There is a minor sexual assault trigger warning at the beginning of this chapter. I'll put astericks (*) when it starts and when if finishes, just be warned it exists.

Gran made Freddie and James clean the kitchen by hand after their prank. I was grinning as I snuck out to the garden. I sat on one of the benches and looked up at the stars; the sky was always clearer here than at home and far more beautiful. When we were younger, Teddy and I used to lay out in the grass and watch the stars until Gran forced us to come inside.

"I figured I'd find you out here," Teddy said, making me sit up straight to see him standing a little ways from me. "Can I sit?"

I scooted over and gestured for him to take a seat without speaking. We sat together in an awkward silence as we looked at the stars together. It felt nothing like when we were kids, and I tried my best to not be upset. When I peeked over at him, I saw him looking at me instead of the sky.

"What are you doing?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. "You've been giving me mixed signals on top of mixed signals today, it's the shittiest birthday present in the world."

He let out a heavy sigh and scrubbed his hands over his face as his hair turned red then back to blue. "I know and I'm sorry. You just get under my skin, Victoire."

"Oh, great, it's my fault you're an asshole to me all the time," I responded sarcastically, flashing him an unimpressed face. "That makes total sense!"

"You are such a bitch!" he exclaimed, tossing his hands in the air. "You don't let me get away with a damn thing, you never have."

"Look, I don't want to play these games with you anymore," I sighed as a harsh realization hit me: this was how things were always going to be with us and I was foolish to ever think differently. "You didn't want me when I told you how I felt, so I moved on."

"You were fifteen and so innocent!" he exclaimed. "I couldn't wreck that, especially when you mean so much to me."

My stomach fell out of my butt at his admittance, making me open and close my mouth a couple times as I tried to think of something to say. A snap in the woods behind us drew both our attention, the two of us raising our wands as we stood. All the adults in our lives survived a war, we were taught from a childhood to always be vigilant. I came from being the first one born after the war and the only one born during it.

When Allegro peeked his head around a huge cedar tree, I lowered my wand and felt my shoulders sag in both relief and annoyance. Teddy growled under his breath, but I just ignored him and ran over to the woods. The last thing I needed was my family to find him, that would be hard to explain to my dad.

"Allegro, what are you doing here?" I asked in an annoyed voice. "My entire family is in that house! Have you lost your mind? You're going to get us caught!"

He grinned at me wolfishly and replied, "That's the thrill, isn't it?"

(*)

Apparently, he took my lack of an answer as an answer itself. He took me by my waist and yanked me to him, trying to kiss me. I moved my head to the side to dodge the kiss, but he was unhampered and kissed down my neck instead. I tried my best to get out of his embrace, but he was too strong. I felt my heart sink as I realized I had no control in this situation and it was going south fast.

"Allegro, stop," I said, pushing at his chest to no avail. "Stop, I don't want to do this."

He lifted from my neck and smiled up at me, "Come on, Vic, it's your birthday and I want to give you your present."

One of his hands moved up my thigh to slide under my skirt and grip my bum, making me struggle harder against him. Teddy's warning of him never taking no for an answer was echoing around my head now as I started pounding on his chest. My fight or flight instinct was in full gear, but my willowy form was no match for his Quidditch built body. He was trying to push down my knickers when I heard someone swear behind us, then shout a body-bind curse at Allegro.

My eyes were wild as he fell backward to the forest floor without moving. I was struggling to breathe when I turned to look at Teddy, and he was seething. I sucked in a few desperate breaths as my body started shaking because the adrenaline was fading fast. I sagged back against a tree, Teddy approaching me slowly with his hands up in a surrender position.

"Hey, 'toire, are you okay?" he asked in a quiet voice, tucking his wand into the waistband of his trousers as he moved a bit closer to me.

(*)

The use of his childhood nickname for me made me look at him instead of Allegro. My voice was shaky when I answered, "Yeah, just a little shaken up."

Teddy moved his body to block mine as he lifted Allegro from the ground with his wand. Then he pressed the tip of it to the soft part of Allegro's throat, making him swallow thickly. I reached out and grabbed Teddy's waist, laying my forehead between his shoulder blades as a way to tether myself because I felt like I could float away at any second. Looking at Allegro made a knot form in my throat and tears burn my eyes.

