The year after her brother James graduates, Teddy Potter returns to Hogwarts for her final year. With the Marauders gone, it should be a quiet, peaceful year despite the mounting tensions in the world outside of school.
The problem, naturally, lies...
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Perhaps it's the nature of all war tribunals or perhaps it's because the Ministry of Magic are desperate to appear as though they're doing something after so many years of inaction and ineptitude, but the trials are messy and conducted far too quickly.
And that's only the trials that actually take place. During the height of the war, Barty Crouch Sr. had introduced the Special Powers act that would allow the Ministry to imprison those suspected of being Death Eaters without a trial. Now that the war is over, the Ministry seems happy enough to continue with what Crouch had started. Trials take place only for a few special cases, and those are covered in depth in the wizarding media.
Peter Pettigrew had been sentenced to receive the Dementor's Kiss. Teddy tries not to think about it too much.
Teddy follows the trial coverage in the Daily Prophet religiously, her stomach clenching anxiously with every conviction. She knows that Dumbledore had promised to testify on Regulus' behalf, but even then all he had been able to promise was a suspended sentence.
"Stop worrying." Regulus murmurs, tugging the paper out of her hands one morning. He tosses it across the kitchen table before she has the chance to try and retrieve it. "You're going to make yourself sick."
"I'm just trying to see what we should expect." Teddy says stubbornly, scowling at him. "You go before the Wizengamot next week-"
"And stressing yourself out about it isn't going to help, love."
Teddy just frowns, but Regulus doesn't give her another chance to argue before he slides a mug of tea in front of her. She takes it with a sigh, but reaches out and hooks her fingers into his shirt before he can step too far away from her. The movement makes him smile, and he immediately takes the seat next to her and leans in to loop his arm around her shoulders while she drinks from the mug.
Teddy doesn't protest even as he practically wraps himself around her. She just leans into him as she sips her tea, and tries to ignore the sense of anxiety that simmers in her belly at the thought of his upcoming trial. The idea of him getting taken away from her again leaves her feeling nauseous.
They don't get to enjoy their private moment for very long, however, because then Sirius steps into the kitchen and joins them at the table with a loud, dramatic sigh. He's been dropping in an awful lot in the weeks since the fall of Voldemort, and though Regulus complains about it, Teddy knows that he enjoys the time with his brother.
Despite Regulus' irritated, venomous glare, Sirius doesn't seem to notice the fact that he's interrupting a private moment. He sits down across the table from Teddy and runs his hand through his hair, before he perks up a little at the sight of the mug in front of her.
"Morning, you two. James and Lily are still in bed, the lazy tossers." He says cheerfully. "Oh, have you made tea, Reg?"
"Yeah, for Teddy." Regulus says, eyes narrowed at his brother.
