Ch1

It was funny, because if you asked any Weasley, Potter, or Tonks for a story about Teddy or Victoire from childhood, you would inevitably end up hearing the other child starring alongside the first in some far off adventure.

If you asked either of them in more recent times who was most likely to spend time with them, the answer would be quite different.

Teddy's first year off at Hogwarts had returned him to the Burrow and the Weasleys' lives undeniably changed, a boy who thought himself somehow different from before, somehow above the girl who had once idolized him.

The girl who still did, if she was being brutally honest with herself, Victoire reflected with some mirth, kicking her feet through the cool water of the pond, Molly's feet splashing beside her own. Teddy's judgements still, far more than any of the others, held a more painful weight, a sharper edge, despite their friendship having fizzled out so many year ago. Victoire brought herself back from her musing, focusing on where she and Molly were seated quite comfortably on the dock, a few minutes stroll from the Burrow, while Fred and James swam about in the water nearby.

The planks of the dock squeaked as Lysander made his way to join them, watching as his younger brother, Lorcan, jumped in to join James and Fred.

"Afternoon, lassies," Lysander greeted, sprawling down beside Victoire, "I see you're both avoiding the chaos of the Burrow this lovely day."

Victoire grinned, "Afternoon Lysander, I see you've made the same decision."

The older boy laughed at that, nodding brightly, making his head thump several times against the deck in quick succession.

"You're not going to be too warm in that?" Molly asked, raising a single eyebrow and quirking a lip in greeting.

Lysander tugged at the high collar of his shirt, adjusting the long sleeves to check they were fully covering him.

"I'm just keeping safe from the sun," he said, refusing to meet both Victoire's and Molly's inquisitive glances.

"Of course," Victoire reassured finally, after several breaths of painful silence. Molly gave her an exasperated expression that simply made Victoire shrug. They all knew, as close family friends of the Scamanders, that some incident had occurred earlier in the summer involving Lysander, but no one had been particularly forthcoming with the details.

It had been a summer of chaos, if what the Prophet reported could be counted as true, with kidnappings, cursings, and attacks of all kinds being depicted on every page. "The most chaotic time since the end of the War" Victoire often heard the adults whisper.

Molly's head shot up at the high pitched shriek that could be heard over the excited shouts of the boys splashing in the pond. Victoire threw her head back and laughed, all too familiar with her younger sister's willingness to raise her voice to get her point more forcefully across.

"Is that Dom?" Lysander asked, his tone utterly incredulous, only making Victoire laugh even more, "Tori, how in Merlin's name do you live with that girl?"

Victoire let out a snort, sending Molly into giggles.

"Dominique," Victoire began seriously, holding her smile back until it only twitched at the corners of her mouth, "is actually rather bearable to live with when one gets along with her. Which, rather obviously, is not something that Teddy's girlfriend is going to experience."

"Teddy?" Molly fake gasped, "Don't you mean ER, Tori? You know, that's the only name he willingly goes by now." The two cousins broke into laughter again, as Lysander rolled his eyes fondly.

"Aye now, Teddy decided to go by ER nearly seven years ago now, can't the two of you lay off a bit?" Lysander said, repeating the defense that he must have said to them and the rest of the Weasley cousins a million times since Teddy had returned from his first year with the ridiculous new nickname. Such was the burden of being friends with one person and their extended family, which happened to include several estranged friends of that such person.

"Aye now," Victoire smiled as she mocked Lysander, "I'll lay off Teddy a bit when he and Andrea lay off me a bit!"

No one could deny that the two had been rather rude at the mandated family lunch earlier in the day, snapping at Victoire when she had oh so innocently inquired after where exactly they were spending the rest of the summer, since her Papa had previously mentioned that Lavender, Andrea's mother, had gone to Gringott's for a special loan, after her muggle businessman husband's business had gone under.

And if Victoire's line of questioning had been driven by the fact that Andrea had been loudly exclaiming how Spain was the best place to live other than England, especially rather than France, and how Teddy would enjoy it so much more, well then no one needed to know the competitive streak that the comments had sparked.

Lysander sighed at Victoire's reply, moving so there was room for her to flop back and join him in defeat. Victoire smiled and gratefully joined him, tugging on the back of Molly's necklace until she finally gave in and joined them, settling her favorite blue pendant back into its proper place nestled at the base of her throat.

Together the three relaxed on the dock, drinking in the rare sunshine and background noise of their younger family and friends enjoying the water.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Come play hide and seek in the forest with us, Tori!" Lily insisted, tugging on her older cousin's shirt hem.

"Give me a second," Victoire laughed, trying to shove the final bite of sandwich into her mouth, Molly mirroring her action from the other side of the table.

"C'mon c'mon c'mon!" Fred and James chanted as they sprinted by, ignoring their parents' calls for them to slow down and be careful.

"Do you make a habit of eating like animals?" Andrea said, cocking an eyebrow from where she sat with Teddy's arm perched across her shoulders.

Victoire rolled her eyes, not even surprised at the nasty comment or the way that Teddy seemed to block out anything less than nice that left his girlfriend's mouth.

"Do you make a habit of looking like one?" Dominique replied, lifting the tip of her own nose with one hand and making pig-like snorting noises as she passed the snobby older girl. Molly laughed at that, and was ushering Dominique out the door after the boys before Teddy could open his mouth.

"Selective hearing can only get you so far, Ted," was Victoire's parting shot as she took off after her cousins, Lily at her heels.

"I'm it! I'll find you all!" James volunteered the moment they broke into the trees, sprinting to face the largest oak along the tree line and face it.

Victoire and Molly each grabbed one of Lily's hands, guiding their younger cousin deeper into the forest, weaving around trees and hopping over fallen logs and rocks. They knew these woods like the back of their hands, each generation of cousins using these trees as cover for long winded games of tag, hide and go seek, and make believe adventures.

"We can show you our secret hiding spot," Victoire said, speaking softly to ensure her voice wouldn't carry to other possible eavesdropping family members obscured by the foliage, "but you have to promise not to tell anyone else."

Lily nodded enthusiastically, giggling as Victoire and Molly made exaggeratedly quiet and secretive movements towards one of the larger trees in the area. Molly began climbing first, with Lily following her movements exactly, and Victoire following her in case she slipped.

They finally emerged near the top, where the trunk was still thick enough that the bowl that had been hollowed into the top was large enough to snugly cradle all three girls.

Lily looked about in awe, while Molly and Victoire reclined in relaxation.

This was her place, where she most belonged, Victoire often found herself thinking when she made her way up to this secret tree, that with her closest cousins by her side, in the wild woods beside her grandparents' home, with the sky nearly close enough to touch, she was able to fully relax and just be.

She breathed in the cooling evening air, enjoyed the wind whipping through her pale blonde locks, and tried to push Andrea's scathing comments and mean glances aside, tried to push away the comments that Teddy would inevitably make when they were called in for the night to go home about how she and Molly were too old to be off running through the forest, tried to push away all the family drama and conflict that seemed unavoidable as a Weasley.

Instead, she fixed her eyes on the beautiful full moon, luminescent in the slowly darkening sky.