Can't Get it Right Today

October 31, 2015

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Teddy took another sip of butterbeer. The weather outside of The Three Broomsticks was cooling and Claire and Bob had settled with him in the warm environment.

"Why the hell would you hate Halloween?" asked Bob horrified, after minutes of having started a random discussion.

"It's horrible," answered Claire. "Little kids running around in these creepy costumes…I was once attacked by a little green, hideous witch. She took my candy bag."

"But…you are a witch!" exclaimed bob waiving his hands around her.

"Yes, but…"

"I'm screwed," declared Teddy out of nowhere, stomping his bottle hard against the table. He had spent those last minutes contemplating Victoire on the other side of the room…again. Not only it was getting annoying to him, but he was beginning to feel he was being rather obvious, and the last thing he wanted was getting caught gazing at her like some pathetic pervert.

He had made a firm decision at the beginning of the week, he was going to talk to Victoire. What he was going to say wasn't clear yet, but he was sure he was bound to come up with something. He had given the subject a lot of thought, more than what he would ever give to this sort of thing normally. He was determined…he just hadn't found the right opportunity.

"What was that, again?" questioned Claire estranged.

"Nothing…I just…I had a bad morning." Bob and Claire fixed their eyes on him, and waited for a more reasonable explanation. But to his relief Jack appeared through the door, dragged a chair and settled on their table.

"Mates!" he exclaimed excited taking his scarf off. "Oh…and Claire," he corrected.

"Very funny."

"Guess what? Joseph Ralston knows some bloke in The Hog's Head who can get us a bottle of firewhisky. And the guys are planning a Halloween party at the common room after dinner."

Bob did reply to Jack something about the quantity of the bottles he could get, while Claire asked about getting something else that wasn't firewhisky. But at that minute Victoire and Evelyn stood up from their table and exited the pub. Teddy didn't hesitate, he stood up, tall in determination, drank some more and, with his eyes still on Victoire, set the bottle on the edge of the table. But the bottle didn't stand completely on the wood and fell on the edge, pouring the remains of the drink on Teddy's pants.

"Brilliant!" said Ted as he contemplated his wet leg. Bob burst in laughter and before being the target of his mocking Teddy left the room so he could catch up with Victoire.

He had decided to improvise, to tell her the first thing that came to his head. He knew he wasn't going to say everything that came to his head, because…well, that was dangerous. But he was going to at least throw her a strong hint about how different he saw her lately.

He wasn't going to remain silent about it, not with her. He saw her everywhere he went and he was certain that nothing good could come from keeping that information to himself, especially if he had hopes for things to actually happen with her. Besides, it was Victoire, for Merlin's sake! It couldn't be that hard. It couldn't possibly be that hard to speak to her…

He walked for a couple of feet until he saw her again, her hands thrown against the glass of an antique store. She was whispering something to Evelyn, who was also staring through the glass. Teddy stood still behind her, only a foot away from the chamomile scent of her intoxicating hair.

"I think it's…kind of…ugly," said Evelyn.

"It's gorgeous!" said Victoire, as she contemplated a silver necklace that was exhibited in the middle of old books and pocket watches.

"It's…old," said the brunette girl.

"Well, that's part of its beauty. I think it's from the eighteenth century."

Evelyn wrinkled her nose, and Teddy walked one more step close to the girls, daring to interrupt Victoire's trance.

"Hey…" he said softly, and the girl startled as she turned around.

"Teddy!" she said. "Don't do that. Don't sneak up on people!"

"Hi Ted…" said Evelyn in a melodic voice. She was standing now very close to her friend, smiling widely at Teddy's presence. Teddy saluted back and slipped his hands in his pockets. He needed to get rid of Evelyn if he was planning to spend some alone time with Victoire.

"Vic…do you mind in—"

"Teddy…don't call me that," she interrupted suddenly.

"What?"

"Yes I don't like it," she said seriously. Teddy looked at her in disconcert. He had called her Vic since he called her for the first time in his life.

"Are you serious? Since when?"

"Since I realized that it sounds like a boy's name." Teddy shook his head at Victoire's random request.

"Never mind, I sort of need to talk to you—"

"What's that on your pants?" Evelyn interrupted, raising an eyebrow. Teddy looked down at his leg.

"Um…Butterbeer," he said quickly, trying to get to the point. "Vic, really, can we talk?" he grabbed her by the shoulder and walked her away from her friend.

"What is it? You alright?" she asked softly. Teddy stared at her mild face for a moment, and then looked back at Evelyn, who was now standing a few feet away from the pair, her hands crossed and her face hard and estranged. Teddy acknowledged then that he needed more than a minute, he needed the entire afternoon, and he also needed for Evelyn to vanish.

