Disclaimer: I own neither the world nor characters of Harry Potter and I make no money with my writing.

Beta: Trish Tavor, Raggazzed12, Poet-of-Babylon, shadowrunner. Thanks girls! :D

A/N: Written for the Quidditch Tournament, Little League Finals. Task: Write about a second-generation Weasley of your choice (not including the Potter children). Additional prompts: 2. (quote) 'Sometimes it's the smallest decisions that can change your life forever' - Keri Russell, 5. (word) stubborn, 12. (word) backpack.

Exceeds Expectations

by Dime

Sometimes it's the smallest decisions that can change your life forever. For Louis Weasley, it was the choice to join Victoire and Teddy on a hiking tour in Wales the summer after his OWLs.

The weather was particularly British the morning they left their youth hostel to climb Mount Snowdon, so they had a late start, only arriving at the foot of the mountain around noon when the clouds finally cleared up. They decided to brave the mountain regardless, but take the train back in case it took them too long.

However, it quickly became clear that Victoire's ambition was to make it up and back down the mountain on foot in record time. Teddy, in his usual infuriatingly easygoing and un-wolfish style, just smiled and went along with it. Louis's protests went unheeded. So right now, Louis was getting exhausted and annoyed in equal measure as he raced after his stubborn sister up the mountain.

He hadn't even wanted to come. But Louis, unlike his sisters, had neither his mother's Veela looks - far from it! - nor his father's brilliance and spirit of adventure. If he got a single EE in his OWLs, it would indeed exceed everyone's expectations - including his own. There was nothing to be done about looks and intelligence, he thought, but at least he could pretend to be adventurous lest people think him adopted.

Hence his presence on this cursed mountain, running after his nightmare of a sister.

While scrambling after Victoire and Teddy up the rocks, he slowly became aware of an increasing background noise. Only when it was nearly upon them did he identify it as heavy footsteps hurrying down the path in their direction.

Trolls! he thought frantically. He knew that a few supposedly lived on Mt. Snowdon. But so many of them at once? This sounded like an entire horde. The others had paused up ahead and were looking around for cover. Teddy's hair had turned grey and his ears lay flat while his mouth was twisted in a snarl like an angry wolf's. He had not inherited his father's lycanthropy, but he did have his mother's metamorphmagus abilities and often used them to feel closer to his deceased father.

Before Louis could despair because there was simply no cover to be found on this part of the mountain, the party responsible for the noise turned the corner ahead and was right in front of him.

Muggles in uniforms. A lot of Muggles in uniforms.

Running down the mountain.

"Huh?"

Stepping aside to let the running Muggles pass, Louis shared a puzzled glance with his sister, who for once was as clueless as he. Leaning against the rough mountainside seaming the path, they incredulously watched the running, sweating, sometimes red and huffing Muggles pass until the last of them had vanished around the next corner.

"What was that?!"

Louis had thought their little group was going awfully fast, but that bunch had been outright running down the rocky trail, all while carrying large backpacks and other heavy-looking equipment.

"Do you think there's some danger up ahead?" Victoire asked uncertainly. What would cause uniformed Muggles to run from it?

"Noo...," Teddy said slowly. Out of the three of them, he had the most contact with Muggle culture. "Those looked like soldiers, and they did not have any weapons out. I think they were just training."

"But they'll break their necks! Or at least their pins."

"That's precisely why they're training, I assume," Teddy said with a smile. His ears were happily perking up now, and his hair slowly returned to a cheery shade of blue.

Loud stomping and the clatter of skittering stones announced another couple of soldiers. Again, the trio stepped aside to let them pass. These two were obviously the runts of the litter: running a good mile after the lot, they were audibly out of breath and seemed ready to collapse. The wizards silently watched them struggle on.

"No, I really don't get it," Louis said and Victoire just shrugged. They were Muggles. Not everything they did had to make sense. You only had to listen to grandpa's stories to know that.

The path wound on and on up the mountain, and just when Louis thought they'd never get there, the trio reached the summit. It was hours past tea-time already and Louis was fiercely determined to ride the train down, no matter what his big sister said.

Only when they got there, the train schedule revealed that the last train for that day had already left.

