Changing seasons
The next few weeks passed without much of significance really happening. Summer came to an end but the weather stayed fairly warm as they reached the end of September, so Teddy was still taking long walks in the park to talk to James on the phone in the morning, as that timing seemed to work better for James on his end. James did seem to be working on his promise to do better, and he was now calling when he said he was going to, although that was still no more than about once a week. Teddy still felt vaguely lonely, although he’d increased the frequency with which he was checking in with Luke, which helped a bit.
They’d done four of those cooking classes now, every one of them being as disastrous as the first. Teddy was quite sure that neither of them were actually learning anything, but they kept going because it was good fun. Luke was still the same, bouncing back and forth between obviously depressed and seemingly-fine-but-not-really. Teddy still hadn’t confronted him about it, because he didn’t think there was anything really to be gained by doing so. But he was keeping a watchful eye on him, and there were moments where Luke seemed to forget that he was sad and his laughs became genuine. And the moments were happening with increasing frequency as time went on, which must be progress. Still, it was going to be a long journey before he was back to how he had been before all this. Maybe he never would be exactly the same.
An hour or so a week on the phone and superficial chat via text messages still felt inadequate to Teddy in terms of keeping up with James. But from the snippets he had been getting, it sounded like he was having the time of his life over in New Zealand. The excursions seemed quite similar to the sort of thing he’d been doing for Gringotts, but it sounded like the team was less formal and more friendly. In fact, the office culture sounded to Teddy not unlike the auror office, where you were expected to do your work and do it well, but everything else was pretty casual. James was excited about the prospect of Teddy visiting sometime soon, and they had pencilled in a long weekend in mid-October. They hadn’t booked the portkey yet, as James wanted to fit the trip in at a time when he wouldn’t be letting his inbox pile up in his absence, so the actual dates of the trip were somewhat flexible and to be confirmed closer to the time. Teddy was looking forward to it, he and James hadn’t been on a holiday outside of Europe together in a couple of years. And he was ecstatic as the prospect of seeing James, obviously.
As time passed, Teddy had thought that it would get easier, but it didn’t. He still missed James so much that it affected him every day. He felt distinctly like something was missing from his life, and no matter how hard he tried to keep busy he couldn’t quash that feeling. It was at the point now where phone calls with James felt bittersweet in a way, because it was wonderful to speak to him and hear his voice, but after they hung up the phone Teddy’s feeling of loneliness was only intensified.
A small mercy was that since they were doing these phone calls now in the morning for the UK, Teddy went straight into the office afterwards, which was the most effective way Teddy knew of to refocus his mind on something else. He felt distinctly like they were closing in on solving the case now, and he was aware that as soon as it was closed, the paperwork would be submitted for his promotion. He knew that Harry had put in a good word with his line manager about this, but for the first time in his career, Teddy found that he actually didn’t really mind. He knew he had earned the senior auror role. He’d been handling his own small cases for some time now, and he was working side by side with Harry sharing the workload on the bigger ones.
Back at the start of the summer James had made some throwaway comment about Harry priming Teddy to take over as head of the auror department when Harry retired, and Teddy had told him to shut up at the time. But he found himself thinking about that a lot lately, and he thought maybe James was right. Nearly everything Teddy knew about this job he had learnt from Harry, and Harry was exactly the sort of auror that Teddy wanted to be. Teddy had never wanted to be Harry’s protege because he thought that would mean he was handed things he didn’t deserve, but the more he thought about it the more he realised that was too simplistic a view of it. Harry did favours for his friends and family to cut through red tape, but he didn’t ever hand out responsibility that wasn’t earned. And maybe Teddy was dedicated to his job and as good at it as he was BECAUSE he had grown up watching Harry do it. But why should that mean he hadn’t earned anything? No-one could ask for a better mentor than Harry, and Teddy undoubtedly was the person he was today as a direct result of having Harry as a role model. And in a way, didn’t that make him perfect for the job?
He had some half formed plans in his mind to tell Harry all of this, but he wasn’t sure what the appropriate setting for it would be. He would have to spend some time thinking about what exactly he wanted to say, because it would be embarrassing just to gush about how much he admired and wanted to be like Harry. After they had solved the case perhaps, Teddy might insist on taking Harry out for a beer where he could sincerely thank him for everything he’d done for Teddy’s career so far.
