A/N Getting into good habbits here to keep myself safe, I own nothing accept the plot and the occassional character.
The first 'box' in this chapter is set a couple of days into Victoire's stay at Teddy's flat.
The rest is set about 10 days after Chapter Two: The Invitation. Enjoy XX
She looked perfectly at home sat there amongst the cardboard boxes. Curled up in one corner of the sofa with his Navy sweatshirt wrapped around her, watching the dancing flames in front of her. He felt the primal instinct to go over to her, sweep her up and ravish her on his bed. He watched the make believe scene play out in his head. His body decided it couldn't stand there and watch her without holding her any longer, and led him to the sofa where he sat down next to her wrapping his arms around her waist, making her giggle.
"Ticklish Victoire? I would never have thought!"
"You're wet!" she laughed and half heartedly pushed him away from her, his towel slipping slightly.
"It's only a little water Bec! You won't melt!" Teddy gave her a little push back, then straightened his towel.
"You never know Paddington, you never know." Teddy grimaced at being referred to as a yellow raincoat wearing muggle teddy bear, but then again, he supposed it was better than getting called Rufus. "I miss our time together you know." Victoire commented in a barely auditable voice.
"How so?" In all the years he'd known Victoire, she had never once backed down and admitted true feelings, she just sort of locked them away and pretended they didn't matter.
"I never meant to hurt you, I was just really mad at you, and I know that isn't a valid excuse. But when I saw you with your arms around that girl, I just wanted to hurt you back. I'm sorry Teddy Bear, can you ever forgive me?" One solitary tear made its when down her beautiful cheek. She carefully wiped it away, turning her head away from him. Stopping her by placing his hand on her chin and forcing her to face him. He smiled weakly at her and pulled her into a deep kiss.
It felt like an entire generation past them by whilst they kissed, though in reality it only lasted a couple of minutes. Victoire timidly returned his kiss at first, letting him determine it's progression, so he press his mouth a little harder onto hers, pushing his tongue through a gap in her lips. Teddy ran his hands down Victoire, settling at the small of her back. With warning, Victoire pushed Teddy back onto the sofa and swung herself on top of him.
"I could never be mad at you." Whispered Teddy, Victoire just smiled. In one graceful movement Teddy stood up, holding on to Victoire, carrying her into his small bedroom.
"I love you Teddy Bear," She whispered into his ear.
"I love you too,"
The sun was high in the sky before Victoire stirred. Grabbing Teddy's wrist she found it was half six. She allowed herself to steal 10 more minutes in bed, in his arms, before getting out of bed. Everything was thrown around the bedroom. Her skirt looked fairly destroyed, made sense to her though, the zip had been threatening to give for months. The bed frame of twisted and misshapen black iron looked barely strong enough to hold a 5 year old, never mind two teenagers and their night-time antics, the floor was as bare as the front room, old wood that creaked at the very mention of placing any weight on it. The walls just as bare as the floor. Again cardboard boxes had become make shift wardrobes and tables. Opening the box closest to her, Victoire found a number of Teddy's 'messy' clothes. The things Andromeda hated him wearing. She knew there'd be some of her stuff in here too, things Andromeda very liked didn't know Teddy had. But the wasn't what she thought. He had a pair of black leggings she knew she'd left at his Gran's when she was 10, but nothing else. Victoire puffed out her cheeks and attempted the spell that would hopefully make them fit her now, and she'd just pair them with one of Teddy's t-shirts until she got back home, whenever that was.
The door creaked something terrible when she pushed it open. She swung around quickly to see if the noise had woken Teddy. But it hadn't, he slept soundly on. Smiling slightly, Victoire found her boots, discarded by the old sofa days before, pulled them on mussed her hair and thudded down the stairs, making a noise loud enough to wake the dead. But alas, Teddy slept on.
