The Hangover

Was last night a dream?

Fred woke up with this question storming around his brain relentlessly. At every chance he had, he touched his lips, pressing play on the memory of Lucas's lips against his and abusing the replay button. He needed to focus on something other than the man that made his heart race and neither packing nor wrapping Christmas presents had the power to push Lucas out of the spotlight. Every year, Fred distributed his Christmas presents to his friends on the last day of the first half of the year, but finding a present for Lucas was the hardest. The golden-brown haired, tall and handsome prince had everything- girl's constantly gave him his favourite tangy sweets and even new clothes, and his parents had given him every latest broom and tickets to every quidditch match. So what was Fred- the guy he confessed his feelings to last night- meant to get him that he would actually need? He had been pondering about it until he had gotten in last night, when it all clicked thanks to the motivation of Lucas's very addictive lips and he found the perfect gift underneath his bed.

"Fred, we saved you a seat!" Aaron called as Fred entered the great hall for breakfast.

Walking to the hall, he had given most of his friends their presents, with all of them gifting him with either a warm smile and a hug or a well wrapped Christmas present with his name on in bold. His nerves were usually tamed when he was with those friends, but as he caught Lucas's eye towards the left of the hall, they began to act up again at the thought of him being disappointed in his gift. The mixture of anxiety and adoration assembled active butterflies in his stomach and pressed his heart against his ribcage harder and harder with every step he took. Blushing became a regular occurrence whenever he saw Lucas, and his returned gaze made Fred's entire face heat up as he felt compelled to keep his eyes hooked on his.

"Santa has arrived," Brea sang as she rummage through the distracted Fred's bag,

"Oh, erm, yeah, merry Christmas," Fred smiled as he finally found the will to break eye contact with Lucas,

"Mine is bigger than yours," from her high pitched excitement, you wouldn't think Brea was suffering a hangover,

"No comment," Aaron laughed as Fred handed him his present.

To add a personal touch, Fred had charmed the presents to only burst from their parchment brown into glowing iridescent colour when the bows were pulled to open them and as much as he wanted to watch this spectacle, Aaron and Brea were tradition Christmas day present openers. As he put his bag on the bench, he heard footsteps approach him from behind, "So, where's my present?"

Slowly, Fred turned around, his breath growing heavier as his eyes landed on the deep V-neck of Luca's black knitted jumper. Gulping hard, he looking slightly up at Lucas with his present clasped in his shaking hands. The tension between the two was thick enough to be visible by everyone in the hall with the weight of it sinking down into Fred's stomach as he felt Lucas's gaze on him.

"Erm, I-I-I was going to give it you on the t-t-train," Fred spoke quietly,

Lucas took a step forward, "But, I'm not waiting 'til then, m'eudail," he whispered seductively in his ear as his hand slid up his forearm.

Forcefully but carefully, Lucas pulled Fred by his arm, taking him out of the great hall and not glancing at him until he had flung him into a quiet dark corner. The fierceness left Fred breathless and he feared his heart would give in as it rapidly slammed against his chest and Lucas cornered him with his hands pressed against the walls either side of him. Maybe he had done something wrong, or this was his way of letting Fred know that last night was just a mistake- a one off.

"You're an adorable wee bunny when you're like this," his strong voice made Fred bite his bottom lip, "and you drive me crazy when you do that."

Their noses touched, rubbing together before they let their desire for each other push their lips together. It was a struggle to not drop the gift as Lucas's hand spiralled down from his cheek to his hip and the vivid emotions from less than twelve hours ago flooded in. Losing himself inside Lucas's mouth and his touch was something he thought he was never going to experience and therefore didn't feel like letting go any time soon.

"Can I open it now?" Lucas whispered after breaking away from Fred,

"Oh, yeah, of-of-of course."

Remaining close to each other, Fred placed the present in Lucas's hands, maintaining eye contact so he could witness all of his emotions as he opened the present. For the first time, he no longer felt nervous or crushing anxiety; being alone with Lucas had his brain only registering happiness and thrill that surged through him once Lucas pulled the bow of the gift. The parchment brown exploded into swirls of green, black and gold glitter and a dragon circle the present before landing on the corner of the wrapping paper. The large grin of Lucas's face made Fred giggle and he urged him to open it as the anticipation was overboiling.

"So, erm, I've been collecting pictures of us together for a while now," Fred began as Lucas tore back the colourful paper, "and I guess I just wanted to show you how I feel about you, in case, you know, you don't think I'm serious about you."

Bound by red ribbons was a dark wooden photobook, with little things Fred had carved into the cover, like hearts with his and Lucas's initials in, stars and dragon wings. The edges of the paper were a shimmering gold, the pages were a smooth cream and the bookmark with Lucas's name on it matched that of the ribbon that bound the whole thing together. A chuckle left Lucas as he looked at the many photos Fred had collected, but it was the end of the photobook that was the most excited about. The page had the largest picture of the two of them on. Last summer, Fred and the gang had visited Lucas's giant home and at the height of the sun, they had a water fight with water balloons, water guns, watering hoses and just giant buckets of water. In the moving picture, the two were drenched in water, in hysterics over the happenings of the day with Fred riding Lucas's back and they gazed at each other, trying to remain serious, but failing and bursting into laughter.

"It's my favourite picture of us," Fred smiled,

"I, erm, I found your present, but it's at home, but I-I'll give it to you when I next see you, I promise," Lucas was starting to sound like Fred, with nerves running through his voice.

Fred wrapped his arms around Lucas's waist, resting his head is shoulder and immersing himself in his fresh-water-like scent, "this is the best gift I've ever had."

