"I still can't believe them."
Victoire looked up at Molly. The redhead sat down on the bench across from her, shaking her head.
"What do you mean?" Victoire asked.
"They're teaching us for the next two and a half months," Molly said, "Just... Don't you find it weird that our uncles are the ones teaching us Defense?"
Victoire shrugged. "I mean, it's not like they don't have experience with it, and I can't think of better people to fill in for Professor Valance. I hope everything's okay, she's never missed classes like this before."
"I'm sure she'll be fine," Molly said.
"I hope," Victoire said, "She's one of my favorite professors."
"Mine too, but still," Molly said, "It's the Head of the Auror Office and his right-hand man. I don't think there's anyone more qualified to teach us how to defend ourselves."
"I suppose," Victoire said.
"Morning."
Victoire looked up, only to smile when she saw Jake. He sat down beside her, kissed her cheek, and began to fill his plate.
"Hi Jake," Molly said.
"Hey, Molly," Jake said, before turning to Victoire, "Ready for the game?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," Victoire said, "Lexa, Teddy, and I went out on the pitch yesterday to make sure we had everything tightened up, and so far, it looks good. How about you, are you ready?"
Jake nodded enthusiastically. "Can't wait."
"Me either," Victoire said, "I've been waiting for this for ages."
"I'm just looking forward to Monica's commentary," Molly said, grinning, "If it weren't for the fact that my best friends and cousins are on the team, Monica would be the only reason I'd go to Quidditch matches. It's just not as fun when you don't have a personal investment. The Harpies and Puddlemere are fine because I know people who were or are involved with them, but Quidditch here…"
Victoire laughed. "Monica's commentary is always a high point, I must say. I don't know where she got the skills for it, but she's amazing."
"I dunno," Jake said, "My first year, there was this kid, Jared Barnes, he was incredible."
"Uncle George always told me that no one will ever hold a candle to Lee," Molly said, "But he did say that Monica is a close second, and if he's saying that, it's almost definitely true."
"Of course, it is Uncle George," Victoire said, "And you can never take him too seriously, he's liable to be joking with you."
"Your family is so amazing," Jake said, sighing, "Mine's the most boring thing in the world."
"You two better eat fast."
At the sound of Teddy's voice, Victoire looked up. The older boy was standing there, his face solemn and his arms crossed. She sighed. "I ate already, I was just here with Molly."
"We'd best go get ready then," Teddy said, "We need to be down at the pitch and ready to go in a half hour."
Victoire nodded. "See you later, Molly." She kissed Jake swiftly and stood, following Teddy out of the Great Hall. He walked at a speed that she could not match, so she continued to follow him down to the locker rooms at the Quidditch Pitch.
A few hundred yards away from the pitch, she jogged to catch up with him. He slowed slightly, allowing her to walk beside him.
"You alright?" she asked.
"Hmm?"
"I asked if you were alright."
He shrugged. "Fine, yeah."
Victoire stopped and crossed her arms, staring at him. After a few steps, he stopped walking and turned to face her. "What, Victoire?"
Her eyes widened, but she continued to keep her eyes on him. "Ted Remus Lupin, stop lying to me. I know you and I know when you're not alright, so it doesn't do you any good to try to pretend otherwise."
He stood there for a few moments, his eyes locked on hers. Then, his shoulders slumped and he sighed. "No, I'm not alright."
She stepped closer to him. "Well then what is it? I can't help if I don't know what's wrong."
"You can't help," Teddy said, "This isn't something that can be fixed."
"At least tell me what it is, please," Victoire said, "I'm your best mate, Teddy, you know you can trust me."
He looked around swiftly before stepping towards her and stopping directly in front of her. "It just… Hurts."
"What?" Victoire asked.
"It's the first match of my last year of school," Teddy said, "Everyone else has family and friends coming to watch them play, or almost everyone does, and I just… Their parents aren't coming because they have another commitment, or because they don't want to, or they're going to a later match this year. My parents aren't coming because they're dead."
