The World Has Turned and Left Me Here

“Morning sunshine” James said brightly, as Teddy emerged from the bedroom into the living space.

“Mmmgh” Teddy groaned in response, shuffling over to the kitchen where James looked to be making breakfast of some sort, his brain and body both feeling rather heavy. Shifting your sleep cycle by half a day was no joke. James shot him an amused smirk, before turning back to the frying pan in front of him as Teddy slowly made his way over, not bothering to look at what was in the pan and opting instead to wrap his arms loosely around James’s waist. He rested his forehead forward on the back of James’s neck and took in a deep breath, sighing contentedly as he let it out. James’s natural scent somehow cut through the thick fog in Teddy’s brain and made him feel warm and comforted.

“I was planning to bring you breakfast in bed” James said cheerfully. “You can go back there if you want, I won’t be long.”

“I need coffee” Teddy replied, his voice coming out as little more than a low croak.

“Oh, shit” James replied regretfully. “I didn’t even think about that. I don’t have any.”

“You don’t have coffee?” Teddy asked, with as much outrage as he could muster, which admittedly wasn’t much in his groggy state. He felt James’s torso shake lightly as he huffed a quiet laugh.

“I don’t drink it at home, do I?” James replied. “I’ve got tea, but that’s the best I can do, I’m afraid.”

“I can’t believe that you’d do this to me” Teddy groaned, and James laughed again, more exuberantly this time. “Thirteen hour time difference, and no coffee?”

“I’m sorry” James said, sounding amused. “We’ll get you some in a bit, I promise.”

“This is an unforgivable transgression” Teddy proclaimed as dramatically as he could, which again wasn’t an awful lot. His voice still sounded rather flat and heavy with fatigue, but James seemed to get the sentiment all the same, as he laughed his loudest yet at that. Teddy pulled back from hugging him to look around the small kitchen. He hadn’t had much opportunity to really explore the flat last night, they had more or less moved straight from the sofa to the bed. In fact, when Teddy had woken up this morning it had taken him a minute or two to remember where he was, in such unfamiliar surroundings. Although that possibly had more to do with his completely fucked up REM cycle than anything else.

“Where’s the tea?” Teddy asked, his eyes raking the numerous cupboards, both over and under the kitchen counter. It might take him quite some time to search for it manually.

“Give me a sec, I’ll do it” James replied, stirring something in the pan. Teddy glanced over his shoulder to see that he was making scrambled eggs – one of the few dishes he could actually cook without creating some ungodly combination of ingredients that shouldn’t ever be put together. James and Luke had that tendency in common, Teddy had recently come to learn. The toaster suddenly popped up, and James jumped slightly, as though he’d forgotten that he’d put it on.

“Nah, you’ve got your hands full” Teddy said, which was quite literally true. James was now scraping the pan with a spatula in one hand to stop the eggs from sticking, and fishing the toast out of the toaster with the other. Watching James cook was also just as stressful as watching Luke in the kitchen, and Teddy smiled bemusedly as he silently observed James dropping the toast on the counter having clearly just burned his fingers, waving his hand around to try and cool it, whilst still scraping absent-mindedly with the other hand, flinging scraps of egg all over the cooker. Teddy wondered vaguely why it was that the two people he spent most of his life around were walking bundles of chaos. It couldn’t be coincidence.

“Second cupboard, over there” James told him, nodding towards the other end of the kitchen, where the kettle was. Teddy supposed he should have figured that out for himself, really. The mugs were presumably in this vicinity somewhere as well. Teddy didn’t dare ask James for confirmation, slightly worried he might hurt himself if not left to concentrate on what he was doing.

They each went on with their allotted tasks in peaceful silence, James managing to serve up two plates of scrambled eggs on toast without setting the kitchen or himself on fire, and Teddy bringing two mugs of tea to the breakfast bar at roughly the same time a few minutes later. He perched himself on a stool next to James, making an appreciative noise. The eggs actually looked pretty good.

“Dig in” James smiled, leaning over to press a kiss to Teddy’s cheek before doing exactly that himself. Teddy ignored the fork lying next to his plate, opting to pick up a piece of toast with his hand instead and take a large bite. He hadn’t realised how hungry he was, and felt a rush of gratitude towards James for his thoughtfulness.

“So what’s on the agenda today then?” Teddy asked while they ate.

“I didn’t plan that much for today” James replied casually. “I didn’t know how tired you’d be. And also if I’m honest I quite like the idea of heading back to bed once we’ve fuelled up here” he added with a wicked grin, which Teddy couldn’t help but return.

“We’re having dinner with Ella tomorrow” James went on. “And I’d like to show you the museum at some point, we could do that today even, if you’re feeling up for it.”

“Yeah, that sounds good” Teddy agreed. “I’m probably not going to be one hundred percent with it today, but we don’t have to stay in all day on my account.”

“We’ve got nine days” James countered reasonably. “It’s fine if you want to take today just to chill.”

“I mean, I’m not suggesting we go run a marathon or anything” Teddy replied flatly, and James chuckled. “But I want to make the most of my time here. It would be good to get out and see a bit of the city at least.”

“Alright” James agreed. “Compromise then? How about we go back to bed for a couple of hours after this and we can think about maybe heading out for lunch?”

“To somewhere with coffee” Teddy added.

“Sure” James smiled.

“It’s a plan” Teddy nodded.

He smiled appreciatively at James while they ate some more in silence for a couple of minutes. The food was actually making him feel vaguely more human again, and Teddy for the first time since arriving here last night was actually starting to feel like this was real, and not some kind of fever dream. He’d been looking forward to this and building it up in his mind for such a long time that it had all felt strangely surreal now that it was actually happening. Not the being-in-New-Zealand part (although that was very odd and unfamiliar, not least the drastic change from the single-figure degree weather he’d just come from), but the being here, with James, part.

Sitting here now in James’s kitchen was nothing short of bliss to Teddy. The gruelling time they had been apart felt like a distant memory at this particular moment, with James sat right next to him, their knees brushing together underneath the table because they apparently couldn’t go a single second without some sort of physical contact. And James making him breakfast… Teddy had to think about that for a moment to figure out why he was so heart-warmingly touched by it, wondering if he was starting to lose his head entirely, if the slightest romantic gesture had potential to knock him off-kilter quite so much. After a minute or two of quiet reflection, he came to realise that it was the first thing anyone had really done just for him in a long time. Luke cooked dinner on occasion for the both of them, but that was as much to give himself something to do as it was to provide sustenance for them both. But James had gotten up and made a cooked breakfast for him, something Teddy knew full well he wouldn’t be bothered with if Teddy weren’t here. But it was more than that. This combined with the small gesture of James keeping today free of plans in order to let Teddy drive how active they be - he was anticipating Teddy’s needs even better than Teddy had himself (shortage of coffee supplies aside). And it explained perfectly this weird sense of loss that Teddy had been feeling and so unable to articulate for the past three months. That there was no-one around who was taking care of him. He had been missing James in ways he hadn’t even realised.

Their relationship was normally so good that Teddy didn’t think they had ever really left the honeymoon phase. They did fight occasionally, and it could get ugly – their most recent one just before Luke’s mum’s funeral had been particularly bad. But for the most part they were just nauseatingly happy. Teddy didn’t know if it was because they were best friends, first and foremost, or if he had just struck gold in finding a partner he was so compatible with, or if indeed he had just struck gold with James in particular. But their relationship had always had this ease to it. They just fit together. Something that Teddy had perhaps started to take for granted, and was sorely feeling the loss of during this time apart. Something that brought him pure, unbridled joy to be experiencing again, now they were finally together again.

“You’re staring” James pointed out, and Teddy looked hastily down at his plate, still smiling

“Can’t help it” he muttered, stealing a sidelong glance back at James, who looked rather pleased with himself.

“So, I’m meeting Ella tomorrow, then?” Teddy ventured, casting around for something to talk about other than the two of them just gushing over each other. It was starting to get a bit much, even for him.

“You are” James replied happily. “I hope you’ll have caught up on sleep by then, because you have to be on your toes with her.”

“Oh I don’t think I need to worry too much” Teddy countered calmly. “I imagine she’ll try and recruit me to gang up on you.”

“Too right she will” James laughed. “But you’re on MY side” he added firmly.

“We’ll see” Teddy smirked.

“I think you’ll like her” James replied, apparently opting to ignore this. “She’s a lot like you.”

“Good job she’s female then, so I don’t have to worry about you running off with her” Teddy retorted.

“Thought had crossed my mind” James said playfully. Teddy huffed an incredulous laugh. Truly it was astonishing to him that James had managed to stay in the closet for as long as he had, because it had always been glaringly obvious to Teddy that James had no romantic interest in the opposite sex.

