"I hate boys."
These were the words that greeted me once I entered the train compartment in the third car where my younger sister Dominique sat, her arms crossed over her already slightly developed chest and her eyes filled with a passionate hatred that I prayed would never be aimed towards me. She stared straight forward, glaring into space, and I took pity on whatever poor boy it was that had done her wrong.
This melodramatic outlook on life came very naturally to my juvenile sister, so I didn't have much pity or concern for her at the moment. All the same, I decided to pay along and comfort her as much to my ability (and comfort level: I'm not a hugger) as possible.
"Good to see you, too," I laughed incredulously, throwing my beaten purple backpack down beside my friend Collin, who I nodded briefly to in greeting. I had instructed him before we had boarded the train to watch over Dom as I often did until the prefect meeting adjourned, and as usual, he was opposed to it, but gave in with only a bit of light persuasion. Veela blood does come in handy. He looked pointedly at Dom, then rolled his eyes at me. I smiled fondly, knowing it was inevitable that his reaction to her misfortune would be negative. Actually, his reaction to anything to do with her would be generally alike: pessimistic.
I took the empty seat between Dom and a very quiet Hufflepuff girl, scooting closer to my sister and wrapping an awkward arm around her in an attempt at comfort. Without preamble, I plowed on, "You shouldn't hate boys. Maybe you will now, but listen to me, they aren't completely daft all the time. They do come in handy, in certain situations." This was me, trying to help, although Blunt & Cynical Victoire wanted to emerge and tell her that it was likely she'd never meet a boy she truly would like to marry, and if she did, that 90% of marriage fail or end in divorce. But, as you know, I was trying to be helpful. I mean, what are sister's for?
Dom, unperturbed by my firm tone and stubborn gate, questioned, "Like when?" Her ice blue eyes, which we had both inherited from our mother, widened in curious innocence. Those were the eyes that pulled people in and made them want your acceptance, but they didn't work quite as well with me.
"Like," I began, "helping you with homework, or doing chores. I can usually charm Lou into doing my chores at home when I want." I smirked, and she giggled into her hand. Louis was our little brother, who was now barely 6 years old. I knew I shouldn't take advantage of him like that, or for that matter, blame things on him and tease him, but it was all too easy, and of course I didn't mean it to actually hurt him or be rude. He was my brother, after all. It was all in the name of fun.
"I guess… but…" She sniffled once, and then promptly burst into tears, sobs wracking her small frame. It shouldn't have surprised me so much to see her emotions boil over like that since she had other similar fits frequently within the past month, but I still found it disturbing.
I looked over at Collin in surprise to gauge any sort of reaction or explanation that I probably wouldn't understand from a blubbering eleven-year-old, but I would be disappointed. He was skimming through a book, not looking at all concerned. He would be blocking out our conversation, I knew; he constantly did so with me when I went off on one of my fiery rants. I would be alone with this one. I turned back to Dom, unsure of what to do. I patted her awkwardly on the back, sighed, and then pulled her into a full-on hug. I wasn't a person for affection. Only a vague sisterly instinct was telling me I needed to push that aside.
"There, there," I soothed, running a hand loosely through Dom's strawberry-blonde curls. "What's the matter?"
"T-T-T-Tim doesn't l-l-like me!" she wailed, blowing her nose onto my pink sweater. I flinched, my nose wrinkling up in disgust.
"Oh, Dom," I sympathized/whined. More so whined than sympathized, really. In the past when Dom had come to me with boy troubles, I really did try to care. I dug deep within myself, searching for a smidgeon of empathy or anything, but instead I just found that I wanted to either disappear and let someone else deal with it or laugh because a first year boy calling my sister a whore was one of the funniest things I have ever heard— partly because said boy probably hadn't even reached puberty yet, and also because Dom, in my morals, couldn't be constituted for a whore until she'd shagged multiple people. And she hadn't. So, case in point.
