Crashed and mended
Laughter is infectious. Everyone knows that.
And yet Teddy Lupin wasn't laughing.
It was like he was immune to this not-so-fatal infection that liked to call itself laughter. Victoire stood beside him, arm around his waist, chuckling at the amusing incident which had just taken place involving the shop assistant at Flourish and Blotts, a rubbish bin and a very unfortunate piece of cheese.
But she noticed that he wasn't laughing with the rest of the crowd, and her arm tightened around him.
CRASH!
Victoire leapt back as the entire contents of Teddy's wardrobe came crashing down at her feet.
He came in, eyes yellow, scooping her up in his arms and clutching her to his muscled chest. He let go, however, rather quickly, when he saw what had happened, his entire life lying in a pile at his feet. The clothes he'd had since he was born, the trophies and medals and certificates measuring his seven years at Hogwarts, every birthday gift he'd received since he was born, pictures of his parents on their very secret wedding day.
Glass smashed everywhere, but Teddy didn't notice when he bent down and cut his hand on a piece of fragmented frame, intent he was on rescuing his photos. To his great relief, they hadn't come to any harm. His parents' anxious faces stared at him, and he shook his head to stop the tears he could feel forming.
"Teddy?"
The soft voice of his girlfriend washed over him, soothing him. He turned around to her, and she recoiled in shock, before kneeling down with him and hugging him tightly. He must look worse than he thought.
"How did it happen?" he said softly. She let go of him.
"I… erm… I don't know. I just opened the doors and th…"
"There's a charm on my wardrobe door. It's meant to stop anyone but me opening the doors. But… I think I did it during my second year, and it must have… I've never tested it before, so… Are you okay?" He looked into her blue eyes, and felt himself getting lost in them.
"Yeah, I'm fine. You're bleeding," she whispered, grabbing hold of his injured hand. He tried jerking it back.
Victoire held on to him. She drew out her wand, and whispered a spell, which closed his skin up neatly. The blood remained.
He stared, shocked.
"You're not allowed to do magic outside of school!" he exclaimed, voice much stronger now. She winked at him mischievously.
"No, I'm not, but you are!"
He smiled at her, but knew that behind his smile, she could see the question in his eyes.
On a cold summer's day, Victoire pulled another jumper over her head.
"Merlin, Vicki, how many jumpers can you put on?" Teddy's question was light and teasing, but he merely sounded exasperated. She sighed, and strolled out of her bedroom, looking a little like a pink snowball. Her mother didn't like her wearing pink ('It would clash awfully with her hair!'), and so she wore it as much as possible.
He listened for her footsteps to fade, then pulled out a small notebook from his trouser pocket. In it were all his doubts, all his fears about Victoire. Quickly, Teddy pulled out his Self-Inking quill and began to write, ignoring the chill in his fingers.
But it was a week before she was to start her final year at Hogwarts that he let her know what was really going on in that head of his.
The Leaky Cauldron was nearly empty when they checked in with Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and all of their cousins. Victoire's father was working in Albania, and her mother was with him. It was hard to separate them.
Teddy, of course, had tagged along. He had been brought up with his grandmother, Andromeda Tonks, after his parents had been killed during what was now known as the Battle of Hogwarts. But he practically lived with his godfather nowadays.
The two of them had wanted a room together, to the surprise and suspicion of the whole Weasley family. Teddy knew that they didn't know they were 'going out with' each other.
Victoire made her excuses to her two uncles and dragged her secret boyfriend up the stairs.
She pulled him by the hand into the room, and onto the bed, laid next to him, staring at the ceiling which was grubby from years of magic and dust. She turned to him, but he refused to look at her. Confused, she sat up.
"Teddy, what is it?" she said calmly. Her heart was beating wildly, and she was sure it was visible underneath the heavy cloth covering her chest. Teddy refused to answer her; lips pressed together tightly and looking like her Transfiguration teacher sometimes did. She touched his arm lightly, but he jerked away from her.
"Nothing," he muttered sullenly, keeping his eyes shut tight behind a thin wall of skin. Victoire stroked his eyelids gently, but he pushed her hand away and sat up.
"Teddy Remus Lupin!" she cried, infuriated as he continued to face the wall. "Will you… look at me!" She almost shrieked the last three words, hoping to gain a reaction from him, and getting one.
