Summer 2016

Teddy felt his eyes drooping and head bobbing as he struggled to stay awake during Professor McGonagall's commencement speech. What she's saying is important, he kept reminding himself. But try as he might he felt himself fighting a losing battle.

McGonagall was in the midst of reminding the soon-to-be graduated seventh years not to forget their training at Hogwarts as they entered the real world, where life would not be as easy on them as it was within the safety of the castle walls, when Ted felt a sharp elbow jab into the side of his ribcage.

"Ow!" Teddy yelped. McGonagall's eyes flicked over to him, but she did not stop speaking. Once McGonagall looked away, Teddy looked over to his right where the elbow came from and narrowed his eyes.

"Why'd you do that?" Teddy whispered.

"You were falling asleep," Mia responded nonchalantly.

"But you didn't have to jab me so hard. Your elbow is really sharp," Teddy complained, running a hand up and down the side of his stomach.

Mia shrugged, eyes fixated at McGonagall, though Teddy truly doubted that she was paying as much attention to her as she looked. "No matter," Mia whispered. "You're awake now. You really ought to pay attention, what she's saying is very important."

Teddy rolled his eyes. If Teddy knew anything about Mia, it was that she had hardly a care in the world over what authority figures had to say.

"Oh really?" Teddy responded, disbelieving.

Mia nodded. "Absolutely. She's talking about how it's important to pay attention to your elders. She's looking right at you."

Teddy swung his head and met McGonagall's piercing eyes staring back at him. McGonagall looked away and Teddy felt himself sink into his chair.

He chanced a glance at Mia and saw her smirking. Moments later, felt a sharp elbow jab into his side again.

"Ow!" Teddy yelped again, "What?"

"McGonagall's looking at you."

Teddy quickly looked up at the podium again and sure enough, McGonagall was glaring at him. When she finally turned away, Teddy mumbled, "why do you do this to me?"

Mia smiled, "because it's fun."

Teddy and Mia met in their first year and quickly became fast friends. Mia's parents were both muggleborn, but her father had been killed during the war by the Snatchers, who were followers of Voldemort.

The shared experience of losing a parent had helped bring the two of them together, since Teddy's other classmates had trouble helping him navigate his confused identity and angsty demeanor during his early teenage years.

Teddy started out his first year at Hogwarts as an angsty outcast. After the war, his grandma took over a muggle orphanage that had been managed by his grandfather's family for generations. Even though Andromeda raised him, he still lost both of his parents and felt a bond with the other kids at the orphanage. Although he had his grandma, Victoire, and Harry in his life, the loss of his parents left a hole that could only be filled by spending time with other kids who understood him. And those other kids were all muggles. So growing up, he always felt like he had one foot in the muggle world and one foot in the Wizarding world, but never fully feeling part of both.

Teddy had heard that this feeling was common among muggleborns, especially those in his generation who had experienced loss in the family due to the war. Losing one or both parents is a traumatic experience for any young child, and it was easy for Teddy to blame the wizarding world and its messy politics and bigoted traditions for having caused his parents' deaths.

Teddy was always a bit ambivalent about wizarding society. He loved all the wizards and witches in the Potter and Weasley family who raised him like their own. He had the utmost respect for the Hogwarts faculty. But he didn't really feel at home within the wizarding world. Obviously he wasn't a muggle so he didn't really understand muggle society either. But growing up, he found refuge and companionship with the muggle orphans who also had no parents. He felt that they, along with Victoire, who frequently accompanied him to visit the orphanage, had really been the ones to raise him.

Those people were his home.

So at the young age of eleven, suddenly thrust into Hogwarts without his support network, Teddy had never felt so scared and alone in his life. That's when he met Mia, a prankster who could make everyone in the room laugh, himself included, and distract him from wallowing in his own sadness.

But Mia also understood what it was like to have one foot in the wizarding world and one foot outside. Her mother had raised her like a Muggle, fearing that the rise of another dark wizard would bring more pain to her family. When Mia's Hogwarts letter came, she had seriously considered not allowing Mia to enroll, but ultimately decided that it was better that Mia learned how to control her powers that were, at the time, manifesting in increasingly destructive ways.

Because the two had similar pasts and experienced similar struggles, Teddy felt an instant bond and latched onto Mia. Mia was also better than Teddy at channeling her angst towards more productive pursuits, like pranks, and taught Teddy how to make their classmates laugh with harmless antics like magically gluing crying mandrakes to Peeves' bum.

Then Victoire started Hogwarts in Teddy's third year. Victoire was intelligent and cunning, who as the first Weasley of the generation got herself sorted into Ravenclaw. She easily befriended Mia and became the mastermind planner behind some of Teddy and Mia's more elaborate pranks. But Victoire was always smart enough not to get caught, and loved regaling Teddy and Mia with her stories of relaxing afternoons by the lake or trips to Hogsmeade with friends while the two of them were serving detention.

