Year 5: Head Over Heels

Chapter 49: May 2016

As exams grew closer and closer, Victoire and her friends got more and more stressed out trying to study for them. Victoire could only imagine the stress Teddy was under – if he didn't pass his N.E.W.T.s, he'd be hard-pressed to find work after graduation. Victoire at least had the luxury of retaking hers again in August if she failed something she really needed to pass. Teddy could do the same, she supposed, but employers wanted to hire in July, not in September.

"I absolutely cannot understand vanishing theory!" Brianna cried one afternoon. She, Victoire, and Kara were studying transfiguration in the library alongside Teddy and Billy who were working on ancient runes.

"Oh really?" Billy asked, looking up from his notes.

"No," Brianna said, frowning at his odd tone. "It's too complicated. They really shouldn't teach it until sixth year."

"You had a different opinion two years ago," Billy commented. "Or don't you remember?"

Brianna furrowed her brow for a moment as she tried to recall what was happening two years ago and then blanched. Victoire smirked. She remembered the conversation well. Brianna had been studying Animagus transformation theory for their third-year exams and had insisted that the vanishing theory Billy was struggling with was simple and that she could do it in his sleep.

"Fine, obviously vanishing theory is hard," Brianna muttered, rolling her eyes. "I see your point. Much harder than Animagus transformation theory anyhow."

"Not as hard as conjuring theory though," Billy commented.

"Not a ch – "

"Brianna?" Victoire interjected before her friend could dig herself another hole. "Don't say it."

Brianna huffed. "I'm sure conjuring theory is very difficult," she allowed.

Billy smirked in victory.

"If you need any help with the theory, my grandmother's always in her office at this time," Teddy offered.

"Or you could just help her," Victoire suggested.

Teddy gave Victoire a look. "I would Vic, but I really can't. These translations are killing me, I have no idea what this even says. If I didn't have my N.E.W.T.s so soon I would help, but as it is…"

"I understand," Victoire laid a hand on Teddy's arm to calm his agitation. She could see that he want to help and hated that he had to refuse. Victoire was sorry to put him in a position to feel torn. "Besides, Professor Tonks would do a better job explaining things anyway, probably, since she's the teacher and knows the material better."

"I know the material," Teddy muttered with a frown.

"I know you do," Victoire replied. "Just work on those runes."

VvVvVvVvVvV

If Victoire had expected that things were going to be drastically different between her and Teddy when the Easter holidays were over, she was wrong. She'd known there was a chance that afterwards, things could have been awkward – like they wouldn't know how to act around each other, or especially their friends. But when the students of Hogwarts all flooded back into the buildings and classes resumed, Victoire found her and Teddy slipping back into their old routine with ease. And when they were alone… it was like they were the only two in the whole world that mattered.

But with May coming to an end and June looming around the corner, time alone was hard to come by. Every spare moment was spend going over notes, re-reading textbooks, and practicing various spells for the millionth time. Everyone was on edge, and it was only a matter of time before someone snapped.

"Would you please stop breathing so loudly?" Kara demanded one afternoon. She and William were studying alongside Teddy and Victoire – a kind of unofficial double date since Brianna had disappeared only moments after all five of them had sat down.

"I'm breathing normally," William shot back at Kara. Victoire and Teddy both looked up from their studies apprehensively.

"No way, it's never been this loud before," Kara insisted. "You sound like Filch after he's climbed the stairs. It's very distracting."

"Well you're not so perfect yourself," William shot back. "Have you ever noticed that you hum when you're thinking really deeply? Don't you think that's pretty distracting too?"

"Well if I'm such a chore to study with, then why don't you go study elsewhere?" Kara demanded, practically shoving William's things away.

"I think I will!" William cried back, grabbing his notes in a frenzy and stomping away.

Once he was gone, Kara turned to look at Victoire and Teddy.

"What are you looking at?" she demanded.

"Nothing," Victoire replied, immediately looking back down at her history notes. Teddy did the same with his transfiguration ones. Under the table, she felt his hand reach for hers and squeeze it gently but firmly.

VvVvVvVvVvV

A few days later, Victoire ran into the dorm to grab her herbology notes, intending to rush them down to the library where Kara, Brianna, Teddy, Billy, and Kayla were all waiting for her. The sound of crying gave her pause though, and she stopped short, turning around to find Raina quietly crying on her bed.

"Raina?" Victoire asked tentatively. She didn't particularly like the girl, but if she was upset, Victoire should at least try to lend some comfort. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing," Raina muttered, wiping her tears away and trying to put on a neutral face. "You wouldn't want to hear about it."

"Sure I would," Victoire said, setting her things down by the door and venturing over to Raina's bed, taking a seat right on the edge. "Tell me."

Raina sighed and Victoire could see new tears pooling where she'd wiped away the old ones. "It's Nathaniel," she muttered.

Victoire raised her eyebrows in surprise. Had Nathaniel done something to Raina? If he had, it certainly didn't sound like him – at least not the him that Victoire had known in third year. She realized she really knew nothing about him from the time they'd broken up.

