Thank you so so so much to my reviewers: helenkelley2013, auerlia, and FireFlysandBrokenDreams for your reviews on Chapter 23! And Rosie loves pi, FireFlysandBrokenDreams, twilightlover427, and Rebel-heart13 for your reviews on Chapter 24! You guys are all the best, and I get so happy reading your reviews, it gives me the happiest feeling in the world! Rebel-heart13 - I hope you still love the story after this chapter, I'm now super conscious about getting their interactions as real as possible haha :D

Thank you also to all my new followers and everyone who has favourited this story! You are the best, please keep reading and enjoy!

Chapter Twenty-Four

We head out into the winter sunshine and come across a group of Teddy's friends all holding on to a blue strip of cloth. The traditional something blue reference pops into my head as he practically hurls us across the grass in order to make it over there in time to travel to the second wedding.

Trying to forget the last time I'd used portkey,... Or rather the painful landing that came from using said portkey,... I place my hand on the cloth, holding tight. Tom begins to half sarcastically congratulate Teddy on getting us there when he gets cut off, and the wrenching feeling behind my navel pulls me away. I struggle to take a breath as I hadn't expected the sudden nature of the departure, and so when we land I feel quite out of sorts. It's a bit like being on a roller coaster when you weren't expecting the drop or wanted to get off and feel like your heart and lungs just suddenly decided to stop doing their jobs.

Gasping, I'm trying to regain my breath. At least I landed on my feet this time, although perhaps that wasn't so good either as my ankle rolls slightly beneath me. Note to self, don't use portkeys in heels. Okay, breath first, ankle later...

After a second of eyes closed gasping, I look around me to see I somehow landed first, possibly due to my inexperience. The others land gracefully in couples, even Teddy and Victorie who land arm in arm seeming to share some sort of joke.

Okay, I'm not saying he's mine or anything, although technically he is my fiancée - ring or not, but he has a... I don't know, not a duty to me today, but... well kind of that but not, and he's just spending all his time with another woman? Even if they hadn't kissed once on a train and she isn't already married, I'd find this extremely hard to swallow. No girl or woman – scratch that, person in general - wants to feel like I feel right now. Left alone and watching the only person they know willingly leave them all over again for a pretty face and a flirt.

If Victorie is anything like Louis, then I'm not sure I could dislike her as much as I want to right now in that he truly would never knowingly do something like that... If she's like Dominique, then she's not worth it really, but if she's someone different to the both of them... I don't know, I mean maybe there's an important reason he needs to leave me all the time? I mean, he did say he hadn't forgotten me right? Maybe he just really needs to talk to her about something important?

'Amelie? Are you okay sweets?' I blink rapidly when I hear a vaguely familiar voice ask me this, and snap out of my thoughts to see Elladora and Heather standing in front of me. Elladora is in the same shade of purple as Victorie, and Heather is wearing a heavy velvet cloak over her wedding dress to disguise it somewhat which makes her look like an angel or an Elf or something.

Glancing around, I see Teddy and Victorie still standing together, a little apart from everyone and chatting easily. When I look back at Elladora and Heather, nodding to try to say I'm okay, I know I haven't managed to control my face well enough because they give me a sympathetic smile and a small pat on the arm.

'We ready to go then guys?' Victories perfect voice floats over to us, and Heather murmurs something under her breath which I don't catch, but has Elladora smirking a little and raising an eyebrow in response. The look she shoots in Teddy's direction is so full of disdain that I'm pretty glad I wasn't on the receiving end of it.

'How about we head up first and help Robin eh?' Elladora says directly to Victorie, taking a couple of steps towards the two of them. Victorie looks slightly shocked for a moment before nodding as she looks between Teddy and myself, with dawning understanding lighting her face.

'Oh of course! She hasn't had us all morning, can't imagine how she's doing it! I mean, I was a wreck! Seriously, I was bad!' Victorie directs this last bit to me as everyone else nods in agreement. She's smiling as she does so, and reaches out a hand in my direction, although its more of a gesture than an offer to hold her hand. Its quite nice that she would try to chat to me... finally... but its still a little bit of a tough situation for me.

