Chapter 4- Sickly green and silver

Sorry this has been such a long time in coming. I had to combine both the first version and the second version that I did of this chapter- forgetting that's I'd already written it. Trouble is, I liked both versions : p so I tried to use as much as possible of both, tell me if you think it doesn't work. Phew, I was up till ten to one typing this, please review and let me know what you think : )

The full moon was beautiful, like a light bulb encased in a velvet sky but Teddy hated it. On the night of the full moon his hair went silver and there was nothing he could do to change it back.

It was like a torment really. Silver, the colour of the metal that he couldn't touch. And if he was really lucky his silver hair would be tinged with green- the colour of sickness.

Teddy was lying in the hospital wing feeling frustrated. It was the last day of school before the summer holidays and he should have been out in the sunshine celebrating with his friends, but instead he was stuck here. It wasn't as if there was even anything wrong with him any more, Madame Pomfrey had mended his broken bones immediately but was keeping him in for observation; she seemed to think that the approaching full moon was the reason for his clumsiness. It wasn't that, he was a good flier, he had had just started daydreaming about a certain sixth year and hadn't seen the Whomping Willow. Unfortunately it had "seen" him. And unlike his godfather, Teddy's broom had been fine; it was him who got pummelled. It had hurt at the time of course, it had hurt a lot. And it had been nice having Andromeda and Harry come to visit him, but now, being in here was just so…frustrating. He could sympathise with his father, except hell, his dad had had a transformation to go through each month, there was a reason for him being in the hospital wing. Teddy felt like such a fake, he wasn't even on the werewolf register; he just got a bit dizzy and nauseated sometimes.

Teddy was dragged out of his thoughts by a timid knock on one of the bed posts- he had closed the curtains so that he could sulk in peace.

"Come in." Who would bother knocking?

"Hey Teddy." It was Victoire.

"Hey!" he propped himself up on his elbows and smiled at her.

"I thought you might like some company." She was right as usual. Not that he didn't have other people who had come to visit him; apart from floods of Potters and Weasleys his friends Dill and Jonny had come and played exploding snap with him. They were, in fact, the only other two boys in Gryffindor- not many people had chosen to have babies during the war; the real baby boom had come afterwards.

"It's nice of you to come but Victoire, it's past curfew," he hissed.

"I know, I just wanted to see if you were alright, someone said you'd fallen off your broom," she whispered back, sitting down on the edge of the bed and casting a silencing charm on the door of Madame Pomfrey's office.

"I'm fine," he grumbled. "It's not like the Whomping Willow broke any bones that Pomfrey couldn't fix. I don't see why she has to keep me here overnight. It's my last night at Hogwarts and I'm stuck in the bloody hospital wing."

"I know it must be annoying but she's doing it for your sake, it's the full moon tonight isn't it?" she asked carefully.

"Yeah," he sighed, "Madame Pomfrey seems to think that's the reason I didn't look where I was flying."

"Well…isn't it?" she raised her eyebrows expectantly.

"No, it isn't. I was thinking about y-something," he bit his lip and hoped that he wasn't blushing too obviously, but from the way Victoire's lips twitched it seemed she hadn't been fooled by his quick cover-up. "Anyway. Yeah, the stupid moon's the reason I'm in here and why my hair is this disgusting colour," he said, trying to change the subject. He didn't expect Victoire's hand to reach out and stroke his hair and found him self unconsciously leaning into her touch. It seemed the pull fot eh full moon was affecting him after all- he was feeling strangely light-headed.

"Teddy?"

"Hmm?" She was still fingering his hair, twirling the strands around her fingers.

"What happens to your hair when you cut it off, does it stay the same colour or does it change like the rest?" Teddy blinked, taken-aback.

"I really don't know, I've never had my hair cut, I just chose what length I want it to be. Do you want to try cutting it and find out?

"No it's okay, I was just wondering out loud," she said quickly.