Victoire's mouth formed a small "o" as she nodded. "Teddy… I can't say I understand, because I clearly don't, but remember, Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry love you. To them, you're their eldest child. You spent most of your childhood in your own room at their house. They're certainly not the same, but I wouldn't say that you don't have parents. And you do have a family, Teddy, whether you think you do or not."
Teddy opened his mouth to respond, only to shut it when someone called Victoire's name. She turned to see Jake hurrying down the hill towards them.
"Vic!" He paused where they stood. "You coming?"
She cocked her head slightly, looking at him. "We'll be down in a few minutes, go on without me."
Jake watched her for a moment before nodding. "Uh… Alright then."
He continued down the hill. Once he was out of sight, Victoire turned back to Teddy, whose arms were crossed. He was staring at the ground, and she sighed.
"As I was saying," she said, "You do have a family, Teddy, and you know who loves you? Me. I love you, Teddy, and every member of the Weasley-Potter clan loves you too. I know that we can't make up for the family that you lost, Teddy, but we do love you and you shouldn't forget that."
Teddy reached out and tugged Victoire to him, hugging her tightly. She smiled and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing her face to his shoulder. For a moment, she thought she felt his lips press against her hair, but the pressure was gone almost as soon as it had begun, and she came to believe that it was just her imagination.
"Love you too, Tori," he murmured, running his fingers through her ponytail.
She stood there a moment longer, reveling in the contact, before pulling back slightly, her arms still locked around his waist. "Now, Mr. Lupin, I believe we have a Quidditch match to win."
He laughed. "I do too."
She removed her arms from his waist, grinning cheekily at him. He grabbed her hand and started running down the hill. She laughed and ran after him. They slid to a stop just inside the open door to the Gryffindor locker room. Jake looked up from where he was pulling his robes and raised his eyebrows. Behind him, Liam was grinning and talking to Alexa, who caught Victoire's eye and smiled widely.
"Having fun?" Jake asked.
Victoire held Teddy's arm to keep herself upright, laughing hysterically. "Most definitely."
Teddy put a hand on her back, grinning and barely stifling his laughter. "Easy, Tori."
"OI!"
Victoire stopped laughing and turned to look at Sam, who was standing there, arms crossed. "Sorry, Cap."
"Won't happen again," Teddy said.
Sam rolled his eyes. "Don't lie, I know you both and it will at some point. Just focus now, please. This match is important."
Victoire saluted him. "Yes sir."
She moved to her locker and began to pull on her robes, grimacing as they messed up her ponytail. As she fixed it, Alexa came to stand beside her. The dark-haired girl was already dressed, broomstick in hand.
"What were you and Teddy laughing about?" Alexa asked, leaning against the wall.
Victoire shrugged. "I don't really know."
Alexa laughed. "Only you two, Vic. Only you two."
"What about you and Liam?" Victoire asked, grinning at Alexa and adjusting her arm guards.
Alexa flushed. "Nothing's going on, I swear. We were just talking, that's all."
"Sure, Lexa. Sure." Victoire grinned and tightened the laces of her robes before pulling on her new gloves, smiling appreciatively at the feeling of the supple leather against her palms. She shouldered her broomstick and grinned at Alexa. "Ready?"
"Always am," Alexa said, a wide smile on her face.
"I certainly hope so."
Victoire turned around to see Dom standing there, her Beater's bat hanging in one hand, her broomstick in the other. Her red-blonde hair was pulled back from her face into a long French braid, and she was eyeing her sister with a speculative expression on her face.
"Well, don't you look professional?" Victoire asked, her smile widening, "I feel like I haven't seen you in ages, Dom."
"That's because someone's been busy with her new boyfriend," Dom said, "Besides, I've been looking after the younguns."
"I haven't spent that much time with Jake, and someone has to do it," Victoire said, shrugging.
"We get on just fine, so it's not a problem," Dom said, "Point is, we're both busy, it's not surprising we haven't seen much of one another."
