(Previously)
"Your awake!" Ted said, rushing over to my side.
"Yeah, I am," I deadpanned, still confused by the situation.
"I missed you, Little One," he breathed.
I smiled, and he tapped my nose with his finger, winking.
Teddy's POV
"Vic!" I whined, "Why can't we just owl them or something?"
I was walking through Hogwarts with Victoire at my side, on our way to Headmistress McGonagall's office. We were scheduled to floo to The Burrow in a few minutes. It had been two days since Victoire had woken up, but she was seemingly 100% back on track. Madame Kinlan had released her yesterday with a clean bill of health. Now the only thing left to do was explain to Victoire's family what had happened and why I had taken her and run in such a hurry that night. Needless to say, I wasn't looking forward to being yelled at for not responding to the dozen owls they had sent over the past two days.
"Because, Teddy," Victoire started in a harsh tone, "I don't think they will be very reassured to get a letter saying: 'Dear Family, Victoire has an unknown curse which gave her a dream seizure, but she is going to live for now. Much love, Ted'. I just don't bloody think that will go over well!"
"Fine, no need to be sarcastic about it," I replied defensively.
Victoire sighed and gave me an apologetic smile, then looked down at her feet. "Sorry, I'm just a little nervous myself. I am not sure how everyone will take it."
"Hey, look at me," I said, turning her head with my hand, "They all love you, what could go wrong?"
Vic merely smiled and ran her hand through her long dirty blonde hair. We walked the rest of the way in silence, only stopping once we finally reached the entrance to McGonagall's office.
I looked at Victoire, who was biting her nail nervously. Not knowing what else to do, I said the password and motioned for her to go ahead.
McGonagall didn't say anything to us as we walked in, only waved her hand towards the fireplace. Taking that as our cue to leave, I walked over and grabbed the basin of floo powder, letting Vic take a handful before I grabbed some myself.
"Will you go first, Ted?" she asked me in a shaky voice. "I just . . . don't want to be there alone, even for a second." The way she was talking made it sound as though we were walking into Azkaban, not The Burrow. Then again, knowing the Weasleys, it was bound to be hell on earth once they found out Vic and I had been lying to them about her health.
I looked at her for a moment, forgetting McGonagall was sitting right there. I wanted to do something to calm her nerves, but I knew there was nothing I could do. I wasn't quite sure why she was the one who was so scared. After all, its not like she had stolen a teenage girl from her bed after hours and apparated out of site. Regardless, I knew would go before her anywhere if she asked me to, so I replied, "Of course," and then stepped into the fireplace and threw down the dust in my hands.
Victoire's POV
I watched Ted floo to The Burrow, knowing he was probably getting an earful from Nana right now. Still, I couldn't bring myself to face my family, not even to save Ted from a verbal beating. What is wrong with you, Vic? It's just your family. Ted was right, they love you! What could go wrong?
"Eh-hem," Professor McGonagall cleared her throat from where she sat at her desk.
"Oi! Sorry professor, um . . ." I said, "I guess I will just be going, then." I stepped into the fireplace, but was still unable to build up the courage to floo to my family.
"Miss Weasley, may I ask what the matter is? I was under the impression that you would be delighted to visit your family for the holidays. Yet, here you are, holding yourself back," she stated.
I sighed and walked over to the chair in front of her desk, plopping down ungracefully. "I've always been the oldest cousin," I started, not even sure why I was telling her this. "Besides Teddy, I suppose, but he's not our really related to us so it's different. Anyways, I like to think I am a pretty independent person, and honestly I told myself that the reason I never told my family about my dream is because I could handle them myself. Eventually they got so bad I had to tell Ted, but I still couldn't bring myself to tell even my parents. I could have easily wrote them and let them know what was going on, tell them why I had to sleep in the 7th year boy's dorms every night, but I didn't. Because, like I said, I could handle it. But three nights ago, when I could barely breath I was in so much fear and pain, I realized that I couldn't do it on my own. If Teddy hadn't have been there, I honestly don't know what would have happened to me."
"So your pride is getting in the way of your safety and your health?" McGonagall surmised.
"I guess you could say that, Professor. It was hard enough to tell Ted about the dreams, and he's my best friend for Merlin's sake! I just wish I didn't have to involve everyone, I don't want them to worry about me so much."
"Miss Weasley, did it ever occur to you that by not telling your family, you are putting them in more pain than if you did tell them? What if one day you slipped into another dream attack, but this time you didn't come out okay? Your family would be heartbroken and surprised all at once. It is better to walk through it with them, slowly. That way, if the worst does indeed happen, they will be ready."
I thought about this for a moment. I guess Professor McGonagall was right, about me hurting my family by not telling them.