"Go on. It's fine, I can grow it back remember?" he grabbed his wand and summoned a pair of scissors that were lying on a shelf across the room, momentarily forgetting that he hadn't done the protective charm. He remembered soon enough, however when the silver burnt into his skin and he dropped the scissors with a howl of pain. Victoire took his palm in hers and pointed her wand at it, murmuring a spell under her breath. There was a cooling sensation and Teddy flexed his fingers, amazed to find that the action didn't hurt at all. "Where did you learn to do that?" he asked her, impressed.

"Oh, Mum taught me, she's good at healing spells." She twirled the wand baton-like between her fingers. "Dad doesn't like silver," she mentioned casually, "Says he can feel heat coming off it, it doesn't burn him though."

"Oh yeah, I forgot your Dad was bitten, I should talk to him sometime, haven't seen him in ages."

"You should come round in the holidays," she smiled, "Do you like rare meat?"

"Yeah, I do. It's kinda hard to come by at school, it's rarely served at dinner." She laughed at his bad joke.

"Now, back to your hair," she picked up the scissors, "I'll use these, since you went to the trouble of getting them, but you know, you could have just used a severing charm," she teased. Teddy flushed and his hair flushed pink for a second before reverting back to silvery green. "No, you have to wait until after I've cut it to change the colour," she told him, pretending to be stern. She pulled his head towards her and cut a piece of hair from the top of it, careful not to touch his skin with the scissors. "There." She banished the scissors back to their shelf and held up the hair for his inspection. "Now change your hair colour and see if this does as well." He nodded and screwed his face up in concentration but nothing happened.

"It's hard to control it around the full moon," he told her glumly, wishing that he didn't have to disappoint her.

"I'll have to help you then."

"How?" She moved forward, a strange glint in her eyes.

"I'm sure I can find a way." And then her lips were on his and Teddy could see fireworks going off behind his closed eyelids. "Teddy, look!" She had pulled back and he reluctantly opened his eyes and looked towards where she was pointing. Then he smiled, the hair in her hand was electric bluey-green, the some colour as the hair on his head has turned. He pulled her in for another kiss.

"Victoire?" This time it was he who broke away. "Do you want to, um go somewhere this weekend?"

"I'd love to Teddy," she beamed at him. "Who are you staying with, your gran or uncle Harry?"

"Um, I'll be at Harry's, why?"

"I need to know where to pick you up from, don't I?" Teddy stared at her, perplexed.

"But…I should be the one picking you up!"

"No you shouldn't. One, that's sexist and old-fashioned; two, our house, nice though it is, is in the middle of nowhere; and three, do you really want to be interrogated by my Dad?" Teddy shook his head, defeated; he knew how protective the Weasley men were of their daughters.

"Fine. You pick me up. What about two o'clock on Saturday, we could go for a coffee."

"Sounds good. But you do know that I don't drink coffee?"

"Neither do I." They both laughed. "And I'm afraid we won't be going to Masdame Pudifoot's either, although I know how much you love it," he teased- Victoire, while feminine was not a frilly sort of person and would have probably thrown something at anyone who had attempted to take her there; while she was only an eighth vela, she had a fiery temper. She stuck her tongue out at him and got up to leave. He pulled her back down and kissed her again.

"Teddy, I really do need to leave, it's past curfew," she protested, half exasperated, half amused.

"Okay." He released her and she stood up again, bending to kiss him lightly on the forehead. Looking down she realised she was still clutching the lock of hair.

"What do you want me to do with this?"

"Oh chuck it, I don't need it anymore." She made a noise of agreement, but as she left the hospital wing she opened the locket she had got for her last birthday and tucked the hair inside, so that it hung over her heart. Often in the coming school year she would get it out and look at it when she was alone, it made her feel closer to teddy somehow; but she never saw it go that bright bluey-green again, his hair only went that colour when he was with her.

I worked out that since Fleur's "grandmuzzer" was veela, her mother must be a halfie, fleur must be a quarter and Victoire must be an eighth. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Does anyone know why the website repeats the first line or puts stuff in that you previosly deleted? I find this very annoying as I have to edit all my stories before posting.

Do you think I should uses capitals for "mum" and "dad" in the context of my story, I couldn't decide if it was too formal or not, I know you don't always have to.