Monday December 14th
Hogwarts, a corridor
11:33 am
- - -
Victoire is crying in the corridor. Usually she doesn't cry, let alone cry in a public place. But it's Monday morning, four days before the end of term and Victoire just caught her boyfrie –no, make that ex boyfriend- snogging Cecilia Wanterbooks behind a coat of armor on the second floor. And it hurts.
"Just ignore him Vic," says Lorie Simpson, one of Victoire's best friends as she hands her a handkerchief to wipe her tears. "He's not worth it."
"Yeah," echoes her other bestie, Amy Anderson as she throws a comforting arm around Victoire's shoulders and hugs her briefly. "Finn's a prat. A huge, giant, cheating prat. And you're better off without him," she ends with a nod.
Victoire wipes her eyes and tries to smile at Amy and Lorie but she can't. She knows her friends are telling the truth, she knows that Finn is a prat, and she knows that he's a liar. But that's not stopping the dark hole that's currently residing in her heart from growing and it isn't stopping her tears from falling. Victoire merely raises her head and throws it back against the wall that three girls are sitting against.
She should have known that Finn was lying to her when he said he couldn't walk her to her Charms class because he couldn't be late to Herbology. Even though Herbology class starts fifteen minutes after Charms starts. But of course, it wasn't until Victoire and her friends decided to take the shortcut to Charms that they figured out the real reason Finn couldn't walk her. And that reason answered to the name of one Cecilia Wanterbooks.
The bell rang, signaling the start of lessons and causing both Lorie and Amy to look up in alarm. "It's alright," said Victoire as she attempted to reassure her friends, "You two can go on to Charms, I don't want you to get in trouble because of me."
Her friends start to protest but Victoire waves them off with her hand. "Go," she says, weakly but firmly, "I'll be there in a bit."
Lorie and Amy give her a hug and rise up, promising Victoire that if they didn't have to go to class –but Higgley only allows absences for nothing less then death- they would stay. With a final hug and a flurry of robes, Victoire is left alone in the corridor. Dropping her head to her knees, Victoire wraps her arms around her legs and tries not cry any more then she already has.
She succeeds, until a series of footsteps come down the hall and then stop as they draw near her. "Vic?" comes an astonished voice.
Victoire raises her head and peers blearily through her heartbroken gaze. "Teddy?" she asked in surprise as she takes in the tall, brown haired boy standing in front of her.
Teddy drops to his knees in concern as he takes in her tear stained appearance. "Vicky, what's wrong?" he asks worriedly.
It's her childhood nickname that does her in as she begins to cry, this time harder and more watery then before. She can't even talk, she can't think, she simply shakes her head and looks down at the floor, feeling horribly embarrassed to be caught like this, even by Teddy Lupin, her oldest friend.
Suddenly Victoire feels two arms encircle her slender frame and pull her tight. Victoire turns her head and buries it into Teddy's shoulder, not caring that she's getting snot and tears all over his robes. He large, he's warm, he's Teddy. And as Teddy sooths her awkwardly, his large hands rubbing comforting circles on her back as he attempts to find out why she's crying, Victoire feels herself start to calm down. For some reason, the same reason that she's been ignoring ever since she turned thirteen, Teddy's awkward attempts at comfort sooths her more then Lorie's and Amy's kind words ever could. And as she burrows her face even further into his shoulder, his familiar scent drifting up to her nose, all thoughts of Finn and any other boys fly out of her head.
Because Teddy is here.
Author's Note: I tried to write Victoire without Teddy. I really, really did. But I couldn't. Especially during their Hogwarts years. And no, they are not together, although if you didn't catch my barest hinting of them, especially in that last paragraph, then I didn't do my job today. Ouch. ;)