Spring 2005
"Hurry up!" Victoire yelled, her strawberry blonde hair bouncing against her shoulders as she ran ahead of the stragglers behind her.
"But Victoire … I'm getting tired. You didn't say it was going to be this far away."
"Olivia," Victoire said to her friend with as much seriousness as an eight year-old could muster. "You agreed to come see Buttermarket Square with me. We're close. I can feel it."
"Olivia's right," Tom said, panting as he bent forward and rested his hands on his knees. "I don't think we're supposed to go this far without a chaperone."
"Not you too," Victoire narrowed her eyes and stopped walking to turn her attention to her other friend.
"Hmph," Victoire grunted dramatically, placing her hands on her hips. "You two just don't want to be proven wrong."
"It's not that we don't believe you," Olivia responded slowly. "We've been walking for hours already, if we get caught all the way out here we're all going to be in trouble."
"What do you think, Teddy?" Victoire asked as Teddy, who had been leisurely strolling several paces behind the rest of them, caught up.
Teddy had just turned ten years-old and was the oldest of the group. He had trailed behind the others and seemed to be quietly taking in the scenery of the English countryside. He turned to look at Victoire after hearing his name being called.
"We should go back," Teddy responded. "I told you from the very beginning that we shouldn't even be doing this."
"You're such a party pooper," Victoire mumbled, absently kicking at the gravel on the ground. "I don't even know why you came along, your grandma takes you to Buttermarket Square every other weekend."
"Someone has to make sure you don't get into trouble," Teddy grinned, playfully ruffling Victoire's hair.
"What is she going on about anyway?" Tom asked Teddy. "I grew up in Ipswich and I haven't heard of any Buttermarket Square.
"Can't say," Teddy shrugged.
"But she just said your grandmum-" Tom began.
"We should probably head back," Olivia interjected. "Before we get caught."
"Pleaseee," Victoire whined. "We've gone so far already, we must be almost there!" She pointed towards the horizon. "Look, there are houses over there! That means we must be near the town!"
Teddy reached out and grabbed Victoire's outstretched arm and gently pushed down, silently indicating that she should lower her hand. "I checked a map after you told me about your hair brained idea. Those houses don't mean anything, we're still several hours by foot away."
Victoire scrunched her eyebrows together in response. "You can read maps? Why didn't you lead the way?"
"You couldn't have made it," Teddy said. "It's too far away."
"You said that earlier," Victoire grumbled under her breath. "Why'd you come then?" Victoire asked for the second time.
"To make sure you don't get into trouble," Teddy repeated, grinning. "I know how stubborn you are, and that you would insist on going no matter what." Teddy shrugged. "I tagged along so I could be here to tell you I told you so."
"I vote we turn around," Tom said. "I'm so thirsty and I didn't bring any water."
Teddy reached into his backpack and pulled out a half empty bottle of water and handed it to Tom.
"Thanks," Tom said eagerly as he reached for the bottle.
"We have to turn back, Victore Weasley," Teddy said seriously, slowly enunciating her full name. Without another word he turned on his heels and began walking back the way he came. Tom and Olivia quickly followed, both looking relieved. Victoire hesitated for a moment before catching up to the group.
"I think you've proven your point," Teddy said to her after she caught up.
"Yeah," Olivia continued. "We totally believe that you're serious about this Buttermarket Square and all the flashy stores that sell the sweets with many flavors."
"You believe that I believe in magic," Victoire sighed. "But you still don't believe in it yourself. The two of you just think I'm crazy," Victoire gestured at Olivia and Tom.
"Teddy probably does too," Tom laughed.
Victoire crossed her arms and glared at him but didn't say anything further.
"If magic was real, why don't you show us a real magic trick? I'd believe you then," Olivia offered.
"I already told you that I'm too young to do magic," Victoire said exasperatedly.
"What do you think we're getting for supper?" Tom suddenly asked, but to no one in particular.
"I'm hungry. The faster we walk the faster we'll get back," Tom said, speeding up his pace. Olivia eagerly followed. "I hope we don't have baked potatoes again."
