A/N: Hi everyone, it took me a while to write this chapter and I originally intended to cut it into two but there wasn't a good place to do so, so this chapter is super long. I'm sure you guys won't mind much though ;)
(Spoiler Alert: I think it's a good one)
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Warning: There's a bit of language in this one, but I don't think it's particularly vulgar. Also, there's quite a bit of a tonal shift in this chap compared to the other ones we've seen so far, so don't be surprised by the different feel of it.
Recap: A few chapters ago we met Vic's awful ex and I think you all knew that it wouldn't be the last time we saw him. As you know (from the first story) I ascribe to the cannon theory that Victoire was born on the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, even though her relationship to her specific day of birth is difficult for her to come to terms with. Nobody younger than her (her cousins and siblings for example) know when her actual birthday it.
Happy Birthday to Who?
Thursday, May 2nd 2024
9:15 AM
Victoire growled at her reflection in the mirror and pulled her hair out of the lopsided bun she'd just twisted it into and shook it out. She stared at the mirror in frustration and let out another growl as she tried to think of another hairstyle to put her hair into. She'd tried four different hairstyles already that morning and none of them worked. It figured that that day of all days was the one day a year she was fated to have a bad hair day.
Fortunately for her hair, Teddy walked into their en suite bathroom before she had the chance to angrily overreact to her bad hair situation and transfigure something into scissors and give herself a homemade haircut.
"We've got to leave soon Love," Teddy told her in a quiet tone as he leaned against the empty doorframe.
Victoire let out another exasperated sound, this one a little more muffled so that Teddy didn't hear exactly how close she was to calling it quits for the rest of the day before it even had the chance to start, and grabbed an elastic and pulled her loose blonde hair up into a high ponytail. It was a last resort but it was all she could really do to make her hair presentable. In hindsight she probably should have woken up earlier that morning so she'd have time for a proper shower and to wash and dry her hair, but when she'd arrived back at her flat early that morning after her night shift in the D. A. R. ward all she had been thinking about was getting in as much sleep as she could before having to get ready for the ceremony.
Despite the difficulty she was having with her hair, she didn't regret getting an extra half hour of sleep in, in lieu of properly washing and styling her hair. She was still a little groggy however, as she'd only been awake for about twenty minutes since she'd taken her, roughly two and a half hour long, power nap.
Even though she'd set her alarm to wake her up, Teddy had turned it off so that he could wake her up instead. He had gently showered her face with soft kisses until she woke up, and she sent him as much of a smile as she could in her grumpy sleep-deprived state. However, before he could give her a proper good morning kiss, Victoire slipped out of the bed and immediately began searching through her closet for clothes to wear that day.
It only took her twenty minutes to dress herself in a charcoal grey dress with a pencil skirt that ended mid-calf, complete her regular morning routine along with washing her face and brushing her teeth, and slap on some basic make-up including a surprising amount of cover-up for the dark shadows under her eyes. Her hair was taking her longer than she expected, so even though she was still mad at her own hair's inability to cooperate, she did appreciate Teddy giving her a head's up about the time.
Victoire grabbed some dark red lipstick that was magically guaranteed to last eight hours, carefully applied it to her lips, and then tossed the stick back into its drawer, "Is the kettle still warm?"
"Lukewarm," Teddy replied.
She knew she didn't have a lot of time, so that was good enough, "I'll take it."
He turned and walked out of the bathroom in his smart dress robes and Victoire followed behind him all the way to the kitchen. She waved her hand to summon the lukewarm kettle, the tea, and a mug to her and began to quickly make herself a cup of tea once she reached the counter. She had her eyes fixed on her tea-making process and only just noted that Teddy had sidled up right next to her.
He pressed a kiss to the side of her head, and slid a ceramic plate towards her that held a beautifully decorated cupcake with the words 'Happy Birthday' written in gold icing on top, "Want some breakfast?"
Victoire's gaze shifted to the playful smirk on Teddy's face only to drop almost immediately back to the mug of almost cold tea sitting in front of her. The happy expression on his handsome face made her heart ache and she couldn't look at him any longer. She swallowed a lump that had suddenly developed in her throat.
"I didn't know that birthday cake was an acceptable breakfast food."
"You can have whatever you want on your birthday," Teddy informed her with another smile, this one a little strained as he felt her body tense beside him.
She sighed heavily and pushed the cupcake away, "Maybe later. I'll stick to tea for now."
He pushed the plate back towards her, "I'd prefer if you had something in your stomach before we leave. It's going to be a long day."
Victoire wanted to roll her eyes but instead she picked up the cupcake and tried to take a small bite of it without dropping crumbs all over her clothes. In between tiny circumspect bites of the cupcake, she drank large mouthfuls of cold tea. Despite the fact that the tea was much less appetizing cold, she didn't have the energy to pull her wand out and use a delicate heating charm on it, so she guzzled it down as unpalatable as it was because she really needed the caffeine to perk her up. She'd barely made it halfway through the cupcake when an owl appeared at their kitchen window and knocked on the glass. Teddy let it in and took the rolled up piece of parchment paper from its leg; the owl flew away, obviously not waiting for a response.
The metamorphmagus, whose hair was a subdued dark brown almost-black shade that morning, read the note quickly and then glanced at where Victoire was still only halfway through her makeshift breakfast, "Harry wants me to get to Hogwarts a little earlier; he wants to discuss some of the ceremony's safety measures before it begins."
"I'll meet you there then," Victoire replied indifferently as she continued to pick at her cupcake. Even though it tasted really good all of the sugar from the rich cake and sugary icing was starting to sit heavily in her stomach.
Teddy raised an eyebrow at her, "You're going to have to come with me Vic. If I leave you here by yourself you're likely to close your eyes for just a few seconds too long, end up falling asleep standing up, and then miss the entire ceremony."
Victoire glanced down at the cupcake in her hands and muttered sarcastically under her breath 'and that would be bad because?' in a tone too quiet for Teddy to hear.
"So we need to leave right now?"
He nodded his head and pulled out his wand to quickly tidy up their kitchen. Her empty mug of tea flew away from her, and she stepped towards the sink and leaned over it as she shoved the rest of the cupcake into her mouth and began to chew and swallow it. She'd just shoved the last few crumbs into her mouth when Teddy grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the kitchen and out their front door. She swallowed her last mouthful of cake just seconds before they disapparated.
When their feet landed on the ground just in front of Hogwarts's open front gates Victoire felt her stomach roll and bubble. Her face must have shown the nausea she was suddenly feeling because Teddy eyed her worriedly as they began the trek up to the castle. He chose not to say anything about it though, and Victoire took some deep breaths through her mouth as he hastily ushered her towards the castle with his hand on the small of her back.
Even though Harry had asked Teddy to come a little earlier so they could discuss some security issues for the ceremony –several of Teddy and Jilly's first-year aurors in training were part of the security force that day– there were still a surprising amount of people entering the castle's grounds and milling about waiting for the ceremony that was more than an hour or more away.
The year before had been the twenty-fifth anniversary of the battle at Hogwarts and the end of the last war, and because they had celebrated such a milestone the normal ceremony had been changed to be extra special and almost double the amount of people had attended the ceremony the year before than there usually was, and that meant that a lot of people were left standing as they hadn't anticipated needing as many seats as they actually did. It seemed that since there had been so many people last year, this year people were arriving earlier for the ceremony so that they could guarantee seating for themselves.
