Shut Up, Ted

by intotheyellowwoods

Sequel to Wotcher, Vic / "Before he knows it, he's hurrying towards her—somehow, miraculously, without tripping. And then they're grabbing each other, Victoire hanging on to him with all limbs and him crushing her to his chest, and Teddy's breathing in her smell and there's a laugh bubbling up his throat and she's here. Back from Hogwarts. In his arms. She's home."

A/N: Wow, I can't believe it's been a year since I wrote Wotcher, Vic. I never planned on writing a sequel, but I got such overwhelming feedback on Wotcher, Vic that I decided to write one anyways. (Well, that and the fact that these two idiots are cute as heck and I can't stop writing them.)

Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or these two dumb idiots in love.

---

"Merlin, mate, you got bloody Nargles in your head or somethin'?"

Teddy makes an offended noise in the back of his throat and turns toward Orion, eye roll ready and primed. Orion just cocks an eyebrow and looks back steadily, far too amused for his own good. Smug bastard. Teddy just knew the moment they Flooed into Aunt Luna's to lose the wizards tailing them that it was going to mistake. And now here they are, two months later, and Orion's still bringing those damn Nargles up every chance he gets. Ugh. Idiot's nearing thirty—as James is fond of saying (and Ginny is fond of smacking him for), a grown-arse man—but you'd never know by the way he's giggling like a damned schoolgirl.

Before Teddy can say the obligatory oh dearie me, I forgot to wet myself with laughter, Kyler butts his dumb head in. "He's just distracted," Kyler says, leaning 'round Teddy to give Orion an obscene wink. Uh oh. "His girlfriend's coming back from Hogwarts today."

"Ooh," Orion says, waggling his eyebrows. Teddy tries his hardest to ignore him. Problem is, these two are worse gossips than Nan and Grandma Weasley at their weekly teas. And now one Orion Thomas Gold—incurable flirt, Leaky Cauldron frequenter, and both womanizer and man-izer—has just hit the bloody jackpot. "Little Teddy's got himself a bird?"

"Little Teddy's about to curse your ears off," Teddy grumbles, glaring at Kyler. Kyler just shrugs back, the very picture of innocence. Traitor.

Orion elbows Teddy to regain his attention, grin nothing short of wicked. "So? You gonna tell or not?"

Preferably not, Teddy thinks, because if Orion hears one mention of Victoire, it's only a matter of time before he finds out everything else (the infamous Quidditch Cup incident included). And then Teddy will absolutely, one-hundred percent never live it down.

Sensing Teddy's unwillingness to say anything, Kyler decides to speak up for him. "Her name is Victoire," he says, whispering conspiratorially. "She's—"

Teddy hastily reaches over to cover Kyler's mouth. "That's enough from you."

Unfortunately, the damage has already been done. "C'mon, c'mon, spill the beans!" Orion demands, rubbing his hands together excitedly. Damn idiot looks ready to wet himself.

Groaning, Teddy releases Kyler and pushes him away. Unfortunately, Teddy nearly goes down with him. Orion, only too used to Teddy's clumsiness, quickly snags Teddy's collar to keep him upright.

"Her name is Victoire," Teddy finally says once he's no longer in danger of falling on his face (again). "She's been my best friend since I was two. We've been seeing each other for three years."

"And she's an eighth Veela!" Kyler adds.

On Teddy's other side, Orion lets out an excited stream of vowels.

Teddy pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs. When his hand falls back to his side, light glances off the ring on his pinky—Victoire's twentieth birthday present to him. ("Wicked," he said when she'd first given it to him, holding the dragon scale—carved into a half-crescent moon—up to the light. "Does this make me badass now?")

"Yes," he says flatly. "She's an eighth Veela and she's damn bloody gorgeous, alright?"

Orion claps his hands together and positively cackles. Shaking his head, Teddy shares a concerned look with Kyler. "You do realize we're supposed to be trailing someone, right?"

Orion huffs out a great sigh, cheeks flushed from laughing so much. "Always the serious one."

"Oh, give the bloke a break," Kyler chips in, humming under his breath. But his hand's tucked in the pocket of his robes; Teddy knows it's clenched around his wand. Although they've perfected the hidden-in-plain-sight technique he and Harry created, it still makes Kyler a little nervous. "He hasn't seen his girlfriend in months."

"Alright then," Orion says, faking reluctance. "I guess I'll let it slide this time."

"Good," Teddy says, starting forward. "Because our mark just went down that alley. Let's go."

(They don't speak again until Teddy's got handcuffs around the Death Eater wannabe. Then, Orion wipes the blood from his nose and says, "so, can I meet this bird of yours?"

"Absolutely not," Teddy says immediately, and Apparates himself back to the Ministry without a backwards glance.)

/

An hour later, after he's handed over the suspect over to the Auror office, been chewed out by his friends for "leaving them there to die" and scrawled out an illegible mission report, he all but sprints over to Harry's office. By some miracle, he only does one face plant in front of superiors, which must break some personal record.

"This is an intervention," he announces, throwing the door open without preamble and sauntering in. "I'm cutting you off."

Harry just looks up mildly, fixing his glasses on the bridge of his nose. His entire desk's covered with papers, like Maintenance is angling for a pay raise again and fell back on the old hurricane standby. Teddy catches a glimpse of his own report on the top of a precariously-balancing pile. "I thought you were house-trained."

"I'm a wild boy," Teddy answers cheerfully, leaning against the doorjamb with a smirk.

"Yes," Harry says, rolling his eyes at the mention of The Article of Doom. But when he pushes himself away from his desk, there's a small smile on his face. "And you're still distressing me, Teddy."

"Good," Teddy says, tossing his godfather his coat. He thinks he might literally be vibrating with excitement. "Now come on. We've got a train station to get to."

Harry looks Teddy over, one eyebrow quirked. "Anxious, are we?"

Teddy taps his chin. "Hmm. I wonder why. It's not like I'm supposed to meet my girlfriend who I haven't seen in months because my boss works me too hard or anything."

Harry laughs and walks out the door, not checking to see if Teddy's still following him. "Sounds like you need to find a new boss."

"Wish I could," Teddy mutters, cracking a grin when Harry reaches back to cuff him upside the head.

"Oi," Harry says, smirking. "Don't want to make the boss mad, do you?"

/

They get to Platform 9 and ¾ a half hour later. Teddy has, in all his breathless excitement, tripped over his own feet roughly three times, and Harry has laughed at him each and every time.

"Settle down, would you?" Harry finally says when they cross through the barrier, craning his neck to look for Ginny and his best friends. A second later, his eyes light up and he starts to the left, dragging Teddy along with him by the back of his jacket. "We've still got ten minutes before the train's set to come in."

Teddy opens his mouth for another sarcastic remark just as something small and highly dangerous runs into him, wrapping her arms around his middle. "Teddy!"

Teddy laughs and bends down to wrap Lily in a bear hug. She squeals as he picks her up off her feet, twirling her around in the air. "Lils!" he says as he lets her down, tapping her nose. "How've you been?"

She beams up at him, her entire face lit up like the damn sun. She got all of Ginny's freckles—most of Ginny, actually, save for maybe Harry's nose and chin—and when she grins like that, she's the second most adorable thing Teddy's ever seen (a sick, pouty Victoire might just take the cake). "Super super awesome! I got my Hogwarts letter two days ago and Mummy says she'll take me to Diagon Alley soon. Do you want to come with us, Teddy?"

Teddy's heart melts. He's ninety-percent sure it's a pile of goo in his chest right now. "Of course I want to come with you," he answers, taking Lily's hand and leading her back over to her parents.

They find the others just as Harry and Ginny pull apart. "Hullo," Harry greets his wife, practically beaming. The man looks like he's high on Cheering Charms. Teddy would make retching noises at him if he didn't look at Victoire the same way.

"Hi," Ron says, waving sarcastically at his best mate. "Nice to see you too."

"Hello," Harry says dryly. "You don't mind if I don't kiss you too, do you?"

Hermione snorts into her palm. "Teddy!" she says suddenly, spotting him. Teddy lets go of Lily's hand to hug her back, squeezing her tightly. "How are you? Harry's not working you too hard, is he?"

"Work's good," he says, winking at Harry as Ron comes up to clap him on the back. "Boss is horrible, but eh." He waves his hand airily, making Ron snigger and Harry roll his eyes. "C'est la vie."

"I'd work on that French if I were you," Bill says, popping up behind them. "It might just be the worst I've heard in years."

"Beell," Fleur says, smiling at Teddy apologetically. "You've been married to me for twenty years and you steell cannot speak français. Leave zat poor boy alone."

"Yeah, Bill," Ginny chips in, because she's always one for ragging on her older brother. "Listen to your wife."

Teddy just laughs and shakes Bill's hand. They've been on far better terms these last couple months. Teddy thinks it's partially because Bill's calmed down and partially because he and Vic haven't had the opportunity to get caught as of late. (Well. That's about to change.) "How's curse-breaking?"

"Frustrating," Bill says shortly. "How's being an Auror?"

"Eh," Teddy says. "You know. S'alright."

Bill laughs, because everyone knows that Teddy's in love with being an Auror almost as much as he's in love with Victoire. "Now," Billy says suddenly, putting his Stern Adult face on. "Vicky's coming back, and I know you miss her and all, but—" he pinches his nose with a sigh— "I don't want to see anything, alright?"

Oh dear Merlin. "Aye, aye," Teddy says awkwardly, saluting the other man. Bill nods in satisfaction before moving on, and Teddy lets out a breath of air. Problem is, he and Victoire have a habit of getting caught in compromising situations. (It's not his fault. Really. It's not like—okay, fine, it totally is his fault.)

