'Victoire, stop being an arse and just go on over there and talk to him.' Steph said to me that night in the common room. I looked up at her in surprise.

'Talk to who?' I asked innocently. 'And I really don't think you should be using that sort of language, missy. What if McGonagall heard you talking like that?'

She rolled her eyes. 'Stop trying to distract me, and just go talk to Teddy. It's obvious you want to.'

'I have no interest in talking to Teddy.' I sniffed, bending over my History of Magic homework once again.

Steph sighed. 'Look, I have no idea what happened between you and him, but it's obvious that you both want it to be over. I mean, he stares at you for awhile, and then whenever you look up at him to steal one of those quick little furtive glances that you do, he looks down, and then you look down, and then the cycle begins again. '

I raised my eyebrows at her. 'Well, thank you for that interpretation of our interaction, but it's not true. I could care less what Teddy wants at the moment.'

Steph rolled her eyes. 'Sure. Good luck with that one.'

'It's true!' I exclaimed.

'What, so you're just never going to be friends again?'

'Sometimes extreme circumstances call for extreme measures.' I said, not looking at her.

'Well, I think you're both being prats.' She said, closing her book and walking across the room to the girl's dormitory.

I'm being a prat? I think we've established in this circumstance that he is most definitely the one being the prat. He made a complete fool of himself by assuming things, and not knowing the full story before he up and decided to royally screw me over.

I wasn't sure whether he and Brandon had talked yet. I hadn't really seen them hang out. If Brandon was being too chicken to talk to Teddy, then I'd have to do it first. I didn't particularly want to go through the rest of the year dodging Teddy Lupin in every corridor I turned down.

Though then again, why did I have to be the one to talk to him? I did nothing wrong. Teddy was the one who stuffed up, so he should be the one to initiate us talking! And he wouldn't do that…He's way too much of a scaredy-cat…

'Vic?'

Are you kidding me? Just when I come to the comforting conclusion that Teddy and I wouldn't ever have to have 'the talk' because he's too afraid of my anger to approach me, he decides to come and give it a whack. I hate timing. And I hate Teddy Lupin (at least for this moment in time).

I felt a certain amount of relief to look into Teddy's dark, chocolate-y eyes once more and not see anger or hurt. Of course, then I cursed the ever present puppy eyes and swept away my relief. I shouldn't be relieved that he wasn't angry! What was that?! Honestly…

'Hey Ted.' I said absently, glancing back down at homework. Oh yeah, that's right. Play it cool, Victoire. You are the master of this conversation.

'I was just wondering if we could talk?' He asked hesitantly.

I gestured to the seat across from me. 'Nothing's stopping you.' Oh, boo-yah!

He sat down gingerly. 'Alright. I'm sorry.' Okay, abrupt. Teddy really needs to work on his tact.

'About…?' I prodded him.

'For making assumptions and getting angry at you and ignoring you and insulting you and making you feel bad. Cause it was never my intention, Vic, I promise and I really hate it when you're mad at me and so can we please go back to being friends-'

'Whoa boy, calm yourself down.' I interrupted his babbling. He stopped abruptly, staring at his hands, waiting for my decision.

Well, I felt powerful. I kind of like being at the top. Maybe I should set my sights on becoming queen or something…

'So you know that Brandon didn't say that about me?'

'Well, he did…' Teddy muttered. Upon catching sight of my face he quickly added, 'But I know he didn't mean it like that.'

'So you guys talked?' I asked.

'Yeah, he came up to me yesterday. Said he was sorry he didn't tell me he liked you, and that he never meant for me to get the wrong idea. He was shaking the entire time actually.'

I smiled at that, and Teddy looked relived. 'So you're now aware of how much of a prat you are, right?'

'Right. I'm a complete idiot, Vic.' He said, giving me puppy dog eyes.

As I deliberated, I saw his hair turning a soft, buttery yellow. Well, that was the clincher.

I grinned, stood up, and promptly jumped into his lap.

I put my arms around him and squeezed tightly. It was good to be back somewhere comforting. I could hear him chuckling and the sounds resonated throughout his chest as he hugged me back. I looked up at him, and his hair was a bright turquoise.

'Love you, Ted.' I sing-songed.

He smiled gently down at me. 'Love you too, Vic. But you are crushing my airways.'

'Oh right, sorry.' I straightened up and kissed him on the forehead. 'Well, my day is officially complete now; I'm going to go to bed.'

'I'll see you tomorrow.' He grinned.

I strode over to the girls staircase, and threw one more look over my shoulder at Teddy.

He was still smiling.

