Chapter One
Hide & Seek
Teddy's Point of View
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"Let's play a game!"
This, possibly, was my least favorite sentence to hear after an entirely exhausting day of de-gnoming the garden at the Burrow, which took much longer than it should have due to Victoire's incessant talking, and changing my hair fifty different colors for the entertainment of my surrogate siblings and cousins. And while in a room filled with children, most under the age of ten, and Victoire Weasley – it was a dangerous thing to suggest. Especially when said children and best friend have consumed oodles of freshly baked cookies, pints of sugary lemonade, and have Weasley blood flowing through their veins.
The effects of his casual suggestion were instantaneous, loud, and horrifying. Immediately, a chorus of wholehearted agreements zoomed around the room, blurring together into one big, 'Yes!'. Every girl and boy stopped what they were doing, turning their attention to the speaker of the proposal, Lily Potter. Victoire grinned at the suggestion, nodding with enthusiasm and joining in on the frenzy of agreements as her three year old brother bounced up and down on her lap, clapping his hands together and wearing a grin that made him look like the miniature of his oldest sister as he added in his share of giggly, 'yah!'s. Dominique and Rose, however, didn't say anything, but I could tell even the two mellowest Weasley girls were willing to go with the idea. Dominique had looked up from her Teen Witch Weekly and Rose had closed her book, signs that even they were willing to participate in whatever game was decided upon. Albus, Roxanne and Fred, Lucy, Molly, and Hugo all had varied levels of concurrence, ranging from a nod and a 'yeah' to overly eager 'Yes!'s. James Potter hopped up from behind the couch Victoire and Louis were seated on, seemingly out of nowhere, and screamed louder than anyone else, "Yes!", which caused Victoire to let out a shriek, startled by his sudden outburst.
"What game should we play?!" several voices posed the question and several voices responded with several answers. I took the opportunity to try and slide out of the room unnoticed as they argued over what to play, quietly getting up from my seat and inching towards the front door with precaution, not wanting to be noticed before I escaped into the safety of the front porch, where the older generation of Weasleys and Potters had retired to and where I could find a seat next to my godfather to chat casually about last week's Quidditch World Cup instead of being forced to engage in whatever scheme The Munchkins came up with.
And just when I touched the door handle, thinking for sure I had escaped, I heard her voice. I let out a soft groan before turning around to face her, surprised to see she was actually right next to me rather than across the room where she'd been sitting before. A brilliant grin spread across the petite girl's lips and she placed her hands on her small hips, blonde head tilted back slightly so that she could actually see my face. Her eyes displayed a look I knew all too well, a familiar glint of mischief twinkling in them, "And where are you going, Tedwin darling?"
"Actually, I-" I cut myself off before she could and let out a small sigh as she cut back in, "Aren't you going to play with us?" She grabbed my hand, intertwining her fingers with mine and already tugging me back towards the group of on looking redheads, brunettes, and blondes. I tried to ignore the familiar tugging sensation in my chest brought on by her sliding her hand in mine, instead letting my face draw blank as she went on further, "Please Teddy? Will you play with us? Just one game, Teddy, please?" Her voice came off in a persuasive softness, a notch quieter than her usual cheery exclamations.
"Alright."
Of course I agreed, of course. I couldn't say no to her, I never could. Never have I been able to, not even after over a decade of friendship. Which is why I'd been dragged into more ridculous situations then I cared to admit and had always been a part of her reckless, daring shenanigans. I could only count the number of times I'd had to put my foot down and say 'No' to her on one hand and she'd learned since then to only ask the things she knew she could get away with, but even then she was pushing it. Compared to the other things she'd got me involved in, like the time we kidnapped Mrs. Norris or the time she dragged me through the Forbidden Forest at night, so she could see a unicorn – which led to me almost being mauled by one - this was nothing. So I receded wearily, though I wanted nothing more than to be outside with the 'grown ups'.
"Which game are we playing, exactly?" I questioned as Lily Potter grabbed hold of my free hand, swinging it back and forth as she answered cheerily, "Hide and Seek!" I looked at Victoire from the corner of my eye and she nodded solemnly, along with several other Weasley slash Potter kids, though several looked unhappy about it; I guessed that this was what had been mutually decided upon from a quick vote. At the revelation of what we would be playing, I actually smiled, somewhat relieved about the choice of game. Hide and Seek happened to be my specialty, being as I knew several of the best hiding spots in the Burrow. My smile widened as I remembered a key bit of information; Victoire was absolutely horrible at this game. When we use to play as kids, she never could find me, but it was always so easy for me to find her. As more children were added to the mix of our games, I rediscovered Victoire's lack of talent at hiding and seeking, because not only was I always able to find her, everyone else could too.
