Fond Farewells
Waiting meant standing around looking hopeless. Waiting meant the risk of people taking the perfect seat on the Hogwarts Express. Waiting was not something Victoire Weasley was good at. It wasn't normal for Teddy to be late to see her off; he'd usually turn up ten minutes early with a piece of paper that had a romantic line in French written on it for him to say wrong. In her eyes, Teddy had become the perfect gentleman. Puberty blessed him with a husky voice that made her weak, his features had become much more defined and his jawline stood out with his hair that covered his eyes. He had also started to build muscle so that he wouldn't be called twig by his friends and so he could give Victoire longer piggybacks. All of this was amazing, but what made him perfect was all his little quirks that could only ever suit him. Apparently, lateness was becoming one of those quirks.
Such an occasion meant Victoire needed to be caught in the finest showstopping outfit. Two days in advance, she had chosen a white cashmere cropped jumper with a yellow and black tartan skater skirt, white over the knee socks and black velvet high heel boots. The accessories were a last-minute thing as searching for one of her favourite beanies and the rarely revealed black leather gloves with bows on only popped into her mind before they began getting ready to leave.
Goodbye hugs, laughs and arguments had already been had between Victoire and her parents. They went through the usual motions of Fleur listing everything that you'd have to be brainless to forget, then arguing with Bill about leaving the quidditch team and finally the hug where the three of them went silent, tried to hold tears in and rubbed their noses together as their way of saying 'I love you'. Victoire and Louis never uttered the word 'goodbye' to each other; instead they played clapping games, she'd reveal where things like the chocolate frogs were hidden and they'd perform their handshake perfectly before he gave her the once a year kiss on the cheek. This year was going to be Dominique's first year of Hogwarts, allowing Victoire to laugh as she watched her little sister try and fail to carry her unnecessary amount of luggage. Annoying Dominique had become a new talent of Victoire's which was evident in her sister's snarling face when she mimed the list their mother recited and kicked Dominique's bag of books further away from her.
Patience began to run out as Victoire walked to her thankfully vacant favourite carriage and as she put her foot on the step to board the train, a presence stopped her.
"You're late, Edward Remus Lupin!"
Turning around wasn't necessary when Teddy had drenched himself in what could only be described as a rustic scent. Victoire knew exactly what he'd be wearing. Saturday meant that his old pair of jeans with invincible stains would appear with a disintegrating green polo shirt as the headliner and a thick grey checked shirt that it was always not cold enough for would be wrapped around his hips as back up. All these predictions were correct, but what Victoire did not foresee was a bouquet of champagne roses and blue tulips that blew bubble kisses and a tiffany blue box that was clutched in his mouth.
"I thought you'd want a surprise," the tiffany box distorted Teddy's voice.
Victoire place her bag on the floor, pulled the box out from his mouth and instantly kissed him, minding the bouquet of flowers in between them. Kisses full of love and bliss made her never want to leave, yet the parting kiss was something she looked forward to. As their lips collided, Teddy wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her in closer despite the call for all students to board the train and Victoire ran her fingers up the back of his neck and through his hair to savour every inch of him. She knew the longer she stayed in his arms, the less likely Teddy was to even loosen his grip and he began to trace heart shapes on her back. Tonka, Victoire's fox, yanked at her socks alongside Dominique calling for her like a relentless magpie in the early morning. Interrupted kisses were an unfortunate regular occurrence for the couple.
Teddy fiddled with her hair, "there won't be a day where I-"
"I swear to God, if you yell my name again, your tongue will become Tonka's breakfast!" Victoire yelled to Dominique,
"-won't miss you,"
"Je suis désole, doudou. You know I will write to you, think about you and dream about you, but for every second without you, I will not be complete."
At the sound of the steam engine, Victoire put the flowers and the box in her bag, hastily picked it up and gave Teddy a final goodbye kiss, before hopping on the train. Once on the train, she turned around to a puppy dog eyed Teddy, reached into her pocket and blew him a kiss, freeing a singing origami bluebird from her palm that flew into his hand. Witnessing Teddy's face light up as the bluebird morphed into tickets to his favourite band next to a polaroid of the couple by the beach was the third gift of the day.
"You're not the only one full of surprises," she winked,
"Bleh, romance, bleh bleh, happiness," Lucas Youngstead jokingly pretended to throw up as he stood behind her,
"Shut up, snake boy," she hit his arm as she followed him to their regular carriage.
As the two sat down, they were joined by their friends Brea Hedgethorne and Aaron Choi. Departing for Hogwarts was always done as the same quartet since year two and it had only just slammed Victoire over the head with a loud bang that this would be the last time.
September 1st, 2018 would be the last day that Victoire would leave King's Cross St Pancras, watch her father wave while holding her attempting not to cry mother, laugh at her brother running after the train and remember the one book she forgot to bring with her. But the final thing she'd see would be Teddy at the very end of the platform, blowing her a kiss and then finally wrapping his shirt around him. The sensation to cry crept up on her as Teddy became smaller and smaller until she could no longer see him, and the train became engulfed by the first of many tunnels.