Kissing the top of his head, Lucas encased Fred with his arms. Fred was still in shock from the mere fact that Lucas liked him, making him squeeze his eyes open and shut just to confirm that this was all real. Sensing this, Lucas lifted his head delicately, giving him a cherishing look of reassurance and exhaling before they exchanged their last kiss of the year.

Buttery, aromatic, sweet and salty, they all tickled Victoire's nose as her dream of swirling colour faded into a fuzzy black and she became aware of an empty space by her side. Last night, she and Teddy changed into old clothes they found in the tent, made mugs of hot chocolate and cuddled on the sofa, laughing as if there wasn't a storm howling for attention outside. Until the sun began to rise, the couple remained entwined in each other, refusing to allow an inch of space between them as they had pined for each other for what felt like years and there were moments of silence where they absorbed the sole presence of each other. They had fallen asleep in each other's arms and a subtle panic hit when Victoire awoke feeling cold and alone. As her eyes flickered open, she turned on her side to find that the cushions from last night had been stashed away and the tent was open, inviting in the winter morning sunlight and a refreshing breeze. A sweet black bean brown square table stood in the middle of the rug with two mismatch chairs and Tonka had made herself comfortable under the table while chewing on one of Victoire's socks. Slowly, she sat up, rubbing her eyes and rapidly blinking until her vision was clear enough to see Teddy walking in with a plate stacked with caramel brown fluffy pancakes. An adoring smile graced her face as he placed the plate on the middle of the table and waved his wand to summon in a pitcher of orange juice, two glasses and smaller plates of blueberry sauce, bacon, maple syrup and apples. Next to the pancakes in the centre, sky blue twinkling light swirled up to create a vase of snowbells and Victoire's smile widened as Teddy spread his arms with pride and love to showcase the muggle tv-show worthy breakfast he had created.

Laughing, Victoire made her way to the table, "You may just be the sweetest,"

"Oh, there's more," Teddy winked as he pulled out her chair.

While Victoire took her seat and marvelled at the spread before her, Teddy took his place opposite her, gazing at her with eyes of wonder as if she was a superior being blessing him with her presence. Despite being together for so long, the two seemed to have never vacated the honeymoon stage; instead they strived to discover infinite ways to declare their devotion to one another and moments like these had no way of getting old.

"All your things have been packed, from Tonka's stuff to your essentials," Teddy said as he placed two pancakes on Victoire's plate,

"Even the presents?"

"Of course, I found them under the bed, but don't worry, I don't know what's mine."

As she spread blueberry sauce in between her pancakes, Victoire stroked Teddy's leg with her bare foot, giggling when he started to blush and his hair gradually changed to mimic hers. Though his face had matured, Victoire knew all the little moves that acted like keys to unlock the innocence that rested in his eyes. She enjoyed being one of the only people who could not only effect his emotions, but also his physical appearance, the same way there was an buzz in how he was the only person that could play with her emotions like a hyper child with a switch. Whenever they weren't filling their mouths with their delicious breakfast, their eyes locked on each other, with their silence shouting the sweetest things as they giggled and made funny faces at each other. It was while Teddy poured her a glass of orange juice and kissed her head over and over again, Victoire's heart began to pound with a bass that made even the tips of her fingers tingle. Normally, her heart would flutter whenever she and Teddy were sharing such cute moments together, but this sensation was new and intense enough to make her drop her cutlery on the floor. Her breath shortened, but she couldn't tell if it was from her heart or the panic from the unfamiliar feeling, and as she watched Teddy kneel on the floor, she located the source of such an unexpected wave. What was this? The urge to squeeze him, absorb his addictive rustic scent and feel his heart next to hers was too strong for her to detain.

"V-v-v-vivi," Teddy was shocked as she threw herself off of her chair and enveloped him with her arms, "what's going on?"

She couldn't answer. She didn't know.

Falling to sit with his legs either side of her, Teddy reciprocated the hug and Victoire remained on her knees with her head tucked into her shoulder and her hands exploring his hair. The thumping of her heart showed no signs of ceasing with Teddy's hands on her back only giving it more of a reason to never end. There was no memory of how they got on the floor, or even what they were doing five minutes ago; her mind had been devoured by a heavy cloud of yearning while it seemed her heart had become possessed by what she craved. From the curve of his shoulder, she lay a trail of kisses up to his cheek and closed her eyes to melt deeper into the rush of Teddy's lips against hers. The game of push and pull their lips played was spurred on by a sensual passion that was more heated than ever before and Teddy's grip on her waist became rough; his fingers digging into her subtle curves and luring her in closer with enough force to make her gasp in his mouth. Sliding underneath her shirt, one of Teddy's hands created goosebumps on her back, while the other crawled up to her hair, pulling it to expose her neck which he lathered in licks, kisses and bites. Gasps of pleasure from the thrilling sting of his teeth that was soothed by his soft tongue floated from Victoire's mouth and she grasped his shoulders in a weak effort to control herself. She didn't know what had come over her, but the ecstasy of the intoxicating moment had her begging for it to carry on. Her beating heart made a titillating tune with the percussion of their lips and the strings of their hands roaming each other's bodies. Fed up of being limited to how much of his skin she could feel, Victoire raised his shirt over his head, throwing it in any random direction before caressing his chest with her lips. The taste of his skin wasn't something she had registered with its sweet zest making her crave more and she ran her tongue up his chest to his neck, giggling at his gentle moans.

"Oh, you think this is funny," Teddy whispered with a hunger in his voice.

His words caught her off guard, leaving her staring into his deep midnight blue eyes as she stuttered and her brain refused to think of anything other than his hands on her back.

"No, I just-" Victoire was startled as Teddy grabbed her waste and twisted her onto the floor.

Linking their eyes together was their lust for each other and Victoire found in them the reason for the sensation that started this. It wasn't random. It wasn't panic.

"I-I-I've fallen in love with you,"

"I love you too."