Despite the deep breaths Victoire was taking to try to calm her churning stomach, she was still feeling nauseous by the time they found Harry around the back of the castle near the courtyard, close to where the ceremony would take place. Harry greeted them both quickly once he saw them, and he was about to start discussing with Teddy whatever it was that he thought was super important when he noticed the slightly bug-eyed expression on his niece's face.
"Are you alright Victoire?"
Without thinking about it she started to hastily nod her head.
It was a big mistake.
The motion made her previously churning stomach start to lift up and she could feel something trying to crawl up her throat.
"Going to the loo. 'Scuse me," She blurted out to both her uncle and her fiancé before she dashed towards the castle as fast as her high-heeled shoes could carry her.
She found the closest washroom and ran inside, realizing –bloody thankfully– that there was no one else in there at present, and then slipped into the first cubicle just in time to retch and gag into the toilet bowl. The entire contents of her stomach, including the cold tea and birthday cupcake she'd had for breakfast that morning, emptied into the loo in less than thirty seconds. After that she spent several moments dry heaving, she thought she was almost done when she heard someone else enter the washroom. Whoever it was, was also in a hurry and Victoire concentrated on the sound of the other person's hasty breathing and movements instead of focusing on how her stomach was still churning. There was a rapid patter of the other person's footsteps and then the sound of a cubicle door opening and then closing next to her. The other person then knelt on the floor and started making sounds that made it very apparent that she was also vomiting.
A part of Victoire was concerned for whoever was in the stall next to her, while the other part of her heard the retching and felt her stomach trying to crawl up her throat again. The next second she was gagging again, this time bringing up nothing but bile as it was the only thing left in her stomach. When her stomach finally began to settle she noted that the person next to her had also stopped. Victoire left the cubicle and went to the closest sink to wash her hands and rinse her mouth out with the tap water. After rinsing her mouth she glanced up at the mirror and spotted the other woman leaving her stall.
Victoire took a deep breath and turned to face the other poor woman who had been vomiting, "Apparation sickness?"
Nadia Cassano had been surprised to be so suddenly addressed in the loo, but when she turned her head she was relieved to see Victoire, "When is this morning sickness going to end?"
"It'll only be a few more weeks," Victoire assured Nadia as the other woman joined her at the line of sinks.
Nadia groaned and rubbed a hand across her clammy face, "A few more weeks or a few more months?"
"Uh-"
"Never mind, I don't want the answer anymore," Nadia complained as she cupped her hands under the running faucet and splashed her face with water. If she had been wearing any make-up at all it would have been completely ruined; fortunately however, Nadia wasn't the type to wear make-up.
Victoire stepped towards Nadia and patted the pregnant quidditch player on the shoulder, "What are you doing here so early anyway?"
"Malcolm was asked to write an article about the ceremony today so he wanted to get here early," Nadia explained, as she spoke her face shifted from slightly green back to her normal olive tone.
"Really? Which publication?"
Nadia didn't have the chance to answer because at that moment another woman rushed in and made a beeline for the loo cubicles. Victoire stared after the woman in surprise; she'd recognized her when she first stepped into the washroom, but she hadn't had the chance to call out to her since she had rushed to a stall and started vomiting.
Listening to the other woman being sick made Nadia's face go green again, and she swore in Italian before running back to the cubicle she'd previously vacated and started vomiting again. The sounds of both poor pregnant women retching had Victoire's stomach starting to roil again, but she kept everything down with sheer willpower alone. As she tried to focus on not throwing up like the other two women were, she realized that not only was her stomach still queasy but she had also developed quite the headache.
Nadia finished tossing her cookies before the other woman did, and she met Victoire back at the sinks, "Malcolm better be happy with whatever child pops out of me, because I am not having another one after what this one's already making me go through."
Victoire bit her lip to avoid terrifying Nadia even more by informing her that she still had a lot of pregnancy to go through, as well as the delivery itself.
The other women finally stopped vomiting and left her cubicle and Victoire gave her a sympathetic look and repeated the first thing she said to Nadia, "Apparation sickness?"
Jilly Donaldson shook her head slowly to avoid making herself nauseous again, "No, I got here about twenty minutes ago to get some of the trainee aurors in place."
"Then what caused your nausea?" Victoire asked as Jilly walked towards one of the sinks.
"Nerves. I just realized that all of Caleb's students are going to see me with him and find out that I'm pregnant," Jilly said with a sigh.
Nadia eyed Jilly's round midsection that made it very apparent that she was a few months pregnant, "You have popped quite a bit since I last saw you on Sunday."
"I know, and now a whole bunch of bratty teenagers are going to be gossiping about us behind our backs," Jilly complained. She glanced quickly at Victoire, "No offense meant to your cousins."
Victoire waved her off, "Don't worry about it, they can all be bratty and they will definitely be gossiping about this before the day ends."
"Wonderful," Jilly muttered with a scowl.
Nadia turned her gaze from Jilly's baby bump to Victoire, "Why were you throwing up when I got in here?"
Jilly looked at Victoire shrewdly, "You were sick as well?"
"Yeah, what can I say? Don't scarf down half a cupcake and then apparate immediately afterwards," Victoire said with a long sigh.
Nadia raised an eyebrow at her, "A cupcake for breakfast?"
"I worked all night at the hospital and I've only had about two hours of sleep since I finished my shift. My eating habits are messed up," She explained somewhat truthfully instead of telling them the truth about it being her birthday.
The only people who knew it was her birthday were Teddy, her parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles. Her siblings and her cousins didn't know, and in her opinion they didn't need to know. She'd gotten marginally better over the years in allowing Teddy to celebrate her birthday with her when it was just the two of them, but she still avoided any chance to tell her siblings and her cousins the truth.
Jilly and Nadia left the washroom a few moments later, leaving Victoire behind. Once they were gone Victoire took a minute to appreciate the silence around her and tried to pinpoint exactly where her head was aching. She found the pain was mostly emanating from the top of her head, and she knew that the loud sounds from the ceremony were going to make it worst. She definitely should have drank more caffeine before leaving for Hogwarts that morning.
Victoire was berating herself under her breath for not taking a Pepper-Up potion in preparation for the day when she exited the washroom, and she noted that there were a lot more people milling about the castle and the grounds who were arriving for the ceremony. Several of the Hogwarts students were just starting to come down from their dorms or exiting the Great Hall from breakfast, and even the low din of noise from the moderately sized crowd of people around was starting to make her headache worse.
She'd just made it out into the courtyard when she heard someone call her name. Victoire turned around slowly and forced a smile onto her face just as Lily Potter came running up to her, the rest of her cousins still at Hogwarts were a few metres behind her. Lily pulled Victoire into a hug and made it very obvious to the latter that Victoire was the first of their family outside of Hogwarts that Lily had seen so far that day. Hugo Weasley was only a step behind his cousin, with Rose and Al a few feet behind him. Victoire quickly traded greetings and hugs with all of her younger cousins, and then she eyed them all carefully.
"Any of you got a Pepper-Up or a headache curing potion stashed somewhere?"
Lily, Hugo, and Al all shook their heads while Rose pursed her lips curiously, "What do you need it for?"
