Originally, I wrote this as a oneshot, but when it reached the 3000 word mark, I decided that, just perhaps, it was a bit too long. So, it has now been split into a threeshot (if that's even a word).

This is my first attempt at Teddy/Victoire, but I actually kinda love it, so I hope you do too!

Also, this was written for slytherinprincess02's New Year Challenge, in which I had to write a story including a New Year's Resolution. This story does, in fact, fulfil that criteria. The resolution is in chapter 3. Thanks heaps to slytherineprincess for the challenge!

I'm writing again, and you have absolutely no idea how great that feels to write!

Heart thumping? Check. Palms sweating? Check. Sudden desire to chew nails? Check.

Victoire Weasley was anxious.

Fretfully, she checked her hair again in the bathroom mirror, pulling it back off her face and over her shoulder so the silvery strands cascaded down her neck, settling over her chest. She ran her fingers through it, trying to make it sit just right, in a way that didn't make it looked like she'd been labouring over it for the past fifteen minutes. Why was it that at times like this her hair decided to be at its most difficult? It was always too frizzy or too limp, never able to stay in that lovely in-between stage that it seemed to be in at all unimportant times.

With a huff, she gave up on that particular style, flicking her head to make her hair fall back into its usual place, spreading elegantly over her shoulders and down her back. Better, she thought, more casual-looking. Still... it needed something.

"Dom?"

Even to Victoire, her own voice sounded nervous, and she had to consciously force herself to pull her hand back as her fingers snuck towards her mouth. I'm not biting my nails today, she silently informed herself, not after having spent so long on this polish.

The light pink polish had taken over an hour to carefully apply, even with Dominique doing Victoire's right hand for her, and the entire process had very almost been undone when Louis burst into her bedroom, demanding someone to help with his Charms homework and knocking over the tiny bottle of polish in the process. Thankfully, they'd just finished, but that hadn't stopped the girls crying for their brother to leave the room immediately or risk getting cursed so badly he'd be stuck in St Mungo's for the rest of holidays.

"You called?"

Victoire sighed in relief as her sister's face appeared in the mirror, peering in the door. She was already dressed and ready for the day, wearing a light green dress and with her reddish-blonde hair pulled back into a neat French-braid that fell almost to the small of her back.

"You look nice," Dominique said as she entered the room, half-closing the door behind her. "But there's something wrong."

"I know!" Victoire's anguished response made her sister bite her lip to hold back a smile as Dominique grabbed her hands, making her turn and meet her in the eyes. "It's something about my hair. I just can't make it sit properly, it keeps-"

Dominique shook her head, no longer bothering to hide her smile. "No, Vic, your hair looks fine. You know what I think is wrong?" She let a moment of silence pass, enjoying her sister's unusually nervous state. "You need to relax."

Victoire laughed, a somewhat strained sound that slowly transformed into a proper laugh as her sister released her hands and smacked her lightly on the arm.

"Seriously, loosen up, there's absolutely no reason for you to get all nervous and tense. It's just a family Christmas Party. We have these gatherings every year, remember?"

"I know," Victoire answered, glancing in the mirror again. "I'm just... anxious. I mean, it's different this time. I haven't seen or spoken to him since September."

Dominique rolled her eyes, grabbing her sister's hand again and pulling her out of the bathroom and into the narrow upstairs hallway of Shell Cottage.

"Oh, come on. You don't need to be worried about Teddy. He's been lusting after you for years, ever since- hey!"

This time it was Victoire's turn to hit Dominique on the shoulder, making her break off with a cry as she tried to dodge the blow.

"He had not been lusting after me!"

Dominique was still laughing as she ran ahead down that stairs, knocking a picture on the wall as she hurried past so it swung wildly, settling at an angle just as Victoire reached it. Taking her time to adjust the frame back to perfect straightness, Victoire tried to ignore the feeling of butterflies in her stomach as the ring of the doorbell echoed through the house, immediately followed by the sound of Louis and Dom running to answer the door, eager to see their cousins again after the week-long reprise of the Christmas holidays.

"Mum, Dad!" Louis's voice called. "Hugo and Rose are here!"

"Is Ron with them?" Bill's voice yelled back. "Because if that little git thinks he's dumping his kids on my doorstep-"

There was a general cry of mock-outrage at Bill's comment as he came out of the kitchen to greet his brother, sister-in-law and niece and nephew, accompanied of course by the usual sentiments of "Merry Christmas!", "Happy New Year!" and "Wow, you're getting taller every time I see you!"

Victoire hovered on the staircase as coats and scarves were discarded and the conversation picked up. From her position she was able to see into the living room, where Bill promptly came into view, leading Ron and Hermione to the Christmas tree so they could deposit their small collection of presents. Once her arms were empty, Hermione turned to give Bill a hug, bending down to hug Dominique and Louis too as Ron greeted Fleur, who had emerged from the kitchen with a platter of small pastries which she placed on the coffee table before straightening to join in with the welcomes.

"Where's Victoire?" Rose asked Dominique quietly as they, Hugo and Louis edged out of the living room, no doubt heading outside to engage in an inevitably-messy snowball fight before their parents had the chance to stop them.

"Oh, she's..." Dom glanced at her sister who had shrunk back up the stairs a little to keep out of sight of the adults. "She's still getting ready, I think. You know how old people take so much longer to get dressed and stuff."

Rose giggled in agreement, not pursuing the subject any further as Hugo and Louis pushed past, racing each other to the back door.

