A/N: This chapter is one of my favourites so please pay close attention and PLEASE tell me what you think!!

The Story

June 7, 2020

--

"Weasley," Teddy murmured with a solemn smile.

"Lupin," Victoire answered softly. Teddy laughed quietly and opened the door enough for her to step inside his flat. She hadn't bothered in asking if he still lived in the same place. She followed the hunch that assured her that he hadn't moved out of the small flat.

She threw her purse on the green couch and crossed her arms as her eyes wondered around the living room, like they had done the previous day at Andromeda's house.

"You bought a new coffee table," she pointed out. Teddy was still standing by the closed front door. He nodded.

"The other one couldn't stand on its own anymore," he said softly, looking at her, paying very little attention to the table.

"This one's nice," she shrugged. Then, to avoid the firm stare of his grave eyes, she looked at the tiny fireplace he disliked so much. "Did you ever fix it?" she asked. "The chimney?" From the corner of her eye she saw him shaking his head.

"It still smokes the house. I can't figure out what's wrong with it."

Victoire chuckled, and breathed deeply afterwards. Teddy moved forward and as she tensed on her spot, she felt him walking close but past her and into the kitchen. She followed him.

"Fancy something to drink?" he asked as he opened and closed different shelves.

"Um...I don't know...what do you have?"

On top of what was his breakfast, dinning and working table she found a writing machine, the one that typed his manuscripts on its own. She observed the pieces of parchments that surrounded the machine; some clean, others written on and others were made into paper balls. Also, a couple of quills and ink bottles were resting on the table.

"What are you working on?" she asked, lifting one of the written parchments.

"An article on Muggles, and their efforts of putting an end to Dark Magic during Medieval Times," he answered, heading for the fridge.

"Wow. And you're editor allows you to write about that? Because our history pretty much blames them for cornering us and forcing us live in the dark and in hiding," she replied, reading the first lines of his draft, which made reference to a legendary Muggle king that Victoire had heard of in Muggle Studies, back at Hogwarts. Teddy turned around and grinned.

"Well, he thinks I'm writing an article on the distress of wizards during Medieval Times. But so much has been written on that...and when I got to researching in Muggle libraries I found...much more interesting topics," he said mischievously.

Victoire laughed and shook her head. "Your boss will kill you," she said. Teddy grinned again, very sure of himself.

"I'll be fine. He'll bicker, yell for a while, but he'll end up publishing it," he said shrugging. "So? Anything to drink? I don't think I have anything to eat, though," he pointed out, staring at the open fridge. Victoire walked up to it, and contemplated its emptiness from over Teddy's shoulder.

"Honestly, Teddy, if it were up to you, you'd starve to death," she said, shaking her head. Teddy closed the door, giving very little importance to her remark. He then reached to open a cabinet, from which he pulled out a bottle of red wine.

"Um...wine?" he asked, inspecting the bottle. "I have no idea how long this has been here."

"Why not?" she said with a shrug. "The situation pretty much calls for it."

"Tell me about it," he replied. They stared at each other's faces, Victoire read the awkwardness in his, and she was sure that he was doing the same. Teddy's soft chuckle made her smile.

"So?" he said, breathing in, turning around to open the old bottle and pour some of its content in two glasses. "What's new with you?"

Victoire laughed. "Seriously, Teddy? Small talk?" she mocked, shaking her head.

"Hey, give me a hand here, will you? This is awkward enough as it is."

"Alright. You start then," she encouraged.

"You already know what's new with me..." he turned around, his face solemn, and handed her one glass. In a fast move he clanked his glass against hers, simulating some kind of toast and they both drank at the same time. Victoire wrinkled her nose as she swallowed the dry alcohol, which burned her throat. Teddy laughed softly at the look on her face, before shutting his eyes briefly.

"This is..."

"Awful," Victoire laughed. "Is this really all you've got?"

He nodded. "I should shop more often, huh?"

"You think? Oh, well. I guess, it'll do," she said, drinking some more. Teddy chuckled again, and looked at her in silence for the next few seconds, before breathing out strongly.

"Have it your way, I'll begin. Guess who offered me a column in the Quibbler? Luna Lovegood."

"Really? That's great! It's quite...different from what you do at the Prophet, though," she said, to what Teddy smiled widely,

"I know. It's a Sunday's column. I won't have to quit the Prophet or anything, and the great part is...I get to write about anything I want."

"That is the dream," she smiled.