"I worked a nightshift last night and I have a headache from sleep-depravation," Victoire explained.
Rose nodded, "Oh, I don't have anything to help then."
"Ugh," Victoire groaned overly sarcastically, "What good are you lot for then?"
They all rolled their eyes good-naturedly and Victoire gave them all a little wave as she walked away to find Teddy and see who else from their family had already arrived.
Lily bounced out into the courtyard right after Victoire, yelling something over her shoulder to Hugo about going to see if James had arrived yet so she could congratulate him in person about getting bumped up to the starting team. Hugo followed after her, leaving Al and Rose alone for a moment.
"Two galleons says that Vic'll fall asleep roughly thirty minutes into the ceremony speeches," Al told Rose with a wicked smirk.
Rose smiled slightly, "Did you see her? I'd say she'll be out in less than twenty."
Al held his hand out to Rose and they shook hands firmly. They'd just dropped each other's hands when they spotted Scorpius Malfoy strolling towards them, "Do I even want to know what that was all about?"
Al smirked at his best friend as Scorpius sidled up to Rose and wrapped his arm around her waist, "No, probably not. We were just making a bet."
Scorpius raised an eyebrow at Al but didn't ask any more questions. Which was a good thing, because a few other people heard the end of Al's statement as they came up behind the group.
"What's this about a bet?" Freddie Weasley asked curiously as he joined his cousins.
Rose rolled her eyes at him, Freddie loved making bets, "Just betting on how long Vic'll last before conking out from working her night shift."
Freddie smirk broadly and immediately began digging through the pockets of his dress robes to see if he could find a loose sickle or galleon. While he did this James, who hadn't said anything yet in favour at nodding politely in hello to his brother, Rose, and Scorpius, pursed his lips in consideration, "She worked several extra midnight shifts this week because she needed time off for both her bridal shower and for today. According to Molly and Baxter her sleep schedule seems to be giving her weird mood swings."
Freddie finally found three loose sickles and handed them to Al, whom the former had just decided should be in charge of the money for the new betting pool, "As if she wasn't having weird mood swings before her work and sleep schedule changed this week."
"James, Lily and Hugo just left to find you so they could congratulate you on your new promotion to the starting team," Rose told her older cousin with a congratulatory smile of her own.
James shoved his hands into his pockets, "Yeah I know, I saw her stalking towards me and we slipped away before she could get to us. I wasn't ready to deal with her quite yet this morning. I don't think her feet even touched the ground once as she tried to skip towards me."
"Smart move," Al agreed with a nod, "And I heard you played great last night. Congrats again."
"Thanks," James replied with a blush and a smile.
Scorpius offered his own congratulations to James before asking the group when their parents expected them to join them near the front at their seats.
"Actually Mum and Dad said we don't need to sit with them in the perfect photo row this year. Since we were so well behaved last year with the twenty-fifth anniversary they said we can take a break this year and sit wherever we want as long as we don't make a scene," James explained, "Oh, this goes for all of us and the cousins too."
Al and Rose both looked relieved at the information, "Thank Merlin."
"Shall we go ahead and look for a row of seats far away from the front stage then?" Scorpius asked the group with a raised eyebrow.
They nodded their heads and as group they slowly began to walk towards the main seating areas set up for the ceremony.
"We need to save a spot for Alice too or she's threatened to do several things that do not bear repeating," Al explained to the group.
Scorpius smirked upon hearing that Alice had creatively implied something threatening enough to worry Al, "And one for Kieran as well I assume?"
"No," Rose interrupted with a shake of her head, "Before I left our dorm for breakfast this morning Alice informed me that she and Kieran are now off again."
"Are they still doing that?" James asked tiredly in reference to Alice Longbottom's sometimes fickle relationship with her boyfriend Kieran Chang.
Rose sighed, "Sort of. It's been months since their last break-up, and their last one only lasted a few days. With their previous history in mind the precedent is that they'll be back together again before the end of the week."
"Although, to play devil's advocate," Al joined the conversation, "Graduation is fast approaching and half of Hogwarts relationships end just before or just after graduation."
"Or," Freddie added with a wicked grin, "If you are Nolan Finnegan and Teagan Childs your relationship ends right in the middle of the graduation ceremony with what would have been a spectacular screaming match if Selene Spiros hadn't used a silencing spell on them both before they could really get started."
Al chuckled at the memory of the almost-scene at his brother's graduation the year before, "I almost forgot about that. I wonder if anything that interesting will happen at ours."
Scorpius smirked, "Don't say that in front of Lily and Hugo. They've got almost two months to plan something entertaining for ours if they wanted to."
"Please don't repeat that in front of Lily or Hugo," Rose begged as her eyes suddenly went wide as she thought about all manner of mischief and absurdity that her cousins could deploy upon their upcoming graduation ceremony.
Her boyfriend squeezed her shoulder comfortingly and promised that he wouldn't say anything about graduation pranks in front of her younger cousins. Al on the other hand abstained from making any such promise, and Rose noted his explicit lack of assurance. Normally Rose would have worked on Al a little longer to get him to make a similar promise, but before she had the chance she was distracted by someone calling her name from behind her.
Rose and her companions turned slightly so that they could see Norah Summers walking towards them as quickly as she could in the tight navy-blue pencil skirt she was wearing. She got to them quickly and then began speaking rapidly to her intended target.
"Rose, you will never guess the gossip that I just heard-" Norah stopped suddenly, only just realizing that Rose had an entourage larger than just her regular crew of Al and Scorpius. "Oh hey there Captain! Heard you were great in the game last night!"
Norah compounded the latter half of her statement by throwing herself at James and giving him a tight hug in greeting.
James chuckled and patted Norah on the back, "Thanks Norah. How're you doing?"
Norah pulled away from James and smiled brightly, "I'm doing well. These last few days of Arithmancy are kicking my arse though so I'm gonna need to put in a little extra time with that. Actually Rose, I could really use your brain for this week's assignment."
Rose tried to keep a straight face as she listened to Norah's rather disjointed tangent, "Of course Norah. But is that the gossip that you came over here to tell me about?"
"Oh, no," Norah replied as her head whipped back to Rose's direction, "That's not the gossip. The gossip is that Professor Cooke's going to have a baby. I just saw him standing next to his girlfriend and Auror Donaldson definitely looks like she's got a baby bump going on."
"Really?" Rose asked interestedly, "Because I saw her on Sunday at Victoire's bridal shower and I couldn't tell that she was pregnant. Although I didn't really look that closely at her . . ."
"Merlin that's going to be a lot of babies in half a year," Freddie remarked cavalierly.
Norah's attention shifted quickly from Rose over to Rose's cousin. A slow smile spread across Norah's face as she gave Freddie's dress robe clad body a long look, "Hi Freddie."
"Hey Norah," Freddie replied with a secretive smile of his own.
Everyone around the pair let out a sigh and James even face-palmed himself.
"Godric let's not get into this again," Al complained as he rolled his eyes at the silent conversation going on between Norah and Freddie that seemed to consist of only mysterious smiles and lustful glances.
His words weren't that loud, but Norah still overheard it. Without taking her eyes off of Freddie she addressed Al rather succinctly, "Piss off Potter."
Rose largely ignored the pair, but she was still interested in discussing one of the topics that Norah had brought up, "Did you guys know that Auror Donaldson was pregnant?"
