Wizards of the World 1: The Australian Institute of Magic, Australia

3: Rumour

Word of Teddy's display in the Potions classroom spread around the school like wildfire. Professor Cowarn called Teddy up to the staff room after dinner to find out the story of what happened.

"It is detrimental to your hiding here for you to be transforming in the classrooms every time you are upset, Theodore," Cowarn said in a solemn voice. "Especially with the speed of the gossip network in this school."

"Well, next time I'll just send the student's curse back at him, shall I?" Teddy asked happily, examining one of the devices on its pedestal. "And my name is Teddy."

"A breach of the school rules as bad as that should be reported, Theodore," Cowarn stressed, "and not punished on your own. We do not harbour people like that here."

"Really?" Teddy asked, "You don't?"

"I don't count you," Cowarn said consolingly, "but the students should not be running rampant in this school. What of the teachers' safety? I can't have children like that here..."

Teddy was lost in recollection, staring at the tool. Although a spell had been applied to his mind years ago, they were still there, floating under the surface. And Cowarn's words echoed someone else's from the start of the Dark Wars...

*

"What of the teachers' safety? I can't have children like that here, to destroy our school from the inside out. I just can't!" Jonathan Drewitt banged his fist on the table, glaring at Teddy.

"But sir --"

"Dammit Theodore!" the man cried, "They belong in Azkaban, or the new ministry prison, not in Hogwarts! For god's sake, they're the children of Death Eaters!"

"Is that what Harry or Dumbledore would have wanted?" Teddy asked quietly.

"No one knows what they would have wanted," Jon cried, "and they're dead! I can't very well ask them, can I? Not without visiting Hades myself."

Teddy glared at the man. "Harry died under the attack of teenage Death Eaters, and Dumbledore died in this very castle!"

"What do you think with this lot in here, giving them two seconds to choose?" Jon asked shrilly, "I'm saying no, Teddy, and that is my final word."

Teddy glared at the man and walked out. He slammed the door of the Headmaster's quarters, the griffin knocker clicking in the aftermath. He left down the spiral stairs and met the group of orphan children at the bottom of the staircase.

"I'm sorry, but he won't let you in," Teddy said to the leader, Blain Zabini, "because of your parents."

Blain looked outraged. "How dare he refuse us!" he cried, pulling out his wand. He and the other children stepped around Teddy and made for the Gargoyle, which opened up willingly. The new Headmaster was not on its good side, and it would be glad to see Jon Drewitt go the way of the last Headmaster.

"Blain, Tragius, Aurelius, Violet, Tansy, no!" Teddy called, moving to go after the eleven-year-old orphans. He took two steps toward the gargoyle and it closed, leaving him to rage and curse at it.

"Don't do it!" he yelled through the wall but wasn't sure if they'd heard.

A few seconds later, though it seemed longer, the gargoyle moved aside again. Teddy shakily made his way up the stairs to the griffin door, and pushed gently on the door. It opened slowly in front of Teddy to reveal --

*

"THEODORE!" Cowarn yelled at the werewolf, and Teddy stepped back a few paces, his wand out and pointed at the Professor before he could think.

"Are you going to curse me?" Cowarn asked, holding his empty hands up and pointing to the wand aimed at his nose. "I'd appreciate it if you put that away. I know you know how to use it properly."

Teddy put the wand away and Cowarn said in a shaky voice, "What were you thinking of?"

"Hmm? Oh, the last time I heard that speech."

"Oh, you mean just before you found --"

The door to the office opened and a young woman stuck her head in the door. It was Lisa Volkic, the Ancient Runes teacher, someone who should not hear their conversation. "I'm sorry," she said, "but I was here for my meeting with the Headmaster, I can come back later --"

"No, no," Teddy said, heading for the door, "I was just leaving, Lisa."

"Teddy --" Cowarn called.

"Later, Phil," Teddy said, ghosting around Lisa and out the door.

"What a strange fellow," Lisa commented as Teddy headed out of the small room below, letting the large painting drop back into place.

Teddy snarled at nothing and stormed to his rooms in the dungeons below, cursing and spitting as he walked. The last thing he needed to remember was that, especially in the Headmaster's office!

"Professor Lupin?"

Teddy turned on his heel and stared at the small thirteen-year-old standing in front of him. She was a member of his own house, Sydney House, marked by the large and elegant 'S' on her front pocket. None of the students wore robes, it being too hot, but kept to their own clothes, generally bikinis and board shorts in the summer, and furs in the winter.

"Regan. What can I help you with?"

"There's something happening in the common room, sir," she said, pointing at the door behind her. "They're not letting anyone in."

"The how do you know something's happening?"