Things out in the Alley had reversed themselves to what they had been the night she had arrived at the flat. People dragging things out of their shop instead of pulling them in, the odd teenager running into a variety of shops were Victoire assumed they would be working through the summer. 'Poor sods' she thought as she smiled at a girl who waved at her, nearly dropping a box of reverse wands outside her uncle George's shop. Victoire knew George wouldn't be up at this time, which meant Freddie would be inside. Freddie was rather bad tempered and easily irritated any time before 10 in a morning, and after his mother told him that she wouldn't give him the money to go and watch puddlemeer united at the end of summer, he had asked his dad for a job. This request suited George Wealsey, as it meant for 7 weeks he didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn. Deciding to post pone her original idea of picking up some more clothes, Victoire headed straight towards the 'Wealsey's Wizard Wheezes' joke shop, causing the dark haired girl to knock over the arrangement of joke wands.
"What the hell is going on out here!" came a voice from the dark shop floor.
"Oh, Fred I'm-" the girl began.
"Sorry Freddie it was my fault." Victoire had felt her cousin's anger throughout her childhood, and doing something that she wasn't well known for doing caused Fred to come out of his lair to see who was there. The lanky frame of Freddie Weasley strode through the door, bringing with him an air of authority, sticking his noise up slightly,he reminded Victoire of Uncle Percy, but she knew better then to say so. He looked around at the wands rolling around on the cobbled floor and the poor girl frantically grabbing them and putting them back in the box. His gaze then fell on the small girl in an over sized t-shirt, and his freckled and pock-marked face broke into a massive grin, spreading from ear to ear.
"Vicky! What are you doing here? You know what forget that, come here!" He pulled her into a rib breaking embrace. "Shame about Nicca aint it." He added, as if an afterthought.
"What?" Victoire broke the embrace and looked into her cousins chocolate brown eyes. "Freddie I don't know what you're talking about."
"Ah...Well...You better come in then."
She had been into the joke shop plenty of times before, but never into the small flat above that was used as an office for Auntie Angelina . It was a strangely modern room, and compared to the rest of the shop, it was completely out of place. The walls had been painted egg shell white, the floors pale laminate that clicked whenever either Victoire or Freddie moved, all the furniture was the same colour wood as the floor, giving the room a clinical feeling. There wasn't a speck of dust anywhere in the office, and Victoire suspected that it was in that dark haired girls interest to keep this room clean, for her jobs sake. On the desk under the window was a large pale tawny looking owl.
"Austin just brought this," Freddie held up a letter that was n the desk next to the owl, which seemed strangely familiar. "Its from Uncle Bill." That was how she knew Austin, he was a four year old Pharaoh Eagle Owl her father had purchased whilst on holiday 2years ago. "Here, read it." Victoire took the parchment from Fred.
' Dear George,
You know how we always thought it would be Vicky that would mess up and destroy her life in a way only she could.-'
"Charmed I'm sure!" scoffed Victoire.
"Shut up and read it"
'- It turns out we were wrong. And quite royally so. As you know Dominique returned home from Hogwarts the other day, so did Victoire but she's insisting on staying at Harry's this summer, It's closer to work apparently. For months now Nicca had been pestering us into letting her have her boyfriend, Tobias whatever his name is, over for the beginning of the summer, whilst his parents sort out their divorce. Eventually we agreed, only for them both to sit us down last night and, tearfully I might add, tell us Dominique won't be completing her 5th year, the stupid girl is pregnant and completely insistent on keeping it. Fleur is in a mess, she hasn't stopped crying since they told us, and I just want to kill that stupid son of a bitch. I'm not going to take the fatherly ground and say it isn't Dominique's fault because it takes two, but she's changed since she's been with him, she's doing things we'd more expect from Vicky or your Fred, but not our little Nicca!
Don't say a word to mum yet, we want Dominique to break it to her. I'm not breaking mum's heart just because she's screwed up, she can do that herself.
Don't forget it's Louis party next weekend, and if you see our other sweet and innocent daughter, could you send her round for us, she may be able to talk some sense into Dominique.
Cheers George,
Bill'
"Get me some parchment," Victoire ordered as she picked up an eagle quill that had been left on the desk. Grabbing the parchment Freddie offered her, Victoire scribbled a quick note.
