Just a short little thing. I've been picturing it in my head for days, and I decided that I wanted to write it. It's taken a bit to perfect it, and it'll never be close to how I wanted it, but... here it is.
It's her first flat.
The wooden floors creak and the sink leaks. There are drunken bar patrons outside the window and stray cats howl at each other all night. She wouldn't think of raising her child here. It isn't anything like Shell Cottage. Nothing should be done here except live in sin.
She misses the sounds of the water, tanning in the backyard with her sister. She misses Dad's laugh and Louis and his corny jokes. She misses Dominique's kitchen disasters and Maman's thick accent. She misses Soleil, the family horse.
Her love works from nine in the morning until whenever-he-gets-out. She is in Healer training for a few of these hours, until three, but when she gets home the flat is lonely and empty. She reads and cleans and plays with the cat, thinking and worrying.
He comes home, quietly shutting the door behind him, in case she's asleep. He should know better; doesn't he know she can't sleep without him?
Even though he's worked for hours, he tells her about his day with enthusiasm, his hair the bright-color-of-the-day (her favorite is green). He's so happy, so proud to be doing the same thing as his parents and Harry, so proud to be fighting for the same cause.
He asks her about her day. She tells him about the book she read and the spider she encountered (which the cat ate). He laughs and kisses her strawberry-tinged blonde hair.
"Vic, it feels so good to be home... with you. Our home, Vic!"
His eyes are bright as she thrills at the word home. She has what she's wanted since she first fell in love with him- really, really fell in love with him.
Despite the drunks and the floors and the spiders, this is home.
Teddy Lupin is home.