The little Hufflepuff boy read it to himself. âProfessor Zabini shouldâŚâ he read, then his voice trailed off and his eyes widened. He mouthed the next several words before finishing, ââŚand a potato?â
âYouâre welcome!â chirped Emma as her friends--except for Ivy, who was still in the Common Room and said sheâd come down soon--chuckled and followed her to breakfast.
When they reached the Great Hall, however, something was blocking their way. Or rather, someone. Charybdis Nott had a thin, fine-featured face, a sour expression, and stick-straight light brown hair that swooshed behind her as she turned to face the friends. âIf it isnât our little Hogwarts champion!â she exclaimed in a voice as sweet as vinegar.
âIâm hardly âlittleââ”Iâm half a head taller than you are,â Emma stated in a Jordan-esque, flat, bored voice. âIâm also a master of the Bat-Bogey hex, so I strongly suggest you move.â
âYeah, right.â Charybdis snorted like an ill hippopotamus.
âWhoa, Nott, you might want to get your sinuses checked out,â Tyrone pointed out. âThat sounded pretty bad. It could be deadly.â
âYou wish,â sneered Charybdis.
âOddly enough, yes,â snapped Jordan.
Charybdis toyed with a long strand of hair. âYou know what would be funny?â she asked rhetorically. âIf your wand just so happened to snap today, before the tournament.â
âYou know what would be even funnier?â retorted Emma. âWatching you get expelled after trying to mess with my wand.â
The Slytherin Prefect laughed. âYou? Get me expelled? Youâre the daughter of a Mudblood and a blood traitor.â
âWho happen to be two of the best magicians alive,â Haley chipped in loyally.
At that moment, a boy with shoulder-length blond and wire-framed glasses strode over; Ted recognized him as the other Slytherin Prefect. âCharybdis, leave them alone already,â he said, rolling his eyes. Taking care to mutter something rude under her breath (it was clear that the two prefects were not friends), Charybdis skulked back to her table. âSorry about her,â apologized the blond boy, jerking his head in her direction. âShe can be a complete idiot, even by Slytherin standards. Good luck.â He smiled wryly and returned to his table.
Haley stared at his retreating form. âIs it just me,â she breathed, âor was that Slytherin just⌠nice to us?â
âI think weâre delirious from hunger,â said Ted. âCome on, letâs get some breakfast.â
This advice seemed sound to everyone else, so they tucked into their food. Tedâs owl, Zsa-Zsa, famous for always delivering the mail before any other owls in the school, dropped off a copy of the Daily Prophet.
âEmma! Youâre on the front cover!â gasped Haley. She passed down the paper. âAnd Marina and Vladi-whatsit, of course.â
The article was accompanied by a large photograph of the three champions. Vladislav (Haley couldnât help but wonder if he was born without a sense of humour) nodded at the camera seriously, Marinaâs hair was blown by a slight breeze as she smiled at the camera, and Emma grinned mischievously and gave Vladislav bunny ears. The accompanying text read:
Hogwarts School For Witchcraft and Wizardry will again be hosting the Triwizard Tournament, the first in twenty-five years. And who are the three young champions representing this yearâs Tournament?
Vladislav Dmitrovich Poliakoff, the champion from Durmstrang Magical Institute, is seventeen years old, tall, and dark-haired with intense eyes. The son of the Headmaster of Durmstrang, he became the youngest ever champion of the International Wizardsâ Chess Tournament at age eleven and holds the title for Most Consecutive Wins, as he has won every year since his first tournament.
