Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ His Greatest Fear ❯ Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

 

Teddy was miserable. Ross had never seen him acting so badly. He was doing things on purpose just to get into trouble. He sulked in his room when he wasn't in detention. Ross barely got two words out of him daily. Ross was beginning to lose hope in Teddy ever recovering from this blow he had been dealt. He had written Victoire, but had since had no response even through Rose and it had been two weeks since the letter had been sent. The owl had since returned to the owlery. Teddy had gone there to check that something had not happened. He was getting thin from lack of food, since he had not been eating for the last few days.

Ross and Rose sat in the common room one evening contemplating what to do. “We can't just sit around and let him do this to himself,” Rose commented.

“No, but I don't know what else to do. I've tried to talk to him, but he won't talk back much. I wouldn't want to get your Uncle Harry involved. I don't think he would take kindly to the idea that we contacted adults to fix something that he messed up. You know how he is about fixing his own problems.”

“Maybe not Uncle Harry…” Rose murmured.

“Yeah, I'm sure you will explain what that means when you get ready. You're just like your mother so I've heard,” Ross muttered.

“Okay, we can't get Uncle Harry, but we can get someone that Teddy will listen to.”

“Surely you don't mean James. We couldn't get in touch with him if we wanted to, could we?”

“Well we could, but it would take far too long. No, I was thinking of Albus. He's a sixth year, too. We just never see him. He's always in the library. I only see him when I go to get a book to read. He is constantly studying. That's why Victoire and I quit trying to hang out with him. All he seems to want to do is work. So we're not all really close, but I think Teddy would listen to him, just because he's Uncle Harry's son. It's worth a shot. I'll get him and bring him to the common room. You find a way to get Teddy down here. I don't care if you have to tell him that Victoire is down here.” Rose rushed out of the portrait hole as she was saying the last bit leaving Ross standing dumbfounded. He trudged up the stairs to his room. But he was surprised and shocked to find that Teddy wasn't there. He must have left under the cloak. Ross sat down with his head in his hands wondering what to do.

 

Teddy heard Ross and Rose talking as he crept silently down the stairs, the Invisibility Cloak draped over him. His heart was pounding in his chest, and he was certain that they could hear it. They never looked up as he neared the portrait hole. He was uncertain as to how to open it without them noticing when a first year pulled it open and just stood there long enough for Teddy to slip out unseen by any. He couldn't believe what had happened. He had sent a letter to Victoire, and somehow she had managed to respond.

 

Dear Teddy,

I think we should talk face to face, instead of through letters, since I am never sure when I can sneak a letter out bearing Rose's name. I have to tell the owl to take it to you, so I have to do it from Aunt Hermione's house when no one is around. I honestly am not sure what to do, but I feel we can talk it out better if we can see each other. I know it's going to be risky, but I have it all set up. Mum and Dad are leaving me at Aunt Hermione's on Friday night. Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron both have to work, so they won't be here until late. I can't stay long, but meet me in the Room of Requirement on Friday night at nine. Don't be late.

Vicky

 

And so Teddy was on his way to the Room of Requirement, heart pounding all the way. He saw Scorpius and a few other Slytherins standing around the entrance to the Room of Requirement, and thought for sure that he was doomed. Fortunately for him, he had remembered to consult his Marauders Map, and saw that the night patrol was headed right for them. And it was Professor McGonagall. He hugged the wall so that she wouldn't bump into him and cause him to miss his appointment.

“What are you three doing roaming the corridors at this hour? Fifty points from Slytherin, and off to bed with you!” she exclaimed exasperatedly. The three complained a bit but walked away toward their dormitory in the dungeon. Professor McGonagall briskly walked away down the seventh floor corridor. Just as Teddy was about to begin pacing in front of the door, it opened from the inside and a blond head peeked out.

“Teddy?” a frantic whisper called.

“I'm here,” he whispered back, still under the cloak. She held the door open for him and he walked in before pulling the cloak off.

 

“Albus!” Rose cried, rushing into the library just as Albus rose, gathering his books. Madame Pince was getting ready to close the library up, as it was nearly nine. She had only kept it open because Albus was studying.

“The library is closing, young lady,” Madame Pince said, a note of tiredness etching her voice.

“Oh, don't worry, I don't need anything. I just need Albus. Thank you though,” Rose replied, grabbing Albus's arm and yanking him out into the hallway. “Listen, Albus, I need your help. Teddy hasn't been eating or speaking or anything for days. We need you to talk to him so that he will get over it.”

“Rose, we have our examinations in a week, and you're worrying about Teddy's state of mind? Honestly, when he gets ready, he will talk to you. I really thought you knew that about him by now. Now, I need to get some sleep before tomorrow.”

“Please, Albus, I'm begging you. Just talk to him,” Rose pleaded.

“Oh all right. But I'm not staying up all night listening to him pour his heart out. I know all about it already. I'll just try to get him talking, and then I'm off to bed.” Rose and Albus walked quickly up the stairs and through the portrait hole. They came face to face with a frantic-looking Ross.

“Okay, I've got him here. Now where's Teddy?”

“I don't know. I went upstairs to get him, and he was gone. He must have sneaked away under that blasted cloak again!”

“Ah well, good luck on finding him. I suppose I will have to have that little chat with him later. Good night, Rose, Ross.” Albus nodded at them respectively before heading up the stairs to his own room.

“We've got to find him,” Rose said immediately after Albus had disappeared.

“We can't go looking for him, Rose. We don't have the cloak. He does. He's not going to get into trouble. You know, before he was running around without the cloak just to get into trouble. He said he wanted to feel again…but that's another story. But he's got the cloak, so he must have gone on some important errand.”