"What happened?" Victoire prompted, scooting closer and placing a hand on Raina's knee – the only part of the girl's body she could reach given their positions.

"He broke up with me," Raina sniffed, clearly trying to hold the tears off.

"I'm sorry," Victoire said, genuinely feeling bad for the girl. She had experience in the department of being-dumped-by-Nathaniel, and it wasn't positive. Victoire had been wrecked after it had happened – and she hadn't even wanted to be with him anymore when he'd broken things off anyway. In fact, she'd been on her way to break things off herself. She could only imagine a fraction of the pain Raina was feeling right now. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Raina shook her head, tears freeing themselves and falling freely down her cheeks. "I just want to be alone," she muttered.

Victoire nodded, pulling her hand from the girl's knee and standing up. "Alright," Victoire agreed. She debated it for a moment and then reached in to hug Raina once before pulling away. "It'll be all right," she assured her. "You'll see."

It was kind of weird consoling her room mates over her break up with Victoire's ex. But then again, Nathaniel was so far in her past, he barely even counted. Almost like how William barely counted in Brianna's past. Except at least Victoire and Nathaniel had had a mutual relationship.

Victoire picked up her things and made her way down to the library. She'd decided to take Professor Longbottom up on one thing – if nothing else, she would try to do her absolute best on her Herbology O.W.L. She owed it to herself to at least try, especially with a subject she enjoyed so much.

"Hey guys," Victoire greeted the group as she settled in next to Teddy.

"What took so long?" Teddy asked.

"Raina was crying," Victoire explained. "I felt weird just leaving."

"What's wrong?" Kara asked, immediately concerned. That was one of the things about Kara – she cared about people, even when she didn't like them.

"She broke up with Nathaniel," Victoire replied.

"Your ex?" Teddy frowned. "I didn't know they were dating."

"Oh," Victoire shrugged. "Well yeah, they are. For over a year now. It's no big deal. We dated for less than two months."

"Well as long as he doesn't go getting any ideas about getting you back," Teddy muttered, his arm wrapping around Victoire's waist possessively.

Victoire laughed. "Don't worry," she assured him. "Even if he did, I have zero interest in him."

Teddy leaned down and kissed Victoire once before pulling back. Victoire tried to lean forward for more, but Teddy shook his head, gesturing to the mountains of studying they both had to do. Victoire frowned and Teddy chuckled, smiling and allowing her one more kiss before letting go of her and shuffling his papers around to find his place again.

As Victoire got her own notes organized, she noticed an absence at the table.

"Where's Brianna?" Victoire asked.

Kara made a face. "Over there," she muttered, gesturing to the next aisle, which was obscured from view. It was the divination aisle, which Victoire thought was strange, given that Brianna wasn't taking divination. In fact, divination hadn't even been offered as an elective for over fifteen years.

"What's she doing down there?" Victoire frowned.

"She's Brianna," Kara said. "What do you think she'd doing?"

It was Victoire's turn to make a face. "She should be studying," she insisted. "How does she have time for - ?"

Victoire didn't have time to finish her statement because at that moment, Brianna returned, a bright smile on her face and her hair a little mussed.

"Seriously Bri?" Victoire asked. "You can't wait for after O.W.L.s to make out with some guy in the library?"

"Could you?" Brianna retorted, gesturing to Teddy.

Victoire closed her lips and looked down at her notes, embarrassed. Brianna had a point. Only moments ago Victoire had been trying to coerce Teddy into kissing her instead of studying. The only difference was that she wasn't successful.

Victoire looked back up just in time to see the person Brianna had been kissing walk out of the divination aisle, wink at Brianna, and walk out of the library.

"Seriously Bri?" Victoire demanded again, echoing her earlier admonishment. "You were making out with Stanley Towler? Of all the guys in our year, you choose him?"

"He's hot," Brianna shrugged.

"He's also miserable to try to talk to," Victoire commented.

"Well we don't do so much of the talking," Brianna said.

"I thought he wanted nothing to do with you, after that Hogsmeade trip in November," Kara said.

"Yeah well, I think I made a pretty good case for myself back there," Brianna declared. "He certainly wasn't complaining."

"And with that, I'm going to focus on Herbology," Victoire announced, shaking her head of all thoughts of Brianna and Stanley, Raina, or Nathaniel.

VvVvVvVvVvV

The closer exams came, the more stressed out everyone continued to get. Kara and William still weren't speaking, and Kara was miserable about it. She didn't have time to have a conversation with him though, because all her free time was being used to study.

After her break-up with Nathaniel, Victoire had offered for Raina to study with her and her friends. Though she regretted it later when the girl showed up smelling like fertilizer and letting out small sobs every few minutes, she figured it was the least she could do.

Brianna continued to deal with her stress in a very different way. She and Stanley met almost daily in the library for a short tryst in one of the rarely used aisles. They used the divination aisle a few times, but then relocated to the alchemy aisle after getting caught by Madam Maxwell.

