Eavesdropper.

Teddy had arrived.

And no one really noticed.

Her parents dropped her off and gave her their distracted hugs, as Merry was still crying about a phone call gone wrong with her boyfriend that morning. Teddy looked between her parents, guessing their interest to be, well, low. And yet, Merry's little sniffles drew their attention every time. So Teddy heaved a sigh, waved good bye, and hurried through the barrier before she was completely neglected.

The slight blonde girl took a look around her and breathed in the air. New school, new adventures. Her ears twitched, picking up bits and pieces of conversation. The girl was already focusing. She was already tempted by truth and secrets and mystery. She had to get on the train though. She knew there was nothing here.

She walked towards the train, lugging her trunk along. She strode down the corridor and that was when she heard yelling. She paused. Two people were already having a row. Probably nothing, she would admit, but she couldn't go without checking. She hurried towards the door and her trunk hit the floor. The shouting stopped. A moment later, whispering filled the air. But what they whispered, Teddy didn't know.

But by pressing her ear to the door, as she did now, she could get a fairly good idea.

Matt had excused himself from the compartment he was presently occupying with a Hufflepuff fifth year. He was hungry and wanted to grab something from the trolly. On his way he passed even more familiar faces. More hello's and waves, an occasional [i]How as your summer?[/] he moved quickly down the hallway. He didn't feel like talking at the moment, he felt like eating. Finally he found the trolly near the front of the train. As she finished up with the second years in the compartment she turned to him.

A few minutes later, with a packet of droobles and bertie botts he made his way back to his compartment. Only to find a familar head of hair and body with an ear pressed against the door. He quiet made his way towards her, and very quietly put his lips near her ear. Without breathing or making any noise he whispered into her ear, "What are we listening for?" He moved away quickly wanting to see a full view of her reaction to the scare.

These doors were much thicker than Teddy had remembered, so she had been unable to hear much of the exchange. She could hear the word Spice a few times however, and her interest and intrigue was piqued. She had heard that word several times from the partiers at the school. This could be a major breakthrough with some of the professors. They were always worried about illegal substances and this could really be a good story.

She had reached into her pocket, searching for an Extendable Ear when her own ear was attacked by a close voice. Her heart stopped briefly and she stiffened, whipping her head up and opening her mouth to excuse herself with some quick excuse. She relaxed as she identified Scott Bagman, a chum of hers, and she closed her mouth. She relaxed and sighed. "Great Scott, you scared me," she used her nickname for the boy but was much more interested in telling him of the story. "They're talking about Spice. There's some real intell here!" She loved using code.

"All I'm saying is I could get some Spice if I wanted it," said Destrey.

"And all I'm saying is we all know you're not stupid enough to use it," Shylock bit back at her. "So why don't you tell us your big plan?"

The Ashcroft children habitually sat together on the ride to Hogwarts, and this year, being the first year without Monroe's calming influence was also the first to feature the spectacle of all four of their personalities exploding at once.

Lusk rolled her eyes.

"She's going to deal, of course!" the little second year chimed in merrily. "She's going to get her own stash and undercut the prices. Really, you ought to have thought of that one, Shylock, muggle drug lords do it all the time."

Scott rolled his eyes at his young friend. She was always way too involved in her "intel". He knew what Spice was. He was honestly a little bit interested in it. However he really didn't want to try it. He wanted to figure out the contents and who was distributing it. It may just be so that Scott wanted to help Teddy with this one. But now was not the time nor was it the place. "Alright Sherlock," he began as he ate one of his beans. "The school year hasn't even begun and you're already trying to get to the bottom of something." he finished. His friend was crazy, she never had enough fun.

"You need help, and it just so happens that Doctor Phil is standing right here." he told her outstretching his arms. Suddenly realizing she probably had no clue who Doctor Phile was. "He's some muggle healer person." he said waving off the name. "Let's go set of a dungbomb in one of the Slytherin compartments!" he said excitedly.

Teddy could see that Scott thought she was wasting her time, but she continued to unravel the Extendable Ear. He criticized her, though not very harshly, for already beginning her work for the year. "I wanted a head start," she said, as she checked to make sure the Ear still worked. "It happened by chance and now I can't abandon the story."

She glanced up at him as he threw out his arms. "And I'm the mad one," was all she could say before carefully feeding the Ear through the door, listening in the other end. She didn't hear Scott, because she was ignoring him, but she could hear something about dealing. Her eyes widened and she turned to look up at Scott. She mouthed, "It's a spice dealer! Listen!" She beckoned him to join her at the ear.

"Shhhhhhhh!"

Destrey sent her baby sister a poisonous glare. Lusk might have been some kind of genius child, but why couldn't she do the simplest of things? Like moderate her voice.

"Just shout it out like that, why don't you? I'm not sure the entire train heard," she said.

"You still haven't told us how you could get some," Shylock reminded Destrey from the other side of the compartment.

He couldn't see her plan at all. Nobody knew who the Spice dealer inside Hogwarts was, did they? So... there was more to Destrey's plan than just undercutting prices. Lusk was smart, but she was also only 12. Naive.

Scott through his hands in the air and scoffed in exasperation. He forgot how annoying it was trying to talk to Teddy without her having an extendable ear in her own. Or get a chance to speak when she wasn't going on about something she had heard in the girls washroom. "If they make you a prefect God help all the trouble makers in the school." he told her in a moderate tone. He was aware that there were Slytherin's inside this specific compartment. He didn't want to make too much noise and let them know they were there. He groaned as the ear slid under the compartment door. Her next words were word's he was used to hearing on a daily basis.

He was aware that Spice was a brand new drug being dealt by various students at the school. He was interested in Spice but he would never actually use it. He'd probably burn it to see what happened. Or create something out of it. Either way, at the present moment, he really didn't care about it. "Come on Teddy! Don't make me go prefect on you." he told her. He pointed a finger threateningly at her. It wasn't a genuine threat. And he knew it would have next to no affect on his friend. He'd end up sliding to the floor, back to the wall while she prattled on as usual anyway.

He didn't care and if he wasn't going to help her, she would find it all out on her help. "Scott! People are worried about their children! Young people are ruining their futures and you want to move on so you can read a Quidditch magazine, but I have justice to seek!"

What she hadn't realized was that her voice had become quite shrill. She paused. "Sh!t. Do you think they heard us?"