“Well, I'm not going to bed until he comes back,” Rose said stubbornly, plopping into one of the armchairs.

 

As soon as Teddy pulled the cloak over his head and draped it onto the back of a chair that was handy, he found himself looking into troubled eyes within a tear-stained face. He wanted so badly to take her into his arms and comfort her, but he knew he could not do that just yet.

“If your parents find out that you're here, you know you're going to be in a lot of trouble,” Teddy commented with an edge of concern in his voice.

“I know, but I had to see you. Teddy, I don't think we should be together. You see, that's what I couldn't write in the letter. And if we're not going to be together, I don't think that we should see each other at all anymore. That means that if we must be at family functions together, we stay well away from each other. Otherwise, we will not write or speak or anything else. I just can't get past what you did to me. And if I can't get past it, then we don't have a future together.” Victoire's eyes were welling with tears for the millionth time in the last two weeks since the letter had come. She had read it many times, and strained herself to make this decision. It was going to be difficult to get over Teddy, but she knew she could do it. “It's over,” she whispered.

Teddy didn't say a word. He sighed as a single tear fell down his cheek. He picked up one of her hands and lifted it to kiss it. He dropped it as she just stood there crying. He threw the cloak back over his head and exited the Room of Requirement. When he reached the portrait hole, he pulled the cloak off and mumbled the password. Ross and Rose looked up to see Teddy's drawn, white face, his normally vibrant hair a dull mousy brown. He smiled at them, but it didn't quite reach his eyes.

“Hey, guys. Thanks for waiting up for me. I think I'll just be going to bed now. Oh, and I don't need Albus to talk to me. But I'm glad you care.” He passed them to slowly take the stairs one at the time. Ross and Rose exchanged a glance. Rose just shrugged.

 

Victoire lay in the bed she slept in at Hermione's and Ron's house. It was four in the morning and she had not slept a wink. All she could do was cry, it seemed. Just the mere thought of Teddy brought fresh tears to her eyes. At around six, she drifted off to sleep.

A week later, a much thinner Victoire arrived with her mother at Hogwarts to take her examinations with the rest of her classmates. She had a determined look on her face. She was determined, after all, not to cry and to make good grades. She had spent the last week studying relentlessly to keep her mind off of Teddy.

As soon as she entered Potions for her exam, Rose crashed into her with a tight embrace. But upon closer scrutiny of Victoire, Rose's brow furrowed in concern. “Vicky, you don't look well at all. Haven't you eaten?”

“I don't remember the last time I ate, honestly,” Victoire replied wanly, looking over her shoulder to make sure her mother wasn't listening. She had been telling her mother that she had been eating during the day when no one was home and just wasn't hungry at dinner. She sighed.

“This is all because of Teddy, isn't it?” Rose asked, knowing the answer before she got the words out of her mouth.

“Rose, I just couldn't take it. I couldn't stay with him knowing that he was kissing Anne, whether or not she was kissing him first. He could have not even gone up with her. I mean, seeing him flirt with her in the Great Hall was enough. He should have realized that. Right?” She turned her eyes to Rose's.

“Vicky, everyone makes mistakes. And sometimes we go too far. Sometimes things can be repaired and sometimes they can't. But both people have to want the repairing, now don't they? If you don't want it, then your relationship with Teddy will remain as it is. You two will move on eventually and find someone else. But if you both want to repair what you had, or rather what you still have, whether you realize it or not, you've got to do it now or it will be too late. You cannot wait a year, Vicky. It doesn't work that way. By then he may be moved on.”

“Oh, Rose, you don't understand!”

“Yes, I do! Why do you think I went to Ross when I did? I didn't want our friendship to be totally lost. I knew we couldn't ever be together again. In fact, Scorpius and I are dating again. But I'll tell you all about that later. But now Ross is okay with it, because we are just friends and we just want each other to be happy. You have to make a consideration, though. How is it truly going to make you feel when you see Teddy with another girl? Because, Victoire, if you don't get him back, it's inevitable. It will happen. If you know in the deepest part of your heart that it is going to tear you up inside, then by all means, go after him.” Suddenly, their professor walked in and asked them to take their seats.

After the examination was over, Rose and Victoire walked to the Great Hall for lunch. They had Transfiguration after lunch, and wanted to go over some of the spells. But a Teddy-sighting in the hall cut their conversation short.

“Oh, Rose, hide me! I don't want to see him right now!”

“Just use a Disillusionment Charm, silly. I'll talk to him and you can hear it all. Hurry before he sees you!” Rose exclaimed, and just as he looked up, Victoire disappeared. She pressed her back to the wall so as not to get run over by the other students.

Teddy was just as thin and gaunt-looking as Victoire was. She shuddered at how sallow his face had gotten. She still knew he was the same person, but he just didn't look right. He smiled at Rose, but his eyes didn't light up like they used to.

“Hey, Rose! I've got some big news! Your Uncle Charlie wrote me today asking if I would like to come and spend the summer studying dragons with him.”

“And what did you tell him?” Rose asked, an edge of excitement filling her voice despite her fear for the relationship between him and Victoire.

“I just dropped a letter at the owlery. I told him I would love to. I leave straight from Hogsmeade the day school is out.” He took Rose by the arm and pulled her away from the crowd and over toward the wall where Victoire was standing. He spoke quietly, but she could still hear him. “I've got to get my mind off of her. I still love her Rose, and I always will. But I can't be in the same city with her and know that she doesn't feel the same way. So I'm going away. Oh, I've got to go. I'm going to be late. See you later!” He turned to walk away, turning back to wave. As soon as he was out of sight, Victoire made herself reappear.

“He's leaving?” she asked, tears filling her eyes. She sank with her back still to the wall and put her arms around herself and sobbed violently.