A/N: Hello everyone! Look at this updating within two and a half weeks! Don't know if I'll be able to keep it up but I'll try :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Warning: There is some vulgar language in here that it used when someone is angry. However, the main part of this warning is because parts of this chapter specifically mention attempted sexual assault and rape. There are no descriptions or even details, but I still thought I'd let you all know ahead of time. I still think this chapter deserves only a 'T' rating though, because I think it's ridiculous to pretend that teenagers will only ever hear mention of sexual assault when they're 16 years of age or older.
Secrets from the Past
Friday, May 3rd 2024
4:16 PM
Teddy had only been home for about ten minutes before he heard a tentative knock on the front door of his flat. He knew it was much too early for Victoire to be back, and even though they were mad at each other he didn't think she'd bother knocking before entering anyway. So he was rather curious and then surprised when he twisted the door knob and pulled the door open to find Malcom Wood standing on the other side of the door eyeing his mobile phone.
The metamorphmagus narrowed his eyes at his best mate, "What's up?
"Apparently that's for you to know and me to find out," Malcolm replied breezily as he stepped into the flat.
Teddy closed the front door behind his friend and he was even more puzzled at that moment than he was when he saw Malcolm on the other side of the door, "Pardon?"
Malcolm looked around the flat's open-concept living and kitchen space, "Where's Freckles?"
He slipped his phone back into his pocket but he didn't miss the hardening of the expression on his friend's face when he mentioned his fiancée's name.
"She's at work," Teddy replied shortly, "Is that why you're here? To see her?"
The other man shrugged, "I'm still not quite sure why I'm here. I got a text from Freckles fifteen minutes ago telling me that you needed me to meet you at your flat and that it was important, but I got nothing more than – What happened?"
Halfway through his explanation it became apparent to Malcolm that something very serious was going on. Teddy's expression when he had mentioned the metamorphmagus's fiancée showed shock, anger, and most of all exasperation
Teddy sat down heavily on the couch, pinched the bridge of his nose, and muttered under his breath, "Of course she bloody messaged you . . ."
Malcolm ignored the fact that he hadn't been invited to sit down and found a spot on the couch on the opposite end from Teddy, "Teddy . . . what's going on Mate?"
He moved his hand from the bridge of his nose to pull at his hair, which was presently dark red and almost black in colour, "Victoire and I had a big disagreement. My guess is that she messaged you because she thought I might like to talk to someone that wasn't her."
Teddy then muttered something else under his breath but it was so quiet that Malcolm wasn't able to understand it that time.
"Well, your argument couldn't have been all that bad then, go ahead and vent if you'd like, sometimes its nice to focus on other people's problems, helps you ignore your-"
"Victoire's greatest fear is meeting my parents," Teddy said, interrupting Malcolm's run-on sentence.
Malcolm didn't have a reply right away for that statement. Instead, he took a few moments to try to figure out how he wanted to respond. He looked around the room again with narrowed eyes.
"Um . . . so I'm obviously missing a lot of this story, but first I'd like to know if it has something to do with necromancy or some other weird shit like that-"
"Really Malcolm?"
Malcolm frowned, "You're an auror dude, it's not like its outside the realm of possibility."
Teddy scoffed.
"But since this apparently doesn't have anything to do with necromancy, I'm in. What exactly happened?"
Teddy quickly and succinctly explained to Malcolm how a boggart had accidentally gotten loose at work, and how Victoire was the person who vanished it, but not before it took the shape of her greatest fear.
"Well, I'm not going to ask you how you know for sure that the boggart took the form of your parents because that seems like it would open up another wormhole of a disagreement, so maybe we should move on to how you responded to Victoire when she admitted that your parents not liking her is her greatest fear," Malcolm suggested.
The metamorphmagus sighed, "I already told you what I said to her."
"I know, I just thought I'd give you the chance to add something else you might have forgotten like how you also responded kindly and considerately to her considering that she had to just admit her greatest fear to you."
Teddy pulled stressfully at his hair, "Her greatest fear is meeting my parents! I'm sorry if I took that personally."
"Her biggest fear isn't meeting your parents. Her biggest fear is meeting your parents and having them not like her. It's an understandable fear," Malcolm said even though he knew it wasn't exactly what Teddy wanted to hear.
He continued to pull at his dark red hair, "It's an understandable fear in theory, but not in practice. First, my parents aren't alive so its not even like her fear will ever happen; second, she's faced scarier things before so those should be her greatest fear; and third, what makes her think that my parents would automatically hate her anyway?"
"Do you want me to answer these questions honestly, or do you just want me to listen sympathetically?" Malcolm asked before he said anything else.
"Am I going to regret asking you to be honest?"
"Probably. But the better question is would you regret asking me to just blindly agree with you?"
Teddy loosened his grip on his hair a bit, "Just tell me what you think already, it looks like you're having a hard time keeping it in as it is."
"Well first, just because Victoire will never actually physically meet your parents doesn't mean that it's not still a real fear in her mind. The fear of the unknown is the basis of many people's fears."
Teddy frowned. It seemed as though Malcolm was in a mood to make sense today.
"Second, the fact that she has faced many scary and horrible things in her life already should prove to you that this fear of hers is even more valid. Afterall, why should she be afraid of manticores, dragons, or being kidnapped and almost sacrificed by an underground sect of ancient Peruvian mystics when she's already lived through all of those things? They're not going to scare her when she's already faced them head on."
Teddy nodded begrudgingly. Malcolm was really playing hardball today.
"And before I address the third issue you brought up, I'm going to do this," Malcolm closed the space between them on the couch and pulled Teddy into a hug, "I know that you miss your parents, and I wish to Merlin that you didn't have to go through all of these life milestones without them. I understand that especially with your wedding coming up that you're missing them even more, and if there was something that I could do to make this easier on you I wouldn't hesitate to do so. I love you, you know that, right?"
Teddy hugged him back and nodded his head, "I love you too Mate."
"Good, now with that out of the way," Malcolm said as he pulled out of the hug so he could meet Teddy's eye, "Thirdly, I understand why she thinks your parents might not like her."
"What?"
Malcolm threw his hands up in a 'whoa' gesture, "Just hear me out okay? I love Freckles too, but she can be a lot to handle. And while I agree that her many good qualities are definitely worth putting up with the few attributes she has that may sometimes rub a person the wrong way, I can see how someone may not like her upon first introduction."
"It wouldn't be first introduction! If my parents were alive, they would already know her!" Teddy argued loudly.
