Teddy decided it wasn’t completely weird that he had dreams about Vicky last night. At least he woke up with a smile on his face. For some odd reason, he also happened to be singing the ‘Bob the Builder’ theme song. He’d have to look into that later.
But first, he had to run downstairs, as it was Christmas. He was positive that he saw some presents under the tree with his name on them. He grabbed Bruno from the foot of the bed where he was curled up under the blanket, and headed downstairs.
He could already hear the squeals and giggles from the younger kids coming from the den. As he entered the room, he was met with the sight of three wiggling butts under the tree. They were looking for any present they could find. Meanwhile, the parents stood, smiling like idiots at the children they had raised.
“Have a nice sleep, Teddy?” Ginny asked him, handing him a cup of hot tea. She kissed him absently on the cheek.
“Best sleep in three months,” he said, plucking a muffin from the tray. Although he didn’t want to stoop to the children’s level, he still stared at the tree with a glint in his eye. He couldn’t wait to see.
“You know, Ted, you could always join them,” Harry said, smiling.
“I thought you’d never ask,” he replied with a grin and walked over to the tree and rummaged through the piles of wrapping paper to the stack he knew had his name on it.
Arthur Weasley began to play the piano again, and the room was bustling like it had last night.
Teddy ripped off paper to find himself with: a new Owler wireless phone from the Potters, a book from the Weasleys and new shoes from all the kids.
In the middle of opening a gift from Lily, the doorbell rang.
“Can you get that, Ted?” Ginny called from the kitchen.
“Sure,” Teddy said. He put his present aside and brushed off glitter from his pants and went to the door. As he opened the door, Victoire came running down the stairs and stopped, panting at who was standing at the door.
“Chucky!” she laughed. “I didn’t think you would come!” She swung her arms around his neck and hugged him. Meanwhile, Teddy’s poor heart lodged itself into his throat. He felt a vicious, violent feeling inside of him, he turned on the spot and calmy went up the stairs before he could punch Chucky’s face out.
*
Christmas ended on a low note for Teddy as he collapsed on his bed. So many thoughts were swirling through his head. He should have known that what happened last night was too good to be true. Good things hardly ever happened to people like Teddy. He sighed.
How could he have forgotten that snog session she had had with Chucky only a few weeks ago? Him coming here was no coincidence. Something fishy was goin on between the two, and he did not want to know what. He tried to hide his horror of the fact that Chucky, who could very well be that messed up horror film character from the chucky , was sleeping across the hall from him. And just the hall was Victoire.
He should have given some sort of hint to Ginny. The two would be up bouncing around all night.
He hit himself. He shouldn’t be thinking such things about Victoire. She was practically his sister. Than what about that kiss they had shared just last night? Surely that was not brotherly affection! The woman was playing games with his mind for sure, since he could still feel the texture of her curly hair in his hands. Her butter soft skin under his fingers and the way her breath caught when he touched her…
He groaned before flipping over on the bed and ordering himself to sleep.
*
It was New Year’s Eve and the Weasley household was hosting yet another party. The halls were decorated in silver and purple tinsel. Balloons sat as a centerpiece on the dining table. Mrs. Weasley was baking her famous chocolate cake in the kitchen. Hermione was talking rapidly on the telephone with her associate about a break in at a Wizard restaurant. Harry was sipping his tenth coffee of the day, while massaging his wife’s aching feet.
Teddy was moping once again. The kids had stopped trying to get him to play after many failed attempts. Bruno was resting snuggly in the crook of his arm, sleeping.
“Teddy, you feeling okay?” Ginny asked.
He nodded glumly. “Just thinking about school tomorrow.”
“Are you actually looking forward to school?” Harry asked, his eyebrows raised. He winced as a nerf ball hit him squarely on the forehead. “NO THROWING THOSE IN THE HOUSE!” He said to the kids. That was followed by muffled giggles. “Sorry, Dad,” was following by stage whispers, “That was a nice one Hugo!”
