Year 4: Listen To Your Heart

Chapter 34: December 2014

"Victoire!" Fleur called up the stairs of Shell Cottage. "It's time to go!"

"One second!" Victoire called back. She was putting the finishing touches on her makeup – she wanted to look nice tonight because it was one of the only times she saw some of her family members.

"No, now!" Fleur called back.

Grumbling to herself, Victoire quickly applied some lip gloss and rubbed her lips together to even it out before hurrying down the stairs to join her family.

"Alright, I'm here," Victoire declared.

"It's about time," Dominique huffed.

"What're you so anxious for?" Victoire wondered. "You know the minute we get there, Molly's going to corner you and start asking you a million questions about second year."

"I want to show Grandmother and Grandfather Weasley the O I got in Charms," Dominique said, proudly holding up her most recent Charms assignment. "Look, Professor Flitwick even wrote on it that it was the best assignment he'd seen in a long time."

"I'm sure he writes that on everyone's assignments," Victoire dismissed her sister.

"Has he ever written that on one of your assignments?" Dominique challenged.

"Well that's different," Victoire frowned. "I'm terrible at Charms."

"So I guess he doesn't write it on everyone's papers," Dominique said nastily.

"You know what I meant," Victoire rolled her eyes.

"What's this I'm hearing about being terrible at Charms?" Bill, Victoire's father, asked.

"Don't worry, it's not like I'm failing or anything," Victoire assured him. "Besides, Teddy helps me out when I'm really struggling."

"Oh good," Bill nodded. "I'm glad to hear he's still watching out for you. Just like I know you watch out for Dominique."

As her father began to hand out the Floo Powder, Victoire pondered his last statement. Was that really what Teddy was doing? Was he still just looking out for her the way her father and Uncle Harry had asked him to back when she'd started her first year? It did make sense… Why else would Teddy always be hanging around with someone so much younger than him? Victoire wanted to kick herself. She should've realized that was all it was. She'd been fooling herself this whole time, thinking they were friends, when really he was just being big brotherly.

VvVvVvVvVvV

When they arrived at the Burrow, most of the relatives hadn't arrived yet, so while Dominique showed her Charms assignment to their grandparents and Louis went off to find James and Albus, Victoire found herself wandering into the kitchen.

"Smells good, doesn't it?" Teddy asked, appearing in the doorway.

"Yeah," Victoire agreed, lifting the lid of one of the pots and inhaling the mouth-watering aroma.

"So listen, I was thinking – "

"Actually, I was just about to go and find Dominique," Victoire interrupted before Teddy could finish his thought. "I had to talk to her about something."

"Oh," Teddy said in surprise. "Yeah, okay go ahead."

Victoire pushed her way out of the kitchen and made her way upstairs to where she assumed Dominique was hiding out. She knew avoiding Teddy was probably childish, but she had to show him that she was self-sufficient. It was the only way to prove to him that she wasn't a kid anymore and didn't need him watching over her all the time.

"Hey Domi," Victoire greeted her sister when she reached the second floor landing. Dominique was sitting at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the third floor, fiddling with her sweater.

"Hey Vic," Dominique returned.

"What's up?" Victoire asked, noting that Dominique was a little less her usual perky self today.

"Nothing," Dominique shrugged.

Victoire took a seat next to her on the stairs. "Come on," she insisted. "Something's up. Tell me what's wrong."

Dominique sighed. "Tom kind of hurt my feelings on the train back from school," she confessed. "But it's no big deal. I'm sure he didn't mean it the way I took it."

"Maybe you should just talk to him about it," Victoire suggested. "Let him know it was hurtful, so he knows for next time."

Dominique shrugged. "I don't want to make a big deal out of it."

"I don't think you would necessarily have to make a big deal," Victoire said. "Just have an honest conversation about how it made you feel. I'm sure he'll be grateful to know, and you'll be glad to have it sorted out."

"I don't know," Dominique hesitated. "I guess I'll think about it."

"Okay," Victoire allowed. She realized that while she and Teddy had talks like this all the time about Victoire's life, she almost never checked in with Dominique about how she was doing. As a big sister, she was failing. "We should talk more," she said.

