Curiously, the flowers don't wilt.
Teddy had tried to throw them away once they had gotten back to their dorm room, but Mary had wrested them out of her hands and made a big show of putting them in a vase of water on their shared dresser. They've been there for over a week now, and the blossoms are as healthy and vibrant as the day they had been handed to her. Black must have put a charm on them to ensure they didn't die — Teddy isn't altogether sure how she feels about that. The girls think that it's simply adorable, though Teddy is sure that they wouldn't think that if they knew it was Black, and not Otto, who had gifted them to her.
She can't help but look at them even as she gets ready for her Hogsmeade date — like always, Mary is hovering around behind her trying to fix her hair and straighten her clothes, but Teddy finds herself preoccupied as she frowns at the little purple blossoms. Truthfully, she thinks they're driving her insane. The only reason she can come up with for Regulus giving them to her in the first place is because he's trying to mock her. It's the only thing that makes sense, but she just can't quite figure out how they're mocking her.
By the time she meets Otto in the Entrance Hall, however, she's managed to push all thoughts of Regulus Black and his stupid poisonous flowers out of her head. Otto beams at her, and she can't help but notice that he looks good — his cheeks are flushed ruddy with the cold, and his flaxen hair shines in the milky wintery sun. He's wearing a velvet-lined cloak with his knitted Hufflepuff scarf, and he seems genuinely excited to see her.
"You look lovely," He says earnestly, despite the fact that she's wearing standard black robes and a plain cloak that's been charmed to adapt to its wearers warmth needs (a birthday gift from her mother). "I thought that we might get a carriage down to the village. It's a bit cold to walk, don't you think?"
"Fine by me." Teddy says easily. It had begun snowing early in the week, and by now the grounds of the castle were covered in a generous blanket of pure white. It was beautiful, and even now students were seizing their chance to engage in snowball fights and snowmen-making competitions, but Teddy didn't much fancy getting her feet all wet and cold trudging through the knee-deep snow to get to Hogsmeade.
She had been a little worried that they wouldn't have anything in common, but to her surprise conversation actually ends up flowing very easily between them. She had half expected the conversation to be dominated by Quidditch talk, but Otto asks her about her family and her own hobbies and interests, and an in-depth discussion about the conservation of ancient magical woodlands. By the time they reach the village, Teddy is relaxed and laughing and genuinely enjoying Otto's company. It comes as somewhat of a surprise, because Teddy had admittedly been anxious about this date all week — it was a complicated sort of anxiety, because it was mixed with excitement. She really was looking forward to her first ever date, but she's also a little scared that it'll go wrong or she'll say something stupid or she might just ruin the whole thing somehow.
Otto is a gentleman and helps her out of the carriage and onto the frozen cobblestones of the village's main street, keeping a supportive hand on her shoulder to make sure she doesn't fall. After a brief discussion about where they should go first, they settle on the apothecary. There's nothing they're looking for in particular, but it's fun to giggle over belladonna and toadspawn mixtures that are meant to cure warts. Next, they scurry across the street to Honeydukes. Otto buys her a bag of Chocoballs full of strawberry mousse and clotted cream, and laughs when she insists on buying him a selection of Peppermint Toads in repayment.
It's fun, and Teddy is smiling wide by the time they step back into the street. Spending time with Otto is so much easier than she had expected — it's a little like spending time with Alice and Mary, because the banter flows easily and they don't feel any particular pressure to rush anywhere. It doesn't even really feel like a date, but then again Teddy doesn't have anything to really compare it to. All she knows is that the whole day feels completely devoid of pressure in the best possible way. When Otto suggests lunch at the Three Broomsticks, she agrees eagerly.
As always, the inside of the pub is cosy and intimate. Half the occupants at the tables littered around the place are Hogwarts students, but they all seem too busy with their own friends or dates that they barely even notice Otto leading Teddy to a private booth near the back of the pub. Once Teddy is settled in the seat facing the wall, Otto says, "I'll go get some drinks, shall I? What would you like?"
"A butterbeer, please." Teddy smiles at him, and as soon as he leaves she turns and takes a quick look around the pub. It's busy, but not uncomfortably so — the low chatter is comforting as background noise, and the atmosphere is warm and pleasant. Her gaze snags on a group of boys near the window. Their heads are low together as they talk in low, conspiring tones. She can't see their faces, and for a moment she can almost convince herself that they're James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. Her heart does a strange, clenching sort of motion in her chest as she looks at them; she misses her brother and his friends, and all the mischief they used to get up to. They were always so loud and bold that their absence felt like a physical presence that she still hadn't quite become accustomed to. She finally pulls her eyes away from them, only for her gaze to snag on another familiar face in the crowd.
