Thank you for the strong response already!

You are all awesome.

In reply to a question, Harry and Gin will be in this a bit.

Durring holidays and family stuff.

And I will go back to them a good bit while the kiddos are still little.

Though mainly, we will be at Hogwarts.

Chapter Three

Punishments

His room was dark, he was staring at the enchanted stars on his ceiling, he had been in there for what felt like hours. But he wasn't suicidal he wasn't going to be the one to go downstairs. This was bad, it was really bad. He didn't even know who was in more trouble him or Victoire. Well, if he was honest with himself, probably Victoire, he had pretty much told her dad that she let herself get groped in public. What was the matter with him? She was never going to talk to him again. He sighed as his door opened, letting in a stream of light, before it closed again. The small lamp by the door was lit, casting yellowed shadows across the room and making his eyes burn. The bed dipped as his father sat beside him.

"What were you thinking?" he said, baffled.

"Obviously I wasn't." Teddy remarked, wishing it hadn't come off so cheeky.

"Don't talk to me like that. I don't care how old you are." Harry snapped. The warning was clear.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it to come off like that." He whimpered, no matter how old he got, he was sure he would always be scared of getting spanked by his father. Irrational as that was.

"Now, what happened? What really happened, all of it?"

"Just what I said, only it, it, well it happened twice in a week. And that second time, he had her leg pulled up and you could see all the way up it, you could see the edge of her knickers, believe me, they were blue, I saw em."

"I believe you." Harry mumbled, shaking his head.

"I saw her freeze when he put his hand on her leg. She completely stopped kissing him. He didn't even stop to see why, he just kept kissing her, ignoring the fact that she wasn't sure what she wanted, or that she was a nervous fourteen year old. Or that he had her in a very public place. I just, I lost it. I completely lost it. I did not mean to hurt her. I swear I didn't."

Harry was reminded for a second of himself when he and Ron had caught Ginny snogging Dean. "I know you didn't. That much is obvious. To everyone. Why did you grab her so hard Ted? You know not to grab a girl like that, I can overlook the face, yeah, it is bad, but it was a blatant accident. You really didn't mean to do that at all. But you grabbed her and practically threw her."

"I know." He moaned. "I regret it now, well, I don't. But I do regret grabbing her so hard. He is such a prick, dad. He is awful. You have no idea." He stammered.

"I am sure I have some idea." He said, thinking of the only other Maclaggen he knew.

"I can't explain it. I got so so mad. You know how we were talking a few years back. And how you and the healers figured out that as I get older that some of my dad's wolfy senses have kicked in? The smell, the sight, and I get overly upset and stuff?"

Harry nodded, he didn't see how Teddy would think they forgot about that particular revelation, but he was a teenager after all.

"It was like that, but it had nothing to do with it, well maybe the really hard grip but not the anger. And the thing is, I don't even know that it would have mattered that I know she didn't want that. I think I would have done the same thing had she wanted it. It was just seeing her with him, and with the other boys before. I don't even think this is fixable, I don't think we can even be friends again." He said, a heavy rock settling into his stomach.

Harry looked at him sympathetically. "Ted, do you, what I mean to say is. Victoire, do you just? Wow I don't even know how to ask you this." He mused outloud.

Teddy laughed, he could understand the confusion.

"I guess what I am trying to say is why does seeing her with other boys bother you so much? Other than the obvious fact of seeing her be disrespected like that. But it seems to me that you don't even like seeing her date other boys, in fact the only time I have seen you argue with one another has been over her boyfriends." Harry said honestly.

Teddy rolled and buried his face in his pillow. "I don't know." He said muffled. "I wish I did, I really wish I did. It is different, she isn't the same, I'm not the same. It is almost like she is an actual girl all of a sudden, which is daft, she has always been a girl, I know that sounds idiotic."

"No, I understand entirely, I assure you." Harry said fervently. His honesty was so blatant that Teddy sat up and looked at him square in the face.

"Explain, how, do you, know."

"Well, your mum, Ginny that is. I viewed her as a little sister for years, or just dismissed her entirely. It wasn't until my sixth year, her fifth, that I realized that I liked her. I have never been more confused in my life, terrified and confused I should say. I was sure Ron was going to kill me." He laughed at the memory. "Incidentally enough, I realized it when I caught her snogging another boy in the halls after quidditch. Took me nearly the whole year to act on it though."

"I-I-I don't even know what to say to that." Teddy said, making Harry laugh. "I mean it is you and mum, surely you were never young enough to go through this stuff."

