know? All three of you.”
But I’m not your son, Teddy opened his mouth to say, and thought better of it.
“Mom really said that?” James asked, sounding furious. Harry made a harsh noise in the back of his throat.
“She didn’t mean it the way it sounded,” he sighed, and scrubbed his face with the heel of his hand. “I know she didn’t. She just doesn’t always-fuck. I’ve said some pretty awful shit to her over the years, so I’m sure we’re about even.” He sighed again, and eyed the desk speculatively, as though he was considering beating his head against it. Teddy could certainly sympathize. “Maybe she’s right. Maybe you three want men because I wasn’t around enough.”
“All right,” Teddy said, trying to keep his voice in check, “you’re upset and you’re ancient so I’m not going to thump you for that, but let’s try to be a little less ridiculous, okay?”
“I think ridiculous is understating it a bit,” James snapped. “What the fuck, Dad? Do you think Lily would be out munching rugs if Mum’d played a few more rounds of Quidditch?”
“Well, no, of course-”
“What about George and Lee? You think their son is going to turn out gay just because his parents are? You honestly think this is about what kind of example people set?”
“No! I’m not some kind of-”
“Bigot?” James finished, glaring. “Homophobe? Arse?”
“All right, James, I don’t care how bloody upset you are, I am your father and you can’t talk to me like-”
“Yes I fucking can! I’m not five anymore and if you’ll let Mum fill your brain with completely unfounded drivel-“
“Don’t talk about your mother like that!”
“Don’t tell me what to do!”
“Shut UP,” Teddy yelled, effectively silencing them both. James shot him a dirty look; there was a vein pulsing in his neck and his eyes were flashing.
“What,” he snapped, “you agree with him?”
“Of course I don’t,” Teddy returned, “he’s being a tosser, but I don’t think he can help it.”
Harry squawked, but Teddy didn’t turn around; he put a hand on James’ shoulder instead. It moved under his palm as James took a deep breath, and then another. “Calm the fuck down,” Teddy hissed. “This is your father. Does he ever mean to be this much of a shit?”
James maintained his glare for a minute; then he dropped his eyes and sighed. “Probably not,” he admitted. “But, Teddy-”
“I know,” Teddy said, “even when he’s not trying he does a damn good job.”
James bit back a laugh as his father scowled. “I am right here,” Harry said, glaring at both of them.
“Yeah,” Teddy said, “you are. But this is my office, so I get to make the rules. Come on, Harry. Do you really think for a second that your work schedule makes any difference in your kids’ sexual preferences?”
“Your kids’ inborn sexual preferences?” James added sharply.
Harry glanced between the two of them in surprise. Then he winced as his thought process caught up to him. “Fuck,” he said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”
“Make massive demeaning generalizations about sexuality?” James finished dryly.
“Yeah,” Harry said, “that. Er. Any chance you’d be willing to forgive an old man his failings?”
James looked at him for a long minute. Then he shrugged; Teddy felt his shoulder move under his hand again, and realized he’d never actually removed it. He felt himself flush as he pulled away.
“I guess I can let it go,” James said, shooting Teddy an odd look. “Given that you did, you know, raise me and stuff.”
“And clothe you,” Harry put in, smiling a little. “And put food on the table-”
James groaned as Teddy laughed. “Hey,” he said, “you got off easy. You’re lucky this is James-Al would have made you sign documents to get him out of those safety meetings for a month.”
“Fuck Al,” James cut in suddenly. “He couldn’t have warned you he was going to tell Mum?”
“Not really his style, warnings,” Teddy sighed. “It’s a shame, though. I thought you and Ginny were getting along.”
Harry threw his hands in the air. “We are! We were, at least, but there’s always something. Don’t ever get divorced.”
“Not likely, considering,” Teddy returned mildly. James snorted and butted his shoulder but said nothing, and Harry gave them both an odd, inquisitive little smile.
“She’ll come around,” he told them, as though trying to convince himself.
“She always does,” Teddy agreed. “Probably won’t take as long, this time.”
“Fuck, I hope not,” Harry groaned. A companionably silent moment passed, and then he stood and gave them a sheepish look. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to hijack your morning.”
James laughed. “I was way ahead of you on that.”
“Yeah,” Teddy muttered, “he started last night, actually. A menace to society, this one.”
Harry coughed hard, like there was something in his throat. “I’ll just be going then,” he said, and was gone before either of them could say anything further.
“Wow,” James muttered. “That’s not how I was expecting to start the day.”
“At least you have hangover potion in your system,” Teddy returned. “You do know how loud you were yelling, right?”
“Am I supposed to apologize to you now?” James grinned cheekily at him, a glint in his eye. “Oh, Teddy, I’m so sorry I took you out and forced you to have fun, I am a terrible person for saving you from your stodgy, boring existence-”
“I am not stodgy-”
“You would have spent last night with a stack of file and maybe a lager,” James laughed. “Do you deny it?”
Teddy flipped him two fingers. “Piss off,” he said, “some of us have work to do here.”