Over time, Mia, Victoire, and others at Hogwarts helped Teddy get over his ambivalence of the wizarding world and helped him learn to embrace parts of wizarding society. Slowly, he grew to be more comfortable in his own identity as a magical person.

At the same time, however, Teddy started becoming interested in Muggles and muggle society. During the holidays, Teddy would frequently visit the orphanage to see Tom and Olivia. He learned about the advances in muggle technology, such as the rise of the internet and then the smartphone, and found himself thinking that some of the cleverer muggle inventions, particularly in long distance communication, were clearly superior to what wizards had.

He also thought that it was fascinating that Muggles had the option of continuing their education as adults, at what they called "universities". Teddy thought that this was particularly appealing, because while his years at Hogwarts had taught him a lot, he never actually found what he wanted to pursue as a career. So when Professor Longbottom explained to Teddy that the Ministry of Magic had connections with a university in London that took in wizards looking to pursue a career in wizard-muggle relations, Teddy jumped at the opportunity.

Doing so required top scores in his Muggle Studies NEWTs, as well as taking elective courses in Arithmetic and muggle sciences like Biology and Chemistry, but Teddy had passed with flying colors and had already accepted an offer to continue his education - muggle style - in the fall.

After the commencement ceremony wrapped up, the seventh years had taken a boat ride across the lake and bid farewell to Hogwarts on the other side, before climbing onto the Hogwarts express for one last ride back home.

"My mum manages a block of flats in London near your uni," Mia told Teddy. "I think she has a two-bedroom opening soon, if you could find a roommate I'm sure I can convince her to give you a discount!"

Teddy smiled appreciatively. "Yeah, that'd be great. I hadn't really thought that far ahead yet, but now that we're officially graduated I should probably start planning out my living situation."

"You both better write to me every day," Victoire exclaimed, pointing at Mia and Teddy. The three had a compartment to themselves and were busy playing Exploding Snap on their laps.

"The muggle post is so slow I'd be writing a new letter before you even got my first letter," Teddy replied. "How about I write to you every week?"

"A week then," Mia nodded in agreement. "I'm going to be swamped for at least the next two years, Vic. Have you seen my schedule? Ouch!" A card exploded in Mia's hand.

"I don't think anyone within a mile of Hogwarts is unaware of how busy your auror training schedule will make you," Victoire laughed, before adding, "how funny is it that at Hogwarts we were the rule breakers, but now you're going out into the world to enforce the rules?"

"Hogwarts wasn't real life," Mia smiled. "It was a carefully controlled and sanitized bubble that needed a bit of organized chaos and laughter, which is where we came in."

"That's true," Victoire said. "But the next two years aren't going to be the same without you both there."

Teddy leaned over and ruffled Victoire's hair. "We made it through two years apart five years ago and look at us now. We can make it through another two years."

"And there'll be holidays," Mia added. "And now that you're a sixth year you'll have more Hogsmeade weekends that we can meet up at!"

"But it just feels like everyone is leaving! I mean, I know Jordan and Stacy will still be around, and so will Dominique and Louis," she said, referring to her two roommates and her younger twin siblings, "but-" Victoire bit her lip before looking up and glancing at Teddy. "I don't know, we had a comfortable rhythm going on and next year is going to be all messed up," Victoire sighed.

Teddy moved across the aisle and sat next to Victoire, draping an arm around her shoulder. His cards fell to the ground and several exploded loudly, causing everyone to lift their feet up in the air.

"Everyone loves you Twa! To the professors, you're the student who can do no wrong. And to everyone else, you're this smart and beautiful person that everyone wants to be friends with."

"No pressure there," Victoire muttered.

"Besides," Teddy continued, "James is starting Hogwarts next year and he's going to need a mentor to teach him how to prank properly. Someone needs to pass the torch to the next generation."

"Don't remind me," Victoire groaned, "the last thing I need is another family member to babysit."

"I babysat you for years," Teddy smirked. Victoire wiggled out of his arms and punched him on the shoulder.

"We have to look out for each other, that's what family is for," Teddy raised his hands in mock defeat.

"Is that why you took me under your wing when I came to Hogwards?" Victoire asked skeptically, "Did Harry or my mum put you up to it?"

"No way," Teddy shook his head. "I mean - yes I guess they technically did - but I would've looked out for you regardless. You're my best friend, Twa."

"My best friend who's leaving me at school while he goes exploring the big wide world of muggle-kind," Victoire said.

"Would it help if I promised to write to you two times a week?"

Victoire sat up straighter and nodded her head vigorously. "And promise to come to Hogsmeade for every open weekend."

Teddy smiled. "You promise you won't get bored seeing me so often?"

"I could never get bored of you."

"Is that a dare?" Teddy challenged. "Because I'm sure I could find time to come down to Hogsmeade every weekend, first years have it easy in muggle unis…"

"Challenge accepted," Victoire said without skipping a beat. "Be careful what you say, Lupin. I'm going to hold you to your words."

