Thank you for reading and reviewing.

I am glad you liked the break from Hogwarts

Especially since that is the first of many chapters from James' POV

Though, granted most will be at Hogwarts once he starts.

In the end, this story will flip between four POVs

Teddy, James, Al, and Lily

And there may or may not be a random Scorpius or Victoire chapter in there ;)

Though none of them get their own chapters till they are eleven

And it looks like we are falling into a pattern that will likely keep going.

I will update weekly, now that we are into the story updating daily isn't possible.

Though as always if I write something faster you will get it immediately.

As always I am not JKR.

Chapter Twenty-One

Valentine's Day at Hogwarts

Victoire woke up and looked around herself. It was cold, which meant that the walk to Hogsmede was going to be miserable, especially in the outfit she had picked out for today. She sat up on the side of her bed and stared out at the snow falling. She could wear something different she supposed. She glanced over at the red mini skirt hanging from the wardrobe. No way was she going on her first Valentine's date with Teddy and NOT wearing that outfit. The cold be damned.

When Victoire met him in the great hall a few hours later for breakfast, Teddy's eyes like to popped out of his head. Victoire was standing in the doorway and then walking towards him, she was wearing white glittery tights and a very short red skirt with a tight white pullover jumper. The black heeled boots that went right below her knee made his mouth go slightly dry. Her white blonde hair shimmered in straight tresses down her back and over her shoulders. He had said nothing as she walked towards him and sat down between himself and Tarryn. Even Tarryn and Ollie were looking at her with something akin to shock on their faces.

"Wow Vic, you look gorgeous." Ollie said with a smile.

"Damn girl! If I wasn't going out with your cousin." Tarryn muttered playfully, wincing slightly when Victoire punched him. "You hit like a girl." He said, rubbing his shoulder.

"I am a girl." She said with a grin.

Teddy wrapped his arm around her and kissed her cheek. "Thank Merlin for that." He said into her ear, his face buried in her hair. "Happy Valentine's day, beautiful."

"Eating here! Can it with the snogging." Ollie groaned, pretending to gag.

"I think it is sweet. You should be sweeter." Rhyan said, smacking him in the back of his head.

Ollie chuckled while everyone else burst into laughter. He pointed up as the post came in and at least ten owls swooped down in front of the two of them, all bearing different flowers, and one, a wrapped package. He nuzzled his face into her shoulder. "Sweet enough for you?" he asked with a smile.

Rhyan was beaming. "It's a damn good start." She said, touching a rose.

"We're EATING here!" Teddy practically shouted, causing Ollie and Rhyan to jump and everyone at their end of the Gryffindor table to laugh.

He looked over at Victoire and listened to the sound of her laughter, he could listen to it for days. He remained quiet while she ate, staring at his hands, his plate, and then at her in turn. He was amazed that things had turned out this way. Never in a million years had he even imagined that he would have ended up with her in his life in this capacity. Not as a cousin, or a friend, or even a school mate, but as his girlfriend. It was as if his life had been shaken up and then flipped upside down and when his head stopped spinning he realized that somehow, it made more sense now that it was upside down than it did right side up. Maybe it had been upside down forever and was just now right side up?

"Oi! Earth to Teddy! Hello, we are going to go to Hogsmede without you. I am going to steal your date!" Tarryn said, reaching across Victoire and smacking his face.

He startled slightly from his thoughts and smirked embarrassedly. "Right, sorry about that. Actually you guys can go ahead on. I have other plans with MY date today."

Victoire raised her eyebrows slightly in surprise, the boys smiled and stood, Ollie pulling Rhyan to her feet and Tarryn walked over to Lucy, who was sitting at the Ravenclaw table, looking very pretty herself. Teddy returned his gaze to his own girlfriend.

"Was there anything you specifically wanted or needed to do in Hogsmede?" he asked as he swung his leg over the bench and stood.

"Not particularly." She replied questioningly.

He nodded and waited for her to stand and handed her the solid black coat she had laid on the bench beside of her. "You are going to freeze to death if we walk all the way to Hogsmede."