"I'm going to unbind you and you're going to get the hell out of here," Teddy told him, his voice pitched low and menacing. "If I hear about you even talking about Victoire, I will find you and I will end you. Do you understand?"

Allegro made a garbled noise of affirmation, and it satisfied Teddy enough to undo the binding curse. I watched Allegro's lip tilt up into a cruel sneer as he glared at me over Teddy's shoulder. How I ever thought he was handsome was a mystery to me now.

"You weren't worth it anyway," he spat, this person coming out of nowhere and making me want to stay cowered being Teddy forever. "You were a frigid bitch, not even worth the work I put in."

I winced at his insult and watched Teddy readying his wand to send another curse his way. I didn't want him to do something he'd regret, so I reached up and took his wrist in my hand and lowered his arm gently. He let me move him and I saw Allegro's eye twitch with jealousy -I'd never touched him so softly. Then he spat on the ground and went back to wherever he'd left his broom.

Teddy was breathing so harshly I could hear it and it made me a little nervous, so I moved to stand in front of him. Even if things were weird between us, I placed a timid hand on his chest and his honey eyes landed on mine in an instant. If that surprised me, him pulling me into a hug left me absolutely gobsmacked. A beat later, I lifted my arms and held his waist again with his hand cupping the back of my head, making me feel safe and secure.

I laughed against his shoulder and it sounded wet, meaning I was probably going to cry soon. "God, worst birthday ever."

He pulled back from me and brushed his thumb over my cheek, catching a tear. "I'm so sorry."

I pulled a face and replied, "For what? You didn't do anything."

He sighed and replied, "Not for this, I'm sorry for hurting you. Both when we were in school and the other day."

That was a shitty apology, but I saw how serious his eyes were when he looked at me. He still had an arm around me with his free hand cupping my face, the intensity between us almost a seeable thing. I wanted him back in my life more than I'd ever wanted anything, but I didn't want him to treat me badly anymore.

"I want you back in my life, Ted, but I don't want to get hurt anymore," I admitted, twisting one of the buttons on his flannel shirt nervously.

He laughed humorlessly and rubbed my cheekbone. "I never meant to hurt you, I tried my best to keep from doing it."

"By sleeping with one of my best friends? You did an awesome job," I replied, pulling back out of his arms and shutting myself off as best I could. "This was stupid, thanks for saving me. I'm going back inside."

I wiped my face and left the woods, stalking back to the garden and into the Burrow. Dom saw me first and hurried over, running her fingers over a scrap on the side of my arm. Shit, I didn't even think about cleaning myself up before I came in.

"Victoire, what happened? There's pine needles in your hair and you're all scrapped up," she asked in a rushed voice, cataloguing all my injuries.

I was about to answer her when dad came over to the two of us, his eyes flaming. "Victoire, what happened? Are you okay?"

The sincerity in his voice made new tears burn my eyes and I wrapped my arms around his middle, hiding my face in his chest. I felt Dominique picking the pine needles from my hair as I bawled, the events of the night finally becoming too much. I wasn't kidding earlier, this was the worst birthday ever.

Teddy picked the world's worst time to come back inside because the second the door swung open, dad had his wand raised with me still in his arms. Of course his mind immediately went to Teddy hurting me.

"What did you do?" he asked in a voice I'd never heard him use before. "What did you do to her?"

"Whoa, Bill, let's talk about this, yeah?" Uncle Harry said, coming over to stand between Teddy and dad's wand. "Let's let Victoire tell us what happened before we make an rash judgements."

I lifted my head and told them, "Teddy didn't do anything."

Dad reluctantly lowered his wand and I peeked around him to see the entire family was gathered in the kitchen now. Teddy's hair was white and his eyes were huge, my dad was a curse breaker who'd survived a war -he knew some intense spells. I didn't blame him.

"Then what happened, poppet?" dad asked, brushing my hair from my face after he holstered his wand. "Why are you upset?"

I swallowed thickly and figured it was time to come clean. Maman had some idea what was about to happen and suggested the young kids go upstairs, and I nodded. I kept a tight grip on Dom's hand, but everyone else did as maman suggested, leaving me with the adults and Teddy.

We all sat around the kitchen table with hot chocolate Gran brewed to warm me up. "I've been seeing Allegro Valentene since last term."

