Fic (No Challenge): How to Destroy a Pensieve
Title: How to Destroy a Pensieve
Summary: Teddy and Victoire's first years at Hogwarts and Beauxbatons are quickly approaching.
Characters/Pairings: Teddy Lupin, Victoire Weasley, Andromeda Tonks, Draco Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy, Harry Potter, Fleur Weasley, Gabrielle Delacour
Genre: General/Family
Rating/Warnings: G/PG for some very mild sexual language
Word Count: 5,845
“Stop that,” Andromeda said. She slapped her grandson’s hands away from the window, where he had been drawing pictures into the foggy glass. Ted Lupin rolled his eyes before obeying, slumping into the car’s backseat, pouting.
“I don’t wanna go,” he mumbled, miserably looking out from underneath his bangs.
“If you keep whining,” Andromeda said, “I’ll make you stay for the rest of the summer.” She hid her smirk as Teddy immediately straightened in his seat, his hair morphing from stringy black to its everyday shade of blue.
“No, a week is just fine,” he replied, his voice clear. He drummed his fingers against the leather cushion. He was impatient. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Muggle transportation, not that it mattered, since his grandmother didn’t like for him to travel otherwise without a valid emergency to give him cause to use magical means. It was just that he wanted to get to his godfather’s house as soon as possible, to just get it over with. Anticipation was always the worst part of facing an ordeal he didn’t wish to, Harry always told him. Once he had arrived he would eventually settle down into life with the family, and all he wanted to do was get to that point. Skip to it, in fact, but forward time travel was apparently impossible. It wouldn’t be, he sulked, if Gran would let me Floo like normal people.
“They love you, Teddy,” Andromeda said, “and they only want to be a part of your life. “ She gave Teddy a stern look. “The least you can do is spend a weekend with them without moping.” The car turned onto a street in a Muggle neighborhood. Usually there were children all about, shrieking and hollering up and down the lane, but the steady rain had driven everyone inside their warm homes. They stopped in front of a townhouse, invisible to most people in the world. The rain beat down on potted orange flowers. Teddy thought the bright color, otherwise cheerful, looked pathetic in the afternoon gloom.
Ginevra Potter was already behind the door when the pair arrived on her doorstep, and kissed both of them hello when they stepped inside. Lily Luna, newly one year old and barely walking, wrapped herself around her mother’s leg and grinned widely at her godbrother. Teddy smiled back and bent down to kiss her before heading into the kitchen to find Harry. “Don’t mind his rudeness, Ginny,” he heard his grandmother say, “he’s been so moody lately.”
“Full moon?” Ginny inquired quietly, but not quietly enough. He wasn’t a werewolf like his late father, but full moons still agitated him. He hated being talked about, and he stopped just outside of the kitchen, using his sensitive hearing to listen in on the two women’s conversation. The boy barely had the chance to hear Andromeda answer ‘yes’ when he was interrupted.
“Daddy says eavesdropping is wrong.” Teddy glared at the child beside him.
“So is hanging kids by their toes from the ceiling,” he snapped. “Mind your own business, James. Leave me alone.” James stubbornly stayed put. Teddy ignored him and listened in once more, but the women had stopped talking and gone elsewhere, probably into Ginny’s sitting room. He sighed and trudged into the kitchen, where Harry sat at the round table in the middle of the room. He was engrossed in a thick volume and didn’t register Teddy’s presence until Andromeda herself waltzed into the room and kissed him goodbye.
“The car will come for you Monday morning.” She ruffled his hair and nodded hello to Harry, who looked up with bewilderment. She was gone as quickly as she arrived; the two guys heard the door shut behind her as she left 12 Grimmauld Place.
“The car?” Harry asked as Ginny entered the room, sitting down onto a chair and pulling Lily Luna onto her lap.
“Yeah,” he explained. “It’s Uncle Lucius’. He knows how Gran feels about me using magical transportation so he bought a couple of cars a few weeks ago.” Teddy shrugged. “It’s no big deal, really. I didn’t tell you?”
“Nope.”
“Oh.”
“How... how is Draco?” Harry asked. Teddy caught the hesitancy and tried best not to shake his head. He knew all about his godfather and favorite cousin’s past rivalry, no thanks to the man sitting across from him, but that didn’t stop him from thinking it stupid.
“He’s well.” Aunt Cissy had asked him - and Uncle Lucius had told him, point blank - to not discuss The Divorce with anybody outside of the Malfoy family, ever. Even without their prompts Teddy had no wish to tell Harry about Draco’s marital issues. He was a big fan of Minding One’s Own Business, and Teddy couldn’t quite justify the belief that James inherited his nosiness from his Weasley side.
“That’s good, then,” Harry said. The three of them sat in silence for a while, the only noise being that of Lily Luna’s gurgling and the boiling of a large pot of soup over the stove.
“Your bedroom’s all ready for you, if you want to go up now. I’ve put a few books you might like on the bed; Ginny found them for you at a bookstore nearby,” Harry told him. Teddy thanked them both and hurried out of the room, bounding up the stairwell onto the second floor of the home. His bedroom was at the end of the narrow hallway, a large room occupied most prominently by a four-poster bed of white oak. The walls were painted a pumpkin shade of orange, with gold curtains over the windows and a dark teal area rug over the paneled floor. It was a cozy room, sparsely furnished with only a nightstand and a bureau, both bright and comforting. The entire house had been renovated only a few years before, and these were the colors Hermione had helped Ginny pick out for his room. They suited him, and he liked having his own place to escape to when the Potters wore on him a bit too much.
Like now.
He kicked off his sneakers and settled onto the bed, picking up the books Ginny had left for him. They were Muggle novels and he skimmed them in interest. He finally settled on one called A Series of Unfortunate Events and, reclining onto a pillow behind him, began to read.
-
“How would the skirt look shorter?” It was currently a bit too long for her mother’s tastes, apparently; she thought knee-length would flatter her more. Victoire tried not to fidget as the seamstress knelt to readjust the hem of the blue skirt she donned. Fleur D. Weasley stood nearby, leaning casually on a wall as her eldest daughter was fitted for her first Beauxbatons uniform. She may have been thoroughly annoyed with the amount of time it was taking to place an order at the tailor’s, but she couldn’t help but feel grown-up whenever she caught her reflection in the mirror.
“Turn around, chérie, s’il te plait,” her mother instructed. Victoire did as she was told and dipped into a deep curtsy. The seamstress, barely out of Beauxbatons herself it looked like, beamed at the sight of the eight-year-old girl. Fleur smiled weakly, wiping a tear that had run down her face.
“Ma fille, elle est belle, is she not?” She took Victoire’s hand and spun her around once, watching the silk skirt whirl around her skinny legs. Silver-blond hair and pale blue eyes glowed with excitement in the bright sunshine coming in from the windows lining one wall of the shop, and Fleur found herself falling in love with her daughter all over again.
“She is,” the seamstress wholeheartedly agreed, taking one last note of the measurements. She and Fleur helped Victoire out of the garments, and Victoire dressed again in her own clothes while the seamstress left to arrange the order. She would be the only one to attend Beauxbatons Academy of Magic; already Louis and Dominique expressed their complete desire to attend Hogwarts, and only Hogwarts, so no expense was too small for her. Fleur was willing to part with the massive amounts of Galleons needed to pay for the abundance of skirts, blazers, sweaters, hats, cloaks, scarves, blouses, stockings, and shoes that made up the required feminine dress at the Mediterranean palace.
