Chapter Text
Teddy Lupin was plenty of things. A troublemaker, a smart kid, a freak of nature. Of all things, however, he was not subtle.
From the way his mouth dropped open when he was a little first year to the way his eyes lingered a bit too long on the quidditch pitch. The people that knew Teddy thought it was obvious, and the people who didn’t still thought so.
It was absolutely mortifying, being the boy in fifth year who made his crush about as hidden as the fact he had absolute faggots for parents.
Not that he didn’t love them. Of course he did, they loved him when no one else did. They loved him first, really. Merlin knows his mother didn’t.
That wasn’t to say they didn’t cause him grief. Aside from the obvious teasing he’d gotten since he was the ripe age of eleven, Remus was an anxious father who used to be terrified of Teddy hurting himself. Sirius had since helped him calm a bit, but Teddy couldn’t really ignore his father’s violent flinches every time a bludger zoomed a bit too close to the boy’s face while he did commentary on the quidditch games.
Sirius was… quieter about it. Teddy had seen him leaving the Headmaster’s office when the bullying was really bad. He never said a word to Teddy, but he didn’t have to. He was as protective as Remus. Just in a more delicate way.
Teddy tried his best not to look back as he boarded the train for his fifth year, yellow and black prefect badge pinned to his chest. How did he get the title? He sincerely didn’t know. Not with his reputation.
Of course, he ended up feeling too bad to refuse waving at them. They were his dads, after all.
Teddy didn’t even react as his eyes were covered from behind. The giggle gave it away.
“Bianca,” He rolled his eyes, smacking her hands away. The Rosier girl pursed her lips.
“You’re no fun, I can’t even scare you,” She scoffed, flopping down in the seat across from him. She’d gotten her nose pierced over the summer, and her hair was neon red. Teddy grinned. “Did Daddy buy you more hair dye?” It had been purple the year before.
She snorted. “Not all of us can magically change our hair color without it growing out. I’m suffering here, Ted,”
He rolled his eyes playfully, glancing out the window as they left the station behind. It was a dull day, gray and drizzly. Teddy leaned his head against the window as rain pattered against it.
“So? Mr. Prefect? Is this year finally going to be the–”
“No,” Teddy cut her off shortly, making her pout.
“But it could–”
“No,” He repeated.
“But you’ll be–”
“No,” he cut her off again in a singsong voice. She groaned and threw herself down on the seat.
“You’re absolutely insufferable, did you know? You don’t even give yourself a chance to be happy,”
He rolled his eyes before letting them fall shut. “I got outed at thirteen, excuse me for not being hopeful about my love life,”
She scoffed, crossing her arms. “Everyone already knows anyway. You aren’t exactly subtle,”
“Everyone but him,” He cut his eyes toward her. She didn’t waver.
“Oh sure, make the rest of us suffer because he has more siblings than brain cells,” She wrinkled her nose. “Not sure exactly what you see in him anyway,”
He flipped her off with a glance. She just stuck her tongue out in return.
The compartment door slid open without so much as a knock. It didn’t take another full second for Teddy to scowl. “Percy.”
The boy turned up his nose. “Theodore.
We
have a prefect meeting,”
Teddy opened his mouth to say something sarcastic, but Bianca beat him to it. “Hey, Weasley. With that stick so far up your arse, do you ever choke on it?”
He sputtered indignantly, like Sirius’ motorcycle when it was out of gas, before turning on his heel and slamming the door behind him.
Teddy stood reluctantly, scribbled-on sneakers squeaking slightly on the floor. “Wish me luck,”
“I hope you don’t die of boredom,” She smiled sympathetically.
He shoved his hands in his jeans pockets, not bothering to change into the uniform and just throwing his robe on over his clothes. His hair, currently its usual shade of blue, hung over his eyes. He prayed that this meeting wouldn’t set him off, make one of his eyes go purple or his right ear turn into a Goblin’s ear.
I t happened before.
Apparently, his biological father was a metamorphagus, and his mother was a muggle. This left Teddy with cool hair, one ear that changed when he was emotional, and one eye that would randomly turn into a snake eye.
The moment he stepped through the doorway, he was sure his eye did just that and he rubbed at it frantically. It was him. Of course it was him.
Fucking Charlie Weasley.
His stupid messy hair, his stupid red and gold prefect badge, how good he looked in his uniform…
Fuck.
Teddy was fucked. He had been since first year, really, but now it was worse. He was going to have a heart attack. How could he forget? He absolutely could
not
stay here. He would have to tell
Professor Sprout he couldn’t be a Prefect. Maybe she could still find someone else? Maybe–
“Oh, Teddy,” His head snapped up from where he was rubbing his eye to Charlie’s expectant smile. “I didn’t know you were the new Hufflepuff Prefect,”
“O-oh, uh, mhm,” He nodded stupidly. “Well, um, the-the boy prefect, anyway,” Oh my god, just shut the fuck UP, Teddy!