Victoire opened her mouth to reply, and promptly shut it when Sam clapped his hands. She turned to face him, leaning against one of the lockers.
"Everyone ready?" he asked, looking around at the members of his team.
"Sure are, Captain," Alexa said.
"Let's kick some butt," Dom said, pulling her gloves on.
"Never been more prepared," Liam said.
Sam smiled. "Excellent. Vic, Teddy, Lex, you three are prepared, yes?"
"Always," Victoire said.
"Right," Sam said, "Gryffindor on three. ONE, TWO, THREE-"
"GRYFFINDOR!" the team shouted.
Sam led the way to the door to the pitch. He climbed onto his broomstick, waved his wand, and flew through the open door onto the pitch, Beater bat firmly in hand. Teddy followed, Victoire behind him. They came to a stop in the middle of the pitch. Sam shook hands with the Slytherin captain, a boy named Albert Falgorn, Madam Hooch blew her whistle, and all hell broke loose.
With the Quaffle tucked firmly under his arm, Teddy sped up the pitch towards the Slytherin goalposts. As one of the Chasers flew towards him, he spun to the left and pitched the Quaffle to Victoire, who was flying beneath him. She pulled her broom up and continued towards the Slytherin Keeper, mindful of the three opposing Chasers on her tail. It was with a grin on her face that she sped towards the pitch, pulling out of the dive just in time. There was a satisfying crunch from below, and she continued to the goalposts, unhindered. Just as she was about to throw the Quaffle through the center ring, she tossed it to Alexa, who slammed it through the right ring as the Slytherin Keeper flew towards the center.
"MILLER SCORES AFTER A LOVELY COMBINATION BY LUPIN AND WEASLEY. THOSE TWO ARE SO IN TUNE IT'S LIKE THEY'RE READING ONE ANOTHER'S MINDS. TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR."
Victoire half-smiled at the sound of Monica announcing the match before turning her attention back to the players around her.
"DIVE, VIC."
Victoire did as she was told. She shot towards the pitch and a Bludger went flying above her a moment later, only to slam into one of the Slytherin Beaters who was looking in the other direction. Victoire looked up to see Dom grin and give her a thumbs up. She returned the gesture before looking back at the pitch.
"AND MORETTI HAS THE QUAFFLE… SHE SHOOTS- SMITH BLOCKS IT!"
A cheer came from the Gryffindor section, which included the majority of the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw houses, as the Slytherins booed. Alexa flew past Victoire, the Quaffle tucked under her arm. Victoire took off after her, flying a safe distance away. She pulled her broom up to avoid a Bludger, her eyes locked on the Quaffle. Alexa threw it to Teddy, who continued down the pitch, Victoire on his tail.
"VIC, PATTERN J."
At the sound of Teddy's shout, Victoire began to weave her way through the Slytherin players to hover low on the pitch below the Slytherin Keeper. Teddy flew towards her, Quaffle under his arm, and threw it to her. She flew straight up, ducking behind the Slytherin Keeper and throwing the Quaffle through the center ring. He cursed and glared at Victoire, who smiled and waved her fingers at him.
"WEASLEY SCORES. ANOTHER TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR. LOOK AT THAT CHEEK, EVERYONE, SHE'S DEFINITELY A WEASLEY. I THINK THEY DESERVE THE AWARD FOR CHEEKIEST FAMILY IN THE-"
"MS. BIRCHFIELD, PLEASE."
Victoire shook her head, smiling at the reprimand from Professor McGonagall, before turning her attention back to the match.
The game continued in a similar fashion until about a half an hour later. With a score of ninety-thirty, Gryffindor, Monica's amplified voice rang across the pitch.
"HAS WOOD SEEN THE SNITCH? IT LOOKS LIKE HE HAS! MARCUS PERLAND HAD BETTER START PAYING CLOSER ATTENTION TO HIS OPPOSING SEEKER'S MOVEMENTS, HE'S NOT GOING TO GET HIMSELF ANY OFFERS IF HE KEEPS LOSING FOCUS LIKE THIS."
