The Halfwolf (Year 1)

Getting Ready

Matt's POV

Matt leaned heavily against the wall of the corridor, watching as Teddy went into the common room. As soon as the door closed, he slid to the floor and dropped his head to his knees, breathing deeply to keep from losing his composure. He felt a small, warm hand touch his shoulder and looked up quickly. Claire was still there, beside him like she had been when everyone had stopped in the corridor and Zach had all but shouted his love for Gale Lovegood. She looked at him with concern in her round eyes.

"Matt are you alright?" she asked quietly. Matt tried to make his voice work, tried his hardest to hold onto his cool and tell her he was fine. But she knew, she knew how he felt, she had spent so many late nights up in the loft by the oldest bookcases with Matt just talking about their lives and families and everything that there was no way she didn't know exactly how he felt right that moment.

"No, no I'm not." He whispered and let his forehead fall to meet his knees again, tears rolling down his face as he wrapped his arms around his knees and hugged them tight to his chest. He felt Claire scoot in close to him and lay her head on his shoulder, wrapping her arms around him as best as her small frame would allow.

"I'm here, Matt. And I'm sorry." She whispered against his jumper. He pressed against her and let the tears fall, letting the heartbreak smash over him.

It was over an hour before Matt and Claire came into the common room. Teddy was sitting cross-legged in front of the fireplace alone. He glanced up and saw the two come in and clambered to his feet and started toward them. Matt looked at Claire and nodded to her, then she started for the stairs leading to the girls' dormitories. Matt watched her go up the stairs then turned and headed towards Teddy, meeting him halfway.

Teddy dropped a hand onto each of his friend's shoulders and bent slightly to look him in the face. His cheeks were blotchy, and his eyes were rimmed with red, but he met Teddy's stare with a strong one of his own. Instead of asking the question he already knew the answer to, he pulled his best friend into a hug. Matt, startled, tensed up at first, then wrapped his arms around Teddy's back and hugged him back.

"I'm sorry, mate. I know that was hard for you." Teddy mumbled quietly. Matt shook his head as he pulled back.

"I'll be alright. I'm sure having the house to myself over the holidays will help me. Well," he tilted his head slightly, "I guess I won't really have it to myself. Claire said she's staying here over the holidays too. So, I'll be needing to keep her company. And Ty and Tonya will be here." Teddy looked puzzled. "What?"

"You'll need to keep Claire company?" Matt rolled his eyes.

"Don't you start. We've gotten to be good friends over the last few weeks." Teddy decided it was best to let it alone and instead changed the subject.

"So, Gretchen took the news better than I expected." Matt nodded.

"Pretty sure Tyson prepared her on the way there though. Else I'm almost positive she would have murdered us all. You all packed then?" Teddy nodded.

"Thanks to your house elf friends," he said with a grin. Matt just stared at him. Teddy turned and headed for the stairs; Matt close behind. They reached their dormitory and opened the door to find Zach asleep across his trunk lid where he had apparently laid to close the lid. The other two boys went about getting their pajamas on and crawling into their beds, falling asleep almost as soon as they did.

The next morning was chaos. The first-year boys were all awaken extremely early by their door being banged open and small fireworks going off all over the room. Zach, per usual, jumped and hit the floor on the far side of his bed. Matt yelped and Teddy flailed his arms, dislodging Moony so violently that she flew onto the foot of Matt's bed. Harry Potter stood in the doorway cracking up laughing.

"What the bloody hell was that?!" Zach said from the floor. Teddy scowled at his godfather but couldn't fully hide the grin that was creeping onto his face.

"Weasley's Indoor Fireworks." He said stiffly. Harry leaned against the doorway with a satisfied look on his face. "There are nicer ways to wake people up, you know."

"Ah, but those ways aren't nearly as quickly effective." Harry said with a laugh. "Ready to go then, boys?" Teddy crawled out of his bed, snatching up his jumper from the top of his trunk as he went. He scooped up Moony and slipped her sleeping form into his pocket. He looked down at this trunk and groaned.

"This thing is going to be a pain to lug clear up to your office." He complained.

"Who said it needed to go to my office?" Harry asked. Teddy looked up at him in confusion. "We are going to floo from the fireplace in your common room. Professor Sprout is getting Ms. Finch-Fletchy as we speak. And no one is 'lugging' trunks." With that he flicked his wand at Zach and Teddy's trunks, and they rose about 6 inches off the floor. He turned and walked from the room and the trunks followed him like a small train.

"Well, that works." Zach mumbled as he stood and grabbed his own jumper from the post of his bed. He turned to Matt. "Enjoy your holidays, mate. We'll owl you." And he turned and trudged from the room. Teddy let out a sigh, grabbed his school bag and the small crate he had shut Moony into, and waved to Matt as he left the room.

In the common room, their three trunks hovered side by side next to the couch. Gretchen, who looked ruffled, was leaning against an exhausted looking Tyson. Teddy let out a laugh.

"What are you doing up, Ty? You're not going with us." Tyson lifted a shoulder.

"Just wanted to see my girl off." He turned to Gretchen. "Owl me when you get there, alright? I'm here." He kissed her on the top of her head and gave her a gentle push towards her brother and Teddy. Harry walked over towards Teddy from talking to Sprout.

"Ah, good. You brought your bag. This should be much easier then." Teddy stared at him. "We can just shrink the trunks and drop them into your bag. Remember the charm I put on? It will hold them just fine" Teddy closed his eyes and waited, hearing the intake of breath behind him as soon as Harry had mentioned the charm on his bag.

"Your bag is bloody enchanted with an extension charm and you make Matt and I lug books all over the bloody castle?!" Zach yelled. Thankfully, Harry had flicked his wand at the first trunk and shrank it to the size of a pencil box. Teddy opened his bag and let Harry drop the first one into his bag. Teddy shrugged his shoulders in response to Zach, who was still swearing under his breath. As Harry dropped the last trunk into his bag and he closed it up, Teddy nudged his arm.

"Harry, are the kids still going to be asleep when we get there? Maybe let us get some more sleep?" He said hopefully but could tell by the half smirk on his godfather's face that he was dreaming.

"No such luck, Ted. Ginny's already flooed me once because James won't shut up."