"Aaargh!" Louis kicked at a rock in frustration, which clattered loudly over the edge of the cliff and tumbled down the mountainside with a great deal of noise and dust. Louis watched it in horrified fascination. "Umh."

"You're lucky that none of the paths run along that side," Teddy stated, peering down the slope beside him.

"Nobody would be on them at this time of day anyway!" Louis retorted, trying to hide his embarrassed flush. "So what are we doing? If we go back the way we came, we won't make it before dark. What's the plan, Victoire?"

She frowned. "We could always apparate."

"Yeah, great idea. Except for the fact that I haven't learned that yet. Nor is either of you capable of taking me side-along. So what, you're just going to leave me up here?" he sniped.

"Oh. I forgot about that."

Louis decided right there and then never again to let his sister do all the planning. She may be miles ahead of him academically, but it seemed thinking ahead in practical, real-life situations wasn't her forte. "Now what?" he ground out.

She cocked her head and looked at him with feigned surprise. "You think I would know?"

He felt a vein pulsing in his forehead and his hands clenched tightly around the railing before him. While he might not have the typical Weasley look, he did have a red-head's temper. "It was your bloody idea to take the longest way up you could find!"

"That's true," she admitted easily, still not bothered in the least. "I suppose we'd better go down by a different route, then, hadn't we?"

Teddy nodded his assent and they all headed over to a standing map where Louis picked out the quickest way back down. Throughout their inspection of the map, anger at the situation and especially at his sister was gnawing at him. On top of that, an odd itch had settled between his shoulder blades as though his trusty old backpack was rubbing him raw. Like he needed any more bad luck to make this day a perfect disaster!

After barely any pause on the summit, the three teenagers began their journey back down the mountain. Victoire and Teddy were not overly worried about the timing and were joking back and forth, one pushing the other or suddenly running ahead laughing madly. For a while, Teddy expended part of his concentration on keeping his hair the exact shade as the light of the quickly fading sun. Victoire was goofing around him, trying to find an angle from which his hair blended completely into the sunset.

And during it all, Louis was quietly seething.

He was hungry, his water bottle was near-empty, the sun was sinking at a rapid pace and they were still stuck on top of this bloody mountain. It was at least two hours since he had last seen a waymark and he was nearly certain that they had taken a wrong turn somewhere. An odd pain in his nose and the persistent itch between his shoulder blades perfected his misery.

Then, to make matters even worse, he stumbled and nearly fell while walking on a narrow ridge. He tossed his backpack down on the path and knelt to check what was wrong with his boots. Already pissed off, the view of his left sole coming loose just about did it.

"BLOODY BUGGERING-"

Victoire turned around in surprise at his shout. As such, she did not have a good stand when Teddy playfully bumped into her again. Forgetting all about his shoe, Louis watched in wide-eyed horror as she overbalanced and went over the edge.

Searing rage tore through him. "YOU RETARDED SON OF A SKUNK!"

The pain in his nose and shoulders spiked, and with a roar of pain, he felt them split open.

Louis ignored it. Running through the pain, he came to Teddy's side in the fraction of a second. Going purely on instinct, he whacked him on the head in passing, then dove off the ridge after his sister.

His greater mass combined with the fact that he was going head-first allowed him to catch up to Victoire quickly. The panic in her face made him even madder at Teddy. Louis wrapped his arms around his sister in a comforting hug even as he noticed that she looked more baffled than panicked as she stared at something behind his head. His own eyes, however, had been fixed on her. Now he had her, he looked in the direction he was going - straight down.

He noticed his predicament that very instant. They were about a hundred feet above some wicked-looking rocks, and falling fast. Panic raced through him and instinct took over completely. Muscles he had never moved before activated and worked to move the shimmering wings that had sprouted from his back. At first their descent merely slowed, but then they began to rise back up to the ridge.

"Louis, you have wings!" Victoire shouted in his ear while clutching onto him tightly.

"I have wings," Louis confirmed. Or tried to, anyway, but the beak that had replaced his mouth and nose wouldn't quite let him form the words. He nodded. Yes, wings, that was the strange pain in his back. Of course it was.

He probably looked a bit less clever still than usual, if the dazed feeling that had overtaken him was any indication. He'd always considered himself the least gifted or outstanding member of his family. But now? He'd have to re-think some of the fundamental truths of his life. Hardly anything was known about male Veelas. Maybe he should have paid more attention to that fact than to his deplorable looks.