"You know what, your right! I should go tell them right now! Thanks, headmistress! " I decided, standing up and quickly striding over to the fire.
Just as I was reaching up to throw down the floo powder in my hand, McGonagall said, "Oh and, Miss Weasley?"
"Yes, Professor?"
"Your friend, Mr. Lupin? Be careful that you do not take him for granted. Not every witch has the privilege of having such a . . . honorable companion," she said with a small smile.
Slightly confused as to what she meant by that, I simply said, "I suppose I am pretty lucky," and then I disappeared into the green flames.
XxXxX
Ted's POV
The second I stepped into the Burrow's tiny living room, I was bomb-barded with questions.
"Ted!"
"I demand an explanation, young man!"
"What happened?"
"How is Victoire?"
"Why isn't she here?"
"Would you like some tea, Teddy?"
This last question caught everyone by surprised, and seemed to help them shut up. It had come from Ginny, my godmother. She was standing closest to me, with her hand resting on my arm in question.
"Yes, please. That would be lovely," I said, smiling gratefully at her. She nodded went to make it for me.
"Why don't you sit down, Ted." Uncle Ron said, "Then you can do some explaining."
That seemed fair. I sat down on my favorite red chair and looked at the people around me. All of the people I loved. (Except Victoire, of course) All of them waiting for me to explain why I had knocked down Lily's door, taken her shaking cousin out of bed in the middle of the night, and then left without even leaving a note.
"I don't think I should say anything until Vic gets here." I stated.
Everyone started protesting at once, until Harry finally yelled loud enough to silence them.
"Ted, my boy," Harry started, "at least answer a few of our questions."
"Fine," I relented. "But you really should let Victoire explain it all."
"Where did you apparated to?" Uncle Ron asked.
"Hogsmeade. Well, not exactly, but into a little clearing right outside of the town. It was the closest thing to Hogwarts I could apparated to."
"V'as Victoire av'ake?" Aunt Fleur asked worriedly.
"I think she was conscience, yes," I replied honestly.
"You carried her all the way to Hogwarts from Hogsmeade?" Ginny asked, having finally come back with my drink. "Or did you levitate her?"
I blushed, realizing I hadn't thought of using magic in the moment. "At the time, I wasn't exactly thinking straight. So yeah, I carried her."
"Why couldn't Victoire walk?" Nana asked. "Lily told us that Vic was sick but surely she could have walked herself. What happened to her?"
Everyone leaned in, as if this was the big question they had been dying to know.
"I- I don't think I should be the one telling you this. Vic can tell you when she gets here," I said uneasily, glancing at the fireplace in anticipation. Where was she?
Wasn't she supposed to be right behind me?
I glanced at Uncle Bill and saw that he, too, looked worried that Vic had not shown up yet.
"I'm sure she was just talking to Professor McGonagall, she should be here soon," I tried to reassure him.
An awkward silence fell over the clan, a first for us.
Just then, Lily walked into the room, and exclaimed, "Teddy!" She ran over and threw herself into my lap.
Everyone chuckled at her enthusiasm. "Hello pretty girl, how are you?" I asked her as I gave her a peck on the cheek.
"I've been sad, since you left," She said seriously.
"I only left two day ago, silly!"
"Oh, I know! It's just that, after you kissed Victoire, I thought I would get to see both of you in love." Having said that, she hopped off my lap and pranced out of the room, leaving me alone to face the group spectators who were now gaping at me in surprise.
At that moment, Victoire arrived. Luckily, her presence launched everyone into another stream of questions, saving me from explaining Vic and I's 'kiss'.
She seemed to be taking the attention well, making me proud. I stood up and motioned for her to come sit in my chair, which she did with a grateful smile. I settled next to her on the arm of the seat.
Without further ado, Victoire threw herself into explaining what had been going on the last couple months. She told them about her dreams, although she left out some of the excruciating detail of the war that I had seen in the Pensieve. Almost all of the people in the room had experienced that detail firsthand. When she talked about how she felt what it was like to die every night, I could tell she was struggling not to cry. I slipped my hand into hers and gave it a gentle squeeze, which seemed to help calm her down. Much to my dismay, she even told them how she had to sleep in Craig's empty bed every night. I knew her parent's trusted me, but I still didn't think they would like to know their daughter was sleeping in the same room as five 17 year old boys. I saw Uncle Bill scoff but he let Victoire continue. When she told them about her dream seizure, I noticed that she left out what she had been dreaming. Maybe it was too painful for her to remember. I hoped she couldn't remember. If it had been bad enough to give her seizures, it must have been worth forgetting.