I sighed inwardly, rolling my eyes when no one was looking. I love my sister, I really do. But she always had drama going on in her life, almost all of the time. How much can one eleven-year-old go through that her life had to be a soap opera? It hadn't really started until she began at Hogwarts only nine months ago, and that was when she suddenly grew up into a sixteen-year-old. She almost looked as old as me— which I guess isn't as bad as it sounds, because I looked young for my age. At seventeen, I was short and petite, although not lacking curves. I still had some baby fat in my cheeks and didn't usually wear make-up. My mother's genes helped with the whole acne-situation, if you're excluding the occasional stress-related break out, so I never really needed it.
Whereas I looked younger for my age, Dom looked much older for hers. She'd already developed a figure (well, as much of a figure as a pre-teen can) and was an inch taller than me. She had already started using make-up and wearing more grown-up clothes, mainly borrowed (stolen) from my closet. She hung out with second and third years as opposed in preference to her own. Oh yeah, and when I felt generous, Collin and I.
In not even a year at Hogwarts, she has had more boyfriends than I've had in my life and experienced exponentially more drama than I have. It was a little ridiculous, but I decided to let her figure it out on her own… with maybe a little meddling on my part, when I got bored with my own recurrent lifestyle. But of course, that would all be changing soon.
"Tim? That little Ravenclaw bloke? Oh please, he's… you could do so much better…" I said half-halfheartedly. This was my discreet way of telling her, Sorry, sweetie, but it ain't happening.
"Well," I continued, wracking my brain for something to say, "if it makes you feel any better, boys are just as dumb in my year as they are in yours. So… don't be looking forward to them maturing or anything, because it's not going to happen anytime soon. Maybe when they graduate, but…"
Dom's face was generally depressed through my rambling, but towards the end, she suddenly brightened, "Ooh, like Teddy?"
"Actually, yes," I said, my eyebrows scrunching. "He's mature… somewhat. Sometimes. Yeah, Teddy."
"So is that why you haven't gone with anyone this year? Because you want to be with Teddy, since he's grown-up?" she inquired eagerly, a smile spreading across lipstick-slathered lips. I could feel my face growing hot, and my eyes widened.
"What? No, of course not… there are plenty of boys in my year that I…"
"Like who?" she interjected, a devilish smirk on her lips that I was very afraid she had caught on to because of me. I glanced frantically over at Collin, who was still innocently reading his book that was propped up on bent knees, his dark brow furrowed in concentration and his spectacles on the bridge of his nose.
"Like Collin," I blurted, and watched the triumphant smirk fall from her red, glossy lips. Said seventh year's head snapped up, and a You called? expression formed on his relatively handsome face.
"Oh, so you fancy him?" Dom said, looking disappointed and a touch confused. I grunted noncommittally, giving him a Just go with it look. His look became questioning, and I shook my head slightly, letting him know I'd explain later. Collin and I often had non-verbal conversations such as this.
"Anyways," I said quickly, getting up from my seat and plopping down next to Collin, "we should all get dressed out of our robes for when we reach the station." I was desperate to change the course in conversation, and Collin also seemed eager to rid of it, too.
"Can we please get out of this hellhole of estrogen?" Collin muttered to me, his lips quirked on one side. I smothered a smile and nodded, getting up and following him out of the compartment with a final wave to Dom and the nameless Hufflepuff.
"Never again, Vic, never again!" Collin exclaimed in disgust once I'd indicated he could turn around when I finished dressing.
"Aw, Collin, c'mon. She's my little sister, and I have to be there for her, but you know how it is with psycho Head Girl Helen and having to show up at prefect meetings. Frankly, she scares me. Whenever I'm near her, I'm constantly in fear of her ripping off my boobs with her own two hands."
"I know, right?" Collin agreed, resigning his argument for later. "I'm afraid she'll steal my first born child."
"Wow, at first I thought you were afraid for your obviously large bosoms. Besides, if your first born child is anything like you, I don't see why she'd want to steal the thing… Ow!" I rubbed my arm where Collin had punched me, and I looked up to see him laughing. "HEY!" I whined, punching him back.
