Albus Potter

As soon as Albus said he could hug him, Teddy wrapped his arms around his little brother and pulled him into a gentle hug. It broke his heart that he hadn’t been able to protect Albus from this, and he desperately wished he could just make it all go away for him. “It is that serious, Al.” he said softly before pulling back enough to look the younger boy in the eye, “What she did is wrong, Al. Very wrong. And if she did it to you, there is every chance she could do that or similar things to other people. I think you should report it, or at least tell mom and dad, but I’m not going to force you.” he said carefully, “But you’ve got to stop pretending that this isn’t serious, because it is.”

Albus shook his head again, a bit more frantic, even as his words seemed to hit him hard, “She won’t,” he said firmly, though he wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince him more or himself, “She’s not a bad person. She just made a mistake,” he argued a bit weakly. He didn’t want to think about that, “Teddy, I can’t tell them. She’s my... she was my best friend. I can’t let her get hurt.”

“Aw, come on,” she said, putting an arm around his shoulder and grinning at him as if it was just like old times, “Don’t be such a downer. Have some fun. Want me to go get you some firewhiskey? That’ll be sure to calm you down.”

It should have made her feel better that there were others who had this X person going after them, but instead it just made her angrier. If she wasn’t so fucking concerned about her secret getting out, then she’d be going after X herself, right now.  “I don’t see how anyone can be enjoying themselves enough to forget about everything, to be honest with you.” 

“Oh, Al…” he breathed out, horrified at the confirmation. “Can I … can I hug you?” he asked, because that was his first instinct, but he didn’t want to upset his brother any further. For once, he was grateful to X. He didn’t know when he would have found out without that stupid dare. “Buddy, that’s rape, okay. Those things … strong enough to that, they are very, very illegal. This is not … what she did is not okay, it doesn’t matter if she apologized.”

He felt awkward and nervous and very, very embarrassed. He couldn’t talk for a moment, breath caught in his throat as he tried to find a way to quickly reverse the situation. He nodded at the question, slowly, completely averting eye contact before Teddy continued, and his eyes darted back to him. Quickly shaking his head, he said, “No. It’s not... it’s not that serious,” he said quickly, “I know it’s illegal. That’s why no one can know. I can’t let her get into trouble.”

“Fair enough.” She agreed. “So I take it you were one of the people to be specifically invited by our gracious host?” She didn’t know exactly who had been invited, but she knew there were more people, since both she and Aimee had received the invite.  “I just can’t seem to get rid of the feeling that something is not right here.”

Teddy frowned, reaching out to put a gentle hand on his brother’s shoulder. He could tell how much Albus was freaking out over this, and that wasn’t a good sign at all. There was a sinking feeling in his stomach as he tried to decide what to say next. “Albus, I know you.” he finally settled on, “You are not the type of guy to just sleep with a girl you don’t have feelings for, especially when she’s your friend. You wouldn’t do that to her.” he said almost hating how sure he was of that statement, “Come on, Al. I’m your brother, okay. What happened?”

There was no way he could get out of this. Albus knew this, and he absolutely hated it. He had worked so hard to keep what happened from everyone, to protect Mallory, and here it was, coming out into the open to Teddy because Mallory couldn’t help but spread rumors, “It was nothing,” he said quickly, trying his absolute best to mitigate what had happened, “She already apologized. She just... she gave me a love potion...”

“No problem.” She smiled. “My other sister had some guy spiked her drink once, so V made sure that we all knew the spell.” She quickly did the same for her own drink, and tentatively took a sip. The people around that were drunk obviously weren’t invited by x, because there was no way that someone with the threat of a spilled secret would be letting go like that. She certainly wasn’t.

Teddy frowned, “Hey, calm down, buddy. You’re not in trouble, okay? I’m just worried.” he said carefully. “Al, if you don’t drink, and you don’t like her … how did you two end up sleeping together?” he asked, now more concerned then ever, “What happened? Did she do something you didn’t want?” he questioned in a soft voice. All this time he had thought his brother was acting off because he was hiding a secret relationship, could he really have missed something like that?

His breath caught in his throat at the question. He bit his lip hard, wishing more than anything to just disappear. He did not want to get into this conversation. No, definitely not. The day had just gone from bad to worse, “I...” he couldn’t finish his sentence. He didn’t know how to. Teddy was a professor and Albus knew that he would want to report it and no matter what Mallory had done, he had to protect her. He shook his head and his voice shook a bit as he spoke, “No, I w-wanted it,” he said, which was technically true, as the potion had made him want it at the time and as long as he could convince Teddy that there hadn’t been anything else involved, he would be fine. He really didn’t know if he could do that.

