Written for:
Speed Drabble: "It was like a fairytale." Dreamy and Giggle.
February Event: (dialogue) "I love you." / "I love you more." / Not a chance. I'm bigger, I can contain more love." And (object) bouquet of flowers.
200 Characters in 200 Days: Teddy Lupin
If You Dare Challenge: 603. Lost in Space and Time.
Writing Bingo: Witch Weekly.
Valentine-Making Station Challenge: Teddy Bear Sticker – Write about Teddy Lupin.
School of Prompts: Grade 4:1 – At least 100 words, Tragedy.
Chocolate Frog Cards Challenge: The Forbidden Forest must be the primary location of your story.
Words: 1227

Fairytale Beginnings

"What was it like?" the girl asked, pushing strawberry blonde hair back messily over her ear. She was staring at him with large, eager eyes and parted lips as she tugged at the frayed cuffs of her old cardigan.

"It was… it was like a fairytale," he replied, his voice strained and weak as his eyes look somewhere over her left shoulder, into a distance further away than anything in the room.

.o0o.

The world was aflame in oranges and browns as October began to wane. Early morning birdsong filled the air around them. A girl with long, straight blonde hair and bright blue eyes looked back over her shoulder with a broad grin. She was tugging her boyfriend along by the hand, closer to the trees all the time, enchanted by the rustling debris of the season.

"Come on," she encouraged him. The Forbidden Forest was, supposedly, forbidden, but on a day like today, Victoire couldn't stay away, and who could blame her? She only wanted to stroll around the edge, kick up the leaves and watch the squirrels.

"I'm coming," Teddy replied, never taking his eyes off of the woman for a second. She'd covered her head in a brown woolly hat and around her neck was a matching scarf. The colour paired with her hair wonderfully, giving her an earthy, homely look. The cold had brought out the colour on her cheeks and nose, and made her eyes shine with icy freshness. She'd never looked more alive, or more beautiful.

.o0o.

The girl sighed and picked up a copy of Witch Weekly, flicking through the pages slowly, her eyes glazed over. They both knew she wasn't reading it. She was pretending, because she'd grown used to her mother worrying too much and asking questions when she sat staring at nothing in silence, lost in her memories alone. She'd learned how to pretend to be busy. Teddy knew what she was doing, he'd seen her at it a million times. They'd clung together since it happened, the two of them, wrapping themselves up in the few parts of each other that mattered to them.

"We both loved her, but we loved her differently. We didn't love the same woman," the girl finally said, drawing her eyebrows together as she admitted the thing that had been knowing at the corners of her mind.

"They were the same woman," Teddy argued back.

"The same, but different."

.o0o.

They had nothing but their wands; no wands to tell the time or methods of communication. They didn't care how long they were out here, not really. It didn't feel particularly important that they went back inside to drink water, or eat. It was like they were lost in space and time, like this moment had promised itself to them forever, if they only wanted it.

Victoire bent to the ground at the sight of a snowdrop, reaching out her finger not to pick the flower, but to stroke it, letting the dew settle on her fingers. She stood, smiling, and wrapped her arms around Teddy's waist, pulling him in close against the cold.

"I love you," he told her. It wasn't a whisper on the wind, or a shout of indignation. It was a statement, simply made, of a truth long known.

"I love you more," she replied, mischief in her smile, knowing how easily that statement could spur him into a pretend fight.

"Not a chance," Teddy quickly replied. "I'm bigger, I can contain more love."

Victoire let out a sudden giggle, impressed by his wit. "Maybe I should grow fat, then."

"Fat with love," he grinned.

"Sounds dreamy." They laughed together, and Victoire pulled away, turning to stare up at the shafts of light piercing through the canopy above.

A squirrel was busying itself on the forest floor some distance away and Victoire watched, enchanted.

While her back was turned, Teddy drew his wand and conjured a bouquet of flowers, in shades of red and orange, and stood holding them out as he waited for her to turn around.

When she did, she looked at him sideways, her lips pursed as she tried not to smile.

"Teddy," she drew out the sound, as if feigning exasperation. She reached out and took the flowers all the same, drawing in a deep breath at the scent. "They look like autumn," she commented, to which Teddy nodded.

They began to walk some more, around the edges of the darkness of the forest, and soon found a chill in the air that had nothing to do with the weather. They reached a part of the forest where the birds refused to sing, and took each other's hands in their own.

.o0o.

"It still doesn't make sense to me that she's not here," Dominique admitted, tears forming in her eyes.

"It doesn't make sense, but I can't ignore it. It's like there's a hole in my life now that she used to fill. A gap that'll never be filled. I can feel it even when I sleep," Teddy replied, adding his own grief to Dominique's own.

They could hear the sounds of Dominique's mother busying around the kitchen, preparing dinner, but they weren't hungry. They're grief sustained their misery well enough.

.o0o.

The Acromantulas seemed to come from nowhere. Teddy and Victoire immediately drew their wands, turning to run, but their way out was blocked, the spiders moving too quickly for the humans to keep up. They'd wandered further into the forest than they'd thought, and these spiders were hungry.

Teddy began sending hexes and curses at the formidable creatures, keeping them back and attempting to clear a path, and Victoire joined him. She let go of his hand to better fight, and defended herself as best she could.

There were hundreds there within seconds. They dove towards them and withdrew, drawing nearer all the time, trying to separate the couple. Teddy and Victoire were backing away, back towards the light of the meadow of the grounds of Hogwarts, but they were on high alert, unable to watch their footing as they retreated.

Shouts were heard somewhere in the distance, over the piercing screams of the Acromantulas.

"The teachers are coming!" Teddy called out, knowing they would be safe soon.

Victoire took another step back, and Teddy watched as her foot caught in a tree root. She fell to the floor in slow motion. Teddy continued to fight, but couldn't protect them both. There were too many spiders. She stopped shooting spells for long enough to pull herself off the ground, but they descended before she was upright. Teddy sent two of them reeling back, but the third had its claws around her in a moment. She was helpless. Teddy couldn't do anything to stop them.

The spells and power of the teachers joined the fray, but the spider carrying Victoire shuffled away into the darkness, hungry for its' meal. Teddy stared after it, desperate to run and save her.

"Are you alright, Teddy?" Professsor Longbottom asked, watching the creatures retreat.

"They took Vic."

.o0o.

Dominique dried her eyes as she looked down at the magazine once again.

"You know," she told Teddy. "She gave me this magazine that morning. She'd finished with it."

Teddy looked at the magazine, suddenly seeing it in a new, holy light.

He shook his head. "I can't believe it's been a year."