A/N I've never written anything quite like this story before, but it was definitely fun. This is for the Ship Challenge by TrisanaChandler13 with Teddy/Victoire, and the Crayola Challenge by Aim. Reach. Increase with the prompt "Pink Sherbet". Remember, I don't own anything you recognize, and I hope you enjoy the story! :)
A laugh rising in her throat.
"Pink sherbet, two scoops, please. Oh, yes, on a cone, thank you." Teddy smiled at the woman behind the counter of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor as she handed him the dessert. He dumped a few sickles into her waiting hand and turned to face the window. Victoire was grinning at him from across the street.
A crack in the pavement, hidden like a coiled snake.
She began maneuvering her way through the crowd of people. Diagon Alley was always packed in the middle of summer, but it was even more than usual, since Hogwarts letters had only been sent out a week ago. Vic had never been the most graceful of her family, and Teddy liked to joke that Fleur's Veela heritage must have skipped her completely. So it came as no surprise to either of them as she stumbled on her way over to him.
The smooth, cool feel of ice cream on her tongue.
As she reached him, Vic snatched the cone from his hand and took a huge bite. Teddy winced.
"How can you do that?" he asked. She smiled and swept her long, strawberry-blond hair out of her face.
"I have a high tolerance for pain," she told him, and handed back the cone.
His unspoken thought, carelessly brushed away.
"Where to next?" Teddy asked.
Vic slipped her arm through his. "Let's just walk."
The smallest bubble of panic in his stomach.
As they walked, Teddy fought the crowd's current, pushing him, pulling him.
They wanted to take her away from him.
Subconsciously, he tightened his hold on his girlfriend's arm. She glanced at him for half a second.
The faintest glimmer of a question.
She shook her head slightly and smiled at him. He returned the gesture, and they kept walking.
A misstep in the middle of the road.
Vic stumbled again, and Teddy reached to save her from falling.
Her arm, sliding away, falling out of sight.
In an instant, she was on her feet again, laughing. He could hear the sound, but he couldn't make her out, wasn't quite sure where she'd gotten to.
A faint gasp as she's buffeted from side to side, people everywhere.
Vic gave a small "oomph" as a rotund man slammed into her shoulder, knocking her into the wall of a shop. She grimaced as she rubbed her elbow, stinging from the impact, and looked around for Teddy.
A dry mouth, quicker breaths.
Where was she? How had Vic just disappeared? She had to be here somewhere.
They took her, they took her, they took her.
She couldn't see Teddy, but undoubtedly he was nearby. Vic took a deep breath and plunged into the crowd again, unnoticed.
A shove, to the right.
She grunted as someone made contact with her hip, making her spin slightly.
A catch on the arm, to the left.
Just as soon as she steadied herself, another person pushed into her arm, and she almost fell once more.
The ice cream cone, cracking under the stress.
Teddy was gripping the cone so hard, he wondered why it hadn't shattered.
A final shove, a shriek.
He heard her before he saw her, that long hair falling through the mass of wizards, her arms thrown out to catch herself, her little cry of surprise.
A foot, pressed into her stomach, the pressure almost too much to bear before it is lifted.
People were stepping on her. The street was too full, no one was going to see her. Her breaths were coming quicker and quicker. Victoire tried to sit up, but every time she managed it, someone forced her back down.
Move, please, get out of the way.
Teddy forced himself to calm down as he shoved his way toward Victoire, through the crowd. He crouched down beside her, forcing passers-by to go around them.
Her hand clasped in his, pulled up from the ground.
Gasping, she managed to stand. He quickly put an arm around her shoulders as she spluttered and coughed.
"Ice cream?" he asked, holding the cone out to her.
One last shove for the day, a knock to the spine.
Teddy jerked forward and dropped the cone. He towed his girlfriend out from the middle of the street and into a little pocket of emptiness near a shop. She shuddered slightly, remembering banging into the very wall against which they were standing.
I took her back.
Pulling Victoire into a hug, Teddy stared at the relentless, shifting mass that was the rush hour crowd of Diagon Alley.
They let her go.
His eyes lingered on the street, on a flash of pink.
A smashed waffle cone, soaked in melting ice cream.
Regaining her composure, Vic pulled away slightly from her boyfriend. She noticed his gaze, and followed it to the wreckage of their shared dessert.
Two minds focused on the pink sherbet ice cream cone, splattered across the ground, sizzling on the burning gravel beneath their feet.