Molly's sixteenth birthday came at the end of July, six days before Harry's.

On the afternoon of July 25th, 2016, Victoire Weasley found herself in the backyard of her cousin's house helping to set up a long table.

"Oh, don't put it there," Percy said, from his place on the porch, "It's not level!"

Victoire's aunt Audrey gently pushed her husband inside the house and then shook her head, "Don't worry about it, girls, just put it wherever you think will be good."

Molly sighed, "This is way too complicated."

"You're just making it that way," Audrey said, smiling, "Just set it down, it's fine where you have it."

Victoire did as her aunt said, and then dusted her hands on her shorts, "When's everyone else coming anyway?"

Molly shrugged, "It's… What time is it, Mum?"

Audrey looked at her watch, "Five past three, dear."

"Thanks," Molly said. She turned back to her cousin, "They're supposed to start showing up at half past."

Victoire nodded, "Alright, that gives us plenty of time to finish setting things up. Remind me again what the plan is?"

"They come, we mess around for a while, dinner will be at about six, and then we can do whatever until people decide they want to go home," Molly said, shrugging again, "There's not really any cut-and-dried plan about this, I'm just doing whatever."

"Sam's got practice, doesn't he?" Victoire asked.

"Yeah," Molly said, "Well, he did anyway, it was this morning. He should be by any minute actually, I told him to come early."

Audrey laughed, "It was my idea. I figured it'd be easier for the two of them to sneak away from Percy for a few minutes if everyone else isn't here yet."

"You're actually helping your daughter to sneak away so that she can snog her boyfriend?" Victoire asked, raising her eyebrows.

Audrey shrugged, "Why not? Merlin knows I did it enough when I was younger, and my dad wasn't nearly as bad. Besides, it's Sam, I really don't think he's going to do anything altogether that stupid, do you?"

Victoire smiled, "You're probably right, yeah. He's a good guy."

"Well, I wouldn't date a complete prat," Molly said, "Ever."

"I made that mistake enough times for every woman in the Weasley family," Audrey said, shaking her head, "Still wonder about it sometimes, actually."

"Mum!"

"Well, you have to admit that your father can be a major prat sometimes, dear," Audrey said, smiling at her eldest daughter, "I love the man, but he's still figuring out how to not be so pig-headed sometimes."

"True," Molly said, "I should probably listen to you more, shouldn't I?"

Audrey's smile widened, "Probably, yes." She straightened from her position leaning against the porch railing and nodded to the girls, "I'm going to go make sure that everything's okay inside, it's a bit too quiet in there. Let me know when Sam comes so that I can make sure your father is distracted enough, alright Molls?"

"Sure thing, Mum," Molly said.

Audrey disappeared into the house. Victoire grinned.

"I always forget how much I love your mum."

"She's pretty damn brilliant, isn't she?" Molly asked.

"She is," Victoire said, "You're looking forward to seeing Sam, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Molly said, "He's had so many practices this week… This will be my first time seeing him since the Saturday before last."

"It's a shame," Victoire said, "I miss having him around all the time."

"Speaking of seeing boyfriends, when's the last time you saw Danny?"

Victoire shrugged, "Beginning of the month."

"When does he come back?" Molly asked.

"In a week and a half," Victoire said.

"It's unfortunate that he got roped into that," Molly said, "I know how excited you were to have the summer with him."

"It's not that big a deal," Victoire said, subconsciously fingering the flower charm that hung from her bracelet, "I'm not going to deny him the opportunity to get to tour the Spanish countryside."

"You would think he would have done enough of that in the two weeks in June," Molly said.

"I want him to have fun," Victoire said, "Besides, I was in France for two weeks, it's not like I would have seen him anyway."

"I guess you're right," Molly said. Her gaze travelled to Victoire's bracelet, "New charm?"

Victoire nodded, "He sent it to me last week with his last letter. Said he saw it in a shop in Perth and thought I'd like it."

"What is it anyway?" Molly said, "I didn't really get a good look at it."