Victoire waited for her mother to pay the owner of the dress shop, and minutes later they Apparated to the family’s Parisian home, where they had recently relocated from Shell Cottage when Gringotts had transferred her father to a branch in the city. They lived in a wealthy quartier, a quiet area out of the way of noise. The house the family of five lived in was ancient, or so it seemed to Victoire. She bounded into the front hall; the house was quiet, her father off at some unmentionable location and her siblings away in England for the summer with their Weasley grandparents. Only Gabrielle Delacour graced the home, newly arrived from Southern France where she lived with her longtime boyfriend.
Victoire threw herself into her aunt’s arms; giggling with delight when Gabrielle tickled her chin. “Well, ma niece, are you prepared to grace the halls of Beauxbatons Palace, the envy of every weak-hearted girl, charming teachers and making les garcons wet their sheets every night?”
“Gabrielle!” Fleur hissed. “She’s only nine. You can tease her in a few years’ time!”
Gabrielle grinned wickedly and winked at a confused Victoire. “You’ll see, chérie,” she whispered. Victoire knew that the boys at Beauxbatons were much too old to still wet the bed at night and was fully convinced that her tante was definitely not altogether sane that day. Shrugging, she followed the sisters into the family’s sitting room, where a radio played music at a low volume, a man crooning in a sultry voice in both French and Italian. Victoire stretched out on one leather sofa, placing her head into Gabrielle’s lap.
“Madame Maxime, she is well?” Fleur asked.
Gabrielle shrugged. “She’s retired, apparently. The new headmistress of Beauxbatons is this sprite of a woman, dark and tiny. Formidable, of course. Her father is a Spaniard, from Barcelona, and Headmistress Castellano was raised there.” She cocked an eyebrow at her sister Fleur, waiting for the inevitable reaction.
“Castellano… Why is that name so familiar?”
“Because it is. Victoire’s new headmistress is the mother of Elisabetta, your former classmate.” The smile she gave Fleur oozed with mock-sweetness. “I’m sure you remember dear Lisa quite well.”
Fleur grimaced. Victoire looked up at her mother questioningly, but one glimpse of Fleur’s face warned her against asking any questions. She settled down into her aunt’s lap once more. She’d find out soon enough anyway. She was curious.
“Indeed I do,” Fleur said, “but her mother is an angel, even though I can’t say so about Lisa herself.” She pulled her legs against her chest, still lithe and willowy three children later.
“When do I leave for la lycée, Maman?”
“In ten days, chérie.” She pulled Victoire off of her lap and held her close. “So soon.”
The song on the radio ended, and another voice, female this time, began her piece, hopeful and hesitant.
-
“Hey, Teddy, wake up, buddy.”
Teddy Lupin blinked his eyes against the sudden rush of sunlight. He had fallen asleep the night before without realizing it, sprawled across his bed still dressed in the clothes he had worn the day before. Harry sat on the edge of the bed, donning a tee shirt and boxers. “Whaa…?”
The older man grinned and shifted on the mattress. “I’m going out to run some errands; Ginny’s already out with the other three, at Ron and Hermione’s.” He ran a hand through his hair, unruly as always. This morning it was sticking up on one side. Teddy eyed that side, willing it to fall. It didn’t oblige.
“Okay.” He sat up in bed, stretching out his muscles. He winced; there was a crick in his neck. “I won’t take long.”
“No rush! Kreacher is fixing breakfast, and that’s bound to be large and delicious, so take your time getting ready.” He stood up and headed for the door. “I’ll be in my study for a little while if you need me.”
What he needed was a shower. A half hour later found him in Harry’s study, wearing fresh clothes and his hair still damp from its very recent shampooing. It hung in damp blond curls around his face. His looks always reverted back to their actual state when he took a shower, for some odd reason, and Teddy had discovered the hard way that morphing his hair was never a good idea while it was still wet. It left him feeling chill and damp for the rest of the day, no matter how much he dried it.
“You look like Narcissa Malfoy,” Harry said.
“Gran tells me that all of the time.”
Harry stared, his eyes moving quickly over his godson’s features. “A lot like her, in fact. It’s uncanny and quite odd, especially since she’s your great-aunt.” He shook his head. “Genetics can be so weird.”
Teddy frowned, quizzical. “Genetics?”
Harry blinked once and then said: “Oh. Um, they’re like code that you get from both sets of parents. They tell your body things like what color hair you’ll have, and how tall you’ll grow, and what kind of diseases you’re born with.” He cleared his throat. “Things like that.”
Feeling more than a little awkward, Teddy settled down into an oversized chair near a wall shelved ceiling to floor with volumes. He turned his head sideways and began reading a few titles. The silence began to gnaw at him, and Teddy began to morph to distract him. He needed to do something, and when would breakfast be ready so he wouldn’t have to think about something to talk about? He watched amusedly as his skin, now dry, darkened from its natural alabaster to something caught between the colors of cinnamon and plum.
“Does it take a lot, changing like that?” Harry asked. A shrug was his answer.
“The color of my skin, yeah. And pointless, too, since I can’t really control it yet. Hair is the easiest, so I usually only change that.” He shot Harry a wry smile. “I always have the best costumes at Halloween.”
At this Harry laughed, and Teddy laughed with him. Kreacher entered the room, bowed, and told them both that breakfast was on the kitchen table if they wanted it. Teddy stuffed himself full of the selections - chocolate chocolate-chip pancakes and bacon and eggs scrambled with cheese. It was the kind of fare that was one of the few things that could entice him to visit 12 Grimmauld Place on his own free will, since neither Andromeda nor the Malfoys allowed him to eat the stuff. “You’ll end up as plump as the Goyles if you keep eating like that,” Aunt Cissy would say about the sheer amounts of food Teddy could shovel into his mouth at one meal alone. “We’ll save those kinds of foods for special occasions,” she had said.
As if Teddy had any particular care about his figure. That was a thing grown-up girls did, and anyway, if what people said really was true and he took after his aunt, unless he morphed there was no way in the world he’d end up as huge as the Goyles, no matter what and how much he ate. His metabolism was too active.
“Are you ready to go?”
Teddy leaned back into his chair and groaned. “Uh-huh.”
“Then we’re off.”
“Where’re we going?”
Harry locked the front door; Teddy followed him down the stairs. Apparently they were taking public transportation that morning, if the direction was anything for the boy to go by. He shuddered. He hated the Underground. It was easily the creepiest place he had ever ventured into, and Teddy had stumbled across a bridal shower once. He definitely knew what creepy was.
“I’m doing the grocery shopping today - don’t worry, that shouldn’t be more than a half hour - and then we’ll have some man-to-man time. How’s that?”
He was being evasive, Teddy knew. That meant they were either going to Diagon Alley for Something Special or to a Muggle park for a Special Talk. Teddy wondered whether he should be excited or apprehensive. The last time he and Harry had had man-to-man time, Teddy had been subjected to a lecture about how “all of the Hogwarts houses are equally strong, so don’t feel as if you have to strive for Gryffindor or Slytherin to feel special,” no matter that his arrival at Hogwarts was still four months away at the time.
Hardly anybody realized that Teddy didn’t particularly care about houses one way or another. When he said such a thing, Harry had clearly not believed him, though he said otherwise. Whatever.
