Hey there. Sorry this took so long. I had a lot to cover and schoolwork to do. Blech. I tried to portray Dominique and Teddy relationship without going too in depth and clogging it with stupid, boring details. I feel the lesser detail makes it more emotional.
The song for the chapter is "This Love (Will Be Your Downfall)," by Ellie Goulding. I love her oh-so much and she needs to write the sound track to my life.
Anyways, I really hope this meets your expectations!
Thank you so, so much for the wonderful reviews. I fucking loved them. You're all amazing. Dominique/Teddy is amazing.
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Who are we to be emotional?
Who are we to play with hearts and throw away it all?
...
It's not a conscious decision. She doesn't completely resister it even. But one day, she decides to stop pining and wishing and wanting.
It just isn't healthy. For her heart, her head, her soul. And she so tired of coming in last place, so she puts herself first for once.
She's not ready, she doubts she ever really be. But it's time.
Time to move on.
...
Oh, who are we to turn each other's heads?
Who are we to find ourselves in other people's beds?
...
But that boy - Teddy - with his gorgeous kaleidoscope eyes and something more then platonic friendship, is making moving on so hard. They're out of Hogwarts now and it should be easy to avoid him. But she sees him everyday when she goes in for Auror training.
Maybe she's still hopelessly in love with him, just like she's always been. Something never change, do they?
She lets Teddy bitch and moan about her sister, because honestly? It's nice to hear someone else fed up with the one person who's always beating her, always burning down her dreams, always taking what she wants most. Victoire's is pretty and perfect and everything she's not.
It makes her sick sometimes.
And maybe their friendship doesn't quite end at only friendship. It spills over into gray area, uncharted territory. (Just ignore those shades of gray, Dominique.) It's nothing like her friendship with Lorcan. Everything there is black and white. He's her best friend, her rock, her partner in crime. She's never had any heart palpitations and stomach butterflies around him. Nothing was ever this messy, this confusing.
It's not like Teddy. They laugh too hard about nothing, their looks linger too long, they act too much like they're in love.
Because according everyone else they're not.
...
Oh, I don't like the way I never listen to myself,
I feel like I'm on fire, I'm too shy to cry for help.
...
One time, they're at a party together. She's buzzed and he's drunk. Victoire's too busy keep up images and securing people's places under her thumb, chatting with ministry officials, to notice her boyfriend and her little sister are missing.
They sit in the elevator, together.
"She's impossible, y'know? Always talking about how we need to make appearances and 'get ahead'. It's ridiculous, Dom. I mean I like her and all..." That sentences sounds weak and forced. Or maybe it's just her over-active imagination. "But sometimes... I feel like Vic only is dating me because it looks good and everyone expects us to. It's like she's using me... I've thought about dumping her. I want to."
"Teddy. You're so drunk right now. It-it's just the alcohol talking." She ignores the hope and buoyancy his words fill her with.
"I'm not drunk enough to not know what I'm doing." Teddy says, a very sober look on his face. His eyes are her favorite shade of brown and his hair is turquoise.
"What are you doing?" She whispers, as the proximity between their faces - their lips - get smaller and smaller. But he never answers her question.
He just kisses her.
It's everything she ever imagined... and more.
...
Oh, I don't think I know me much at all.
...
He never mentions the kiss. He was drunk, so she never mentions it either.
It was just a beautiful accident.
...
This love is be and end all,
This love will be your downfall.
...
Victoire figures it out. She's smarter than everyone gives her credit for. And much more cut-throat and manipulative.
She eventually notices the way she looks at Teddy.
She just standing there talking and laughing with him, not at all suspicious. Or something like that. So, her intent isn't completely innocent - she's in love with her sister's boyfriend. That's not sweet and innocent.
"- and she was like, 'Oh, no you didn't!' and I was all like 'Oh, yes I did!'. Crazy lady..." Teddy trails off as soon as Victoire walks up and inserts herself into their conversation.
"Hi, you two!" She beams a dazzling smile, but her eyes are icy cold, "What are we talking about?"
"I'm just telling Dom a story about my supervisor." Teddy says, shortly, his face expressionless.
"Yeah," She almost winces at Victoire's scathing look when he tucks a strand of thick strawberry blond hair behind her ear. Her sister is like a child who had her toys taken away, jealousy flashing across her face.
"Teddy," Her lips from a perfectly pink lip glossy pout, "Why don't you ever tell me about your day? Let's go."
Victoire pushes Teddy ahead of her and turns to her sister, fury contorting her pretty features.
"Don't." So much rage packed into a single syllable.
