Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or settings - they all, of course, belong to the wonderful JK Rowling
Author's Note: Hey there, thanks for choosing to read my story - I hope you enjoy it! It starts in the summer holidays (probably August) of 2017, which is the summer before the 19 Years Later epilogue which occurs in Deathly Hallows. It is written in a third person point of view but focuses on Teddy Lupin (the son of Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks). I'm assuming Teddy was brought up by his maternal Grandmother (Andromeda Tonks), so he lives with her in this story. And by my calculations Teddy is 19, and therefore he will be going into the second year since he left Hogwarts.
Victoire Weasley is also a main character in this story, and she is the eldest daughter of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour. We know that she is entering her last year at Hogwarts and that her birthday is May 2nd 2000, so that makes her 17.
Please review whether it's praise or criticism or advice on how I can improve, I really want to know what you guys think :) Enjoy!
Chapter 1 – Victoire's Arrival
Teddy Lupin was slumped on the floor of his bedroom, leaning against his bed, staring aimlessly at the television.
He could hear the rain hammering against the roof, echoing around the empty house. The only other noise was the blurry sound of the television, which he wasn't even watching properly. It was some old black and white Muggle film that he'd found in a dusty box whilst he was clearing out the loft for his grandmother. It belonged to his grandfather, no doubt.
A grandfather he'd never met.
He'd only selected it to watch because it was about a werewolf – a mysterious man that transformed into a horrific beast, killing everything in its sight every night of the full moon. Even Muggles had accurate knowledge of these magical creatures, it seemed. It was full of unrealistic effects and poorly designed costumes, but before Teddy could reach for the remote to turn it off, the story took an interesting turn of events.
The werewolf, whose name escaped Teddy, found a girl – a beautiful young woman – who didn't scream and run away from him like all the others. Despite his attempts to protect the girl's life by rejecting her, she had a feisty attitude, and declared her love for the wolf. It was only when the young woman announced she was pregnant, and the odd couple pondered the future of their unborn son, that Teddy stopped watching.
Although he couldn't summon the energy to turn off the TV, not even with magic, he sat in silence, doing some pondering of his own. He wondered how the Muggles would react if they ever found out that stories like that could actually happen. That they had actually happened.
His eyes flickered absentmindedly to a photo taped to his wall. A scruffy young man stood, his eyes drooping with overtiredness, with an uncharacteristic smile plastered to his face. The state of his clothes, his face, his rugged hair, all suggested that he should be miserable with his life. But apart from the obvious exhaustion in his eyes, he looked overjoyed; the happiest and luckiest man in the world.
On his right stood a woman so pretty, and vivid, and full of life, that she completely contrasted with him. Her eyes sparkled with happiness, and pure and utter devotion for the tiny being she cradled in her arms. As his parents smiled and fidgeted in the photograph, Teddy felt such a powerful sense of longing, that a single tear slipped over his eyelid and burst on the faded blue carpet.
He watched his new born self, so young and peaceful, so completely oblivious to what great forces of good and evil where happening in the world at that particular moment, and completely oblivious to the horrors that would occur only a brief month later. He was tired of hearing stories of how his parents died to make a better world for him to live in. Tired of hearing how brave and courageous they were. He was especially tired of his godfather, Harry, telling him stories about how he himself had been raised as an orphan and understood exactly what he was going through.
Because whereas these stories had given him hope when he was younger, and made him feel proud that he'd had such noble parents, now all they did was fill him with sorrow and misery. As his eyes welled up, another tear threatened to fall from his eye, and once again he craved the company of human company. Not any company – the company of his parents was what he most desired right then.
He hastily wiped away the water in his eyes with the back of his hand. His parents were dead. They were never coming back. And he would never feel the reassuring arms of his mother wrapped around him, or the comfort of a fatherly bear hug.
It was at this moment when a hurried series of knocks on the front door startled him, and he slipped out of his trance and back into reality. Who on earth would be knocking on his grandmother's front door at almost 11pm in the middle of a thunder storm?
He decided to keep quiet and let the mysterious visitor leave, but curiosity got the better of him. Surely it must have been important under such circumstances.
Half bemused and half frightened of what lurked outside his house, Teddy rose to his feet and crept down the stairs. Through the window in the door a sudden flash of lightning illuminated the silhouette of what appeared to be a young girl. With more confidence he strode over and opened the door to reveal a shivering, very wet, teenage girl.
Her long hair was bedraggled, and so drenched that it had turned a horrible muddy blonde colour instead of its usual golden sheen. It was plastered back, emphasising how pale her face was, and she wore nothing but a thin summer dress, now ripped and ruined. Tears were streaming down her blotchy cheeks and he noticed her bare feet, caked in mud, certain to be cold to the core.
"Victoire!" Teddy gasped, slamming the door shut after he'd pulled her inside. Her icy skin sent chills through his body as he clutched her to his chest. She gulped and sobbed whilst he rocked her gently in his arms, murmuring soft words of reassurance. "Victoire, what happened? You're freezing."
She only sobbed harder, choking on each word. "I... I... I... r-ran a-aw-away."
Teddy could see she was in no state to tell him the details, so instead he continued to hold her, and spoke in as tender a voice as he could manage.
"You can't stay in that dress, Victoire, you'll freeze to death. I'll go find you some warm clothes. And a blanket," he added.
As he began to pull away from her, she tightened her grip on his arms and looked into his eyes pleadingly. "No, no, NO! Please, you can't leave me. Please don't let go of me," she begged.
He'd never seen her in such a traumatic state before. Reasoning with her whilst she was like this was certainly out of the question, so in one swift movement he pulled her up into his arms and she immediately wrapped her numb legs around his waist. He could feel her heart beating irregularly fast, close against his own, as he carried her up the stairs and into the bathroom across the hall from his own bedroom.
"Aguamenti," he demanded the bathtub with such force that the pristine white tub filled automatically with hot, steaming water, despite the fact that his wand was lying somewhere next to the video case in his bedroom. He lowered her to the floor as her legs reluctantly unravelled from his body.
"Err, the bath's all yours. I'll leave you in peace and get you some, err, dry clothes," he muttered, feeling the blood rush into his cheeks.
She peeled her arms away from around his chest and stared up into his deep aqua eyes. Although her lips uttered no words, her eyes spoke to him with an overwhelming tone of gratitude.
Teddy gave an awkward smile before slowly backing away from her, out of the bathroom, her eyes never leaving his flushed face.