Play On Your Heart Strings

Let me feel your heartbeat, can you feel my love heat
come on and sit of my hot-seat of love
and tell how do you feel right after all
I'd like you and I to go romancing
Say the word, your wish is my command.

Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy – Queen

In all of her years she has never been rejected and so this pain is something new and something strange. It hurts beyond belief and maybe that's because she has never experienced it before. With Veela charm in her blood she was normally the one who did the leaving, the one who did the heartbreaking. Of course, she cared about those broken hearted men that she had left behind because she is just so like that. She's never entertained the idea of a boy not being under her spell but now it's like her eyes have been forced wide open to see that she was naive before. She can't rely on her Veela charm to keep love for her but she has never done that. She has always been kind and loving and Merlin she was so in love with Teddy.

She supposes that she must have been blind because Teddy has always belonged to Lily, since the moment she was born. She was there the first time Teddy held her, because she used to follow him around like a lost puppy, and she saw the way his eyes lit up as he looked down into her perfect baby face. He was under her spell from that moment onwards and maybe she has spent her time looking the other way because she really didn't want to acknowledge the truth especially when she was so hopelessly in love with him. The moment he had asked her out she had been so thrilled and had spent the whole of her seventh year at Hogwarts floating on a cloud and meeting up with Teddy in Hogsmeade at weekends. All her friends had been so jealous because Teddy was just so hard to resist with the lopsided grin and his shock of turquoise hair.

She stands in the middle of her flat, standing in the chaos of her life and everywhere there are reminders of Teddy. His t-shirt is on the back of the sofa, his records are on the shelves and his mug is on the table leaving its coffee stain. She feels so foolish. There she was planning their wedding and the rest of her family must have been thinking to themselves that it was wrong because Teddy has always belonged to Lily. She can't bring herself to hate her cousin for taking Teddy from her because she's just too nice for that and she knows that really it isn't Lily's fault but she doesn't want to be rational. She wants to be furious and hurt and grief-stricken because he was the only thing she had ever wanted for herself her entire life.

Being Victoire, however, she doesn't wallow in self-pity and instead clears out her flat and puts Teddy's things in a box to take over to him when she feels that she is ready. Her flat seems bare without Teddy's things lying around and she tries to take solace in the fact that it would have never worked between them because she's so anally tidy and Teddy's a little bit of a slob. The justification doesn't make her feel any better. She puts the box in the hallway by the door because she just can't bear to look at it and she slips the engagement ring off her finger and adds it to Teddy's things.

She spends the next week cringing every time she has to explain that she and Teddy have broken up and she can't bear the sympathetic faces. She tries to be blasé about it by telling people it was mutual and tries to keep the pain off her face as she talks about him like it doesn't hurt. She confides in her sister because although they are chalk and cheese Dom understands that she is hurting and she comes round to her flat most nights to sit with her. Victoire is grateful because she knows Dom hates romantic chic-flick films but she grins and bears it and holds her big sister when she starts to cry.

And after a few weeks she begins to feel strong enough to face him again and she gathers the box of his things and she gets in her car to drive round to his flat. She knows that she could have just apparated but she really needs the time to think so that she keeps a clear head when she gets there. It twinges in her heart as she pulls into his familiar street and she parks her car outside the red door with the gold knocker that is the entrance to Teddy's flat. She sits for a moment taking a deep breath before she gets out and grabs the box from the back seat. Slowly she makes her way up the stairs to the door and chaps the lion head knocker.

'Victoire,' says Teddy breathlessly as he opens the door to see her standing there and he stares at her for one awkward moment. 'Come on in.'

And she feels as though she could cry from seeing his face but instead she flashes him a smile and steps over the threshold into his brightly painted flat. He leads her through to the lounge even though she remembers the layout exactly and stumbles a little over his words when he asks her if she would like to take a seat.

'No, thank you, Teddy,' she says struggling to keep her voice from breaking when she says his name. 'I just came to return the things that you left at my flat.'

She hands him the box and he takes it from her looking a little lost for words. He stares down into the box for a moment and then slowly raises his eyes to her.

'Look, Vic ...' he begins.

'No it's okay Teddy,' she interrupts flashing him a beaming smile. 'I understand.'

'But I should really ...'

'Please don't Teddy,' she has to say slightly in desperation. 'I don't think I can bear it.'

