Title: false pretences
Pairing: Molly/Teddy
Author: Vicky (incandescent dreams)
For: Chi (paperbacks)
Molly Weasley the second has always believed in fairytales. She's always longed for the type of romance in Muggle novels, the romance that has your heart racing whenever you even think of the other person. It's an ideal that she would love to be able to act out, an ideal that, if she could achieve, it would be the most magical way to show what magic is to the world.
She dreams of flowers and stars, imagines what it would be like to marry the one you truly love; there's no doubt in her mind that there's someone out there for everyone who is perfect for them, yet it just takes a little while to look first to find that special someone, sometimes.
Not for her, though. Ever since she turned six, she's loved Teddy Lupin with all her heart, had him fill the role of the Prince in her dolls' lives. She's never played with the Princess and the Prince; it's always been Molly and Teddy, always been her playing with the figures of her own fate.
Life is a fairytale and she's always wanted to be privy to the real happy ending between them; the stars shine high in the sky and the beauty she sees in everything she sees proves to her that there is perfection everywhere, therefore it feeds her logic that everyone has that special someone. She wants to know how the story will end, rather than her perfect, idealist world with her dolls, the memories of those days staying with her now. All she wants is to be able to replace those fantasies with real memories, with the knowledge that she's got everything she's ever wanted.
Just when life throws spanners in the works, that's when it gets hard to make the fairytale play out.
"Teddy?" Molly's voice is almost inaudible even three metres away from the two figures. She's been searching for Teddy for hours, ever since she found out about his break up with Sharman McDonald through Aunt Ginny mentioning it to her Mum when they were all at the monthly Weasley girl get together. The girl had not only publicly broke up with him, Molly discovered, but she confessed that she'd cheated on him for the majority of their five year relationship.
Still, as soon as she heard that he'd been hurt, she had to go find him; he may be five years older than herself, yet she's always wanted to look after him if he needs help. Not just Teddy is she like this with; it's in her nature, hence her career choice into Healing, but there's no doubting just how focused she is on Teddy now.
She's finally tracked him down in the Hog's Head, the last place she thought he'd be, since this is where Sharman and he first got together. Then again, she thinks as she smells his breath as he turns towards her, he's so inebriated he most likely doesn't have a clue where he is.
"Mol-Molly," she can only feel proud that he remembers who she is, that her blonde hair is recognisable to him even when he's drunker than he ever has been before. "What are you doing here?" he drawls, his eyes bloodshot and his face slumped as though he's lost control of all facial expressions.
"Coming to find you, Teddy," she whispers as she puts her hand on his shoulder, fearful that he could suddenly tip forwards and onto the floor. "You should have known that I wouldn't ever let you be alone and hurt," she continues, trying to keep her voice devoid of emotion; he's never known that she loves him, never been aware of the fact that she's harboured a secret desire to be with him for almost three quarters of her life. Well, not so secret if you ask James or Scorpius, but that's a different story, and Teddy always has seemed so obtuse to any hints about it.
He shakes his head, not bothering to speak, but then his hand tightens on the glass of Firewhiskey in front of him. As his head turns slightly, the light change causes Molly to be able to see the glistening tear tracks down his face, remnants of the pain that's ripping him apart inside. Whilst her brain processes what this means, her body is a step ahead, her heart feeling as though it is being shredded into pieces so small, they're never going to be seen again. The sight of the hurt he's feeling is what gets to her more than the theory that he is pained…and it's something she can't describe, something she's never had any experience in. Because how many couples has she known to break up?
Rose and Scorpius have never broken up; Victoire and Rick O'Donnel are engaged, so she doubts that they're splitting up; Lucy and Lysander are together – and even though they're two of the most volatile people Molly has ever known, Lily and Lorcan have never officially broken up.
This is the first break up she's ever seen – because, of course, she has never dated anyone, has she? She's always longed for Teddy, so she saw no point in wasting her life with other boys who could distract her from her end fairytale.
"Come on," she refocuses on Teddy, who looks even worse by the second, if this could be possible, and somehow manages to wrap him around her. Keeping him there with some hastily uttered spells, she clears his bar tab and walks with him very slowly out of the pub, trying desperately not to drop him.
"Why?" he's muttering over and over again, his voice getting louder each time he utters the question word. She stumbles on a rock just outside the pub doorway and trips, sending Teddy tumbling to the ground in a drunken heap. He doesn't bother to try and right himself – though she doubts he would manage, since he's this inebriated – and merely remains on the concrete, allowing the tears to spill freely down his cheeks once again.
"Why did she do this?" he wails, sounding the most desperate that Molly has ever heard him. part of her is wondering if she's done the right thing, taking him home with her to talk through everything, when he's evidently so past coherency.
