Year 3: Friend Like You

Chapter 29: May 2014

Victoire awoke the morning of May 2nd to a very loud and off-pitch rendition of Happy Birthday being sung by her two best friends and her sister.

"Why are you singing?" Victoire groaned, wiping the sleep from her eyes.

"Dominique insisted," Brianna explained. "Said that when you were a kid, your family always woke you by singing and that we had to continue the tradition."

"It's true," Victoire said, remembering being wrenched from her sleep only to find her family singing to her off-key.

"Happy Birthday Victoire!" Dominique exclaimed. "Here, open my present first," she ordered, grabbing it off the top of the pile that had accumulated at the foot of Victoire's bed overnight and handing it to her older sister.

Smiling, Victoire unwrapped the package to find a handmade card on which it was written: I (Dominique Weasley) promise to get you snacks from the kitchens anytime you want for the rest of the year.

"Thanks Dominique," Victoire said.

"As long as it isn't close to or after curfew," Dominique amended.

"Of course," Victoire agreed seriously. "I wouldn't ask you to break the rules."

"Because I'm already on my second strike with Mr. Clarke, so if he catches me again, I'm going to be in a lot of trouble," Dominique added.

"You… wait what?" Victoire frowned. "Why are you already up to two strikes? Why are you wandering around after hours Domi?"

"Oh, it's no big deal," Dominique waved. "Anyway, I have to go get ready. I'll see you later!"

"Wait!" Victoire cried as Dominique bounced out of the dorm room. "Dominique! Don't think we're finished talking about this!"

"Relax," Brianna said. "You're not her mother. Besides, it's not like you've never been caught out after curfew by Mr. Clarke."

"Yeah, but that was one time in three years," Victoire pointed out. "Domi says she's already been caught twice in less than a year."

"Mr. Clarke knows what he's doing. If it's a problem, he'll write your parents about it. Or Headmistress McGonagall will. Either way, it's not your job to police her," Brianna declared. "Now open the rest of your presents so we can go eat."

"Gee thanks Bri," Victoire shook her head at her friend's lack of sensitivity. "I feel very celebrated."

"Just take the presents," Brianna rolled her eyes, throwing the nearest present at Victoire's head.

VvVvVvVvVvV

After Victoire had opened all her presents and the three girls had gotten ready for the day, they descended to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Here, have some French toast," Kara suggested, stabbing a piece with her fork and dropping it in Victoire's plate.

"Have a pancake too," Brianna suggested. "They have blueberries in them today."

"And don't forget to have some bacon," Kara added some of that to the plate.

"And sausage," Brianna tossed some in with the bacon.

"Whoa!" Victoire cried, overwhelmed. "What are you guys doing? Trying to fatten me up?"

"Just trying to make sure you have a great birthday meal," Kara shrugged.

"Well how about I start with a pancake and some bacon and go from there?" Victoire suggested, switching her plate for an empty one nearby and taking only the food she was hungry enough for.

As she did so, the sound of arguing carried down from the other end of the Gryffindor Table.

"What's going on over there?" Victoire wondered, leaning forward to see who it was.

"Looks like it's Teddy and Beverly," Kara noted.

"I wonder why they're arguing," Brianna mused. "Or what they're arguing about."

Victoire bit her lip. The anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts was always a tough day for Teddy. She hoped Beverly would realize that he wasn't himself and cut him some slack for whatever he might be saying.

"You know what?" Victoire declared, trying to move her friend's attention away from Teddy and Beverly. "I think I will have a sausage with this breakfast after all."

VvVvVvVvVvV

The rest of the day wasn't particularly productive for the third years. Teachers never assigned much for May 2nd, because they knew not all students would be paying attention, and sometimes some wouldn't show up to class at all.

In Herbology, Professor Longbottom gave them a free period to wander around in the greenhouse and interact with the various plants they had studied that year. In Defence, Professor Leftbridge gave a lecture about the Battle of Hogwarts that nobody really listened to because they'd heard it all before. In Transfiguration, Professor Tonks declared the class a silent reading period, and in Muggle Studies, Professor Carbourough brought them to the library and told them to work on their final papers.

When their final class was over, Victoire and her friends decided that it had been enough work for the day. It was still Victoire's birthday, and they were going to celebrate by playing exploding snap in the common room until dinner. As they hiked up to the common room, they passed Beverly Longman on the stairs.

"Hey," Victoire called out. "Why aren't you with Teddy?"