The next person to come up to him is Ginny. "You ready to see Vic again?" she asks, nudging him with a smirk.

"Yeah," he says quietly, tapping his foot. The clock opposite him reads three fifty-seven—three minutes away from the train pulling in. Three minutes. "More than anything."

Ginny smiles at him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. Teddy leans into her easily, pressing a quick kiss against her temple. Truth be told, Ginny's the best godmother he could've asked for. She'll rib on him until his face is pink, sure, and she's scarier than a Hungarian Horntail when mad, but at the end of the day, she's still one of Teddy's favourite people.

When there's forty seconds left on the clock, Harry comes to stand beside him. "You know," he says, scanning the station around him nervously. It's a habit Harry's kept up since his days on the run even though the Wizarding World's a much safer place than it was back then, thanks in no small part to him. "If you keep bouncing like that, you might catch flight."

"Wow," Teddy says, faking excitement. "You think so?" (Harry just sighs and shakes his head. The Lupin Sass is something he's learnt to put up with over the last two decades.)

There—finally, the train. It pulls into the station, gleaming bright red, and Teddy's heart rockets up three notches. Dimly, he feels Ginny squeeze his shoulder before pulling away. As the doors slide open, he starts tapping a restless beat against his leg, unable to stay still. He knows Victoire will be one of the ones to come out last, because she's Head Girl, and she's supposed to wait until the end to get off the train. But that doesn't stop him from looking. It's been almost three months since he waved her off after Easter hols. Eighty-two days. He didn't even get to see her on her birthday, because he, Orion and Kyler had been on a mission up in Scotland. (He'd gotten to talk to her through the crappy stakeout house fireplace for two and a half minutes before Kyler poked his head in to tell him they had to go, but that had only made things worse.)

"Merlin, Teddy," Harry says, sounding far too gleeful for his own good. "You're going to crick your neck if you keep that up."

Teddy snaps his head toward his godfather and opens his mouth to make an old-man joke. But then—

"Teddy!"

Teddy whips back around, breath caught in his throat. Dimly, he hears the sound of something(s) heavy hitting the ground, and a couple reproachful yelps. But Victoire's running at him full-speed, eyes shining. God, she's more beautiful than he remembers. Before he knows it, he's hurrying towards her—somehow, miraculously, without tripping. And then they're grabbing each other, Victoire hanging on to him with all limbs and him crushing her to his chest, and Teddy's breathing in her smell and there's a laugh bubbling up his throat and she's here. Back from Hogwarts. In his arms.

She's home.

"Wotcher, Vic," he whispers, and he thinks maybe Victoire's crying as she tightens her hold on him. She's clinging to him like a starfish, hands around his neck and legs locked around his waist. Truthfully, he's clinging to her just as tightly.

"Hi," she says after a few minutes, drawing back. Her eyes are red; he was right, she was crying.

Carefully, Teddy unwinds her legs from around him and sets her back on the ground, reaching up a hand to wipe away the tears. "Miss me?" he says cheekily.

She smacks his arm but leans up anyways to slot her mouth against his. Teddy's stomach does something weird. But his hands are working fine enough to cup her face and pull her closer.

"Gross," a voice whines from behind them. "Think about the children, Teddy."

Teddy laughs against Victoire's lips and pulls away. It's James, grinning up at them like Christmas has come early. Behind him are the rest of the Weasley clan, expressions varying from mischievous to surprised to grossed out. Then there's Bill, looking torn between reluctant acceptance of his fate and disapproval. (Harry and Ginny, those traitors, are sniggering behind their hands.)

So Teddy just keeps on laughing, reaching down to take Victoire's hand. As annoying (and nosy, and bothersome, and insane) as they might be, they're still his family. And he wouldn't trade them for the world.

(Plus, Victoire's standing beside him, and he can't be mad for too long with her by his side.)

/

The Weasleys close in after that and Teddy loses Victoire in a sea of hugs and kisses. Realizing that his turn's up, he waits politely at the back, watching everyone with a small smile.

"You know," Louis says, detaching from his family and walking over to stand with Teddy, "when Vicky actually drops a trunk on my foot, I'm blaming you."

Teddy turns toward him, raising an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

"Because," Louis answers, pursing his lips. "She takes one look at you and forgets everything else. The train could explode and she wouldn't even notice."

Teddy laughs and ruffles Louis' hair. Louis whines and jerks away, smoothing his hair back down. "You two are pathetic," Louis adds, shaking his head. Teddy starts laughing even harder, showing no signs of sobering. "Pathetic."

/

When the crowd finally parts, Teddy still doesn't get his chance to talk to Victoire. Everyone's whisked back to the Burrow as soon as all belongings are gathered (including Victoire's highly dangerous trunk) for Victoire's Congratulations! You Just Finished Hogwarts party. All the adults who weren't busy spent the day cleaning the place up and putting up decorations, and from what he's heard from Harry, they've invited a couple friends, too.

Five minutes later, he finds out that a couple friends means a whole pub-full of them. The Burrow's packed, with everyone from Professor Longbottom to Victoire's Aunt Gabrielle to Harry's old DA friends in attendance. An hour into his girlfriend's surprise party, he feels like he's talked to everyone but the guest of honor herself.

(That changes quickly, though. By the time the night's over, they've been caught in various dark corners no less than five times—seriously, they weren't even snogging (most of the time)—and Teddy's starting to think the others have made finding them into a game.)

(Actually, screw that. By the fifth time, he and Victoire have made it into a game.)

/

At one-fourteen the next morning, Teddy taps on Victoire's window.

"What took you so long?" she asks as she wretches open the window and steps back to let him tumble in, smiling teasingly. Thankfully, he doesn't make too much noise on the botched landing. The whole point of Apparating a mile out and then flying the rest of the way to Victoire's room was so he wouldn't make so much noise. He'd learned it the hard way that if he tried Apparating directly into Victoire's room, he'd overshoot by a couple feet, knock over something breakable, and a very angry voice from downstairs would shout, "EDWARD LUPIN!"

"Traffic was bad," he says, shrugging at her with a smirk.

Victoire snorts. "Excuses, excuses," she says, taking a step closer. The freckles on her face shine in the moonlight. Sometimes, when she has trouble sleeping, he joins them up into constellations with his finger.

"I missed you," he says quietly, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. A lump rises to his throat, near painful. "I missed you so much, Vic."

She smiles softly, all golden. "I'm right here," she breathes back, locking her arms around his neck. Teddy's heartrate goes sonic. Slowly, a smirk spreads over her face, and Teddy's breath catches. (Merlin. She's going to be the death of him.) "Now shut up and kiss me, Ted."

When her lips touch his, he thinks he sees stars.

/

Teddy stumbles back into his Nan's house at eight the next morning, still yawning. He didn't get much sleep the night before, after hours of talking (and things that decidedly aren't talking) with Victoire, and he's tired as all hell and has work at nine, but he doesn't care.

Except the minute he creaks in, he finds his Nan waiting for him at the kitchen table, smirking around a cup of tea.

"Uh," he says awkwardly, grimacing. "Wotcher?"

She stares at him for one long moment before bursting into laughter.

"Oh, Teddy," she says after a minute or two, still chuckling a bit, "you really love her, don't you?"

Teddy grins. "Duh."

(And fifty-seven minutes later, when he meets up with the idiots he calls his (non-Victoire) best mates and they greet him with cat-calls and bows, he doesn't even bother telling them to shut it.)

/

They interrogate him later that day, outside Florean's Ice Cream Parlour when they're supposed to be watching a suspect.

"So this bird of yours," Orion starts, already smirking.

"Victoire," Teddy corrects, sighing.

"Victoire," Orion repeats. "Tell us about her."

(Bloody hell, they're worse than first year girls.)

Teddy stays silent for a few moments, trying to think up the vaguest and most boring facts he can tell them. That way, maybe they'll give up. (Maybe.) "She's a Gryffindor?" he says finally.

Orion frowns. "Would I have seen her?"

"No," Kyler says. "She was two years behind us. You'd already have been out of school." (Orion was a Ravenclaw Seventh year when Teddy first came to Hogwarts. He doesn't remember Orion, but apparently Orion remembers him. It's probably the hair.)

Teddy nods absentmindedly. "She wants to be a Healer."

"Brilliant," Orion says, sounding nothing short of enthusiastic. "She can patch your idiot self up, then."

Teddy rolls his eyes. "She'd just smack me for getting hurt in the first place."

Orion laughs. "Anything else?"

Teddy tries to think of another small detail. But it's Kyler who answers. "She's a Weasley."

Orion's eyebrows disappear into his hairline. "A Weasley, you say?"

Teddy nods, glaring over at Kyler. "Victoire Weasley," Orion says, tapping his chin thoughtfully. Teddy's told him a thousand times it makes him look like a prat. Orion just won't listen. "Where have I heard that name before?"

Teddy reaches over to slap a hand across Kyler's mouth, but he's a second too late. "Skeeter's 2014 World Cup final article," he answers, grinning widely. "Dumbledore's Army Reunites at Quidditch World Final. You know, the framed one hanging in the Head Auror office?"

Teddy drops his head onto the table, groaning, as Kyler clears his throat and starts reciting. (Because of course he's got it committed to memory.) "'Mr. and Mrs. Bill Weasley might like to know that their beautiful, blonde daughter Victoire seems to be attracted to any dark corner where Master Lupin happens to be lurking. The good news is that both of them seem to have invented a method of breathing through their ears. I can think of no other reason how they have survived such prolonged periods of what, in my young day, was called 'snogging.'.'"

Orion drops his head onto his arms and starts howling. Out of the corner of his eye, Teddy can see his shoulders shaking. Kyler isn't faring much better, either.

