Departure
Teddy woke up to the sound of someone – presumably James – making tea in the kitchen. He squinted through the sunlight streaming in from the window at the clock on the bedside table, which told him it was late morning. He and James had stayed up late last night, it being their last night together before James left for New Zealand. James had admitted that he was terrified about the whole thing, and Teddy doubted that he had slept at all, so it was hardly surprising that he’d be up before Teddy this morning, despite their usual routine being the opposite.
Teddy hadn’t really given himself any time to explore how he felt about this whole thing. He was acutely aware that whenever he vaguely thought about James being gone for six months it gave him a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach, but he’d been pushing it to the back of his mind whenever it did come up, because he meant what he’d said to James that night on Luke’s sofa. James wasn’t asking for a lot, and Teddy would have been a real arsehole to tell him he couldn’t go.
In any case, there hadn’t been time to stop and think about it, because it had all happened so fast. Barely a few days after Luke’s mother’s funeral James had gotten that fateful letter from Bill, and everything had snowballed from there. Less than a week later, James had signed the contract, and was on the phone with his new colleagues looking for an apartment on the other side of the world. It was a good thing that James didn’t have to work out his notice period at the ministry, because there just wouldn’t have been time to do everything that needed to be done otherwise. But as it was, they were actually slightly ahead of schedule. James was all packed, he had read all of his travel guides, he had studied hard on Polynesian history, he and Teddy had been shopping for everything he might need, including a mobile phone each. So now there was nothing left for them to do all day, until James’s portkey this evening. After running around so frantically getting everything sorted for the past two weeks, a day with no plans felt strangely suspicious. As though there really was something they ought to be doing but had forgotten about it.
Teddy heaved himself out of bed and shuffled sleepily towards the kitchen. By the time he got there James had apparently finished making tea, and was stood staring out of the kitchen window, wearing just the t-shirt and boxer shorts he had slept in, both hands wrapped around the steaming mug he was holding. Teddy was mildly disgruntled to see that his boyfriend hadn’t made him a cup, but he probably had a lot on his mind, so Teddy decided to cut him some slack.
“Morning” James said vaguely to Teddy as he entered the room, still looking out of the window pensively. Teddy went to his side to see if he was actually looking at anything in particular, but the view from their flat down to the urban street below was as unremarkable as always.
“You alright?” Teddy asked him, his voice quiet as they were only inches apart.
“Feel like I’m forgetting something” James frowned.
“I know what you mean” Teddy replied with an understanding smile. “Feels weird to have nothing on the to-do list.”
“I know I’ll have forgotten something” James said, shaking his head. “You always do, don’t you, when you go on holiday? There’s always something…”
“Well we’ve crossed everything important off the list” Teddy assured him, snaking an arm around his waist and resting his head on James’s shoulder. “So whatever you’ve forgot can’t be THAT important.”
“Suppose” James replied, sounding thoroughly unconvinced.
“And hey, it’s not like you’re going to some remote island or something. I’m sure you can buy whatever you need when you get there, if you HAVE forgotten something” Teddy ventured.
“I know” James muttered with a heavy sigh. Teddy straightened up enough to place a kiss on his cheek and was about to go and make himself a coffee when he clocked the troubled expression on James’s face.
“You sure you’re alright?” Teddy asked him carefully. “Because you don’t look it, love.”
James turned around to face him fully, that same anxious expression on his face. He paused for a moment, looking down at the cup in his hands that he was still holding in front of him, before flicking his eyes back up to meet Teddy’s.
“This is going to sound incredibly stupid” he said, with a grim smile. “But I was so caught up in the going aspect, that I didn’t really think about the leaving, until now.”
“You’re gonna miss me, huh?” Teddy said softly, unable to hold back his smirk, but putting a consoling hand on James’s arm all the same.
“Six months, Ted” James said imploringly, as though he was only just now realising what that really meant. “Am I… is this crazy?”
“Jesus, don’t ask me that now, when you’ve spent the past two weeks trying to convince me it isn’t” Teddy laughed. Honestly, it was a bit of a relief to know that James wasn’t above freaking out about all this, because he’d been unnervingly calm about the whole thing up until this point. But fuck, he could have picked a better time for it.
