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...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Teddy has been in poor humour for almost the entirety of January, and her mood is not much improved by the awful dull grey winter skies. Her friends are as patient as ever, though she's had to start locking the door to their dormitory because Granny the kneazle keeps trying to follow her around everywhere she goes in the castle. It's as if the creature can pick up on her bad mood, but the only way it has of attempting to cheer up is to sit on her chest to wake her up in the mornings and mewl as he bats at her face with an enormous paw.
She gives up on attempting to keep him locked up in the dormitory after his fifth successful break out where he had pounced on her head right in the middle of a study session at the library. After being kicked out by Madame Pince for swearing viciously as the little bastard's claws sank into her hair, Teddy stalks moodily through the castle. Her unwelcome, hairy little shadow trots eagerly alongside of her the entire time. She doesn't think she's been on her own since she'd first gotten to Hogwarts, thanks to the kneazle.
It's a love-hate relationship, she thinks. Part of her feels like it's sweet of the creature to be so attached to her, and sometimes she feels like he's genuinely attuned to her emotions. But then other times he tries to smother her in her sleep and stalks her around the place no matter where she goes, and she feels like tossing him out a window.
She glares irritably down at the kneazle as she makes her way to the dungeons for Potions, and he sends her an impressive glower of his own. "Dick." She mutters, and he miaows argumentatively back at her.
Granny twists around her feet, causing her to trip right as she steps into the classroom. "Oh, you little arsehole!" Teddy hisses, furious as she shoves irritably at the creature with her foot. She swears the liitle bastard is laughing at her.
With great reluctance, she goes to her usual seat in the Potions classroom. Regulus is already sitting there, but she ignores him entirely as she takes her seat. The kneazle winds around her legs like a bloody limpet, and he stares up at Black with lamp-like orange eyes. They sit there together in frigid silence until Slughorn floats in calling cheerful greetings.
"Good afternoon, students!" The old Potions Master beams. "We will be continuing our work on the Elixir of Life, today! As I'm sure you know this is quite an advanced potion, so we shall be switching our usual partner system up a little! Today's work shall be done in groups of three!"
As he begins to read off the new list of partners, Teddy dares to feel a sense of tentative relief. If she finally manages to get away from this awkward, chilly Potions partnership, it might actually serve to brighten up her mood at last.
"Crouch, join Potter and Black."
Oh. Well, that's just fucking typical.
Teddy exhales a soft, annoyed breath. Though she doesn't look up, she can see Regulus opening his mouth out of the side of her eye.