"Pretty much. I'm still negotiating, though. My editor at the Prophet doesn't quite love the idea of having one of his investigative journalists writing for The Quibbler. Too mental, according to him. I find it refreshing. I have to find a way to persuade him."

Victoire laughed at the idea of Teddy writing for England's most controversial magazine. She was sure he was considering the situation for the fun more than the challenge.

"So?" Teddy intervened. "I guess it's your turn to talk," he said, with a persuasive tone, before hiding his subtle grin as he drank some more of the dry wine. Victoire smiled lightly and took the glass to her lips again.

"Actually, I believe you have some things that belong to me. Isn't that why I'm here?" she said, and he shook his head at the sight of her evasive smile.

"Cheater," he said, grabbing the bottle with his free hand and turning around to enter the living room. She followed him again and watched him set the bottle and his own glass on a small table. He opened the coat closet and raised his hands as he searched for something at the very top. Victoire drank again. The burning sensation the wine left on her throat was more pleasant than the one the anticipation was causing her.

"They are in a box...here somewhere," said Teddy, searching through old magazines and newspapers. "I saw it a few days ago…"

"So...why didn't you just send my stuff to my parents?" she had to ask. Teddy stopped the search and turned around to gaze at her. "Not that I mind coming to get them..." she concluded. Teddy laughed softly and quickly, he had recognized some slight sarcasm in her tone of voice.

"I don't know. You never said you needed them... and they have never really bothered me," he explained, and turned around again.

Until now, she thought was the end to that sentence. They had never really bothered him until now. But it wouldn't be fair, would it? It wouldn't be fair to his girlfriend having to put up with things, accessories, pictures and who knows what other belongings of his former girlfriend. Cleansing the apartment was the logical thing to do...but then she thought of what Teddy had said: they had never really bothered him. He wasn't even sure of where the so called box was. He mentioned he saw it a few days ago.

To Victoire it was clear now that he hadn't been cleaning the place up from her, Chloe had.

"Found it! I think..." he said, clenching his teeth as he pulled out what seemed to be a very heavy box. Victoire raised her eyebrow sharply, questioning his odd behaviour. She went to the couch and pulled her wand out of her purse, ready to offer some help. But before she could murmur the spell that would pull the box out of the closet and set it elegantly on the floor, the entire top shelve broke down. Teddy moved away fast enough but the box went to the floor, spreading things all over it, along with sheets of old newspapers and magazines.

Teddy stared at the mess in silence, while Victoire set her eyes on Teddy.

"And that...is why they invented magic," she said, pointing at the mess with both of her hands, doing a very poor job in hiding the irony on her tone of voice. Teddy looked up at her, embarrassment written all over his face. He broke into laughter two seconds later. Victoire followed.

"Fine... I get it. I just made a fool of myself," he said, taking his hand to the back of his neck. Victoire cut her laughing episode short once she saw the many things that were spread over the floor. Did all that really belong to her?

"That's quite a lot," she said amazed, and set her wand on a table. Teddy nodded. She picked her glass of wine up and kneeled on the floor. "Look at all these," she said picking up a few newspapers that held extensive articles on different astronomy topics. She collected them and threw them inside the empty box, and then she reached for a small book that had fallen open, titled: Cosmic activities and their effect on wizards. "Um...okay, so I was a bit obsessed with astronomy," she shook her head and threw the book inside the box as well.

"That wasn't so bad," Teddy said, picking his glass and the bottle of wine and sitting on the floor, in front of her. "The real tragedy was when you applied those theories on me."

Victoire laughed softly and bit her lip as she wandered through the things she had forgotten about. She threw a light blue night shirt, a small bottle of perfume, and two sets of earrings straight into the box. She then picked a small recipe book, one that took her years to complete. It had all of her family's specialties. Her mother's French cuisine, her grand's traditional plates and one or two things she had managed to gather from the other members of her family. Even some of Audrey's Muggle recipes were written in there.

"Maybe you should keep this. See if you learn how to use your kitchen," she told him, holding the recipe book close to him. Teddy raised his eyebrows, before giving her a sarcastic smile.

"Aren't you amusing..." he retorted. She felt tempted to ask him if Chloe had ever turned on a stove in her entire life, but she restrained the comment. It felt like an unnecessary low punch.

"What's this?" she asked, picking up three envelopes. "Letters?" Teddy looked up, thrown off.

