A/N: Well, those of you who are reading my other current story, Choices, have already heard this, but I am so so sorry to have left this story so long with an update. I thought I'd have lost all my readers of Choices, but some of them proved that they're still with me, so hopefully the same will be true here. Please let me know if you're still reading!

In my defence, I've spent the last three months working in Italy, which has meant travelling round all the time, and not really having much time for writing. But I'm now home and currently have nothing to do, so I now have no excuse for irregular updates!

Anyhow, belated thanks to the reviewers of my last chapter, although it was so long ago you've probably forgotten you ever reviewed - thank you BuddysLilSis, Camo Spesh Owl, ms wolf, Tecumseh Dean, anavihs and arwenjanelilylyra!

Hope you enjoy this chapter - it gets a little different right at the end - not actually how I planned it, but it just happened! Readers of Choices will meet a main character (all my stories are set in the same universe) and may also notice a reference to an incident that is also mentioned in one of the recent chapters of that story. I may have to write a story in which that incident actually occurs some time.

Oh well, enough of my rambling. Enjoy!

He had ruined his life.

That was all he could think of as he sat on the park bench, staring blankly at nothing. He was twenty two, and he had already ruined his life.

Pregnant. Zoë Lester was pregnant. Zoë Lester was pregnant with his child. However many times he went over the words in his head, they never made any more sense.

When Victoire had first made her announcement, he had been struck dumb for a second. Then he had opened his mouth to deny it; to say that it was impossible; that nothing had ever happened between him and Zoë.

But he couldn't, because if he was honest, he didn't know what had happened between him and Zoë. One night. That was all it had been, but that was all it took. Just one night of stupid drunkenness. He didn't know whether he wanted to laugh or cry at the thought.

It had been the last day of the project, which had almost ended disastrously when a dragon had revived from the tranquilising spell too soon, and had been furious to find itself bound and caged. They had managed to contain the situation, and the feeling of euphoria that they had finally done it had taken them to a pub, and then to another…

He remember kissing her. It had been the culmination of several weeks throughout which he had attempted to deny to himself that he was attracted to Zoe. Several weeks during which he tried to tell himself that the friendly banter was not flirting, and that there was no rising tension between the two of them. But afterwards, if he was honest, he knew that it had been brewing for most of the project.

It had been that bad time with Victoire, when every day seemed to bring new arguments; ugly, vicious arguments that made it feel as though he was trapped in a nightmare. The project had been a means of escape; when he was there, he didn't have to think about the tangled mess that was his life. And Zoe had been part of that; something uncomplicated and simple and refreshing. And damned sexy to go with it - there was no denying that.

And in the pub, when everyone was happy and laughing, and the alcohol was flowing freely, he had kissed her... what had happened after that was a blank. He had assumed that a drunken kiss in the pub was all it had been, and he had tortured himself enough just over that. The next day, he had woken up with a raging hangover and a sense of horror at what he had done. He had a bloody girlfriend! Things might no be easy, but Teddy Lupin wasn't the sort of person to pull random girls for the hell of it. It felt like he had finally come to his senses, and he had known that, whatever the nature of his relationship with Victoire, he loved her. And he did not love Zoe; she was a nice, attractive girl, that was all. It might have been simpler if he had been in love with her; simpler than loving Victoire Weasley, that was certain. But life didn't work like that. Simple didn't mean right.

So he had broken the news to Zoe. He had felt terrible for what he had done to her, and had been as gentle as possible, and, as he had told Victoire, she had been quite pleasant about it. Not for a moment had it occurred to him that it had gone further than that kiss, and try as he might now, he could not remember how that night had ended. He had woken up alone in his own bed the next morning... but obviously, something had happened.

Because Zoë Lester was pregnant with his child.

He had no idea where to go or what to do. He and Victoire had moved in together when Guy and Persis had decided to do the same. There would always be room for him on Guy and Persis' couch, but they were holidaying in Spain just now.

Victoire had made it quite plain that, as far as she was concerned, there was no room for negotiation. No way they could make it work. She never wanted to see him again.

Which meant that, effectively, he had lost his family too, he realised painfully. He had to respect what she wanted, and anyway, he didn't think he could sit across the table from her at family gatherings and behave normally. That would be unbearable. So he had to cut himself off. They were Victoire's real family. He was just an extra.

It had been a long time since he had had thoughts like that. It had bothered him, once. That he did not really belong. He had no real family, except for Gran (and Gran's family, of course, but they had never taken much notice of him). That had been one of the reasons why, as a child, he had resented Victoire. As a baby, he had been everybody's pet. The little orphan boy with hair that changed colour according to his mood, who had lost both his parents and needed somebody to care for him. Everybody had wanted a share of him.

