It was late at night and the ancient house was creaking gently as the future teens lay in bed on their first night in the past. They thought about how they might never make it home. Dominique wondered if she would ever meet her mysterious love from across the sea. Rose wondered if her parents would be worrying. James worried if his parents would kill him. Molly wondered if she would ever get to finish her newts. Lucy wondered if the guy she liked would have chosen someone else before she got back. Most of the teenagers worried that tomorrow was Christmas Day and they might not get any presents. But most of all, Teddy Lupin wondered if he had gone and ruined his life for good, if he couldn't get Victoire back then he didn't know what he would do with himself.

A grandfather clock's chime echoed through the house. One o'clock in the morning. Being the oldest, Teddy was the only person that got to sleep in a room on their own, which in retrospect was a bad idea because the creaking floors and gushing winds did not exactly ease him into a peaceful sleep. A particularly loud creak came and Teddy jumped, pulling his blanket around his chin like a child in a storm.

He squinted in the dark to check for intruders and found one. With a gasp he saw a shock of blonde hair illuminated in the moonlight.

'Vic?' He whispered into the darkness.

'I was scared. All of the noises. I didn't know where else to go…'

'It's fine, get in. I'm scared too…'

As he lay there with her in his arms for the first time in so long, he knew that there was no place in the world that he would rather be than here.

'You know I love you right? Ted? I was just angry and confused.' He kissed her temple and they drifted off to sleep together.

The next morning, Teddy woke with a start. Victoire must have left before he woke because his bed was cold and empty. She probably just didn't want to worry Alice. He quickly dressed before waltzing downstairs, a new spring in his step. He passed Molly on the stairs.

'What's got you all chipper, eh?'

'Oh, nothing much… Only the return of my one true love!' Nothing could tear the smile off of his face.

As he skipped into the kitchen, he saw Victoire making tea and talking with his Mum. That one still took getting used to. He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and kissed her on the cheek.

'Good morning Beautiful.' He whispered in her ear.

As quickly as the kiss itself came the slap that stung his face.

'Teddy! What the hell are you doing! I've told you, I can't forgive what you did to me!'

'Wait… What?' Teddy rubbed his sore cheek.

'You can't just march in here, turn on the charm and expect me to fall back into your arms!'

'But…but…'

'No. I'm not going to be a pathetic little girl any more. Why should I trust you ever again?'

'But what about last night?'

'What happened last night? We found James and Alice, we all went to bed and then came down to breakfast this morning, what are you on about?'

'I must have been dreaming.' He whispered under his breath, 'I must have been fucking dreaming…' He sat down on a kitchen chair with his head in his hands. 'That's really funny!' He shouted at no one in particular, 'Absolutely hilarious!' He broke down into a mess of tears as the whole family stood around, staring. His hair had turned jet black and his skin was an ashen grey. He stood up cautiously and walked slowly out of the door. The family stood by the door, shocked, as he climbed the stairs, his hands trembling with rage. As he climbed the stairs, at that moment Rose was descending the stairs, she stopped when she saw the tears on Teddy's face.

'Teddy! Are you alright?'

'Piss off Rose. I don't need your happiness to mock me now.'

'What? What's wrong?'

'It's not fair, is it? That your boyfriend of like, a week, forgave you, but my girlfriend of two fucking years! Can't figure it out that I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!' He turned to face Victoire at the bottom of the stairs. 'Do you REALLY think, that if I were to cheat on you, which you KNOW I would never do, I'd do it with a SIXTEEN YEAR OLD who is practically my sister, and who has a boyfriend! Merlin! You are all denser than I thought!'

He turned and marched up the stairs, slamming his bedroom door behind him. The family stood in shock. No one said a word.

'Maybe… Urm…I'm going to go and talk to him.' Victoire broke the silence.

'Vic, no. He's angry, what if he hurts you!' Protested Louis.

'Don't be stupid, Lou. He wouldn't hurt me.' She ran up the stairs after him.

As Teddy lay face down on his bed, screaming into his pillow, he heard the same creak as he heard the night before. Except last time was a dream, and this time was a nightmare.

'Piss off James! I don't want to talk.'

'Urm, Teddy?' His head snapped around at the sound of her voice. 'I just wanted to see if you were okay, I mean, you're obviously not okay but are you like, alright?'

'Can I ask you a question, Victoire?'

'I can't remember the last time you called me Victoire…but yeah, sure, fire away.'