“This is crazy” James replied, his eyes wider than normal. “Why did you let me talk you into this?”
“You think I could have fucking stopped you?” Teddy laughed. “You’re an unstoppable force when you’ve made your mind up about something, Potter.” James did not crack a smile at this, continuing to look stunned about what he’d gotten himself into, and Teddy noticed how hard he was gripping the mug he was holding. Apparently this was a BIG freak out. Teddy started trying to prise the mug out of his vice-like grip, half worried he might break it. James realised after a moment or two what he was doing and surrendered the mug to Teddy, who set it down on the counter behind them.
“Jamie, look at me” Teddy said calmly. taking both of James’s hands in his own, and waiting for James to look him in the eye before continuing. “This is the dream job. It’s going to be an incredible experience and you’re going to love every minute of it. I promise you, it’ll be alright.”
“But I’ll be away from you, for six months” James stressed, as though Teddy were the one not taking this point seriously enough. Teddy bit back a laugh.
“I know, and that part of it is going to kind of suck” Teddy conceded. “But I’m only ever a phone call away.”
“I’ve not been apart from you for that long since we were kids” James said helplessly, and Teddy was a little taken aback when he realised that was true. Not since Teddy was fresh out of school and James still at Hogwarts, at least.
“We’re going to be alright, James” Teddy assured him, tugging on one of his hands to bring him closer. Without warning, James engulfed Teddy in a bear hug, wrapping both arms tightly around him, as though THIS was their goodbye.
“I love you, Teddy” James whispered as he clung to him. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too, James” Teddy replied softly, extracting one of his arms with difficulty to reach up and hold a steady hand on the back of James’s head. They stayed there embracing in the kitchen for what felt to Teddy like a very long time. When James eventually pulled back, he still looked nervous, but his expression was considerably less wild than it had been before the hug.
“Come back to bed for a bit” Teddy said, jerking his head towards the bedroom with a small smile. James nodded wordlessly, and Teddy took him by the hand, leading the way.
-
T: Miss you already babe xxx
J: Don’t call me babe…
J: Miss you too, big softie xxxxxxxx will give you a ring when I’ve got my bearings
T: You better
Teddy and James had been quite disappointed to learn that despite the owner of the muggle tech shop insisting that they were somewhat compatible with magic, the mobile phones still did not work in their flat. Teddy still didn’t really know what ‘signal’ physically was (from what he could gather, most muggles didn’t actually know what it was either), but he understood enough to know that when the phone had no bars, that meant it couldn’t make or receive calls. There must just be something about their building that meant the signal couldn’t get through. However now he was over at Luke’s place, it seemed to be working just fine. His and James’s text messages were both going through, anyway. In fact, Teddy’s new phone worked much better here than Luke’s standard muggle one, which they knew from experience only worked at that one particular spot in the kitchen.
“Will you let him breathe, he’s only been gone half an hour” Luke shot faux-irritably at Teddy, who was searching through the emojis on his phone, looking for an appropriate one to send to James. He stuck a middle finger up at Luke without looking at him, but snapped the phone shut anyway. Luke probably had a point.
“He freaked the fuck out this morning” Teddy told him, accepting the glass of wine Luke was holding out to him and stashing the phone back in his jeans pocket.
“Finally cracked, did he?” Luke replied, looking amused by this. “About bloody time.”
“I know, I was starting to think he wasn’t going to” Teddy replied, grinning.
“Nah, it was going to come out at some point. There was no fucking way he was THAT cool about it all” Luke said sagely, shaking his head.
“He seemed like he was, until this morning” Teddy countered. “But then, yeah, it all just came out. I think he didn’t stop to think about the reality of it until now.”
“That’s sort of what he does, isn’t it?” Luke shrugged, sipping his wine. Teddy laughed.
“I suppose it is” he agreed. “Although to be fair, he’s a lot less reckless these days than he used to be.”
“I should hope so, because he used to be a fucking nightmare” Luke replied calmly, and Teddy laughed again. “But I wasn’t talking about that. What I meant was, he tends to jump in with both feet, doesn’t he?”
Teddy nodded, impressed at how astutely Luke had articulated this. But then again, that was what Luke did. Teddy had flooed immediately over here from the ministry after seeing James off at the portkey office, not wanting to spend the evening alone. Of course, he was just delaying the inevitable, he was going to have to go back to the empty flat at some point, but for tonight Luke was happy to keep him company.