“She told me yesterday she already has a bunch of questions prepared for you” James went on. “I’m not entirely sure if she was joking or not.”

“Questions about you?” Teddy asked.

“I believe so” James nodded. “She still thinks I’m lying about being a quidditch star.”

“If only” Teddy muttered with a grim smile.

“Oh, shit” James suddenly sat up straight, as if just remembering something. “I haven’t even told you about yesterday, have I?” he shook his head as though in disbelief. “I actually forgot, I was so excited to see you.”

 “What about yesterday?” Teddy asked, intrigued.

“Mo made me team leader for the mission” James replied excitedly.

“You’re kidding?” Teddy replied, taken by surprise.

“I’m not” James replied with a wide grin. “I’d done most of the planning for it, so…” he shrugged, suddenly looking rather bashful, and Teddy smiled fondly.

“Well, you’re smiling about it, so I assume it went well” Teddy prompted him.

“It did” James replied, still a little coy. “I had a talk with Mo afterwards and he said he was really pleased with the way I handled things.”

“That’s great, James” Teddy replied sincerely.

“I mean…” James shrugged again, and Teddy had to hold back a laugh. It was a little known fact about James that he didn’t really know how to take genuine praise. A fact completely at odds with his natural bravado.

“I got lucky” James went on modestly. “We came across a mimic, and of course, it’s complete chance that I happened to have seen one before and knew what to do with it.”

“You came across a mimic?” Teddy repeated, his radar going up immediately.

“Yeah, I know, crazy right?” James replied calmly. “Seems like they’re everywhere at the minute. Anyway, I recognised it as one before we even got near the thing, I’m not even sure how I knew, it was just a hunch, really. And Mo was looking at me like I was out of my mind when I said it…” James stopped talking, apparently noticing that Teddy was just barely listening, his mind racing at this revelation.

“What?” James asked, now looking mildly concerned.

“You just happened across a mimic less than twenty four hours before I was due to arrive here?” Teddy pointed out sceptically.

“I know it’s a bit of a coincidence” James conceded.

“I’m an auror, I don’t believe in coincidences” Teddy put to him, and James looked rather taken aback.

“You think this could be connected to your case somehow?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I’ve got no idea how it could be” Teddy replied, his mind still running a mile a minute, which was no mean feat considering he’d been half asleep a few minutes ago. “But this is…” he trailed off unsure what to say. It was one hell of a coincidence, that was for sure. So much so that it couldn’t possibly be just that.

“Where is it now? The mimic?” Teddy asked seriously.

“Still at the office, as far as I know” James replied, looking a little bit like he was concerned for Teddy’s sanity. “We took it apart but there was no treasure inside.”

“Jesus, and you didn’t think to-“ Teddy cut himself off, reigning himself in. It wasn’t James’s fault, he didn’t know anything about Teddy’s case after all. He had no idea that he’d been potentially tampering with valuable evidence. Or that he’d potentially wasted valuable time by waiting until NOW to bring this up.

“I need to see it” Teddy told him seriously. “Right now.”

“Now?” James replied incredulously. “It’s Saturday morning, the office is shut.”

“This is important, James” Teddy implored him. He wondered vaguely how much he could let James in on, to convey to him just how important this might be. If this mimic was connected to the one they had back at the ministry that could only mean that James was being targeted too. He was a part of Harry’s bloodline, after all. And if James was being targeted, then that meant that Albus and Lily might also be in danger. The potential implications of this were mind boggling.

 “And I need to talk to Harry as soon as I can” Teddy added. “Fuck, a letter is going to take days to get to him, isn’t it?”

“You can send express mail through the post office, that’ll get there in about a day” James replied, still looking bewildered. “Or you can try and get a phone to him somehow, I guess. But is it really that urgent?”

“I don’t know” Teddy replied distractedly, now trying to formulate a plan in his mind. If there was no portal inside the mimic then no, it probably wasn’t really that urgent. At the very least that would debunk Teddy’s immediate fear that the perp was now looking to kidnap James in place of Harry. But if there was a portal inside it… well, Teddy should save his panic about that for if and when it happened.

“Can we go to your office?” Teddy asked James seriously. “It’s really important that I look at that mimic.”

“I’ll have to call Mo” James frowned. “I can’t get into the office building on weekends unless he’s there, I don’t have a key.”

“OK” Teddy replied. It made sense that they would have to go through Mo one way or another. Teddy didn’t know the intricacies of international property law, but it was likely the mimic now technically belonged to him, or to his company at least. This was another level of complication though, Mo was another civilian who Teddy couldn’t just lay out details of the case to.

“He’s going to want to know why you need to look at it” James told him, clearly thinking along the same lines. “I know you can’t really talk about the case, but you’re going to have to give him something.”

“I know” Teddy frowned, wondering vaguely what on earth he was going to say to explain this whole thing to James’s boss. He was likely to be just as sceptical as James about this being related to Teddy’s case in any way, and Teddy didn’t really know how to go about convincing him without revealing details of the case that he really shouldn’t.

“I wouldn’t mind a little more to go on myself” James added rather pointedly, and Teddy felt the frown he was wearing soften. He looked back to James, who was watching him in concern.

“I’m sorry” Teddy offered, putting a gentle hand on top of James’s on the table. “I know we’re supposed to be spending the day together, still catching up on lost time. But this could be crucial for my case. And if it is connected…” Teddy surveyed him thoughtfully. James already knew more than he probably should. “Well, if it is then I’ll be able to tell you a little bit more. In fact, I think I’ll have to.”

“What does THAT mean?” James asked, his eyes narrowing. Teddy badly wanted to tell him more, but he knew he shouldn’t. Besides anything else, if Teddy was wrong and this wasn’t connected at all, he didn’t want to panic James for no reason.

“Someone has been using a mimic in England to kill people for decades” Teddy told him. James already knew that. “I’m assuming the one you found yesterday did try and kill you?” he asked, and James nodded.

“If there’s a chance, however small, that the same person planted it for that purpose, or hell, maybe someone else just had the same idea. I need to investigate that” Teddy went on gravely. “Even if it isn’t connected to my perp, it might shed some light on what they’re doing and how and why they’re doing it.”

“But you’re basing all of this on the fact that I’m the one who found it?” James asked, looking like he didn’t think much of that theory. It did sound rather flimsy when you put it like that.

“Are mimics common in the pacific?” Teddy asked. He already knew they weren’t, he’d done extensive research on the subject, but it was often better to lead someone to the conclusion you wanted them to be at, rather than just state it and hope that they understood.

“No, not at all, according to Mo” James admitted.

“But one just fell right into your lap” Teddy pointed out. “And it had no treasure in it?”

“We think it might have been guarding something” James countered, but he was starting to look uncertain about it. “We didn’t really examine the room it was in, we just assumed the treasure would be inside it.”

“Maybe it was guarding something, I don’t know” Teddy replied reasonably. “But I have to look into this, James. I can’t tell you why right now, but trust me. This could be really bad.”

“You’ll know if it’s connected to your case just by looking at it?” James asked him, still looking rather confused.

“I’ll know if…” Teddy considered his wording carefully. “If it’s being used for the same purpose.”

“What, to kill people?” James frowned. Teddy made a pained face, which only seemed to confuse James even more, but Teddy didn’t dare elaborate any more. They were treading on dangerous territory now. Even putting aside how much trouble Teddy could get in for blabbing about the case, the simple burden of knowing too much could put James in greater danger than he potentially already was.

“Alright, if you say it’s important…” James finally conceded. He looked far from convinced, but Teddy was immensely grateful for the cooperation.

“Let me talk to Mo, I’ll explain it to him” Teddy offered.

“OK” James replied, getting up from his stool to go and retrieve his phone.

-

Teddy was mercifully able to get himself a cup of coffee on their way to meet Mo at James’s office. Mo had been quite reasonable on the phone, and even though Teddy had barely told him anything at all he seemed perfectly amenable to Teddy examining the mimic for himself, and even shipping it back to the UK if he wanted to. He had said he had no use for it, if it didn’t have any treasure in it.

James was going along with this whole thing, but Teddy could tell he was just humouring him. He did appreciate James letting him run with this, there was zero chance of Teddy being able to think about anything much other than the mimic until he had at the very least determined whether it was another concealed portal or not. He was very slightly aggrieved that James had taken so long to tell him about it, but he couldn’t really be angry about that. James had no idea what this might mean.