Great. Now they won't shut up about it, and he definitely can't let them meet Victoire. While he's come to terms with having his relationship announced in explicit detail in a national newspaper, she's still apt to blush at a single mention of it.

"Oi!" he says suddenly, noticing their suspect throw what's left of his ice cream in the trash and exit the shop. "Target's moving. Let's go."

He's the first one up (and the first one to trip over the legs of his chair.)

"C'mon, Master Lupin," Orion says, hauling him up with a snort. Teddy sends him a brief smile in thanks, though it's still tinged with irritation. "You can breathe through your ears but you can't stay upright?"

Teddy makes a very rude hand gesture at him and walks out the door.

(Thank Merlin he doesn't trip on the way out.)

/

"And now they won't let it go," he finishes, grinning up at Victoire. They're lying down on the beach near Shell Cottage, his head in her lap.

"Your friends are idiots," she says, playfully tugging on his hair. "Just like you."

"Oi," Teddy says without much indignation, "I resent that."

"Can I meet them?" she asks, brushing a lock of blue hair off his face.

Teddy makes a face. "Trust me, Vic, you don't want to meet them," he says sagely, shaking his head. "They're crazy, immature and thicker than your average troll."

"I see you hold them in great esteem."

Teddy laughs. "Besides you, they're my best mates. I trust them with my life. But they're honestly insane."

"I think I'm pretty used to insane," Victoire tells him, smirking.

"Alright, now you're just being mean."

Victoire laughs and leans down to kiss him. When she pulls back, Teddy says, "you remember what I said before you got on the train for your Seventh Year?"

"Refresh my memory," she says, but from the way her eyes widen, she knows what he's talking about perfectly well.

Teddy pushes himself up and takes her hands. "I said that once you graduated, maybe we could start looking for a flat."

"And?" she says carefully, not looking away.

"And Merlin, Vic, you going to make me spell it out for you?"

"Yep," she says, smirking.

"Alright," Teddy says, rolling his eyes. "Let's find a flat."

A slow smile spreads over her face, warm and lovely. "Alright then," she says, moving in closer. "Sounds like a plan."

"Yeah?" Teddy says, feeling himself grin.

"Yeah," Victoire says, locking her arms around his neck. "That sound good to you?"

He tips his head up and laughs, pulling Victoire in. He's still laughing as he pecks her lips once, twice, three times. A moment later, they're both laughing against each other's lips, and Teddy's so happy he feels weightless. "That sounds bloody wonderful, love."

(He goes home two hours later and the first thing he does is tell his Nan. She, predictably, squeals and grabs him in a hug so tight it feels like he can't breathe. So he just laughs and twirls them around until they're both dizzy, because yeah, he's feeling pretty damn awesome right now.)

/

They announce their plans to look for shared housing at the last Weasley family dinner of the summer. His Nan's the only one who knows, though he thinks she might have told Harry and Ginny. (He's suspected she's a double agent for a while, because those two know everything.)

"So, uh—" He says, clearing his throat nervously. Fortunately, the room's noisy enough that only the five people closest to him hear him. Unfortunately, those five include Victoire's parents. "Uh, Victoire and I—"

"OI! EVERYBODY!" Ginny yells. The noise immediately stops. Everyone in the room's too aware of Ginny's temper to willingly incur it. "Teddy's trying to say something."

Teddy clears his throat nervously, feeling every single pair of eyes drilling into him. Victoire's hand closes around his under the table, squeezing softly. "So, uh, Victoire and I—"

"If you got her pregnant, I will murder you," Bill says immediately, dropping his knife and fork. The room, fairly quiet before, suddenly turns so silent Teddy could hear everyone breathing if anyone actually was.

"What?" Teddy splutters, cheeks immediately taking flame. Across the long table, all eyes are on him and Victoire. "No. No." The fact that there's now a little boy with Victoire's eyes and blue hair running around in his head isn't helping matters. Panicking now, his eyes flit around the table, taking in the faces of children he's inavertedly set up for the And Then The Hornbill Came talk. "No, no. Victoire isn't—"

"Merlin, Dad, I'm not pregnant. Now can you stop giving my boyfriend a conniption?" Victoire steps in, rolling her eyes. She back to Teddy with a face that's trying really hard not to be amused, even though her cheeks are pink too. "Ted, your hair's bright red."

He growls and shuts his eyes, trying to turn his hair back to its (ab)normal blue. "As Teddy was saying before someone jumped to unnecessary conclusions—" She gives her father a very pointed look— "We're going to look for a flat together."

Nothing. For six seconds, there's utter silence surrounding them. Teddy chances a look at Bill, who actually—wait, what? Seriously?—seems not totally against the idea.

"Well," Bill finally says, noticing everyone's eyes on him. "It was going to happen eventually."

The table bursts into relieved (and slightly disappointed at the loss of their mid-meal entertainment) laughter, and Molly leaps out of her seat to crush Teddy and Victoire into a hug. Soon after she's pulled away from them—"oh, you two are growing up so quickly—I'm so proud of you lot…"—the rest of the clan gets up to congratulate them.

By the time everyone's sitting back down, both Teddy and Victoire are smiling. The topic changes to something else quickly, another one of George's Weasley Wizarding Wheezes stories quickly filling in the empty space.

When no one's watching, Teddy high-fives Victoire under the table.

/

The flat-shopping starts the next weekend. Among other things, they bring along Victoire's mum, Ginny, Nan, and a sheet of addresses taken from The Daily Prophet and Witch Weekly ads. Victoire and her mum have already started looking, browsing through ads in the Daily Prophet and Witch Weekly. Bill even helped a little and said he would've come, but there was a Curse Breaking thing and he had to go to Egypt for a couple days. (Everyone else was secretly relieved, because even though he'd been pretty cool about the whole thing, no one knew how easily that would change. And Merlin forbid someone mentioned a bed.)

The first flat is in London, close to the Leaky Cauldron. Victoire likes that one until they get to the kitchen, and then it's a definite no. ("There's a square foot of space, Ted, how are we supposed to cook?" she says incredulously, and Teddy's just glad Grandma Weasley isn't here because she'd start blubbering with pride.)

The second is just as small and smells a little like James' rank Quidditch socks, so that one's a no, too. As is the third, which seems great until you realize there's a ghoul in the bathroom (Teddy envisions having to use the toilet in the middle of the night and he's out of there like his trousers are on fire), and the fourth, which becomes known to all as the Dragon's Throat Flat and needs no further explanation.

It's the fifth that really takes the cake.

There are no ghouls, no bad smells, and nothing's slimy or weirdly lit. It's still fairly small, but there's actually enough space for both of them to be in the kitchen at the same time without knocking each other over, so that's a bonus.

He's pretty sold, really, and by the look on Victoire's face, so is she.

"'Zis one is really nice," Fleur says, running a hand over the kitchen counter. She starts opening all the cabinets, checking for stray beasts. Thankfully, they all seem empty and clean.

"And look, you lot!" Ginny says in her I Am An Important Quidditch Announcer voice, poking her head out of the bathroom, "no ghouls!"

They all follow her in, looking around. It's nice. Really nice. It looks a little plain and the furniture's minimal, but the ad says they can paint the walls as long as they paint them back when they move out and the furniture's included, and besides, Teddy likes minimal. It means there isn't too much for him to trip on and/or break.

"So?" Teddy asks, nudging Victoire gently. She's looking out the window and down at the busy streets of Diagon Alley below, a small smile on her face. "What do you think?"

"I think it's perfect," she says, beaming.

"So this is our flat?" Teddy asks, grinning back as he wraps his arms around her.

"This is our flat," she confirms, turning around and pushing herself up to kiss him. Teddy laughs against her mouth, tugging her in closer.

Behind them, someone clears their throat. "Excuse me," Ginny says, tapping her foot. Teddy breaks away from Victoire with a groan, turning to pout at his godmother. Both Fleur and his Nan are flanking her, trying to hide grins. Great. "Hi. Yeah, it's us, your parental figures. We're still here."

Teddy rolls his eyes. "C'mon," he tells them, taking Victoire's hand. "We've got a flat to buy."

(They sign the papers two hours later. The flat costs them 265 galleons up front, with 130 galleons a month rent, but it's a good price and it's their flat, and the both of them leave feeling a little more than excited.)

/

The official move-in date is two weeks later, even though both Teddy and Victoire started packing a few days after they signed. Everyone who can comes over to pitch in, even both Teddy and Victoire tried to stop them to no use. Harry takes the morning off work. So does Bill. Ron stumbles into the Burrow at seven A.M., a much more alert Hermione at his side, and mumbles, "wuzz plan?" Even Charlie comes back from Romania to help move some of the boxes.

Actually, so many of the Weasley clan come that it gets too crowded in their little flat, and they have to kick some of them out. Eventually, Ginny comes up with a system: Grandad and Grandma Weasley supervise everything back at the Burrow, which is currently Boxes HQ; Nan sorts the boxes by way of some intricate multi-colored Spello-tape system; Hermione shrinks all the big things like bookcases and mattresses down, because she was unanimously voted Best At Shrinking Charms; Charlie and Ron transport the boxes to the flat while Bill and Harry bring them into the flat; Fleur stands by the door and (with the help of the Spello-tape) directs the boxes to their proper places; and Ginny yells at everyone trying to slack off. It works surprisingly well.

Harry and Bill leave for work after lunch, once all the boxes have been removed and placed in their respective rooms. Charlie disappears shortly after to stop at the Burrow before returning to Romania, and Ron follows him a few minutes later, muttering something about another accidental explosion at Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes. Soon, it's only Fleur, Ginny, and Nan, who came over about an hour ago to bring cookies and fuss over them. Together, the five of them get to unpacking. Fleur takes the kitchen, Nan and Ginny take the living room and entry, and Teddy and Victoire take the bedroom and bathroom.

