I wrote this for the fandoms4ME fundraiser, which I think ended up raising $571.50 for ME research charities, surpassing their goal of $500.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any associated characters. They belong to JK Rowling and Warner Bros.

Stray Thought

It was nearing one o'clock in the morning, meaning that, on a normal night, the Gryffindor common room would be empty, and sneaking across and out the Fat Lady's portrait would be a breeze. However, this week was O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. week, and, most nights, the common room hadn't emptied of studious fifth and seventh years until nearly two in the morning. With Prefects and the Head Boy staying up until the early hours of the morning, it had been difficult for Victoire Weasley to sneak out at night. Of course, she had been revising hard for her own O.W.L.s as well, but her life didn't revolve around her schoolwork. No, like many sixteen year old girls, boys were often at the forefront of Victoire's mind, and sneaking out to meet them at the top of the Astronomy tower added the thrill that the possibility of getting caught created.

She was stood at the bottom of the staircase to the girl's dormitories now, staying in the shadows just in case someone was still awake. She didn't think there was though; the only noise was the crackling of the dying fire, which sounded alien without the accompanying scratching of quills and incantations murmured under the breaths of students trying to memorise them that Victoire had grown used to. The candles had long since burnt out and the room was illuminated only by the feeble light of the fire and a strip of moonlight that had managed to permeate the clouds for the moment.

Victoire stepped out of the shadows slowly and silently, just in case she had been wrong and there was someone still awake, or had fallen asleep in their chair. She tip-toed across the common room, making as little noise as possible and longing for Uncle Harry's Invisibility Cloak; it would make sneaking around the castle so much easier. She needn't have the Cloak though, Victoire would be grateful to have the Map that she knew Teddy kept locked in his trunk in his dormitory, but it was too risky sneaking into the seventh year boy's dorm. Victoire would have to do without, and it wasn't like these items were necessary – she had been walking around the castle after dark for five years without them.

She was almost at the portrait hole when, in the near darkness, Victoire stepped on something squishy that she hadn't spotted. There was a loud screech followed by the sound of a cat moving to a safer spot. Victoire cursed herself as she recognised the bright yellow eyes of Maurice, Dominique's cat. The cat hissed at Victoire, who hissed back, until a light appeared behind her.

Spinning round, Victoire was blinded by the dazzling light coming from the wand tip. Her heart sank at being caught trying to sneak out, something that she had managed to avoid before now, but still she hoped that it would be some student she had woken up, and not…

"Vicky? What are you doing?" came a familiar voice from one of the high backed chairs that faced towards the portrait hole and away from the staircases to the dormitories. Victoire had to blink a few times before her eyes adjusted to the sudden light and she saw Teddy Lupin looking blearily up at her. His hair was his favourite shade of turquoise and was short enough so that his fringe didn't block his vision. The rest of him seemed to be un-metamorphmagised; brown eyes stood out on his thin face with sharp cheekbones.

Damn, Victoire thought, her stomach plummeting, though at the same time, her heart seemed to skip a beat. She should have known to check those chairs; whenever Teddy stayed up late studying he sat there – probably because it was hard to tell if anyone was sat in them from behind. Teddy took his Head Boy duties seriously.

Victoire scowled. "You know I hate people calling me Vicky."

"That's why I use it," laughed Teddy. "What are you doing up? Don't make me give you a detention."

"I'm not doing anything," Victoire said as innocently as she could, batting her eyelashes and smiling sweetly.

"You can't use your Veela charm on me, Vic." Teddy glanced away, breaking eye contact with her and focusing instead on the textbook on the table in front of him.

"It's worth a try. How come you're still down here?" Victoire walked towards the table Teddy was sat at and joining him, sitting down on a chair beside him. She could feel Maurice's eyes on her as she turned her back and knew that the cat, that wasn't particularly fond of her anyway, was probably plotting some form of kitty-revenge.

"Fell asleep while I was studying, then that cat woke me up. What did you do to it?"

"I might have stood on it – by accident!" added Victoire at Teddy's horrified look. "I don't hate Maurice that much."

"Ah, I didn't know it was him. Shame, I swear he hates me and I've never done anything to him."

"It's a demon cat."

"Don't let Dominique hear you calling him that."

"I won't. I can defend myself against her anyway."

"That's probably true." Victoire watched as Teddy's eyes scanned the textbook and turned the page over. Before Victoire had a chance to read the title on the next page, Teddy had slammed the book shut, making her jump slightly.

"Sorry." Teddy grinned sheepishly. "I've got fed up of revising."

"That wasn't being fed up of revising; it was more like the book had personally offended you." Victoire was slightly shocked that Teddy could get that angry at a book, normally he treated them like one would treat their first born son. Grimacing slightly, Teddy opened the book again at the page he had been on, allowing Victoire the chance to see the chapter title.

Werewolves. Now Victoire understood why his mood had switched so suddenly. She quickly scanned the first page; it wasn't just how to recognise them like she had had to learn, but methods on how to subdue them and discussion on whether they deserve the same rights as humans, with only the tiniest paragraph at the bottom on the Wolfsbane potion.