"What do you expect me to say? I'm fine, everything's alright? Because it is not okay!"
She reached for his shoulder tentatively, but he shot up like her touch was electric.
"Why do you keep touching me?"
Victoire stood up as well, only able to see the back of his head; the rest of him was cloaked in navy.
"Tell me what's wrong! What is it, don't you like me anymore?"
"Don't you like me?"
The question caught her off guard. She had no idea what he meant by that. Of course she liked him, what did he think? But the answer dawned on her slowly. Teddy waited in bitter silence.
"Of course I like you! It's just…" He seized on her hesitation.
"Just what, exactly? You're… you're ashamed of me, aren't you? You're ashamed that you're dating someone who's practically your cousin. That's why you haven't told your family, isn't it? Because you… Arrgh, I can't do this!" He finished his outburst by storming over to the door, tugging on the doorknob, but it didn't move the door. He turned angrily on the girl in his room, his room, who had her wand out and pointed at the lock.
"Don't... don't you dare!" she hissed, suddenly cat-like in her movement. Her eyes, normally beautiful, were wild and feral, her mouth snarling. "There is a reason I haven't told them, but it's nothing to do with that, and it's certainly nothing to do with you! It's not your business what I choose to tell my parents. For your information, Aunt Gabrielle is really ill, and Mum and Dad have been worried sick. I don't want to put more burdens on their shoulders; you know how protective they are of me. So don't you dare…"
He cut her off by grabbing her shoulders, and staring straight into her eyes. She tried to show him how much she liked him, how proud she was that he was her boyfriend, but he stepped back angrily.
"Don't do that! Don't ever do that, you… you HARPY!" He yelled the last word, and gasped as she slapped him.
"HARPY? What do you mean, harpy? How DARE you call me a…"
"Why shouldn't I? You're a beast, an animal! You try to charm me with those cat eyes of yours. No wonder I fell for you so easily. You're a trickster and I can't believe I ever thought I could like someone who used their looks as a defence and a weapon the way you do! Now let me out!"
She lowered her wand, fight gleaming in her eyes.
"How DARE you! You, like you can talk. Changing your appearance at will, making yourself look however you like? And you talk to me about using my looks as a weapon? As a… shield to hide behind? Let me tell you one thing," she screeched, stepping forwards until they were physically nose to nose. "You make such a big deal of how I look, but I don't even know what you look like. For all I know, you might just be this horribly short disfigured guy who thinks it's okay to play on my heartstrings like they belong to your violin! So don't you ever…"
"Why does it matter what I look like?" Teddy sniped. She stared at him, outraged, but calmer than she just was.
"You brought it up! I don't care what you look like, but it seems so important to you what I look like. I just… I don't get you. Please, let me explain properly. I don't want to hide you away from everyone. I'm not ashamed of you. But Auntie's ill, and Louis… he's having some problems controlling himself. We've had the Ministry at our door already!"
He stared at her mouth hollowly, like he couldn't believe the words that had crawled out from there. His lips moved silently and grew fuller, like he was thinking what to say but couldn't say it. Then his wand came out of his back pocket.
Victoire took her charm off the door before he got a chance to. He glared at her, hair going wildly black.
"I CAN DO THINGS FOR MYSELF!" he screamed, and then shot out of the door. Victoire followed him, tears streaming down her face as she realised just how upset he was by the whole thing.
She stumbled at the main door, which had slammed open and was shutting slowly, nearly falling over the threshold. Her hand touched knobbly black wood while she paused, thinking hard, blinking furiously in the light she hadn't realised was present when she was in the gloomy pub. She thought she could see a person pushing their way through the busy shoppers, a person with hair as vibrant as her own, but she couldn't be sure.
Running through the streets, searching each face desperately, she took the time reflect on how it was damn near impossible to find a Metamorphmagus in a crowd.
"Mum? Mum? Have you got my quill?"
Fleur Delacour handed her eldest daughter a purple tipped feather.
"Anything else you are missing?" she asked wearily. Years of living in England with English people had almost disintegrated her French accent. And she now had better grammar than most people to whom it was their native tongue.
"I think…" Victoire looked up suddenly. "Dad?"
"Mmm… yeah?" Her father was suddenly by her side, ignoring the pointed stares he was getting from most of the younger students.