Her question was addressed to both Potters as their father was also an auror, albeit one more likely to share information about work than her own father was.
Al shook his head while James pursed his lips in consideration, "I hadn't heard anything about it from Dad, but Teddy did mention that he and Auror Donaldson had been assigned to training the department's trainees for the next few months. Which makes sense as to why she's been reassigned if she's pregnant."
"Why's Teddy been reassigned to training then?" Scorpius asked curiously.
"Since the wedding's only two months away Kingsley didn't want to chance him getting put on an active case before it," James explained.
"Ahhh."
Norah and Freddie had finally peeled their eyes away from each other's and rejoined the conversation, "I can't believe that my cousin Hayden didn't tell me about this earlier."
Al scoffed, "He was probably respecting his colleague's privacy."
"Well now everyone knows," Norah announced excitedly, "I wonder when she's due . . ."
The group had stopped their original trek to the seating area when Norah had reached them, but as more and more people were arriving and getting to their seats Rose was beginning to feel anxious about saving seats for themselves.
"Are you planning on sitting with Christen somewhere for the ceremony Norah, or would you like to come with us as we get seats?" Rose asked her teammate as she gestured with her hand towards the seating area.
"Are you lot not sitting with your parents?"
Rose shook her head, "It's not mandatory this year."
"Thank Merlin," Freddie muttered in agreement.
"Alright then," Norah agreed with a bright smile and a sideways glance at Freddie.
Freddie winked at her.
Everyone but the two of them groaned.
"Really Mate? Literally any other day would be more appropriate than today," James hissed to Freddie in a whisper so that no one else could hear.
Rose and Scorpius led the way towards the chairs, Al and Norah behind them and continuing to gossip about Auror Donaldson and Professor Cooke's baby, with Freddie and James bringing up the rear.
"What'd I do?" Freddie asked with honest bewilderment.
James shook his head, "Nothing. Can you just promise to wait until after all of the speeches and the moment of silence before you try to convince Norah to go off to a broom closet and snog you?"
"Of course, I'm not a complete degenerate."
The group chose their seats almost as far away from where their family would be sitting as possible, as was their plan.
Closer to the front row and where the platform and the podium sat were Victoire, Teddy, and several other of their friends and family members.
After Victoire had left the bathroom she easily found her fiancé, who had in the interim time already come across both Ally and Xavier and Sandra and Kyle. The three couples spoke softly about mundane things as they waited for the ceremony to start, which suited Victoire just fine as she was distracted by the still pounding pain in her head and the disconcertingly hallow feeling of her stomach that had been there since the conclusion of her vomiting session.
More and more people began to arrive and the group decided that they should start taking their seats. Victoire had a sudden attack of stabbing pain directly above her right eyebrow and was mostly focused on trying to ignore the pain as she allowed Teddy to drag her to a chair next to him. On Teddy's other side there was an empty chair left for Andromeda for when she finished talking to one of her acquaintances, and just past that chair were Ally and Xavier and Kyle and Sandra.
The chair on the other side of Victoire was also empty and, in between rubbing the area of her head that her headache was emitting from, she had enough foresight to hope that she didn't get stuck with someone next to her for the ceremony that would be unbearable like Austin Pennington or Colton Knott.
Unfortunately for her, almost the minute she thought the name Colton Knott he –and his wife– appeared as if from thin air and sat down in the empty seats next to her.
"Good morning," Anastasia told Victoire and Teddy quietly.
"Morning," Teddy replied with a smile.
Colton was less polite than the former two, "Here."
Victoire blinked down at his hand in confusion before she registered the thin canister in his hand that Colton was holding out to her as he sat in the chair directly next to her.
"Is that a thermos?" Victoire questioned him confusedly.
Colton rolled his eyes and deposited the thermos into her open hand, "Yes. Full of tea. I was told it was required to bring if you were going to make it through the ceremony without hexing someone."
She glanced from the thermos and then to Teddy, "Want to explain this?"
"You need the caffeine and Colton was the only one still at home when I started to make my calls," Teddy answered easily.
Victoire pursed her lips at the thermos and then glanced back at Colton, "How do I know that you haven't poisoned this?"
"How do you know that I haven't spiked it with something like veritaserum?" He retorted with a raised eyebrow.
She smirked at him, twisted the cap off of the thermos, and brought the open lip of the thermos to her mouth so that she could take a sip of the liquid inside. After swallowing a mouthful of perfectly temperate tea she made direct contact with Colton.
"You're a wonderful friend."
Once the words were out of her mouth she looked back down at the thermos, "Nope, not spiked with veritaserum then."
Colton nodded in agreement, "No, just a slow acting poison."
"Will it bring about a painful end or will it just lull me into a deep sleep that I'll never wake up from? Because right now the second one doesn't sound half bad," She mused in-between sips of tea.
"I'm not sure," He replied with a shrug and an airy tone, "I picked a bottle at random from my poison stash so who knows what could happen?"
Victoire shrugged as well, "Well c'est la vie. Do you at least have my will finished?"
"All that's really left is for you to sign it, but Dom's already assured me that she can forge your signature if need be, so everything's in place if it does turn out to be fast acting," Colton assured her in his professional lawyer-voice.
She swallowed another mouthful of tea from the thermos, "Brilliant."
On either side of Victoire and Colton, their fiancé and wife, respectively, shared a look and an exasperated shake of their heads. Teddy and Anastasia began a conversation about something a little less exciting than whether or not Colton had poisoned Victoire's tea, and Victoire closed her eyes as she listened to their benign discussion.
The tea was helping her stomach settle a bit –not that she'd tell (or thank) Colton that– but it still felt like someone was chiselling away at her brain just above her eyebrow. She had hoped that her headache was being caused by caffeine withdrawal, but considering that she'd already drank half of the thermos of tea Colton had given her, she had to admit that it might take something a little stronger to make it go away. Until she could get something medical-strength, closing her eyes and keeping the sunlight out did do something for the pain in her head, therefore she kept them closed until Teddy eventually grabbed her hand and whispered to her that the ceremony was about to start.
She cracked her eyes open and was surprised to see that the previously empty seats around them had finally been filled in. Andromeda found her reserved seat next to Teddy while Victoire had had her eyes closed, and the row in front of Victoire had been filled in with the backs of several heads, many of them ones she recognized as belonging to members of her family.
None of her family members were required to make speeches that year as many of them had already done so the year before for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the battle, so for that year's Remembrance Day it was mostly ministry officials that spoke and directed the ceremony.
Like during most years, Victoire sort of zoned out during the speeches, and at some points the only way she knew that she hadn't actually fallen asleep was because Teddy would squeeze her hand every so often and remind her that he was still there with her. Despite a few ministry officials' whose voices grated a little on her headache, Victoire was able to make it through the hour and a half long ceremony without feeling like her head was being split open, and without falling asleep (thanks again to the entire thermos of tea she'd drank).
While the last speaker was wrapping up their speech, Victoire tore her eyes away from the front platform for the first time and glanced at Teddy beside her. He was staring straight ahead at the speaker, and even though his eyes did look a little watery there were neither tears nor dried tracks upon his cheeks to imply that his emotions had gotten the better of him yet. Victoire continued to stare at his face while the ministry official wrapped up her speech. She reminded everyone that the grounds and monuments were accessible for a visit along with the fact that there were refreshments available in the Great Hall. As the ministry official began thanking everyone for their attendance that day, Teddy suddenly turned his head and caught Victoire's eye.
