A trip to the pub
Teddy’s case kept on getting stranger and stranger. The lab report from the mimic dissection had revealed that “human remains” were indeed present inside the thing (Teddy had distastefully skimmed over the gruesome details of that), including body parts belonging to the woman from his missing persons case. That effectively closed that one out, and Teddy and Nick had handed the gang case over to organised crimes earlier in the week, so the mimic case was now Teddy’s sole focus.
Finding identifiable remains of the victims inside essentially debunked Harry’s theory that the thing had been used to make someone disappear. But his reasoning about it being a very unusual way to implement a random attack made sense. Teddy was sure there had to be some reason behind it showing up where it had, but fuck if he could find one. They had discovered that this wasn’t the first time it had been used though. Parts of the remains found inside the trunk had been dated back several decades, with the earliest estimated to be from the sixties.
That made even less sense though. The mimic had claimed dozens of victims over the years (the forensics report had referred to it as a ‘patchwork’ of body parts found inside), but there were no reports anywhere in the ministry archives about it. So if it had been being used to kill people for such a long time without the Aurors ever catching wind of it, why had it practically fallen into their lap now? The perpetrator had just left it there. Hadn’t even bothered to wipe the memories of the muggle witnesses.
The people who had been killed by it over the years were a mixture of muggles and wizards (and a couple of random animals too). Teddy couldn’t find any discernible pattern in the pool of victims, but he supposed that made sense since a lot of them were probably just collateral damage. He wouldn’t be able to see a pattern at all unless he was able to separate out the intended targets from the others. If indeed there even were any.
He had been able to put together a rough timeline of where it had surfaced over the years, based on missing persons reports from the victims outlining when and where they had disappeared. That didn’t make any sense yet either, as it had popped up all over the country at various points in time. No obvious route was discernible, it seemed to double back and zig zag around a lot.
Teddy and Harry’s combined research on mimics hadn’t really yielded any useful results either. It was, as Harry had said, an ancient curse that was generally used to protect valuables. Use of it had been outlawed in the UK back in the early 1900s, but it hadn’t really been in popular use for a long time before that, as people had adopted less messy security measures that didn’t accidentally rip the arms off of the owners. They had spoken to a couple of curse breakers who had come across them in the field, but all the curse breakers were really interested in was how to fight them. Beyond that, they couldn’t really shed any light on them. Teddy had learnt from this however that there were regional variations of the spell. The one James had encountered in India had had tendrils that came out of the bottom to strangle anyone who got too near it. The South American versions tended to have some sort of venom on the tongue that rendered anyone who it touched unconscious. Teddy and Harry had discerned from this that their mimic appeared to be European in origin.
Teddy and Nick had been digging through case archives from the misuse of muggle artefacts office, and mimics did crop up on rare occasions (only three in England in the last century) but there were no reports of one ever having been weaponised before. They might take the hand off of someone who was stupid enough to stick it in there, but it was unheard of for them to eat people.
Teddy was at a bit of a loss, really, and decided he would have to try and find some new leads – cast his net a bit wider in trying to figure out where it had come from, much to the distress of Nick, who was now closing in on the end of his week long internship with Teddy.
“So none of the stuff we’ve been doing so far has been useful?” he asked, looking crestfallen, when Teddy had told him this.
“It’s been very useful” Teddy countered. “We’ve got our timeline, that’s invaluable to a case like this” he gestured to the large map on the wall of his office with pins in all the locations the mimic’s victims had disappeared.
“But we still have no idea where it came from, really” Nick replied dully.
“Not yet” Teddy replied calmly. “But we’ve a long way to go before this becomes a cold case. We’ve barely scratched the surface yet.”
“I really hoped we’d have solved it before I had to leave” Nick said, looking disappointed. Teddy held back a laugh.
“I appreciate the vote of confidence in my abilities, but a case like this was never going to get solved in a week” Teddy told him. “I still might not have solved it a month from now.”
“You will” Nick replied, sounding slightly annoyed, as though he thought Teddy was just being modest.
“You remember that one I told you about with the diadem of Ravenclaw?” Teddy asked him, and he nodded. “That went on for four months.”
“That was more complicated than this though, wasn’t it?” Nick asked.
“Don’t know yet” Teddy shrugged. “That started off as mysterious as this one.” Nick didn’t immediately respond to this, merely looking broodingly into the mug that he was holding for a moment.
“I wish I could stay for longer” he said finally. “Going back to the academy is going to be SO boring after all this.”
“You’ll have some good stories, though” Teddy offered with a sympathetic smile.
“Everyone’s going to be so jealous that I got to meet Harry” Nick said, a smile creeping onto his face. “AND James Potter.”
Teddy gave him a nod, trying not to show his own bemusement at that statement. It was weird for him to think of Harry or James as celebrities.
“You’re still coming for a beer after work, right?” Teddy asked Nick. They had arranged this a couple of days ago. Teddy often went for drinks after work with his colleagues, and it seemed only right to bring Nick along this time given that he’d been following in Teddy’s footsteps all week. It would be a fitting way to send him off. Teddy was now thinking vaguely about inviting James too, but he wouldn’t tell Nick that yet, in case James wasn’t up for it.
“Of course” Nick replied, with a genuine smile. “I owe you a drink at the very least, for everything you’ve shown me this past week.”
“Don’t worry about that” Teddy told him dismissively. “Drinks are on me, I’m earning a lot more than you. In fact” he added. “If we can twist Steve’s arm into coming as well then drinks are on him. We’ll get him to get the company credit card out.”
