AN: Hello good people of the fanfiction world! I never really thought I'd do another fic on Teddy/Victoire, but there you go :)
I Don't Own. *sniffs*
He looks at her. She is listening to her aunt talk. She's laughing. Her laugh, light-hearted, like a passing breeze that makes you fall in love with nature again and again. Her laugh is one of those things that made him fall in love with her. Her eyes that always sparkle with mischief; but he knows when he observes her eyes more closely, there is something deeper inside. Deeper than the sea; he wants to drown himself in those eyes. Those electric blue orbs remind him of the colour of the sky just before sunrise. She pushes her hair from her face, as she talks. Her unruly red hair, they shine. She always wears them in a ponytail, and some of them always manage to free itself and cover the side of her face. She keeps tucking the loose strands behind her ear, but it stays there only for minute or so. She wears a charm bracelet he gave her on her eleventh birthday. From then on, every single gift from him has been accompanied by a charm. She does wear every single one of them- it makes him feel special. She has that air of confidence around her, it dazzles him. She believes in herself, and the people around her. She loves them all, and all of them love her. He knows she loves him; but he's unsure whether she loves him the way he does to her.
He has to do something. He's eighteen, just finished his last year of school. Then there's her, sixteen and going back for her sixth year. He can't let her go without letting her know how he feels about her. He wants to hold onto her; his world has started revolving around her, he can't put it off course- if he does, he can never join the million pieces it'll shatter into.
Tonight, he decides, is the night. They're in her parents' house. They have their favourite place past the back garden. A rock, overlooking the sea, shaded by a large maple tree. It was there, where he first realized his feelings for her. It would be there where he would let her know.
'I know the feeling,' Ginny says, and rolls her eyes. She laughs. She had just asked her favourite aunt what to do when you find out you like a guy who might only think of you as a sister.
'Just let him know,' Ginny continues, 'he just has The Harry Syndrome, after all, he's grown up with him.'
Her eyes shoot upwards, she pushes her annoying hair out of her face, 'How do you know it's him?'
'For one, I don't know of any other fanciable boy who might have tried to think of you as a sister. The way you take a quick look at him when you think no one is looking is a dead giveaway,' she finishes with a smirk.
She feels warm around her neck and ears, and manages to smile weakly.
'Tell him. And just so you should know, he's been staring at you I don't know for how long.' Ginny winks and leaves for the kitchen.
Don't look, don't look, she advises herself. She can't help it, she turns towards him. He appears to be startled to find her looking at him, then he smiles. She smiles back.
She doesn't know what is it that he does to her. She has this constant ache in her heart; she feels her insides have vanished when she looks into his eyes. His smile makes her feel that the world is happy, because he is. His hair is his natural brown today. HIs face always looks calm. She knows he isn't. A small muscle beside his mouth is jumping- it does so when he is anxious about something. His midnight blue shirt is longer than it should be, but he always wears them like this. She likes it on him, though she never told him that. Today, he's wearing white cargo pants. He is looking very...attractive.
She doesn't know how he manages to do this, but no one can tell how mischievous he really is under that calm exterior. She wishes to know him, inside and out. She already knows every little thing about him and she is sceptical if there is anything more to learn. Yet she wants to. She wants to hold those fingers that dance on the arms of the sofa he is sitting on. The evening light falls on his hair and mocks her. She wants to feel his hair too. He has the most lovable face and he's striking. She desperately wishes to run her fingers along the edge of his features. She can spend the whole night and the next day talking to him. She can spend her life with him. She loves him.
The way he acts, it makes her want to believe that he loves her back. She decides to tell him- no risk, no gain. She'll just go up to him and tell him straight. If he says yes, she will gain her world- him. She doesn't want to think what is to happen if he declines.
All through dinner, he steals glances at her. He finds that she is looking at him as well. She looks away, embarrassed, or she smiles at him. He gets hopeful. Maybe she likes him too; maybe, just maybe, she wants him too. He suddenly feels happier.
She gets caught staring at him. But he was looking back, that's why he caught me, she thought. Perhaps Aunt Ginny was right. Perhaps he liked her too, only was afraid to tell. I'll tell him, if he doesn't, she sets up her mind. She can't wait any longer, now that he seems to be so close. She just needs to reach out to have him.
After dinner, while everyone's talking in the garden, he goes and taps her on the shoulder.
'Can I have a minute?' he asks.
'Sure,' she says, 'come on up here,' and she takes his hand, climbs up to their rock.
'I need to tell you something.' 'I want to tell you something first.' They say simultaneously.
They both laugh.
'You go first,' he tells her.
'No, you go,' she argues.
'I think you should go first,' he repeats.
'Let's have a toss,' she suggests; he agrees.
She tosses a sickle, he loses.
She smirks, 'Now you have to go first.'
'Okay,' he gulps; he's never felt so nervous in his life. Not when he gave his OWLs or NEWTs, not when the results came, not when he attended the Auror Entrance test. Everything significant to him depends on these few moments.
He clears his throat. Just do it, he tells himself. What is he going to tell her?
'IthinkIloveyou,' he says.
Victoire's eyebrows rise, she looks adorable like that. He wants to touch her cheek with his.
'What?' she asks. He can tell she's nervous. Why? He's suddenly afraid once again. What if she doesn't want to hear this from him? But he's already told her that. What is done cannot be undone.
'I love you, Victoire Dora Weasley,' he says.
'IthinkIloveyou,' Teddy babbles.
She doesn't understand clearly, but she can guess. Her heart races. He loves her?
'What?' she asks.
'I love you, Victoire Dora Weasley.'
Fireworks go off in her head. She can see the stars dancing in the sky. The waves of the sea are singing for them. She suddenly feels tears in her eyes.
'Tory?' he sounds worried.
She hugs him. She holds him like she'll never let go of him. It feels wonderful; she has never held him like that. Her body fits in perfectly into his. She doesn't ever want to leave this place of comfort, of promise, of safety. She looks up and into his eyes, 'I love you too, Teddy Remus Lupin.'
He beams a triumphant one. Now that he has her in his arms, nothing can touch them. He's flying. Her beautiful face is the only thing he can see. Her heart beating against his is the only thing he can feel. He looks down into her eyes; now he can drown himself in them. He slowly tilts his head downwards and stops just a centimetre from her lips.
'You have no idea how long I've waited for this,' he breaths.
He stops a centimetre away from her lips. She can feel his warm breath on her face. Her breath hitches. How can he pause like that? She closes the gap between them.
Nothing has ever felt so perfect. They are here, in this moment together, and this is what that lets them know how much they actually love each other, want each other, need each other. Teddy Lupin is high up in the sky, and Victoire Weasley is dancing with the stars. This, is bliss. Time stops for them, and the stay like that for what seems an eon; yet it is not enough. But now, they have time. They are together, they both know it, and that is what matters. Because now everything else seems insignificant to this discovery; building castles in the air doesn't feel impossible anymore.
Review if you want to, thanks for reading