"Knowing her as the daughter of their friends and as someone who's dating their son is different-"
"Are you trying to make me feel angrier?" Teddy asked Malcolm scathingly.
Malcolm sighed, "I asked you to hear me out. Listen, do you remember the Christmas Eve party my parents had in our seventh-year?"
Teddy nodded silently.
"Do you remember when I caught Freckles under that sprig of mistletoe and kissed her just to bother you?"
"Vividly."
"Well, what you didn't see was that after Freckles finished threatening me with magical violence if I ever did that to her again, my parents cornered me and demanded to know if I was dating her. I told them that I was just messing around and that I didn't fancy her, and then they calmed down. But what struck me was that even though they've known Victoire and her family forever, the panic in their expressions when they thought I was dating her was ridiculous," Malcolm explained.
Teddy frowned and ran a hand stressfully through his hair, "Are you telling me that they disapprove of her?"
"I was angry too when they told me that they didn't want me seeing her even hypothetically, but after we spoke about it, I started to understand their perspective and-"
"Excuse me-"
"Mate," Malcolm said, interrupting Teddy's attempt to interrupt him, "Irrespective of the fact that Victoire and I would be an awful couple just based on our personalities –and that I wouldn't have done that to you anyway since I knew that you fancied her even though you didn't know that you fancied her– now, I understand why some parents would be concerned about their son being with Victoire because Victoire is a walking talking love potion."
Teddy's back straightened in his seat and his hair went an angry red colour, "How dare you even suggest that she would . . ." He lost steam near the end and it didn't look like he even wanted to finish the sentence.
"I'm not suggesting that she would use her veela powers to make you or anyone else think that they're in love with her. What I am saying is that that exact scenario is a lot of parents' worst fears. That some force of magic is taking away their child's free-will and forcing them to do something or feel something that they might not actually feel. And I can understand why some parents would worry about that eventuality when they meet their son's veela girlfriend for the first time," Malcolm explained in as gentle of a tone as possible.
Instead of getting angrier with Malcolm, Teddy tried to calm himself down and think about what his friend was describing to him. If he could frame the situation as a hypothetical and pull Victoire and himself out of the equation he could see where Malcolm was coming from. There was a reason why most love potions were very heavily regulated and why the Imperious curse was one of the three unforgivable curses. The idea of magic stripping away a person's free-will and that person becoming a slave to someone else's whims was a terrifying concept.
"Victoire would never do that to anyone."
"And we both know that. The problem is that not everyone else will when their first thought is to protect their child. But that is neither here nor there, the point is that Victoire has been treated with hostility before from her partners' parents, most likely because she's part-veela, so its understandable that she would be afraid of that kind of response even from someone she'll never meet."
Teddy pursed his lips and the tension in his body deflated, "My parents would never think that way about her."
"And I thought that my parents never would either, but they did. But all of that's a moot point because you're not actually mad at Freckles for being afraid of meeting your parents," Malcolm told Teddy as he pointed his finger at the metamorphmagus, "You're mad at her for not telling you that her biggest fear is meeting your parents."
As irritated as Teddy was that Malcolm was cool and collected and kept giving him advice that was filled to the brim with common sense, there was a part of him that was glad that Malcolm seemed to be on the same wavelength as him at least because he was doing an awful job of explaining what he was thinking and feeling.
"How could she keep something like that from me?" Teddy finally asked in a voice that sounded broken, "We're getting married in less than two months and she's kept from me the fact that she's afraid that my parents wouldn't approve of her."
Malcolm sighed heavily as well, this was going to be harder to help his friend navigate, "You know that she's got self-confidence issues . . . my guess is that the idea of your big wedding production is only magnifying all of the fears she has."
"But why wouldn't she tell me? Why omit something like that?" Teddy asked.
"Maybe its because she knew how you would react if she told you that what you want the most is her biggest fear? She's not stupid, she must have known that you would react exactly like you did."
Teddy still wasn't happy about it, "But she didn't tell me about it."
"She was probably trying to protect you. And don't get all high and mighty with me," Malcolm scoffed, "It's not like you don't keep things secret from Freckles for her own protection either."
"I don't keep anything big from her," Teddy argued.
Malcolm crossed his arms over his chest, "So you've finally told her exactly what Lassoder got charged with when he was sent to Azkaban?"
The metamorphmagus's body froze at the mention of the undercover Holmwood maniac that had terrorized Victoire in her seventh year, "She knows enough."
"She knows that physical assault, muttering threats, and attempted kidnapping charges should only accumulate to about eight years in Azkaban, and yet Lassoder is doing fifteen," Malcolm pointed out.
Teddy pulled at his hair, "Racketeering and organized crime charges carry added weight."
"A read through of his trial transcript will show that he wasn't convicted on racketeering or organized crime charges because there wasn't enough physical evidence," Malcolm reminded Teddy, "How long do you think it would take Freckles to figure that out if she even got curious enough to look? Heck, she's a victim on the case so she wouldn't even have to sweet-talk her way into getting the transcript if she wanted it. And if she did find the transcript, she would see that the real reason why Lassoder received as much time in Azkaban as he did. A reason, it sounds, that you've been keeping from her."
"She doesn't need to know," Teddy argued.
Malcolm frowned, "You don't think she needs to know that Lassoder admitted during interrogation that he had plans to sexually assault her once he succeeded in kidnapping her?"
"I think her finding out about that would only make her worry about something that she has no need to worry about. And why are you just brining this up now? You've been fine keeping it a secret from her for the past several years as well," Teddy reminded him.
"Because I agree with you that sometimes there are things that need to be kept from people for their own good. But if you sleep alright at night keeping something like that a secret from her, then you can't blame her for trying to keep something a secret from you because she didn't want it to hurt you," Malcolm reasoned.
Teddy pulled frustratedly at his hair again, "Ugh! Why did you have to make sense? Why couldn't you just come over here, let me vent, and then go home to Nadia. Did you really need to fix this?"
"Thought I'd practice giving you some fatherly advice, I'm going to need to get good at it sooner rather than later," Malcolm replied.
Teddy leaned forward and put his hand on Malcolm's shoulder, "You don't need to worry about that. You're already pretty good at it."
"I appreciate that, because if I had been the one face to face with a boggart today it probably would have taken the form of me failing as a father," Malcolm said in an attempt at light-heartedness that ended up falling short.
Glad to finally be talking about something that wasn't his own probably, Teddy thought he'd try to return the favour and help his best mate out with what was bothering him.
"Learning how to be a father is going to take some trial and error, but you're already well on your way to being a good one because the most important thing is that you love that baby, and you do," Teddy told his friend honestly.
