AN:

Round 8 of QL season 9

Team: Puddlemere United

BEATER 2: Write about a relationship (romantic, platonic, or familial) that withstands hardships.

Word count: 1243

Teddy has always been a joker; his grandmother always says he got that from his mother Nymphadora. From what Harry had told him, his father used to be a great prankster too. The Marauders had been legendary during their time at Hogwarts, their pranks were memorable.

He wanted to make his parents proud, he wanted to be known as the biggest prankster to have ever passed through the walls. And after Fred and George, that was a hard feat to accomplish.

Teddy was in his last year at Hogwarts and he still hadn't done that one big prank, the one that would mark his name in the books as one of the best pranksters to ever set foot at Hogwarts. And he had the best idea to do that, he was going to turn everyone's hair into a rainbow of colors. Using a complex potion and a charm he had created with the help of his aunt Hermione; he was going to make everyone's hair reflect their moods.

The morning of the prank, he woke up before everyone and snuck into the kitchens. He knew the elves would never let him slip anything in the food of the students, so he discreetly used the charm Hermione had helped him develop and disappeared out of the kitchens just as silently as he had popped in.

With a satisfied smile, he made his way back to his room and slipped into his bed. He waited in bed until most of his classmates had woken up before getting up and ready. His anticipation grew with every second and soon, he was buzzing with excitement. Images of multicolored hair sprang to his mind and a smile grew on his face.

Sitting in the Great Hall, he waited, he knew what was coming, and soon the first cries made their way to his ears. Looking around, he could see some pink, blue and red heads surfacing. His own hair turned into the trademark Tonks pink, and he smirked. This was genius; he had finally done it, pranked the whole school.

Laughter filled the hall as the students started to understand what was happening to them. Looking around, his eyes zeroed onto the face of one particular person. Victoire Weasley.

She was beautiful, Teddy has had a crush on her for the longest of times and he had hoped that by now she would see him as more than a friend. But unfortunately, Victoire never seemed to notice him. He was just the funny prankster that made everyone laugh and was never serious about anything.

He had expected her to be smiling or laughing at the hair colors but instead, her face had turned red and it seemed as though she had some difficulty breathing. Panicking, Teddy got up and made his way toward his friend. He wasn't sure what was happening to her but by the looks of it, it wasn't good. The people around Victoire were panicking as well and some of the professors were rushing to check on the girl.

"She's having an allergic reaction; we need to take her to the infirmary wing." He heard someone say when he got close enough to Victoire.

"We need to figure out what potion was in the food, Madame Pomfrey won't be able to help without knowing what caused this reaction," one of the teachers said. Teddy felt his heart drop at the words, his hands were shaking, and his heart was beating so fast, he was afraid it would jump out of his chest. He had done this; he had made the potion that did this. How will he be able to face everyone, face Victoire ever again. Tears were welling up in his eyes at the sight before him.

The professors levitated the distressed girl and rushed out. He followed them, pressing his steps to keep close. His heart was still beating fast and he was on the verge of breaking down.

The infirmary wing was as usual a flurry of movement. Madame Pomfrey came rushing toward the unconscious girl and started casting spell after spell. Teddy watched the scene happening in front of him, a heavy feeling settling on his chest. This was his fault, everything happening now was his fault. He had done this, causing his friend to have a severe allergic reaction.

"Mister Lupin, what are you doing here? You need to leave and join the rest of the students in the Great Hall." Came the stern voice of Headmistress McGonagall. He didn't respond, just stared blankly at the unconscious body of his friend.

"Mister Lupin!" He was startled out of his thoughts and started mumbling.

"I did this professor; I made the potion. My potion did this."

He could see the look that flashed in his professors' eyes and knew that she was pitying him.

"Come with me, we need the list of ingredients, so we know what we need to do to counteract the effect your potion had on Miss Weasley." He followed her silently, praying to whoever was listening that Victoire would be okay.

A couple of weeks have passed since the potion incident. Victoire made a full recovery and Teddy had gotten enough detention to last him a lifetime. He wasn't complaining though, he couldn't. Guilt was eating at him as he felt bad every time he saw Victoire across the Hall. He was avoiding her, and it was getting harder with every single day. It was like she was everywhere.

"I finally found you!" Teddy jumped, hand clutching his chest and heart beating fast.

"Victoire! You scared me!"

"Well that's your fault, you have been avoiding me for weeks now," she said sternly. He gulped, guilt still present in his heart.

"I haven't…" he denied lamely.

"Sure you haven't, we need to talk, Teddy." Tears welled up in his eyes at her words, he looked down trying to avoid meeting the girl's gaze.

"Hey, it's okay… I don't blame you for what happened," she told him gently. He didn't look up, he was now crying silently shame and guilt festering in him.

He felt a gentle touch, and his face was pulled up, eyes meeting beautiful blue ones. Tears were streaming down his face and he rushed to brush them away.

"It was an accident, you weren't intending to hurt me. Teddy, I know you, I know you would never intentionally hurt me. You need to stop blaming yourself, please for me."

"I can't…" he choked out, "I hurt you, it was my fault… you could have died." Sobs racked his body now. Gentle arms encircled him and he fell into the embrace sobbing into it.

"I'm okay, you didn't mean to hurt me. Please, Teddy, calm down, I need you to calm down," she whispered, holding him tighter.

After some time, Teddy calmed down and extracted himself from the warm embrace.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to break down on you."

"It's not a problem. I'm okay, and we are okay too. No harm done, it was more scary than anything else, so you need to stop avoiding me and go back to being the happy prankster that I know and love." He looked up at her last word, a warm feeling spreading all over him.

"I...I'm sorry. Will you let me make it up to you?"

"You don't need to."

"Yes I do… Let me take you out next Hogsmeed weekend. Please?"

"I would love to."