The warm feeling that enveloped him upon realizing that he was special chased away the anger. With it went the beak and the wings.

"YIAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Victoire screamed as they once more dropped down from the sky like two sacks of potatoes.

Louis didn't scream, he just looked at the fast-approaching ground while the terror coursed through him. He was expecting the last thing he felt in his life to be his body impacting on those rocks below. Therefore, his sister's hand punching him full in the face came literally out of nowhere.

"What the hell?!" he exploded - and alongside his temper, the beak and wings returned.

Victoire laughed at him and clutched onto him tightly as he was gently rubbing at his smarting beak. It looked too solid to take any damage, but it had been his nose she had hit, not the beak. How did a hit to his nose translate to his bird form, anyway?

"Now don't lose that anger again," Victoire told him sternly, then pinched his side hard.

"KKKIIIIIIIIAAAH!" he screamed, which apparently was his beak's version of "OUCH!"

"Sorry brother, but I don't fancy another drop." She did not sound sorry at all, but rather incredibly smug because she had found a way to keep them air-borne.

By the time the part-veela touched down on the ridge next to Teddy and put his sister back on her own feet, he had quite the collection of bruises down one side, as well as a horrible ache from where she had kicked him between the legs as they fell. That one had been an accident, though. He hoped.

Teddy's eyes were wide as saucers and he was looking at Louis like he'd never seen him before. "Didn't know you had wings, mate," he said in a carefully casual tone that betrayed just how deeply impressed he was. On his back, wing stumps were forming and disintegrating in rapid progression. Apparently, as a metamorphmagus, he was limited to mostly human shapes.

"KIIIIIAAAH," Louis repeated proudly. "I have wings."

He twitched the new muscles in his back and his wings came up in front of him. Reaching out a hand in wonder, he stroked the shimmering surface with great satisfaction. Even Victoire seemed to be in awe. She also reached out to touch his wings, but couldn't quite refrain from pinching him one last time.

"KIIAH!" Louis snapped angrily. Faced with his sharp beak, she beat a hasty retreat.

After a while, Teddy looked at the sinking sun, then at the Harpy-like creature a bit uncertainly. "I suppose you could fly now if we apparate, or we can continue to walk down the mountain if you prefer. But either way, we need to move on soon, it's getting pretty dark already." His hair had settled on a colourless black upon the shock of both Victoire and Louis going over the edge, but before long, it would match the shade of the sky perfectly once more.

Louis was annoyed. He knew logically that they needed to continue their hike since his brand new wings probably would not carry him long enough to make it all the way down. Still, he wanted to explore his wings, he wanted to try tricks and games with them, he wanted -

He wanted to never again see a troll blocking his only safe way off the mountain.

"Argh! Where did that come from?!" Teddy screamed, while he and Victoire hastily retreated along the ridge, back up the mountain. The troll lumbered after them with ungainly steps.

Oh no you don't. Bad enough that he was supposed to hike down a mountain when he would so much rather be exploring his new wings, but now a bloody troll was delaying him further? That stupid thing is so going to get it!

With a scream of utter rage, he charged the troll. Louis had no real idea of how the balls of flame had materialized in his hands, but when he became aware of them, he took great pleasure in flinging them at the troll.

Teddy and Victoire thought they would remember this sight until their dying day: Louis running along the side of Mount Snowdon sporting a wicked beak and tall, shimmering wings, sending a twelve-foot mountain troll fleeing by pelting it with flaming balls of fire, screeching triumphantly as he went.

On a path far below them, never looking up, a lonely soldier was running doggedly along, rubbing occasionally at a bump on his head that looked to be about the size of the stone Louis had kicked over the ledge earlier.

Teddy and Victoire gave up and dissolved into helpless laughter.

A week later, Louis stood looking in his wardrobe mirror back home. He saw a tall forehead fringed with only a tiny bit of thin, lacklustre hair of an undefinable mongrel shade of brown. His face was flushed an unbecoming red from his latest blaze of anger.

He saw all this, and beamed. For behind him, easily spanning the entire width of the room and still looking cramped, were two beautiful, shiny wings.

~ The End ~