"I..." he swallowed hard, and felt rocks dropping and settling inside his stomach.

"Teddy?" asked Victoire.

"I need to talk to you"

"Well, then…talk!" she ordered impatiently.

"No…not like this. I mean, I need—"

"Victoire?" said Evelyn, who was now standing next to them. "We need to go." Victoire turned to her friend, and Teddy felt tempted to grab her hand and disapparate from the place.

"Go where?" she asked disconcerted.

"You know! You're supposed to meet…you know who!" she said, trying to keep discretion in front of Teddy.

"Oh, right!" she snapped. "Teddy, I have to go. Can we talk later?"

Teddy exhaled strongly. "Right…sure."

He watched the girls leaving, and he suddenly realized that he was going to need more than courage to talk to her, because…she was too oblivious.

"Brilliant…" he murmured as he began to walk back to The Three Broomsticks, before accidently dipping his entire left foot in a mud puddle.

--

For Teddy it was a fact that things couldn't go any worse that day. His first attempt in approaching Victoire had been a complete failure and he lost half his confidence with that. Besides, having butterbeer all over his clothes and dipping his foot in mud wasn't his ideal of a good day.

He had been sitting alone in front of the fireplace in a big, yellow couch for the last half hour in his common room, where an improvised Halloween party was taking its course. Jack had successfully achieved in getting a few bottles of firewhisky for the occasion, the radio was loud, and the environment was getting more active by the minute, but Teddy had secluded himself from the crowd of people.

He wasn't entirely alone though, two fifth year girls sat on the floor by his couch, whispering and giggling at each other. He had already decided on going to his dorm when Claire's presence joined him. She sat by him with two butterbeers in her hand, and handed him one. He received it with a plain face, doing a very small effort in disguising his poor mood.

"I really hate Halloween," she said.

"So do I..." he said rather bitterly, taking the bottle to his mouth.

"So?" she asked before she took a drink from her bottle.

"So…?" he talked back shrugging.

"Are you going to tell me what's gotten into you?"

"What? Nothing…I told you already. Bad day."

"Right," she said through a plain voice. She was about to say something else when Alison Wildfield walked abruptly to their spot. She walked past them and threw her bag angrily at the floor, before sitting next to the other two fifth year girls. Teddy and Claire exchanged estranged looks and Alison's friends immediately asked her what was wrong with her. Alison, in a furious and loud tone immediately explained that the only thing that was wrong with her was the insufferable presence of that Ravenclaw Weasley girl.

Teddy and Claire both directed their attention towards the trio, and Alison's friends had to beg her to calm down before she could continue her speech.

Once the girl took five or six deep breaths she said the one thing that proved Teddy that his day could certainly get much worse.

"That little manipulative—she—I just saw her snogging Warren!" she yelled in indignation.

"What?" said Teddy loudly, and the three girls turned around to give him a hard look for meddling in their conversation. They soon turned back and the two girls showed Alison their sympathy, Claire rolled her eyes and didn't restrain an annoyed snort.

"A bit dramatic...isn't she?" she said, but Teddy didn't answer. He looked down at the floor, his mouth open and his cheeks turning red.

"Well...we have been seeing them together quite a lot lately..." said one of Alison's friends, showing little surprise.

"That little...I swear, she's such a sl—"

"—Alison... It's not her fault they're going out," interrupted her other friend. "He never seemed to fancy you." The girl's voice decreased and she fell silent the minute she saw Alison's killing eyes upon her.

"Hey! Ted!" said Claire, shaking his shoulder. Teddy had been stuck in shock for the last minute. Claire's moves startled him, his bottle slipped from his hand, and fell on both of his shoes, spilling its content. He didn't restrain swearing before he picked the bottle up.

"This is...brilliant!" he said loudly, doing his best to contain his need of swearing out loud again. Claire tried to calm him down and in a second she cleaned the mess with a flick of her wand.

"Honestly...what's wrong with you, Ted?" Again he didn't answer, and Claire shook her head in annoyance. He took a deep breath, he was sure his hair was turning red, for his skin felt hotter than ever. He wasn't sure of who to blame for his anger: Evelyn, for not leaving Victoire alone for at least a second; Victoire, for going off to somebody else, even if she was oblivious of his recent, unexpected feelings towards her; or Warren Lander, for being...a prick.

At that second Jack sat on the coffee table in front of them, he held two big glasses, both smelled strongly of Firewhiskey. He offered one to Teddy, and Claire was already reminding him that Ted didn't drink before he took the glass from Jack's hand and emptied the entire thing in a second. Jack, amused and pleased, ran to serve him more of the drink.