Victoire lifted her wrist to show her cousin the silver charm with the amethyst stone at its center, "A forget-me-not, you know those are my favorite flowers."

"I have to say, I'm a little amazed," Molly said after a moment.

"How so?" Victoire asked.

"You two fell back into your normal routine a lot more easily than I would have expected," Molly said.

"Well, it's not normal, for one thing," Victoire said, "I mean, he's in Australia, and the owls can only do that distance so quickly, so we can only write once a week or so. And what did you expect? We've known each other since I was born, I'm used to him."

"After how put out you were with him, I'm just amazed that it took you two three weeks to start talking to each other the same way you always did," Molly said, "Then again, it is you two, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, seeing as you never seem to do anything by the book."

"Why would we?" Victoire asked, "By the book isn't any fun."

Molly raised her hands in defeat, "Alright, whatever you say."

The sound of a loud crack made both girls whirl around to see a familiar figure standing there.

"SAM!"

Molly launched herself at her boyfriend, who caught her up in a hug before grinning at Victoire.

"Hey Vic."

Victoire laughed, "Hi, Sam, it's nice to see you."

He detached himself from Molly and approached her, "Hug me, you dolt."

Victoire did as he said, "It's been what, two weeks?"

"Three," Sam said, "Also, I have something for you." He fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a carefully folded piece of parchment, "He told Aaron to tell me to give this to you, I guess the kid got a couple days to come back and see his family and he dropped if off on the way."

Victoire eagerly took the parchment from Sam, "Thanks a million."

Sam grinned, "No problem."

"Now, you two go down to the garden or something," Victoire said, making shooing motions with her hands, "I'll tell Uncle Percy that you wanted to show him the geraniums or something, Molls."

Molly smiled, "Thanks, Vic."

The pair ambled away from her as she carefully unfolded the parchment and began to read.

Tori,

Yes, Australia is still great, and no, I don't know when my first visiting break will be.

I am going a bit mental down here though, it's not the same without the lot of you driving me mad all the time. Sam complains about how there aren't enough guys in the bunch now that I'm gone, but I don't have any idea what he's talking about since I wasn't exactly in the bunch for the last few months of school and he should be used to it by now (Don't kill me when I get home for saying that, please).

Uncle Harry was down here for a few days last week, but then again, you probably knew that already. He's pretty happy with all of us, but like he said, he won't really know much of anything until we actually go into the field and get some real practice at dealing with Dark wizards. Things are pretty tame down here, most of what we've been doing has been theory, so I haven't exactly been out fighting for my life or anything like that.

I'm hoping I'll make it back in October or something like that so that I can come to Hogsmeade and see the lot of you for a little while, but we haven't been given any word about when we'll get a chance to go home for a few days, so I really have no idea when I'll be back. Aaron only got the chance to come back because his sister's getting married and he had the commitment before he even got into the program (It helps that she's marrying our program director's nephew though).

I miss all of you, life's not quite the same without every single one of you around here to drive me mad, and yes, I know I said that already.

Tell everyone that I said hi and that I'll come see them as soon as possible. Your grandmum sends me letters all the time telling me to eat, I swear the woman thinks that they starve us in the Auror program or something, which honestly couldn't be further from the truth.

Also, Liv and Veronica said to tell you hello.

To the moon and back, love. Write me whenever you get the chance, but make sure Sterling gets plenty of rest, alright? I don't want the poor thing dropping dead because you keep forcing her to fly to Australia to write me. Rent a post owl or borrow Dom's or something, okay?

-Teddy

Victoire smiled and folded up the letter. She tucked it carefully into her pocket and looked up to see Percy standing there, his arms crossed.

"Where did Molly and Sam go?" he asked.

Victoire scratched the back of her arm, "Down to the garden, she wanted to show him some of the flowers, you know how excited she gets about them."

Percy's expression softened, "Alright, but if they're not back in five minutes…"

Audrey rolled her eyes from behind her husband, "Percy, if they're not back in five minutes, you'll leave them be. He's their friend, he's not about to do anything unsavory to Molly." She winked at Victoire just before her husband turned around to face her.

