Teddy was stressed to the max, worked half to death, and as sleep deprived as he had been when he had those recurring nightmares about his parents' deaths as a kid. He couldn't even control his morphing, so it was a good thing his hair and eyebrows had settled on a deep black, instead of a more obvious shade, like fuschia or puce. he ran his right hand through his hair and stared at the door. Matilda was twenty minutes late for their business meeting. Which was terribly unusual for his extremely tactful workmate. And in light of the recent attacks, and Matilda living in an unprotected flat, he was somewhat worried. What if she'd been attacked? The thought made Teddy unexpectedly angry, and protective. He shook his head. None of that he told himself. She's your team mate, you're worried about your team mate, she's a mate, you worry about your mates too. Another five minutes went by, and he kept pacing. Just as he was about to floo her place, the door burst open and Matilda basically flung herself through it. She was extremely disheveled looking, and was breathing quite hard.
"I'm so sorry I'm late. Terribly sorry. Won't happen again, ever. Swear" she slid to the ground and laid her head on her arms, which she had folded across her knees. Her style was always eccentric, but until today it had been very business like as well. But today she had two different flats on, a pair of extremely wrinkled black trousers covered in cat fur, and a half buttoned blue blouse over paint spattered tank top. Her hair was not brushed either, leaving it in clumps of wavy platinum tangles sticking out every which way. He ignored a sudden urge to hug her and smooth her frazzled hair out.
"Matilda, are you alright?"
"No. Those bloody bastards working for Greyback staked out my flat. If I wasn't as quick with my shield charms as I am, I'd be dead, or worse right now. These were the only clothes I could easily find and grab before they got to me. I changed in a pub bathroom across town, and apparated here. And, well, yes. That's all." She looked up at him, her expression apologetic. He shook his head. Leave it to her to be sorry for getting attacked. Affection for the witch surged through his chest, reminding him of the odd protectiveness he felt earlier. He ignored it, pushing it to the back of his mind, as he had every time it happened. She was a team member, he told himself, of course he cared for her. It was nothing more than that. The fact that she was undeniably a very pretty woman, and a member of his team were getting mixed up in his head and making him think he had feelings for her. Yes, that was it. He sighed, and moved to sit beside her.
"Will, you be okay? You didn't get hurt or anything? Do you need to talk to someone? Or do you need anything? Sorry, I'm awful at this."
"I'll be fine. We do have a meeting to have though, which is now..." she glanced down to look at her watch, only to remember it wasn't there "Well I don't know how late because I don't know what time it is." She sighed, completely exasperated.
"Meeting can wait, You should report the attack to the security head.I told him we needed to fix up everyone's living spaces, even the people who weren't high up in the department, but does he listen? No. Anyway."
"I got a decent look at three of them, but there were two I didn't see at all, are you doing, Teddy?" her strangely emotive pale aqua eyes looked at him, obviously full of concern.
"I'm an auror. I'm trained for this, of course I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"
"Well, Teddy, as I've said, this isn't exactly an impersonal case for you. Greyback was the wolf who changed your father. And tried to kill him when he wouldn't fight for Voldemort. And the wolf who later killed him. You can be upset. It's healthy." she frowned slightly and knitted her eyebrows together. "Oh dear, I haven't offended you have I?" she looked at him expectantly.
"No, not at all. You're just.. you're the only one who ever asks about that. And, actually, it's pretty hard. I pride myself on keeping my emotions out of my work, but the fact that it's him makes it really hard to do that. And he's attacking people who work with me, because he knows I'm trying to stop him, and he wants to hurt me. So, maybe I'm not fine, but I'm...managing. Yeah, I'm managing."
"Well, I'm glad you're managing then. You obviously aren't sleeping well. The circles under your eyes are nearly as dark as your hair."
"I just don't want anyone else to get hurt. Or changed. Or killed. And I'm head of this case, so I feel responsible, you know?"
