Developing
Nine-year old Teddy was reading a book while sitting in his favorite chair at the Burrow when he heard Bill Weasley's booming voice announcing his, and his families', arrival.
Teddy then heard the quick patter of little eight-year old Victorie Weasley's feet as she ran to find him.
"Teddy!" She yelled excitedly. "Mummy's goin' to have a baby!"
Teddy's eyebrows shot up. "Oh?"
Her blonde head bobbed up and down, nodding happily.
"Yup! You're going to have another cousin, and I'm going to get a baby sister of brother!" She was smiling brightly.
Teddy sniffed importantly, looking back down at his picture-book and replied with an all-knowing air, "we're not cousins, Vicky. We're family friends."
She waved this away and continued to babble about insignificant things that had happened since they had last seen each other. Teddy made the appropriate sounds, "Ooh!" and "Aah!", when time required him to do so, and entertained the girl with changing his appearance repeatedly.
"The bird one! The bird one!" She requested.
He rolled his eyes, and formed his mouth and nose to look like a bird's beak. She laughed happily and clapped.
"Let's go feed the chickens!" Teddy suggested, and the two ran outside to do just that.
Eleven-year old Teddy was back for the summer from his first year at Hogwarts, and ten-year old Victorie followed him around in awe.
Victorie asked Teddy to tell her all about Hogwarts, he complied when he felt like it, and told her about moving staircases, talking portraits, extravagant feasts and ghosts.
"Ghosts! What are they like?" She asked curiously.
"Transparent." He replied, not wanting to elaborate. The subject was quickly getting boring to him.
"Ooh!" She said with wide eyes.
He showed off his wand and when she asked him to do a spell he told her he wasn't allowed to, but bragged about how good he was with a wand.
Teddy went outside to hide from Victorie. As much as he loved her, as a friend, he was getting annoyed with all her questions about Hogwarts.
But she always found him.
Fifteen-year old Teddy spotted fourteen-year old Victorie's long blonde hair bobbing amongst the throng of Hogwarts students. He shouted out her name, which went unanswered due to the chaos in the halls.
Teddy's friend, Mark, tugged at his sleeve and pointed out the main reason of Victorie's distraction. Teddy's heart sank as he saw Victorie's current boyfriend, Jeffery Crum, make his way through the crowd towards her.
Teddy looked away when the two intertwined, kissing passionately. Mark patted Teddy on the back sympathetically.
"What?" Teddy asked, hair involuntarily turning red to match his blush.
Mark smiled knowingly. "You dig her, man."
Teddy rolled his eyes and laughed. "Don't be stupid. Let's get lunch."
Mark shrugged his shoulders indifferently and followed his friend to the Great Hall wearing that knowing smile the whole way.
"He's not even that great. I don't see what she sees in him." Teddy said offhandedly, reaching for a piece of treacle tart.
Guessing whom Teddy was referring to, Mark played dumb. "Who?"
"That Ravenclaw beater, Crum." Teddy said, in a tone that hinted at dislike.
"Oh. You mean Victorie's boyfriend? The prefect?" Mark asked, knowing this will bother Teddy.
"Yes, the prefect." Teddy said, now full-on sneering at the thought of him.
"Why do you care?" Mark asked, grinning.
"I don't." Teddy shrugged. "I just, I just don't want her to change her name when she gets married."
"Oh?" Mark replied, now confused.
"Yeah, I mean, Victorie Crum? Come on." Teddy reached for another piece of treacle tart.
"Oh, yeah. Doesn't really roll of the tongue, huh?" Mark added, playing along.
"Yeah! It sounds terrible, really."
Mark was on the verge of laughing out loud. "Uh-huh. Yeah, I see what you mean. Something like Victorie Lupin sounds much better, right?"
"Exactly! Wait, what? No- no!" Teddy shook his head violently, pink and turquoise locks of hair flapping.
