I had a really scary laptop moment when I was editing this, so I'm posting it before it gets wiped. This chapter is, to my mind, the scariest yet and so I'd advise proceeding with caution. If you don't like scary, don't read it. It's also the longest part I've written so far.

Five, part three, Forest Green
He looked around, desperately trying to see where Greyback was. He had been the stuff of Teddy’s nightmares since he was five and Harry, Hermione and his Gran had explained what his father had been and why. He had never told anyone about the dreams where he saw his father, a small skinny boy with tawny brown hair being attacked by a werewolf, a dog-wolf, slashing him across the stomach with its vast claws, biting at his legs, tossing him aside like a rag doll and leaving him for dead. And now through the forest green gloom, Greyback was prowling, waiting for Teddy and his mother…

But the person in front of him was not is mother, her eyes were all wrong. She was talking to him, saying his name, telling him to breathe. He was gripping her shoulders, his nails biting into her skin through her thin shirt. He realised that his chest was heaving and suddenly he was gulping in lungfuls of air, he could smell her sweet scent. He realised that he was still gripping he tightly and let go, his head spinning. She caught him by the waist and guided him towards an old tree stump. Her touch was reassuring, and as she pulled away when he sat down he started to panic again, thinking that she was abandoning him. She knelt down in front of him and started to speak again. He tried to focus on her voice, rather than the whine of panic in his mind.

“…happened? Are you alright Teddy? Can you hear me?” She looked concerned and frightened.

“Yeah, sorry, umm… not sure what happened there… I need a drink…” He knew he was lying and from the look on her face so did the girl. None the less, she looked around carefully and then waved her wand.

“The Statute…”

“Oh, knickers to the Statue, no-one can see us.” She passed him a glass and without looking he threw back the drink. Seconds later he was coughing, as rather than the water he had expected, what he could only think must be Firewhisky burned his throat. He managed a weak “Thanks”. It would definitely be a very long time before he tried that again.

“So, are you going to tell me or am I going to have to guess?”

Teddy gave her an appraising look. Something about this girl told him that he could trust her. Taking a deep breath he began.

“What do you know about my father?”

“Nothing, other than he was called Lupin, like the cottage.”

“Right, okay. Have you heard about the Order of the Phoenix?” She nodded. Teddy realised that this was going to be a long conversation, but it was soothing to talk to her and as he felt stronger, they walked deeper into the wood. He told her about his father being attacked, being ostracised because of it, finding friends, finding his mother but not thinking he was good enough for her, both of them dying in the Battle of Hogwarts. When he reached the story about almost being attacked by Greyback himself, she grabbed his arm in shock, her eyes wide. He slipped his hand into hers, lacing their fingers together.

“Well, there’s no wonder you freaked out a bit, anyone would. I won’t tell anyone, it’s no-one else’s business.”

Teddy was grateful for that. “I’m not a miserable person. I could be, but my parents didn’t die for me to be miserable.”

“I can see that about you. Why else would your hair have been so vibrantly green?” He laughed.

They had walked quiet far into the wood now, and very little light was breaking through the canopy of the trees. Neither of them had mentioned the fact that they were still holding hands. He looked at her, thinking again how pretty she was when she started to pull away from him, but gripped his hand tighter. Something was wrong.

“TEDDY!” She was falling, the woodland floor had disappeared beneath her feet and she was dragging him with her. He grabbed her upper arm, trying to pull her back but he lost his footing and they were both falling down a steep slope. Teddy hit a rock and felt his arm break. As they skidded and rolled down the slope, Teddy tried to get a glimpse at what was waiting for them at the bottom and a thrill of fear shot down his spine: water. They were heading for some sort of lake. With his broken arm he tried to find his wand in his pocket but it was impossible, they were falling too fast. He looked at Amelia, her face was scraped and bleeding, her arms were bruised, and she looked terrified. She clung to Teddy desperately but as they hit the water, the shock forced them to let go. The water was cold, much colder than Teddy had expected and now knives of ice were stabbing at him, he tried to strike out with his legs and break the surface of the water, but his legs were tangled. Thinking of Grindylows, Teddy fumbled again for his wand and watched in horror as it slipped through his fingers and out of view. He reached down to free his legs and realised that there was no breath left in his lungs. He felt his throat close and for the second time that afternoon he couldn’t breathe. Was this what it was like to drown? Lights popped before his eyes and his head felt like it was going to explode. He could no longer co-ordinate his arms and legs and he started to sink. As green water weeds clouded his vision, everything went dark…


*****

Remus was singing softly,

“Go to sleep, my Teddy Bear,
Close your little button eyes,
And let me smooth your hair.
It feels so soft and silky that,
I'd love to cuddle down by you,

Go to sleep, my darling Teddy Bear.
Golden slumbers kiss your eyes;
Smiles await you when you rise.
Sleep, Teddy Bear,
Do not cry,
And I will sing you lullabies.

Cares you know not,
Therefore sleep,
While over you a watch I'll keep.
Sleep, Teddy Bear,
Do not cry,
And I will sing you lullabies.”

The tiny boy in his arms was fighting sleep, staring back at Remus as though trying to memorise his face. Dora had gone to sleep hours earlier, exhausted by the boy who wouldn’t sleep. The song wasn’t working, neither was rocking nor a bottle. It was very dark now, and Remus saw that it was a clear night, all the stars were twinkling.