"Don't what?" She whispers back, her hazel-green eyes narrowing at her older sister.
"He's mine, Dominique. Let's not forget that."
...
Who are you to make me feel so good?
Who are we to tell ourselves that we're misunderstood?
...
Teddy dumps Victoire two days later.
But she doesn't get her hopes up too high. Just because he broke up with Victoire doesn't mean he wants her, of all people. No one has ever broken up with Victoire for her.
No one has ever broken up with anyone for her. No one's chosen her above any one else before.
See, it's like this. Pretty, perfect, popular girls like Victoire, they've got it all. They get whatever they want. Girls like her? They don't get boys like him.
So, she doesn't get her hopes up.
...
Oh, who am I to say I'm always yours?
Who am I to choose the boy that everyone adores?
...
Silver strapped high heels click as she walks, her green dress swishing. The Ministry Ball is always terribly predictable - the people drunk, the couples snogging, the ass-kissing interns are doing - but she stops caring. She dances with Lorcan, until Teddy comes up, dashing and charming.
"Dominique, you're beautiful. Would you like to dance?"
That's all she's ever wanted to hear from him. Maybe she's just his rebound from Victoire, but she just pushes away the negativity stirring around her brain.
She deserves a little happily-ever-after.
"Go." Lorcan smiles slightly, squeezing her hand quickly before disappearing into the crowd.
So, they dance all night, until she can't feel her feet anymore. Her heart keeps thumping and she might be laughing a little too much. She doesn't mind.
He kisses her again, while he's one hundred percent sober. It means more to her that way.
...
Oh, I don't see a reason why we can't just be apart,
We're falling on each other like we're always in the dark.
...
They go a date. It's awkward at first, because it's weird that he's not Victoire's any more. He opens doors, pulls out chairs - the perfect gentlemen. He's so nervous and bumbling it's sweet. Confident, self-assured Teddy Lupin is trying to impress her. It's odd and different, but different isn't bad.
The Muggle movie they see is cheesy and they laugh in all the wrong places. They throw popcorn at each other, snort out soda from laughing too hard, and talk too loud. It's fun and a little obnoxious and so them.
And she feels more like Dominique than she has in a long, long time.
Teddy asks her if she wants to do this again. It's a rhetorical question.
(They go on many, many more dates.)
It's always magical. Not the wizardry kind, though, it's the kind people go looking forever.
...
This love is be and end all,
This love will be your downfall.
...
They become a couple - inseparable. He becomes a constants fixture in her apartment, always there, always make her feel light and so damn happy.
Her parents don't exactly approve because he was Victoire's Teddy. But Lorcan and her baby brother Louis do, so that's all that matters. She doesn't want to care what anyone else is thinking. She doesn't need their judgment.
In a way, she gets better. She didn't even know she needed to get better. Maybe she just needed to be happier. And she is, with him. He makes her feel so special and beautiful. They're something special and beautiful.
She quits smoking. Doesn't need to with him around. Because he's just as addictive to her as nicotine, only much better.
He fixes her, hold her together like super glue, before she could even figure out what needed to be fixed. And she loves him for that.
...
Who are we to be emotional?
Who are we to play with hearts and throw away it all?
...
"Do you want meet my parent?" She ask, impulsively, as she stacks dishes in the cupboards. "Well, no that's stupid, not meet. You've met them thousands of times. I meant, do you want to go to dinner as my boyfriend?"
There's a sickening hesitation in his eyes. "I don't know..."
"What do you mean? You've met Maman and Daddy before." She says, pretending not to notice his apprehension.
He falters, "It's just that... They've met as Victoire's boyfriend. Not yours. Won't it be weird for everyone?"
"So?" She shrugs, feigning carelessness.
"Are you sure this a good idea, Dominique?" Teddy bites his lip, which would normally be absolutely adorable, but she's too annoyed with him.
She glares at him, "And are you ashamed of me?"
"No!" His turquoise eyebrows shoot up, "I'm not!"
"Really? Because it sure seems like you are." She doesn't want to start a fight, but she's naturally headstrong. This isn't their first argument. They've screamed at each other before. She's a slob, he's quick to judge - they have flaws. But this is different, it much more personal.
"I am not ashamed of you, I promise."
She lets the argument drop.
...
This love will be you dowfall,
This love will be and end all.
...
"You're so gorgeous, baby." Teddy whispers, his nose tip to tip with hers.
She giggles, and presses her lips to his, "Yeah, I am, aren't I?"
Her shrieks of laughter echo across the room, as Teddy playful pulls her down onto the couch.
