Chapter 14- Surprise Was Not My Idea

Victoire's POV – Age 20

"Teddy!" I yelled as he pulled me by my hand. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see!" He kept saying. I'll beat the living daylights out of you if you keep saying that!

"Just one hint, please?" I asked. He always does this. He always likes to surprise me by bringing me to random places.

"But that'll ruin it." He said.

"Well, then you know how much I hate surprises."

"Oh, Victoire, don't lie to me. You love surprises and you can't stand it when you don't have a clue what it is."

"Git." I said. He laughed. I looked around and I realized I recognized the place. "Wait, why are we at Grandma Tonks' old place? Didn't some witch buy it not too long ago?" I asked.

"We're not going inside her house." Teddy said.

"Oh, then where to?"

"You'll see." He said looking back at me with a glint of excitement. I huffed.

I followed him as we went behind Grandma Tonk's old house and up the hill we avoided when we were kids.

Grandma Tonks' always said a hag lived up there so we didn't want to get eaten or anything like the old muggle story of Hansel and Gretel, but then again they never actually got eaten. They escaped before they could. Well, that's how Aunt Hermione told us.

"I'm not fetching a pale of water am I?" I asked him. He chuckled.

"Really, Victoire, you're horrible at this. Can't you just trust me?"

"Of course, I trust you, but how can I if you're bringing us to a hag that lived up here?"

"Well, I guess I could tell you that there was never really a hag that lived up here."

"What? Grandma Tonks' lied to us?"

"I believe so. She loved scaring people, especially me. Why else did she yell at me all the time? I was always afraid of it and she used it as her way of getting me to listen."

"So how did you figure out she lied to us?"

"When I was eleven years old, I wanted to get a glimpse of this hag that Grandma told us about."

"Well, if it was real than you're just lucky she lied to you." I said.

"You know how I was when I was eleven. I loved adventures and especially stories of them. Harry was filled with them and I wanted to have one of my own."

"You're an idiot."

"Back then." He smiled.

"You're still an idiot." I said. He laughed.

"Hey, do you want me to continue or what?"

"Fine, proceed."

"Well, being as bold as I was (I snorted) I climbed up this hill with precaution and as we got to the top…" Teddy and I reached the top at that moment. I looked around and there was hardly anything in sight. There was a ledge not too far and a bunch of trees on the edge of it.

"I saw this." Teddy said. "Not a house, not a sound in sight of any such thing. So…" He took my hand and pulled me forward. "I walked up to the ledge and looked across the water that was below me."

I looked across and felt my mouth drop open. You can see that this was clearly part of the ocean, but that wasn't what surprised me. It was what stood on the far end of the sand that half-circled the ocean.

The place was of course familiar. It was my old house: the Shell Cottage. My parents still lived there, but I hardly visited anymore.

We weren't so far apart than I thought we were. Did anybody know about this?

"I came up here a lot after I discovered this. It was like my place to escape. I never told anyone because I knew it was special. I think Grandma knew about this, but I don't think she knew what was over the ledge. She could have thought if I came up here, I would try and fly or something and end up killing myself." I smiled.

"Of course you would. You probably would more likely throw me off the ledge as some kind of joke." I said. He laughed.

He sat down beside the ledge and I sat down too.

"Are you hungry?" He asked.

"Yeah, a bit." I said, but I didn't want to leave. This place felt like a magic. It was actually beautiful. The sun was going to set soon and the ocean was always peaceful to look at.

Teddy took out his wand and waved it and it was like a picnic appeared before us.

"You had this all planned, didn't you?" I asked.

"Of course, why wouldn't I?"

"You suck." As I took a piece of watermelon and took a bit out of it. He laughed. "So, why didn't you ever tell Grandma Tonks what you saw? Didn't you want to get away from me as much as possible."

"You really underestimate me sometimes, Vic."

"What do you mean?"

"I never hated you, for one. I only despised you."

"Oh, what a difference."

"It is a difference. When you despise someone you still have room to change your mind and maybe even love them instead." I looked up at him as he smiled at me. I wanted to look over the water again so I stood up and so did he.

I admired the water reaching up on the sand at first. I turned back to Teddy to see if he saw what I saw, but he was staring at me.

It was the most beautiful sight I ever saw.

The sun was setting behind him cascading colors of orange, red, magenta, blue, and purple. Teddy's hair was a midnight black with bits of dark purple hidden in-between. His face was smiling as me like he was amused at how I looked. And his eyes were bright and loving. They were blue and calm, the same as his father's when we looked at him in pictures, Uncle Harry had of him.

"Victoire…" His voice said my name as soft as possible. I smiled and waited to hear him say my name again.

"Don't ever think I hated you for one second, from the first day I met you, you held a place in my heart whether I wanted it there or not. It stuck there and even at eight years-old I could never let you out of my life. And now, you are my whole life, my everything." He got down on my knee. I felt my breath get caught up in my throat. He isn't doing what I think he is doing, is he?

