"Stop it," mumbled Ted.

Auggie hopped from spot to spot on Ted's workbench, attempting to stalk a lone piece of toast that sat there. He'd been at it for the last five minutes; ever since Ted had brought his breakfast over to sit and eat. Ted had a feeling Auggie thought he was being especially covert in trying to nab the last piece, but he really couldn't have been more blatant if he tried. And he was trying…

Ted almost has to think that Auggie was doing this purposely to annoy him. After a night of being left out in the cold once he'd returned from hunting, his owl wasn't in the most of agreeable of moods. Ted and Auggie had a fairly set schedule worked out concerning when the window would be left open or closed, but after Ted's night, he'd accidently forgotten to leave it open for Auggie's return. Of course, most owls wouldn't have even thought twice of this, but Auggie was a spoiled brat who enjoyed returning home to his warm cage. Sitting outside on a window ledge was not his idea of how he should be treated, and thus, he was now spending the morning giving Ted the cold shoulder.

That was until he had brought out toast.

"You're a snow owl," Ted muttered, picking up the last piece of toast before Auggie could nab it. "You're supposed to like spending your nights out and about. You're built for the cold."

Auggie's head cocked completely to the side as he narrowed his eyes on Ted. A low hoot escaped him.

"You're a complete pain in the arse," Ted mumbled, splitting the toast in half and handing him the smaller of the two pieces. "I hope you know that."

Auggie snapped at the piece hastily, making Ted retract his hand at lightning speed. As he looked down to make sure all of his fingers were still there, a sudden knock at his front door made him look at a nearby clock. It was 9:30 in the morning. Who on earth was calling at 9:30 in the morning?

"It's open!" he yelled, stuffing his last half of toast into his mouth before pointing his wand towards the door to unlock it. He began to stand to greet whomever it was that happened to be there, but when Simon took the liberty of letting himself in, Ted plopped back down into his seat.

"Hey," Ted managed to sputter, still chewing his breakfast. "I wasn't s'pecting ya for a foo more ow-ers."

Simon shut the door behind him, but immediately turned a strange, almost relieved, expression onto Ted. "Thank Merlin, I thought you were in a coma or something."

"Saw-we?" Ted asked, swallowing finally.

Simon crossed the room towards him, stopping only to sit on the arm of the nearest sofa. "I read in the Prophet this morning about that pub fight at the Dragon's Breath and they said fifteen people had to be taken to the hospital for various spell damage and injuries. They said two unidentified men were in comas from getting hit by several simultaneous spells."

"Really?" Ted asked, not really realizing that the events of yesterday night had gone any further than him hurting his hand.

Simon nodded his head a little. "And then, of course I got to thinking that maybe one of those people had been you since I didn't see you for the rest of the night. At first, I didn't even think anything of it because I just assumed you left to go and talk to Victoire or something. It didn't occur to me until this morning that you could be one of these coma blokes."

Ted shook his head. "Nope. Not me."

Simon exhaled a sigh of relief before laughing a little. "Here I thought you got all fucked up a pub fight while I was just down the street getting wasted. We're you even still there when the fight happened?"

"Oh yeah…"

"What happened?"

"Dunno," Ted said. "I got hit by a Stunning Spell and knocked unconscious. I guess I fell down on some glass." He held up his hand to show what little damage was left to his almost healed hand. "Then I had to go to the hospital because I was bleeding everywhere, but I really don't remember much of what happened. By the time I came to, I was full of potions and sort of disoriented."

Simon gawked at him. He had apparently not expected that as an answer.

"It was a long night," Ted said, though a sudden small smile crept across his face as he spoke. "But that's not necessarily a bad thing."

Simon stood from the couch. "You're taking the piss, right? You didn't seriously have to go to the hospital?"

"No, I did."

His jaw dropped. "Shit, Ted! I thought you just left early to go talk to Victoire! You had to go to the bloody hospital!?"

"Well, I did talk to her," Ted said, now full on grinning. "But I did that after the hospital."

Simon ignored this instead thumped back down on the couch's arm in a stunned sort of way. "How in the hell…?" He looked away. "What the hell kind of friend am I when I leave you to get carted off to the hospital and I don't even know about it."

"It's no big deal," said Ted. "I had a bloke from work look out for me. You couldn't have known, and if anything, you're smart for getting out when you did. Shit, Simon, you're getting married today. You can't afford to be in a coma."

Simon smiled a little, but quickly forced it off his face. "Bloody hell, Ted…" He stared at him. "You're all right, though?"

"Yeah. I'm actually fantastic." His smile grew wider. "I know it sounds impossible, but I ended up having an amazing night."

"Yeah," Simon said sarcastically, "that's what everyone who spends their night in the hospital says. I hear it's like a fucking party."

"I wasn't in the hospital that long," Ted corrected, swiveling from side to side in his chair. "I was there for maybe an hour."

"Just an hour? I went ahead and assumed you were there longer because you look like you haven't slept in days." He gestured to him. "No offense."

Ted spun around once in his chair before planting his feet on the ground to face Simon. "I didn't sleep much last night, but that had nothing to do with the hospital."

Simon threw him a pointed look. "I have a feeling you're fishing for something."

Ted smiled and shrugged.

"You're going make me guess, aren't you?" He sighed lazily and looked as if he was now searching his head for a possible answer. "Let's see….oh, wait. You said you talked to Victoire. You must have worked everything out, then. That's what you're getting at."