“Is that allowed?” Nick asked doubtfully. Teddy chuckled.
“If we sell it on the expenses paperwork as ‘teambuilding’ activities, it usually goes through. As long as we don’t take the piss about it” Teddy told him.
“Do you do this sort of thing a lot?” Nick asked with interest.
“During summer there’s pretty much always someone going for beers after work on a Friday” Teddy shrugged. “It’s generally an open invitation kind of thing.”
“And your managers come out with you?” Nick asked, looking surprised. Teddy smiled in amusement.
“We’re a team, around here” Teddy said gesturing around. “There is a hierarchy of sorts, but it doesn’t do anyone any good to take that too seriously. I mean, come on, you’ve seen me talk back to both Harry and Steve on multiple occasions this week.” Nick looked like he didn’t know what to make of that, and Teddy went on, to make his point clear.
“Look, different branches of the ministry operate differently, but in the Auror office nobody has any time for standing on formality just for the sake of it” he explained. “Which is not to say we don’t take the work seriously, because we do. But we work hard and we play hard. You’ve been here for a week, right? You must have picked up on that.”
“I guess” Nick replied, a little uncertainly. “Bits and pieces, anyway.”
“Put it this way” Teddy said. “I take my cues from Harry, who couldn’t give a shit about whether anyone else thinks he’s being professional or not, as long as he’s getting the job done. Within reason, obviously.”
Nick still looked largely quite confused, so Teddy decided to throw him a bone.
“If you’re unsure about it, it’s always best to err on the side of professionalism. Which is what you have been doing” he told him. “But Harry and Steve, they’re just people. True, either one of them can fire my ass if they ever wanted to. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be friendly.”
There was a pause in which Nick appeared to be digesting all of this. Teddy watched him with ease, sipping his coffee and waiting for him to speak again.
“This isn’t anything like I thought it would be” Nick said eventually. “Working here, I mean.”
“It’s a lot more fun, right?” Teddy smiled, and Nick laughed before nodding.
-
“Teddy, where the fuck have you been, man?” another one of the junior Aurors called to Teddy as he and Nick approached the pub, where a bunch of his colleagues had already set up camp at a table in the beer garden out front.
“Some of us have actual WORK to do” Teddy countered, grinning. “Picking up the slack from all you layabouts.”
“Everyone knows that no real work gets done on a Friday afternoon” another one of his colleagues interjected. “You’re just trying to look like a hot shot for your intern.”
“Fuck off” Teddy argued good naturedly. “I’ll have you know I have an actually interesting case on right now. Not like that bloody one you’ve been stuck on for weeks!”
“Oh, fighting talk, is it?” Steve put in, and Teddy just noticed he was there, giving him a nod in greeting.
“I’d have an interesting case too, if I was Harry’s teacher’s pet” one of the junior Aurors said pointedly and a bunch of the others snickered. This was a long running joke within the team, and Teddy knew that no-one really held his relationship with Harry against him, as he’d proved his competence multiple times. They just liked to rib him about it at any given opportunity.
“You might get more interesting cases if you closed one, once in a while” Teddy replied coolly, and the rest of the table erupted into a chorus of ‘oooooh’, before laughing again.
“I’ll have another pint, if you’re getting them” Steve called over to Teddy, holding out his credit card for Teddy to take, and the rest of the people at the table started reciting their drink orders. There were six people already there, a mixture of junior and senior Aurors, so it was a good job most of them wanted the same thing (a pint of the ale that was on tap) otherwise he might have had to write it all down. He jerked his head to indicate that Nick should follow him to the bar, leaving the others laughing and joking away at the table.
“In case you didn’t notice, you have to give as good as you get with these bastards” Teddy said wryly to Nick as they made their way inside.
“I don’t know if I can keep up” Nick replied, but he was grinning.
Teddy placed his order with the barman, getting a bottled beer for himself, and gesturing to Nick to tell the barman what he wanted himself. Teddy turned back to Nick while they waited for the drinks.
“I’ve been working with most of these guys for five years or more” Teddy told him. “Don’t worry, they’re not going to come at YOU that hard.”
“Do they really think you’re Harry’s favourite?” Nick asked, and Teddy laughed.
“They weren’t being serious” Teddy assured him. “But I guess there’s an element of truth to it. I work with him more than anyone else my level. But what am I going to do, say no to him? Trust me, when Harry offers you a case it’s worth taking.”
“Yeah, it is a good case” Nick agreed, before casting a worried look around, as if concerned he’d said too much. Teddy laughed again.
“Don’t talk about the specifics of it in public” Teddy advised him. “But you can mention it in passing. This pub is right next to the ministry, most of the people in here right now work there. No-one’s going to bat an eyelid about you talking about working in the Auror office.”
Nick looked around the bar with interest. Given how sunny it was, there were considerably more people outside than inside, but it was still reasonably busy in the bar area.
“Do you know any of these people, then?” Nick asked.
“Ministry’s a big place” Teddy replied. “But there’s some faces I recognise, yeah. That lot over there are from the Underage Magic office” Teddy nodded towards a table by the window, a couple of people at which he vaguely knew. He had cause to work with their office from time to time, when his cases involved juveniles. One of the people at the table noticed him looking at them and gave him a friendly wave, which he returned.
