disclaimer: i don't own harry potter.
notes: my first for this collection, which will be each and every heterosexual pairing for the next generation, including OC's for the boys. it's for the captaining the next-gen armada at the next gen fanatics forum. i am doing my least favorite pairings first and my favorite pairing last. here it is.
summary01: –he wonders if there is some weird wiring in his brain that makes him over analyze everything. / teddy&victoire, trying to fit together.
words: 1,645.
in my orbit
teddy&victoire
/
she and the boy whose hair changes color grow up together. they play hide and seek and make daisy chains. sometimes, they'll end up making friends with some muggles down at a park but forget about them the next day and they stick by each other's side without ever really thinking about it.
when he goes off to hogwarts a year earlier than she can, she comes to the station to see him off.
she cries. he does not.
/
when she goes off to hogwarts a year later with the second-year gryffindor teddy, he holds her hand as they wave goodbye to her parents. teddy introduces her to all of his friends, all gryffindors, and they say that of course she is going to be too, right? she is a weasley, isn't she?
but the topic of conversation switches after one of the boys reveals he's kissed somebody and victoire is left with doubts of who she is the rest of the ride there.
/
she becomes initiated to the group of gryffindors only after the sorting hat pronounced loudly where she belongs. ('another weasley? well, you're the first in over a decade. it's crystal clear where you should go, my dear. GRYFFINDOR!')
and for once in her life, she feels somewhat extraordinary.
/
it is third year for teddy and second for victoire and both of them are awkwardly in between stages of becoming themselves.
victoire has long since given a name to that feeling in her stomach she gets when she sees teddy, but only with help from a friend – it's a crush, victoire – while teddy still thinks of her as the girl he grew up with, not the girl that makes his heart beat in an unfamiliar way.
as of now, no one has given him that feeling.
still, victoire does not know this, and teddy is oblivious to the people around him, so when they end up in the astronomy tower, alone, and suddenly victoire's lips are on his, he isn't quite sure what to make of it; if he likes it or not, if he wants this relationship to become something more.
so, all he does is continue this awkward fumbling because he can't figure out a way to stop it.
/
their relationship, for a while, changes for the better.
victoire weasley is now known as the first girl whose been in a relationship in their class and teddy lupin's reputation as the guy who hasn't been in a relationship disappears.
his friends congratulate him and her friends ask her for all the details and, for now, it's not that bad.
but teddy lupin is still only thirteen years old and has no idea on how to move on with this relationship, or even if he wants it at all.
/
a month in, he tells her that he just wants to remains friends and she runs off, heartbroken and embarrassed, her friends vowing never to speak to teddy lupin ever, ever again unless with her permission.
he tells his friends about the break up and they are all asking why he would do such a thing because it's victoire weasley and what, are you gay? but he doesn't bother trying to answer their questions because he knows it won't change a thing.
/
a few years pass where they do not talk to each other. in fact, the main thing they do is avoid each other. the group of friends have forgotten about teddy and victoire's short-lived relationship but the two themselves most certainly have not.
victoire's now in fifth year, teddy in his sixth, and while she has had her fair share of fleeting romances, he has not. for whatever reason, there is not a girl who he adores enough to want to go out with. he thinks of victoire, these years later, and he over-analyzes the situation from a few years ago and he wonders how they could have ended differently. he tries not to think about it, but always fails.
the closest thing he has felt to something like love would be that kind of family love he has for his grandmother, for his godfather, for his godfather's children who are more like siblings than friends.
teddy lupin often wonders if there is something wrong with him. he wonders if there is some weird wiring in his brain that makes him over analyze everything and if there are other people who do the same, but he never finds an answer.
/
finn thomas asks him one day during the summer between their sixth and seventh year why he isn't in a relationship.
he claims he hasn't met the right one. finn just laughs and says, do you think alex is the right one for me? she's not 'the one', ted, because we're still in hogwarts and how many of those relationships actually last? but she's got some qualities that I'm sure 'the one' will have and, for now, it's exactly what I want.
he thinks that might have been the most brilliant thing he's ever heard finn say.
/
after he hears that, he starts having relationships.
teddy realizes that it's okay to look at girls in a not-serious way. it starts with a two-week relationship with lydia taylor. that ends when she leaves for her ex-boyfriend, but that's okay because he wasn't really attached anyway. then it goes on to alexandria hansen, georgie masterson, regina liddell, the list goes on and on but that's also okay because fact of the matter is – they aren't going to be the one and he was never taking any of them seriously. (he never stopped to think that they might be taking it seriously.)
he tries not to feel the looks that victoire will give him when they pass each other in the hallway but really, it gives him the strongest feeling he's ever felt and he thinks it goes something like guilt.
/
he loses his virginity to isobel parsons in a broom closet, a hufflepuff with a surprising wild side. it's terrible, but he expected it to be from what his friends have told him, and he's just glad that it wasn't her first time.
"not bad, lupin," she says as she starts to put back on her clothes. he's still trying to catch his breath as she walks out, still trying to figure out what really just happened.
/
he can't help looking at victoire.
she's been in a relationship with richard davies for two months now, longer than any of his relationships has lasted. they're hand-holding and kissing and giggling and it makes him sick.
(he swears it's not jealousy, but everybody else thinks otherwise.)
/
victoire weasley does not think about teddy lupin.
it's been years, she'll think as she lies in bed, waiting for sleep to come. it's been years and ricky is everything that teddy is not. he is passionate, he is sure. teddy is unsure – about everything. ricky is what i need – what i want.
and sometimes, she'll convince herself that's the truth.
/
they run into each other on one of those rare occasions when they are both without their packs of friends that they usually keep around because neither of them likes to be alone much.
teddy takes a breath. "victoire," he says.
"teddy," she acknowledges, her blonde hair dangling in front of her face.
"how's richard? you're dating him, right?" he tries to make pleasantries, though he wants this moment to end more than anything.
"yeah, i am, and he's great," she replies with an attempt at a smile. "how 'bout you? seeing anybody?"
he shakes his head no. "i haven't met the right one yet."
/
seventh year ends and he still has no clue what to do with his life while she will still be in school come next fall and will probably still be hand-holding with richard davies. he tries not to feel sick as he applies for a job at a small muggle bookstore.
within a week, he ends up loving it.
/
she comes in and visits him at work one day in august. it's blazing hot and the store's air conditioner is broken but teddy doesn't bother to fix it because, if he's being honest, he likes acting like a muggle for a few hours a day.
he's behind the counter, feet up on the table and a few shirt buttons undone, reading an old copy of a leonard woolf novel he bought from the shop when she walks in. he doesn't notice her and she doesn't make him notice her, instead she goes around the shop looking at the books.
she runs her fingers across the old spines of the books filled with words and stories that she'll never know. a large number of the books are falling apart and covered in dust, rejected by everyone else who now make their home on bookshelves that look like they could fall down any moment, but victoire finds it somehow fitting for the boy she grew up with.
she ends up buying three novels and when teddy looks up as he hands her the receipt, he looks back down almost immediately.
"how are you, teddy?" she asks him without waiting for more of his reaction. he looks back up to see her looking at him with those doe eyes of hers and suddenly he's feeling something a little like –
"alright, i suppose," teddy replies. he puts the books in a bag. "how are you?"
she shrugs. "i've been better." a pause. "i broke up with ricky."
"oh?" he says. "why's that?"
another shrug. "i wasn't feeling it anymore – he wasn't going to be 'the one,' whatever that means."
"have any idea of who could be?"
she smiles at him, her head tilted as she replies, "a faint one, yes."