Teddy vaguely thought that having someone drop a potential work-related breakthrough on you was a most effective way to overcome jetlag, as he now felt more awake and alert than he had done for the past day or so. Although maybe that had more to do with the triple-shot americano in his hand. In any case, his brain was buzzing with theories, and he couldn’t wait to examine this mimic. He’d been obsessing over the one they had back at the ministry for such a long time. The case had dragged on and on with no new information. This was like a breath of fresh life into it. He felt slightly bad about being so excited about that though, in light of the potential implications of it. But he didn’t want to get ahead of himself on that front. One thing at a time.

Teddy had managed to calm down somewhat in the half an hour or so since James had dropped the news on him, and was now able to objectively see that even if this mimic was related to his case somehow, that didn’t necessarily put James in any more immediate danger than he generally dealt with on a daily basis. Their perp’s MO was to watch from the shadows and let the mimic do its job. It would be very unlike their typical behaviour up until now to try and attack their target in person. And if their weapon of choice was mimics, they had little hope of catching James with one, now that he had so much experience with them he could apparently identify them on sight. Teddy was mildly concerned for Albus though, who was currently living in Godric’s Hollow with his boyfriend, with no knowledge whatsoever as far as Teddy knew about this case or indeed about mimics at all. But it was a big leap to assume that Albus might be targeted in the first place. They didn’t know definitively that Harry was even being targeted in the first place, it could just as easily be Teddy that the perp was after. There were still a lot of unanswered questions in this case.

Teddy was still ruminating on this thought as James slowed to a stop outside a tall building.

“This is it” James said simply, pushing on the double doors which swung open. Teddy followed him in close behind. They had barely taken two steps into a wide and open foyer when a cheery voice called out to them.

“So, we finally get to meet your fella!” A man who must be Mo was leaning back against the currently unmanned reception desk, apparently waiting for them. He looked back and forth between James and Teddy in a good-natured way, and seemed much less annoyed about being called into the office on a Saturday morning than Teddy would have expected him to be. He extended a hand to Teddy as they got close, and Teddy shook it politely.

“Nice to meet you Mo, heard a lot about you” Teddy greeted him with a smile.

“Same to you” Mo replied. His eyes darted up to Teddy’s hair, which was currently his natural colour. Apparently it had reverted to that sometime during the night, and Teddy hadn’t bothered to try and change it before leaving James’s flat. What with everything else occupying his mind he hadn’t really had the wherewithal to start wrestling with his defective metamorphoses.

“James said your hair was blue” Mo said conversationally, and Teddy huffed a small laugh.

“It is sometimes” he replied.

“He says you’ve got some sort of power – that you change it whenever you want” Mo went on, sounding vaguely hopeful, and Teddy had to fight back another laugh.

“Jeez, Mo, he’s not here to perform for you” James chastised him, and Teddy couldn’t stop himself from smiling in mild amusement. This reaction from people upon first learning of his abilities was not uncommon, but people were rarely so bold as to bring it up right off the bat like that.

“Alright, alright” Mo said, waving airily. “Come on, then, let’s go and look at this thing.” He led the way to the lifts and Teddy and James followed, their footsteps echoing in the empty room.

“I really appreciate this” Teddy said to Mo as they walked. “I’m sorry I can’t really tell you more about why I need to examine it.”

“That’s alright” Mo replied calmly. “Sounds important, if there’s a serial killer involved.”

“It is” Teddy assured him. “I’ve been working on this for about four months.”

“Hope you catch him” Mo said, sounding so blasé about it that Teddy had to fight the urge to laugh again. He wondered vaguely if Mo was always like this, and what on earth it would be like to work with him.

The three of them stepped into a lift and Teddy caught sight of his reflection in the mirrored wall opposite the door, grimacing distastefully about how old he looked with his brown and grey hair. He was greatly surprised that James hadn’t taken any shots at him about this morning actually, it must have been because he had his serious face on about the case. James was a known wind-up, but he did know how to read a room.

Teddy decided to have a quick go at changing his hair whilst he had the mirror in front of him, concentrating hard, screwing his face up slightly. It took a lot more effort than usual, but Teddy was pleasantly surprised when he succeeded in changed it to an azure blue. Mo made a noise of appreciation.

“Whoa, I didn’t think you’d really do it” he said, sounding surprised. James laughed.

“I told you” he said rather gloatingly.

“I’m impressed” Mo replied mildly.

“It’s nothing” Teddy shrugged, but he was secretly quite pleased both to be looking like himself again and to have some control over his abilities again.

“Ella’s not going to be happy” Mo mused. “She owes me a tenner.” James laughed brightly at that and Teddy couldn’t help but grin. He could see why James liked Mo as a boss. He was a very laid back character. Not at all like your typical ministry employee.

They arrived at the sixth floor moments later, and stepped out into a small lobby. Mo led the way to a set of double doors on the other side, quickly drawing his wand, shooting a spell to open them and stashing his wand back in his pocket in one fluid motion. Teddy followed him in, mildly impressed, James at his side. It was a large, high ceilinged and mostly empty room with full length glazing on one elevation. One side of the room was lined with what looked to be field equipment – first aid kits, backpacks and an assortment of tools that Teddy might think belonged to a burglar if he’d seen them anywhere else. Against one of the other walls were a couple of large crates, contents unknown, but presumably some of the treasure they had recently recovered. Mo walked straight over to the fragments of a wooden chest that were sitting in the middle of the floor, a screwdriver and hammer next to the splintered planks of wood that had been pulled off the thing.

“This is it” he said, needlessly gesturing towards the mimic. Teddy was quite pleased that they had apparently dismantled it by hand. That meant they wouldn’t have done any further damage to the portal, if there was one.

“May I?” Teddy asked, as he crouched down next to it, reaching his hand out towards the open mouth. Mo made an open palmed gesture that Teddy took to mean ‘have at it’, so he turned his full attention to this mimic. He heard James and Mo having a muttered conversation while he did so, but he blocked them out, concentrating on his work.

The mimic looked not unlike the one they had back at the ministry – the teeth were certainly identical, but the tongue looked to be longer on this one, and have a rougher surface. In fact, on closer inspection, it was covered in rough spikes of all different lengths. That was curious, and would seem to suggest that it hadn’t come from the same source as the other one. He didn’t see why the perp would bother using different regional variations of the same spell, unless they were REALLY trying to cover their tracks.

The fleshy surface lining the chest was mercifully free of any claw marks, or indeed anything that suggested the mimic had ever ‘eaten’ anything. Although that in itself did support Teddy’s theory that it had been planted there recently. If it had been there for centuries it would almost certainly have come into contact with someone or something over the years, a wild creature at the very least. However the chest itself looked very old, and not out of keeping with what one might expect to find ancient treasure inside. So perhaps the chest itself had been there for a long time, but the spell was new. Teddy wondered if there was a way they would be able to find that out, back in the lab.

There was an opening in the side of the trunk where several of the planks had been removed, revealing the inside of the thing. Again, there were no fingernail scores in the fleshy inside. In fact, there was no discernible damage at all, aside from the blackened core where the animation spell had been destroyed. Teddy examined it visually, looking for signs of anything unusual, but when nothing was forthcoming, he delicately reached a hand inside. He passed his hand first over the remains of the disintegration curse, then slowly worked his way outwards towards the edges of the chest. He didn’t feel anything at all, but that wasn’t hugely surprising. The first time he’d examined the mimic back at the ministry he could barely feel the portal spell there. He repeated this action a few times, moving his hand extremely slowly, closing his eyes and trying his hardest to detect any faint traces of magic.

He suddenly became aware of both Mo’s and James’s eyes on him at the same time that Teddy realised they had stopped talking and were now apparently just watching him. He had been at this for a few minutes now, and they were probably wondering what on earth he was doing, but thankfully neither of them asked him any questions, letting him work. Teddy glanced up at them.

“I’m going to try something” he said calmly. “A spell. Is that alright?”

“What’ll it do?” Mo asked, his expression the most serious that Teddy had seen it thus far.

“Nothing that you’ll notice” Teddy replied, realising as he did so what a non-answer that was. “It’ll help me see if the thing I’m looking for is there or not” he added, not wanting to be difficult, especially not when Mo was being so cooperative.

“Are you looking for traces of magic?” James asked, and Teddy was rather caught off guard. He considered James carefully for a moment, but realised there was no reason he couldn’t answer in vague terms.

“Yes” Teddy replied simply.

“Can I see?” James asked quite seriously and Teddy was even more surprised.

“You think you’d be able to feel it?” Teddy asked with a raised eyebrow. He wasn’t being intentionally condescending, but realised after he’d said it that it may have come off that way.

“Maybe” James replied, looking mildly insulted, apparently taking it that way. “I’m the one who could feel it behind the wall in the first place.” Teddy didn’t respond immediately, taking a moment to digest this.

“Is that something you normally do?” he asked, frowning. “Feel for magic?” He wasn’t aware that this was a skill James had.

