Disclaimer: I think we've been through this enough. JK Rowling owns all.

For the I Dare You thread over at Next-Gen Fanatics, where I was told to write a Lorcan/Victoire/Lysander triangle with the prompt world war three, and where one of the boys is in Hufflepuff and one is in Ravenclaw.

The pairings of Victoire/Lorcan and Victoire/Lysander are M&MWPs, so credit goes to mew-tsubaki and Morghen.

A/N: Yes, I realize it's unlikely that Lorcan and Lysander are only one year younger than Victoire. However, it is necessary for this story for them to be somewhat close in age to her.

Victoire Weasley strolled into the library, causing sixth years Lorcan and Lysander to look up from the books they were partially reading. "She's hot," Lysander said appreciatively, nodding at her as if his brother wouldn't have any clue whom, exactly, he was talking about.

"No kidding," Lorcan said. "I'd love to go out with her."

"She wouldn't go out with you," Lysander said, his tone a little too contemptuous to be totally friendly. "You're much too quiet. She doesn't like quiet guys."

"How do you know?" Lorcan rolled his eyes. "When did you become the expert on all things Victoire Weasley?"

"Because I, unlike you, am a Ravenclaw. So I've overheard a bunch of her conversations with her friends, and she likes guys who can actually talk."

"I'm pretty sure no girl likes guys whose heads are so inflated that -"

"Besides," Lysander said, talking over his brother's muttered retort, "I'm planning on asking her out. She just broke up with her older boyfriend Ted Lupin - she'll be looking for a comforting shoulder to cry on. Stick to fourth-years, Lorc. You'll find they're a lot easier."

"No," Lorcan said, summoning up all his courage. "I want to ask her out."

"I saw her first," Lysander said childishly.

"She needs a sensitive guy. Not an idiot."

"Wanna bet?"

"Sure," Lorcan said recklessly, although the sane part of him was screaming to say no. "First one to get Victoire to do something relationship-like, and not just a date, but a snog session or something, wins."

"The loser has to do whatever the winner says, for a whole week," Lysander added, grinning in a way that made Lorcan's stomach sink. "No exceptions."

"Deal," Lorcan said, hoping with all his might that he wouldn't regret this, and hoping that it wouldn't turn into some twisted version of World War III, between him and his brother.

Victoire Weasley sighed for the fifth time that evening, glancing at Dominique as they patrolled the halls together. Since Victoire was a seventh year, and Dominique was only a fifth year, they had been assigned to patrol together in order for Dominique to gain some experience. Not to mention that recently, many of the boy-girl pairs of prefects had decided that snogging was a more amusing pastime than patrolling, and had used this time to sneak into a broom closet or other quiet location and make out. With Victoire and Dominique, there was obviously no chance of that, and so the pairs had been rearranged.

"What's wrong?" Dominique said, sighing herself in obvious irritation with her sister. "Is this about Teddy?"

"Yes, it's about Teddy!" Victoire snapped. "The git broke up with me by sending me a letter!" It would have seemed, to the outside world, that this fact annoyed Victoire even more than the actual break-up. The fact that he didn't even have the courage to tell her over Christmas holiday, especially since he had been a Gryffindor, was very infuriating. "Boys are so stupid."

"That they are," Dominique agreed. The younger girl had decided not to date much, if at all, during her Hogwarts years, something that Victoire was beginning to think was very smart.

"And the fact that it was Teddy...Teddy, who was my best friend," Victoire lamented, opening the door to a broom closet and making sure that there was not a snogging couple inside. "Now...Merlin, family gatherings are going to be so awkward."

"That's if he goes to any," the younger girl said practically. "After all, he has Auror training, which is supposedly very exhausting. There's a distinct possibility that he will not be in attendance at any of the family get-togethers, at least until he finishes next year. Perhaps by then you'll have a new boyfriend, and you will be able to rub it in his face." It was very un-Dominique-ish to talk of rubbing something in another's face; she was easily the most practical, sensible, even a little uptight, person in the whole Weasley-Potter family, and barely thought of revenge against someone else (unlike James and Lily, whose lives seemed to consist of getting revenge, usually on each other).

