Hello! I'm sorry for this short chapter, but I promise things are moving along and I'll get you some kind of smutty chapter next time! Please review, and if you have, thank you so much! :)

6. Heart

Teddy Lupin Apparated at his godfather's house with his mind clouded and his heart sinking. It was not unusual for Harry to ask him to dinner, but he had the quenching feeling it had something to do with his last Auror test. Ron had spoken to him several days ago about his poor results, asking him to take everything seriously, or else, even though he had talent and was by far the most advanced student, he was going to be forced to put him on probation. It had proven to be one of the toughests weeks of his life, and he was sure it was not over yet.

He knocked the front door and a grinning Lily opened it. She squealed with delight and grabbed his hand, dragging him inside and announcing to the whole house that Teddy had arrived. Ginny popped her head out of the kitchen and laughing at Lily's obvious joy, she went into the living room to greet him.

"Teddy, it's been awhile since we saw you." Ginny said, pecking him on the cheek. He sat down at the couch.

"Yes, your husband has been keeping us busy with all that training. I just saw my granny once last week." Teddy said, hugging Lily back and placing her on his lap.

"Oh, he's always too hard on new recruits. I'll tell him to go a little easy on you guys." she laughed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Teddy, look!" Lily said, showing him a pop up book about Quidditch with flying players and a tiny Snitch circling it. "Daddy got it for me, he says I ought to start early in my education."

"That's nice, Lils." Teddy said, turning the page and looking at four goal posts that popped up the book. "Where is Harry, anyway?"

"Right here." Harry said, stepping out of the staircase. He walked towards them and greeted Teddy. "I wanted to talk to you. Would you mind if we do it before dinner?"

"No, it's fine." Teddy said, setting Lily to her feet and standing up.

"But you have to practice Quidditch with me after dinner, Teddy!" she said to him, tugging his robes.

"Sure, Lily. We'll play with James and Albus." he reassured her, ruffling her hair and following Harry to his office.

They sat down in a couch near the fireplace, and then he conjured up some butterbeer. He handed one to Teddy and he gulped it down, feeling the warm sensation filling his chest. It was a chilly night at the beginning of December, and the fire made the whole room a little more cozy.

"Ron came to talk to me last night." Harry began. Teddy knew it was because of his poor results. "He told me you were falling a little behind with your tests."

"I got an A in the theoretical test and a P in the practice one." Teddy said, looking at his godfather. "But I have gotten nothing but O's since the beginning."

"Yes, that's why it felt weird to Ron. He said you were not paying attention at the test and that you seemed kind of down." Harry said, worry in his eyes.

"It's nothing." Teddy said, trying to dismiss the subject. "I'll do better next time."

"I don't have a doubt about it. But, you know, if something's bothering you… You can talk to me…" Harry said, trying his best to look reliable.

"Did Ginny talked you into this?" Teddy asked, an eyebrow raised.

"No, no." said Harry, shaking his head. "I am worried about you."

"You don't have to be, it'll go away." he said, drinking from his butterbeer again.

"What will?"

"Let's not talk about it." Teddy said. If he said it out loud it may never go away.

"Come on, Teddy. You can tell me anything." Harry insisted.

Teddy didn't want to tell him. He was pretty sure he was not going to be in favour of it, and most likely, he was going to get angry. It was his niece after all. And more than anything, he knew that he would tell him that it didn't matter, that he should just focus on his Auror training and leave those petty things for later. But he still had a brick lodged in his chest, and it refused to go away even after he had received that extremely short letter from Victoire.

"Ehm…" Teddy began, not believing he was about to tell Harry everything that had been going on inside his head. "What does it mean when…"

"Yes?" Harry asked, his interest peaking. "Go on, Ted."

"What does it mean when a girl sends you a really short answer to five letters you've sent her?" Teddy asked, his face feeling suddenly too hot.

"Oh." Harry said, his eyes big and round in realisation. "It's a girl thing."

"What did you expect?" Teddy asked.

"I don't know. Something with your grandmum or maybe an issue with the rest of the recruits." Harry said, sighing from relief.

"No, everything is fine." Teddy sighed too. He drank again from his butterbeer and feeling that he needed to finish now that he had begun, he continued. "I guess she got angry because of something I said, but I don't really know what happened. We were fine, and then she asked me some weird questions, and then I…"

"What weird questions? Why don't you tell me from the beginning?"

"Well, it's not something I can discuss with you." Teddy said, dread coming to his throat and making him anxious.

"Ah." Harry said, looking embarrassed. "I understand that what you do is up to you. You're an adult now, but, you know, be careful, take precautions and-"

"No!" Teddy said quickly, realising with horror to where this conversation was headed. "It's not about that! I just meant… you wouldn't approve of it, because she is…"

"Older?" Harry asked cluelessly.

"No." Teddy made a painful expression. It was getting weirder by the second, he might as well tell Harry, before he thought something worse of him. "It's Victoire."

"Oh!" Harry said, his ears turning pink and scratching his head. "I didn't know you two were together."

"We are not." Teddy said, covering his face. "That's the thing, she… doesn't… Ah! I don't know what to think anymore!"

"Do you fancy her?" Harry asked.

"I…" Teddy uncovered his face and looked at his godfather. "Yes."

"Then what's the problem?"