He is also a talented potion-maker and speaks seven languages fluently. âIâm glad to be a participant in the Triwizard Tournament,â he told the Prophet in his faintly accented English. âIt should prove to be an interesting challenge.â
The champion from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, Marina Weasley, agrees with his statementâ”âIâm going to do my best in the tournament and give one hundred percent. I really want to win this, but even if I donât, at least I will have tried.â
Sixteen years old and stunningly pretty with long strawberry-blonde hair and a one-eighth veela heritage, Marinaâs baggy camouflage trousers contrast with her delicate porcelain-doll features. But sheâs more than just a pretty face, as proven by her twelve O.I.S.E.A.U.âs (The Beauxbatons version of O.W.L.âs) and determined spirit. Although she is native-born French and has a French mother, she lived in England for eight years, and her father is British.
Heâs also the brother of Hogwarts champion Emma Weasleyâs father, making the two girls first cousins. Emma, the youngest champion at age fifteen, is nevertheless mature and sophisticated-looking, with wavy auburn hair and dark eyes. She told Prophet Reporter Mac Celeste, âIâm going to admit that Iâm really competitive, and, according to my friend Ted, scary sometimes, so Iâm so excited about being in the Triwizard Tournament.â
You may recall reading about Emma in the Prophet last year, as she was one of The Five who helped to defeat Dark Master Draco Malfoy, and received the extremely prestigious Albus Dumbledore Award. Sheâs also a talented Quidditch player.
The first Triwizard challenge will be held on October 20th, and the champions have been told nothing about what the task will entail. Itâs open to all audiences.â
Emma was suddenly struck by the reality of the Triwizard Tournamentâ”it wasnât just a game. It was going to be difficult, and possibly even frightening, and she was going to compete in it. But that wasnât what unnerved her. What did it was the fact that she was going to really have to try at this.
Emma had never had to work too hard before in any subjectâ”she was talented at magic and reasonably clever. Sheâd never had to try to make friends or work to improve her flying, because she was satisfied with both. But for the first time in her life, she was competing against two very worthy opponents who were older and more experienced than she was.
She wasnât the smartest or the strongest⌠or even the prettiest, and although appearances normally werenât important to her, she was used to being regarded as the prettiest girl in the school. But in the Triwizard article, she had merely been described as âmature and sophisticated-looking,â while Marina was described as âstunningly pretty.â
âIâll just have to be the one who tries the hardest, then,â she promised herself resolutely.
âHey, I read the paper,â said a voice that, although small and quiet, was as dangerously sharp as a mosquitoâs buzz. Emma didnât even have to turn around to see that it was Charybdis Nott. âSo, uh, I saw it said in the Prophet that you can be scary sometimes. Iâll agree with thatâ”if itâs supposed to mean your face.â
âThat wasnât even funny,â Tyrone told her loftily manner. âAnd plus, an insultâs got to be true to be offensive.â
âLike youâve ever said anything original in your life, Thomas,â smirked the Slytherin girl. âYou have fan girls to think for you. You donât have any room in your brain to do anything but flirt.â
âHey, only Iâm allowed to say that about him,â growled Emma, standing up.
âLook, we donât really care what you have to say,â Haley exclaimed, easing her cousin back into her seat. âAnd I think itâs kind of pathetic that you donât have anything better to do than stand around insulting us.â
âOh, itâs so cute to see you trying to keep up with the big kids,â Charybdis said in her dangerously soft voice. âYouâre how old now, ten?â
âSheâs fifteen, as you very well know,â Jordan snapped. He didnât normally defend his sister, except for under dire circumstances, but this counted. âSame as youâ”I think sheâs a few months older, as a matter of fact.â
âCould have fooled me,â replied Charybdis. âOh, by the way, Potter, Iâve been dying to know since the beginning of the yearâ”if youâre so smart, if youâre so talented, why did they pick that werewolf over you for prefect, huh? Itâs sad when the most eligible candidate for prefect isnât even a human, isnât it?â
âDonât listen to her,â that werewolf told his friends. âSheâs just jealous.â
They knew that, but it didnât make it any less offensive. Charybdis Nott had an uncanny knack for picking out peopleâs insecurities and prodding them in just the most painful spots. And she was in a particularly horrible mood latelyâ”sheâd obviously wanted to be the Hogwarts champion.
