Vic's POV

"Look up!" Lily said, pointing above our heads.

Ted and I simultaneously glanced to the ceiling, where Lily had hung a small branch of mistletoe.

I looked at Teddy, ready to burst into laughter at our cousin's antics, but the look on his face stopped me. Instead of amused, he looked as though his mind was moving a faster than the Hogwarts Express.

I opened my mouth to say something, but he cut me off by grabbing my face in his strong hands and crushing his lips to mine. My eyes widened in surprise but slowly fluttered shut.

Ted didn't make any effort to deepen the kiss, he merely held us there for what seemed like forever. But when he finally broke away, I realized it had lasted less than a moment.

After the kiss, I waited a few seconds to open my eyes. When I did, my heart stopped. Ted's face had gone completely pale, his hair a color so dark it almost matched his now completely black eyes. The veins on the side of his face bulged like they were being pulled out of his skin. He looked terrifying.

The scream that ripped out of my throat didn't even sound like my own. Teddy's chest rose like he was taking a deep breath, and a little white ball of light escaped his mouth. He made a noise in the back of his throat that didn't even sound human. The white ball hovered in his mouth, until it finally flew out the window and disappeared. The instant it left his body, Teddy started cracking like chipped paint or old pavement. I reached out to grab him, but the moment I touched him he shattered into a million pieces. It was as though he was made of glass, and I had broken him. He had been petrified.

I fell to my knees, shaking so hard I thought I might shatter, too. I picked up the pieces of Teddy on the floor and held them close to my chest, the sharp edges cutting deep into my skin.

Black and blue spots cloud my vision, making it impossible to focus on one thing. Suddenly the room around me changed, and I was a stone hallway, covered in rubble and dirt. I looked down to where the pieces of Ted had been moments before, but found nothing. I frantically searched the floor, trying to find any remains, but was left with only handfuls of sand. Letting out a desperate cry, I dropped the dirt and grabbed my head in my hands. I shook and convulsed, letting tears stream down my face. I squeezed my head as hard as I could, wishing it would end, wishing the spots in my vision would swallow me completely. Kneeling in that stone hallway, I felt a pain unlike any I had ever felt before. My heart had shattered the moment Teddy hit the floor.

Teddy's POV

I opened my eyes with a gasp. Victoire.

Not even bothering to put a shirt on, I got up and sprinted to the room I knew Vic was in. I tried the door, and quickly realized it was locked. Wasting no time, I took a step back and kicked the door a few inches next to the handle. It immediately snapped and I stormed into the bedroom. Lily, who had been woken up me breaking the door, now sat cuddled under her blanket, looking frightened. I knew she was confused, but I completely ignored her, going straight to Vic's side.

She was lying on her back, eyes looking straight at the ceiling. Her covers had been thrown off of her in the night, and she wore only a large t-shirt and boxers.

She was shaking. Trembling, convulsing, filled with spasms. I knew this wasn't just another one of her dreams. Her eyes were opened, now staring straight at me. I grabbed her face in my hands and tried to help her.

"Vic, listen to me! Can you hear me?" I shook her, which seemed stupid since she was already shaking, but I had to try.

Her mouth moved slightly, and I knew she was trying to tell me something. I leaned in close so my ear was pressed to her lips.

"Heehh…."

I waited.

"Heeell…"

Still I didn't move.

"Help," she finally whispered.

I grabbed her head once again in my hands, "Victoire, I am going to get you out of this. Okay? Do you understand? You are going to be just fine. Trust me."

I gathered her in my arms and snatched her wand off the table near her bed. Going as fast as I could, I ran out of the room, ignoring the worried looks I received from the numerous Weasley's that had been awakened, and had gathered in the hallway, wondering what was going on.

Once I made it outside, I carried Vic a few paces away from the house, raised her wand, and apparated.

XxXxX

Bloody Anti-Apparation Jinx, I thought to myself as I carried a shaking Victoire across the grounds towards the door of Hogwarts. If I could have just apparated right into the school, I wouldn't be stuck carrying a dying-

No. She's not dying, I thought, and forced myself to pick up the pace. Don't panic. Find Snape. He can help her. Find Snape. Find Snape… Find… Snape…

The trip through the castle was a blur to me. I couldn't feel my arms but keep moving, walking though the halls as though in a dream. Find Snape.

