If there are any errors here,

I was rushing to get It up.

I got it up an hour too late to get it on the actual day but I really tried.

Happy Birthday Victoire.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Memorial Birthdays

"I'm ready." Teddy said standing up and walking away.

Harry turned his head and watched him as he walked towards the small house over the hill. They had only been there for three or four minutes. He turned back to the headstone and knelt down, placing his hand on the sun warmed stone, he traced the names with his finger.

"I can't believe it has been seventeen years since I last saw you. Since you last saw Teddy. He is all grown up. He isn't that little baby that you left behind, anymore. He is going tomorrow to get identification for a job at the ministry. I am pretty sure he is going to marry Victoire, or at least that he wants to. He is a fantastic big brother. And he.."

"DAD!" Teddy's insistent voice yelled.

"Is very impatient as you can see. His girlfriend turns sixteen today, I think he is anxious to see her. I better get going before he apparates without me. I hope you are proud of the man that your little baby has become. I know that I am."

"They would be proud of the man that you are too." Came Teddy's voice from right behind him.

Harry turned to smile at the seventeen year old. "You think so?" he asked, showing insecurity for one of the first times that Teddy could remember.

He nodded his head. "Are you kidding? I have read so many books on the war and the final battle. I have read my dad's journals from when mum was pregnant with me. When they died you were like this full throttle, give it all, sporadic, crazy over emotional teenager. You didn't
have a shred of concern for your own well being anywhere in your body. My dad wrote about being scared for you nearly as much as he did me. Since then, you have defeated the darkest wizard of all time, gotten married, helped revolutionize early wizard learning and the way muggleborns are treated and taught. You helped create an entirely new type of auror and lead the department. You have raised four kids all of which somehow act eerily similar to you and are dangerously careless. But we are all essentially good kids. I mean, I have had my fair share of detentions, but come on, who hasn't. Neither of my fathers can claim to have a clean Hogwarts record, in fact I am sure mine beats both of yours."

"You are an exceptionally good kid. And I couldn't be prouder of who you turned out to be." Harry said, swallowing the lump in his throat. "And you are right, you have had far less detentions than either myself or Remus could ever have dreamed of. I blame James' and Sirius' influence."

They began their walk up the hill towards the small house from where they would apparate, Teddy was laughing. "You can't blame James and Sirius for your detentions, they weren't there to influence you." He argued.

Harry kicked at the grass, "Let's just say I inherited enough from them both to make a lasting difference."

Teddy was still laughing as he bent to pick up a rock and throw it. "Sirius wasn't related to you by blood you know, you can't inherit stuff from him."

"And yet, oh Godson of mine, you seem to have done a fine job inheriting several of my own qualities."

Teddy laughed harder at the statement. "That is a very true story."

0o0o0o0o

Teddy practically sprinted away from him to the edge of the rocky beach once they apparated onto the lane at Shell Cottage where the rest of the family was already gathered for Victoire's 16th birthday party. He smiled at the sounds of laughter from behind the house. Bill and Fleur had both offered on several occasions to have her parties the day after her birthday but everyone insisted that Victoire had given them joy on this day all those years ago and she would continue to do so.

Today was surprisingly warm and a clear blue skyline greeted the party. Many of her friends had come from school. As he walked farther onto the beach Harry could see Ollie, wearing shorts, with Rhyan perched on his back, laughing happily as he splashed about in the edge of the frothy water, Harry knew it had to be more than a bit cool. Tarryn was goofing off with Molly, Lucy, Lysander, Dominique and Lorcan in the garden. James appeared to be splashing about knee deep in the water, along with Roxxy, Louis and most of the younger cousins. There were several more girls around Victoire's age that were all sitting at the edge of the Cliffside overlooking the water below, chattering happily to each other. It was there that he saw the sun glinting off of Vic's white blonde hair, obviously the target to which Teddy was running.

"That was fast." Arthur said, walking up to him.

Harry nodded as he watched Teddy sit down behind Victoire and rest his head on her shoulder.

"Yeah, he wasn't interested in staying very long this year. Honestly, had I not insisted on going before the party he may not have even went this year." He said, worriedly.

"He's a kid, son. He doesn't think about it the same as we do. I don't remember you ever thinking to ask to go to Godric's Hollow when you were a teenager. I am sure you thought about going, but you never asked anyone to take you." Arthur pointed out.

"Yeah, it's just, I have taken him there at least three or four times a year, his whole life. This is the least interest he has ever shown."

