Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations all characters find themselves in. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy this latest fanfic.

Getting A Clue

Sitting away at her desk Lucy looked up with a smile on her face, motioning for Louis to come on in and take a seat. When he did so, revealing the fact that there were three triple chocolate brownies in the white box he carried, Lucy groaned and reached out for them. "Gimme. I'll kill or maim whoever you want me to do in. I'll even risk my manicure if you want it to be hands on. Now hand them over before I take them." Getting between her and brownies was never a smart thing to do.

Braving her wrath Louis held the box out of her reach. "I come seeking information."

Uh oh. That could be bad. She might actually have to force him to hand them over depending on what he wanted to know. "What sort of information?"

"What's the name of the girl who broke Teddy's heart?"

"No girl has ever managed that. Now gimme."

"Nice try." Louis shot back in a voice that made it clear he wasn't buying it. "I know there was someone, he basically admitted it. I want to know who she is and you'd definitely know, Lucy. Of all of us you're the one closest to him besides our Potter cousins, and you know they won't spill without his permission." The three of them were seriously devoted to their older 'brother' and would keep his secrets to their dying breaths.

It pleased her that Louis thought she and Teddy were so close, but at the moment that wasn't really a good thing. Obviously her boss had refused to tell her cousin anything, and the blonde tended to be like a dog with a bone when it came to this sort of thing. The man did not take kindly to not having his curiosity appeased, Lucy thought with a sigh, seeing those brownies walk out of her office with cousin very shortly.

"Seriously, Louis, there's no need for you to obsess about this. And I can't really tell you anything either, even if I wanted to. Most of it is just what I guessed, anyway. He doesn't talk to people about his problems, you should know that. It drives everyone crazy." She should know, having been pumped for information by a number of family members over the years regarding Teddy and what was going on in his life. The fact that it was her sister who collected information about people, not her, seemed to escape them.

How true. She'd been subtle about it, but Aunt Ginny had definitely been digging for information about how Teddy was doing and what he was up to when she'd visited the day before. Teddy really needed to learn that there was a big difference between sharing your burdens and burdening someone with said burdens. The idiot didn't want to worry or bother people, but that only made it that much worse!

"But you have some idea who it was, you said as much." Louis persisted, not about to give up easily. "You can at least tell me who you think it was."

"For what purpose?" She countered. "You want to play matchmaker? That won't work."

"You underestimate my matchmaking skills, Cous, and I'll only go that route if she's good enough for him, which she probably isn't since she broke his heart. I just want to know his type really, so that I can find someone who's his type to make him happy."

Oh the irony, Lucy thought as she did her best not to smile since he was so serious. "The person…isn't a bad person, not at all. A bit flighty maybe, but good hearted. Teddy just isn't what that person looks for in a romantic interest. Not remotely." She'd met enough of Louis's exes to know that for certain. None of them had been half the man Teddy was in her opinion.

"What does this twit look for in guys then?"

"Gorgeous, immature boys who like to have a good time and don't think about anything but their present."

Opening his mouth to say some nasty things about the girl's horrible taste in men Louis hesitated, belatedly realizing that that summarized his own taste in men pretty closely. How weird was that? Well, it summarized his old taste in men anyway. He had after all decided that he needed to work harder when it came to finding his next boyfriend. And he had an excuse, in that he was still young and wasn't looking to settle down anytime soon. This girl would have to be close to Teddy's age, she should be more mature in her choices, the flighty moron.

Imagining that Louis was thinking all sorts of nasty thoughts about himself in his head Lucy turned her attention to eyeing the brownies once more, debating with herself as to how she could go about convincing him to hand them over for what little information she had given him.

Seeing where her interest lay Louis relented and handed one of the brownies over before picking up the conversation again. "So will you at least give me a clue as to what he looks for in a girl so that I can help him out there?" The sooner Teddy was off the market the sooner he'd get over this annoying crush he was starting to develop for the other man.

Her eyes betraying a mixture of exasperation and affection Lucy shook her head as she swallowed her first bite of the very delicious brownie her cousin had brought her. "Really good brownie but no, sorry, can't help you there. I know you have no reason to believe me when I say this, but this is one hundred percent true in my opinion. You should not try and match him up with someone. He won't thank you, and in fact it would probably seriously piss him off. He got out of a relationship that ended very badly recently and dating any girl is the last thing on his mind." Not that Ian was a girl, though he'd certainly acted like one from what she'd seen.