'Dad its me, I'm with Freddie now, just going to tell Teddy where I'm going then I'll be there,
Love you, Vicky'
The cottage was completely silent as Victoire opened the wooden door. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing. The door lead into the cosy kitchen, were her 11, almost 12, year old brother sat, the family's 16 year old Scottish fold sat on the table in front of him.
"She'll never get down from there again you know," Louis jumped out of his skin, as her words pierced his day dreams.
"They keep shouting at each other, Vicky, I don't know what to do," the little boys head dropped forward, his blonde hair covering his eyes slightly, tears streaming from his bright blue eyes. Victoire picked up the little boy and cuddled him close.
"Hey Lou! It'll be okay I promise, Nicca's just been very silly that all," she rocked him gently as the old, fat, grey cat slowly padded across the table, meowing softly she began licking Louis' cheek. "See, Jessie knows." With one last pitiful sob, Louis regained control and hugged her tightly.
"I've always loved you more than Nicca, Vicky, you always know what to say," she had to stop herself snorting at her brother's comment. She never knew what to say, that was why she was always in trouble. Louis then picked the old moggie off the table and went to sit in the living room. 'Wouldn't it be ironic to die in the living room' Victoire chuckled to herself as she followed him.
The living room wasn't much bigger than the kitchen, though it appeared crowded. Louis sat on the window box, Jessie curled up on his knee. On a hazel coloured love seat was a tiny snowshoe cat, Alfie was Victoire's birthday present the year she went to Hogwarts, as at the time she couldn't take Hades with her. He purred slightly at her appearance, then went back to sleep, across from the love seat was an identical black three seater, one arm was covered in coats and bags the other was occupied by a timid looking teenage boy. Victoire vaguely recognised him as the Ravenclaw seeker, by the look on his face, she gathered her father had scared him enough not to even bother moving. Flicking the switch on the television their grandfather had bought them one Christmas Victoire threw herself next to Alfie.
"So 'Toby'," She grinned, "I hear you're having a bit of trouble keeping it in your pants," His terrified look gave her even more ammunition to carry on. "'Cause you know there are spells that can help you with tha-"
"Victoire! You made it!" screamed a heavy French accent.
"Hello Vicky." Came another voice from the door as Victoire was grabbed by her mother into an embrace to make Freddie ashamed. "Fleur let go, she's upstairs," Bill added, not making eye contact with his eldest daughter.
"Why are you being like this dad?"
"Like what?"
"Acting like a child."
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am NOT!"
" There's my point! You treat me like some sort of infectious disease! I'm your daughter for Christ's sakes!" Tobias and Fleur shot around to watch Victoire verbally beat her father. For the second time in that week Victoire felt tears stinging her eyes. "What was it? Was I not girly enough? I just wanted to make you proud!"
"Yeah, whilst telling the rest of the world you hate me," he stated quietly.
"I never said I hated you, I just hate what I've become, because of you." Came the solemn reply. " I became obsessed with being perfection for you, I wouldn't let myself stop until I was perfect, and even then I wanted more, just for you." For the first time in years Bill looked his daughter in the eye. They weren't the same as when he last did, they weren't filled with youthful excitement nor were they the same striking blue they had once been, her right eye was a soft powder blue, her left was almost silver, both cried out to him, the little girl inside the hard shell wanted her daddy to pick her up and hold her close like he had once done so long ago.
"What happened to you?" Worry etched itself across his scarred and worn face. His hand stroking her cheek . "Your eyes, they..They're not my baby's eyes anymore."
"They just faded. Andromeda thinks it has something to do with the fact I inherited your furry little issue, that its sort of making itself heard. Your should see Teddy's naturally now, they're completely white," she tried to laugh it off, but if truth be known, her eyes were a cause of great discomfort. She usually used the same charmed she used on her scars to mimic her birth colour to act as a sun shade for them, but with it being as early as it had been when she had left, she'd simply forgotten.
A/N Well people another chapter down.. and what will happen now?? DUNNDUNN DUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHN welll yehhh i have ice cream o im happy.. but the question is... are you my readers happy? Review and let me know XX