“Sometimes” James shrugged, apparently entirely unaware of what an impressive and incredibly relevant skill that was to have. Maybe he and Teddy really ought to discuss their work in more detail more often. James was turning out to be invaluable to this case.

“I mean, I’m no expert” James went on reasonably. “But I can tell when it’s there, usually.”

“Alright” Teddy said slowly, wondering vaguely whether Harry would have his head for further involving James in this. But Harry wasn’t here, so Teddy was the one making the call. And he was inclined to use all of the resources at his disposal.

“Let me try this first” Teddy said, turning back to the mimic and pointing his wand next to his hand that was still inside the trunk. He very carefully cast the spell that Draco had taught him, ramming into the invisible barrier, not with full force but with a decent thump. He still didn’t feel anything, and he ran his hand around the base of the trunk, following it with his wand. When nothing seemed to happen, Teddy increased the intensity of the spell, performing an action now akin to a battering ram. He still couldn’t feel anything, and was nearly satisfied that there were no traces of any sort of magical portal here. But he had one last test to carry out before he was done.

“I can’t feel anything” Teddy told James and Mo. “Come see if you can” he instructed James, who did so without hesitation, kneeling down next to Teddy and letting Teddy guide his hand into the trunk.

Teddy once again cast the barrier-breaking spell, following James’s hand as he moved it around. Teddy kept glancing at James’s face as he did so, seeing his eyes lined with concentration. After a minute or so, James withdrew his hand looking disappointed.

“Nothing” he shrugged.

“Well, that’s a relief, I suppose” Teddy said to no-one in particular, running a hand backwards through his hair. He certainly did feel relief, but it was also tinged with some disappointment. If this mimic had also been a portal that would have been an incredible breakthrough in the case. But things were rarely so easy. This could be related in a more tangential way, or it could turn out not to be related at all. Either way, it was probably going to be a lot of work getting to the bottom of it. But at least James didn’t appear to be being targeted, not in the same way they thought Harry was, anyway. That was a relief.

“Not what you were hoping for?” Mo asked calmly, as Teddy and James both got to their feet.

“Yes and no” Teddy replied with a grim smile. “There’s no sign of what I was worried might be there, which means you two probably aren’t in any danger.”

“Well, that’s good news, isn’t it?” James interjected, and Teddy smiled.

“It is” he conceded. “But I still think it’s weird that you found it in the first place. No treasure, either. What was it doing there?”

“No idea, pal” Mo replied breezily. “Maybe it’s coming back into style, this spell.”

“Hmm, maybe” Teddy replied vaguely. “I’d still like to let my team have a closer look at it, see if there’s anything more we can learn about it. What were you planning to do with it?”

“Honestly, I had no idea” Mo replied. “I was half thinking about sending it to the experimental charms department, having them dispose of it. It’d save me a job if you wanted to take it.”

“Really?” Teddy asked, rather surprised. But then again, he supposed the thing had no value whatsoever to Mo.

“Yeah, by all means, take it” Mo replied, waving airily.

“Might raise some questions at the post office though” Teddy frowned, looking down at the thing. Harmless though it now was, he wouldn’t be surprised if they got reported to the experimental charms department themselves if they tried to mail it through normal channels. “I’ll have to send word to Harry, get him to send a ministry courier to come pick it up” Teddy added. “Can you keep it here for a few days?”

“Sure thing” Mo replied with a calm smile. “Are we done here, then?”

“Guess so” Teddy shrugged. “Sorry about all this, that was a bit anticlimactic in the end.”

“Better safe than sorry, eh?” Mo replied, leading the way back toward the double doors they had come in through.

“Yeah, thanks for coming in” Teddy said gratefully, and Mo waved dismissively again, as though it was nothing.

“It was good to see you in action” James chimed in, and Teddy tried hard not to smirk. “Teddy Lupin, auror extraordinaire” James went on, putting on an action-narrator style voice. “Defending the world from dangerous mimics.”

“Alright, that’s enough out of you” Teddy muttered, elbowing James in the ribs as they stepped back into the lift.

Once they were back outside the building and Mo was locking up behind them, Teddy thanked Mo again for his time and promised to be in touch about the mimic retrieval. Mo and James then shared a bit of banter about James’s week off and all the work that would be waiting for him on his return to the office. They finally bade him goodbye, and went off in opposite directions, James and Teddy now heading for the post office, so Teddy could send an express letter to Harry about everything that had just happened.

“I’m sorry to you too, about all of this” Teddy said, being the first one to speak after they left Mo. James looked rather surprised.

“What for?” he asked confusedly.

“For Shanghai-ing you into letting me examine that mimic” Teddy explained. “We had a nice peaceful morning planned.”

“Seemed important” James shrugged, not looking particularly bothered about the way things had turned out. “And I’m guessing if you’d found whatever it is you were looking for, then things would have gone very differently.”

“Yes, they would have” Teddy agreed quietly.

“Did you think they were after me?” James asked him, and Teddy was rather taken aback. James was surprisingly perceptive sometimes. Teddy studied him appraisingly for a moment, wishing for about the thousandth time this morning that he could just tell him everything. Maybe he could tell him some parts of it.

“I’ve still not entirely ruled it out” Teddy told him quite seriously. “But the thing I was worried about came to nothing, which is good.” He cast a quick glance around, to make sure no-one was listening. The streets weren’t packed, but there were a few people walking around. No-one was paying them any attention.

“We’ve not really got any proof of this yet” Teddy began cautiously, his voice low. “But we’re working on the theory that Harry is the target of whoever planted that mimic. The one back in England, not your one, I mean.”

“OK…” James replied slowly, clearly wondering where Teddy was going with this.

“Harry thinks they’re after his blood. And if he’s right, that means they could also come after you. It’s the same blood, after all” Teddy told him, his voice barely above a whisper. James looked incredibly confused by this.

“His blood?” he asked, nonplussed. “Why?”

“I’m not a hundred percent clear on that myself” Teddy admitted. “He won’t get into details with me. But you can see how the idea of someone planting a mimic right in front of you sent alarm bells going off inside my head, right?”

“Yeah, I can see that” James replied reasonably. “But it wasn’t the same type of mimic, right?”

“No, doesn’t look like it” Teddy agreed.

“So it can’t have come from the same place?” James prompted him.

“I don’t know” Teddy replied truthfully. “I think I’ll breathe a lot easier once we knew where it did come from. And I want you to keep your eyes open until then.”

“Because I normally walk around with them closed” James replied flippantly. Teddy smiled, in spite of the seriousness of the conversation.

“I’m serious” Teddy told him sincerely. “I worry about you.”

“Right back at you” James shot back without hesitation. “If someone’s after Dad then they’re probably going to be after you too, you’re practically his sidekick.”

“Not sure I like that description” Teddy frowned, and James huffed a laugh. “I’d prefer to think of myself as his partner on this case, but sure” Teddy added.

“You know what I mean” James replied, suddenly quite serious, and Teddy was quite taken aback by his shift in tone. “I love that your job is basically saving the world from bad guys, and I love that you do it so well and you care about it so much. But it is dangerous, right? And I do worry about you.”

“James” Teddy said softly, genuinely quite touched by this. He slipped one of his hands into James’s, interlacing their fingers as they walked. “I’ll be fine. I’m working with Harry, you really think he’d let anything happen to me?” He opted not to share that prior to coming out here he and Harry had been working on forcing their way through a dangerous broken portal into what was almost certainly a trap set from them by their murderer. No, probably best he not know about that.

“I guess not” James conceded with a grim smile.

-

“James Potter, as I live and breathe” a petite girl with long blonde hair and a rather freckled face stood up as she called over to James practically the second they entered the restaurant. Her accent was Australian and her expression mischievous, both of which combined immediately identified her as Ella – James had described her down to a tee, including the gleeful look she shot at Teddy upon spotting him behind James, which he knew meant that she had already marked him as an ally in her efforts to tease James mercilessly.

Teddy shot an apologetic look to the restaurant hostess, who didn’t seem particularly bothered about them bypassing her and heading straight for the table where Ella was still stood next to her chair, her arms now outstretched to greet James with a hug.

“You like to keep a girl waiting, don’t you?” she said pointedly as they briefly embraced. Teddy shot a quick scowl at James, who of course had made them late, because he was always late to everything, ever. Teddy would ordinarily have physically dragged him out of the door to make sure they didn’t leave their friends waiting for them, but since he had no idea where they were going or how long it would take to get there, he was at James’s mercy this evening.

“And you must be the famous Teddy” Ella said brightly, going in to hug Teddy as well, who was a little surprised by her enthusiasm, but returned the hug politely. Upon reflection, given everything he knew about Ella from James’s stories, it shouldn’t surprise him that she was a hugger.