“He commits, alright” Teddy mused. James had never been known to do things by halves, which was rather fortunate for their relationship really, as it might never have gotten started otherwise.
“Are YOU alright? About all this?” Luke asked him, eyeing him attentively over the top of his glass. Teddy took a swig of his own before replying.
“I’m… cautiously optimistic” Teddy offered. Luke gave a profound snort at that.
“You’re fucking gutted that he’s gone” Luke countered, and Teddy frowned at him.
“Why’d you even bother asking, then, if you’ve already got it all figured out?” he shot back indignantly.
“Wanted to see if you’d admit it” Luke replied with a smirk. Teddy gave him a deadpan stare in return.
“You’ll be alright, you know” Luke told him consolingly.
“I know” Teddy muttered before taking another swig from his glass, leaning back into the sofa and making himself comfortable.
“Anyway, enough about that, he’s only been gone for half an hour” Teddy said, at which Luke grinned again. “How are YOU?” Teddy asked him seriously, and the smile quickly dropped from Luke’s face. He looked pensive for a moment before answering calmly.
“I’m doing pretty OK, all things considered” he said, and Teddy raised an eyebrow at him.
“What an absolutely nothing answer” Teddy called him out. “And you gave me shit for not opening up?”
“What are we, having group therapy here?” Luke replied incredulously and Teddy laughed, because by and large that WAS what they did here, yes.
“I AM doing OK” Luke insisted. “I’m still sad. Things can feel pretty hopeless if I think about her too much. So I’m trying not to just for now, keeping busy and all that.”
“I’m sorry me and Jamie haven’t been around much for a couple of weeks” Teddy told him sincerely.
“You had a lot on your plate” Luke replied, waving airily. “Anyway, I would have called you if I really needed you.”
“You can call any time, it doesn’t have to be only if you REALLY need me” Teddy told him firmly. “I shouldn’t have to tell you that.”
“You don’t” Luke said with a grateful smile. “And I appreciate that. But really, I am OK.”
“Say it one more time and I might believe you” Teddy replied pointedly.
“Oh, fuck off” Luke replied dismissively, and Teddy couldn’t help but grin. They both drank their wine in comfortable silence for a minute or so before Luke spoke up again.
“So, what are you going to do with all your free time now you don’t have a man at home to keep you occupied?” Luke asked him casually.
“Haven’t really thought about it” Teddy replied truthfully. “Bury myself in work, probably.”
“That’s your answer to everything” Luke said, unimpressed, and Teddy laughed again.
“Well, what are you doing with all YOUR free time?” Teddy asked, and Luke scowled.
“Always have to turn it back around, don’t you?” he muttered.
“Hey, YOU asked ME. it’s only fair” Teddy grinned.
“I was thinking about taking a class, or something, actually” Luke told him quite seriously, and Teddy was taken by surprise. “Something to do in the evenings, isn’t it?” Luke shrugged.
“What kind of class?” Teddy asked, with interest.
“Hang on a sec, I’ve got a leaflet” Luke told him, digging around on the shelf underneath the coffee table. Teddy watched him in amusement as he pulled out a brightly coloured leaflet advertising adult night classes at some local muggle community centre, opening it to the course list on the centre page and shuffling over towards the end of the sofa to show Teddy, who was sat on the opposite one.
“Might do a language one – see look, they’ve got Italian for beginners” Luke said, pointing it out in the list.
“Oh, I see what this is” Teddy smirked. “You’re on the prowl for a new man, aren’t you? That’s why people do these things, isn’t it?”
“I can assure you, I’m not” Luke replied flatly. Teddy glanced sideways at him, a snappy retort on the tip of his tongue, but he faltered when he saw Luke’s serious expression. He had a flashback of Jim in his fireplace telling Teddy and James about how Luke had ditched his last boyfriend upon his mother’s death, and Teddy wondered for a moment whether he should ask Luke about what had happened there. Before he had a chance to work out whether this would be a good idea or not, Luke went on about the other courses.
“Or I might do a cookery class” Luke said, his eyes raking over the list. Teddy tore his attention away from Luke and back to the leaflet, filing the thing about Luke’s ex away in his mind to be broached at a more appropriate time in the future.