Dominique frowned. "We talk," she said.

"I mean like this," Victoire said. "About personal stuff. About our lives. You should be able to talk to me when something's upsetting you."

"Yeah I think I'd like that," Dominique agreed.

VvVvVvVvVvV

Soon, all the Weasleys had arrived at the Burrow, which meant it was time to start the annual Weasley family game of hide and seek. Victoire had spent months trying to figure out where she was going to hide this time around, and had finally settled on the attic – it was big, it was creepy, and it was filled with various pieces of stray furniture that she could hide under or behind.

James agreed to be the first counter, partly because Molly told him to, and partly because if he refused, Lucy would have to do it again.

"Alright, here I go," James announced, turning around and covering his eyes. "One… two… three…"

As soon as he started counting, the Weasleys were off, running every which way, claiming spots and kicking people out of already claimed spots. Victoire went straight for the stairs, climbing up to the top floor and then reaching the entrance to the attic only to discover that the trapdoor had already been pulled down, which meant that someone was already in the attic.

Victoire decided that there was plenty of room for the both of them up there – it was a pretty big attic after all – so she hurried up the stairs and started scouting out the room.

There was a dresser pushed up against the far wall, but it would take too much effort to push it out enough to get behind it. There were some broken chairs in one of the corners, but they wouldn't really conceal her very well. Then Victoire noticed that there was a bed to her right that wasn't completely pushed up against the wall, which had a blanket spread out on it that reached all the way to the ground, making sure that there was no way one could be seen if they were hiding between the bed and the wall – it was the perfect hiding spot.

Victoire hurried over to the bed and rounded it, only to find that someone was already in the perfect hiding spot.

"Victoire?" Teddy hissed when she came into view. "What are you doing? James is probably almost done counting!"

"I was going to hide back here," Victoire said. "I didn't realize the spot was already taken."

"Well hurry up and find someplace, because I don't want you to give my spot away," Teddy insisted.

Frantically, Victoire tried to find another place to hide in the musty old attic, but there was nowhere to go. She was about to give up and return to the floor below and see if she could hide in a closet or something when she heard James' voice coming up from below.

"Ready or not, here I come!" he called up.

Without thinking, Victoire grabbed the handle on the attic stairs and pulled up, effectively closing her and Teddy into the room. Then she ran over to the pile of chairs and attempted to build a fortress around herself without much luck.

"Oh just get behind here," Teddy insisted, gesturing for Victoire to join him behind the old bed.

It was just in time, because as soon as Victoire reached the hiding spot, the sound of the stairs being lowered could be heard, and then James climbing them. He was almost to the top, when something from below caught his attention and he turned around.

"I found you Fred," they could hear James cry. "I can't believe you thought I wouldn't find you there."

Fred must've said something that Victoire and Teddy couldn't hear, and next thing they knew, the two boys were heading back down to the level below, the attic completely forgotten about.

"I guess we chose the right spot," Teddy observed.

"Yeah," Victoire agreed. "It'll be a while before he remembers to check up here."

Teddy grabbed one of the pillows from the bed and placed it behind his back before leaning back against the wall.

"Might as well get comfortable," he said. "We could be up here all afternoon."

"I'm sure it won't be that long," Victoire assured him.

Teddy shrugged. "You never know. James isn't exactly the brightest tool in the shed."

"It's not that big a house," Victoire pointed out.

"It's bigger than some," Teddy contradicted her.

"Alright, I'll give you that," Victoire conceded.

"So can I ask you a question?" Teddy wondered, changing gears.

"I guess so," Victoire shrugged.

"What was that earlier in the kitchen?" Teddy wondered.

"What do you mean?" Victoire asked, pretending she didn't know what he was talking about.

"Well, you kind of blew me off," Teddy clarified. "I was just wondering if I'd done something to upset you."

"Not at all," Victoire replied. "I just really needed to talk to Dominique."

"You live with Dominique," Teddy pointed out. "You can talk to her anytime you want."

"Okay," Victoire said, deciding to be honest. "I was avoiding you."