Even after the pro-werewolf laws that the Ministry had passed since Voldemort's downfall, they were still a contentious topic and sometimes Victoire got roped into discussions on the politics – after all, almost her entire family were in support of the werewolves. She had become interested in it herself after finding out that her father had been attacked by a werewolf, and Teddy's father had been one.

Victoire knew that Teddy was occasionally discriminated against because of his father. Sometime when the campaigns for werewolf rights were in full swing after the second war, it had become publicly known that Teddy was half-werewolf and, while it helped in the argument for the pro-werewolf laws (as it was obvious that he didn't exhibit any werewolf qualities), people's opinions were difficult to change and, as a result, he often got given a wide berth in the street.

Knowing that the topic upset Teddy – though he'd never admit it - Victoire thought it best to steer the conversation away from it:

"When's your last exam?"

Teddy glanced at his watch. "Technically, tomorrow. I've got Defence Against the Dark Arts theory this afternoon and the practical tomorrow." It was hard to tell in the dim common room, but Victoire thought that Teddy's face had gone pale.

"That's OK, isn't it? You're good at Defence, and isn't Uncle Harry going to be at the practical session this year?"

Ever since he had become head of the Auror department, Uncle Harry had taken to presiding over the N.E.W.T. Defence Against the Dark Arts practical exam if he wasn't too busy. He normally did it under the excuse that he was assessing students who had expressed an interest in joining the Auror force, but Victoire knew that he would have found time to do it this year whether any seventh years wanted to be an Auror or not.

"That's why I'm worried about it; he'll be expecting me to get full marks or something and I don't think I'm that good."

Teddy spoke casually about his worry, but he was avoiding looking at Victoire now and she could tell that it was bothering him more than he let on.

"You'll be fine. And if you don't think it's going well you can always do a Patronus Charm."

"The examiners will probably be wondering where I learnt how to do one instead of being impressed by it."

"It's not even taught here, how could they not be impressed by it?"

Teddy smiled, but said nothing.

Victoire leaned her head against the back of the chair. Her eyelids were beginning to droop and she let them. The stresses of the last week were catching up with her, and she felt like she could quite happily fall asleep in the chair. It was comfortable sitting beside the still glowing fire, with Teddy beside her. Through her eyelashes, Victoire watched as Teddy looked down at his book again, playing with his quill in one hand. Her stomach squirmed as she watched and she wondered how it would feel to have Teddy's arms around her…

That last thought jerked Victoire's mind, which had become slightly fuzzy, back into gear. She didn't think of Teddy like that, they were friends, they had always been friends – well, apart from when they were children and they'd fight and think the other had cooties. Being the oldest of the Weasley-Potter children (Teddy was considered by everyone to be an honorary Potter) they had stuck together a lot, especially as for a long time he had been the only person of a similar age apart from her siblings that she knew. She had never thought of him like that.

"Weren't you going somewhere?" Teddy's voice interrupted Victoire's thoughts.

"Hmm?"

"You were sneaking out before. Where were you going?"

"Oh, just, erm," Victoire was suddenly embarrassed to admit to him where she had been going. She stole a glance at Teddy's watch and was surprised to see that she was supposed to have been at the Astronomy Tower half an hour ago. Joel probably would have given up and left by now.

"Meeting another boyfriend?" Teddy teased. "You'll have to hurry up if you want to still catch him."

"He'll have gone by now. It doesn't matter, I didn't like him that much anyway."

"What are you going to do when you've broken the hearts of all the boys in your year?"

Victoire snorted. "All of the boys in my year are idiots. They move onto the next girl before they've stopped to wipe the lipstick off their face. And I suppose I'd have to start on the year above."

"Thank Merlin I'm leaving then."

"You're two years above, you'd be safe anyway." Victoire stuck her tongue out at Teddy.

"Better safe than sorry," grinned Teddy and he looked back down at his textbook, as if he was feebly attempting to carry on studying.

There was silence for a moment, while Victoire watched as Teddy's eyes darted across the page in front of him.

"It'll be weird without you here," Victoire said, finally. "You've always been here."

"You'll get used to it." Teddy didn't look up from the book. "I haven't always been here, only for seven years."

"You've always been here when I was here, then. There's no need to be so specific."

Teddy's lips tugged upwards in a half smile, but his eyes stayed on the book. Victoire watched him as he read, she could see the reflection of the glowing fire in his eyes and his hair was gradually turning a darker shade of blue, until it was brown. Teddy yawned.

"I give up." Teddy closed his book. "If I don't know it now then I never will."

"I could test you on it," offered Victoire.

"No, it's ok. I'm going to bed." He looked at Victoire as he packed up his textbooks and stood up, attempting a stern look and failing miserably; Victoire couldn't take Teddy seriously whenever he acted like a Head Boy. She laughed.

"What?" Teddy asked.

"Nothing. You know I can't take you seriously when you do that look."

"Ah well, I've only got another month of failing at being Head Boy," said Teddy as Victoire stood up and they made their way together to the staircases that led up to the dormitories.

"You're not that bad, really."

"Thanks."

"No problem. Goodnight," Victoire said, stepping onto the staircase.

"'Night."

Read & review