"Wait, those are—"

"—I wrote you these," she whispered, an accusing tone invading her voice. "You're giving me back my own letters?" she asked, looking straight at him. Teddy shook his head strongly, and leaned close to her, reaching for the envelopes.

"No, no. These aren't supposed to be here. They must have been inside the book," he explained. Victoire gave him the hardest gaze her eyes allowed her. "Hey, don't look at me like that!" he said, taking the envelopes from her hands. "It was an honest mistake. What kind of an arse do you take me for? I'll put these with the others," he said and placed the letters next to his sitting spot.

Victoire looked down at the floor and sighed strongly, so strong that the sound filled the small living room. Teddy joined her silence for the following minute. He must have found it too hard to keep up, for he picked the bottle up and filled her glass without even asking. She chuckled weakly.

"We really know how to have fun, huh?" he said, filling his own glass. "Cheap wind and awkward entertainment. Cheers!" he said. Victoire laughed again.

"It isn't so bad," she admitted, tasting the alcohol one more time. "You just have to get used to it."

"The wine or the awkwardness?" he asked, through a soft grin. Victoire rolled her eyes, before wandering them through the things on the floor. She picked up a thick scrapbook, one that had taken her a lot more time and effort to put together than the recipe book. She smiled at the sight and memory of it. "I missed this," she said, setting her glass on the floor and opening the book. It was filled with articles, properly organized by date, they all belonged to Teddy. She laughed as she saw that the first ones were short, some weren't more than five lines long. But their length grew according to the years and some of the last ones belonged to the front page of the Daily Prophet. She looked up to him and saw his pure, clean smile.

"You know...you can keep this, I mean, it's all of you after all and...well, it works as a resume for you, doesn't it?" she said, handing him the book. He didn't take it.

"But it's yours!" he argued, frowning. She shrugged.

"That's alright...I don't mind. You can have it," she breathed in. Something in her mind was telling her to shut up, like she had done when she felt tempted to attack Chloe's cooking abilities. But she rarely listened to herself; she rarely listened to anyone, so she continued. "Besides, I started another one."

Teddy's face froze on the spot, and Victoire shut her eyes tightly. She should have really listened to herself.

"You started another one?" he asked impressed. The shape of his smile had something overwhelmed in it. Victoire opened her lips but said nothing.

"Well, yes...sure, I still read your articles," she said, and her voice was so natural that she amazed herself. Teddy smiled and nodded. "I mean, your writing has grown so much in the past years..." Teddy looked at her, waiting for her to finish. "I guess that..."

"What?" he asked softly, his eyes persuading her to end the sentence.

"I guess that I'm just...proud of you. That's all."

"You're proud of me?" he asked again, and her small instinct, the same one that had told her to shut up, warned her that her words were pushing the situation to a dangerous place. Doors were unlocking, dungeons were reopening. She was saying things that were building a knot in her throat, something she hadn't felt for many months.

"Of course I am, Teddy. What did you expect?" she said with another amount of unnatural nature in her voice. "I saw you working hard for all this. And now you'll have columns in different news papers. That's amazing," she said, now her tone was of genuine admiration. She couldn't help the sensation of being a small part of his success. Teddy muted, his smile widened, his eyes were exposed with a tender look.

"Um...I'm proud of you too," he finally whispered, and Victoire cleared her throat.

"You don't have to say—"

"—I am," he cut her. "I always thought you'd find something great to do with that crazy head of yours," he said tapping with delicacy her forehead. She smiled, small dots of red wine spreading on her cheeks. "And look at you...already meddling in the magical society's secrets." Victoire laughed softly.

"You're just jealous because I have access to things you'd die to write about," she teased to break the serious tension that was sinking them. Teddy laughed and nodded softly.

"I admit that I am," he joked. "So, you're not going to give me at least one little secret?" he said, and showed her the bottle, silently asking if she wanted some more.

"Not even a clue," she said, with a proud smile, and held the glass up for him to fill. At least the wine helped them reduce the awkward atmosphere, although it did nothing to break the tension.

After having her glass filled again, she looked down at the floor, to return to what was turning into a melancholic job. She picked up the scrapbook again and handed it to him, this time he took with a sad smile and put it on top of the letters.

"We should have done this a while ago," she said, sighing.

"I guess..." he answered, his voice suddenly dry. She tried to ignore that fact, picked up some books that belonged to her, and threw them inside the box. "So, how is Paris? I suppose you're loving it there," he said, Victoire lifted her eyes at him, finding that his sight was as hard as his tone had just been.