Mary is peering in her direction, although she covers her face hastily with a menu as soon as she realises Teddy is looking her way. She's sitting at a table close to the bar with a dark-skinned Ravenclaw girl Teddy recognises as Sukie Dracup, who is examining the menu in genuine interest as she places an order with the waitress. At the table beside them, Frank Longbottom has apparently come to Hogsmeade to visit Alice, because they're sitting together and sharing a piece of carrot cake. When Alice spots Teddy looking their way, she mouths 'sorry!' and then points at Mary, effectively shifting the blame over to her.
"Here we go!" Otto says cheerfully as he arrives back with two enormous flagons of butterbeer. "I got extra cream for yours, I hope that's okay?"
"Thank you," Teddy smiles distractedly. She can see Mary peering over the top of her menu at them, and she sighs as she takes the glass from his hand. "My friends are over there watching us- no, don't look! I'm so sorry, Mary really doesn't understand boundaries."
Otto laughs quietly, and takes a sip of his drink. "That's okay, really. It's nice that they care so much about you." Since he's in the seat by the wall, he has a good view of the whole room and he takes the opportunity to surreptitiously glance in her friends' direction. "Oh wow, they're quite intense, aren't they?"
Groaning quietly, Teddy buries her face in her hands. "This is so embarrassing."
"No, it's fine." Otto says, though he's grinning. "Really! They're protective, that's fine. Do you think they like me?"
"Oh, Mary definitely does." Teddy snorts, "She's just nosey."
"I didn't realise she was friends with Dracup." Otto says with another swift glance in their direction. "I've never seen them together."
Teddy hasn't seen them together either, but she doesn't say that. Instead, she sips her butterbeer and raises an eyebrow. "Do you watch Mary often, then?"
"No," Otto laughs, rubbing at his head. "Not her. You're always with her, though."
A slow smile begins to spread over her face, and she ducks her head as she feels colour pool in her cheeks. The idea that he has been looking at her and noticing her is thrilling — she's never gotten too much attention, maybe because of James' best attempts to paint a massive neon NOT AVAILABLE! sign on her back, but it just means that when someone is actually interested in her it feels almost dizzying.
"I'm really glad you said yes to this." He says softly, leaning in closer. "I really have been wanting to ask you out for quite a while."
"Why didn't you?" Teddy asks, in an echo of their conversation at Slughorn's party. "Was James really that scary?"
Otto winces a little, then takes another sip of his butterbeer. "Well," He says as he begins to fiddle with a beer mat. "He made it pretty clear that anyone who hurt you would be subject to his own, um, revenge. I guess everyone was too intimidated to try."
None of that comes as a huge surprise — Teddy had always sort of known that James had somehow managed to threaten half the castle into not coming near her, but it still sort of leaves a bit of a lump in her throat that no one had thought she was worth pursuing anyway. Outwardly, she just hums thoughtfully and sips at her butterbeer. "I see."
"I regret that now," Otto says hastily. He must be able to tell that he's annoyed her somehow, because he leans forward even closer as he speaks. "I should have asked you ages ago."
Teddy just smiles and takes a deeper drink of her butterbeer. "Don't worry about it." She says simply, setting her glass back down on the table. Otto smiles back, though his gaze flickers to something over her shoulder and his expression flickers a little in surprise. Teddy frowns. "Oh no, is it Mary? What's she doing?"
"Er, no-" Otto's eyes dart back to her, wide and confused. "Don't worry about it-"
Teddy sighs and pushes her chair back so she can get to her feet. "No, seriously, I'll tell her to stop. Sorry, I know she can be a bit much." Before Otto can protest again, she turns and makes her way through the crowded pub towards Mary's table. Her friend perks up when she sees her coming and smiles, before apparently remembering that she was supposed to be on some sort of stealth mission and diving right down behind the menu again.
"Mary," Teddy starts, aggravated, before realising that she was being rude and turning to Dracup, "Er, hi Sukie, how's it going?"
"Alright," Sukie says easily, taking a bite of her cottage pie. She nods towards Teddy and Otto's table. "Date going well?"
"It would probably be better if we weren't being surveilled." says Teddy, casting a pointed glare towards Mary.
Sukie just nods. "I did tell her that you wouldn't like it." she says confidentially, shrugging when Mary casts her a betrayed look.
