36. Reducto

"Well... here's an idea," Lux started, getting a fresh piece of parchment. She drew three columns, labeling them 'Lux', 'Teddy', and in the middle, 'Both'. "We just write down our fears, and then we can write the ones we both have, and then we just use imagery to blow them up. We will tell ourselves we're not scared, and we will just... explode them. Destroyed. Fears no more." Lux wasn't sure it would work, but she felt the need to try something. Anything, to help Teddy.
Teddy thought about it. "You mean, we get our wands and we say REDUCTO?"
"Yeah, yeah let's give it a go."

They got busy, writing down everything they were scared of. Teddy's list was getting longer and longer, and there were a few things they had in common. Once they had finished, they stepped back to look at it. Lux frowned, realising just how many things he was afraid of.

"Okay so... here's a little statue," she said, pulling out a little garden gnome. "Now, imagine it is your fear of heights and... blow it up!"

Teddy nodded. He wasn't old enough to do magic, so he pretended. "REDUCTO!" he said, exploding his fear.

5. Colloportus

The hiking trip with Zhenya was FINALLY happening, and Lux was way too excited for her own good. She had already packed everything into her small trunk, placing a lock on it to make sure that it was secure. That wasn't enough for her, however. Nope. On top of that she had used Colloportus.

Let's see anyone try to take her possessions now.

Before heading off they checked in on Ava and Teddy, the latter obviously having no desire to join them. "I'll make sure to take lots of pictures for you," Lux assured him. She knew he would like that; it would be as if he was there with them and he wouldn't have to leave his comfort zone.

"Thanks, Lux! I hope you have a great time." Nothing would harm her or his sister, right? He gulped at the thought of a bear attacking them. Before he could say anything further, he was pulled into a hug.

Zhenya couldn't help laughing at the big grin on his face.

18. Incarcerous

Teddy was a bit nervous for Zhenya and Lux, but they had both seemed very confident that they would be okay. Out there. By themselves... Gulp.

Teddy was happy to be having a hug with Lux, though he told himself it wasn't a goodbye hug. It was just a... until next time hug. But as they pulled away from the hug, his smile dropped a little and he reached into his pocket to pull out a piece of parchment.

"I... I wrote some spells here that you might need. In case you do get... um... into trouble..." he handed it to Lux. He knew that when he was faced with a threat, he often lost the ability to think quickly. And if a threat was coming towards him, he was likely to freeze in panic. "There's one called Incarcerous," he was sure they'd have heard of it and knew how to cast it. "You... you can bind things in rope if they come at you. So... you know, a bear or a wolf." Besides, it wasn't a harmful spell in the sense that it wouldn't cause the animal any harm. They weren't about to blow it up or anything. .

49. Wingardium Leviosa

It was one of those afternoons where Lux didn't really want to do anything.

Earlier that day she and Zhenya had spent time at the library doing some research on starting up a potions line together. It was a lot of work and sounded pretty complicated judging by the strange wording of the books. Who knew that this stuff could be so hard? Well, she had some idea previously since her boyfriend wanted to open his own store.

That was all out of her mind now because she was lounging with Teddy in his living room. After sharing the finer points of what she had read about today they had decided to watch some movies together and then MAYBE go on a walk later. So long as it was in his neighbourhood and didn't turn into a hike it should be okay. Their walks never would because she knew that he disliked them.

For the moment Lux was happy using Wingardium Leviosa on her empty Chocolate Frog wrappers as she watched one of Teddy's favourite DVDs.

8. Diffindo

Teddy wasn't used to seeing Lux like this. But it had been nice spending the day together. He watched her levitating the chocolate frog wrappers, rather than the DVD. He sat up, put his shoes on, and decided it was time to go outside. He'd have to do it eventually, wouldn't he?

"Come on Lux, let's go for a walk," he said, turning the DVD off before she could say no. Not that she was like to.

They were outside, half way down the street, when Teddy tripped over. He landed on his hands and knees and stayed like that for a few moments. Just enough time to do a quick assessment of how he was feeling to make sure there were no broken bones. Nothing felt broken. He turned onto his backside and pulled his pants up. No tear, no rip, no grazes.

"Teddy, those laces are far too long!"
"They're the only once my mum could get me. It's okay, I double bow them," he said, going to do just that.
"Don't be silly, let me cut them. Diffindo," she said, pointing to the ends of the laces.