"Paris is...great," she said. Teddy frowned

"But?"

"But? There's not but. It's great," she said simply.

"There's something else. I can see there's something else," he insisted, Victoire exhaled anxiously.

"Don't do that. Don't do that thing were you try to read my face. Don't do that," she ordered looking straight at his face. Teddy smiled warmly.

"Then, tell me," he said softly, quite persuasively. She silently cursed his abilities.

"Well..." she swallowed. "I guess I considered moving back, but...I don't know—"

"—Really?" he asked impressed, his expression transformed drastically from sad to cheerful.

"It's was just a thought. I don't really have a good reason. I mean, I really miss my family but—"

"—your family isn't a good reason?"

"Of course! But...I like my job—"

"—You'd find something here. There's not many people capable of doing what you do. I'm sure The Department of Mysteries would take you in three seconds."

"I know...just, I don't know," she said. Teddy chuckled and shook his head.

"It's your call," he said.

"I know it is. I mean, Paris is wonderful...but—"

"—But?" he cut in again.

"It isn't home," she said straight to his eyes.

"I think you just found your reason," he whispered. Victoire's smile was weak.

"Would you like me to come back?" she heard her own voice saying. She suddenly panicked. She was pushing it. She was really pushing it to the very edge. Far away she could hear something breaking already, or blowing up, and she was provoking it. She really had to stop, and fast.

Teddy smiled again, his smile made it seem like she was asking a really stupid question, instead of a really dangerous one.

"Of course! We miss you over here," he said.

"We? Who's we?" she asked impulsively, for she had been meaning to know if he wanted her to return, not everyone else. Teddy's smile vanished. "I'm sorry...you don't have to answer that," she said looking down. He followed her last suggestion and said nothing.

While Victoire's eyes travelled for the hundredth time over the floor she caught sight of something she didn't recognize at first. She picked up what seemed to be a green lump and understood that was a stuffed animal, a very old one. She frowned as she studied it.

It was a frog, its skin was no longer a bright shade of green. Time had turned it into an almost white tone of the colour. At first Victoire smiled at the memory of choosing that toy especially for Teddy as a going away present for his first year at Hogwarts. As far away as the memory was, the dedication she had spent in picking something for him at her young age felt fresh and recent. Then, she mentally pointed out that the frog had been thrown into a box.

"That's mine as well," Teddy said, the moment he saw the toy. "That shouldn't be there."

"I gave you this," she said, revealing her hurt voice. He reached and tried to take the stuffed animal from her hands, but she retrieved the object in a fast move.

"I know! I—"

"—And you're giving it back?" she asked.

"No! That shouldn't be there—"

"Never mind, I'll take it."

"You can't take it, it's mine!" he argued.

"That's alright, you don't have to pretend. I'll take it with me."

"Victoire, don't be ridiculous. It was—"

"—an honest mistake?" she said sarcastically.

"Actually yes, I didn't put it there. Give it back!"

"No!" she retorted, holding the small frog tight in her hands.

"Victoire Weasley, hand me over my damn frog," he said strictly, his arm straight and firm, his hand opened. Victoire stayed still at the hard tone of his deep voice and couldn't help breaking into laughter.

"What's so funny?" he said annoyed.

"Look at us. We're fighting over a stuffed animal," she said, short of air. Teddy laughed softly as she handed him the frog.

"Yeah well, we've always had our own ways of understanding," he said, his laughing increased as he looked at the stuffed animal. She looked at him, and her smile got caught in his, tangling, like they had done so many times before. His eyes were suddenly deep into hers.

She looked down, their laugh had faded.

"You...you didn't put it in the box," she said. "As a matter of fact, you didn't put any of these in the box."

"No," he said roughly. She looked up again.

"Chloe did," she explained to herself. He nodded. Victoire had stopped thinking about that name hours ago. Up until now she had felt a strong presence between them, something that translated into awkwardness, and something that made their laughing fade occasionally and that didn't allow that moment to be slightly pleasant. That presence made everything melancholic. She had just acknowledged that the presence had a name and a place in his life, and was determined to put Victoire inside a box. Something inside Victoire suddenly made her glue the pieces together. Like she had predicted at Andromeda's home, Chloe had a purpose, she wasn't just passing by.