Victoire smiled softly at him, pulled their entwined hands up to her face, and pressed a kiss against his knuckles. She mouthed the words 'I love you' to him and in response he turned towards her and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. She closed her eyes as he did so and took a deep breath. It wasn't until her eyes were closed that she realized that her eyeballs felt painfully dry.
With her eyelids still closed, she listened to the low rumble of the crowds of people around her as most of them started to get out of their seats and move away in different specified directions. Beside her she could tell that Teddy was waiting for her to make a move first. She took a few deeps breaths and then opened her eyes. The chairs around her had emptied except for Teddy, even Andromeda had gotten up and moved somewhere while she had stayed seated. Victoire glanced back at Teddy with a belatedly apologetic expression prepared for not getting up from her seat faster, but it disappeared when she realized that he was staring down at his own feet and didn't seem to be attending closely to anyone around them either.
She leaned towards him and pressed a kiss to forehead, whispering into his skin, "Ready to go?"
He nodded and in unison they slowly stood up at the same time, their hands still intertwined. Victoire intended to use her other hand to smooth down the fabric of her dress when she noticed that she still had the thermos Colton had given her (now drained of its contents) clutched in her other hand. Like many others, Colton and Anastasia had already left their chairs to go somewhere else on the grounds and Victoire did not have the energy required to do more than a cursory look around herself for them. They weren't within close view, so she figured she'd have to hold onto the thermos until she spotted them again later.
Victoire could feel the tension in Teddy's body next to her, so she let go of his hand and wrapped her arm around his waist instead. She didn't think she had much more strength in her body –or energy– than he seemed to at the moment, but she was willing to give him whatever verve she had if it would help him feel even the least bit more resilient than he already did. If she didn't have any fortitude of her own she would fake it until she passed out from exhaustion.
As their feet travelled the familiar distance from the seating area to the monuments, Teddy wrapped his own arm around her waist. His palm rested on the curve of her hip under her dress, and the pressure of his fingers were pointed as his hand clutched her body as close to his as was socially acceptable. She focused on the almost mechanical movement of her own steps instead of paying attention to the consistent ache in her frontal lobe, and within just a few minutes they had made it to their destination.
The particular monument they stood in front of looked the same as it always did, and thankfully there was plenty of free space in front of it for her and Teddy to stand. The monument had several names written across its smooth marble surface in clear and legible writing. Halfway down were the names they were there to look at.
They knew from experience that it was easier if they knelt in front of it, but Teddy's descent was a lot less delicate and measured than it should have been. He fell to his knees almost as if he collapsed, his tight hold on Victoire's waist bringing her body down to the ground with his. Their new position allowed them to be eye-level with two particular names etched into the stone: Nymphadora and Remus Lupin.
Teddy didn't cry every year.
There was never really any way to predict if his emotions would get the best of him, and after attending so many years of Remembrance Days together, Victoire stopped trying to do so.
This year his face was easy to read.
The desperation was as clear in his expression as it was in the rough grip of his hand on her hip. The longer they knelt there in front of the names of his deceased parents, the tighter his hold on her became. It took only a few moments before she could feel the dulled edges of his fingernails digging into the fabric covered flesh of her side.
The more despondent his expression became the closer he came to tears and the more constricted his embrace of her became. He went from steadily keeping her at his side to desperately clutching her to him.
At that point the tears had started to slowly flow down his cheeks and Victoire turned her body towards his so she could throw her arms around his shoulders and give him a tight embrace. At that moment she gave him all she had to offer.
"I love you."
He squeezed her tightly in response and even though he didn't repeat the words to her, she knew it was intended as such. She pulled away from him a little so that she could see his face better, and he turned to look at her.
"I really miss them."
Tears were still streaming down his cheeks and she nodded solemnly and spoke just as quietly as he had, "Of course you do."
His sapphire blue irises sparkled as more tears developed in the corners of his eyes, "I wish they could be here for the wedding."
Victoire leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his forehead instead of responding. Truthfully, she didn't want to respond. She was worried about what might come out of her mouth. The minute Teddy had uttered his wish a little voice inside her head had begun whispering words she really didn't want to contemplate at the moment, so she forced herself to ignore it and tried to focus on her fiancé instead.
Teddy went back to looking at the marble monument, but he seemed a little bit more at ease now that he'd gotten even a few of his feelings off his chest.
They spent a few more moments staring in silence at the monument before they were interrupted by a familiar voice calling out a name.
"Vic!"
She turned her head just in time to spot the incoming five-year-old projectile as he launched himself at her opposite side. Victoire swayed a little from the impact but managed to move her unencumbered arm –the one still clutching the thermos– to hold the younger boy to her so that he wouldn't fall backwards.
Victoire looked down in surprise at Brogan Wood, "Hello Bro. Did you sneak away from your parents?"
The little boy nodded his dirty-blonde head and then glanced at the person on the other side of Victoire, "Why's Teddy crying?"
Teddy glanced at Brogan with a watery smile, "I miss my parents."
Brogan frowned, let go of his hold on Victoire, and walked over to Teddy's other side so he could wrap his arms around Teddy's neck in a tight hug, "It's s'okay Teddy. I miss my parents too sometimes."
The little boy's serious words forced a strained chuckle out of Teddy. He patted the littlest Wood on the back of his head, "Thanks Bro."
"I can share them with you!" Brogan added cheerfully with a bright smile that made both the adults' hearts ache.
Instead of explaining to him why that wouldn't exactly work, Teddy just smiled at the boy and repeated, "Thanks Bro."
"Brogan?"
"Brogan?"
"Brogan!" A person whisper-yelled from behind the kneeling group. A few seconds later, Cecilia Wood came upon the group and an expression of relief slipped onto her face when she spotted her younger brother.
"There you are you little-" Cecilia stopped herself before she could call her five-year-old brother something not very nice in Gaelic, "Brogan you know better than to go running away from me or Mum and Dad. What were you thinking?"
Brogan pouted at his sister, "Teddy misses his parents. I said I can share mine."
Cecilia's expression softened and she gestured for her brother to come over to her, "That's very kind of you Brogan. But I think we should give Teddy and Victoire a little privacy now."
"What's privacy?" Brogan asked as he let go of Teddy and covered the short distance between them and his sister.
"Privacy is when somebody does something without you attached to them by the hip," Cecilia explained as she firmly grabbed her brother's hands and started to pull him away from the couple and the monument.
The pair of siblings hadn't gotten far enough away before Victoire and Teddy heard Brogan's reply to learning the definition of the new word his sister had just added to his vocabulary, "Why would someone want to do something without me?"
Once the Woods were gone from sight, Teddy looked back at the monument. The tears slowly stopped escaping his tear ducts, and the tracks on his face dried quickly. He turned to face Victoire once more. The hand on her hip stayed firmly in place while his free hand moved to her face so that he could stroke his thumb gently along her cheek.
"You're my family."
She nodded her head at his declaration, her eyes locking on his.
Teddy stroked her cheek once more and then his gaze dropped for a split-second down to her abdomen, "And we're going to create a new family together." His gaze moved back to hers, "Hopefully very soon."