James rolled his eyes but slipped out the door. Teddy glared after him.
“Stodgy,” he muttered, shaking his head as he spelled an avalanche of files onto his desk and flipping into the first one with relish. “How ridiculous.”
--
He made it fifteen minutes without another interruption. They were a glorious fifteen minutes. Despite the hangover, the pressure behind his eyes, and the unshakable voice of his grandmother whispering “the right age for marriage” in his ear, Teddy loved his job.
He’d started as an Auror, of course. It was what was expected of him, his skills in defense being what they were, his godfather being who he was. And it had been his dream, as a kid, to follow in his mother’s footsteps-Gram had always spoken so highly of her, with such sadness in her voice. Teddy had expected to take to it like a fish to water, and had been dismayed and a little hurt to discover he loathed it.
It was just-brute force, all the time, and running into things without thinking, and asking questions later. There was a time and place for all that, Teddy was sure, and he didn’t object to it occasionally as a strategy, but it was no way to run a department. He’d been a Ravenclaw, after all, and Ravenclaws, if nothing else, knew when to do their bloody research.
He’d thought, though, that it might get better. It wasn’t like there was much to be done about it in any case-he couldn’t quit, because Harry would take it personally, and he couldn’t transfer to desk work, because he’d kill himself with the boredom. So he’d slogged along, miserable and silent, until Draco took him out for a drink a few days after his twenty-second birthday.
“Still enjoying defending the wizarding world?” Draco had asked snidely, and Teddy had stared at him in shock. No one had ever actually asked him if he liked his job before; they’d all assumed, and he’d never corrected them. Confronted with the direct question, Teddy found himself telling Draco everything, spilling it all forth.
It had taken him about half an hour. When he’d finished, he’d drawn a long pull from his beer and Draco had looked at him contemplatively for a moment. “Well,” he’d said finally, “I actually have a position I think you’d be rather perfect for.”
Teddy had flushed. “I told you,” he’d replied miserably, “I can’t quit, it’ll kill Harry.”
Draco had just arched an eyebrow. “I am decidedly unconcerned,” he’d drawled, unimpressed, “with what might upset Potter. That said, you wouldn’t actually have to quit, which you’d know if you’d bothered to listen when I tried to explain, instead of prattling on about your insufferable godfather.”
Teddy had stared. Draco had…explained, and a small, fluttering core of hope had started to swell wildly in Teddy’s chest.
That was six years ago. Teddy had gone to Harry with a proposal, trained with Draco for a year and half, and come out of it the first official liaison between the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the Department of Mysteries. He still drew his salary from the Aurors, but his office was down several floors from their headquarters, and he was, for all intents and purposes, an Unspeakable.
Teddy had never dreamed he could love a job so much. It was the excitement he’d liked about working as an Auror and the research he’d loved while being a Ravenclaw, combined with the delicate dance of political relationships and the rich, heady flavor of secrets. He still went out on cases, but only those that he handpicked, and he held ultimate power over every Auror but Harry. He made recommendations to the Minister himself-and of course, he got to work under Draco, who, while often less than pleasant, was a better boss to him than Harry had ever been. Unafraid to hurt Teddy’s feelings when he fucked up, totally unbothered if people thought he was showing favoritism-that was Draco. It was great.
They were working on a fascinating case now. There had been a rash of arsons in the last month and a half, but the Aurors had only recently thought to connect them. Teddy, of course, had noticed the massive spike in fires first, and had been working on the case for three weeks.
That was one of the other benefits of being an Unspeakable first and an Auror second-he didn’t have to tell the whole goddamn world about his hunches.
Still, there’d been four counts of arson in the previous week alone, and the case had exploded into a media frenzy. The Aurors, of course, were concerned with the criminal aspects of the case, the risk to life and limb of the Wizarding citizenry, and it wasn’t that the Unspeakables didn’t find that important. It was just-the magic involved was disquieting at best and horrifying at worst, and, unfortunately for the victims of the fires, it was brilliant.
Whoever was doing it, they had clearly developed a new, more intense variant on Fiendfyre. The blazes destroyed everything they touched nearly instantaneously. Remains of a few bodies demonstrated that it burned perhaps slightly slower on human flesh, but at best guess, someone trapped within the vicinity of the fire had about fifteen seconds to escape. More unsettling still was the fact that this fire seemed to be controlled, torching only the dwelling of the intended victim and then immediately dying out. In one case, the victim had lived in an apartment. Everything within the space had been destroyed-every lick of furniture, every scrap of paper, even the paintings hanging on the walls-but the walls themselves weren’t even charred.
Teddy had visited that crime scene. It was, somehow, worse than the houses that burned all the way to the ground.
And then there was the worst thing about the fires, worse than the speed at which they were executed and the Dark magic clearly afoot and the wily grace of their perpetrator: there had been fifteen cases of arson since the beginning of the month, and twelve of them had taken the lives of Ministry employees. Four of those employees had been incredibly high-ranking. Another two had been direct underlings of the incredibly high-ranking. Another three had been Auror trainees.
