The Burrow was crowded that year. The extended Weasley clan, for the most part, was gathered in the living room after Christmas dinner. Uncle Ron and Aunt Ginny were arguing over the merits of the new Chudley Canons keeper, while Aunt Hermione and Aunt Audrey once again tried to show Arthur how to use a DVD player so that the kids could watch a muggle Christmas film. It wasn't going well.
Out in the hallway stood Victoire and Teddy, doing their best to avoid the mayhem being caused by James and Fred, who were plotting a prank that might rival those of both their namesakes. The two teenagers, both home from Hogwarts for the holidays, were lounging at the bottom of the staircase, happy to have some time together away from the prying eyes of their Gryffindor and Hufflepuff housemates. While at school, they had both carefully avoided the topic of their changing relationship. But here at home, surrounded by people who were largely unaware of their longstanding flirtations, they could finally confront the issue that had been haunting the pair of them for the past week.
Teddy Lupin slammed his Potions book closed, pushing it aside and rubbing his eyes with his fists. It had been a long night of studying in the library, and he was beginning to feel the exhaustion spread throughout his body. Even though the Christmas holidays were due to begin in just a week, he found himself attempting to cram every bit of information on Healing Potions into his head—the holidays were apparently not a good enough reason for his professors to ease up on the NEWTS preparation.
He leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms above his head, nearly falling over when he heard a voice close to his ear.
"Watch it Lupin." He spun around and came face to face with Victoire Weasley, his closest friend, whom he had also spent months trying not to fall for. She was two years younger and practically family, at least that's what he had tried telling himself. But really, the age wasn't that big, and they definitely were not related.
"Hey Vic. What are you doing here? Come to rescue me from the clutches of my potions essay yet again?"
"I was actually coming for a transfiguration book," she said, waving the heavy tome in front of her. "But if the fair boy in distress needs rescuing, I suppose I could help."
Her laugh, though soft and gentle seemed to echo through the library—or maybe that was just in his own mind. He smiled, shaking his head and gathering his books on the table. "Ahh, knew I could count on you."
Together they walked out of the library, chatting about their studies and of course the upcoming holidays. Victoire, in her fifth year and thus also busy with her OWLs work, was looking forward to the break just as much as Teddy. They walked together for about ten minutes before realizing curfew was fast approaching and both had to make it back to their common rooms. Pausing at the end of the corridor to say goodnight, they suddenly found themselves unable to move.
"What the-" began Victoire, looking around.
"Peeves," responded Teddy in a frustrated tone, pointing to a spot a few feet above their heads, where a bunch of mistletoe hung in mid-air. In the past week Peeves had taken to roaming the corridors with charmed mistletoe that prevented the unsuspecting pair of people from moving until they kissed. It had proved a highly amusing prank, as he usually reserved it for pairs of Slytherins and Gryffindors, who would rather kiss the giant squid than each other. But apparently, entertainment was running low tonight—perhaps the entire school population was already in their common rooms for the night.
Teddy and Victoire looked at each other awkwardly, a faint blush creeping across Victoire's face. Teddy couldn't deny that he had thought about kissing her for awhile now, but certainly not in this way. But there was no way around it. He ran a nervous hand through his light brown hair, chuckling a bit.
"I suppose we should just get this over with, yeah?"
Victoire's eyes went wide, and she blushed deeper, looking down at her hands. "Yeah. Yeah I suppose so."
Was it just his imagination, or did she look disappointed? He shook those thoughts off. He gently put his hand on her elbow, taking a step closer to her, leaning forward ever so slightly. She looked up at him her eyes still wide and he knew she was just as nervous as he. Realizing the longer he prolonged it, the more awkward it was bound to become, he leaned forward all the way, capturing her lips with his. It was a soft, hesitant kiss. But he felt as if he never wanted to move again.
Victoire let out a small sigh, and suddenly the book in her hands went toppling to the ground as her hands came to the front of his robes to pull him closer. He was surprised, but there was no way he was going to fight it. Their lips moved softly against each other, and Teddy felt her smiling. He couldn't help the grin that spread across his face when they finally pulled apart to catch their breath. For a moment, the two of them merely stared at each other, both flushed and breathing heavily.