Victoire swallowed, her throat suddenly thick with emotion, "We will. Very soon."
He pressed a kiss to the freckles on the bridge of her nose, "And until that time, I want you to know that I love you with all of my being."
"Ditto."
The pair slowly got to their feet and turned away from the monument. They only needed to walk a few metres before they happened upon another member of Teddy's chosen family. Malcolm Wood spotted Teddy and Victoire at almost the exact same time that Victoire spotted him, and he quickly closed the distance between them and pulled Teddy into a proper hug. The scene caused a small smile to play around the corners of her lips and pulled a little at her heartstrings.
Still standing where Malcolm had been earlier, Nadia watched the scene with –most likely hormone-induced– tears streaming from her eyes. The Italian woman gradually made her way to stand beside Victoire as the two men spoke in quiet whispers to each other.
"He really is a decent guy," Nadia said in almost a sigh as she came to a stop next to Victoire.
The blonde woman nodded, "There are worse people out there you could have gotten knocked up by."
Nadia rolled her eyes, the tears having stopped a few moments before, "The idea of being pregnant and becoming parents still scares the puttanata out of me most of the time . . . but there are a few times when I look at Malcolm and think that we can do this."
"And this is one of those times?" Victoire queried. She blinked a little as a cloud in the sky above her drifted away from the sun, causing the sun's harsh rays to shine in her eyes.
Nadia smiled softly as she watched her boyfriend comfort his best mate, "Yeah."
The males broke up a few moments later and moved back towards their respective partners. Malcolm was hesitant as he wrapped an arm around Nadia's waist, knowing with her new mood swings that laying his hand on the wrong part of her body could get him cursed –both verbally and magically. Teddy on the other hand pulled Victoire tight against him as he had earlier and placed his hand firmly on her hip once more.
Malcolm began to talk to them about his intended outline for the article he was writing about that year's ceremony, and Victoire's mind wandered as she focused mostly on the still pounding pain in her head. In between the almost rhythmic vibrations of her headache, a small part of Victoire's mind began to wander and thoughts that she'd been trying to hold back since very early that morning were starting to break through her mental block. After a few moments of only half-listening to Malcolm's familiar brogue, Victoire became aware of the slow twisting of her stomach that quickly sped up to a fast churn. She could almost taste her own stomach acid at the back of her throat, and her mouth began to fill up with saliva.
Victoire pulled away from Teddy's embrace and met his confused expression with an explanation of, "Need to use the loo."
He recognized that there was something more to her words and questioned, "Are you okay?"
"Just drank too much tea," Victoire tried to assure him as she held up the empty thermos she was still holding.
His hold on her loosened and she slipped away and paced quickly towards the castle.
Just inside the doors to the castle, there was a bit of a lineup outside the ladies bathroom that was closest to the Great Hall. Victoire walked past that bathroom and continue down the corridors a bit until she found the next closest bathroom that was thankfully empty. She just made it into the first stall when she began vomiting. Since the only thing she'd had in her stomach was the tea Colton had brought her, liquid was the only thing that came back up. Her vomiting didn't last long, but when she finished she caught sight of what was in the loo bowl just before flushing it away.
"Fuck."
Victoire felt her headache increase as she thought about what she saw in the toilet bowl. There was blood. A good few tablespoons of it.
"This is the last thing I need right now," Victoire muttered to herself as she left the stall and went to the sink to wash up.
After cleaning up she left the bathroom as quickly as was possible and, she was so busy pondering what exactly had just happened, that in her haste she rounded a corner without paying much attention and bumped into someone. It wasn't a harsh crash, so Victoire wasn't in danger of falling over completely. She automatically started apologizing to the person she bumped into before she even looked at them.
"Godric I'm sorry about-" Victoire's apology stopped in its' tracks when she finally looked at the man she'd rammed into, "Adam."
Victoire thought that the universe had a sick sense of humour having arranged for her to run into someone twice in one week that she had previously gone over five years without seeing.
In front of her Adam Westcott shifted uncomfortably on his feet as he made eye-contact with her, "Victoire . . . um . . . sorry about that. You alright?"
"Don't worry," Victoire told him as she pretended to brush fake dust off her shoulder, "That physical altercation is nothing compared to the mental and emotional damage you'vepreviously inflicted upon me."
Her words were sharp, biting, and resentful, just as she intended them to be.
Adam Westcott rolled his eyes at her, "And here we go. Have we already hit that portion of the conversation where you blame your ex-boyfriend for all of your own failings?"
"Va te faire enculer," She swore at him in French, "Don't you dare put this all back on me after everything you did to me."
He put his hands on his hips, "What I did to you? We broke up before I did anything to you. You're only pissy now because Lupin let it slip that I was just having some guy talk with my mates."
"Bragging about how you'd still be able to get me to shag you even after you broke my heart is not just simple guy talk," She argued, her face going red and her head starting to ache even more.
Adam rolled his eyes at her once more, "Don't pretend that that was the first time you overheard a bloke talking about how much they'd like to shag you."
"That's not the point," Victoire said through gritted teeth, "That's not even why I'm so mad at you. I only found out about that two days ago. No, I'm mad at you because my relationship with you led to the creation of a convoluted mental complex that I still can't get past to this day!"
At this point Adam had the decency to drop his self-righteous stance and look confused from her words, "What in the world are you talking about?"
She pointed her finger at him severely, "Your mother took one look at me, said that I couldn't be anything more than a loose slag that would break your heart, and because she decided she didn't like me you broke up with me. I was fifteen and I thought I was in love with you and you dumped me because you mother didn't like me. Do you have any idea what something like that can do to a person? I was young and, despite my genetics, I was still very self-conscious. Even though I didn't do anything wrong you made me feel as though I wasn't good enough."
He didn't say anything, and she was on a roll so she continued, "I wasn't good enough for your mother because she thought I was a slut, and I wasn't good enough for you because I was actually the opposite of what you allowed her to believe. After that every time I interacted with any guy I fancied there was a little voice in the back of my head that would creep in and say 'but what would his parents think of you?' 'will you be able to convince them that you're good enough?'. It didn't matter if I was even dating the bloke or not, those thoughts were there. They would worm their way into my head and stay there; feeding my anxiety until just the thought of meeting some bloke's parents would freeze me in place from the sheer anxiety and panic of it all. And the worst part is that even though it is all in my bloody head I couldn't make it stop!"
Her stomach began to burn, but she was pretty sure that the cause of it this time was the fact that she had to tell Adam Westcott of all people about one of her deepest darkest secrets.
"Well aren't you lucky then that your chosen fiancé doesn't have any parents for you to meet."
The words were barely out of Adam's mouth before his eyes went wide and the expression on face said that he immediately regretted the words he'd just uttered, he tried to back track right away, "Shit. I didn't mean-"
She ignored his rushed apology.
She didn't want to hear it.
She wasn't the one who deserved to hear his apology this time. Not when she was guilty of sometimes thinking almost the exact same words he had put voice to.
She turned her gaze away from him, "We're done here Adam."
The corridor they were presently standing in was a T-shape, she turned her back on Adam and intended to leave via the opposite side of the hall. She only made it a few feet before she looked up and realized that they'd had an audience for at least part of their conversation.
