Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the plot. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it.

Showdown at Grimmauld Place

They were still holding each other when they heard James call out to them at the top of his lungs that Victoire was coming. Naturally they appreciated the warning, though the sound of her very thin, no doubt very high heels echoed off the hardwood floors in warning too. The better to emasculate them with, they both thought but didn't say to try and spare the other the mental images. And not wanting to provoke her any more than they already had the two separated, though they linked their fingers together and stood shoulder to shoulder to face her.

When the door opened they weren't surprised to see that she was so obviously a woman on a mission, but they were surprised to see who came into the room right after her.

It was generally well known in the Wizarding World that Veelas and their mixed blood descendants were very careful when it came to who they married. They weren't so vain that they weren't aware of the fact that they were living definitions of high maintenance, and thus required a firm hand at time because they had no respect for any man who'd let them walk all over them, powers or not. They were also well aware of the fact that any man involved with them had to deal with the fact that other men, including said lover's family, friends and complete strangers, would be dazzled and lust after the female in question whether they were genuinely interested or not. A woman of Veela blood would always draw lust in men and jealous envy in women, that was simply how it was and there was nothing she could do about it. Their lives were often overly dramatic and eventful, and because of this the men they eventually settled on tended to vary when it came to looks, social status and intelligence, but almost all possessed an easygoing nature that hid a spine of goblin made steel.

Jacob Hawkins was no exception to the rule, the man friendly and calm in the face of the drama that his wife caused intentionally or not. He was well liked in his wife's family and everyone considered him a good influence on Victoire.

It was obvious from the way Victoire kept glancing at her husband out of the corner of her eye as they moved closer that he was the reason she wasn't ranting and raving already, his presence throwing her completely off her game since she was used to reining in her worst drama queen tendencies around him.

Lucy and James brought up the rear, staying back when Teddy gave them a look that told them to do so.

"Good morning, Teddy, Louis." Jacob's voice was a little off, but his face revealed nothing. "Sorry to barge in on you. You know Victoire."

Fuming, Victoire only just managed to stop herself from stomping her foot. "I didn't ask you to come."

"No, I invited myself. I wanted to congratulate the two on getting together. It took them long enough after all."

Immediately all eyes went to Jacob as they realized that the man had basically just admitted to the fact that he too had been well aware of the situation between Teddy and Louis and had, like so many of the others, chosen to keep the knowledge to himself.

"YOU KNEW AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?!"

"You've hurt Teddy enough with your selfish behavior without me letting you use your brother as a weapon against him on top of that."

No one had ever seen Victoire's jaw drop so far before, the blonde choking on her fury literally as she sputtered and glared daggers at her husband.

Not worried, she'd attack with words instead of spells, Jacob instead informed her that she needed to get herself under control and say what she'd come to say so that he knew whether or not he needed to get in touch with their lawyer later on in the day.

"Why would you need to talk to a lawyer?" James wanted to know, his curiosity overriding his survival instincts. He was willing to risk Victoire's wrath to have it appeased.

Jacob shrugged his shoulders. "Because if she's going to stand here and tell these two that they can't be together because of her feelings than obviously I made a monumental mistake in marrying her. I have no wish to be stuck with a woman who's still pining after someone she never had in the first place, or one who's so selfish she would ruin the happiness of her brother and honorary cousin just because she can't get past the idea that she can't have everything she wants." Jacob's eyes flickered over to meet Victoire's shocked gaze. "I didn't know you when it all happened, so I don't know just how much you did or didn't love Teddy then, but either way it's nothing but bitterness and pique you feel now, that you hold onto so stubbornly instead of just letting it go. When you really love someone, Victoire, THEIR happiness is what matters, not just yours. And breaking these two up or making them feel like crap won't make you happy either, FYI."

"You'd divorce me?!"

No one was really surprised that that was the part of the speech Victoire would latch on, they were just surprised she'd let Jacob say the rest of it before speaking.

"Wouldn't you divorce me, if I was so obsessed with a girl I'd hurt people I love, including you, just to hurt her?"

Not being an idiot, though she was beginning to feel like one, Victoire's voice was actually a little subdued when she asked if she'd been hurting him by getting so upset about Teddy and Louis.

The look he aimed in her direction said it all.

All the nasty, mentally scarring words and images she'd meant to rake across their brains with every vicious swipe of her tongue burned in Victoire's throat, she wanted to let loose so badly she could taste their acidity on her tongue. But she…she loved Jacob. She loved him with all her heart. Life without him would be unbearable, and…and when he used that tone of voice he meant what he said. And as much as she didn't like the idea of the two together…she didn't want to be the kind of person who hurt her loved ones when she didn't have to either.