Of course, all of this was contingent on them closing said case. Either Draco or Harry or both of them had decided they didn’t want Teddy present the first time they examined the mimic together. Teddy was a little disappointed about this, but he understood it wasn’t a snub, and that Harry and Draco had a complex personal history that they didn’t want to air in front of someone else. However it appeared that Draco was able to help them with it, and he had been back into the auror office a few times to work on it. He had been reporting his findings back to Harry, who had been relaying them to Teddy, and it seemed that Draco thought he might be able to repair the connection at least enough for them to identify what was on the other end of it. At the last status report, Teddy had asked if he could accompany Draco on his next visit to see what he was doing, purely from an intellectual curiosity standpoint. Harry had asked, and Draco had agreed, so today Teddy was apparently going to find out some stuff about repairing vanishing spells.
He had to admit, he was a little nervous. Draco Malfoy was one of those people with a vaguely intimidating aura, and his strained relationship with Harry might possibly result in an outright dislike for Teddy purely by association. Teddy and Draco were actually related, Teddy’s grandma was Draco’s aunt. Teddy wasn’t sure what that made he and Draco – second cousins, something like that? But they weren’t familiar. Andromeda certainly had no contact with her sister either before or after the war. Actually, a closer relation between Teddy and Draco might be Draco’s son dating Teddy’s pseudo-brother, Albus. Either way, it was kind of weird for them to be meeting like this in a professional context, and Teddy had decided not to bring up any of their tenuous connections at all, and act as though they were complete strangers. Which they were, really.
Teddy was still working down his motive theory, which was looking increasingly likely to be correct. He had managed to link dark magic activity to most of the points in the timeline now, which correlated in many places with specific body parts they knew to be missing from the victims. The pattern of dark spells cast pointed to an extremely dangerous individual, who was not only extending their own life, but also increasing their own magical power. For what purpose they didn’t yet know, but Teddy couldn’t pretend he wasn’t very pleased that it looked like his hunch had been right. He spent a couple of hours in the morning working some more on this, until there was a knock on his office door. The door was ajar, as it usually was, so Teddy called out for the person to enter while he finished jotting down some notes from an old case file that might link to the present one, looking up as Draco Malfoy entered his office, wearing a visitor’s pass on a lanyard around his neck.
“Mr Lupin” he said, with a curt nod. “I believe you’ll be accompanying me today.” His voice was rather quiet and soft, but with an odd sort of gravitas that was somehow more compelling than if he had been yelling. He reminded Teddy of his old defence against the dark arts professor.
“If that’s alright” Teddy replied evenly. “And you can call me Teddy.”
“Very well” Draco replied. “First name terms it is then. You may call me Draco.”
“Alright” Teddy replied, a little awkwardly. He wondered vaguely if Draco was always this formal. “Let’s go, then” he added, gesturing to the door, which Draco had barely cleared and was still stood in front of. Draco said nothing, merely giving him another nod before exiting the office, leading the way down towards the room where the mimic was.
“I thought Harry would be with you” Teddy said conversationally as they walked.
“He said he doesn’t need me to check in with him before going to the portal” Draco replied calmly. Teddy was confused for a second, before he realised what Draco was talking about.
“You mean the mimic?” he asked.
“Is it still a mimic, now the animation spell has been removed?” Draco put to him, and Teddy was taken aback. It was a bit early in the day for philosophical questions like that.
“I dunno” Teddy replied, frowning. “You’re the first person I’ve heard call it a portal though.”
“For our current purposes that’s what it is, don’t you think?” Draco asked him calmly, and Teddy was a little taken aback again.
“Were you a Ravenclaw, by any chance?” he asked, and Draco chuckled.
“Why do you ask?” he replied with interest.
“You talk like one” Teddy replied, wondering after he’d said it if that could be construed as an insult in any way. He hadn’t meant it as one.
“I was in Slytherin” Draco told him. “I’m surprised you don’t know that. I thought my reputation preceded me.”
“What reputation is that?” Teddy asked warily, unsure exactly what he meant by that and wondering if he was trying to intimidate him. Draco himself looked surprised at the question.
“You don’t know your history” Draco said quietly. It wasn’t really a question, but Teddy understood now what he was getting at.