Sighing in relief, Victoire sat on the stairs, being careful to smooth her dress so the red satin material wouldn't crease. The butterflies in her stomach were beginning to settle again, and she felt her lips curve into a small, slightly embarrassed smile. If that was her reaction just to the doorbell ringing, how on earth would she cope when Teddy actually arrived at the house?

Barely having time to contemplate this thought, Victoire leapt to her feet as the doorbell rang again, and took a few cautious steps down so she could see her father standing and leaving the living room to answer the door.

Again, her stomach churned at the sound of the door opening, not settling until she heard exclamations of, "Percy, Audrey – it's great to see you both! And Molly, gosh, you've gotten so tall since I last saw you, how old are you now? Nineteen?"

There was the sound of laughter and more coats and scarves being discarded, then Ron, Hermione and Fleur all stood to greet the new arrivals, exchanging many hugs and kisses and compliments of hair and dresses and robes. Victoire watched with a smile as little Molly clutched the hand of her few-months-pregnant mother, shaking her head shyly at the offer to join her other cousins "wherever they've run off to".

Once again, the adults (now joined by Molly) settled down on the seats in the living room, continuing their conversations as if there had been no interruption, Percy and Audrey somehow managing to seamlessly include themselves in the talk in a way that utterly baffled Victoire. With another sigh, she sat back down on the stairs, listening hard to see if she could catch any noises from the snowball fight that must have begun outside, the one that the small part of her mind that wasn't taken up with worrying about what she'd do when Teddy arrived wished she was out there participating in.

Then, after only a few minutes, the doorbell rang for a third time and, for a third time, the butterflies started up in Victoire's stomach, pounding impossibly harder than before against her insides. For a third time she stood, and for a third time Bill disappeared from sight and went to answer to door.

"Angelina! Mum, Dad – come in, take your coats off, you shouldn't have to stand out there in the cold! And where are George and little Freddie and Roxanne? Or should I not ask?"

It was all too much, Victoire decided as once more the butterflies slowly faded and she collapsed back onto the stairs. Why did she have to have such a big family? What with Charlie's impending arrival, there was still a 50/50 chance that Teddy wouldn't be the next one to arrive, and then there was the possibility that he'd arrive separate to the Potters. After all, he'd finished school, hadn't he? There was nothing stopping him from Apparating to their doorstep all on his own, or even sneaking in unannounced through the back door. And with every arrival that wasn't his, the chances of his finger being the next to ring the doorbell was increasingly exponentially.

"What are you doing, hiding out here?"

Victoire jumped at the sound of Audrey's voice, quickly stumbling to her feet, steadying herself on the bannister as she tried not trip on the stairs.

"I'm, um..." Racking her brains for an excuse, Victoire suddenly noticed that the sound of the snowball fight in the backyard had amplified, signalling the arrival of her uncle George on the scene.

"Taking a break from all the action?" Audrey suggested, smiling.

"Something like that."

Audrey nodded, accepting the comment, and turned to continue along the hall. As Victoire watched her go into the downstairs bathroom, a sudden wave of affection for the woman washed through her. It was nice to have someone who didn't ask questions and make assumptions, someone who just allowed Victoire to have her little anxiety attack and didn't feel the need to try and comfort or reassure her, just leaving her to calm herself down.

Not that the 'calming herself down' thing was working very well. The doorbell rang for a fourth time and Victoire was woken from her reverie, this time making it all the way to bottom of the stairs and hovering by the living room door, forgetting her desire to stay out of sight in her moment of needing to find out who had arrived this time.

"I'll get it," Grandpa Arthur offered, and he quickly strode out of the room, leaving the others to keep up their conversations.

"Victoire! What are you doing there? Why don't you come in and say hello to everyone?"

Cursing herself for letting her father catch sight of her, Victoire obediently did a lap of the already crowded room, settling herself on the arm of the couch next to her grandma.

"You're looking very pretty," Granny Molly told her. "That dress is beautiful. Your aunt Gabrielle's choosing, I suppose?"

Victoire nodded, "Yes, she sent Dom and I each a dress from France just the other day, and Mum insisted that we wear them for Christmas. They're Christmas colours, see? Mine's red and Dom's is green."

"Well, we'll have to make sure we send her a photo of the two of you looking so lovely."

"I'm sure Mum won't forget."

Molly was distracted from the conversation as Charlie entered the room, surrounded by the small crowd of Potter children, who each permitted a brief hug from their grandmother and waves to the others before sprinting outside to join the other kids, Lily stopping for a moment to convince young Molly to come with her, who willing took her cousin's hand and followed the boys out of the room.

The arrival of Harry, Ginny and Charlie had meant the living room was now full to bursting point, as everyone jostled for a seat and Victoire was shunted to a perch on the edge of the coffee table, giving up her place on the arm of the couch to George, who had finally come in from outside, predictably soaking wet and leaving a trail of melted snow from the back door.

As the noise of conversation reached a deafening volume, Victoire caught her mother's eyes, noticing the pointed glances towards the watery footprints that George had left in the hall. Getting the message, Victoire stood and wove her way out of the room, fetching a doormat from the laundry and laying that just inside the door, then returning for a towel to try and soak up the mess that had already been made.

Victoire had just finished mopping up her uncle's footprints when the doorbell rang again and, knowing that no one in the living room would've been able to hear it over the noise, she went absent-mindedly to answer it, not realising until the moment after she'd pulled the door open that there was only one person left to arrive.

Review? The next chapter will be up in a couple of hours (seeing as it's currently 3:40am here, and I plan to sleep, wake up and post at around 10am) redgardless, but still, rveiews are nice. They're like candycanes. This story is like a Christmas tree. You must put candycanes on the tree for them to be truly enjoyed :)