Moon Child [Fred Weasley]

5

It was the night after the first task. Harry had successfully retrieved the designated golden egg from the dragon's clutches unscathed. A feat in itself, there had been several moments when Teddy was watching when he thought Dumbledore would have to step in to douse a burning Harry Potter.

As no such thing did happen, Gryffindor thought it only right to throw a party in the name of the chosen one and his victory.

Teddy was there too, dressed in an oversized knit jumper that slightly pooled around his wrists if he didn't bunch the sleeves up. He'd already congratulated Cedric on his successful retrieval of the egg and thought it only fit he see Harry congratulated as well. Because, after all, he was in his house.

Ordinarily, he felt he would have skipped; hung out in his dorm room, and curled up with a good book instead of partying but tonight, Teddy was oddly enamored with something he liked to call 'People Watching'.

He stood at the edge of the common room, away from the bulk of the celebrating crowd. In his hands, he nursed a cup of Firewhiskey. He didn't care that he was underage. He just liked the sweet-sour pang of the liquid whenever it slipped down his throat.

In the middle of the crowd, there were the Weasley twins. This much made clear sense to Teddy as he watched. On the shoulders of the red-haired boys, Harry Potter was hoisted up, cheeks flushed with red as he cheered with the rest of his housemates, showing off the golden egg to everyone around.

It was only after being prompted by the audience to open the egg did Teddy immediately regretted coming down to the common room to indulge in the festivities. Whatever sound emitted from that wretched egg damn near made him go deaf.

Two hands shot to his ears and he covered them, wincing and clenching his eyes shut as the shrill sound from the egg washed over the room.

A moment later, silence. A moment after that, everyone was already moving on and the music resumed.

It seemed no one was hardly as affected as Teddy.

He cursed his misfortune and tossed back the rest of his drink.

"Why so glum?"

A voice interrupted Teddy's blissful people-watching.

"Come on." Fred Weasley said, refilling Teddy's glass. He too, had changed from his day robes and now wore a brown jacket over a Gryffindor colored shirt striped red and gold. "The party's just gearing up. We should get in there."

Teddy looked at him. Already, his red hair was ragged, curling up by his shoulders. He seemed to be on a permanent high and had no trouble raising his voice just to be heard over the crowd. Teddy would have been able to hear him even if he hadn't but he didn't point this out.

"Parties aren't necessarily my thing," Teddy said. He lifted his unoccupied hand and gestured around loosely. "Too loud."

"Oh yeah." Fred said as if he just realized yelling just to talk to someone didn't exactly reflect normal conditions. "But... you know, there's more to it than just 'party'." He said, lowering his voice slightly. "You see. there are some girls up there." He pointed vaguely at the crowd. "A lot of them. In the same place."

Teddy raised a brow as Fred stated the obvious. "Oh really. I hadn't noticed." He said dryly.

That particular group of girls were all loosely in their sixth or seventh year and had been making love eyes to any boy who even remotely paid attention to them. Teddy guessed they had managed to catch Fred's attention.

Fred wasn't deterred. "You know..." He said. "Maybe we can go over there and... see what happens?"

It was as if Fred was subtly trying to invite Teddy to accompany him.