Her attentions towards Victoire and towards her own family suddenly became clear. Chloe was smart, she wasn't going to try and turn Victoire against her, and instead she was trying to win her. But as she became friends with Teddy's most important former girlfriend, she would slowly get her presence out of him, especially out of his house.

It was a smart thing to do, strategic and smart. Victoire had to hand it to her.

"Listen...Chloe doesn't dislike you or anything," Teddy hurried to explain. What did he know? He was a guy. Guys don't understand the wicked ways of female minds. "She actually wanted to meet you..." Victorie raised her eyebrow. Of course Chloe wanted to meet her, just like she wanted to meet his family. She was demanding to explore the territory. Victoire understood Dominique's letter now. Teddy had been uncomfortable with bringing Chloe to The Burrow, because she had probably persuaded him to take her. "...which I admit was a bit weird but I'm glad she's assuming this in a good way."

"So...you, like...talk to her about me?" she asked, somehow horrified. Teddy shrugged.

"Can you blame me?" he said, looking at the floor, at all her belongings. "You seem to be everywhere."

Victoire chuckled, weakly and quite sadly. The knot in her throat was growing, and now the cold sensation was spreading to her chest. She was beginning to think that now that those feelings were returning to her, they weren't going to fade away. "Well, that's why I'm here, right? To clear your house of me," she said with a straight tone. Teddy noticed her unstable expression. He exhaled strongly.

"I know last night was a little awkward—"

"—A little?"

"Alright. Last night was awkward as hell. I'm sorry if I pushed it. I just..."

"No! That's alright," she lied. "You wanted us to...bond." Teddy laughed softly, a bit of irony in the sound. "I understand. She's your girlfriend, and I'm..." she looked up, no idea of how to finish that sentence. "I'm..."

"A very important person to me," he filled in with a soft whisper. No hesitation in his voice, he didn't even think it through before saying it. Her chest began to burn, anxiously. He looked at her, firmly, while Victoire found it hard to gather air to answer properly.

"You've told her that?" Victorie asked, her voice breaking, in spite of her efforts of staying calm.

"She knows," he whispered again. "She knows how much I care about you and she understands."

Sure she did. No woman in her right mind would approve of something like that. Victorie began to admire Chloe; she really was a determined woman to be putting up with all that. She was a fine opponent.

Victoire froze and hurried to scratch that last thought from her mind. Chloe wasn't her opponent, simply because there was no fight. Victoire wasn't fighting for anything.

"You really think she understands, Teddy? Because this all seems a bit complicated."

"Well, I'm never expecting anyone to really understand what goes on between us, but at least she tries."

Victoire looked up at him. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked pointlessly, she already knew what he was saying. Their relationship was hard to explain to anyone. At first they had been something between friends and family, and almost none of the students at Hogwarts understood that they weren't actual cousins. Then they became something between best friends and a couple, which came out as disgusting to the many people who still thought that they were blood related. Teddy and Victoire understood each other perfectly, like best friends did, but the electric field that connected them threw them far away from the friends scenario. And now they were in the weirdest place of all. They were somewhere between friends, family and ex-boyfriends. It was blurry but it had to work somehow. That's what they were pouring all their efforts in: working it out. No matter what they were called. One thing suddenly became certain, Victoire was realizing that the burning of her chest and the shortness of breath was nothing more than the electric field taking over them again, and she could feel he was sensing the same things, she could just feel it.

But he wasn't doing anything about it, which was the smart way to act. They were going to have to live with it, until it faded on its own.

"You shouldn't have to ask," he whispered, interrupting all of her thoughts. Victoire's lower lip trembled lightly. She looked down, impulsively at the green frog that was still in Teddy's hand.

"I get what you mean," she cut him. She saw him staring at the stuffed animal and chuckling afterwards.

"What?" she asked, looking for something to laugh at as well. The tension the last topic left her was taking her breath again.

"Nothing. Do you remember why you got me this?" he asked. Victoire frowned, trying to make out the memory of it.

"Because...it looked cute?" she suggested. He laughed, which made her smile again. "You're lucky I didn't get you a stuffed unicorn. I didn't want to embarrass you that much," she said, with soft laughs.

"You really don't remember," he said amused.

"Remember what?" she insisted. "I remember you were leaving for your first school year and I wanted—"

"—that's not it. So, you don't remember our first kiss?" he smirked.

"WHAT? What are you talking about?"

"You don't remember the first time you kissed me..." he said, acting as if he was seriously hurt by her amnesia.

"Me? It was the other way around! You were the first to kiss me!"