"Mary," Teddy starts again, taking a deep breath. "Bathroom, now."
"Right." Mary gets up hastily, finally dropping the stupid menu and trailing after her until they get to the bathroom. Just like the rest of the Three Broomsticks, the bathrooms are immaculately clean. They are also, luckily, empty.
"What are you doing?" Teddy asks as soon as the bathroom door thuds closed behind her.
For a brief moment Mary tries to look innocent, but then abandons the attempt altogether and pouts. "I'm only trying to look out for you, Ted!" She says. "It's your first ever date, and we don't really know Bagman all that well. I just want to make sure he doesn't try something dodgy!"
Teddy's eyes damn near bug out of her head. "What? It was you who said going on this date was a good idea!"
"And I stand by that!" says Mary, raising her chin obstinately. "We're not even bothering you, we're only in the same pub! Just pretend we're not even there!"
"Then stop staring!"
"Okay!" Mary agrees immediately. "Okay, I'll stop staring! Honestly though Teddy, I'm only trying to make sure that you have a nice time. Also I might be a little nosey. But it could be so much worse — at least I'm not James!"
Teddy isn't really annoyed anyway, so she just rolls her eyes and reaches up to tug at her cheek. "You're lucky I love you. Come on, you arsehole." Right before they step outside of the bathroom, she turns back to Mary with a raised eyebrow. "What's up with you sitting with Dracup, by the way?"
"Oh," Mary sighs. "I think she just sat next to me cause she felt sorry for me — Davey Gudgeon said he'd meet me by Scrivenshaft's, but he never showed. Bastard."
Teddy's forehead crumples into a frown, but Mary is already shaking her head firmly to signal that she really doesn't want to talk about it so they step back into the pub without saying anything. They murmur quick goodbyes to each other before heading back to their tables, and when Teddy sits back down across from Otto she's smiling cheerfully.
"Sorted!" She says, reaching for her drink. "Sorry about that! I think she's mostly just bored, to be honest-"
"Um, Teddy, listen," Otto interrupts. For the first time, Teddy realises that his ever-present smile is missing. Instead, his brow is tense and stiff, his lips are pressed tight together, and he can't quite look her in the eye — his gaze keeps shifting to some point over her shoulder. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm so, so, sorry, but, er- I'm going to have to leave."
Teddy just blinks uncomprehendingly. "Leave?"
"I'm sorry. I just- something has come up, and I- I don't think this is going to work. I don't think that I'm, erm... right for you." Otto trails off somewhat pathetically. He looks horrendously guilty, but it doesn't stop him from beginning to push his chair back to leave.
"Wait-" Teddy starts, struggling to understand where his sudden change in attitude has come from. "You don't think you're right for me-? I thought we were just having fun, it's not that deep-" She cuts herself off, frowning deeply as she takes in Otto's nervous expression as he glances over his shoulder. "What the hell happened while I was in the bathroom?"
"Nothing!" He says hastily, twisting the sleeves of his robes in his hands. "Look, I did mean everything I said earlier. And I'm sorry that this isn't going to work out. I'll, er- maybe I'll see you later."
He genuinely does look very sorry for leaving like this, but it doesn't stop him from getting up and leaving her alone at the table. She watches him go, bewildered and hurt. Where the hell had that come from? She had really thought that everything was going well, and she had honestly been having fun. At a loss, she looks desperately across the room to Mary to see her reaction, but apparently Mary had taken Teddy's instruction not to stare to heart and had instead launched into a conversation with Sukie Dracup. Beside them, Alice and Frank are lost in each other's eyes; none of them are looking in Teddy's direction at all. She sighs, and reaches up to bury her hands in her hair. What the hell? She looks to the window, and her eyes fall on an empty table. The boys who had reminded her so much of the Marauders are gone.
It feels like a stone sinks heavily to the bottom of her stomach. There's no way.
Teddy leaps out of her chair, and marches to the door. As soon as she emerges into the street she's hit with an icy gust of wind and nearly slips on the cobblestones, but she needs to see if she's right. She needs to know if those boys by the window didn't just look like the Marauders, but if they actually—
"-going to be so angry at you, mate." A very familiar voice floats out of an alley, and Teddy skids to a harsh stop right at the mouth of it as she feels her heart drop to her feet.
Tucked away from the main street of Hogsmeade, James Potter stands whispering with his friends. It seems like Remus is chiding him, though he looks exhausted and there's not much energy being put behind his words. Peter is biting his lips and fidgeting beside Remus, and Sirius is leaning casually against the rough stone wall of the alley looking thoroughly unbothered.