Teddy paid for the drinks with Steve’s card and got Nick to carry his and Teddy’s out to the table, while Teddy took the rest on a tray. He manoeuvred carefully through the doorway and back out into the beer garden, making it back to the table with only minor spills. However, he’d barely placed the tray down when someone from another table called over to him, and Teddy’s heart sank as he recognised the entire table as being made up of James’s colleagues.
“Yo, Teddy!” a man about the same age as James was beckoning to him, and Teddy knew he couldn’t ignore them.
“One sec” he muttered to Nick, picking his beer up from where Nick had placed it on the table and walking over to the curse breakers.
“Alright?” Teddy said by way of greeting. He had met the person a couple of times before in this sort of setting, but couldn’t remember their name.
“Chris” the man jogged Teddy’s memory, which he was grateful for.
“Chris, yeah, right” Teddy said with a friendly smile. “How’s it going?”
“Look, we’re all furious about what happened to James” Chris said without preamble. “We’re not going to let him get fired over this, even if we all have to go on strike.” A few other people at the table nodded fiercely, or made sounds of agreement. Teddy had known that’s what this would be about, but he still didn’t really know what to say.
“I’m sure he’ll appreciate that” Teddy said a little awkwardly, before taking a swig of his beer.
“He’s not answering any of our letters” Chris frowned. “Is he alright?”
“He hasn’t been in a particularly expansive mood” Teddy told him with a grim smile. “He didn’t even tell ME the full story of what happened until the next day. He just needs some time to process, I think.”
“Well we don’t really know the full story either” Chris pressed him. Ah, Teddy thought. So that’s what they had called him over here for.
“I don’t think it’s my place to tell you all the gory details” Teddy said, frowning. “But he did say he might swing by for a drink later, so you might be able to ask him yourself.”
“We’re just worried, that’s all” Chris said a little defensively, evidently picking up on Teddy’s tone that he wasn’t here to give them all the gossip about it.
“Yeah, me too” Teddy admitted, giving him another grim smile before gesturing back to the table of Aurors. “Look, I’d better get back” he added. “If he doesn’t show, I’ll tell him you were asking after him, alright?”
“Yeah, thanks man” Chris replied, clapping Teddy on the shoulder before he went.
Teddy sighed as he made his way back to his own colleagues. He didn’t really know what to make of the situation with James at the minute. The day that he’d gotten suspended, his reaction was about what Teddy would have expected it to be – a mixture of residual anger over what had happened and general hopelessness about the trouble he was in. But then the next day after talking to Harry about it he had seemed considerably less worried about the whole thing. And sure, Teddy had expected that Harry would have tried to reassure James and would have stuck up for him, but he hadn’t expected it to work quite so well. James had told Teddy the full story that evening, and re-living it had made him mad again, but he had been talking about his disciplinary hearing in a very detached way, as though it wasn’t that important. He hadn’t said anything else about looking for work elsewhere, but he’d been reading up on other curse breaker organisations all week and making notes. Teddy had never seen James take notes on anything before. The only thing about any of this he seemed to be taking seriously was the possibility of working somewhere other than Gringotts. Teddy hadn’t worked out yet how to broach the subject with him that he had meant what he said about not wanting to move abroad. He was sort of just hoping that James would lose interest in the whole thing after his hearing, once he had his job at the ministry back.
“What was that about?” one of the Aurors asked Teddy as he sat down at the table with them, next to Nick.
“Nothing” Teddy lied. “Just saying hi.”
“They interrogating you about your man?” someone else asked, peering over at the curse breakers suspiciously.
“Yeah, there’s been a lot of that this week” Teddy said pointedly, hoping that they would get the message to let it drop. Rumours spread like wildfire through the ministry, and word of James getting suspended had gotten around pretty fast in the Auror office. Most of the other departments wouldn’t have cared at all about a random curse breaker getting suspended, but to Teddy’s office he wasn’t some random employee. He was Harry’s son, and Teddy’s boyfriend. James also hadn’t helped matters by showing up there the very next day, to talk to Harry.
“Alright” his colleague replied, holding their hands up in surrender. “Your business. Got it.”
“It’s his business, technically, not mine” Teddy said calmly, taking another swig of his beer. James had been in the spotlight for a good portion of his life and didn’t particularly care about other people gossiping about him. Teddy wasn’t trying to shut rumours down on his behalf, he knew that was wasted effort. He just wasn’t going to let himself get dragged into any speculation on it.
“ANYWAY" Steve interjected loudly, before anyone could say anything else on the matter. “What was it like following this one around for a week?” he gestured to Teddy while he addressed Nick, who looked surprised to be being dragged into the conversation.
“Oh, um... it was really good" Nick said, sounding slightly nervous, as though he thought it was possible to give a wrong answer to this.
“I have a question" one of the junior Aurors asked, putting their hand up, to further snickers from the others. “Did he ever stop showing off, even for a second?”
“You don’t have to answer that" Teddy told him flatly, while the others dissolved into hysterics.
“Oh, I’ve got one, I’ve got one" another of Teddy’s friends piped up excitedly. “Did he tell you about that time he was beaten up by a prostitute?”
“She was a witness in a case" Teddy told Nick hastily, while the others howled. “And that was four years ago!” he shot back at them.
“Still funny" the witch sat on Teddy’s other side said, patting him on the arm. Teddy stuck two fingers up at her.
“As funny as the time you accidentally turned your legs into a fish tail?” he replied. “I’ve got stories too!”