Today was clearly a Diagon Alley day, which cheered him up some. At the very least he’d walk away stuffed on ice cream from Fortescue’s. After Harry had banished the bags of groceries to his home, he and Teddy trooped off to Diagon Alley. Pulling him to one side, Harry said, “Now, I know you’ve had your Hogwarts acceptance letter for three months now and school is still more than a month away, but I’d like to shop for your supplies now.”
Teddy flushed and, his mouth set in a grim line, nodded silently. He knew what words would be out of his godfather’s mouth next.
“I won’t be able to take you to King’s Cross September first, most likely. I don’t want to promise anything to you; I don’t want to let you down.”
You won’t be there.
“I want to buy your wand, Teddy.”
The boy blinked once, twice, his mouth open in faint surprise. He shut it quickly, thinking of Uncle Lucius’ comments about proper facial responses. He took a deep breath, feeling a rush of guilt he hadn’t expected. The day of his birthday, Draco had taken Teddy to Ollivander’s to buy a wand. It only took a few moments for Harry to come to the understanding that he was too late.
“What is it?” Harry asked quietly, hurt etched much too clearly on his face.
Teddy was put-out by the sight of it. He didn’t like the feeling that he had stolen something from his godfather. Had he? There had been something in his grandmother’s eyes, when Draco had announced the surprise at breakfast that morning…
Heart thudding, Teddy told him: “Alder wood, ten and a half inches, unicorn hair core.”
“Well, then. I don’t believe you have anything else on your list, am I right?”
“No, I don’t.”
Shopping was hardly eventful. Madame Malkin beamed at the sight of both guys, going on and on about the thrill of seeing generations pass through her shop, and outfitted Teddy with way more than he thought he would actually need. Harry shook his head with a ghost of a smile on his face. “You’d be surprised how quickly you’ll wear through those clothes. Molly was always on the twins and Ron about it. I never saw Percy and Ginny with holes and stains in their uniforms, but they grew out of them quickly, too.”
Harry gazed wistfully at gold cauldrons in another shop. Teddy found them tacky. “You like those?”
“They bring back memories of my first time shopping for school, that’s all.”
He brightened up considerably when Harry suggested a trip to their favorite Muggle bookstore in London. That much he could enjoy.
-
5 August 2009
Ted,
It’s time I discuss in depth some matters with you. I will be in my garden when you arrive at the manor come this Saturday.
Love,
Aunt Narcissa
-
The dahlias were by far Teddy’s favorite flowers in his aunt’s garden. She had an array of them and the ones she took the most pride in were the anemone dahlias. He had to agree: the blooms had certain strength about them; even the heat, pressing and humid, didn’t make them falter. It could be a metaphor, their presence in Aunt Cissy’s garden, or he might be looking too much into things merely for pleasure and decoration.
“We have never hid our pasts from you, Ted,” she began. He was holding her hand, cool and dry; the bands of her engagement and wedding rings wedged between his fingers uncomfortably. He didn’t let go. He didn’t want to.
“You were a curious child, reading books you had no business even noticing, and we let you.” Her blue eyes searched his face; he could feel her stare, but didn’t meet it. The dahlias held his visual attention. “You were much too young to know so much about the Dark Arts and Death Eaters and two most recent Wizarding Wars, but you did and we didn’t hide our own history when you asked about it, even if we didn’t volunteer the information.”
“I love you guys anyway.” He shrugged. “You know that.”
“Yes, but Ted, please think about what I’m telling you. You must understand some things before you go off to school.” She turned his body toward hers, lifted his chin and forced him to look at her. “It will not be easy for you at times, having such close associations with us Malfoys, especially since you choose to.”
“They may think I’m dabbling.” It wasn’t a question. Teddy may have been eleven, but he wasn’t an idiot.
“At the very least, they’ll believe you prejudiced against anyone with close ties to the Muggle world.” She squeezed his hand, released his chin. “You know how we feel about Wizarding culture and Muggle influence, that I like Wizarding remaining as separate as possible from the non-magical world. You also know that I am not happy with my family’s involvement in the Wizarding wars, but it happened and there is nothing we can do but accept it and move on.”
“Then why bring it up if you know that I know these things?”
Narcissa said, “Because I have to be sure that you have your own views, regardless of mine or Lucius’ or Draco’s, and that you’re willing to listen to, understand, and respect differences. I need you to realize that whatever your schoolmates may intimate about us and your connection to us, we are still us, your family, and that we still love you and welcome you with open arms, no matter our own values.”
“I know.”
“They will say things, Ted, all kinds of awful things. They will mention your uncle’s death roster, the night Draco attempted to kill Albus Dumbledore on the roof, the weeks I hosted the Dark Lord in my home, and Ted, you listen to me: they will judge you for it. The morning you told Andromeda that you wanted to get to know us, and the evening you decided that you would stay around, the afternoon you asked if you two could live with us - all of that sealed your fate in many people’s eyes. They will believe that were are raising you as a Dark Wizard and you will suffer many consequences at their hands for it. Your schoolmates will be wary of you, slow to trust and always searching for a reason not to.” Narcissa brushed a tear from Teddy’s face, held him close. He was trembling, not because he didn’t know, but because he was afraid.
“Don’t ask not to be in Slytherin on our behalf,” drawled a male voice. Teddy looked up to find Lucius on the brick walk nearby, close enough to hear and be heard. “You’d do well there, though I suppose I didn’t have to tell you that.”
“No, not really.”
“You must be careful at Hogwarts, Ted.”
“I know, sir.”
“Do you?”
“Either way I’ll find out, right?”
Lucius smiled, a real one, amused and proud. “Better prepared than shocked, I believe.”
“That, too.”
Narcissa kissed her nephew’s forehead, murmured a message into her husband’s ear, and left the two on their own.
“Do you regret your involvement in the last two wars, Uncle Lucius?”
“I should have been involved in a more constructive way.”
It wasn’t regret exactly; it may not have been regret at all, but Teddy was grateful for it all the same.
-
“Le rose et le bleu? That’s what you want, Victoire?”
“Oui!”
She and Gabrielle stood in a construction depot; dozens of color cards were spread out on a small table in front of them. Victoire had eagerly chosen fuchsia and navy for her room to the chagrin of her aunt. Gabrielle, partial to the softer combinations of pale gray and canary or lilac and chocolate, had yet to give up the fight, however stubbornly Victoire stood her ground against her.
“It’s so harsh, chérie, those colors you want. Wouldn’t you prefer something brighter?”
“No.”
Gabrielle rolled her eyes, accepting defeat. “D’accord, but don’t you ever complain to me that there is never enough light in your room.” Purchased paint and tools in hand, the pair Apparated to Gabrielle’s home in southern France, only ten miles away from Beauxbatons. Students under the age of eleven weren’t allowed to board in the palace; almost all of the école élémentaire students at the academy were French as a result, and all of them were from or lived with relatives in the region who had time to see their young sons and daughters the palace every morning. For the next two years, Victoire would live with her aunt, staying at Beauxbatons only for her lessons and extracurricular activities.
Dressed in paint-splattered overalls and an ugly baseball cap, Victoire poured pink paint into a tray.
“Be careful not to track paint on the floors.”
Victoire stepped onto a square of uncovered floor, leaving a fuchsia-colored boot print.
“Marmot.”