"Your face was completely worth it." She said with a grin.

He smiled and took her hand, leading her to the front doors. "I have an idea, though it would mean you wouldn't see anyone but me." He said, hesitating outside the doors.

Her teeth were already chattering slightly. "Oh how dreadful." She joked, poking his ribs with her free hand causing him to squirm away slightly. "Lead the way."

He smiled and turned away from the front gate and headed out onto the grounds, he frowned as she stumbled slightly, her heals sinking in the snow. He looked up to where he could see the willow looming and around them, it was cold, really cold. Anyone headed to Hogsmede had gone out the front gate and no one else was on the grounds, it was far too cold out for that. Just to be safe he pulled off his own coat and held it out to her. She was shaking slightly and didn't protest. She pushed her arms in the sleeves, he was glad to see that it fell several inches below her skirt so he turned his back to her.

"Come on, hop up." He said, standing like he did when Lily wanted a piggyback ride.

"I-I'm t-t-t-tooo h-h-heavy." She protested through trembling lips.

He turned his head and scowled at her. "Be serious, you weigh less than Jamie, now come on, hurry up before we both freeze here and you never get your gift."

Grudgingly she obliged and he carried her the rest of the way to the base of the willow, before brandishing his wand and using a levitation charm just as his father had suggested all those months ago during their "quidditch" conversation. He sat her down once they reached the opening and he slid in first, then caught her so she wouldn't stumble and get dirty as she slipped inside. Once they were ensconced underneath the tree in the passage he pressed his lips to hers once, twice.

"You are bloody gorgeous." He said, his hands on her waist, just inside the open front of his coat she was wearing, but overtop of her own. She smiled as he pulled her against him and twirled her hair around his finger. "Let's get moving, it will be warm soon enough." He said taking her hand and pulling her along behind him.

"Uhm…where are we going?" she asked, warming a bit as Teddy picked up their pace.

"It's a surprise, an unexpected one as I didn't think about it until breakfast, so I can't even promise that it will be that great, but still." He huffed.

Suddenly, just as the ground sloped upwards they were stopped by an invisible barrier. "Felix Felicis." He said confidently and the barrier fell. Once he pushed the large wooden door beyond it open he felt the tingle of strong magic and knew that the tunnel had resealed itself.

They stopped walking when they entered a large stone room, the magical lights on the walls suddenly lit in reaction to their magic upon entry, just as the rest of the lights in the house would.

"Erm, are we in a cellar?" she asked uncertainly, looking at the shelves.

Teddy nodded, he couldn't blame her for not recognizing it. After all, they were strictly forbidden from being down here at all when they were young. He had only been seven or eight when they moved.

"For the moment, not for long though. Come on." He started his way up the stairs that lead into the main house.

He was a bit taken back when he pushed the door at the top and it glowed a bright gold, then opened, that was the first time that particular door had ever opened for him before. He turned and smiled at her.

"Dad told me it was still enchanted and that you had to have his or mum's permission to be in the house, or in the cellar. Do you remember how many times it shot us backwards into the scullery when we were little?" he asked, giving her memory a nudge before ushering her through into the still yellow room. "We used to do it on purpose just because it was fun."

Her mouth was slightly agape as she looked around and then through the window into the backyard beyond, their tree was still there, steadfast, as it had been since the time of Teddy's father. She pushed past him into the familiar sitting room, smiling when the lights instantly lit and a fire popped up into the fireplace.

"We're in the old Hogsmede house." She whispered.

He laughed lowly. "Yep, dad told me how to get in. It used to be the shrieking shack, where my dad, Remus, used to transform. You know that though, but that is why the tunnel is there. It's how he got here while he was at Hogwarts, and what kept the others safe."

She nodded, she had so many good memories of this house. He seemed to be a bit nostalgic too, looking around. Most of the furniture had been moved with them to the manor, but some of it remained, there was the old sofa in the sitting room, and a glass topped table still sat in the eat-in kitchen. He remembered a lot of meals, homework and family talks at that table.