"Bagman is a dick, anyway, Moony. I think she had a narrow miss." Sirius shrugs lazily. "She's way out of his league."
"Exactly." James says, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "He's not good enough for her anyways. It's typical that he waited till we were all gone, too — I mean, what was he scared of-"
When Teddy speaks, her voice is shaking from anger and it echoes against the wet stone of the alley walls. "Are you joking. You cannot be for fucking real right now."
James' head snaps up, and a brief flicker of panic crosses over his face when he sees her. "Teddy!" He says, his voice a full octave higher than normal. Beside him, Remus is already wincing. "Hey! We, uh, we just came to surprise you-"
"What did you say to him?" Teddy cuts him off. In other circumstances she would have been delighted to see her brother and friends in Hogsmeade, but right now it felt like she was seeing red. She couldn't believe that he had the nerve to come into Hogsmeade like this just to disrupt her life and ruin her first ever date.
James flounders for a moment, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. "I didn't- look, Teddy-Bear-"
"Don't call me that!"
"Okay." James winces and puts his hands up in surrender. "Alright, okay. Look, Teddy, I'm sorry, but Bagman? I mean, really?"
"He is a bit of a dick, Ted." Sirius pipes up, though he takes a full step back when Teddy rounds on him.
"I can't fucking believe you," she hisses, practically incandescent with rage. "Why are you like this! You have no fucking right to do this to me! You don't get to decide who I'm interested in!"
"He's not good enough for you, Teddy!" James says, stepping towards her pleadingly. "Do you know how many girls he went out with last year alone? I just don't want you to get hurt, and I think he's only interested because you're almost like forbidden fruit or something-"
Unbidden, Regulus Black's words from the first week of term come back to her — 'they believe that you'll lift your robes and bend over for the first man to request it of you.' Teddy has to take a step away from the alley for a moment, because she genuinely thinks if she has to look at her brother's face any longer she might just try to break his nose. It doesn't matter though, because James immediately follows her out and into the street.
"Get away from me, James, I mean it." She says, her voice low and intense with anger. "I can't even look at you right now."
"I understand that you're annoyed," James says quickly. "And you have good reason to be! Maybe I overstepped, I get that. But Teddy, boys are just shit! Like really, we're all the absolute worst and we're all very disappointing, and the thoughts of a boy hurting you or upsetting you is awful, especially when none of us are around to help-"
"The only one hurting me right now is you, you arsehole!" Teddy snaps, whirling around to face him with his fists clenched. "Merlin, that was my first date, do you even understand that? The first time that anyone has ever shown any interest in me-"
"If he was in any way decent, he wouldn't let something as stupid as me telling him off put him off you in the first place-!"
"James Potter, I am about to hex you so hard your grandchildren will feel it-!"
The other boys have followed them out onto the street, and Remus steps forward to try and defuse the situation. "Come on, lads, just-"
Teddy rounds on him then, her chest heaving with fury. "And you!" She snaps, so vehemently that Remus falters. "You're supposed to know better! I've trusted you, you know things about me that no one else does, and yet you can't even manage to keep these dickheads from ruining one day that you know means a lot to me?"
"Teddy-" Remus begins, his face falling, but Teddy refuses to feel bad about this. She trusted Remus with everything she had — they had shared their first confused and fumbling sexual experiences together, she had confided to him about her frustration about James' overprotective behaviour, and in turn he had confided to her about his own feelings regarding his lycantropy and his personal relationships that he doesn't have the backbone to pursue himself.
"Hey, it's not Moony's fault-" Sirius finally speaks up again, but Teddy completely ignores him.
"I thought this year was going to be better because you wouldn't be around! I thought I'd actually have more freedom," She turns back to James. Angry tears are beginning to turn her vision blurry, and she blinks them away rapidly. "And yet you still manage to turn up and ruin this for me!"
"Bagman isn't-"
"This isn't about him!" Teddy snaps furiously. "It could have been anyone and you would have done the exact same thing, don't even try to say any different! I'm a legal adult — you can't keep doing this to me!"
Off to the side, Sirius looks like he's considering interjecting yet again, but ultimately decides to stand back and watch. Remus has stepped back to stand next to him, looking thoroughly miserable. Teddy had almost forgotten Peter was still there, but he's standing just behind Sirius and chewing anxiously on his lower lip.