Though that rather insulted her gender, Lucy decided thoughtfully. Saying he'd acted like a child was better.

"Assuming that the last relationship wasn't with flighty girl, why did the last one end badly?" He'd definitely gotten the sense the night before that Teddy's heartbreak was an old one.

"Because Teddy's heart belongs to his flighty one and the latest ex wanted it. An ultimatum was given and Teddy broke it off." Or at least that's what she thought had happened. It had been pretty obvious that Ian had been in love with Teddy and she knew for a fact, having overheard her honorary cousin once, that Teddy always made it clear to the men he dated that he wasn't looking for long term and didn't have a heart to give them. But Ian had as much stubborn pride as any man in her family and he'd thought he could win Teddy over in the end. She'd never thought the man was right for Teddy, but she'd still felt sorry for him. Watching her boss over the years she'd had a front row seat as to the pain that came with suffering from a one sided love.

Watching her face Louis got the picture. "He's really that hung up on this flighty one, huh?"

"He really is."

)

Walking up his street Teddy was in no hurry to get home despite the long day he'd had. He knew that Louis had had the day off unfortunately and he had no doubt that the other man was waiting to ambush him as soon as he walked through the door. That he'd brought this on himself by giving the blonde just enough to chew on was a pisser too. Rather than do his work like he should have he'd spent far too much time earlier trying to come up with ways to get Louis off the scent without a whole lot of luck. While he could easily just make someone up and thus completely throw Louis off track that didn't sit right with him. He hated to lie. He'd lied more than enough to the people he loved when it came to certain things and it wasn't a trend he wanted to continue. And it wasn't like he was so enamoured with Louis that he couldn't keep his mouth shut where his love life was concerned. He might quite happily give into the other man's whims when it came to everything else, but this was one area where his shields were basically impenetrable to Louis's charms.

Or at least he really, really hoped so.

And really, he was doing Louis a favor on a number of levels by not telling him that he was the one he'd been in love with all these years. After all, the blonde would unquestionably feel horrible about being oblivious all these years and by not telling Louis he was sparing the man that. Louis also probably wouldn't be comfortable living with him if he knew and the other man needed the room he was providing him with for the time being. So really, when you got down to it he was keeping quiet as much for Louis's sake as his own.

Almost, anyway.

But what if Louis enlisted the help of others in his effort to try and uncover his secrets? The last thing he needed was the curious blonde going around to his relatives and friends to try and find out what they knew about the girls he'd dated when he'd still been trying to turn himself straight. Not that any of those girls knew that he'd broken up with them because he hadn't been able to form an attraction to them. And even if one or two suggested it Louis was as likely to assume the girls were just bitter as opposed to knowledgeable of his sexuality. By and large he was still on friendly terms with his exes though, he had to believe that they wouldn't cause him problems if Louis talked to them.

But Weasleys were very, very good at finding trouble wherever they went.

Shit.

Running an agitated hand through his hair Teddy allowed himself one sigh of self-pity and then walked up the short steps that led to his door, letting himself in. Nose immediately picking up on the siren smells coming from his dining room Teddy had to give the man credit for knowing how to bribe even as he forced his shields into place as he braced himself for whatever Louis had planned for him in his quest to get answers.

That dinner consisted of some of his absolutely favorite foods was no surprised, nor was in at all surprising when Louis told him all about the conversation the blonde had had with Lucy earlier in the day. He was just grateful the younger man hadn't gone to Molly for information. Lucy hadn't given the blonde much, though what she had said made him think that maybe his friend knew more about his love life than she'd ever let on. Maybe she and he needed to have a little talk when it could be arranged.

Annoyed that the other man wasn't giving him any more information Louis pointed out that he could just put Molly on the scent. His cousin was scary as hell when she had something to uncover and there was nothing she loved more than juicy gossip. She loved mysteries too, which would only make this that much more appealing to her.

Since all the men he'd ever dated were Muggles with no connection to the Wizarding World except through him Teddy wasn't too worried about Molly being able to uncover the truth, even if she was a bloodhound when it came to sniffing out the truth. He didn't want her looking of course, but he was pretty sure he had his business covered.

And besides that... "Are you admitting that Molly is better than you at something?"

Watching the insult and challenge cross Louis's face Teddy hid his smile of triumph as he took a sip from his water glass.