"It's a long story" Teddy knew his hair was pink by then. He had discovered lately that whenever he thought about Victoire, his hair turned bubblegum pink. He guessed it was the color of love, and he hated it.

"You can tell me, we have time." Harry said, reassuringly.

"I've always treated Victoire as my little sister, you know, like the way I treat Lily or Rose. But something happened in the summer- please, don't tell Bill, but…" Teddy stopped. Of course he was going to tell Bill, he was his brother-in-law.

"I won't say a thing, don't worry." Harry said, to Teddy's amazement.

"Ehm…" it was all or nothing for Teddy, so he might as well tell him. He was sure after getting it off of his chest he was going to feel better. "I took her clubbing, and she drank… a lot. And then when I tried to take her home, she was resisting and she told me she loved me and kissed me."

"You're lucky I'm not on the clock, or I'd have to arrest you for getting a minor drunk." Harry said, jokingly.

"I was trying to prevent her getting drunk!" Teddy defended himself.

"It's fine, Ted. It wouldn't be the first time a minor consumes alcohol." Harry laughed. "And then what happened?"

"That's the thing, she didn't remember, and when the subject came up days later, she said it had been an accident." Teddy pursed his lips, remembering. "But the thing is… after that kiss I started seeing her in a different way. She has always been my sister, but after that I was not so sure anymore."

"Did you tell her?" Harry asked.

"No!" Teddy said quickly. "I mean, I didn't have the chance to do anything. I went to Auror training right after that and then she went back to Hogwarts. And I was still a little confused, I was trying to see her as a sister, and yet as the time went by, I couldn't stop thinking about her. And then I went to see her at Hogsmeade."

"Go on…" Harry encouraged in the tiny pause Teddy made.

"That's when I knew for sure, Harry." Teddy said, blushing even more. "When I saw her again after all those weeks apart, I felt it. I am… in love… with her."

"Did you tell her then?"

"No…" Teddy covered his face again, feeling a stab to his chest. "I realised I was in love with her just as she was looking at another bloke."

"Oh…"

"I asked her about him, and at first she said she didn't like him, but she looked as if she was lying. And when I kept asking about it, she asked me why did I care about it, and I panicked, I said I cared about her as a sister, so I was protecting her. And she just looked at me in a funny way and said that… she had started to develop feelings towards him." Teddy felt the pain in his chest increase, and he clutched it hoping it would go away.

"Oh, Ted." Harry said, feeling his pain.

"She didn't wrote me back for sometime after that, I don't even know if she read any of my letters." Teddy said pathetically. "And then last weekend, the guys from the flat took me out. I drank a little too much, and I sent her a letter. I can't remember for the life of me what did the letter said, I may have confessed everything, for all I know. So in the morning I wrote to her again, telling her to forget about the letter and just write me back. And she did."

"The short letter?"

"Yes. She just said she was not angry and that she will see me at Christmas. Christmas is almost a month away, Harry. She just dismissed me, and I…" Teddy had to stop talking. His chest pain was becoming unbearable, and it started to go up to his throat.

"I'm sorry, Teddy." Harry said, clapping his shoulder. "To tell you the truth, I don't think things are as bad as you think. I'm sure if you tell her, she'll think different about it, and for this other bloke, I'm sure he's no match for you."

"Thanks, Harry." Teddy said, his pain subsiding a little. "But you know, I think it's my fault. There's something else. I kind of talked her into trying something with this other guy."

"What?" Harry asked in surprise.

"It was before everything started. I teased her too much, and told her no one would like her that way or something like that. I don't know, it was stupid. And for some reason or another, we ended up joking about her going out with this bloke. But she was not joking at all, and now she really has feelings for him. I didn't know back then that I liked her as more than a friend."

"Look, Ted." Harry said, seriousness lighting up his face. "If there was something I learned from watching Ron and Hermione over the years, is that things are only complicated if you let them be. If you deny your feelings or if you don't say them properly, then you would get nowhere. They had this complicated friendship and they were waiting for the other to make the move, and in the end, the only thing that made them unhappy was not saying it properly. If you love someone you should tell them."

"I'm no Gryffindor like you." Teddy said, feeling dejected. "I don't think I dare."

"It has nothing to do with being a Gryffindor or a Hufflepuff. It has to do with being true to what you feel and loving without reserves. You are Ted Lupin, son of Remus and Tonks, and I know for a fact that those two loved without reserves, they dared, and so can you." Harry concluded proudly.

Teddy felt his chest deflate a little. He knew he was being a coward, but confronting the situation was out of his mind. Victoire was too much of a sister, and if he blew it by telling her exactly how he felt, she was not going to talk to him anymore. Their friendship was going to be over, and he couldn't bear to lose her like that.

"Thanks, Harry." he mumbled and stood up from the couch. Harry followed him and they both went to dinner. Teddy did his best to look cheerful and he was glad James, Albus and Lily were mostly leading the conversation at the table. His thoughts kept wandering to the conversation he had with Harry, and those words he said: he was in love with Victoire. It was the first time he said it out loud. And even though it had felt good to say it, he knew those words were not going to reach the right person, and he didn't even want it to.

After dinner they all played a short Quidditch match in the backyard, and he let his mind forget about the whole thing. He was better without all the Victoire trouble clouding his mind, so when the Potters finally let him go, he Apparated back to his flat with the intention of not thinking about it until at least Auror training finished for the year. Christmas was going to be a sordid affair.