While Victoire gets to work on making the bed and setting up all their various knick-knacks, Teddy start unpacking the clothes, hanging them up in the little closet or (trying) to fold them and place them into the dresser.

"Ooh," he says suddenly, holding up a pair of decidedly lacy underthings. "What're these?"

Victoire takes one look at him and rolls her eyes, smirking. "Called knickers, Ted," she says, turning back to the bed. "You should know about them by now."

He laughs and continues sorting through the clothes. "These are pretty nice, too," he says a few minutes later, waving a pair of light pink knickers in the air. They're high-waisted, with some kind of belt thing dangling around them. Teddy decides he likes them. Really, really likes them. "Match your skin tone and all."

Without even looking at him, Victoire reaches down, snags the matching bra from the bag, and whips it at his head.

/

The others finally leave near dinner, hanging around reluctantly. Teddy and Victoire basically have to shoo them out.

"Phew," Teddy says, leaning back against the door dramatically. "I thought they'd never leave."

Victoire snorts and links her arms around his neck. "Poor boy. Waiting all day for the adults to leave."

"Oi," he says, smirking at her. "You know what this means, right?"

Victoire raises an eyebrow. "What?"

He slips away from her and starts walking backwards, wiggling his shoulders in some weird form of dance. "That we're all alone."

Victoire bursts out laughing. "If you're trying to come on to me, it's not working, Ted."

"Just thing about it," he says, waggling his eyebrows. "No sneaking around, no angry Bill Weasleys to make Teddy Lupins scream in fright…"

Victoire takes a step toward him. "Sounds promising. Tell me more."

"Well," he says, grinning wickedly. "No sneaking out at seven in the morning, no being scared of little children being forever scarred, no getting caught…" Victoire's so close to him now he could reach out and kiss her. Instead, he grabs her and lifts her over his shoulder, wrapping an arm around her waist to keep her from falling. Victoire's shriek turns into a laugh as he speed-walks them back to the bedroom.

(Because they have time. They also have beds, floors, couches, countertops and showers, and a hell of a lot to catch up on.)

/

Teddy finds a lot of new things he likes over the next few days. He likes waking up next to Victoire. He likes Victoire's rumpled morning hair, and the grumpy expression on her face when she first wakes up. He likes bustling around together in their tiny little kitchen, frying eggs while Victoire spreads jelly on toast. He likes getting ready in the mornings together, sharing smiles through the bathroom mirror. He likes all the domesticity of living together with his best friend, his girlfriend, his better half. Merlin, he can't even be bothered to tell his idiot mates off for teasing him when he shows up for work beaming like he's swallowed the sun. His smile's permanently etched on thanks to Victoire, and he couldn't care less.

Unfortunately, once the summer finishes and Victoire starts her Healer training, things get busier and busier around their little flat. Teddy usually doesn't get home till after five, and with Victoire's rotations through the different wards, her schedule is wholly unpredictable. Sometimes, she has the same hours as Teddy. Others mean she leaves about an hour before Teddy gets home, and even worse ones still mean she has to take the overnight shift and sleep through the day, and is generally grumpy through all of it.

It also doesn't help that some missions keep him out of their flat for days on end. There's a week near Halloween where he isn't even in England, and he misses Victoire like a sore thumb the entire time. He's so pathetic about it that his mates don't even have the heart to tease him.

But then they also have those days—those few blissful days where they don't have to do anything but lie around in bed for hours, not doing anything but talking and laughing and just being them. Victoire and Teddy. Ted and Vic. And that's almost enough to make up for everything else.

/

Thanks to their hectic schedule, the first real time they have at the Burrow with their family is at the annual Christmas Eve Party. Both he and Vic've got Christmas Eve through Boxing Day off (and New Years', thank Merlin and every other higher power up there), so they have enough time to unwind before facing the masses, too. (And also plan for how best to exact their New Years' kiss.)

Teddy waits, sprawled haphazardly over the bed, as Victoire gets ready. She'd cussed him out earlier for getting ready so easily, but truth is he doesn't mind having to wait. He kind of likes watching her get ready, honestly. He's never seen her put makeup on, and hasn't ever really noticed her wearing it, either. Usually, she just brushes her hair, washes her face and rubs on some lotion and is out the door. It's interesting in a weird sort of way to watch her thread the pearl earrings her mum gave her for her seventeenth through her ears and draw on eyeliner. (He asks her, somewhat worriedly, how she doesn't poke herself in the eye. She gives him a confused look. Whatever. Girls are weird and most likely have their own brand of witchcraft for these things.)

Then, finally, she finishes and stands up, quirking an eyebrow at Teddy. "Really?" she asks, close to laughing.

He gives her a toothy grin. They decided last night to be the dorky couple they are and don matching Christmas sweaters, but Teddy had only came up with the idea to match a streak of his hair to Victoire's red lipstick. "Yep."

She rolls her eyes and takes his proffered arm. As they Apparate over to the Burrow, he thinks he hears her say something like, "dork."

(Whatever. He's pretty proud of himself, anyways.)

(He got Vic, so yeah, he's proud.)

/

"Who hit you with a Cheering Charm?" Harry asks halfway through the night, nudging Teddy with a raised eyebrow.

Teddy turns to look at him, confused. "I mean," Harry says, smirking as he follows Teddy's gaze to Victoire, who's got her head thrown back in laughter at something her brother's saying. "I look at you and I half expect rainbows to come out of your arse."

Teddy rolls his eyes and takes a swig from his Butterbeer. "All I'm saying is I haven't seen you this happy in a while, mate," Harry finishes, softer this time. "I'm glad."

Teddy smiles down at the floor and knocks his shoulder against his godfather's. "Thanks."

/

(Spoiler alert: they get that New Years' Kiss. Both of them make sure to use an exaggerated amount of tongue, and Bill starts growling.)

/

Then it all falls down.

"Shit," Teddy curses, ducking behind a wall. The spells rain over his head, sparking off the wall opposite them. Merlin, this was supposed to be routine—tail a couple of wizards rumored to be starting up a new Death Eaters league and report back to Headquarters—but suddenly it turned into a full-out attack. Now they're trapped in a little alley with only about thirty feet and a wall between them and certain death.

Kyler wipes the blood from his forehead and crouches down, wand gripped tight. There's something wild in his eyes. Though Teddy'd like to think he and his friends aren't novices by any means, they're barely holding their own. The Dark wizards they're up against have clearly had much more experience, and Teddy and his friends are so far out of their element here.

"Goddamn it," Orion hisses. After sharing a glance with the other two, he peeks out from the wall and fires off a couple neat spells, just barely pulling back in time from a green jet of light. Teddy's heart stops beating for a single second before he grabs Orion by the back of his jacket, pulling him out of the way. Quickly, he fires off a Langlock, but that only makes the two turn to silent spells.

Kyler curses. When Teddy looks back, he's trying to send a Patronus, his otter spluttering in and out of sight. His hands are shaking like crazy. Finally, his hands shake so hard he drops his wand.

"Hey," Teddy says, catching his attention. "Hey, I'll do it, okay?" As Kyler nods, trying to calm himself down, Teddy quickly closes his eyes, pulling up his memory of Victoire giving him the scrapbook. Harry—suspects caught on to us. Engaged in firefight. They're using Unforgivables. Trapped. Need backup.

"I need help over here!" Orion bellows, firing off another couple spells. Teddy hurries over to join him, Kyler quick on his heels. But any curses they fire off—verbal or non-verbal—the Dark wizards block. They barely manage to do the same.

And then—

The spell rips through him, white-hot. At first, he doesn't get it. He just stands there, struck dumb. Then Orion's pulling him back by the back of his jacket and he looks down and the front of him's all covered in blood and—

"Oh God."

Teddy's no Healer, but he knows this can't mean anything good.

"Shit shit shit shit," Orion says, all kinds of freaking out. Behind them, the two wizards draw closer and closer. Teddy can hear one of them laughing.

Teddy stumbles and Kyler's hauling him back up, his eyes a mask of forced calm. "We gotta get you to St. Mungo's, mate," he says, gesturing toward Orion impatiently. The older man nods, watching the mouth of the alley. Teddy can see him sending off spells, not so much defensive ones but ones that'll hold the others in place at least temporarily. Then something white—a hare, he thinks—sprints past him.

"No time," Teddy manages, blinking to keep his eyes focused. Because he knows maybe he'll make it into the atrium, but the chances of him making it to a Healer before he bleeds out are slim to none.

He tries to think. Nan's at the Burrow. Harry and the others won't be coming any time soon. But Vic—she's home now. Not due for another shift until six. He squeezes his eyes shut, hating it. But he's all out of other options."Vic. She's a healer."

Somehow, Kyler understands. He grabs onto Orion and the two of them lift Teddy's arms around his shoulders, supporting his weight. And before Teddy can say another word, he's standing in front of that white door.

/

Teddy manages to touch his wand to the door handle. It swings open and the two of them drag him into his living room. The blood's going everywhere now, all over the floor. God, Victoire's gonna kill him.

He can hear her now, walking out of their bedroom. He can see the furrow in her brow in his mind, because he's not due home for another two hours.

Then she turns the corner and gasps.

He'll never get that face out of his mind. Wide eyes, full of fear and horror. One hand drawn up to her lips. Entire face pale and white. For one moment, she's frozen, just staring at him.

Then she barks, "get him on the couch!" to his friends and she's bending over him, ripping the flannel open. He hears her Accio her med kit over, fumbling around for something to cover all the blood. "Ted, stay with me here. C'mon, I need you to keep your eyes open for me, okay?"

