Seventeen Years Later: A Fair Read (2/2)
Title: Seventeen Years Later: A Fair Read (2/2)
Author: kanedax
Spoilers: Deathly Hallows; Beedle the Bard; Previous Chapters
Characters: Teddy Lupin, Hermione Caroline Granger (OC)
Rating: Hard R for partial nudity, sexual content and language
Summary: Teddy tries to read a story to HC
Notes: The Fountain of Fair Fortune is interpreted from the amazon.com review of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a book written by JK Rowling. Since I didn’t have 2 million pounds on hand (my paycheck didn’t come in til the next week) I had to make due with what we were given.
If you find any of the content listed above offensive, please do not read this story. I own these characters. All others, along with the original Fountain of Fair Fortune, belong to JK Rowling.
A Fair Read (1/2) / Previous Chapters / Patronus
“’My name is Sir Luckless,’” Teddy continued, “’and my name fits me well, as I am trapped here without a horse or a sword.’”
“Well, there you go,” said Hermione. “Definitely does fit him well.”
“’Do not go, Sir Luckless!’ said Amata, much to the frustration of the other witches. ‘Knights do not abandon their quests so easily! Join us in our adventure!’
“’I will do as you ask, milady,’ said Sir Luckless, ‘As I cannot seem to be able to find any other way to escape.’
“Smooth bastard, isn’t he?” Hermione chuckled.
“Well, he is Sir Rilgon,” Teddy said patiently. “And so the four began their journey through the garden on their way to the Fountain of Fair Fortune.
“Soon they felt the earth tremble beneath their feet, and a monstrous white worm, bloated and blind, erupted from the ground.”
“Ick.”
“’You face the first challenge,’ said the worm, its sightless eyes blinking down at the four travelers. ’In order to pass, you must show me…’”
“What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?”
“God, you’re such a nerd,” Teddy said, snorting laughter.
“Oh, dear,” said Hermione with mock fluster. “He’s dating a nerd! Whatever will the Townswomen’s Guild think?”
“’In order to pass,’” Teddy continued, “’You must show me proof of your pain.’
"’This worm is easy to pass,’ said Asha, who tried to walk around the worm. She could not, as the worm's tail crashed down before her, trembling the earth as it blocked her path.
"’If it were smaller we could climb over its tail,’ said Asha, who cast a shrinking spell on the worm. The spell bounced off of the worm, shrinking a nearby tree.
"’No, you should stun it,’ said Altheda, who did as she suggested. This spell also did not work, and instead knocked a squirrel from its branch.
“As the three witches cast spell after spell at the worm, Sir Luckless picked up rocks from the path and threw them. He then took the shrunken tree by its trunk and tried to beat the worm into submission.
“The worm simply laughed as the spells bounced from its thick hide, and laughed as the knight, with his squeaking armor, fought to no avail.
“Yeah, no kidding,” said Hermione. “Good mental image, that. Old squeaky armor, screaming battle cries as he does absolutely nothing.”
“Are you going to keep interrupting me?” asked Teddy. “You know we’re not going to be able to get a second round in.”
“Sorry, sorry…”
"’Oh, dear,’ Asha cried, ’How will we ever defeat this great worm?’
“And as she cried, tears rolled from her cheeks and splashed on the dirt before the huge worm.
"’You have shown me proof of your pain,’ said the worm as the tears soaked into the ground. ‘You may now pass.’
“And the moral of the story is sob like a baby and you get what you want,” Hermione said with a sarcastic smirk.
“There is more, you know…”said Teddy. “The worm slipped into its hole, which sealed behind it, leaving the path as untouched as it was before the worm's arrival.
"’I am better,’ said Asha as Altheda, Amata, and Sir Luckless comforted her. ‘We must continue on our journey to the Fountain of Fair Fortune.’
“And so the witches and the knight did as Asha requested and continued down the path, where they soon came upon a large hill. A sign stood on the side of the path.
"’You face the second challenge,’ the sign read. ‘In order to pass, you must show me the fruits of your labors.’