Victoire opened her mouth to speak, but the voice that they both heard came from the other end of the corridor.
"Mr. Lupin. Ms. Weasley. It's nearly 9 o'clock. You should return to your houses immediately." Damn that Professor Tenley.
They broke apart, jumping away from each other and looking away. Teddy bent down to scoop up the dropped book, handing it back to Victoire, who took it without making eye contact.
"Thanks," she said, brushing a strand of hair beyond her ear.
"Oh. Um, not a problem," came Teddy's response. He wished she would look at him.
"I- I should get going. I'll see you-" and finally she looked back up at him, her face breaking into another smile. "Teddy, your hair. It's turquoise again!"
Teddy silently cursed himself for being so easy to read. He ran a hand through it, giving his shoulders a shrug and sending her another sheepish smile. "Yeah, I suppose it is."
"Mr. Lupin! Ms. Weasley!"
"Oh! Right! I should go. I'll see you later, Teddy. Goodnight!" And with that, she turned and ran down the corridor.
Of course, they hadn't had another moment to talk since that night at Hogwarts. Both were swamped with last minute work before the holidays, thanks to some over-zealous professors. And tonight, with the whole family otherwise occupied, they had found the closest thing to privacy in a week.
Teddy had just given her a beautiful leather bound notebook, knowing that she loved to write in her spare time. Victoire pulled a small package wrapped in red tissue paper from behind her back, handing it to Teddy.
"Happy Christmas," she said with a smile.
He took it and began to unwrap it, a bulky wool sweater falling into his hands. This wasn't any traditional Weasley sweater though. It had huge white reindeer actually prancing around the dark green material. Teddy tried and failed to contain his booming laughter.
"Aw, Vic. You shouldn't have. Really," he said still laughing as he held the sweater up in front of him.
She laughed in return, grabbing it from his hands and holding it up in front of the both of them. "I thought it was very stylish!"
He sent her an amused look, with one eyebrow nearly reaching off his forehead. She laughed again.
"Okay, maybe not. Aunt Hermione told me about these ugly holiday sweaters that muggles love to wear and I had to see them for myself. It was Uncle George's idea to charm it so the reindeer would move. You don't have to wear it, though. Really, I wont be offended!"
"Well, in that case…" Teddy trailed off with a laugh as he took it back from her and pulled it over his head. "I'll be wearing it for the rest of the night. I think I can pull it off quite nicely."
"You always look good no matter what you wear, Teddy." She hadn't meant to say that out loud, but there was no taking it back now. Her cheeks were suddenly burning, but she couldn't look away from his eyes as he stared down at her with a serious expression.
"Victoire, I-" he paused, visibly swallowing, but not breaking his gaze. "I just… what happened last week… you know that I… well, I just wanted to say that I don't regret that. Actually, I'm kind of grateful that Peeves decided to be a bit of an ass that night."
Her eyes widened, but it was impossible to read her expression. He had probably just royally mucked it all up again. She probably only wanted to forget about it. But there was no way that he could ever do that. He was willing to push it all aside, though, if that's what she wanted.
He finally looked away, back towards the door to the living room, where he could hear the sounds of the youngest Weasley cousins squealing in laughter.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything. We can just pretend-" but he stopped when he suddenly felt her grab his hands.
"Do you mean it? Because if you're just pranking me Teddy Lupin, I'm taking my gift back right this instant. I get enough pranks from James and Fred and Louis."
He looked back at her. "I'm not. I swear I'm not."
If possible, her face flushed even more. But with one last look at him, she dropped his hands, grabbed the front of his new sweater and pulled him towards her, kissing him hard. Teddy laughed into her, but kissed her back. They pulled apart when they heard Lily's voice outside the hallway asking where the two of them had gone. Smiling at each other, they stood up and walked back towards the living room.
"Happy Christmas, Teddy."
"Happy Christmas, Victoire. Best Christmas ever, if you ask me," he said before kissing her softly on the cheek. She blushed and smiled back at him, before walking through the doorway, where the two of them were immediately covered with buckets of falling paper snowflakes, which the youngest cousins had left propped above the door.