She hopped down the steps in slow motion in his eyes. One hand delicately trailing down the rail. Soft white linen of her dress whipping around her pink knees. He was entranced, rooted to the spot holding on to the mangy old boot that magic'd him there. None of the other red heads poking their heads out of the windows or from the garden were in his narrow field of vision. when she landed on the grass sprinting time sped up for him. She smacked into him a fair amount. It must have seemed like more to the onlookers because it made his knees almost buckle.

"Teddy," she squeaked and kissed him on both cheeks. He was painfully aware now; of the onlookers, of the figure attached to him, and of her thin, soft dress, of the skin of her thigh touching the skin below his shirt line, of her chest that moved quickly against his with every breath, of the heat in his cheeks, hearing the way she said his name for the first time in a year. "Oh, Ted, I've-" she planted another kiss on his forehead "-missed you-" and another, "so very much."


"Well, I won't miss you at all."

"Teddy," she whimpered.

"Have fun at butt-batons, loser."

"Theodore Lupin!" Grandma Weasley interceded.

"Sorry, Vic I'll write you." He waved one last good bye and pulled his head inside the train window before it left the station.

"I'm glad I'm not going to Hogwarts, this year."

"Oh, you'll miss it faster than you think." Vic's father said as they began walking back to the exit.

"You will love it at Beaubatons, Pumpkin." Her mother promised as she kissed Vic's forehead.