Though she wanted to watch Liam fly after the Snitch, Victoire continued the combination that she had started, throwing the Quaffle to Alexa at the middle of the pitch. Alexa sped towards the Slytherin goal posts, tossed the Quaffle to Teddy, and cheered as Teddy threw it forcefully through the left ring.
"AND LUPIN SCORES! TEN MORE POINTS TO GRYFF- ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR, LIAM WOOD HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! GREAT START TO THE SEASON, LIONS! YOU'RE MY HOUSE FOR A REASON. NEXT GAME, HUFFLEPUFF VERSUS RAVENCLAW, THREE WEEKS."
The entire Gryffindor team flew at the brunette boy, who was holding the Snitch up victoriously. Dom and Sam crashed into him, hugging him swiftly. He laughed as Victoire, Teddy, and Alexa joined the pile. Jake joined in gingerly after a moment, and when everyone pulled away, Liam hugged Alexa one more time. When he pulled away, Victoire nearly laughed at her best friend's red face.
The entire team flew to the locker room, broad grins on their faces. Teddy, Dom, Alexa, and Victoire hurriedly removed their robes and raced out of the locker room and up the hill to the castle. In a room off of the entrance hall, they found their family members waiting patiently, as well as an old friend.
"Vic!"
Victoire found herself being pulled into a hug. She laughed and hugged the older girl.
"Hey, Mel."
Melissa stepped back and smiled. "You look good, kid."
"You too," Victoire said, looking at the old Gryffindor Keeper. Melissa's dark brown hair was thrown into a haphazard ponytail, and her hazel eyes were bright with mirth. She was barely taller than Victoire, but not nearly as intimidating, or so she said, a statement that always caused Victoire to roll her eyes. "The Harpies made a good choice when they decided to let you be the first person on the team without a name that starts with the letter 'G.'"
Melissa laughed. "What can I say? I'm just that good."
Victoire grinned. Before she could respond, a pair of arms wrapped around her waist.
"Victoire!"
Victoire looked down to see Lily clinging to her. She smiled at her younger cousin, tugging her hair gently. "Hi there, Lils. Where's Al?"
"Arguing with James."
A glance upward revealed Ginny smiling widely at her niece. "Great game, Vic, by the way."
"Thanks, Aunt Ginny," Victoire said, "It felt really good. We played so well, I'm so proud of everyone."
"You crushed Slytherin," Melissa said, "I knew you lot would make me proud, though I must say, your new Keeper doesn't hold a candle to me."
Victoire laughed. "I don't think anyone does, Mel."
"MEL!"
Melissa turned, her smile widening at the sight of Alexa. "LEX!"
Victoire stepped back as the two girls hugged each other. She smiled at the sight of Teddy talking enthusiastically with Harry, who glanced to the far corner of the room every so often. Victoire shook her head and approached James and Albus, who were arguing furiously.
"You're not even at school yet!"
"That doesn't mean that I don't know anything!"
"Well, I hardly think that reading a few books qualifies you to-"
"Boys," Victoire said, putting her hands on her hips and eyeing her cousins, "This is family time, don't be prats. James, you haven't seen your brother in almost two months. Be nice to him. The same thing goes for you, Albus."
Albus' face fell at the reprimand. "Sorry, Vic."
She raised her eyebrows, looking at the younger of the pair. "I don't think you should be apologizing to me, Albus."
Albus turned to his brother, sighing. "Sorry, James."
James looked at his feet. Victoire coughed lightly and he sighed. "Sorry, Al."
Victoire smiled and hugged them both. "See, all better. Now, Al, how about you tell me about what you've been doing while the rest of us are off toiling away in this fine establishment?"
As Albus talked animatedly to her, Victoire's mind wandered to the match. After a while, she heard a cough and looked away from Albus to see Melissa standing there, someone behind her, their face obscured. The brunette was chuckling quietly, and Victoire tilted her head, watching Melissa carefully.
"Vic, I don't believe you know Bradley Pierce?"