Something about the way Albus was looking at the drinks made Alex think that he wasn’t just worried about them being spiked with a confusing concoction.  “Here, let me - my sister taught me a spell.” She waved her wand over one of the cups, speaking the incantation her sister had told her about over the summer. She watched as the drink turned bright blue briefly, before returning to it’s original light brown colour.  “Blue means there’s no potions in it.” She told him, passing him the cup. “Red means love potion, green means poison, and yellow means anything to affect moods.”

Teddy bit his lip at that statement, “One night stand?” he asked carefully, feeling like he honestly couldn’t judge that too much. “I guess that could make any friendship awkward but … how did that even happen? It never seemed like you had feelings for her, if I hadn’t heard the rumors I never would have guessed. Were you drinking?” he asked, concerned. He knew the kind of trouble that could happen at Hogwarts with drunk teenagers.

Albus’ eyes widening lightly at his words and he felt his hands beginning to shake. He quickly stuffed them into his pockets to hide them and shook his head quickly, “No! No, it was... I don’t drink,” he said, which was true. Other than a few sips at a party the year before, Albus hadn’t ever had anything like that, “I don’t like her like that. I mean, she does... but I don’t. It’s not... nothing more. That night was just... it’s in the past.

Teddy sighed at the reaction of his brother. He hated upsetting him, but at the same time, this really was important. He had put off discussing it because he didn’t want to upset him but now … well, he might as well try to get something good out of this. “You don’t sound very sure of that, Albus.” he said carefully, “Look, I don’t mean to embarrass you. But I do think you’re too young, and I definitely don’t trust that girl. I … I’ve never been able to put my finger on it, but there’s just something off. And I learned a long time ago not to ignore feelings like that.” he added. He wouldn’t change it, because it gave him Abby, but that didn’t mean it was a mistake he wanted to repeat - or see his brother repeat.

His stomach twisted at Teddy’s words, especially at the mention of not trusting Mallory. He had trusted her, though he knew better now. Even though he would still protect her, he did not trust her very much at all. His face was now beat red and shifted on his feet nervously, shaking his head, “We’re not... together,” he said, voice a bit shaky with nerves, “We’re friends, nothing more,” he told him, though he was honestly not sure about the friends part anymore, “Trust me. I’m not... sleeping with her. Not...” he trailed off, unsure of how to respond, because he had slept with her, though not of his own wishes, “It was a one time thing. That’s it. We’re not... It’s not going to happen again. Mallory and I don’t even talk all that much anymore.”

Alex smiled slightly at him. “Definitely.” She was trying to be cautious about the whole party, so she figured that hanging out with somebody she somewhat knew was probably the best idea. She headed over to the drinks table, and surveyed everything in front of her. “You think this is safe to drink?”

@albxspotter

Teddy took in a deep breath as he approached his little brother he didn’t want to do this, but then again, what he was about to say was true, and maybe it was something that his brother needed to hear. “Albus?” he asked, “Come here for a minute, we need to talk.” he said, motioning away from the crowd. “What’s this that I’ve been hearing about you and Mallory?” he began, “Because a lot of people are saying that you’ve been sleeping with her. Albus, what are you thinking? You’re too young for this and … that girl … I’ve never liked her. She’s not a good influence on you.”

Albus hadn’t really known what Teddy was calling him over for, and it had him a bit nervous. The entire party had his nerves frayed and he could barely think straight the entire time. So, when he reached him, he fiddled nervously with the sleeves on his robes, “Yeah?” he asked and as Teddy continued talking, he found himself growing more and more nervous, as well as very red in the face. Eyes wide, he quickly shook his head, “What? No. No, no, no,” a nervous laugh escaped his lips, “We’re not... No. That’s not... true?” the last word came off as a bit of a question as his mind raced and he quickly covered it up, “That’s not true. Just a rumor.”

Alex half nodded/half shrugged in agreement. As long as she just tried her hardest to have a good time, and forget the fact that she was literally blackmailed to go to the party, she hoped she’d be alright. After all, what better way to forget about what she was getting blackmailed for, than to get shitfaced and do whatever she can to feel better? “Definitely.” She replied to Albus. “Do you wanna grab a drink or something?”

Teddy blew out a slightly frustrated breath, shaking his head, “At least there’s that.” he said. “I might as well just stay and make sure no one gets hurt.” he added as he looked around, “Honestly, I really don’t want to be overseeing detentions every night for the next month.”

“Hopefully no one will,” Albus said, though he was worried about what was going to happen if X started causing problems. He winced lightly at that and shrugged a bit, “It’s a forbidden party, in the forbidden forest. Merlin, we could get into so much trouble,” he said with a sigh, frowning, “You’re here too, though.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, Al,” Mallory said with a wide grin, eager to talk to him since she hadn’t in a while, “Just have some fun!”

“Yeah, I think something is definitely up here.” Alex agreed, eyeing the party. She was in a half mind about it. For one, literally everything about the party seemed like a terrible idea, but also, she really did enjoy a chance to get drunk and forget about everything. “Its a forbidden party. In the forbidden forest. What could go wrong?”