title: Love/Not Love
triangle: oc/victoire/teddy
author: Julie (theatre-geek17)
for: Roma (justalittle l o o n y)

Victoire loved Teddy. She knew she loved him. She'd loved him since her fifth year at Hogwarts. He was the perfect guy for her. He was sweet and caring and fun to be with. He was the perfect guy. But then again, Caroline wasn't a guy. Teddy was the perfect guy but Caroline, Caroline was the perfect girl. She was tall and fair and curvy in every place a girl was meant to be. She was the rival of every pretty girl at Hogwarts and the object of every boy's lustful thoughts. She was in Ravenclaw, which automatically had her labelled as intelligent but she didn't gloat about it to the rest of the world like some of those in her house. She was kind to most all people though she'd been rumored to snap at people if you got on her wrong side. Victoire didn't think it was possible for a girl like her to have a wrong side.

But she loved Teddy. She had to love Teddy. That was all her family had talked about since they'd started dating two years earlier. It was always "Oh, you and Teddy are such a beautiful couple" and "It'll be so nice to finally have Teddy as a true member of the family" and "We just know those two will get married someday". It was just what everyone expected of them. Because that was how her Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione were and how her Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry were and how Grandpa Arthur and Grandma Molly were. In the Weasley household, it was almost expected that school sweethearts got married. And she loved Teddy so she should be fine with that. She was fine with that. She thought she was fine with that.

Until she met Caroline.

It was seventh year and they were in their NEWTs potions class. There weren't many of them in there. Maybe a dozen at the most. There was only one class for the lot of them but that was because Professor Carrow was very strict about who she let into her advanced potions class. Her and Caroline had been partnered together and they were both fine with that. Both were hard workers and knew what they needed to do to perform well in the class. It wasn't that she hadn't known Caroline before that class. They'd been going to school together for over six years now and had classes together in the past. But then she'd always just been the smart and pretty Claw girl in the sea of students in their classes. She'd seen the raven haired girl countless times in the castle and on the rare visit to the Ravenclaw common room to see her brother or cousins. She'd never given her much thought.

But then Advanced Potions came.

Something she'd learned in the past about Potions was that you had to get used to being in close proximity with whomever you were paired with. You needed to be able to see what was being placed in the cauldron and make sure everything was being done properly. She'd expected them to bump each other and to touch at some point whether it was by accident or to pass ingredients. She hadn't expected to feel anything when the other girl's hand brushed against hers.

But she did.

Victoire loved Teddy. She was sure of it. And he loved her. And she knew that because ever since he'd graduated he'd come up to see her when they had their weekend trips to Hogsmeade. He would meet up with her and give her that sweet kiss that made her feel special and hand her some kind of exotic flower that he'd thought she'd like. She had whole collection of flowers, dried out and saved from all the times he'd given her one. He'd take her somewhere, whether it was the Three Broomsticks or Honeyduke's or - Merlin forbid - Madam Pudifoot's. (She wasn't sure why he thought she liked that ridiculous tea shop but he did and she didn't have the heart to tell him she hated the place.) They would spend the entire day together, usually meeting up with her siblings or cousins at one point for a bit of a family thing. It was always lovely because she loved Teddy, she knew it.

But sometimes she wondered if Teddy might love her more than she loved him. She started thinking about it more and more. Teddy would look at her with that expression of complete love and his eyes and sometimes she wondered if she mirrored the expression when she was with him. She was sure she had a one point but now she started to wonder. She loved him but did she truly love him with that same passion he seemed to have. She wondered. She never brought him gifts or showered him with compliments the way he did with her. You were supposed to do those kinds of things for the people you loved, right?

She complimented Caroline a few days before her first Hogsmeade trip that year. She wasn't sure why she complimented the girl but she did. It had just slipped out during Potions one day. She glanced over at the brunette stirring their current concoction and quietly said, "I really like your headband. It matches your eyes."

Those blue eyes glanced over at her, never stopping with the stirring. She looked at the eldest Weasley girl for a moment with curiosity before a small smile graced her mouth. "Thanks. Your hair looks lovely today."

Victoire simply returned the smile before going back cutting ingredients with a bright flush on her face.