But she doesn't want to leave him here; that would hurt more than taking him home and listening to just how much he loves Sharman, when she, Molly, loves him more than he could ever imagine. So, with a sigh, she leans over and hoists him to his feet, struggling with his weight but not caring.
You see, this is Teddy, Teddy Lupin, the one she loves – and she'd do anything for him.
Absolutely anything.
She Apparates directly into her flat, right near to the sofa so she can roll him off of her and onto the slippery leather material, before looking around; the place is a mess! She's never let the flat get this messy before, but she doesn't really care because Teddy is here, and things like this are inconsequential when he is around, right?
Teddy is groaning into the pillow where he fell, his head buried in the material, his heartache plain for her to see. She's never experienced losing someone you've dated, obviously, but the last however many years of her life have all sort of been like this; waiting, just waiting for him to realise that they're perfect for one another.
As yet, he hasn't.
Not sure what to do in her own flat (does she stay and try and get him to talk now, or wait until he's sober?), she decides to go and put the kettle on to make them both a cup of tea, if Teddy will drink it. It's almost like having a child, she thinks randomly as she pulls the mugs out of the cupboard; she'd love a child just like this, probably, but it's just the man she wants to have the children with.
"Teddy, are you ok?" her voice is slightly higher than normal as she calls through to the living room after hearing a crash of some sorts from in there. There's no answer, just a muffled grunt sound, so she continues, "Do you want any tea, honey? I've just put the kettle on."
Again, there's no reply, so she rolls her eyes and turns back to the kettle, wondering for a moment why she's doing this when he's going to be an uncooperative bugger…but then, she turns around to find Teddy standing there, mere metres from her back.
There's something in his eyes that confuses her; it's almost like lust, a powerful love for someone so strong that they're obsessed, and his lips are curling into a smile that she doesn't recognise. Even before she broke up with him, there had never been this radiance in his most sincerest smiles when he looked at her – it's an abstract idea of a perfect smile, setting a whole new criteria for a smile to be based on now.
"Sharman," he says the name of his ex girlfriend as he walks closer to Molly, somehow having made the mistake of confusing her for his ex. His smile is so bright; she's absolutely entranced by it, unable to look away for fear of forgetting just how radiant he is…not that she could, of course, because his face is so ingrained in her mind – but that's by the by.
"Teddy, I'm not-" she begins to protest that she's not Sharman, that she's Molly and she's trying to look after him. Well, she doesn't get very far; his lips are crashing down onto hers before she can say another word, his arms around her back, pulling her closer to him.
And then, she finds herself paralysed; she's unable to stop her body finally getting what it's always wanted – Teddy. Her brain becomes disconnected to the fact that he thinks she's Sharman and merely concentrates on how Teddy Lupin is here at last, kissing her because he loves her.
(It's not the truth but she's tricked herself to believe it already.)
Even though she's still relatively in control of her thoughts, her body is like jelly and falls into Teddy's without hesitation; she kisses him back and can taste his taste on her tongue, feel with an extreme intensity each part of her body that is on his, imagine everything that could happen…
He doesn't say a word, merely kisses her with more passion than she could ever have realised he could have for Sharman, yet she can pretend that it's for her, right? Even if she can't, she does, and when he tugs her body towards her bedroom, she doesn't resist, doesn't consider that he's forgotten who she is – because he's Teddy Lupin and she loves him…and she's finally getting what she wanted.
He lies her down on the bed, beginning to rip her clothes off, and she doesn't resist, doesn't tell him that she's not Sharman. Everything seems so perfect, she's trying with all her might not to think of that, because it would ruin everything. And she can't have that, can't allow herself to rid herself of this happiness, as it's just making everything so perfect.
His lips nibble over her neck; his hands roam all over her body, not bothering about being hesitant as he's inebriated and still thinks that Molly is Sharman, someone he's slept with loads of times.
There's the stench of Firewhiskey coming from him, but Molly doesn't care because she's training herself to like it as well, just because Teddy does – and this is just another training session. So she just kisses him back and moves as she thinks she should, because this is her first time and it's just magical.
Even though he's drunk and thinks she's Sharman.
She wakes up before he does in the morning and just revels in the brilliance of the day, the memories of the night lingering in her mind…but then she remembers what she's tried to forget.
That he was with Sharman last night, not Molly, and that's something she needs to never forget.
But she can't help herself. All she can think of how magical his touch was on her bare skin, how nothing seems to matter as much as it did before since she got Teddy – even under false pretences, but that's not the point, is it?
Deciding not to let him know what they did – because he thought she was Sharman, remember? – she gets up and dresses silently, casting a spell to redress him as well; she can just pretend she had to put him in her bed due to how drunk he was, right? It's not like it's that much of a lie, as she did do that…just with some other stuff as well.
She's made pancakes in the kitchen by the time he comes through, bleary eyed and confused, though she presumes he has a smashing headache.
