Sneaking Upon the[OPEN] School Grounds

[Teddy Lupin]

Ted stood by the lake in the middle of the grounds. The sky was littered with stars and the first quarter moon lit up the ground in front of him. He had heard many stories about Hogwarts from both of his parents, his favourite being the last battle at Hogwarts where Harry had supposedly killed Voldemort. Both of his parents were currently in the Hog’s Head talking with their friends about something and he had gotten bored so he snuck off to the Shrieking Shack. Once he was there curiosity took over his body and he quietly snuck in side it. Not long afterwards he had found a tunnel and climbed through it.

Ted was only five, yet he had already showed magical signs. Green eyebrows were etched above his young, innocent, green eyes. His green hair overlapped his eyebrows. Over his torso he wore a black cloak which was covered with cobwebs and covered his green T-shirt. He wore a pair of beige shorts that ended at his knees. He was amazed at the site of the school and the scenery around it. Within minuets of arriving he had been lost, wondering what it was like to be a student at the school and what it was like to cast magic using a wand, something he had seen his parents do numerous times in his short life so far.

The 3’7” boy knew that he shouldn’t be out at night with Voldemort being back and all but really what else could he do? Go back to the Whomping willow and be thumped trying to hit the eye on it’s trunk? No way, he wouldn’t do that even if he was suicidal. He would just have to stay within the school grounds and prey that Voldemort or someone who knew his parents doesn’t show up.

[Nymphadora Lupin]

With no where else to go now, the Order was holding a meeting in none other than Hog's Head. Without the availability of Grimmauld Place, they had no other area that was secure enough for such a purpose. So a small amount of Order members were seated around one small table, each with a drink in front of them. Starting on her right, Remus sat next to Tonks, her hand in his. Next was Evenon sitting solemnly with a firewhiskey, and finally Kingsley.

There were frequent silences throughout the meeting, going from topic to topic. The usuals were discussed, strategies against Voldemort, his motives, and Hogwarts' safety. Though halfway through, Tonks glanced to the spot where she had left her son, Teddy. When he wasn't where she expected to be, she sat up in her chair and looked around the room, growing more frantic as she searched.

"Remus," she whispered hoarsely to him. "Where's Teddy?" She rose his own awareness of his disappearance and he did his own visual sweep of the area. His own eyes widened. Worry shot through her and she bolted up out of her seat, grabbing her cloak and heading outside. Remus did the same, giving the rest of the Order an explanation, then followed her out.

"Lumos," she stated nervously when she took out her wand. The couple walked along the streets of Hogsmeade, asking around to shop owners before finding one person who had seen him up by the shrieking shack.

"He must have slipped through to the castle grounds," Remus had assumed, grabbing Tonks' hand and leading her up the hills to where the grounds started. She followed him, scanning the horizon constantly for any shape that could be her son.

Once up on the grounds, Tonks spotted a short shadowy figure by the lake, and ran over to him. She picked him up by the waist and spun him around before holding him to her and kissing his cheek lovingly. "There you are, Teddy," she sighed in relief. After a long enough embrace, she set him down on the grass. "These aren't times to be wandering off. Please don't do that again, honey."

[Teddy Lupin]

After awhile of standing Teddy sat down by the lake and just watched what appeared to be a giant tentacle rise out of the lake. He found himself drawn more and more frequently to the school grounds and really felt quite comfortable here. He couldn't wait to be a student here!. 

Suddenly someone picked him up so that he stood facing his parents as his mother held him into her chest. Only one thought ran through his head. Busted!

"There you are, Teddy,"

He looked pleadingly into his father's face, pleading for him to get his mother to let go. And almost as if she was answering the visual plea he had given to his father she released the hug she had given him.

"These aren't times to be wandering off. Please don't do that again, honey."

He nodded as his mother told him off, showing that he had understood their general concern. To be honest he thought that they wouldn't notice that he'd gone off on a little exploring trip until he came back after the meeting was done. He just hoped the meeting hadn't been called off completly because of him.

"I'm sorry Mom. I got bored and decided to explore. I didn't mean to make you worry about me."

He released his hug and sat down again watching as something made the lake ripple. It was actually quite a beautiful bit of scenary.

"Hey Mom, what was Hogwarts like when you were younger?"

He had heard quite a bit about his father's school years but he generally didn't get much opertunity to ask about his mother's school years.

[Alaya Tiaun]

Alaya waited quietly in the forest waiting for the messenger to arrive. She hated not being able to do much now a days but the school really was cracking down on it's rules and even she was having a hard time escaping the prison. She was thankful for being able to be in the forest this night since she was going to be updated with what was going on in the forest and the immediate area. Her bright hazel eyes, well adjusted to the night, carefully kept watch for anything coming.