"D'you remember when we got lost in the fireplace?" she asked pointing to the fire that was quickly warming the room.

Teddy winced at the memory. "How could I forget? It is the first spanking I ever remember getting." He muttered.

She laughed lightly. "Uncle Harry was so mad. You know, that is the only time he ever spanked me. Ever. And we got up to a lot of trouble in our day. I remember him fire calling mum and dad and dad telling him to do it. I think he might have been as scared to do it as I was to get it." She said, looking longingly up the stairs. "Can we go see your room?" she asked.

"Be my guest." He said with a nod and he followed her up.

An hour later, after reminiscing over many stories and laughing over their younger selves and Teddy knew that this had been the perfect place to bring her. Especially with the presents he had to give her. They were sitting on the sofa. Victoire had her back to his chest and her head leant back onto his shoulder, he legs stretched across the sofa, her boots lay forgotten on the floor along with his white trainers. He took his hand from where it had been resting on her stomach and fished around in his pocket.

"What are you doing?" she asked, trying to see his hand.

"Sit still, I am giving you your gift." He said using his other hand to hold her in place. He sat two very small boxes on her lap and pointed his wand, returning them to their original size. "I didn't want them delivered to the school because I need to explain them."

"You didn't need to spend money on me Teddy." She said, lifting the smaller box into her hands.

He instantly grabbed it and sat it up on the back of the sofa. "Nope, open that one first. And I didn't spend much. In fact, I barely spent anything." He said, pointing at the large flat rectangle box on her lap.

She didn't say anything else as she opened the lid and pulled out silver picture frame that held three 5x7 photos. In the center was a picture of the first carving of their names that was on the tree in this very yard, on the right was a picture that had been taken of the two of them at their grandparent's anniversary dinner over Christmas holiday and on the left was a picture of a very young pair of kids. Teddy was maybe six or seven, making her five. Her hair was pulled into blonde pigtails and his was his favorite turquoise blue, the same color that it was right now. In the picture little Teddy would lean in and kiss her cheek right before she turned and kissed him right on the lips making him scrunch his nose.

"It's perfect." She breathed.

He kissed the back of her head and reached up and handed her the other package. "I was looking through pictures with mum after Christmas and we found these two, then Dad brought that one home from Uncle Ron's the same night. I thought it was perfect. But this, I had to write home to get, and I owe Aunt Hermione huge for altering it for me."

She opened the box and pulled out a white gold locket shaped like a heart. It held two diamonds in the font. "Teddy this is way too much."

She felt him shake his head in reply as he took it from her hands and opened it, instead of pictures there was an engraved T on one side and a V on the other.

"Actually, this one technically cost nothing at all. This was my mum's when she was your age. My Gramma gave it to me a few years back, it wasn't a locket until recently though. But this is a special locket and the only one of its kind. Like I said, Aunt Hermione did all the work on it. Put your finger right there on the T."

She did as he requested and instantly a memory of their first kiss, from his point of view, played in her head, like she was watching a movie. It was followed by his memory of them carving into the tree, and then them swimming in the river at the burrow when they were around ten and eleven. Finally she pulled her finger away and looked at him with tears in her eyes.

"Each side can hold ten memories and can only be changed by me or you, depending on the initial. My side is full right now." He said with a smile, "Your side needs some work though."

"How?" she asked breathlessly.

He took her hand and pressed her finger to the V, it warmed slightly under her touch. "Now you have to think the spell, Legalatis, and concentrate on the memory and it will go right in. It is like a portable pensieve. Only, you will have both of our memories with you forever." He said his lips again pressing against the back of her head. She thought the spell and let herself remember the night a few weeks ago when he had told her he loved her for the first time. When she was through and touched it again the memory played back, apparently since his was touching her he could see it too.

"I meant it. I do love you, more than I can even begin to understand." He whispered.

She turned in his lap, the necklace still gripped in her fist. "I love you too. Thank you so much." She said fervently, pressing her lips to his.