--

There are things that are erased from a man's head if he drinks more than what his body can take. He can forget he sang out loud trying to follow a song he didn't know the words to; he can also forget he tried to use a kid from second year as a therapist, telling him every awful thing that was crossing his mind; he can also forget he tried to hit on a former girlfriend, in front of her present boyfriend; and of course he will forget Bob and Jack saving him from being beaten by the angry boyfriend; but he won't forget the moment he met, in one of the school's hallways, with the girl that got him so drunk in the first place.

He had walked out of the common room to get –according to him- fresh air. The walls were spinning around him and the floor felt unstable under his feet. But one thing was sure: he wasn't angry anymore, and he had firewhisky to thank for that. His head suddenly felt heavier and in an attempt to avoid an explotion he sat on the floor, his back against the wall, and grabbed his face with both of his hands.

"Rough night?" asked a familiar voice. Teddy raised his head, and for some reason Victoire's eyes seemed even bluer, her lips looked even more desirable, and her smile seemed even brighter. She extended her hand to him and he took it. She pulled him up and Teddy stood up trembling, and had to grab Victoire's shoulder to stay firm.

"Teddy..." she said taking her nose close to his mouth. "Are you drunk?"

"No!" he said, shaking his hands, and almost tripping on his own foot. "A little," he admitted, and shrugged with an innocent smile.

Victoire laughed. "This is new! I didn't know you drank firewhisky," she said, taking her face away from his breath.

"Yeah...me eizer," he replied, his tongue tangling in his words. "What are you doing out here?" he asked abruptly.

"Me? I'm doing my rounds. You're the one who should go back. You don't want to get caught by a professor." Teddy shrugged again, and mumbled something about not giving a damn.

Victoire held his hand tightly and Teddy froze for a moment. His skin was turning red again, and firewhisky had nothing to do with it. Before he could say or do anything, Victoire pulled him and started to walk.

"Come, I'll take you to your common room." Teddy did his best effort in walking straight but most of the time he needed the girl's support to walk properly. Once they arrived at the hall that would take them to Hufflepuff´s common room, Victoire let go of his hand and Teddy's stomach flipped once his skin was released from her touch.

"Are you alright? You seemed weird this afternoon," she asked, looking straight into his broken eyes.

Teddy felt the impulse of walking closer to her, of grabbing her face, of touching her lips, of placing his hand on her waist. But the little piece of sober reason he had left advised him to stay still, unless he wanted to mess everything up.

"I just..." he breathed in. "I just can't seem to get anyzing right today," he said.

"Get what right?"

"Stuff..." he shrugged again.

"Oh...that clears it up," she laughed and Teddy smiled to the sound of her laughter. He stared at her lips for every second until she stopped laughing.

"I really am screwed," he concluded out loud, acknowledging that he had never behaved like such an idiot because a girl laughed.

"No...you really are drunk..." said Victoire. "Anyway, go to sleep, your day will be better tomorrow."

"Right!" he snorted. "You had one great day yourself, didn't you?" he said impulsively.

"Me? Why?" she said, blushing immediately, and Teddy hated for a second the pink colour that was taking over her soft face.

"You and Warren, huh?" he said, pretending to be careless about it.

"How did you know?"

"Nozing stays a secret here for long." Victoire shrugged and smiled after a second. "Since when?" he asked.

"Oh...Just today."

"Zis afternoon?" he asked, feeding his unhealthy curiosity. Victoire nodded. "Of course...zat's...great!" he said in a very over reacted excitement.

"Teddy...you better go in. You can't even stand properly." Teddy shook his head abruptly.

"Unless you want to invite me in!" she said in realization. "Maybe treat me to a firewhisky?" she said in a very familiar smile that suggested mischief.

"Are you crazy?" he jumped and Victoire grabbed him by the waist so he didn't fall. "You're too young," he said.

"I am not too young!" she reacted, frowning to his overprotection, but Teddy grabbed his head again tightly. It was beginning to spin again. "You're a puritan...even when you're drunk," she said rolling her eyes at him. Teddy snorted, more than one thought had crossed his mind lately that concerned her and that was anything but puritan. "I'll see you around," she said releasing his waist, Teddy grabbed her wrist and stared at her for no more than a second before letting go of her completely.

Victoire said goodnight and through a mocking laugh she wished him to feel better, she turned around and walked away. Teddy grabbed his hair, his head had never hurt that bad, and he had never been that short of breath, but that second fact was not a symptom of being drunk.

"Brilliant," he said under his breath before he walked into his common room, where he had to do a monumental effort to get to the bathroom before his stomach got the best of him.

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A/N: That was fun to write...please remember to review. It keeps the motivation of writing going.

Artist of this song: Joe Purdy