HARRY POTTER || INSTAGRAM | NEXT GEN

-20-

//REAL LIFE\\

⚠️WARNING⚠️WARNING⚠️
-Mention of Abuse-

Teddy Lupin was shaking, it was half past midnight and he was struggling to sleep, a lump of blonde hair lying uncomfortably in his side. His head was hurting and the newly formed bruise on his right arm from his girlfriends manicured fingernails was giving him a dull ache.

Slowly, he removed himself from her grasp and escaped to the bathroom, his head reeling from lack of sleep. Every time he closed his eyes he was worried she'd use the advantage of his vulnerability against him, he was scared she would attack him when his guard was down. He slept with one eye open and his arms itching to block anything.

He was terrified.

He felt pathetic. Victoire was half his size.

He stared into the mirror, his eyes heavy with sleep and his lips chapped and dry from the lack of hydration. He was starving and thirsty, his stomach rumbled loudly as if to prompt what he was feeling. He was too afraid to eat for fear she would be ready with a comment, he had never been insecure about his body but when he was with her she made him feel so weak and he felt incredibly self-conscious about his weight.

'You're getting fat' a voice rang in his head, he clenched his fists together 'who'd love you? Go on a diet!' The same voice screamed.

Teddy opened the cabinet above their sink and rummaged around for paracetamol, a muggle medicine, and a cup for water to ease the raging pain in his head. He looked for cooling gel, too, for the the bruise that was glaring dark purple at him.

He sat on the edge of the bath, his hands shaking as he raised the tablets to his mouth and swallowed them with water, he was surprised he managed it after not drinking for so long but the feeling of water on his lips was comforting, he filled the cup with water once more and drank the contents quickly then going in again for another cup. The relief of the water washed over him and he sighed a breath of relief.

He couldn't understand how they got here, Victoire Weasley was a kind and gentle person when they first met, the personality of her father Bill and the picture of her beautiful mother Fleur. Yet now, her personality had turned ugly and her hands were as sharp as razors, her words as poisonous as a basilisk bite. Victoire's once sweet demeanour replaced with the violence of a Chimaera and Teddy feared what she could do to him.

He'd often thought of leaving but worried no one would believe him and the Weasleys and the Potters would abandon him in order to take her side. He was so close to them, he couldn't risk losing them as well as his parents and that fear struck a chord in his heart causing real pain to shoot down his left arm.

Standing up unsteadily, Teddy placed his hands on the sink. He suddenly felt extremely sick as a cascade of blood rushed to his head. The rumbling in his stomach grew louder and he swayed nearly falling into the sink. He took two steps forward and his view of the world blurred, he stumbled forward again, struggling to keep his grip on the sink. Leaning over he retched pure bile into the toilet, with no food to sustain him the acid burnt his throat and stomach lining. The paracetamol he had just taken were now in the watery acidic substance in front of him. His vision returned for two minutes before he fell backwards cracking his head on the bath and waking a sleeping Victoire.

She jumped awake at the sound and stumbled to the bathroom only to find Teddy lying motionless on the floor. She sighed in frustration and shouted at him, he didn't move. She shook him harshly, he didn't move. Selfishly, overcome with anxiety that she might have accidentally killed him, she apparated her and his body to St.Mungos magical hospital demanding to see someone urgently. Teddy was rushed away to a hospital bed and Victoire was tasked with calling the Potters to inform them.

************
Harry and Ginevra Potter were awoken by a sharp ringing sound coming from Harry's wand that lay on the bedside table, next to their bed. Reaching aimlessly for his glasses, Harry pulled them onto his eyes and grabbed the wand.

He flicked it slightly and a ball of blue rose from the wand, an image of Victoire staring at them.

"Uncle Harry, Teddy is in the hospital" she said sounding fearful and concerned but Harry saw right through her deception. He'd been observing a long time their relationship and had come to his own conclusion, as had Ginny. They both knew there was something not right and they were determined to find out, old Gryffindor blood coursing through their veins.

Harry was suddenly wide awake as he realised what she had said. His heart lurching into his throat.

"We'll be right there" and with that the ball disappeared from the air with a pop. He turned over and looked into Ginny's concerned eyes, they both scrambled out of bed to get ready and raced for the fireplace of their large room with the words "St.Mungos" escaping their lips. In a green flash they were in the hospital seeking out Victoire.

Once Harry spotted her he raced towards her, concern etched into his tired features, the large jagged scar across his right eye bending and twisting to match his furrowed eyebrows. Ginny followed suit the same expression on her ageing face.

"Is he okay?" She asked, the sheer amount of pain in her voice was in itself heart aching.

"He's being examined and looked over right now" Victoire replied her eyes downcast.

"What happened?" Harry asked, as much as he tried to hide it, the other women heard the suspicion in his voice. Though Victoire chose to ignore it, Ginny gave Harry a sharp squeeze on the shoulder, an action that was ignored.

"I was asleep and I heard a loud bang from the bathroom so-," Victoire pretending to fake sob into the back of her hand, turning her face away from the adults who, once again, saw right through her "so I went in to check on him and he was laying on the floor, he wouldn't wake when I sh-shook him"

The fake sobs racked her body and she shook and convulsed in faux pain, Ginny reluctantly hugged her in her arms as Harry paced in front of them.

Suddenly, a female healer in a white robe came towards them.

"Edward Remus Lupins family?" She asked them, politely.

"I'm his godfather and legal guardian, Harry Potter" Harry said, stepping forward in complete concern. The woman nodded, a ghosting look of admiration on her face, and motioned for him to come to the side away from the others.

"I must ask you," she began, Harry was already clocking on to what she may say next "what is his home situation like? Does he live with you?"

"Not at the minute, he left school in July and moved into a flat on his own"

"Right... alone you say?"

"Yes, why?"

"There's a slight abrasion on his left leg and a deep purple bruise forming on his right arm" she began, Harry's face morphed into that of horror at her words "and he is extremely sleep deprived and malnourished. It seems he attempted to take some sort of muggle painkiller and vomited the contents of his stomach back up"

"Sometimes his girlfriend, the blond girl over there, she stays with him"

"I'm going to be honest, Mr. Potter it seems as though some type of negative behaviour is occurring and if I were you I'd have Mr. Lupin come home with you for a few weeks, to recover and hope for a change in his behaviours and attitudes"

"Of course, he will come and stay with us"

"Another question, what of his parents?" She asked gently, not missing the hurt flash in Harry's eyes and the flinch accompanying it.

"His parents died in the battle of Hogwarts..."

"Ah," she sighed "thought I recognised that name"

"Thank you for all of your help. Inform me when he will be ready for visitors"

"Of course, Mr. Potter, we must just give him chance to come round and then you may come through. Hopefully he shall be well enough to leave in two days" She finished. Harry nodded and walked back over to the other women. He decided it would be best to wait until a more convenient time to inform them that Teddy would be staying with Harry and Ginny, though he knew his wife would be perfectly okay with it, he couldn't be so sure about Victoire. He would address the concerns of malnourishment when Teddy was safe at home.