AN: Read and review!
"Viviiiiiii!"
Turning away from the doll house, eight-year-old Victoire Weasley spotted a pack of boy cousins running towards her, led by Teddy. James, Teddy's ever-faithful sidekick, was just a step behind, and the rest of the littler cousins were struggling to keep up.
Coming to an abrupt stop in front of her, Teddy folded his arms across his chest. "Vivi, we're here to make a deal with you, 'kay?"
Placing her hands on her hips, Victoire scowled at him. "What sort of deal?"
"Yeah!" said Dominique, Rose, Molly, and Lily, jumping up from the table. "What sort of deal?"
"A special deal," said Teddy. As he spoke, Fred crept up to the dollhouse and grabbed one of the dolls.
Victoire, just like her mother, lost her patience easily. "Just tell us what the deal is, Teddy Lupin."
"Well," said Teddy, "if Victoire agrees to marry me when we're grown up, we won't strangle your dolly!" Fred, elated by his thieving success, held up the dolly, wrapped his fingers around her throat, and made his scariest face.
"Dolly!" shouted Lily, who was only two. "Dollyyyy!"
"I won't marry you in a million years," said Victoire, sticking her tongue out at Teddy.
"Then Lily's dolly will get strangled!" shouted James.
"Dolly!" screamed Lily.
Victoire gave in. She was supposed to be babysitting, after all. She should save Lily's dolly. "Oh, fine. I'll marry you."
"Cross your heart?" asked Teddy suspiciously.
"Cross my heart," sighed Victoire.
Teddy grinned. "Cool. Fred, give Lily her doll back. Sorry, Lily. Here's some bubblegum."
Lily, consoled by her dolly and the piece of pink bubblegum, stopped screaming immediately.
"Come on, men!" said Teddy, turning back towards the crowd of little boys. "Let's go hijack Grandpa's flying car!"
The boys turned and ran out of the room.
Years later, at Victoire and Teddy's wedding, James told the story of the dolly-strangulation-preventing-engagement. "So you see," he said, finishing up his story, "it's clear that the two of them were meant to be together from the very beginning."
"Actually, I'm having second thoughts," Victoire called out jokingly.
Teddy grinned at her. "No way. A deal is a deal. Although at this point, Lily probably wouldn't care if I strangled one of her dolls."
"Don't even think about it!" said Lily, laughing.
Teddy wrapped his arm around Victoire. "Besides, you crossed your heart, remember?"
Victoire smiled. "Yes," she said. "I do."