"’The challenge must be at the top of the hill,’ said Altheda. ‘Come, let us climb!’
“Altheda took the lead, and the four began to climb the hill. But after taking three steps, the ground gave way beneath them and they slid back to the bottom.
"’Perhaps we can fly to the top,’ said Amata. ‘I did not bring my broomstick, but a simple levitation spell should do the trick.’
“She cast the spell on herself first, and began to float up the face of the hill. But she was hindered by the trees and plants, which grew to stand in her way, growing taller as she continued to fly higher.
"’The ground needs to be more solid,’ said Asha as Amata landed beside her. ‘I will use a solidifying spell.’
“Asha she used the spell on the ground, but the spell bounced off and struck a nearby tree, turning it to stone.
"’I can use my gauntlets to dig into the ground,’ said Sir Luckless. ‘Then I will not lose my grip.’
“He used his metal gauntlets to get strong purchase in the dirt and pulled himself up. But the ground turned to sand beneath his fingers, and he slid back down to join the three witches.
“Hours passed by as the three witches tried to scramble their way up the hill, only to slide back down to the bottom again and again.
“Finally Altheda, near the point of exhaustion, reached within inches of the top of the hill.
"’We're almost there!’ Altheda cried out. ‘Come on, Asha! Come on, Amata! Come on, Sir Luckless! You can do it!’
“As Altheda called out, the sweat from her brow dripped down her cheeks and sunk into the dirt of the hill.
"’You have shown me the fruits of your labor,’ a voice boomed from around them. ‘You may now pass.’
“It was though an invisible hand grabbed Altheda's robes, and she was lifted the rest of the way up the hill. As she turned around, she saw Asha, Amata, and Sir Luckless floating to her side.
"’We are very tired,’ said Altheda as the four leaned their weary bodies against the trees. ‘But we are nearing the end of our quest. We must continue on to the Fountain of Fair Fortune.’
“And so the Altheda, Amata, Asha, and Sir Luckless continued down the path…”
“We’re off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz,” Hermione sung under her breath.
“See what I mean?” asked Teddy.
“I see what you mean,” said Hermione. “Keep reading.”
“…where they soon came upon a wide river,” Teddy continued.
"’You face the third challenge,’ the river babbled to them. ‘In order to pass, you must show me the treasure of your past.’
"’Whoever we should face must be on the other side,’ said Amata. ‘Let us swim.’
“Not very bright, is she?”
“She’s a fairy tale person,” said Teddy. “Fairy tale people rarely are. Amata dove into the water, but the current was far too strong, and Asha, Altheda, and Sir Luckless pulled her from the water before she was swept away.
"’Perhaps we can float across this time,’ said Asha. She cast a levitation spell on herself and attempted to fly across the river. However, the water rose up against her, and she was knocked back to the shore.
"’Maybe we can freeze the water, and walk across,’ said Altheda. She cast a freezing spell on the water, but so strong was the river that the ice was broken up within moments.
"’This river is not too wide,’ said Sir Luckless. ‘I think I can jump across.’
Before the three witches could stop him, the knight charged toward the water and leaped into the air. He only made it two feet before he was pulled into the current and had to be rescued by the three witches.
The four sat side by side on the river's edge, contemplating the best way to get across.
"’Perhaps a bridge made of trees?’ asked Asha.
"’Or a raft,’ said Altheda.
"’If only I had my trusty steed,’ said Sir Luckless. ‘He could easily jump this water.’
"’Perhaps not,’ said Amata, who was beginning to understand the task. She stood up from the group and walked to the water. Once there, she put the tip of her wand to her forehead, and pulled a memory from it, dropping it into the river.
“Brilliant!” Hermione cried out. I love it when fairy tale people start getting with the program.”
“Yeah, no kidding,” said Teddy. “It was a tough one, though…”
“I suppose,” said Hermione. “I couldn’t even… can you do that? Pull memories like that?”
