A/N OK, so here's chapter two.
I'm trying to develop the relationship slowly so they don't go from enemies (but grudgingly friends) to 'oh my god I can't live without you' because it's not very realistic.
So in this chapter, the relationship is moving forward a bit, let me know what you think and tell me if it's too fast (or too slow!)
Disclaimer: I (sad face) do not own Harry Potter.
Chapter Two
"As if I didn't have enough to deal with…"
...Teddy...
"You'd think you would be used to that by now, but you never fail to entertain." she remarked, walking to stand in front of me, her expression crafted to tease as I grasped my chest, feeling the rapid thumping of my heart.
"I'm glad I could be of amusement to you." I said, meeting her tone.
She gazed at me, the piercing eyes of her mother studying me intently. Not many men could meet the Veela stare, but a long ingrained part of me refused to back down.
"Why did you stop?" she asked whilst her eyes burned holes into my face. It was an unspecific question, one that last year I would have answered with something of complete irrelevance. But I knew what she was asking; she wanted to know why I'd caused the crash on the platform. But I couldn't be bothered to draw this out, nor did I want to say the real reason, so I answered her with a shrug, before changing the subject.
"Why did Stevenson stop the ham?" I asked. She blinked, unprepared for the seriousness with which I questioned her. She echoed my shrug. We faced one another, like we were kids again keeping pathetic little secrets from one another because we thought they would change the world. I refrained from laughing at the ridiculousness of this situation.
But she didn't.
Her laugh peeled through the silence, and for the first time…it wasn't irritating. If anyone asked later I'd flat out deny it, but in that one moment as I was compelled to laugh with her, she was beautiful. As we grew up she'd always been beautiful, she was part Veela, beauty was part of the deal. But fuck I'd never really seen it before. Not like this.
"Well, I do." she said the traces of laughter still in her voice as she mounted the stairs.
Huh? She'd lost me.
She looked over her shoulder, amusement flashing in her eyes, "I do intend to go to bed tonight, Teddy." she explained.
I rolled my eyes, and just like that she could be the irritating girl I'd always known again.
I began after her slowly, shaking my head in frustration. My eyes on my feet as they tapped against the marble.
I glanced up to find her walking backwards, her eyes on me. "What?" I snapped. She pranced down and stood on my right.
"Ready?" she challenged.
My mind flashed to our childhood and I smirked. "Set." I confirmed.
"GO!" We shouted.
Our feet pelted on the stone steps as we bolted up the remaining flights of stairs. My hair melting to its natural shade of turquoise for the first time since it happened. My extra strength powering me to first place.
"Hippogriff!" I yelled, the fat lady swinging open in response, just in time for me to burst through the portrait hole. Once through I stopped, turning on my heel to celebrate my victory, only to be slammed into by a blur of golden blonde. But this impact my body appeared prepared for, my muscles tensing to withstand the force of her moving body.
"Fuck." she staggered back looking at me angrily, "Why did you stop?" she growled.
I shrugged again, "Beat you." I stated proudly.
She gaped at me in silence before blinking twice to clear her thoughts. "Bloody typical" she seethed throwing her arms in the air for effect then stomping towards the girl's staircase. I smirked at her back, my hair and eyes sliding to black as I walked over to join my friends in their no doubt epic game of wizard chess.
...
I had forgotten the pain of the early mornings.
My asshole roommates jumping on my bed and the wrestling match that ensued didn't make us any earlier either. I plodded moodily into the great hall flopping heavily into a space and filling my plate with bacon. I chewed slowly savouring the crispy texture of the salty meat and contemplating the thought of whether or not I could eat this raw when I received a tap on my shoulder. Grumbling beneath my breath I turned to face...
Stevenson.
Great.
"Hi...Henry, right?" I inquired, knowing damn well what his name was.
He nodded, "Lupin." His greeting was followed by a silence that I wasn't sure if he expected me to fill. But after a while of staring at the prick, I spoke up.
"Something you wanted?" he narrowed his eyes, his jaw tensing.
"Yeah, stay away from Victoire." he said, no hint of humour in his voice.
"No offence but, who the hell do you think you are?" I really wasn't a morning person, so talking bullshit to me at this time of day was a huge mistake.
He stole my signature eye roll which really pissed me off and then replied with, "Just back off, got it?"
I glared at him furiously, "Whatever. I have no interest being anywhere near Victoire." I stated.
"Sure you don't." he scoffed whilst walking away.
Part of me wanted to beat him up. The other part was utterly confused, even more so when my vision located Victoire staring at me from the doorway. My eyes met hers and she turned on her heel to exit the hall at record speed. And fuck it all, I wanted to chase after her and demand she tell me what the hell was going on, but I didn't and I never would. I simply turned back to my plate and fumed in silence until I had to go to my first period.