"Did I...did I stay here last night?" he mutters as he sits down next to Molly at her table without a word of greeting. His tone seems slightly confused, as though he's trying to piece together fragments of recollections from the night before that don't make any sense.
"Uh…yes, you did," she hesitates for a second before talking. "You were pissed out your tree, so I thought it was safer that you stayed here, incase you died or something."
He nods thoughtfully, then winces as the movement is too much for his drink addled body. "I didn't see Sharman? I thought I-never mind, thanks, Moll, you're too good to me," he takes a bite out of the food on the plate in front of him as he talks, his brows furrowed slightly.
She takes a long, slow sip of her orange juice, just wanting to tell him what they did; but she doesn't dare. The slumping of his shoulders as he evidently remembers that he doesn't have Sharman in his life anymore tells her more than anything that he's still madly in love with his ex and that he'll basically do anything to think that she's still with him.
"Thanks, Moll, I'll see you later," he mumbles as he stands up and strides towards the door without another word. The suddenness of his departure stuns her into silence, and by the time she can open her mouth, the front door to her flat is already slamming shut, and she can soon hear the telltale crack of his Disapparating from the building.
Her head in her hands, she wonders what's happened, and if it will ever happen again. But she knows that if she has the opportunity to do that again, she'll do it – and damn the consequences.
That night, she has to go find him again. And she takes him back to her flat.
And she sleeps with him again.
The next morning, she carries out the same ritual as the day before, right down to the layout of the pancakes on his plate – and he's the exact same as before.
"Did I see Sharman last night?" he asks her again this morning, probably recollecting how he was kissing Molly's neck and muttering Sharman over and over again.
"Nope, I think she's out of the country," Molly lies without hesitating this time, knowing for a fact that Sharman is in London, since she works in the same department as her. "You should get over her, Teddy; she's moved on, so you deserve the same freedom."
He shoots her the coldest, dirtiest look he has ever given her, capable of freezing her heart in a matter of seconds – it could splinter into a million pieces if he says that he loves Sharman no matter what, so she shuts her ears.
But he doesn't say anything; like yesterday, he shoves his chair back and stalks out of the door without another word, Disapparating with a crack that is the thing which melts Molly's heart.
She's getting too deep into this fake, fantasy world…but she can't help herself.
That night, she finds him smashed again and takes him home…where it's like déjà vu.
And the same for the night after, though by now she's learnt not to mention Sharman's name in the morning.
And the night after that.
And the one after that.
She carries on with this for over two weeks, each night taking Teddy home entirely drunk and him mistaking her for Sharman; they do look alike, Molly thinks, as she looks in the mirror after Teddy has gone. They both have the same honey blonde hair, the same face shape and even a similar height: but Sharman is selfish, nasty and controlling, whereas all Molly wants is for her fairytale to come true, for her to marry her Prince Charming and live happily ever after.
Then one night, she goes to the Hog's Head to find Teddy. He's never anywhere else; he works just down the road in Hogsmeade and it's better to go get smashed in the Hog's Head than it is to do it in the Three Broomsticks. Anyway, Sharman hates the Hog's Head, so he's never going to accidentally bump into her.
But he isn't in here.
"Hello?" she addresses the barman in confusion, having spoken to him every night for weeks now, to settle Teddy's outstanding bar tab. "Uh, you know Teddy Lupin? Have you seen him recently?"
The man looks at her with piercing blue eyes, eyes which seem ageless in comparison to his withered face, and nods slowly. "Yeah, he was in here right at the time he always comes in – like clockwork. But then the lass whose name he's always muttering – Shamrock or something – came in."
All Molly's heart can do is sink; it's too desolate to even shatter into a thousand pieces.
The shattering is the job of her fairytale's ending, anyway.
"You mean Sharman," is all she can say, correcting the barman's misnaming of the girl who Teddy evidently adores.
"Whatever," the barman rolls his eyes. "Anyway, she came in and seemed sad about something. She said that she'd made a mistake splitting up with him and wanted him back. So he took her back and they left together. That's it, kid, so you're off babysitting duty tonight." With this, he turns away and ignores the desolate girl before him, the one sinking onto the barstool that was always Teddy's.
"I'll have a Firewhiskey shot, thanks," she calls over to the barman. "On second thoughts, make it a double."
She drinks and drinks that night, trying desperately to forget that Teddy and Sharman are together, probably doing what she and Teddy were doing merely last night. She tries to drink to get rid of the pain, but it just intensifies with each sip of disgusting spirit.
Part of her hopes that someone will come for her; the rest of her knows that Teddy will come for her, that he'll know that she's hurt and he'll rescue her from her curse.
Nobody comes.
Please review, and please don't favourite without reviewing! NGF members, remember that you get points every time you review, if that's any incentive )