The night was still young and peaceful. It was not too hot or cold and there was a nice breeze. One playful wind blew her dark hair from her face but it also brought with it something else. A smell, someone she did not recognize. She stood and headed in the direction of the strange smell knowing that the messenger would be able to find her.

She noticed a small boy on the outskirts of the castle grounds. She could not recognize him and shortly after she noticed the boy two adults approached the boy. She was relieved to hear that the boy was just wondering around and they were not up to no good. She did not sense anything bad about the three but she could not be sure. There was something familiar about the adult male thought. It then dawned on her that he was a werewolf. It had been a while since she had seen her own kind.

She was about to leave when she accidentally stepped on a twig. Cringing at the sound she wondered if the three heard it. She then noticed that she had left her wand in the dorm, perfect timing. She looked down at what she was wearing hoping she looked like one of the students with her skirt and tank top. She had her crest that showed she was a Gryffindor and head girl. It would help if they were on the right side. Only time would tell now. She was to concerned that she would make another sound if she moved. She stayed where she was waiting to see if they had heard it.

[Nymphadora Lupin]

"I'm sorry Mom. I got bored and decided to explore. I didn't mean to make you worry about me." Tonks sighed through the fall of her adrenaline rush but smiled down at her son. She knew incidents like these were bound to happen more in the future, she couldn't really blame him for being a child. But once you have one of your own, a set of maternal instincts like to take over, regardless of your age. She knew what it was like to be a child when the instincts of her own mother would set in. To the parent, you feel fear like no other, fear of losing the most precious thing in the world to you. To the child, they just feel like they're being suffocated and caged.

"Hey Mom, what was Hogwarts like when you were younger?" She toyed with the question in her head and chuckled softly at his request of a story. Of course Remus had regaled the two with his own stories multiple times in the past, some of them multiple times, specifically a lot of his pranks and foolishness tend to be the ones to be repeated. But it was a question that would probably be asked eventually to Tonks. Remus was significantly older, though she didn't often think about it when she was with him, so their stories were bound to differ even slightly. And Remus was in Gryffindor, while Tonks had been in Hufflepuff. Completely different pressures were on their shoulders.

"Hogwarts itself never changes. The professors change every now and then, but Hogwarts has and will always be in its exact glory. A mystery, a home, with a charm that can't be matched anywhere else. Even now when I'm within the castle walls, it's all the same. It doesn't age a bit. And even after being rebuilt, the castle holds so many memories. Ones of my own and ones that will be forever immortal."

Nostalgia of her childhood washed through her. She took a seat on the grass before the lake and thought about the squid she remembered used to live there. Ever so slightly the lake's surface was disturbed, as if whatever now lived there was making its presence be known to her, and she smiled. Remus followed at her side.

"Unlike your father, I was never made a prefect. Though I criticize him for his behavior sometimes with his friends, I was no different. I didn't even behave close to well enough to be even considered for the part of a prefect.

"But I still managed to get great marks in my classes, so I never understood why Professor Sprout complained," Tonks said with a wink. "I knew it was wrong and all, but there was nothing like messing with the professors. I could get away with almost anything because they would never know who did it. They always pointed fingers at me but they lacked evidence. And I'd show up to class looking nothing like myself just for the extra confusion. I'd wait until they took roll and would morph back quickly with a more recognizable face. They were convinced they were losing their minds. They would figure it out eventually, but then I'd just try it out on a different professor."

Not until she had shared her misbehavior did she think that she might have been giving Teddy ideas, but then she thought that it was bound to happen anyway as he explored his own talents, how to use them and ways to use them. Tonks silently scolded herself for her repeated thoughts on this. She knew this would happen, like it did to herself. He's a kid, and he has to experience these things for himself. There was an ideal way to go about a life, but no matter how you parented them it would never go according to plan, so you might as well give them breathing room.

Just then, Tonks' hearing focused as she heard the sound of a twig being stepped on. She turned to peer into the darkness of the forest, shooting up onto her feet and stepping in front of her son in a defensive manner. She pointed it in the direction of the sound, her outstretched arm unyielding, preparing to curse whatever or whoever made the sound if it was an enemy. This was the Hogwarts grounds at night, and the sound was coming from the Forbidden Forest. Times were dangerous. She couldn't let her guard down, even if it was just a small animal. With the possibility of the death eaters or even Voldemort himself to be breaching the castle at any time, she couldn't have had any other reaction.

