Authors Note: Much as I would love to be JK Rowling, I'm not, and these characters and the world they live in is her creation, not mine.

Every muscle in Victoire's body betrayed the thrill she felt at spending time with Teddy outside of school, and without any relatives. They were actually going to be alone, for the first time since the start of the Summer holidays. She was practically skipping as they walked away from the chaos of The Burrow, waving at Al and Hugo, who were climbing one of the apple trees in the orchard.

It was only when she reached the path into the village that she paused.

"Where are we going?" She asked, turning to Teddy, who was also bursting with excitement. His eyes, never the same colour twice, seemed to be acting like a disco ball: alternately flashing different shades.

"You know how I showed you that picture of the guy with all those earrings?" He asked her. Victoire did know. He had shown her the muggle photograph in one of his music magazines about a week ago. Lily, who had been sitting between them, had looked at the man in shock. Vic nodded, and so Teddy continued. "Well I thought I'd get my ear pierced. Only thing is, I tried to do tit myself, and got blood everywhere. Apparently it's harder than it looks," he admitted.

Suddenly Vic stopped dead.

"Please tell me you did not bring me out here so I could put a needle through your ear," she groaned. She'd hoped for something fun, maybe a little bit special. She had certainly not expected to spend her morning explaining to Teddy all the infections he could get from a dirty needle.

"Of course not!" Teddy looked shocked that she would come to that conclusion. "We're going to a place where they do it for you". Vic relaxed, and continued walking. But she was still confused.

"Why do you want me with you?" She asked him. To her surprise, the hairs at the nape of Teddy's neck turned from vivid blue to a shade of pale pink. This was, she knew, a sign of his embarrassment- he had spent hours in front of a mirror trying to prevent the whole of his hair turning pink in similar situations, and she had never had the heart to tell him it still sometimes changed at the back.

Teddy thought quickly. There were two reasons he had given himself for why this was a good idea. Firstly, much as he loved his youngest relatives, he hadn't been alone with Vic since they'd finished school, and they were meant to be friends again. Secondly, after his first attempt at body modification, he was not feeling particularly brave about the whole thing, and his theory was that if Vic was there, she might tease him enough to at least make him act brave. He didn't want Victoire to know either of those reasons. Then there was the fact that lately, Teddy had started to see Vic in a way that no friend would see her. He had begun to notice her eyes; her perfect curtain of silvery hair; the perfect symmetry of her lips...

He certainly couldn't tell her that one of the main reasons he had brought her out was to sneak glances at her while she wasn't looking.

"Well, I figured you were starting to get bored of hide and seek with Hugo and Al?" He said, hoping that was enough to please her. He should have known better.

"Why this though?" Vic pushed further.

"Well I thought you could get yours done too?" He looked hopefully at her face. He wasn't going to admit any of his other real reasons, but if nothing else, he hoped his joking would distract her from questioning his motives.

"Not a chance, doofus. But i'll come." Teddy grinned at her.

"We'll see," he teased. Actually, now he thought about it, Vic would look even more stunning with a couple of piercings. Maybe a few in each ear.

He had had to put the thought to one side in order to get them to the right place. He had been on the train to London before, but the muggle technology never ceased to confuse him. For the first time, he really wished he'd taken his apparition test a couple of months before, when he'd had the chance.

Eventually, they got on the right train and sat down facing each other. Teddy had to concentrate to avoid staring at Vic too much, so he talked as much as he could, far more than was normal for him with anyone else. Vic enjoyed it though, it was so long since the two of them had been able to talk together for this long without someone quoting that ridiculous article at them.

At first they all found Rita's article very funny. Embarrassing, but their families had been teasing them about the same things at every opportunity, so it really didn't seem to matter. When they returned to school, however, their classmates had made any attempt at a relationship painful, and they agreed that they would return to just being friends. Things between them had been very uncomfortable for a long time, but over the last few months it had got a lot easier. Now it felt like they were back to how they used to be.

"So where else do you want to go?" Teddy asked as they got closer to the station. "Any muggle shops?" If she was honest, Victoire didn't really know anything about muggle shops. She could usually walk in, choose some clothes, pay and leave without a problem, but she didn't really have any shops she liked. Or knew the name of. That didn't matter to Teddy, though. "We'll just wander around the muggle shops for a bit, then go to diagon alley for lunch." He decided.