As one bloke says to his significant other when trying to explain his act of cheating, one thing led to another, and… Wait, revise that. One punch led to another, and… a full-out punch-war in the middle of the swift-moving train ensued. Not exactly the best idea, but a good recommendation for a laugh.
After a series of poorly aimed punches and halfhearted kicks, a voice broke through the grunting and laughing that came from us.
"There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you two! I should've known to just look for a fracas and you two would be there," a familiar voice called, pushing past some amused onlookers and approaching us.
Collin and I disentangled ourselves from each other, where he had me in a headlock and I was trying to hook my ankle around his and yank so he'd fall. We looked over to see my best friend striding towards us, her dark hair in two curly braids and her obsidian eyes narrowed in disapproval. I grinned crookedly at her.
"'Fracas,' Sheela? Really?" I taunted, rolling my eyes. She stuck out her tongue and then turned to Collin, "I'm guessing you initiated this?"
"Yes!" I yelled, and Collin, at the same time, "No!"
Collin's head whipped around to look at me, accusation and exasperation in his glittering blue eyes. I smirked and told him, "You know I love you, Collin, but I'll never hesitate to throw you under the bus."
"We're on a train."
"And that's where you're wrong again, because we're actually in a train."
"You're an arse."
"Ahem, smart arse."
"You wish."
Sheela was now beside us, already dressed out of her robes and into a green turtleneck and flared jeans. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and she looked amused as she cut us off from our bickering, "Are you two done yet? It's like you're an old married couple."
"Shh, don't say the 'c' word around Collin. He's still pretty broken-up about the last time I rejected him," I mock-whispered to Sheela, who looked like she was trying very hard not to snicker. Ah, my partner in crime.
"Last time? That would be, what, third year? Please, that was when I didn't know any better," he huffed. Even though I had only been joking, I could tell I had hurt his ego. I guess when you're a teenage boy, what I had learned, is that an ego is about all that you have. That's why, a moment later when I saw him biting his lip and his eyes looking downcast, I felt bad. Well, at least more sympathetic than I had towards my sister.
I made up for it by looping an arm through his and planting a sloppy kiss on his cheek, pulling back to exclaim, "Good, so now you do know better." We shared a smile and then entered a half-full compartment at the end of the car where Sheela had been saving us seats.
We were just settling into our seats and greeting the other three people already inside, a couple of boys who had crushes on Sheela and a girl who had a crush on Collin (I have attractive friends, apparently) when the train stopped.
"We're already here?" Tanner questioned, his blonde head pushing past me to look out the window. He pressed his face against the glass (which I found annoying and highly unnecessary since the windows were clear) to, sure enough, see that we had reached our destination.
"Oh God," Sheela said, her eyebrows scrunched and her exotic eyes watery. Her hand was held to her stomach, and she looked saddened and ill. I was immediately concerned, learning forward and trying to meet her eyes.
"What's wrong?" I asked in a quiet voice, not wanting her admirers to bust in and try to save the day. Thank goodness Collin had distracted them with a deep discussion about Quidditch, the only thing all wizards universally could carry a conversation about, it seemed.
Sheela looked tentatively up at me, a single tear skipping down her smooth, bronzed cheek. "We've graduated, Vic. We're going to be out in the real world now. What'll I do? And what if I lose you and all my friends, my old life? I like the way things are— or, well, were."
I didn't do well with philosophical, and I didn't do well with mushy. But I did well with my best friend, and sometimes that's all you need. "Sheela, wherever your life takes you, you'll be amazing. Trust me, I know you, and you're the single most brilliant witch I've met. And no matter what, we'll always be friends. You won't be able to get rid of me if you tried. Besides, I need you."
"Correction: we need each other," she said, smiling weakly, but gratefully. "And thanks." I smiled and settled back into my seat, feeling relieved, even though everything that was bothering her was definitely bothering me, too.
This year, I became a legal adult. Technically, even though I knew they wouldn't, my parents could kick me out of their house. I'd have to find a place of my own anyways, and I'd have to build a career for myself. But I was utterly lost on all of it.