Vic explained how she had seen me crash the door down and come to her, saying she could barely breath at that point. I saw a few tears falling from Ginny's face when Vic told them about how she had only been able to ask me to help her, and I had told her she would be all right. Victoire seemed to remember almost everything from that night, even me whispering to myself about how I had to find Snape as I carried her through Hogwarts.
"I remembering Ted setting me down on Snape's couch, and then," She shuddered. " . . . My skin felt like it was on fire, and my eyes were going dark, caving in on me. I thought I had completely passed out, but then I could hear Ted whispering in my ear. He was saying 'you will be ok, Vic. Keep holding on. Please hold on, for me. I won't let you go, Little One.'"
She paused for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts. I couldn't stop looking at her, mesmerized by her side of the story. Vic looked up at me and held my gaze for a while.
Still looking at me, she continued, "I don't know what was happening on your end, but I was gone. Completely out of the real world at that point. In my dream, I was in a tornado, whipping through the air, feeling the wind pull my skin apart. The blood in my veins started pouring out and whipping around me in the pipe. It was so painful; having your own blood sucked out." Her eyes were burning holes into mine, willing me to understand. "I thought I was going to die for real this time, but there was a little voice in my head. It was your voice, Ted. You kept saying, 'I won't let you go, Little One.' I believed you. I kept holding on, knowing that you were going to help me." Then Vic turned to everyone and gave them all a small smile, "And he did.
"Eventually the tornado dropped me down onto earth. Whatever Ted had done was starting to work, and my body was starting to heal, making the dream lose its ferocity. I was in some sort of gray world. It was terribly boring and lonely. I spent what felt like days there, but it was probably only a few hours. I couldn't figure out how to escape. Once I had tried everything I could think of, a hole opened underneath me and swallowed me up. I fell for a while, and when I hit the bottom it was my bed in the hospital wing at Hogwarts."
Everyone in the room sat in silence for a while, taking it all in. Finally, Uncle Bill came over and stuck his hand out in front of me. Uncle Bill had never shown any particular interest in me before, and shaking hands seemed slightly formal for a Weasley gathering. Confused, I look at him skeptically.
"Thank you," he said. "For saving my daughter when I couldn't."
I placed my hand in his and shook it firmly, feeling honored by his gratitude.
"You're a good man," He continued, looking me straight in the eye. "I know your father is proud, just like I am."
XxXxX
After Uncle Bill had said shook my hand, everyone around the room started thanking me individually. It meant a lot, but none of them meant as much as Uncle Bill's had. It felt good to know he trusted me with his daughter, and he even said he was proud of the man I had become! I happily noted that he had said 'man' not 'young man' like everyone else does.
Vic and I spent the next few minutes reassuring her mother and aunts that Hogwarts was the safest place for her to be.
An hour or so later, Victoire and I headed to the kitchen for a snack, thankful to get away from the chaos for a little while. We found Grandpa Weasley's stash of sugar quills and started munching on the candies.
We sat in silence for a while, me leaning against the fridge and Vic sitting cross-legged on the counter.
"It felt good to get it all out," she said.
I nodded.
"What my dad said earlier, about being proud of you . . . " she trailed off.
"Yeah." I stated. She must've known that meant a lot to me.
"I know everyone told you this earlier, but we really are. Proud of you, I mean. At least I am."
I looked over at her, noting the slight blush on her freckled cheeks as she said this.
"Thanks. I'm proud of you too, you know. Not many people could go through what you do and not go crazy."
"Don't count on it, there is still time for me to lose it," she teased.
"I guess I'll have to stick around and see, won't I?"
I smiled at her, which she returned making us both grin madly at each other.
Aunt Ginny walked in right then and looked back and fourth between us.
"So," she started, never one to beat around the bush. "You two kissed, huh? Took you long enough."
"AUNT GINNY!" Victoire's cheeks now blazed red in embarrassment. "How did you-"
"Lily," I supplied, blushing as well, despite myself.
Turning to my godmother, I said, "It was just some mistletoe, Ginny. Don't get any ideas, ok?" I did my best to smirk, trying to look unaffected by it all.
"Whatever you say, Teddy!" Ginny sing-songed in a disbelieving tone, as she waltzed out of the room.
Vic and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes. Leave it to Ginny to make nothing into something dramatic.
"Great, now the whole family is even more convinced we should be making babies!" Victoire exclaimed. Then she blushed like mad at the innuendo in her outburst.
I simply laughed, "Let them think what they want."
A/N: whoa long chapter. Well, long for me anyways. I had to fit in a ton of talking and junk, but I hope y'all liked it! Please review ;D I love you guys. Oh and if you want to like ask me a question, I'll answer it in my next chapter… Sorry for not updating faster. I've been reading fanfics so much I forget to write mine! Ha