When they arrived in the Gryffindor Common Room, Ivyâs friends saw her sitting in an armchair, still diligently taking notes. âIvy,â Ted said softly, and she looked up. âYou never came to breakfast. I brought you some food.â He handed her a plate of food that he had filched from the Great Hall earlier.
Ivy smiled. âThanks, Ted. Thatâs really nice of you.â She yawned widely.
âYou need to relax more,â Haley instructed her. âJust take it easy for a few days. Youâll make yourself sick.â
âIâm fine!â Ivy assured her, though she didnât exactly look it.
An instant message popped up on Jordanâs computer.
rainbowbrite04: Sorry that you didnât get to be in the contest, but is your dadâs name really HARRY POTTER?!?! Thatâs awesome!!!!
sgtjpepper: Yeah, so what?
rainbowbrite04: Donât tell me youâve never heard of the Harry Potter books and movies?!?!?!? They were really, really popular like 10 or 20 years ago. Bigger than the Beatles were.
sgtjpepper: Nothing beats the Beatles, no matter what you may say to the contrary. So, what were the Harry Potter books about?
rainbowbrite04: Theyâre really cool!!! Theyâre about a boy who can do magic, and he fights a really evil bloke with no nose named Lord Voldemort with his friends Ron and Hermione and he goes to an awesome wizard school called Hogwarts.
sgtjpepper: Stop with the exclamation marks; youâre giving me a migraine. But about the Harry Potter booksâ”youâve got to be kidding.
rainbowbrite04: No, Iâm not giving up exclamation marks just for you!!!!!! Anyway theyâre better than they sound. Trust me.
sgtjpepper: Itâs not that⌠Iâve got to go now. Bye.
rainbowbrite04: TTYL.
Sgtjpepper: What. Did. I. Tell. You. About. Chatspeak?
Jordanâs feet carried him out of the room without asking his permission, and before he knew it, he had reached the school doors. He found his father just as he was leaving the school to return to the Auror office. âDAD!â he shouted.
Mr. Potter turned around, startled. âYes?â
âDad⌠listen,â panted Jordan. âI was talking to my pen friend, Giorgiâ”sheâs that Muggle girl who lives next door to usâ”and she told me that sheâs read a series of books about a wizard named Harry Potter who goes to a school called Hogwarts, had friends named Ron and Hermione, and fights an evil wizard named Lord Voldemort. Donât you think thatâs even a tad coincidental?â
To his surprise, his father smiled. âOh, yeah, those books. About ten or twenty years ago, I swear every kid in the worldâ”Muggle or wizardâ”had them. Iâve read them myself, and theyâre actually really accurate. I was surprised.â
âBut Dad!â Jordan exclaimed. âIsnât that dangerous, letting Muggles know about magic?â
Mr. Potter shook his head. âActually, no. The books are sold as fantasy. It actually makes Muggles less likely to believe someone whoâs waving a wand and calling himself a wizard.â
Jordan blinked. âLike those lunatics who go about speaking Elvish?â
âExactly,â replied Mr. Potter, and he turned to leave. But before he was gone, he turned around again. âJordan?â
âYes?â
âPromise me one thing,â he asked his son seriously. âIf you ever see a Harry Potter action figure in a shop⌠please donât make a bonfire and invite all your friends for a ritual burning.â
âIâll keep that in mind,â Jordan responded stiffly, though he was betrayed by the smile on his face.
âItâs so cute to see you trying to keep up with the big kids. Youâre how old now, ten?â
The words echoed around inside Haleyâs head even that night. She slumped dejectedly in her favourite magenta armchair. Why did everything Charybdis Nott say have to be so mean and hurtful⌠and trueâŚ
Haley got up and walked over to the mirror on the other side of the room to see the same person sheâd seen reflected back at her for as long as she could remember. She was quite small, with a childish-looking freckled face framed by the same bouncy, shoulder-length hairdo sheâd worn for years, flipping up neatly at the ends. She was skinnyâ”not like a model or a movie star, but like a little girl.