Whereas Sheela had to deal with her life beginning now, I had pushed it back until the fall. This summer would be my final vacation before I'd have to figure things out, for real this time. I'd have to get serious. And thankfully, I had Teddy, a whole summer, and lots of new places to go to. Essentially, the perfect distraction and transition into what I would be for the rest of my life.
We all bustled around for a while, grabbing our luggage and giving quick hugs and blowing kisses, shoving past each other to get off the train. Sheela followed me out of the train and I immediately spotted the mob of people that took up about half of the traffic: my family. I smiled and help up a finger to my father, letting him know that he'd only have to wait a moment. I'd missed him a lot since Christmas break, and writing letters, to me, just wasn't enough. He smiled warmly back, the scars on his face that would be intimidating to others but were familiar to me crinkling on his face.
"I'll write you all the time, okay? And I'm not just saying that offhandedly like I do to those people who you consider an acquaintance but in reality don't really want to take up time caring about, you know? I swear I'll write," I ranted passionately. Sheela and Collin smiled, nodding and agreeing that they would definitely do the same.
Even though I disliked hugging, I loved Sheela and Collin more than that. And plus, when you grow up with half of the population of gingers in Scotland, you sort of grow used to all the hugging and affection.
I pulled Sheela towards me first, making a big show of lifting her off the ground and spinning her around. She hugged me so tight I groaned in pain, which only made us all laugh. Oh God, I'm going to miss them. And at the same time… I was so excited to be going back to my family and going home. It was like paradise to me, and the ultimate way to feel better. Even if I was feeling sad about graduating and possibly never seeing my friends again, my family would make it better. When I feel sad, I have a tendency to regress into myself, to be isolated. But when I feel sad and the Weasleys are involved (which, lets face it, they usually are) we go out and have fun and play games and laugh. The ultimate therapy.
"I'll miss you," Sheela lamented, burying her curly head in my neck. I could still smell the faint scent of Indian food on her, which I knew was the smell of her home. I'd miss that smell, as much as I detested curry.
We pulled apart and she stepped back beside Collin, waiting for her chance to probably hug me again and then leave with Collin in tow so they could make their goodbyes.
"Collin," I said sadly, and pulled him forward into a tight embrace. To my own surprise, I didn't even feel uncomfortable when the hug lasted longer than normal. I'd usually be squirming by then, not knowing where I should place my hands or if I should pull away or say something—?
Collin pulled back, one of his arms staying tightly wound around my waist and the other moving up to behind my neck, and suddenly overpowered me with a big, hasty kiss on my lips. It was so quick and I was so surprised that I only got to close my eyes for a moment, and then he was being dragged away by a laughing Sheela, who had already let out a catcall of her own in the excitement. The people immediately around us were smiling or laughing, although I did notice a trio of fourth year Hufflepuff boys I recognized glaring at Collin in anger and jealousy. I couldn't help but giggle at that.
"What the—?" I began, my jaw open in surprise as Sheela shoved Collin in the shoulder playfully.
"He told me he might do this," Sheela said, indicating the surprise-attack kiss. I looked over to see if I could gauge Collin's reaction, because on my part, I was feeling overwhelmingly embarrassed and just a smidgen exhilarated. He seemed annoyingly smug and also, like me, a smidgen exhilarated. I had no doubt in my mind that I was bright red, which I'm sure was utterly attractive. Hey, I mean, I just can't help it.
"Might do what?" I asked in a voice an octave higher than my own.
"That he would try something on you. He thinks since this could essentially be the last moment he ever sees you, that he should do something crazy and kiss you in front of everyone, just to see what it feels like." Sheela rolled her eyes, hitting him again in the arm.
"Well, in that case, Collin, you should've let me know ahead of time… that way, I could've made it last," I said, winking at him.
"Could I charm you for a re-do?" Collin teased.
"Oh, gag me with a spoon," Sheela muttered, but she couldn't hold back her giddy smile. I smiled back at them, feeling high amounts of happy and sad.
