By:

HeartofPaperBloodofInk

(Sophie) Slytherin house

Character: Teddy Lupin

It was the Yule Ball at which he first saw her, dancing under the mistletoe, her long silvery-blonde hair flying out as she danced.

They were inseparable after that, he was so deeply in love (or should that maybe be lust?) with his beautiful part Veela, who had inherited the elegance and beauty of her mother's fashion sense, and she was in love with the idea of him, the tragic orphaned hero, whose parents were killed in the great war, the Harry Potter (or should that maybe be Ron the trusty sidekick?)of their generation.

But it wasn't too long after Christmas the next year, just before the New Year in Victoire's last year at Hogwarts that they realised that they were never going to be compatible. Teddy wanted to settle down, get married as soon as she had finished school, start a family. She was too much of a free spirit, she wanted to finish school, and have a laugh, a ball, go on a 'round the world trip, get away from the craziness of being a Weasley.

So in the end, they broke up. Victoire went off on her trip of a lifetime, she had her many flings, and never once (or should that be always?)thought of Teddy. Teddy stayed behind, stayed with his family (or should that be families?), finishing his Auror training, and going straight to the top, because of who his family (or should because of who he) was.

There was that one girl that was perfect for him, though, whether he knew it or not. His best friend, his godsister, his shining star. Lily Luna Potter had had him bewitched since the day she had blinked up at him with those shining emerald eyes of hers, on her first day of life. He watched as she grew up, long red ringlets slowly growing longer, coiling down her back. He watched as she left for Hogwarts, smiling so bright he thought for a moment that she was outshining the sun. He watched when she returned that summer, dressed in the silver and green of Slytherin robes, her proudful demeanour only heightened by the year spent in Slytherin. He watched her skirts grow shorter; her heels grow higher; her necklines work their way slowly south. The makeup on her face grew heavier, but more skilful, and her natural beauty grew tenfold.

She caught his heart the moment Victoire threw it away, and she had never let go. As he watches her now, tearing open her presents underneath the tree, and sneakily giving the jumper from her Grandma Weasley to a house elf, he feels his heart breaking into even more tiny pieces, and not just because he thinks of what could have been between he and Victoire every time this time of year rolls around.

He tries to tell himself that he hates Christmas, and what's the point of a new year anyway? It would make it so much easier for everyone if there were no such things as years or months, or days. If we all just lived one day to the next – if the earlier muggles could manage it, then so could we. It's not our calendar that makes us more civilized, more special than the primitive beings that came before, but our way of thinking, our inventions, our society.

He tries to convince many people of his point of view, but most just laugh, or look at him pityingly, sometimes kindly, sometimes doubting he was sane in his mind.

But after a while, after he and Lily are finally united as one, Christmas starts to hold some meaning for him again. It may have been the time when he lost one of the people closest to his heart, but it is also the time when he gained the most important person in his life.

Because really, what is Christmas, if not a time for celebrating, and what is New Year, if not a time for new starts?

X-X-X

A/N: Well, that pretty much sucked...