“You should do ju-jitsu” Teddy grinned, pointing at the group of exercise classes at the bottom of the page. “Or jazzercize, maybe that’s more your speed.”
“Christ, does that still exist?” Luke said, sounding surprised. Teddy laughed. “My mum used to do that” Luke smiled wistfully, and Teddy watched him warily, waiting to see if this would upset him. Luke must have sensed Teddy looking at him and he glanced back up from the leaflet at Teddy, with a grim smile.
“It’s alright, we can still mention her, you know. I’m not going to break down” Luke told him, his tone neutral.
“It’d be alright if you did” Teddy told him, and Luke huffed a small laugh.
“Well that’s good to know, but right now I don’t really feel like it” Luke told him, turning his attention back to the leaflet. “You should do one with me, it might be fun” Luke ventured.
“Me?” Teddy asked, surprised.
“Be like old times, wouldn’t it?” Luke grinned. “You being the class swot and acing everything, me making snarky comments about what everyone else is doing and distracting you from your work.”
“Like the good old days” Teddy laughed.
“Only this time without Prof Macmillan breathing down our necks” Luke offered. “You have so much potential, Teddy, I’d hate to see you waste it because you can’t take this class seriously.”
Teddy cackled at Luke’s excellent impression of their old head of house and Arithmancy teacher.
“YOU were the one who couldn’t take it seriously!” Teddy shot at Luke, who grinned mischievously.
“How is it MY fault that the guy on the cover of the textbook looked like Jeff Goldblum?” Luke countered.
“He did NOT” Teddy argued, laughing all the while. “And even if he did, that did NOT mean you had to keep doing impressions of him ALL the way through class.”
“We both know I absolutely DID have to do that” Luke argued.
“I’m not doing a fucking class with YOU” Teddy laughed, pointing at him accusatorially. “We’ll get kicked out in the first week.”
“Come on Teddy” Luke implored him. “It’ll be a right laugh.”
Teddy couldn’t argue with that, and put a hand to his face in frustration.
“It’s not like you have anything better to do” Luke challenged him, and Teddy couldn’t argue with that either. He gave Luke a good scowl before snatching the leaflet from him.
“Bloody hell then, let’s see what we’ve got” he muttered, scanning the list. “We’re NOT doing hair and beauty.” Luke cackled at that.
“Do you not think I’d be good at it?” he grinned.
“I am already a much more cliché gay than I ever intended to be” Teddy told him. “So for that reason we’re not doing amateur theatre, either.”
“You’re such a fucking class traitor” Luke replied to this. “Let your pride flag fly, Teddy.”
“Everyone is going to think I’m your boyfriend, whatever class we take, you realise that, right?” Teddy put to him.
“Ah, that was my plan all along” Luke smirked. “Now James is finally out of the picture, I can swoop in.”
Teddy huffed a laugh at that and went back to perusing the list. It was certainly nothing they hadn’t dealt with before, strangers assuming they were a couple.
“The cookery one would be alright, wouldn’t it?” Teddy mused. He had a bit of repertoire of simple recipes he’d mastered over the years, but it might be interesting to expand on it. “It says they have different levels, so we could do an intermediate one.”
“And that’s dinner once a week sorted, as well” Luke agreed.
“Alright then” Teddy said, tossing the leaflet on the table. “I’ll leave you to sort out the details. Let me know where I need to be, and when.”
“Oh, don’t be like that, it’ll be fun” Luke frowned. Teddy shot him a weary smile.
“I reserve the right to bail, if it isn’t” Teddy replied.
“Fair enough” Luke conceded.
-
T: Me and Luke have signed up for a cooking class. I expect disastrous results.
J: Why in god’s name would you do that?
T: He’s trying to keep busy and dragging me along with him.
T: Also now I’m going to be Gordon Ramsay by the time you get home.
J: Is he doing alright?
J: Luke, I mean. Not Gordon Ramsay.
T: Hard to tell, but he seems it.
T: Anyway, where’s my phone call, bitch?
J: By the time I’d finished meeting everyone it would have been the middle of the night for you. Didn’t want to wake you.
T: I figured, but you should have woken me up anyway.