Needless to say, the Wizarding world was enthralled and furious. There were calls for the Ministry to be shut down until the perpetrator was caught, despite the numerous times Minister Shacklebolt had explained that the perpetrator could not be caught without the Ministry. The Prophet was rabid over the whole thing-Teddy privately rather thought that they might start setting fires themselves if another didn’t show up soon-and the Ministry itself was in an uproar. People were terrified for their lives, and it showed.
Teddy, for his part, found the whole thing as wildly interesting as he did worrisome. Of course he wasn’t in support of loss of life and risk to safety, but the possibilities of a controlled Fiendfyre were endless, and he was also fairly sure whoever was behind this was using some kind of remote trigger to enact the spell. He was just delving further into that possibility, flipping through the aggravatingly sparse case files, when a note appeared on his desk.
My office, it said, now. Draco.
“Bugger it all,” Teddy spat, and went.
--
Draco’s assistant, Pomarina Derrick, had been a few years above Teddy in school. She’d been in Slytherin, but her closest friends had always been in Teddy’s house, and he’d known her, if only nominally. Still, it was always nice to see a familiar face, and she ran Draco’s office with terrifying competency.
She raised an eyebrow at him when he approached. “Someone had a hard night.”
Teddy winced. “Fuck, is it that obvious?”
She laughed. “It’s usually a safe bet with you, on Monday mornings. But yes. You might have brushed your hair, at least.”
Teddy knew there was something he’d forgotten when he left the house. He wanted to beat his head against the wall, but resisted the impulse. “Awesome. He sent me a note-”
“I sent you a note,” she corrected, absently, flicking her wand and sending a massive stack of files toward the cabinet. “As per his specifications, of course.”
Teddy winced some more. “So he meant it to be that short? Bugger and fuck.”
She nodded grimly at him. “Didn’t even drink his coffee this morning. Just pounded on the walls for a few minutes and asked for you.”
Teddy groaned. “What did I do?”
“If you don’t know,” she said, primly, “I certainly won’t be the one to tell you. Wand, please?”
The handing over of one’s wand before entering Draco’s office had been common practice since a former Death Eater in the rictus of dementia had tried to murder him in there three years ago. Despite this, Teddy hung to his a little tighter this morning.
“Pom,” he said, “you remember that time he put Jelly-Legs on me, don’t you? I have a lot to do today and I really don’t have time to be tied up because I can’t cast a counter-curse, and you know the crazy bastard would do it-”
“Slandering me,” came a low, irritated drawl, “is not going to endear me to your cause, Mr. Lupin.” Draco emerged from his office, looking ready to throw a right strop. Teddy cursed under his breath.
“Your language isn’t appreciated either,” Pomarina told him sternly, and snatched his wand. “I’m sure he won’t hex you, Teddy. You’re in for a maiming at most.” Both men glared at her, and she smiled the cheerful smile of those too competent to worry about being fired. “Off you go!”
Teddy groaned again and walked into the office. Draco followed him. They dropped into chairs-Draco into the formidable black one behind the desk and Teddy in the designed-for-discomfort beige one in front of it. Draco cleared his throat.
“Look,” Teddy began, “I don’t know what this is about, but if you’ll just tell me I’ll go about fixing it and-”
Draco reached into a drawer, slammed it shut, and threw a copy of that morning’s Prophet down on the desk in front of him. Emblazoned in large, undeniable black and white on the front page was a picture of Teddy, sucking on the neck of a very fit bloke in a leather cat suit. Teddy himself was wearing nothing but a tiny black thong. To his horror, it appeared to be sparkling.
So that’s what he’d done last night. Fuck. He made a strangled noise and dropped his head into his hands.
Draco, having apparently decided Teddy had seen enough, picked up the paper and began to read. “‘Gay Romp in West London-Ministry’s Best and Brightest Caught in Scandal,’” he started, managing to sound both piqued and very, very angry, “this does sound interesting, doesn’t it? Let’s see-ah, yes, here we are. ‘Caught in flagrante delicto at The Wizarding Staff, London’s premiere gay dance club, was none other than Auror and rumored Unspeakable Teddy Lupin. Auror Lupin was seen to follow the man pictured above, who has yet to be identified, into the restroom mere moments after this photo was taken. Also in attendance was Auror James Potter, son of famed Auror and war hero Harry Potter. Notoriously elusive to the press, Harry Potter was unable to be found for comment before press time today.’”
Draco threw the paper back down on the table and raised both eyebrows at Teddy. “It goes on,” he drawled, “as you might imagine. ‘In these trouble times, it’s hardly right,’ etcetera. ‘Not focused on their jobs,’ etcetera. ‘Embarrassment for the Ministry,’ etcetera. What is wrong with you?”
“Hey,” Teddy said, lifting his head, “I had no idea the press was there, I would never have-”
“You were too drunk to be paying attention,” Draco drawled back, his voice icy and furious. “We’re in the middle of a very high-profile case, as you may recall-supposing there had been a fire last night, and we’d activated your tracking spell?”