"I love you both to bits. You know that, right?" I said, getting serious and dangerously fluffy and bathetic for a moment. They nodded in unison. And that was my impromptu goodbye. We had agreed weeks earlier that we wouldn't say the actual words 'good-bye' or any formation of them, because it was too formal. Too set in stone. Too common. And we did things our own way.
I turned and finally pushed through the now more dwindling crowd, waving to a few underclassmen who yelled to me their farewells. A boy from Ravenclaw in my year that I didn't really know but saw in the hallways attacked me with a hug, claiming that his friends had dared him to kiss me or ask me for my number but he didn't want to embarrass himself or me. I laughed at that, and because he was charming in a funny, little-brother kind of way, I gave him my mother's muggle home number and told him that he could owl me whenever he wanted. He seemed overcome with emotion at this point, and just nodded in a jerky fashion, stammered a bit (and while doing so, told me his name, which was "Hen-hen-hen-Henry"), and then rushed away.
I looked over to see that, sure enough, a group of shoving and laughing idiotic Ravenclaws were standing twenty feet away, watching us with amusement. I waved jokingly at them, and they fell apart with laughter, slapping each others backs and guffawing. I rolled my eyes and continued on.
I pushed my heavy cart ahead of me, knocking lightly on the cage to get my diva of a barn owl, Diamond, to shut up. Guess who named him that. Good guess, but that was a trick question. It was combination of the blonde within my mother and the fabulousness that is Dominique Weasley. But two complicated minds like that together, and you have two brain cells to come up with the shiniest and most sparkly of all things. Thank God for my father.
Speaking of which, the crowd parted in that moment, and it was like the end of one of those cheesy RomComs I get from the muggle mall. There stood my mother and father, their hands wrapped around each others and delight written across their faces as they spotted me. Suddenly, Dom was at my side, and we were rushing our carts over, pushing them aside, and grabbing on to the closest parent we could find.
The closest one happened to be my father, only the best dad ever. Yes, I am a proud and devoted daddy's girl, and don't you ever forget it. (And this is where you say "Forget what?" and I slap you). He wrapped me up in a hug that was loving and safe, and I sighed into his shoulder, my feet leaving the ground as he lifted me up, squeezing me tighter and then gently setting me back down.
"Oh, how I've missed you, Vivi," Dad sighed, pulling back to look me over, as he always did. "And you're fine?" I never know why he does this— as if I'll have bruises or blood on me or anything. But I guess when you've been attacked by a werewolf and riffraff as such, it's never not okay to be too safe.
"I'm great, Dad. Glad to be going home," I said honestly, and now that I was within the swirls of welcome's in my extended family, I felt very relieved to be with people I knew so well and was so familiar and comfortable with.
Then came my mother, who pulled me into a soft hug, her hair like a silk curtain of pearl and the long-awaited scent of flowers that came with my mother enveloping me. I guess I had underestimated how much I had missed my mother, no matter how overbearing she could be.
She pulled away to brush back my hair with one hand, still holding me in the circle of her embrace. She spoke softly in her beautiful, light accent making my name sound like a song, "Victoire." Weasley kind of ruins the effect, so we're leaving that part out, okay? Sometimes, when my father wasn't in hearing range, she'd coo to me softly while playing with my hair, "Victoire DeLacour…" in a voice like melted chocolate.
"I've missed you, Mozzer," I said, laughing lightly at my imitation of her accent. Her nose scrunched up in offense, but I knew she was holding back a smile.
"You, my Victoire, I've missed so much." She tucked a piece of stray silvery-blonde hair behind my ear, her fingers lightly touching the four silver-ringed piercings along my ear. She looked surprised for a moment, staring at my ear, and I knew then her brain would turn on and eventually two and two would glance at each other, have a staring-contest, make odd yet amusing facial expressions at each other, comb each others hair, braid each others hair, and do other non-important willy-nilly things until finally, after much foreplay, would two and two be put together and she'd figure out that Sheela and all of our dormmates had decided to pierce each others ears one night, just for the fun of it.
