A/N: Hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! Got to admit, Teddy and Victoire are simply adorable - am I right? By the way, it jumps POV's fairly quickly - without warning - so I just hope you keep up:P
Please, please, PLEASE, read and review; I love to hear your thoughts on my writing:3.
Victoire Weasley sat by the Black Lake, partially sheltered by an old willow tree. It was a place she'd visit often - whether she need time alone simply to think or whether things were just getting too much up at Hogwarts. It was quite off the beaten track, meaning it was a rarity if she was ever disturbed. Victoire was undoubtedly one of the most popular people at Hogwarts. She was widely known for her wit, her dazzlingly good looks and her brains. Somewhat unfortunately for her, she was the first of the Weasley grandchildren. Her father, Bill Weasley, was the first to settle down, marrying her mother, Fleur Weasley (née Delacour). Because of Victoire's relationship with the Golden Trio, she'd had to endure publicity all her life and to make matters worse, she was actually born on the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts on the 2nd May 1999. Ever since she'd started Hogwarts, she'd had people asking about her family and wondering what it would be like to be related to them all. But to Victoire, she was simply related to them by the fact she was born, she'd hadn't known it any different and it didn't occur to how much this might interest people.
Something else Victoire had no control over was the fair that she was part-Veela. Her great-grandmother had been a Veela and it had broken down over the generations. Veela blood was extremely powerful, so being only an eighth Veela - it was still evident. It was fair to say Victoire was quite lusted after by the majority of the male Hogwarts population. Her admirers annoyed her a lot of the time, if she was totally honest, but she pretended that she found it sweet; it was simpler that way. The only person's opinion she ever cared about was Teddy Lupin's. She'd always believed he was different - though she'd never let on.
She watched the surface of the water as it rippled gently. Thinking she saw someone behind her, she turned to investigate, but no-one appeared to be there. Litte did she know, someone was watching her more closely than she thought.
Teddy Lupin watched from afar as the fair-head part-Veela sat staring idly into the Black Lake. He watched as her hair swished around her, like a halo, as her head whipped around in surprise, only to be met with nothing; her expression changed to quite a humourous combination of panic and confusion. Slowly, he walked as quietly as he could towards her, watching her intently as he did.
Again, Victoire got the feeling that she was being watched in the pit of her stomach. It was almost like the feeling she got when she was just about to sit an exam or when she was about to be scolded. Attempting to shake the feeling off, she wiggled her toes in the cool water of the lake. It was so still, so quiet. The air, however, had the static buzz just before a thunderstorm - a hint that it would undoubtedly rain soon.
Nearing ever closer to Victoire, he hoped for a different reaction than normal. They'd practically grown up together, after all, yet whenever he spoke to her, she seemed to put up walls, shielding herself from him. His heart thundered in his chest, much like it did any time he got close to Victoire. Most people would assume he liked her purely because of the allure of her having Veela blood; but they were extremely underestimating the entire situation. He liked her for everything on the inside, too. She was beautiful, of course, there was no doubt about that. But she was so much more than just her appearance. She was his best friend.
The air felt cool, yet humid - a welcome relief from the sweltering heat of the last of the summer days. He reached about fifteen feet from her, exhaling deeply. Teddy watched as Victoire's shoulders tensed when she sensed a presence. She spun round and narrowed her eyes before realising it was him; her face broke into a small smile.
"Don't scare me like that, Teddy. Bloody Hell." Her heart raced faster, not only because of the fact he'd frightened her, but simply because of the fact it was him. Teddy Lupin. Whose eyes she fell for every single time.
"Sorry, Vic," he mumbled, grinning as he did. Making the last few steps towards her, he set himself beside her. Noticing she was barefoot and that her feet were now resting within the cool water, he mimicked her; removing his shoes and socks before dipping his toes into the water. Once settled, he twisted his body slightly to look at her. Now almost a fully grown woman - she was perfect. Well, pretty much as perfect as anyone could be. He loved being around her, but he also hated it all the same. Maybe it was because she meant more to him than any other person and because her opinion really mattered to him. She's all he thought about, everything he'd ever wanted. He was just too much of a coward to go out and get what he truly desired.
So much for Gryffindor courage.
Victoire shook her head lightly with a smirk curling upon her cherry pink lips. "You will be, Lupin. Just when you don't expect it," she teased. Teddy was the one person in which Victoire just simply wanted to be around - she never needed anything from him. He was practically part of her family, though he wasn't related - thank Merlin - and she saw him as so much more than a friend. "What are you doing here, anyway? It's hardly a place you'd just happen to stumble across by accident - spying?" Her smirk remained on her lips as her left hand pushed her silky, white blonde hair from her eyes.