"No, I wasn't. It was you. You pecked a frog, trying to see if some Muggle fairy tale was true. And then you pecked me... in the lips and all," he said proudly. Victoire's eyes opened widely, her jaw dropped. The image of herself pecking a big, brown frog was coming back to her head. She wrinkled her face.

"I kissed a frog?" she said faintly. He nodded, breaking into laughter. "How come you never told me that before?" she asked horrified.

"Honestly? I didn't remember much of it myself. I don't know why I'm remembering it now."

"Am I that bad of a kisser?" she asked, now she was the one acting insulted. Teddy's laugh grew more.

"Hey, we were just kids. Besides, I think I tried to hide that somewhere in the most embarrassed corners of my mind. A girl kissed me after kissing a frog. That was beyond humiliation," he said. Victoire joined in his laughter. "Merlin...you really used to push me around..."

"That's not true! I never pushed you around," she said, pleasantly amused. Teddy raised his eyebrow at her. "Alright, Alright, I did...a little. Okay, a lot. But only because you were dumb enough to be pushed around by a girl younger than you!" she mocked. Teddy threw her the stuffed animal, which hit her in the face but didn't cut her laughter.

"Hey! Don't blame me for it. I couldn't resist your charms! Even back then," he said. Victoire stopped laughing gradually, concentrating on recovering her breath. When she looked up she found that Teddy was barely smiling, his eyes had set upon hers. Their colour was profound, like his sight, a dark shade of brown that gave his last words an entirely different meaning.

But his reaction was sharp, cold and effective. He looked down, cleared his throat and drank from his glass of wine. So did Victoire. Once again she retook her duty of disappearing from his apartment and picked up a photograph that had been facing down. It was a picture of her, standing in the middle of the beautiful gardens of The Palace of Versailles. She had given him it to Teddy last Christmas, only because he had insisted on having a recent picture of her. Of course, that was before their New Year's incident.

"Another honest mistake?" asked Victoire, this time the sarcasm was loud and sharp. Teddy sighed and nodded.

"Give me that," he said taking it away from her.

"I don't blame her," Victoire said. "If I had to put up with pictures of my boyfriend's ex I would probably end up burning them."

"Hey, you did so once," Teddy said.

"I did not!"

"Really? What about Grace's picture, the one in a bathing suit?" Teddy said. Victoire felt her cheeks flushing.

"That picture fell off my hands..."

"...and into the fireplace," he finished.

"It was an accident!" she said sincerely. "It really was!"

"Alright...an honest mistake, then." Victoire laughed again. "So, are you ready to tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"Something new about you? Anything! Or do I have to get you drunk for that?" he offered, raising the bottle of wine. Victoire lifted her glass towards him.

"That won't be necessary. What do you want to know about?"

"Anything...your friends, your job, your boyfriends..." he said softly as he filled her glass again.

"My friends are...Leo, my job is mostly top secret to you and my boyfriends are nonexistent," she answered sharply.

"Why are you being so difficult?"

"I'm not being difficult!"

"So, you're not seeing anyone? I don't believe that..."

"Why not?"

"No one?"

"No."

"Not even occasionally?"

Victoire silenced.

"Aha! I knew you had something hidden somewhere."

"I sort of met this guy, but...that was a few weeks ago, we've gone out a couple of times. There. Happy?...Dad," she retorted. Teddy's face was plane. He didn't seem to get that she was somehow joking.

"That's it?"

"Yes...well, I've gone out with other guys, but nothing serious..." she said, drinking more wine. Teddy pressed his lips together and then drank from his own glass.

"So...you've been with other guys," he said. For a second Victoire couldn't believe he was entering that territory. Something told her that the alcohol was having an effect on him. "Go ahead," he encouraged, something mischievous in his voice. "Say your magic number."

Victoire chocked on her drink, the wine suddenly began to taste stronger. She was blushing again; she could feel the heat of her skin. "You are not allowed to ask me that!" she said, a shrieking embarrassment coming out of her voice. She threw the green frog straight at Teddy's head. He complained loudly but that only increased his teasing grin.

"Sure I am."

"No!"

"It's Me! You can tell me anything!" he said, laughing at the horrified look on her face.

"No, I can't...and I don't have to either," she retorted.

"Come on... What? You're afraid of me? You're afraid of what I'll think? Oh no...please don't tell me you're embarrassed, because that would be pitiable."