“That’s me” Teddy replied as they parted. “Nice to finally meet you.”

“I’m furious” she declared quite cheerfully, aiming a light punch at Teddy’s bicep. “That you let me miss out on all the drama at the office this morning. A possible connection to a murder case on the other side of the world?! And you weren’t even going to tell me?” she was glancing back and forth between Teddy and James excitably, and Teddy could do nothing besides just stare at her incredulously.

“What could you have done?” James replied rather rudely, a wide smirk on his face. “You didn’t even know what the thing was until I told you.”

“That is SO not the point” Ella replied dismissively, holding a palm out to him and turning her focus fully to Teddy. “I’m also furious that you lost me my bet with Mo. You really are a metamorpher?!”

“Metamorphagus” Teddy corrected her, doing his best to reign his own smirk in, not that it seemed she would care. “I’m given to understand you thought James was making that up.”

“Of course I thought he was making it up, I’m still half convinced the two of you and Mo are all in cahoots together” Ella declared. “But anyway, we’ll get to that later. Shall we sit?” she suggested, gesturing to the table.

“Um, yes, sure” Teddy agreed, feeling a little wrong footed by the abrupt shift of topic. He was going to be playing catch up most of the night, he would wager. Luckily he had a great deal of experience in dealing with people who were difficult to keep up with. Most of the people in his life were, after all.

The three of them took their seats around the small table and Teddy pulled the drinks menu towards himself, noting that Ella had already gotten herself a glass of wine. He wondered vaguely just how long she had been waiting here.

“Sorry we’re late” Teddy offered. “Although you’ve known him for three months now, so you shouldn’t have been expecting him to show up on time” he added, nodding towards James, who made an indignant gesture.

“Ah, but I thought YOU were Mr responsible” she countered with a mischievous smile. “Hoped it might balance out.”

“Well I don’t love that nickname” Teddy countered flatly, and James laughed. “And normally it does, but I’m on unfamiliar turf, here.”

“Right” Ella replied shrewdly, picking up her glass in a dignified manner. “Have you had a chance to see much of New Zealand yet?” she asked mildly, before taking a sip of her drink.

“Not much” Teddy replied. “I’ve only been here since Friday night. We went up the sky tower earlier today. And then for a walk along the beach.”

“Awww, aren’t you two just adorable” Ella smirked at James, who stuck his tongue out at her. Teddy hadn’t really recognised it at the time as being a horribly cliché romantic day out, but he supposed that it had been, and was slightly embarrassed.

“He never shuts up about you, you know” Ella said to Teddy, leaning conspiratorially over towards him. Teddy glanced at James, who looked unimpressed. “My boyfriend is an auror, don’t you know, he’s so smart and so dreamy’” she went on, attempting to impersonate James’s British accent and doing a terrible job of it. Teddy laughed, both at that and at the outraged expression on James’s face.

“At least I can keep a man!” James shot at Ella, and her attention was effectively diverted to him. They bickered for a minute or two over something that James referred to as ‘the bra incident’. Teddy followed very little of the ensuing debate, which was largely the two of them bringing up past conversations without explaining the context, so Teddy decided to take the opportunity to peruse the drinks menu properly, leaving them to it. He was slightly grateful for the respite, if he was honest.

James and Ella’s pseudo-argument lasted until a waiter came over to take their drinks orders, which perhaps was the only thing that might have put an end to it. Teddy and James both ordered a beer each along with some water for the table. Once the waiter left the table, the argument seemed to be forgotten entirely, and Ella changed the subject again.

“So, Teddy, I have to ask” she said, quite business-like. “What on earth do you see in this absolute nightmare?” she pointed a thumb at James, who made the same indignant gesture again. Teddy smiled.

“You tell me, you’re the one who’s been hanging around with him since he came here” Teddy countered, and James laughed.

“Fair point” she conceded before taking another sip of wine. “But we’re comrades in arms here, both thrown into a new country where we don’t know anyone else. You met him in London, I believe, where there must have been literally millions of other options. What made you pick this dickhead?”

“He sort of picked me, to be honest” Teddy replied, and James made a noise of outrage, at which Teddy and Ella both laughed. There was some truth to that, James had made the first move, certainly. But Teddy had wanted to, for a long time leading up to that point.

“Nah, I’m kidding” Teddy added, deciding to throw James a bone. He was supposed to be on his side, after all. “It was a long time coming. We were friends for years before we got together, and by the time we finally did we were already so all over each other that the actual getting together was pretty much just a formality.”

“Ah, the old ‘friends first’ ploy” Ella said, nodding sagely. “You already knew he was a nightmare, so you knew what you were getting into.”

“Exactly” Teddy grinned.

“I don’t know why I put up with this” James chimed in. “From either of you.”

“Oh, don’t take it to heart Jamie-boy” Ella said warmly, putting a gentle hand on James’s forearm, in the most affectionate gesture she had made to James thus far. Teddy could tell that even though they clearly had a combative dynamic, there was genuine friendship underneath it. Not unlike himself and Luke.

“I knew you were going to give me shit, but fuck, could we at least get through the appetisers first before you start trying to convince my boyfriend he can do better?” James shot at her, and Ella smirked.

“Fair enough” she conceded. “Alright, alright, tell me about this morning then. I got the highlights from Mo on the phone.”

“There’s not all that much to tell, really” James replied, shooting a covert glance to Teddy, who of course knew that there was potentially a great deal to tell about it, but they really shouldn’t be blabbing to civilians. “The second I mentioned the mimic to Teddy he went into full on auror mode and demanded to see it” James went on. “He thought it might be linked to his case somehow, seeing as they’re so rare, it’s kind of weird that we found one. But he took a look at it, and it doesn’t look like it’s connected.”

 “Took a look at it how?” Ella asked, looking back and forth between James and Teddy. “How could you tell whether it’s linked or not?” James looked uncertain about how to answer that, so Teddy jumped in.

“I can’t really talk about an ongoing case with anyone outside the auror office” he told her. “But basically I was checking to see if there were any residual traces of magic on it, that would identify it as being similar to one we have back in the UK.”

“And it didn’t have any?” Ella replied, looking rather disappointed. Teddy smiled in amusement.

“Unfortunately not” he said calmly. “Although that’s probably a good thing for you, I would have had to launch a full investigation into it if it was.”

“Yeah, thank god for that” James seconded. “You’re supposed to be here to see ME.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it” Ella said, shaking her head. “The mimic, I mean. That tongue…”

“At least this one didn’t have any tendrils” James replied knowingly. “The one I saw in India had me pinned down to the floor, and damn near strangled my trainee.”

“Oh yeah, Jamie was in his element, of course” Ella said to Teddy, rolling her eyes.

“Never misses a chance to show off, does he?” Teddy added slyly, fully aware that he was often guilty of that himself.

“For your information, Mo said I did everything right” James argued, directing this to Ella, who looked unimpressed.

“Yeah well, he would say that to his favourite” she replied scathingly, and Teddy laughed to himself. This argument was virtually identical to the ones he frequently had with his own colleagues back home.

“Green doesn’t suit you” James said in an aloof voice, taking a swig of his beer and shooting a smile at Teddy, who returned it warmly. Something that did not go unnoticed by Ella, who broke out into another grin.

“God, this is sweet. You’re so in love, it’s almost sickening” she said to James, who made a swatting gesture at her.

“Oh, speaking of the boss man” she said, her eyes widening as though she had just remembered something important. “I think he’s meeting with the museum funding board again on Monday” she said this to James with the air of discussing something classified, lowering her voice and leaning across the table, and Teddy had to hold back a laugh, since she actually looked quite serious about it.

“Oh yeah?” James replied mildly, seeming much less interested in this. Ella didn’t appear to notice.

“Mmm, I think they’re talking about extending the project” she went on. Teddy frowned, looking immediately to James, who’s face was impassive at this.

“Did he say that to you?” James asked, his tone fairly neutral.

“No, but he wouldn’t, would he?” Ella replied. “They’ve been meeting a lot lately though, and it can’t just be progress reports. Something’s going on…”

“We shouldn’t speculate” James said calmly. “It could be anything.” Ella sat back up straight in her chair, making a slightly annoyed face at James, presumably because he wasn’t as excited by this gossip as she had hoped he would be. However, Teddy’s attention was much more focused on James, who was looking down at the menu in front of him with just a little bit too much focus. Ella didn’t seem to notice anything amiss, and did the same, looking down at her own menu. But Teddy knew James a lot better than she did, and could tell when he was avoiding a subject. Did he know more here than he was letting on?