--

'So you and Teddy made up last night?' Hannah said as soon as I had woken up the next morning and joined my friends in the Great Hall.

'What makes you say that?' I said, feigning innocence.

'Because Teddy is no longer stomping around like a bear.' Steph said. 'I'm glad you took my advice.'

'Yes, well, you're just so smart, Steph.' I grinned.

'I, for one, didn't even know you guys were fighting. But despite that, I'm going to live up to my reputation and ask if you guys made out?' Caity said, tilting her head to one side.

'No! Caity...that's disgusting!' I exclaimed.

'Mark my words, all that sexual tension will just build up one day until…BAM!' Hannah jumped as Caity slammed her fist down on the table. 'You guys will start to tear each others clothes off with your teeth.'

I raised my eyebrows at her. 'Right, well I hope you have fun with those little fantasies about me and Teddy…'

At that moment, a certain Brandon Curtis decided to plop down next to me.

'Ladies.' He said, grabbing a piece of toast from my plate. 'So, Toire, I heard you and Ted have kissed and made up.'

Caity let out a shrill giggle. I ignored that. 'Yeah, I heard you guys did too.'

Brandon shrugged. 'I don't know. It's still weird.'

'Do you want me to say anything?' I asked.

'Nah. You guys are still on shaky ground, wouldn't want to ruin that. Besides he's been hanging out with that Trey Ashton guy lately. I've never really liked him.' He sighed overdramatically. 'I guess I'll just have to make a new friend.'

I rolled my eyes. 'Don't be stupid, Brandon. He'll get over it eventually. And for what it's worth, I don't really like Trey either.'

Brandon smiled. 'Alright. I was just checking in. See you later, Toire.'

Caity squealed as soon as he left. 'He's so beautiful.'

I rolled my eyes again. 'You're weird.'

'You're weird. Don't you think he likes you?'

'Actually…' I said. 'He told me he does.'

Caity squealed again.

'Stop doing that. You're giving me a headache.' Steph complained.

'None of that.' Caity frowned at her. 'Anyway, Toire, when did he say that?'

I shrugged. 'The other day. It wasn't like some big confession. It was just to clear up a misunderstanding.'

'This is so awesome!' She said excitedly.

Hannah sighed. 'Caity, you're freaking me out. Why are you so invested in Toire's love life?'

I turned to Caity for the answer, but she just shrugged. 'I'm intent on making my friends happy.'

'Well then make Hannah or Steph happy, I'm not in the mood to deal with guys and their supposed 'love' for me.' I snapped.

Caity yowled like a cat and Steph hissed. 'Some one woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.'

'No, actually, I didn't. I'm just over the chatter about Brandon and Teddy.' I answered, my tone exasperated.

'Can we talk about some one else and you then?' Hannah asked.

I gaped at her. 'I thought you were supposed to be on my side!'

'I am!' She said hurriedly, but then relaxed when I grinned teasingly. 'It's just, now don't bite my head off, but haven't you noticed those guys?'

'What guys?' I said cluelessly.

'You really haven't noticed?' Steph asked, surprised. 'Those ones that follow you around everywhere and burst into nervous giggles whenever you look in their direction.'

'Oh, I know them!' Caity exclaimed. 'The fourth years?'

Hannah nodded. 'The very same.'

'Not to be rude or anything, but I have absolutely no idea which guys you're referring to.' I put in; a bit irritated that everyone seemed to know these things when I didn't.

'Those boys by the Entrance.' Steph said, gesturing to the end of the Great Hall.

I swivelled around in my chair, and sure enough, a group of about five boys stood whispering and pointing in our direction. They reminded me of a group of girls whenever they walked past Teddy or Brandon. Those stupid twats, twittering away about how dreamy and gorgeous Teddy was, and how they were going to ask him to Hogsmeade…

'Want me to chase them off for you?' Caity asked eagerly.

No, thank you, I can chase off those stupid girls by myself… Oh. Right. The creepy, Veela-obsessive boys.

Focus, Victoire. It's all about the focusing.

'No!' I said quickly. 'You'll probably start making out with them right in front of us or something.'

'Victoire, I'm appalled. I would never do something like that. At least not in front of you.'

Steph chuckled. 'It's sort of flattering; you have to admit, Toire.'

'Not really.' I said shrilly, as the boys started to walk past us and to the Hufflepuff table.

'Well that makes sense. They're Hufflepuffs.' Caity muttered as one particularly weedy blonde erupted into shrill laughter after I caught his eye.

'Caity!' Steph admonished. Everyone ignored her.

I shivered. 'Alright, this is really freaking me out.'

