DISCLAIMER: Teddy Lupin, Victoire Weasley and all the other Harry Potter characters are property of JK Rowling, not me; no copyright infringement is intended.

A/N: Double hurrah for snow days and schools getting cancelled. It's weird to write about summer now, though!

The Art of Being Subtle

Chapter Six – Percy

The Burrow – 14th July – 18:38pm

"So, it was a butterbeer for Bill, Charlie, Ron, Molly and Roxanne . . ." Percy said, scratching his head and trying to remember the complicated list of drinks orders he'd had the misfortune to collect. "And lemonade and Gillywater for Victoire, Mum, Ginny and Hermione . . ."

"Don't forget that Arthur wanted a butterbeer as well," said Teddy, who had come into the kitchen to help him sort out the drinks. "And Molly changed her mind and said she'd just have an apple juice. But your wife wants a lemonade and Gillywater as well, she says."

Percy sighed. "Right, so, that's five butterbeers and . . . oh, to heck with it. Grab as many glasses as you can, and stick 'em on here," he waved his wand and a tray appeared on the counter. "And then we'll get all the bottles in the house and put them on this tray," he waved his wand again and a second tray appeared on the counter. "We ought to take out the tomato sauce and things as well," he added.

Having a barbeque at the Burrow the day school finished was had become an annual Weasley family tradition, to which Andromeda and Teddy were also invited, that had begun seven years ago, when Ted had just completed his first year at Hogwarts, something that seemed a ridiculously long time ago in some respects, and barely five minutes ago in others.

But then, Teddy was having a strange day. Finishing school for good was one of the weirdest feelings in the world. He'd almost wanted to jump off the train at Hogsmeade platform and race back up to the school and refuse to leave it. And from speaking to the other seventh years, he knew he wasn't the only person who felt that way – everyone had felt a twinge of sadness and regret when they left the gates for the very last time, some more so than others. Two of the normally very coherent and intelligent girls he knew from Gryffindor had been unable to speak, they were sobbing so hard, and even some of the teachers appeared to be struggling to contain themselves (mind you, with some of them, he guessed that they were more tears of relief that they'd survived seven years of some of his more wild pranks . . . though he had tried to tone them down during the past year . . .).

" . . . eight, ten, twelve – no, that's not going to be enough: we're going to need many more glasses than that," Percy said. "Try the cupboard above the dresser, there should be some in there – no, not that one, the other—yes, that's it. Now let me see, I've got the fruit juices and the squash, there's the butterbeer cans over there . . . accio . . . Gillywater's in the pantry and—Godric's sword! What on earth is Lucy wearing?"

Teddy glanced out of the window and tried not to snicker out loud. Percy Weasley's "baby" girl had removed her hoodie, and was revealing a white T Shirt with the words "Save a broom, ride a Quidditch player!" emblazoned on the front in bright neon lettering. Percy spluttered indignantly for a few moments (Teddy caught the words "inappropriate" and "girl of her age" and a few similar adages, and decided to keep quiet and not mention Molly's long term boyfriend, Evan Wood, or the fact that he'd overheard Lucy telling Victoire that the only reason she'd snogged that Hufflepuff fourth year last week had been to make Jeremy Finnegan jealous, in the hope that he'd notice her and dump "that complete cowbag Marissa Longbrige".)

"At least the only males present are ones she's related to," Percy said, with a sigh. "And you, of course. But you're with Victoire now, aren't you?"

"What? No! No, no, no. Merlin, no. No, no. No, it's nothing like that!" Teddy's eyes grew wide with alarm and he hastened to correct his almost-Uncle.

"Oh, Merlin, sorry!" exclaimed Percy, going almost as red as the young man he was addressing. "Sorry, I just thought that you two were . . . I mean that . . . well, obviously, I was definitely reading things the wrong way!"

"That's quite OK," Teddy said, still blushing furiously. "We're just friends - we're nothing like that at all," he added, not elaborating on whatever 'that' was. "I think we've got enough stuff for drinks now – let's take all this outside."

"Of course – I'll take this tray, and – yeah, you've got that one. Good. Well. Yes, then. Outside it is," Percy said, rather pompously, in an effort to cover up his embarrassment.

"Are those drinks done yet?" called a voice – it sounded like George's – from outside.

"Just coming now!" called back Teddy, leading the way back into the yard.

The Burrow – 14th July – 21:03pm

"Oh, you won't believe what happened earlier," Teddy muttered to Victoire. He'd followed her into the kitchen with some used plates, whilst the adults lolled about lazily in the warm July night, contentedly full and keeping half an eye on their children.

"What?" she murmured back.

"Percy was asking me whether we were going out or not," he said. Victoire looked at him in horror.

"What did you say?" she asked.

"No, of course," he replied. "He seemed to buy it, which I guess is a good thing."

"Mm-hmm," Victoire replied. "God. Urgh. How embarrassing, if Uncle Percy was to find out. God. He doesn't suspect anything, you say?"

"Nah, it's all OK," Teddy reassured her. "We don't have to face the whole Weasley contingent finding out and going completely over the top."

"Thank the Lord," Victoire replied, slipping back outside to pick up some more plates.

Percy & Audrey Weasley's house – 14th July – 22:37pm

"Molly?" Percy Weasley knocked on his sixteen year old daughter's bedroom door. She opened it, and he smiled at her. "Your mother asked me to give you this," he said, handing her a pile of washing.

"Thanks Dad," she said.

He turned to go, then hesitated. "Um, Molly," he began.

"Yeah, Dad?" she asked.

"You wouldn't happen to know if . . . that is, I don't suppose you would know about . . . what I mean is . . . Teddy and Victoire . . . are they together? I asked Ted earlier, but he was very insistent that there was nothing going on . . . and I suppose I must have been reading these things wrongly, but I could have sworn that they were . . . well, an item, you could say . . ."

Molly's first reaction was to snort loudly and ask her father what planet he had been living on that he'd managed to miss that, because the pair of them were being so obvious it was almost painful to watch about their "secret" love affair (and it was pretty obvious if even her father had worked out what was going on between them . . .).

But she remembered that neither Ted nor Vic had told her Dad about her secret(ish) relationship with Evan Wood (she was going to tell her father, really she was. She'd just pick a time when she knew she might not have his full attention. When he was asleep, for instance), and she guessed she sort of owed them both for that one.

So she just blinked at her father with her most innocent face on and assured him that he must have been reading too much into these things, because as far as she was aware, they were only friends, nothing more, and she did know both of them quiet well, so really, she was quite likely to know what was going on, and in the end he agreed that he was going over the top with his analysis of their behaviour, and perhaps he would go and speak to Lucy about that T Shirt she'd been wearing . . .

But yeah, Molly wrote later, recounting the events in a letter to Evan, if even my Dad's worked it out for Merlin's sake, then they've got a snowball's chance in hell of keeping this quiet . . .