“So what are we thinking? Shared apps?” James asked the table at large, and the subject was effectively dropped. They continued to discuss various meal options right up until the waiter came back to the table to take their food orders. Once he had left the table again, Ella started asking Teddy questions about his metamorphoses. He was quite used to this, he’d been through it just yesterday with Mo, after all, and James had warned him that Ella was going to insist on a live demonstration. They were in a muggle restaurant, so he couldn’t start changing his face, but Teddy appeased Ella by changing his eye colour a couple of times, to much delight and actual applause from her.

“That’s amazing” she said, sounding genuinely awestruck, and Teddy couldn’t help but laugh. “You can do them one at a time, as well!” It wasn’t a question, and Teddy was slightly confused for a second, as he hadn’t meant to change only one of his eyes. He looked to James for confirmation, who nodded, the slightest hint of concern on his face.

“Didn’t mean to do that” Teddy admitted. “I normally have more control over it than this” he explained to Ella, who was looking curiously back and forth between Teddy and James. “I must still be jetlagged” Teddy shrugged, before taking a moment to concentrate hard on changing his eyes back to their normal colour. It was unlikely that the waiter would have noticed if his eyes changed colour, but still, it was a risk not worth taking.

“I think you owe me an apology” James said pointedly to Ella, who gave a profound ‘pffft’ in response.

“Please, just because you were telling the truth about this one thing doesn’t mean I’m going to start believing all your lies.”

“Will you please tell her that I am a celebrity back home” James implored Teddy, gesturing to Ella, who was levelling James with a ‘I can see through your bullshit’ kind of stare. Teddy laughed at this.

“I can see why you’d think he’s lying about that, but it’s actually true” Teddy confirmed, and Ella gave him the same look, clearly not believing a word of it. “I mean it, take out a subscription to the daily prophet for a week and see how many articles they write about Harry Potter” Teddy expanded. “And besides the famous family, James did play professional quidditch for a couple of years. Which is the most popular sport in the UK. We couldn’t go anywhere without getting mobbed by the press.”

“If that’s true then why the hell aren’t you still doing it now?” Ella asked James sceptically. “You’re telling me you chose this job over being a sports mega star?”

“I wouldn’t call him a ‘mega star’” Teddy put in reasonably, seeing James shuffle uncomfortably in his seat at this question. It had a rather uncomfortable answer, and he knew James didn’t like to talk about it, not even with his closest friends. He hadn’t even told Teddy until a long time after the fact. “He was in the major leagues for a bit, but never international level. He missed a season because of a shoulder injury, and struggled to get back into it after that.”

“Oh, so we’re talking gossip magazine fame, not national news outlet fame?” Ella asked with a raised eyebrow.

“A little of both, to be honest, but the latter was mainly because his mum was a famous quidditch player before him” Teddy explained.

“Which is why the press ripped me to shreds every chance they got” James cut in, much to Teddy’s surprise. “Which is the real reason my team dropped me, and why no-one else would take me. Bad publicity.” He took a rather moody swig of his beer, and Ella looked to Teddy with a bewildered expression. Teddy wasn’t quite sure what to say. “Which is also why I don’t miss it” James added, his expression levelling out into something more neutral.

“How come you never said?” Ella asked, her voice much softer than Teddy had yet heard.

“Not exactly a light conversation topic, is it?” James shrugged, with clearly feigned nonchalance. “And anyway, why wouldn’t I choose what we’re doing now over that? We’re living the dream, you and me” James put to her, and Ella laughed lightly.

“Maybe YOU are” she countered. “I’ve been working with Mo far too long. If he hums that stupid song at his desk one more time…”

James laughed loudly at that and then did an impression, which cracked Ella up. The two of them then descended into another conversation to which Teddy could contribute very little, discussing the annoying office habits of all of their colleagues. Instead of paying attention to whatever they were talking about, Teddy once again studied James’s expression, wondering what was going on in his head.

James and Ella had clearly become very good friends during their time out here, that much was apparent from their rapport alone, which was so lively that Teddy felt like it was using up energy just sitting here and listening to them. But James trusting Ella enough to open up to her about his quidditch career and how it had ended, even in such a small way, spoke volumes about how important she must be to him. Perhaps that was to be expected, she was his main companion out here after all, but it had taken Teddy rather by surprise. James mentioned her a lot in his anecdotes, but he hadn’t really indicated just how close they apparently were.

Teddy was doing a lot of introspection during this trip it seemed, unexpected and unusual emotions stirring up in him at strange times. Just like how he had yesterday morning when having breakfast with James, Teddy had to take a moment to check in with himself to try and figure out what exactly it was that he was feeling, and why. It was an unfamiliar feeling, and Teddy was very surprised when he identified it after a moment or two as jealousy. He was jealous of Ella. Of the casual ease between her and James. Of the gentle hand she had placed on his forearm again, while the two of them laughed so much that they were both wiping tears from their eyes. Of the fact that she had been here for the past three months, and Teddy hadn’t. Of the fact that she was clearly someone now very important in James’s life, and Teddy didn’t even know her at all.

Teddy was forced to get out of his own head and back to the present when the waiter brought their starters to the table. This distracted James and Ella enough for them to forget what they had been talking about previously, and once they started digging into the food, James addressed Teddy with a genuine, apologetic smile.

“Sorry if we’re monopolising the conversation a bit” he offered.

“No, it’s fine” Teddy replied, forcing his voice to be nonchalant. “You’ve been out here for three months, you probably have a lot of in-jokes by now.”

“Oh, I’m sorry Teddy, we didn’t mean for you to be left out” Ella said sincerely. “God, if I start talking about work again, please tell me to shut up.”

“You really don’t have to” Teddy told her. He did his best to push that horrible jealous feeling down. He didn’t want to be feeling it, not least because it was an ugly emotion, but also because Ella seemed really nice, and Teddy genuinely wanted to like her. He would probably need some more time to unpack it properly, but he was quite sure this feeling he was having had nothing to do with Ella herself, and everything to do with the distance, both physical and metaphorical, between him and James over the past three months.

“No, no, we’re here to get to know each other, right?” Ella replied insistently. “Tell me about your job. You work with James’s dad, is that right?”

“Yeah, he’s head of the auror office” Teddy explained with a genuine smile. A sure-fire way to get Teddy smiling was to get him talking about his job, and about Harry. He wondered vaguely if James had told Ella that.

“I don’t work directly with him all the time, but on my current case I am” Teddy went on.

“The mimic case?” Ella asked to clarify, pointing her fork at Teddy.

“That’s the one” he nodded. “It’s been a challenging case. Not that I don’t like a challenge, but this one has been particularly frustrating. But working with Harry is always great. He really knows what he’s doing, and I learn a lot from him.”

“Teddy is dad’s protégé” James said to Ella. “He’ll try and deny that, but if you think Mo plays favourites with me, you should see the way my dad is with Teddy. You’re like the son he never had” James addressed that last part to Teddy, who laughed at the absolute ridiculousness of that statement.

“Odd that, seeing as how he has two sons” Teddy replied flatly to James.

“But we all know you’re his fave” James countered calmly. Teddy made a noise of protest and James held his hands up in a surrendering gesture. “No, it’s fine, I’ve made my peace with it” he insisted. “Al hates you for it, but what can you do.”

“Does he actually?” Teddy asked, momentarily distracted by this, and James laughed brightly.

“No, I’m messing with you” James told him. “Well, I have no idea if he does, actually, you’d have to ask him. It’s not something we’ve talked about.”

“Well thank you, for THAT” Teddy shot at him unimpressed, and Ella laughed, even though she probably didn’t know exactly what they were talking about.

“I’m coming around to the idea of being Harry’s protégé, for your information” Teddy told James, who looked genuinely surprised by this. “I’ve always been wary of that” Teddy explained to Ella. “Harry’s my godfather, so I didn’t want anyone thinking he was giving me special treatment, you know? So I always tried to make sure he wasn’t directly mentoring me too much. But he’s the head of my department, so that’s kind of hard to avoid.”

“Yeah, I can see that” Ella smirked. James was still looking at Teddy curiously, so he elaborated further for his benefit.

“But since working on this case with him… I don’t really know what it is, but it feels like our dynamic has shifted” Teddy hadn’t really had to explain this to someone else yet, so he was finding the words as he went along, not entirely sure how much sense he was making. “It’s more like we’re working together than I’m working for him, if you know what I mean. He trusts me, and he wouldn’t if I wasn’t doing a good job. So I don’t really feel like I have anything to prove anymore. And like I said, working with Harry is infinitely better for learning and experience than working with anyone else in my office. So as long as he wants to keep working with me, then I want to keep working with him.”

“Oh so NOW he gets it” James said in a faux-annoyed voice. “I’ve only been telling you that for, what, six years?”