Malcolm smiled a little even though his eyes held anxiety, "I do. I'm scared, but I really do already love the little lad."
Teddy looked at Malcolm funny, "Isn't it too early to find out the baby's sex?"
"Yup."
". . . But you called it a 'lad'?"
"Because that's what it's going to be."
"Does this have something to do with the fact that you're terrified it's going to be a girl and that it won't listen to you because you can't get Cecilia to listen to you? Because if it is, I think I need to remind you, Mate, that you were fairly drunk when that existential crisis occurred," Teddy reminded him gently.
Malcolm waved off Teddy's concern, "Yes, but after that existential crisis occurred Duncan reminded me of something that took that concern right off my mind."
"What did Duncan tell you?"
"He reminded me that Cecilia and Aunt Maighread are the only two girls born into the Wood family in the past five decades, and that because of this it's unlikely that Nadia and I are going to have a girl so I don't need to worry about that," Malcolm clarified.
Teddy rolled his eyes, "That means nothing."
"I know, but it helps with the anxiety if I can believe that I'll at least know what to do with it when it's born. I think I can handle a boy; I won't have to worry about teenaged boys and their grubby hands in sixteen years if it is," Malcolm reasoned.
Teddy smirked, "Well . . . you actually might still have to."
"Fair enough," Malcolm agreed with a slow nod, "But we will cross that bridge when we come to it."
The metamorphmagus's smirk turned into a frown, "Would you let your son date a part-veela?"
"Yours and Freckles's daughter?" Malcolm asked with a thoughtful expression, "Yes. Louis and Cecilia's? No, because that would be incest. Dom's child? That would depend entirely on who the father is. What about you?"
"Me?"
"Would you let your son date a veela? That they weren't related to of course."
"I-" Teddy wanted to say that of course he would let his future son date a veela, but a part of him stopped him from agreeing. There was a teeny tiny part of him that was feeling hypocritical, and that wanted to say that if this hypothetical future veela girlfriend of his hypothetical son's was anything like Victoire's great-grandmother than she could just stay the hell away. He knew that he was being unfair since not all veelas were the same, but he couldn't shake the awful dreadful feeling that any thought even adjacent to Séraphine created.
So instead, Teddy replied as honestly as he could, "I'm not sure."
Malcolm clapped his hand on Teddy's shoulder, "Therein lies the basis of Victoire's fear. Because I'm sure that she feels the same way about your future children dating veelas, and I'm sure that feeling leads to many others of self-loathing."
"And I yelled at her instead of trying to listen to her," Teddy said with groan and a bit of shame.
Malcolm shrugged and started to root around in his pocket, "Freckles'll forgive you. She may be part-veela, but you're the one who wears the pants in your relationship. She's got you so high up on a pedestal that she'll do whatever you want."
Teddy frowned at his friend's words as the aforementioned friend pulled out his mobile phone and looked at it idly, "Victoire doesn't do whatever I want. We're equal partners in our relationship."
Malcolm took a break from glancing at his phone and looked up at Teddy. He gave him a sympathetic look.
"Mate, that's very egalitarian and equitable of you, but that woman listens to everything you say and would do anything for you. She was like that before you started snogging her, but it only really amplified once she realized that you loved her back. She will do whatever you say, you wouldn't even need a love potion or an Imperious curse."
Teddy swallowed thickly, "Is it really that bad?"
Malcolm shook his head and sent a quick text message on his phone, "No, the only reason why Victoire puts so much of her trust in you is because she knows that you won't misuse it. She wouldn't be as open and trusting with you as she would with anyone else because it is you."
"Then am I doing something wrong? Am I not giving her enough of me? You said that our relationship is uneven but that's not how I want it to be."
"Then maybe you need to figure out how to get yourself off of that pedestal," Malcolm responded with a small smile.
He looked down at his mobile phone again, "Anyway, I was due at Ally and Xav's for dinner about fifteen minutes ago. Nadia's already done practice and there."
"Of course," Teddy said as they both stood up, "Thank you for coming over, and for everything." He walked Malcolm to the door where the pair shared a man-hug and said goodbye.
When Malcolm was gone Teddy suddenly felt lonely. He wouldn't begrudge Malcolm the chance to have a nice dinner and a fun night, but knowing that that was what his friend was headed for while he had a long-secluded night ahead of him until Victoire decided to come home and re-start their previous discussion made him feel wistful.
Teddy exhaled sadly as he walked towards the kitchen and put the kettle on to boil. If it was going to be a long night, he would need some caffeine. While the kettle was heating up his eyes scanned the kitchen and he noticed the potion bottle on the counter that held Victoire's ulcer-curing potion. His head whipped around to glance down at his watch and he groaned when he noted the time. It was almost an hour past when Victoire should have had her last dose. He scooped the potion bottle up with one hand while his opposite hand waved towards the stove top and turned the kettle off. It only took one minute for his long stride to cross the living room, he pulled open the front door but stopped in his tracks when he saw Victoire on the other side of it, her hand raised to knock on the door that was no longer there.
They blinked at each other in surprise before they both blurted out at the same time, "I'm sorry."
Victoire crossed the threshold of the door in a flash and threw her arms around Teddy's neck. His strong arms caught her and wrapped around her back as he squeezed her body to his. The tightness at which they were clinging to each other made it difficult for Victoire to breathe, but she didn't pay much attention to it as she was just grateful that he was receptive to seeing her and that her presence didn't immediately make him angry.
Their front door closed behind them quietly, neither one entirely sure which one of them had magiked it shut, and they just held onto each other as they took slow breaths. After a few moments of comfortable silence Victoire pulled away from Teddy enough so that she could look him directly in the eyes.
"I am so sorry about what happened . . . I – I-" She trailed off as she didn't know quite what she should say next. She didn't want to rock the boat and she didn't think a lengthy explanation out of the gate would help her case.
Teddy's hands moved from her back to frame her face, "You don't need to be sorry Love. Not about anything. I'm the one who should be apologizing. The way I reacted was inexcusable, and I'm sorry that what I said made you feel even worse."
The heat from his hands on her cheeks was almost as comforting as his words.
"Your reaction wasn't inexcusable, it was understandable. I knew that you would react that way-"
"Which is why you kept it a secret from me," Teddy finished Victoire's thought for her, "Because you knew that it would make me feel bad and you didn't want to hurt my feelings. And even though I was angry about you withholding this information, there isn't really much I can say on the matter because we both know that I've kept things from you before to try to protect you."