Teddy found it much easier to keep his laces neat.

45. Tarantallegra

Today was a big day: Teddy had completed all of his OWLs and summer had officially started for him.

This was why Lux had wanted to have a little celebration with him. Nothing TOO big, obviously. Just the two of them doing whatever her best friend wanted to. The sky was the limit and they could read books, watch a movie, go to a museum. Whatever.

"So what do you want to do?" she asked her best friend curiously while resisting the urge to bounce on her feet ecstatically. It was hard for her to keep the excitement away because she knew that he had done amazingly and would get outstanding results. How could he not when he was so intelligent and hard working?

It was as if someone had cast Tarantallegra on her. Suddenly she grabbed a hold of Teddy's hands and twirled him around in a little dance, giggling.

"I am so happy for you."

2. Avada Kedavra

Teddy allowed himself to be swung around by his best friend. After all, she had received relentless letters from him, asking for advice for the OWLs or clarifying things. The entire year had been a blur of studies, and his neck felt permanently stiff from all the looking down at his desk.

He smiled at his best friend and let himself laugh. "Thanks Lux, for everything you did and for celebrating." Of course the end of fifth year needed a celebration, Luxney style. But... "Well I just wanted to ask you about something," he said, going to his trunk and pulling out an assortment of Defensive magic textbooks. "I can't remember if I blocked Avada Kedavra properly." He went into great detail, explaining the shielding spell he performed for the examiner on the day of his DaDa examination. He had already analysed all of the other exams, but he had only just now been able to ask for Lux's advice on the DaDa exam. "What did you do for your exam?" he asked, lines of worry deeply carved into Teddy's fifteen-year-old face. It was best to expect the worst result possible.

35. Quietus

Babies were one of Lux’s favourite things in the world and both Teddy and Zhenya knew this; why they had invited her over to visit when Uncle Archer and his wife arrived at Burton cottage with their newest baby. This one was named Liana and she was just as beautiful as their other daughter, Valeria... who was also still a baby.

“She’s absolutely beautiful,” Lux said, cooing at the little one as Archer held her. Liana had curly dark brown hair, just like her sister. She wondered if she could hold the little girl and was very happy when he gave her permission to. Not like she didn’t know how to handle babies; she was an aunt after all. “Don’t you just love your little cousin?” she told Teddy happily as she gently rocked Liana in her arms. One day she would be a mother but for now she was content with doting on other people’s babies.

At that moment, Gabby walked back into the room. “I just put Valeria down for a nap” Right. Lux didn’t want to wake Valeria, so she would act as if someone had cast Quietus on her.

14. Glisseo

Teddy smiled at Lux and his baby cousin Liana. "You're good at holding babies," he said. He knew she had a lot of kids in her family, so she was probably used to it.

"Yeah, they're really cute. Now that Valeria is a little older, she's more fun too." Not that just cuddling them wasn't fun, though. Teddy liked doing that. "I was at the tent one day, and Archer turned the stairs into a slide. Valeria loved it, she was so smiley." Teddy had also liked it. Going down a slide that long was probably the most adventurous thing he wanted to do. "Once I'm 17 I'm going to turn every staircase into a slide for Valeria's birthday. I think she'll love it." He hadn't been able to practice the spell yet, he was only fourteen, but he had studied it. Even at Hogwarts where he was able to do magic whenever he wanted, he'd held off. He didn't know which staircase to try it on, and feared he would hurt someone, if they didn't realise it was a slide. "Have you ever cast Glisseo?" he asked Lux.

9. Disapparate

Today was a big day for Lux.

FINALLY she had her Apparition License.

While this form of travel was far from her favourite, she knew how valuable the skill was; in the same way that she had learned how to drive as soon as she was old enough to. Now she had TWO licences for two different forms of travel, one magical and one muggle. And of COURSE two of the first people that she had told the news to were Zhenya and Teddy. Both of them were thrilled for their best friend and couldn't wait for her to give them a demonstration.

There was no way that Lux would object to it.

"Alright, let's see if I can do this without splinching myself." Was she still a bit nervous about that happening? Just a little. No matter though as her friends were cheering her on and being supportive.

Happy about that, she proceeded to disapparate from the living room, only to pop back in place a few moments later with Teddy's deerstalker hat on her head.

"Neat, huh?"

28. Nox

The cacophonous booming was surrounding Teddy, and his ears felt like they were about to POP. What was going on in the common room?