Victoire's mouth dropped. "You mean, captain of Puddlemere Bradley Pierce? That Bradley Pierce?"
Melissa laughed. "Yes, that Bradley Pierce." She stepped aside to reveal a tall, blonde man, who smiled at Victoire.
"Melissa's told me all about you." His voice was deep and warm. He held out his hand expectantly.
Victoire shook his hand wordlessly, too in shock to say anything.
Melissa grinned. "Bradley's my boyfriend, and I wanted him to meet the best Quidditch team I've ever played with."
"But what about the Harpies?" Victoire asked, finding her voice again, "We don't hold a candle to them talent-wise."
"They're incredible players, but we just don't connect the same way that I did with you lot," Melissa said, "Besides, you girls are welcome to come and fly with us any time you're available, just check with me first. We'd be happy to teach you a few tricks. I don't shut up about you, the rest of the team can't wait to meet you."
Victoire gaped at Melissa, who laughed. "Aren't Puddlemere and the Harpies huge rivals?" Victoire asked, looking between the pair.
"Technically yes," Bradley said, "But tensions have eased a bit, what with Melissa and I."
"I can't believe… Wow," Victoire said, before shaking her head, "Sorry."
Bradley laughed. "Don't worry, I'm used to it."
"I should be," Victoire said, "Given the family and the usual responses when people hear my last name, but somehow…"
"Mel was the same way," Bradley said, "She got over it after one of her teammates drenched us in ice water and she laughed at me for five minutes straight."
Victoire's mouth dropped. "WHAT?"
Melissa laughed. "Gabby's quite the firecracker, and Isaac made a remark that she wasn't particularly pleased with, so she punished the team in the way that she thought was best. Genevieve wasn't too thrilled, or at least, she said she wasn't, but we all knew she was hiding her laughter. She was quite the prankster when she first got onto the Harpies too."
"How did this happen?" Victoire asked, "Give me the whole story, I can't believe this."
Bradley laughed. "Well, we were having a practice match against the Harpies, just for the fun of it, and…"
After Bradley had finished recounting the tale, Victoire felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Teddy grinning at her.
"There's a party up in the common room," he said, "Sam just came down and told me."
Victoire grinned. "Excellent. It was wonderful meeting you, Bradley, and Mel, you'd better write me."
Melissa laughed. "Sure thing, Vic. Enjoy the party, I know I always did."
"Thanks, Mel."
Victoire smiled at her friend one last time. She made her way to the other side of the room.
"Aunt Ginny, Uncle Harry?"
They looked at her. "Yes, Vic?"
"There's a party in the common room, so I'm going to head up there."
Ginny laughed. "Ah, post-Quidditch victory parties… I miss those."
Harry laughed as well. "I'm sure you do. Especially that one from your fifth year…"
"Shut up," Ginny said, flushing, "Well, Vic, have fun. I'll see you at Christmas, I expect."
"Definitely," Victoire said, "I'm not going to miss the annual party, I'd have to be mad."
Harry smiled. "And I'll see you in Defense tomorrow."
"Definitely, Uncle Harry," Victoire said.
She hugged Albus and Lily, the latter of whom clung to Victoire for five minutes before she managed to convince the redhead to let go. Once Lily did, Victoire ruffled her hair and walked back to where Teddy stood.
"Shall we?" he asked.
"Let's," Victoire said, "I can't wait to see what insanity they've cooked up this time."
Teddy laughed. "Whatever it is, I'm sure it's great. Sam went on a drinks run, so there's bound to be some good stuff from the Three Broomsticks."
Victoire's face lit up. "Butterbeer!"
Teddy chuckled, taking her hand and leading her out of the room and into the entrance hall.
They walked swiftly up the stairs to the common room. Teddy muttered the password, and the Fat Lady's portrait swung open. They clambered through the portrait hole and into the madness. There was music playing loudly, and a mass of people dancing in the middle of the common room, singing at the top of their lungs.
