Teddy carried me through the front door (this caused several knowing glances to be thrown our way, as my family are well known for their matchmaking endeavours) with James following closely behind, identical determined looks on each of our faces.

James ran straight to the kitchen to stock up on food, and we concealed ourselves in an upstairs room to thoroughly plan our masterpiece.

Several intense hours later we had created a long list of every item we would need. Unfortunately, this meant we had a lot of collecting to do, and suddenly we all felt very lazy.
"We can't go looking for all that stuff," James declared firmly, "It would take us all day, and we won't be ready in time!"

He was right, for a change.

"We don't need to," I grinned happily. (Teddy and James looked amazed that I had come up with something. Again. You can tell I'm not exactly known for being the brains of the family…)

"Teddy can just summon them all!" James suggested. (I think he felt threatened by the lack of the dumb blonde behaviour he was used to from me…)

But Teddy just laughed.

"Somehow I think it would look a little odd if all these objects started flying around the house…"

I rolled my eyes.

"Luckily for you boys, I'm smarter than you!"

They both glared at me, so I smiled at them as sweetly as I could.

"We will start a scavenger hunt for all the little kids. Whoever brings us all these things first wins. And the adults will love us for amusing the kids for a while!"

The two boys grudgingly admitted my superiority, and we headed back down to the kitchen to find a reward for the winner.

However, our search was destined to be fruitless, for as we should have realised, the large congregation of sugar-loving little children had already cleaned out the house's supply of treats.

"Damn," we moaned simultaneously at the sight of the purely healthy contents of the kitchen.

A trip to the closest village was quickly factored into the plan (I'm not sure how we managed to drag ourselves all the way to the village and back when we were too lazy to even collect the items ourselves, but somehow we did…)

Several bruises, blushes and wrong turns later, we ended up back at the house with a bag full of lollies.

Now, I have this theory that children have some kind of inbuilt magnet that magically pulls them towards the largest source of sugar in the immediate vicinity.

Can you guess what that source was at the moment?

Of course it happened to be us, and our big bag of wonders.

Cue the stampede.

"Vickyyyyy! Teddyyyyyy! JAMESSSS!"

We did what we had been taught to do in case of flood: run for higher ground.

Or, well, climb a tree.

"Genius plan, Victoire…" James muttered mutinously from our position on the highest stable branch.

I pretended to push him, and he (being the scaredy cat that we all know he is deep down) gripped the branch very tightly and kindly refrained from mocking my amazing plan any further.

I snatched the lolly bag from Teddy (who was staring at me as if I was some mad Veela about to push them both to inevitable doom either by falling or consumption by sugar-crazed children), and dangled it just out of reach of the children.

"Vicky, pleassssse give us the lollies?" Lily begged with almost irresistible puppy eyes.

"Here is the deal, Lily," I declared loudly (averting my eyes just I case I succumbed – contrary to popular belief, I do have a heart), "We are having a treasure hunt. If you find these first-" I showed them the paper with pictures of our required objects, "you can have the lollies. Okay?"

This proposition was followed by much squealing, and the children instantly vanished with the list.

I turned back to James and Teddy with a very smug look on my face (don't judge me…) and awaited their grudging apologies.

Ahh, how I love victory.

We waited (impatiently, like true Weasleys) in the sitting room, and to fill in time Teddy tied the lolly bag to the old ceiling fan.

Have you ever tried to catch a bag spinning unbelievably fast on a magically enhanced ceiling fan?

No? That's because it is an activity usually accompanied by the caption: "Now kids, don't try this at home…"

Unless of course you have:

A death wish.

An evil twin who regularly takes control of your mind and body.

About as much sense as Uncle Charlie with alcohol.

All of the above.

I'd like to think none of the above apply to me, but I can't deny that anyone watching me run around in circles after the lolly bag would leave with no doubts that I am in fact, clinically insane and destined for the loony bin.

But look on the bright side: if I commit a murder or some other heinous-but-unavoidable-with-a-family-like-mine crime, I can plead insanity and hopefully get a slightly less horrid sentence.

Now that is something to look forward to.