-
23 August 2009
Teddy,
I’ve been called on assignment, and I won’t be released from my duties until September 12, well after your first day of school. I’m sorry for not being able to spend more time with you before you leave and not being able to take you to the station, but I hope you have a great first term. I’ll send you plenty of letters, and don’t forget to write. I might even be able to steal away to the castle sometime to see you.
Ginny tells me to stop kidding myself, that once you’re there the last thing on your mind will be talking to your boring godfather, but don’t just fall off of the planet, okay? Send a note telling me you’re alive once in a while. Preferably before Christmas holiday and not in a letter that has your wish list attached. Molly said she’ll send you plenty of care packages, Hermione wants you to remember to keep to a steady study schedule, and Ron is telling her to let you have your fun. Everyone says hello and misses you! Hugo’s started to walk, finally. I’ll send you pictures.
I wish you the best of luck, and say hi to Neville for me, will you?
With love,
Harry
-
30 August 2009
Teddy,
Be ready by nine-thirty tomorrow morning. I’m away on business tonight, but I’ll be home in the morning to see you off to Hogwarts. Don’t forget your wand.
Draco
-
Her skirt was starched to perfection. Gabrielle had made sure of it; she had placed a strong anti-wrinkle charm on her niece’s uniform just before they left home that morning. There was nothing worse than an Academy lady wearing wrinkled clothes. In fact, it was one of the first charms both sexes were taught; appearance was taken quite seriously at Beauxbatons Palace. There were none of the mediocre standards of dress that passed for presentable at Hogwarts; Beauxbatons preferred its students meticulously attired and so required it; there was even a fund especially for students who couldn’t afford to stay in line with the code.
Gabrielle Delacour loved it.
Her niece stood before her, proudly sporting the blue and ivory, a golden pin in the form of the intertwined letters ‘D’ and ‘W’ on her lapel. Her silver hair, normally worn free, had been smoothed into a pretty bun. Gabrielle gave her a watery grin and, with the girl’s small hand in her own, led her into the palace. Her heart warmed at the gasps that escaped from the girl’s lips, at the spark of awe in her blue eyes.
“Madame de Garmeaux.” Gabrielle and her niece introduced themselves to the woman that stood near one window in the small library; there were seven other students about, each anxious and impressed. Turning to the girl beside her, she said, “This is your conseillère, chérie. Respect her and listen to her; she and you will grow close over the next few years.”
“Bonjour, Madame.” Victoire dipped into a pretty curtsy.
“Mademoiselle Weasley,” de Garmeaux greeted. “Welcome to the Beauxbâtons Académie de Magie.”
Victoire kissed her aunt goodbye.
-
Draco hauled Teddy’s trunk onto the overhead rack, muttering a charm that would keep it in place. The eleven-year-old child it belonged to stood outside of the compartment, staring outside of the windows to watch hundreds of students give their goodbyes, tearful or otherwise, to their families. One girl, who Teddy would have taken for eight-years-old if he crossed her on the street, was clinging to her father fearfully. He was holding in a laugh when Draco caught him.
“You’re doing that on the inside,” he said, “so don’t even attempt to smile.”
A chastised Teddy stepped into the compartment and sat down; Draco closed the door and settled across from him.
“If someone had told me after my graduation that I’d return eleven years later to King’s Cross with a kid in tow, I-”
“Wouldn’t have believed them?”
Draco chuckled and shook his head. “Would have asked them whose kid I was seeing off. I never expected a cousin. I didn’t grow up knowing any close ones.”
There was a hint of sadness in his voice, a vulnerability Draco didn’t normally allow. Teddy looked down at his feet, his trunk overhead, outside the compartment. What could he say to that? He knew full well the story of the Black’s history, even if he didn’t quite understand its implications; his mother and the man across from him had only met once, even though Teddy had known Draco for as long as he could remember.
“I’m proud of you, Teddy,” he said. “We all are.” Draco handed Teddy the cage containing his new owl, courtesy of his grandmother. Only the day before Andromeda had taken him to the owlery at Diagon Alley, and Teddy had taken advantage of the last hours he’d spend with her until Christmas, shamelessly holding her hand the entire trip. Mercury, a common barn owl with brown and gray markings, hooted contentedly. He hugged Teddy, ruffled his blue hair. “Have a great year, and call for me when you need me.”
With that Draco was gone. Teddy, alone and strangely melancholy, curled up in one corner with his new Muggle novel. He had a taste for other worlds, and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe suited his fancy just fine.
-
Teddy was fascinated by family dynamics, especially the kind that spread across multiple generations, and his new classmates were no exception. Curiously he studied a pair of twins standing in front of from him. Dark-haired, pale, and tall, both girls had reminded him of Headmaster Severus Snape, even before he was told that they were his cousins, great-nieces of his mother. From what he had heard of Snape’s maternal family and their love for privacy, it was no wonder hardly anybody was aware that he had had much of a family, let alone a large one rivaling the Weasley clan. Eileen Prince, from the long explanation one of his maternal cousins had told him on the Express, had had four older brothers and a younger one who had spawned a tribe. Astrid and Zelda were the first two of their generation to attend Hogwarts, which wasn’t saying much, as the twins had an aunt and two uncles who had graduated only two years before, in 2007. Go figure.
Before he could say hello to either of them, a man vaguely reminiscent of a goblin greeted them. Teddy half-listened, half-ignored the man as he waxed poetic about Hogwarts and its houses, and walked into the Great Hall. Like the others he craned his neck to catch a glimpse of the enchanted ceiling. It mirrored the clear, starry night outside, and with a new surge of confidence, Teddy straightened his body and joined the group at the front of the hall.
His eyes scanned the long table where the faculty sat alert and interested. He caught Neville’s - Professor Longbottom’s, he corrected - eyes and gave a cheery wave. Neville returned with a thumbs-up. Professor Flitwick gestured toward the hat, explained its significance, and after a song from it that made Teddy feel a little embarrassed, began to call the first year students to the stool, one by one.
“Belby, Isaiah!”
This one was blonde and pink-faced and seemed extremely grateful when the hat declared him a Hufflepuff. “I don’t like riddles,” he loudly whispered to one of his new housemates, and blushed a deep red when the Ravenclaws nearby, some of them familiar with his last name, laughed.
Despite Belby’s declaration, there seemed to Teddy an abnormally large amount of new Ravenclaws this year. By the time “Lupin, Ted!” was called to the dais, however, there were still no new Slytherins. He vaguely wondered if the first would be him.
Come to think of it, the Class of 2016 was proving to be a large one in general. Teddy decided that he liked this; it would mean more people to talk to as well as more opportunities to become invisible if he wanted to, which he definitely would from time to time.
“My, my, my - aren’t you an interesting one?”
The hat was beginning to annoy him already.
“Werewolf tendencies, Metamorphagus abilities, and Black blood, all in one. How dangerous. What potential.”
Teddy looked out at the four tables, kicking his legs in the air as he waited. He supposed he would go to Slytherin after all…
“And the same birthday as one Bellatrix Black.”
It was a fact he hated; she was the only relative from his maternal family that inspired such loathing in him, even when Uncle Lucius had committed the same wrongs she did. She killed his parents and her memory had spoiled every birthday he could remember. Teddy wondered if this was how Harry felt about Lord Voldemort, what Neville felt for Bellatrix Lestrange, too. He decided to ask later.
“I know exactly where you belong.”
He was somewhat taken aback in a pleased sort of way when it hollered “Hufflepuff!” Ted Lupin hopped off of the bench and joined their ranks, elated and electric.
