Victoire was stealing herself to go talk to her parents.
She wasn't sure why it felt quite so hard. When her boyfriend had proposed to her, she'd dragged him off to their bedroom. The next morning, she'd immediately headed off to see first her cousin Fred and then her sister Dominique, both of whom were ecstatic for her. She'd told her immediate supervisor. She'd even mentioned it to the head of her department.
It had been more than a week, though, and she still hadn't gone to tell her parents. There was just something about it that felt unreasonably intimidating.
"Should I go with you?" Teddy asked for the tenth time. He was shifting awkwardly from one foot to the other. "Or - or would that be weird? Is it better if you're just alone?"
She considered him. Somehow, his tension was making her discomfort dissipate. "Teddy, calm down."
"I just - I've never done this before." She raised her eyebrows, and he finally let out a chuckle and let her push him into the kitchen chair he'd been hovering near. "I know. I know. It's just…"
His hand-wringing had stopped when she'd made him sit down, but he was still chewing his lip, and the worry line on his forehead hadn't gone away. With a sigh, she flicked her wand to extinguish the fire beneath their midnight snack. She hoped it was actually done, but better undercooked than burned.
Her wand clattered onto the table as she straddled him and settled into his lap. His arms immediately encircled her, and he took a deep breath. "You smell good," he murmured.
She smiled. "It'll be fine, Teddy. I promise. My parents like you, remember?"
"Mm."
Teddy had never quite stopped being paranoid about whether Victoire's parents' (or, more accurately, her father's) reticence about him beginning to date their daughter when he was 20 and she was just barely 17 had ever really been resolved - especially since she'd spent the night at his flat while she was still a seventh year.
Of course, in fairness to Teddy, Bill Weasley had voiced displeasure over both things in as many words to Teddy's face, so it wasn't all in her fiance's head. That said, it had been long enough ago that Victoire was fairly certain that her father had long since gotten over it. He certainly hadn't spent the years since then giving Teddy the cold shoulder, and she very much doubted that either of her parents would be surprised to learn that their daughter was indeed going to marry him.
Or, as Fred had said, "No shit. Congrats, though!"
Outward appearance of calm aside, she really wasn't looking forward to this conversation - though any hint that she actually agreed with Teddy's concerns would have only made him more nervous, and that was the opposite of what she wanted. She really didn't foresee there being any actual issues - she'd just never been good at these sorts of things, and she usually tried to avoid them as much as possible. Most people close to her knew that she typically preferred to avoid significant fanfare, even when she was genuinely excited about something.
Her parents had never quite understood that.
Still, there was nothing else for it. If she didn't tell them soon, they'd learn from someone else, and that would (quite reasonably) leave them feeling both pissed off and very hurt.
"It'll be fine," she told him again. "Don't be so anxious."
He finally managed a genuine smile. "If you say so." She slid one hand up his neck and pulled his head toward hers. When their lips met, he moved one hand up to tangle in her hair, and the other began to drift down her back.
When they pulled apart, she grinned. "Well, now I'm distracted. Was that your plan all along?"
"Hey, you sat on my lap and kissed me," he pointed out. "Come back to bed. I bet I can get you to too exhausted to keep tossing and turning."
She glanced back at the pan. "What about -"
He shrugged. "Fuck it."
Victoire didn't need any more convincing than that.
When she woke up the following morning, she found that she felt slightly - slightly - more prepared to take on her parents and their inevitably strong reaction to the revelation that their firstborn would be getting married in the near future.
"Are you sure you don't want me to go with you?" Teddy asked again as she wriggled into a pair of trousers.
She shook her head. "No, it's okay. I can deal with it."
"Not really what I asked, Vic."
That made her smile. "No, it's really okay. Thank you, though." She perched on the edge of their bed to kiss him. "I love you."
He grinned back at her. "I love you, too. Good luck."
With that, she slumped out of the flat and down the stairs to the Apparition/Floo room on the first floor, which doubled as the landlady's office. While some people did choose to allow direct Apparition into their flats and many had their fireplaces hooked up directly to the Floo network, Teddy had never been comfortable with that, even with charms to keep it closed until the resident opened it.
After exchanging a quick hello with their landlady, Victoire spun around. When she put her foot down again, the leaves from the trees surrounding their house crunched under them. She took a deep breath and then stumped up the path to their front door. She knocked the door, vaguely hoping that no one would answer.
She had no such luck. After a moment, the door swung open to reveal her mother's cheerful face. "Victoire!" She reached out to pull Victoire inside and kissed her cheeks. "We haven't seen you in weeks!"
"Hi, Mum," Victoire said weakly. "Um - is Dad around?"
Her father's head appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. "Hey, Vic! I'm just making breakfast, come in."
As soon as she trudged up the small step leading into the kitchen, her father wrapped her in a hug. Victoire returned it, though with slightly less enthusiasm. "Hi, Dad," she said. When he pulled back, she felt a smile tug across her lips. "Nice apron."
He glanced down at the bright orange apron. "Ah, well. Your uncle forgets that not all of us share his masochism when it comes to Quidditch." That made her giggle. "Not that we're not happy to see you, but what brings you here at 8:30 in the morning on a Sunday?"
"Um." Victoire shifted from one foot to the other, hands clasped firmly behind her back. "Well… um."
"Is something wrong?" her mother asked, concern starting to creep in and replace the smile on her face.
"No! No, nothing's wrong. I just…" Victoire steeled herself and held up her left hand. "So Teddy proposed. And I said yes."
Her mother hands flew to her mouth. "Finally!" she exclaimed.
"Mum!"
Now her mother rushed forward. This was exactly why Victoire hated telling her mother things - she always had such strong reactions, and they often left Victoire feeling a little self-conscious.
When her mother finally pulled away, Victoire glanced at her father. He looked as if he was considering something. "I know," he said after a moment. "He came by a couple weeks ago to ask for my permission."
Victoire's jaw dropped. "He - he what?"
"He came by to ask for my permission. He begged me not to tell you - he said you'd be angry."
"Of course I would be! How dare he - he knows I hate that shit! I told him I'd never -" Her father wasn't quite able to suppress the beginnings of a smirk, and she blew out an exasperated breath. "Dad! He did not!"
"No, he didn't," he father agreed. "But I've wanted to do that ever since you told me that if anyone ever asked me for permission to marry you, I should tell them no because you would never marry someone who wanted my permission, anyway."
This was exactly why Victoire hated telling her father things - his sense of humor often ranged from maddening to cringeworthy. She spun around to look at her mother, who was now leaning against the counter and clearly trying to hold back a laugh. "Mum!"
"I thought it was very funny," she said. She was clearly entirely unconcerned about her husband's questionable sense of humor.
Victoire let her head fall to table. "You both - I - ugh, I should have told Teddy to come with me after all."
After a moment, she felt her father's hand on her shoulder. "In all seriousness - congratulations, Vic. I know you don't need taking care of, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't glad to know you have it all the same."
She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, her mother cut in smoothly. "And he has you to take care of him. He needs it, too." She settled onto a chair across the table from Victoire and reached out to squeeze her daughter's hands. "Tell me everything."
Victoire felt her face start to get red.
"Not everything, if it's all the same," her father said, turning back to the stove. "If you want to share everything, please wait until I leave the room."
Her mother shot her father a glare. He either didn't see it or pretended not to.
Victoire began to chew her lip. Unfortunately, her mother's face was quite clearly determined, and nobody denied Fleur Delacour the things that she wanted - even when it meant dragging information little by little from her daughter.
Victoire knew this from experience.
She wished she'd should have told Teddy to come.