"Yeah, we're good again." Ted said, still smiling as bits and pieces from the previous night began replaying in his mind at the mere mention of her name. Every time he closed his eyes, he could picture exactly how good everything about last night had felt. The sights, the sounds, the smells, the touch—especially the touch, that should be stressed—but nothing compared just how good he had felt being with her. The actual sex aside, there was something extra there—an emotional or intimate connection, whatever you want to call it—that had been an entirely new experience for him. That was the best part.

"Glad to hear it," Simon said. "What'd you do? Turn up at her house in the middle of the night?"

"Pretty much. I went over and apologized after I'd left the hospital." He paused for a moment. "But, it was actually more interesting when she turned up here in the middle of the night after she'd gone and snuck out of her house."

An impressed little smile played at the corner of Simon's lips. "Nice."

"Yep." Ted smiled and looked away. It wasn't as if he wasn't going to come out and admit to what had happened next, but if Simon were to figure it out on his own, he wasn't doing deny it either. Of course, making a rather blatant attempt at goading Simon into guessing wasn't exactly making things difficult.

"Why do I think there's more to this?" he asked.

Ted shrugged, but continued to smile. "I don't know."

The two stared back and forth at one another for a long moment. Ted continued to smile while silently attempting to will Simon into realizing what he was hinting at; Simon sat there staring blankly back at him, as if purposely trying to think about what he was missing in this exchange. It took over a minute of these back and forth looks and gestures for something to finally seem to click in Simon's mind. When it did, his expression turned obvious.

"Ohhhhhh…" He laughed. "You son of a…"

"What?" Ted asked, though he was now laughing too.

"It's about time," Simon said, standing from the sofa again. "Damn, Ted. You went from being in a complete shit position with her to being in a…" he grinned, "well, a clearly not-so-shit position with her. At least, I'd hope it was not-so-shit."

Ted smiled, leaning comfortably back into his chair. "Yeah, definitely not."

"I should have figured that out sooner," Simon muttered. "You've had that shit-eating grin on your face ever since I walked in. Here you are talking about ending up in the hospital like you've gone on holiday or something, and for someone who was so roughed up in a pub fight, it would have had to have taken getting laid to make you so damn chipper this morning."

"It was a great night," Ted said, yawning lazily.

"You know," said Simon, "if this were two, three years ago, I would hate you right now."

"But it's not," said Ted, standing up him from his own chair to walk over and pat Simon on the shoulder. "Instead, it's today. And you're getting married."

"I am getting married." He checked his watch. "And in ten hours time." He looked back at Ted. "You ready for a wedding?"

"The more important question is, are you ready for your wedding?"

Simon shrugged and smiled. "Ready or not, here I come."

It was a pillow to the head that woke Victoire up that morning. When she opened her eyes, a blurry mixture of sunlight and the figure of Whit sat before her. Only one of those two things was staring back at her, though; she was fairly confident that the sunlight hasn' t been what has just chucked a pillow at her.

"You're still here," Whit said, sitting up on her camp bed as she pulled her messy bed hair back into a ponytail

Victoire groaned and turned over onto her stomach, immediately fighting the urge to fall back asleep. "What time is it?"

"Ten."

"Is that all?" she asked, reaching out to grab the pillow that Whit had thrown at her to pull underneath her, hugging it against her body. "Wake me in an hour."

Whit threw another pillow at her. "I thought you were going to wake-up at the crack of dawn to go over to Ted's?"

Victoire laughed into her pillow, suddenly remembering the events of the previous night. Her first attempt at sneaking in and out of her house had been a complete success, what with everyone still fast asleep once she returned home in the early morning hours. Having things work out as well as they did certainly didn't curtail her desire to want to do it again in the future, especially considering that last night was first time she and Ted had gotten any real time together since their relationship was exposed. Their first time alone in months, and it had turned out to be an unbelievable evening. So unbelievable, in fact, that the only good thing about being awake now was that she could more easily recall the details of last night back in her head.

"You were just so concerned last night that I thought you would have rushed out here the first chance you got," said Whit, looking rather confused by Victoire's lack of interest.

Victoire picked her head up off the pillow. "I have a confession." Her hair haphazardly fell into her face, but she he took a deep breath and lowered her voice to barely a whisper. "I snuck out of here last night and went over to Ted's."

Whit stared at her.

"I couldn't sleep and I was worried. So, at about three in the morning, I snuck out of the house, went down the stairs, out the kitchen door, and Apparated over there."

Whit jaw slowly started to drop. "You snuck—!"

Victoire immediately bolted upright and made a hushing gesture with her hand. "Keep it down," she whispered. "You never know who's walking by my door!" She slowly began to smile. "But, yeah. I did."

"But how did you…?" She lowered her own voice down to a whisper. "How long were you there for?"

"Until just before six," she said, a tired smile now replacing the smile she had mustered before. "I was really pushing it since I know my mum likes to get up around six sometimes to take care of things, but when I got back, everyone was still asleep." She released a sigh of relief. "That was my one mistake. I really shouldn't have let get that close, but it was just so hard to leave."

Whit was now grinning from ear to ear. She had sudden excited energy about her, as if she someone how felt privy to some exclusive information. "That's so…"

"Not me," Victoire said, finishing for her. "I know, but I just couldn't sleep. I had to know he made it home okay."

"And he obviously did," Whit said. "He was okay when you got there?"