“I would have cast a Sobrietus!” Teddy cried. “Jesus, Draco, I’m sorry about the bad press but it’s not like I meant for-”
“‘Rumored. Unspeakable. Teddy. Lupin!’” Draco shouted.
Teddy flinched, the volume playing havoc with his hangover, and Draco glared at him unapologetically.
“Do you have any idea,” he hissed, leaning forward, “what I’ve done to protect that information? Keeping you on the Auror payroll, the secrecy spells-do you imagine this has been easy? Do you even begin to understand the risk you draw to your exposure when you behave like this?”
Teddy felt regret creep up through his veins. He opened his mouth to speak and Draco cut him off. “You will not be an effective agent,” he snapped, “if everyone knows what they are up against. That is the whole fucking point of this bloody charade!”
Teddy pushed a hard, anguished breath out of his nose. “Am I fired, then?” he asked. He kept his eyes firmly on the floor and wanted to be sick.
Draco gave him a withering look. “No,” he snapped, “you are not fired. In fact, this is not this morning’s Prophet.”
Teddy’s head shot up. “What? What? What the fuck do you mean it’s not-”
Draco waved a hand. “This would have been this morning’s Prophet,” he said, sternly, “if I didn’t have spies in their offices, up to and including my own son. I received the owl with this mock-up at 2 A.M and was able to convince Miss Cuffe to pull the story before they went to press. She is, thank all the gods, rather more reasonable than her late father.”
Teddy breathed a heavy sigh of relief, and Draco looked him up and down. “That does not,” he added, severely, “lessen the importance of this transgression. You have to understand that with each idiotic stunt you pull you jeopardize this entire department and your position in it. What is our motto, Teddy?”
“Mundus hic mutus est,” Teddy murmered.
Draco peered at him sternly. “And what does it mean?”
Teddy sighed, reminded forcibly of his training, when he’d been asked to do this at the start and end of every day. “The world is quiet here.”
Draco nodded. Then he matched Teddy’s sigh, and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Look,” he said, “aside from all of this, you are the best agent we have. Nothing against the rest of them, they’re all very good at what they do, but we’ve never had anyone quite like you. You’re better at this job than I could have dreamed.”
Teddy flushed at the unexpected compliment. “I-thank you,” he said, quietly.
Draco fixed him with a glare. “And,” he added, as thought it pained him to do so, “it goes without saying that you are more-or-less family, and I am, despite myself, fond of you.”
Teddy nodded, and swallowed. Draco never played the family card unless he was going to ask for something unpleasant. Sure enough:
“I think,” Draco said, “it is time you got married.”
Teddy was so shocked he actually stood to run without realizing it. “What?”
“Do sit down,” Draco snapped, “and don’t feign deafness, it makes you look like an imbecile.”
Teddy sat and stared. Draco merely raised an eyebrow at him. “Have you been plotting with my grandmother?” Teddy asked finally, his voice cracking. Draco lifted the other eyebrow.
“I do not plot with the elderly,” he replied, coolly. “Though your grandmother is a very intelligent woman, and I would encourage you to take any advice she had to offer.”
“Oh my god, you are plotting with her!” Teddy cried, and dropped his head into his hands for what felt like the hundredth time since waking. “I should never have gotten out of bed.”
“Don’t be so melodramatic.” Teddy thought this was rich, coming from Draco Malfoy, but didn’t comment. “I just think a marriage would settle you down, help you focus on your career.”
“Draco,” Teddy said, feeling as though the whole world had gone mad while he’d been drunk, “people don’t get married to focus on their careers.”
“Just because you’ve had to overcome your mixed-blood heritage doesn’t mean you can ignore reality,” Draco snapped. “Marriage is a business transaction.”
“You’re crazy,” Teddy told him. “Absolutely crazy. Marriage is about love. And, and sex. And babies!”
“No,” Draco said, “marriage is about money, and status, and, yes, alright, I’ll give you the point about the babies. ‘Heirs,’ really, but you can say ‘babies’ if you wish to be uncouth.”
Teddy fixed him with a glare. “What, so you’re not attracted to Astoria?”
Draco rolled his eyes. “Of course I am attracted to Astoria,” he shot back, “have you seen Astoria? There are wildebeests attracted to Astoria.” A strange, soft smile flitted across his face for a moment and then faded as fast as it had come. “I also happen to love her,” he added, “but that was merely a lucky bonus.”
Teddy cast his eyes around for something sharp. Sure, he’d left his wand outside with Pom, but there had to be something in here with which he could hastily welcome the sweet release of death. Finding nothing, he instead turned to Draco and said, “What, so you’re firing me unless I get married?”
“No,” Draco drawled, and scowled. “That is, I am told, illegal these days. I am, as your boss, merely strongly suggesting that you consider the idea.”
“You do know that I’m gay, right?”
“Even if I hadn’t, that article would have enlightened me.” Teddy winced. “It makes not a whit of difference. Just-find a family you want to be part of, preferably with some wealth, and insinuate yourself. Man or woman, there are procedures that will do either way. The goal here is a binding legal contract, nothing more.”