Victoire threw him her best killing look, the one that always encouraged him to continue his mockery. He laughed.

"Fine. I'll let you guess it," she said. Teddy raised his eyebrows and pretended to be giving the subject inner thought.

"One?" he asked, a trace of hope in his eyes.

"No," she said, mildly smiling.

"Um, I don't know. Six?"

"Six? You just jump from one to six? Just like that? That's…a bit insulting," she said, astonished. Teddy laughed again.

"Well, now I know that it's somewhere between two and five."

"You think you are so smart… Go ahead, give it another try."

He chuckled, his expression changed. "You know what? Never mind. I don't want to know anymore," he said, looking down at the floor, but she could see the skin of his neck turning slightly red, which provoked a smile on her. "Something tells me that your number is higher than mine."

Victoire laughed out loud. She was still flushed, but she felt relieved that they could still have those types of conversations openly, without feeling out of place. He had been right; they could talk about anything...almost.

"So...you really don't want to know?" she teased, feeling glad to have the ball on her court.

"No..." he said, shaking his head. "I'm even sorry for bringing the subject up in the first place."

"Oh, come on..." she encouraged.

"Be quiet," he ordered, raising his hand and placing it rather close to her lips. He wasn't touching her, and she didn't need that to feel the heat of his skin.

"I don't see why it would bother you, you're the one who has moved on impressively fast," she ended up saying. She regretted it at the very second. Again, she was pushing things to the very edge.

Teddy looked up at her, like he hadn't been laughing two seconds ago, like he had never laughed in his life.

"I'm sorry," she said fast. "I wasn't supposed to say that, my brain betrayed my mouth."

"I've seen that happen to you before," he said, with a gentle but sad smile.

Silence came back, and Victoire hated every minute of it.

"Victoire...I wanted to tell you I was seeing someone," he finally said.

"No...Its okay—"

"—I didn't want you to find out through somebody else. I wrote you a letter but...it sounded so cheap written down that I never sent it. I guess I didn't really know what to say."

"That's fine, Teddy," she said, but to her regret he didn't stop there.

"And what did you expect me to do? I went after you to Paris, and you didn't want me."

"Well, you didn't want me before that," she retorted.

"That's not true. Those were completely different reasons..."

"Teddy I don't want to get into that now," she pleaded.

"We'll have to talk about it someday. What else did you expect from me?" he asked, she was sensing that he wasn't calmed anymore, he seemed to be getting upset as he spoke. "You wanted me to wait until you changed you mind? Because... I actually did, I did wait. I waited until you made it clear that nothing was going to happen between us."

"I know," she answered weakly. She felt tempted of telling him, of letting him know that she didn't want him to just wait, she wanted him to convince her, to force her to see how stubborn she was being. He had hurt her, and she went to France and things changed entirely after that. To her disgrace he had been right; she needed to get away, to make something out of her life. The problem was that she got so far away that it was hard to simply come back afterwards. She needed him to be persistent. But he had given up.

Victoire blinked, if those things were going to sound to him as stupid as they sounded in her head then she preferred to remain quiet.

"You didn't come back after the first year. You stayed in France," he said.

"We had broken up, I moved on."

"That's what I'm doing now."

Victoire looked down at the floor, and she felt Teddy standing up, walking past the box and carefully bordering the things that were still spread on the floor. Soon he was sitting right next to her. She swallowed hard, and finally felt the heat of his skin when he took her chin with his thumb and his index finger.

"Teddy..."

"Just tell me, if you're not slightly resentful of how things turned out between us," he asked gravely. Victoire did a big effort in avoiding his eyes. She shook her head.

"I'm not going to talk about it," she said, releasing her head from his grip.

Teddy exhaled, deep in frustration. She saw the way he looked at her, examining her face and finally, her neck.

"You're still wearing the locket," he whispered.

She shut her eyes. "So?" she asked, looking at the floor.

"Nothing...just that...nothing," he said.

She sighed. "I like it, that's all. You know that," she said, grabbing it tightly with her right hand. They shared their silence, until Teddy chuckled.

"What?" she asked softly, then realized and laughed softly herself. "Oh. You're thinking about the story you made up, aren't you?"

"You remember it?" he asked. Victoire rolled her eyes.

"Of course I do. You made it up for me. You made it up to get into my knickers," she mocked. She had no idea where she got the strength to make a joke at the moment. He laughed absently.

"Although it was one of the things in my head at the moment, it wasn't really the reason I made it up..."