She nodded, yawned, and plopped back down onto her back. "Yeah, perfectly fine. By the time I got there, most of the potions had taken and restored his and his energy level." She took a deep breath before she threw Whit a very particular grin. "And we needed that energy."

"For what…exactly?" Whit began, though, given her tone, she had already answered her question before she'd even finished speaking. "Wait, you…?"

Victoire nodded.

"I knew it!" Whit said loudly, bouncing a little on the camp bed. "As soon as you said—!"

Victoire reached behind her and threw a pillow back at Whit's head. "Would you lower your voice!"

"As soon as you said," she repeated, her voice lowered as she ducked out of the way of the flying pillow, "that you were there for a few hours, I just knew you were going to tell me that. I knew it."

Victoire could feel her face pinken slightly. "Yeah, we did it."

"And?!"

"And…I don't know," Victoire said sheepishly, feeling oddly strange about sharing the details. In part, they were private, but another part of her really, really wanted to get feedback on what had happened; especially considering that she was now running techniques and maneuvers over and over again in her head.

"Did it hurt?"

Victoire immediately picked her head up off the pillow and looked Whit dead in the eyes. "When he first...." She made a pained face. "But it only lasted for a little bit then it was just sort of trying to get used to the feeling of him being inside me. That's the part I need to get used to." She lowered her voice to a barely audible whisper. "I'm still a little sore."

"That's normal," Whit said. "I was sore for a couple days, but it goes away. But anyway, did you like it? Was it what you thought it would be?"

"As far as the act itself goes, I can see how it'll get better," Victoire said thoughtfully, "you know, now that the first time is out of the way."

"Right."

"But even with things being initially awkward, honestly, I don't think it could have been any better."

Whit smiled. "Really?"

"Ted was just…" she looked away and up at the ceiling. "I don't know, but I was barely even nervous. He was so patient with everything. He kept making sure I was okay and he was so unbelievably sexy while he was doing his…" she paused, searching for the right word, but not finding it, "thing. It all felt so right. Not to mention the way he just..." She trailed off, holding back on specifically mentioning that the way he had looked at her made her fell as if everything that mattered in the world had existed in that moment. She wanted to keep to keep that part private. "Anyway, afterward we just sort of laid there talking so that I wouldn't fall asleep, because I couldn't fall asleep. It was..." She smiled. "Great. That's the best way I can describe it."

"That's brilliant," said Whit, her smile now unbearably sappy. "Honestly, I'm just happy it was a good experience for you." She suddenly rolled her eyes. "Maybe I'll get so lucky on my second time. Not that Jack was awful or anything, but all of that sexy, sweet emotional stuff you mentioned, it just wasn't there. It was just...technical."

"I almost can't believe last night even happened," Victoire said, now sitting herself back up. "From him stopping by after the hospital, to me sneaking out, to spending hours over there last night. It all seems like a dream."

"Did you ever find out how he ended up in the hospital? Or did you skip all of that and go straight to the shagging?" Whit teased.

Victoire tossed her other pillow at her. "He got caught in the crossfire of a pub fight, you smartarse."

Whit grimaced a little at hearing that, but quickly bounced back to smiling. "And I'm guessing you're all straightened out about going to the wedding?"

"Yeah, but it's not until later," said Victorie lazily. "He's spending his day getting ready, but he mentioned that he was going to try and come by earlier if he had the time."

"Gee, I wonder why…"

Victoire reached down to grab at another pillow to throw at her, but soon realized she had already thrown them all. She instead resigned to simply shrugging her shoulders. "Who am I kidding? I'm probably more ready to go again than he is..."

Hours later, as afternoon stretched itself into evening, Ted stood over a sink basin in the loo of a small banquet hall splashing water onto his face. He paid careful attention in making sure he kept the water off his dress robes, but quickly looked up into the mirror to check that his hair looked neat. When he saw that it did, he took a step backwards to inspect himself now that he was dressed and ready to go. He forced to himself grin as he observed himself in the mirror, noting that he looked pretty good. That two hour power nap he'd taken earlier had done him wonders considering he didn't look half as exhausted as he had this morning.

He puffed up his checks and exhaled, checking his watch and realizing that he had an hour until the ceremony was set to start. He still had to swing by Victoire's to pick her up, and Simon had made him promise to do a shot of something other than firewhiskey before the big moment was to occur, but other than that, it looked as if he was all set to go. He was ready to watch his best mate get married.

On that thought, he walked to the door and exited the loo, where he started walking back across the small banquet hall. Everything looked as if it had just finished being set up for the ceremony; various wizards were putting the final touches on straightening up chairs into neat rows while others were draping flowers up and down the makeshift aisle. The room wasn't tremendously large, but it was a fair enough size to host the some seventy guests that Simon claimed were coming. What had apparently started out as a small wedding of maybe forty people had grown into, almost overnight, a much larger number. It seemed most of Susan's family had decided to make the trip overseas after claiming they weren't, so several last minute accommodations had to be made.

By the looks of things, however, they had pulled it off flawlessly. Once the ceremony was over, within seconds all the chairs and aisle decorations would disappear, only to be replaced by tables and a dance floor. The reception would follow immediately afterwards, and the guests would barely even have to move. It was that easy. It was almost inexplicable how quickly Susan had managed to pull all of this off, given how little time she had had to plan things. Simon claimed that when she wanted something badly enough, she exhausted every resource to make it work; that was none more obvious than looking around the room and seeing it all really play out.