Victoire watched Teddy's expression intently, he seemed ashamed of himself, "Don't be so hard on yourself Teddy. That was a long time ago and I know that you're trying to do better at that-"
"Please don't try to brush away my follies Vic. I'm not a perfect person and I do things that I shouldn't and sometimes I keep doing those things even though deep down I know I shouldn't. I-" Teddy paused for a second as the words Malcolm had told him earlier rang through his head, "I'm not perfect and I don't deserve to be up on a pedestal."
His fiancée narrowed her blue eyes, "I don't have you on a pedestal."
"I think you do."
Victoire pulled herself away from his hands gently and put her own hands on her hips, "If I had you up on a pedestal, I wouldn't argue with you like I do."
"We don't really argue Vic, not much. Usually our disagreements are like debates, and when they're done and its time to pick a winner, you're very quick to apologize and assume that you were wrong and I was right," Teddy told her, aware that their discussion was turning towards debate territory.
She frowned, "I don't always capitulate to you."
"Not always, but if we were keeping score, I think you'd find that most of the time it ends with you apologizing because you think I was the one in the right."
"So, you don't want me to apologize?"
"I don't want our debates to be about one of us being right and the other being wrong. I just want us to recognize that we can be on the opposite side of an issue and both still have valid points."
Victoire thought over his words and then nodded slowly, "I'd like that too."
He smiled brightly at her, grabbed her hand, and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. She smiled back but it slowly began to fade as she watched something she couldn't name form in Teddy's eyes.
"This isn't the end of this discussion is it?"
Teddy shook his head and used his grip on her hand to pull her the short distance over to the same couch he and Malcolm had been sitting on a half hour prior, "In the spirit of telling each other things even though they might upset the other . . . there's something I have omitted to tell you."
"Don't tell me you have another secret ex-girlfriend from Hogwarts who has a best friend who is in love with you and hates my guts?" Victoire asked sarcastically.
He smirked at her, "Well . . ."
She rolled her eyes at his teasing expression, "Don't even bother trying to lie. It's ridiculous that you were able to keep one girlfriend a secret from me let alone two."
"You're right there are no more secret ex-girlfriends. Although, I never did tell you about the time in fifth-year I found myself under magic mistletoe and ended up kissing Maura Monahan," He admitted.
Victoire snorted, "Maura Monahan? Well, I definitely don't need to worry about her. There's no way that would have ever gone anywhere, she was so out of your league."
"Excuse me?" Teddy asked her faux-affronted, "Maura Monahan was not out of my league."
"Yes she was. She was the prettiest, smartest, coolest, and most popular girl in your year. I love you Babe, but you never would have had a chance with Maura even if you tried."
He puffed his chest up, "I beg to differ, we were good friends and we were partners in Potions class for five straight years. If I liked her that way I could have gotten her to go out with me."
"Sure you could have," Victoire said with an amused shake of her head, "But Speaking of Maura in the present, she hasn't sent back her RSVP to the wedding yet."
Teddy shrugged unconcerned, "The last time we spoke to Grace she said that Maura's very busy in New York doing Editor-in-Chief things. I'm sure she'll get the RSVP sent in sometime before June."
"If she misses our wedding but makes the time for Ally and Xavier's I might have to have words with her," Victoire warned, only partially joking.
"She'll do her best to make it," Teddy told her. He tried to smile but it fell as he remembered what he had originally wanted to tell her.
He cleared his throat, "We got off track. There's something I need to tell you. Something I should have been more honest about years ago."
"What is it?"
Teddy swallowed thickly and launched into a quick explanation about what he had been keeping from her about Lassoder's conviction.
She was strangely quiet throughout his entire explanation, and the fact that she hadn't even interrupted him once worried him. When he finished his explanation, he watched her worriedly as a dozen expressions flashed through her eyes.
"Please say something Vic."
"He admitted that he was planning to rape me?"
Maybe he didn't want her to say anything.
His mouth went dry, "More like bragged about it."
Her lips pursed, "It's not like the thought never crossed my mind. That something like that might have happened if Colton hadn't accidentally stumbled upon us. I just . . . I guess I never felt brave enough to ask the question and it just lived in the back of my mind for the past six years like the monster under my bed."
"Of course you would have thought of this," Teddy said as if he was dim for not having considered it beforehand, "And like a self-centered prat I never even thought to talk to you about it. I never thought that the not knowing and the wondering could be worse than the truth."
"You were just trying to protect me."
"Keeping things from you doesn't protect you," He said. Not to tell her something that she already knew, but to say aloud something he was only just fully understanding.
Victoire leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek, "Better late than never."
"I'm sorry, again."
"Thank you, I appreciate your apology," She said with a small smile, "Thank you for telling me the truth, and for trying to see things from my perspective. Not just know with the Lassoder thing, but earlier when you told me that you understand why I was worried to tell you about my biggest fear."
Teddy placed his palm on the side of her face and stroked her cheek bone, "I don't want to invalidate your fear, but I wish there was something I could do so that you don't have to feel it."
Victoire placed her hand overtop of his, "I know you do, but there's nothing you can do right now. There is however, something I can do."
She used her other hand to dig into the pocket of her trousers and pulled out her mobile phone. It only took a half a second of scrolling to find the right name. She pressed her finger on the call button and then held it up to her ear.
It was answered after two rings, "Hi Donnie, would you mind giving me the number for your mother's office?"
10:15 PM
The sound of the loud music pulsating around the large club felt like a second heartbeat to James Potter. It was fast and full of a deep bass that made it difficult for him to hear anything that wasn't the music or the low din of the amalgamated conversations of the many people who filled the dark room. Even the conversation that was going on just three feet away from him was a little tough to follow, but thankfully his cousins Freddie and Baxter were using enough grandiose hand gestures that it helped him fill in whatever blanks the brash music created.
"How did I let you convince me to come here with you again?" Baxter was asking Freddie, his expression seemed rather exasperated and they had only been at Brua for about fifteen minutes.
"Because we're running out of time to find dates to Vic's wedding," Freddie told him as if it was obvious.
Baxter rolled his eyes dramatically, "I thought we went through this already. This is not an appropriate place to find dates for our cousin's wedding."
"That's why we brought Cecilia along! She gets to veto them anyway," Freddie explained as he gestured to where Cecilia and Louis should have been standing next to them.
Freddie blinked in surprise when he realized that his older cousin and his girlfriend were no longer there.
"Where'd they go?"
"Cecilia dragged Louis away about seven minutes ago," James supplied after glancing down at his watch to verify the time, "She's either taken him to get some alcohol to make tonight's excursion bearable, or they're taking the opportunity to slink away back to Louis's flat to have some time to themselves."