"I don't know why you're trying so hard to convince everyone that magic is real," Teddy asked Victoire pointedly after Tom and Olivia walked out of earshot. "You know that you're not allowed to."
"It's dumb that I'm not allowed to share an important part of my world with my friends," Victoire muttered.
"Yeah, its dumb," Teddy agreed. Victoire looked up in surprise.
"You agree with me?" Victoire looked at Teddy brightly.
"I don't know," Teddy said. "But the adults have made up the rules and in this case we should follow it."
"Since when do you follow rules?" Victoire teased.
"Well in this instance, Tom and Olivia don't believe you anyway, so I don't know why you bother." Teddy's hands slipped into Victoire's as they walked across the crosswalk. After they made it to the other side, Victoire tugged her hands free and gave Teddy a light shove.
"They'd believe me if you backed me up," Victoire said.
Teddy snorted. "No they wouldn't. They'd just think you put me up to it, they know how close we are."
Teddy and Victoire were closer than twin siblings. The two of them essentially grew up together. After Teddy lost his parents at a very young age due to the war, he was practically adopted into the Weasley family, whose members were very close to Teddy's parents and fought together in the war. Since Victoire was the oldest Weasley of the new generation and closest in age to Teddy, it was only natural that the pair spent a lot of time together growing up.
And unlike a lot of opposite gendered pairs of children who were forced to hang out with one another because their parents were friends, Teddy and Victoire actually enjoyed each other's company. Teddy was always quiet and reserved, and he enjoyed how Victoire's rambunctious and spontaneous nature led him to experience all sorts of new and exciting things.
Such as today's adventure.
Teddy wouldn't admit it of course, but he agreed to accompany Victoire on this ridiculous journey to Buttermarket Square on foot because he thought it'd be exciting to explore the countryside unsupervised. He'd never have even considered doing something like this on his own.
Besides, Teddy hated being left alone while others were off having grand adventures that he'd conjured for them in his head.
It had started a few weeks ago when Victoire got it in her head that she had to convince Tom and Olivia that magic was real. After days of thinking about it, she decided that showing them Buttermarket Square would be undeniable proof.
Buttermarket Square was a small magical hamlet hidden behind an unassuming bookstore in the middle of Ipswich, the nearest city to where Teddy lived with his grandma. His grandma was the matron of an orphanage that she inherited from the muggle side of her late husband's family after he passed away.
Since Buttermarket Square was the nearest wizarding settlement, Teddy's grandma would visit every weekend to purchase some basic necessities, and she would frequently bring Teddy along - Victoire as well if she happened to be visiting.
Obviously, none of the muggle residents at the orphanage - including Tom and Olivia - knew anything about Teddy or his grandma's magical background. Speaking about it was prohibited. It was a rule that Victoire took no issue over the course of years of visiting Teddy at the orphanage and playing with the other muggle kids.
But somehow Victoire suddenly came to the conclusion that the rule was unjustified and that there was no good reason to keep the truth from her friends. She'd grown close to Tom and Olivia over the years of visiting Teddy at the orphanage.
"I don't see a reason why we shouldn't tell them about it," Victoire said as she tried to explain her grand plan to Teddy. "They're our friends," she said, as if it were as simple as that.
When Victoire gets something in her head, she wouldn't let it go. Teddy knew that about her. But even he was surprised when Victoire started telling Tom and Olivia all about Buttermarket Square, which she described as a vibrant plaza filled with owls flying overhead and gleaming broomsticks on display at the shop windows.
And, of course, home to a candy shop that sold jelly beans in every imaginable flavor.
That particular idea had intrigued Olivia, who said that she wanted to try them. Victoire didn't have any with her, but spontaneously announced that she could take them to visit the square that afternoon and buy the candy beans for themselves.
Which is how the four children ended up trudging through the English countryside, only to head back to the orphanage several hours later empty-handed after Victoire severely miscalculated how far away Ipswich was.
"So tell me the real reason," Victoire said, giving Teddy a small nudge with her elbow. "Why did you come along if you were gonna be a goodie-two-shoe and not show Tom and Olivia the real magic at Buttermarket?"