'I can't believe you never noticed.' Hannah said mildly. 'I mean, you are sort of lost at times, but they make it so obvious.'

'Yeah.' I said, standing up. 'I'm going to go.'

'Well, don't go into too many dark corners by yourself, you never know who might be stalking you.' Caity called after me. A few of our fellow Gryffindors looked around, the boys staring and the girls losing interest almost immediately. I avoided eye contact with everyone.

Oh god, I'm having one of those moments. One of those moments in movies when the main character realises something monumental, and then most likely goes into a downward spiral filled with hard drugs and 'bad boys'.

I am a Veela.

……….

Okay, so not that groundbreaking, I think we've established that I am indeed a Veela, but I think it's only now starting to settle in.

Everyday I wake up and travel through life like I'm just like everyone else, like I can't see the boys gawking or hear the girls gossiping. Like everyone can see me like I see me; an awkward, insecure redhead with a future-complex and next to no prospects. Of course, I have my good points too, but when it comes down to it, none of my fellow students look down to me. But I want them too. Shocking, isn't it?

So far into my deep and heart breaking ponderings was I that I barely even noticed when I ran head first into Teddy. I could tell it was him, of course, by the slight grunt of surprise and the scent of something like rain.

I looked up, dazed. 'Oh, hey Ted. Where are going?'

'To breakfast…' He said slowly. His eyes were blue, a very dark, intense blue.

'Cool eyes.' I said absently.

He shrugged, trying to come off as modest but not quite achieving it. 'Thanks.'

I shook my head free of my thoughts and instead stared. 'Teddy, I think we have to have a conversation.'

His face visibly paled. 'What is it?'

'It's just… you're really not very cool.'

He rolled his newly-blue eyes, and swung one arm around me, dragging me back into the very place I had just come out of.

'Yes I am, Vic. You just haven't realised it yet.'

I nodded understandingly. 'Yes, Teddy, I'm sure that's it.'

I didn't even notice that he had steered me towards the middle of the table, far away from my friends, to sit with a group of people I didn't know very well. Well, except for Brandon.

'Hey Ted, Toire.' He said, a slight look of surprise on his face. 'What's going on?'

I then registered that about six pairs of eyes were on me, and I felt the blush creep up my neck. I looked at the wooden table bashfully. Teddy still hadn't removed his arm, and I shrugged it off uncomfortably, feeling the absence of comfort immediately.

'Nothing. I'm starving.' Teddy said airily, pulling a few plates towards him.

I almost rolled my eyes. Typical teenage boy. Do they ever actually get full?

'Hi, Victoire.' One of the girls said brightly. I looked up eagerly to grasp on a friendly face, but landed on Shirley Campbell. She was a woman of, shall I say, questionable morals?

'Hey.' I replied, as friendly as possible. Of course, the image of walking in on her and Teddy in the common room one Saturday night popped into my mind and didn't help with the level of nice in my tone. That image is very vivid, and rather frightening.

'What are you doing here?' She asked sweetly. Ick. 'Where are your friends?'

Teddy grinned. 'Well, I'm here.'

I rolled my eyes. 'I think she means my girl friends, Ted.'

Brandon opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. 'Don't say it, Brandon, it's too easy.'

I turned my attention back to Shirley, to her wide pale blue eyes and rosy cheeks. 'They're eating breakfast, over there.' I jerked my head in their general direction. 'Just thought I'd say hi.'

'To me, of course.' Brandon said. I was surprised, but relieved. Finally, Brandon was being annoying flirty instead of uneasy. 'She's in love with me, did you hear?'

Next to me, I felt Teddy stiffen.

Oh. Crap.

'Brandon, don't be annoying.' I said.

'But you like me that way.' He shrugged. 'Don't worry, many ladies fall under my charms, you're not the first.'

Teddy begun cutting his sausages savagely.

I bit back a smile. 'You're an idiot.'

'Ah, but a very good looking idiot, don't you think?' His blue eyes twinkled.

'What I think?' I asked. 'I think maybe you should spend a little less time spiking your hair.'

There was a collective 'ohhhh' from Teddy's friends.

Brandon widened his eyes, doing an amazing impression of Ted. His lower lip trembled, and he lowered his gaze to the table.

'Oh, c'mon, don't be such a baby.' I rolled my eyes, I swear, they're going to get permanently stuck that way, just forever rolling, giving me vast headaches and scaring away all the Veela-obsessed fourth years…

Right, focus.

Brandon didn't respond.

'Aw, you know I love you, really.'

He looked up triumphantly, but it was short-lived.

CRACK

Teddy broke his plate.