Year 4: Listen To Your Heart
Chapter 36: February 2015
As the weeks went by, Victoire settled into her new relationship with Teddy happily. She wouldn't have believed how much joy she would get just from sitting next to him on a couch in the common room and knowing that he cared for her as much as she cared for him. Though they didn't make an explicit point of keeping their relationship a secret, they also didn't broadcast it to the entire school. For one thing, Victoire didn't want to have the same kind of relationship with Teddy as Beverly Longman had, where they would make out in the middle of the common room for everyone to see. She preferred for moments like that to be a little more private. For another thing, neither of them was ready for the whole family to find out, and so they tended to be a little more discreet whenever Dominique or Molly was around. Luckily, since they'd already been such good friends, seeing them spending time together wasn't very suspicious.
One night, as Victoire was lounging on a couch by the fireplace – an upperclassman couch, no less (one of the perks of dating a sixth year) – Teddy turned to her, face serious.
"I want to take you out on a date," he said suddenly.
"Okay," Victoire agreed readily. "What brought this on?"
"Well it's just come to my attention that though we've been dating for over a month now, we haven't really been on a proper date. Sure we study together and we spend time together in the common room and stuff, but it's hardly the same," Teddy said.
"I think a date sounds lovely," Victoire smiled. "What did you have in mind?"
"Well there's a Hogsmeade weekend coming up…" Teddy said hesitantly. "How about this Saturday?"
"Sounds like a plan," Victoire replied.
Teddy nodded happily and then sighed.
"Time for rounds already?" Victoire grumbled, growing used to having Teddy always leaving to patrol the school after curfew.
"Sorry," Teddy apologized. "Duty calls."
"You're not patrolling with Beverly again, are you?" Victoire asked.
As Teddy's co-Gryffindor sixth year prefect, Beverly was often scheduled as his rounding partner, and Victoire hated it. She could tell Beverly still had feelings for Teddy, and she clearly hated Victoire, and Victoire didn't like knowing that they spent all this time together.
"Not tonight," Teddy assured her. "I'm rounding with Marina Mitchell, from Ravenclaw."
"Oh," Victoire said. This was a new name for her. "Should I be worried?"
"Never," Teddy assured her, squeezing her hand. "Do you think you'll still be up when I get back?"
Victoire sighed. "Probably not," she admitted. Rounds could take over an hour sometimes, and she to be well rested the following morning as they were going to be brewing a new potion in potions class.
"Alright, well then have a good night," Teddy said, standing up and kissing her swiftly on the forehead before leaving.
Reluctantly, Victoire also got up off the couch and dragged herself over to a table towards the back of the common room where Kara and Brianna were working on a potions essay in preparation for tomorrow's class.
"Teddy's got rounds again?" Brianna asked as Victoire opened her books and produced her almost-finished essay.
"Yeah," Victoire confirmed. "I wish they didn't take up so much of his time."
"Well if anything this has taught me one very important thing," Brianna said.
"What's that?" Kara wondered.
"Whoever I decide to date, he's not going to be a prefect," Brianna replied.
VvVvVvVvVvV
Saturday morning, Victoire was up before any of her dorm mates, rummaging through her trunk in search of the perfect outfit for her Hogsmeade date with Teddy. She couldn't believe she'd left it so late and she wondered if she should borrow something from Kara, since they were the same size.
"Victoire, what are you doing?" Brianna mumbled as she slowly woke up to the sight of Victoire throwing clothes around the room.
"None of these clothes are good enough," Victoire complained.
"Good enough for what?" Brianna asked. "Teddy's already into you, and he's seen how you dress. Just wear something you like that doesn't make you look like a sack of potatoes."
"Thanks Brianna," Victoire rolled her eyes. "Excellent advice as usual."
In the end, Victoire selected a pair of fitted jeans and a baby blue sweater. She also included her winter cloak and scarf as it was below freezing outside, and reluctantly slipped on some gloves. She drew the line at wearing a hat though. She'd spent almost an hour fixing her hair and she was not about to ruin it with hat hair.
