Summer of 2008

Shell Cottage

Teddy huddled next to Victoire as they stood together at the partially open door of Victoire's parent's bedroom.

"You're just scared." He murmured, subtly pushing her forward into the daunting room, a mixed expression of amusement and nervousness playing on his face.

"Am not." Victoire snapped, giving Teddy a fierce look that he had grown all too accustomed to in their years of friendship. "Just give me a minute alright?" With one last sweeping glance to make sure the coast was clear, Victoire burst into her parent's room, swiped her father's wand off the elegant mahogany nightstand by the bed and flew back out the door and down the hallway in a matter of seconds. Together, Victoire and Teddy sprinted to the safety of her room and slammed the door behind them. For a moment they were silent except for the sound of their ragged breaths, and finally Teddy spoke;

"I didn't think you'd actually do it."

"That's because I'm not a wimp like you." Victoire countered; a mischievous glint in her icy blue eyes. "Now…" She glanced down at the wand in her hands, held with the tips of her fingers as if the wood was blistering hot and she was afraid to touch it. "What do with do with it?"

"We use it of course." Teddy snatched the wand out of Victoire's fingers and jumped onto her perfectly made bed.

"You're only ten years old!"

"Yes, and you're only eight and a half years old so you have to listen to me." He smoothed his fingers over the skilfully carved vines that wrapped themselves around the hilt of the wand, making a perfect grip for his hands. He carefully surveyed the room, his eyes glancing over the French dressing table, the spotless and incredibly organised shelves that wrapped the room, until his eyes landed on an old soft toy, thrown off the bed when Teddy jumped on it. Clearing his throat, Teddy raised the wand to shoulder level and flicked his wrist like he'd seen his older relatives do.

The effect was immediate. A soft, twinkling cloud of purple mist oozed out of the tip of the wand and enveloped the bed that Teddy, and now Victoire as well, were seated on. The bedposts creaked and shifted and suddenly the whole bed flew towards the wide open window and out into the sky outside. They shot upwards, the crisp air blasting them in the face and turning their cheeks pink.

"Teddy!" Victoire cried, her strawberry blonde locks whipping her in the face as she reached out and clutched at his rigid arms, seeking the safety that she always felt around her friend. Teddy had one hand wrapped around Victoire and the other around his Uncle Bill's wand.

"It's ok Tori! I just need to…um…" Teddy searched around frantically, but the only thing he was aware of was their increasingly rising altitude, and the fact that the apple trees in the backyard now looked as small as a Bowtruckle. He froze. Panic was just starting to set in when he thought about Victoire, who was shivering with fear next to him and suddenly remembered her phobia of heights. How could he forget it after he had teased her about it so many times when she had refused to even get on a broomstick? She must be petrified. Ten times more so than himself, who had been flying around playing Quidditch since he was about three years old, in fact, this couldn't be much different. He had had a similar sort of feeling the first time he rode a broom. With that thought in mind, ever so cautiously, Teddy shuffled slightly to the right, shifted Victoire's arms so they wrapped around his waist, and clutched the bed posts in front of him like handles. Steering towards the ground, Teddy felt a small wave of relief as the bed bended easily to his commands, slowly and shakily dropping a few metres. In a matter of minutes Teddy had got them to land on the grass of the backyard. For a small while the two children sat on the bed in silence, trying to control their shivers and untie the knots in their stomach.

"Never. Do that. again." Victoire finally whispered, untangling herself from him and rolling off the bed on to the spiky grass. Teddy looked down at her small face, her nose flushed red and lips drawn in a small thin line of seriousness.

"I promise." And in that moment, with all the wisdom and solemnity of an old man, Teddy knew he was agreeing to more than just bewitching a bed to fly out her bedroom window. He knew in his heart that he could never bring himself to put Victoire Weasley in danger ever again.