Chapter 1 – Seeing Her Off (James)

Fall hung in the air. September 1st had come around yet again, closing the door on another summer while carrying with it the promise of one final school year for Victoire Weasley. Vic looked at the watch perched on her dresser (a gift she'd received back in May on her 17th birthday). 5:30 am. Too early to get up, but not early enough to allow for much quality sleep.

Vic had slept fitfully all night, tossing and turning as she tried desperately to doze off to sleep. To allow her consciousness to fade into dreams and escape from the hard reality that this would be her final trip on the Hogwarts Express. Her final year to wander the halls of Hogwarts. Making matters worse were her looming N.E.W.T.S. It seemed strange that a few test taken when she was barely adult would play such a large role in her life to come. Well, maybe not such a large role, but based on the constant reminders from her professors, her parents, and her uncles and aunts, of the N.E.W.T.S' importance, it was hard not to be concerned about them. She was only seventeen for Merlin's sake! She hardly knew what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. Was it really fair to expect such a young person to make such an important decision? Maybe she wanted to be a healer, or maybe she wanted to follow in her parents' footsteps and try working at Gringotts. Was it really too much to ask to let her find herself before having to make these sort of permanent decisions? All she really knew at this point was that she wanted Teddy in her future. Not in a romantic way mind you, or at least, so she'd tell anyone who'd pry for details. Teddy… Victoire sighed.

Yet another reason this upcoming year would be so hard. Being at school last year without him was hard enough, but another year? Ugh, why was this all so hard? She rolled over onto her stomach in frustration, burying her head in her pillow…

"Victorie!" a voice shouted from just outside her room. "Are you almost ready to leave? We're heading to the platform in fifteen minutes!"

"Fifteen minutes?" Vic thought as she looked over at her watch. Merlin' pants! She'd overslept. She threw herself up out of her bed, moving furiously to make up from the time she'd lost to oversleeping.

A short while later a rather disheveled Vic burst through the barrier at King's Cross and onto Platform nine and three-quarters. She didn't spare a second glance to her surroundings as she hoisted herself aboard the Hogwarts express. Being the Head Girl this year, she needed to change into her robes and be ready for the prefects meeting that would be starting soon. She also wanted a chance to catch her breath and gather her thoughts. It wouldn't do for the Head Girl to have already lost her head before addressing all of the prefects.

Walking down the corridor of the train, she quickly found an empty compartment (as most of the students had yet to board the train). Storing her trunk, she then proceeded to close the compartment's blinds and lock the door as she changed out of her muggle attire and into her dress robes.

Just as she had stripped down to only her undergarments, the compartment door suddenly swung open.

"Trying to escape me that easy are you V– holy hippogriffs!"

Vic let out a scream as she tried to cover her chest from the wide eyed gaze of Teddy Lupin, who had just come through the door.

"Edward Remus Lupin!" Vic started, "What in Dumbledore's name are you doing here? And with the compartment door still wide open!"

"Sorry, sorry" Teddy quickly said as he took a step inside and closed the door behind him. "What do you think I'm doing here? I came to see you off of course. Although I hadn't quite planned to see off this much of you, mind you. Not that-"

"Teddy!" Victoire cut in. "Stop ogling me like some half-wit troll."

"I wasn't ogling," Teddy protested, now turning to look away. "Besides, it's not that bad, Vic. I mean, at least you're not starkers or anything."

"Thank Merlin for that small measure of comfort at least" Vic said. "How'd you find me and get in here anyway? 'S not like you're supposed to be on this train, and last I checked, you didn't have the ability to see through blinds."

"Are you questioning my abilities, Vic? You do know that I'm an auror who-"

"In training" Vic cut in.

"Well… right… in training. But still, you know I have a sixth sense for finding you. Did you really think I was going to let you slip away to your final year at Hogwarts without saying goodbye? That blinds and a locked door can really stop me? Or are you just trying to put me on the defensive so I won't pick up on your disappointment?