The children eventually returned, carrying all the items above their heads as if they were rock stars crowd surfing, and our master plan was officially back on track.

We hid our newly acquired stash in my bedroom, and exchanged looks of mutual satisfaction and pride…before mine changed to one of utmost horror, upon realising I was now voluntarily in cahoots with the enemy.

Oh well, we've already established I'm corrupt, might as well add 'traitor' to my reputation as well.

"And now, we wait," Teddy grinned.

But James scoffed at this preposterous suggestion.

"No Teddy. And now we eat."

So I have yet another theory. I think the reason boys are always eating is because they each have a little parasitic devil inside of them that eats half the food they eat. It would also explain why boys are supposedly horrible even to girls they like. All the work of the devil, I tell you.

"Veektoire! Teddeee! James!" Maman's distinct voice practically shook the house.

We raced downstairs (I think we may have even beat my personal get-to-Maman-right-now best time) and stood to attention in front of her.

"What have you been up to?" she asked with heavy suspicion.

"Oh, just a friendly game of truth or dare," Teddy replied, sounding far too jolly even to me.

"Hmm," Maman frowned, and swirled off.

James quickly disappeared into the kitchen to beg for food, and Teddy turned to me with a vaguely cheeky smile.

"What…?" I queried distrustfully (Just because we seem to be working on the same team at the moment does not mean I trust him. Last time I did that, I ended up hanging upside down from a flag pole. Yeah, I learned my lesson pretty quickly after that…Do. Not. Trust. Teddy. Ever.)

"Remember that old beach nearby we used to swim at?"

I actually smiled at something he said.

Shoot me now.

Although to be fair, the smile may have been caused by the image of Teddy swimming shirtless that just popped into my head.

Oh Merlin, that's even worse.

At this point I realised I hadn't answered and Teddy (who had his shirt on, I might add) was looking at me like I was a vampire who hadn't eaten for 48 hours and had just seen fresh blood.

"Yes, I remember…"

"Let's go there!"

"Now?"

"No, ten years ago…"

"We did…?"

"Vic! Of course I mean now!"

And he had the nerve to roll his eyes at me.

Git.

Just because my sarcasm radar is currently undergoing a scheduled upgrade and is therefore temporarily unusable...

He seemed to decide that my consent was optional, and instead of waiting for a reply, simply dragged me forcefully outside.

Note to self: You are such a pushover.

"Teddy! We have no swimmers! And we didn't ask permission!"

Personally, I was shocked at his audacity.

Teddy-Head Boy-material-Lupin should not be behaving so irresponsibly.

That was my job.

He stopped running for a second, and turned my face towards his. (See, Victoire? More evidence of pushover behaviour! You are becoming a doormat!)

"Victoire. Let's have fun. Just let go…" he whispered.

Or that's what I think he said, anyway.

To be honest I was feeling shamefully intoxicated by his breath on my face, and those soft brown eyes, staring into mine…

Shake it off, Victoire.

This is Teddy, remember?

I simply smiled (possibly because I was a little too dizzy to form a coherent sentence, but don't tell Teddy that…) and nodded.

He seemed satisfied with that response, thank Merlin.

"Race you the rest of the way?" he challenged.

"You're on, Lupin!"

And so we raced, laughing uncontrollably like the children we are at heart, to the beach.

I won, of course.

No really, I did.

But then Teddy pushed me in the water and proceeded to strip down to his underwear, at which point I tried my best not to look while Silly-Victoire (let's call her Gabriella) squealed incessantly at the sight and caused my knees to give way slightly.

Luckily I was in the water, so I didn't fall. Much.

I removed my sopping wet dress (Teddy surprisingly averted his eyes like a gentleman) and we lay side by side on the sand as the sun hovered just above the horizon, casting a beautiful mellow orange and pink radiance onto everything.

Teddy's face almost seemed to be glowing as he rolled over to face me.

"Tonight's the night, Victoire. Tonight we finish our plan."

I smiled gently as his forehead softly touched mine.

"And tomorrow morning: victory…"

A/N: So very sorry I have taken so long to update! The next chapter will be the last though, almost finished! =)