James rubs at his face before holding his hands out plaintively. "Teddy, you're my baby sister and I love you. I never wanted to hurt you, I just didn't want you to make any mistake that you would regret-"
"Oh, because you've never made any mistakes?" She says instantly. "Why are you allowed to make mistakes and I'm not? Do you just think I'm stupid? Do you think I'm completely incapable of making my own decisions?"
"No! Of course not-"
"I'm done. I don't want to talk to you right now. I don't even want to look at your stupid face."
Still fuming, Teddy whirls around and rubs her face aggressively with her hands. For the first time, she sees that Mary has followed her out of the Three Broomsticks and has apparently been standing to the side throughout the entire argument. Her eyes are wide and her mouth has dropped open in horror, but as soon as she meets Teddy's eyes her face sets in understanding and she begins to step forward. Teddy thinks that she's about to interject into the argument herself, but silly, wonderful Mary launches herself forward and throws her arms around James' neck in a totally exaggerated bear hug to distract him.
"James!" She squeals in faux-excitement. James chokes a little — Mary has a grip like a steel vice when she wants to. "I haven't seen you in forever, how are you!"
"Wh-? McDonald?"
While James is momentarily distracted by Mary, Teddy takes the opportunity to turn on her heel and storm away. She's so angry that she feels physically nauseous, and the sinking disappointment makes her feel like just dropping to her knees and crying. The day had been going so well, and it's so deeply hurtful that James had just canon-balled in like this to disrupt something that she had been looking forward to. It doesn't even matter if they had originally planned to surprise her with a sweet visit after not seeing her for so long — the fact that they feel so entitled to mess with her life like this leaves a sharp, sour tang of fury sitting right at the back of her mouth. As she sets off down the snow-covered cobblestones, she catches sight of yet another familiar face watching their argument.
Regulus Black is standing in front of the large window outside Honeydukes — over his shoulder, she can see the back of Crouch's head inside the shop, howling with laughter at something the Carrow twins have said, but mercifully they haven't seemed to bear witness to any of this. Regulus is looking in the direction of the Marauders, and Teddy feels a hot prickle of humiliation wash over her at the realisation that he had watched the whole thing play out. As she moves to walk by him, his gaze shifts to look at her.
"Don't." She says lowly, her voice rough with residual frustration and unshed tears. "I don't want to hear any of your stupid fucking comments right now."
"I wasn't going to say anything." He says evenly, then looks back over her shoulder towards her brother. "You might want to start walking quickly, though. Looks like your brother has managed to wrestle McDonald off."
A quick glance over her shoulder shows her that Regulus is correct, and James is already looking around desperately to try and find where she's gone. The other boys are looking around too, but it seems as though Remus has already spotted them — he's staring over at Teddy and Regulus with surprise written all over his face, watching them as they talk. They must seem like an odd pair.
"Big brothers," Regulus intones dully, "Always think they know best."
"Right. I'm leaving." Teddy says. A glimpse at Regulus shows that he's still looking in the direction of her brother and his friends, but to her surprise he's not looking at Sirius. Bizarrely, his narrow, speculative glare has landed squarely on Peter, of all people.
"Go, then."
Without another word, Teddy slips away and begins making her way back up to the castle. Calls of her name echo through the streets of Hogsmeade, but she steadfastly ignores them. They stop once she crosses the boundary of the castle grounds — the Marauders are no longer students, so Hogwarts no longer permits entry to them, much to Teddy's relief. The castle is very quiet, just like always on Hogsmeade weekends, so there's no one around to see her race back to Gryffindor Tower with tears in her eyes.
As soon as she reaches the dorm, she launches herself on her bed as a sob tears its way out of her chest. She feels terribly dramatic, but after the day that's been in it she feels like she deserves to indulge in some typical teenage histrionics. Most of her anger had fizzled out on the walk back to the castle, and all that's left is a dull, aching sense of misery. She burrows into a mass of pillows and her duvet, and once she's all covered up she lets all those angry tears flow.
It can't be any longer than ten minutes before the door slams open and Mary appears in the doorway, her face crumpled in dismay. "Oh, Teddy," She whispers, before leaping on the bed and burrowing into the mass of blankets right beside her. "Sweetheart, I'm so, so, sorry."
Teddy ducks her head into the crevice of her friends neck and sniffles pathetically. "I feel so stupid. God, James is just such a dick."
"Absolutely," Mary agrees as she strokes Teddy's tangled hair. "He had no right to do that to you." They lie there in silence until eventually Teddy falls asleep, her face tearstained and her head pounding with a headache as Mary hugs her close.