The Kidnapping of Teddie Green

                                    

                                          
In the days leading away from the second task, Teddie didn't have time to think about Mason's theory. The winter term was over, and the summer one was just beginning, which meant that the end of school exams was fast approaching.
                          
"It's less than eight weeks," said Mason, turning the page of his Transfiguration book. "I have to prepare."
                          
"Did you make flashcards this year?" Astoria asked.
                          
Mason nodded and emptied the contents of his pencil case onto the library table. Several cards landed onto the table, each one with a question on one side, and the answers on the back. "I just need to make a few more for Potions and Charms, otherwise I am covered."
                          
"How do these work, exactly?" Astoria asked. "I know you explained last year, but I still don't understand."
                          
Reaching across the table, Teddie picked up the flashcards and smiled at Astoria. "It's okay," she said. "I can show you this year. Here, try and answer me this: 'At which stage of the Swelling Potion would you add Bat Spleen?'"
                          
"Um..." Astoria hesitated.
                          
"The second stage," Mason answered. "After which you stir four times, anti-clockwise, heat on low for thirty seconds, and then wave your wand to complete the potion."
                          
Teddie held up the card, showing Astoria the opposite side. There, written in Mason's scrawled handwriting, were the answers that he had just stated.
                          
"Flashcards are usually a two-person thing," said Teddie. "One person to read out the question, and the other to try and get the answers. You write the answers on the flip side of the card to be sure, but only the question master is allowed to see them."
                          
Astoria scratched her neck. "But, won't we see the answers when we write them down?" she asked.
                          
"Yes, but, due to the high number of cards that you use, and the different subjects, it's kind of hard to remember what you've written," said Teddie. "Mason swears by these," she shuffled the deck and set them back onto the table. "They're good for little reminders."
                          
Astoria nodded and Mason packed the cards back into his pencil case.
                          
The bell rang soon after, and the three students departed the library, heading for their next lessons.
                          
~X~
                          
After bidding Mason and Astoria goodbye outside the Transfiguration classroom, Teddie made her way down to the dungeons and found her friends waiting outside the Potion's classroom. They were huddled together near an alcove, with Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode, Draco Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle opposite. The five of them were laughing at something that Pansy was holding, but it was hidden from the view of anyone else.
                          
"Look, there they are!" Pansy suddenly cried, looking up and around. Her attention had been drawn to the arrival of the Gryffindors, more specifically, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger.
                          
Teddie turned to Daphne. "What's going on?" she asked.
                          
"She's been giggling at something in Witch Weekly," said Daphne. "I have no idea what it is, though."
                          
Stepping out of her group of friends, Pansy brandished the magazine in Hermione's direction. "You may find something of interest in there, Granger," she said, snidely.
                          
Hermione furrowed her brow and snatched up the magazine. She glanced at the front page and then met Teddie's gaze in the sea of black, green and silver.
                          
Teddie looked between Hermione and the magazine, shrugged and shook her head. She had no idea what the Gryffindor was going to find between the folds, but she was sure that Hermione should be cautious nonetheless. If the Pansy and her friends found the article to be amusing, then it couldn't have been good.