Beverly turned around to reveal her tear-stained face and puffy red eyes.

"He broke up with me," she told them.

"So you just left him?" Victoire demanded angrily.

"What was I supposed to do?" Beverly asked. "Didn't you hear me? He broke up with me."

"I heard you," Victoire said. "Don't you realize what day it is?"

"It's May 2nd," Beverly said. "So what?"

"So what?" Victoire cried. "Where is he?"

"I don't know," Beverly shook her head. "It's not like we're together anymore. I don't have to know where he is all the time."

Victoire ground her teeth together. Somewhere in this castle, Teddy was alone and hurting and Beverly couldn't understand, or else just didn't care. She had to find him and make sure he was alright. If things had gotten bad enough that he'd broken up with his girlfriend, Victoire was afraid of how dark of a place he could be in.

"Whatever," Victoire muttered. "Just do whatever you were doing. I'll find him."

She hurried up the stairs, deciding that the first place to start was the common room.

"Hey Victoire?" Kara cried, trying to keep up with her friend. "Don't you think that was a little rude and insensitive?"

"I think Beverly was a little rude and insensitive," Victoire said.

"Her boyfriend just broke up with her," Kara pointed out. "She's allowed to be sad."

"It wasn't about her," Victoire shook her head. "Breaking up with her was just his only outlet for his pain."

"And how do you know all this?" Brianna demanded.

"I just know," Victoire insisted. They arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady and Victoire shouted out the password, climbing through the portrait hole as soon as she swung open. "Teddy?" she called out, looking around for the older boy. "Teddy?"

"He's not here," Brianna pointed out the obvious.

"Well then where is he?" Victoire demanded.

"I don't know," Brianna said, holding her hands up in surrender. "Don't get mad at me, I haven't done anything."

"Sorry," Victoire apologized, forcing herself to remember that Kara and Brianna were only trying to help. "Hey, Billy!" she cried, recognizing Billy Carmichael, Teddy's best friend.

"Victoire! What's up?" Billy asked.

"Have you seen Teddy?" Victoire asked.

"Last I saw he was heading outside," Billy shrugged. "I try to stay out of his way when he has his days."

Victoire shook her head. The last thing Teddy needed today was to be alone.

"I know where he is," she declared, turning back the way she came in.

"Do you want us to come with you?" Kara offered, unsure how to proceed.

"No, it'll be better if only I go," Victoire decided.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" Brianna asked, probably referring to Victoire's recent epiphany regarding her feelings for Teddy.

"This isn't about me," Victoire said. "It's about Teddy."

She left then, hurrying down the Grand Staircase to the Entrance Hall and then outside, past the Entrance Courtyard to the ground. As she'd predicted, Teddy was once again sitting by the shore of the lake, staring out at the water.

Victoire approached cautiously, unsure what kind of mood Teddy would be in. If he was sad, that would be one thing, but if he was mad, she didn't want to set him off.

"Hey Teddy," she said softly, keeping her distance until she'd assessed the situation.

"Victoire," Teddy nodded at her curtly.

"How are you feeling?" Victoire asked.

"Fine," Teddy responded. His voice was emotionless, leaving Victoire at a loss to decipher his emotions.

"Do you want to talk?" Victoire wondered.

"Not really," Teddy replied.

"How about if I just sit down over here?" Victoire suggested, gesturing to a spot nearby, but not right next to Teddy.

"Do what you want," Teddy shrugged.

"Okay," Victoire said, settling down in the grass and joining Teddy in staring across the lake. "Nice day, isn't it?" she ventured.

"I suppose," Teddy allowed.

"Almost no clouds," Victoire observed.

"Can we not talk?" Teddy asked.

"Sure," Victoire agreed, immediately shutting her mouth. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them watching the water ripple, waiting and hoping that Teddy would open up to her eventually.

After what seemed like forever, Teddy finally spoke.

"Why are you here?" he asked, his voice broken and strained. Victoire glanced over in surprise to find tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Teddy, I – " she leaned over as if to hug him and then stopped herself, instead sitting back down a little nearer. "I know this day is really hard for you," she said. "I didn't think you should be alone."

Teddy wiped the tears from his eyes. "How did you know where I was?" he wondered.

"Teddy I've known you since we were little. You're basically my best friend. Of course I knew where you were," Victoire said. "Also Billy saw you leaving the castle."

Teddy nodded. "Of course he did," he said stiffly.