"I don't know," Victoire said slowly. "I think I'm going to take a page from your book, and not date anyone. Just hang out with my girl friends, and not have to worry about the absolute stupidity of boys. I think it will be a lot easier."

"Good for you," Dominique said, lighting her wand and peering into an alcove that was often a hot spot for making-out couples. "It should be better."

Victoire headed down to breakfast early the next morning, bringing her History of Magic book with her. Why she had even continued the class, she had no idea. She had passed her O.W.L. on it, so she had decided to continue taking it, as she was one of the few students who could stay awake. She quickly regretted it, though, as it turned out to get even more boring as it became more in-depth, if it getting more boring was even possible. She sighed, sliding onto the bench. Few other students were there. She had her head buried in her book, trying to absorb the information, when somebody tapped on her shoulder. She glanced up to see Lysander Scamander, who was a year below her. "Hi," she said simply.

"There's a Hogsmeade weekend coming up," he said. "Would you like to go with me?" It was so casual and effortless, so unlike many of the stuttering boys who tripped over their words, that she was tempted to say yes just because of this fact. But her resolution to avoid boys jumped into her mind. Dominique had never had her heart broken, and it was because she never dated anyone. Dating people as a schoolgirl was stupid, Dominique always said, and perhaps that was something to be admired about her.

Summoning all her strength and all her inner Dominique-ness, she shook her head. "I don't date anymore," she said. "No exceptions." Even as she said it, she partially regretted it. Lysander was cute, but so what? Cute guys were often the worst.

"I doubt that," he said, half-grinning. "You're much too pretty to not have a boyfriend."

She barely paid attention to the compliment, now slightly irritated. "I'm trying to study here."

"Sorry, babe. I'll talk to you later, we'll go out then."

"Hopefully not," she muttered, definitely annoyed now by his confidence-bordering-on-arrogance. He moved away - thankfully - and she found herself glancing about the mostly-empty room. There was barely anyone else there, apart from a couple other Ravenclaws, all with books in hands, Lysander Scamander the Arrogant Git, two Slytherins who had their heads together and were definitely planning something, and a blond Hufflepuff with his head buried in a History of Magic book. Looking at the blond Hufflepuff closer, she saw that it was Lysander's twin, Lorcan, who was basically known around school as 'the quiet one'. He never said much, unlike his confident brother, she knew.

He looked up at her while she was still looking at him, and stood up, walking around the edge of his table to where she was sitting. She was expecting him to ask her out, in reality, because of what his brother had just asked, but instead he sat down next to her. "I couldn't help but notice you were studying History of Magic," he said quietly. "I know your N.E.W.T. is coming up in a few months, so I didn't know - it's probably presumptuous of me to ask, but do you need some help on it? It's a very difficult subject the way Binns teaches it."

"It is," she agreed. "I definitely wouldn't mind some extra help on it." This would be nice, she thought. Lorcan was much too shy to try and put the moves on her, so she wouldn't have to worry about that, and she would also be tutored in the subject that she hated the most. This would be absolutely wonderful. Also, it would probably get around the school that she had private tutoring sessions with Lorcan, and then, it would be assumed, by many at least, that Lorcan and her were dating. Just like prefect patrols, tutoring sessions had just become a simpler way to say 'hot snog sessions with the person who's supposed to be helping me'.

"How about if we meet in the library tonight?" he said shyly. "Since we're in different houses, and we can't study in the common room." His shyness, she thought, was kind of adorable.

"Sure," she said. "Seven-thirty?"

"That sounds good," he said, and headed back to his table, where he buried his head in his book once again.

That night at seven twenty-five Victoire packed up her History of Magic book, some parchment, quills, and ink, and headed to the library for her study session with Lorcan. The fact that it was just going to be a study session excited her - finally, someone who would just focus on school with her and not try to make out, which had happened the last two times Victoire studied alone with a boy.