"Fine, challenge accepted then." At that moment Teddy noticed how close he was to Victoire. She was sitting there, smiling at him and looking up at him with beautiful doe eyes - wait, what was he thinking about? Teddy looked away and saw Mia sitting opposite them, smirking.

"Welcome back to earth, lovebirds," Mia hummed. Victoire laughed and reached her legs across the aisle to lightly shove Mia's knee. Mia was always joking about how Teddy and Victoire were meant to be. Neither of them ever took her seriously, well, Victoire never seemed to take her seriously and Teddy always played along. But if truth be told, Teddy couldn't ignore how some time during the past year, something about Mia's constant ribbing must have rubbed off on Teddy's subconscious and he couldn't help but begin to think of Victoire as more than just a friend.

"You alright there Teddy?" Mia asked, waving a hand in front of Teddy's face. Teddy blinked a few times before responding, "Yeah, sorry, just spaced out for a second."

He was expecting Mia to crack a joke at his expense for spacing out like he did, but she just smiled at him with a look of, dare he say pity? Before Teddy had a chance to ask Mia what she was thinking, Victoire shoved a pile of cards into Teddy's hands.

"You dropped these earlier, Teddy," she said. "Come on, let's finish the game."


"I hate sharing a laundry room with dozens of other people because when my socks disappear, there's no way to find them again," Olivia muttered to herself, rounding the corner carrying a basket of freshly folded laundry. Her eyebrows raised in surprise when she saw Teddy and Victoire standing in the landing with Tom.

"Victoire! Teddy! You're both here early," she exclaimed.

"We thought we'd drop by to say hi before the festivities started," Victoire said, reaching over to wrap Olivia in a half hug to avoid disturbing her laundry. Teddy did the same a second later.

The Home of Small Miracles Orphanage was holding their annual "graduation" event to send off all the kids who had turned 18 that year - the muggle legal age. Tom was part of the graduating class and Teddy and Victoire had come to celebrate with him. Tom was going to uni in the fall to study industrial design and hopefully create a career out of his hobby of tinkering with everyday objects to make toys for the other kids at the orphanage.

"Remember when Victoire would try to convince all of us that the culprit to all of our missing socks were garden gnomes?" Tom suddenly said, referring to Olivia's disappearing socks.

Victoire smirked at this and lightly hit Tom on the shoulder with a closed fist. "You know I had an active imagination as a kid."

"But then," Tom continued, "Teddy here always encouraged you, believing all the nonsense you said but reminding you not to be so vocal about it. He would even offer to help you look for the gnomes."

"It was as if the two of you were in on some big inside joke that we were left out of," Olivia agreed, nodding along with Tom.

Victoire and Teddy shared a quick glance before looking away and shrugging at the same time.

"See! There it is again," Tom yelled, waving a finger between the two of them in an exaggerated manner. "There was always something going on between the two of you that the rest of the world could see but that you both were blind to."

Teddy raised an eyebrow at this. "I don't follow-"

"Of course you don't," Tom interrupted. "The two of you were never really good at talking about your thoughts and feelings. But don't think that the two of us," Tom said, gesturing between himself and Olivia, "haven't noticed anything over the years."

"We really don't mean to hide anything from you two," Teddy began.

"Aha," Olivia said, "so you admit there's something to hide!"

"It's not really what you're hiding from us that's the problem," Tom continued. "It's what you're hiding from each other."

Victoire briefly exchanged a confused look with Teddy before turning back to Tom and Olivia. "We're not hiding anything from each other," she said. Teddy nodded in agreement. While Olivia and Tom couldn't know about magic because of the Statute of Secrecy, Teddy and Victoire obviously weren't hiding that from each other.

Tom and Olivia looked a bit stunned. Tom blinked slowly, "so did the two of you finally confess your undying love-"

"No!" Teddy and Victoire yelled in unison.

Tom laughed at that. "I take it you haven't, then."

"Come on, we're only taking the mickey," Olivia smiled. "You two are such close friends, and we thought it'd be funny to see your reactions if we pointed out the possibility that you two could be more than friends."

Victoire rolled her eyes. "Alright, if we're done here, I'm going to go track down those pesky gnomes that stole your socks, for old time's sake."

"I'll help you," Teddy said, following her. "For old time's sake," he added with a grin, glancing back at Olivia and Tom, who were giving him big thumbs up. He rolled his eyes.

Olivia and Tom had known Teddy and Victoire for far longer than Mia had, but they didn't overtly hint at the possibility of Teddy and Victoire being a couple as much as Mia did, so it was a bit strange for them to suddenly start joking about it.

The last time the four of them had been together was during the Easter holidays a few months earlier. Teddy and Victoire had helped Teddy's grandma wash the bedsheets and just finished hanging them on clotheslines in the garden behind the orphanage. The two of them had plopped down on a nearby log and were staring at the billowing bedsheets in comfortable silence.