When she descended to the common room, Teddy was ready and waiting, also clad in his winter wear.
"You look beautiful," Teddy said when she appeared, his eyes sparkling.
"You don't look too bad yourself," Victoire smirked.
The pair headed down to the Entrance Hall and passed through the permission checkpoint with Mr. Filch, heading down to the grounds and along the lane to Hogsmeade. It was a beautiful morning. The air was crisp and clean and a recent snowfall meant that all the ugly snow had been covered up by a fresh coat overnight.
When they arrived in Hogsmeade, Teddy first suggested that they stop by the Three Broomsticks for a snack, as they had skipped breakfast. They took their food to go, since they would be returning later for lunch, and began to stroll down the street hand in hand.
"Want to see if Uncle George is in?" Teddy asked when they came upon Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?
Victoire agreed, and Teddy led her inside. Thankfully, it was early still and not too many students had left the school yet, so the store wasn't too crowded.
"Uncle George?" Teddy called out. "Uncle George?"
"Teddy? Is that you?" their uncle's voice called out from the storeroom in the back. "I'll be out in a minute."
While they waited, Teddy and Victoire poked around the shop, checking out some of the new products on the shelves.
"Look at this one," Teddy said. "It's called a Whoopie Spell – apparently whoever ingests it farts uncontrollably for the rest of the day.
"That's disgusting," Victoire crinkled her nose.
Teddy chuckled. "Alright, moving on then…"
"Oh look!" Victoire pointed out the most popular display for Hogwarts students. "They've expanded the Skiving Snackboxes to include Rash Raisins. If you eat the darker one, you get a huge rash on your arm, and when you eat the lighter one it goes away."
"Looks like Hogwarts is going to be seeing a lot more rashes this term," Teddy noted.
"That's the plan!" someone said from behind them.
Victoire and Teddy turned around and gave their uncle big hugs.
"Uncle George!" Victoire said. "How are you?"
"Well as you can see, I'm doing quite well. Expanding my merchandise and all," her uncle replied.
"So you've been in the lab?" Victoire asked in surprise. It had been a long time since her Uncle George had invented anything new. Not since his twin brother had died in fact. If he'd even stepped into his old lab, let alone been testing new merchandise, then this was a pretty big moment.
"No," George shook his head. "But Ron's really been getting the hang of things. He's the one who came up with the Rash Raisin idea."
"Oh," Victoire nodded, a little disappointed, but glad that her Uncle's business was doing well. "Well it sounds like a great idea."
"Want some?" George asked.
Victoire looked from her uncle to Teddy and back again. "Oh no," she said, shaking her head. "That's okay, I don't really skive off classes…"
"Oh I get it," George nodded knowingly. "You can't admit to anything with a prefect hanging around. Teddy, why don't you go down to the fake wand display and see if anything strikes your fancy?"
"Oh, no, that's not – " Victoire stammered, but Teddy interrupted.
"Don't worry Victoire, you can take the Raisins. I won't give you a detention, I promise," he assured her.
"But I don't – "
"Well there you go Victoire," George said, shoving a boxful into her hands. "Now off you go. I've got a lot of work to do, and I'm sure the store will be inundated with students soon enough."
"Bye Uncle George," Teddy said. "It was nice seeing you."
"Yeah," Victoire agreed.
"You too," George replied. "Stop by again next time, won't you?"
Victoire and Teddy agreed to visit again and soon were back out on the street, Victoire holding a box of Rash Raisins that she didn't know what to do with.
"Why'd you make me take these?" she demanded. "Couldn't you have at least pretended you were going to dock points?"
"I think you could use them," Teddy said. "It's healthy to skive off now and again."
"You'd better watch yourself," Victoire warned, falling into step next to Teddy as they headed down the street. "With an attitude like that, you'll never make Head Boy."
"And who says I want to be Head Boy?" Teddy wondered.
Victoire rolled her eyes. "Oh come on," she said. "It's obvious you want it."