"I want you in my life forever, will you marry me?" He asked still looking into my eyes. The little bow held out in his hands had a dazzling ring reflecting off his perfect face.

"Yes." I said instantly. He smiled and stood up as I ran into his arms. This was the best night I ever had.

The door flung open and I felt myself jump out of my chair with the surprise.

I curiously walked into the living room, but before I could look a bolt of impact hit me and pulled me off my feet.

"Teddy!" I shrieked. I heard Teddy laugh. He was hugging me around the middle as he held me up. Is hair was a bright yellow, which meant happiness.

I knew all the colors of his emotion. Blue meant sadness, Red embarrassment, Green meant anger or jealousy, Purple was only when he was thinking of me or something, and black was like blank, no emotion at all.

He liked to change his face too. When he wanted to be professional or in a business-like way his face was more narrow (his nose straight and narrow, his eyes smaller, and his chin a bit pointy), when he wanted to blend in with the crowd he would keep his face like a child (His face a little more rounder and his eyes bigger and brighter that was filled with excitement most of the time), and when he was home to see me he kept the same face I was used to (I would describe it if I could, but that's what I loved so much about it. It was so different and so beautiful at the same time).

"Ok, you can put me down now!" I said punching his shoulder. He slowly dropped me so that our faces were even with each other. He leaned in and kissed me.

Okay, maybe whatever he was so happy can wait. If it meant this than anything can wait.

Whenever Teddy kissed me, he was like a drug I constantly addicted to.

Teddy pulled away to stare into my face.

"Oh now you're going to tell me, what is going through your head?" I said.

"I've got a job!" He announced. I squealed with delight.

"Oh Teddy, that's wonderful!" I said in a high-pitch tone.

"Isn't it?" He said excitedly.

"What job?" I asked as he placed me on the ground.

"The Minister's assistant."

"The…Minister's assistant?" I repeated trying to put the words into meaning. My eyes were wide as a Quaffle. "Teddy, that's big, that's real big."

"I know, I know, but Kingsley thinks I would make a great assistant."

"It's a big responsibility, Teddy. If Kingsley passes on, you would have like a whole country to run. You would have to make a decision for thousands of wizards and witches."

"I know that Vic. I didn't sign up for the heck of it. I told Kingsley I would do whatever it takes to be a good assistant, well more like an apprentice." I bit my lip.

"You're not happy." It was a statement not a question.

"No, I am happy for you, but it's what you said."

"What did I say?"

"That you would do whatever it takes…"

"Vic, I know what you're thinking and I won't do that to you." He said turning away from me.

"Teddy, seriously how can think I wouldn't think of it. Assistant to the Minister is still a lot of work. It'll demand a lot of time from you. You will be researching, learning, and organizing things. How will I know if there is time for us anymore? It's just… a lot to process." Teddy turned back around.

"You know, I wouldn't do that to you." He said one hand going into my hair.

"But there is a reason Kinglsey isn't married and there is a reason the Potters are hardly ever at the same dinner table."

"Don't bring the Potters into this." Teddy said angrily and took his hand away from my face.

"They're just an example. Their kids are at Hogwarts. One in a separate House, and two separated by grades. Uncle Harry is the chief of the Auror Department and Aunt Ginny just recently went back to playing Quidditch. Imagine how hard it is to keep a family like that together."

"They are all together and they are all happy." I knew I was going to be defeated. I took my both hands and placed them on both sides of his face.

"You have always been a hard-worker, I guess I'm just a bit worried, that's all. You know I'll stand by your side no matter what you do. If this is what you want than I'll walk beside you. I always will." I said.

"Thanks Victoire, but I'm not asking you to stop everything for this."

"I'm not following you…" Teddy reached inside his robe and pulled out a piece of paper.

"I'm trying to follow my dreams, but I want you to follows yours too." He handed me the piece of paper. I took it in my hands.

"What is this?"

"A building going on sale."

"And what would I do with a building."

"Well, once I get through a year of this job, I can buy this building for you so you can step up the daycare you've always wanted."

"But what makes you think I wanted to do a daycare?"

"Because I know you from the inside out. You enjoy kids. Don't think I forgot you Victoire. You're my first priority if anything. That's why I asked you to marry me, remember?" I smiled as I looked at my ring on my finger.

"So, what do you say? Want to celebrate?"

"Ok." I said beaming up at him and we walked toward the kitchen. "But you're not touching the stove. I can't have another burnt dinner."

"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad."

"Easy for you to say, my mouth tasted like burnt salmon for days." He laughed and used his one arm and wrapped it around my head so I couldn't see. I squealed with laughter.

A/N: I guess I should apologize for the long delay. I've been quite busy and haven't had the chance to write and all. Plus school is slowly approaching and what not so be on your guard for any updates. Frankly, I really have no idea when I'll update next.