“Yeah, you can,” said Teddy. “You can put them in what’s called a Pensieve. It’s like a big bowl that holds memories. Ogden has one, and I guess some of the other professors do, too. Helps you keep your memories straight, although no one’s ever told me if you lose the memory after you put it in there.”
“You lose bits of your memory so you can look at them later?” asked Hermione. “Okay, that’s not something I think I could ever do. I have a feeling I’d turn into the guy from Memento.”
“Yeah, I don’t think I could have one, either,” said Teddy. “I think they’re mostly kept by people who have really important jobs where they have to remember a lot of things. Minister Shacklebolt probably has one. Maybe your sister…”
“No, Jean doesn’t seem the type,” said Hermione. “She loves to study so much, I doubt she’d want any of it to leave her brain. Anyway,” she patted him on his stomach, “Keep going, you’re almost done…”
"’You have shown me the treasure of your past,’ said the river. ‘You may now pass.’
“ Stepping stones appeared in the river, and the three witches and the knight hastily made their way across to the far shore.
"’I see it!" said Amata. ‘I see the Fountain of Fair Fortune!’
Indeed, in the distance, a high stream of water shot into the air. Amata, Altheda, and Sir Luckless let out a cry of glee.
Asha did not.
"’I am tired,’ said Asha, sitting on the ground. ‘My sickness has gotten the better of me, and I am weary from our travels. You must leave me here and go on.’
“ Altheda, Amata, and Sir Luckless, try as they might, could not convince Asha to come with them.
“’Let me help you,’ said Altheda. ‘I can make a potion that will give you enough strength to come to the Fountain of Fair Fortune with us. You can swim in the pool and be well.’
"’Thank you, dear Altheda,’ said Asha as Altheda looked around the garden, pulling together various herbs and roots to make a potion.
“At last, she gave the potion to Asha, who drank it deeply.
"’My dear Altheda," Asha cried out. ’The weariness is gone! The pain is gone! I am now well!’
"’Then come,’ said Altheda. ‘Let us get you to the Fountain of Fair Fortune.’
"’I do not need it anymore,’ said Asha. ‘For I am now as healthy as I once was, thanks to your wonderful potion!’
“‘Come, Altheda,’ said Amata. ‘Let us continue to the Fountain of Fair Fortune, so that you may bathe and cure your powerlessness and poverty.’
“’I do not need it anymore,’ said Altheda. ‘For I have learned that I am a skilled potionmaker, and can make my own fortune by Healing others!’
"’Come, Amata,’ said Sir Luckless. ‘Let us continue to the fountain of Fair Fortune, so that you may bathe and cure your grief and longing.’
"’I do not need it anymore,’ said Amata. ‘For my love of the wizard blinded me to what he truly was: cruel and faithless. I put that memory in the river, and can now see clearly. I do not love him, and I do not miss him!’
“The three witches looked to each other in joy, and then turned to the knight.
"’Come, Sir Luckless,’ said Amata. ‘Let us continue to the Fountain of Fair Fortune, so that you may bathe in it as reward for your bravery!’
“The knight agreed, and the four continued up the path toward the Fountain of Fair Fortune, where the knight bathed in the magical waters. He stood up, looked at the three witches, and flung himself, in his rusted armor, at the feet of Amata.”
“Awww, he didn’t get naked?”
"’I now have the courage,’ said Sir Luckless, ‘to ask for your hand and your heart, you who believed in me when the others did not, and wished me to come on your quest with you when the others wished me away.’
“Amata, now free of the curse of a spurned lover, realized that Sir Luckless was indeed a man worthy of her. She accepted his proposal, and kissed him deeply.
“And so, arm-in-arm, the three witches and the brave knight, now cured of their Foul Fortunes, walked away from the Fountain of Fair Fortune, which carried no enchantment at all.
“And they lived happily ever after.
“The End.”
“Okay, that was cute,” Hermione said as Teddy closed the book.
“Told you it was good,” Teddy replied as he set the book aside. “Not X-Men by any stretch of the imagination, but still…”
“I loved it,” said Hermione. “Even had a kiss at the end.”
