Word count: 420
Lily thinks she should feel rotten about this. Everything just feels wrong, but she knows it isn't really her fault. Everyone always expected it to be Teddy and Victoire in the end, and there's still a part of her that worries everyone will blame her for that dream falling apart.
It isn't her fault. Why should anyone be angry with her for falling in love, especially when Teddy fell in love right back? It isn't like she forced him; they love each other freely and willingly, and nothing can take that away from them.
"You seem troubled," Teddy notes, frowning as he pulls a bottle of wine from the picnic basket. "Is something bothering you?"
"I'm fine," she says, but her words sound so flimsy and hollow. Of course Teddy sees right through her.
"Tell me the truth," he urges.
And how can she not? She loves and trusts Teddy so much that keeping even the smallest thing from him feels like a cruel betrayal. With a sigh, she reaches out and takes his hand, squeezing it gently.
She loves him, and he loves her. Why should anything else matter? Their friends and family have the wrong idea.
And so she tells him, and by the time she's done, there are tears in her eyes. It's something that's been weighing on her for so long, and she thinks if she had bottled it up much longer, she might have finally snapped.
"Oh, Lily," he says with a soft sigh, pulling her into his arms, their picnic lunch all but forgotten as he holds her. "Of course I love you. I'm sorry you feel bad, but Victoire? She was a childhood crush, and she's still my best friend, but… Well, I'm not sure how no one else has figured out she doesn't even fancy blokes."
Lily shrugs. She's suspected as much, but she's never really questioned it. No wonder everyone else is so oblivious. She can hear some of their cousins now, crying that Vic is too pretty to be a lesbian.
"Feel better?" he asks.
"I'll feel better when everyone stops acting like I've ruined their precious, perfect plan," she says bitterly.
Teddy snorts. "So you're going to sulk through the entire lunch?"
"Oi! I am not sulking!"
"That's the spirit. Let's eat."
Maybe it's going to bother her for a while, but, right now, in this moment, nothing else really matters. She has Teddy, and they are in love, and no one can ever take that away from her.