-
Fin.
Samaria//Slytherin//125
Summary: Teddy and Victoire's first years at Hogwarts and Beauxbatons are quickly approaching.
Characters/Pairings: Teddy Lupin, Victoire Weasley, Andromeda Tonks, Draco Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy, Harry Potter, Fleur Weasley, Gabrielle Delacour
Genre: General/Family
Rating/Warnings: G/PG for some very mild sexual language
Word Count: 5,845
“Stop that,” Andromeda said. She slapped her grandson’s hands away from the window, where he had been drawing pictures into the foggy glass. Ted Lupin rolled his eyes before obeying, slumping into the car’s backseat, pouting.
“I don’t wanna go,” he mumbled, miserably looking out from underneath his bangs.
“If you keep whining,” Andromeda said, “I’ll make you stay for the rest of the summer.” She hid her smirk as Teddy immediately straightened in his seat, his hair morphing from stringy black to its everyday shade of blue.
“No, a week is just fine,” he replied, his voice clear. He drummed his fingers against the leather cushion. He was impatient. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Muggle transportation, not that it mattered, since his grandmother didn’t like for him to travel otherwise without a valid emergency to give him cause to use magical means. It was just that he wanted to get to his godfather’s house as soon as possible, to just get it over with. Anticipation was always the worst part of facing an ordeal he didn’t wish to, Harry always told him. Once he had arrived he would eventually settle down into life with the family, and all he wanted to do was get to that point. Skip to it, in fact, but forward time travel was apparently impossible. It wouldn’t be, he sulked, if Gran would let me Floo like normal people.
“They love you, Teddy,” Andromeda said, “and they only want to be a part of your life. “ She gave Teddy a stern look. “The least you can do is spend a weekend with them without moping.” The car turned onto a street in a Muggle neighborhood. Usually there were children all about, shrieking and hollering up and down the lane, but the steady rain had driven everyone inside their warm homes. They stopped in front of a townhouse, invisible to most people in the world. The rain beat down on potted orange flowers. Teddy thought the bright color, otherwise cheerful, looked pathetic in the afternoon gloom.
Ginevra Potter was already behind the door when the pair arrived on her doorstep, and kissed both of them hello when they stepped inside. Lily Luna, newly one year old and barely walking, wrapped herself around her mother’s leg and grinned widely at her godbrother. Teddy smiled back and bent down to kiss her before heading into the kitchen to find Harry. “Don’t mind his rudeness, Ginny,” he heard his grandmother say, “he’s been so moody lately.”
“Full moon?” Ginny inquired quietly, but not quietly enough. He wasn’t a werewolf like his late father, but full moons still agitated him. He hated being talked about, and he stopped just outside of the kitchen, using his sensitive hearing to listen in on the two women’s conversation. The boy barely had the chance to hear Andromeda answer ‘yes’ when he was interrupted.
“Daddy says eavesdropping is wrong.” Teddy glared at the child beside him.
“So is hanging kids by their toes from the ceiling,” he snapped. “Mind your own business, James. Leave me alone.” James stubbornly stayed put. Teddy ignored him and listened in once more, but the women had stopped talking and gone elsewhere, probably into Ginny’s sitting room. He sighed and trudged into the kitchen, where Harry sat at the round table in the middle of the room. He was engrossed in a thick volume and didn’t register Teddy’s presence until Andromeda herself waltzed into the room and kissed him goodbye.
“The car will come for you Monday morning.” She ruffled his hair and nodded hello to Harry, who looked up with bewilderment. She was gone as quickly as she arrived; the two guys heard the door shut behind her as she left 12 Grimmauld Place.
“The car?” Harry asked as Ginny entered the room, sitting down onto a chair and pulling Lily Luna onto her lap.
“Yeah,” he explained. “It’s Uncle Lucius’. He knows how Gran feels about me using magical transportation so he bought a couple of cars a few weeks ago.” Teddy shrugged. “It’s no big deal, really. I didn’t tell you?”
“Nope.”
“Oh.”
“How... how is Draco?” Harry asked. Teddy caught the hesitancy and tried best not to shake his head. He knew all about his godfather and favorite cousin’s past rivalry, no thanks to the man sitting across from him, but that didn’t stop him from thinking it stupid.
“He’s well.” Aunt Cissy had asked him - and Uncle Lucius had told him, point blank - to not discuss The Divorce with anybody outside of the Malfoy family, ever. Even without their prompts Teddy had no wish to tell Harry about Draco’s marital issues. He was a big fan of Minding One’s Own Business, and Teddy couldn’t quite justify the belief that James inherited his nosiness from his Weasley side.
“That’s good, then,” Harry said. The three of them sat in silence for a while, the only noise being that of Lily Luna’s gurgling and the boiling of a large pot of soup over the stove.
“Your bedroom’s all ready for you, if you want to go up now. I’ve put a few books you might like on the bed; Ginny found them for you at a bookstore nearby,” Harry told him. Teddy thanked them both and hurried out of the room, bounding up the stairwell onto the second floor of the home. His bedroom was at the end of the narrow hallway, a large room occupied most prominently by a four-poster bed of white oak. The walls were painted a pumpkin shade of orange, with gold curtains over the windows and a dark teal area rug over the paneled floor. It was a cozy room, sparsely furnished with only a nightstand and a bureau, both bright and comforting. The entire house had been renovated only a few years before, and these were the colors Hermione had helped Ginny pick out for his room. They suited him, and he liked having his own place to escape to when the Potters wore on him a bit too much.
Like now.
He kicked off his sneakers and settled onto the bed, picking up the books Ginny had left for him. They were Muggle novels and he skimmed them in interest. He finally settled on one called A Series of Unfortunate Events and, reclining onto a pillow behind him, began to read.
-
“How would the skirt look shorter?” It was currently a bit too long for her mother’s tastes, apparently; she thought knee-length would flatter her more. Victoire tried not to fidget as the seamstress knelt to readjust the hem of the blue skirt she donned. Fleur D. Weasley stood nearby, leaning casually on a wall as her eldest daughter was fitted for her first Beauxbatons uniform. She may have been thoroughly annoyed with the amount of time it was taking to place an order at the tailor’s, but she couldn’t help but feel grown-up whenever she caught her reflection in the mirror.
“Turn around, chérie, s’il te plait,” her mother instructed. Victoire did as she was told and dipped into a deep curtsy. The seamstress, barely out of Beauxbatons herself it looked like, beamed at the sight of the eight-year-old girl. Fleur smiled weakly, wiping a tear that had run down her face.
“Ma fille, elle est belle, is she not?” She took Victoire’s hand and spun her around once, watching the silk skirt whirl around her skinny legs. Silver-blond hair and pale blue eyes glowed with excitement in the bright sunshine coming in from the windows lining one wall of the shop, and Fleur found herself falling in love with her daughter all over again.
“She is,” the seamstress wholeheartedly agreed, taking one last note of the measurements. She and Fleur helped Victoire out of the garments, and Victoire dressed again in her own clothes while the seamstress left to arrange the order. She would be the only one to attend Beauxbatons Academy of Magic; already Louis and Dominique expressed their complete desire to attend Hogwarts, and only Hogwarts, so no expense was too small for her. Fleur was willing to part with the massive amounts of Galleons needed to pay for the abundance of skirts, blazers, sweaters, hats, cloaks, scarves, blouses, stockings, and shoes that made up the required feminine dress at the Mediterranean palace.