"I don't doubt that he wouldn't, but one can never be too careful," Percy said.

"Go inside and listen to the radio or read your book or something," Audrey said, "You aren't going to do yourself any good if you're worrying over those two. They're fine."

Percy sighed and went back into the house. Audrey shook her head.

"Sometimes I really don't know what to do with him."

Victoire laughed, "I don't really know if there's all that much that can be done, Aunt Audrey. They're mad, the lot of them."

"I'll say," Audrey said, "Sometimes I wonder what I was thinking, marrying into this family, but then I remember that some of us are sane, so it's okay."

"Every family has someone that's completely barmy," Victoire said, "It just so happens that we have more than one person."

"Most of them are perfectly harmless, thankfully," Audrey said. She nodded towards Victoire's hand, which was still tucked in her pocket, "Another letter?"

Victoire nodded, "Yeah, we're doing whatever we can to keep in touch, since he can't exactly Floo by every weekend."

"I'm glad that the two of you are talking to each other again," Audrey said, "What was your fight about, anyway?"

Victoire flushed, "Uh… Nothing important."

"It must've been, if you didn't speak to him for three and a half months," Audrey said, raising her eyebrows, "But I won't push."

"Thanks, Aunt Audrey," Victoire said.

"I was a teenage girl once too, you know," Audrey said, smiling, "I remember some of what it was like, I'm not about to press about things like that. As long as you're both speaking to each other now, I see no reason to intrude."

Victoire grinned, "Yeah, I forgot how much I missed having the prat in my life, but the space did me a lot of good, so I can't say I regret it entirely. Plus, I got Danny out of the bargain, so…"

Audrey chuckled, "Wasn't too bad a deal for you then."

"Definitely not."

She went inside a few minutes later, and people began to arrive not long after. Molly and Sam still hadn't returned from the garden.

"Hey hey," Alexa said, vaulting the fence on the side of the yard, "How's it going, you lot?"

Victoire rolled her eyes, "You're insane."

"And you love me for it," Alexa said, "We've been over this."

Victoire laughed, "Give me a hug, you ninny."

Alexa grinned and hugged Victoire swiftly, "So, how are the lovebirds doing?"

"They're fine," Victoire said, "They went off down to the garden for a little while. Sam had a letter for me from Teddy, so I read it and talked to Aunt Audrey for a little while."

"Anything important?" Alexa asked.

Victoire shrugged, "Not really. He said to tell you lot hello though, and that he'll try to come back in October or some time so that he can come on one of our Hogsmeade weekends to see all of us."

"It'll be good to have him back," Alexa said, "I won't lie, I really missed having him around when you guys were having your… Spot of trouble."

"Nice wording," Victoire said, rolling her eyes, "Yeah, I missed him too, not that I really realized it."

"Have things been weird, after you got your birthday present from him, or…" Alexa trailed off.

Victoire shook her head, "No, we haven't really talked about it all that much, and I'm not planning to bring it up. Danny, remember?"

Alexa nodded, "I know, I was just wondering. So you're okay with him then?"

"Yeah," Victoire said, "He was my best mate for a long time, and that doesn't disappear, even after what happened with us. I just needed space for a while, and he let me have it, and now we're back to how we were before the whole mess started. It's better this way, honestly."

"You're probably right," Alexa said.

"HELLO MY FRIENDS."

They turned to see Monica coming out of the house.

"Hey kid," Alexa said, grinning at the other girl.

"You really need to stop calling me that, I am older than you after all," Monica said.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Alexa said, "I don't think I'll stop though."

Monica sighed, "I figured."

Victoire laughed, "Mental, the both of you."

"We've been over this," Monica said, "We are, and that's why you love us. Why must this constantly be reviewed?"

"I just like to make sure that you haven't forgotten," Victoire said, "No Jade?"

Monica shook her head, "Not yet. Soon, I'd guess, but I could be wrong."

"Merlin, that still seems weird," Alexa said.

"What?" Victoire asked.

"Just the fact that this time last summer, we completely hated her, and now we're all really close friends," Alexa said, "It's a bit strange, that's all."