Teddy was admiring how the setting sun had lit up the white sheets in a beautiful orange hue, casting a warm light that made Victoire's strawberry blonde hair shine.

Teddy only got to admire Victoire's hair for a few seconds before Olivia interrupted the silence by clearing her throat loudly from behind.

Victoire had scooched over closer to Teddy and offered Olivia her spot on the log, which Olivia took, smirking at Teddy and giving him a look that plainly communicated that she had seen him staring at Victoire. Victoire began asking Olivia if she had seen the latest superhero film in cinemas and was wondering what all the hype was about, and Olivia stopped smirking at him to engage in conversation with her.

Teddy and Victoire returned to Hogwarts the next morning and hadn't seen Tom and Olivia since, but Teddy had a feeling that she had gone to Tom later and that the two of them were cooking something up.

After the simple festivities at the orphanage died down, Teddy told Tom and Olivia that his grandma had planned a small family celebration for his graduation. Technically, Harry had planned it and it would be anything but small - the entire Weasley clan was going to be there - but Teddy didn't really talk about his family much at the orphanage because it was a minefield of potential Statute of Secrecy violations.

"And my parents want me home early tonight to help with chores," Victoire bluffed.

After bidding their friends farewell, Teddy and Victoire, joined by his grandma, walked to the edge of the property, made sure no one was watching, and disappeared with a pop.

Although not technically part of the family, Harry was his godfather and all of the Weasleys treated him as family. And everyone was super excited to celebrate the first Hogwarts graduate of the generation.

Teddy had spent most of the evening making the rounds, answering questions about his plans for the future and how well he did on his NEWTs. Arthur Weasley was particularly intrigued by Teddy's plans to attend university in the fall, and he made Teddy promise to tell him all about the "smart boards" contraptions he'd heard about that you could draw on without actually drawing on it, whatever that meant.

Harry, who had grown up as a muggle, tried giving him advice about fitting in with muggle society, although "it's been a while since I'd lived with muggles, and my experiences with most of them weren't that great, so I'm probably not the best person to be giving advice about these things."

Hermione was a lot more help and offered her expertise and her parents' library should he ever need it. "Everything's online now though," Teddy had said in response. "I don't need books to track down information."

"Don't be so dismissive of books," Hermoine scolded him. "There is still important information in them that hasn't been digitized yet, you'll see soon enough."

Even though the party was held to celebrate Teddy, shortly after dinner Teddy found himself alone with Victoire on a park bench across the street from Harry's house.

"Grandpappy seemed particularly interested in what you're doing," Victoire said.

"I can't imagine why," Teddy laughed. "He's obsessed with everything to do with muggles."

Victoire giggled, "Yeah, he's probably going to ask you to bring him all sorts of stuff so he can fiddle with them."

Teddy sighed, "I'm going to be so tempted to violate a hundred misuse of muggle artifacts regulations just to pass my exams. Even though I got an O in Muggle Studies, speaking with Harry and Hermione made me feel like I still don't know enough."

"You'll learn what you need to learn along the way," Victoire said. "You're a fast learner, and even if you embarrass yourself in front of your classmates, I'm sure you'll do so in an endearing way."

Teddy blinked.

Victoire leaned back and looked around at the park. There was an elderly couple playing chess in the distance, and a few people were taking evening strolls around the park, some walking their dogs.

"This neighborhood is so peaceful. Shell Cottage is a bit too isolated, which can be nice sometimes, but I also like being able to walk outside the house and see civilization."

Shell Cottage was where Victoire's family lived. It was a cozy seaside cottage nestled somewhere along the rural English coast. Outside of Harry's house and the orphanage, Shell Cottage was where Teddy spent most of his childhood.

"I think I would prefer Shell Cottage as a child," Teddy said. "Your parents let us run around and explore with so much freedom, I doubt they'd let us do that here."

"True," Victoire said.

A comfortable silence fell between them for a moment before Victoire abruptly said, "What are you doing spending your time out here with me, Lupin? It's your party, you should go back and socialize."

Teddy shrugged. "Everyone just asks me the same questions about my exam scores and what I plan to do at uni."

"Sounds like highly stimulating conversation," Victoire smirked.

"Yeah. Besides, I can go find that lot and talk with them anytime I want now that I've graduated," Teddy said. "But you'll be back at Hogwarts soon so I want to spend some time with you."

"I want to spend time with you too," Victoire said softly.

Teddy scooched closer to Victoire. "When we spend time together this summer, let's not think about how you have to go back to Hogwarts soon and how I'm not. Promise?"

Victoire nodded.

Teddy casually draped an arm along the backrest of the park bench behind her shoulders and was pleased when she didn't move to shrug him off.

"There are a ton of places that I want to go see," Victoire said. "Since you're going to be living with muggles for the next two years, we should get a head start and visit muggle establishments more so you can get comfortable interacting with muggles you didn't grow up with."