A hand darted out from the covers, and Teddy searched around his bedside table for his wand. His fingers closed around it, and he lit the room up.

Of course! He wasn't at school, it was holidays. He'd arrived back yesterday. And that booming wasn't in the common room, it was outside.

"Nox," Teddy whispered. What if it was a burglar? He tiptoed over to his window and looked out. The sight of something solid coming right to his face made him duck down to the ground, his heart racing.

A ping on his window told him it wasn't actually a cacophonous booming. It sounded like a pebble against his window. He poked his head just high enough to look out of his window, and there was Lux. Teddy's face showed relief as he pulled open his window. "Hey Lux!" he said down to his best friend. "Want to apparate up?" He loved to hear the little pop! as Lux apparated. And there it was, one minute down, outside, and the next minute she was there.

25. Mobilicorpus

Lux wasn't plagued by nightmares anywhere close to the extent that she had been after the Acromantula kidnapping during her Sixth Year, but that did not mean she was immune to them.

Just last night she had dreamed that everyone she had loved and cared about had DIED; she had no idea how it had happened, only that she had come upon their bodies in an empty room of a house that she didn't even recognise. The entire thing was bizarre and scary and she couldn't get the thought of it out of her head. That was why she had finally decided to sit at her desk and write a letter to Teddy; since he was now back at Hogwarts for his Seventh Year there was no real way for him to come to her.

Dear Teddy,

Last night I had a horrible dream where I was in a house that I don't recognise and walked into a huge room where I found everyone I love dead. I had no idea what had happened to them, but I had to move everyone using Mobilicorpus. Do you have any idea what it could mean?

I miss you lots already.

Love, Lux.

30. Oppugno

It was morning by the time Teddy saw the letter from Lux. He opened it, still yawning, before heading down for breakfast. He had opened it expecting to hear about how she was, what she was up to, things in their normal letters. However, he was saddened to hear about her dream. He couldn't go down to breakfast without replying first, so he pulled out a fresh piece of parchment, and his special black ink.

Dear Lux,

That sounds horrible. Besides the usual fear of your loved ones dying, or being alone, I'm not sure what it might mean. If you have it again, surely there's a potion you can brew? Remember when I was having dreams of playing quidditch, and all of the spectators sent bludgers to attack me? Echoes of Oppugno tormented my dreams for weeks, and you made that potion for me. I didn't have any more dreams of it. I don't remember what it was called, but if you could make a batch of that for yourself, you might not have any more of those dreams.

How are you besides that? I'm hoping you were able to get some more sleep.

Love,
Teddy.

13. Flagrate

"See? Isn't it neat?!"

Lux smiled as she looked up from the spot on the carpet she was lying on. There was fiery writing floating in the air, and she had managed to do that herself after a little bit of practice. Now she was showing Teddy because he was her best friend, and she knew that he would probably get a kick out of it as well.

And she was right about that.

"What was the incantation again?" he asked from the spot beside her on the carpet. He was going to try it out for himself as well. It had seemed simple enough, as well as a neat way to write notes to people, he supposed.

"Flagrate," Lux said with a smile. Teddy would ace this with no problem; he was very smart and capable, and this was far from a difficult spell at any rate.

"fla-GRAH-tay... fla-GRAH-tay... fla-GRAH-tay..." The Ravenclaw repeated the incantation a few times before he was confident that he was saying everything perfectly. "Flagrate." As he spoke, he made doodles in the air with is wand, pleased to see that everything was showing up above him in a fiery red line.

32. Peskipiksi Pesternomi

Seventeen-years-old and still writing to his best friend for advice. The pesky thing about it was that he knew the spell to get rid of the pixies. He knew it, and had cast it before, but they just frightened him so much. They were devilish creatures, intent on destruction. He was thankful it wasn't in any class or area where others were around. He'd stumbled unknowingly amongst a hoard of pixies in a wardrobe in the Room of Requirement. They attacked him, and he froze. Unable to get it off his mind long enough to sleep, he tiptoed out of his dorm room to the common room where he set up his writing utensils.

Dear Lux,

How are you? Just a quick letter to get everything out of my head. Anxiety strikes again, and I can't sleep.

He told her all about the incident, and how they poked him in the eye with a stray object, before he ran away from them, and the room. He hadn't been there since, and was sure it would be the only way he could overcome his rumination.

Signing off, he rolled it back up and secured it in his bag to send later.