I look like a wooden plank with arms and legs, she thought to herself with a sigh. She really didnât look fifteenâ”more like twelve, and people said she acted even younger. She paced back over to her magenta armchair and sat down.
âHey, whatâs wrong?â Ted asked.
âI donât know,â sighed Haley. âItâs just⌠well, Iâm shorter than all of my friends and allâŚâ
Ted smiled sympathetically. âMe, too.â
Haley blinked. âUm, Teddy, dear, itâs simple math. You six-foot-two. Me five-foot-one-point-three.â
Tedâs smile widened. âNo, I mean, Iâm shorter than all of my friends put together! Like, if you stacked all of my friends on top of each other, the stack would be taller than me⌠oh, and by the way, er, I think Iâm actually six-feet, three-and-a-half-inches now. Not like it matters or anything.â
âStacked on top of each other?â Haley dissolved into giggles. âYou,â she proclaimed, âHave the strangest sense of humour of anyone Iâve ever known.â
It was at that moment that Emma raced into the room, hollered, âIâM AN OSTRICH!â and catapulted onto the sofa.
Ted raised his eyebrows. âInteresting timing there.â
Emma laughed. âOstriches are flightless birds. I just got temporarily suspended from the Quidditch team. I mean, itâs not like I did anything wrong, I just asked to be taken off the team for the year âcos Iâm going to be so busy with the Tournament.â
She rolled her eyes. âJordan is the weirdest captain weâve ever had, which is saying a lot. Today he made us do fifty crunches. Like we even use our abs flying! Anyway, Tyrone went, âCrunch-a-tize me, Capân!â which I personally thought was funny, but guess what? Jordan made him do ten push-ups! That boyâs got issues.â She shook her head. âWell, Iâm off to the Great Hall for some press conference-y wand weighing thingy with the other champions, but I just thought Iâd drop by. See ya.â And as quickly as she had entered the scene, she exited again.
Ted turned to Haley once Emma had left. âListen, Haley, we all like you! And itâs not fun bumping your head every time you get off the Hogwarts Express, anyway⌠I really donât know why you wish you were taller. And ou donât act like a ten-year-old, either. Just ignore Charybdis Nott.â
Haley tried to smile. âThanks,â she said, but she knew that Ted was so nice, heâd have told her she same even if she annoyed him so much that he couldnât stand to be in a room with her. So she decided to have a chat with Lee, who was always honest.
âHi, Lee,â she wrote. âPeople think Iâm ten, and I look like a two-by-four.â
âI hate it when that happens.â
âNo, Iâm serious! I look like a little kid, and I guess I act like one, too! I canât help it! Ted says nobody minds, but I donât totally believe him.â
âListen, donât go around trying to act grown-up. Youâll just come off looking stupid, and besides, youâll regret it when youâre an adult who wants to act like a kid again and canât. Iâll agree with Ted there. He seems like heâs got his priorities straight.â
âI just want to be taken a bit more seriously. I mean, I am almost sixteen.â
âWellâŚâ Lee hesitated. âI guess you could just lay off some of the sweets that make you hyper, try not to call people âTyroonieâ and âTedward,â and⌠maybe work a little harder in school? I could help you with your homeworkâ”not like I have anything better to do, being a book and all--but you have to promise youâll study. Thereâs no way Iâm doing it for you.â
âDone,â agreed Haley.
She could do that. She gathered her books and headed to the dormitory, plopping onto her bed. âHi, Ivy,â she greeted her sister. âI guess weâll both be hitting the books tonight.â
That night was the first full moon that Ted would spend with Arden. The autumn air was crisp and cool beneath an inky sky as Ted made his way toward the Whomping Willow. He was dressed in a vastly oversized t-shirt and very baggy sweatpants that wouldnât tear too much during his transformationâ”he didnât exactly like the idea of lying on the floor naked when Madame Patil came to get him in the morning--and he carried a sketch pad so he could draw cartoons in case Arden wasnât up for conversation.