Teddy shrugged. "Well it's not like I could ever be Head Boy anyway," he muttered. "Not as long as my grandmother's a Professor here. They'd say it was favoritism. Becoming a prefect was risky enough."
"I think you'd make a great Head Boy," Victoire declared.
Teddy smiled. "Thanks," he said.
VvVvVvVvVvV
The rest of the day went swimmingly. After poking around in a few shops, the pair stopped in at the Three Broomsticks for some food and a couple of butterbeers. After lunch, Victoire wanted to visit Gladrags, during which time Teddy slipped out for a last minute errand, returning while Victoire was in the changing rooms deciding between a grey sweater or a purple blouse. She settled on the blouse and rejoined Teddy.
The remainder of the afternoon was mostly spent picking up things that Victoire and Teddy needed for school. Teddy needed new quills, Victoire needed some fresh ink, Teddy needed another package of parchment scrolls, and Victoire needed to replenish some of her potions stores. Though it wasn't anything particularly romantic, Victoire enjoyed being able to just spend the afternoon with Teddy and was sad when it started getting late and Teddy suggested heading back to the castle.
"So I guess this is it?" Victoire asked when they had returned to Hogwarts.
"What do you mean?" Teddy asked in surprise.
"Our date," Victoire shrugged. "I guess it's over now."
"Certainly not," Teddy disagreed. "You really think running errands in Hogsmeade was all I had planned? I said our date was going to be Saturday, but I never specified that it was confined to the village."
"Well I – "
"Why don't you drop your things off in your dorm, and I'll meet you in the common room in twenty minutes?" Teddy suggested.
"What are we doing?" Victoire wondered.
"You'll see," Teddy smiled.
Excited, Victoire hurried up to the seventh floor and up to her dorm, where she threw her purchases on her bed and shed her winter clothes before hurrying into the bathroom to fix herself up. Her hair was a mess from walking out in the wind all day, and her makeup had faded over the course of the day so that it could definitely use a touch-up. The twenty minutes passed faster than she would have expected, and not wanting to be late, Victoire frantically brushed her teeth and applied a fresh coat of lip gloss before hurrying down to the common room to meet up with Teddy.
"So where are we going?" Victoire wondered as Teddy led her back out of the common room and down the hallways in the opposite direction of the staircases.
"That is a surprise," Teddy said, leading her past the Divination Tower and then past the Astronomy Tower."
"Teddy there's nothing down here except a bunch of abandoned classrooms," Victoire frowned as they continued down a rarely used corridor.
"Are you sure about that?" Teddy asked, stopping in front of a closed door.
Victoire shrugged. "I don't know," she said.
"Why don't you go in and see?" Teddy suggested, gesturing at the door.
Filled with a mixture of nerves and excitement, Victoire turned the handle and opened the door to reveal a staircase leading up in a circular manner.
"There's another tower down here?" she gasped in surprise.
"It's called the West Tower," Teddy confirmed. "They don't use it for much, but I came across it during rounds at the beginning of last year."
Curiously, Victoire began to ascend the stairs, wondering what could be waiting for her at the top.
"Oh Teddy!" she cried when she finally emerged into the tower room. The West Tower was small, similar to the Astronomy Tower in that the walls were short and you could look out over them to the grounds. In the middle of the room was a blanket laid out in a square, and a picnic basket in the middle.
"I thought we could have a picnic up here," Teddy said. "The idea was that it would be a picnic under the stars, but the sun hasn't quite set yet…"
"It's perfect," Victoire assured him, taking his hand and leading him over to the blanket.
They both knealt down and Victoire opened the basket, interested to see what was inside.
"Where did you get all this?" she asked, producing tons of sandwiches and pastries.
"I asked the kitchens if they could prepare something," Teddy admitted. "The elves were pretty excited about it."
"I can tell," Victoire laughed. "There's enough here to feed a small army."
"I did tell them there were only going to be two of us," Teddy frowned.
"It's fine," Victoire said. "In fact, this is wonderful."