I look down and shuffle my feet slightly on the grass as I cross my arms. Teddy forgot to cast that warming spell on my clothes before we left, and my coat is now back at the wedding as I completely forgot to grab it when he came and got me from my seat earlier.

'You okay?' Teddy's voice appears by my head and I nod, not looking at him right now. For some reason, I can't bring myself to do that right now... Not as I'm slowly feeling my eyes well up slightly at the situation. I feel so stupid right now, doing that, but I can't help it. I have to hide my brief eye wipe by swiping my hand gently over my forehead.

I can hear the others moving away, chatting and laughing as if nothings wrong. Teddy moves away from me for a second before I feel the warmth of his suit jacket as he drapes it over my shoulders and then slides his arms around me. I sink into the hug for a few moments, feeling his strength through the hug and listening to his murmurs about how everything's going to be all right, its all going to be okay, and how thankful he is that I'm here.

'We should get up there before it starts.' I say quietly after a minute or two. I feel more than hear Teddy's sigh, and then he drops a quick kiss on the top of my hair, which I'm impressed with as I thought we were closer to the same height with my heels on. One of his arms leaves me and then I'm tucked securely into his side as he turns us to follow the path the others disappeared down earlier.

'Victorie's pregnant.'

'Wh-what?' I ask, my eyes widening as I snap my head up to look at him as he stops us and turns to face me.

'They've been trying for about two years now. I know what you're thinking, she's only twenty three, but they've been married since she was twenty and if you've ever seen Victorie around kids, you'd see how much she wants them.' Teddy gently pushes a lock of my hair that's fallen into my face back behind my ear. 'Vic and Zephyr don't want to step on anyone's wedding toes and upstage anything, but with this being such a constant thing, I think they would've burst if they couldn't have told me earlier. That'swhy I let her drag me away, why I was an arse and left you behind because she told me and I wanted to congratulate Zeph as well... They've not even told their parents yet, and they're so happy...' Teddy's frowning slightly and the right side of his mouth is tweaked upwards in a hopeful kind of puppy dog look rather than a smile.

'You... You didn't...' He didn't forget me? Oh - wait, but that doesn't explai-

'Forget you? No.' He takes a tiny step closer and I'm sure someone's done something to these heels because I have to look up more than before to look into his storm grey eyes with the beautiful silver flecks in them. He never seems to lie to me when his eyes are like this, their natural colour. 'We couldn't find Zephyr because he'd moved by the time we got over to the group, so I went to find you but after a while of describing a redhead with a dark green dress, someone said they'd seen you go off with Vane. Zephyr was sitting with all the Hogwarts lot even though he was a Slytherin,' I almost laugh when he whispers this part as if it's a dirty secret and pulls me closer to him, sliding a hand into my hair as the other stays curled around my waist. The relief that's flooded my system contributes to the laughter and means that I'm rather glad he's practically holding me up right now. To hide a slight wobble, I readjust the suit jacket and take a tiny step, almost like a little shuffle.

'I tried to get up and head to the back after whispering the mandatory joke about how he's going to have to deal with mood swings and all... Not from Victorie of course, just from her dad,' I really do laugh at this as he tells me and grins at me, pulling his hand back to mime a wolf howling at the moon silently for a moment before returning it. 'But by the time I got the word in quietly enough that no one heard,'

'Vane came sprinting up the aisle and the ceremony started.' I say, inexplicable relief flooding my system. He didn't forget me, he wasn't being couple-y with Victorie he was acting happy for her! 'Oh god, I'm so sorry for-'

'For what?' he asks, that false innocent look on his face, as if he doesn't know exactly what I was accidentally about to say. The hand at my waist shifts slightly and before I have a moment to process that his other one is no longer in my hair, both hands are on my waist and tickling me.

'Stop!' I half yell, laughing so hard that I can feel tears of a whole different nature start to gather in my eyes. He does so, tucking his arms together under my back as I'm still leaning back somewhat from trying to get his evil self away from me, and lifting me into his arms.

'What were you going to say sorry for?' He asks, gazing into my eyes with his evil grin still in place and an indescribable look in his eyes. When his face sobers up, his eyes flicker between mine, that same look lighting them gently. 'If it has anything to do with how I've been so far today, don't. Don't apologise because if you do, I might just have to have you admitted to St. Mungos for having been hit with a crazy strong confundus charm or something.'