...
Five minutes into potions and I wanted to kill myself.
Professor Slughorn was rambling on about proper care of the utensils. It was the repetitive lecture I had received for seven fucking years. He was finally rounding it up when the scent hit me.
Its effect was to both to allure and repulse me at the same time. My eyes zoomed in on a jar on one of the top shelves and a shiver ran down my spine that was equal parts disgust and excitement. The rest of the lesson was worth shit to me after that - my eyes never left the jar.
As the class dispersed I wandered to the shelving subconsciously. "Professor, what's in that jar at the top there?" He followed my outstretched hand and frowned slightly.
"Ah, werewolf hair my boy, never had any in the school before, not until last year, just before you left come to think of it." he answered reaching up to lift down the opaque jar, "Why do you ask?"
I wanted to throw up as the smell of the jars contents intensified. "It was new, that's all." I choked, nodding my head and practically sprinting to the nearest loo to throw up.
Of course I couldn't even be allowed to do that in peace.
I didn't even see her through my tunnel vision.
But I heard the impact.
Heard the cry of pain as the sickening sound of the crack rattled in my head.
We landed on the floor, Victoire's body crushed to the stone beneath mine; her breath came out in a grunt as my weight landed on her. But my head was foggy and the shock of the collision had disorientated me, so it took some time for the seriousness of the predicament to sink in.
"Holy shit! It hurts, fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" she gasped, shifting to relieve the pressure on her ribs.
Everything slammed down on me and my gut twisted with the realisation that I had hurt her. We'd had our fights, but it only usually ended in a bruise or two, maybe a few scratches but nothing even remotely close to this. I gulped back the guilt. My new instincts told me she'd broken a rib with the force of me running into her, I'd heard it. And I also knew that it was because of it, this shit, it made me stronger than I used to be and her human body couldn't take it.
"Fuck, Tor, I'm so sorry!" I whispered, moving my weight onto my arms and preparing to stand. She groaned in pain, moving backwards, her legs parting as she attempted to sit up.
As her legs moved outwards, my hips fell between them resulting in the position becoming a hell of a lot more intimate.
Worse still, we both gasped, accidentally revealing we were both damn well thinking the same thing.
We stared at one another, eyes intense, silently daring each other to do something: neither of us moved.
I don't know how long we lay there, my hips cradled by her legs, but it dawned on me at some point that if I didn't move, my body was going to react and give away the thoughts that were flying through my head, so I went to pull back.
Simple as that. It would have gone back to normal.
But no.
Holy freaking hell!
That noise, that one subconscious, most likely unintended noise was going to haunt my dreams.
Because the moan that choked from her throat was the sexiest thing I've ever heard.
My hair burst to a bright red, my eyes turning amber, and goddamn it, I couldn't stop the groan I responded with as she instinctively pressed closer.
But the moment was short lived. As she raised her elbows to move nearer to me she let out a scream, collapsing back on the floor with a grimace. The intimate atmosphere dissolved immediately.
"Is it..."
"Broken?" I finished for her, "I think so, here" I said, using all my willpower to move off her, "I'll take you to the hospital wing."
She let out a laugh that ended in a gasp of agony, "Do you expect me to walk?" she whispered, not wanting to raise her voice for fear of the pain but I could still here the condescending tone.
"No." she looked up at me sharply, hearing the laughter in my voice, "I'm going to carry you."
"You wouldn't dare!" she shouted, wincing.
"You should've learnt by now Tor, I never back down from a dare." I smirked, lifting her off the floor, slightly taken aback by how light she felt to my new muscles.
"Ah! Careful Teddy! It fucking hurts!" she groaned, her head dropping back as I begun to walk to the hospital wing. Her eyes falling shut as she passed out.
I hurried along the corridors to the hospital wing, my arrival drawing quite the attention of the nurses. Nonetheless they relieved me of my burden.
"You really should return to your lesson Mr Lupin" Madam Heart said as she passed me, "I can fix broken bones no problem." she emphasised.
"I know...when she wakes up can you tell her that...I'm sorry." I sighed, apologising to Victoire, I never believed it'd happen, I thought as I made my way towards my Defence against the Dark Arts lesson.
...
I glared at the canopy above my head, blaming it for no reason.
Victoire hadn't come back to the tower tonight, and it shouldn't bother me, but...it did. She'd been detained by Madam Heart, that's what I told everyone when they asked where she was, but I didn't tell anyone why. We'd agreed we'd tell everyone that she'd been clumsy and fallen. That was a fucking joke in itself, Victoire was the most goddamn graceful person I knew. But people believed what they were told.
"Idiots." I grumbled rolling to my side, my eyes catching the Puddlemere United calendar on my bedside table.