Teddy falls silent and she works hard for a moment to try and stop the tears from welling up in her eyes and she feels so relieved when there is a large bang for the spare bedroom followed by a groan. Teddy looks away from her distracted and she quickly wipes her eyes a little with her fingers. As she looks back she sees another boy, or man rather, come into the room rubbing his head and his face screwed up a little in pain.

'What did you do Seth?' Teddy asks and Victoire realises for the first time that the man called Seth isn't wearing anything but boxers. She blushes a little and then looks away.

'I don't know,' she hears Seth respond, 'but it hurt to buggery. Who is this?'

'Seth you remember Victoire surely,' says Teddy's voice a little exasperated and she eventually manages to look back round, keeping her face smooth to see Seth looking at her with a grin on his face and he is all spiky brown hair and hazel eyes which Victoire notices have a gold ring around them.

'Well I haven't seen her since she was fifteen now, have I?' Seth responds good-naturedly giving her a shadow of a wink.

Teddy sighs and then smacks Seth over the back of the head.

'I have no idea how you managed to be Head boy, idiot,' Teddy tells Seth and she begins to think it's time to leave.

'Right well, bye Teddy,' she says and before Teddy can stop her she's out the door and in her car driving off down the street. She manages to keep her head until she gets back in the door of her flat and then she just breaks down.

...

She starts to feel better after a time as she starts going out with old school friends and friends from work in the hope of maybe meeting someone new. She hears from her mother that Teddy finally had the courage to ask Lily out and, yes, it still stings but not quite so much. She gets to the point where she wants to be completely over him and she smiles to herself because it's a healthy place to be and she is no longer clinging on to his memory. Her flat is her own again and there are absolutely no reminders of Teddy at all. She has chucked out everything that reminded her of him and decided to make a fresh start.

On the night of her birthday she gets dressed up in her newest cream dress and goes out with her friends to her favourite club Merlin's Sparkly Socks and the place is packed because it's Remembrance Day as well as her birthday. She can feel eyes on her as she stands at the bar sipping her fresh drink that had just appeared but she is used to that because people stare at her all the time. She doesn't jump at the tap on her shoulder because it is completely expected and she feels a little thrill go through before she turns around.

'Seth,' she says in a shocked voice.

Seth Davies, Teddy's friends, grins down at her and his eyes, well they seems to sparkle, even amongst all the flashing lights. She just looks at him for a moment and he looks so desirable in tight black t-shirt and blue jeans and she blushes a little when she realises that he is checking her out too.

'Hey Vic,' he says and then he gathers her to his chest her long blonde hair tailing over his arms, 'Happy Birthday. Are you having a good one?'

As he releases her she feels very flustered but when she finally meets his gaze it is calm and reassuring. She smiles at him a little and waiting for the painful reminder of Teddy she finds that it doesn't hurt and she isn't really even thinking about Teddy, she's just focussing on Seth.

'Yeah, it's been pretty good,' she says with a laugh and out of the corner of her eye she can see one of her friends staring at Seth in awe. So she takes a proper look at him and decides that he is really beautiful with a muscular body and broad shoulders and she finds herself a little shocked as her knees weaken with desire.

'Do you think I can claim a dance with the birthday girl?' he asks her bending right next to her ear and his breath on her skin makes her tremble just that little bit. She can't seem to answer so she just nods and he takes her drink from to set it on the bar and the takes her hand to pull her in the direction of the dance floor.

As they pass through the crowds she can see people glancing at them and for once she is astounded to find that it isn't just her that is getting the looks. She can see all the pairs of female eyes flicking over Seth and then glancing at her before they fill with disappointment and it feels a little like her chest is full of air. She catches her friends' eyes and they all give her the thumbs up some of them evening fanning themselves with their hands to indicate how gorgeous he is. She giggles a little to herself before Seth pulls her onto the dance floor and twirls her right into his chest.

She flushes a little cursing the Weasley genetics in her blood as she realises that it's a slow song that they are playing. Seth takes her left hands in his and then drapes her right hand over his shoulder before sliding his own around her waist. He holds her tight to him as they begin to dance and she's amazed by just how well he dances. She is still a little tense and he smiles down at her for a moment and his smile is like starlight blazing into her heart.

'Relax,' he says in her ear his voice soothing and sweet. 'Everything will be all right.'

So she relaxes and smiles up at him and he bends his head to kiss her. His lips are soft as they press against her own and her heart is thrumming like a humming bird and it feels likes everything and everyone else has vanished. Her mind is full of nothing but Seth and the smell of his sweet cologne but it registers in her head as perfect.

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Kerr X.