And then, when he was two, Victoire had come along, and suddenly he was displaced in the family. He knew now that it had just been the experience of a child replaced by a younger sibling; he had no longer been the baby.

But for a while, in his teenage years, he had believed that Victoire had replaced him in the family's affections because she was really related to them, and he was not. Teddy had been born under a cloud; in the middle of a terrible war. His parents had died when he was only a few months old, and seeing him must always remind people of that. Teddy Lupin was a child born in darkness.

Victoire Weasley, though, was the child of peace; the child of triumph. Even her name celebrated their victory. She was the new hope when the darkness was over.

As he grew up, he had realised that such thoughts were nonsense. They saw him as real family, and they loved him as such.

Now, he had to acknowledge that they were not complete nonsense after all. It did make a difference. Because, when it came down to it, Victoire had a place in the family forever. And he had sacrificed his in one night of stupidity and loss of control.

Zoë Lester was having his child.

His life was over.

For a few minutes after he left, she stood and stared at the door he had walked out of.

So this was it. It was over. She had known that it was over from the moment Zoë Lester's sister had dropped her bombshell.

But now he was finally gone, and it felt as though her life had just shattered around her, and she was scared to move, for fear of treading on the sharp shards.

He had said that he loved her. But it was too late. Love was not enough any more.

Zoë Lester was having his child.

She had told him to get out, in no uncertain terms. She had stood in the doorway as he grabbed a bag of his things, and she had refused to look at him as he said goodbye, his voice broken.

And now all she wanted was for him to walk back in again, and tell her that this was not happening after all.

What had happened to them? How had it ended like this? This was not how it was supposed to be.

She could not help remembering the good times. Their first kiss (she did not count the ones by the Portrait Hole), down by the lake at the very end of his seventh year, with wind in their hair and spots of rain blowing in their faces. It had felt right; very right. Much better than any of the other boys she had kissed. She did not have to pretend with Teddy.

Their first real 'date' in the pub in Hogsmeade; the happy, bubbling feeling it had given her inside, and the soaring elation she had known following the conversatin with Tamsyn after that day.

The day they had first allowed the family to see that they were together, after James' revlation at King's Cross (Teddy had been annoyed with Jamie, but Victoire had never loved her little cousin as much as she had then, despite the teasing she got from him). For the first time, they didn't have to be secretive; they could hold each other's hands openly, and Victoire was so happy that none of the knowing smiles the adults wore, or the vomiting noises James and Louis made, could bother her.

The first time they had had sex, in Teddy's new flat that he shared with Guy. Victoire had been in her seventh year, and she had been a virgin, despite the harsh suggestions Teddy had made when she was going out with Venables. And it had been perfect, despite the slight pain, and they had spent the whole night together and woken up beside each other next morning, with the sun streaming through the curtains. That day, Victoire had known that what she felt for Teddy was forever; that whatever happened, there could never be anybody else.

That was still true, which meant that now there could be nobody. Because there was no going back from this.

And Victoire wasn't the cool career woman any more; she wasn't the efficient Ministry Official; she wasn't the poised young woman. She was twenty years old, and not much more than a child, and she wanted her mother.

It had been a long time since she had run to her mother to have everything made better. She had always had an independent streak, which her parents had encouraged, and she had been keen to stand on her own feet; to leave home and make her own life; an adult life.

But if there was one thing all Weasley children knew they could always count on, it was family.

Ten minutes later, after a slightly botched apparition that had landed her at the foot of the hill instead of at the door, Victoire stumbled into Shell Cottage, the house she had grown up in, and collapsed into Fleur Weasley's arms.

"Harry!"

Harry Potter jumped at the sound of his name, and swung round to find the face of his oldest brother in law in the fireplace.

"Bill!" he started to smile, saw the expression on the older man's face and stopped, "What's the matter?"

"Have you seen Teddy?" Bill Weasley said abruptly.

Harry frowned.

"No, not that recently. Why?"

It was true; he did not see his godson very much any more. Not for want of trying; he kept suggesting that Teddy came round for lunch, the way he always used to, but it seemed that his godson kept a very busy schedule these days. It wasn't really so suprising, Harry always told himself; after all, Teddy was twenty two. He had friends and work, and visiting the godparents was unlikely to be very high on his list of prioritites.

But something in Bill's voice told him that all was not well.

"What's the matter?" he repeated, when Bill did not immediatey reply, his voice sharpening slightly with concern.

"Mind if I come over?" Bill asked, instead of answering the question, "I think you need to know about this."

"Of course not," Harry said, mystified, stepping back from the fire. The next minute, it glowed green and Bill Weasley stepped over the hearth. He looked around, and gazed doubtfully at the child on the sofa, who apparently had her nose buried in a book.