He pressed the knothole on the Whomping Willow, crept down through the tunnel, and into the Shack, as he had so many times before. But there was one difference from his usual routine.
Arden was sitting, straight-backed and stiff-looking, on one of the beds, eyes downcast. She was dressed similarly to Ted, and it seemed odd to see her dressed in something other than her elegant blue silk Beauxbatons robes.
âEr⌠hi,â Ted greeted her. She didnât reply, but Ted wasnât unnerved by this. He simply said, âYou know, this is my tenth transformation. I should have brought, like, party blowers or something. I was bitten last Christmas Eve⌠which means that I got to spend Christmas Day in the hospital, and that was oodles of fun.â
Arden, still not looking up from her hands, whispered, âI was five years old when I was bitten. My uncle, he is a werewolf, and he forgot to take his potion. And⌠he got out of the shed where he was staying for the night and⌠he bit me.â Her voice was low, soft, and heavily French-accented.
âMy Dadâs a werewolf, too,â Ted stated. âWhen people hear that Iâm one, too, they think he bit me, but he didnât. Itâs kind of a long story.â So Arden had been a werewolf for most of her life? Ted was rather surprised that she still hadnât seemed to adjust to the fact after so many yearsâ”but, then, neither had his father, and heâd been bitten fifty-some years earlier.
âYou⌠you tell other people that you are⌠that you areâŚâ Ardenâs quiet voice trailed off.
âYeah, the whole school knows Iâm a werewolf,â shrugged Ted. âI wouldnât want to, you know, keep secrets or anything. Everyoneâs really nice about it⌠for the most part,â he amended, thinking of Charybdis Nott. âSo, your friends donât know about your furry little problem, as we call it in my family?â
âI do not reallyâŚhave friends,â Arden replied softly. âI⌠I am always too afraid to talk to people.â
âYouâre talking to me,â Ted said encouragingly. âAnd nothing badâs happened. And please donât say that Iâm a werewolf, not a personâ”I mean, I got used to being a person for the first fourteen years of my life, and I donât think Iâm going to let one little bite change that. I donât want to sound like Iâm preaching to you, but itâs true.â He swept his bangs off his forehead to reveal a gory mass of scars on his right temple. It wasnât exactly a âlittleâ bite.
Arden very hesitantly unfastened the black, jewel-set ribbon that she always wore around her neck to reveal a long, thin scar much less repugnant than Tedâs own.
âYou donât need to be shy,â Ted told her bluntly. âYouâve got nothing to hide. I know youâre a werewolf, and you know Iâm one, too. You donât scare me, and you definitely donât disgust me. Weâre going to be spending every full moon in here, after all, so we should probably get used to each other, and I just want to be friends.â
Slowly, Arden turned to look at him and smiled. The smile totally altered her sad, bony featuresâ”it lit up her navy-blue eyes and brought life to her forlorn face. âThank you,â she whispered, then noticed the sketch pad that Ted was holding. âWhat is that?â
âItâs my sketchbook,â explained Ted. âI draw cartoons. I kind of stink at it, but hey, itâs fun.â
âMay I draw?â asked Arden, and Ted handed her the sketch pad and pencil. He normally wrote with a quill, but when it came to drawing, nothing beat a soft number two lead pencil. Even after a few quick sketchy lines, it became very apparent to Ted that Arden was far more talented than he at drawing, or anyone he knew, for that matter. She expertly shaded and sketched a face, strong-featured but wasted and worn, partially covered by floppy, shaggy hair. The face was not especially handsome, but, even as a drawing, contained so much warmth that you couldnât help but be drawn to it. It was an eerily realistic and extremely familiar likeness.