His father in law nodded towards the beach where Teddy was now pulling Victoire into the water, they were both laughing hysterically and their smiles could be seen even from here. "I think that she interests him more than anything these days. I remember that feeling, and if you will think back to the summer after the war, at nearly this exact time in your own life, you will remember that you were like this once too. I will never forget the healing powers you and Gin had on each other."

"They are more carefree than we ever were." He commented.

"That is exactly what his parents were fighting for."

0o0o0o0o0o

The kids were all sitting on the cliff having finished eating their fill of dinner and cake. The chatter was such that you couldn't focus on any one conversation as there were at least ten going on at any given time. And most of them were just starting to warm up from the warming charm that the older wizards had placed over the area after they all got into an epic water fight. Fleur was levitating the presents once at a time to her eldest daughter while everyone watched her open them.

"Thank you Uncle George and Auntie Angie." She called out as she messed with a charmed brush that would style her hair with one swipe.

Teddy watched as she picked up a thin small rectangular box, wrapped in shimmery pink paper and a silver bow.

"This one hasn't got a name on." She called out, waiting for someone to tell her who it was from. When there was no response she looked back down at the package curiously.

"Open it up, maybe there is a note inside." Bill said, nodding at the gift.

She shrugged and opened it, pulling off the lid once the wrappings fell away. Nestled inside was a sporty wrist watch. It had a light pink leather band and the face was a dark metallic pink rimmed in diamonds.

"I thought watches were your seventeenth?" she said, looking up at her mum and grandmother.

"It isn't from us." They said in unison, making both of them giggle.

She pulled it from the box and looked closely at it. Teddy nudged her shoulder from where he was sitting beside her. "Turn it over." He said softly.

She did as he requested and read the inscription on the back,

I'll always have time enough for you

She turned and smiled brilliantly at him before kissing him quickly on the lips, making him blush.

"I want to know what he put on it to make her smile like that." Bill muttered to Harry and Ron who both laughed.

"Don't thank me yet. I will show you how to work it when no one is watching." He whispered to her.

She giggled, "I know how to work a watch."

"Not that one you don't. Just wait a bit and you will see." She nodded as he helped her put it on her wrist, and then continued on to open the rest of her gifts.

Once all of the packages were gone and all the thank yous were finished everyone went back to their messing about as they waited for it to get late enough for George to start up the fireworks that he had already set up at the base of the cliff below. Teddy was standing, leaning against the side of the cottage, Victoire with her back to his chest.

"Hold your wrist up here." He said, holding out his hand. She obliged and lifted her arm while she watched the setting sun shimmer off of the pink face. "I got this, because time has been an issue with us recently, and I am afraid it is just going to get worse in the next few months." She nodded sadly, but said nothing "I bought the watch, but I also charmed it and made some changes on my own." He held up his own wrist that had the sports watch that he always wore on it. "I changed mine too. Touch your finger to the face of the watch." He watched as she pressed her forefinger to the crystal. His face was inches from here ear as he whispered the instructions. "Say my name."

"Teddy." She said softly, and watched at the face changed from pink to a perfectly clear mirror that was reflecting the night sky, until Teddy lifted his own arm to his face and he was reflected in her watch.

"Hey beautiful." He whispered, she heard it from her wrist.

"How did you do this!" she asked awed at the gift.

He shrugged as he showed her that he could see her in his watch too. "I got the idea when I saw my Grandpa James' and Sirius' mirrors. My dad keeps the full mirror that used to belong to Sirius and the shard of a mirror that Sirius gave him up on the mantle in his office. I saw them over Easter break. When we were having issues seeing each other, it just clicked. This way we can talk to each other in different dorms or in between classes or while we are studying separately. This is what I spent so much time working on there at the end of the week. You don't think I was just studying for exams did you? There is a reason that I am not the sixth year prefect."

"Teddy it is amazing, I love it." She stammered.

"Not nearly as much as I love you. Happy Birthday Vic."

Her back was still against his chest as he kissed her cheek. He watched from the side as she flushed, it was evident even in the dim light of dusk. Both of them were so absorbed in each other, neither one noticed the many adults that were just realizing how serious this relationship was. And how much both Teddy and Victoire were invested in each other. They stayed quiet until the fireworks display started when Victoire finally broke the silence.

"Can we stay in the room of requirement on Saturday after the match?" she asked.

"If we win there is likely to be a party." He reminded her. "It is the cup after all.

"I was thinking we could celebrate for a few minutes and then have our own celebration. It can be a joint happy birthday and champion quidditch captain celebration."

"What did you have in mind?" he asked, grinning from ear to ear.

"Several things come to mind." She whispered.