He'd dodged that curse, at least for the time being.

)

Maybe he should have left it alone, but it just wasn't in Louis Weasley's nature to do so. Which was why he'd gotten up early to make Teddy his favorite breakfast, and was now on his way to wake the other man up to surprise him. Not that he thought he could bribe the information he sought with food alone, but if he really kissed up to the older man for a while he might eventually be able to catch Teddy at a weak moment and then he'd learn all about the other man's 'flighty one'. He was actually a little surprised at how obsessed he was becoming, and if he didn't know better he'd think he was a little jealous of this unknown girl. Well that and he hated her flighty guts for making Teddy miserable for years. And how was he supposed to curse her name if he didn't know what her name was?

Since he knew from past experience that once Teddy was out he was out Louis didn't bother to try knocking on the other man's door when he got there. Sticking his head in the blonde noted the lump under the covers with satisfaction, thinking to himself that it would be pretty funny to tickle the man awake.

He did know all of Teddy's weak spots after all.

Chuckling evilly Louis made as little noise as possible as he headed over to the bed, shuffling across the quilt to reach his target. Teddy was still fast asleep when Louis leaned forward to stroke a finger teasingly up and down the other man's nose, not really surprised when he got no reaction. It would take a heck of a lot more than that to get him up. Ticking turned out to be a no go, either because the guy was just that deep in sleep or Teddy had outgrown his ticklish spots since the last time he'd attacked him that way. And thinking how long it had been since they'd gotten into a tickle fight highlighted once again that they really hadn't spent enough time together in the past few years.

Definitely have to get into one of those once Teddy was awake enough to know what was going on.

Resigned to the fact that he wasn't going to be able to wake the other man up in a fun way Louis started to shake Teddy's shoulders, telling him that it was time to get up for breakfast.

It happened so fast that Louis's shocked yelp barely passed his lips before he found himself flat on his back with Teddy's weight crushing him into the mattress while the other man's lips covered his own.

Louis's gasp of shock quickly turned into a low moan of pleasure as he found himself being thoroughly snogged by a man who definitely knew what he was doing. The possessive lips that moved over his were soft but firm, taking charge with a strength that had Louis melting under the passionate assault without protest. It didn't occur to Louis to try and push the other man away, his fingers digging into the soft cotton of Teddy's T-shirt in a bid to keep the older man right where he was. Willingly opening his mouth when entrance was demanded Louis eagerly returned the deep kisses, tangling his tongue with Teddy's as his body began to move restlessly beneath the man's bigger body. He could feel the impressive morning erection the other man was sporting and his own was growing by the second as the blonde's thoughts turned to other areas of his body he would like Teddy's mouth and tongue applied to.

There was a small voice in his head that reminded Louis that Teddy was fast asleep and didn't really know what he was doing, but the pleasure signals zipping around the blonde's head like hyper active snitches shut that voice down hard.

How far things would have gone before Louis's conscience got the best of him was debatable, but the decision to end the heated exchange of mouths and tongues was interrupted by Teddy's incredibly loud alarm clock, which startled Louis into letting the other man go.

In a practiced move Teddy rolled off the blonde and shuffled over to the other side of the bed, smacking the top of the alarm to shut it up.

Meanwhile, shock at both their behaviors had Louis struggling to get up and off the bed, which ended with him sliding off said bed and onto the floor with another yelp.

Completely unaware of what was going on the barely awake Teddy groggily got out of bed, scratching his head as he rolled his shoulders out of habit. Mind on the really nice dream he'd been having before the damn alarm had woken him up Teddy completely missed Louis's yelp and presence in the room.

It had been so real, Teddy thought absently as he tugged his shirt up and over his head, heading towards the laundry hamper with eyes only half open as he did his best to block out the light coming from his window. Tossing the shirt into the hamper Teddy quickly stepped out of his pajama bottoms and threw them in too before heading towards the connecting door that led to his bathroom.

Sitting half sprawled on the hardwood floor Louis watched as Teddy walked butt naked in front of him, disappearing from view into the bathroom without even once glancing in his direction.

Getting to his feet Louis used the bed for support since his legs weren't quite up to taking his weight at the moment.

The Gryffindor couldn't have said how long he stood there, but in those moments of silent contemplation the blonde came to a decision.

"Forget trying to find someone else for him. He's MINE."