a/n: ive rewritten this like three times over the span of two years kinda omg also i try to lay out the timeline for you esp later if you can't catch on haha h .. .

1 of 3 - Of Beginnings

(Sunday) September 20, 2009 – 6:36 PM

.

"It's all right, Victoire." Teddy comforted. "You can cry if you want."

The little girl in question inhaled sharply before answering maturely. "I'm not gonna cry, Teddy. I only cry when I'm scared. You're gonna laugh if I do, too."

She was not wrong, but the two had gone a long way. Tagging along with Harry to New York City was a struggled victory consisting of pouty faces and whining, and convincing him to leave them both to their own devices to wander the city unsupervised was completely unguided.

One hour, three subways, and nine hot dogs later, the two find themselves, predictably, lost. Teddy thought multiple times of using magic, only fearing the absolute terrifying scoldings they were bound to face sooner or later.

For the ever-clueless Harry Potter in the other side of the city, however, his only thoughts hovered merely on how boring the meeting with the Secretary of Magical Affairs was going and how he'd really go for a pumpkin tart right about then. At least he was out of trouble, Teddy thought fondly (and most likely channeling Ginny Potter).

Leading Victoire by hand, Teddy waltzed through alleyways and slipped by police cars passing by, leaning towards Harry's old infamous way of thinking; quiet, brash, and reckless.

"Where is Uncle Harry, again?" Victoire broke the growing silence between them. Of course, a night at New York was everything but. "I think the meeting's ending soon and if we don't get there before it's done, he'll definitely know we sneaked!"

He knew that, Teddy did, but he still had his pride as an eleven year old. "Oh, hush," he brushed off, "I know where we're going. Empire State. Floor one-hundred and third. It's where they're having the meeting, but I dunno where America's real headquarters are."

"Then why aren't we there yet? I'm getting tired. I wanna go to Uncle Harry."

"Stop complaining. We can do this by ourselves, I swear. We're almost there."

They ended up in another alley, dark and depressing and damp. At the very least, although he didn't know where on earth he was going, moving was more comforting than staying in one place.

Strangers haven't asked them weird questions or took them to weird places, so Teddy believed nothing too terrible was happening yet. Hopefully they'd bump into a fellow wizard, although they didn't know if it were possible.

"Teddy! Teddy, you're hurting me!"

Teddy loosened his grip on Victoire's wrist and apologized.

"Teddy..." Victoire quieted. She seemed to have caught onto his hesitancy. "Edward Remus Lupin," she announced a bit louder, leaving Teddy to think she'd reached her limit with the immensely impossibly huge area. "You really don't know where you're going, do you?"

"Sorry, Vic," Teddy said, his hair uncontrollably turning from bright turquoise to pale white—ashamed. His emotions were literally the easiest to decipher; wearing hearts on sleeves didn't even compare. Luckily, no muggles were around to witness the change. "I don't."

Behind him, the nine year old sighed. Teddy hoped she wouldn't get into a Hermione-esque rant about how completely irresponsible he was acting or whatever, but—praise Dumbledore—she remained withdrawn.

This was the fourth street they had taken a turn to an alley, and Teddy was beginning to feel little nervous. More nervous than before they ate that ninth hot dog. Between the two, a quick understanding passed. They headed towards the crowded streets and wandered.

Teddy shifted his hair to a calm deep brown and made sure his eyes stayed a natural color. His hand was still latched tightly on Victoire's, but besides the earlier remark, she made no claims as to do otherwise. Not that he necessarily hated it, either.

Although the bright night city was buzzing with strangers, none did the two find stranger than seeing someone in a realistic lizard-like monster costume strum a guitar. Victoire was the one to tug at his hand, walking closer to the weird performer. Teddy surveyed the reactions of the bystanders and discovered they weren't that disturbed by the lizard costume playing acoustic rock in the middle of the walk. Some even stayed and enjoyed it, dropping money in the guitar case.

"Do all muggles do this for fun?" Teddy asked, more to himself than anyone.

Victoire took the liberty to answer. "American muggles, maybe."

The performance of the costumed player were continuing, and Victoire and Teddy stayed put. It wasn't that the music was so impressive or alluring that they remained, though, but the fact that something else caught their attention later entirely.