Victoire made her way through the group of dancing Gryffindors (and a few Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws) to the refreshments table and got herself a butterbeer, checking to make sure that it hadn't been uncapped. She sipped from it as she leaned against the table and watched the party. Just as she was finishing her drink, Jake found her.
"Care to dance?" he asked, smiling and reaching for her hand.
She grinned. "Sure."
They danced together for close to half an hour, upon which Victoire excused herself to get some water. She tilted her head slightly at the sight of Teddy standing alone at the refreshments table drinking a butterbeer.
"What are you doing here all by yourself?" Victoire asked, getting herself a glass of water and moving to stand beside him.
He shrugged. "No one to dance with. Well, correction, plenty of people to dance with, but they all make me want to strangle them, so I'm just not dancing at all. Better safe than sorry, you know."
"Where's Veronica?" Victoire asked.
Teddy laughed. "Veronica? Why would she be here? She's a Ravenclaw."
"I saw you two in the Three Broomsticks, remember?" Victoire asked.
"Right," Teddy said, "I forgot about that."
"How could you forget about it?" Victoire asked, "You two looked pretty close to me, I thought she was your girlfriend."
"We're not dating," Teddy said, chuckling, "She asked me to help her out. Well, Serenity asked me to help her out, since they're best mates and she apparently couldn't think of anyone better. She knew I was too nice to say no."
Victoire's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"
"Apparently Derek Fadden has a thing for her, and she really likes him, but he wouldn't ask her out. Every time someone else did, she would refuse, knowing that he got jealous when she was asked out by other boys, but she didn't want to lead anyone on in order to get him to ask her out, so she asked me to help her," Teddy said, shrugging, "So we pretended to go on a date, and he asked her out the next day. Our plan was a success."
Victoire nodded slowly. "I see."
"She's nice, she's just not…" Teddy trailed off.
"The girl for you?" Victoire asked, "I can imagine. You need someone mad and brilliant, my friend."
Teddy gave her a half-smile. "Yeah, I think I found her already, but I don't think she's ever thought of me like that."
Victoire made a face. "Sorry, Teddy." She set her empty glass on the table and grabbed his hand. "Come on, let's stop standing around like sods. Do you still remember how to dance?"
He laughed and let her pull him out into the crowd of people. He spun her and she laughed, grabbing both his hands and smiling at him. They whirled through the mass of dancers, and for a while, she forgot everything except for Teddy and the red and gold of the room around her. The people disappeared, and it was just the two of them. She didn't know how long they danced for, but after a while, Professor Longbottom burst into the common room and tore her out of her reverie.
"Yes, yes, I'm as pleased as you are that Gryffindor won, but it's getting late and the lot of you need to go to bed," he said, "Don't make me take points from my own house, please."
He left the common room, the portrait swinging shut behind him. Teddy sighed and led Victoire out of the crowd of people. He climbed onto one of the chairs and put his wand to his throat. "ALL RIGHT, EVERYONE, GET YOURSELVES TO BED, OR AT LEAST GO TO YOUR DORMITORIES. I DON'T FANCY THIS PARTY TURNING INTO DETENTIONS FOR THE LOT OF US."
With a series of cheers, the partying Gryffindors (and other houses) made their way to the dormitories or out of the portrait hole. Teddy climbed down from the chair and sighed again, looking around the common room.
"I should really head to bed," Victoire said, "See you in the morning."
"See you," Teddy said, tugging on her ponytail.
She made a face at him and went up to her dormitory, only to roll her eyes at the sound of an argument when she walked into the room.
"It's mine!"
"No, it's mine!"
"I found it!"
"But you got the last thing!"
Monica groaned. "Vic, you're a prefect, you have authority, make the two of them shut up. They're giving me a migraine with all of this yelling."
Victoire sighed. "What happened this time?"
"I'm pretty sure they found one of Teddy's sweatshirts. It's that one that you always wear, I think, but I didn't get a good look at it."
Victoire walked to the window, where Jade and Ruby stood pulling a navy blue sweatshirt back and forth. She crossed her arms and coughed. "Ladies."