"You'll get used to it eventually," Monica said, "And we still really don't like Ruby, so things haven't changed that much."

"I guess," Alexa said, grinning, "I'm glad it's five to one instead of four to two though."

"I think we all are," Victoire said, "Well, except for Ruby."

"She'll get over it eventually," Monica said, "Until then, I'll go out of my way to avoid associating with her, and she'll go out of her way to avoid associating with us, and that will keep things from getting bad."

"It's good that we have that unofficial avoidance policy," Alexa said, "It really stops a lot of things from happening, doesn't it?"

"I'll say," Victoire said, "Merlin, the last five years would have been absolute hell if we didn't have it in place, and they were bad enough as it was."

"What are we going to do without all of the insane pranking this year?" Monica asked, "I don't know about you guys, but I don't think that any of us are quite capable of taking over for Teddy and Sam."

"We've got Fred, Roxy, and James to do the pranking," Victoire said, "We'll be fine. They're even more creative than Sam and Teddy were."

"Which could be both a very good and very bad thing, if you think about it," Alexa said.

"Remember the policy?" Victoire said, "All Weasley family members and their closest friends must be notified of the occurrence of the prank the night before so that they can take appropriate precautions against what may arise from said prank. Teddy and Sam worked very hard to make sure that the kids knew that policy. They won't go against it now, it would dishonour Teddy and Sam's memory."

"I suppose," Monica said, "Although, you can never really be too careful with those three, can you?"

"Definitely not," Victoire said, "I don't even want to think about what sort of things Uncle George has been giving them for the year. Whatever it is, I'm sure they'll be causing a lot of trouble. I'll just have to pretend I don't know about it, I really don't want to have to put them in detention."

"You never put Teddy or Sam in detention," Alexa said.

"Yeah, but Teddy was the Head Boy," Victoire said, "A normal prefect can't exactly put the Head Boy in detention. Besides, he's supposed to be the one who keeps everyone else on track."

"Somehow I doubt that Teddy ever actually did that," Alexa said, "He's got too much of a penchant for mischief, that boy."

Victoire shrugged, "Well, with Liam and Chelsea in charge this year, they'll be much more conscious of what's going on… Then again, I don't think they're anymore likely to throw our cousins to the teachers than Teddy was, so I suppose it might not actually matter as far as we're concerned."

"It won't," Monica said, "They won't do anything about our lot, they like us too much."

"I certainly hope they like us," Alexa said, "It would be a bit unfortunate if they didn't."

"You can say that again," Victoire said, "Considering that you're dating one of them."

Alexa rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah, I know."

Jade, Jake, and Liam arrived a few minutes later, and for a while, all that happened was a lot of hugging. Eventually, they formed a circle at the table.

"Still no Sam and Molly?" Jade asked, "I'm assuming they disappeared."

"Yeah, like a half hour ago," Victoire said, rolling her eyes, "They went down to the garden and they haven't come back yet. I don't even want to know what they're getting up to down there, but I suppose someone should probably go and find out."

Alexa stood, "I'll go get the lovebirds, you guys stay here."

Without waiting for a response, she started down the hill towards the garden.

Victoire shook her head, "Won't take no for an answer, that girl. You'll have your hands full with her, Liam."

Liam laughed, "I've had my hands full with her for a while, and somehow I'm okay with that."

"It's your funeral," Victoire said, grinning at him.

"Pretty good way to die, if you ask me," Liam said.

Jake laughed, "We got some pretty good girls, didn't we mate?"

"Definitely," Liam said.

"No offense, Vic," Jake said.

Victoire chuckled, "No worries, Jake. If Danny were here he'd be agreeing with you. I think. If not, he'd be on the end of one well-deserved Bat-Bogey hex."

"How's Spain for him?" Jake asked, chuckling at Victoire's remark.

"Decent, as far as I know," Victoire said, "I haven't heard much from him since he left, I've mostly been exchanging letters with Teddy the whole time. He said to tell you all hello."

Monica grinned, "Of course he did."