Teddy blinked a few times but stayed silent. He looked like he was trying to decide whether or not to say out loud what he was thinking.
"What is it?" Victoire begged, grabbing Teddy's shoulder and giving it a small shake.
"Nothing," Teddy muttered, loosening his muscles and allowing Victoire to easily shake his whole body.
"That's no fun," Victoire pouted. "You were about to say something, I could tell-" Victoire looked up at Teddy but paused halfway through her sentence, her eyes widening in shock.
"What is it?" Teddy asked lazily, running a hand over his forehead. "Do I have something in my hair?"
"No, that's not it," Victoire said, nervously glancing ahead at Tom and Olivia, who at that point had walked quite a distance away. But if one of them turned around, they would still be able to tell that Teddy's normally brown hair had turned a bright shade of pink.
"It is your hair."
Teddy suddenly reached up to grab at his bangs. He scrunched his face in concentration, and suddenly a strand of hair grew to eye level so that he could see the pink color with his own eyes.
"You're usually much better at controlling it," Victoire observed. Teddy was a metamorphmagus, a wizard who could change their appearance at will. But since Teddy grew up around muggles, his grandma had trained him at a very young age to be careful about losing control of his appearance.
Victoire's face suddenly lit up."But if we go and show Tom and Olivia, they'd have to believe that magic was real…I mean your hair just turned pink!"
Teddy shook his head roughly and his hair returned to its normal length and color.
"Sorry Twa, I'm not gonna break the magical secrecy rules for you today."
"Ugh fine, and don't call me that," Victoire sighed, but she eyed Teddy curiously. "What were you thinking that caused you to lose control of your hair like that?"
"Nothing," Teddy insisted.
"You had a really serious look on your face."
"It really was nothing," Teddy said.
"But it doesn't make any sense," Victoire said, lost in thought. "Why would something as simple as you tagging along today make you accidentally change your hair color?"
"I was just worried about you," Teddy said quickly.
"Huh?"
"I'm going to Hogwarts next year and I won't be around to watch over you when you go out and do stupid stuff."
"Hey-"
"And well I just wanted to keep you out of trouble while I still can." Teddy shrugged. "And while I was thinking about all that, I suddenly realized that I'm going to lose you next year when I leave…and that made me a bit sad."
"You're not going to lose me, silly," Victoire said. "We're still going to be best friends, and write letters and stuff right?"
"Yeah, of course!" Teddy said. "Sorry I just…I'm just kinda afraid that next year I'll be alone again…"
Victoire nodded solemnly in understanding. Teddy never spoke of it much, but growing up without his parents made him particularly sensitive when it came to the idea of those close to him leaving, even for short periods of time.
When he was younger, he would cry for hours when his godfather, Harry, would leave for days at a time attending to auror business. He'd gotten better at controlling those emotions, but it was still tough to think about Victoire and all the other people he grew up with not being at Hogwarts with him next year.
Victoire placed a hand on Teddy's back and smiled brightly at him.
"What are you doing thinking about something that's not going to happen until next year? That's practically forever from now!"
Teddy smiled back at Victoire. "Yeah I suppose you're right."
"Come on, now we're the ones straggling," Victoire said, pointing at Tom and Olivia in the distance.
"Tom must be really hungry," Teddy observed.
"I'm also starting to get hungry," Victoire said as she broke into a run. "Hurry up Teddy! Last one back is a doxy wing!"
"Hey, no fair!" Teddy yelled, scrunching up his face. His pink hair turned back to its normal color. "You got a head start!"
A/N Thanks for reading! It's been over a decade since I last wrote on that I lost my old account haha. But I recently got inspired to write this short piece after watching a TV show (bonus props to whoever can guess what it is after I'm done!). I also want to thank all previous generations of fanfic writers who have developed the Teddy/Victoire ship, I have been inspired by their works over the years and hints of their influence are present throughout this story; I hope you like the result. Of course, thanks to J.K. Rowling for imagining this incredible universe and blessing fanfic writers to expand it.