“Figured you’d like that part,” said Teddy with a wink. “I think it’s the only story in here that has one, actually.”
“And did I happen to mention that you were fabulous?” she continued. “You didn’t even screw up your translation once.”
“I might have guessed a few times,” said Teddy, taking a quick flip through the pages. “Some of these runes are probably going to be covered this year.”
“Oh, bugger that, you were terrific,” said Hermione, snuggling closer. “You know, you should think about getting into radio or something. You have a nice reading voice.”
“Oh, yeah, thanks,” said Teddy, rolling his eyes. “A face for wireless, right?”
“No, I’m serious!” said Hermione, sitting up. “I mean, that would be so cool. I know you can’t do work on the telly, since you’re not allowed to do Muggle work. But your voice is great for the radio. And do they have theatre troupes or something in the wizard world?”
“A few,” said Teddy. “They’re really exclusive, though. I wouldn’t stand a chance. I don’t think they take people like me.”
“Bloody hell, Ted, you’re a metamorph!” Hermione insisted. “You’re whoever they want you to be!”
Teddy looked at Hermione, slightly uncomfortable. “I don’t know,” he said carefully. “It would be really fun, but… I don’t know…”
“What else have you been thinking of doing?” asked Hermione. “You mentioned maybe Auror?”
“Yeah, that’s probably the only other job that I could put my… umm… my little talent to good use,” Teddy said with a shrug. “It’s what my Mum did, and everyone who I talk to says it would be perfect for me, but I don’t know. Hard to follow in the footsteps of a stranger, you know?”
“Yeah, I could see that,” said Hermione. “Besides, you’re not the intimidating type.”
“Hey, I can be intimidating!” Teddy said, barely noticing the crack in his voice as he did so.
“I don’t mean it as an insult, love,” said Hermione. “I just mean… I don’t know. You need that certain kind of personality be a police officer. You’re not a Kingsley, not a Dedalus or a Hestia. You’re not like that. You’re too sweet.”
“Um, thanks,” said Teddy uncertainly. “I think…”
“I should shut up,” said Hermione. “I keep digging a hole into your machismo.”
“No, it’s alright,” he said. “I know what you’re trying to say, believe me. I’ve thought about as much. It’s just…” he sighed deeply. “I don’t know. You have it lucky. You still have a few more years to figure out what you want to do when you’re at Bristol. I have one more year left at Hogwarts, then out I go, into a real world that I’m really not ready for.”
“Yeah, lucky me,” Hermione said with a sigh. “More time not growing up.”
“Have you thought about your education yet?” asked Teddy. “What you’re going to study?”
“Can I study magic?” Hermione asked, false hope in her voice.
“Unfortunately not,” Teddy said, running a hand through her hair. “Sorry.”
“I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “I’d love to study something like history or sociology. But degrees like that lead to the chip shop on the corner.”
“You’d look cute in their little hats, though,” said Teddy with a smirk that was answered by a shot to the side.
“Probably computers,” Hermione continued as Teddy rubbed his kidney. “Or economics or something boring like that.”
“Computers aren’t boring,” he responded. “You could program games or get a job at Weta or something.”
“Yeah, right,” said Hermione. “Like I’d ever be good enough to do something like that.”
“You’d be surprised at how good you are when you put your mind to it,” said Teddy.
Hermione shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I’ll just make due.”
“You’re brilliant,” Teddy insisted firmly. “Brilliant enough to be just as successful as your sister, and without magic. But you have to stop thinking that you’re doomed just because you can’t use a wand.”
“But how can I not think it?” Hermione said, sitting up. “My boyfriend, my sister, my nieces and nephews and in-laws can all use magic. It’s bloody hard to convince myself that I’m as good as you are!”
“It’s easy,” said Teddy. “We’re fucking idiots. We’re cocky, we’re arrogant, and we think we’re better than others. But break our wands, and you’ll have wizards who don’t know how to tie their bloody shoes. Who will start their houses on fire because they don’t know how to use the stove. We can use magic, but Muggles use intelligence.”
