Hey Blue-Haired Stranger {ted}

[mgirl03]

Everybody was tired--it might as well have been a proven fact at this point. There were O.W.L.'s and N.E.W.T.'s to be studied for, homework to be done. Prefects had rounds, teachers were trying to keep things under control, aurors were running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to keep the wizarding world a secret, christmas was coming up and money wasn't exactly in an abundance at this point, and the world was generally in turmoil. With all of things everybody else had to go through, Albus honestly felt guilty for the yawn that was working its way up, and tried to stiffle it, rubbing a hand over his eye as he moved down the corridor slowly.

He knew that he had some right to feel tired--with lessons from his dad, extra prefect rounds, homework, and quidditch, plus squeezing in time to see Rory, he was running around quite a lot. Part of the exhaustion should probably be counted as his fault, of course--sometimes he put off homework to see Rory, which was good for their friendship but bad for his stress levels the next day, and he was taking on more prefect rounds to keep an eye on certain...people. It was for reasons like that that Al felt bad for feeling so tired--his father, Teddy, or Uncle Ron were probably all barely staying alive, with everything they had to put up with. He wasn't exactly sure anymore if he was cut out to be an auror, considering he couldn't even handle school life.

Sighing loudly, Al looked around to see that he was mostly alone, except for the few odd students rushing past him in different direrctions. He moved to the wall, moving slowly, trailing his fingers across the cool stone, wondering whether or not he should go to the library or not. It was just a few corridors away, and he did have a free period, with homework due in the next couple of days...Making up his mind, Al pushed away from the wall with his hand and moved to the middle of the corridor, running a hand through his black hair, sending the locks everywhere and giving him a frazzled look that matched his stressed face nicely. No wonder Rory was asking after him worriedly, with the way he had been acting and looking lately.

So lost in his thoughts, Al didn't pay attention to where he was going as he turned into the next hallway--and almost ran straight into somebody. Lurching to the side he came to a halt, his bag falling from his shoulder and landing with a heavy thud onto the ground, sending a few papers flying. Blinking, Al reached out to snatch up the papers, glancing at the person he had almost run into. "I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention," he said, straightening up after stuffing the papers back into his bag, which he left on the ground. After a pause, his brain finally seemed to register who he was seeing--a tired looking man who was practically unrecognizable, except for the blue hair.

"Teddy!" he said, a grin working onto his face. "What're you doing up here?" Al paused, eyes searching Teddy's, taking in the face he had known since he was born, noticing the tired lines, the shadows under his eyes. A stab of nerves shot through his stomach. "Everything alright?"

[.THEODORE REMUS LUPIN !]

The whole “being tired all the time to get money to make ends meet and also possibly help save the wizarding world from detection and destruction” thing was getting fucking old.

Teddy honestly hadn't had a good night's sleep in weeks. His mind was abuzz with information and plans and secrets and what have you, his brow nearly constantly creased with worry. The only thing he really had to keep him from jumping off the nearest building was Vic and their unborn daughter. They were the only ones right now who kept him hanging on to that dear strand called “coherent sanity.” Even Harry and Ron weren't exactly mood lifters at present, as the only time he ever saw them was at work. And we all know how work was going, and it was tiring for Teddy to even think that one over again. He hadn't been to the Burrow in ages, nor seen his in-laws or any other relations. Teddy'd been keeping himself relatively isolated as of late, and despite the brilliant blue hair that practically screamed EXTROVERTED, he found himself alone with increasing frequency.

He felt sluggish when he wasn't out in the field, sluggish and tired and like nothing fit. Like even his skin was too loose and his eyes too fogged. He'd been morphing a lot more than was typical for him, changing disguises every time he went out in the field just for that small sense of added protection. Sometimes he'd keep the guise up for days at a time, a nearly full head to toe morph that was harder to keep in place the longer he kept it and the more fatigued he got. Keeping his hair and eyes blue instead of brown year-round was one thing. Those were tiny little morphs that required hardly any thought or control. His latest counterpart, however, was a bit more difficult. He supposed that by some stretch of the imagination that the look had been inspired by old pictures of his father. He morphed to look about 40 or so, with crow's feet around his eyes and his hair limp and a dull sort of brown. His features looked careworn and his normally tallish frame was shortened and filled out to the average Muggle 40 year old stature. It was all very convincing, and all very, very weird.

