It is March 2004. Teddy Lupin is five years old; Victoire Weasley is three. They are coloring furiously in Harry's house. Teddy is there because Andromeda is visiting a 'friend' (her sister Bellatrix's grave, and she doesn't want Teddy to come along for obvious reasons) and Victoire is being babysat because her mother and father are at the hospital, awaiting the results of Fleur's pregnancy test. Teddy casts a furtive look at Victoire's drawing- he wants to see if his is better than hers- and then scoots his farther down the table so she doesn't see it. It's private, after all. She catches him looking and pouts. "Hey!"
He looks at her worriedly. "I'm sorry, Vickie! Don't be mad! You're not nice when you're mad!"
She glares at him, putting her hands on her hips. "You saw my drawing. That's cheating."
"Is not."
"Is too."
"Is not."
Ginny comes over. "What's going on, you two?"
They start talking at the same time, each trying to be louder than the other. Ginny sighs and kneels down. She winces, feeling baby James kick. She'll have a baby in eight months, she realizes; she had better practice dealing with children.
"Okay, let me get this straight. Victoire, you're mad because Teddy saw your drawing, and Teddy, you're mad because Victoire called you a cheater?"
They both nodded sulkily.
"All right, then. Both of you have to apologize to each other, and then you both can show each other your drawings. And then we'll have lunch. It's mac and cheese," she adds, knowing both kids will cheer up at the sound of that.
She isn't wrong. Teddy and Victoire both say sorry, and then slide their drawings towards each other. Their mouths drop open; they've both drawn a picture of the two of them holding hands.
Teddy frowns. "Vickie, why is my hair blue?" he asks, squinting at her picture.
She nibbles on her lip, looking worried. "I couldn't find a brown crayon." She looks close to tears. "Is it a bad picture?"
He looks positively terrified at the sight of her worried face. "It's okay, Vickie! Don't cry!"
"But I can't change the picture and now it's wrong!"
"I can fix it," says Teddy proudly. He closes his eyes and scrunches his forehead and thinks so hard that his head starts to hurt, and suddenly his hair is blue. Victoire claps her hands together, smiling. She looks impressed. "Wow, Teddy!"
He is very proud of himself. "I learneded how to do it last week. Look, now your picture matches!"
"Yay!" She claps her hands together. Her blonde hair tumbles down her shoulders.
Ginny smiles, looking just as proud as Teddy is. "Great job, you two. Let's take a photo, shall we? I know it won't be as good as your picture, but I think it'll be fun."
The kids agree, and Ginny grabs a camera and snaps a shot of the two of them holding hands in the living room. She prints out a few copies, and that picture remains on her mantel, on Andromeda's, on Bill and Fleur's, and eventually, on the one in the house of Teddy and Victoire.
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He is seven and she is five. Again, they are at Harry and Ginny's house. However, they've been exiled- Ginny, exasperated, has sent them outside, already having to deal with seven other kids. Bill, Fleur, Ron, and Hermione have somehow all managed to simultaneously be unavailable at the same time, and Ginny and Harry are stuck with two-year-old James and Dominique, and one-year-old Albus, Rose, and Louis. Thankfully, Albus, Rose, and Louis, and are asleep, but she still has James and Dom to deal with. Either way, she needs Teddy and Victoire to be out of the house, so she can concentrate. She has suggested that they play hide-and-seek, because it's the first thing that comes to mind.
Teddy and Victoire reluctantly traipse outside. Teddy sighs and puts his hands over his eyes. "Go hide, Vickie." He starts to count, and she disappears.
"Ready or not, here I come!" It only takes him a few minutes to find her. She is crouching behind a tree, but he instantly sees her vivid blonde hair peeking out from behind the tree trunk.
"I found you!" he says. "You're a bad hider."
She frowns. "Am not." She doesn't like anyone insulting her and takes great offense at Teddy's comment, as all children do.
"Are too."
"Am not."
"Are too."
"Am not. Anyway, you're a bad seeker. You didn't even run to come find me."
"I don't like running!"
"Well, I don't like hiding!"
"Do you wanna go swim?" asks Teddy, sensing an argument blooming.
"Ooh, yes!" says Victoire, completely forgetting her irritation with Teddy.
"Okay, let's go!" he chirps, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the creek behind Harry and Ginny's house.
They emerge an hour later, soaking wet and laughing. Ginny sighs and pulls them towards the bathtub. But Teddy and Victoire don't care how dirty they are, because they are happier than ever.
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He's nine, she's seven. She is babbling on about her pretty new dress and how excited she is that Teddy is here to visit. He leans back and listens to her talk. He notices how her face glows when she talks, how her smile seems to sparkle, how her eyes light up and how she sits so lightly and delicately, like the princess she knows she is. He thinks that he could listen to her for hours, because she's just so fun to watch. She never stops talking, does she?
"Teddy? Teddy? Are you listening?" He blinks, tuning back in. "Yeah, Vicka. Sorry."
She tilts her head. "You look sleepy."
"I'm not!"