Victoire thought she loved Teddy. She'd thought that for over two years. Two years she hadn't looked at other boys, thought of other boys, or flirted with other boys. But after just a few months of class with a girl she'd never even given two thoughts of before, she wasn't so sure about anything. Caroline made her question anything she'd thought before about love. Her entire life she thought she'd fall in love with a boy and marry him and have three or four kids like her mum. But now- Now, she wasn't sure that was right for her. For a few months now, she and Caroline had been brushing next to each other, exchanging whispered compliments, and, Victoire was almost certain, flirting. She wasn't entirely sure if all of this was really happening or if it was just all in her head but part of her hoped she wasn't imagining those little moments that she replayed and analyzed when she couldn't sleep. And when she did sleep, it wasn't a lanky metamorphmagus she saw. It was a raven haired girl.

That had honestly terrified her, the first time she woke after a dream involving her Potions partner. She'd almost skipped class that day to avoid the other girl but then she realized it would be worse if she didn't see Caroline. So she'd gone to class and every single time that their bare arms brushed against one another she felt this jolt of electricity rushing through her veins. It practically drove her mad. She wore her sleeves down from then on out.

It wasn't until Halloween that she truly realized that she didn't think she loved Teddy any longer. Custom had it that the seventh years would have a Halloween party in the Room of Requirement. It was always good, crazy, fun; a night where they could all just be silly teenagers. And that's what they were. Butterbeer was always conjured up at the start but as the night wore on someone would manage to get something stronger. By midnight, a bottle of Firewhiskey had made it's way around the room and about half the crowd was tipsy. Victoire was part of that crowd. In fact, she was a bit beyond tipsy. She went off in search of Caroline and found the raven haired girl talking with some Hufflepuff boy. Actually, it was more him talking at her. The blonde couldn't resist pulling her classmate to the dancefloor. She held the girl's hands in hers and started moving to the loud music being played. They danced and danced and danced. Boys tried to cut in but they always refused, giggling and swaying to the music. After a bit, a slow song filled the room and, while other couples just moved closer to one another, Victoire took a hesitant step back. But Caroline just grabbed the blonde girl's arm and pulled her close for the slow dance. She was completely stiff as she felt the brunette girl's arms wrap around her shoulders and she awkwardly placed her hands on her hips. Then, they danced. Something kept pulling them closer and closer until Victoire could practically feel the other girl's warm breath on her cheek. Her green eyes glanced slightly up to meet the blue ones and that electricity was back in her blood. It might've been how close they were, it might've been the alcohol; she wasn't sure which but all she did know was that she was leaning forward and speaking into the girl's ear. "I really, really like you, Caroline."

"I like you too, Vic," she replied with a smile. And that was all Victoire needed to hear. With a boldness she didn't know she possessed, she pressed her lips to the other girl's and kissed her the way she knew she should only kiss Teddy. Except this was nothing like kissing Teddy. This was her heaven. The feel of the girl's soft mouth, the taste of that strawberry lip balm she always wore, the smooth skin under her hands - it was perfection. Her hands cupped Caroline's face and smiling as she felt the other girl's hands on her shoulders. She was kissing her back and Victoire was in ecstasy. Then, as quick as it had begun, it ended.

Caroline's hands pushed her back and she looked at her with wide eyes. She stepped back from the blonde girl and just barely whispered, "I'm sorry. I can't." And then, she was gone.

Victoire was pretty sure that she no longer believed in love. Ever since Halloween, she felt this dull, emptiness inside of her. The first time she had Potions after the incident at the party, Professor Carrow informed her that she and Caroline would no longer be partners. The raven haired girl didn't give her so much as a glance as they began working with their new partners. After that class, the blonde went up to her dormitory and curled up on her bed, crying herself to sleep. Her roommates all asked the next morning what was wrong and if something had happened with her and Teddy. She pretended not hear them, burrowing under her blankets and blocking out the world. That was the first time she'd ever skipped a class. The day after that she owled Teddy, ended things with him. She didn't want to have him doting on her anymore. It wasn't fair to him. She didn't love him. Her mum owled her the day after that asking what was wrong. She didn't have the nerve to tell her about Caroline.

The school year continued in dull colors for her. She didn't go out with her friends really, she didn't flirt with boys, she didn't focus on much other than her studies. By the time the term ended, she was practically at the top of her class. And when graduation came, she gave the raven haired girl one last look of longing before boarding the boats and never seeing her again. Her life moved on but those potions classes would always be in her mind.

a/n: please don't favorite/alert without reviewing, thanks.