"Isn't he a Chaser for the Cannons?" Aunt Ginny asked, making me nod and brace myself for the uproar.

"He's twenty years old, Victoire!"

I sighed and replied, "Yeah, I know. That's why I kept it a secret, but don't worry, it backfired on me anyway. We've been sneaking around and he showed up here tonight and tried to make me have sex with him, at least I think that was what he wanted. When I turned him down, he didn't stop. If Teddy didn't show up, I don't want to know what would've happened."

I told the entire story while I looked at my hands on the table, my nail polish chipped during the fight with him. For some hysterical reason, that made tears gather in my eyes for the millionth time. God, that was so stupid. I didn't need to cry over chipped nail polish.

Maman gasped and reached over for me, pulling me close and talking to me in French. She told me about how a boy tried to do the same to her during the Triwizard Tournament, and how dad saved her. Then she said it happened more than once, and she would teach me how to defend myself when we got home. Fortunately, only Dom and I spoke fluent French and dad understood only a bit. I had a feeling maman did it on purpose to keep that a secret, she didn't like people thinking she was weak.

Dad pushed up from the table along with Uncle Harry, Uncle Ron, Uncle Charlie, and Uncle George. The group of them stalked out of the kitchen before I had a chance to stop them. The last thing I wanted was for them to do something awful because I was stupid.

"I don't want them to get in trouble because I'm stupid," I whimpered, chewing my lip.

"Sweet, they're going to take care of it. Don't forget Harry and Ronald are Aurors," Gran reassured me, giving my hand a comforting pat. "You're not stupid, that boy took advantage of you. He deserves what he gets, but don't tell the boys I said that."

I didn't know what to say, so I just sat silently at the table. I'd almost been sexually assaulted or worse, I needed to report the attack. Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron were who I needed to tell, so at least I had that part out of the way. It was a lot easier than going to the Ministry and telling someone there, no one would believe me. I knew how people looked a Veela, we were a tease to men and deserved whatever we got in return.

"I think I'm going to go home," I announced, pushing up from the table shakily. "Thank you for the party, Gran. The food was wonderful."

I hugged everyone before I accioed my broom from upstairs and Flooed home. I knew maman would wait for dad to come back to the Burrow, but that was the last thing I wanted. I just wanted a shower and to go to bed. Once I was back home, the scent of vanilla and maman's jasmine perfume pervaded my senses and made a wave of safety overcome me. No one could hurt me here.

After I put my broom in the closet with the others, I made my way to the bathroom. When I looked in the mirror, I saw my mascara was all over my face and my hair was a wreck. I washed my face clean of makeup and took off my clothes, letting my hair down as well. My dress had a tear in the back that I'd mend later, right now I just wanted to get the sticky resin from the cedar off my skin.

When I was satisfied with how clean I was, I got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around my body. I found bruises on my hips while I was washing my body along with bruises and marks on my neck and one of my shoulders from his harsh kisses. The backs of my arms were scraped up from rubbing against the tree bark and there were scratches on the back of my thigh from his nails. Those were things that didn't wash away.

Instead of staring at myself some more, I went to my room and put on pajamas. I put on knickers with shorts and one of dad's big jumpers. With the smell of him surrounding me, I buried myself under my covers. This was always my safe place, nothing could get me when I was tucked underneath them.

I didn't hear the Floo downstairs, but I did hear Louis chanting "Vic, Vic, Vic" as he and Dominique came into my room a little later. They crawled into my bed with me, Dom braiding my hair back and Louis cuddling in close to me. He didn't really understand what happened tonight, he just knew I was upset and wanted to make me feel better. He was such a sweet kid whenever he wanted to be.

"Can we sleep with you tonight, birthday girl?" Dom asked, making Lou look up at me with big, sleepy eyes. "Or are you too old for sleepovers now?"

"I'll never be too old for sleepovers with the two of you," I replied, a tired smile pulling at my lips as we all got comfortable. "I love you both."

Louis fell asleep pretty quickly after that, clutching my hand in both of his as he slept between me and Dom. She and I talked for a while about everything under the moon before she started dozing off. I knew before I laid down I wasn't going to get a lot of sleep tonight, but I couldn't turn them away. It felt so much safer to have them here with me, nothing could touch them while I was watching, and that made me happy.

Their family dynamic is so sweet, I'm kind of proud of it.