November came quickly to Hogwarts, accompanied by what seemed to be an early winter. Blistering cold and snow covered the grounds turning it into a winter wonderland of sorts. Victoire trudged across the landscape towards the Quiddich pitch, accompanied by Marcy and Ginger to watch the last school match before the winter holidays.
Not long after that first week when she had helped Teddy practice for tryouts, did on the following Wednesday he made the team as on of Gryffindors lead chasers. He had been ecstatic, polishing his broom every day, and always boasting whenever a Quiddich practice ended. He was her best friend, but Victoire couldn't help but find it all a bit tiring at times. On the up side, it seemed that her friendship with the others had grown stronger. They often took turns spending the evenings in each others common rooms and playing four on four games of Quiddich after classes. Clyde really did turn out to be absolutely hilarious, and she could see that Marcy had taken a liking to him, even thought she would never admit it when they asked. Ginger was always hanging around Sean, who although seemed happy by this never really did anything about it, as Victoire later found out that he had zero experience with girlfriends whatsoever.
Something that had changed though, was after Gryffindor's first match that year against Hufflepuff. It had been an amazingly close game, with Victoire cheering on Teddy and Jensen (who happened to have made the team as a beater), loudly from her spot in the stands with Marcy, Ginger, Clyde, Sean and most loudly of all; Lucinda.
Gryffindor had won 140-120 and the party in the common room had been spectacular. Victoire had been having an amazing time, until she had heard a loud wolf whistle and looked up to see Teddy and Luce, arms wrapped round each other, snogging to their hearts content as several other Gryffindors whooped and patted Teddy on the back as the two disappeared into his dorm room.
Even though she'd told Marcy and Ginger numerous times that she was fine, she still hadn't had been able to get the image out of her head for weeks.
The group climbed up into the stands and to the seats that Clyde and Sean had been saving for them as they shivered in their scarves and hats. Todays match was Gryffindor versus Slytherin, a game that they'd been looking forward to for a long time, and as they settled down on the benches and both teams came out the crowd anticipated a game better then any they'd seen before.
"Welcome back to the Hogwarts pitch ladies and gentlemen, today we've got a well awaited game between Gryffindor and Slytherin!" boomed the voice of Pierce Jordan, Lee Jordan's son who was his spitting image as a second year student. "On the Gryffindor side we've got our line up: Keeper! Bette Netwarth! Beaters! Noel Kilman and Jensen Spinnet!"
Victoire and the others whooped loudly from their stands.
"Chasers! Katy Thomas! Brice Jolsbee and Teddy Lupin!" The Gryffindor crowd was going wild, and Luce screamed in admiration while waving a sign that read "Teddy for Captain" much to Victoire's embarrassment. Everyone knew that the new captain was chosen when the current captain chose it, or after they graduated. Brice Jolsbee, the current captain, still had another year left.
"...and seeker, Jenny Mortemor! Now our Slytherin team!" Pierce yelled, reading off the Slytherin players. Victoire could see down below her, her younger sister Dominique as well as her cousins Molly, Fred and Roxanne, all first years. All of them had been sorted into Gryffindor, except, and to everyone's surprise- Roxanne, who had been made Slytherin. She among them cheered for her house team, as the rest hissed and booed.
"...Max Northwick!" called Pierce, finishing off the names of the opposing chasers. At the sound of his name, Victoire looked down into the pitch to see the handsome boy grin and wave, clad in emerald green robes for his team. Ever since her first year when Teddy had headed her warning of Max, she hadn't exactly been unkind to him, but she'd kept their communications to a minimum. It wasn't exactly hard, they just didn't cross paths a lot.
"And they're off!" Pierce cried. "The quaffle taken immediately by Thomas, nice pass to Lupin there and back to Thomas, nice legs on that girl,"
"JORDAN!" came the familiar voice of headmistress McGonagall, who even though she was in charge of the school, didn't think it below herself to keep the second generation of Jordans in check. "...just like your father..." Victoire heard her mutter through the loudspeakers. "Sorry headmistress, just observing the play. And it's still Lupin with the quaffle, he's going, going, OH nice save by the Slytherin keeper. Now it's Richards in possession-"
As the game went on, the score continued to go up evenly between the two teams, causing an edge-of-your-seat sight for the audience.
"Northwick with the quaffle, passes back to Richards, and, oh, no scoring for him, stolen away by Jolsbee, Jolsbee with the quaffle, passes to Lupin, stolen by Bennet! Bennet towards the rings now and OUCH! That's gotta hurt, a bludger in the face curtesy of Jensen Spinnet, blood everywhere, nasty sight-"
Victoire and the others cheered loudly as Jensen was seen flying by, bat held tightly in his hand, grinning ear to ear at the attention.
"Game back in play now, And it's Northwick with the quaffle, he's headed towards the rings, clear open field, takes the shot, Keeper Netwarth dives, misses, SLYTHERIN SCORE!"
The green clad end of the stands went wild, and even though Victoire let out a sigh of frustration on the outside, she couldn't help but feel a surge of pride for Northwick and he did a victory ring around the pitch. It wasn't five minutes later that in a flash of green and red, seeker Carter Darwin for Slytherin caught the snitch inches away from Jenny Mortemor.
As the stands slowly drained of students, cheering Slytherins and defeated Gryffindors alike, Victoire headed back with her friends to the Gryffindor common room, leaving Luce behind to go see Teddy in the change rooms. Victoire didn't mention it to Lucinda, but Teddy always got in a foul mood after losing, and wouldn't be very fun to talk to. She could figure it out for herself.
The Gryffindor common room was quieter that evening, students huddled round the fire finishing essays and observations alike. When Teddy had finally appeared, he had immediately sat down in the empty seat beside Victoire on the couch, leaving Luce to sit across from them in an armchair.
"Chin up." Victoire said, nudging his shoulder. "It's only one game. Besides, remember what's next week?"
Teddy perked up slightly at this reminder. The following week was a Hogsmeade trip, and they'd been looking forward to visiting all year. The date was set for the fourth of December, the following Thursday, and all of them had planned on going shopping and then meeting up at The Three Broomsticks for butterbeers.
"We can go to the Shrieking Shack if you like." she said, more softly this time. The Shrieking Shack had always been a place Teddy visited on trips to Hogsmeade. Out of their group of friends, only the two of them knew the reason it was called the Shrieking Shack- after Teddy's father who had done his transformations there during his years at Hogwarts. The first time they'd visited it together, none of his friends noticed that he grew extremely quiet around the place where his dead father had spent so much time.
Teddy smiled softly at Victoire's offer, and nudged her back, but apparently Victoire hadn't been quiet enough.
"Ooh, I hate it there, it's so frightening." Luce spoke up loudly having heard Victoire's suggestion. Teddy immediately stiffened.
"You don't have to come." he said coldly, not meeting her eyes, but she didn't notice.
"Oh no, it sounds fun! Like an adventure!" she reached across the gap and squeezed Teddy's hand. Victoire closed her eyes and hoped that no matter what, Teddy would never trust this girl with the secret he held so dear. The group finally wrapped up their homework, and with quick goodbyes, Victoire and Ginger headed back to their common room.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Ginger asked her that evening as they got ready for bed. "I know Luce can be a pain sometimes. She's been especially clingy ever since she started dating Teddy, and I know how close you two are." she added.
"I'm fine." Victoire said, forcing a smile. But as she crawled into bed, she couldn't help but wonder why he stayed with her, and if his feelings for her were real.