Teddy nodded. "That seems like a good idea. Where do you want to go then?"

Victoire shrugged. "I was talking to Olivia earlier, and she was saying how there is this new, erm, app? App right? Something called an app where anyone can write reviews about any restaurant they've been to. I was thinking we could go do some research on that … app … and find some of the best restaurants in muggle London and check them out!"

Teddy smiled. "I hope my wallet can handle it."

Victoire frowned a bit. "Maybe there's a way to filter out the expensive places. I'll have to ask Olivia."

"I've also always wanted to go to the zoo," Ted added. "There's nowhere to observe magical creatures outside of Hagrid's class, but I've always wanted to go see non-magical creatures in real life."

"Oooh!" Victoire exclaimed excitedly. "I've always wanted to see pandas. Do you think the zoo in London has a panda?"

"I'm not sure," Teddy responded. "We'll have to go and see."

"It's a date then," Victoire said excitedly. "Well, not a-" she suddenly said, backtracking. "Just, you know, we'll go together."

Teddy nodded. "Yup, it's an outing then," he smirked.

"An outing," Victoire agreed, laughing.

Teddy's arm was still draped on the backrest behind Victoire's shoulder, and he noticed just how close she was to him. Victoire's smile slowly faded from her face as he silently stared at her.

"What's wrong?" she asked, confused. "Do I have something on my face?" She scooched away from Teddy and reached out a hand to start patting her face.

Teddy scooched back closer to Victoire. "No, your face looks-"

"You're sure I don't have anything on my face?" Victoire asked, slightly panicked.

Teddy wasn't sure why Victoire was panicking. Her face looked beautiful in the dim light. Well, her face looked beautiful in any kind of lighting. He had never seen a pimple or any blemish on her face before.

"Yes, I'm sure," Teddy responded. He placed a hand reassuringly on Victoire's shoulder. Her eyes followed his hand as it rested on her shoulder.

Teddy swallowed. He could smell her shampoo and it was intoxicating. His heart was thumping hard and his stomach felt like it was tied in knots.

But the timing felt just right. In his head, Teddy settled on just the right words to confess his feelings to Victoire, then opened his mouth to say them out loud.

But before Teddy could say anything, Victoire abruptly reached out and wrapped Teddy in a tight embrace.

"I'm going to miss you so much," Victoire whispered fiercely.

"I'm going to miss you too," Teddy said. "But we still have the rest of the summer to spend before we start thinking about the rest of our lives. Remember our planned outing to the zoo? And the restaurants recommended by the app?"

Victoire pulled away from the hug and nodded. "I'm looking forward to it."

Victoire's face was inches away from Teddy's. He could hear and feel her breathing. He looked down and his eyes landed on Victoire's lips. Her eyes followed his in a downward motion and he saw her looking at his lips, and at that moment, he was sure that if he kissed her, she would kiss back. But just as he began leaning in, Victoire moved her face to the side and Teddy felt himself buried in another crushing hug.

"Come on, let's go back to the party," Victoire said, releasing him from the hug. "They're going to miss you."


Victoire acted as if nothing had happened the next time they met and Teddy was relieved that what he'd done hadn't messed up their friendship.

Seeing as Teddy would not be returning to Hogwarts the next year, Victoire seemed determined to spend as much time with him as possible this summer and was frequently owling him to meet up for lunch or to go shopping. The two of them had made it to the zoo - twice - and spent whole afternoons in muggle London, gawking like tourists.

Teddy knew that they were just friends, but he couldn't help but feel as if they were going on dates. It was normal for two friends to spend the day at the zoo or the museum together, and to frequently enjoy each other's company over brunch, Teddy had to remind himself.

But the more time he spent with her, the more sure he was that his feelings for Victoire were here to stay. He felt like he was tricking Victoire to go on dates with him under the guise of friendship, and it made him feel guilty.

At the same time, although Teddy appreciated the fact that Victoire seemed to enjoy spending so much time with him, he couldn't help but think back to that night at Harry's place when Victoire had - well Victoire hadn't really done anything, but at the same time she must've known where things were going yet she'd shut it down.

Did Victoire not feel weird hanging out with Teddy so much if she knew that his feelings for her might be more than platonic? Or was she truly blind to Teddy's feelings for her? That seemed unlikely since Victoire was reasonably good at reading people, Teddy in particular. They'd grown up together after all.

But if that wasn't the case, then Teddy wasn't sure what Victoire was playing at. He never let himself think about the situation further than that, however, since he was afraid of overthinking and somehow making things worse.

Teddy closed his eyes and shook his head a few times and forced his thoughts to return to the task at hand. He had a week to go before school started and he was busy moving his things into the new flat he and Tom were renting from Mia's mum. He was standing in the lift with three boxes next to him on a dolly, and he began mentally planning where he was going to put them once he got to his new flat.