Baxter made a face, "Ugh, does that mean I have to stay here then?"
"If you found someone to take to the wedding you could leave right away and never subject yourself to this again," James remined Baxter with a smirk, "Someone with blonde hair who works at a bakery in Diagon Alley perhaps?"
Instead of blushing and avoiding the topic like Baxter usually did whenever Bakery Girl was brought up, the redhead straightened his shoulders, brushed it off, and met James's eyes, "And if you found a date you wouldn't have to subject yourself to this again either . . . someone with dark hair who likes quidditch perhaps?"
If it wasn't so dark in the club James's red cheeks would have been much more visible, as it was, only Baxter really noticed because he was looking for it.
"Dark hair?" Freddie repeated disbelievingly as he listened in on the conversation, "Are you mad Baxter? James likes ginger birds."
James let out a breath of relief hearing that Freddie had no idea what Baxter had been alluding to.
"Anyway," Freddie announced as he waved his hand in the direction of the dance floor where it seemed like a score of sweaty bodies were pressed up against each other, "I know why we weren't successful last time-"
"Because this was and still is a stupid idea?"
Freddie ignored Baxter, "No, it's because we didn't make a plan first."
"A plan?" James echoed puzzled.
"Yes, a plan. Just looking haphazardly for three random girls to ask out on dates wasn't a smart idea-"
Baxter rolled his eyes again and muttered something like 'no shit' under his breath. James snorted as he held in a laugh, but Freddie didn't seem to notice and he continued.
"So, instead we should focus all of our attention at getting one of us a girl, and then we can move onto the next person and so on," Freddie finished proudly.
James felt like he was going to regret asking it, but he did it anyway, "And that's your master plan?"
"I don't hear you coming up with anything better," Freddie argued.
Baxter and James shared a look, but because neither of them seemed brave enough to tell Freddie that they weren't interested in picking up just any random girl at the club, they just wordlessly nodded at Freddie to continue.
"And I think the first person we should find a bird for is James."
James's eyes widened in surprise, "Me?"
"Yes you. You're the most well known since you're Harry Potter's son and a famous quidditch player now, and it would be easiest to set you up since you've got so many fit birds coming up to you on their own anyway. And who knows? Maybe that girl who comes up to you will have some cute friends for me and Baxter? Three birds, one stone, or in this case one professional quidditch player."
"I don't think that strategy is going to work," James opposed, "Vic told me specifically that I wasn't allowed to bring a quidditch groupie."
Freddie frowned, "Damn, well that's going to make this much harder."
James rolled his eyes and was thinking about conferring with Baxter about sneaking out of the club so they could go somewhere with less expensive drinks, real food, and music that wasn't loud enough to induce a migraine; when Cecilia and Louis reappeared next to them, this time with a drink in both their hands.
"We thought you two escaped this madness," Baxter told his roommate when he noticed his re-emergence.
Louis shook his head sadly, "No, not that I didn't try."
Cecilia rolled her eyes at him, "So I changed my mind, sue me."
"What changed your mind?"
"I had a few sips of this and then realized how much fun it will be to watch Freddie strike out all night. Which brings me to my next question. Has Freddie embarrassed himself yet?" Cecilia replied as she tapped her index finger against her drink glass.
James shook his head, "No, but it's imminent."
"Well, it's about to get even more imminent," Louis muttered to James and Baxter as Cecilia sidled up to Freddie.
She smiled wickedly at the redhead, "Guess who I saw on the dance floor?"
"Who?"
"Teagan Childs."
"What good does that do me? She made it clear last time we ran into them here that our history together at Hogwarts would make it impossible for her to see me as an attractive mate. Not that I was interested in her anyway, she's a little chaotic and definitely scares me-"
Cecilia interrupted him, "I'm not suggesting you hit on Teagan. I saw her on the dance floor with a bunch of friends of hers, and they are in good moods because apparently they are celebrating her getting a new job."
"That doesn't help me either. Jordan and Selene both scare me more than Teagan does," Freddie complained.
Cecilia rolled her eyes at him, "She's out there on the dance floor with a bunch of friends that aren't Selene Spiros or Jordan Simpson."
Freddie's eyes lit up, "Now that I can work with. Think she'll put a good word in about me with her friends?"
"Never know unless you try," Cecilia encouraged Freddie as she handed him the glass she was holding.
Freddie accepted it from her, downed it, and then turned towards the dancefloor.
James sighed and automatically moved to follow his best mate. He only made it a foot before Louis grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
"Wha-"
"Teagan's on the dancefloor but the other two-thirds of the trio are at a table near the bar counting down the minutes until they can shepherd Teagan and three other drunk girls back to their flats safely tonight," Louis said in a tone as close to a private whisper as he could without getting completely drowned out by the dance music.
James pretended that he didn't understand the significance of what Louis was telling him while he watched Cecilia loop her arm through Baxter's and pull him towards the general seating area around the bar.
"Is that where we're all bout to go?" James asked as he found his and Louis's feet automatically following behind Cecilia and Baxter.
"Just trust us," Louis told James with a small smile as he patted James on the back.
It took them a few moments of traversing the crowds until James spotted the familiar faces of Jordan Simpson and Selene Spiros at a small table just off from the bar. Once they were within view Louis threw his arm out to stop James's movement. The two men watched as Cecilia and Baxter went up to the pair and began speaking to them.
"Aren't we going to join them?" James asked.
"Give it a minute," Louis cautioned.
James continued to watch the four at the table for the minute Louis had suggested. Almost on cue Jordan stood up and Cecilia and Baxter followed her away from the table and towards the dancefloor.
"What's going on?" James asked confused.
"I do believe Cecilia just informed Jordan that Freddie is about to descend upon Teagan and a few other drunk girls and she's going to go Mother Hen over them and watch them to make sure no funny business happens," Louis replied with a smirk.
James raised an eyebrow at Louis, "Did you set Freddie up?"
His cousin's smirk brightened, "I set the both of you up." He nodded in the direction of the table Jordan had vacated. Selene Spiros was sat there alone, smiling wryly in the direction of the dance floor.
"I'm going to go join Cecilia on the dancefloor. Now I'm not going to tell you what to do, but it seems to me that if Selene is left there by herself any longer, she's going to get imposed upon by the first man who spots her," Louis explained cheekily.
James glared at his cousin, "You Weasleys and your damn meddling."
Louis glanced down at his watch, "I give it like another forty seconds until someone takes note of that beautiful girl all alone at that table."