Harry just shook his head.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Victoire playing with her sister Adrian. They were painting each other’s toe nails, although Adrian was only eight.
He sighed. Chucky had not stayed the whole Christmas. He insisted at lunch that he only wanted to drop off his present for Vicky personally. The present had been a lame stuffed bear that said have a ‘Mawwy Chwismas’. How original.
“Okay you guys! Twenty seconds left to next year!”Ginny said, going around giving out flutes of champagne to the adults and little noise makers to all the kids. Teddy eyed the champagne, but she handed him a noise maker and patted his head. She seemed a bit tipsy already, her eyes twinkling mischievously at Harry’s bottom as he figured out how to turn on the telly.
At precisely ten seconds to twelve, the entire clan began, “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two one, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!”
Harry grabbed his wife by the face and planted a kiss on her mouth, as did other couples. The kids were still blowing their kazoos and saying “eww”s to the kissing couples. As Teddy glumly examined the room, his eyes caught those of Victoire. He wished he had the guts to go upto her and ask her where Chucky was, and why he wasn’t there to kiss her, but he decided to walk to bed instead.
*
The next day Teddy was back onto the train to Hogwarts. With Bruno sleeping snugly in the crook of his arm, Teddy lay reclined on a chair with a book. His pale, pale blonde hair fell over his forehead carelessly. Outside, the sky was a sullen grey. It and the color of his hair seemed to greatly reflect the mood Teddy was currently in. Not exactly, mellow, since his mind was in turmoil, but not exactly depressed either. It seemed that he didn’t know exactly where he was going. Things he felt so sure about only months before seemed to be breaking apart. He knew that there were only 6 months of school left, and he hadn’t even figured out where he was going in life. What the bloody hell was he going to do after graduation? Live at home with Harry and Ginny and the kids til he was forty?
No.
Something needed to change.
But for now, he was going to pull out the change in his pocket and hunt down that candy cart lady. He unlocked the compartment door and stepped out. He realized what he had been missing by locking himself up. Kids, tiny and big, were milling around the place. Talking about their holidays and the presents, and all the snogs they got under the mistletoe. Teddy’s heart sank even more.
He looked into a corner of one of the compartments and found a group of girls obviously looking at him, giggling and smiling flirtatiously. He couldn’t even muster up a smile. He scowled and moved on.
Something he hadn’t expected to see, and quite frankly didn’t want to see was Tei Jeng and Missy Stevens sprawled on the chairs, Tei Jeng’s hand up her blouse, and her skimming his belt area. Yeesh. You’d think people had the decency to shut the door!
He had just spotted the candy cart lady at the quiet end of the train when he heard a sniffling sound coming from one of the compartments. He peaked in through the crack in the door. His heart broke as he saw his dear Victoire, his bubbly, sweet Victoire sobbing in the corner of the compartment, looking out the window.
Why would she be crying? Was she not feeling well? Homesick? Was she missing Chucky?
He couldn’t just leave her here. No one was occupying this cart with her. Torn between pride and the need to care, he stood in the doorway. She had just crushed his heart to pieces the day before, but he still wanted to hold her.
Deciding that he might as well just kick his pride in the ass, he opened the door and shut it behind him.
She looked up, her beautiful blue eyes rimmed in red, and her face looking as beautiful as ever.
“Hey,” Teddy said. He ran a hand through his hair and sat down.
“What do you want?” she asked him bitterly.
“I just wanted to know if you needed a shoulder …” He said, frowning.
Sbe burst into tears again.
He didn’t know what was wrong with her, and knew that what she needed at the moment, was just a shoulder to cry on.
He sat next to her, brushing her hair back from her face, he guided her head to his shoulder, and let her weep.
A/N: Well hello there dearies:
It has been awhile, I know, but I had some spare time, so I decided to do this. I had it finished awhile back, but put finishing touches now.
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