He must have read something in the look on Teddy’s face. “Yes,” he sighed, “you may even try for one of the Potters, if they’re who you want, though I deplore of your taste. Surely one of them piques your fancy?”
Teddy shook his head, making a face. “Well then,” Draco said, “work on that, or choose another family.” Teddy sighed and nodded, and stood to leave before Draco waved him back into his seat. “There was one other thing.”
Teddy’s jaw tightened, and he waited on tenterhooks to be told he needed to produce an heir by the end of the fiscal year. Draco, however, merely pulled a file out of his drawer and tossed it over to Teddy.
“Another fire,” he said. “Confirms the Fiendfyre theory beyond a shadow of a doubt; I went over and saw it myself this morning.” He shuddered briefly and then continued. “The Aurors should just be getting hold of it. Go supervise, will you? Don’t let them touch anything, the bumbling idiots.”
“Sure,” Teddy said, relieved to be dismissed. He was almost to the door when Draco cleared his throat, and Teddy turned, apprehensive.
“I am fond of you,” Draco said, flipping through a file and not looking up. “Do try not to do anything else this week that forces me to consider terminating your employment.”
Teddy half-smiled and shifted his hair to a deep, army green. “Yessir,” he answered, in his best American accident, offering a salute and standing at attention.
The expression on Draco’s face put every dirty look he himself had ever given to shame. Teddy laughed about it all the way to the Apparation bay.
---
The Aurors had beaten him to the scene. Teddy scanned the ruin of the house, taking stock. He only saw three of them: Harry, looking calmer than he had the last time Teddy’d seen him, Dean Thomas, disturbingly quiet and disarmingly competent, and Ron. Team leaders all, and well liked; the old guard. Teddy nodded his approval at Harry’s choice-a team like this, small but notorious, and all with stellar war records? It would do a lot to ease the concerns of the public if the press showed up. It said “This is not a big enough threat to bring out the whole force, but we do have our best and brightest on it.”
Still, despite himself, Teddy was a little disappointed. He’d rather hoped to get a chance to talk to-
“Oi,” James said, directly behind him, “is standing around in the shadows a necessary Unspeakable procedure or something?”
Teddy wheeled, feeling a strange tightness in his chest ease slightly. “If it was, I couldn’t tell you, now could I?”
“Mysterious wanker.”
“Bad influence.” Teddy said it lightly, but with just enough steel in his eyes that James swallowed and took a step back.
“Ah. So you’ve, uh, remembered what happened last night, I gather.”
“No,” Teddy said, grimacing. “I was shown what happened last night.”
James’ eyes widened as Teddy briefly rehashed his meeting with Draco, carefully leaving out the part about marriage. “Cor,” he breathed, when Teddy had finished, “I’m sorry, mate, I’d never have-”
“Oh, forget it,” Teddy said, easily enough. “Not fired yet! But let’s look around so I don’t get fired, yeah?”
James nodded, still looking a little guilty, and they drew their wands and moved into the ruins of the house. Teddy waved hello to Harry, Ron and Thomas, who nodded back at him. They were looking at what remained of the outer molding, and Teddy didn’t feel like telling them they were wasting their time. There hadn’t been anything in the molding of any of the houses, including the apartment in which said molding had remained intact.
“They’re barking up the wrong tree, aren’t they?” James whispered. Teddy grinned and nodded, not looking at him. James broke away to distract them. It was something they did, when they worked cases together-the Aurors, even old friends like Harry and Ron, didn’t particularly like taking orders from Teddy, and James was good at redirection.
Teddy watched James’s arse out of the corner of his eye as he walked away. There was something to what Draco had said-he had always longed to be a Potter, to be real family with the people who’d loved him best. And his grandmother had been right, James was quite fit, in his own way. He thought about it.
“What am I doing,” Teddy muttered, shaking his head. The man was his best friend, practically his brother. It didn’t bear considering.
He went back to examining the arson site. The rubble, like every case before it, reeked violently of something Teddy couldn’t identify; one of the Muggle-born Aurors had insisted it was petrol. But Teddy had done some research, and petrol was a dangerously unstable accelerant, which-how were they managing to control all these supposedly uncontrollable variables?
He sighed, pulled a sterile evidence bag out of his pocket, and scooped up a lump of ash from the most pungent part of the wreckage for further testing. Then he waved everyone out and cast Stasis wards on the whole place, which would allow them all to look, but nothing more.
Harry walked over a moment after he finished grounding the spells. “My men aren’t going to like that,” he said, mildly enough.
“Take it up with my boss,” Teddy shot back, a wry grin dancing over his face. He knew how much Harry hated having to talk to Draco. “My only instructions were not to let anyone touch anything.”
“That certainly sounds like him, the little bastard.” Harry was scowling, but even discounting that, he looked a tighter than usual around the eyes. Teddy recalled the morning’s argument and felt bad for giving him lip.