Five days.
I narrowed my eyes at the mocking circle drawn around September the tenth.
I sat up, throwing back the duvet and leaving the dorm room quickly, needing to be moving. Luckily the common room was empty, the embers in the fire giving off a warm glow. Pacing had always helped me to think.
Why? Why me? I asked myself.
It was like some fucked up trail that I hadn't signed up for:
'Let's see what happens to the orphaned metamorphmagus if we give him lycanthropy. Oh and just to make it more interesting, let's throw in inappropriate thoughts of his lifelong enemy'
Someone was playing a seriously messed up game.
Growling, I buried my face in the couch pillows, sleep settling on me finally. That dreamless blackness you get when you're too exhausted to come up with a dream enveloping me.
But it wasn't long until my body jumped to life as some underlining instinct told me to wake up.
I rolled to the floor as the portrait opened—fucking skillfully I might add—and somebody entered the common room.
Victoire.
Whoa, how the fuck did I know that?
It didn't matter, I told myself.
Either way, if it was her, I didn't want to deal with her questions right now. I listened carefully as she padded barefoot to the staircase her bare legs becoming visible as she passed the couch. Crap. Just what I needed. Fuel for my already overactive imagination. I shuffled further across the floor, my side plastered to the couch as I tried to remain hidden from her sight. She paused at the foot of the stairs and stupidly I found myself holding my breath. She looked up the stairs, uncertainty written across her expression.
"Damn it." she muttered, sitting on the floor with her head in her hands, her body language screaming defeat, "it's not true." she whispered almost inaudibly.
What's not true?
Goddamn it Victoire even when I'm not there you're irritating!
I shifted to get a better look, my foot catching the coffee table with a dull thud, her head snapped up.
Fuuuuuuucccccckkkk!
I switched my hair to a dark brown, my eyes to green, my arms thicker, my body longer. Thinking on my feet, I took the first form that came to mind.
"Who's there?" she snapped her voice ice.
Reluctantly, I stood up.
Her eyes widened as she stared at me. "Wood? Why the hell are you up?" she blurted.
I shrugged, "sorry, didn't mean to eavesdrop Tor, you kind of took me by surprise when you came in." I explained, "Teddy's snoring again."
She looked at me a smile rising to her face. I hated the part of me that was jealous. "He's snored ever since we were kids," she said, that goddamn smile still on her face.
"Really?" I asked, attempting to divert her attention, I knew it was a lie.
"Uh-huh, he snores as bad as he lies." she laughed. I faked a chuckle.
"Yes, that's true; our Teddy never could keep secrets,"
She tilted her head to the side, "Very true, well goodnight Wood, I won't keep you up any longer," she yawned, waving as she walked up the stairs. I looked after her until I was certain she was gone before shifting back, sighing comfortably in my true form. Choosing the couch over the dorm, I resumed my sleep, my mind at rest now that she was back in the tower.
…
"Damn the sun" I groaned as the dawn light woke me up. Getting to my feet groggily, I stumbled back to my dorm. Stubbing my toe on my bed, and cursing loudly enough that I received three pillows to the head, I collapsed into my bed, jumping out of my skin when I found Pluie curled casually upon my pillow. Pluie, meaning rain in French, was so named for the cat was a pale grey colour dappled with blue-grey dots, looking as though an artist had attempted to paint rain upon the cat's fur, or at least that's what a nine year old Victoire had thought. At my jostle it opened one golden eye only to huff in annoyance before falling asleep again.
Ungrateful shit, he was taking up half the goddamn bed!
Foolishly, I went to pick him up, forgetting this cat was an extension if it's owner.
Pluie's claws found my skin and he hissed viciously until I removed my hold. I swear the fucker smiled as he stretched out in satisfaction.
This was war.
I waited a few minutes before gently grasping the pillow and then tossing it off the bed as quickly as I could. I laughed at the spectacle of the fat grey cat flying through the air with an angry 'meow' and landing ungracefully in Kevin's bed.
But fuck that cat could move.
He was back in a fury, all claws and teeth and hissing madness.
Needless to say, I spent the remaining hour sleeping on the floor until the twins woke me up with the flash of their muggle camera.
After we spent half an hour trying to coerce the mad fucker from our dorm, resulting in my fellow roommates acquiring similar battle scars to myself, we gave up, going in search of Victoire. With ashamed postures we walked into the great hall appearing as though we'd had an encounter with a pack of wolves. My eyes found her blond hair instantly but as I made my way towards her I was intercepted, fuck I so didn't need this right now.
"Stevenson." I said, nodding my head in acquaintance.
Another twist in the fucked up experiment.
Another cliff-hanger - sort of.
Please review and tell me what you thought, the more reviews the story gets the faster I'll probably update.