Harry smacked the back of his head playfully. "Laugh it up funny man. We were only sixteen and seventeen when you were born. You don't even want to think about the things we got up to while we were baby sitting you."

"EWE! Stop, stop now, this is punishment enough." Teddy whined.

"So tell me, why so upset over the boyfriends? It isn't like you haven't had your fair share of girls."

Teddy smiled grimly. "I know that. I just don't know why it bugs me now when it didn't before it. It was like someone flicked a switch in my head one day and I don't know how to flick it back. I mean, it isn't that I like her like that, she is my cousin." He stammered.

"Oh, but Teddy, she isn't. You were raised that way, yes. But by blood, she is not."

"I-I- I- you are right." He said, stunned. "Effing hell." He chastised himself.

"Mouth!" Harry said.

"Right, sorry."

"Your hair, you left it natural."

"It won't change, not since the fight, I got upset and now it won't change back."

"It has happened before. It will come back to you." Harry assured him as he stood and walked to the door.

Teddy nodded, remembering all too well the only other time he had no control over his morphing.

"And Ted."

Teddy turned his head to look at where his father was leaned against the door frame.

"Yeah?"

"You are grounded."

Teddy sighed, "I figured as much."

"This break and the first three weeks of summer holiday."

"Right."

"No flying while at home."

"But I promised Jamie."

"No flying for the first three weeks of summer. Am I clear?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. I am glad you are home son." He said in a softer voice.

"Me too dad."

0o0o0o

Teddy hated the anniversary. She knew that. In fact the only thing that made it bearable for him was her birthday. She had rarely seen him smile on that day, except for her. Victoire was sitting at one of the long tables staring at a lone figure. He was sitting on the secluded side of the burrow, his cloak wrapped loosely around him and his head in his hands, he looked truly miserable.

"You should talk with him." Her mother said, sitting beside her.

"I don't think he deserves for me to talk to him." Victoire sniffed, lying as much to herself as her mum.

"Really? You don't theenk that a boy that would stand up for your integrity is worth talking too? Where on this Earth did we go wrong." Fleur said dramatically.

"You know you could have taken my side, even if just a little bit. I am your daughter." She said, flipping her platinum blonde hair and looking into her mum's ice blue eyes that mirrored her own.

"I did, I do. But not on all theengs." Victoire rolled her eyes, her mother's accent was very light now, but it was still noticeable, specifically when she was upset or serious. "I theenk that you have the right to date whom and how you choose. But I am also theenking that you are being fleepant with your choices."

"Yes, you made that quite clear. It isn't as if we were headed back to the dorm to shag you know."

"No, I know, and I trust that you would have come to your senses before then. But you were being very open in a very public place."

"He shouldn't have told you guys that. A friend wouldn't do that."

"You can't blame him with that. You did that. He just lost his temper when you and your father started in on him."

"He bruised me!"

"And on that, I am on your side, I say bruise him back." Fleur said, her eyes narrowing at the sulking Teddy. "Only, maybe, not today. Go talk with him."

"I don't want to"

"And I am not giving you the option. Consider it part of your punishment."

"This should be illegal." She grumbled standing and walking over to the side of the crooked house.

She didn't notice several of the adults' eyes follow her nervously, including her uncle Harry's and her own father's. She slid down the wall, her side and hair's breadth from touching his.

He could feel his skin tingling at her presence.

"I am still not talking to you." She said stubbornly.

He didn't lift his head. "I was not under the impression that you were." He mumbled.

"I am being forced by means of punishment to do this." She grunted.

"Some punishment, I am grounded now, and for three weeks at the beginning of summer." He said. "I didn't mean to blurt out what happened. You know I never would have walked up to someone and told them what happened under normal circumstances."

"Right."

"You know me better than that, I wouldn't have done that. And you know it." He argued.

"I am not so sure anymore." She said.

He huffed, she was so stubborn it was infuriating. "Oh yes, because a two day fight erases a lifetime of knowing someone." He deadpanned.

"What if it does?" she said quietly.

He looked at her in shock, hurt swam in his eyes. "Then there isn't any reason that you are over here."

"Except, for the punishment, of course." She said quietly, pulling her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms round them.

He dropped his face back into his hands, "Right, there is that."

"I am so mad at you." She said.

"I am mad at you." He replied, though his voice was muffled.

"I am not breaking up with him." She sniffed.

He laughed discompassionately, "I never asked you to."

"Liar." She said, glancing around to see that no one could hear them arguing as Teddy lifted his head and looked into her eyes. She was startled to not only see tears glistening in his eyes but the telltale tracks running down his face. Teddy never cried, in fact she had rarely seen him even come close to crying since after he had been kidnapped.

