Teds head was spinning. He'd heard adults talk about it before - even heard Archibald Twigg reference it after sneaking to the Hogshead last Christmas - but he had only ever believed that it was a metaphor. Something adults said when they were being overly dramatic. But his head was actually fully, three-hundred and sixty degrees, spinning. In all directions.

James and Albus were being loud, excitedly recounting the details of their meeting with Viktor Krum the day before for the eightieth time. He opened his mouth to snap at them, but he decided that raising his head and opening his mouth was quickly a bad idea so instead he put his cheek back onto the kitchen table and groaned.

The family were recovering from the first crazy night celebrating the Quidditch World Cup. Ted and Victoire had snuck back to the tents at ten to six and - he counted- he had achieved a measly hour and a halfs sleep. The celebration had been wild, no one had cared about an underage wizard and witch in the crowd and Victoire had batted those beautiful eyes at the bar staff and the drinks had kept flowing. It wasn't that he hadn't drank before, Harry had shared a beer with him last summer, but that had been half a pint on a summers afternoon not the seemingly endless glasses of champagne and firewhisky and the….

Oh god, the firewhisky. What had started as a fun experiment and a "how bad can it be?" had tipped them both over the edge. He had barely managed to carry Victoire back to her parents tent before stumbling back to the Potter's minutes before Ginny had woken up. He had been so relieved that he'd gotten away with it that he hadn't stopped to consider what would happen after a heavy nights drinking. Ted had assumed he'd wake up with the family at eight and no one would be any wiser.

Ted had been wrong.

Harry's footsteps sounded unnecessarily heavy on the stone floor and a heavy hand slapped his back. He felt his stomach do a flip.

"Teddy, where'd you get to last night? We couldn't find you anywhere."

He contemplated a response, but all Ted could manage was a vague arm gesture in his godfathers direction.

Harry laughed. "Hope it was worth it. How's Victoire feeling this morning?"

Ted groaned again. Harry and Ginny were sort of cool, they seemed to allow him some freedom to screw up every now and again and although he never assumed he was off the hook Ted knew they'd never go as far to punish him for drinking. But Bill and Fleur took a completely different approach to parenting and Victoire was most likely getting an earful about her current state. And she had been much, much drunker than Teddy…

Despite himself, he couldn't help but smile at the memory. He had been pleasantly surprised to find out that although he was no seasoned drinker he was not a lightweight. Three beers in and he was feeling a little wobbly - three beers in and Victoire was full on sloshed. And she was an adorable drunk. Whereas before they had stolen shy kisses in locked rooms and cuddles when alone in the orchard, last night they had been confident and uncaring in their affections.

Teddy had kinda liked it. He had never been bold when it came to girls and Victoire had been no exception. Months dancing around each other, Ted obsessing over her and feeling confused, guilty, a little wrong (were they technically family if they weren't actually related?) had resolved itself two weeks before the end of term thanks to Victoire having a near mental breakdown in the library the night before her OWL charms exam. She'd made the first move (of course she had) and Ted was happy to follow her lead. But last night he'd found his courage and had used it to his advantage, pulling her against him, kissing her unashamedly and uninhibited, pressed against the the cold wall of the quidditch stadium...

There was a tapping at the tent window. He didn't have to look up to know it was an owl with the morning copy of the daily prophet.

Harry sat opposite him (loudly scraping his chair as he did so. Teddy wondered if he was doing it on purpose?). "Since when does Rita Skeeter get a front page spread?" He wondered aloud.

Ginny yelled from the kitchen "Since she whinged to the Prophet editors that she was getting no article time with the world cup." She entered the kitchen, Ted could see her blurry form clutching a cup of coffee. He squeezed his eyes shut as his stomach gave another lurch.

She approached and bent over Harry's shoulder. When Ted opened his eyes they were both leaning over the prophet, mouths wide open. "i'll never understand," Harry shook his head, "how people find our family so bloody interesting. All I did was took the boys to the bulgarian camp, how is that newsworthy?...and what's wrong with my glasses?"

Ginny wasn't listening, fury filled her face. "that...that….bitch! people can't honestly believe this rubbish! 'determined to promote as happy'...what trash."

"Don't let it get to you, Ginny" Harry mumbled. "She's just bitter you got given a bigger column size over her. She's just taking cheap shots."

Ginny "hmm'd" and then stopped. "Ted?"

"Mrgh."

"Is there something you'd like to tell us?"

This was it, Ted suspected, the underage drinking lecture he'd been waiting for. He was too tired, too sick to deny it. He just wanted sleep.

Harry beat him to a response. "Oh, Ted. I really didn't expect to hear about your life from Rita Skeeter, of all people."

He was thoroughly confused. Ginny shot her husband a look and slid the paper across the table. Right there, at the bottom, an entire paragraph describing Teddy...behaving in an 'unbefitting way'...lurking in dark corners...with Victoire…

Oh, crap.

Teddy opened his mouth to defend himself but the effort of sitting upright took all the energy out of him. The boys were being too loud, his head throbbed, Harry and Ginny were staring at him with expectation and all he could think was his Gran was going to absolutely murder him. His defense was dampened by a wave of nausea and he quickly retreated to the bathroom.

Over the sound of his own retching and pounding in his ears, he heard Harry yell to him from the kitchen "When you're done in there we're going to have a talk."