âIs that me?â asked Ted, awed, and Arden nodded. âThatâs fantastic!â he exclaimed. âOkay, youâve officially made me jealous.â Arden quickly captioned the drawing, âTheodore Lupin.â âNo one calls me âTheodore,ââ Ted told her quickly. âIâve been âTed,â since forever.â
Arden wrinkled her nose. âI do not think you look like a âTed.â May I call you Theo?â
This was certainly a new one. âTheo?â repeated Ted, testing out the name. He wasnât sure he liked it, but it certainly beat Tedward. âAll right,â he replied. âTheo it is.â
Arden smiled again, then realized something. âYou say that your friends call you âTedââ”are you the Ted that Emma Weasley mentioned in the newspaper?â she asked.
Ted nodded. âSheâs a friend of mine. So many of my friends entered the tournament; I feel bad for the ones who didnât get picked. I didnât enter, though. Iâm probably the least competitive person on earth, and Iâm way too much of a klutz.â
âI wanted to enter,â Arden said softly. âBut⌠I was too afraid. Iâ”â
She suddenly went rigid. Ted had gone through transformation many times, but heâd never seen another werewolf transform, not even his father. Now he knew why his friends had been so frightened the first time heâd transformed. He watched in horror as the frail-looking girl collapsed onto floor and began to shake uncontrollably. Her body distorted and twisted grotesquely, coarse wiry hair sprouting up from her pores and lethally sharp fangs and claws springing from her gums, fingers, and toes. Ted didnât know exactly when Arden made the transition from human to wolf, but before he knew it, a smallish, dark-coloured wolf was crouching on the floor in front of him, the only trace of the girl sheâd been moments before her deep blue, human eyes.
It was only then that Ted realized he had been so absorbed with watching the girlâs transformation that he, too had become a wolf without even noticing. He and the wolf that was Arden saw themselves reflected back in the full-length mirror on the wallâ”the larger and lighter-coloured wolf standing behind the smaller, darker one lying on the floor. This was the one part of transformation that Ted had never gotten used toâ”not recognizing his own face.
Although it was hard to judge the emotions of a wolf just by looking at its face and body, he could tell that this bothered Arden more than it did him; she apparently hadnât looked in the mirror much after transformation. Ted, however, always forced himself to observe his reflection in his wolf form, hoping that someday it would be as commonplace to him as his human body.
Ted turned to Arden and stood, wagging his tail like a big, friendly dog. He bounded over to a pile of pillows and flipped one up in the air with his nose. Slowly, Arden stood up, took the pillow in her mouth, and walked in a circle around a dog bed. She evidently didnât care for the dog bed, as a moment later, she was trying to climb up onto one of the two real beds in the room, which was too high for her.
Ted, seeing her predicament, pushed a low stool over to her, and she scrambled up onto it and clambered into the bed. Once she was comfortable, Ted bounded over to the other side of the room and scampered onto a bed facing the other . âGoodnight,â he tried to say, before remembering that he couldnât actually speakâ”what came out was an embarrassing howl.
And the wolf that was Arden let out a howl that for some reason made sense to Ted. He could tell that she had tried to reply to him, âGoodnight to you, too, Theo.â
Rays of sunlight streamed through the windows of the hospital wing, kissing Ted across the face and opening his eyes. He was always human when he awoke in the hospital wing the morning after every full moon, but he always ached from the strain of his bones and muscles being twisted and forced into the shape of another animal.
He turned his headâ”which was harder than it sounded, as his neck was stiff and soreâ”to see Arden in the next hospital bed. He grinned. âHey, good morning!â he greeted her.
Arden smiled back. âIâm me again!â she said.
âIâm still me,â Ted replied matter-of-factly. He thought about making a counter for all of the ridiculously cheesy things he said.
Arden was silent for a moment. Then, she informed him, âYou are very special, Theo.â
âBeats being normal any day,â he replied, and rolled over to go back to sleep.