That was for his latest expedition into the Muggle world, which had gone averagely. Investigating all reports of suspicious activities was a requirement these days, and there were only so many disguises Teddy could dream up off the top of his head before having to look in magazines and things for inspiration. Today was an exception, however, as it happened to be the day he trekked up to Hogwarts for Rory's morphing lessons. Ministry mandated, nearly all metamorphmagus in Hogwarts were required a mentor of some kind in their early years. Teddy had had one when he was in school, a stale sort of old man with watery eyes that taught him using the “drill and kill” approach as opposed to what Teddy thought was a little more beneficial – more of a “Here are the guidelines, I'll help you if you have trouble but I really want you to explore your skills” approach. Plus, his eyes weren't watery. Bonus.

So he had come to end up at the castle, and forcing himself to just chill out for a moment, leaned against one of the walls in some corridor somewhere. Classes were still in session he suspected, and except for the odd student here and there, Teddy was free to keep to himself. The disguised 24 year old slid his shoulder bag to the ground, leaned his back on the wall and closed his eyes. He grimaced, baring his teeth a little as he concentrated on letting the disguise fall away completely. He flinched – it hadn't been painful before. Should he be worried? A dull ache pounded behind his eyes, a burning sensation searing his muscles and back. Maybe there was a limit on how many times he could morph safely... Oh Godric, he couldn't worry about this now.

When he opened his eyes and looked down, he was his normal self again. Gone was the typical Muggle, replaced by what Teddy would look like if he didn't morph a cell in his body. Tall, like his father, with the same straight nose wide brow. His eyes were brown, like his mother's (or so he'd have to assume), and soft. Brown, short hair covered his head and his brows were dark. He supposed he wasn't actually so handsome, and generally speaking very average- and plain-looking. He smiled though, for an instant; it like for a moment, this was Teddy Lupin. Theodore. His parent's child, no disguises or masks. It was oddly emotional, and then... it was over. Teddy smiled sadly and turned his hair blue again. By the time he opened his eyes and stepped out into the corridor, he was back to his regular facade. His eyes burned like blue flames, his hair was long. You'd never know the difference.

He took a few steps in the direction of the classroom he was supposed to meet Rory in, though he was a few minutes early. He kept his head down, watching his feet as he walked, though looking up at the last minute, he stopped just in time to have a student sidestep him clumsily and drop his things to the ground loudly. “It's alr-” He started, but paused when he recognized Albus. “Hey Moose,” Teddy grinned in reply, adjusting his bag on his shoulder. “M'here for Rory's lesson. She's not here yet is she?” He asked, looking back at Al only to find him staring intently back at him.

Teddy looked away, unable to meet Al's curious glance. Staring instead just over Al's shoulder, Teddy grinned like he always did, laughing it off. “I'm fine, don't worry about me,” he said too casually, walking towards the empty classroom. “Work's just getting busier is all. Tired. Whatever. But what about you, huh? Keeping busy?”

[mgirl03]

Seeing aurors in Hogwarts, or family members that had graduated already, was becoming a common occurrence. His father came up for lessons (although barely anybody knew that he was there at all), Aunt Hermione was the Arithmancy teacher, Uncle Ron came to visit her from time to time, and of course there was a constant stream of aurors since the dance incident. Still, to practically run into Teddy was quite a surprise for Al--but not an unpleasant surprise. Maybe it was the shocking brightness of Ted's blue hair, or just the sight of a new familiar face (Teddy wasn't usually the auror he ran into in the hallways or grounds), but Al felt a bit refreshed.

When Albus heard his rather eccentric nickname, his grin widened. Tilting his head at Teddy's answer and question, he realized that Rory had mentioned something about having a lesson today. His eyes flicked to Teddy's hand as it adjusted his bag--all movement seemed to register with him, now, which was a tad annoying--and then he shook his head slightly. "She should still be in class, but it won't be much longer now before the bell rings, I don't think," he said, bright eyes focusing on Ted's face again. It was then that he registered how tired he looked, despite the grin on his face. Immediately, he felt a stab of paranoia in the pit of his stomach, a fear that something was wrong, because something always seemed to be wrong now.

The way Teddy's eyes shifted gave Al the impression that he was no longer meeting his gaze, and this made the worry in his stomach double. Teddy was going to lie, even if something was wrong--but he wouldn't lie about something major, that would effect the whole family...Would he? Shaking his head mentally, Al stooped to grab up his bag, following his cousin (because he basically was) towards the empty classroom that Rory was going to have her lesson in. A frown creased his face, his eyebrows furrowing, at Ted's less than satisfactory answer to his question. He was 'fine'. Was anybody 'fine' now a-days?

Still, who was he to press for information, when he had no intention of going into detail with Teddy about what was going on with him? Work was making him tired. Things were bloody stressful for him, and it was no wonder he had shadows under his eyes and looked a bit worse for wear. Al forced the frown to leave his face and settled for a small smile that was only a little bit forced. He shifted his bag on his own shoulder, one hand running through his dark hair before reaching to touch his back pocket where his wand was reassuringly. He nodded slightly, looking towards the floor instead of staring at Teddy's face. He would just have to accept the answer.