"I know."

"You used to ask me to repeat it all the time."

"That's because I loved it."

He looked at her neck again. "That locket used to hold a picture of us together," he pointed out as he grabbed the piece of jewellery with his hand. Victoire's chest was burning once again. His hand brushed her skin, challenging to open the locket.

"Used to," she lied weakly.

"You took the picture off?" he asked, leaning close to her, tightening his grip on the ornament. Victoire swallowed hard. He was walking on thin ice and he was pulling her with him. If it broke it would drown them both. He was the one now to be pushing things to the very sharp edge.

She nodded, again lying. He had the girlfriend, he had moved on, and she had no intention on looking like the pathetic loser with the picture of her ex-boyfriend hanging on her neck.

She quickly remembered Teddy's story (1), and how the character of the Auror hadn't opened the locket for almost three years, forgetting all about the picture that was inside of it. But once he opened it again he was bewitched by what he found.

Since their breakup she hadn't opened the locket either. She had almost forgotten that there was a picture of them in it. She had carried it on for a year, fooling herself to think that the only reason she was still wearing it was because she liked that particular antique. Now she felt like the big idiot she knew she was. She strongly wished she had taken that god damn picture off the locket. Better yet, she should have taken the whole thing off.

"So...you won't mind if I open it, would you?" he asked, through a rough whisper. Victoire gasped, his fingers were moving over it, while his eyes were on her.

"Don't. Don't open it," she ordered, her voice firm, almost threatening with her eyes. Although she knew that her reaction had been enough for him to know what was inside of that locket, he still didn't have the right to embarrass her like that.

Teddy let go of the necklace, but his hand didn't rest. It slowly explored the skin of her neck, which had been burning for the last minutes. He travelled up her neck, and she shut her eyes as he firmly grabbed her face. She breathed deeply. He was close enough to be inhaled.

She closed her eyes; she had not felt that weak in ages. She felt his lips, somewhere near her chin and instantly loved the effect it had on her. She quickly bit her lip and stopped breathing. All the blood that had been jumping through her veins was now running up her head.

He stopped. He didn't approach himself one more inch. She opened her eyes and saw something in his sight, regret maybe. He must have been coming to his senses. He must have been acknowledging just how stupid and impulsive he was being. He had pushed things way too far, they both had, ice was breaking, and now his face said that the left side of his brain was ordering him to behave like a solid, thinking person who already had a girlfriend.

But...stupid and impulsive just happened to be Victoire's specialty when it came to anything related to Teddy. Besides, she had already worn out her ways of restrain the times she had turned him down. She had shown resistance to him twice in one year; the first time out of pure anger, the second time out of consideration with her own sanity.

But now she didn't stand the distance he was beginning to put between them, and she was not going to forgive his brief moment of weakness.

Her face slid next to his again, he breathed deeply. The tip of her fingers moved cautiously, until they brushed his lips with no hesitation involved, drawing tempting figures on the humid surface. He seemed to smile at her touch, but it was hard to translate his expression. His uneven breathing was the encouraging key to each of her moves. Her fingertips burned everytime hot air escaped from his mouth.

She crushed the little layer of ice that was left between them, approaching her lips to his right cheek, breathing his scent as much as humanly possible, while her pulse threatened to explode from her neck.

He shifted his face; with a possessed move he trapped her teasing lips with his.

--

A/N: So, any thoughts? Love it? Hate it? Please say something, especially if you've been following this story. I always love to read your take on things.

Footnote:

(1) For those who might have forgotten, the story that concerned the locket is told by Teddy during chapter 13 "Angry".

--

Artist: Brandi Carlile

Lyrics:

All of these lines across my face

Tell you the story of who I am

So many stories of where I've been

And how I got to where I am

But these stories don't mean anything

When you've got no one to tell them to

It's true...I was made for you

I climbed across the mountain tops

Swam all across the ocean blue

I crossed all the lines and I broke all the rules

But baby I broke them all for you

Because even when I was flat broke

You made me feel like a million bucks

You do

I was made for you

You see the smile that's on my mouth

It's hiding the words that don't come out

And all of my friends who think that I'm blessed

They don't know my head is a mess

No, they don't know who I really am

And they don't know what

I've been through like you do

And I was made for you...

All of these lines across my face

Tell you the story of who I am

So many stories of where I've been

And how I got to where I am

But these stories don't mean anything

When you've got no one to tell them to

It's true...I was made for you