'What did I ever do to you to make you not trust me? I've done nothing but love you for the last two years, and for three years before that as well. We even live together! Why don't you believe me?'

'You see, a few days ago, I overheard some of the other girls at St Mungo's talking about me. They were saying about how everyone was saying that you were only with me until my cousins got older. So that you could have a richer or more famous girlfriend. Like Lily. Or…Rose.'

'And you believed them! Lily's fourteen! They're both practically my sisters and you actually believed that! You know, the day that it happened, I was planning on proposing! I can't believe this! You really think that I would do that to you! You really think that ROSE would do that to you?'

'I'm sorry! But I d- wait. Did you just say you were going to propose?'

'When me and Rose got stuck under that stupid mistletoe, she was helping me to plan the bloody thing! I mean, I've still got the bloody ring in my pocket!' Teddy put his hand in his jacket pocket and brought out a small box.

Victoire gasped, 'Is that actually? Merlin! Can I see it?' He revealed a beautiful diamond ring. 'Wow… You can afford this on Hogwarts fees?'

'Well…my Christmas present from Harry was a bit of help with the money… But I did pick it out myself, with the help of Rose…I guess I'll have to give it back now.'

'Urm…Do you think I could try it on? Just to see how it looks.'

'Sure, why not.' "And then why don't you rip out my heart and stamp on it" He thought. He could feel his heart aching in his chest as she slid the ring onto her finger and held it up to the light.

'Wow… It's beautiful… And it fits perfectly!'

'Yeah, that's because it was made for you.'

'Oh. What are you going to do with it now?'

'Well, I was thinking about giving it to Rose, she just turned 16, we can get married if we want!' She hit him playfully on the arm.

'Be serious!' She laughed.

'I'll probably sell it, I'll need all the money I can get if I'm going to buy myself a new flat. There's one free next to ours, would that be awkward? I mean, I can't move that far, I still have to be in Hogsmeade to get to work on time. Or maybe they'll let me stay in the castle?'

'No, you can keep the flat, I was thinking about moving back in with my parents for a while. Recollect myself and stuff.'

'Of course, we're assuming that we will ever get back home.' A comfortable silence fell.

'Teddy?'

'Yeah?'

'Do you think our parents have noticed that we're gone? Do you think that they're worried?'

'Well, if you think about it, we're travelling in time. If we get transported back to the future, we might get back at the same time we left, and they'll still be at the party. So they won't even know that we're gone.'

'I guess.'

The silence fell again.

The ring was still on Victoire's finger and as they sat and stared at the sparkling diamond.

'Teddy?'

'Yeah?'

'Why are we breaking up?'

'Huh?'

'We've just talked it over, we both know that we've both made mistakes and we're both sorry, so why are we still breaking up?'

'We're breaking up because you don't trust me.'

'Yes, I do'

'No, you don't. If you trusted me, you would have believed me when I said that I didn't do anything wrong.'

'Just because I was paranoid and upset doesn't mean I don't trust you, the only reason we are breaking up is because you don't love me anymore.'

'Are you kidding? I've spent the last few days begging on my knees telling you that I love you! The only reason we're breaking up is because YOU don't love ME!'

'Of course I still love you! I'm wearing the bloody ring aren't I! And I've just decided that I'm not giving it back!'

'You can't just take it, Vic! It's very expensive and that's stealing!'

'It's not stealing if you give it to me.'

'Why would I give my ex-girlfriend an engagement ring?'

'You're right. I don't want to be your girlfriend anymore.' Teddy swore he could hear his heart break.

'You know what, Teddy? I think I'd quite like to be your fiancé!'

'And what if I don't want to be yours?'

'Then you have no choice.' She laughed, 'We're getting married whether you like it or not.'

They both laughed as he slid his arms around her waist.

'You're right.' He whispered in her ear, 'I don't think I have a choice. You'll have to tie me up and drag me down the aisle. You'll have to force me to say 'I do'. And when the vicar says, 'You may now kiss the bride', you'll have to force me to do this…' He leaned forwards and kissed her gently on the lips. His hair slowly returned to his vibrant blue as they sat on his bed, laughing and smiling and joking as if nothing had ever happened.

Outside their bedroom door, curious teenagers pumped their fists in the air and silently celebrated the reunions. Lily was so glad that Fred and George had enough polyjuice potion to make her look like Victoire for a night and make Teddy think he were dreaming, who knew it would turn out so well. How she loved manipulating love.