Jade's eyes widened, "Wait, to me too? He doesn't even know me."

"Apparently the boy doesn't care," Victoire said, shrugging, "He just said 'tell everyone I said hi,' so I did."

"It's a nice thought regardless," Jake said, "It's just how he is, he loves everyone."

"Well, he doesn't love everyone," Monica said, "He just likes a lot of people."

Liam laughed, "That distinction is very important."

Monica turned to him with a serious look on her face, "It is though."

Victoire rolled her eyes, "Yeah, it is, but it's not that big a deal, we knew what you meant."

"I HAVE RETRIEVED THEM!"

They turned to see Alexa jogging up the hill from the garden, Sam and Molly close behind.

Victoire raised her eyebrows as her cousin approached, "So much for a few minutes, huh? You're lucky your dad hasn't come looking for you."

"Remind me to thank my mum later," Molly said, "She's been distracting him for me."

Jade grinned, "Someone's getting rebellious."

"Hardly," Molly said, "I just like having the ability to have a boyfriend without having to deal with my father breathing down his neck constantly. Mum loves Sam, she one hundred percent understands why I don't want to have Dad know about it. Besides, it's not like I'm trying to make sure my parents have no idea."

"You're just trying to make sure that the problematic parent has no idea," Victoire said, "I can respect that."

"You'd know all about it, that's why," Alexa said.

"Irrelevant," Victoire said.

Alexa laughed, "Sure, sure, whatever makes you happy, Vic."

"I thought we agreed we weren't going to talk about it anyway," Victoire said.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Alexa said, "I just couldn't resist, it happens sometimes."

"You're lucky I know that, or you would be the one receiving the Bat-Bogey hex," Victoire said.

"Easy girlies," Monica said, "We don't need to end Molly's birthday early with a trip to St. Mungo's."

"It would hardly require a trip to St. Mungo's," Molly said, rolling her eyes, "I know the counter-curse, and obviously Vic does as well. Lex would be fine."

"I forgot how violent you guys can be," Sam said, shaking his head, "Quidditch is making me go soft."

"I don't know if that's even possible," Jake said, staring at Sam, "Quidditch and soft don't really go together."

"That's what you think," Sam said, "When the guys on your team are virtually the friendliest, most ridiculous people you've ever met, you'll change your mind."

"I thought we were the most ridiculous people you've ever met," Monica said.

"That's why I said virtually," Sam said, "They aren't actually, that's what all of you absolutely insane human beings are for. I'm pretty sure you defy the laws of reason, you're all about a million times more insane than should actually be possible."

Liam grinned, "He does have a bit of a point, actually."

Alexa elbowed him, "Shut up."

"Yes ma'am."

Victoire laughed, "She's got you beat, huh Liam?"

"I know when to take a risk," Liam said, "And if I want to stay in this position, I'm usually better off shutting my mouth when told to."

Monica chuckled, "You boys seem to be pretty good at that. Ben definitely is."

"How is he, anyway?" Victoire asked, "He hasn't really been around all that much."

"He has family in America so he's spending the summer with them," Monica said, shrugging, "He doesn't see them all that often, and I see no reason to head over there since I did live there for a pretty long time, so we're just writing to each other until he gets back, which should be in a few weeks. Sort of like you and Teddy, just less long-term."

Victoire nodded, "Makes sense."

"I still can't believe the prat writes to you, but not to me," Sam said, "I'm his best mate, you'd think he'd be able to spare me a little bit of time."

"What can I say, Sam, you're just not as special to Teddy as I am," Victoire said.

Sam sighed, "I suppose you're right. Such a shame though, we all know that I'm the most brilliant of the lot of us."

"And yet he's off doing Auror things, and you're playing Quidditch," Alexa said, grinning at Sam, "What does that say about the two of you?"

"That we have completely different interests when it comes to careers?" Sam said.

Alexa groaned, "Touché, you asshole."

Sam laughed, "Shouldn't have tried to outsmart me, should you?"