"Oh, right, understandable. Things are crazy, yeah?" he said, forcing a laugh to try and keep the mood light. The question of if he was keeping busy brought a wry grin to Al's face, and he closed his eyes briefly.

He ran through all of the things that he had been doing lately. There was quidditch practice a couple of times a week, which seemed to be paying off quite well, because the team was bolstered by the first win of the season and had been better than usual as of late. Classes were crazy, with learning how to use silent magic, getting lectured about N.E.W.T.'s, and learning human transfiguration. His father was giving him just as much homework as he got in a normal class, and he was constantly practicing occlumency, and all of these new spells and defenses. Prefect rounds were boring but lasted long into the night, his had apparition lessons, and he was still working on this whole animagus thing. Any time he wasn't busy with any of that, he was hanging out with Rory, or Rose, or some of his other friends, trying to act like he was living the life of any other student.

"I've been keeping fairly busy, yeah. Classes and prefect duties, and all that," Al said, blinking open his eyes and looking back up at Teddy with a more genuine smile. He turned his gaze to the corridor in front of them, forcing his mind to focus on the hear and now, and not the homework he had, or how he could be studying, or finding a secluded place to practice different...slightly illegal things. Here was Teddy, and he would talk to Teddy--and besides, he was pretty curious about Rory's lessons. From what he could tell, her confidence and skill were both rising in her abilities.

"So, how's Rory really doing with her metamorphmagus stuff?" he asked curiously, shifting his bag again. "I've seen her do a few things that she hasn't been able to do before, but she's keeping most of it a secret from me. Something about wanting to surprise me." Al's expression softened at the thought. "Or are you just in the dark as I am?"

[.THEODORE REMUS LUPIN !]

The tables in the classroom were a little disheveled as Teddy walked in and examined the place, as if it had been recently used. A couple benches were flipped over and there was animated graffiti on the black board; it was obvious the place's last use hadn't been for academic purposes. Teddy smiled and erased the board with a wave of his wand, though he left a particularly amusing chalk peacock to strut along the bottom of the board.

Albus followed Teddy in, though he looked back at the door while Teddy dropped his bag from his shoulder. He rifled past folders and files he was taking home to work on that night, scrounging around for the one he had on Rory's morphing progress. There weren't too many notes in there though, as Teddy usually found himself too amused to bother taking notes - it was hardly like he was her teacher at all. The two of them could get to laughing so hard at each other's disguises that, despite practically five years of work, Teddy only the barest of tabs on her progress. He supposed that could be both good and bad, though. On the one hand, he really ought to be more thorough in her training. On the other, he was just happy to have a good time with Rory. She was fun to be around, and occasionally their conversations during lessons would be less about morphing and more about whatever the hell struck their fancy at the time.

He extracted the file from the depths of his bag, his mouth stretching in a yawn as he tidied the notes within. "Mmm, no," he said idly, rereading his chicken scratch that was supposed to be a detailed analysis of Rory's progress for the last two weeks. "She hasn't mentioned anything to me about some surprise. She has gotten significantly better, though. Had a break through or something." He squinted at the page, trying to decide if that last sentence was really about cod liver oil. He thought probably not.

"Oh right, prefect!" Teddy finally looked, shrugging at the parchment in his hand and depositing it back into the folder. He grinned at Albus and sat on the desk, looking decidely less tired now that he had something other than work to focus on. "I'd completely forgotten, I'm sorry," Teddy shook his head, shrugging a little. "I've never really had anything to do with prefects when I was in school," he admitted, blinking as he remembered. "I was only a little above average in my studies and I didn't really bother to get in trouble though I think your dad might've expected me too. Being a Marauder's son or whatever." He shrugged again and placed his hands on the table to either side of him, leaning back on his arms. "What exactly is it you do? I know you get a fancy loo, though, my best mate was a prefect in Gryffie. He bragged about it constantly. Odd bloke."

Going from his dismal day job to fancy loos in less than thirty seconds had to be some interesting new record. But Teddy was eager to perk up; he'd been in such a funk lately and it was starting to really drain him. There were days when he could hardly bring himself to get out bed in the morning, and Vic would have to remind him two or three times that no, he couldn't just call in sick when he wasn't. And then of course there were days when he didn't want to get out of bed in the morning though for entirely different reasons, and Teddy didn't think it particularly appropriate to go talking about things like that to Vic's cousin.

Loose lips sink ships, after and don't you know there's a war on?

Mixed metaphors, Teddy.

