Right, Wrong, and the Element of Risk

Chapter 1

It would be dishonest to say that Teddy Lupin and Victoire Weasley were best friends before they were . . . Well. Before they were what they were when they were caught snogging on Platform 9 ¾ by James Potter at his most insufferable.

There are so many "they were best friends first until the one fateful day when everything changed" stories. This is not one of them.

This is a story about right and wrong. It starts with a game of strip poker. It's not very often a story starts with a game of strip poker and ends well, but there's a first time for everything. And, actually, it doesn't really start with a game of strip poker. It starts almost seventeen years before a game of strip poker, but honestly, that would take too long to tell. Plus, fifteen year old boys are usually going through that terrible angsty phase and are just completely miserable to be around, let alone narrate.

Anyways.

. . .

"'S a flish!" Renny crowed triumphantly. "A fish! A fuss?"

"A flush," Victoire suggested quietly.

"A flush!" Renny agreed. "I get the chips!" She leaned forward eagerly and swept the chips from the center of the table into her corner. Several clattered to the ground. Four pairs of eyes wavered in her direction.

"Renny," Teddy began, then lapsed into silence.

"Renny," Daniel said, rolling his eyes, "We're playing strip poker." He reached for the firewhiskey and took a large sip without flinching. "We're not playing with chips. It's clothning. Cloths. Clorths. Not chips."

"But there were chips on the table!"

"Those were for eating," Genna said petulantly. "And they were crisps. What're you, Anmerrcan? Amernic?"

"American," Victoire enunciated.

Renny spread her hands and giggled. The other four met eyes briefly and sighed, deciding which item of clothing to remove next. Teddy, cheeks burning ferociously, removed his tie and tried desperately not to watch as Victoire and Genna unbuttoned their shirts.

This had all been Daniel's idea, as were most of the completely brilliant things in Teddy's life. Daniel was Teddy's only roommate who was also currently (and perpetually) single, although he preferred it that way, while Teddy's internal jury was still out on the matter. Teddy had no idea how Daniel had convinced three fifth-year Ravenclaws that playing strip poker was a matter of necessity the night before exams started. As a point of fact, Teddy didn't want to know how Daniel had convinced three fifth-year Ravenclaws that playing strip poker was a matter of necessity the night before exams started. The fact that Daniel managed to bring about completely amazing, impossible, and fantastic things on a regular basis was, frankly, the only reason Teddy kept hanging around with him. Daniel didn't have a lot of other redeeming qualities, when it came right down to it.

But this. This was very, very redeeming.

Teddy held his tie in his hands and looked at it, mostly so that he wouldn't look elsewhere. The red and gold stripes were starting to swirl, which Aunt Hermione had told him at Easter hols last year meant he'd had quite enough to drink, and if he had any more, Uncle Harry would certainly notice that some of his Firewhiskey was missing. He'd expected Hermione to yell at him when she found him very drunk in the library at Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny's house. He'd expected her to be offended that he was getting drunk off stolen Firewhiskey in front of the books, actually. But she'd taken one look at the expression on his face, and said, "5th year, right?" and when he nodded, she'd sat down to join him. "This time of year must be hard for you," she'd said after a while, "Harry always gets glum around his birthday." She'd talked to him for a while after that, and when she'd left, she took the Firewhiskey with her. But she never yelled at him.