"I think we all know it's a bad idea to try and outsmart any of us, actually," Victoire said, "Considering that we're all reasonably smart people."

"Says the girl who got all of her O.W.L.s," Jade said.

Victoire shrugged, "I study."

"And her parents are brilliant," Molly said, "They've rubbed off on her, apparently."

"The whole family's pretty smart, actually," Victoire said, "Some more so than others, but everyone's pretty brilliant."

"It's just that they apply it in different ways," Alexa said, "Your Uncle George is honestly one of the smartest people I've ever met, and he didn't even finish his N.E.W.T.s."

"He didn't need to," Molly said, "He and Uncle Fred already had their lives set up for them, there was no reason for them to stay at school, especially because it was a million times easier for them to provide Hogwarts students with things to use against Umbridge if they weren't at school. More production time and all of that, plus they didn't have to worry about obtaining things that were banned by the school."

"Either way, I'm glad they did what they did," Jake said, "The Snackboxes are great."

"The everything is great," Sam said, "And I get so much free stuff thanks to this lot, it's ridiculous."

"If the family likes you, it means you're in the family," Molly said, shrugging, "And Uncle George is always quick to give things to the family, especially Uncle Harry's kids."

"He won't say why though," Victoire said, "He just does it."

"If there's one thing I've learned from spending so much time with you lot, it's to never question that man," Sam said.

"It can be very dangerous," Alexa said, "We've heard the stories."

"I'm afraid of my family in general," Victoire said, "The Weasley temper is still a thing that exists, you know."

"Unfortunately," Jade said, shuddering.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Molly said.

"Really," Victoire said.

Jade waved her hand, "It's all in the past now, we're good."

There was a lot of laughing at that, and they continued to talk for a while.

After dinner, once it was dark, they found themselves playing with fireworks, courtesy of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. The no-heat, wet-start fireworks had become a staple at Weasley birthday parties, and they enjoyed trying to set off as many different combinations as possible. Luckily, Molly lived relatively far away from any Muggles who might question what was going on, so the group could be as crazy as they wanted without needing to worry about being caught.

As a set of green and blue fireworks lit up the sky, Alexa sighed.

"What's up?" Victoire asked, looking at her best friend.

"It's just going to be a weird year, is all," Alexa said, "No Sam, no Teddy, Liam, Jake, Danny, and Ben's last year, our second to last… Starting to think about what we want to do after we graduate, all of that."

"We're growing up, aren't we?" Monica asked, staring at the sky as the boys set off another set of fireworks, this one red and gold.

"It had to happen sometime," Molly said, "But you're right, it's a bit strange knowing that we're this close to the end."

Jade shook her head, "We have another two years until we graduate, let's not spend all of it dwelling on how we're going to have to leave school."

"It's not really about leaving school," Victoire said, "It's just that this is the first year that's really going to be any different. It's the first year since we started that Teddy and Sam won't be there, it's the first year that we'll spend away from them, and it's just going to be odd. They've been pretty permanent fixtures in our lives."

"It'll be fine," Molly said, "We'll make sure that it is. They'll come visit us when they can, or at least, Sam will, and we'll talk to them as much as possible. Teddy will be back eventually, and I'm sure he and Sam will share Sam's flat at that point, and then they'll be around to bother us whenever they can."

"I suppose you're right," Victoire said, "I hope you are, anyway."

She left at just past eleven, as the fireworks were running out. Jake had left before her, citing breakfast with his sister the next day as the reason for his departure.

"See you whenever, kid," Victoire said, hugging Molly.

Molly rolled her eyes and hugged Victoire back, "I'm barely three months younger than you, I'm hardly a kid."

"Still younger than me though," Victoire said, grinning, "Later."

"Yeah, yeah," Molly said.

Victoire went into the kitchen, where she pinched some Floo powder out of the pot on the mantle and threw it into the fireplace, "SHELL COTTAGE."

She arrived in the living room of her house a few moments later, and she dusted herself off as she clambered out of the fireplace.

Dominique looked up from her spot on the couch, "So, how was it?"

"Fine," Victoire said, "Sam's doing pretty well."