“Go ahead and take a seat, the Head Boys and Girls are going to go over everything,” He smiled, his eyes crinkling up at the corners. God, how Teddy wanted to count every single freckle on his nose, to kiss every single one…
He snapped out of it as the girl prefect, someone Teddy didn’t know but slightly remembered as one to laugh at him when howlers were dropped at his feet, bumped into him while walking past.
He quietly took his seat next to her, listening to the Hufflepuff Head Boy and Girl drone on about responsibilities or something. His eyes kept darting across the room, to the redhead leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. His hands had to be rough and calloused from quidditch–
“Teddy! Are you listening?”
His head snapped up as the older Hufflepuff looked at him disapprovingly. “You need to pay attention. This is important,”
Teddy fought to keep from rolling his eyes, instead slumping back against the seat.
…
Teddy wasn’t surprised to wake up with a piece of paper taped to his forehead that said “Tranny” in albeit beautiful calligraphy. They could at least get a bit more creative.
He tossed it in the trash, slipping from his pajamas into his uniform, only half bothering to tie his tie. He brushed his hair without looking in the mirror, and counted 120 seconds before rinsing the toothpaste from his mouth.
He glanced at the shoes under his bed, the tennis shoes he’d taken hours to decorate with markers. Someone wrote “faggot” down the side. Lovely. So much for Hufflepuff being the nice house.
He pulled out the pair he’d left hidden in his trunk and tied them snugly. He shoved his prefect pin down his pocket, in case he could use it to get out of trouble.
Bianca was waiting for him outside the Great Hall. Her tie wasn’t even remotely tied, just hanging off her shoulders. “There you are. I was beginning to think you’d run off again,”
“Not this year,” He said reluctantly, head ducked down and hands shoved in his pockets. “Can’t be a coward, right? I mean, my dads could deal with it ten years ago, so…”
She pursed her lips. “Your dads were already two of the most popular people in the school,”
“Well, I still shouldn’t be a coward. Right?” He tried a smile, knowing it looked more like a grimace.
She didn’t answer, just gave him a disapproving look. “Do you want to eat outside?”
“... Unless that’s being a coward,” He said weakly. She rolled her eyes and gestured for him to go on, she’d bring the food. She always did.
He sat on the grounds quietly, plucking at the grass until he caught sight of her green tie amongst the morning fog.
She handed him a napkin with toast on it, sinking down next to him with her own. “How was it this morning?”
“Slurs written on my shoes,” He sighed, “Yours?”
She shrugged, picking apart her toast. “No one picks on me like…”
“Like they do on me?” he finished quietly.
She didn’t answer, and he quietly leaned his head on her shoulder until the sun started to break through the fog.
“We have class,” She said reluctantly.
Teddy looked up at her with a raised eyebrow. “Since when do you care?”
“Since Papa offered to let me get at tattoo if I get good marks on my O.W.L.s,”
Teddy rolled his eyes. “Of course,”
“You know,” She said with that obnoxiously malicious look in her eye, “If you got good marks, I’m sure it would impress–”
He threw his remaining crust at her. She narrowed her eyes and flopped across his lap.”’Oh Charlie, I did so good because you inspired me’, ‘Oh Charlie, look at me’, ‘Oh Charlie, put your tongue down my–”
He slapped a hand over her mouth. She didn’t hesitate to make her tongue dart out, but he refused to waver. “Shut up,”
“You’re no fun,” was muffled from behind his hand.
He finally removed it and she sat back up. “You are pathetic, you know that right?”
“Delicate with my feelings as always,” He said dryly, running a hand through his hair.
“Well, you are!” She exclaimed, throwing her hands up. “I’m going to lock you in a cupboard together before the year is over, mark my words,”
“You wouldn’t dare ,” He looked at her, eyes narrowed as he was trying to tell if she was joking or not. She made it really hard to tell.
“Oh, my dear best friend, wouldn’t I?”
“I wouldn’t forgive you if you did,”
She shrugged, tossing her hair over her shoulder, the curls going halfway down her back. “You would, you’d just be a stubborn bastard about it,”
“Well, I am a bastard,” he scoffed.
“Oh, don’t bring your mommy issues into this now, we have class,”
“You don’t have
any
class,”
“Haha very funny, get your arse up,” She dragged him to his feet.
He sighed, but didn’t object as she started talking about what kind of tattoo she’d have her Papa give her.
This year was sure to be loads of fun.