J: I’ll ring you tomorrow, promise.
J: My tomorrow morning. Tonight for you.
T: <3
Teddy stashed the phone back in his pocket, getting up from the seat he’d been lounging in inside the coffee shop a few doors down from the ministry building. He stopped here most mornings to get a decent coffee before heading into work, and figured it was as good a place as any to stop for a moment and check his messages. This would be his new routine now for the next six months, he figured.
He strode easily over to the phone box that would take him down into the ministry, dialling in the code and leaning casually with one elbow on the small shelf below the phone as the lift began its slow descent. He couldn’t pretend that he wasn’t disappointed that James’s phone call had never come last night, but he must be busy. New apartment, new office, new colleagues. Perhaps Teddy was being a tad selfish to expect an update so quickly. James had left on Saturday evening, so it wasn’t as though he’d had a lot of time to get his bearings, as it was only Monday now. He was also probably still trying to get to grips with the new time zone.
Teddy pushed it out of his mind for now, as the phone box ground to halt as it reached the atrium. He pushed the door open and strode down the relatively deserted atrium towards the lifts at the end. It was early – he had left the flat around 7am, wanting to get stuck into his work, so he hadn’t really expected to see anyone else on the way in, but he was pleasantly surprised to run into Harry, who must have arrived only moments before him and was waiting in front of the lifts.
“You’re in early” Teddy said by way of greeting, and Harry turned to him in surprise.
“So are you” Harry remarked. “But that’s not so unusual for you, is it?”
“Got a new theory I want to work through” Teddy told him. Harry looked interested by this, but Teddy knew it would be best to wait until they were inside the office to discuss it, so he didn’t expand any further as they both stepped into the lift.
“How’s James getting on?” Harry asked him conversationally.
“Haven’t spoke to him yet. He’s going to ring me tonight, he said” Teddy shrugged. Harry looked a little surprised by this, but said nothing more and they both waited side by side in silence until the lift reached their floor.
He and Harry made their way through security so they could enter the office on the other side. The security process was automated, which Teddy was grateful for because it meant he could come in at any time he wanted and not have to rely on anyone else to let him in, but it was a little tedious going through the various layers. Harry gave him a curious look as they passed through the thief’s downfall, which Teddy knew would have turned his hair back to its natural ashen brown colour, which he hardly ever wore. He also distinctly remembered Harry once telling Teddy when he was having trouble with his metamorphoses that he looked the spitting image of his father. Feeling a little self conscious about it, Teddy turned his hair back to its usual blue hue.
“Can I ask, why the blue?” Harry asked him casually.
“James likes it” Teddy replied without really thinking about it, wondering seconds after the words came out of his mouth if that was a bit of an embarrassing thing to share, especially given who he was talking to. Harry looked rather amused by this revelation, but didn’t press it any further.
“Your mum used to wear her hair bright pink” Harry told him. “I knew it wasn’t her natural colour per se, but she looked odd without it. Bright colours suited her.”
“That’s kind of how I feel as well” Teddy replied.
They reached the other end of the passage and stepped out into the reception space. It was too early for anyone to be on the reception desk yet and they walked straight through into the main office, which was eerily quiet. Harry was heading towards his own office and Teddy followed him, figuring that since he’d already mentioned it he might as well give Harry a run down of his new theory.
“So we’ve been working on finding out where the bodies are transported from the mimic to” Teddy ventured as they walked.
“If indeed they are transported, and not removed manually” Harry countered, and Teddy nodded.
“But I keep coming back to motive” Teddy told him. “What’s the point? Why are they killing people in the first place?”
“You said you have a theory?” Harry prompted him.
“It might come to nothing” Teddy said, gesturing vaguely. “But I’d like to work it through. I think the perp might be harvesting specific body parts, for dark magic.”
Teddy watched Harry closely as he considered this. He made a thoughtful face as he did so, mulling it over for a moment or two before responding. By the time he actually replied, they had reached his office, and Harry stopped short of entering it, loitering outside the doorway with Teddy.
“That fits with the lack of correlation between the vics” Harry agreed. “And the state of dismemberment of the remains. But it’s a bit of a stab in the dark otherwise, isn’t it?”