“Come on Teddy, come and meet a friend of mine…”

Remus took his son outside to look at the constellation of Sirius.

*****

Amelia broke through the surface of the water, gasping. She looked around, expecting to see Teddy, but there was no-one there. She took a deep breath and dived. She saw him, he seemed to be sinking. She swam towards him and saw that his feet were tangled in water weeds. The water irritated her eyes and she blinked rapidly. When she opened them, Teddy was surrounded by pink and blue light. It was swirling around him and some how when she reached him, there were no water weeds. Lungs burning, she hooked him under the arms and kicked out for the surface. He wasn’t responding to her touch. Is he unconscious? Is he dead? He couldn’t be. Somehow she dragged him to the bank and almost collapsed in the reed beds. He wasn’t breathing. “Rennervate!” The spell wasn’t working, Amelia was panicking, what was it that Muggles did?

Teddy could feel lips on his own, not kissing but blowing air into him. He spluttered and the lips disappeared, someone was rolling him onto his side. What had happened? Why was he wet? Who did the lips belong to? Who had been singing? Teddy stopped thinking, his head hurt. His arm was sore as well, and quite an odd shape. He looked up and saw a worried face, as wet as he was, staring at him. Was her name Amelia?

“Talk to me Teddy.”

“Okay.” Him speaking seemed to soothe her. Gingerly he sat up, protecting his arm. He looked at the opposite bank of the lake and saw the disturbed ground where they had fallen down.

“Are you ok? Have you broken anything?” He looked up at her, taking in her rapidly swelling eye and bleeding cheek.

“Just bumps and cuts. I’m fine.”

“You dragged me out?” She nodded. Great, he would never live that down, a petite little thing like her had pulled him out of the water. He had to have the best part of a foot on her in height. “Thanks, again.”

“No, I should have been watching where we were going rather than thinking about-” She stopped mid sentence, blushing furiously.

Teddy grinned, despite the pain in his arm. “I was thinking about it too.”

They grinned stupidly at each other for a long moment, before standing up.

“Oh Merlin! My wand!” Teddy started to feel his pockets with one hand, despite the fact he knew that it was gone, just another twig at the bottom of the lake now. Reaching across into the carpenter’s pocket of his jeans he was bewildered to find it there.

“I thought I’d dropped it.”

“It’s holding your breath for so long, it does funny things to your brain. I thought I could see pink and blue lights swirling all around you.”

Teddy hid his shock with a coughing fit. So other people could see them. He decided not to correct Amelia. Of all the things he’d told her today, pink and blue lights that retrieved wands from the bottom of lakes and freed your feet from water weeds would definitely convince her he was a few shrivelfigs short of a potion.

Carefully supporting each other, they made their way through the wood back to Lupin Cottage. Teddy’s arm was very painful by the time they reached the cottage. Luckily, Amelia’s mother had arrived home early and she took charge. She dried them out, healed their injuries and set off making vegetable soup. Teddy and Amelia sat at the kitchen table, now avoiding what had seemed so easy to say in the woods. Teddy was just about to reach out and take her hand again, when her mother brought the soup to the table. As they eat, Teddy had a wonderful idea.

“Mrs Richards, would it be ok for Amelia to come to Harry Potter’s birthday party next week?”

Mrs Richards dropped her spoon. Amelia looked shocked.

“I just wanted to thank her for dragging me out of the lake today.”

“You know ‘Arry Potter?”

“He’s my Godfather.”

“Oh well, if ‘ee says it is alright, I can’t see why not.”

After the soup was finished Teddy realised that it was past time for him to leave. He thanked Mrs Richards and promised that his Gran would contact her again about the party. He wanted to say a private goodbye to Amelia, but since that wasn’t possible, he shook her hand. His skin tingled where he touched her and it was with regret that he disappeared into the emerald flames once again.

A week later, in his kitchen, Teddy explained almost everything that had happened at Lupin Cottage to Keith. Keith looked at Teddy in disbelief.

“You mean to tell me you had to be rescued by the damsel in distress? You do know it’s supposed to be the other way around, don’t you? It always happens to you, doesn’t it? You clumsy great ar-”

“Hello Keith.” Almost getting caught swearing in Andromeda Tonks’ house was an uncomfortable position to be in. Keith squirmed and then thought that politely brazening it out was the only way to try and recover the situation.

“He-hello Mrs Tonks, are you looking forward to the party?”

“Oh yes. As soon as Amelia gets here we’ll set off.”

Later, in the darkness of The Burrow’s orchard, Teddy finally pulled Amelia into the kiss he had been imagining since they had said good bye. This kiss was different to the chaste pecks he had shared with Hogwarts girls. It was a passionate embrace. She tasted of treacle tart and custard, and smelled of apples. The kiss became more heated and he pulled her to him, holding her waist. He had to bend over slightly to be able to kiss her. Without warning she stumbled backwards, dragging him with her. They fell into the grass laughing.

Teddy sighed. “That kiss was worth almost drowning for.”






I was listening to Kate Rusby when I was writing, so I thought I'd best acknowledge it. I love her!