The year after her brother James graduates, Teddy Potter returns to Hogwarts for her final year. With the Marauders gone, it should be a quiet, peaceful year despite the mounting tensions in the world outside of school.
The problem, naturally, lies...
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On Tuesday afternoon, Teddy breaks Alecto Carrow's nose.
Up until that point, it had been a perfectly good day. Defence against the Dark Arts was a little depressing, but it usually was these days — unlike first and second year when they would learn stuff like how to cross rivers without getting eaten by kelpies, Defence was now centred around attacks and counterattacks from other wizards and protection against dark magic. Arithmancy had given her a little bit of a headache, but once she eats at lunch it mostly fades. By the time Charms rolls around, the second last class of the day, Teddy is still in a pretty good mood.
She never gets to Charms, though. She's only just begun to make her way to the moving staircases when she hears footsteps pounding against the stone floor. Evan Rosier rounds the corner at a dead sprint, and skids dangerously as he tries to stop before he hits her — his momentum carries him too far forward, and he grabs a hold of her shoulders in a poor attempt to prevent from knocking her over.
"Fuck!" Teddy shouts, windmilling her arm to try and keep her balance.
"Potter," Rosier says. His eyes are wide and wild, his skin pallid. "You need to come with me now."
"Come with me, quick." Rosier takes her arm and pulls her, though there's no need. Teddy follows him back the way he had come, running as fast as she could. Mostly everyone is in class so the corridors are empty, which turns out to be a good thing as Teddy and Rosier run so recklessly that they'd probably just end up barrelling straight into anything in their way.
A million scenarios are flashing through her head, each one getting increasingly worse. Rosier's frantic body language is sending her head-first into a panic; why, of all people, is it him that came looking for her? How bad a state must Mary be in for Rosier to go looking for help? When they round the corner, Teddy feels her heart drop to her feet — at the end of the corridor, which has been so empty up until this point, there's a small gathering of seventh year Slytherins, all of whom are standing in a semi-circle and blocking her view.
"What's happening?" Teddy whispers, staring at the group of Slytherins. They haven't seen Rosier and Teddy arrive into the corridor, so focused on whatever it is that's going on. A few of them are snickering and watching avidly; some of them look a little uneasy, and some of them are looking fixedly at the flagstones.
"It's- Alecto." Rosier whispers, staring wide-eyed at the group. "She used the Imperius curse — she told your friend not to breathe, and-"
Teddy doesn't wait to hear the rest — she sprints headlong down the hallway, digging her wand out of her robes as she goes. Her shoes slap loudly against the flagstones, and when they hear her coming several of the spectators turn around. A few of them jump to the side, and when she finally catches a glimpse of what's happening she sees red.