And then-well, Harry was fit enough, wasn’t he? Older, sure, and god, he’d be James’ stepfather, which would be horrifying, but they’d get past that eventually. Teddy had gone for older men before. He’d had a ridiculous crush on Draco as a teenager, hadn’t he? Not to mention that guy A.J., who’d been at least 40, and a few others that Teddy could recall.
There was, of course, the fact that Harry was straight. But then, Teddy mused, was he really? He and Ginny had gotten divorced after years of what looked like a picture-perfect marriage, and he hadn’t been seen dating anyone since. It had been two years! Maybe that was why they’d ended it-they’d both been ridiculously closed-mouth about the whole thing, the press had been rabid. Harry could be gay, and closeted.
It was improbable, Teddy decided, but it wasn’t impossible.
“Teddy!” Harry snapped, and Teddy jumped, ripped abruptly out of his thought process. “You all right?” Harry actually looked a little worried…which was adorable, and not fatherly. Not at all. Of course not. “You checked out for a second.”
“I’m fine,” Teddy replied, brusquely. “Look, I know you’re stressed about Ginny and Al-why don’t you come ‘round my place tonight? Drink some beer, watch the Quidditch match. Take your mind off of things.”
Harry looked taken aback for a moment, and then he laughed. “You sure I won’t cramp your style? I hear you’re running with an awfully young crowd these days. Wouldn’t want to stomp on your buzz.”
Teddy tried to convince himself that the phrase stomp on your buzz was retro in a cool way. It was a losing battle. Still, he pressed on.
“Hey,” Teddy said, “after last night, I could do with some more mature company.” He made what he thought were suggestive eyes.
Harry squinted at him. “I think you should try to find some hangover potion,” he said, finally, “your face is twitching something awful.”
Teddy sighed and gave it up. “I’ll grab a pizza if you get the beer,” he said, wearily, and Harry shot him an uncertain look.
“Seriously,” he said, “you don’t have to-I’ll be fine, I didn’t mean to guilt you into having me by, coming to your office like that this morning.”
“Harry!” Teddy snapped, frustrated. “Come watch the game with me. I swear this isn’t a pity invite or something James put me up to or any of the things you’re thinking, ok? I just want to hang out.”
Harry gave him one more nervous glance and then, apparently deciding to take him at his word, grinned. “Great,” he said, “balls up at 8, so I’ll see you at 7:45?”
“Sounds perfect,” Teddy said. He looked at Harry’s arse as he walked off, and focused all his mental energy on finding it attractive.
It wasn’t the easiest thing he’d ever done, but Teddy was sure he could manage it if he tried hard enough.
--
At 7:45 precisely, there was a knock on Teddy’s door. Punctuality, Teddy thought, I like that in a man.
He opened the door. Harry was wearing a leather jacket, which Teddy approved of, and a Chudley Cannons t-shirt that bore the legend “World Cup ’99.”
Ok, Teddy thought, steeling himself, you know how old he is. Don’t let it get to you, Lupin.
Teddy smiled, took the six pack from his hand, and said, “Hey, make yourself comfortable.”
Harry pulled off his jacket, throwing it across the chair next to him and nearly knocking over Teddy’s favorite lamp. Teddy thought about making a quip about how comfortable was too comfortable-but that would be more father-son than first date, wouldn’t it? Would it? Fuck.
“Thanks again,” Harry said, flopping down onto the sofa. “I would have just moped about at home, thinking about Gin and Al and the whole thing, if you hadn’t asked me over.”
“I know,” Teddy said, and grinned. “Someone has to save you from yourself.”
Harry smiled back. “It’s a full-time job,” he deadpanned, and Teddy laughed. He’s charming, Teddy thought, desperately, unassuming and funny and charming. Definitely things I like it a man.
Harry cracked a beer and waved his wand at Teddy’s Floo. The game screamed to life in front of them. Then he turned to Teddy and gave him a quizzical look. “You planning on sitting down?”
Teddy realized he’d been hovering. “Yeah,” he said, his voice cracking with apprehension on the word. “Just-the pizza.”
“Oh, yeah!” Harry said, brightly. “I’m starving, that sounds great.”
Teddy grabbed it, wordlessly, from the counter, and put it on the coffee table. Harry waved his thanks and snatched a piece, munching away happily. They settled into an uncomfortable silence. At least, Teddy felt uncomfortable. Harry, as far as Teddy could tell, hadn’t noticed.
Harry was looking at the game, but Teddy was looking at Harry, taking inventory. Gorgeous dark hair (that I imitated until I was 6), a warm, inviting gaze (that watched me learn to walk), beautiful broad shoulders (that I used to spit up on), large capable hands (that changed my fucking nappies, oh my god). He was fit, by all accounts, but there was no getting around it-thinking about sleeping with him made Teddy’s stomach roil unpleasantly.
I can get over that, Teddy thought, trying to convince himself. Draco and Gram think I have to get married and I love the Potters, and Lily’s not an option and neither is James, ha, and Albus is so BLOODY annoying--
Then Harry leaned back his head and let out a long, low belch. He coughed, satisfied, and grinned at Teddy. “Not as good as I used to be,” he said, contemplatively, “but man, I could get you to laugh for hours with one of those when you were eight.”