Victoire waited for her mother to pay the owner of the dress shop, and minutes later they Apparated to the family’s Parisian home, where they had recently relocated from Shell Cottage when Gringotts had transferred her father to a branch in the city. They lived in a wealthy quartier, a quiet area out of the way of noise. The house the family of five lived in was ancient, or so it seemed to Victoire. She bounded into the front hall; the house was quiet, her father off at some unmentionable location and her siblings away in England for the summer with their Weasley grandparents. Only Gabrielle Delacour graced the home, newly arrived from Southern France where she lived with her longtime boyfriend.
Victoire threw herself into her aunt’s arms; giggling with delight when Gabrielle tickled her chin. “Well, ma niece, are you prepared to grace the halls of Beauxbatons Palace, the envy of every weak-hearted girl, charming teachers and making les garcons wet their sheets every night?”
“Gabrielle!” Fleur hissed. “She’s only nine. You can tease her in a few years’ time!”
Gabrielle grinned wickedly and winked at a confused Victoire. “You’ll see, chérie,” she whispered. Victoire knew that the boys at Beauxbatons were much too old to still wet the bed at night and was fully convinced that her tante was definitely not altogether sane that day. Shrugging, she followed the sisters into the family’s sitting room, where a radio played music at a low volume, a man crooning in a sultry voice in both French and Italian. Victoire stretched out on one leather sofa, placing her head into Gabrielle’s lap.
“Madame Maxime, she is well?” Fleur asked.
Gabrielle shrugged. “She’s retired, apparently. The new headmistress of Beauxbatons is this sprite of a woman, dark and tiny. Formidable, of course. Her father is a Spaniard, from Barcelona, and Headmistress Castellano was raised there.” She cocked an eyebrow at her sister Fleur, waiting for the inevitable reaction.
“Castellano… Why is that name so familiar?”
“Because it is. Victoire’s new headmistress is the mother of Elisabetta, your former classmate.” The smile she gave Fleur oozed with mock-sweetness. “I’m sure you remember dear Lisa quite well.”
Fleur grimaced. Victoire looked up at her mother questioningly, but one glimpse of Fleur’s face warned her against asking any questions. She settled down into her aunt’s lap once more. She’d find out soon enough anyway. She was curious.
“Indeed I do,” Fleur said, “but her mother is an angel, even though I can’t say so about Lisa herself.” She pulled her legs against her chest, still lithe and willowy three children later.
“When do I leave for la lycée, Maman?”
“In ten days, chérie.” She pulled Victoire off of her lap and held her close. “So soon.”
The song on the radio ended, and another voice, female this time, began her piece, hopeful and hesitant.
-
“Hey, Teddy, wake up, buddy.”
Teddy Lupin blinked his eyes against the sudden rush of sunlight. He had fallen asleep the night before without realizing it, sprawled across his bed still dressed in the clothes he had worn the day before. Harry sat on the edge of the bed, donning a tee shirt and boxers. “Whaa…?”
The older man grinned and shifted on the mattress. “I’m going out to run some errands; Ginny’s already out with the other three, at Ron and Hermione’s.” He ran a hand through his hair, unruly as always. This morning it was sticking up on one side. Teddy eyed that side, willing it to fall. It didn’t oblige.
“Okay.” He sat up in bed, stretching out his muscles. He winced; there was a crick in his neck. “I won’t take long.”
“No rush! Kreacher is fixing breakfast, and that’s bound to be large and delicious, so take your time getting ready.” He stood up and headed for the door. “I’ll be in my study for a little while if you need me.”
What he needed was a shower. A half hour later found him in Harry’s study, wearing fresh clothes and his hair still damp from its very recent shampooing. It hung in damp blond curls around his face. His looks always reverted back to their actual state when he took a shower, for some odd reason, and Teddy had discovered the hard way that morphing his hair was never a good idea while it was still wet. It left him feeling chill and damp for the rest of the day, no matter how much he dried it.
“You look like Narcissa Malfoy,” Harry said.
“Gran tells me that all of the time.”
Harry stared, his eyes moving quickly over his godson’s features. “A lot like her, in fact. It’s uncanny and quite odd, especially since she’s your great-aunt.” He shook his head. “Genetics can be so weird.”
Teddy frowned, quizzical. “Genetics?”
Harry blinked once and then said: “Oh. Um, they’re like code that you get from both sets of parents. They tell your body things like what color hair you’ll have, and how tall you’ll grow, and what kind of diseases you’re born with.” He cleared his throat. “Things like that.”
Feeling more than a little awkward, Teddy settled down into an oversized chair near a wall shelved ceiling to floor with volumes. He turned his head sideways and began reading a few titles. The silence began to gnaw at him, and Teddy began to morph to distract him. He needed to do something, and when would breakfast be ready so he wouldn’t have to think about something to talk about? He watched amusedly as his skin, now dry, darkened from its natural alabaster to something caught between the colors of cinnamon and plum.
“Does it take a lot, changing like that?” Harry asked. A shrug was his answer.
“The color of my skin, yeah. And pointless, too, since I can’t really control it yet. Hair is the easiest, so I usually only change that.” He shot Harry a wry smile. “I always have the best costumes at Halloween.”
At this Harry laughed, and Teddy laughed with him. Kreacher entered the room, bowed, and told them both that breakfast was on the kitchen table if they wanted it. Teddy stuffed himself full of the selections - chocolate chocolate-chip pancakes and bacon and eggs scrambled with cheese. It was the kind of fare that was one of the few things that could entice him to visit 12 Grimmauld Place on his own free will, since neither Andromeda nor the Malfoys allowed him to eat the stuff. “You’ll end up as plump as the Goyles if you keep eating like that,” Aunt Cissy would say about the sheer amounts of food Teddy could shovel into his mouth at one meal alone. “We’ll save those kinds of foods for special occasions,” she had said.
As if Teddy had any particular care about his figure. That was a thing grown-up girls did, and anyway, if what people said really was true and he took after his aunt, unless he morphed there was no way in the world he’d end up as huge as the Goyles, no matter what and how much he ate. His metabolism was too active.
“Are you ready to go?”
Teddy leaned back into his chair and groaned. “Uh-huh.”
“Then we’re off.”
“Where’re we going?”
Harry locked the front door; Teddy followed him down the stairs. Apparently they were taking public transportation that morning, if the direction was anything for the boy to go by. He shuddered. He hated the Underground. It was easily the creepiest place he had ever ventured into, and Teddy had stumbled across a bridal shower once. He definitely knew what creepy was.
“I’m doing the grocery shopping today - don’t worry, that shouldn’t be more than a half hour - and then we’ll have some man-to-man time. How’s that?”
He was being evasive, Teddy knew. That meant they were either going to Diagon Alley for Something Special or to a Muggle park for a Special Talk. Teddy wondered whether he should be excited or apprehensive. The last time he and Harry had had man-to-man time, Teddy had been subjected to a lecture about how “all of the Hogwarts houses are equally strong, so don’t feel as if you have to strive for Gryffindor or Slytherin to feel special,” no matter that his arrival at Hogwarts was still four months away at the time.
Hardly anybody realized that Teddy didn’t particularly care about houses one way or another. When he said such a thing, Harry had clearly not believed him, though he said otherwise. Whatever.
