Challenge: The Pairing One Hour Challenge, level e1H

Prompt: Teddy Lupin/Victorie Weasley, melancholy

Words: 782

It was a wet and rainy day. The sky overhead loomed with dark clouds that were occasionally split with cracks of thunder and flashes of lightning. The weather fit Teddy Lupin's mood perfectly. It was May 2nd, and his parents had been dead for 18 years.

He tried not to brood on the fact that he had no memories of his parents. He had a loving family and a wonderful girlfriend, but sometimes, he couldn't escape the thoughts and dreams that haunted him. Today wasn't as bad as previous years.

Teddy pressed his forehead against the cool glass of his dormitory window. He sighed. There was nothing he could do about this feeling, nothing at all. His reflection stared back at him, his eyes a clouded grey and his hair a nondescript, mousy brown. Just as his mother's had been when she was upset. He knew from the stories Harry told about Remus and Nymphadora Lupin. He knew that he had inherited his father's sullen, brooding moods, and his mother's quick wit. He knew that they were wonderful people. He knew that if they had lived, he would have loved them more than life itself!

A cool voice sliced through his thoughts: "Not sitting alone and brooding again, are we?"

Teddy turned to see Victorie Weasley, his girlfriend of 7 months, leaning against the doorframe.

"'lo, Vic," he said, his voice flat.

"Oh, don't be so melancholy," the blonde girl said. "You've been up here all day, Mr. Grumpy, and quite frankly, I miss your company."

"Do you now?" He stood from his place at the window and walked over to his bed.

Victorie remained adamant. "Yes, I do. Or I thought I did, anyway." She joined him on his bed. "Ted, what's the matter?" She took his hand.

He didn't pull away, but also didn't answer her immediately. "It's my parents..."

Victorie sighed. "Oh, love."

"I know, Victorie, there's nothing that I can do about it. But I'm still allowed to miss them, aren't I? Allowed to wonder what my life would have been like if one or both of them had survived?" Teddy pulled his hand away from her.

Victorie heard the hard edge in his voice. "Merlin's beard, Teddy, yes! You're allowed to miss them, and you're allowed to wonder, but, by God, Teddy, you can't take it out on other people this way!"

"Oh, and who says?" Teddy shot back.

"Me! Dammit, Teddy, you can't keep doing this to me! You've been pushing me away for weeks now, in this 'melancholy' mood of yours, and I'm getting to where I can't take it anymore!" She bit her lip, trying to hold in the tears.

Teddy stood and walked back to the window, letting out a heavy sigh. "I guess," he said after a few mintues, "I guess I just wish I had my dad to talk to. About guy stuff, you know? About you."

"About me? What about me?"

Teddy laughed a little. "It's nothing back, Vic, nothing bad at all. Actually, you'd probably think it was a good thing."

"Charming me isn't going to explain why you've been acting so strangely, Teddy Remus Lupin." Victorie said, crossing her arms.

He sighed and walked back over to her, feeling his mood began to slide away. There was just something about this girl that made him happier. She made him smile, even if she was glaring daggers at him. Pulling her to him, he kissed her gently. "Victorie, I need to tell you something."

She stiffened.

"No, no! It's not bad," Teddy told her, not wavering under her stare. He took both of her hands. "Victorie, we've been dating for about seven months, right?"

She nodded.

"And we've been through a lot together, yes?"

Again, she nodded.

Teddy took a deep breath. "It's taken me a while to figure out my feelings for you, and, well, I guess I'm just going to say it... Victorie Weasley, I love you."

Color flooeded her face. Teddy watched as her eyes grew wide and she bit her lip.

"I.. I.. I'm sorry, Teddy, but I really have to go." It came out more as a whisper than anything thing else. She stood and fled from the room, as though being chased by a ghost.

Teddy sat on his bed, dumbfounded, staring at the door his girlfriend had just left through. He had poured out his heart to her and all she said was that she was sorry?

An hour later found Teddy in the same place he had been before Victorie had come looking for him, his forehead pressed against the cool window as the storm outside raged, more melancholy than ever.

A/N: Personally, not my best work, but I got it in within the time restraints. Haha. Let me know what you think!