It seemed like hours before I finally did find Snape. I beat my fist against his office door, hoping he was up this late.

I heard movement inside and stood back for him to open the door. As soon as he did, I pushed past him and set Victoire down on the small couch next to the fireplace. I felt naked without her body close to mine, but the absence of her constant shaking against me woke me up from my dream state.

"You have to help her. I don't know what it is, but I found her like this about 20 minutes ago, she hasn't stopped shaking since. She's awake, though! She told me to help her. I know it has something to do with her dreams, professor!" I blurted this all out in one big breath, and then let in another to hold until he responded.

Snape merely studied Victoire and checked her pulse. He rushed into his cupboard and came out with an armful of potions. He hurriedly got to work mixing things into his cauldron and going in and out of his cupboard.

I patiently knelt next to Vic, holding her hand and whispering things into her ear.

After a few minutes, Snape started talking while he worked.

"I'm going to be honest with you, Mr. Lupin."

I waited for him to continue.

"I suspect Mrs. Weasley's condition to be a curse. A dark one, at that. I don't know of anyone still alive today to be powerful enough to cast that kind of spell, so I believe it must have been placed onto her before she was born. There is a certain kind of dark magic that can be genetic, or given to only a select few in a given family's offspring."

"So you're saying it's from one of her parents?" I asked.

"Not necessarily, no. It's my guess that she is the first to have this particular curse," he replied.

"But who cast it on her?"

Snape hesitated.

"Voldemort," He finally answered.

"You've got to be kidding me. He was killed more than sixteen years ago. Victoire wasn't even conceived when Voldemort was alive. She was born a year later."

"Exactly why it was a genetic curse. Voldemort must have somehow known that Ms. Weasley's mother would give birth to her on the anniversary of his death. It is possible that during the war Voldemort placed the memories of the death's he had caused into the mind of an unborn baby. Ms. Weasley was the first child to be born out of all of the witches and wizards that fought the Dark Lord on that day. "

I was quiet. That meant that Victoire had been reliving the deaths of people murdered by Voldemort, every time she dreamt.

"But if Voldemort is dead, how come she can still remember his memories? Wouldn't they die along with him? And the memories from his Deatheaters, too?" I asked the professor.

"I can tell you from experience, Mr. Lupin, that sometimes what seems to be dead, lives on."

Snape cryptically turned away and finish his potion in silence.

"This should help her, although she will be unconscious for a while," He told me when he finally brought the vial of liquid to us, "And I have to warn you, it will get worse for her before it will get better."

"Just give it to her!" I demanded, impatient.

Snape did as I asked.

XxXxX

I had listened to what Snape had said; about Vic getting worse before she got better, but never imagined it would have been like this. Snape and I had to pin her to the couch to keep her from flopping onto the floor, she was convulsing so violently. Her eyes had finally closed, which comforted me. I hoped she wasn't aware of what was happening, I hoped she wasn't feeling pain.

Although her eyes were closed, her mouth was open, and foaming like a rabid dog. Just when I thought she was calming down a bit, blood seeped through her shirt and into my hands. She had stopped shaking, but the blood flow was so heavy I was sure she was dying.

Snape told me her body was fighting the curse, and that the blood coming out was working to cleanse her of the dark forces inside. We peeled back the t-shirt that covered her stomach, and looked for the cause of the blood flow, but she had no cuts or scrapes. The blood was seeping out of her skin and into our hands, coming off of her in little bubbles like water in a body of oil.

She bled for four minutes straight, I counted. Then she lay still, breathing softly.

I helped Snape clean up the blood and wrapped Victoire in a clean towel. We levitated her to the hospital wing, where I quietly tucked her into bed and drew the curtain.

I looked at Professor Snape and he looked back at me. We both let out deep breaths and yawned.

"Go to bed, Mr. Lupin. You can sleep in the bed next to Mrs. Weasley's, if you must," with that, Snape turned on his heel and gracefully exited the hospital wing.

I walked over and slid the curtain back just enough that I could see her face. Realizing how tired I was, I moved another bed up next to Victoire's, and fell asleep instantly.