"Lily, out," said Harry firmly. The red-haired girl looked up, wide eyed.

"What?" she asked, as innocently as possible, but she was unconvincing, and her father was not fooled.

"Out," he repeated, "Uncle Bill and I have to talk."

She looked from one to the other.

"What's happened to Teddy?"

"Lily..." said her father warningly, and she sighed theatrically, shut the book, heaved herself off the sofa, and left as slowly as possible, dragging her feet.

Harry listened as her footsteps went up the stairs, and her bedroom door opened and closed with a bang. Then he looked at Bill.

"What's going on?"

Neither of them heard the bedroom door open again very quietly, and nobody saw the strange flesh coloured object descend slowly from the top of the stairs.

Some weeks previously, Lily's brother James had, as a result of a dare from their cousin Louis, Uncle Bill's own son and Victoire's brother, ended up in St Mungo' after swallowing a piece of their Uncle George's famous exploding chewing gum. This incident had ended with a complete ban on free gifts from Weasley's Wizard Weezes for all the children of the family (Lily personally did not care much, but their cousin Rose, who had initially found the incident hilarious, was furious, and was still not speaking to either James or Louis over the matter). A pair of extendable ears, however, had somehow managed to stay hidden in Lily's underwear drawer, and she was prepared to make full use of them.

"... took us about an hour to find out what was wrong," were the first words she heard from Uncle Bill, and his voice was angry, "And then she tells us... Merlin Harry, I'm going to kill that boy when I get hold of him, and you know as well as anyone that I don't get angry easily. But when it comes to something like this... that's my daughter sobbing her heart out on her mother's shoulder, and what he's done... well, it's unforgiveable. I've known Teddy all his life, and I thought he was better than that. Bloody hell, I was pleased when he and Victoire got together..."

"But what's he done?" Lily's father's voice cut in, sounding completely confused.

"He's only gone and got some other girl pregnant," said Uncle Bill heavily. There was a shocked silence downstairs.

"He's... what?" Harry said in the end, his voice strained, "Teddy? I... I just can't believe it, Bill... He and Victoire..."

"Have been on and off from the beginning; you know that. I've been worried about it for a while, you know. I don't know everything, because Vic doesn't tell us much, but I can read between the lines. A good relationship's one that makes you happy, and she hasn't been happy recently. I haven't said anything, because I reckon they're old enough to sort things out for themselves, and I should think it's as much her as him; but this is the last straw, I swear it is..."

"Who is she? The other girl?" Harry said, his voice dull.

"Some kid called Zoe something. Worked with him on that dragon project, Victoire said. Lives off Diagon Alley with her sister, just down from the road from George and Angelina. I don't know much about her; to be honest, we haven't had much coherent from Vic. Merlin, Harry, I haven't seen her this upset since she was a little kid. When I get my hands on Teddy Lupin..."

"Yes, well..." Harry frowned heavily, "First we've got to find him, which might be easier said than done. If I know Teddy, he's going to be pretty upset himself, but he hasn't come here. You could try Andromeda, but I doubt if the first thing he'd do in this situation would be run to his grandmother... and I don't want to worry her; she isn't well. On second thoughts, Bill, you should probably go back to Fleur and Victoire, and I'll see if I can locate Teddy. The first thing we have to do is find out whether this crazy story's true, because I honestly can't believe it of him..."

Lily had heard enough. Stunned, she sat back on her heels, and let the information sink in. Teddy. Her Teddy, for that was how she thought of him. Teddy, who was like a better version of a big brother; who, unlike her real brothers, always had time for her, and never got annoyed when he had to repeat what he said three times because Lily was in a daydream. Teddy, who always brought her funny little presents he had 'picked up' from somewhere or other, and made her laugh when she was miserable, and forced James and Albus to let her play Quidditch with them.

Lily was twelve years old, and had enough of a grasp of such matters to understand what Teddy was being accused of. That did not mean she believed it. A frown very like her father's came over her face as she thought of it. Teddy, her Teddy, having a baby? With some awful girl who wasn't Victoire? That was't how it was supposed to be. Of the whole family, Lily had probably been the happiest when Teddy and Victoire got together. She had imagined a beautiful wedding with flowers and a white dress (and hopefully herself as bridesmaid) and happy-ever-afters.

Not this.

And now Teddy was out there somewhere, desparately upset and alone. Whatever he had done - and Lily didn't believe it anyway - that thought was unbearable. The sudden terrible thought occurred to her that perhaps if he was upset enough, he might actually kill himself. People did kill themselves for things like this, she knew that.

The question was, what could she do about it?

Please tell me I still have readers for this story! The review button is right there vv :-)