“I mixed up my incantations for partial transfiguration!” She cried defensively, the other Aurors now laughing just as hard at her as they had at Teddy. “And that’s no where near as bad as the time Richard gave his perp a sleeping draught instead of veritaserum" she countered, shifting the focus onto someone else, who cried out a defensive ‘hey!’ in response.
They went around like that for a while, sharing funny or embarrassing stories (those two things tended to go hand in hand in the field). Teddy wondered vaguely if they ought to be trying to set a better example for Nick, but honestly if he was going to work in the Auror office he was going to have to learn to take some banter, and there was no better way to learn than this. At some point someone went to the bar to fetch another round, and Teddy was just starting in on his second beer when a familiar face appeared in his eyeline, behind the people sat opposite him.
“Potter!”
“James! Over here!”
The curse breakers sat a few tables over started yelling and beckoning him frantically, but James gave them a dismissive wave, holding up one finger in a gesture to mean ‘give me a minute’ as he made his way around the table to where Teddy was sat. He gave him a brief peck on the lips when he reached him.
“Hey, handsome" James smiled as he pulled back.
“Hey" Teddy replied quietly, unable to hold back the dopey smile he knew he got when James suddenly appeared. A couple of his colleagues wolf whistled.
“Nice to see you all again” James grinned to the rest of the table. “Nick” James added, giving him a nod. He looked thrilled to be addressed personally by James and Teddy had to hold back a laugh at this. Truthfully James remembering his name probably had more to do with how much Teddy had mentioned him over the past week than that one time they had briefly met in Teddy’s office. There was a chorus around the table of “hi" and “how’s it going.”
“I’d better go and talk to that lot, before one of them has an aneurysm” James said, gesturing to the curse breakers, who were indeed still desperately hailing him. “Save me a seat?” he added to Teddy.
“Sure thing" Teddy said with a smile, and James gave him a squeeze on the shoulder before walking over to his colleagues.
“He’s brave, showing his face here. With the whole ministry abuzz with what happened" one of the Aurors said. Teddy snorted.
“The tabloids used to talk shit about him on the front page every day, you think he cares what you lot are saying about him?” he asked incredulously. It actually hadn’t even occurred to him that James was walking into the proverbial lion’s den by coming here when there would be so many ministry people about, but even if it had he wouldn’t have expected it to matter much to James. He glanced over at him and he appeared to be telling his colleagues the story of his disastrous mission. They were all listening with rapt attention, and a few of them reacted with shocked outrage at something, which honestly could have been any one of several parts of the story.
“Were you two together, then? When he was playing quidditch?” Nick asked Teddy with interest.
“No, we were friends though" Teddy replied. “If you think he’s an arrogant shit now, you should have known him back then" he added, to the table at large, grinning at the memory.
“I bet" the witch sat next to Teddy replied. “He was in the Puddlemere team calendar wasn’t he? One of those sexy shirtless pics. All glistening muscles...”
“Now how do you know that?” Teddy asked pointedly. She looked a little flustered, as the others at the table started laughing.
“Watch out, Teddy, she’s after your man!” someone chimed in.
“Fuck off!” she replied indignantly to them.
“You said you were a Puddlemere fan, didn’t you?” Teddy asked, turning to Nick. “Did you have the calendar as well?”
“No!” Nick replied a little too quickly, and everyone including Teddy laughed even harder.
“Does he still have abs like that, though?” the witch asked Teddy with a cheeky grin.
“Wouldn’t YOU like to know" he replied, matching her grin. James didn’t work out anywhere near as much now as he had back then, but his job still kept him pretty fit. Teddy certainly didn’t have any complaints in that department.
“Stop being such a perv, Jenny" someone else admonished her gleefully.
“I can only apologise for my colleagues" Teddy said lazily to Nick, still grinning. “I assure you, sexual harassment in the workplace is no joke.”
“Oh, you’re no fun" Jenny huffed before taking a dignified sip from her glass of wine.
The conversation then steered back to work, with Nick telling all the other Aurors in vague terms about what he and Teddy had done all week, and the rest of them sharing various anecdotes. Steve and a couple of the other Aurors left after they had finished their drinks, as they had families to get home to, leaving just five of them now at the table, including Teddy and Nick. Someone else bought another round for the remaining people at the table, and Teddy started in on his third beer, starting to feel a distinct buzz. He was going to have to make a decision soon, whether to bail and get some food, or to plough on and end up smashed within the next couple of hours. He was feeling pretty on the fence about it, and figured he would probably let either Nick or James make that call. Nick was currently showing no signs of wanting to slow down, but then again, Teddy reminded himself, he was eighteen. He could probably quite comfortably drink Teddy under the table.
“Fucking hell, what’s wrong with this picture?” James said exasperatedly, gesturing to himself as he re-joined their table and sat down next to Teddy. “Half an hour I’ve been here and still no beer in my hand. Gimme that" he added, swiping Teddy’s drink straight from his hand and taking a large swig. Teddy stared at him incredulously.
“By all means, help yourself" he said pointedly. James ignored him.
“Thought I was going to need a crowbar to ply myself out of there” he said irritably. “You’d think they’d never heard of a mission going badly before.” Teddy thought that was something of an understatement, but he didn’t want to open a can of worms with their current audience by calling him out on it.
“Guess I’m going to the bar then" Teddy said flatly. He wasn’t really annoyed at James for taking his drink, but that sure as hell didn’t mean he wasn’t going to give him shit about it. “Anyone want anything?” he asked the others. They had been here sufficiently long that people were starting to get out of sync with the rounds, so a couple of those who had passed on the previous one were now reaching the ends of their drinks.