"That's good," Dom said, "Anything interesting happen?"

Victoire shrugged, "I got a letter from Teddy, he says hi. I need to go write him back."

Dom rolled her eyes, "Sometimes I really don't understand you two. First you're best friends, then you're together, then you're not speaking, and now you're back to being best friends again."

"He's been my best mate for a long time," Victoire said, "We just made some mistakes."

"Heard from Danny recently?" Dom asked.

Victoire shook her head, "He's awfully busy, he doesn't get much of a chance to write. He's not back until almost before school starts, so it's going to be a while before I see him."

"Things are still okay with you guys, then?"

"Fine, yeah," Victoire said, "We're handling the whole being apart thing rather well, actually."

Dom raised her eyebrows, "What does rather well mean?"

"We talk when we can, we're looking forward to seeing each other," Victoire said, "Is that good enough, or…"

"Yeah," Dom said, "Just checking."

"Sure you were," Victoire said.

Dom rolled her eyes, "Well, I had to ask."

"Was there anyone you liked last year?" Victoire asked, eyeing her younger sister.

"Yeah right," Dom said, "I have so much to do with Quidditch that I don't even have time to think about boys."

"That's what you say, but it could be false," Victoire said, "And with the way you are, there's no way you haven't thought about anybody, even just in passing."

"That's what you think," Dom said.

Victoire sighed and rolled her eyes, "Whatever you say, Dom. I'm going to go write Teddy back, I'll see you tomorrow."

Dom nodded, "Later."

Victoire tugged on her sister's ponytail as she walked past, dodged Dom's swat, and went up to her bedroom.

Her owl, Sterling, was sitting on her perch. She looked imperiously at Victoire as the girl entered the room.

"Oh, don't look at me like that," Victoire said, stroking Sterling's head, "You love Teddy, I know you don't mind flying to see him, even if it is a bit of a trip."

Sterling nipped at Victoire's fingers. Victoire shook her head and sat down at her desk, where she pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill. Dipping the quill into her bottle of ink, she began to write.

Teddy,

Everyone says hi, we all miss you a lot.

I hope you'll get the chance to come back up here at some point, things really aren't the same and I know that Sam misses you a lot. You two have never really been separated like this, have you? He's busy enough that I don't think that he really gets too much time to think about the fact that you're not around, but I know he definitely notices that you aren't, and I don't think he likes it much either.

It's really odd thinking that I'm going to be going to school without you for the first time this year. I mean, I know I can do it, but it won't be the same without you and Sam pulling all of your absolutely mental pranks. Thankfully Liam and Chelsea got the Head spots, so there shouldn't be any terrible pairings this year as far as prefects go, but we'll see what happens. Here's to me getting Head Girl next year, I really want that dormitory, it's beautiful.

When you finally start doing practical work, please be careful. I really don't want to have to deal with you being severely injured, I don't think it would be particularly fun.

Come back when you can, I want to see you, and I know everyone else does too.

Sterling loves coming to see you, but I'll give her a break when she shows me that she needs one, alright? I don't want to overwork her anymore than you want me to, but she's had a bit of time to relax now so I think she'll be alright.

Also, make sure you eat, Grandmum just wants you to be healthy. Just don't eat too much.

-Victoire

She rolled the parchment up and looked at Sterling, "Ready to fly?"

The owl clicked her beak impatiently. Victoire fixed the parchment carefully to Sterling's leg, and the owl took off through the open window moments later. Victoire watched Sterling go, shaking her head.

"Sometimes I really don't know what to do with her…" Victoire said, sighing.

She went to bed not long after that.

A/N:

And it's the first installment of the sequel to In Your Arms I'll Stay!

I hope you guys enjoy it, things will pick up pretty quickly and get a lot more exciting, just give it a few chapters. They have to get through the rest of the summer first. I've got some really good ideas for this story, so hopefully I'll be able to write chapter three sooner rather than later, but school happens, as does life, so there is currently an indefinite update schedule due to the close proximity of my finals.

And prom.

Peace and love x

~AC