Sensing the internal struggle going on in her cousin's head, and knowing the way the blonde's mind operated, Lucy silently made her way over to the older woman's side and leaning in whispered something that only the two of them could hear.

"Now that he'll be out as gay everyone will know that that's why he wasn't interested in you. Your record of getting every straight man you've ever been interested in will once again be intact."

Huh, Lucy did have a point there. That did make her feel a tiny bit better, Victoire acknowledged, though it reminded her, unfortunately, of the fact that Teddy had told her years ago that he was gay. She'd brushed that excuse aside and had called the man a liar, assuming that it had been his way of trying to quell her wrath at the time. But not appeased quite yet Victoire demanded to know why Teddy hadn't come out sooner so that she would have known he was gay all these years and not misunderstood things.

So once again Teddy had to explain his motives for his decision to remain in the closet to his family, accepting the verbal abuse from her when she told him what an incredibly stupid plan that had been and that she should kick his ass for thinking of it, much less actually carrying it out.

No one missed the faint hint of guilt in her voice though, the woman obviously cluing into the fact that she'd done more damage than she'd ever really wanted to do by seeing to it that Teddy felt as miserable as she had been when he'd dumped her flat out without any thought to her feelings. The truth of the matter was that she lashed out these days more out of habit than anything else, the pain he'd caused her teenage heart having healed in Jacob's loving hands years ago.

She was also getting the fact that she was the villain in this drama, and while that was better than appearing pathetic and weak…she didn't want to hurt people who didn't deserve it…especially when one of two was her baby brother.

And that thought led to a few others so that when she met Teddy's gaze her eyes were more knowing than angry. "You know you have your work cut out for you, right? He's never dated a real man before."

While Louis sputtered over the insult Teddy held her gaze and nodded.

Not liking what she saw in his eyes, especially since if they were going to ignore her thoughts and feelings on the matter they had to make this thing between them work, Victoire marched over and before anyone could stop her whacked Teddy hard upside the head.

"Don't think like that, Stupid!" Eyes flashing once more Victoire's hands went automatically to her hips. "If he has your heart than you are damn well going to fight to keep him with every bone in your Black body. You can't think for one bloody minute that you'll fail because as soon as you start thinking like that you've already lost. For Merlin's sake, he's a bit immature, but he's not an idiot! If you don't think that you're good enough for him than he'll start to believe it too. Aside from your horrible, terrible, worse than Voldemort's understanding and treatment of young girl's hearts…you're a damn good man. Good enough that I'll let you date my little brother so long as you swear to me here and now that you'll remember that you're a part of the Weasley family, which means we fight, and we plot, and we damn well love with everything we have until the day they put us in the ground. And really, you're one quarter Black. This should come naturally to you!"

Rubbing the back of his head since he knew it would please her Teddy smiled a little. "I guess I just needed a friend to knock a little more sense into me."

Her lips twitched a little. "Well any time you need someone to do it, I volunteer."

"Thanks."

Behind them James started whistling the Muggle tune 'We Are Family', which both broke the mood and made it that much better so that everyone smiled a little as they shook their head over the redhead's sense of humor.

)

After their very drama filled morning Louis and Lucy managed to convince Teddy to take the rest of the day off too. He wisely let them have their way, knowing that Lucy really was capable of running things without him. Besides that he hadn't gone to talk things over with his grandmother face to face and this was as good a time as any since he'd have to use most of the weekend to catch up on all the work he'd been neglecting. So once things had been straightened enough that no one wanted to kill or maim someone Teddy and Louis saw their relatives out before closing the door with relieved sighs.

"Okay, what's something Jacob really wants or needs?" Teddy asked, looking over at Louis questioningly. "I owe that man big." If it weren't for the fact that it would have caused an explosion of epic proportions he'd have kissed the man earlier in gratitude.

"Nothing's coming to mind-so I say we pool our money together and send him and Tori away on a romantic weekend. Then we're not only thanking him but bribing her at the same time. Win win situation for us."

"Excellent idea."

Running a hand through his hair Louis changed the subject as he asked if they really were going to go visit Andromeda or if that had just been a way to clear the place faster. Because after facing his sister he really wasn't in the mood to hear what the older woman would do to him if he were to break her reason for living's heart.