“No thanks, mate, I’m going after this one” one of them replied.
“Me too, I reckon" Jenny added. “Cat needs feeding.”
“I’ll have a firewhisky, if you’re offering" James said.
“As well as MY beer, you mean?” Teddy asked him pointedly. James merely flashed him a wide smile in response. Teddy shook his head in disapproval, but he couldn’t hold back a fond smile as he went inside to the bar again.
When he returned to the table, James looked right at home, and appeared to be regaling the others with a story from his quidditch playing days about a particularly raucous night out with the rest of his team. Teddy took his seat again in between James and Nick, trying to catch up with the conversation. He quickly realised that the night that James was talking about had been the same night he had splinched himself trying to apparate home drunk, and had shown up at Teddy’s flat in the middle of the night with half of his fingernails missing. Which was funny now, but at the time had been pretty horrific.
“So this girl is right up in my face, telling me how I’m her favourite quidditch player, fluttering eyelashes and all the rest of it" James said, and Teddy put a hand over his face letting out a groan. He knew how the rest of this went. “And I’m just trying to be nice, you know? Because if I’m a dick to her she can sell that story to a magazine, and my team captain is already up my arse about how much press I’m getting, like that is even remotely my fault" James went on, a flare of irritation creeping into his voice at the memory of how much the press had influenced his every move back then.
“So I’m like, ‘it’s always nice to meet a fan' or something like that, Christ, I don’t even remember. I’m clearly shitfaced, this girl has just seen me drop a full bottle of premium vodka on the floor. The only reason the club isn’t kicking me out is because it’s good for their reputation if people think that Puddlemere players go there. Anyway, I know she thinks I’m flirting back with her, and I don’t know how to tell her I’m not. I can’t tell her I’m gay because my own parents don’t even fucking know that yet, so I can’t let the papers get hold of it.” He paused to take a fortifying gulp of the firewhisky that Teddy had placed down in front of him, chasing it down with another swig of beer.
“But before I can even do anything, she just grabs my arse. Right there, in the middle of the fucking dance floor!” James went on, to a mixture of shocked and amused reactions from the others around the table. “And I’m like, ‘excuse me, miss, you do not have my consent for your hand to be on my ass right now’. But because I’m shitfaced, that comes out of my mouth something a bit more like, ‘get off me, you hag.’” Everyone laughed at that, and James waited for them to quieten down again before going on.
“Anyway, she starts making a scene, calling ME an arsehole, like she didn’t just fucking sexually assault me. And something in my brain doesn’t quite comprehend that I should exit this situation before it gets any worse, because I’m stood there arguing with her about dance floor decorum, and how you don’t just go around grabbing people. The bouncers finally come, probably to throw us both out, but right as they get to me, like divine fucking intervention, the DJ puts on that song, the one that goes ‘I see you baby, shaking that ass... shaking that ass...’ you know the one?” A couple of people nodded, but James didn’t really wait for any response before pressing on. “And I start dancing around her, singing ‘I see you baby, grabbing my ass', and she’s fucking fuming. But then all my team mates get on it as well, and ALL of us are singing it at her. Anyway, she started crying and left.”
The entire table (bar Teddy, who had heard the story before) were in hysterics by the time James reached the end, and he took a triumphant drink of his whisky, turning to Teddy with a wry smile.
“You remember how that night ended, right?” he asked him.
“Yeah I do" Teddy replied with a grimace. “You splinching yourself.”
“You splinched?” one of the others asked, with a wince.
“It wasn’t that bad, just fingernails" James said unconcernedly. “Lesson learnt though, don’t try and apparate when you can barely walk.”
“With that in mind, I’ll be heading off now" one of Teddy’s colleagues said, still chuckling and standing up from the table. “Girlfriend’s making dinner, I said I wouldn’t be back too late.”
“Yeah, I’d best make tracks as well" Jenny said, finishing the small amount left in the bottom of her glass before also standing up. The third Auror sat with them also decided to head home, so Teddy wished them all a good weekend. All three of them went inside the bar to disapparate, and James got up to go and sit around the other side of the table, since he, Teddy and Nick had previously all been sat in line.
“What do you reckon, are we staying for another?” James asked casually, picking up his (formerly Teddy’s) bottle of beer to see how much was left in it.
“I’m easy" Teddy shrugged. “What about you?” he passed the question onto Nick.
“I’m happy to stay for another" he replied enthusiastically. James smiled.
“We’ve a party boy in our midst" he grinned. “You’ll fit in well with us" he added to Nick.
“Do not tar me with your brush" Teddy said defensively. “I’m nowhere near as bad as him” he added to Nick, who laughed. He looked a lot more at ease around James than he had when he had first got here, which Teddy attributed to the combined effects of alcohol and James’s general aura of confident friendliness.
“You lying shit!” James countered in amused outrage. “When I was seventeen, this guy right here took me to my very first gay club” he said to Nick. “It’s YOUR fault I’m like this" he said defiantly to Teddy.
“I take NO responsibility for you once you’ve got a firewhisky in you" Teddy shot back.
“Speaking of which, we’re getting a round of these, yes?” James said, tapping his now empty whisky glass.
“Oh, you want THAT kind of night?” Teddy asked.
“It’s been THAT kind of week" James replied. “Besides, we’re celebrating, aren’t we? A successful internship all round, from what I hear.”
“It’s been amazing" Nick chimed in earnestly, and Teddy smiled.