As he walked, Ted passed a group of women dressed in swanky, brightly colored dress robes that appeared to be early arriving guests. He had no idea who they were, but let his gaze linger for a moment as they proceeded to walk about the hall pointing out various decorations.

He looked away when he came to Simon's dressing area, which he let himself into without knocking. It was there, positioned front and center in the room and fiddling with the dial on a large wireless, Simon stood in his dress robes mumbling obscenities at the device. He was turning the knob back and forth, listening as station after station faded in and out.

"I'm looking for the Wasp's match," Simon said without looking up; answering a question no one had asked.

"I don't think it's started yet," said Ted, taking a nearby vacant chair. "I think it starts at the same time your ceremony does."

Simon hummed. "You'd think I would have planned that better."

Ted grinned. He had to admit he was in far better spirits than he anticipated he would be on this day. Even the humdrum annoyance he usually associated with weddings was oddly missing from the back of his mind. In fact, he was almost—almost—excited. Not for the wedding and all of the pomp and circumstance junk, but more to see his friend happily celebrating such a huge step in his life. He was excited to get away from work and enjoy himself. He was excited that he and Victoire weren't arguing and that he could enjoy his night with her. He was excited that his hand had finally stopped hurting…

"Anyone out there yet?" asked Simon, giving up on the wireless.

"I think a few people are," Ted said, nodding back towards the door. "I saw some ladies dressed up in pink and purple robes and looking like they were here for a wedding. Then there are people still setting things up."

"No, Susan, though?"

"Didn't see her."

"She said she'd get here around now," Simon said, his knee now bouncing up and down in an anxious fashion. "I just didn't know if you'd seen her."

Ted shook his head and checked his watch again. "It's still really early, though—"

The door to the room opened again at that moment, and in walked two blonde-haired men that Ted recognized as Simon's cousins from the stag night before. They had been the ones who so closely resembled Simon that it was fairly obvious to anyone who looked at them that they had to all be related one way or another.

"Hey, Simon," said the bigger of the two men, whose name Ted couldn't remember. "Your mum's out there with your sisters."

"Yeah," said the other cousin, "they wanted to see if they could come in. I suppose they want to talk to you."

Simon groaned before he looked at Ted. "Great. I already know they're going to come in here and lecture me on how to stand while I'm up there." He made his tone sharp, as if he was poorly imitating some woman. "Make sure you stand up straight and don't slouch. Don't mumble. You always mumble when you're nervous." His voice faded back to normal. "Blah, blah, blah…"

"You do mumble when you're nervous," Ted offered.

"I'm going to get enough shit from them," he muttered, gesturing to the invisible women in the room. "I don't need to hear it from you, too."

"I was just agreeing," Ted said, forcing himself to stand. "Trust me, if you want to mumble, I couldn't care less."

"See, now that's why you're my best man."

Ted snorted a laugh as he took two steps towards the door. "I'll give you some time with your mum and your sisters. I have to go pick up Vic anyway."

Simon grinned. "So, should I expect you back in ten minutes or right before the ceremony?"

"Why would I take that long?"

"I didn't know if you were making a quick stop." He threw him an obvious look. "You know. Round two? You know damn well that once you start…"

Ted shrugged. "I think I can manage a couple of hours without...." he checked his watch, "wait, you think we have enough time?"

"No idea," he checked his own watch, "but if you're late because you're too busy shagging, I will kill you." He turned back to the wireless. "And that's a promise, Lupin."

Ted smirked as he grabbed the door. "Got it."

It was then that he Apparated on the spot, landing moments later on the ever so familiar front lawn of the Weasleys' house. It was cloudy and cold on this New Year's Eve, but it wasn't until the blustery sea wind nearly blew Ted over that he remembered he wasn't wearing a cloak at all. He still wasn't sure where he had left his in the chaos of last night, but if he had to guess, it was probably somewhere at the Dragon's Breath—if not lost forever. He'd most likely have to buy a new one, which was a rather depressing thought. He'd loved that cloak.

He made his way up the lawn, pushing himself against the wind and only slowing his stride once he drew closer to the house and noticed three people out on the porch. He settled his gaze on the group, noticing that it Dominique who was leaning up against the front of the house and facing his direction. In front of her, his back to Ted, Louis was sitting up on the porch railing; next to him, also turned to face Dominique, was a girl that Ted didn't recognize until she turned around and he caught face….but she didn't do that until after Dominique yelled out to him.

"What do we have here?" Dominique called, laughing as she said it. "Look at you looking posh and sophisticated."

Both Louis and the girl turned see what she was talking about, and Ted immediately saw that it was Louis's girlfriend, Sarah, standing with them. They both grinned as he approached, though only Louis made a point of wolf-whistling.

Ted begrudged a modest smile as he climbed the porch steps to where they were standing. "Funny," he said sarcastically.

"I didn't know you even had it in you, Ted," said Louis, still looking amused.

"I'm a little disappointed," said Dominique, crossing her arms across her chest. "I prefer the scruffy look. I hate when people are too polished. We had that in common, Ted."

"Don't think this is permanent," he said, pulling a quick face. "This is just for today."

"Until Vic sees you and gets ideas," Louis joked, hopping off the railing and walking towards the door. "Hold on, I'll see if she's ready."

"I doubt it," Dominique said, watching as Louis disappeared inside. "She only started getting ready fifteen hours ago, so she's still got about fourteen to go until she's perfect."

"She's already pretty perfect," Ted quipped.

