A/N: Merry Christmas, all! I've wanted to write this pairing for a long time, as well as some more Remus/Tonks AU (though not the main characters, they're both alive in this fic), and when the opportunity presented itself, I did! I aim to finish this by Christmas Day itself, though I won't make promises. I owe a lot to Ainora of Fiction Alley Park for the help with the plot, so thank you to her. Anyway, this A/N has gone on long enough…enjoy the story!

Chapter One: Contemplation

It was early December, and Hogwarts was getting Christmassy. First-years were singing 'Jingle Bells' in the Common Room, seventh years were guiltily enjoying Advent calendars, and the prospect of the last Hogsmeade weekend before Christmas was very, very exciting. For everyone, that is, except Ted Lupin. The sixth and seventh years, by social convention, were the years in which everyone who was anyone ought to be going out with someone, especially at Christmas. For someone like Ted, this should not have been the conundrum it was. He was a Metamorphmagus, a boy who could look like Hercules (without the bulging muscles) if he felt like it but usually didn't. If he fancied a girl, all he needed to do was pull a few mental strings and as if by magic, he was her ideal man. The trouble was, the girl he really wanted wasn't any old girl, and she knew him far too well to be impressed by any morph.

Victoire Weasley had been his friend for almost as long as he could remember. She was a year and a half younger than him, which had sometimes been a huge age gap when they were kids, and at Hogwarts they had been sorted into different houses, but he still felt…a connection to her. They had always had a lot in common; one of his favourite memories was digging in the Burrow back garden with her when they were children and finding all kinds of worms and lice to put in a bucket. They had then taken it into their parents; Fleur had screamed, Bill had marvelled at how muddy they were, and his mum and dad had just laughed. Ted, who had been Teddy then, had felt a little guilty about upsetting Fleur, but Victoire had whispered to him; "Maman is afraid of creepy crawlies, which is a bit strange, because she's not afraid of the ghoul upstairs." There had been a thud above them, probably from Uncle Arthur experimenting, and a new adventure had begun.

These days Victoire was miles from the creepy-crawling loving redhead whose company he had spent many hours in. She was a proper girl now, just like his sister had been a proper girl then and something to be distant from. Her hair- which was red, not ginger-was her crowning glory. Though she was only a fifth-year Gryffindor, to some people she may as well have been the Head Girl. She wore her shapeless Hogwarts uniform with style, grace and dignity. She may have been a Weasley child, but she was a Delacour teenager.

Their friendship these days was almost secret. They weren't in the same crowd any more; she was part of a gang of beautiful girls who were never there in the holidays because they spent every day shopping and who never went a day without a boyfriend. His friends were caring but adventurous people who'd be far more comfortable camping in a forest than they would at a fashion show. But the more different he began to feel they were, the sweeter it was to realise they weren't. And it came to pass that one snowy weekend he finally realised that he did not just like Victoire Weasley…he loved her.

Ted was in his last year at Hogwarts, but missed out a little on the thrills and spills of the famously numerous seventh-year free lessons as he was the Head Boy. His parents were very proud of him, so were his grandmother and his godfather. None of them, obviously, had made it to Head Boy or Head Girl, because then they would know that it was a very annoying job. Watering plants in the Greenhouses so Professor Sprout could mark essays…distributing warning letters about overdue books for Madam Pince…helping Hagrid when his back was playing up…Prefects who were either bored or frustrated by their menial jobs…dealing with first years, who always took point deductions seriously and either started crying or insisted that people from other houses got them too… All this when he could have been relaxing in the new Hufflepuff Common Room sofas (well, he did get a say in School Developments)! One fine Friday morning, which was really a very snowy one, he was actually able to do just this. Curled in an armchair beside the fire and in a procrastinating sort of mood about the homework, he decided to write to his parents about what he was doing for Christmas.

Dear Mum and Dad,

Hope you're both doing well. Everything here is fine, apart from the weather, which is freezing. I am ridiculously busy with work and Head Boy duties but hopefully things'll slow down soon. We have had new furniture delivered which is ten times better than what they have in Gryffindor, as Liv has no doubt complained to you about. Of course you understand Mum, that we Hufflepuffs deserve the best. Anyway, I've decided to stay here for Christmas…

"Hey, Ted." One of his friends had appeared. Wendolina "Wendy" Barbary was the daughter of Heathcote Barbary of the Weird Sisters and the actress Noreena St. John and the girlfriend of his close friend, Rupert Fanshaw. Like Victoire, she was in fifth year. Wendy wasn't a Metamorphmagus, but her hair was as colourful as one, and not only that, her parents had chosen her middle name, Nymphadora, after their war heroine fan who also happened to be Ted's mother. As such, she and he were good friends.