I look at him oddly, trying to work out what he means by this, which makes him chuckle quietly. Its more of a rumble deep in his chest than a full on laugh or anything.

'Whether I had a good reason for letting Victorie pull me off like that or not, I was the worst person for leaving you. Just the thought that you'd think I would or could ever forget you makes me feel like something scraped off Voldemort's shoe. I promised you I'd be here and that if you came with me to these, I'd guide you through them and never leave you alone. I know how scared and nervous you must be all the time...' He takes a deep breath before raising one eyebrow slightly as if to emphasise his next point.

'I know you had a panic attack this morning... And I didn't say anything because that's what everyone told me to do when Nan or Harry or Ginny or whoever used to get them back in the day after the war when I was little... But looking at you when I realised you thought you were alone and that I hadn't noticed how much its taking out of you to act as confident as you are or to help my friends out with some ridiculous last minute request for doves?

'I'd rather break silence over their news or anything for that matter than know that I'm making you feel like that. I've been there, all the time, and I can put on the brave face and act like I'm fine, but' he carefully wipes a tiny tear from my eye and rests our foreheads together as he still holds me above the ground.

'You're really strong,' I say like an idiot. Seriously, it sounds like something out of a really cliché romance novel. Thankfully he just gives me a look as if to ask if I'm sane, shakes his head, and continues.

'But you should never ever have to feel like that, and especially not because of me.'

'You should never have to feel like that either.' I tell him, and his lips quirk up at one side into a lopsided grimace type expression.

'Unfortunately it happens way too much...' Leaning in slightly, he whispers the last words as our noses touch, his lips hovering over mine. 'But not with you.'

'Beautiful as this is, you do realise you're missing an entire wedding out here right?' Teddy's face snaps from mine, and I hide in his shirt front, pulling the suit jacket I'm still wearing up and half over my face to hide my embarrassed grin.

'James. I swear to Harry Potter, one day I will hex you!' Teddy says, and I look over the lapel of the jacket I'm holding up with my right arm to see Teddy's wand arm outstretched towards James' face. Its only when he drops his arm that I realise mine is up as well, pointing at Abigail who has a slightly worried look on her face. This lifts completely as I lower my wand.

'Aw, but Amelie is so adorable! And all Ariel looking today, hiding in Teddy's jacket like that!' she says, pouting to emphasise her point.

'Airy-who-now?' James asks, and I realise the two men are staring at her like she's crazy. Teddy looks down at me and I shake my head slightly.

'It's a story about a mermaid who falls in love with a prince and leaves the sea. She makes a deal to get legs but it means she can never go back to the sea and he falls in love with someone else, leaving her to walk around with these legs which feel like she's been stabbed with knives every step she takes.' Teddy looks horrified, so I just shrug and continue in a matter of fact tone. 'Ariel has to kill the Prince if she wants to go back to the sea with her sisters but she loves him too much. When she dies she becomes seafoam.'

'You think Amelie looks like sea foam? Or a dead girl? Or a mermaid? Because frankly, any one of those is pretty bad...' James says, whilst staring at her with a freaked out look on his face. Judging by how high his voice got towards the end, I'd say on a scale of Lily at her first flying lesson to Rose taking her OWLs... hmm, it's about a Rose having to choose her NEWTs type look.

'NO! And,' she gives me a very worried look, 'I'm quite scared that Amelie knows the Grimm version of the fairy tale, but not the Disney one... In the Disney one, she doesn't have all that pain and heartbreak because she gets the Prince in the end and they live happily ever after!' Whilst the guys were hanging on her every word for a few moments, they both burst out laughing when she finishes.

'I've got this one James... Abi... No man ever wants to marry a merwoman... Have you heard them? Their screech is level with a banshee! Besides, coming from someone whos personally met them under the sea, they're not as friendly as you'd like so I think that's a little far fetched.'

'You think that's far fetched, but her turning into sea foam isn't?' They shake their heads like they don't understand her question, and Abi sighs, throwing her hands up to show she's giving in. I take this opportunity to jump in with my explanation about the Ariel story.