He struggles to keep his eyes open, locking them onto her. "Sorry," he murmurs, taking a couple deep breaths.

Victoire sets her mouth into a firm line. "Sectumsempra, right?" she asks Orion, barely sparing him a glance. She's already muttering the counter-curse before he can nod, her voice a smooth, soothing litany.

Dimly, Teddy can feel the wounds closing, stitching back together. Victoire keeps on muttering the spell, smoothing his hair off his face with her free hand. He's still dizzy as hell, barely conscious. But finally, he can feel the wounds close over, and a little clarity comes back.

Victoire lets out a relieved breath, leaning her forehead against the arm of the sofa for one moment. When she comes back to tilt a flask of Replenishing Potion to his lips, her free hand's trembling against his cheek. The other one's stained red all the way up to her wrist. Teddy finishes one serving of the potion, then another. Finally, Victoire draws back, searching his face worriedly. For a few terrible moments, everyone holds their breath.

"Wotcher, Vic," he says weakly, trying for a grin.

She raises her head and stares at him, mouth hanging open. Then she lets out a wet giggle and's pressing her lips to his forehead, twining her bloody fingers with his. "You," she says breathlessly, dropping her head onto his shoulder, "are the world's biggest idiot."

For a second, it's like it's just the two of them. But Teddy knows that Orion and Kyler are still standing there, shuffling their feet awkwardly. And evidently, Victoire seems to realize this too, because she lifts her head and turns towards idiots #2 and #3. "Hi," she says, giving Orion a small, self-deprecating smile. "I don't believe we've been formally introduced."

It does the trick. Orion laughs, too loud and too relieved, and even Kyler manages a smile as he sends off another Patronus to Harry. "Orion," he greets her, inclining his head with a charming little smile. "You must be the Victoire we've heard so much about."

"Stop flirting with my girlfriend," Teddy says, raising his eyebrows.

Victoire doesn't even look at him. "I'd say so," she says. "Unless there's another Victoire Teddy's not telling me about." Orion snorts, the traitor. Victoire just calmly turns to Kyler, her smile sweet and friendly. "Nice seeing you again, Kyler. It's been what, three years?"

"About that," he says, smiling back automatically. "Your boyfriend's been hiding you from us."

"I wonder why," Teddy mutters, rolling his eyes, but he's smiling anyways.

Victoire and Kyler fall into conversation, something about Hogwarts and Healing and Potions as she looks them over, too. He's not exactly sure what's going on—his head's still a bit fuzzy—but he knows Victoire can strike up a conversation with just about anyone if she wants to, and Kyler's the kind of laid-back guy who'll just go with the flow, and he's glad that they're friends. Both him and Orion are pretty decent mates, all things considered.

He meets Orion's eyes across the room. Smirking, the older man mouths nice catch and gives him a less-than-covert two thumbs up. Teddy just grins back. Yeah, he's got some pretty good mates.

/

Soon enough, though, the cavalry comes storming in. Harry's at the front, still in his Auror clothes. The general rumpled-ness of him gives Teddy the distinct impression that he came here fresh off hauling the criminals in, leaving a whirlwind of paperwork in his wake. Ginny's right behind him, a furious streak of red hair. The rest of her's bleached white. Finally, Nan tumbles in through the fireplace. When she stumbles and rights herself, her eyes are wide and glassy and there's a streak of Floo Powder across her cheek.

"What the hell happened out there, huh?" Harry snarls, robes swirling around him as he kneels in front of Teddy. His entire face's contorted in anger. Teddy's never really thought of his godfather as a scary bloke. He's seen him snigger at Ron's fart jokes far too many times to take him seriously. But right now, he can certainly see why so many Dark wizards are afraid of him.

"There was a lock on that door," Teddy says instead of answering.

Ginny lets out an angry hiss and strides over to stand next to Harry. Victoire, already with little space left, gets up and retreats to the stool by the kitchen bar. "What happened?" Ginny repeats, eyes boring into him.

Behind him, he can feel Nan lean against the couch, reaching over to push Teddy's hair off his forehead.

"Uh, we're going to get back to Headquarters," Orion says, sounding awkward. "Y'know, paperwork and all." Kyler just hooks his thumbs into his pockets and nods. "Bye!" Teddy tries for a smile as they turn and leave, but no one else pays them any notice.

"Explain," Harry demands as soon as the door slams shut. "Now."

He sighs and goes through the whole spiel. They were tailing two wizards suspecting of trying to form a Dark Arts cult. Everything was routine; the two men didn't even seem to notice them. Then the dark wizards disappeared into an alley. Knowing there wasn't anyone else around, the three of them waited a good six minutes before following them in. They walked into an ambush and got backed into a dead end. They were fighting for their lives when Teddy got hit.

He picks at a stray thread on the couch the entire time he's talking, too afraid to look up and meet anyone's eyes. Least of all Victoire, because he's still got that scared look of hers bouncing around in his head.

It's silent for a while. Then, finally: "I should've been more careful," Harry says, rubbing a hand over his face and sending his glasses all askew. Frantic now, he rests a hand on Teddy's shoulder, pressing a little too hard. "I just knew Travers and Nell were dangerous. I shouldn't have let you three take that assignment, I just—"

Ginny rests a hand on top of Harry's. Immediately, the fingers on Teddy's shoulder relax, loosening their death grip. "What he means," she says, swallowing thickly. There are tears in her eyes, making them look liquid. "Is that this is no one's fault and we're so glad you're OK, Ted."

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Victoire slip off the stool and slink into their bedroom. Before he can make anything of it, though, his Nan's cradling his face in her hands. He turns to face her, neck tweaking uncomfortably, just as a drop of salt water lands on his cheek.

"I'm going to get back to the office," Harry says, standing up. When he looks around, it seems he notices for the first time that Victoire's gone. "Uh, apologize to Victoire for us barging in, would you?"

Teddy nods as Ginny gets up, and, with a kiss to his forehead, follows her husband out the door. It's just Teddy and Nan now, and Victoire waiting in the other room.

"I thought I was going to lose you," she whispers, squeezing her eyes shut. "I got the Patronus from Harry that you'd been hurt on an assignment and I just freaked. I—I can't lose you, Teddy. You're all I have left. I can't lose you, too."

She breaks down then, all giant, heart-wrenching sobs that pull at Teddy's gut. He circles his arms around her as best he can and lets her cry into the crook of his neck. You're all I have left. Because no matter how bad he has it, growing up without his parents, she lost not only her daughter, but her husband and her son-in-law in the span of month.

"I'm sorry," he croaks, a tear spilling out of one eye. "Merlin, Nan, I'm so sorry…" He tries to take in a deep breath, the smell of Nan's shampoo filling his nostrils. He's acutely aware of Victoire in the other room, listening in through the paper-thin walls. "I'm so sorry."

They stay like that for a while, just holding on to each other. It makes him think of when he was little, too, curled up next to his Nan after a nightmare. That aches a little, too.

Finally, once the tears have dried, Nan stands up, wiping her eyes. "I should get back. It's getting late." She risks a glance at the closed bedroom door, a wry smile on her face. "I'll leave you to it."

He tries not to grimace as he smiles at her. Facing Victoire after all of this won't be fun. "I'll drop by soon, alright?"

"'Course," she says, smiling a little brighter this time. "I'll have your favourite biscuits ready."

Then she's gone, the green glow of the fireplace giving way to the eerie quiet of the flat.

Carefully, Teddy sits up, hoisting himself up off the couch. He has to be careful still, because he's lost a fair amount of blood and if he moves too suddenly he gets dizzy. But eventually, he makes it over to that closed door and twists it open.

Victoire's sitting on the bed with her back to him, head bowed low. Soon as she hears the door creak open, she whips around, her eyes going wide. He notices immediately that they're red and glassy. "You're supposed to be lying down," she says, hurrying over to him. Carefully, she helps him onto the bed, heaping pillows underneath his head.

"Vic," he says quietly, watching her fuss with the sheets. She doesn't look up, just moves on to the comforter, smoothing out invisible wrinkles. "Vic, look at me."

She finally does. Immediately, her eyes spill over with tears. "I thought I was going to lose you, Ted," she whispers, a harsh sob following her words. Teddy pulls her into him, her nose brushing his collarbone.

"I'm sorry," he says, smoothing a hand over her hair. "I'm so sorry." He feels like a broken record, apologizing to everyone. But Nan deserved it. And Vic does, too.

She fits himself onto the bed beside him, crawling under the covers. "Just don't do that to me again, alright?"

He pulls her in and fits his mouth to hers, half desperate and half to remind himself that she's really here. That he's really here, too. And he is. He can taste the salt of her tears against his mouth and yes, they're both real. Both fine.

He can't promise her anything for certain, but Victoire's more than enough of a reason to not throw himself into the crossfires.

"Okay," she says when he pulls away, snuggling in closer. And come morning, they haven't moved an inch.

/

Teddy spends most of the next two weeks bored out of his mind. First comes the three-day stay at St. Mungo's just to make sure he was still in working order. (Unfortunately, his healer-in-training wasn't Victoire, but it's one of Vic's friends, Marina, who turns out to not only have pink hair but also have a great appreciation for bad puns, and that's not the worst substitute. Also, he gets to make lots of bad doctor-patient sex jokes when Victoire visits, so it's not all bad.)

After that, he spends about a week at their flat "recuperating", under strict orders from Head Stupid Godfather Harry not to even think about work. Victoire tries her best to keep him company when she's home, but when she leaves for St. Mungo's, well, there's only so many times one can make brightly-colored smoke come out of their wand before it gets old.