"Why?" Teddy asked, his expression becoming saddened.

"It's nothing," Victoire shrugged.

"No, I want to know," Teddy insisted. "Did I say something? Did I do something?"

"No, nothing like that," Victoire assured him. "It's just something my father said earlier that got me thinking…"

Teddy nodded for Victoire to continue and she took a deep breath before speaking again.

"Well it's just that I know when I started at Hogwarts, my father and Uncle Harry both told you to keep an eye out for me and check in with me to make sure I was doing alright," Victoire said.

"And you're mad at me for doing that?" Teddy asked.

"Well no," Victoire said. "I wasn't then."

"I'm not following," Teddy admitted.

"Well it was fine when I was a first year and I needed help navigating through the school and everything," Victoire said. "But I'm in fourth year now. You don't have to do that anymore. I know you have your own friends that you'd rather hang around with, and I'm sure you would be way more productive studying with the people in your class rather than a bunch of fourth years."

Teddy frowned and leaned forward, looking Victoire straight in the eye. "You think I only hang around with you because I told Uncle Harry and Uncle Bill that I'd watch out for you?" he asked.

Victoire shrugged, uncomfortable with the direct eye contact. "Well aren't you?" she asked.

"Of course not," Teddy shook his head. "I mean, at first? Sure, I wanted to make sure you knew where your classes were and that you made friends. But now, I consider you one of my closest friends. Maybe even the closest. This hasn't been about Uncle Harry for a long time now."

"Oh," Victoire said simply.

"Are you not…" Teddy hesitated. "Do you not consider me a friend?" he asked.

"Oh I do," Victoire said immediately, looking back up, needing Teddy to know that her comments in no way implied that she didn't enjoy having Teddy around. "Teddy you're one of the most important people in my life. I couldn't imagine being at Hogwarts without you."

Teddy smiled. "Good," he said. "I'm glad we got that cleared up."

Over the course of their conversation, they had somehow ended up much closer to one another than they had been. In fact, they were so close that Victoire could feel Teddy next to her. She thought about moving away, but found that she couldn't bring herself to do it. Being so close to him felt good, she could only hope that he wouldn't notice, or if he did, that he wouldn't pull away.

"Hey Teddy?" Victoire asked, suddenly feeling very daring.

"Yeah?" Teddy replied.

"Remember Halloween, when we hung out in the common room and played truth or dare?" Victoire said.

"Sure," Teddy agreed.

"I asked you a question that night," Victoire said, swallowing thickly. "I asked you what your biggest secret was, and you said it was that you were afraid of butterflies?"

"I remember," Teddy replied softly.

Victoire turned her head to look at Teddy. "That was a lie, wasn't it?"

Teddy turned to meet her gaze. "I am afraid of butterflies," he said.

"But that's not your deepest secret, is it?" Victoire asked. She's sensed that night that there'd been something he wasn't telling her.

"No," Teddy replied. "It's not."

Victoire nodded, here eyes completely locked on his. In that moment, in that attic, hiding behind that bed, Victoire could almost believe that maybe, just maybe, Teddy shared her feelings for him.

"What is it?" Victoire wondered.

"I'm not sure I should tell you," Teddy said.

"You don't have to," Victoire replied. "I was just curious."

Her eyes flickered down and she was about to turn away when Teddy added, "but I want to tell you."

She eyes snapped back up. Her heart was pounding in her chest. Whatever he said next would either make or break her. She so desperately wanted to believe that he had feelings for her, but at the same time couldn't imagine that it could even be possible.

Teddy leaned a little closer and Victoire's eyes fluttered shut as she breathed him in and enjoyed the proximity. If she never got to be this close to Teddy again for the rest of her life, then she wanted to remember the feeling forever. His hand inched closer to hers so that they were touching, and Victoire gasped at the contact. She bit her lip.

"Truth or dare?" Victoire whispered, afraid to move in case she broke the spell.

"Dare," Teddy chose, his breath ghosting over Victoire's skin as he spoke.

Victoire had been expecting him to choose truth and was suddenly terrified at the prospect of issuing a dare. He'd chosen dare though, and Victoire needed to know if the feelings she thought he had were real. Mustering up all her Gryffindor courage, she spoke.