But no matter what was going on in her friend's lives, there was one constant that was getting Victoire through this stressful time, and that was Teddy. Even though they couldn't spend as much time just the two of them like they had in the past, or even over Easter, just having him nearby was enough to comfort her. And every time Victoire started panicking about failing her O.W.L.s, she just remembered that Teddy was going to support her and take care of her, and that her O.W.L. results while important, weren't going to determine her future.

One afternoon, it was only Victoire, Teddy, Billy, and Kayla studying in the library. Brianna was around, but Stanley had arrived only moments ago and Victoire knew she wouldn't be back for a while. And as for Kara, she'd gone to take Teddy up on his offer to visit his grandmother in her office to get some help with vanishing theory. Of course, it was really Professor Tonks' invitation to everyone, but Kara wouldn't have taken it if Teddy hadn't urged her to.

"Can you please keep your feet to yourself?" Kayla asked suddenly, turning to Billy angrily.

"Sorry," Billy apologized.

Victoire tensed for a moment, expecting an argument to break out, but it didn't. They went back to their studying, and it was another five or ten minutes before Kayla spoke again.

"Seriously Billy, do I have to charm your feet to the floor? Stop swinging them like that, you keep knocking into me!" she cried.

"Sorry," Billy apologized again. "This is how I focus."

"By swinging your legs like a child?" Kayla demanded. "You're eighteen, act like it. Keep your legs still."

Teddy and Victoire exchanged a nervous look, and when all was quiet for a while again, Victoire decided that it was probably nothing. But then Kayla dramatically dropped her quill and turned to face Billy, clearly angry.

"What is wrong with you?" she cried. "I asked you to keep your feet on the floor!"

"Sorry!" Billy insisted, grabbing his things and moving over a seat. "Here, is that better? Now you won't feel it when I swing my legs."

Kayla shook her head. "You should be able to refrain from swinging your legs without having to move seats," she insisted. "Or are you so lacking in self-control?"

"I have self-control!" Billy cried.

"No, you know what, you obviously don't," Kayla shook her head, tears springing to her eyes. "Billy I don't think I can do this anymore. I thought I could, but I can't. You clearly don't respect me at all. I thought I could get past it, but it's not going to happen."

She gathered her things as Billy tried to convince her to stay.

"Kayla please," he pleaded. "I'll stop swinging my legs, I swear. I'll keep my feet still."

Kayla shook her head, obviously trying to hold herself together. "It's over," she declared. "I'm sorry."

She walked away and Billy ran after her. "Kayla please!" he cried, chasing her out of the library. "Please!"

When they were gone, Victoire could only sit in her seat, stunned. "Seriously?" she asked. "Over swinging his legs?"

Teddy shook his head. "That wasn't about leg swinging," he replied. "It was about something else."

"What?" Victoire asked, interested.

Teddy glanced around. "You can't tell anyone," he instructed her. "Not even Billy. Especially not Billy."

"I won't," Victoire promised.

Teddy nodded. "She caught him with another girl."

Victoire gasped. "Really?" she asked.

"He says it was an accident – that she kissed him and he tried to push her away, but Kayla showed up before he could and got the wrong idea. She was going to try to accept it, but apparently…"

"Apparently she couldn't," Victoire finished Teddy's thought. "Wow. Who was he kissing?"

"You wouldn't know her," Teddy muttered. "A seventh year in Hufflepuff."

Victoire nodded. "Another couple down," she muttered. "That's three couples in less than two weeks. First Kara and William, then Raina and Nathanial, now Billy and Kayla."

"Well Kara and William could still work things out," Teddy said optimistically. "You never know."

"It's gone on too long," Victoire shook her head. "At this point, I think they both know it's over." She sighed.

"Hey," Teddy said, picking up on Victoire's mood. "That doesn't mean anything except that they were all in relationships with the wrong people."

"Or it means that these exams are tearing people apart. O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s alike," Victoire muttered.

"Maybe so," Teddy nodded. "But that's not going to happen to us."

Victoire looked up in surprise. "I didn't mean – "

"I know you weren't implying it," Teddy nodded. "But I'm sure it's crossed your mind. It's been a stressful month, and a lot has happened. But I think after everything we've made it through so far, we can make it through these exams."

"Definitely," Victoire agreed. "I never doubted it."

"Good," Teddy smiled, leaning in for a kiss. He meant it to be a short kiss. He meant to pull away after a few seconds. They both had to study after all. But once his lips were on Victoire's he couldn't pull away. And Victoire wasn't ready to let him.

Victoire's lips parted almost immediately, her arms reaching up to wrap around Teddy's neck. She felt his own arms slowly wrap around her waist, and then he pulled her into his lap, bringing her closer, and wrapping his arms around her tightly. It had been days since they'd kissed properly like this, and Victoire almost didn't care that they were in the middle of the library with dozens of students all around them. She just wanted to enjoy it while it lasted.

"Victoire," Brianna's voice caused them to break apart and Victoire to sheepishly slide back into her own seat. "Shouldn't you be studying?" she smirked, proud to have caught Victoire in the position she was so often being admonished for, and Victoire felt her face turn bright red.

"We were just getting to that," Victoire assured her friend, even as Brianna laughed and sat down across from them.

"I'm sure you were," she smirked.