But then Remus grabbed the wrist of her wand hand securely. Tonks glanced at him, and his worn face showed her security and knowing. She let him bring her arm down and hold her hand tightly.

"Who goes there?" Remus stated clearly and confidently. Any unsure thoughts she was having were then erased from her mind with the sound of her husband's voice.

[Teddy Lupin]

Ted had always been a Dada's boy, always had wanted to be like his old man. Always wanted to be just like him. It didn't mean he couldn't love his mother. That he couldn't spend time with her. She was always there for him on that one night a month where his father would disappear. The same night ti which he was finding it harder and harder to sleep with each and every year, something he thought was nothing more than his father being away. He'd find out one day though, that it had to do with the monstrous wolf his father held within him.

"Hogwarts itself never changes. The professors change every now and then, but Hogwarts has and will always be in its exact glory. A mystery, a home, with a charm that can't be matched anywhere else. Even now when I'm within the castle walls, it's all the same. It doesn't age a bit. And even after being rebuilt, the castle holds so many memories. Ones of my own and ones that will be forever immortal." He moved closer to his mother, he could lay his head in her lap if ye wanted to, he was that close. "Like the war?" He couldn't help but ask.

"Unlike your father, I was never made a prefect. Though I criticize him for his behavior sometimes with his friends, I was no different. I didn't even behave close to well enough to be even considered for the part of a prefect. But I still managed to get great marks in my classes, so I never understood why Professor Sprout complained." He laughed, not at what his mother said but at her wink, knowing full well from his favorite muggle cartoons that before the wink something that was supposedly funny had been said. "I knew it was wrong and all, but there was nothing like messing with the professors. I could get away with almost anything because they would never know who did it. They always pointed fingers at me but they lacked evidence. And I'd show up to class looking nothing like myself just for the extra confusion. I'd wait until they took roll and would morph back quickly with a more recognizable face. They were convinced they were losing their minds. They would figure it out eventually, but then I'd just try it out on a different professor."

He crawled even closer to his mother, pretty much in her lap. Just having her and his father around made everything perfect, made everything feel safe. And then she stood up, rather quickly and unexpectedly. His heart raced. What caused her to react like that? He walked to his father, wrapping his arms around his leg, looking up towards the man's face. His eyes askin the question he wouldn't be able to voice. "Who goes there?" He buried his face into the back of his knee.

This was all he needed. His mother. His father. Stories. His stomache roared, okay maybe he needed food as well. "Mommy, who's there?" His father's calm, demanding voice had sparked a curiosity like no other within the young boy. The young boy would actually head in the direction of the snapping twig... had he actually been paying attention towards the sound. After all, curiosity had its own share of blood.

[Alaya Tiaun]

I'm not gonna wait around, Let you run my whole life down, So you can watch me fade away
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'til all my sleeves are stained red
FROM ALL THE TRUTH THAT I'VE SAID
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Now I've faded into someone else, Yeah I'm faded, My true color's gone, Like a picture nobody sees

Alaya could have kicked herself for making any noise. There were so many things that could happen and her head was spinning with the different outcomes. She figured that with her badge and crest showing she was head girl and a gryffindor, she would be alright. she could always make the excuse that she was doing a last round when she noticed the boy by the forest and decided to make sure everything was alright. She was a werewolf and had partaken in the attacks that occurred at the school. So when it came to worrying about being caught she had nothing to fear. She could defend herself when need be, she just wished that if she transformed she wouldn't be at risk at loosing her mind.

Taking a deep breath she decided that it was best to show herself. She figured that the three people were not dangerous and she was usually right when it came to her feelings and hunches. She looked over the two adults trying to figure out who they were. If they were part of the order or were Aurors then she would have heard of them from her cousin. Now when it came to knowing people in that line of work, she wasn't one of the in crowd. She had never met any except for the couple in the school and even then she kept her distance. Most did not look at her as someone that wasn't a problem. Well being an open werewolf most people avoided her, or thought she was sided with the dark lord. both assumption were wrong but that was how the world worked.

She took a deep breath not wanting to be the first to speak. She wasn't going to be the one to start a conversation. She didn't have her wand and didn't want to run off so it really was up to the two adults standing in front of her. She stood her ground and did not waver in her strong stance. She refused to look weak and also refused to look like she did not belong.

I'll bet you don't, don't even know my favorite song you tell me how, how I should wear my hair
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Come by it honestly I swear
THOUGHT YOU SAW ME WINK, NO
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You wanna change everything I ever was, try to erase me till I'm not there now I'm faded

outfit: c l i c k y
notes: none
tagged: teddy, tonks
word count: 350
template made by alaya @ CAUTION 2.0

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