She leaned back and unwrapped a sandwich, taking a bite and motioning that Teddy should do the same, which he did. As they ate and talked about things – school, friends, family – the sun began to sink in the sky. Soon, the grounds were bathed in orange light and Victoire stood up and walked over to the edge of the tower walls to watch as the sun slowly sank below the horizon.
She felt Teddy come up behind her and wrap his arms around her.
"Isn't it beautiful?" she asked breathlessly.
"It really is," Teddy agreed.
They stood like that until the sun was gone and then they returned to the blanket.
"I have something else for you," Teddy revealed once they were sitting again.
"But you've already done so much," Victoire protested while Teddy rummaged around in the basket.
"I got these for you," Teddy said, holding out a box of chocolates.
"Honeydukes!" Victoire exclaimed happily, reaching for them. "Is this where you went while I was at Gladrags?"
Teddy nodded and Victoire laughed. "You really didn't have to," she insisted.
"I wanted to," Teddy replied.
Victoire carefully unwrapped the box and opened it up. "Well then you at least have to share with me," she said.
Teddy chuckled. "That I can do," he said, taking a chocolate and popping it into his mouth.
Victoire carefully chose one of her own and then turned around and leaned back against Teddy so that she was basically sitting in his lap. His arms instinctively wrapped around her torso she laid her head back against his shoulder.
"I wish we could stay here forever," Victoire sighed.
"Curfew's not for another couple hours," Teddy replied.
Victoire made a noise in the back of her throat. "Let's never leave," she suggested.
Teddy kissed her on the temple. "Whatever you say," he said.
VvVvVvVvVvV
All too soon, curfew was coming and Teddy nudged Victoire to get up. Though he was extremely stiff and sore, he knew Victoire was comfortable where she was, and so he'd let her stay in his lap until now.
"Hey, we have to head back now," Teddy said.
"Alright," Victoire sighed reluctantly, climbing to her feet. "What about all this? Should we bring it with us?"
"The elves will take care of it," Teddy assured her. "They even seemed excited about it."
"Alright," Victoire entwined her fingers with Teddy's and clasped his hand as they descended the stairs.
When they arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady, Teddy paused, pulling Victoire back to him.
"Do you have rounds?" Victoire asked in confusion. She hadn't thought he did, but why else would he have stopped her going into the common room?
"No," Teddy replied. "I just wanted to have a proper end to our date."
"Oh?" Victoire asked, her heartrate picking up.
"I had a really nice time," Teddy said, smiling down at her.
"I had a really nice time too," Victoire returned. "The best time, actually."
Teddy nodded. "Good," he said. "I'm glad."
"Thank you," Victoire added. "For today."
Teddy had no verbal answer to this. Instead he leaned down and gave Victoire the softest, gentlest of kisses.
"Goodnight," he said, pulling away before Victoire could deepen it.
"Goodnight," Victoire returned, her head spinning.
Teddy handed her the chocolates that he'd carried back for her and watched as she gave the Fat Lady the password and climbed through the portrait hole, waiting a couple minutes before following her in.
VvVvVvVvVvV
"I didn't know there was a West Tower," Brianna said up in the dorm as Victoire told her friends about her date.
"Neither did I," Victoire confessed. "But it's there."
"And he bought you chocolates!" Kara squealed.
"He did," Victoire nodded, popping another in her mouth. She'd left the box open on her bed for her friends to help themselves, which they were doing. "It was perfect."
"I think perfect is overrated," Brianna sniffed.
"Oh don't be jealous Bri," Kara insisted. "Be happy for Victoire."
"I am happy for her," Brianna said. "And I'm not jealous. I have a date with Lawrence Frobisher tomorrow anyway."
"Branching out to Hufflepuff, I see," Victoire noted. "Ravenclaw not doing it?"
Brianna shrugged. "Stewart was a bore and Frederick was a snob," she said. "I thought Hufflepuff might have more of what I'm looking for."
"And what's that?" Kara wondered.
"Personality," Brianna replied.
"Well I hope it works out for you," Victoire said genuinely. Whatever Brianna was going through; she really did just want her friend to be happy.