“I’ve seen the name Malfoy in a history book or two” he shrugged. “But I grew up with Harry. I learnt not to put too much stock into the things written by someone who wasn’t there. And I know that Harry trusts you. That’s the only reputation I care about.”
“You think he trusts me?” Draco asked, looking surprised by this, and Teddy had to bite back a laugh at being made to be a go-between for two men in their late forties.
“He’s letting you wander around the office without supervision” Teddy pointed out, and Draco chuckled again.
“I don’t know about that” he countered. “Every single pair of eyes in this place is on me. You’re not a very good detective if you haven’t noticed.”
Teddy huffed a laugh at that. And Draco was right of course, every single person they passed peered at Draco curiously, some of the older people doing nothing to hide the dislike on their faces. Teddy supposed that was partially why Draco seemed surprised that Teddy wasn’t more afraid of him.
“I might ask you the same question” Draco went on, and Teddy must have looked confused, as he clarified. “If you were a Ravenclaw. Harry said you wanted to know what I was doing purely because you were interested in how it’s done.”
“I am” Teddy agreed. “And you’re not the first person to ask me that. But I’m a Hufflepuff.”
“Curious” Draco replied enigmatically. Teddy waited for him to expand, but he didn’t.
“Are you one of those people who think Hufflepuff is for losers who don’t fit in anywhere else?” Teddy asked him, and Draco laughed.
“I think I might have been, back when I was at school” he replied calmly. “But I’m less judgemental now I’m not a teenager anymore. Besides I’ve long since learnt that your house doesn’t necessarily define who you are. What was it that you said? Don’t put too much stock in it?”
Teddy didn’t know what to say to that. Draco was nothing at all like Teddy would have expected him to be, and Teddy wasn’t really sure why he and Harry didn’t get on so well. Whatever had happened to them back in the war must have been bad, because Teddy found Draco to be quite likeable. He was certainly interesting.
They walked in silence the rest of the way to the room, and neither of them spoke again until there were inside and the door closed behind them. Draco approached the mimic on the desk, which looked no different to how it had when Teddy had last seen it. Teddy moved to his side, looking at it from the same angle that Draco was.
“So what exactly is it that you’re doing?” Teddy asked him.
“That’s a very broad question” Draco replied softly, not looking at Teddy and instead focusing on the mimic in front of him, which he was running his hand over the same way Harry had told Teddy to when looking for the traces of the old spell. “The simplest answer is that I’m attempting to repair the connection, but you already know that. If you’re asking about my methods I’ll need you to be more specific.”
Teddy was initially a little indignant at what he felt was a rather rude answer. But on further reflection, it occurred to him that it had been a bit of a vague question. Draco was clearly a very intelligent person. He’d been speaking to Teddy thus far as an intellectual equal, so Teddy ought to do the same.
“The vanishing spell is damaged beyond repair by normal means” Teddy put to him. “There’s not enough of it remaining to be able to stitch it back together, so to speak. I’d imagine the best way to repair it is with some sort of patch, but the problem is that we don’t know what the original spell looked like, so we can’t create a patch that replicates it.”
“Good” Draco replied approvingly. “You’ve articulated the problem well, but your proposed solution is too generic. You’re thinking about this as an open wound, rather than what it is. It’s a locked door.”
“Huh” Teddy said while he pondered this. “Portal…” he muttered under his breath. It made sense now. From the way Draco was looking at it, that’s certainly what it was. A portal that needed be opened.
“So you’re trying to pick the lock?” Teddy asked him. Draco shook his head, one hand still inside the trunk. Teddy wondered vaguely what he was feeling for.
“Like you said, there’s not enough of a lock left to pick. But the door is still there” Draco replied a little distractedly. He seemed to have found what he was looking for, and he kept one hand on the spot inside the trunk, drawing his wand with the other and pointing it just below his fingertips. He said no incantation, so Teddy had no idea what he was doing, but he removed his non-wand hand and gestured to Teddy.
“Come, tell me what you feel” he said. Teddy was a little surprised at being asked for input, but he was grateful for the opportunity. He obligingly put his hand at the same spot Draco was holding his wand to and felt a much stronger thrum of magic than he had previously.
“What are you doing to magnify it like that?” Teddy asked.