Sarah aww'ed as Dominique's eyes rolled so far back into her, they practically disappeared; not that Ted would suspect anything less. He knew that he probably shouldn't enjoy making her squirm as much as he did, but he did. Given that she was so rarely fazed by anything, it was rather funny.

"She's in the kitchen," Louis said as he reappeared back outside. "She said it's too cold out, so you need to come inside. Believe it or not though, she's ready to go."

"No…" said Dominique.

"I know," said Louis, pretending to be shocked.

"Excellent," said Ted without a moment's hesitation.

He sidestepped his way around Louis to enter the house, where he cast a quick look around and immediately set his sights on the kitchen. It was there that Victoire stood leaning against the counter chewing on the end of a carrot and laughing at something he mother was saying. Ted really only had a second to see her before she noticed he was there, but she looked flat out, one-hundred percent, no-other-word-for-it stunning standing there. Everything about her…he didn't even…he couldn't even…he blinked. He had no idea what to say. He'd seen her dressed up exactly like this—her hair done impeccably, her makeup effortless, her powder blue dress robes looking as if she should make a point of living in them because they fit so well—countless times in the past, but not since they'd gotten together. At least he'd never noticed it like this before.

Both Victoire and Fleur looked over at the same time, and in an identical manner. Fleur's eyes went a little wide with surprise at first, but a smile crawled across her face before she looked over at her daughter. Victoire had gaped ever so slightly, but still enough that the carrot she'd been chewing on fell to the counter top.

"Well, don't you look 'andsome," said Fleur.

"You look better than handsome," Victoire muttered, looking him up in and down in a way that Ted was almost surprised to see she was doing with her mum in the room.

"Thanks," he said, feeling a little self conscious with all the compliments, but smiling regardless. "But forget about me, you look fantastic."

Victoire smiled and opened her mouth to say something, but her mother cut her off before she could get a word out.

"I need to take a picture," Fleur announced.

"Mum…" Victoire said in slight protest.

"No, I must," she said, bustling out of the room in what Ted could only assume was in search of a camera. "Do not move!"

"Do not move," Victoire mimicked, throwing on a French accent for good measure. She threw Ted a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry."

He shrugged before walking over to lean on the counter space directly next to her. "I don't mind. I need some recent pictures of us anyway." He lowered his voice. "By the way, you look really, really hot."

She laughed. "This is nothing, but have you looked in the mirror?" She looked him up and down. "I'm almost ready to say the hell with the wedding and instead spend the night..." She trailed off, but threw him an obvious looked.

"Don't think I'm not trying to figure out how much time I would need to take you back to my place, go to town on you, and then still make it on time for the ceremony," he whispered, glancing over his shoulder to make sure no one was listening.

She laughed again. "It's probably best not to risk it," she whispered. "Plus," she looked over her shoulder to check if anyone was there, "there's always after."

"Oh, there will most definitely be an after," he said matter-of-factly, just as Fleur reentered the room holding a camera and flourishing it for all to see. This time however, Bill Weasley had trailed in after, his eyes now absorbing the scene before him.

"Are zey not sweet?" asked Fleur, now fiddling with the flash button on her camera.

Bill nodded absently before he slowly crossed his arms in front of him. "You look very pretty, sweetheart."

Victoire smiled. "Thanks, Dad."

He glanced at Ted and nodded. "Ted. How are you?"

"Doing well," he said, nodding as well and secretly hoping Bill couldn't somehow read his thoughts; especially given that the one's he'd just been having about his daughter would probably warrant him being cursed senseless.

"So, your friend's getting married?" Bill asked casually.

Ted continued to nod. "Yeah. It's a big night."

"And you're the best man?"

Ted didn't stop nodding, though Victoire added, "That he is."

"And how late do you plan on staying out?"

"Until the wedding is over," Victoire said obviously.

"Well, that's what I'm trying to figure out, Vic."

Victoire looked up at Ted for an answer, though he wasn't entirely sure what to say. It was New Year's Eve, so he had hoped at least until midnight…

"It iz New Year's Eve," Fleur said, as if reading Ted's mind. It suddenly made him wonder if he was worried about the wrong parent reading his thoughts. "Zey will probably be out until after midnight."

Bill looked at his wife strangely, as if he had never expected those words to so casually come out of her mouth.

"So…" Victoire said tentatively, glancing from parent to parent. "How late is 'after midnight' exactly?"

Fleur was shaking her camera to somehow make it work, which in turn made the flash go off. "I do not know. Bill, what do you zink?"

"12:01."

"Dad…" Victoire muttered, looking up at Ted for support.

Ted looked straight down at the ground. He wasn't about to get in the middle of this.

"Midnight is already too late," Bill said. "Your curfew is eleven-thirty."

"That was when I was seventeen," she said quickly. "I'm eighteen now. I think I should get an extension. After all, I'll be done with school soon. In less than a year from now, I'll be living on my own."

"I zink for tonight we can give her some leeway," said Fleur as she held up the camera. She had apparently fixed whatever was wrong with it and was now poised to take a photo.

"How much leeway?" Victoire asked.

"Vic, you're obviously fishing for a number here," said Bill, his arms still across his chest. "Why don't you go ahead and tell me what you're hoping we'll say."

She glanced at Ted, who covertly held up one finger under the countertop and out of her parents' line of sight. Victoire chanced a glance down at it before looking back at her father.

"One-thirty."

Bill actually laughed at that.

"Twelve-zirty," said her mother.