Lips twitching in amusement Teddy thought about pointing out that his grandmother would have been insulted if she'd heard what Louis had just said. She preferred to believe that with her reputation and heritage she didn't have to threaten people verbally anymore, it was simply understood what a threat she posed. But since he wasn't sure Louis would find the statement funny he instead told the other man that he didn't need to come if he didn't want to. He was fine with going to see his grandmother by himself while Louis did something he'd actually enjoy like rearranging the kitchen again.

He was weak enough to admit the idea was tempting, but Louis forced himself to pass the excuse up. "No, if you're going to see her about our relationship I should be there too. If I don't come she'll see it as a sign of weakness and then she'll be the one to worry about."

His grandmother did tend to pounce on weaknesses when she saw them. It was the Black in her, she couldn't help it. "Okay. And on the A side, by going now we'll probably miss the first wave of relatives dropping by either to freak out over the fact that we're together or freak out that they were in the dark in the first place."

"Yeah, Roxie and Fred will probably use stuff from the store on us for daring to keep them in the dark."

"And then there's the matriarch of the Weasley clan to deal with."

Neither man was remotely looking forward to what Molly Weasley would have in store for them once she found out what had been going on beneath her nose. Not to mention that the granddaughter who'd inherited her name was sure to flip out on them too, Lucy's sister the sort who took it personally if you didn't keep her abreast of every juicy aspect of your life.

Huh, not being home for a while was suddenly looking really, really good to them.

And thus, in a very short period of time, the two were on their way to Andromeda's house, apparating to a clearing a short distance from her home so that they could enjoy the weather a little and pick some flowers along the way to join the biscuits Louis had decided they needed to bring along as a bribe.

Smiling when Teddy tucked a daisy behind his ear Louis cocked his head to the side, having no idea how adorable he looked to the other man as he pointed out that the flower he was now wearing would do nothing to assure Andromeda that he was mature enough to be in a serious relationship with her grandson.

Yeah, he'd figured his hummingbird would still be smarting from the immature comments Victoire had made earlier. "If she had a problem with my feelings for you she would have said something by now."

If someone were taking bets he'd lay odds that Teddy hadn't discussed his feelings with his grandmother, but yeah, if Albus had clued into Teddy's feelings for him without being told than someone as sharp as Andromeda had probably known before anyone else had. Of course she might not have said anything until now because she hadn't thought it was necessary too.

Amusement came into Teddy's eyes as he informed Louis that his grandmother wouldn't bite. That was his job after all.

"Ha ha."

"She won't have a problem with the age difference, look at my parents."

That was a good point, Louis thought, perking up at the reminder. And he wasn't a werewolf or unemployed, so that had to earn him brownie points with her too. Plus Teddy was incredibly stubborn, and Andromeda was always saying he got it from his mother. So if Teddy's mum had been able to get her way in the end than why shouldn't Teddy too?

Still… "Your dad had a problem with the age difference, didn't he? Do you?" Because if Teddy was uneasy about that then Andromeda would pick up on it, no question. And okay, he wanted to make sure the man was finally getting it through his thick Black skull that he wasn't nearly as immature as his older relatives seemed to think he was.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't wish we were closer in age, but it's not as big a deal for me as it would be for others seeing as I have a major advantage over them."

"What's that?"

"I'm a Metamorphmagi." Teddy pointed out with a careless shrug. "I can control my aging process. That means that with very little effort I can look as young as you'd prefer me to be. I don't mind changing my appearance for you."

An immediate scowl greeted that statement, Louis poking Teddy hard in the chest. "Keep talking like that and I'll take a page out of Victoire's book and start whacking you upside the head constantly. I love how you look now and I'll think you're just as hot when your hair is more silver than brown. Got it?" Framing Teddy's face between his hands Louis wore an expression that promised dire consequences if the man didn't take his words to heart.

Placing his hands over Louis's Teddy kept them where they were as he nodded. "Understood."

"Good. I love you just the way you are." Louis informed him, the words coming out as easily as normal, but carrying a flavor, a meaning that was somehow new and so much more than before. A meaning that spoke of a different kind of love, one that could, given time and care, be as strong and deep as the love Teddy bore for him.

And hearing the change, his heart clenching painfully as he swallowed hard, Teddy's eyes swam with emotion as he asked Louis to repeat what he'd just said.

Aware on some level of the change, but not quite there yet, Louis didn't understand why he needed to repeat the words, but did so anyway because he did like saying it and seeing Teddy's reaction.

Grinning Teddy dropped his hands to Louis's waist and lifting the surprised blonde up spun them around in a circle before he kissed his man with all the love in his heart, unable to recall ever being so happy as he was in that moment.

He was going to get to keep his hummingbird after all. He just knew it.