"Don't be mad at Billy," Victoire said. "He thinks he's doing you a favor by leaving you alone."

"It's not Billy I'm mad at," Teddy said.

Victoire waited a beat, and when Teddy didn't elaborate, she ventured a guess. "Beverly?" she asked.

"She just doesn't understand," Teddy said.

"Well of course not," Victoire agreed. "She's only known you a little while. It takes time to properly understand someone."

Teddy shook his head. "No," he disagreed. "It's more than that. She can't understand."

"Sure she can," Victoire said, hating herself for pushing him to get back together with Beverly, but knowing it was the right thing to do. "You just have to give her time."

"It's too late anyway," Teddy shrugged. "I broke up with her."

"I know," Victoire said. "I spoke to her."

"You spoke to her?" Teddy said, meeting Victoire's eyes for the first time.

"Yeah," Victoire nodded. "She seemed pretty upset."

Teddy scoffed. "Upset," he muttered. "Do you know what she said to me?"

"What?" Victoire prompted when he didn't continue immediately.

"She told me that if everyone else could go on with their day, then I should too and that today wasn't any different than any other day so there was no reason for me to be upset," Teddy revealed.

"She didn't say that!" Victoire cried disbelievingly.

"She also told me that I was being selfish, making today all about me," Teddy added.

Victoire gaped. "No wonder you broke up with her," she said.

Teddy chuckled – a good sign, Victoire noted.

"I should never have been with her in the first place," Teddy sighed. "I was dating her for all the wrong reasons."

"Were you?" Victoire asked, not wanting to seem too much like she was prying into Teddy's business, but also insanely curious as to why that was.

"I guess I was just using her to ignore all the stuff I didn't want to be feeling," Teddy shrugged.

Victoire heavily debated asking her next question and decided to just go ahead. Teddy wouldn't answer if he didn't want to.

"What kind of stuff?" Victoire wondered.

Teddy looked away so that Victoire couldn't see his expression. She could tell he didn't want to share this and that she was crossing into dangerous territory, so she pulled back.

"Sorry, you don't have to answer that," she said, regretting asking the question.

Teddy remained quiet for a while and Victoire let him be, not wanting to say the wrong thing again.

"Hey Vic?" Teddy said eventually.

"Hmm?" Victoire responded, pulling her eyes away from the lake and looking over at Teddy again.

"Thanks," Teddy said.

"What for?" Victoire wondered.

Teddy shrugged. "Sitting with me. Being here," he replied.

"You're welcome," Victoire said simply.

VvVvVvVvVvV

"I feel like my head is going to explode!" Billy exclaimed one night towards the end of May. End-of-year exams were coming up, and for the fifth years, that meant they were going to be sitting their O.W.L.s in a few short weeks. Teddy and Billy were taking a night off of studying with their fellow fifth years and had elected instead to join Victoire and her friends as they studied for their exams as well.

"It can't be that bad," Brianna said.

"Just you wait until your O.W.L.s," Billy warned. "Third year was nothing compared to this."

"Hey!" Brianna said indignantly. "Third year is tough. We have to learn all the theory behind animagus transformation. Do you realize how complicated that is?"

"Why no," Billy said sarcastically. "I have no idea how complicated that is, because obviously I have never been a third year and therefore never learned about animagus transformations."

"Very funny," Brianna rolled her eyes.

"Vanishing spells though," Billy said. "That's some complicated theory."

"Can't be that hard," Brianna said arrogantly. "Don't you just have to make stuff disappear? It's not like you have to turn it into something else."

"Okay, you try it then," Billy challenged her. "Vanish my quill."

"Well I don't know the spell yet," Brianna claimed. "If I knew the spell I could totally do it."

"Here's the spell," Billy said smugly, pushing his notes towards her.

Making a face, Brianna glanced down and identified the spell. Confidently, she raised her wand and pointed it at the quill. "Evanesco," she said.

When nothing happened, Billy smirked. "That's what I thought," he said.

"Well obviously I can't do it, because I don't know the theory," Brianna defended herself. "But if I did know the theory, it would be easy."

"Feel free to take my notes and read up on the theory," Billy offered.

"No," Brianna said airily. "I'm too busy learning about animagus transformation theory to waste time on something as simple as vanishing theory."

Billy exchanged a look with Teddy.

"Come on Brianna," Victoire interjected. "Obviously vanishing theory is tough. When we get to fifth year I'm sure we'll struggle with it too. It may not be as hard as conjuring theory, but I've heard it's some of the toughest material you need to know for transfiguration O.W.L.s."