“It is” Teddy conceded. “It’s equally plausible at the moment that the perp removed the bodies to dispose of the evidence, not realising parts were left behind. It could be the mimic itself that did the dismemberment.”
“We thought ourselves that the mimic was breaking down the parts of the bodies that weren’t in there, so it’s not too much of stretch to imagine the perp had the same thinking” Harry agreed. “But even in that scenario we still don’t have a motive. You’re right, it’s been bothering me too.”
“You’re alright with me working this angle, then?” Teddy asked.
“Yeah” Harry said, frowning pensively. “If nothing else it would be good to rule it out. I’ll stay on the transportation angle.”
“Yeah, I don’t think we should stop working that” Teddy agreed. “The perp didn’t come back for the mimic, so either something happened to them that stopped them getting to it, or they didn’t need to, for whatever they were using it for.”
“It still doesn’t make sense to me that they let us take it” Harry said, looking troubled. He cast a furtive look around, before jerking his head as he opened his office door, indicating Teddy should follow him in. Teddy did so with a raised eyebrow, wondering what it was that Harry didn’t want to be overheard, given how they’d just been discussing some fairly major details of the case right there in the corridor. Not that anyone else was around to overhear them anyway. But apparently Harry wasn’t fucking around, as he even cast a colloportus on the door and muffliato in the general direction of it. Teddy waited patiently to see what this was about, but Harry’s grim expression as he turned back to him gave him a great sense of foreboding.
“What’s going on, Harry?” Teddy asked him warily.
“I’ve been waiting for the right time to talk to you about this” Harry told him seriously, sitting down at his desk. Teddy followed suit, sitting down opposite him.
“I just saw you go through security, so I know you’re you” Harry went on, and Teddy frowned.
“You think there might be an impostor?” Teddy asked him worriedly.
“Why did they let us take it, Teddy?” Harry put to him, frowning. “You might be right, something could have happened to the perp that stopped them coming back for it. But I can’t help thinking they wanted us to take it. That they might be using it to try and get inside the ministry.”
“Do you think that’s possible? Even after we took it apart?” Teddy asked, a little worriedly. They had spoken more than once about how unusual it was that the mimic had appeared so publicly and unguarded, given how it had been in use undetected for such a long time. But this was certainly the first time that Harry had voiced this specific concern to Teddy.
“It shouldn’t be” Harry said carefully. “But I’ll feel more confident about that once we know how it works.”
“How long have you been thinking this?” Teddy asked him. He understood why Harry needed to pick his moment to bring Teddy in on this potentially monumental piece of information, but he felt a little bit indignant about being left out of the loop. This was his case too.
“Since we started talking about vanishing cabinets” Harry told him, and Teddy’s feeling of being excluded deepened. That was over a week ago! It must have shown in his expression, as Harry looked somewhat apologetic as he went on.
“I wasn’t sure whether to put any stock into this thought” Harry said, shaking his head again. “It shouldn’t be possible. I’m fairly certain it isn’t. But I just couldn’t get it out of my head. I’ve amped up security on the forensics lab, and I’ve been monitoring the security logs. I don’t think they can be impersonating anyone at the moment.”
“Unless they found a way to bypass security?” Teddy asked.
“That shouldn’t be possible either” Harry countered. “But even if it were, why would they? It’s not that difficult to get into any other ministry department, you can just walk in as a visitor. If someone is using the mimic to get inside, it’s this office they’re trying to get into.”
“They could have already been through, and gotten whatever it was they wanted before you started looking for them?” Teddy suggested.
“No staff have gone missing since we brought the mimic in” Harry replied shaking his head. “I checked. No evidence has gone missing either.”
“Why would they wait though?” Teddy asked. “The longer it’s here the more chance there is of us figuring out it’s a transportation device, so if that was the plan you’d think they’d have done it already.”
“I know” Harry replied. “It doesn’t make sense. I told you, I don’t know how much stock to put in this theory. I might be being paranoid, I have a history with vanishing cabinets that might be clouding my judgement. But it’s better to over-react than to under-react about these sorts of things. I’ll be keeping an eye on it.”
“Well me too, now” Teddy replied dazedly.
“I don’t want you to dwell on this too much” Harry told him calmly, and Teddy raised an incredulous eyebrow at him.