Teddy stared at him. After a second, the full ridiculousness of the whole situation washed over him-Jesus, this man was practically his father, and he’d invited him over here to-to what, exactly? To chat him up? To seduce him? He started laughing, wildly, at the thought of it. Harry Potter. Harry Potter. It was ridiculous.
Harry, obviously encouraged, let out another burp. Teddy howled with laughter, leaning into him. “I’m sure it’s just that I look ridiculous,” Harry said, smiling a little bemusedly, “but it’s good to know some things never change.”
--
The next day, Teddy was feeling considerably less cheerful. He’d woken to an owl from his grandmother, entreating him again to “just consider it, Teddy, for me, I won’t be around much longer.” That had been followed shortly by an owl from James, taking the mickey out of him for wanting special bonding time with Harry.
What, James had asked, and Teddy could just see the smug smirk on his face as he read it over, did ickle Teddy need some attention? Is ickle Teddy feeling unloved?
You have no idea, he’d thought, grimly, and gone into work.
There had been an owl for him there, too. Distinctive handwriting, no signature, just Come to the Manor.
So now Teddy was staring at the austere wrought-iron gates of Malfoy Manor wondering, as he always did, what the next step was. Did he knock? What was there to knock on? Should he yell? That seemed uncouth. But there wasn’t a button or anything, and Teddy knew in his bones that Draco had designed it this way on purpose, to make people uncomfortable. He probably had a recording charm going, so he could watch everyone fidget over and over, cackling.
Teddy gave up, and sent his Patronus. It seemed the only logical thing to do.
The gate swung open a moment later. Even the creaking managed a sort of haughty self-importance; Teddy sighed and followed the winding path up to the house. An entire murder of crows appeared to be nesting in one of the trees. “It’s sunny out,” he told them, “your effect is lost in this weather,” but they merely cawed impetuously. He sighed again and finally reached the front stoop, where Astoria, in a pair of sweatpants and a clingy t-shirt, opened the door.
To her credit, they appeared to be couture sweatpants.
She smiled at him. Always gorgeous, today her hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail and she was wearing gardening gloves. Teddy had marveled, even when he was little, at her lithe grace, the easy, relaxed beauty she brought to everything she did. She was almost the polar opposite of Draco.
“Hey, Aunt Astoria,” Teddy said, grinning. He’d missed her.
“Hey yourself,” she said, yanking off a glove. “Sorry about the state I’m in; things have been a little hectic.”
He raised an eyebrow in a rather poor imitation of her husband, hoping to communicate his curiosity at how hectic things could be with an army of house-elves at your beck and call. She laughed, but it sounded a little forced. “Oh, you know how it is,” she said, and then she pulled him in for a hug.
“This is bad,” she hissed in Teddy’s ear. He put his arms around her to return the embrace, listening intently. “He’ll explain, but I’m counting on you to fix it. Don’t mention it, or ask about my business, or anything, until he gives the okay. Squeeze if you agree.” He did, and he felt her heave a sigh of relief.
Then she released him, smooth and smiling, like nothing had happened. Teddy thought-not for the first time-that she’d have made a pretty fabulous Unspeakable. She patted an errant hair back into place and led him into the kitchen.
“I like the remodel,” Teddy said, looking around. It had been awhile since he’d come by for dinner, which he felt a bit guilty about.
She waved a hand. “More counter space.” She flicked her wand at the kettle, which started hissing instantly. Then she looked at him. “You’re a coffee drinker,” she said-not a question. He nodded anyway, and she made a delicately horrified face.
“Foul American swill,” she muttered, but she snapped her fingers. A house-elf appeared at once. He was, unsurprisingly, far cleaner than any other house-elf Teddy had ever seen, in a pristine white sheet-toga. Draco had a thing about that.
“Lindy,” Astoria said, “would you make Teddy a cup of coffee, however he takes it? You know I’m terrible with the stuff.”
The house-elf nodded and clapped his hands. Instantly, Teddy’s own palms were wrapped around a mug of steaming dark roast. He took a sip-cream and one sugar, exactly how he liked it. Astoria smiled.
“Thanks, Lindy,” she said. Lindy bounced once, excited at the praise, and vanished. Astoria herself poured a cup of tea from the kettle, and was able to take one long, slow sip before the house-elf reappeared.
“Lindy is sorry to bother the mistress,” he said carefully, “but Master Draco is sending for you and Mr. Lupin.”
She sighed and nodded; the house-elf vanished again. Smiling a little sheepishly at Teddy, she pointed her wand at her chest and jerked it once. Her sweatpants transfigured instantly into a pair of crisp khaki slacks, and her t-shirt-which Teddy had thought looked nice on her-reconfigured itself into an infinitely more flattering swoop-necked purple blouse. Her socked feet were suddenly strapped into a pair of expensive-looking heels, and her neck was adorned with a delicate diamond necklace that she certainly hadn’t been wearing the moment before.