The doors to the lift opened and he saw Victoire on the other side. She was wearing loose workout clothing and her cheeks were slightly pink and face a little sweaty from carrying boxes and furniture all afternoon, but Teddy still had to mentally slap himself in the face to stop himself from thinking about how attractive she looked.

"Hey Teddy," Victoire greeted him. "How many boxes are left?" She asked, pointing at the stack of boxes on the dolly next to Teddy.

"Just a few more," Teddy responded, rolling the dolly into the hallway. "Tom and Mia are downstairs right now, I think the three of you can bring the rest of them up in one trip."

"Excellent," Victoire exclaimed, shaking her head as she stepped onto the lift. "I hate moving. Especially moving without any magic. I wouldn't do this for anyone but you," she said. "And Tom," she added.

Teddy looked up at Victoire as the doors began closing. "See you in a sec," she gave a tired smile as the doors shut. Teddy blinked a few times but couldn't get that smile out of his mind's eye. He also ran her words through his head.

I wouldn't do this for anyone but you.

Tom was just an afterthought...

Teddy allowed himself to close his eyes for a brief moment as he exhaled sharply. So much for not overthinking things.

He pulled the dolly down the hallway and brought the boxes into the new flat he'd be sharing with Tom for the next year. There were a dozen boxes piled into the corner, and pieces of furniture placed haphazardly around the small living room.

Teddy had separated and stored all of his magical trinkets at Harry's place, so he was surprised to see how many things he had collected over the years that still needed to be moved in. Harry and his grandma had also gifted him hand-me-down furniture to get him started at his new place, but Teddy thought that they must've forgotten how heavy all of their gifts were since they could easily move them around with magic.

But Teddy and Mia couldn't, even though they were of age, since Tom was there. So everyone had to carry the furniture the muggle way.

The couch nearly tore off part of the door frame when Teddy and Tom tried to carry it inside. Mia quietly fixed the broken frame with magic when Tom wasn't looking, and hurriedly tried to explain to a skeptical Tom that he had only imagined the couch scraping the door frame moments earlier.

Carrying furniture and boxes (of which Tom also had his fair share) took up most of the afternoon, so Teddy hadn't had a chance to speak with Victoire alone all day until just now.

He hated this current in-between situation that he and Victoire were currently in. Maybe it was all in his mind, but there had been moments during the past two months where he was so sure that Victoire felt the same way about him. It was driving him crazy and he knew he had to get things off his chest and soon.

Even if she didn't return his feelings, everything would eventually be fine. But he couldn't go on not knowing how she felt at all, especially since she would be going back to Hogwarts soon and mostly out of reach for the next few months.

Aside from that time at Harry's, Teddy had also tried to confess his feelings to Victoire a few days earlier. He and Victoire had been sitting in the grassy meadow behind Shell Cottage and Teddy felt that the moment was just right for him to start broaching the topic again.

But before he could start, Dominique and her friend appeared in the distance and yelled at them, asking if they wanted to join Louis and them in a game of pick-up Quidditch. Perhaps he was just imagining it, but although Victoire liked Quidditch well enough, she seemed a little too enthusiastic when she jumped up and yelled back that she was game.

He needed to find a moment alone with Victoire where there was no possibility of distractions.

Teddy was examining the room and rearranging the furniture in his head when the door opened and Mia, Tom, and Victoire came in, each pulling a dolly piled with boxes behind them.

"This should be the last of it," Tom said when he saw Teddy. He smiled and draped an arm around Teddy's shoulder before continuing, "I can't believe we're starting the next chapter of our lives together. You're finally out of that fancy boarding school of yours and I'm free of the orphanage. The world is our oyster. What're you gonna do first?"

"Well first I think we first gotta unpack all these boxes," Teddy mumbled.

"We don't have to stay and help with that do we?" Mia asked apprehensively, glancing back and forth between Teddy and Tom.

"No, you've been a huge help," Tom said. "It was great meeting you," he said, reaching out a hand towards Mia. Mia took it and gave it a firm shake. "I've never met a classmate of Teddy's or Victoire's before, I was beginning to think that private school was made up," he laughed.

"We're just not very popular so we don't have many friends to introduce you to," Teddy joked, patting Tom on the back.

"Speak for yourself," Victoire huffed, hiding a smile. "I happen to be very popular. Weren't you the one who told me on the train back that everyone loves me?"

"I hate to tell you this but I may have been exaggerating," Teddy responded. "Not as many people love you as I may have led you to believe."

Victoire scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Arrogance is unbecoming of you, Twa," Teddy continued. "We're among friends here, you can tell the truth."

Tom laughed. "Really though, where have all your private school friends been? You're not hiding them from me are you?"

Mia shook her head and laughed. "Teddy here really doesn't have that many friends besides Victoire and I, and his Gobstones buddies," she smirked.

"Gobstones?" Tom asked.