"No, I never told you to break up with him, not once. You never heard those words." He said.

"I think your message was quite clear."

"Well, maybe if you were really, really, good at reading through the lines." He replied.

"Oh yes, or you know, if you could hear, and understand English, or even know what normal human body language means in its most primitive form." She said sarcastically.

"Or that too. Smart ass." He said with a slight smile.

"Don't let them hear you, we will get more punishment. If you two don't watch your mouths." She badly imitated her father's voice.

"Because Merlin forbid you be forced to sit and talk with me again."

"And you call me the smart ass?" she said with a grin.

He reached into the pocket of his cloak and pulled out a long thin package with a silver and blue bow and handed it to her.

"Happy Birthday." He said quietly.

"You got me a present? After the row we have been having?"

"Well in my defense, I got it well before the row. That, has actually only been even starting to brew for the last few weeks. And I bought this at Christmas. I do have some idea of when your birthday is, you know." He had refrained from saying, unlike your boyfriend.

She shook her head at his tone. "Well yes, but I can't believe you gave it to me."

He shrugged, "We could fight for the next decade and I would still get you a gift every year."

She stared at the package but it remained unopened. "I am sorry. For starting the fight at lunch yesterday, I should have just been quiet."

"I am sorry that you have bruises." He looked sadly at the one on her face. "They really were accidental, I never, ever meant to hurt you. I would never do something like that to anyone, especially not you. I really do care about you Vic. It just overwhelmed me at the time."

"I believe you. Doesn't change that you did though."

"I know."

"Teddy?" she said quietly.

He looked away from his hands to her face.

"Hmm?"

"Are you alright? I mean with today and everything?" her voice whisper quiet.

"I have been better, that is for certain." He murmured, mimicking her pose and pulling his legs to his chest, resting his forehead on his knees. "I am sure that your punishment is over by now, you don't have to stay." He said.

She nodded and stood. "Right, well…I guess…Right." she stammered before standing. She seemed torn on what she wanted to do and what she thought she should do. In the end she huffed and proceeded in walking away, pretending not to notice the tears slipping down the side of her best friend's face, or the ones she felt in her own eyes. No matter what, Teddy would always be her best friend. At least she hoped he would be.

She walked into the house and took a seat on the sofa in the empty sitting room. To her dismay her mother soon followed.

"He doesn't look very cheered up." She said blandly.

"You should have been more specific. You merely said I was to talk to him. I did."

"Victoire, you cannot stay mad at him. You must understand as irritating as it is he only interfered because he loves you. That would be like Ginny staying mad at Harry when he left to fight the war."

"That was entirely different, aaannnnddd, Teddy does not love me. We do not have THAT kind of relationship. Not to mention that Teddy does not love girls, he dates them and leaves them."

"Be that as it may, I meant he loves you as his best friend." Fleur said. "Though I am theenking you should examine your own thoughts on the other matter, as your mind was the one that went in that direction."

She didn't miss her daughter's blush creep up her cheeks. They silenced as more of the family spilled into the house, before Fleur fell into a conversation with Harry and Ginny. Victoire remained silent and pensive, and tried to show no emotion when Teddy walked up and tapped Harry on the shoulder. His red rimmed eyes and splotched raw cheeks were obvious.

"May I go home, please?" he asked in a choked voice.

Harry looked at him searchingly. "You are sixteen son, you are welcome to go home if you wish. Do you want me to come with you?"

"Not particularly." Teddy said, looking at his feet.

"Alright, just use the floo." Harry replied nodding towards the fire.

"Uhm," Teddy bit his lip nervously. "I know I am grounded and all."

Harry raised his eye brows, obviously surprised that he was even attempting to test this limit.

"But I was wondering, before I go home. Can I stop by gramma's I didn't get to go see my mum and dad yet today." His eyes sparkled and to Victoire's immense surprise a few tears found their way to his cheeks.

Harry's face smoothed, losing all signs of the telling off he had been about to give. "Teddy, you know that you never even have to ask. Of course you can go. Just be safe, you know the password into Andromeda's, I don't think she is there though. She was going early this morning she is probably at home with your Grandfather. Just be careful and be home by five alright?"

Teddy nodded. "Alright. Thank you." He turned and walked to the fireplace, he stopped quickly after throwing the powder from the jar in. "Happy Birthday Victoire." He said softly, stepping into the house and saying clearly, "Tonks' residence."

Ginny looked at Harry worriedly. "Should one of us go after him?"

Harry shook his head, "No, I think he just wants to be alone." He sighed, before standing and walking to the backyard.