“Ride the Underground in the morning,” Hermione said with a small smile. “You might change your mind.”
“Your brains make you better than us, Hermione,” he continued, now sitting up to look her in the eyes. “Remember that. I’m an idiot without you around to smarten me up.”
Hermione’s smile grew a little wider. “You sure know how to sweet-talk a girl, don’t you?”
“It’s nothing but the truth,” Teddy said with a shrug. “I loved you when I thought you might be a witch, and I loved you when I knew you weren’t. It didn’t change who you are.”
Hermione took his hand in her own. “Thank you,” she said quietly.
“I’m all about the tough love,” he said with a chuckle.
“Well, I guess I need it sometimes,” she said. “But it is nice to know that my boyfriend thinks so highly of me.”
“What can I say?” said Teddy. “You could even make a brilliant chartered accountant.”
“Prick,” Hermione said with a smirk.
“But your parents would be so proud!”
“He knows how to sweet-talk and he knows how to kill a mood,” she said with a sigh.
“I didn’t know I was killing the mood,” Teddy said, and an electric tingle ran through her as his fingers brushed her hair back.
“When does Andi come home?” asked Hermione, using her parents’ nickname for Teddy’s grandmother.
“Not for at least another hour,” Teddy said, glancing at his clock.
“Good,” she said, and dove on top of him.
Teddy Lupin and Hermione Caroline Granger were still virgins. Hermione still hadn’t gotten up the courage to buy any condoms, which probably would have expired while they were both away at school, and she knew that she was always bad with medications, so birth control pills were out. Teddy had yet to memorize all of the contraceptive spells that had been discussed in the sex education week that fifth years were required to take at Hogwarts.
“Besides,” he had asked Gavin and Jenn during a particularly deep discussion in the Gryffindor common room soon after his seventeenth birthday, “what are the rules about using those spells on a Muggle? Is it illegal?”
The young couple got by, though. As they lay comfortably in each other’s arms a half hour later, Hermione wearing nothing but her baby blue knickers on top of Teddy, wearing nothing but his plaid boxers, Hermione wished that she had more female witch friends. Ones that weren’t closer to Teddy than they were to her. Ones who could know that she was dating a metamorphmagus.
She wished that she had a girl friend that she could make insanely jealous when she told them all of the benefits of dating a shapeshifter. They might not be having sex, but oh God the things that boy could do with fingers and tongues that could take any form. Any length, any width…
Maybe Victoire, Hermione thought, before shaking the thought off. No, probably not. He’s too much like family to her. She’d be creeped out.
“What are you thinking about?” Teddy asked, rubbing her bare back.
“That I should probably put clothes on,” she mumbled, her cheek pressed against into his bare chest.
“That’s no fun.”
“And that I’m so content right now that I don’t even care if your Gran walks in and sees us nearly starkers.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said, and she could hear the edge of sleep in his voice.
“And how much I’m going to miss this,” she continued. “How much I always miss this.”
“Your hand gets tired, too, huh?” he said with a chuckle.
“I don’t just mean that,” she said. “But, yes, I will miss that. And, yes, I do go through more than my share of AA batteries through the course of the year. But I just mean this. Just being with you. I miss it so much.”
“I know how you feel,” Teddy said. “But just one more year. After that I can come visit you at Bristol whenever you want me to. And after that, who knows?”
“Yeah,” Hermione replied slowly. “Yeah, who knows?”
Teddy lifted his head from the pillow to look down at her. “You don’t sound too sure of yourself.”
Hermione sighed, and looked up at him. “Have you ever thought about us?”
“What do you mean?” Teddy asked. “Of course I do. All of the time.”
“That’s not what I mean,” said Hermione. “I guess I just… do you think about us? Where we’re going? Where we want to be?”
“Honestly?” Teddy asked.
“Honestly…”
“Honestly, I might start ring shopping after I’m done with Hogwarts. Why?”