"Well, I'm going to go say hello to everyone else!" I said quickly, retreating from my mother and that damn quizzical look on her face. I held back a laugh with having gotten away with it (for now; it'd probably take a couple of weeks for it to sink in with my mother. She gets distracted easily. Especially by shiny and/or sparkly things).
I turned and, sticking with my Weasley/Potter family reunion hugging-method, grabbed the closest redhead and gave them a quick squeeze before pushing them aside and moving on to the next. Once that was done, I'd seek out the messy heads of black hair and that would be that.
"Oh, Lily," I cooed, dropping to my knees and hugging her small frame tightly. She was probably the cutest nine-year-old I had ever met, with a gap-toothed smile and rosy cheeks that were oh-so-pinch-able. Her hair was much like her mother's; sleek, straight, and the Weasley signature auburn. Her tiny, freckled arms looped around my neck, and she giggled as I tickled her lightly in the stomach. She squirmed away from me, her tongue sticking out between the gaps in her teeth.
"Vicky!" she whined, still giggling. I chuckled and stood up, ruffling her hair before being pulled into many other hugs by many other family members. Uncle Harry, Aunt Ginny. My cousins James and Albus. Aunt Hermione, Uncle Ron, their son Hugo, my little brother Louis. Uncle Percy, his daughters Lucy and Molly, my Uncle George and Aunt Angelina, and more. I won't bore you with a long list of names— just clarify you with the essentials.
Finally, we got our carts and flew in a mass through platform 9 ? and back to King's Cross Station. It took us quite awhile (almost an hour) to load all of our stuff into all of the vehicles provided, which mainly consisted of Grandpa Arthur's (mostly) perfected flying cars, patent pending. He had the time in his retirement years to develop new blueprints and ideas for a new model, and after many an attempt, mastered making one that could work… sufficiently. Mostly sufficiently. Really, it only was horrible if you're being nit-picky.
Anyways, he had provided each of his children's families with one a couple of years ago, which meant that my father, Bill Weasley, owned a brand-spanking-new magic flying car that worked semi-sufficiently. A magnificent and highly generous deal, if you ask me. Ours was sleek and blue, a German car that I didn't know the name or make of, but the rims spun even when the car stopped which I thought was pretty cool.
Dom was going on and on about school to Mom as I loaded Diamond into the boot of the car, and I wasn't really paying attention until she asked, "Where's Teddy?"
I tried to act casual even as my hands broke into a sweat and the cage slipped a little and clanged against the car. I blew a piece of platinum blonde hair out of my eyes, using extra care to nestle the cage against a blanket as Diamond let out a squawk of disapproval.
"He was with us back at the station… maybe he's saying hello to the Potter boys. You know how close they are," my dad said, shrugging. I sighed and let my shoulders relax. I finally pulled back from the trunk and eavesdropping, slamming the door shut over our luggage.
"There he is!" Dom suddenly called, peering around the other groups of family members and friends around us (we were all parked in the same vicinity as each other. We're like wolves: we travel in packs). "Oi, Teddy!"
I felt a light, fluttery feeling in my stomach but quickly dismissed it. I couldn't still be having a creepy crush on Teddy Lupin— like he'd told me when I kissed him at the beginning of seventh year by the Hogwarts Express, he only saw me as a little sister, nothing more and nothing less.
I turned to see Teddy striding towards us, a bright smile lighting up his handsome face and his arms already open to pull Dom into a friendly hug. As they greeted each other, I inspected him head-to-toe, noting how his hair was now a light aqua and his skin was several shades paler than the last time I saw him. I could remember quite clearly the last time I saw him: it was after a summer and pure bliss spent with my new best friend, Teddy. We had swam and ran and played around that summer, the best summer of my life. I guess I was stupid to think he had feelings for me, but I couldn't help myself. I had let myself drink him in, looking at every part of him in awe, my heart so in love that it ached. That love had made me fearless and oh so utterly stupid, for I had looked in those glorious navy eyes, flicked my eyes down to that enticing, full-lipped smile, wondered what my skin would feel like against the ivory of his, and then threw myself forward to kiss him for all it was worth. Well, apparently I had read all the cards wrong because… yeah, I was way into the depths of the friend zone, apparently. Which sucks big time.