“I’ll tell you in a moment” Draco replied calmly. “First, tell me what you feel.”
Teddy took a moment to consider this. He had found a course on detecting different types of magic as Harry had agreed that he could, but it wasn’t running until next year so he hadn’t been able to learn anything about it yet. Still, Draco seemed to be expecting him to be able to feel something, so Teddy closed his eyes, trying to work out exactly what it was that he was feeling. It was very hard to put into words.
“It feels almost like… it’s pulling me, towards something” Teddy said, snapping his eyes back open. Draco was watching him carefully, and looked pleased at Teddy’s assessment.
“Indeed” Draco agreed, withdrawing his wand. Teddy felt that strange sensation all but disappear.
“So that’s how you know it’s still there?” Teddy asked him.
“Any trace at all of residual magic would mean the door is still there” Draco told him. “But that’s how you know it’s a door. Because it’s trying to pull you through.”
Teddy was very impressed. Harry had said the people from the experimental department had needed to run tests to determine it was a vanishing spell. Draco knew just by feeling it. It suddenly became very clear why Harry had called him in on this.
“It wasn’t a strong pull” Teddy said. “It wasn’t literally pulling me in. I could just feel the slightest… I don’t know, like it was beckoning me, almost.”
“Elegant, isn’t it” Draco replied smoothly. “Magic can be, when done right.”
Teddy didn’t know what to make of that statement, but he certainly wanted to know more.
“How were you magnifying it?” Teddy asked again.
“I wasn’t” Draco replied. “You asked me if I was picking the lock, but that was perhaps a bad analogy. The door isn’t so much locked as it is jammed. The only way to open it is with brute force. I was forcing it open a crack.”
“How do you do that?” Teddy asked with interest. Draco didn’t immediately answer, looking at Teddy appraisingly for a moment or two.
“You and Harry would probably call it dark magic” Draco replied quietly. Teddy was very taken aback.
“And what would you call it?” he asked, frowning.
“I’m not doing anything illegal, if that’s what concerns you” Draco told him calmly. That wasn’t what concerned Teddy, as he was quite sure Harry wouldn’t be allowing such a thing. “But if I was using this spell for anything other than catching your criminal, it would be… morally questionable, shall we say?”
Teddy continued to frown. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that at all.
“Harry knows full well what I am doing, and he has no qualms with it” Draco told him. “Speak to him, by all means, if you have concerns.”
“I can usually feel dark magic” Teddy said slowly. “But I didn’t, then.”
“That’s because the kind of dark magic you’re used to seeing is the kind that leaves a very distinctive mark” Draco explained. “The blackest black, that leaves a trail of death and destruction in it’s wake. It would be impossible not to see. But there are branches of magic that aren’t quite so dark. They operate in the grey, if you like. Their traces are much more subtle.”
“But it’s still dark?” Teddy pressed him. Draco titled his head to one side as he considered Teddy.
“You sound like Harry” Draco said, his tone even. “If you’ll forgive me a small criticism of your mentor, he has always over-simplified these things in my opinion. It’s a complex issue. We are using a lot of analogies today, so let’s return to the one about a locked door. A crowbar is in itself simply a tool. Nothing nefarious in and of itself. Harmless, unless wielded in the wrong way. Say that crowbar were to be used to force open a locked door. Perhaps then not so harmless. That same crowbar could also be used to bludgeon a man to death. Certainly not harmless. But does that mean we should classify all crowbars as something ‘evil’? In some cases such a response may be proportionate. Outlawing use of the unforgivable curses, certainly. I don’t think there’s any real counterpoint to the fact that those sorts of spells only exist to cause harm. But a spell such as this one, which forces its way through barriers. There’s an argument to say that it is dark magic, but in my view it is merely a tool. It is the intent behind it that truly determines whether it is dark, or not.”
Teddy had nothing to say to that, feeling more confused than ever as he ran it over in his mind. He had never heard someone talk about the complexities of dark magic like that. He felt a little uneasy at the prospect. It seemed to Teddy like it was small jump from what Draco was talking about to finding ways to justify using even the most horrible kinds of dark magic. But what he was saying made sense. Nothing in the real world was ever so black and white.