"You are."
"I'm not."
"Well, d'you want a snack? My maman made cookies." Victoire has learned that the easiest way to avoid an argument is to talk about something completely different, and usually this tactic works with Teddy, although not so much with her parents.
"Cookies?" asks Teddy, who has been sufficiently distracted.
"Cookies!" says Victoire enthusiastically, glad that he is playing along. "Let's go!"
They run towards the kitchen, Victoire still babbling and Teddy still listening intently.
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He is eleven, about to board the Hogwarts Express, and she is only nine and cannot join him. She is trying not to cry, but she'll miss him. Hanging out with her sister and her cousins isn't nearly as fun as hanging out with Teddy, because Teddy is perfect like no one else is. Yesterday, he showed her all the new spells he has already learned from studying The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1. She is very impressed at how smart he is, and she is confident that he will be the bestest first year that Hogwarts has ever seen. That is, until she comes along, of course.
Even at the train station, she is making new friends. She's already talked to five new people, and she is very proud of herself. She can't wait until she comes to Hogwarts herself; then she'll meet lots of new people and she'll get to try out those spells, like Teddy, and then they'll see each other every day and they will be best friends forever.
But thinking about that makes her sad. She will have to wait two whole years before she gets to go to school with Teddy, and what if he finds another best friend? She can't let that happen. She knows she will miss Teddy so, so very much while he's gone, and she won't be able to see him until Christmas, which is much too far away.
She tries to sneak onto the train and hide behind Teddy's suitcase, but he sees her and frowns. "Vic, you can't come now! You have two more years and your parents won't let you."
"But Teddy, I don't want to wait two years!"
"You have to go, Vic. But I'll miss you very much."
"Teddy!" she wails dramatically. Fleur comes into the compartment in search of her eldest daughter, and finds her crying on a bench next to Teddy, who is patting her back, looking unsure of what to do. Fleur sighs and picked Victoire up, smiling goodbye at Teddy. "Victoire, we must go now. Teddy has to leave soon."
"I don't want him to leave!" she cries, distressed.
Teddy looks concerned. "I'll be back, Vic! Don't worry!"
She dries her tears, sitting up slowly. "Okay. But you have to write me a letter every single day. Or else I'll come to Hogwarts and sit on you."
He looks alarmed. "Okay, Vic! No sitting! I'll write!"
She finally smiles, satisfied. "Bye, Teddy!"
"Bye, Vic!"
She walks off the train with her mother. Fleur turns to Bill and smiles. "She misses Teddy a lot."
"They're best friends."
"Hmm. Remember when you told me Ron and Hermione were best friends?"
Bill arches an eyebrow. "Teddy and Vic are different. They're not getting married."
"We shall see," smirks Fleur, and she walks away to take care of Dominique, leaving Bill looking confused and slightly worried. "Wait, Fleur! You don't honestly think-"
'I love Teddy," says Victoire, smiling confidently as only a nine-year-old can.
Bill thinks he is going to go crazy someday.
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He is thirteen and she's eleven. She's finally started Hogwarts, and she is absolutely thrilled. They're both in Gryffindor, and she has stolen one of his scarves, because the one she bought doesn't feel quite as warm and comforting as Teddy's does. Besides, he'll never know.
He is on the Quidditch team. She follows him almost manically, grabbing front seats at every single one of his games, polishing his Beater's bat for him, cheering louder than everyone else in the stands. When someone asks who she's cheering for, she is almost too excited to answer them. "Teddy Lupin," she shouts, beaming with pride for her best friend. He thinks she is a little bit crazy, but he also thinks she's a little bit cute. Then he tells himself that he's the crazy one for thinking that. He's a rational person, just like how Harry said his father was, and crushing on his childhood best friend is absolutely not rational. Is he crazy? He knows if he talked to Aunt Ginny, who's like his surrogate mother, she would tell him that he's in love, and his face would turn red. Which would be weird. Being in love with Victoire. It sounded nice, maybe, but unrealistic. Besides, Victoire was much too perfect for him. Sure, she cheered for him, but that was probably it.
He wondered why he was always searching for her blonde hair in the crowd, once he got up in the air. She was his best friend, sure, but he had other friends in the stands Somehow, though, her face was the one he wanted to see the most.
He wondered if, maybe, he actually did love her.
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He is fifteen, she's thirteen and thinks she's so old now. Other boys have begun to notice her. He doesn't like that. She's always been his best friend, not anyone else's. But he can understand why they stare. When she makes the slightest movement, her long blonde hair cascades down her shoulders. Her eyes, gray, almost silver, flash and sparkle and twinkle. Her thin figure never fails to amaze. But she's so much more than a beautiful girl. She's smart; she knows stuff that won't even come up until O.W.L.s, far beyond the level of the other third years. She's funny and makes friends effortlessly, she's always the center of attention. She's great with advice. She's good with children. She plays the piano. People love her. Boys love her. She knows it.