“I’m still not sure we could have done this from the off” Teddy frowned. “But it’s been six years. I don’t think anyone can say at this point that I haven’t paid my dues.”

“He’s on the verge of a big promotion as well” James said to Ella, a distinct note of pride in his voice that made Teddy feel another rush of affection for him.

“Well check you two out, power couple” Ella said, looking rather impressed. “So what will you do if our project is extended then? Would you move out here?” she asked calmly, looking back and forth between James and Teddy, who exchanged an extremely awkward look. Perhaps James and Ella weren’t as close as Teddy was beginning to think, as she clearly had no idea how loaded a question that was.

“We figured we’d cross that bridge when we got to it” James told her, his voice remarkably calm if that question had felt half as much like a gut punch to him as it had to Teddy, who was still reeling a little bit.

“Fair enough” Ella shrugged. “Well I hope it does get extended, because I have no idea what I’m doing otherwise.”

“I’m sure Mo will take you with him wherever he goes” James offered kindly.

“You don’t think he’s sick of me by now?” she grinned.

“If he was going to be, that would have happened long before now” James replied, and they both laughed.

The conversation shifted onto Ella telling them about the work she and Mo had done in Australia before coming here. Teddy was half listening, and nodding along politely. It did actually sound quite interesting, and under other circumstances Teddy would have been much more engaged, but he couldn’t stop his mind from going back to the question she had just asked. No, Teddy would not be moving out here. That was the only answer he could possibly give to that question. Certainly not now, not when his career was going better than ever. When he’d finally gotten into the perfect groove with Harry. But what did that mean for James? James, who’s career was also going better than ever, and who had a really good thing going here, with Mo and Ella. James, who had talked himself hoarse earlier today when they’d been walking down the beach, telling Teddy about his first experience planning and leading a mission with minimal help from anyone else, grinning ear-to-ear the whole time.

They had a little more time before they reached the proverbial bridge and had to have a serious conversation about this, but they were shifting incrementally closer to it. Teddy hadn’t forgotten that conversation he had had with Luke about how worried he was about that, amongst other things, and his feelings on it hadn’t really changed at all since then. Unfortunately, it didn’t look as though James’s had either since they last spoke on it.

Teddy did his best to push it to the back of his mind for now. It would have to be dealt with at some point, he was painfully aware of that, but not now. It was too soon, much too soon into this trip for things to start getting real. They were still in the overjoyed-just-to-see-each-other-again phase, and Teddy wanted to bask in it for a while longer. Besides not only that, they had another week to get through yet. He couldn’t ruin this whole trip by getting bogged down in it now.

-

As James was still showing Teddy around the city, they ate out for most of their meals over the next few days. However, when the novelty of this had started to wear off sometime around mid-week, Teddy decided to cook dinner for James at his flat. This was something they often did at home, Teddy being a much better cook than James, and Teddy generally liked the idea better than going to restaurant so they could be as all over each other as they wanted without having to worry about PDA. Besides not only that, there was something comfortingly familiar about it all, Teddy in the kitchen supervising a number of pans on the cooker, while James was prancing around entertaining him and generally getting in the way. It almost felt like they were back in their own flat in London, and Teddy felt genuinely at home for the first time in longer than he could even remember. For the first time in a long time, he felt like they were truly themselves again.

While he cooked, Teddy regaled James with some stories of his and Luke’s recent culinary adventures, ranging from their disastrous cooking class to the even bigger disasters that Luke had created in his own kitchen. He was just telling James about the surprisingly not-terrible dish Luke had managed to make that night they had been listening to the 2013 playlist - the one he’d tried to pass off as chicken cacciatore - when he remembered some of the more serious topics of conversation they’d gotten into that night.

“Oh, I finally got the scoop off Luke about what happened with his last gentleman friend” Teddy offered while he stirred the sauce. James was sat on one of the high stools at the breakfast bar watching him rather sappily, and his eyes lit up at this news.

“Do tell” James said rather excitedly, and Teddy laughed.

“It’s more sad than scandalous to be honest” Teddy told him. “Luke said he ditched him after his mum died because the relationship was too new to handle it.”

“Oh, that is sad” James replied, his face falling into a frown.

“I know” Teddy agreed grimly. “Didn’t even give him a chance to step up. I told him he should have, but Luke was convinced that Marco would have let him down, so he didn’t even want to put him in a position where he could.”

“Marco?” James asked with a raised eyebrow, and Teddy laughed.

“I know” he replied, grinning. “I doubt there’s a single Spanish or Italian man left in East London who hasn’t dated Luke at this point.”

“Has he ever said why he exclusively goes for men from the continent?” James asked amusedly.

“I have a theory” Teddy smirked. “It’s tied in with my Luke-can-most-definitely-read-minds theory.”

“Again with this?” James muttered, rolling his eyes.

“I don’t know why you’re not more interested in it” Teddy countered indignantly. “You don’t want to know if he can read what’s inside your head every time you speak to him?”

“Not really” James replied calmly. “I’m quite happy living in peaceful ignorance, thank you.”

“Well I’m not” Teddy told him abruptly, and James huffed a laugh. “I’ve been collating evidence for eighteen years, and I’ve got one hell of a case to support my theory” Teddy went on. James slumped over the table, leaning on one hand looking rather bored.

“Not everything is a case” James pointed out flatly. “Take a day off, would you?”

“You’re impossible” Teddy declared, waving a dismissive hand at James, who sat up straight again smirking.

“I just think you should leave him alone on this one” James told him quite sincerely. “So what if he can? He doesn’t have to tell us.”

“I’m insulted that he thinks he can’t tell me something like that” Teddy countered, although he knew that James was probably right.

“Forget that” James told him firmly. “Tell me what your other theory is.”

“Well, they’re a straight-forward people, the Latinos” Teddy ventured. “They tend to just tell you what they’re thinking, right to your face.”

“Ah, so you think he prefers guys like that so he doesn’t have to hide the fact that he already knows what they’re thinking” James offered.

“Exactly” Teddy agreed. “Makes sense, doesn’t it?”

“It’s got some credibility” James mused thoughtfully. “But I don’t know that Luke would have to be a mind reader for that to track. He just doesn’t like people trying to bullshit him.”

“Yeah, he gets enough of that from me” Teddy replied flippantly, and James smiled in amusement.

“How have you two been getting on, since you moved into his place?” James asked seriously. “Really?”

“What do you mean?” Teddy asked, a little taken aback by his abrupt shift in tone.

“Well, you’ve told me all the funny stories” James ventured. “But I want to know the not-funny ones too. I know it can’t be a laugh a minute all the time over there. I’m glad that you’re managing to have some fun, but you’ve barely said two words about what goes on in between that.”

“You’ve noticed that, have you?” Teddy said vaguely.

“Yeah, I have” James replied seriously. “I was waiting to see if you’d tell me without prompting, but since you haven’t…”

Teddy sighed quietly, wondering how much he ought to say. It wasn’t pretty, some of it.

“So this is you prompting me?” Teddy asked him, more to stall for time than for any other reason.

“Yes” James replied simply, picking up the glass of wine off the table in front of him and gesturing for Teddy to go on with it. This reminded Teddy that he had a glass of wine of his own on the side somewhere, and he looked around for it.

“It’s been… up and down” Teddy told him honestly, finding his wine over by the sink and picking it up to take a drink. “Good days and bad days, you know how it goes.”

“What are the bad days like?” James asked gently, and Teddy sighed again. He didn’t especially want to talk about this.

“When Luke has a bad day, he barely says anything to me all evening” Teddy shrugged. “And he has this cold look on his face. I ask him if he wants to talk about it, but he never does. The one time I made him, he just sounded so exhausted by it that I didn’t think I should again. He said that sometimes he thinks he won’t ever stop feeling like this.”

“You told him that he will, right?” James frowned, looking concerned. Teddy cast his mind back, trying to remember exactly what it was that he had said.

“I don’t know if I did, to be honest” Teddy admitted.

“Teddy!” James chastised him indignantly.

“Well, I don’t know!” Teddy replied defensively. “Maybe he won’t. He’s not ever going to stop missing her, is he?”

“It’ll get easier though, Ted” James frowned at him, and Teddy suddenly felt completely useless.

“You’re much better at this than I am” Teddy told him helplessly.

“Clearly” James said disapprovingly.

“Sorry” Teddy said exasperatedly. “I’ll try and do better.”

“I should call him more” James said thoughtfully, looking rather guilty.

“You should, he’d like that” Teddy agreed calmly. There was a lull in the conversation, in which Teddy went back to his cooking, checking the potatoes in the oven.

“You said ‘when Luke has a bad day’…” James said slowly, as Teddy was closing the over door again.