"It definitely is," Teddy agreed with Victoire. "I'm not sure I even understand it all."

"I'd offer to help, but…" Victoire trailed off.

"It's fine," Teddy smiled. "I'll save up some questions for when I have dinner with my grandmother this weekend."

"So unfair dude," Billy whined. "You have like, a direct line to all transfiguration knowledge."

"So does everyone else," Teddy pointed out. "My grandmother is perfectly happy to help anyone who comes to her office with questions."

"Yeah, but I bet she gives you tips that the rest of us don't get," Billy said.

Teddy shook his head. "She really doesn't," he assured his friend. "She treats me the same as the rest of her students. At least when it comes to transfiguration."

"Isn't it like, a conflict of interest to have her grading your assignments?" Brianna wondered.

Teddy shrugged. "Well she's definitely not giving me special treatment in the grades department," he said. "She'll fail me if I submit bad work. But if you're that concerned, you can always talk to the Headmistress."

Brianna made a face. "Well I'm not going to do that…" she muttered.

Teddy smirked. "Didn't think so," he said.

"Hey, does anyone remember which spell is the one to turn things into rabbits?" Kara asked, the only one who was still studying.

"That's the lapifors spell," Victoire reminded her.

"Right, of course," Kara nodded, submerging herself back into her work. "Duh."

"It's easy for me to remember because in French, rabbit is lapin, which sounds a bit like lapifors," Victoire added. "Unfortunately, that's just about the only thing I can remember from transfiguration this year."

"You'd better get studying," Teddy tapped her notes with the end of his quill. "Don't want to fail third year and have to repeat it."

Victoire blanched. "They wouldn't – "

"I'm kidding," Teddy assured her. "Calm down, you're not going to fail. You'll do fine. Third year exams are a breeze."

"Easy for you to say," Victoire muttered under her breath, knowing that Teddy could hear her anyway. "You've already done them."

VvVvVvVvVvV

"Truth or dare?" Brianna asked Victoire later in the common room as the three girls took a break from studying.

"Dare," Victoire decided.

"Go and steal Billy's quill right out of his hand," Brianna dared her.

"That's not fair," Victoire disagreed. "He's studying for the O.W.L.s. He needs to focus."

"A dare is a dare," Brianna sang.

"Fine," Victoire grumbled, getting up and walking over to Billy. "Billy, I'm really sorry about this," Victoire apologized before grabbing the quill and hurrying away.

As she was running back to her friends, the quill suddenly started to pull upwards, and as Victoire let go of it, it flew out of her hands and back over to where Teddy and Billy were studying.

"What - ?"

"Summoning Charm," Billy smirked, waving his wand at Victoire tauntingly. "You're going to have to do better than that Victoire."

Victoire rolled her eyes and sat back down with her friends. "Happy?" she asked.

"Well I guess you did do what I asked," Brianna allowed. "Even if Billy messed it up in the end."

"Great," Victoire said. "Alright Kara, truth or dare?"

"Dare," Kara said, feeling adventurous.

"Hmm…" Victoire thought. "I dare you to… sing a song. Out loud. For two whole minutes," Victoire decided.

"But the common room is full of people," Kara complained.

"Exactly," Victoire smiled.

With a sigh, Kara stood and began to sing the official Hogwarts school song.

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts, teach us something please," Kara bellowed.

Everyone in the common room looked up from what they were doing in surprise.

"Whether we be old and bald or young with scabby knees," Kara continued, her face turning red from all the attention. "Our heads could do with filling with some interesting stuff. For now they're bare and full of air, dead flies and bits of fluff."

Kara glanced over at Victoire and Brianna, silently begging for the dare to be over, but they urged her to keep singing.

"So teach us things worth knowing, bring back what we've forgot. Just do your best, we'll do the rest, and learn until our brains all rot," she finished.

The common room erupted into applause and Kara embarrassedly slunk back to her friends, her face red as a lobster. "I can't believe you made me do that," she muttered.

"It was worth it," Victoire smiled, clapping along with the rest of their house.

"Just you wait until we circle back to you," Kara warned. "I'm going to come up with the worst dare you've ever had to do."

"I guess I'm choosing truth tonight," Victoire shrugged.

The girls continued to play their game well into the night and eventually headed upstairs for bed. Exams were coming soon and they needed to stay well rested until then.