The funny thing is - frizzy hair, big nose, and all - she believes him.
She is gorgeous.
...
Oh, who are we to turn each other's heads?
Who are we to find ourselves in other people's beds?
...
"You wanna move in?" He pauses, panicked, "I mean only if you want to. You spend so much time over here anyways..."
"I'd love to," She smiles, beaming like sunshine.
They kiss. Happily ever after.
...
This love is be and end all,
This love will be your downfall.
...
She loves this. It's cliche and ridiculous, but she loves it. They're buying furniture for their apartment. Not hers, not his, theirs. They need another chair and one of those Micro-Nuker things, since they both burn everything. Teddy's easier to please, but she's tired of living off of Ramen Noodles and take-out.
"I'm going to marry this chair." She announces. The armchair's plush leather, it reclines all the way back, and she thinks might be in love. If there was some way she could sit here forever, she gladly would. "Just call me Mrs. Dominique This-Is-An-Amazing-Chair."
"You can't marry that chair, Dominique." Teddy informs her, grinning.
"Well, why not?" She asks, an eyebrow quirked.
"Because then you can't marry me."
...
Who are you to make me feel so good?
Who are we to tell ourselves that we're misunderstood?
...
She loves this paradise. Waking up every day in his arms. Eating dinner together, stealing food off each other's plates.
But everything has a expiration date. So do they.
Six months, two weeks, and fourteen days. That's their expiration date.
She feels like she was grasping at the stars, but they always burned her as she clutched them, so she couldn't hold on.
Her perfect everything come crashing down, just like in her heart of hearts she always knew it would.
...
This love is not what you want,
This heart will never be yours,
This love is be and end all.
...
"We both know we can't do this forever." He says as they're laying on couches in her apartment. It's beautiful here. They don't have to be pretend to be the people the have to be or pretend to love the people they have to love.
Why is he ruining this moment?
And she's not sure where this is coming from. He never showed any signs of thinking they couldn't do this forever. He wants them to work out, too. Teddy hasn't show any signs of being reluctant about them. Except for his insistence against meeting her parents formally.
But that was only once...
"Why not?" She whispers, sitting up, "Why can't we be forever, Teddy?"
She wants them to be forever so badly it almost hurts.
"You know why!" He sounds exasperated. "We don't work, Dominique! This wasn't supposed to happen!"
"Why not? We work hell of a lot better then anyone else! Why can't we be happy?" She's screaming now and she knows it. A simple sentence can escalate into a full-blown fight with them. They both have so much heat and fire, it's impossible for them to be docile and agreeable all the time.
(Why would they ever do that?)
"Because it's not that easy!" Teddy yells back. (Where is this coming from, Teddy?)
She stops short. They both know everything would so much easier if she were Victoire. Because she's the one he supposed to love, not her.
"We love each other, right?" Her fingertips gently brush his forearm. He grabs her hands like he trying to console her before he breaks her. "Isn't that enough?"
"I-I don't think it is..." He looks like he can't quite finish. She closes her eyes tightly.
Why can't she breathe? Why can't she breathe?
"Say it." She realizes his eyes are always brown when he looks at her.
"We-we need to stop this. It's not fair to either of us." He chokes out. At least he's having as much trouble with this as she is. "It's- this isn't meant to happen."
"You're coward," Her voice quivers and she really wishes it wouldn't. "Some fucking Gryffindors we are."
She laughs bitterly, because she's not quite sure what she's supposed to do now.
"Dom-" He starts. His hair is shifting, like his thoughts can't stay centered. Like his heart's being pulled in a thousand different directions.
"Don't lie to me, Lupin!" Her voice is unnaturally shrill. But she's so fucking pissed at him right now. He's ruining this. He's one throwing them away. And he knows it, she knows it. He doesn't have to do this. "You can't lie to her, you can lie to everyone else, you can even lie to yourself. But don't lie to me!"
She takes a deep breath, because if she doesn't she going to lose it all over again.
"You're only going back to her because it easy. You don't love her."
She wants to leave, but she'd forgotten how to say goodbye when it comes to him.
"You're right." There's a pause. "I-I'll never love her like I love you. Dom, I... I'm so sorry."
(If he was really sorry he wouldn't be leaving. Not now. Not like this.)
He leans in to kiss her, one last time, but only manages to graze her cheek.
It rains while he leaves. She hates irony of it, the way it matches the tears streaking her pale cheeks. No boy has been worth crying over before.
(Never again...)
...
This love is be and end all,
This love will be your downfall.
This love is be and end all,
This love will be your downfall.
...