“What?” he asked distractedly, looking back over to James, who was wearing a rather confused expression.

“I asked about the bad days, and you said, when Luke has a bad day” James repeated. “Does that mean you have bad days as well?”

Teddy didn’t really know what to make of that question, and decided to just take it at face value, figuring James would clarify if he meant it otherwise.

“Well yeah, of course I do” Teddy told him, picking up his wine again.

“Why?” James asked, still frowning in confusion. Teddy was now extremely confused himself.

“What do you mean ‘why’?” Teddy replied incredulously.

“Why are you having bad days?” James asked, now looking rather concerned again. “Most of the times I’ve spoken to you on the phone you’ve been fine, and you haven’t mentioned anything since you’ve been here. Is there something going on I don’t know about?”

“I have bad days because I’m missing YOU, you idiot” Teddy told him, huffing a surprised laugh.

“You have bad days?” James repeated again, now looking gravely concerned. Teddy didn’t understand his reaction at all.

“Do you not?” Teddy asked him warily.

“I have days when I miss you a lot” James replied carefully. “But I wouldn’t call it… what exactly do you mean by bad days?”

Teddy was now feeling very apprehensive, and was very much hoping that this was just a miscommunication of some sort.

“Well, the two times you pushed this trip back, those were pretty bad days on my end” Teddy told him seriously. “I think I did make that known to you on the phone.”

“I thought we worked it out though” James frowned.

“No, you worked it out” Teddy told him grimly. “I told you it was really hard on me, but you said it was for the best, and I trusted you on that so… here we are” he shrugged, turning back to the pans and stirring the sauce again. He’d already turned the heat off on it, there wasn’t really much point in stirring it at this point, but he needed something to do to avoid looking at James, who was looking like this was a shocking revelation to him.

“So after you hung up the phone, then what?” James pressed him. Teddy sighed.

“Does it really matter?” he asked, willing James to just drop it.

“Yes, it matters” James replied quietly. Teddy felt a flare of annoyance. He certainly hadn’t been this interested in how Teddy felt about it back then, why was he so determined to dredge it all up now?

“Then, I had an almighty sulk for the next couple of days” Teddy told him flippantly. “Which I tried my very best not to burden Luke with, which led to me unloading on Harry of all fucking people. Which is when I started having trouble with my metamorphoses as well, FYI.” He hadn’t meant to blurt all that out, and slightly wished he could take it back when he saw James’s shocked reaction to it.

“You’re having trouble with your metamorphoses because of me?” James asked, his voice still quiet, and dead serious.

“I’m having trouble with my metamorphoses because it’s fucking exhausting, missing you so much all the fucking time” Teddy told him rather irritably. This shouldn’t be news to him, for god’s sake.

“You never said” James frowned. Teddy let out a hollow laugh.

“I didn’t think I needed to” he replied darkly. “I thought you’d feel the same.” James said nothing to this, looking extremely worried. A long pause ensured, in which Teddy stared blankly at him, waiting for him to say something.

“But you don’t, do you?” Teddy added coldly, when James still said nothing. It wasn’t really a question, that much was obvious at this point. Teddy didn’t even have the mental capacity right now to unpack quite how much of a problem that was.

“Teddy, I don’t…” James said, looking bewildered. He didn’t seem to know what to say, which made two of them.

“Well, fuck” Teddy muttered, with another humourless laugh.

“Teddy, you should have said something” James said seriously.

“What the hell was I supposed to say, James?” Teddy asked him irritably. As if it were that easy. “I’m miserable here without you, but there’s nothing either of us can do about it because you’re out there for another four months whether I like it or not’?”

“You’re miserable?” James repeated, looking crestfallen.

“I’m not-, look, it doesn’t matter” Teddy muttered. Honestly, yes, he was miserable. But he was willing to take that back at the moment if it would make James stop looking at him like that.

“Of course it matters” James said softly, getting up from his stool and walking over to Teddy, who was honestly just trying to stop himself from falling off the edge at the moment, staring at the pans on the cooker, trying to stop the white noise in his head from reaching critical volume. James pulled him roughly into a hug, and Teddy fought hard against the sting in his eyes. He couldn’t fall apart now, not after all that.

“Ted, I miss you, I really do” James told him earnestly, his broad arms holding Teddy tightly in towards his chest, one hand gently on the back of Teddy’s neck, his fingers brushing through his hair there. “But I always knew we’d be back together at some point. Maybe the time has gone quicker for me here, I don’t know. But I had no idea you were miserable. You should have told me.”

“Would it have changed anything?” Teddy replied, his voice coming out rather flat. He wrapped his own arms around James’s waist holding him close too. The hug was somewhat comforting, but in some ways that only made the rest of it hurt even more.

“I don’t know” James admitted sadly. “But you still should have told me.” He placed a gentle kiss on Teddy’s temple, and Teddy had to close his eyes and breathe through the wave of mixed emotions that crashed over him.

“Well, I’m telling you now” Teddy said, his voice still devoid of emotion.

“After I dragged it out of you” James said, his tone a little disapproving. “Were you going to tell me otherwise?”

“I don’t know” Teddy replied honestly. It was actually a little easier to talk like this, embracing but not looking at each other’s faces. “Luke said I should. I didn’t really see what good it would do.”

“Luke knew about this?” James asked, sounding surprised. Teddy wasn’t sure why he would be.

“I’ve been living with him” Teddy reminded him. “Even if he can’t read my mind, it’d be hard not to notice."

“So you’ve been having bad days together, hmm?” James mused. Teddy was on the verge of flippantly telling James that they generally drank their way through them, but thought better of it. He probably already had him worried enough, and in context it wasn’t funny, really.

“Yeah” Teddy replied simply, instead. That was exactly what they’d been doing.

“Well now I’m a little worried about both of you” James said softly.

“You don’t need to be” Teddy told him. “I’m keeping an eye on him. And I’m holding up. It’s just been hard, that’s all.”

“And who’s keeping an eye on you?” James asked sceptically.

“Harry, sort of” Teddy offered. That was partially true, at least. He doubted very much that James would buy it though. James sighed deeply, and even though Teddy couldn’t see his face, he knew there would be a deep frown etched across it.

“It should be easier from here on out” James ventured hopefully. “I’ll be home for Christmas in December.”

“Yeah, I know” Teddy replied quietly. He opted not to raise that there would still be two months after that in which they would be apart again, and then who even knew what was going to happen after that. He certainly didn’t have it in him to go over THAT right now.

“And I’ll do better. I’ll phone you more” James insisted.

“I don’t want your calls to me to become an obligation” Teddy told him flatly. He already half felt like they were, sometimes.

“They’re not” James said defensively.

“They will be if you’re ringing me just to fulfil a quota” Teddy replied firmly.

“And I want you to promise you’ll call me if you’re having a bad day” James said, apparently ignoring this.

“Sure” Teddy lied. That would be every day, pretty much, if he did.

“You promise?” James pressed him.

“I promise” Teddy sighed, still lying. He had no intention of doing any such thing, but he couldn’t currently think of any way to make James understand that.

James seemed satisfied with this answer, and pulled gently back from the hug, taking a good look at Teddy’s face. Teddy was pleased with himself that he’d managed not to cry, but he would wager that he probably looked exhausted right now, and god only knew what his hair would be doing.

“I feel like maybe we should talk about this some more, but I don’t really know what else to say” James said, his expression still quite worried.

“I don’t know what else to say either” Teddy shrugged, offing him a grim smile. “It is what it is.”

“We will talk more about it” James insisted, frowning. “Maybe at Christmas?”

“Yeah, OK” Teddy agreed. He’d agree to pretty much anything at this point to end this conversation. There was a painfully awkward pause in which they just stared at each other, before Teddy cleared his throat.

“So, the potatoes are probably done” he said, gesturing to the oven. James continued to frown, and looked for a moment as though he wanted to say something else, but he apparently changed his mind, giving Teddy a nod and heading back over to his seat.

Their conversation was stilted at best for the next hour or so, as they stuck to lighter topics and tried to move past the incredibly heavy conversation they had just had. Eventually they did, the casualness and the jokey banter coming back into play later in the evening, but the weight of what they had discussed still hung in the air. At least, for Teddy it did. He wasn’t sure whether he had done the right thing by telling James as much as he had, but there was nothing he could do about it now. It was out there.

When they went to bed that night they didn’t talk at all, letting their actions take over, kissing fiercely and showing each other without words how much they meant to each other, how much they both wanted and needed this to work out somehow. How much they loved each other. Afterwards, James fell asleep holding Teddy tightly in his arms, as though afraid he might lose him if he let go. Teddy faced the wall with James pressed against his back, tears silently falling down his face onto the pillow.