"You're awful," James replied before stomping away from his cousin and making his way towards the table Selene was sitting at.
"May I join you?"
He came up to the table from her blind spot because he was a coward, but he forced the words out of his mouth before what little bravery he had had the chance to leave him.
Selene turned around in surprise, but he noted the minute her eyes went from shocked at being addressed to happy upon recognizing him.
"Hey James – It is James, right? It's hard to tell under that stellar disguise," Selene teased as he sat down on a stool next to her at the table.
James looked at her in confusion before he realized what she was talking about. When he had realized that he wouldn't be able to get out of going to the club with Freddie that night, James had done his best to throw on a disguise so that he wouldn't be as easily recognizable as a quidditch star. His best though, was actually a pretty poor attempt. He had put on the same dark nondescript ball hat he'd worn to that restaurant that time he'd gotten mobbed, but remembering how Cecilia had said that it was pathetic he also threw on a pair of dark sunglasses. Freddie had laughed at him and told him that not only did he look stupid, but that he wouldn't be able to see a thing at the club with the dark lenses. To prove a point James had charmed the sunglasses so that he could see through them as if there was no tint, and kept them on.
Now though, sitting next to Selene and her uncovered flowing dark hair and eyes bright with humour, he felt silly for wearing the costume. He wasn't going to admit it though.
"Ha-ha-ha, you're a comedian," James replied with a playful eyeroll, "I'll have the last laugh though when I get through tonight unspotted and you get stuck signing autographs for Harpies groupies."
Selene giggled and James appreciated how her hair bounced as her shoulders shook with laughter, "I think you're forgetting that I am nowhere near as important as you are."
"Don't say that," James responded automatically, "You're very important."
Her cheeks reddened at his praise, "That's a sweet thing to say."
"It's true."
Selene drummed her fingers against the glass of the bright red drink sitting on the table in front of her, "Just because you believe it doesn't necessarily make it true James. But it's fine, I know where I am at right now, and I know where I'm going."
James's gaze locked with hers, even underneath the lenses of his sunglasses, "You're important where you are right now, and you are going to be absolutely magnificent when you get to where you're going."
She swallowed thickly and James watched her tongue peek out of her mouth and wet her lips.
"James I-"
"Hey! You're that chaser from the Harpies who played for Kimura during the Cannons game this week!" A boisterous and somewhat drunk sounding voice announced from behind the pair.
Selene and James turned at the same time to see a tall, large man with sweat beading his brow staring at Selene as if he'd been hit in the head with a beater's bat.
The man didn't even pause to give Selene a chance to confirm or deny his suspicion before he continued, "You were great in that game. What's your name again? Spiral?"
Selene straightened in her seat, "I'm sorry Sir but I don't know what you're talking about."
The man stumbled a few feet closer to their table, "Sure you do. You're that reserve chaser from the game-"
"I'm sorry Sir but I think you have me mistaken for someone else," Selene insisted. She then turned to James, unceremoniously pulled the sunglasses off of his face, and placed them on her own.
"Ugh . . . I don't think so. You look just like that girl . . ."
As the man shakily continued to try to remind Selene that she was exactly who she was, Selene reached towards James again and plucked his hat off his head.
"Really Sir, I haven't the foggiest who you're talking about," She announced as she placed the ball cap on her head.
The man seemed really confused, and definitely looked like he was about to press his point further, but the motion of Selene stealing James's disguise had finally caught his eye and he noticed for the first time that there was someone else sat at the table.
"Hey!" The man almost yelled as he turned his attention to James, "Aren't you James Pott-"
"Nope," James said firmly as he interrupted the man and sent Selene a glare, "My name's not James."
"But-"
James ignored whatever the man was about to say as he reached for Selene's head and took back his ball cap. As he put it back on his own head, he addressed the man, "But if you're looking for quidditch players I definitely saw Nadia Cassano at a restaurant down the way like twenty minutes ago."
The man's inebriated eyes lit up and he disappeared from their sight almost as quickly as he had appeared. When he was gone Selene and James looked at each other. Selene lifted the sunglasses off her face and set them on the top of her head so that James could see the look in her eyes that she was giving him.
"Way to throw your teammate under the bus," Selene pretended to admonish him. Her heart wasn't in it though because she knew that James wouldn't actually do that to Nadia.
James shrugged, "If he does end up finding her, he's going to hit the jackpot because she and Malcolm are having dinner at Ally and Xavier's tonight."
Selene smiled and then her eyes sparkled with mischief, "I guess I should also apologize for making fun of your stellar disguise seeing as I've commandeered half of it."
Despite the fact that her words were apologetic, James got the distinct feeling that she was still teasing him.
"Well, if you're keeping half my disguise, I believe that entitles me to half of your drink," James teased back as he reached for the glass of bright red liquid in front of her. His movements were slow enough that she could have stopped him if she wanted to. The fact that she didn't move in the slightest was all the permission he needed. He slid the glass across the table towards himself and took a sip of the liquid while he kept his gaze on her playful smile.
As the liquid swirled around his mouth, his facial expression betrayed surprise as he swallowed, "That's very . . . sweet."
Selene smirked and reached for the glass, her fingers brushing his as she took it from his loose grip, "Of course it is, don't you know that it's only acceptable for women to drink alcohol in public as long as its mixed with three different types of juices or syrups?"
James knew it was his turn to reply to her sardonic banter, but he lost the thread of conversation for a moment as he watched her bring the glass up to her lips and take a sip of the liquid from what he could have sworn was the exact same spot that his lips had touched moments prior.
"Uh . . ." Her eyes met his as she swallowed the liquid, her lips twitching slightly to indicate that she also found the drink a little too sweet. He cleared his throat and tried again to continue the conversation, "I do believe that the intent of all of that sugar is supposed to mask the taste of alcohol. In this case however, it seems redundant as there is no alcohol in that drink at all."
A dark brow raised on her forehead as she held out the glass to him, "Are you sure about that?"
He took up the challenge and accepted the glass from her, his fingers brushing hers on their own volition as he took the glass from her. His hand lingered close to hers longer than was necessary, but she either didn't seem to notice or she just didn't care enough to protest.
James tried to seem unconcerned as he brought the glass to his mouth and twisted it just so as to bring his lips to the area of the glass's rim where Selene's lips had last been. He took another small sip of the liquid, but he barely tasted it that time as his mind was almost solely focused on the fact that the rim of the glass still felt warm from her lips. He didn't need to taste the liquid again though, the first time he'd tasted it was enough. It distinctly lacked the bite of any alcohol that should have been mixed in it.