Teddy smirked at her retort - inside though, it was a different story. He knew how nasty a hex from Victoire could be, and he sure as Hell wouldn't want to experience that again. Doing his best not to shudder, he leant back on his elbows, staring into the now-orange sky. "Do I have to have a reason for walking around the grounds? Besides, I've always loved it here."
Teddy bit his lip as he watched Victoire. Even when she did the simplest, minute things, she got him pining after her. He watched as she blinked. Her long, dark lashes fell against her cheeks as she closed her eyes. It was almost hypnotic. Teddy ran a hand through his hair - a habit which he'd picked up from his godfather, Harry. Right now, his hair was his favourite turquoise blue. Being a metamorphagus, it was difficult to control who could pick up on his emotions. When he was angry, his hair turned a fiery flaming red, whilst when he was happy, he'd inherit his mother's favourite shade of pink. His hair turned blue subconciously whenever he was around Victoire - he was most at peace.
She'd always loved it when Teddy's hair turned this colour, this blue, it made her rather calm. She felt at ease with him. She wasn't sure whether he could control the colour changes or not, it intrigued her greatly and Teddy himself made her want to know more. As she watched him lean back she did the same thing looking up to the clouds, they were dark and mysterious ready to erupt at any point. The rain and thunderstorms, Victoire surprisingly loved. She sometimes found herself having power over storms, though she didn't mention this lightly, it often being found out of she was angry or simply bored.
"Because you know it's my favourite spot. I come here often, the likelihood was that you'd see me." Copying Teddy's movements, she pulled her long hair from beneath her back and tossed it behind her, still watching the clouds.
"Well, aren't we full of ourselves," Teddy jested, grinning. He watched her with great interest as she mimicked his movements down to a tee. He breathed in the now-cool, summer evening air and sigh peacefully as he watched the Giant Squid reaching a lone tentacle up out of the lake, before it came splashing back down, sending a ripple through the water. "Anyway, you know I like to come here, too, maybe it was you who came here in hopes of seeing me."
He eagerly awaited her reaction - presumably a very quick witty remark, as per usual. Letting himself down from his elbows, he lay flat against the grass, staring up into the greying clouds. He could almost make out the shape of a dove in the sky above.
"Full of myself? I prefer to call it being truthful." She wound him up with a smile upon her face looking to the clouds, trying to make out some shapes. But the sky seemed to be filling quickly with the dark clouds, looking soft yet lethal. "Seeing as I was here first and didn't see you sneaking up on me, I highly doubt that. If I was here to see you, I would have noticed you coming because I'd be expecting you." Victoire stated, twisting on her side to face him, her skirt riding up her legs a little but she wasn't fazed, her feet still dabbling into the cool water. Her deep blue eyes bright as she looked to him, ruffling a hand gently through his hair, "Your hair is so adorable when it's this colour, I wish mine would change colour like yours."
Teddy smirked at her wit, before his skin acquired a pale pink tinge, as he blushed from her almost-compliment. He also couldn't help but notice the fact that her skirt was only just conserving her modesty. He pushed such thoughts aside to avoid embarassing situations for them both - but more prominently for him.
"It's not always good being a metamorphagus, Vic." He ran his hand through his messy hair again. "It takes years to control and however much you try; you can't do anything to hide your true emotions," his voice rang coolly through the evening air as he continued to stare up into the clouds - still attempting to avert his eyes from her slight wardrobe malfunction. Teddy hadn't felt at peace like this in quite a while. With the start of year exams and Quidditch, it was becoming difficult to maintain a steady balance between time for himself and time spent with others. Even at the times he wanted only to be by himself, he would always make time for Victoire - though he'd never admit it out loud. Reaching into his pocket, he gingerly pulled out a small, purple box, which turned out to be a chocolate frog. He opened it and held onto the confectionery frog quickly before it got a chance to jump away before shoving it extremely ungracefully into his mouth.
"At least people can tell somewhat if your being truthful." Victoire murmured before turning again to stop facing him, onto her stomach. "It's going to rain soon, there will be a thunderstorm. You might get struck. Being so tall, and all." Withholding a smirk from herself with that comment.
Teddy, was usually truthful with Victoire or at least from what she could tell, she hated people whom would lie to her to try and impress her. Teddy was different from most of the other people who tried to flirt and boast about themselves in order to impress Victoire. He didn't need to do anything of the such to try and impress her - he did that by just being himself. She'd much rather others were like Teddy, but she had learnt how to control her anger a little better now. Before she'd often snapping at others who blatantly lied to her. "How'd you know you wouldn't prefer to be a metamorphagus, if you've never not been one?" Teasing him a little resting her head upon the dark green grass.