"One-fifteen," Victoire countered.

"How did this turn into a negotiation?" asked Bill.

"Twelve-forty-five," said Fleur.

"Well, at this rate," said Victoire, "logically the number that will make everyone happy is one o'clock. How about that?"

Bill laughed again. "There's no way…"

"She iz wiz Teddy, Bill," said Fleur, still holding the camera up and looking as if she was more than ready to take this photo. "Zey are going to a wedding, it iz New Years Eve, it iz a celebratory night. Victoire knows zis will not be common place."

"I do," Victoire said, agreeing with her mother while staring at her father. "Please, Dad. Don't make me beg."

Ted had to smile at that, considering that sure did sound an awful lot like begging to him. On that very thought, he glanced at Bill, which caused the smile he had mustered to fall off his face. The way Bill was staring back at him made him think that Fleur's words of "She is with Teddy…" weren't exactly as reassuring as Ted would have liked them to be.

"Move closer togezur," Fleur said, gesturing to the two of them while still posing her camera at alert. "I would like to take zis photo sometime today."

Victoire did as her mother asked and took a step towards Ted, throwing him a quick smile before turning it onto her mother and her camera. Ted reached out to put his arm around her, but sensing her father's stare, he hesitated before actually touching her. He began to lower his arm back down when Fleur held up her own arm as if to signal him to stop.

"Zat was cute! Put it back!"

"Oh, jeez," came Dominique's voice from somewhere. "She's got them taking photos."

Ted put his arm around her, though he didn't bother to look at Bill once he did. It was better this way. If he just pretended he wasn't in the room, it made things a lot easier…

"Alright, on ze count of zree," said Fleur. "One, two, zree!"

The flash went off and nearly blinded Ted; all he could see were starbursts of light and fuzzy little shapes that appeared in front of his eyes every time he blinked. He reached up to rub his eyes, but when he lowered his hand, he noticed Victoire was doing the same.

"You need a new camera, Mum," Victoire muttered, still blinking. "That one is older than I am."

Ted managed to squint at his watch through his hazy, still reeling eyes, but realized right away that they did need to get a move on if they wanted to be early. "We should probably go."

Victoire nodded and looked back at her parents. "Okay, we're going to go. One o'clock, right?"

Bill sighed.

"I zink one'oclock is acceptable," said Fleur. "But absolutely no later. Not even a minute."

"Wouldn't dream of it," said Victoire, tugging at Ted's arm sleeve. She was threw him a look that said, "Let's go before they change their mind" and turned straight towards the front door to fetch her cloak.

""Ave fun," said Fleur, following after her daughter to give her a quick kiss on the forehead. "Enj'oy your party."

"We will," said Victoire, her cloak now tightly pulled around her. She grinned at Ted and gestured for him to lead the way outside. "See you all later."

Ted threw everyone in the room one last small smile, breezing quickly past Bill's watchful gaze as he stepped back out onto the porch area. He'd taken only a few steps before Victoire called after him.

"Did you forget your cloak?"

He turned back to her. "I, um, lost it." He gave her an obvious look, not wanting to mention all the specifics of it all right in front of her family. "Last time I went out."

"Oh…right. Well, aren't you cold?"

He shrugged, not wanting to admit that he was since it wasn't that big of a deal. Unfortunately, his body gave a little shiver at that exactly moment and sold him out to anyone watching.

"Bill, don't you 'ave that old cloak of yours zat you never wear?" asked Fleur, turning back inside of the house.

"Oh, that's okay," Ted said quickly. "I mean, I'll just be outside for a bit anyway, so there's no point in—"

"Don't be silly," said Fleur, just as Bill appeared back in the doorway with a dark colored cloak in his hand. He held it out to Ted.

"Um, thank you," Ted said a little hesitantly, taking it with a polite smile. "I'll be sure to have it back when I bring Victoire home."

"Nah, keep it," Bill said, turning immediately back towards the warmth of his house. "I never wear that one anymore anyway."

"You're sure?" Ted asked, looking down to inspect it. It was a really nice cloak, even if it was a little worn around the edges. He wasn't sure he should take it, though not taking it didn't seem like an option either. Strangely enough, there was something in Bill's gesture that made Ted feel oddly accepted. After all, he could have just sent him out there to freeze his stones off, but the fact that he hadn't was somewhat reassuring.

Bill waved his hand to say he was sure, right as Victoire stepped forward and readied herself to go.

"Where are we headed?" she asked.

"Here," he said before he reached out and took her hand. It was more for the practical purpose of side-along Appartion rather than a gesture of affection, but a very loud, very overenthusiastic 'aww,' courtesy of Dominique echoed from house as soon as he did it. Clearly, everyone was still standing there watching them.

"I cannot wait until you move out," Ted muttered before he Apparated them both then and there, straight back across the country and right within the entrance of the banquet hall he'd been standing in just a short time before.

There were more people here now—mingling about, chatting with each other, and laughing as they greeted friends and family that they were happy to see. The decorating wizards from earlier had completely finished the room now; the colors of navy blue and gold cascaded from the walls and wrapped themselves around the room, only to be accented by the white and yellow flowers. The alter spot was set, the chairs were set, the aisle was set—everything was set. All they needed now were a bride and groom to get this thing started.

"It looks so lovely," Victoire said, still holding Ted's hand and she took a few steps forward to look around. "I can't believe Simon's actually getting married."

Ted nodded a little. "Yeah, it's nice."