“Firewhisky it is then" he said to James. “Make them doubles, if you’re buying.”
“You see?” James said to Nick. “He’s every bit as bad as me, don’t let him pretend otherwise.” And with that he sauntered off to the bar. Teddy laughed as he watched him go.
“Sorry" he said to Nick once James had gone. “You’ve barely got a word in edgeways since he got here. The two of us can be a lot.”
“He’s fun" Nick said in response.
“Yeah, I think so too" Teddy smiled. There was brief pause where they both sipped their drinks, until Nick piped up again.
“Thanks, for letting me hang out with you” Nick said sincerely, and as he so often had over this past week Teddy had to hold back a laugh at the idea of Nick viewing him as some sort of idol.
“I don’t know about ‘letting you’” Teddy shrugged. “We’re friends now, aren’t we?”
“Yeah” Nick replied, looking pleased. “Can we keep in touch?” he added hopefully.
“I’d be offended if we didn’t” Teddy said calmly. “You’ll make a good auror one day. I’m looking forward to seeing it happen.”
“I hope so” Nick replied thoughtfully.
“You will” Teddy said, waving a hand airily. “Honestly, you’re the most enthusiastic intern I’ve ever had. And enthusiasm counts for a lot, in my books.” Nick frowned at that.
“There’s some people in the academy who just… it’s obvious that they don’t give a shit” Nick said, looking disapproving at the very thought. “I’m like, ‘why are you even here?’” he shook his head. “I’ve wanted to be an auror ever since I joined the DA at Hogwarts.”
“Oh yeah, that defence club?” Teddy replied vaguely. Nick had mentioned it a few times over the week.
“Yeah, were you not in it?” Nick asked.
“I was never really one for extra curriculars” Teddy shrugged. “I think James was, for a brief period, but if memory serves he was kicked out for being too disruptive.”
“Were you two friends at school?” Nick asked, with interest.
“We were friends, yeah, but we weren’t really there at the same time” Teddy told him. “He’s six years younger than me. He did succeed in getting me in enough trouble for the one year he was there with me that I nearly had my head-boy-ship revoked.” Nick laughed at this.
“You were head boy?” he asked, sounding surprised.
“I know, right?” Teddy said with a grim smile. He had certainly never volunteered for the job, and his friends had given him no end of shit about it. “It was based on academic achievements, not behaviour. McGonagall won’t make that mistake again, I reckon.”
“You were a brainbox then?” Nick asked with a wry smile. “Makes sense.”
“Why, do I come off as one?” Teddy laughed, surprised.
“You just seem like you know what you’re talking about” Nick shrugged. “I’ve learnt a lot this week”
“It’s kind of you to attribute that to me” Teddy smiled. “But that’s probably just down to the nature of the case. I’ve learnt a lot too. Actually, last week I was worried my intern was going to be bored with me, I didn’t really have any good cases on until this one dropped into my lap. Harry did me a solid there.”
“He seems like a good boss” Nick nodded sagely.
“He really is” Teddy mused. “Can’t say I’ve got much basis for comparison because this is the only job I’ve ever had, apart from bar work. But I actually can’t imagine working anywhere else. I feel like I’ve got it pretty good here. Harry’s taught me so much. And I know the others were making out like he gives me special treatment, but he really doesn’t, you know? Harry’s just like that. He has a passion for what he does, and if you do too he’ll share as much of it as he can with you.”
Teddy felt a little embarrassed by the end of that speech, as Nick was looking at him with mild amusement. Teddy was definitely starting to cross over from buzzed into tipsy now, if he was pouring his heart out like that.
“Sorry, too much?” he asked, and Nick laughed.
“No, not at all” he replied. “It’s just… that’s exactly how I’d describe you.”
Teddy was unexpectedly touched by this, and had to take a swig of his beer quickly before he made any further embarrassing displays of emotion.
“That’s probably the biggest compliment anyone could give me” Teddy admitted, and Nick smiled widely. Teddy honestly didn’t know what else to say, but thankfully was saved the necessity of having to respond any further by James returning from the bar, three glasses of firewhisky clutched precariously between his hands.
“Grab one before I drop ‘em” he said to Nick as he approached the table, shooting a grin Teddy’s way before clocking Teddy’s expression and then looking confused.
“Alright, what have I missed?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “Why do you look like you’re about to cry?”
“I’m not about to cry” Teddy laughed, as James and Nick struggled to put the drinks down on the table between them without dropping any of the glasses.
“I just told him I think he’s a lot like Harry” Nick filled James in.
“Oh, well, that’s super weird for me to think about” James said casually as he successfully placed all the drinks on the table and sat down again. “But I guess I can see it. At least in terms of how the two of you talk about work. Does this make you the second generation of my dad’s protégés?” he added to Nick, who looked ecstatic at this idea. Teddy laughed.
“I’m not his protégé” he insisted. As much as he would have liked to be mentored by Harry through his whole career, he also didn’t want to have anything handed to him that he didn’t earn. It was on Teddy’s own stipulation that Harry wasn’t his direct manager.
“Yeah you fucking are” James replied dismissively. “He’s been priming you to take over his role when he retires since you were born.”
“How the fuck would you know, since you weren’t even born then?” Teddy countered, and James laughed some more.
“Wait, Harry’s known you since you were born?” Nick asked, looking confused. James’s eyes lit up with mischief.
“Oh shit, you haven’t told him, have you?” James said to Teddy gleefully.