“I have given you a lot to think about, it seems” Draco added calmly. “I’d encourage you to do some reading on the subject. Do not take my word for it.”
“I will” Teddy replied slowly, still feeling rather wrongfooted by this entire conversation.
“You may stay and watch me work if you like” Draco said, turning back to the mimic. “But I think you have gotten the information you came here for.”
“So that’s all you’re doing?” Teddy asked. “Just trying to force it open with that spell?”
“That and some others like it, yes” Draco replied, still focusing his attention on the mimic. “You were expecting a more elegant solution?” he added, evidently picking up on the disappointment in Teddy’s tone.
“I don’t know what I was expecting” Teddy replied honestly. Certainly not this, though. Draco didn’t respond and continued to work on the mimic, pressing his wand to different spots in turn with one hand, and feeling around for the effects with the other. Teddy supposed that he was right, there wasn’t much more to be learnt from watching him, so he made his way over to the door.
“Ollivander” Draco said suddenly, as Teddy placed his hand on the door handle, and he turned around in confusion. Draco still wasn’t looking at him. “Not the wand maker but one of his ancestors. His books would be a good place to start researching what we talked about” Draco explained. “Even if you disagree with my feelings on what exactly constitutes dark magic, it would be useful for you to learn to recognise some of the subtler types of magic that can be used to do harm.”
“Thanks” Teddy replied, a little uncertainly.
“It was a pleasure meeting you, Teddy” Draco said, still not looking at him as Teddy turned back to the door. “It’s been interesting, for both of us, I’m sure.”
“That’s a way to put it” Teddy mused, as he opened the door. “I’ll see you around, Draco.”
-
J: I got into a fight with a grindylow and won. Take that bitch!
T: No broken legs this time?
J: ONE TIME that happened…
J: What’s going on with you?
T: I met Draco Malfoy yesterday.
J: How was THAT?
T: Very strange. He made me question everything I thought I knew about dark magic.
J: Sounds intense.
J: What the fuck are you guys doing over there that made that come up?
T: Can’t tell you until the case is closed.
T: Have you met him?
J: In passing. Couldn’t tell much about him apart from the fact that him and Dad have some ISSUES.
T: Have you just learnt how to use capitals to emphasise a point?
J: DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT.
J: Have you told Dad btw, that you’re questioning your entire morality spectrum?
T: Not sure I should, in light of said issues.
J: Probs for the best. Stay out of the firing line.
J: Seriously though, is this a big deal?
T: Don’t think so. Just made me look at some things differently.
T: I’ll tell you properly next phone call.
J: Colour me intrigued.
J: Luke update?
T: No change. Got cooking class with him tonight. I’ll let you know how it goes.
J: What are you making?
T: Moroccan tagine. Very cultured.
J: What’s that?
T: Stew, basically.
J: Well it sounds much less cultured when you put it like that.
T: YOU ASKED.
T: Better get to work now. Later babe x
J: Don’t call me babe!
J: LOVE YOU xxx
-
Carrying a large tupperware full of Moroccan tagine under one arm, Teddy dug his phone out of his pocket with the other hand and opened it to see if he had any messages. This left him with no free hands to open any doors, so when he reached the end of the corridor on his way out of the community centre he had to stop and loiter there while he scrolled through his contacts to find Luke’s number.
Luke hadn’t shown up for the class. Teddy had checked his messages a couple of times during the class, and again just now, but Luke hadn’t contacted him at all, which was rather worrying. Luke was probably the most reliable person Teddy knew, and it wasn’t like him at all to bail last minute. And for him to do so without even the courtesy of an apologetic message was unheard of. Teddy pressed the button to call Luke and balanced the phone precariously between his head and shoulder to free up a hand to push the door open. The call rang several times as Teddy made his way out onto the street, taking hold of the phone with his hand again and shivering slightly in the chilly air. He wished vaguely that he’d had the forethought to wear a jacket, but it hadn’t been that cold when he’d left the flat earlier.
After a minute or so, the call went to voicemail and Teddy hung up, frowning. Not being able to connect with Luke’s mobile was a pretty common occurrence, since he struggled to get signal in his flat, but the phone had rung, which meant that either Luke was choosing not to answer it, or he was incapacitated in some manner. Either way, Teddy figured he ought to go over there and check on him. At the very least, he wanted to find out the reason for the no-show.
