"WHAT?" Teddy Lupin choked on his pumpkin juice, realizing it had been the wrong time to take a sip a second too late.
"They're moving back from France! Isn't that exciting?" his Grandmother, Andromeda smiled gleefully as she placed a plate of fresh baked cookies in front of him on the kitchen table of their small cottage. Teddy, previously anticipating this moment, now stared at the cookies spitefully. He should have known as soon as he smelled them walking in minutes earlier; she only baked his favorite recipes when there was bad news.
"Exciting isn't exactly the word I was thinking of," Teddy grumbled as he took a furious bite of the delicious cookie. But unfortunately, no amount of chocolate-y goodness could quell the rage in his heart.
"You haven't seen Victorie since you were what, eleven years old?" Harry, his godfather, wondered aloud as he reached for three cookies himself. When he had stopped by randomly, Teddy had thought nothing of it; Harry normally came over to take Teddy on some adventure with his kids. Little had he known the real reason was much more horrifying.
"I was ten and three months, actually," Teddy sniffed pretentiously.
"Pish tosh, how can you know the exact age you were?" Andromeda laughed carelessly as if the return of Victorie Weasley and her family was not a monstrosity in the slightest.
"Because the day that she-devil left was the best day of my life- ow!" Teddy rubbed the back of his head where Andromeda had smacked him with a wooden spoon.
"You will call no female a 'she-devil' under my roof, Theodore!"
"She wasn't that bad, Teddy," Harry insisted while chuckling from his godson still getting a scolding from his grandmother as a sixteen year old.
"Easy for you to say!" Teddy snapped, grabbing another cookie. "You weren't the victim of her constant pranks, insults, and humiliation!"
"Don't be ridiculous, Victorie was darling-"
"She was not!" Teddy exclaimed, hundreds of forgotten memories coming back to him like water escaping from a dam. "Everyone was so fooled by those blue eyes and dimples, but I was the only one who ever witnessed her maliciousness!"
"Maliciousness?" Harry laughed aloud, smacking the table with his hand. "I mean sure she had spunk and all-"
"Don't you dare go on about her 'angel face'," Teddy warned as he rolled his eyes. "She's part veela, of course she looked like a bloody cherub! But that doesn't mean that the black sludge running through her veins wasn't made of pure evil."
"Watch your language, Teddy," his Grandmother warned. "You're being preposterous. What did she ever do to you?"
"Hm, let's see," Teddy thought aloud, tapping a finger on his chin dramatically. "Between pushing me down numerous flights of stairs, out of countless trees, off a multitude of brooms, and out of her way, I'd say Victorie was never the china doll everyone believed she was."
"You were an easy target," Harry shrugged and ignored Teddy's attempt at coherently protesting. "Regardless, she is going to be entering her fifth year, a year behind you, and we are expecting you'll to watch out for her and her sister!"
"I'm pretty sure the kid can take care of herself, she 'took care' of me for the entire duration of my childhood," Teddy admitted, shuddering at the thought of how much Victorie's arm punches hurt.
"Victorie is not a child anymore, she's a young woman. Fleur has told Molly all about what a beautiful young lady she's becoming," Andromeda informed the boys over the sound of running water as the dishes magically washed themselves.
"Beautiful is the game of Quidditch, no homework on weekends, and ditzy Hufflepuff girls, not Victorie Weasley!" Teddy told his two closest relatives, making Harry laugh yet again before trying to cover it up with a cough when he caught the death glare from Andromeda. "Speaking of houses, where is she to be sorted into? And when? She's not a first year."
"She will have a private ceremony before the first years," Harry chimed in, helping himself to the last two cookies on the now empty platter.
"I can see her in Slytherin," Teddy said spitefully. "And if she is, how am I supposed to help her?"
"Gryffindors help all who need it, Ted!" Harry declared and clapped Teddy on the back. "Well, I better get back to the ministry. The auror department has been getting twice as many threat letters lately."