Hermione nodded, and Teddy was silently relieved that the thought of them getting married didn’t scare her stiff.
At least, he didn’t think it did.
“I’ve been thinking about us a lot,” she continued.
“And?”
“And how do we know that we’re doing the right thing?”
“I don’t follow you…”
“I…,” Hermione stopped, trying to get her words right. “I don’t want you to take this the wrong way. I love you more than anyone I’ve ever loved. Probably more than anyone I ever will love.”
Teddy smiled at that. “Thank you,” he said. “I’m glad you feel the same way.”
“But that’s the problem,” she continued. “I haven’t loved anyone more than you because we were the first for each other. The first… the first friends, the first relationship, the first kiss. The first everything.”
“Is that a bad thing?” Teddy asked.
“I don’t know,” Hermione said, suddenly unsure that she should have even brought it up. “It’s just… I don’t know. I feel like we’re right for each other. But I don’t think we know it, because we haven’t had any other options, you know?”
“So, what are you saying?” Teddy asked. “Because, honestly, this seems like a really odd time for us to be breaking up, what with you still laying on top of me.”
“I don’t want to break up with you,” she said quickly, shoving herself up onto her hands. Normally this view of her, hair and breasts hanging down over him, would drive him mad, but Teddy’s mind was somewhere else right now. “Don’t think that. Please don’t think that.”
“Then what are you saying?” he asked.
“I don’t know!” she said. “I guess… I mean… My Mum and Dad weren’t first for each other. Ron wasn’t the first for Jean, Jean wasn’t the first for Ron, Harry wasn’t the first for Ginny, Ginny wasn’t the first for Harry. Bill and Fleur, George and Verity, all of my aunts and uncles. And I don’t know about Andi and…”
Teddy closed his eyes. Andromeda didn’t talk about his mother and father very often, but his grandfather, his namesake, was discussed even less. “I don’t know about Ted,” he said. “But I’d assume that Gran’s family tried to force her into some pureblood dates before she decided on him.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have brought him…”
“It’s okay,” he replied, meaning it. “She doesn’t talk about him. But I know where you’re going with this. And I don’t know if my Mum and Dad had had any relationships before they got married, but judging by their ages it would surprise me if they hadn’t.”
“I just…” Hermione sighed, laying back down on him again. “I just want to know that we’re not wrong for each other. That we’re not each other’s firsts in this big pattern that’s around our lives.”
“Not that big of a pattern,” Teddy said. “Percy and Penelope were each other’s firsts. So were the Macmillans.”
“Yeah, and Neville and Luna had to break up before Neville found Uriela,” Hermione countered. “You know what I’m saying, then?”
“You want us to see other people?” Teddy replied. “You want us to, I don’t know, break up for the sake of breaking up?”
“No, no, not at all!” Hermione said. “I just feel like… if we want to know if we’re right for each other, we might have to find out that there isn’t anyone better out there.”
Teddy closed his eyes. “Like when?” he asked. “Right now?”
“No,” she said. “I don’t want to. I don’t have the guts to. I’m just… just think about it, okay? I don’t want to lose you. And I’m not ready to give you up. Just… it might be something we might want to think about this year. Before I go off to university.”
“Once you start going to a school with boys, you mean?”
“Oh, God,” Hermione said, burying her face in his chest. “I shouldn’t have brought it up…”
“No, it’s fine,” Teddy said quickly. “I was just joking.”
“Well, I’m not,” Hermione said seriously. “I love you more than anything, Teddy Lupin. I just want to make sure that it’s real and not, you know, left-over schoolgirl crush kind of love.”
Teddy nodded slowly. “Alright,” he said finally. “Alright, we’ll think about it. We’ll talk about it. See where things take us.”
“Alright,” she said. “That’s all I’m asking for.”
“I’m still allowed to love you for now, though, right?”
Hermione Caroline Granger smiled, and her kiss was all the response Teddy needed.
A Fair Read (1/2) / Previous Chapters / Patronus