It was the teenage couple next to them, looking like they had just come from a date, watching the performer and holding hands. Victoire quietly pointed out their matching grey streaks in their hair and said Teddy should try that one day. Teddy ignored her.

Something about the way they faked their smiles and how they occasionally narrowed their eyes intently bothered Teddy. He relayed his distress quickly to Victoire, who, while she did want to dismiss his paranoia, felt the same suspicion.

The teenage boy whispered something into the girl's ear. She nodded her blonde head. They were both looking less and less lovey-dovey and more ruthless by the second.

From the corner of his eye, Teddy saw something weirder occur. He turned to face the man standing behind, as there was still a crowd around the performer.

"Sir," started Teddy. "did you see the guitarist's tail swish?"

The man blinked and frowned. "Tail? What are you—Hey, kid, you're not foolin' anybody."

Teddy furrowed his brow. "The tail. From the costume."

"Kid," the man said, "that girl ain't wearin' no costume."

This was the moment Teddy saw it snow sparkles.

Snapping his head towards the direction of the performer's spot, he saw was the teenage couple amongst a pile of sand, holding something that looked like swords. Maybe it was. The two looked like they were discussing something of importance.

Teddy reached out for Victoire's hand, which throughout all this he had managed to let go, and made sure she was standing close.

"What," he asked, the two teenagers still bantering as if nothing exploded. "just happened?"

He looked at Victoire and saw her teeth chattering. It was cold, and he had already lent her his jumper earlier. She had seen it all, he guessed. "They—the pen. Just slashed it, and all! It was—it wasn't a costume, Teddy!"

Teddy put his hand on her head, as if it could stop her from chattering her head off. He glanced behind him to realize the crowd was no longer listening, but clapping. He didn't understand. The lizard thing wasn't playing anymore.

"Good performance." Said the man behind him who had called him kid. "Real solid. You don't hear that kind of music everyday."

The other people from the crowed seemed to agree with his sentiment and soon dispersed. The sand, which Teddy drew to the conclusion was the reptilian person, had faded. Surprisingly, couple were still talking.

Teddy and Victoire moved closer to them. The milk crate the lizard sat on while playing was now scattered to the side. The guitar case was gone, too, along with the money.

"Where'd it's guitar go?" Victoire asked them. Teddy forgot to tell her to be cautious of them, although it was too late now.

The two turned their heads in Victoire's direction and looked alarmed. Teddy could now identify their appearances. It's a struggle for Teddy to get grey eyes, but black hair and green eyes were a personal favorite of his.

"Monster?" was what the girl asked the boy.

"No," he replied.

Victoire took on a hurt face, and Teddy was kind of offended on her behalf.

"That's really rude, you know," Teddy defended. "Victoire's all kinds of pretty."

Immediately, Victoire brightened. That really was all it took to cheer that girl up, he thought.

The blue green eyes boy nudged the girl. "Look what you did, Wise Girl, you hurt her feelings. Apologize."

She threw a scathing glare at the boy but slipped to an apologetic smile when facing Victoire. "Sorry, it's been a long day."

"Wait," the other boy interrupted. "What did you mean by 'where'd it's guitar go'?"

Victoire and Teddy exchanged a look. "It's nothing important," Victoire amended. This was their chance.

"But we know you're, um," Teddy glanced around, like looking for eavesdroppers. He dropped his voice. "Magical."

Their eyes widened, almost comically.

"Yeah, it's okay, since we are, too! " Victoire added, "We're hoping you can help us find my uncle. He's in the Empire State Building, but we don't know how to get there. Can you help us?"

"Empire...? Well, this is… an interesting turn," the blonde girl said. She crossed her arms and looked at the boy, deemed to be her boyfriend. "Well?"

He paused. "Well what? Oh! Right, but first don't you think we should ask Chiron about these kids? No one told anyone to assign for..."

The blonde girl's eyes flashed. "Hold on." The four were face to face, although the teens had to hunch down to match the children. She smiled at them, and was very pretty. She was what Teddy might've imagined most Americans looked like, with her bright hair and tanned tone. "Sure, we'll help you."

Relief was all he felt throughout his body. "Thank you. My name's Teddy. That's Victoire."

A bright smile was given in return by the boy and he grabbed the girl for an introduction. Teddy took the time to notice they wore matching necklaces. "This is Annabeth, and I'm Percy. Nice to meet you, Teddy."