"How are you?" he asked.

"Urggh…" was her response. "So much work to do. I've got a Runes translation, six pages of Arithmancy, and I've just finished a Muggle Studies project with Victoire Weasley."

"Victoire's nice." Ted said, not liking the sneer in her voice.

"Yeah, sure, but she's a total…wait, you know her?"

"Um…her parents were friends with mine. Order of the Phoenix, you know. We kind of…grew up together."

Wendy's expression softened. "That's kinda sweet. If only you and she were still friends…you could have been childhood sweethearts."

We are still friends, Ted thought miserably. Maybe it would have been nice if the two scruffy but potentially beautiful children of Order members had grown up and fallen in love, but this hadn't happened, and it wouldn't…

Wendy continued;

"She spent the whole time telling me about how Edgar's asked her to Hogsmeade."

"Edgar?"

"Yeah, you know. Edgar."

There was no real reason why he was asking this. Everyone knew Edgar Bones-Goldstein, sixth year hero of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. Ravenclaws were never known for their sports skills until he had appeared; he was a perfect combination of academia and sportsmanship. Not only that, he didn't need to screw up his face and pull any mental strings for his good looks. He was well known for being infatuated with himself, but this was apparently no longer the case.

Wendy shrugged and said; "It was inevitable, if you ask me. He's beautiful, she's beautiful. They're both in love with themselves. Match made in heaven."

Ted's facial expression remained uncharacteristically blank, and some small voice inside his head said; "Quite a rival you have there."

Rival? Did he fancy Victoire? Of course he did, she was gorgeous. Every male in Hogwarts did. But she was more to him than she was to other people. She was like…not a sister. Olivia was the only sister he'd ever needed. Not a cousin. His parents were only children but James, Albus and Lily fitted all his cousinly needs. But he was the one who knew her best, her oldest friend. No one could have what he had with her. He began to think of Edgar, whom he had once tolerated but was rapidly turning into a despicable human being in his mind. His confident smile had become a cocky one, his victories against Hufflepuff not square but completely unfair and undeserved. Why, he was probably drinking Tonic of Fortitude on the sly…

"So…you…are staying for Christmas?" Wendy asked exasperatedly. He blinked; her hand was waving in front of his face. He'd gone on a bit of a mental tangent there, but she had provided a useful distraction. As she got out her Arithmancy, he wrote what he had told her to his parents.

…because I won't get another opportunity to have a Hogwarts Christmas, and I'd like to stay with my friends. Liv should be coming home; she always does, so you won't be alone.

If Gran and all the others are asking what I would like, tell them I'd like a new book (don't care what genre or author-surprise me) or records. I'm always very willing to accept any form of gift voucher (as long as it's for a decent shop-please, no more for Madam Malkin's!) sweets, or money. I really don't want any socks, I have quite enough. If you should come by a large amount of money in the near future (no pressure), a new broom or some concert tickets would be amazing.

I'll probably write again soon to wish you a Merry Christmas, as well as send presents, so for now, adieu.

Ted

The reassurance wasn't necessary; Remus and Nymphadora Lupin had loved their own Hogwarts Christmases and were never unhappy when Ted chose to spend it there instead of with them, though they would politely ask if he could come home for Easter. His younger sister, Olivia, always had to have Christmas at home, which to him seemed a bit wimpy, not to mention a waste of an opportunity. Of course he would definitely come home for Easter; he had been born around that event nearly eighteen years ago, and coming from a sweet-toothed family it was a meaningful and enjoyable experience for them all.

The thought of Easter, chocolates and other sweet things brought the topic of Victoire back to Ted's mind after his brief distraction.

"I don't suppose you know where Edgar's taking her, do you?" he asked Wendy, who was deep in her work.

"Yeah. They're doing a little bit of Christmas shopping for their families, then going for chocolate at Les Tentations Divines."

His great-aunt's café. Edgar Bones-Goldstein, Ravenclaw's resident git, was taking his friend to his great-aunt's café. That was not on, and Ted had twenty-four hours to put it off.