“No, I haven’t” Teddy replied, giving James a quelling look that he knew wouldn’t work.
“Teddy, are you ashamed of our familial connection?” James asked, his voice fake-serious.
“Fucking right I am" Teddy replied indignantly. “And you should be too.” James merely laughed at this and Teddy turned to Nick.
“We’re NOT related” he told him hastily. “Harry knew my parents, that’s all.”
“That’s how you talk about the man who raised you as his own son?” James admonished him, and then let out a cackle at the groan of frustration Teddy gave him in response.
“Harry didn’t raise me, my grandma did" Teddy told Nick. “You’re NOT helping” he said to James, who shrugged unconcernedly. Time had long since passed since this was a particularly sore subject, they had been a couple for about three years now, and had been open with their family about it for one of those. But that didn’t mean Teddy was willing to let anyone think there was anything inappropriate going on. James, on the other hand, who never took anything seriously and never cared what virtual strangers thought of him, would quite happily let it lie just for the sake of winding Teddy up.
“But you knew him, growing up?” Nick asked.
“He’s my godfather” Teddy told him. “So yeah, I was around him a fair amount. That’s how me and James came to be such good friends.”
“Our lives are disturbingly entangled” James chimed in calmly.
“Thank you for that assessment” Teddy replied to him, deadpan.
“It’s not that weird, is it?” Nick put in reasonably. “I mean, people meet through friends of the family all the time.”
“It’s a little weird” Teddy replied. “But thanks.” He slid the remaining glass of firewhisky that neither James nor Nick had claimed across the table towards himself.
“What was it like, growing up with Harry?” Nick asked, addressing both of them. Teddy exchanged a look of amusement with James before either of them answered. Teddy already knew what James’s response was to that.
“He’s always been my dad, so it’s not like I know any different” James shrugged. “But if you’re asking what it was like to grow up with parents who are famous – a gigantic pain in the arse, that’s what it was like.”
“James had a particularly bad time of it with the press” Teddy explained.
“You probably read half of it. You said you were a fan, right?” James said darkly. “Although” he went on thoughtfully. “After I left the major leagues they started to leave me alone. Nothing much interesting to report on me anymore. My little brother probably gets the worst of it these days.”
“Do you mean Albus?” Nick asked, looking mildly surprised.
“Oh shit, that’s right, you were probably in his year at school, weren’t you?” James replied, looking similarly surprised himself. Teddy was also caught off guard by this revelation, and mentally kicked himself for not putting that together until now.
“We had a couple of classes together” Nick shrugged. “I didn’t really know him. He kept to himself, pretty much.”
“Yeah, that sounds like him” James muttered, with a grim smile.
“You said he gets a lot of press?” Nick asked. “I haven’t seen anything.”
“Must not be reading the gossip columns then. Good for you” James gave him a nod for that. “Most of it is complete shit anyway. The only reason they even write anything about Al is because he looks just like dad. So every major event in his life, the photographers are there.”
“Yeah, they were there at graduation” Nick frowned.
“Yep, mine too” James said flatly. “They’ll probably be at our sister’s, as well.”
“That must suck” Nick said sympathetically. James laughed.
“Eloquently put” he replied with a smirk. “It does indeed suck, feeling like nothing you do is ever private. But me and Ted gave the paparazzi a decent run-around back in the day, didn’t we?” he shot Teddy a grin, and Teddy returned it.
“We did at that” Teddy agreed. “Our mate, Luke, used to jump right in front of the cameras every time they showed up, acting like he thought they were there for him.” James cackled with laughter at that.
“I’d forgot he used to do that” he said fondly. “I was thinking of the time we climbed out of that bathroom window to avoid them at dad’s fortieth.”
“Oh christ, yeah” Teddy said, chuckling. “Put it this way” he told Nick. “Whenever the Prophet did get a picture of James for the front page, we fucking well made them work for it.”
“We once used a growing charm on my hair and beard to basically make me look like a viking, so we could walk through town without anyone stopping us” James grinned. “You remember that one?” he asked Teddy.
“How could I fucking forget?” Teddy laughed. “With the colour of your mop? It was twice as conspicuous. Terrible idea.”
“Yeah, they thought I was having some sort of breakdown” James said, shaking his head, but grinning all the same.
“God, I bet your nights out used to be crazy” Nick said, with awe. Teddy and James exchanged another look. That would be putting it mildly.
“That’s sort of par for the course, with this one” Teddy said, gesturing to James.
“You flatter me” James replied, with a wink. He and Teddy both took a sip of their firewhisky at the same time, and James burst out laughing when he lowered his glass again.
“What?” Teddy asked him, confused.
“I’m still thinking about Luke” James grinned, shaking his head. “In front of the cameras, like ‘my adoring press, I’m so glad you found me here, I have so much to tell you’.” His flamboyant impression of Luke was sufficient to render Teddy pretty much incoherent with laughter. Even Nick was joining in with the laughter, and he didn’t even know Luke.
“We should have invited him out tonight” Teddy said, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. “If we’re getting on it.”
“I thought about it” James replied, taking a swig of his drink now his own laughter had subsided enough for him to do so. “But I didn’t want him going all psycho-analyst on me.”
“Well I hope you know you’re not getting out of that, it’s going to happen at some point” Teddy told him.
“Luke does this thing” James explained to Nick, who was looking curiously between him and Teddy. “He can like, see right through you. He calls you out on anything you’ve got going on. And if you’ve been working at the ministry this week you’ve probably heard - I’ve got some stuff going on.”