"Nope," He said assuredly as he set the glass back down on the table, "No alcohol. Not that that surprises me considering that the Harpies are playing tomorrow."
She smirked at him, her grey eyes sparkling, "You're rather confident in your assessment that I'm responsible enough not to go out and get plastered the night before a game. I am just the reserve chaser after all, I'm not even slated to play tomorrow."
"Obviously you're more responsible than I am seeing as I am also out the night before a game in which I will be playing," James replied.
Selene's smirk turned into a soft smile that held a lot of warmth, "I was under the naïve impression that you, like myself, had been dragged here at the behest of your wild best friend and were just counting down the minutes until you could leave and go back to your flat to study quidditch plays."
"It's like you're reading my mind," James told her cheekily.
Selene reached for the glass sitting between them on the table, but instead of picking it up she just circled her index finger along the rim, "So what brings Freddie here tonight then?"
"He's still under the deluded impression that this is the best place to find dates for Victoire's wedding," He explained with an eyeroll at the mention of his cousin.
"Well, if that is your goal then you better get looking. So far, the only woman you've found here is me," She said with a chuckle.
James smiled adorably at her, "I doubt I'll find anyone more charming than you here, so I think I'll just give up now."
Selene's cheeks reddened and she bit her lip as James stared unabashedly at her. She opened her mouth to say something but she seemed to think better of it. She closed her mouth, cleared her throat, and then opened it again.
"And deprive Freddie of his wingman?"
"He's never really needed me before," James replied with an unconcerned shrug.
"Because his attempts at wooing women have been so successful before," She replied in a tone that made it apparent that Selene was thinking about Freddie's abysmal courtship with Norah Summers.
James shrugged again, "I'm convinced that my presence as his wingman would just make things worse here, especially since I'm down to only half of my brilliant disguise."
Selene snickered and gestured to the sunglasses on her head, "You can have them back if you really want. In fact, I think I'd like nothing more than to watch you awkwardly trying to be Freddie's approachable wingman while looking like a poorly disguised undercover agent in a dark hat and glasses."
James smirked at her, stood up, and held his hand out to her in a formal invitation, "You're going to need to get closer to the action if you want to watch the show."
She boldly placed her hand in his and stood up, bringing her body close to his so that he would be able to hear her over the loud music, "I've never turned down a front row seat to such a promising performance before."
While he knew that the only undercurrent she had meant to add to her statement's inflection was humour, her words sent a jolt of heat to his stomach.
"I can assure you that you will not be disappointed," He told her in a voice only just loud enough to be heard over both the beat of the music and his heart.
Selene gave him another smile that made his blood warm, and she gestured with her head for him to lead the way. In that moment he realized that he was still holding her hand, but in a suave move that he didn't even knew he was capable of, he shifted his hold on her hand until their fingers were intertwined and then he began to gently pull her in the direction of the crowded dancefloor. He had hoped that she had taken his refusal to let go of her hand as a safety measure to ensure that they would make it through the crowded club without him losing her, but even if she didn't, he was one-hundred percent certain that if she didn't want him holding her hand that she would have pulled away from him instead of effortlessly curling her fingers around his like she did.
Since the club seemed to be even more crowded than it was the week before, the pair had only made it a few metres towards the dancefloor before James became worried that he just might actually lose Selene through the crowd even with his hand acting as an anchor to hers. It seemed that Selene was thinking along the same lines as James, for not a second after the worry had started, he felt her hand leave his and then instantly reappear in the middle of his back. He froze at her touch and continued his impression of a statute as her felt a warm body press against his side and the hand at his back clutch his shirt a little more firmly.
James turned his head to look at her and was surprised to find her face only a few inches away from his. Despite their closeness, their proximity to the dancefloor made it difficult for him to hear what she had started to say to him.
"Sorry for grabbing you, but I think I'd get a lot of flack if I allowed the English Quidditch League's most promising rookie chaser to get trampled by a bunch of tipsy clubgoers," Selene said so closely to his ear that he could feel the warm of her breath, sweetened from the godawful drink she'd been drinking, on his cheek.
He moved his hand to rest at her waist and pulled her body just the smallest bit closer to his, "Then I guess I better hold onto you for the exact same reason."
It was difficult to see in the dim lighting, but James could have sworn that her cheeks reddened. He had turned his face towards hers so that he could see her expression better, and in doing so it made their faces come within a couple inches of each other's. It only took a few seconds for him to get lost in the depths of her pearly grey eyes, the sounds of the music and the crowds fading away as he tried to figure out if the emotions in her eyes were genuine, or just his own reflected back within the blackness of her dilated pupils.
He thought he had the answer an indeterminable amount of time later when he felt Selene's body push up firmly against his, but as his heart rate sped up and his surroundings came back into to focus, he realized that she had just been accidentally pushed into him by someone trying to squeeze by them. Selene's head had turned towards the direction of the woman that had bumped into them, and James realized a second too late that her body had seemed to tense against his side.
"Well isn't this an interesting sight. Selene Spiros the homewrecker," The woman proclaimed haughtily as she smirked evilly at Selene.
Selene glared at the woman who seemed to be around the same age as her, "Dawson, I'd say it's good to see you but we both know that would be a lie."
Hearing her surname helped James recognize the woman's face. It was Lauren Dawson, old Gryffindor classmate of theirs, and his ex-girlfriend Mélanie's best friend from Hogwarts.
Lauren Dawson's expression turned into a gleeful smile when she realized who Selene was pressed up against.
"And is that James Potter? Colour me shocked at finding the two of you cozied up together," Lauren said sarcastically as she glanced briefly at James before re-addressing Selene, "Really Spiros? You being Potter's pathetic groupie is so seventh-year, don't you think?"
"Actually Dawson, I was going to say that you being antagonistic, interfering, and vindictive is so seventh-year, but I've never actually had any hopes that you'd learn what personal growth is, so I'm not surprised," Selene replied coldly.
Lauren scoffed and folded her arms across her chest, "Listen here you boyfriend-stealing slut-"
"Oh calling me names derived from baseless gossip that you yourself helped spread, you've got me now Lauren. I'm totes going to go directly home and cry into my pillow as I try to put back together the pieces of my self-esteem that have been brutally shattered by that clever attack," Selene told Lauren derisively.
It had only just occurred to James that he should intervene and say something in Selene's defense, and he was just about to open his mouth to say something when he felt Selene's hand that was still on his back squeeze him tightly. He figured that she had realized that he was going to say something, and he took her action as a cue to keep his mouth shut.