She turned back to him and smiled. "This all making you feel a little queasy?" She gestured around the room. "The decorations, the people, the spectacle of it all. It's like your worst nightmare."

"It's not my worst nightmare," he said, playfully pulling her arm back towards him to allow her to fall right into him. "Weddings are stupid, but they can be nice."

"I like weddings," she said, still soaking up the atmosphere of their surroundings, "which means if we ever decided to," she gestured around the room, "do this, we might run into an issue."

"If being the keyword," he joked.

She swatted him and took a step back, her eyes already inspecting a nearby bouquet of flowers. "Whatever," she joked. "I don't want to marry you anyway."

Ted laughed a little. "Okay. But if you did, just know it would be down at the Ministry. Quick in and out."

Victoire turned her sights back on him, her eyes looking almost challenged at that remark. "Oh, you think so?"

"No, I know so."

She laughed almost patronizingly, but stepped right back up to him. She looked as if she was about to kiss him, her face inches away from his, and he anticipated the touching of their lips, but she merely lowered her voice and whispered, "We'll see about that."

She pulled away and did an almost ballerina-like spin on the spot, throwing him a playful smile before she turned and took a few steps away towards, what looked like, a ledger for guests to sign in on. Ted didn't even attempt to hide his laughter, though he followed her over and watched as she signed both of their names to the book.

"So, where exactly do you need to be?" Victoire asked once she'd finished signing, now taking his hand back into hers and leading the way through the small crowds of guests that were still milling around chatting.

"I'm going to go and find Simon in a minute," he said, using his free hand to point in the direction of where Simon's dressing room was. "I figured I'd look around a bit."

"And I take it you'll be standing just up there, then?" she asked as the two of them approached where the ceremony were to take place; stopping once they reached the start of the aisle. She pointed up toward the alter. "Right up there on the right side."

"I guess so. I'm not really sure where I'm supposed to be."

"Well, if you follow Simon, you can't go wrong," she said, taking a seat in one of the last row of chairs before she continued to scan the room. "I wonder if I know anyone here. I can find someone to sit with while you're off being best man."

Ted took the seat next to her and followed her example by looking around the room. "I'm sure you'll run into someone from school or something. A lot of these people are from the states, but Simon's bound to have invited someone else you know."

She nodded lazily, but stopped when she let her gaze rest directly on him. She began staring at him.

"What?" he asked awkwardly after several seconds had passed and she was still watching him. Did he have something on his face?

She smiled slowly. "It's nothing." She turned away and sighed. "Anyway, I can't believe my parents are letting me stay out until one. I'm actually shocked that worked."

"Yeah," Ted said. "But I'm glad it did. Who would have thought your mum would be the one to come through?"

"I can't even believe the turnabout in her," she said. "Maybe she just gets that I'm at an age where I'm supposed to be more independent. Obviously, if they keep trying to put kid rules on me, I'm going to work my way around them. I mean, look at last night."

Ted smiled.

"I was talking about the sneaking out," she said, poking him in the side before letting her hand drop to his leg. "But, I'm sure sneaking out to do what we did is right up there on my parents' list of why they make my curfew so early in the first place."

"I really enjoyed last night," said Ted, his tone earnest. "I know that's weird to say considering everything that happen to me, but when I think about it, I only think about you and me and…" He smiled. "I'd do it all over again—the pub fight, the hand, the hospital—if it meant we could have the same night that we did."

An uncharacteristically bashful smile crossed Victoire's face as she met his eyes. "I enjoyed it, too. But, I'd still rather you not go through all of that again." She looked up at him, "Still, it was pretty special."

He stared at her for a second. "Yeah?"

She nodded and leaned in to kiss him quickly. "We'll have to keep at it."

"That we will," he said, just as he noticed someone appear out of the corner of his eye to take the chair next to him. This was especially odd considering that the rows and rows around them were scarcely filled, leaving ample places to sit; whoever it was who'd just taken this seat had to have done it on purpose. When he turned to look, he noticed that it wasn't just one person, but two, though he only recognized the one sitting directly next to him.

"Hello," said a voice that belonged to a girl who proceeded to grin back at Ted. She had light brown hair, a friendly smile, and an increasingly cheerful disposition about her. "I don't know if you remember, but I'm Susan's friend—"

"Rachael," Ted said, surprised that he did actually remember her name since he was usually so terrible with them. "No, of course, I remember you. From the World Cup."

Rachael's eyes brightened at the recognition. "How have you been, Ted? Rumor has it you're the best man around here."

"The rumors are true."

"I assumed as much," she said. "Looks like we'll be teaming up since there's another rumor floating around that I just might be the maid of honor." She made a point of showing off the navy blue dress robes she was wearing.

"Is that so?"

"It is."

Ted laughed. "How have you been?"

She shrugged. "Same old, same old. Not too much has changed since August." She turned and nodded towards the woman sitting next to her. "Well," she smiled, "a few things have changed. "

Ted smiled politely at Rachael's companion, though quickly looked back at her. "Yeah, last I remember," said Ted, "you were trying to work out how to tell Susan about how you…" He made an obvious face, not sure if he should exactly announce details of her sexuality for anyone to hear.

"Ah, that right," she said, nodding. "I hadn't told Susan about that back then, had I?"

"But it seems you have now."

"Oh, yeah," she said, smiling back at the woman next to her. "She's well aware." She looked back at Ted. "And she took the news pretty well, if the whole maid of honor thing didn't clue you in already."