"Yeah. It makes a lot of sense." she yawned, stretching her arms in a manner oddly reminiscent of a cat "I have a feeling I'll be joining you in having under eye circles pretty soon. I don't know how I'll bring myself to sleep alone in my flat, at least until they get the protections up, and even then it'll be difficult." Teddy took a deep breath. This was probably an awful, awful idea. He didn't need to fight off more confused emotions, but he couldn't let his mate, one of his best mates he allowed himself to admit, stay alone in an unprotected flat.
"Wanna come stay at my place? It'll take a few days for them to get to your house, and you shouldn't be there unprotected."
"You'd let me crash with you? Really?"
"Sure. You're one of my closest mates, and you can't be in that vulnerable of a position." Matilda turned slightly and gave Teddy a quick but tight hug. He caught a whiff of the way she smelled. Cherries and patchouli and sugar and... butterscotch? Oh merlin, he thought to himself, this will be the end of me.
"Thank you so much, Teddy. I promise I'll return the favor. I'll make you breakfast on the mornings we start late enough for me to have time."
"I'd say that's a fair trade. Now, we are taking today off. All the others are busy anyway. And you look exhausted." he and Matilda headed to the bank of fireplaces in the lobby. They couldn't use office ones right now, because they weren't very secure. He stepped into one of the fireplaces.
"Come on. It's safer if we go together" Matilda stepped in beside him, pinching some floo pwder between her fingers. Teddy held her wrist lightly
"Drop it as soon as I'm done with my address." she nodded "13 Buxington Avenue" in unison, they threw the powder down and vanished in the emerald flames. They appeared seconds later in Teddy's fireplace.
"Password" a magical recreation of Teddy rose from the floor and looked at them.
"Chocolate treacle pie" the figure disappeared and they both stepped out. Matilda gave him an inquisitive look about his password. "S'what my mum and dad ate for dessert on their first date. Harry told me."
"That's sweet Teddy" she smiled at him and then yawned again, once again stretching in that oddly feline fashion.
"You're beat. Let me grab you some more comfortable clothes. You can borrow something of mine" he wandered off to the bedroom, and Matilda looked around the room. On one wall were large pictures of the DA and the Order of the Phoenix. There was also an auror course completion certificate for 'Theodore Sirius Lupin', and a picture of Teddy with the Potters from a few years back. She smiled. It made her happy that even without his birth parents he'd been able to live a happy, full life. Teddy wandered back out of his room, holding some messily folded clothes in his arms.
"Here. You're tiny, so they may be a bit baggy. But they should be comfortable." he handed her a pair of worn gray and black flannel pants and a black tanktop. She turned around, stripped to her underwear, and quickly pulled Teddy's clothes on. Teddy was startled at this sudden action, but realized that Matilda wasn't really the type to care if someone saw her in her underwear, seeings as it was really no different than a swimsuit. Still, he fought down an unwanted reaction, chanting his mantra in his head. Strictly business, strictly business, strictly business. He'd become really close to the odd blonde in the six months she'd spent on the case with him. She was, more or less, his best finished pulling his clothes on, swimming in the tank top because she was so tiny, and it was then he noticed something in her big aqua eyes was...off. More off than they should be in that situation. After all, she swore they didn't hurt her. But then, Matilda hated showing emotion. Teddy took a deep breathe, and took a big, big chance.
"What else happened, Matty?"
"Huh?"
"Something else happened to you. Tell me. Please?" she closed her eyes and sighed.
"One of them.. the one I didn't see.. he.. tried to stun me, but it only grazed me, so I wasn't totally out, but I couldn't really do anything. He.. he held me down and he...he.." she bit her lip and hid her head in her hands "He.. he raped me" she collapsed into a sobbing heap on the ground and Teddy reacted on pure instinct and ran to her, pulling her into his arms and rocking her while she cried. They stayed like that for several minutes, until Matilda's sobs subsided. Teddy was unspeakably angry and wished with all his heart Matilda had seen the culprit so her could hunt him down and beat the bloody hell out of the bugger. he gently lifted Matilda up.
"I'm going to put you in my bed to sleep for awhile and go make us dinner, okay? And then after you rest and eat, we'll go have your skin and clothes scanned to try and trace the spells." she nodded meekly and followed him, shuffling slowly, looking weaker than she ever had. Teddy tucked her into his bed, and she closed her eyes.
'