"While Potter might find your big mouth convenient Spiros, I think you need to learn to keep it shut. Lest you say something to upset someone who has the ability to tell several gossip rags about your biggest indiscretions," Lauren said to Selene in a distinctly threatening tone.
The glare Selene sent Lauren was scorching and scathing, but for some reason James also found it inexplicably attractive.
When Selene replied to Lauren her voice was low and dangerous, "I'm not too worried about someone going to a gossip rag about me because I'm confident that deep down that someone knows that I have the ability to tell her employers about her own indiscretions. And while my indiscretions getting out would be damaging to my reputation in the short term, your indiscretions getting out would ruin your reputation and your career prospects well into the next two decades."
While there was still a lot of anger in Lauren's eyes, there was also fear from Selene's pronouncement, "Godric you're such a fucking bitch."
"Or a strong woman, but you know, potato po-tah-to," Selene replied with an unconcerned shrug.
Lauren sent Selene one more parting glare before flipping her hair over her shoulder and stomping away.
Once she was out of sight James glanced at Selene, a dumbstruck expression still on his face, "Was that unspecified blackmail I just witnessed?"
Selene looked up at him, fire still in her eyes, "Yes. Got a problem with it?"
"Not at all," James replied. Silently he thought the exact opposite. Listening to her threaten Lauren was oddly enticing and more than a little alluring.
The fire in Selene's eyes died down a little and she looked at James intently, "Will you do me a favour James?"
He replied automatically, "Of course."
"Please don't tell Teagan or Jordan about what just happened with Lauren. If they find out she's here they're going to want to find her and go nuclear on her."
James narrowed his eyes at Selene, "And that would be bad because?"
Selene moved her hands up to either side of James's face and she held it in place so that she could look directly into his eyes, "I know that your first impulse is to give into chaos but please ignore it, for me. Have you ever actually seen a girl fight?"
He replied to her question with one of his own, "Have you met my cousins?"
"Let me rephrase, have you ever seen a girl fight between people who aren't related to each other and who don't need to hold back their words and actions for the sake of familial harmony at future family dinners?" Selene asked him seriously, her hands still framing James's face.
Her touch was electric but he put all of his energy into focusing on their conversation, "No. I haven't."
"Trust me, you don't want to."
James placed a hand on top of hers, "I do trust you."
Her eyes sparked again, but this time he was almost certain that it wasn't with anger.
Before he had a chance to further decipher the emotions in her eyes they were interrupted once more.
"There you are James I was wondering-" Louis's words stopped dead when he got close enough to the pair to notice how close they actually were, "Um, I'm just gonna back away-"
Selene pulled away from James before Louis was done speaking, "It's fine Louis, I should probably find Jordan and Teagan anyway."
Louis nodded wordlessly and then gestured with his thumb towards the area on the dancefloor where he had last seen Selene's friends. Selene quietly thanked him and then walked away from the cousins.
James let out a long exhale and then faced Louis. He wasn't mad at him; he was just suddenly exhausted.
"Um," Louis began in an awkward tone, "I know that I should pretend I never saw anything and that I probably shouldn't ask questions, but I have one that's really bothering me."
James sighed again and ran a hand through his hair, "You can have one question."
"Was Selene wearing your sunglasses?"
A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! We learned lots of new things, and some old ones as well. I felt like even though Teddy is usually the leader and good at giving advice and having his life together, that when he's the one losing it that Malcolm would step in and help out and that they would essentially reverse rolls in their friendship. As well, I hope that Victoire and Teddy's reconciliation was alright, I felt like the basis of their issues was obviously deeper than just Victoire's boggart, so that's why I mostly focused on the underlying inequality and differences that would lead to those issues.
Please let me know what you thought of this chapter!
I really appreciate everyone who has stuck with me through my little hiatus and who have provided me such thoughtful and encouraging words, and I appreciate everyone who has followed, favourited, reviewed, and read this story!
Especially BIG thanks as always to:
GaiaSerra, Katie2001, Nobothersgiventoday, HippogriffHealer, Guest (1), MuggleCreator, Inthemiddle2, jelly-hoppers, Manydifferentfandoms, clessard, iceangel360, Gnool, Guest (2), Guest (3), B, Iwik, Guest (4), TeeChamblissful, Lostinwords23, loverloverlover, rosesnlilies, Saagarika, Emely, CrackHeadBlonde, Guest (5), Sasha8812, MegsLovesToRead, Guest (6), Guest (7), blue14x, Break This Spell626, AllyWood, Strangerdangerbaby, Guest (8), Elisa, NicoleTheSmith, and E. M. Pride.
HippogriffHealer: I've got like two dozen different romantic storylines going on at the moment and you want me to add another one? . . . *Sighs because I'm a sucker for complex romantic storylines* I will add another to the list, but it might not be what you think it is ;)
Guest (1): You joined the navy? Oh my goodness that's an accomplishment congratulations! Also, I appreciate the questions, but I will have to give you my party line of "Wait and see".
iceangel360: I started writing these stories back when Deathly Hallows was first published and all we knew about Teddy and Victoire were their first names and their parentage. At that point I gave Teddy the name Theodore because no one had said otherwise, and it has stuck. So in this series, he's a Theodore.
loverloverlover: I hope this resolution didn't disappoint!
Guest (6): My intention is actually for Teddy and Vic to get married by the middle/two-thirds of the way through this story, so yeah, we will definitely get there!
blue14x: Glad I could help! Hopefully this will turn your fate.
AllyWood: The wedding date shifted a bit. It will be Saturday June 29th. Originally I had said July in HTA because I knew it was going to be once the kids were done school, but I hadn't looked at a calendar yet for 2024 (Yes, all of my dates from HTA onward coincide with real calendar dates in the future). Since June ends on a Sunday, Saturday June 29th was late enough for the kids to be back from Hogwarts, but gave Vic and Ally enough distance between their weddings (Ally's wedding will be August 17th). We've got lots more quidditch to go, so who knows Martell might show up again. And Wescott still works with Louis so . . . James and Selene will be an ongoing thing for the next little bit in case you haven't noticed, unless you don't like them together, I could always drop them ;) Hugo and Lily will probably be allowed some time to themselves while their older cousins are all still trying to straighten out their love-lives, but if everyone else gets happy endings at some point is when they should start to worry.
NicoleTheSmith: Congrats on graduating uni and getting an adult job! And as always thank you for taking the time to write me such a long and lovely review!
I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter!
Please leave me any thoughts or comments you may have in a review or PM,
I hope everyone is doing their best to stay healthy during these uncertain times,
Stay safe and until next time, DFTBA!