The Halfwolf (Year 1)

End of a Long Day

"Merlin's beard, does McGonagall seriously expect us to read all of this by Wednesday?" Zach heaved his book onto the table in the Great Hall.

"It's only 2 chapters, Zach. It's not that bad. And besides, the spell seems fairly simple. It's just turning a mouse into a teacup, after all." Teddy shrugged his bag onto the bench next to him and sat down. Matt dropped into the seat across from him.

"How would you know, Ted?"

"Already read it. Soon as I got the book I read it the whole way through." Zach gaped at him, Matt glanced up from the bowl of soup he had grabbed.

"So did I," Matt said quietly. Zach glanced between the two boys and let his head fall to the table.

"Bloody hell, my roommates are nerds" Teddy flicked a piece of carrot at the side of his head.

"I take offense." He laughed.

"Hey Teddy" his head snapped up at the soft voice. He looked up and found himself staring into the silver eyes of Claire Meadows. She wrung her hands in front of her nervously. Teddy smiled at her.

"Hey, it's Claire, yea?" The small girl nodded, glancing around. "How was your first day?"

"It was....well it was different that's for sure," she looked at her feet. Teddy could tell something was bothering her.

"Would you like to join us?" Matt asked from across the table. Her head snapped up at the question and she hesitated. Teddy patted the bench beside him.

"Plenty of room. We don't bite, promise." She gave a small smile and lowered herself into the seat next to Teddy. Moony poked her nose out of Teddy's robed and sniffed at Claire. The small girl smiled widely at the Niffler and held out her hand for her to sniff. Teddy reached into the pocket and lifted Moony onto the table between himself and Claire.

"She's extraordinary, Teddy." Claire said in a mesmerized voice. Moony purred in content at the compliment.

"Ted, I swear that thing understands people. She always knows when someone is fussing over her," Zach shook his head, thinking of how she had acted with Gale.

"Wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised, honestly." Teddy took a bite of his roast. He watched as Claire allowed Moony to take a bit of potato from her plate. As they ate, the kept glancing at her from the corner of his eye. Claire looked sad, but Teddy wasn't sure what was the matter. As he sat and thought about it, another question came to mind; why wasn't she sitting with the other girls? Teddy looked down the table a bit and saw the other first year girls clustered together with a few older girls, apparently friends of Tonya's. They were laughing as they talked and ate. He wrinkled his forehead in confusion. Claire started to get up and touched his shoulder.

"Thanks for letting me eat with you boys. It was very nice. And Moony is adorable, Ted." She smiled and gathered her books. As she walked away, Teddy turned back and started gathering his own things. Matt raised an eyebrow at him across the table.

"Matt, can you bring Moony back with you when you're done? I want to talk to Claire. She seems...." Matt raised a hand to stop him.

"I saw it too. Go, hopefully whatever is wrong isn't too serious." Teddy scooched Moony across the table to Matt and ran down the aisle towards the doors.

"Claire! Wait up" the girl stopped and turned, a look of shock on her face at the sound of Teddy's voice. He caught up to her and smiled.

"I thought I'd walk back to the common room with you, if that's alright?" He gestured for her to go ahead. As they started walking, she kept looking at the floor in front of her instead of anywhere else. Teddy cleared his throat.