It went exactly as she expected; Lorcan taught her much more than Binns ever did, and managed to stay on the topic of history the whole time. Not once did he try to start a conversation with her, and as much as she had wished for this before, she found herself looking at him, noting that he was rather attractive, more than one time. She didn't know what to make of it, and decided to ignore these little glances. She didn't like Lorcan at all. Not one tiny little bit, she told herself. There is no way that she was beginning to crush on somebody so soon.

One study session turned into two, then three, and then they were meeting in the library every other night, and a couple months passed.

She walked through the streets of Hogsmeade by herself, relishing her freedom. There was nobody she had to meet up with, no boys waiting at Madam Puddifoot's for a supposed-to-be-romantic-but-really-quite-cheesy date, and all her girl friends either were on dates or had decided to stay at Hogwarts for studying purposes. She had decided to come to the wizarding village for just a short time, as she had a craving for some butterbeer and no one would tell her where the kitchen was. Not on purpose - few other students knew, minus James and Fred, and of course they had to be complete gits and refuse to tell her, so she was stuck coming in.

She popped into the Hog's Head. It was now run by Seamus Finnigan, who apparently had been in Hogwarts at the same time as some of her family members, and who had taken over from Aberforth Dumbledore at the time of the older man's retirement. With the new ownership it became much less seedy, although it was still certainly less popular than the Three Broomsticks. She liked it more, though, for this reason. There was always open places to sit, which was definitely nice. She approached the bar. "One butterbeer, please."

"Comin' right up," he replied, handing it to her within half a minute. She handed over the money for it and sipped, looking around and only then noticing Lorcan sitting at one of the tables further back. She hopped off the stool and walked over to him. "Can I join you?"

"Sure," he said. Although he and his brother looked nearly identical, it was easy to tell them apart based on their body language and personality. It was obvious this was Lorcan sitting here, as Lysander no doubt would have been at the Hog's Head with a group of his friends, being obnoxious, of course. "What brings you here?"

"I like this place more. There's actually seating available."

Lorcan grinned. "That's true."

The door opened, causing the bells above it to clang. Victoire twisted around to see who it was, and sighed when she saw it was Lysander. "I don't mean to be a pain," she muttered to Lorcan, "but can we please go somewhere else? Your brother annoys me."

Before they could get up and leave, Lysander saw them and strolled over. "Ah, Victoire. So nice to see you here - but why, may I ask, are you with Lorcan? You'll find that I am much better company, my dear."

"Not true," Victoire said. "He's much less annoying than you."

"I am not annoying," Lysander protested, looking rather offended.

"Yes, you are." Victoire drew herself up to her full height, which was two inches taller than the infuriating blond boy.

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are!"

Lysander leaned forward, kissing Victoire right on the mouth. Whether it was to shut her up and stop their argument, or just because they were standing rather close together and it ignited his teenage-boy hormones, she didn't know, or frankly, care. She drew her hand back and slapped him across the face, causing him to yelp, "Ow!" in obvious pain.

"Don't kiss me," she said. "Or any girl. You don't just kiss someone who obviously isn't interested in you. Lorcan, maybe we could go somewhere else?"

"But -" Lysander held a hand to his cheek, watching on as Lorcan got up from his seat. "I hope you realize, Victoire, that Lorcan doesn't really like you, but we made a bet to see who could get you to do something relationship-like first."

"I hope you realize, Scamander, that for now, Lorcan and I are just friends," she shot back, not caring very much about the bet. "Except..." she paused, as her emotions filled her whole being, and everything - her possible crush on Lorcan and her annoyance at Lysander - coming up to the surface, and then she was pulling Lorcan close to her, and suddenly kissing him, ignoring the stunned look on Lysander's face. "Maybe not. But whatever, you lost."

"Hey, that's not very nice."

"It's true, isn't it?" Victoire smirked, took Lorcan's hand, and led him out, leaving Lysander wondering where he went wrong.

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