Today was clearly a Diagon Alley day, which cheered him up some. At the very least he’d walk away stuffed on ice cream from Fortescue’s. After Harry had banished the bags of groceries to his home, he and Teddy trooped off to Diagon Alley. Pulling him to one side, Harry said, “Now, I know you’ve had your Hogwarts acceptance letter for three months now and school is still more than a month away, but I’d like to shop for your supplies now.”
Teddy flushed and, his mouth set in a grim line, nodded silently. He knew what words would be out of his godfather’s mouth next.
“I won’t be able to take you to King’s Cross September first, most likely. I don’t want to promise anything to you; I don’t want to let you down.”
You won’t be there.
“I want to buy your wand, Teddy.”
The boy blinked once, twice, his mouth open in faint surprise. He shut it quickly, thinking of Uncle Lucius’ comments about proper facial responses. He took a deep breath, feeling a rush of guilt he hadn’t expected. The day of his birthday, Draco had taken Teddy to Ollivander’s to buy a wand. It only took a few moments for Harry to come to the understanding that he was too late.
“What is it?” Harry asked quietly, hurt etched much too clearly on his face.
Teddy was put-out by the sight of it. He didn’t like the feeling that he had stolen something from his godfather. Had he? There had been something in his grandmother’s eyes, when Draco had announced the surprise at breakfast that morning…
Heart thudding, Teddy told him: “Alder wood, ten and a half inches, unicorn hair core.”
“Well, then. I don’t believe you have anything else on your list, am I right?”
“No, I don’t.”
Shopping was hardly eventful. Madame Malkin beamed at the sight of both guys, going on and on about the thrill of seeing generations pass through her shop, and outfitted Teddy with way more than he thought he would actually need. Harry shook his head with a ghost of a smile on his face. “You’d be surprised how quickly you’ll wear through those clothes. Molly was always on the twins and Ron about it. I never saw Percy and Ginny with holes and stains in their uniforms, but they grew out of them quickly, too.”
Harry gazed wistfully at gold cauldrons in another shop. Teddy found them tacky. “You like those?”
“They bring back memories of my first time shopping for school, that’s all.”
He brightened up considerably when Harry suggested a trip to their favorite Muggle bookstore in London. That much he could enjoy.
-
5 August 2009
Ted,
It’s time I discuss in depth some matters with you. I will be in my garden when you arrive at the manor come this Saturday.
Love,
Aunt Narcissa
-
The dahlias were by far Teddy’s favorite flowers in his aunt’s garden. She had an array of them and the ones she took the most pride in were the anemone dahlias. He had to agree: the blooms had certain strength about them; even the heat, pressing and humid, didn’t make them falter. It could be a metaphor, their presence in Aunt Cissy’s garden, or he might be looking too much into things merely for pleasure and decoration.
“We have never hid our pasts from you, Ted,” she began. He was holding her hand, cool and dry; the bands of her engagement and wedding rings wedged between his fingers uncomfortably. He didn’t let go. He didn’t want to.
“You were a curious child, reading books you had no business even noticing, and we let you.” Her blue eyes searched his face; he could feel her stare, but didn’t meet it. The dahlias held his visual attention. “You were much too young to know so much about the Dark Arts and Death Eaters and two most recent Wizarding Wars, but you did and we didn’t hide our own history when you asked about it, even if we didn’t volunteer the information.”
“I love you guys anyway.” He shrugged. “You know that.”
“Yes, but Ted, please think about what I’m telling you. You must understand some things before you go off to school.” She turned his body toward hers, lifted his chin and forced him to look at her. “It will not be easy for you at times, having such close associations with us Malfoys, especially since you choose to.”
“They may think I’m dabbling.” It wasn’t a question. Teddy may have been eleven, but he wasn’t an idiot.
“At the very least, they’ll believe you prejudiced against anyone with close ties to the Muggle world.” She squeezed his hand, released his chin. “You know how we feel about Wizarding culture and Muggle influence, that I like Wizarding remaining as separate as possible from the non-magical world. You also know that I am not happy with my family’s involvement in the Wizarding wars, but it happened and there is nothing we can do but accept it and move on.”
“Then why bring it up if you know that I know these things?”
Narcissa said, “Because I have to be sure that you have your own views, regardless of mine or Lucius’ or Draco’s, and that you’re willing to listen to, understand, and respect differences. I need you to realize that whatever your schoolmates may intimate about us and your connection to us, we are still us, your family, and that we still love you and welcome you with open arms, no matter our own values.”
“I know.”
“They will say things, Ted, all kinds of awful things. They will mention your uncle’s death roster, the night Draco attempted to kill Albus Dumbledore on the roof, the weeks I hosted the Dark Lord in my home, and Ted, you listen to me: they will judge you for it. The morning you told Andromeda that you wanted to get to know us, and the evening you decided that you would stay around, the afternoon you asked if you two could live with us - all of that sealed your fate in many people’s eyes. They will believe that were are raising you as a Dark Wizard and you will suffer many consequences at their hands for it. Your schoolmates will be wary of you, slow to trust and always searching for a reason not to.” Narcissa brushed a tear from Teddy’s face, held him close. He was trembling, not because he didn’t know, but because he was afraid.
“Don’t ask not to be in Slytherin on our behalf,” drawled a male voice. Teddy looked up to find Lucius on the brick walk nearby, close enough to hear and be heard. “You’d do well there, though I suppose I didn’t have to tell you that.”
“No, not really.”
“You must be careful at Hogwarts, Ted.”
“I know, sir.”
“Do you?”
“Either way I’ll find out, right?”
Lucius smiled, a real one, amused and proud. “Better prepared than shocked, I believe.”
“That, too.”
Narcissa kissed her nephew’s forehead, murmured a message into her husband’s ear, and left the two on their own.
“Do you regret your involvement in the last two wars, Uncle Lucius?”
“I should have been involved in a more constructive way.”
It wasn’t regret exactly; it may not have been regret at all, but Teddy was grateful for it all the same.
-
“Le rose et le bleu? That’s what you want, Victoire?”
“Oui!”
She and Gabrielle stood in a construction depot; dozens of color cards were spread out on a small table in front of them. Victoire had eagerly chosen fuchsia and navy for her room to the chagrin of her aunt. Gabrielle, partial to the softer combinations of pale gray and canary or lilac and chocolate, had yet to give up the fight, however stubbornly Victoire stood her ground against her.
“It’s so harsh, chérie, those colors you want. Wouldn’t you prefer something brighter?”
“No.”
Gabrielle rolled her eyes, accepting defeat. “D’accord, but don’t you ever complain to me that there is never enough light in your room.” Purchased paint and tools in hand, the pair Apparated to Gabrielle’s home in southern France, only ten miles away from Beauxbatons. Students under the age of eleven weren’t allowed to board in the palace; almost all of the école élémentaire students at the academy were French as a result, and all of them were from or lived with relatives in the region who had time to see their young sons and daughters the palace every morning. For the next two years, Victoire would live with her aunt, staying at Beauxbatons only for her lessons and extracurricular activities.
Dressed in paint-splattered overalls and an ugly baseball cap, Victoire poured pink paint into a tray.
“Be careful not to track paint on the floors.”
Victoire stepped onto a square of uncovered floor, leaving a fuchsia-colored boot print.
“Marmot.”
-
23 August 2009
Teddy,
I’ve been called on assignment, and I won’t be released from my duties until September 12, well after your first day of school. I’m sorry for not being able to spend more time with you before you leave and not being able to take you to the station, but I hope you have a great first term. I’ll send you plenty of letters, and don’t forget to write. I might even be able to steal away to the castle sometime to see you.
