19 Years (HP - Drarry)

Chapter 6: Metamorphmagus

Friday, September 1, 2017

"Uncle Teddy!"

"Hey, Uncle Teddy!"

Teddy Lupin turned to grin at the two boys, scooping them both into his arms. "Oof! You're getting too big for this!" he laughed, as he nearly stumbled under their combined weight.

"Now," he said, regarding them seriously, "I have to at least pretend fairness, so I may not always be able to be 'Uncle Teddy.'"

They nodded. "Yes, Professor Lupin," they chorused with the rest of the first-years.

Teddy grinned, squashing the pang he always felt when someone called him that. He knew, from the stories his adopted family had told him his whole life, that his father had been a kind and thoughtful professor. He hoped he could be the same. He shook off the solemn thoughts, eager to share in the first-years' excitement. Oh, yes. He was looking forward to this!

"Um, Professor Lupin?" a small girl asked hesitantly.

He smiled winningly down at her. "Yes....?"

"Oh." She blushed. "I'm Sara. Sara Peterson. But... Professor... what happened to your hair?"

"Hmm?" Teddy frowned. He'd thought he'd grown out of his hair changing without his thinking about it, but... He turned, spelling one of the stones in the corridor into a mirror. He ignored the awed gasps at the display of magic, focusing in horror on his hair, now striped in alternating Potter ebony and Malfoy platinum.

Scorpius started to snigger. "You... you look like a skunk!" he gasped out, obviously trying to hold in his laughter.

Al didn't even try. He would probably have fallen over, he was laughing so hard, if not for the way Scorpius was still clutching his hand. Teddy frowned absently, still mostly preoccupied by his hair. He wondered if he would have to do something about their apparent need for constant contact. He filed it away to deal with later, if it became an issue.

He concentrated, scowling into the mirror, and his hair turned bubble-gum pink. Not precisely the look he would have chosen for his first day as Professor Lupin, but... it would have to do. It was better than skunk stripes, at any rate.

He waved his wand, returning the stone to its natural gray, and herded his first-years on. "Right, well. That was... entertaining, I suppose." He ran his hand through his pink hair and smiled winningly at them. "I'm a metamorphmagus, as some of you may have guessed, which means I can change my appearance at will. And, clearly, sometimes by accident." He snorted. "Anyway, I've always found changing my hair to be easiest, so I usually don't bother to spend the energy on anything else."

He grinned at their wide eyes and open mouths. Oh, this was too perfect. "And there's your first lesson, which you'd do well to remember when you start transfigurations tomorrow – though it's applicable in all magical disciplines, really. Any time you use magic, you pay a price. For small, ordinary, everyday-magic, you pay in energy – much like you would if you used a non-magical means to complete the same task. But for larger, more complex magic, the price is higher. And whether you pay it yourself, or, as in Dark Magic, use someone else to pay it... well. The crux of the matter is that the price must be paid."

He took in their serious, slightly-worried expressions and clapped his hands, causing a few of them to jump. "Now, enough of that. Think over what I've said – we'll discuss it more in class tomorrow. For now, though..." He hauled open the doors to their common room abruptly, waving them through and throwing out his arms. "Welcome, my friends, to Hufflepuff. This is your common room – where you'll work and study and relax. Over there are the girls' dorms, divided into upper years (5th, 6th, and 7th) and lower years (2nd, 3rd, 4th, and you guys). Over there are the boys' dorms, divided the same."