The community centre where they were taking the class was in a pretty busy muggle area so Teddy usually took the tube to and from there. Luke’s place was a little closer, a walkable distance, but it was still a good twenty minutes or so on foot. Teddy thought vaguely about taking the tube, but it wouldn’t really have been any quicker once you factored in all the time spent getting down into the station and to the right platform.
Figuring there was nothing else for it, Teddy started to walk over there. He tried Luke again on the phone, but still got no answer. The early autumn air was cold on his bare arms, but Teddy was distracted enough now not to really notice it, his trepidation building as he walked. He took his phone out again, glancing at the time on the home screen. It was just past 8.30pm, which would make it 8.30am over in New Zealand. James would be either just heading to or just arriving at work. Teddy hesitated for a moment, but then decided he may as well give it a try. Worst case scenario, James would tell him he couldn’t talk right now, then Teddy would be no worse off than he currently was.
Feeling his spirits lift a little bit at the prospect of talking to his boyfriend, for however brief a phone call, Teddy found his number and pressed call. It only rang once before he answered.
“Teddy?” James answered, sounding surprised but pleased. Teddy felt himself smile automatically.
“Hey Jamie” he said warmly. “You got a minute?”
“For you? I’ve got five” James replied cheerily. Teddy’s smile widened.
“Are you at work?” Teddy asked him.
“No, I was just about to set off, but I can delay a little” James told him casually. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”
“I might be panicking prematurely” Teddy ventured. “Well, panicking is probably too strong a word” he corrected himself. “But I’m a bit worried. Luke never showed for cooking class.”
“Is that something to be worried about?” James asked, his tone neutral, Teddy could tell that he wasn’t being sarcastic, he was genuinely asking.
“I don’t know, that’s why I’m not panicking” Teddy replied. “But I’m heading over there now.”
“He might have just forgot” James offered, but even he sounded sceptical about it.
“Wouldn’t be like him, would it?” Teddy countered. “I dunno, let’s not start speculating, I’m sure everything is alright. But rather than letting my mind run away with itself while I head over there, I thought I’d have a catch up with you.”
“You’re going to use me to keep yourself calm, and in the process pass all your worry onto me, is what you mean” James shot back, but he sounded amused rather than annoyed. Teddy felt a strange stab of longing. He hated how anything that reminded him of how much he loved James only made the long distance hurt more.
“Something like that” Teddy smiled. “So, I gave you my update this morning. Tell me yours. What happened with the grindylow?”
“Oh, it wasn’t that big of a deal, really” James replied airily. “We were diving for some buried treasure and there were a few of them around. They stayed clear of us for the most part, but one of them decided he didn’t want me in his personal space.”
“To be fair, you did just drop into his house and start stealing shit” Teddy grinned. James made a noise of protest.
“You’re siding with the grindylow over me?” he said in outrage. Teddy laughed.
“Anyway, I have a history with grindylows, as you well know” James added pointedly. “So I wasn’t letting him anywhere near me. Shot him back with a repulsion spell.”
“That’s sounds like a pretty lame fight to me” Teddy replied, smirking. “Your texts made it sound much more exciting.”
“Well, sorry it’s not up to your standard, Mr hotshot auror” James shot back at him. “Can you really not tell me anything about your case? I’m dying here, with all these teasers you keep dropping.”
Teddy huffed a laugh and then ran over it in his mind, whether there was anything he could tell James. He already did know some parts of it that he probably shouldn’t.
“Can’t give you details” Teddy told him. “But the thing you figured out has been very important in us getting to where we are now. It helped me come up with my latest theory, which looks to be right. Even Harry was impressed about that” Teddy told him, working hard to not sound smug about it and failing miserably.
“Sounds like you’re earning that promotion” James said warmly. Teddy’s smile broadened.
“Don’t want to count my chickens, but it seems that way” Teddy agreed.
“That’s great, Ted, really” James replied sincerely. Teddy felt another horrible pang of yearning. James was the only person who ever called him Ted.
“I miss you” Teddy said quietly. There was a pause before James replied. When he did so his voice was soft, matching Teddy’s tone.
“I miss you too, love” he said. “I really can’t wait until you’re here with me.”