“See through you, like, how?” Nick asked, looking confused.
“I don’t know” James shrugged. “He’s a social worker, so I guess figuring out other people’s shit is just kind of what he does.”
“I mean, you’re right, but that’s not why he’s like that. He’s always been like that” Teddy interjected. “I met him in first year of school. Imagine how jarring it is to have another kid make casual reference to the fact that you’re an orphan when you haven’t even told them that yourself yet.”
“Is he a legilimens?” Nick asked, a little warily.
“I’ve actually asked him that, several times” Teddy told him. “He says he isn’t, that he can just understand people by the things they say and do. But I don’t know if I believe him, you know.” He added that last bit to James, with a pensive frown. However James merely shrugged again at this, as though it didn’t really matter whether Luke was lying about it or not. Teddy supposed he didn’t really care that much either. Luke was his closest friend apart from James, and even if it wasn’t virtually impossible to keep a secret from him, Teddy doubted that he would have any anyway.
“I don’t think I’d tell people if I was, would you?” James asked him. “No-one would want to hang around with you.”
“Well apparently you don’t want to hang around with him anyway” Teddy countered, the corners of his mouth twitching. James shot him an unimpressed look.
“I just want to figure my own shit out, before I let him loose on it” James said. Teddy supposed that was fair enough, but it was a luxury that Teddy had never really had. Luke had been his best friend at school, and after seven solid years of being virtually inseparable they had maintained a close friendship into adulthood. He rarely went more than a few weeks without seeing him, and given the length of time they had now known each other, Luke was pretty much irreversibly embedded into most aspects of Teddy’s personal life. Which was actually quite useful, all things considered, because Luke not only had this intrinsic ability to understand exactly what you were going through, but he also usually offered pretty helpful advice. Well, in Teddy’s case it more often than not came in the form of a smack upside the head and an earful about how Teddy was acting like a prat. But that was still helpful, in it’s own way.
“By all means” Teddy said passively. “We’ll just have to get pissed without him tonight, then.”
“Where do you guys normally go, for a night out?” Nick chimed in, looking at Teddy expectantly.
“Varies” Teddy shrugged. “There’s a few bars on our regular rotation.”
“We used to hit the muggle student clubs, when we were your age” James told Nick. “Still do go out in muggle London sometimes – not so much to clubs though. Bars are a bit more age appropriate for us now.”
“You’re not that much older than me” Nick said incredulously, and Teddy laughed. He sort of had a point, James wasn’t too much older than him, really.
“Maybe not, but he is” James replied, gesturing to Teddy.
“Hey!” Teddy replied, with an indignant gesture. “Just sitting here!”
“Pushing thirty” James added to Nick, in a stage whisper.
“I didn’t know there was an age limit on clubbing” Nick said, looking as though he was caught between wanting to laugh and not wanting to insult Teddy.
“There isn’t, really, but there definitely IS an age limit on hanging around student bars” Teddy replied. “And even HE’S pushing it on that one” he added, pointing at James.
“Yeah, it doesn’t feel great to know you’re the oldest person in there, by a long shot” James conceded, before sipping his drink in a dignified manner.
“Of course, you can always overcorrect, and go to an old queen bar” Teddy smirked.
“But then you have to spend all night telling people you don’t want their phone numbers” James muttered. Nick laughed.
“It sounds like there’s a story there” he grinned.
“That literally IS the story. I don’t know what he was thinking” Teddy told Nick, before turning back to James. “This when you were still a pseudo-celebrity as well. They were on you like flies.”
“I’m not sure I like the use of the word ‘pseudo’ there” James shot back with a frown, and Teddy laughed.
“There is a middle ground” Teddy said, turning back to Nick. “You ever been to Schloss?”
“The German place?” Nick asked.
“That’s the one” Teddy nodded. “Bavarian ales on tap. Decent cocktails, which keeps Luke happy. Live music. And around the early hours of the morning all hell breaks loose and people start dancing on the tables.”
“That’s where we end up more often than not, at the minute” James agreed.
“Isn’t it expensive?” Nick frowned. Teddy laughed.
“What you’re willing to pay for a drink goes up proportionally with how much you earn” he told him.
“And you’ll generally find that the more expensive places have a bit better class of clientele” James added. “Not once have I had my arse grabbed in Schloss.”
“That’s a very low bar you’re setting there, to be fair” Teddy said dryly.
“Hey, the system works” James shrugged. “I would also rate Bar 92 as a perv-free zone.”
“Well now that’s just not true” Teddy grinned. “I happen to have been accosted several times by a pervy young man at that establishment.” James cackled with laughter at this, and Nick looked confused.
“He’s talking about me” James told him, and Nick made that face again where he seemed unsure whether to laugh or not, which only served to make James laugh even more.
“That’s where we first got together” Teddy told Nick. “He was all over me all night until I finally gave in.”
“Bitch, don’t make it sound like it was all one sided” James shot at him, and Teddy grinned back at him.
“I may have been putting the vibes out as well, I suppose” Teddy said, sipping his drink and meeting James’s satisfied gaze.
“I’ve never been to Bar 92 either” Nick shrugged.
“Well, looks like we’ve got our next destination decided then” James smiled. Teddy gave a nod of approval.
“How do you feel about sangria?” Teddy asked Nick. “They do a deal on a pitcher.”
“I could go for a sangria” Nick replied, nodding.
“Be rude not to” James agreed.