"Kiss me," she said.

All it took were those two little words before Teddy's lips found hers and Victoire melted into him, sighing in the back of her throat. The feeling of his lips on hers was magical and Victoire could have cried from the sheer perfection of it. In that moment, all doubts were wiped from Victoire's mind, because nobody could kiss her like this without feeling something for her.

Too soon, Teddy pulled back, looking into Victoire's eyes questioningly. "Is this - ?"

"Perfect," Victoire said, wrapping her arms around Teddy's neck and pulling his mouth back down onto hers. She practically climbed into his lap as she attempted to get as close to him as possible, deepening the kiss as she did so. Teddy's arms wrapped around her torso and she didn't care that he was squeezing her tighter than should be comfortable, because she needed to feel him holding her, wanting her.

"All this time – " Teddy said, breaking away. "I never thought that you – I mean you were always –

"Me too," she said, unable to keep a smile from her face.

They kissed again, and Teddy leaned into Victoire, pouring himself into her. Victoire felt like she was in heaven. In all her wildest dreams, she never would have expected that this was how her day was going to go, and she never wanted it to end for fear that she was only dreaming.

Abruptly, Teddy pulled back, worry in his eyes. "Am I going too fast?" he asked, suddenly acutely aware of both the age difference and the difference in experience levels. Teddy was a sixth year and had recently gotten out of a serious relationship with someone. Meanwhile, Victoire was only a fourth year and had been kissed a total of three times – none of which could hold a candle to what she was experiencing with Teddy.

"No," Victoire assured him. "Trust me, this is amazing."

"Maybe we should stop – " Teddy said, extracting himself from Victoire's grasp. "Our entire family is downstairs and James could walk up here any minute."

"Good point," Victoire agreed, pouting a little when Teddy broke all contact. "Actually, about our family… Should we say anything…?"

"Do you want to?" Teddy asked.

"I don't know," Victoire shrugged. "Maybe we could just keep it for ourselves for now?"

Teddy smiled. "Of course," he said, secretly relieved that Victoire didn't want to announce this to the world just yet. He scooted over so that their sides were touching, wrapped an arm around Victoire's shoulder, and kissed her on the forehead. "Whatever you want."

VvVvVvVvVvV

James ended up finding them about twenty minutes later, shaking his head at himself for getting so distracted that he'd forgotten to check the attic properly.

At dinner, Victoire and Teddy sat on opposite sides of the kids' table and Victoire found herself unable to keep her eyes off him. Occasionally, he would look up and meet her gaze and they would smile at each other knowingly. Thankfully, the younger kids were all too focused on themselves to notice anything was going on.

After dinner, everyone gathered in the living room for Secret Santa. Victoire had gotten saddled with finding a present for her Aunt Angelina and had ended up settling on a sweater she knew would look good on her Aunt.

When Teddy's turn came around, Victoire was surprised to find that his Secret Santa had been her. He handed her a rectangular-shaped package and Victoire jokingly accused him of mistaking her for Aunt Hermione or Uncle Percy and buying her a book. Urging her to just open it, Victoire tore off the paper to find that it was a book entitled Fourth Year Charms for Dummies.

Victoire laughed out loud. "This is actually perfect," she exclaimed. "I can't believe this is a real thing!"

"It was hard to find," Teddy admitted. "They don't sell them in Flourish and Blotts you know."

"Well thank you," Victoire smiled, touched that Teddy went to all the trouble to find the book.

"I thought you were doing fine in Charms," Bill interjected.

Victoire faltered. "Well I'm not failing or anything…" she said.

"Should I be concerned, Teddy?" Bill asked.

"Not at all, Sir," Teddy shook his head.

Bill nodded and the focus moved to Hermione, who was gifting her present to Molly.

Sir? Victoire mouthed to Teddy with a smirk.

Teddy shrugged. "I panicked," he whispered back to her.

Victoire rolled her eyes and tentatively reached down and threaded her fingers through Teddy's. There was no question in Victoire's mind; this had been the best Christmas ever.