“Just a couple more weeks” Teddy smiled. “I hope you're ready, because I-“ Teddy cast a quick look around to make sure no one was walking close enough to him to hear. “I’m going to fuck you to within an inch of your life.”
James let out a surprised laugh in return, which made Teddy grin.
“That’s the very least I expect” James replied once he’d apparently regained his composure, a mischievous glint in his voice. “I assure you, the first 24 hours of you being here are reserved entirely for sexy time.”
“Ambitious” Teddy noted.
“I think you’re up to the challenge” James told him.
“Honestly, after two months it’s probably going to be over embarrassingly quickly” Teddy countered, looking around again and keeping his voice low. James laughed again.
“Well on the first run, sure. Same here, I don’t doubt” he conceded.
“At the risk of ruining this very hot dirty talk we have going on here” Teddy ventured. “I would also like it to be noted that I’m really fucking looking forward to snuggling with you.”
“Aww, you big softie” James replied. Then after a pause he added “if I’m honest, I think I’m looking forward to that more than the sex. Well, maybe not more, but equal amounts.”
“And you call ME a softie” Teddy laughed.
“I’ve never tried to hide the fact that I’m an absolute sap” James argued. “You’re the one who’s always pretending to be cool.”
“That’s not even remotely fucking true” Teddy replied indignantly, and James cackled. “Have you forgotten that I knew you when you were a big shot quidditch star? Eighteen year old James Potter, wearing sunglasses indoors like you thought you were Axl Rose, you wanna talk pretending to be cool?”
“Well, let’s not dredge up the past now” James replied dismissively, and Teddy laughed again.
“Speaking of your visit, by the way” James said, his tone suddenly serious. “I might have to push back by a week or two. Things are starting to get a bit hectic here. Would that be alright?”
Teddy moved the phone away from his mouth a couple of inches while he sighed, all amusement at their previous topic evaporating as a wave of disappointment broke over him.
“That’s why we kept the dates flexible, I guess” he conceded, but even he could hear how much his tone had shifted, his voice coming out rather cold.
“I know, it fucking sucks” James replied apologetically. “Believe me, I don’t want to extend the amount of time I have to go without you here, but... we agreed it makes most sense to time it for when I can take as much time off as possible, right?”
“No, I know” Teddy agreed wearily. “There’s no point in me being there if you’re at work all the time.”
“Exactly” James agreed, but he must know what a blow this was to Teddy, given how his voice was still so apologetic. “I want to make the most of the time we have together.”
“Me too” Teddy replied. There was a pause in which neither of them said anything, and Teddy opened his mouth to vocalise some of the weight that seemed to have piled itself on his chest at the prospect of adding more time onto the duration they were to spend apart. However before he had the chance, James spoke up.
“Shit, I’d better get going” he said distractedly. “We’re packing stuff up to send to the museum today, Ella will give me all kinds of shit if she has to start without me.”
“Alright” Teddy replied calmly, swallowing down his disappointment. There was nothing to be done about it now.
“I’ll talk to you later. Let me know when you find Luke, yeah?” James said, still sounding like his mind was elsewhere.
“Sure” Teddy replied. “Bye James.”
“Bye honey” James replied simply before hanging up.
Teddy sighed again as he shoved the phone back in his pocket. That conversation had turned very quickly, and now he felt worse than ever. It was a hard slog, this long distance thing, and now it felt like more time had been added to his sentence. The thing is, he couldn’t be angry with James. They had both agreed to optimise the timing of the trip to make the most of the opportunity. But another two weeks, that would be doubling the amount of time between now and when they were finally reunited. Teddy was just starting to feel like there was a light at the end of the tunnel. Now it was suddenly much further away.
The silver lining to that phone call was that he had effectively killed some time, and now wasn’t very far from Luke’s place at all. Without the distraction of the conversation, Teddy was much more aware of the cold weather, and he picked up the pace. It was definitely too late in the season to be going out without a jacket now. Although to be fair, he hadn’t anticipated walking the streets quite so extensively when he’d left his flat earlier.
Within another five minutes, he reached Luke’s building. There had once been an intercom system, but it had fallen into disrepair a long time before Luke had moved in there, so people were free to enter the building as they pleased. Which was quite fortunate for the present situation, because if Luke wasn’t answering his phone then odds were he wouldn’t answer an intercom either. Teddy had a horrible flashback as he entered the foyer to the night he and James had found out that Luke’s mum had died. It had been quite fortunate on that night too, to have fewer barriers to them getting to him.