Teddy swivelled onto his side to face the beautiful part-Veela. "Maybe that's not always a good thing. I would like to have some secrets, y'know," he smirked. "And hey, I'm not that tall, you're making me sound as if I'm a half-giant or something." His eyes travelled over her face, taking it all in. From her piercing blue eyes to her white-blonde hair, she was incredible. Often, he'd wonder what would happen if he just spontaneously announced his life-long crush on her. Besides, life's all about risks and it requires you to jump. He didn't ever want to look back on his life and regret not doing anything, just because he was too much of a coward to admit anything. After a brief moment of consideration, he held back from blurting out his desires and shut his mouth, which he realised was hanging open, ready to talk. Not wanting to appear like he was hesitating to say something, he answered her question.
"Well, when I'm alone, and I don't have anyone there to guess my moods. Even then, I try not to let my guard down and let my 'condition' run wild. I just stay neutral, y'know. The real me, not a stupid interpretation of my emotions." His brow furrowed. "I'd just like to be able to let my guard down, really. But if I did, everyone would know my deepest, darkest secrets - not that I have any." He added quickly.
Victoire couldn't help but let her lips slip into a smile as Teddy turned to face her however she still avoided his gaze and looked to the floor. Looking back to him once then away again, this was called the sticky eyes treatment, she'd learnt about it from her mother when they'd had a girly night one evening in the Christmas holidays. This would make his eyes follow her, watch her closely.
Parting her lips a little she smiled speaking in a softer whisper, "Oh, come on, Teddy.. Everyone has their secrets, you are no exception, you're just good at hiding yours." Sitting up, a little straighter and looking to her feet, her nails painted her favourite colour of coral, swigging in the cold water. "You can let your guard down around me, Lupin. I promise not to tell." Smirking again.
Teddy almost laughed aloud, but supressed this urge. Victoire was the last person on earth he wanted to let his guard down around. She was the one that his biggest secret was all about, he couldn't risk her knowing. The rejection he may have to endure could be too much, it wasn't worth the risk. He'd rather remain just friends for their entire lives than to ever lose her through an urge to admit his feelings.
"Maybe it's just words, Victoire," he teased, "How do I know I can trust you?" He hoped with all his heart she'd take this jokingly, like she always did and come back with a witty remark. He was also afraid that it wouldn't come out right, if he told her, that it. Words would simply diminish his feelings - words could not describe how he felt. Words seemed timeless when they're in your head, but once they're out in the open, they seem to fly by without a passing thought, just as if to taunt you at the fact you can't take them back. His eyes rested on her pink lips, averting when he felt the urge to lean in and crash his lips against hers.
She laughed a little at his question of whether he could trust her or not, tilting her head to him a little with a grin. "What makes you think you couldn't? Have I ever let you down before?" Biting her bottom lip, her cherry pink lipgloss now gleaming in the light as she did so. It was watermelon flavoured.
Teddy did really look adorable his hair that colour, Teddy looked handsome when his hair was bright pink, she often felt the urge to kiss him when she saw his hair that colour, often when she visited her uncle Harry or when he was playing Quidditch. "Maybe, words are a powerful thing, Teddy. Words can be of so much power, have so much meaning." Her eyes floated back to the lake, the Giant Squid flailing a tentacle in the air, it then failing into the water with a loud splash.
His heart fluttered involuntarily. "You have a point there, Weasley." Why'd she have to keep doing that? Why couldn't she keep her mouth firmly closed? The temptation was becoming near-impossible to resist. He had to distract himself with something else. Anything else. Sighing when he found nothing, he turned back to her. "Hey Vic, do you ever feel like you want something more than what there is?" he questioned, trying to make the question sound as if it could be based on anything. "I mean, sometimes I get sick and tired of my life, the same old routines, the same old times, places and people. I just wish I could sprout wings and fly off, you know?" He sighed, almost sadly. Thoughts momentarily drifted to his parents whom he'd never met. "I guess life's just not fair." He exhaled shakily and ran his finger through his hair, his throat becoming tight and constricted.
Closing her eyes, she leant back onto the ground again, pulling her cardigan from around her off and placing it under her head as specks of rain started to fall with haste. Victoire just shut her eyes softly, lay back and let the rain fall onto her. It was warm and harsh against her skin, but at least she could feel it properly. It was real. There. Sharp.
Mulling over the question Teddy had just asked her, she replied: "All the time." Replying about as simply as she could, thinking about it still. "But sometimes it seems inappropriate to want it so." Crossing her legs together as the rain continued to fall a little heavier, her eyes still not opening.