"It's MINE," Ruby said.
"Give me back Teddy's sweatshirt, I know where you found it and it really wasn't nice of you to take it from my things," Victoire said.
"It's mine!" Jade exclaimed.
"Don't make me take points away," Victoire said, "You're stealing. I don't care if it belongs to Bradley Pierce. It was with my things, so technically you're stealing."
"Well, how did you get it?" Ruby asked, glaring at Victoire, "I doubt he just gave it to you."
Victoire snickered. "As a matter of fact, he did, it was the first of many, and when I tried to give it back, he told me to keep it, and it happens to be my favorite sweatshirt, so I'd really appreciate it if you'd give it back to me. Go steal someone else's sweatshirt, I don't care how many I've nicked from him, that one is my favorite."
"You don't have any right to it," Jade said, "You're not his girlfriend."
"No," Victoire said, smiling, "But I am his best mate, and from what I remember, you don't even fall into the category of people that he's mates with, so you have even less right to it than I do. Give it back."
Molly emerged from the bathroom clad in leggings and a baggy sweatshirt. She rolled her eyes. "Ah, the authority figure has arrived. Jade, Ruby, give her back the blasted sweatshirt and shut up, I'd like to get some sleep tonight. Great game today, Vic, by the way. You really nailed that dive, I think that's the best job of it that you've ever done."
"Thanks," Victoire said, grinning at her cousin before turning her attentions back to the pair at the window, "Now, give me my sweatshirt and we can move on from this, all right?"
Jade and Ruby glared at her. She crossed her arms and held their gazes, and after a few minutes, they huffed and handed her back the sweatshirt. She took it and a pair of leggings into the bathroom, changed, brushed her teeth, and went back into the dormitory. Jade and Ruby's glares intensified at the sight of her.
"You have a boyfriend and you're wearing someone else's sweatshirt?" Ruby asked, "Talk about two-timing."
"For your information, Jake hasn't given me one of his sweatshirts," Victoire said, "And also, Teddy's my best mate. There's nothing wrong with this. It's like trading clothes with your best mate, except for the fact that Teddy's a boy and incapable of wearing any of my things that weren't his first."
"Rocky relationship with Jake?" Jade asked, "It doesn't surprise me, I don't know why he ever went for you in the first place. You're hardly good enough for him."
Victoire smiled. "And yet he's dating me and not you. I wonder why that is."
Jade's mouth dropped and she yanked her hangings shut. Victoire laughed and climbed into her bed. Molly snickered.
"Nice, Vic."
"Thanks, Molls."
A moment later, Alexa came through the door, smiling.
"Someone looks happy," Victoire said, "What happened, Lexa?"
"Liam and I went for a walk after we finished with Mel and Bradley," Alexa said, her smile widening, "We're going to Hogsmeade together on the next trip."
"Aww, Lexa, I'm so happy for you," Victoire said.
"Funny how Quidditch brings people together," Monica said, grinning, "That's great though, Lex, seriously, I'm very happy for you."
"I'm happy for me too," Alexa said, spinning around.
She took some clothes into the bathroom, and when she emerged, she was in an oversized t-shirt and sweatpants. Victoire laughed quietly at the sight of her love-struck best friend, who got into bed and pulled the hangings shut. With a wave of her wand, Victoire shut her own hangings, and the lights were extinguished. She fell asleep almost immediately.
"Talk about the most bizarre end of a year, huh?"
She looked up at the boy standing beside her, a wide smile on her face. "I'll say. If someone had asked me if we'd be standing here like this last summer, I'd have laughed in their face."
"Well, we're here now, so it really doesn't matter, does it?"
"Definitely not."
She ran her hands through his messy hair as she stood on her toes to kiss him. He held her to him, his arms wrapped firmly around her waist.
"I love you, Victoire Weasley," he said.
"I love you too."
A/N:
I hope you guys like this chapter! Things are going to get interesting in the next one... ;)