"Well, that's good to hear," Ted said, glancing over at Victoire and realizing he should probably remember his manners and introduce her.

"Though, can you believe those two are having a kid?" Rachael said before Ted could speak. "I think I pissed myself when Sue told me about—" She trailed off awkwardly once she looked at Victoire, who was watching the entire conversation curiously. "And here I am talking like a sailor around people I barely now." She reached out her hand to Victoire. "You look familiar, so we may have met before. But just in case I'm crazy and making that up, I'm Rachael. Susan's my best friend."

"Hi," Victoire said, taking her hand to shake. "I'm Victoire."

"This is my girlfriend," Ted offered.

Rachael looked back and forth between Ted and Victoire several times before settling lastly on Ted. She started to smile. "I know why I know her…She's the one from the World Cup. The one you kept talking about, right?"

"Yeah," Ted said, glancing back at Victoire to throw her a quick smile. "Same one."

"Well, I'm glad that worked out for you," she said, her smile sincere. "How cute is that?" She immediately gestured to the woman sitting beside her. "But since we're doing introductions, let me stop being rude and introduce my friend. This is Caroline."

The woman beside her with the blonde hair and glasses sat forward and threw a quick smile to the both of them. She seemed a little timid and shy, but that may have only been in comparison to Rachael's gregariousness. "Nice to meet you."

"You too," said Ted, glancing at Rachael. "Are you two…?"

"Yeah, it's sort of new," Rachael said. "We don't really believe in labels, so the whole," she made air quote with her fingers, "'girlfriend' deal just isn't our thing." She glanced awkwardly from Victoire to Ted. "Not that I have anything against people who do use labels, like yourselves. I mean, that's cool…"

"There you are," said Simon, who had appeared behind the group of them before rapping Ted on his shoulder. "I was wondering if you were back yet."

"Saved by the groom," said Rachael, smiling up at Simon. "Thanks Simon, I was starting to put my foot in my mouth."

"Well, that's not a very good place for it, is it?" he asked, turning back to Ted. "For I second I thought you had managed to fit in a quick sha—" He stopped and looked at Victoire, as if just noticing she was there. He plastered an awkward smile across his face. "Hey, Vicki. Long time no see. You look lovely."

Victoire immediately looked from Simon to Ted—who had already averted eyes back onto Simon—and then back to Simon again, all while making a point of rolling her eyes. She stood up to give Simon a hug. "Thank you. You look very, very handsome."

"Because I am very handsome," he joked before he turned and nudged Rachael. "How's Sue doing?"

"Ready to get married," she said. "Just like I hope you are."

"I'm ready for the party," Simon said with a nervous laugh. "Speaking of which," he looked at Ted. "You owe me a shot, mate. Let's get to it. I need something to calm my nerves."

Ted nodded and reached over rub Victoire's knee before he stood. "I'll see you in a little bit."

"Have fun," she said, tugging at the front of his robes and pulling him down to kiss her. "I'll be around here somewhere. Just come find me."

"You know, that's still weird to see…" said Simon, nodding towards pair of them.

"But at least your head didn't explode," Victoire teased.

Ted smiled at her before he turned and gave Simon a quick shake at the shoulders. "Let's go get you married."

"Yeah, let's…" he said, turning to follow after Ted in the direction of where the dressing room was. As they walked, several people smiled and waved at Simon. They were throwing him words of encouragement and wishes of good luck; all with happy, jovial faces. Ted had to admit, there was a really great energy about the room that even made him want put his reservations against weddings aside and just run with the moment. He had a feeling that this was going to be a good day. No, this was going to be a very good day.

"Oh," Simon said, just as they reached the dressing room and pushed open the door to walk inside. "Shit, I forgot to tell you something."

"Me?" Ted asked, noticing that Simon's two cousins were already present in the room, both ready with a bottle of some sort of alcohol in their hand. The older of the two was already pouring liquid into shot glasses, one of which he proceeded to hand it to Simon.

"It's not a big deal," Simon continued, taking a shot was now being handed to him, "but I figured you'd probably want some warning, what with Victoire here and all."

"Warning?"

Simon wasn't looking him in the eye; he was purposely looking at his cousins as he waited for them to finish pouring. "I work this guy named Tim. Nice bloke, you'd like him. He's really funny. Couldn't come out to the party last night, but he's a great guy."

Ted stared at him. "Okay…" What did this have to do with anything?

"Well, Sue and I of course invited him since he is a friend," he continued. "We invited him plus one, actually."

"Let's toast, shall we?" offered the younger cousin who raised his glass in air.

"And it turns out," Simon continued, following his cousin's lead and raising his glass in the air, "and I just found this out yesterday, but he invited a friend of his to be his date because she knows me and Susan, and well…" He looked back at Ted. "Fuck it, I'm just going to say it. Celia might turn up. Thought you ought to know."

Ted's eyes went so wide, he could all but feel his eyebrows disappear into his hairline. Did Simon just say what he thought he said? There was no possible way that he and Susan would have…They wouldn't have…They just wouldn't have…This wasn't…He had to be kidding.

"To eternal happiness," said the older cousin, ignoring all else in the room.

"To wealth, to prosperity, to undying love," said the younger one. "Yeah, that sounds good, right? What else is there to toast to?"

"To, you've got to be shitting me," Ted said, glaring at Simon.

"Cheers," Simon offered, tipping his glass immediately back and draining it all to the last drop.