Standing in the middle of the other end of the hallway was Andromeda Tonks. The sight of Teddy's grandmother combined with the recent memory of the words she'd shared with Adam made her stomach roil and attempt to climb back up her throat.
Victoire spun around once more and sprinted to the bathroom she had previously vacated. Once in a stall she vomited for the third time that day, only this time there was nothing left to expel except for stomach bile and blood. It took a few moments to turn her panting gasps into proper deep breaths, and once she flushed the toilet she left the stall to wash her hands and rinse her mouth out.
Unsurprisingly, Andromeda was standing near the sinks when Victoire exited the stall.
"Are you feeling alright?" Andromeda asked the younger woman in a concerned tone.
Victoire sighed and washed her hands under the tap, "It's just stress."
Andromeda nodded understandingly and idly watched Victoire as she cleaned up, "And about what I just overheard in the hallway?"
Victoire finished at the sink and then turned to face Andromeda. Both women measured each other with their eyes and Victoire was vividly reminded that the reason why Andromeda had been sorted into Slytherin when she'd been at school had nothing to do with her blood status.
"How much did you overhear?"
"I believe I walked in at the part where you were explaining why you were actually angry with that young man," Andromeda replied succinctly.
Victoire pursed her lips, "Ah."
"I don't think your acquaintance quite understood what you were telling him," Andromeda added.
The younger woman started nervously tapping her foot on the floor, "But you did?"
"I believe I did," Her fiancé's grandmother replied with a prim nod.
There was a stalemate between the two women, and even though Victoire knew that the only way to keep the upper hand was to stay quiet, she couldn't handle the silence.
"That's not the reason why I started dating Teddy," she blurted out before she could stop herself.
A perfectly shaped eyebrow rose up on Andromeda's forehead and even though Victoire's words themselves didn't have much of a sequitur, the older woman seemed to understand what the younger was saying, "I know that you didn't start dating Teddy just because he didn't have parents that you would have to interact with."
Victoire nodded her head despite the fact that the action made her ever-present headache worse, "Good." Her words sounded shaky and she could feel tears starting to swell in her eyes.
"Merdre," She swore as blood starting pounding through her head and her heart-rate started to race.
The traitorous little voice in her mind that she'd been trying to ignore since she and Teddy had stood in front of the monument earlier, broke through her mental block and began to mix in with the memory of Adam's voice as he accused her of being lucky because she wouldn't have to deal with the anxiety over meeting Teddy's parents because they were dead.
She brought her hand up to her head and started to rub at the areas of her skull where her head was aching and where the voices were originating from. As the thoughts continued to circle around her brain and refused to abate, Victoire felt her breathing begin to turn towards the hyperventilation side of the spectrum. As her breathing became shallower, her fingers started to push harder and sink deeper into her skin.
Andromeda looked at Victoire worriedly as the younger woman dug her fingernails deeper into the skin around her skull. It looked hard enough to draw blood.
"Victoire."
Victoire looked at her, and Andromeda caught her gaze and held it, "Take a deep breath Dear."
The younger woman followed her advice and started taking deep breaths to calm herself.
"Good, now move your hand."
Victoire did as she asked and was surprised to find her own skin and some blood under her fingernails. She glanced at the mirror and saw the shallow impressions her nails had imbedded in her forehead and near her temples, along with the blood they'd drawn. The pain from digging her own fingers into her head was nothing compared to the pain radiating from within her own skull, so it was nothing for her to wave her hand and make the small cuts and blood disappear.
Andromeda looked sadly at Victoire. She seemed like she wanted to say something else on the topic they had so far been mostly dancing around, but instead she just said, "You look like you need a good rest."
Victoire nodded and without really thinking about it she and Andromeda turned and left the washroom. They were silent as they walked down the corridors and back out to the grounds where there were still a lot of people milling about. After assuring Andromeda that she could find Teddy on her own, the two parted ways and Victoire stumbled around the grounds looking for her fiancé and trying to shield her eyes from the sunlight.
When she found him, Teddy was surrounded by her parents and her Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny. She sidled up to her fiancé and intended to passively enter the conversation. Regrettably, the previous conversation stopped with her addition because her mother wanted to wish her a happy birthday. Victoire knew from experience that trying to avoid her mother's wishes on her birthday was futile, so instead she just accepted the words and tried to modulate her mother's volume so no one else outside of their circle could hear her.
Knowing that speaking about her birthday during the ceremony made her feel uncomfortable, her father tried to change the subject of conversation. Ginny jumped on it and the discussion turned away from Victoire specifically and went in another direction. As the older adults talked, Teddy looked down at his fiancée and frowned.
He whispered in her ear, "Headache still bothering you?"
The first expression on her face was one of surprise, but it quickly changed as she realized that Teddy knew her well enough to tell that she'd been battling a headache for most of the day.
"Yeah. I could really use something stronger than just caffeine," She replied softly.
Teddy nodded in understanding and then he very politely made their excuses to her parents and his godparents, citing Victoire's obvious tiredness from her night shift as their main justification. They'd only made it a few steps away from her parents when Victoire realized that she was somehow still holding onto the thermos Colton had handed her a few hours ago. She told Teddy that she needed to give it back to Colton and Anastasia, so on their way out they made a point to look for the couple.
Victoire spotted the pair first; standing in a loose group with Ally and Xavier, Sandra and Kyle, and her sister Dom. After walking up to the group Victoire directly addressed Colton.
"Thanks for the tea," She told him as she handed him the empty thermos.
Colton shrugged as he accepted the canister, "Don't mention it. Just consider it a birthday gift."
Victoire froze.
Ally heard the comment and chuckled as she turned to Colton, "That's quite an early birthday present. Vic's birthday isn't until July."
Colton frowned at her, "No . . . Victoire's birthday is today. I had access to her official birth certificate while I was working on her will."
"No it's not," Ally retorted, she glanced at her cousin, "Tell him Vic."
Victoire struggled to reply right away, which made Ally more suspicious and slightly agitated.
"Tell him Victoire," The dark haired cousin repeated.
Victoire sighed heavily and rubbed her forehead above her left eyebrow, "Ally I–my-"
Her hard stare was disconcerting. Victoire couldn't make eye contact with her as she admitted, "My birthday is today."
Ally's mouth fell open in shock, Sandra gasped audibly, Xavier and Kyle both looked as though they'd been hit over the head with a beater's bat, Colton looked apologetic, and Dom swore loudly in French.
Victoire rubbed her aching head once more and replied to Dom in English, "Yes I'm serious Dominique."
"Your birthday is today," Ally repeated in a slightly robotic tone, "You're turning twenty-four today?"
"Yes, I was born twenty-four years ago today," Victoire affirmed self-consciously.
Victoire was certain that Ally was about to yell at her or berate her for lying to her about her birthday for pretty much their entire lives, but in a surprise turn of events Ally turned her angry façade towards Xavier instead.
"How could you not realize this was going on? You're older than she is!"
Xavier gave his fiancée a startled look, "By six months –no. I guess I'm actually only older by four months . . ."
"Ally please don't get angry at Xavier, or even Dom or Louis. The only person here who knew about my birthday is Teddy. Obviously all of our aunts and uncles know, but they've respected my choice and agreed not to tell any of you about the switch," Victoire explained in a calm tone, thinking that Ally was starting to wind down in her anger.
Her supposition was incorrect at best.