'I've never actually seen Ariel, so I didn't want to get anything wrong, so figured it was easier to just tell them the original tale rather than-'

'You've. Never. Seen. Ariel!?' Abi's face is lax as if she's so shocked she can't enthuse her face or words with emotion at all. When I nod, her eyes grow round and she shakes her head slowly. 'Right... This is too much. You're the one who's meant to be a muggleborn!'

'Yeah, well we didn't really get a chance to see them... My mum wanted me to know all the real tales so she didn't want me to watch Disney until I was old enough to know the Grimm ones and folk stories first... By the time I was at that age, I was headed to Hogwarts so I just read the magical versions of some of them...'

'Okay... Okay... Okay... Nope, don't worry James, I'm fine! Just confused and wondering where all the world of cute fairy tales for little kids went to burn, but its alright, I suppose someone had to know the truth...' She turns away slightly, muttering about how next people will be telling her that Harry didn't always love Ginny,

'I know I was joking before, but you do all know we've missed like ten minutes of this wedding right?' James says, struggling to turn Abi back to face us and looking very confused for her as he tries to emphasise his point of our lateness.

'Ah Merlin's soggy lef-' Teddy breaks off when Abi glares at him for swearing. 'Sorry Abigail... As I was going to say... We'd better run because Robin will kill me if I don't at least watch the important bit!' He begins to walk backwards as he says this, and by the end of the sentence he's got us all following him (or being towed along in my case) quickly down the path.

Teddy likes me enough to want to make me happy, and to want to stop me from feeling alone and nervous. Despite him being right about earlier and how it made me feel... I think being told your friends are having a baby is big enough news to allow him a pass. Maybe if I could use this to my advantage to know some more about that proph-

As we reach the wedding and realise that it'll actually be quite easy to sneak unnoticed into the back of the ceremony, Teddy pulls me back slightly and lets James and Abigail go ahead. When I look at him in askance, he grins at me before whispering.

'If you think I'll let you in on the secret of what you said the other day, don't. I might not be able to keep Victorie and Zephyr's secret from you, but I can keep yours!'

When we duck into seats by the back, I look up to see Victorie stare back from where she's sitting to the side at the front with the other bridesmaids. When our eyes connect, she pointedly looks down and then tilts her head when she looks back at me.

I smile and nod to tell her that I know, and she nods her head towards the tall man standing next to who I can only assume is Frank by the way he's looking at the lady in white.

'That's Zephyr,' Teddy whispers in my ear, and I smile at him for a moment before looking back to the front. As the ceremony is moving much faster than the one before and doesn't even have a program, I watch as Frank and Robin link their hands for the bonding.

As they do, Victorie and Zephyr seem to gaze into each others' eyes across the short distance between them, and they each raise their arms slightly as if in renewal of their own vows. It's looking at the two of them together that I realise I should never have thought of Victorie and Teddy as having any sorts of feelings for each other. You can see just how much they love each other...

That, and even from this distance you can see a much more intense version on Zephyr's face of the look that Teddy sometimes has when looking at me.

Turning my head slightly, I watch him grinning at the ceremony as it unfolds. When he notices me staring, he gets a slightly bemused look on his face.

'What?' he whispers, leaning sideways slightly to hear my answer.

'Nothing. Just your face.' I tell him, which makes him roll his eyes at me as he flings his arm casually over my shoulders and pulls me into his side.

'Stop being funny and watch. I don't think you realise this yet, but you'll actually have to talk to people at the reception. I'd take some deep calming breaths if I were you... We're both going to need it.'

'I'm still mad about you leaving me you know?' I say, snuggling closer. It's cold here, even with Teddy's jacket securely around me. I feel rather than hear his chuckle again.

'No you're not. You want to be, but I'm just too - what was it, charming and good looking?'

I take pride in the way he jumps when I jab him in the ribs with my elbow. Not too hard of course.

Okay, ultra short chapter compared to the others, but I think I needed to resolve that little bit about Teddy and Victorie last chapter... I hope to update again in a day or two, and that will have the next day or two in the story! Maybe more depending on how much detail I want to give you guys!