"Just a dumb name he came up with for him and his roommates," Victoire offered. "The Gobstones Gang." Mia's panicked eyes faded and she gave Victoire a look of gratitude.

Teddy laughed. It was impressive how Victoire was able to turn Mia's mistake into a way to take the mickey out of him. Gobstones wasn't exactly a cool hobby and Victoire always loved making fun of him for it.

"Victoire, on the other hand, has lots of friends," Mia continued. "And all the blokes are lining up to ask her out on a date in town, but she keeps on turning them down."

Victoire blushed slightly at this as Tom stared at her with his mouth slightly agape.

"I have said yes a few times," Victoire retorted. "They just weren't really fun experiences so I just don't feel like I need to keep doing it every time a bloke asks."

"If they're mistreating you Victoire, just give us a call and Teddy and I will hop on the next train to Scotland and give them a talking to," Tom said, punching a fist into his other open hand. Although he was naturally kind and good natured, Tom had a large build and could look very intimidating when he wanted to.

"Nothing like that," Victoire grinned. "Besides, the last thing I want is for my overprotective older brothers to get in the way of my love life."

Teddy stopped following the conversation after that. Victoire had called him her 'brother.' That must have been intentional right? Was she trying to hint at something? Merlin, he needed to stop overthinking things and just talk things out with her.

That moment came rather soon, after Mia excused herself and said she had other plans, and Teddy offered to walk Victoire out.

Teddy didn't have much time: there was only going to be a few moments until the lift arrived on the ground floor, which wasn't that far away.

"I fancy you," Teddy said abruptly. "I've fancied you for a while now, and I thought you ought to know."

Victoire was silent, although the shift in her demeanor showed that she heard him.

The lift doors opened, but neither of them made any movement to leave. After a moment, the doors closed and the two of them were alone again.

Teddy's heart was thumping so loudly that he was sure Victoire could hear it.

"Teddy," Victoire began slowly. "We're about to be separated for two long years. Our lives are in different places." She paused again, carefully choosing her words before saying, "we wouldn't work out."

Those words stung, but Teddy noticed that even if she was rejecting his advances, she wasn't saying that she didn't fancy him back.

"Do you fancy me back?" Teddy pushed.

"Teddy…" Victoire said, looking up at him. "Please don't do this," she pleaded.

"Why not?" Teddy responded.

Victoire didn't say anything.

"I'll stop if you tell me you don't fancy me back."

Victoire remained silent.

"I think we would work out," Teddy continued. "We're already best friends, we know each other's likes and dislikes, and we have already proven that we get along well enough and enjoy each other's company."

Teddy sighed. "I had an amazing time spending the summer with you, and I think you did too. After what happened at Harry's place, I think you already knew that I fancied you, but you continued to hang out with me as if nothing happened." Teddy studied Victoire's face, but Victoire was stubbornly refusing to look at Teddy.

"No," Teddy shook his head, quickly realizing something. "Not as if nothing happened. You hung out with me more than if nothing had happened."

"I wanted to spend more time with you because we were going to be separated for two years," Victoire finally said.

"Do you fancy me, Twa?"

Victoire stayed silent.

"Alright. Let's say you don't." Teddy said. "Why'd you go on a dozen date-like activities with me if you already knew I fancied you? Was that not weird for you?"

Victoire shook her head.

"Were you leading me on, playing me like a toy?"

Victoire shook her head even more fiercely. "Never."

"Then why?"

"Seems like you've already figured the answer out," Victoire mumbled.

So she did fancy him back. She accompanied Teddy and explored so much of muggle London with him this past summer because she liked him and wanted to be near him. Teddy celebrated a little at the thought. He hadn't been imagining all those little moments from the past summer when the two of them acted a bit closer than best friends ought to be acting.

But then why was she trying so hard to avoid making the two of them an official couple?

"Then why-" Teddy began, but Victoire interrupted him.

"We wouldn't work out," Victoire repeated. "You're going to uni and I'm going to be stuck at Hogwarts for two years. We're both young and inexperienced at this dating thing, and you expect us to immediately go into a long distance relationship? What if our relationship can't handle that stress?"

If he was confident about anything, he knew that he would always stand by Victoire's side as long as she wanted him there. Teddy pondered what Victoire said for a moment before responding, "our friendship has been through a lot over the years. We can handle it."

"Forget about the relationship. What if our friendship couldn't handle the stress?"

This time it was Teddy who was at a loss for words.

"When my mum and dad were still dating, he lived in Egypt and she lived in France. Mum told me that they had a lot of difficult moments but she held on to him tightly because she knew what she wanted and he held on back because he knew what he wanted."

"They were already adults when they first met," Victoire continued. "They'd already dated other people and had figured out what they wanted in their love life, but even then the long distance nearly tore them apart."

"I'm only 16, Teddy. Sixteen. And you only just turned 18," Victoire took a deep breath.