"Excellent."I looked down at the little red-head and Lily grinned at me, her two front teeth missing, so I had no choice but to grin back at her. I always had a soft spot for the Potter children, her two brothers included. "And who's it?"
"Me." Rose raised her hand and then brought it back down, brushing a stray lock of untamable, curly red hair from her intelligent brown eyes, and explained with an amused smile, "No one wanted to be it, so I volunteered before James could force Albus to." James and Albus grinned at this and I nodded, my mood visibly heightened as I remembered just how much I really liked being around these kids.
"Besides," Roxanne began, her and Fred bouncing up from their seat on the floor simultaneously, both grinning broadly and identically as Fred finished for her, "Vee is going to end up being it soon enough, Ro. You won't have to look very long, I assure you." I burst into a laugh and turned my head towards Victoire, who slid her hand from mine and crossed her arms across her chest, sticking her tongue out at the twins childishly, though she was grinning all the while. They both grinned back and winked, almost at the same time.
"We'll see Freddie, we'll see." she flipped her silvery blonde hair over her shoulder and let out a 'hmph'.
"So!" I looked around at them, seeing that a vast majority of them were shooting looks at the stairs, visibly eager to go claim their hiding spots, "Let's begin, shall we?"
"Rules?" Hugo piped up, rocking on his heels and eyeing the stairs.
"Same as always." Dominique replied, as if it were the stupidest question in the world, closely examining her bright pink nails without looking up.
James decided to explain more thoroughly for her, "Seventy-two seconds, no going in the attic, and no peaking or we'll lock you in the broom closet with Meeks." We all winced at this, the thought of being in close quarters with Aunt Hermione's cat positively frightening. It was a well known fact that Meeks was the reincarnation of Voldemort and why Hermione kept it, no one had a clue. I'd come in contact with the beast once, when it jumped from atop a shelf in the sitting room onto my head and sunk its nails into my skin, clawing at me until Victoire managed to pull him off and throw him out the room, contracting a few scratches for herself in the process.
"And no magic!" Lucy exclaimed, giving me a pointed look through her neatly chopped bangs. I held my hands up in surrender, still grinning and agreed, "No magic, I pinky promise." The six year old then promptly stuck her tiny pinky at me, giving me a serious look as I dropped my hand from Lily's to lock my pinky around hers and shake. She nodded, satisfied, and dropped her hands back to her sides, stepping back away from me to resume reminding her little sister, Molly, to be quiet when she was hiding or she'd be found.
"Including apparating!" Victoire chimed in quickly, then placed a hand on Rose's head, "This one will start counting in a second and we'll all go hide, 'kay?"
"I don't know if you can really call what you do hiding, Victoire." Fred cut in merrily.
"More like sta-" Roxanne began, but was cut off by her cousin.
"One." Rose warned, giving us a Just-Go-Hide-Already look. I took the cue and headed for the stairs, Lily, Lucy, and Hugo following my lead and zipping past me towards the foot of the stairs.
"Close your eyes, Ro!" James yelled, running past me and his sister and cousins, Albus and Molly chasing after him. I followed slowly up the stairs, careful to get out of the way of the kids running past me, and saw Rose close her eyes and Victoire attempted to pick up Louis as she took the first step onto the stairs. The little boy looked horrified and pushed away from her, exclaiming in a squeal, "You get me caught, Vic-twee! I no go with you!" He then clumsily began climbing the stairs and I stopped and turned towards the two, smirking at Victoire as I took two steps down and scooped up her brother. "You don't have to go with Vee, little man." Victoire sent me a glare as Dominique climbed the stairs past us, giving the three of us a blank look. She raised an eyebrow at me and opened her arms, "Here, I'll take him." I obliged, carefully setting the squirming toddler in Dominique's arms, who sent me the slightest hint of a smile before balancing her brother on her hip and hurrying past me on the stairs, asking the little boy in a whisper as she went, "Where do ya' want to hide, Lou?" Victoire watched them her siblings disappear at the top of the stairs with a slightly furrowed brow and turned her blue gaze up at me without climbing higher up the stairs.
"TEN!" I heard Rose call out loudly, so that all of us could hear, and saw Victoire startle at her cousins uproar. I grinned down at her in amusement and lifted my hands up, wiggling my fingers at her in a wave, "See you later, kid." With that I bounded up to the top of the stairs, taking two steps at a time as I heard her musical laugh and running footsteps follow up the stairs behind mine.