Ginny tells me to stop kidding myself, that once you’re there the last thing on your mind will be talking to your boring godfather, but don’t just fall off of the planet, okay? Send a note telling me you’re alive once in a while. Preferably before Christmas holiday and not in a letter that has your wish list attached. Molly said she’ll send you plenty of care packages, Hermione wants you to remember to keep to a steady study schedule, and Ron is telling her to let you have your fun. Everyone says hello and misses you! Hugo’s started to walk, finally. I’ll send you pictures.
I wish you the best of luck, and say hi to Neville for me, will you?
With love,
Harry
-
30 August 2009
Teddy,
Be ready by nine-thirty tomorrow morning. I’m away on business tonight, but I’ll be home in the morning to see you off to Hogwarts. Don’t forget your wand.
Draco
-
Her skirt was starched to perfection. Gabrielle had made sure of it; she had placed a strong anti-wrinkle charm on her niece’s uniform just before they left home that morning. There was nothing worse than an Academy lady wearing wrinkled clothes. In fact, it was one of the first charms both sexes were taught; appearance was taken quite seriously at Beauxbatons Palace. There were none of the mediocre standards of dress that passed for presentable at Hogwarts; Beauxbatons preferred its students meticulously attired and so required it; there was even a fund especially for students who couldn’t afford to stay in line with the code.
Gabrielle Delacour loved it.
Her niece stood before her, proudly sporting the blue and ivory, a golden pin in the form of the intertwined letters ‘D’ and ‘W’ on her lapel. Her silver hair, normally worn free, had been smoothed into a pretty bun. Gabrielle gave her a watery grin and, with the girl’s small hand in her own, led her into the palace. Her heart warmed at the gasps that escaped from the girl’s lips, at the spark of awe in her blue eyes.
“Madame de Garmeaux.” Gabrielle and her niece introduced themselves to the woman that stood near one window in the small library; there were seven other students about, each anxious and impressed. Turning to the girl beside her, she said, “This is your conseillère, chérie. Respect her and listen to her; she and you will grow close over the next few years.”
“Bonjour, Madame.” Victoire dipped into a pretty curtsy.
“Mademoiselle Weasley,” de Garmeaux greeted. “Welcome to the Beauxbâtons Académie de Magie.”
Victoire kissed her aunt goodbye.
-
Draco hauled Teddy’s trunk onto the overhead rack, muttering a charm that would keep it in place. The eleven-year-old child it belonged to stood outside of the compartment, staring outside of the windows to watch hundreds of students give their goodbyes, tearful or otherwise, to their families. One girl, who Teddy would have taken for eight-years-old if he crossed her on the street, was clinging to her father fearfully. He was holding in a laugh when Draco caught him.
“You’re doing that on the inside,” he said, “so don’t even attempt to smile.”
A chastised Teddy stepped into the compartment and sat down; Draco closed the door and settled across from him.
“If someone had told me after my graduation that I’d return eleven years later to King’s Cross with a kid in tow, I-”
“Wouldn’t have believed them?”
Draco chuckled and shook his head. “Would have asked them whose kid I was seeing off. I never expected a cousin. I didn’t grow up knowing any close ones.”
There was a hint of sadness in his voice, a vulnerability Draco didn’t normally allow. Teddy looked down at his feet, his trunk overhead, outside the compartment. What could he say to that? He knew full well the story of the Black’s history, even if he didn’t quite understand its implications; his mother and the man across from him had only met once, even though Teddy had known Draco for as long as he could remember.
“I’m proud of you, Teddy,” he said. “We all are.” Draco handed Teddy the cage containing his new owl, courtesy of his grandmother. Only the day before Andromeda had taken him to the owlery at Diagon Alley, and Teddy had taken advantage of the last hours he’d spend with her until Christmas, shamelessly holding her hand the entire trip. Mercury, a common barn owl with brown and gray markings, hooted contentedly. He hugged Teddy, ruffled his blue hair. “Have a great year, and call for me when you need me.”
With that Draco was gone. Teddy, alone and strangely melancholy, curled up in one corner with his new Muggle novel. He had a taste for other worlds, and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe suited his fancy just fine.
-
Teddy was fascinated by family dynamics, especially the kind that spread across multiple generations, and his new classmates were no exception. Curiously he studied a pair of twins standing in front of from him. Dark-haired, pale, and tall, both girls had reminded him of Headmaster Severus Snape, even before he was told that they were his cousins, great-nieces of his mother. From what he had heard of Snape’s maternal family and their love for privacy, it was no wonder hardly anybody was aware that he had had much of a family, let alone a large one rivaling the Weasley clan. Eileen Prince, from the long explanation one of his maternal cousins had told him on the Express, had had four older brothers and a younger one who had spawned a tribe. Astrid and Zelda were the first two of their generation to attend Hogwarts, which wasn’t saying much, as the twins had an aunt and two uncles who had graduated only two years before, in 2007. Go figure.
Before he could say hello to either of them, a man vaguely reminiscent of a goblin greeted them. Teddy half-listened, half-ignored the man as he waxed poetic about Hogwarts and its houses, and walked into the Great Hall. Like the others he craned his neck to catch a glimpse of the enchanted ceiling. It mirrored the clear, starry night outside, and with a new surge of confidence, Teddy straightened his body and joined the group at the front of the hall.
His eyes scanned the long table where the faculty sat alert and interested. He caught Neville’s - Professor Longbottom’s, he corrected - eyes and gave a cheery wave. Neville returned with a thumbs-up. Professor Flitwick gestured toward the hat, explained its significance, and after a song from it that made Teddy feel a little embarrassed, began to call the first year students to the stool, one by one.
“Belby, Isaiah!”
This one was blonde and pink-faced and seemed extremely grateful when the hat declared him a Hufflepuff. “I don’t like riddles,” he loudly whispered to one of his new housemates, and blushed a deep red when the Ravenclaws nearby, some of them familiar with his last name, laughed.
Despite Belby’s declaration, there seemed to Teddy an abnormally large amount of new Ravenclaws this year. By the time “Lupin, Ted!” was called to the dais, however, there were still no new Slytherins. He vaguely wondered if the first would be him.
Come to think of it, the Class of 2016 was proving to be a large one in general. Teddy decided that he liked this; it would mean more people to talk to as well as more opportunities to become invisible if he wanted to, which he definitely would from time to time.
“My, my, my - aren’t you an interesting one?”
The hat was beginning to annoy him already.
“Werewolf tendencies, Metamorphagus abilities, and Black blood, all in one. How dangerous. What potential.”
Teddy looked out at the four tables, kicking his legs in the air as he waited. He supposed he would go to Slytherin after all…
“And the same birthday as one Bellatrix Black.”
It was a fact he hated; she was the only relative from his maternal family that inspired such loathing in him, even when Uncle Lucius had committed the same wrongs she did. She killed his parents and her memory had spoiled every birthday he could remember. Teddy wondered if this was how Harry felt about Lord Voldemort, what Neville felt for Bellatrix Lestrange, too. He decided to ask later.
“I know exactly where you belong.”
He was somewhat taken aback in a pleased sort of way when it hollered “Hufflepuff!” Ted Lupin hopped off of the bench and joined their ranks, elated and electric.
-
Fin.
Samaria//Slytherin//125