“A dangerous killer might infiltrate our office at any moment, why would I dwell on that?” Teddy replied flippantly, and Harry smiled in amusement, despite the seriousness of the situation.
“It shouldn’t be possible” Harry reiterated.
“I’ve already seen a lot of things we never thought were possible, on this case alone” Teddy countered. “Never mind the past six years of working here.”
“Which is why I’m glad you’re the one on this case with me” Harry replied. “And if you weren’t already, I’d have brought you in by now.” Teddy forgot to be annoyed for a second as he was rather flattered by this.
“So what now then?” Teddy asked him. “I assume I have to go on as if this conversation never happened?”
“Of course” Harry replied, his tone serious again. “I’ve told the minister my concerns. But no-one else knows.”
“And you still want me to work my harvesting angle?” Teddy asked. It felt like they’d been on quite some journey since he’d pitched that idea.
“Yes” Harry replied simply. “There’s nothing we can do about what we’ve just discussed other than safeguard against the possibility of infiltration, as best we can. In the meantime, we work the case. And my theory is compatible with yours, so it’s definitely worth running down.”
“Do you think there could be a specific target inside our office?” Teddy asked. That hadn’t occurred to him before this conversation.
“I think if there is, it’s almost certainly me” Harry replied calmly, and Teddy was impressed by his lack of concern for the matter. He supposed that Harry dealt with people who wanted him dead on a disturbingly regular basis, so it was probably nothing new to him, really.
“Should we be worried about that?” Teddy asked him, with a raised eyebrow.
“You probably ought to be, since you’re the one most likely to get in the way of it” Harry told him with a hint of a smirk.
“Right” Teddy replied shrewdly.
-
Teddy was sitting down to dinner when the landline phone rang, and he nearly dropped his bowl of stir fry in his excitement. He put the bowl carefully down on the table before running over to the phone and picking it up the second he was within reach.
“James?”
“Hey babe” James’s warm voice replied.
“If I can’t call you babe, you can’t call me babe” Teddy replied, unable to contain his face splitting grin. It was ridiculous really that James had been away for less than two days and yet hearing his voice still made Teddy feel so happy.
“Fair enough” James laughed. “I just sent you a bunch of messages, by the way, before I realised that you won’t get them if you’re at home. So you’ve got that to look forward to next time you leave the flat.”
“What did you say?” Teddy asked with interest. “Something dirty?”
“No, but I will now” James replied mischievously. Teddy laughed.
“So go on then, I want a full update. What’s it like over there?” Teddy asked him.
“Wet” James replied. “Apparently it’s the tail end of the rainy season. You’d have thought someone would have given me a heads up about that.”
“Did you get soaked?” Teddy asked amusedly.
“Multiple times” James grumbled. “I keep thinking that because it’s not cold, it won’t rain. It really is a whole new world out here.” Teddy laughed again.
“You been out and about a lot, then?” Teddy asked.
“A little” James replied. “Feel like I haven’t stopped since I got here to be honest, but I don’t know that I’ve seen all that much yet. My flat is pretty central in Auckland, only ten minutes walk to the office.”
“What’s the office like?” Teddy asked, with interest.
“Tiny” James told him. “Mohamed wasn’t kidding about it being a small operation. All our desks are in one room, and we have a big meeting room for briefings, and that’s pretty much it for office space. There’s all the excursion ancillary space downstairs – the landing bay, storage, all that stuff.”
“Must be different” Teddy replied. He couldn’t imagine working somewhere that small.
“It sure is” James agreed. “Not that I’ve done much actual working there yet. Mo has me doing medical training at the minute.”
“It’s ‘Mo’ now, is it?” Teddy asked, amused.
“They’re a laid back people, the kiwis” James replied. “My name would be shortened too if it was more than one syllable.”
“I thought only one of your team was actually from New Zealand?” Teddy countered.
“That’s true. But we’re all about cultural acclimatisation here” James rebutted, and Teddy laughed again.
“Ella is from Australia, she’s the one who’s my age. She’s mostly been the one showing me around” James offered. “It’s a bit less of a culture shock for her because it’s only one island over, rather than, you know, half the globe.”
“She know her way around then?” Teddy asked.