"Have I got everything?" she murmured quietly to him.
"How should I know?" he replied brightly with a grin on his odd face. "Dominique!"
Victoire watched with amusement as her father attempted to have a sensible conversation with her sister. It ended when she caught sight of her cousins on the platform, and hurried away from them, not wishing to discuss why she had come back to them a week ago looking distraught, especially since Teddy had come back an hour beforehand acting as though nothing was wrong.
Behind her, she heard the cry of 'Vicki!', and pretended not to have heard. She suddenly didn't feel like talking with anybody.
She missed him. Teddy. It was like an aching gap in her heart; if she could open up her insides she felt sure that she would see the large chunk that Teddy had taken with him when he ran away from her.
Her stomach twisted painfully at the thought of him, even as she strolled along the platform next to the steaming red train searching for someone to follow and sit with. Much as she wanted to stay silent, her want didn't stretch as far as being alone.
Yet she wasn't alone. As soon as she tripped and lurched forwards, she felt a pair of strong arms link around her chest from behind, keeping her upright, and a voice in her ear which nearly made her faint.
"Hey, have you missed me?"
She had never heard such beautiful words before.
As soon as she was fully upright, she turned around and threw herself into Teddy Lupin's chest, holding him tightly. She was sure that she'd never let go of him again. He'd have to come with her, all the way to Hogwarts, and they could sit down together in the Great Hall to eat. It would be difficult going into her dormitory with a boy in her grasp, but she could just sleep in Ravenclaw's common room. He'd be with her during her classes, laughing at how little his teachers had actually changed. And she'd graduate with him by her side, holding her tight. No, she certainly wasn't going to let him go this time!
He laughed quietly, and laid his head on top of hers.
"Are you okay?" he whispered. She nodded, loosening her grip. His only tightened.
"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry for shouting at you. I'm… I'm sorry for leaving you." His voice wavered a little. She chuckled.
"It's okay. And I'm sorry for shouting back. And for not telling my family about us."
He let go of her slowly; her heart pounded violently. She felt like she'd damaged them again. She was almost ready to turn tail and run, but he spoke again, a little more seriously.
"Will you tell them? At some point?" He thought of something else, even as she opened her mouth to speak.
"I don't mean now. Just… at some point."
She nodded and sighed. Her eyes found his, and she found herself in a trance, watching them turn from deepest violet to palest blue to warm amber. Slowly, hesitantly, she raised herself up on tiptoes, and brushed his lips lightly with her own.
His response was to pull her against him completely, lips meshed together so tight they were inseparable…
"Oooooh, Teddy and Vicki…"
They broke apart and stared hesitantly at James Potter, her cousin, his… relation-in-some-obscure-way.
"What are you doing, James?" Victoire asked lightly.
"What are you doing?" he replied fast as light.
Teddy pulled her close to him.
"Saying goodbye."
"Goodbye?" she murmured to him, lips barely moving.
"Until Christmas," he answered, much to her relief. As she marvelled at the wonders that had brought him back to her, they watched James Potter run off to the other end of the station, where, they knew, their entire family was gathered to say goodbye to their various children.
"Well," she exclaimed, much more jauntily than she had been speaking before, "Saves me the trouble of telling the family!"
He looked at her seriously. "Are we okay now?"
"Of course we are! We'll always be okay now."
He shook his head at her childishness, but with a grin on his face.
"I'd better go though; looks like the train'll be going soon." He tried to step backwards, but had forgotten that Victoire had put her trunk and other such belongings in that particular direction. With a bang and a clatter, the contents of her next term at Hogwarts threw themselves onto the platform.
She drew her wand quickly, but for once Teddy was quicker.
"Reparo!" he exclaimed, pointing it at the quill which had bent in two. He then waved his wand, and everything folded itself, fitting neatly back in her trunk. With a final flourish the case locked itself and stood upright again. It was all mended; everything was as it had been before it crashed to the ground.
Seeing the look on her face, he said with some humour "Can't let you have all the fun, now, can I?"
She grinned.
AN: This was written for 'The Title Challenge' forum created by lowi, who gave me the title, and the prompts 'crowd' 'infectious' and 'wonders.
Anyway… thanks for reading! Hope you liked it :)