He had yanked me away from him and awkwardly confessed, pity in his changing-from-navy-to-light-blue-eyes, that he was sorry if he lead me on, but he only saw me as a little sister. If I hadn't been so mortified, I might've tried a little harder; like maybe saying, "Incest is best!"
I don't think that would've convinced him, however.
Considering the last time I had seen him he had rejected me and humiliated me, and I had totally thrown myself at him like a desperate slag, I knew this reunion wouldn't be a walk in the park. Should I act like nothing happened? Should I avoid him? What if he wants to talk? Thoughts ran through my mind at warp-speed, making me dizzy and confused. I blinked hard and came back to reality, seeing that Teddy was now turning towards me.
I must've looked a little creepy, like I had been staring at him intensely for a while. Truth was, I was staring into space, not really seeing anything but still managing to potentially creep people out. I try, I try.
"Vic, hey," Teddy said slowly, taking tentative steps towards me. He had made the first move which would set the tone of our future relationship, and now I knew how it would be. Awkward and painful.
I cleared my throat before squeaking out, "Hi!" Now I had a creepy voice to match my creepy stance and creepy wide-eyed stare. I mean, how else do you think all boys love me? By being nice and cute and flirty? Psh, that never works.
We ensued in a second-long half-hug, uncomfortable and lacking in what to say. His eyes changed to that dreaded light blue that said he felt bad for me, and I felt attempted to smack him. But I restrained myself, clenching my hands at my side and forcing a tight smile.
"How are you?" he asked, looking concerned. I wasn't quite sure what my expression looked like, but considering that he seemed worried, it probably wasn't good.
"I'm fine. Yep, just dandy. And you?"
"Ahem. Fine. I'm fine."
*Insert excruciating silence here.*
"Well, I better go—," I started at the same time he blurted, "We should talk."
My jaw dropped a little, and his cheeks turned bright red.
"I mean—," we both began, and then stopped. We laughed uncertainly, and I could feel my tense mood lightening, if only a bit. His smile was enough to make me ease up, but I was still shaking in my metaphorical boots.
"We should talk… later. Yeah, later," he decided, as if talking to himself. I nodded, trying to be calm, cool, and collected. In all honesty, I probably looked stoned.
"We'll have plenty of time for that what with the summer ahead of us," I recalled. Last year, the idea of spending almost a whole summer traveling with Teddy and his friends in celebration of my graduating school and Teddy opening his own book shop in Hogsmeade seemed like heaven. Now, it seemed like it would be agony, having to see Teddy every day and try to endure stiff, forced small talk and know that he would never be mine. Now I was pretty sure I had been demoted from "little sister" to "creepy stalker."
"Come on, Vic," my sister called, thankfully breaking the tension between Teddy and I. I jumped a bit and decided to be nicer to Dom for the rest of the day. But only for today.
That night, the whole family gathered at the Burrow to have a celebratory dinner in honor of my graduation. We pretty much did this for anything and everything. Graduate school, throw a party. Get a promotion, throw a party. Successfully blow your nose, throw a party.
Rose ran her mouth talking to me, ranging from excitement of starting Hogwarts and complaining about Al and James. I added my two cents every time she paused for breath.
I avoided Teddy with every cell in my body. He seemed rather content with this.
Before I knew it, my mother was shooing me off too bed ("You don't want bags under your eyes!"), and too soon, my alarm was ringing and I would be leaving for a summer of traveling with a boy I was helplessly in love with.
A/N: I hope you like it! Leave a review? Yes? Eh, eh, yes? Please? You will be rewarded... with my gratitude. And everyone knows you can't put a price on that.
-Elizabeth