Teddy's objections could barely be heard amidst Mark's loud quaffs of laughter.
Sixteen-year old Teddy swears to fifteen-year old Victorie that Crum started it.
Crum was currently recovering from a nasty hex sent from Teddy in the Hospital Wing. Victorie stood in front of Teddy, hands on hips, glaring fiercely up at him and accused him of hitting Crum first. Sensing that Victorie's infamous Veela anger was about to make an entrance, Teddy quickly began to try and calm her.
Swatting away his hand that sought to comfort her, she angrily asked why he'd done it.
"Done what?" He asked, confused.
"If you started it, why'd you hit him? If you didn't start it, why'd you hit back? What was your intent? The reasoning behind it all?" She interrogated him, backing him into a corner. Her frustration with him clearly etched onto her face.
He put his hands up defensively. "I don't know. I'm a guy, hormones and stuff I guess."
She raised an eyebrow, dubious. "Hormones and stuff?"
"Err... yeah." Teddy glanced to the side, praying no one was witnessing this scene.
Hand on forehead, she sighed angrily. "What is your problem, Teddy?"
"What d'you mean?"
"If I come to ask you for advice when it comes to Jeff you shake it off, when he and I approach you to talk, you disappear. You treat him terribly and starting to treat me similarly. I'm sick of it, Teddy!" She ranted, her cheeks growing redder and redder as her anger progressed.
Teddy bit his lip, feeling guilty. He watched her stomp away, blonde hair swinging, and hung his head, ashamed. He stared at his shoes until he felt a small, warm hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw that Victorie had returned.
"You're my best friend, Ted. You always have been. But if you continue to be a jerk, I don't think I can..." She trailed off.
Silence hung in the air for a moment before Teddy reached out and took her hand. He squeezed it reassuringly. "I get it. I'll stop being a jerk."
She gave him an airy kiss on the cheek, and walked away towards the Hospital Wing. With every step she took, his stomach sank lower and lower.
It was Teddy's seventeenth birthday when sixteen-year old Victorie kissed him for the first time.
"Whoo! Teddy, the man of the hour!" Mark called out to him, butterbeer in hand, as Teddy and others walked into the Gryffindor common room for a party planned by Mark and other friends of Teddy's. Teddy replied in a similar fashion before delving into the crowd to find some refreshments.
He was talking to Matthew Gildersh, a sixth-year Slytherin, when he saw the portrait door open and a group of giggling Ravenclaw girls walk in, Victorie among them. He saw her glance around the crowd and light up when she caught sight of him. Gildersh was in mid-sentence when Teddy clapped on the shoulder and distractedly say, "yeah, see you later?" and walked in Victorie's direction.
"Hey, you! Happy seventeenth!" She said, face breaking into a bright smile. She hugged him and took his hand. "I have a birthday present for you. Come with me."
She dragged him through the portrait hole and into the corridor. Teddy saw Mark raise his eyebrows suggestively as they walked out; Teddy hit him on the shoulder causing Mark to spill his butterbeer down his shirt.
"So how 'bout that present?" He asked once they got out into the corridor.
She smiled. "You'll be happy to know that Crum and I broke up."
Teddy struggled to keep his smile hidden, his insides jumping up and down excitedly. He tied to keep his tone uninterested. "Really?" He asked, offhandedly.
She rolled her eyes, aware of what he was doing. "Yes, really. But you wouldn't care about that, now would you?"
"'Course I care, Victorie. You're my best friend. You were with him for a long time, big relationship and all that." He said.
"Mm-hmm." He was suddenly conscience of the fact their hands were still interlinked.
"Yeah. You two were a couple. I was really rooting for you two lovebirds."
She raised an eyebrow. "Were you?"
"Yup. I was a Crum and Weasley cheerleader of sorts-" He was cut off. She was kissing him.
Once they parted, he asked, "I'm not your rebound or anything, right?"
She laughed. "If anything, he was, Teddy."
Fin