"Disappointment?" Vic asked as she finished putting on her robes, wondering if Teddy really knew how she was feeling. "Why exactly am I supposed to be disappointed?"

"Hmm… perhaps because a certain someone isn't here to see you off instead of me? What was his name? It's hard for me to remember since the two of us have never actually met face-to-face. Hans was it?" A sly grin crept onto Teddy's face as turned around to face her.

Vic shot him an exceedingly dirty look before letting out a sigh. She slumped down onto the compartment bench.

"Vic, what's really wrong? Did you honestly think I wouldn't even show up to the platform to see you off? After, well, everything we've been through?" Teddy asked seriously as he joined her on the bench.

"You know what's wrong, Teddy" Vic said softly. "I'm going away again. For another year. Another year without... well you, know."

"Technically only ten months, and that's excluding Holidays."

Vic scowled. "That's still a long time, Ted. It's just… hard to think about. You know me, I'd rather be moving on and staying busy than thinking about what I'm going to be missing."

"What you'll be missing, or who?" Teddy asked.

"What do you want me to say, Teddy? Are you really going to make me spell everything out?"

Silence filled the compartment, expanding like ice.

"It's whom by the way," Victoire finally said, shattering the quiet.

"Excuse me?" Teddy asked.

"It's 'whom you'll be missing,' not 'who'."

Teddy raised an eyebrow. "Didn't know Hogwarts had started giving out O.W.L's in grammar."

"They didn't. Anyone with half a brain – which I suppose rules you out - should know though that when the object of-"

With no warning, Teddy crashed his lips to Vic's. Vic tried to murmur something, but all thoughts about grammar, or even her impending departure for that matter seemed to have floated far away as she melted into his warm embrace. After seconds, or perhaps minutes, of bliss, the compartment door opened. Not that Teddy or Vic were in any state to realize that a third person had entered the room.

"T-Teddy? What are you doing? Here, and with Victoire?" a voice asked incredulously.

Teddy and Vic momentarily broke apart, simultaneously sighing in exasperation as they turned to face the intruder. "Oh bugger off, James" Vic said.

James ignored the comment and slightly cocked his head, staring into Teddy's darkening eyes.

"What does it like we're doing?" Teddy asked. "I'm seeing her off."

"Looked more like snogging to me" James said, disgust creeping into his voice. "You know what Uncle Ron says about snogging, don't you? That-"

James didn't have a chance to offer Ron's surely profound thoughts on snogging as Vic flicked her wand and sent a bat-bogey hex at him. As James wildly fled the compartment, Teddy turned to Vic, eyebrows raised.

"Hexing students before you've even reached Hogwarts? Really, Vic? As Head Girl I'd surely think you'd need to be a bit better on your behavior. Do I need to bring Uncle Percy on the train to explain the position to you? I'm sure he'd be happy to oblige." Teddy was unable to hide the enormous grin that had spread across his face.

"Like you were any better when you were Head Boy, Teddy. Now, are we really going to spend-" Vic glanced at her watch, "the last three minutes before the train leaves arguing about proper school behavior? Or are we going to finish what our most favorite cousin so innocently interrupted?"

"Can't argue with that," Teddy said before pulling Vic in to finish what they'd started.

…

"Hold on a minute!" Rose exclaimed. "Do you really expect us to believe that they just started snogging each other's brains out for the first time without any sort of discussion of their years of friendship? No admission of secretly long-held feelings and desires? Do you think they're just monkeys, James?"

"I thought the 'most favorite cousin' bit was more of a giveaway on James' reliability" Albus added seriously.

"Shut it, Al" James started, "everyone knows I'm the most likable of the Potter/Weasley bunch. And Rose, the way I caught them snogging you'd think they monkeys." Fred snorted. "If, I'm so wrong," James continued, "why doesn't someone tell me how they really got together then."

"Gladly," Molly jumped in. "It all began at the beginning of that summer when a certain German bloke named Hans made his way to England for the Ministry's international work-exchange program…"