"Are we serious about this? Because if our relationship breaks down, I'm not just risking losing a boyfriend, and you're not risking losing just a girlfriend. We both risk losing each other's best friend."

Teddy had of course ruminated over that possibility during his many sleepless nights as he thought about Victoire. But he had always told himself that he was confident that whatever happened between them, their bond of friendship would never break.

"I'm not saying that I'm not willing to take that risk," Victoire continued. "But to do that right now, just before we're going to be forced apart for two years…" Victoire trailed off.

Teddy felt himself nodding in understanding. Perhaps he was rushing too quickly into this. At the same time, however, he couldn't really see why they should wait two more years to try things out. Truth be told, at this moment he couldn't see himself feeling the same way about another person the same way he felt about her.

"But now that we both know that we fancy each other, that won't make things weird between us if we decide to continue just being friends?" Teddy asked. "

Victoire blushed slightly at this and chewed nervously on her fingernails.

The lift suddenly jerked to life and began climbing up the floors.

"So where do we stand now?" Teddy asked. "You know what I want. What about you?"

"Give me a few days to think about this," Victoire said, taking a deep breath.

"So you'll give me an answer in a few days?"

Victoire nodded and smiled at him.

The doors opened to reveal Tom standing on the other side. He looked confused, "didn't you two leave a while ago?"

"I left my phone behind," Victoire replied without missing a beat, stepping off the lift.

Tom nodded. "Gotcha. Well I'm heading out to explore the neighborhood, wanna come along Teddy?"

"Yeah, let me just make sure Victoire finds her, um, phone, and I'll meet you downstairs."

"Alright, I'll wait for you, but just for a few minutes!" Tom said.

"You don't have a phone," Teddy turned to Victoire after the lift doors had closed. "In a few seconds, Tom's going to realize what you just said and ask for your number."

"Shit," Victoire said.


Teddy was running through throngs of Hogwarts students, parents, suitcases, and owls as he tried to spot Victoire through the thick steam filling up the platform.

Although Teddy had met Victoire a few times in the past week for brunch and to play Quidditch with her and her siblings, Victoire told him every time that she hadn't decided yet. But then, this morning, he received an owl from Victoire that said:

My answer is yes. Let's give this a try. Can we meet today at Platform 9 ¾?

Teddy squinted when he saw a familiar strawberry blond color a few steps away. He ran forward and tapped Dominique on the shoulder. "Have you seen your sister?"

Dominique looked up at Ted. "Why are you here?"

"Are you seeing Victoire off?" Louis grinned. He was standing besides Dominique.

"Yeah," Teddy responded absently, missing the implication.

"She said something about looking for someone before running off in that direction," Dominique said, pointing vaguely towards the entrance of the platform. "I think she's waiting for you to come in through the brick wall."

Teddy immediately ran towards the direction Dominique was pointing at, and sure enough, he spotted Victoire standing on tiptoes and scanning the platform furiously. Teddy smiled and walked up behind her, surprising her with a warm embrace.

"Teddy!" Victoire yelped.

"Twa," Teddy responded, letting her go. "What made you change your mind?"

"I figured if I was going to be trapped in the cold stone walls of Hogwarts for two years, I'd rather you be obligated as my boyfriend to write me letters, rather than writing me letters as a favor for a friend," Victoire chortled.

Teddy laughed in response. "I get it. Just you wait, I'm going to write you so many letters that you're going to be bored to tears and begging me to stop."

"Weren't you the one who was saying that the Muggle post was too slow?" Victoire scoffed. "I doubt I'd get bored of reading your once a week letters."

"I'll figure something out," Teddy replied.

"You better," Victoire said playfully. "I'm expecting to get bored to tears. I expect actual tears, Lupin."

"I better learn how to write in ancient runes then," Teddy joked, which earned him an expected slap on his shoulder.

"I also thought about things a little more," Victoire said seriously. "I decided that I was just overthinking things. Like you said, we're best friends already. All of our friends think we should be together, and everyone else, including the wait staff at that brunch place, probably already think we are. We get along so well, nothing bad is going to happen that we can't figure it out together."

Teddy felt his smile growing as he listened to Victoire, and saw her smile widely in return. If that wasn't a signal, then he didn't know what was.

For the second time in his life, Teddy leaned in towards Victoire. This time, Victoire didn't try to stop him. Her eyes fluttered closed as his lips tenderly met hers. If this was what kissing was like, he could really get used to this, Teddy thought as months of angst and confusion dissipated from his body and he felt lighter than ever.

Victoire pulled away just a few seconds later and Teddy instantly missed the feeling of her lips on his.

They continued standing there, her hands on his shoulders, him staring at her with a goofy grin plastered on his face, until-

"Ew, gross!" James Potter yelled. "What are you doing to my cousin?"


A/N Thanks for reading! The rest of the story has already been plotted out and basically written, so I just need to review them before publishing. There will be 5 more chapters after this one, so not a super long story.