Teddy took the stairs two at a time, before losing his balance slightly halfway up the second flight and nearly dropping his tub of food. Taking a moment to make sure the thing was still tucked securely under his arm, Teddy took the rest of the steps one at a time, but as fast as he could. He reached Luke’s door and knocked on it sharply, waiting impatiently for a response.
No response came, so Teddy knocked again, now starting to mentally explore options for what he might do if there was no answer at all. It would be easy enough to break in, Luke didn’t lock his door by any magical means, and Teddy had his wand in his jeans pocket. But if it turned out there was nothing wrong then Luke might be mad at him for doing so. Teddy rapped on the door one last time, Weighing his options. They’d been going to this class for five weeks now, it was highly unlikely Luke had just forgotten. And anyway, if that was the case he’d either be answering his phone or the door. Unless something had come up and he was out somewhere. But then, he would have let Teddy know he wasn’t going to make the class. Luke hated being bailed on, he never did it to other people. And Teddy couldn’t exclude the context from any of this. Luke was clearly going through a difficult time right now. Teddy was right to be worried about him.
Making up his mind, Teddy cast a glance around for any errant muggles, before drawing his wand from his pocket. A quick alohamora was sufficient to make the lock snap open, and Teddy pushed the door open carefully.
The flat seemed to be empty, and all of the lights were off, which did seem to suggest that Luke wasn’t here, but since he had come all this way Teddy thought he might as well do some investigating. He went first to the kitchen, spotting Luke’s phone on the window sill. So it was here, then. And it was unusual for Luke to go out without it. Teddy set his tagine down on the counter and picked up the phone, looking at the notifications on the home screen. There were two missed calls from himself and what seemed to be a fairly innocuous message from one of their mutual friends asking Luke about his weekend plans.
Teddy flicked the light on in the living room to see if anything was amiss, spotting nothing on his first glance, and only catching the crumpled piece of paper on the floor in his peripheral vision as he began turning back towards the hallway. He stopped in his tracks, frowning as he went to pick it up, seeing as he got closer that it wasn’t a piece of paper at all, it was a folded card of some sort. When he bent down to pick it up, he spotted the envelope that it had come in half underneath the coffee table. He picked that up too, tossing it onto the table without looking at it, focusing his attention on the card, which as he unfurled he saw was a birthday card.
Teddy's heart sank, as he immediately understood exactly what had happened. He slowly opened the card, and his fears were confirmed.
Dearest Anna,
Happy birthday, hope it’s a good one!
Say hello to Luke for us.
All our love,
The Jones family
Teddy silently closed the card, placing it carefully down on the table. In an instant, he knew exactly where Luke was.
He walked purposefully towards Luke’s bedroom, pushing the door open and walking over to the wardrobe without bothering to turn the light on. By now it was fairly dark, but the remnants of light from the setting sun shone through the open blinds on the window, casting narrow beams of light across the room. Teddy slowly and tentatively opened one of the wardrobe doors and looked down to the bottom. Sure enough, Luke was there, sat on the floor with his knees tucked into his chest. Everything about the scene was terribly familiar, right down to the way Luke looked up in surprise, squinting in the dim light.
Teddy said nothing, crouching down and wrapping his arms around his friend and pulling him close. Luke let himself be dragged towards Teddy without any movement of his own whatsoever, but the second his head landed on Teddy’s chest he began to sob.
-
T: Today was Luke’s mum’s birthday.
J: Fuck
J: Is he alright?
T: Not at all, but I’m with him now.
T: I’m going to stay here for a while.
T: As in, move into his flat with him. Just for a bit. That cool with you?
J: Yeah of course. Makes sense with me being out of town.
J: It will be good for you too, probably. Some company for you.
T: Not why I’m doing it but yeah, fringe benefit I guess.
J: Anything I can do?
T: Don’t think so. Not really sure what I can do tbh, just don’t think he should be alone.
J: Tell him he can ring me any time.
J: Not that he’d need to with you there, I guess. But I’m here. For both of you.
T: xxxx