He sat in awe of her. Most girls would run inside screaming and giggling - hiding from the wetness, but she embraced it. She was amazing. He wished he knew what was going around her head. Was she thinking about him as intently as he was thinking about her? It was such a perfect moment - pure simplicity. Here he was, laying in the rain with Victoire Weasley - easily the most beautiful person in Hogwarts. He felt almost priveleged, that she allowed him, and only him, to be spend this moment alone with her. She was extremely sought after, so why would she waste her time with him? "Glad I'm not the only one." His breathing became consistent again. Feeling a spark of Gryffindor courage, he quickly, but gently, slipped his hand around Victoire's, hoping she wouldn't pull away. "I knew you'd understand."
Victoire's heart skipped a beat, his fingers quickly slipping around hers. What was he playing at? She had decided her charms hadn't worked on Teddy and that he didn't see her that way. He frustrated her that he didn't. He was linking their hands together the pair laying in the rain. Victoire laced her fingers in with Teddy's, far from complaining, taking a deep breath not opening her eyes still. The rain poured hard down upon them, starting to soak through their clothes, but it didn't bother herin the slighest. Here she wasn't forced to live up to any expectations and didn't care if the rain hurt, at least it made her feel something. Feel alive. "I told you, I would."
Teddy looked down at both of their hands - linked - and he could barely tell them apart. With the rain lashing down above them as they lay, their feet still dangling lazily into the water, Teddy had to admit, he'd never been happier. Without time to protest, his hair swiftly turned a candyfloss pink - his happy colour. This only occured when he was truly happy - which admittedly, lately, was extremely rare. He ran his thumb in circles over her own and turned his head to look at her. Her hair was now soaking wet, her skin stained with raindrops. She'd never looked more flawless. As the sky began to fade from orange, to red, to black, they continued lying there, linked just by their hands. Merlin, he loved her. He knew it now, he'd only been confident enough to hazard a guess before - even in his own mind. But he did. Unfortunately for him, he believed it only to be unrequited love.
Victoire didn't open her eyes, she didn't have to. She could feel Teddy staring at her, she probably looked a complete mess at the moment, her white shirt would have gone see-through from the rain, making her baby pink bra even more visible, her hair would be everywhere and the little makeup which she wore came off or running down her face.
"Stop staring at me, Teddy Lupin." Warning him pretty sternly although her voice was still softer than usual. Reluctantly pulling her eyes open she turned to look at him, the rain still pouring down stroking her spare hand through his soaking wet, pink hair. Oh, that hair. How she had to resist, how she needed to try to at least. Her pulse rose as she pushed her lips against his in the sheer moment, presuming she'd regret it after, for ruining there friendship. But this moment was too perfect to let slip away so easily.
Teddy knew her clothes had become see-through, but he didn't care. He didn't want to take his eyes off hers for a single second. He shuddered as she ran her fingers through his hair. This moment could not get any more perfect.
Evidently it could.
He lay in complete shock, completely unresponsive as her lip met his. After a few moments of blissful unawareness, he gripped her, as if not ever wanting to let go. His lips moved against hers rhythymically, gently caressing them and savouring the faint hint of watermelon which played on her lips - and now his own. He didn't want to go any further, not at all. He didn't want to ruin the moment - it was now utterly perfect. Teddy pulled away, purely to inhale a few precious breaths. His hair was now damp and dishevelled from her roaming hands, but he couldn't care less. Her cheeks were flushed - something he'd never seen on Victoire before. "Vic.."
"Don't." She muttered to him somewhat sharply. Angry with herself that she'd played into his hands so easily, that she'd just herself fall for that scruffy pink hair. Victoire was so strong, independent, now she'd let her guard down practically told Teddy she was mad for him. As if someone had hit her with a ton of bricks, she was blind not to see it before. Victoire had fallen in love with Teddy Lupin and now he was going to tell her he didn't feel the same way, That she was a great snog but that was it. The rain still thundering upon them, her hands held tightly together around Teddy's neck her eyes solidly focused on his.
Teddy laughed at her, somewhat sweetly. His eyes stared into hers as he replied. "Vic," he mumbled, "Are you crazy?" He wanted to keep her on her toes, that was for sure. he didn't want to seem to eager, but he didn't want to seem too laidback. Looking down at the ground, he feigned a smile. But he couldn't supress his delight any longer. He had to respond to her in some way. "
Vic," he grinned, "you're like gravity. You pull me in, you're a constant force that keeps me grounded. You know that, right?" His mouth tugged into a genuine smile. "I love you. I couldn't list everything I love about you; I'd be here an eternity. I don't know when it started, how it started or even why, but I just know I love you. I love you; and I've never known any different." His hand creeped up to cup her face. "I - love - you." His heart felt as if it were to burst any moment, all there was to do now was to wait for her response.
Tears stung the back of her eyes as he made his speech. Rapidly falling down her cheeks, she leant in again. Her lips teased his as they barely touched before crashing into him with everything she could muster.
They stayed like that for what seemed like a lifetime.
A/N2: Click the blue button below and make my day?