He isn't too bad himself. He's not as outgoing as she is, but still pretty popular. Brilliantly smart, excels in all his subjects. Best Quidditch Beater since Fred and George. Kind, charming, has a smile that makes everyone instantly feel at ease. Girls think he's cute enough, sure, and bloody nice, but he usually gets passed up in favor of more social guys, the ones who actually walk around looking for girls. Teddy doesn't, partly because he thinks it's a little silly, partly because he knows Victoire would never let him live it down. Besides, no girl could ever be as important to him as Victoire.
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He's seventeen, she is still a young fifteen. But she is old enough to know what she wants, and she wants Teddy. He's legally an adult now, and he can drink and use magic and Apparate and she hates being two years younger, because Teddy would probably rather be with some other seventeen year old than her, even though they are meant to be together and no other girl can appreciate Teddy like she does. But Teddy just won't ask her out, so he obviously doesn't feel the same way about her than she does for him.
She's wrong about that.
He is an adult, but he still doesn't know if he has enough courage and responsibility to do the unthinkable- ask her out. There are so many things standing in his way- she is two years younger, her many relatives would freak out, she's perfect and would never go for anyone like him.
He's wrong about that.
The ironic thing is that it takes the help of all eleven of Victoire's cousins, plus several aunts and uncles, to make the two of them realize that they are in love and they are meant to be together. So finally, on one brilliant day in December, he asks her out, and she accepts with hugs and squeals of happiness and even a few tears, because she has been waiting for this day since forever. He buys her white roses and a box of Honeydukes' best, and she wears his Quidditch jumper nearly all the time because it makes her feel close to him.
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He is nineteen, she has just turned seventeen. He's finished Auror training and has finally gotten his own apartment, and he's decided to officially invite her over for dinner. She accepts gratefully, curious to see what Teddy will prepare for her. When she arrives at his apartment, she is pleasantly surprised. He has set the table with his grandmothers' best china and tablecloth, and there are vanilla scented candles and delicate white roses in crystal vases. He brings out salad, pasta, fresh bread, and butterbeer for both of them, finishing with the most delicious chocolate cake that Victoire has ever tasted. After a bit of prying, though, she discovers that he had help from Molly and Molly II, which pretty much means they did nearly all the work, but Victoire doesn't mind at all because she thinks it's cute and she's glad that he actually took the time to do something like this for her. He says that he did the cake all by himself, though, and she chuckles and tells him that must be the reason that it's so brilliant.
Then they finish eating and curl up together on the couch, half-listening to the wireless but mostly just enjoying each other's presence and feeling glad that they have someone to be with on this cold December day.
And the best part is that they can sit there together in silence and they feel complete, because they have known each other so long that they can practically predict what the other is going to say before they say it, so there is really no need for conversation. It is enough for them, just being with each other, and they don't need anything else in the world.
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He is twenty-one and she is nineteen. He is faced with the biggest moment of his young life so far- he wants to propose to Victoire. He knows she'll say yes; they've talked about marriage before, that isn't the problem. The problem is how to ask. And how to gain the approval of her family. He knows that Bill will be slightly hesitant to let his eldest daughter get married so young, even though Fleur was only twenty when they were wed. And Victoire has known Teddy from birth, so it wouldn't be too bad, right? He knows that he has the support of Victoire's entire family, especially Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny, who are practically his parents and have secretly been hoping for Teddy and Victoire to get together since the first moment they met.
So, with the help of several people, he proposes to her on Christmas Eve that year, and she accepts happily. It is the best moment of both of their lives because now they know that they will spend forever together, they'll grow old together, and they will never leave each other. The cousins swarm them happily, the girls pulling Victoire aside to start planning the wedding, from the color of the napkins to the dress, and the boys trying to help Teddy decide on his bachelor party and everyone is congratulating each other because it is the most brilliant day of the new century.
They are married half a year later, in a beautiful ceremony surrounded by their friends and family and cake and presents and flowers and champagne. It is everything that either of them could have imagined their wedding to be. And afterward, before their honeymoon in France, they visit the graves of Ted, Remus, and Nymphadora, and they both know that somewhere up in heaven, the Tonks-Lupin family is smiling down at them, and this thought makes them even happier.
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He's twenty-three, she's twenty-one. They are living in a beautiful new house near their relatives, that they painted and decorated and designed together- Teddy did most of the building, Victoire decided the décor- and they have a big announcement to make to the rest of the family. They are hoping that Bill doesn't overreact, but they know that everyone will be happy for them. They're certainly happy for themselves; neither of them had imagined that they could be any happier after their engagement, and their wedding, and everything else, but they find that they were wrong.
Because there is about to be a new addition to the Weasley family. Teddy and Victoire are about to be parents; Molly, Arthur, and Andromeda will be great-grandparents. The thought is hard for all of them to wrap their heads around, but they are enjoying it nonetheless- they have already begun to think about names and Victoire is planning out the baby's new room.
What they don't know yet is that there will be three new additions, because Victoire Lupin is pregnant with triplets.
He is Teddy and she is Victoire, and together they complete each other- and their perfect family is about to grow larger.