“I do loathe this lady-of-the-manor business,” she murmured, and then, before Teddy could ask her what the hell was going on, continued loudly, “I’ll show you into the drawing room, Mr. Lupin.”
He followed her, mute and confused, to Draco’s home office. “Draco, your guest has arrived. May I present Mr. Theodore Lupin.” She stepped aside, and Teddy was able to enter the room.
Instantly, he understood her clothing change.
“Minister Shacklebolt,” he said, surprised.
The large man nodded at him. Teddy, who knew perfectly well when to adopt a speak-when-spoken-to persona, said nothing further, and the Minister turned to Draco.
“I apologize again for the inconvenience,” he said. Draco smiled up at him.
“Not at all,” he purred. “Of course, I completely understand. Given the circumstances, you haven’t much choice.”
The Minister cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I hope you know that this doesn’t lessen the Ministry’s appreciation of your, ah, generous contributions.”
Draco smiled again. It looked, Teddy thought, like the smooth, easy smile of the trained politician, unless you knew Draco very well. If you knew Draco very well, it looked dangerous. “Let’s hope,” he said, demurely, “that things wrap up smoothly. I would so hate to have to…reevaluate my finances this year.”
“Yes,” Shacklebolt said, making that same uncomfortable sound. He picked up his hat and made to leave. “Good day, Mr. Malfoy, Mrs. Malfoy.”
“And to you, Minister,” Astoria murmured, stepping aside.
“Auror Lupin,” the Minister said, reaching out a hand. Teddy shook it.
“Minister,” he repeated, feeling more than a bit out to sea. Then the door shut behind Shacklebolt, and they all listened for the tell-tale sound of Lindy ushering him out the front entrance.
They breathed easier when they heard the gate clang shut. “Fuck,” Draco muttered, just as Astoria cast the spell to switch back into her gardening clothes.
“Do you think they’ve bugged the house?” she hissed, barely audible. Draco sighed.
“Not in here, I’ve got wards up,” he said. “But the rest of it? I wouldn’t be surprised.”
Astoria swore under her breath. “Can I keep working?”
“You’ll be safe with your tamer clients,” Draco replied. “I’d hold off on anything class C tradable or higher-doesn’t matter what permits you have, they’ll use whatever they can get for this one. Definitely don’t send Longbottom that Venomous Tentacula until we know more.”
Astoria swore again. “So I’m your run-of-the-mill florist until further notice?” she asked bitterly. Draco laughed, sounding only slightly strained.
“You’re never run-of-the-mill, darling,” he said, and won a small, wan smile from her. “But otherwise-yes. I’m sorry.”
She made a face. Teddy, sick of being in the dark, cleared his throat.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” he said, sounding anything but, “but what the fuck is going on?”
Draco and Astoria sighed together. “Do you want me to tell him?” she asked, and Draco raised an incredulous eyebrow at her. She laughed. “Sorry, sorry,” she said, “I’ll just go finish the Concealment spells on the back garden.”
Draco nodded, and she bent down to press a light kiss to the side of his mouth. “I love you, for all you’ve gotten yourself into trouble,” she murmured, and then she was gone.
Draco sighed, and gestured for Teddy to sit. “This arson case,” he started, and then he paused.
“Yes?”
“Every victim, excepting the first two, visited my office in the days before their death,” Draco said slowly. Teddy gaped at him. “Yes,” he snapped, correctly interpreting Teddy’s expression, “I know how that looks.”
“Do you?” Teddy said, finding his voice. “Do you really? Jesus Christ, Draco-”
“It is a coincidence,” he said, firmly, “or someone is trying to set me up.”
“Well obviously I don’t think you-”
“I wouldn’t blame you if you did. The evidence is rather damning.”
“Like I give a fuck, you’re my uncle-”
“I’m your second cousin, actually,” Draco said nastily. “So if you’re uncomfortable-”
“Oh shut up,” Teddy snapped. Draco The Boss-who could fire him and humiliate him and order him memory-wiped at will-bordered occasionally on being terrifying. Draco The Uncle-whom Teddy had known since he was three and who was often whiny and obnoxious and who had gotten drunk and thrown up over Teddy’s balcony one time-was about as frightening as burnt toast. It was a complicated way to relate to a work superior, but Teddy had found he didn’t mind it. James thought the whole thing was an easy case for hostile workplace, but James worked for his dad, so Teddy tended not to think much on his opinions of normal employment environments.
Granted, if James knew about the new “get-married-or-else” aspect of their working relationship, he might have a better case.
“I’m not planning on deciding you’re a traitor and carting you to Azkaban,” Teddy continued, annoyed and not afraid to show it. “Partially because it would be hell to explain to your wife and partially because you’re family whether you want to admit it or not, and mostly because I do actually trust you, despite my godfather’s best efforts. Would you just tell me what’s happening? Why are you here? Why was Kingsley here?”
Draco gave him a considering look. Then he stood, pulled a bottle of Firewhiskey from the bottom drawer of his desk, and took a long pull from it.
“I’m under house arrest,” he spat.
Part Two