He and Vic are fine for a while. But then he starts going back to work. First she acts normal, waving him off in the morning with a cup of coffee and a kiss. He asks her a couple times if something's wrong. She just says no. Then she gets a little more distant. Whenever he mentions anything about a mission, she flinches. And now whenever he leaves, she stays in the kitchen, facing away from him, and just barely returns his goodbye.

About a month and a half after the whole incident, he comes home and tells her that he and his mates have a four-day assignment out in North London starting the day after tomorrow.

He watches her face, thinking maybe there's something there. Anger. Sadness. Worry. But there's nothing there. It's just flat and blank. It's not Victoire at all. "Okay," she says, and then turns on her heel and walks into their bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her.

Shaking his head, he follows her, jerking the door open. "Alright, what the hell is going on with you?"

"Nothing," she says, folding her arms. "Just leave me alone."

"No," he says firmly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Damn it, Victoire, just spit it out, would you?"

She whirls around, eyes blazing. "Fine, Teddy. You wanna know what's going on with me? Well here it is: I nearly watched you die six weeks ago and now you expect me to act like it never happened? I watched the blood pour out of you like a fountain. Your heart was failing, Ted. Two more minutes and you'd have been dead. You promised me after that I'd never have to deal with that again. But how the hell can you keep that promise when you keep putting yourself in danger?"

"What do you expect me to do?" he hisses. "Give up my job?"

"No!" she snaps, glaring at him. "I just want you to be more careful, alright?"

"What, so I jumped in front of that curse? Is that what you think?" He jabs a finger at her, not sure if he's more hurt or angry now. "I'm a bloody Auror, Vic. It's going to be dangerous. You better accept that or else this is going to get real rough."

"You don't think I know that?" she yells.

"Then what the hell is this about?"

"It's about you and the fact that you can't stop getting in trouble!" she yells. "A black eye here, a broken arm there. You come home from every mission with some kind of injury and every time all I can think of is oh God, he could've died."

"I. Am. An. Auror," he repeats. "Putting myself in danger, protecting others—that's my job."

"But who protects you?" she says, laughing bitterly. Something tears in Teddy's heart. "Who the hell is there to protect you? Because I know you, Ted. You'd throw yourself into the dragon's cave in a second just to save a perfect stranger. Don't tell me otherwise. I know you." She stops to wipe her eyes, almost as if she's angry about the tears, too. "But you're so caught up in protecting everyone that you forget that you have so many people who need you to stay alive. Your grandmother. The Potters. Me." She swallows. "And I'm not ready to lose you just because you want to keep playing the hero."

He stares at her. "I'm not trying to play anyone! I'm just trying to do my job, alright?"

"Doing your job wouldn't almost get you killed on a regular basis!" she yells. "Just tell me, Teddy, who are you trying to be? Your parents?"

"How the hell am I supposed to be like them if I never even knew them?" he bellows, shaking all over. Betrayal rings in his bones. Victoire, who watched him shake apart at the mention of his parents, now pulling the dead parents card. God, how dare she? "They're dead!" She flinches at the anger in his voice. "You know what the best part of being an orphan is? There's no parents to impress. I just do what I have to do. I'll go out on this mission and chances are I'll get hurt. Hell, maybe I'll break a few bones. You'll just have to deal with it."

"Do you have a death wish?" she screams, tears in her eyes. "Do you want to join your parents, is that it?"

He stops, Victoire's words hitting him like a punch. For a second, it feels like he can't breathe. "So this is all about you?" he yells, seething. "Poor little Victoire, scared her boyfriend's going to kick it and leave her all alone. No one's ever died on you before, right? Must be nice living such a pretty life." He laughs bitterly. "Grow up and stop being so goddamn self-centered. People leave and die and there's not a thing you can do about it. That's life."

"Ted—"

There's something soft in her eyes now. Maybe guilt. But Teddy's too far gone. "Who knows? Maybe it'll be this time. Maybe I'll get Avada'd and next time you see me they'll be loading my body into a casket. And then maybe you'll have an idea what it feels like to lose someone."

"Get out."

He snaps his head toward her, one tiny little bit of panic rearing his head. The anger drowns it out within seconds. "What?"

"I said get out," she repeats, tears brimming in her eyes.

He turns and slams the door behind him hard enough to make a picture frame smash. Only when he shuts the front door behind him does he feel the first vestige of guilt.

/

By the time he gets to his Nan's, his head's spinning with dread. Merlin, what has he done? Maybe I'll get Avada'd and next time you see me they'll be loading my body into a casket. The words echo around in his head, sharp and painful. Grow up and stop being so goddamn self-centered. God, why did he say those things?

His Nan opens the door at the first knock. "Teddy?" she asks when catches sight of him, eyes going wide with concern as she takes in his disheveled appearance. "What's wrong?"

"I fucked up," he whimpers, hanging his head. "Oh God Nan I fucked up I fucked up so bad I—"

Nan grabs him by the shoulder gently and leads him into the house as he starts blubbering out the details. She doesn't say anything the whole time, just goes to the kitchen to grab him some tea, curling his fingers around the cup.

Get out, Victoire had told him.

"How am I going to fix this?" he says, squeezing his eyes shut. "God, Nan, what have I done?"

She settles herself down beside him and rests her head on his shoulder, stroking a hand over his hair idly. "I don't know, sweetheart."

/

She sets him up in his old bedroom. It looks so bare and empty without most of his stuff (and Victoire), and it kind of makes him want to cry, but he feels too far past sad for that. He kind of just wants to sleep for an eternity—maybe longer—and hope that when he wakes up, this was all a dream.

"You'll figure this out," his Nan says when she comes to say goodnight. "You'll figure this out. I know you will."

But Teddy's not so sure.

/

It takes him a couple hours to finally get to sleep. Even then, he wakes up early, too on edge to get back to sleep quickly.

(Nope, not a dream.)

He's almost lulled himself back to sleep when his bedroom door bangs open. Next thing he knows, someone's slapping his cheek.

"Ginny," Harry sighs, full of exasperation. "Don't slap the poor boy."

Teddy opens his eyes to see his godparents standing over him, Ginny's hand still raised in front of him. "Hi," he says with a sickeningly fake smile. Then he promptly closes his eyes and hopes they'll go away.

"Oh no you don't," Ginny says, hauling him up into a sitting position with admirable strength. "You're not getting out of this."

"Look, guys," Teddy says, looking down. "My doomed relationship—" he chokes a little, winded—"is none of your business."

"Like hell," Harry says. "Your business is our business, mate."

He gives Harry a flat look. "Can I please just go back to sleep? I'd like to pretend I'm not conscious for a little while longer."

"No can do, kiddo," Ginny says. "We're talking about this whether you like it or not."

"She told me to get out," he tells her, turning away. "What's there to talk about?"

"Wow," Harry whistles. "You must have really screwed up."

Ginny jabs her husband with her elbow, giving him a nasty look. "Are you giving up?" she says incredulously, turning back to him. "Because if you are, that's fine. Harry and I will leave and let you wallow in your own self-pity."

"No!" he says quickly, staring at her with wide eyes. "Merlin, no, I don't wanna give up on her. I just… how in any universe is this fixable?"

"Hey," Ginny says, nodding toward Harry. "This idiot over here dumped me at our Headmaster's funeral to 'protect me', and then took my brother and one of my best friends and went gallivanting around the country for almost a year saving the Wizarding World. Then, once he was back, he took another three months just to ask me out again. And I still said yes."

Harry raises an eyebrow at her. "Seriously?"

"Point is," Ginny says, ignoring him, "you and Vic are too strong to break over this. She loves you. You love her. Yeah, you might have said some pretty awful things last night—both of you did—but that doesn't make the rest of it any less true."

"You leave for that mission tomorrow," Harry adds. "By the time you come back, it might be too late to fix things. So the real question is, are you going to go try and fix things, or are you going to stay here and feel sorry for yourself? Because we both know how that last one's going to end."

His heart's beating fast now. Merlin, he wants to fix things, he really, really does. He loves Victoire too much to let her go this easy. "Okay," he says after a moment, throwing the sheets off. "Option one it is."

Harry pumps his fist in the air as Teddy pulls yesterday's smelly shirt over his head. When his head's clear, he catches the two of them exchanging high-fives.

"Nice one," Harry says, wrapping an arm around his wife.

"Thanks," she smirks. "You too. That bit at the end was a nice touch."

Teddy rolls his eyes at the pair of them. "You done yet?"

"Just about," Harry says, grinning, as Teddy finishes pulling on his trousers.

"Good," Teddy says, starting toward the door.

"Hey," Harry says, catching his arm. "When I was on the run, your dad stopped to visit us. He'd left your mom, thinking you and her were better off without him. He wanted to go back to her so badly, but he didn't think he could anymore." He smiles sadly. "I yelled at him and told him to not take his family for granted. So he went back, and they worked it out." He smiles sadly. "Next time I saw him, he was the happiest he'd ever been." He lets Teddy go, stepping back. "Love takes work, Ted. If it's worth it—and I think it is—you'll put in that work."

Teddy steps forward and clasps Harry in a hug. Okay, yeah, his godfather's an idiot. But he's the best idiot there is.

"Also," Ginny says from behind them, "do us all a favour and brush your teeth, alright? I think your apology will go a lot better without that breath."

He laughs and opens his arms, letting Ginny into the hug. Yeah, they're idiots. But they're his idiots.

/

Nan's waiting at the bottom of the stairs. "You ready?" she asks, smiling gently.

"Yeah," he says, pulling her into a hug. The gratitude gets stuck somewhere in his throat, because she's always known just what to say or who to call. Even if that happens to be his dumb godparents. "Yeah, I am."

Then he closes his eyes and Apparates back to his flat.