"Because they wouldn't block it off if it wasn't sir," she said a touch impatiently. "Before I left to find someone, there was a small fight brewing. I think it's gotten out of hand."

Teddy sighed; there went his quiet night. "Okay, step aside." She moved out of his way and he drew his wand. At least having a combat history is good for something, he thought as he said the password to the door, people tend to get out of your way when you say to.

The door remained stuck shut, so Teddy pulled out his wand and tapped it on the door, saying a password that would open the door no matter what. the door remained stubbornly shut, and Teddy growled softly, placing his wand against the door and muttering the strongest unlocking charm he knew. The door flew open and he marched into the room, taking it all in.

Adam Drocker was curled up on the ground, being hexed, cursed and kicked by the sixth- and seventh-years around him. His wand was lying a few feet away, useless against the twenty attackers encircling him.

One of the boys turned to find Teddy behind him, and threw a Stunning Spell at him. Teddy sent the boy crashing into a wall with a swish of his wand and ploughed forward into the students. He stood above Adam, holding the boys at bay with his wand.

"You will all drop your wands now," he hissed, "or you will be in detention all night every night for the rest of the year!"

A few of the boys dropped their wands out of fright as he turned his dark gaze on them, to be set upon by the rest of the boys gathered around them.

"Stunners! Now!"

The third to fifth years and the sixth year girls sent Stunning Spells at the group of boys, sending all but one crashing to the floor. A few flew through the air, the target of more than two Stunners, and hit the walls.

Teddy looked at the boy still standing in front of him, continuing to glare at the man. Teddy lowered his face and narrowed his eyes, glaring at the boy through his eyebrows. "Drop your wand or I will attack, Drival."

Stephen Drival glared at Teddy. "Fine. I can take you, Theodore Lupin." The boy grinned at him. "Oh, were you trying to hide? Well, there's someone behind you who has been looking for you for a long time."

"Stupefy," the person behind Teddy said, sending the boy crashing to the floor.

Teddy turned to look at the person and gasped. He felt his knees going weak as he watched the person in front of him lower her wand.

The woman smiled confidently at Teddy, holstering her wand.

"Hello, Teddy. Still got that multi-coloured problem?" she asked eligantly

It was Victorice Weasley.

*

Teddy darted through the ruins of Malfoy Manor, his nose to the ground. He was a wolf, sniffing out the third-generation Death Eater known to live in the house. His fur was a soft grey, the same colour as the surrounding concrete. Water was dripping somewhere in the distance, creating an eerie echo around the ruins.

Something shifted ahead of him. His ears pricked forward, and he gently crept through the ruins, his ears straining for more sound.

Ahead of him, a pebble fell into a puddle, betraying the location of the Death Eater.

She was only on the other side of the wall.

Teddy leapt through the hole in the wall and landed on her back, pushing her face-first into the mud. She spun around, trying to throw him off, and trying to trail her wand on him. Her hood hid her face, a patch of darkness in the eternal grey.

"Evanesco!" she hissed.

The spell vaporised a hole in his left ear as he fastened his teeth around her right wrist. His teeth sunk into the bone, and she screamed, dropping the familiar wand.

Teddy shifted from the wolf's body to a heavier one as she threw him off, scrambling for her wand.

"How can you live with yourself?" Teddy demanded, crouching to spring in human form.

The woman laughed, catching her wand in her left hand. She spun on him, her hood falling over her face to cover her properly. "Because it's so simple, mixed-blood," she hissed, sending a Cruciatus Curse at him. "How can you live, knowing what you are?"

Teddy leapt on her, grabbing her wand arm in one hand, the other fastening around her throat. She scrambled to grab his hand, turning her wand on him. Their scuffle echoed through the quiet ruins.

Teddy twisted her little finger back, forcing her hand open. She cried in pain, and dropped her wand. Teddy threw it into the gloom, where it clattered to a standstill.

The woman let go of the hand at her throat to punch Teddy. He flew from her and landed in the dirt, where he transformed into the wolf and grabbed her hood as she stood, pulling it from her head and strangled her as he pulled her back.

The hood fell from her face to reveal the white-blonde hair of Victorice Weasley.

Before she could do anything, his jaws seized on her throat and squeezed the life from her. Her lifeless body fell to the ground, and Teddy backed away, realising what he had done, her blood flowing from his jaws.

He howled into the ruins. "Damn you, father!" he yelled into the silence, mourning the loss of the eldest Weasley child, "Why did you give me your curse?"

A burst of green light hit the stone above his head, and T eddy shuddered, transforming to human and grabbing Victorice's wand. He didn't know where his own wand had gone; he lost it a year ago in a raid on the Death Eaters. With an inhuman snarl at the figure climbing through the partially-collapsed wall, Teddy Disapparated.