“Yeah, she’s already been here for a while with Mo” James replied. “Ethan, the grad, started a few weeks ago as well, but he’s the one who’s actually from here so he’s pretty settled. Matt’s the last one, he’s sharing team lead responsibilities with Mo. He came over from California, arrived the same day as me.”
“Are they all alright?” Teddy asked.
“Seem it” James replied. “We all went out for dinner last night, as a kind of team bonding thing. You can tell Matt and Mo have been friends a long time, they give each other nearly as much shit and you and me do.”
“Oh you’ll fit right in then” Teddy smiled. James laughed.
“I hope so” James replied. “It’s probably too soon to call it, but I think I’m going to really like this job.”
“That’s great, James, really” Teddy said warmly.
“Oh and I’ve not even told you the best thing about New Zealand yet” James said excitedly, as though just remembering whatever it was he wanted to tell Teddy. “I’m not a fucking celebrity here!”
“Are you not?” Teddy asked, laughing.
“No!” James replied, sounding thrilled about it, which only served to make Teddy laugh even more. “I mean, they know who Harry Potter is, but he’s not like, a big deal. The war didn’t really reach over here. Also, they don’t give a fuck about quidditch.”
“Oooh, that must be hard for you” Teddy said amusedly.
“I mentioned that I used to play for Puddlemere, and everyone was like …’who?’…” James told him.
“Ouch” Teddy replied, grinning.
“Yeah, they had no frame of reference for how big of a deal that is in the UK” James told him, still sounding pleased. “I’m a nobody here.”
“Well, that must be very strange” Teddy laughed.
“It’s fucking fantastic” James declared. “No fans asking me personal questions, no random paparazzi ambushing me. No-one staring at me when I walk in a restaurant. This must be what being normal is like.”
“Well that’s great” Teddy chuckled. James didn’t reply until Teddy’s laughter had petered out, his tone much more soft when he did so.
“I wish you were here with me” James said warmly. “Feels weird living somewhere that you don’t.”
“You’ve only just moved there” Teddy told him consolingly. “It’ll feel weird no matter what, until you’ve settled in.”
“I don’t like having the bed all to myself” James replied, sounding as though he was pouting, which made Teddy laugh again.
“I don’t like that much, either” he admitted. “That’s probably when I miss you the most.”
“Christ, look at us. Pair of absolute pansies” James muttered, and Teddy huffed a small laugh.
“You did this to me” he said pointedly. “I was never like this before you.”
“I was never like this before you either” James countered. “Had to go and make me fall in love with you, didn’t you?”
“It was only fair. You did it to me” Teddy replied softly, and James sighed.
“It’s stupid that I miss you this much after only two days” he said petulantly.
“Fifty-eight more and I’ll be there with you” Teddy offered.
“Urgh, that sounds like forever” James replied, sounding unimpressed. “Change the subject, would you. What have you been doing with yourself since I’ve been gone?”
“I already told you, Luke is dragging me to a cookery class” Teddy offered. “If we’re not kicked out in the first ten minutes it’ll be a miracle.”
“Teddy ‘head boy’ Lupin?” James asked sceptically. “I refuse to believe it.”
“You’ve never been in a classroom with Luke” Teddy replied fervently, and James laughed.
“Why is it that you attract trouble-makers?” James asked him. “You might want to reflect on that.”
“I think I might” Teddy agreed. “But anyway, apart from that, I’ve just been at work. My case is heating up.”
“You figured out whether it’s a vanishing spell yet?” James asked, sounding interested. Teddy was taken aback.
“How do you know about that?” he asked, frowning.
“Saw the schematics on the wall of Dad’s office” James told him nonchalantly. “Don’t worry, I know you can’t tell me the details. But since I’m the one who cracked it, I feel like I’ve got a vested interest in this.”
“Well I definitely can’t tell you anything” Teddy said, frowning as his mind went to the conversation he’d had with Harry in his office this morning. “Not until it’s over, at least.”
“Well solve it quickly then” James replied flippantly, and Teddy laughed.
“I’ll do my best” he offered.
-
J: You ready for that call now?
J: Ted?
J: You’re not still at work are you?
J: Working overtime already, I’ve only been gone for two days???
J: You must be missing me, huh?
J: Answer meeeeeee
J: Get your dick out for me.
J: 8======D
J: Miss you xxxx