/

For a second, he doesn't move. He just stares at that white door, trying to muster up the courage to knock. Merlin, that door's never looked so foreboding.

But Victoire's behind that door, he knows she is. And he still needs to apologize.

So he takes a deep breath and raises his hand.

Tap-tap-tap.

/

For a second, there's no answer. Then he hears soft footsteps walking towards him. Two seconds later, the door swings open.

God, he missed her. He thinks maybe she got even more breathtaking these last twenty-four hours. But her eyes are webbed with red, dark circles hanging under them. She's had as bad a night as he did.

"I'm an idiot," he breathes out. "Merlin, I'm such an idiot."

She launches herself at him immediately, shaking all over. "Oh God, Ted, no—I'm the idiot, I wasn't even thinking about what I was saying—I'm so sorry—"

"No, I'm so sorry—I was mean and I said some horrible things—"

"No, it's my fault, I—"

Suddenly they're both laughing, breathless. Teddy, thanking all the heavens above, leans in to press kisses all over her face—forehead, temple, nose, cheek, jaw. Merlin, she's glorious.

He carries her into the kitchen, shutting the door behind them, and sets her down on the floor, sitting across from her. "What you said stung," he says carefully, "but what I said to you after… that was unnecessary, and I'm sorry."

She nods, drawing her lip into her mouth. "It hurt. A lot. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. But you were right, at least a little. I was being selfish. I just—I really, really don't want to lose you, Ted. And I worry about you a lot."

"Bringing my parents into it was unfair," he says. "From now on, can we make that a no-go subject for arguments?"

"Yeah, of course," Victoire says immediately. "Definitely. I don't even know why I brought it up in the first place."

"Because you were scared," he says gently. It hits him then, that feeling he had when he got hit. The aching, sharp flutter in his chest that he'd never see Victoire again, that he'd leave his Nan all alone, that he'd miss seeing James and Al and Lily grow up. He was so scared.

And Victoire's been feeling that way all along.

"I can't promise you I won't get hurt again," he says. "And I'm not going to quit being an Auror, because it's what I've wanted to do ever since I was little. Not for my parents, not for anyone else. For me." He leans in closer, taking her hands in his. "I leave on that mission tomorrow, and you're going to have to trust me. Because I might get hurt. But I will do everything to come back to you alive, whole and still making really, really bad jokes."

She laughs and tugs him in by the mouth. "So we're okay?" she whispers, knotting her hands in his shirt.

"Yeah," he says, pulling her closer. "Yeah, I think so."

/

He leaves the next morning. Just before he leaves, Victoire grabs him by the front of his robes, kisses him hard and tells him she expects him back in one piece, right, Ted?

(He smiles and says aye aye, love.)

Four days later, he comes home with barely a scratch on him, and Victoire launches herself at him immediately.

"See?" he says between kisses, walking her back to the bedroom. "All in one piece."

As she sinks down onto the bed, she tells him to shut up.

(He also discovers she's wearing that nice underwear set with the belt thing that she later informs him is a garter. And yes, he does quite like it.)

/

They're not, as Hermione would say, hunky-dory all the time. They still have dumb fights about someone drinking all the milk and leaving clothes everywhere. Victoire still gets anxious sometimes when he leaves on longer missions. But they are, however, a lot more than okay. The good times outweigh the bad times by a million. They still laugh and talk and snog a lot. They're still Teddy and Victoire. Still idiots. (Idiots who have dinner parties, apparently. It's kind of their thing now, inviting friends over for dinner and pretending either of them knows how to cook. But he's glad they do it, and he likes being the sort of people who have dinner parties. He's also glad Victoire has a friend like Marina, and he's glad Victoire gets along so well with his mates, even if most of what they talk about are his most embarrassing moments.)

One day, when he's sitting in the flat alone after Vic leaves for work, he stumbles across the scrapbook she gave him four years ago.

When he thumbs through it again, he can feel the tears rising to his eyes. All those photos—his parents holding him at St. Mungo's, both of them looking so happy. Teddy, your dad was one of the bravest people I've ever known. The Marauders, smiling and laughing with their arms around each other. They were inseparable. Frankly, I believe he's the only reason the rest of them survived into adulthood. His mum changing her nose into all sort of grotesque shapes: a pig's nose, then a beak, then a massive honker circa Severus Snape. She gave up her life to make yours better, and I know that's no consolation, but it's true.

He looks through all the pictures, all the little notes, and remembers what it felt like to be seventeen and have no idea who the hell he was. And then Victoire came along and did this—swept him off his feet once again, and showed him the parts of him he didn't even know were there. Like she's always done for him.

And Merlin, he loves her. He loves her so much. She's every good part of him plus some. She's at every end of him and he can't ever let her go. Ever. He won't.

And he knows what he has to do.

With a grin on his face, he quickly grabs his jacket and heads to Nan's.

/

She squeals the moment he tells her. "Teddy!" she shrieks, wrapping him up in a death hug. Teddy just laughs and hugs her back, euphoria bubbling over. "Are you sure?"

"Sure as I've ever been," he answers, finally pulling away. "So, you'll come with me?"

"To help you pick out a ring for your beautiful girlfriend?" she asks, raising an eyebrow. "Of course. Who do you think I am, a barbarian?"

Relief washes over him. Sure, he probably could've picked out a pretty nice ring by himself, but he'd prefer his Nan to be there, too. "How does right now work for you?"

She smirks. "Teddy, dear, weren't you supposed to grow out of this impatience?"

"Nope," he says, popping the 'p'. "Now c'mon, let's go."

/

They end up perusing the shelves for ages. Merlin, Teddy had no clue just how many engagement rings there were out there, but it must be in the thousands, and they're all apparently subtly different. It turns out to be a very good idea to bring Nan along, because she clearly has a lot more knowledge on this whole thing than he does.

"Save the diamond for the actual wedding ring," she advises, steering him towards the corner of the shop with the other gemstones. "I think Victoire might like something else."

Again, she's right. Teddy nods and starts looking through all the different jewels. Big, honking ones that change colour, like the one George gave Angelina. Fiery-red stones like Ginny's. Deep emeralds. Sparkling sapphires.

And then he sees it. Right in front of him, a thin, silver band, with a sparkling amethyst in the center. Merlin, this is Vic. It has to be.

He pulls Nan over so she can see, full of excitement. She immediately says, "Merlin, yes! This will be perfect!"

Three minutes later, they're walking out of the store, a box in Teddy's right robes pocket, and Teddy's skipping on every other step.

/

He's not really sure what comes next, but he thinks maybe? Just maybe? He's supposed to ask Victoire's parents about it?

So he goes over to Shell Cottage on a Sunday during Victoire's last rotation, feeling a lot more nervous than he should be.

"Teddy," Bill says when he sees him, raising his eyebrows. "If you're looking for Vicky, you are aware that she lives with you now, right?"

Teddy snorts. "I'm aware. I actually came here to talk to you two."

Bill's eyebrows shoot up all the way into his hair, but he steps back from the door, letting him in. "Alright."

"Fleur!" he hollers on his way into the living room. "We have a visitor!"

She comes rushing down the stairs. "'Oo—oh, Teddy!"

Immediately, she wraps him up in a hug, all smiles. "'Ow have you been, Teddy? 'Ow is Victoire?"

"I'm good. And Victoire's doing great," he says, grinning automatically. "She's on her last rotation right now."

They jabber on about Victoire—one of Teddy's favourite subjects—for a while before Bill clears his throat. "You were saying you had something to ask us?"

"Oh," Teddy says, feeling heat rise to his face. "Yeah. Right." He takes a deep breath. "So, uh, you know how Vic and I have been together for a while, and uh, we're pretty serious—I mean, we do live together—"

Fleur touches his knee gently. "Teddy, you're rambling."

"Oh. Yeah," he says again, feeling dumb. He sucks in another breath of air, trying to calm down his wild heart. "So basically, what I wanted to ask you was, well—I want to marry your daughter."

The room goes quiet for a moment. Teddy doesn't dare look at either of them.

"You're asking our permission to marry our daughter?" Bill says finally, sounding confused.

"No!" Teddy says quickly. "I mean, no offence, but I'm going to do it anyways. I just wanted more of, like, a blessing?" He grimaces. "I'm not really sure, actually. I just thought it was the right thing to do."

Fleur launches herself at him in a way that reminds him strongly of Victoire. "C'est merveilleuse! When are you going to ask?"

"I, uh, haven't exactly figured that part out yet?" he says when she's pulled away, scratching the back of his neck. He's watching Bill now, whose face is expressionless.

"Well, you've clearly got my wife's approval," Bill says, sighing. "And I guess you've got mine, too."

It's Teddy's turn to raise his eyebrows. "You're a good kid, Teddy," Bill continues, pursing his lips. "You're good for Vic, and I know you love her. You're probably the only person I'd let her marry, to be honest." He swallows, like all this honesty is making him embarrassed. "So you've got my blessing. Just don't muck it up, alright?"

Fleur claps her hands together excitedly and draws Teddy into another hug. Teddy laughs, still not believing all of this, because what? William Arthur Weasley actually gave him permission to marry Victoire? And admitted that he was a good guy?

He must be dreaming.

/

So he's got the ring now and Vic's parents' blessing, but he's still not sure how to do the rest of it, and that's why he pulls Harry into an alcove the moment he spots him at work.

"Whoa, whoa," Harry says, raising his hands. "Whatever it was, I didn't do it."

Teddy rolls his eyes. "You didn't do anything, O wise godfather of mine. Just—"

He glances around quickly to see if anyone's watching, and then shows Harry the ring box.

"I'm married," Harry says, raising his eyebrows.