Anyway, it would be a few minutes before Rory got out of class, and then there was always the possibility that today's morphing session could slip her mind. Teddy had forgotten a time or do and either came late or the next day entirely, so she alone wasn't at fault. And Teddy always loved hanging out with Al (now that he was properly grown and no longer an obnoxious toddler). Why not kill some time?

[mgirl03]

Following Ted into the classroom, Al couldn't help but to smile at the state of the classroom, especially the things written up on the chalkboard. There were pictures that were rather crude, and as a prefect he supposed he should have found this revolting and bristled, trying to think of who did this so that he could punish them. It sounded like something Uncle Percy would have done, and everybody knew that Uncle Percy had been quite the dedicated Head Boy and prefect. On the other hand, he figured Uncle Ron would have found this amusing, and he was a prefect too. Al shook his head and silently laughed as Teddy erased the board, leaving the peacock, which was the most amusing part anyways.

As Teddy began to rifle through his bag, looking for notes or what not for Rory's lesson, Al moved over to one of the few righted desks in the classroom and sank down onto it, letting his bag plunk onto the ground as he looked out into the hallway again, lost in thought. Thinking about all of the things he had going on was making a nervous ball appear in the pit of his stomach. He had a big mound of homework that he should have been working on, not to mention he had been lacking in his father's lesson work the last couple of days, with trying to spend more time with Rory. It was essential, of course, with Christmas coming up, that he get in her good graces as much as possible. What with that plan..

At the thought of Rory, and the certain things he planned with her, the little nervous ball gave a lurch, making him feel half sick. Blinking hard, Al thought if best if he just focused on something else--like the little surprise Rory had for him. Teddy spoke up, and Al turned to him, shifting back onto the desk until his feet were barely brushing the ground. He had figured as much about the surprise (although he had hoped to know what it was, he was dead curious, and Rory knew it was driving him mad), although he hadn't really expected the words on Rory's progress. Break through. Blinking hard again, Albus thought back to the week where he had been kidnapped, of Rory's mum and dad getting into a fight, of her determination to be a better Metamorphmagus so that her mum would be frown. A light frown took over his face, and he reached up with one hand to rub wearily at his eyes; he didn't want to think about that either.

Dropping his hand back down to the desk, he reached into his back pocket to take out his wand and fiddle with it, just as Teddy suddenly spoke up, giving him a slight start. His head jerked up to look at him, and for a moment his green eyes were wide, before he relaxed, mind focusing on the subject that Ted had brought up. The fact that he had forgotten that he was a prefect brought a smile to Al's lips; it wasn't too surprising, really, when he barely went around talking about it. In his family, it was understandable to be a prefect as Percy's kid--but a son of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley? Those weren't two people you expected to have a completely studious son. Hell, even Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron didn't have a prefect in their family, and they both had been as kids. It made him a bit odd in the Weasley/Potter clan, and he didn't parade it around.

Thinking on what had happened, Al wasn't exactly sure what it was that got him to be a prefect. He knew that he was possibly the most responsible of his house mates, and although he still got into trouble (he was brothers with James and Harry Potter was his dad), it was decidedly less than others. That, coupled with mediocre grades, he imagined got him into the position. Blinking out of his reverie, he realized he hadn't answered Teddy yet and grinned to play off his absentmindedness.

"Don't worry about it, I don't parade around the idea. Bit odd to be a prefect in the family, even if Uncle Ron, Aunt Hermione, Uncle Bill and Uncle Percy were," Al said, stretching out his arms in front of him. His shoulders gave a soft pop and he relaxed again, giving them a shrug in return to Teddy. "Well, it's usually not too hard of stuff to do. There is the bathroom." Al laughed, remembering how getting the 'fancy loo' had been quite the compensation for getting the mickey taken out of him by most of the family for being such a 'good little boy'. "I help the first years if they need to find things, although that was more at the beginning of the year; it's not much fun, either, with them gawking at you like a statue. Otherwise, I just keep on the look out for rule breakers. Sometimes I have to sit in for a detention."

A yawn suddenly overtook Al, and he reached up to cover it with his free hand, giving a slightly embarrassed smile. "Then there's rounds, which I've had a lot more of lately with everything going on. Stay out most of the night just walking around and making sure kids stay in their beds. It's not hard, just long." Shrugging again, Al ran his hand through his hair without thinking, focusing on Teddy's face more intently. "How are, erm, things down at the office? Is it...really crazy? With...Regulus and all. And some stuff with muggles, I heard about." Looking down again, Al wondered if he was ruining the mood by asking Teddy to focus on these things while he was off work, but he couldn't help it. Wouldn't this be him next year? Wouldn't he be able to join the Order in less than a month? There was no way they could pretend these things weren't happening; not anymore.

((sorry it fails. >.<))