Ally absorbed the information Victoire had told her and levelled one of the angriest glares that Victoire had ever seen on her face directly at her, "So what the hell is going on Victoire? You've just been lying to me–to everyone– about your birthday for the past twenty-four years of your life?"
"It's only actually been about twenty years," Victoire found her mouth saying the words before her brain could stop her.
"Twenty years! So you started lying to me when you were four then?"
"Well you're obviously in good company Ally because Victoire's been lying about her birthday to her own siblings for their entire lives!" Dom added, her eyes looking as fiery as her hair in that moment.
Victoire rubbed harder against her forehead; her headache turning into a head throb, "Look guys, I know I need to talk about this with you and apologize but right now I'm just-"
She was too tired to finish the sentence, so Teddy finished it for her, "Victoire's completely wiped from her night shift and we're going home now so she can get some rest."
"But-"
"We'll see all of you later," Teddy replied firmly as he put his hands on Victoire's shoulders and directed her away.
It was a testament to how poorly Victoire felt that she didn't have the energy nor the inclination to argue with Teddy about leaving, or even to beg her friends and sister for forgiveness after lying to them for over a decade. He escorted her off Hogwarts grounds, and when they were finally in an area where they could apparate from, they disapparated away.
Victoire ran into their flat in record time and made a beeline for their bathroom, where she threw up for the fourth time that day. This time the only thing that came back up were spit and blood. She flushed the toilet just before Teddy entered the bathroom.
"Vic are you alright?"
She glanced up at his worried face and slowly shook her head from side-to-side, "I think I have an ulcer."
Teddy let out a low exhale and settled himself down on the floor next to Victoire where she was still kneeling next to the toilet. He placed his hand on her knee, "Is it as bad as it was last time?"
The last, and only other, time that Victoire had an ulcer happened when he was away working a case in Peru. He hadn't been around to see with his own eyes how poorly she felt the first time she dealt with one, but he'd heard enough stories about it to know that it wasn't exactly the best time in her life.
"I don't think it's gotten that bad yet. I'm not vomiting nearly as much blood as I did last time," She told him honestly.
"Godric that doesn't instill much confidence," He complained as he leaned his head back against the wall. Even though he'd gotten a full eight hours of sleep the night before he also looked very tired.
Victoire rested her head on his shoulder, "I won't even need a prescription. An over the counter medication from the apothecary should handle it."
She made to get up but he pulled her back down to the floor, "You're not going anywhere right now. You need to sleep. I'll go get you some meds and you can take your first dose when you wake up."
"I'm not going to be able to sleep knowing that Ally and everyone else are angry at me right this moment," Victoire protested.
Teddy sighed, waved his hand, and a bottle flew out of one of their bathroom cupboards. He caught it and then handed it to her without a word.
Victoire glanced at the name on the label, "A sleeping potion? You know I can't take this. The side effects would-"
"Look at the dose," He instructed.
She glanced back down at the label and muttered to herself as she read both the dosage and, to her surprise, her own name written on the bottle, "Who wrote a prescription for me and gave it to you?"
"Read the label on the back."
She turned the bottle around and her eyes narrowed angrily at the name of the healer printed on the bottle that indicated who had prescribed it, "I'm going to murder him the next time I'm at work."
"You'll be able to do that much better if you get some sleep," Teddy cajoled as he tapped his finger on the cap of the prescription bottle.
Victoire glanced back down at the bottle, "So I take the proper dosage of this, and while I'm sleeping you'll go to the apothecary and get me a potion for my ulcer?"
"Yes," Teddy assured her as he helped her to her feet.
She set the potion bottle on her nightstand in their bedroom and then slowly started to take her clothes off. She'd just stripped off her dress and her nylons when a new thought came to her.
"You had something vastly different from this planned for my birthday, didn't you?" She asked her fiancé with a frown.
He nodded and tossed her one of his t-shirts, already guessing that she'd want to wear it to sleep in, "On the outside it looks rather different from what I had planned . . . but I guess the end result will be the same."
Victoire slipped his t-shirt over her head and took a deep breath so that she could breathe in his scent that was still lingering on the fabric, "And how is the end result the same?"
"The day will end with you and I sleeping next to each other in the same bed," Teddy told her with a smirk as he pressed a kiss to her forehead.
She turned her head to press her lips against his, "You're easy to please."
"I'd be even happier if you finally take a dose of that sleeping potion that your friend put their life on the line to prescribe for you," He admitted.
"Because that doesn't sound the least bit creepy," Victoire retorted with a raised eyebrow.
Teddy kissed her lips softly, "Get some rest. I'll go get you those meds."
"And some chocolate?" She asked as he pulled away.
"Only if you're asleep well and good when I get back."
Victoire teasingly saluted him and said 'yes sir' before she cracked open the bottle of prescription sleeping potion and measured out the correct dosage based on the healer's suggestion on the label. He watched her closely as she drank the liquid, and once he was sure that she finished swallowing it he pressed another kiss to her forehead before tucking her into their bed and turning off the light.
A/N: Alright, so one of the reasons why it took so long to write this chapter was because I wanted to get the next chapter finished so that I could post them in consecutive weeks because the energy of both really feed off each other, but like everything in life right now it didn't really go to plan.
I hope that you guys enjoy this chapter regardless, and please let me know what you thought of it.
Next Update: I honestly can't say right now. As of last week I started back at work, but because I presently work with children our new normal is so different than before that it'll take some time to adjust, and I really don't know what will be happening after the next two months. Although I doubt I'm the only one in this boat right now.
Next Chapter: Will continue to explore some of these new themes and we'll see further fallout of some actions from this chapter. Also, Vic and Cassidy help Teddy and Jilly train their trainees on magical first aid.
I want to thank everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed!
BIG thank yous to everyone who has stayed with me and this story, and VERY BIG thank yous to:
RebekahGrace, Guest (1), Manydifferentfandoms, Emely, carbo21, Guest (2), Saagarika, ntlpurpolia, Jily71102, audrey3horses, Break This Spell626, NicoleTheSmith, Runaway Renegades, hexay29223, princess midnight16, Guest (3), rosesnlilies, Guest (4), Ginevra Hope, Guest (5), and KMon.
Manydifferentfandoms: So good to hear from you again! It's so crazy to think that you've been on this crazy ride with me for so long. I love hearing from you and I appreciate the time it takes you to review.
Break This Spell626: I guess she doesn't actually get through everything she does without running herself down.
Ginevra Hope: Vic saying 99 theses was a play on Martin Luther's 95, the joke is that Vic has even more reasons why she dislikes Austin than Martin Luther had critiques about the entire Catholic Church.
KMon: Never apologize for long reviews, I love long reviews. A different reader suggested Jelene as James/Selene's ship name, and my anglophone head is pronouncing it like Je(hard E)-lene and I don't think it sounds too bad. But its up to you guys ;)
I hope this chapter entertained everyone for at least a little bit, I know the world is still going crazy, but even though a lot of bad things are happening I know that a lot of people are also trying hard to cope and to make good things come out of them (both big and small) so I want to thank everyone who is stepping up to the plate to help others and to get things done :)
If you have any questions or comments let me know in a review or PM,
Again I hope you enjoyed this chapter,
Please do your best to stay safe and healthy during this time,
And until next time DFTBA!