Teddy groans. "For Merlin's sake, would you just stop it for a second?"

Harry nods, furrowing his eyebrows. "Alright. So what do you need me for?"

"I just—" Teddy breaks off, running a hand over his face. "I don't know how I'm supposed to ask."

"No one does," Harry says. "You think I did? I basically just blurted out, "marry me," to Ginny. It wasn't romantic. I was almost asleep at the time."

"What a catch," Teddy drawls.

Harry rolls his eyes. "I mean, she kind of just looked at me for a second and said that's all you've got?" he smiles down at the ground, looking for all the world like a teenage boy again. "So yeah, the speech came after. But it wasn't like I'd planned it out and memorized it or anything. It just happened."

Teddy nods, drawing his lip up into his mouth. "Oi," Harry says, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Don't think about it too much. Victoire's gonna say yes no matter what." He smiles and lets Teddy go, turning away. "I'm really happy for you, Teddy."

/

He takes Harry's advice and doesn't think about it too much. Problem is, he's also waiting for that magical moment of lore, and as it's been almost a month already, he's not really sure he's ever going to find it. (Also, he's impatient as hell.)

Finally, when they're sitting on the couch together one night, he just says, "marry me."

Vic turns toward him with wide eyes. "What?"

He swallows, tells himself to man up, and sinks down onto one knee on the carpet. "Marry me," he repeats, fumbling the ring box open. Merlin, it feels like his heart's about to beat out of his chest. "You make me a better person, Vic. You always have. I wake up in the morning so in love with you and I go to sleep loving you even more. I want to spend every single day of the rest of my life with you because you're the only person I can imagine growing old with." He tries for a smile. "So please, please do a bloke a favour and say yes."

She's covering her mouth, eyes shining. There tears are threatening to spill over. "Yes," she says, flinging herself at him. "A million times yes, Ted."

He laughs wetly and slots his mouth against hers, near delirious. He just barely remembers to slide the ring over her finger as she rucks his shirt up over his chest, pulling him in, in.

They're engaged.

He laughs against her stomach. Goddamn it, he's the luckiest bloke in the world.

/

"Ooh," Orion says when Teddy almost literally skips over to them the next morning. "Someone got up to a little trouble last night." Behind him, Kyler waggles his eyebrows suggestively.

Teddy just shrugs, because yeah, he did, but that's not all of it.

"But," Orion says, narrowing his eyes. "This looks a little too cheery to be just post-coital bliss."

"I proposed to Vic last night," he says casually, still smiling goofily.

"WHAT?" Kyler and Orion say in unison, gaping at him.

"She said yes," Teddy says, just as casually.

Both boys whoop and pull him into a hug, ruffling his hair. "Give us all the details," Orion says when he pulls back, face lit up. "We're with you the whole day, Teddy, you can't get out of this one."

Out of the corner of his eye, Teddy sees Harry give him a thumbs up, smirking wide.

"Alright," he tells them, because yeah, he's not getting out of this one and he doesn't want to, either.

/

He and Vic don't exactly come up with a plan for telling the family, but seeing as Grandma Weasley's annual End of Hogwarts dinner is coming up, they decide that's a good a time as any. And it's not like they're going to be able to hide it from her, anyways.

They get about two feet into the Burrow before Mrs. Weasley shrieks. "Oh my God! Victoire! Teddy!"

All present turn to stare at the pair of them. Feeling very much like a circus sideshow, he raises a hand and waves awkwardly. "Wotcher?"

"What's the matter?" Ginny says, furrowing her eyebrows. Behind her, Nan's vibrating so hard with excitement Teddy worries she'll catch flight. Harry's not faring much better, either.

He chances a look at Fleur and Bill. Fleur's face is lit up with excitement, her smile splitting her face in half. Even Bill's managing a smile.

Victoire and Teddy share a look. Then he takes Victoire's left hand and raises it up for all to see.

The chorus of shrieks and excited yells that reach his ears almost deafen him. He barely has time to share a grin with Victoire before the crowd swallows them up.

"When?"

"How?"

"No, seriously, when?"

"How come I wasn't told?"

"Can I be the flower girl, Teddy?"

"I call groomsman!"

"Ooh, bridesmaid!"

"When's the wedding?"

"Will you let me drink Firewhiskey?"

"Can James and I be in charge of entertainment?"

"Oi, you lot!" Victoire calls, laughing. "Look, we just got engaged, alright? We haven't exactly figured out all the details yet."

And just like that, all the girls are ripping Victoire away, jabbering on about fabrics and begging to look at the ring. Teddy's left with all the blokes. They just stare at him for a second, expressions ranging from amusement to awe to being highly impressed.

"Nice," James says finally, and suddenly he's faced with a multitude of high-fives and claps on the back. Even Bill comes up to shake his hand, a small smile on his face.

He catches Victoire's eye through the open doorway and grins. Yeah, he did good.

/

It's months before even the first details get sorted out. Teddy picks Harry as his best man, with Orion and Kyler as his groomsmen. Fleur is Victoire's maid of honor, with Marina, Dominique and Ginny as her bridesmaids. Lily is, of course, the flower girl, Al is the ringbearer, and no, Fred and James are not allowed to be in charge of the entertainment (which, Teddy is pretty sure, would have consisted of a lot of fireworks and ill-timed pranks).

It's then everything else that comes rolling in. Fabrics, centerpieces, tents, the whole shebang. Teddy and Victoire go ring shopping, something that ends up taking an entire day—before finally deciding on an elegant diamond ring for Victoire and a plain silver band for Teddy. Then there's the meetings with everyone else in the wedding party to figure out seating plans, disaster evacuation plans, and who to send invitations to in the first place. ("We should just elope," he complains to Vic one night. "It would be so much easier.") Of course, they can't, because he thinks the entire Weasley family might murder him if he does.

The night before the wedding, Victoire's whisked away by a mob of women for her bachelor party. Nothing fancy, she'd assured him this morning with a roll of her eyes. Don't worry, I think the strippers Dom tried to book were busy. He gets whisked away about an hour later himself to the Leaky with the boys and Harry.

"A kept man," Orion says, pointing his Firewhiskey bottle at Teddy. "Didn't think you had it in you, Lupin."

Teddy raises an eyebrow. "It'll be a lot more surprising if you ever settle down, mate."

"Take a real spectacular person to put up with you," Kyler says, nodding.

Harry rolls his eyes, still nursing the same Butterbeer. "Now, now, boys," he says, smirking. "'Sides, I think Auror Gold over here's already got his eye on someone."

Teddy perks up immediately. "Ooh, Marina?" he says, turning to Orion.

"Yeah, you seen that too?" Kyler chips in, snorting. "Bloke makes heart eyes whenever she's around. Pathetic."

"What lies," Orion says, downing the dregs of his drink. "Besides, it would be rude to proposition a member of one of my best mate's weddings."

"Bullocks," Teddy says immediately. "Aren't you the same guy who slept with one of your cousin's groomsmen?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Orion answers, inspecting his fingernails with a delicate air.

Harry's laughing down the neck of his Butterbeer. "Sure, mate, sure."

/

He has no idea how he finds himself standing at the end of a long white carpet, his best mates and godfather standing beside him. Okay, he does, in the strictest of sense, because he remembers coming home pleasantly buzzed last night and Victoire not being there—something about staying at Shell Cottage so she can get ready. He remembers waking up this morning, too, and Harry helping him tie his tie while his stomach fluttered with nerves. But how he got here, standing at this alter and waiting for the love of his life to walk out… that's a whole 'nother story.

The collar of his dress robes is too tight. As he waits, heart caught in his throat, it feels like he can't breathe.

"Oi," Harry calls, nudging him in the back. "Calm down, mate. You're going to pass out if you keep that up. Don't want to derail your own wedding, do you?"

Teddy throws him a cross look, but tries to calm down anyway. Okay. He's fine. Hagrid, their official officiator, is standing behind the alter in his hairiest suit, looking like he's about to burst into tears of happiness. His best mates are standing in front of him, and Harry's beside him. Nan's in the front row, beaming so wide with happiness Teddy feels his heart burst.

Then, finally, the door opens.

Fleur's first out, glowing in a soft pink gown. She gives Teddy a soft smile as she walks out and comes to stand off to the right, a bouquet in her arms. Them, Ginny, grinning happily and looking radiant. (Teddy glances over his shoulder, and yeah, Harry's pretty much drooling.) Then comes Dominique, smirking like her birthday's come early, and then Marina. (Yep, Orion's staring, and Teddy is going to rib him so hard for it later.)

Next is Lily, literally bouncing with happiness as she tosses handfuls of flowers here and there, showering petals on the guests more than she actually gets them on the carpet. She's so cute Teddy melts a little.

And then Victoire appears.

She's holding onto Bill's arm, her head down and smile soft and shy. Teddy wonders if maybe she really is glowing, because holy dragons and hippogriffs and Kneazles, she's gorgeous. Cheeks flushed. Eyes clear blue and shining straight at him. Face broken out into the widest smile he's ever seen.

Please, he thinks distantly, no one pinch me.

It seems to take forever for Victoire to stop in front of him. When she finally does, Teddy thinks something in his brain finally broke. He can't stop gaping at her as she walks up the steps and takes his hands.

"You alright in there?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.

Yeah, he thinks. Yeah, I'm more than fine. Instead, what comes out of his mouth is, "I think a part of me just died and went to wizard heaven."

She laughs and tugs him closer, close enough that he could reach over and kiss her if he wanted to. He holds back for now, because they have time. Lots of it. Forever, actually. Till death do them part or whatever. "Shut up, Ted."

(She'll be there to say that to him for the rest of his life, and he wouldn't have it any other way.)