They left the train at kings cross, and allowed the crowd to sweep them out into the street. Teddy led the way up a couple of streets, before turning a corner and speaking.

"The place we're looking for is on this road". He was beginning to sound uncertain. "Perhaps we should come on the way back?" Someone who didn't know him would have agreed to that, or understood that he was scared and not made him go. But Victoire knew him better than that. She knew that although he was scared, he'd never forgive himself if he didn't go through with this today. So she took hold of his wrist and practically dragged him down the street until they reached the door of the shop.

Inside the shop it was mostly dark, but with patches of neon colours. Teddy paused and looked around. Vic nudged him, but he didn't react. Sighing, she shoved him towards the desk, where a girl with bright red hair and thick black eyeliner stood, looking entertained by the spectacle Teddy was making of himself. Vic dug her elbow into his ribs, which would normally cause him to do the same back. It didnt, but it did at least make him speak.

"Uh, hi. I if I could get my ear pierced?" Teddy muttered.

"Sure. No problem." The girl turned towards a back room and called, "Rupert! You have a customer!" A moment or two later, a man in his early twenties came out of the back room and grinned at Victoire.

"Hi I'm Rupert. I can guess which one of you is hear for the piercing," he said, grinning at Teddy, who was turning pale. From where she was, Vic could see the pink starting to show at the back of Teddy's head. She crossed her fingers, hoping that Rupert wouldn't notice.

Rupert lead them to the back of the shop, which was better lit, and told Teddy to sit down in a spinning chair. He dragged over a second chair for Victoire, who sat by his side. "So, what's your names?" Rupert asked as he positioned a third chair near Teddy's head. Realising Teddy wasn't going to speak, Victoire responded for them both.

"So I'm going with normal ear lobe piercing, right?" Rupert said, looking at Teddy, who nodded. "Now, I'm going to mark the spot I think the earring should go, then you can check if it's where you like." Rupert took a small pen and made a dot on Teddy's ear. He then passed him a mirror. Teddy glanced in it and nodded, still mute. Victoire had never seen him this nervous.

"Now, I'm going to clean the area, and then we're going to put the earring through with this," Rupert held up an alien looking contraption so they could see it, oblivious to the fact that his customer wasn't paying attention. "It will hurt a bit, but your girlfriend can hold your hand and it'll be fine." Without even thinking, Victoire moved her chair up towards Teddy, and picked up his clammy hand. Teddy squeezed it, hard. Rupert motioned to her to get him to look at her, so she spoke to him.

"I can't believe what a wimp you're being about this," She told him. "After you tried to persuade me to get mine done too." Teddy turned towards her.

"Does that mean you'll do yours?" He asked her, smiling despite his obvious worry. Just looking at Vic's face was enough to distract him, but her teasing helped too. He did his best to totally ignore Rupert, and focused instead on her lips as she replied.

"Can you imagine what Mum would say?" She asked him. Teddy could imagine it well enough. He had heard Fleur Weasley angry all to often, especially at Vic. The mother and daughter were alike in many ways, which only meant their clashes were more dramatic. Their arguments were terrifying to watch, with a lot of shouting and arm waving. If she was really angry, Fleur would descend into rapid French, which no one could understand, but they all knew that it meant that she was very annoyed. Vic took his silence as a sign he understood, and continued. "There was something I thought we could do while we're here, something I've wanted to do for ages, but it'll make mum mad enough without me having holes in my ears as well".

As she spoke, Rupert squeezed the contraption in his hand around Teddy's ear. There was a small click, and Teddy squeezed Victoire's hand so tightly it hurt. Then he relaxed, and Rupert put down the piercer and handed Teddy a mirror.

"There you go kid," He said. "Just leave that where it is for a few weeks, then you can take it out. That'll be fifteen pounds." Then he turned to Victoire. "Sure you don't want yours doing to match?" He asked. Vic thought about it for a moment, but declined.

"Maybe some other time," she said. "Like when my mother's dead."

Rupert chuckled.

"No problem," he told them, and they left the shop.