He stopped by the door to put on his cloak. "There comes a time in every man's life where he must swallow his grudges and do what is right. You and Victorie have both grown up and it's not fair for either of you to hold unto the past."
"That's right," Andromeda agreed and placed a hand on her grandson's shoulder. Teddy looked up and rolled his eyes at the smug look on her face. He hated when Harry agreed with her instead of him.
Halfway out the door, Harry paused and turned back with a smile on his face.
"Oh, and Teddy?" Teddy looked up at his godfather, not liking the smirk on his face one bit. "Bill says Fleur is quite the Qudditch player."
Teddy groaned and pushed out his chair from the table. "Thanks for the cookies, grandma," he muttered and strode up the stairs to avoid her disapproving glare. He shut the door forcefully and opened his closet. Thanks to the growth spurt he had experienced a few years ago, his now six-foot plus frame was easily able to reach for the photo album on the highest shelf. His grandmother had made it for him after Victorie and her family left six years ago he hadn't looked at it since, half because he wasn't tall enough to reach it, and half because he didn't want to be reminded of her.
Teddy brought the album back to his bed and opened the front cover. It was a moving picture of him and Victorie in front of the giant oak tree that they would always play around when they were kids. His arms were crossed and he was frowning while Victorie was making bunny ears behind his electric blue head, grinning as if she didn't have a care in the world. She looked just as he remembered: short, silvery blonde hair, bright blue eyes, freckles covering her nose, and shorter than him by a significant amount.
Growing up, Victorie had been his only friend, which was saying something. He knew no other kids his age until he went to Hogwarts, for Harry's kids were all younger than him. Although Victorie bullied him everyday, they played with each other constantly. Why? Teddy flipped through the album and actually found himself laughing and smiling in a few images. That wasn't possible- all the memories he had of Victorie were bad. Well, most of them. But he didn't want to admit that to Harry and Andromeda.
When he reached the end of the album, Teddy placed it under his bed instead of putting it back in his closet. Term started in exactly a week and he wouldn't be seeing her until the first day back, so that meant he had a week left to practice his defensive spells. Teddy knew one thing for sure: this year was going to be completely out of the ordinary.
"TEDDY! YOUR LETTER CAME!" His grandma yelled to him from downstairs in the kitchen. Reluctantly he got up and made his way down the stairs to open the letter on the kitchen table. It was the same as always; cream-colored envelope with emerald calligraphy depicting his name and address. It even contained the same letter with the standard booklist. But something new was in the letter that he had been dreaming about since his second year.
"I-I've been made Qudditch captain," he said with growing grin as he fingered the badge in his hand. It had the Gryffindor lion on it, decorated with scarlet and gold, containing a giant C stitched on top that stood out to the eye.
"That's wonderful dear! I'm going to make your favorite tonight, treacle tart, how about that?" his grandmother cried and kissed him on his cheek. "Oh, your parents would be so proud!
That made Teddy's smile even bigger. "I can't wait to tell Harry! He was made captain his sixth year, too."
Perhaps this year won't be so bad after all, Teddy thought as he polished his badge on his sweater.
"Harry said Victorie was good at Qudditch, and if she is sorted into Gryffindor, maybe you'll play together just like when you were little!" Andromeda cheered as she bustled about.
Teddy sighed. Oh right, she was still going to be there.
YAY FOR NEW STORIES!
I'm so excited for this one it's crazy. I've never written a Teddy/Victorie story before and hope you all like it! Thanks for reading the first chapter, if you like it go right ahead and subscribe/review if you want to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. :D
NOTE: The other chapters will be longer than this one, but I thought this was a good starting length to introduce the context and such.
UP NEXT: Victorie starts off her first year at Hogwarts as a fifth year and could not be more nervous. And when she is reunited with her childhood enemy/friend/crush Teddy Lupin, it is not what she was expecting at all.
QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER: Have you read any of my other stories before?
