Victoire was happy when school started again. N.E.W.T. classes were still doing their best to disarm her, but at Hogwarts it was much easier to socialize with her friends, and to find excuses to be around Teddy.
Tina had listened to Victoire’s account of the Christmas party with great interest, and her excuses for Teddy’s behavior were simply that he still didn’t know how Victoire felt, and didn’t want to make any moves.
“I think I’ve made my feelings pretty clear,” Victoire responded acerbically, fiddling with her pillow in annoyance. “I’m just going to keep trying in hopes that one day he’ll just “ change his mind.”
“Something like that,” Tina said, rolling her eyes.
“Enough about me, tell me about your Christmas break!” Victoire said, grinning. “See anyone, do anything?”
“No, and went sledding with my little sister. She broke her wrist.”
“Oh, wonderful.” Victoire made a face.
“It’s all better now. But that was definitely the most exciting thing that happened “ there was certainly no mistletoe at any of my family parties.”
“Did you think of anyone you’d like to catch under some, at least?” Victoire asked coyly.
Tina blushed. “No, oh, no,” she said quickly. “I don’t really have ... you know. There’s no one to think of.”
“Uh-huh.” Victoire was disappointed. She knew better than to flat-out ask Tina about Seth, so if she wasn’t going to volunteer any information, that was the end of it. Regretfully, she turned the discussion to favorite Christmas gifts.
The next morning at breakfast, Victoire made sure to sit by Teddy. Erin Connelly, sitting down several seats, glared at her.
“Tina refuses to acknowledge anything going on,” Victoire whispered, ignoring all baleful looks. “I thought when you said they might need help, you were joking.”
“You’re less observant than I am,” Teddy said seriously, spooning up some porridge. “I’ve known about Seth for months, and he always denies everything. The Christmas party was the first time I’ve seen him make any action whatsoever “ and nothing else looks likely to happen. It appears they are in desperate need of our matchmaking assistance.”
“Wow, months?” Victoire said, impressed. “And I only just figured out! You’ve been holding out on me, Theodore Lupin.” She nipped a piece of bacon from his plate. “So what should we do?”
“I’m not sure. There’s a Hogsmeade weekend coming up in about a month, should we force them to go on a date?”
“Forcing won’t do anything for Tina Timmins. It makes her more stubborn,” Victoire replied, shaking her head. “Maybe “ ” she stopped short when Tina, rubbing her eyes sleepily, sat down next to her.
“Why didn’t you wake me up?” she mumbled grumpily. “I’m going to be late for the first day back.”
“No, you’ll be fine,” Victoire said. “Here, I’ll get you some porridge and cocoa. Would you like some hash browns?”
“I’d rather not,” Tina replied, watching blankly as Victoire got her breakfast. “Thanks, Victoire.”
“Eat up, and wake up,” her friend replied with a grin. “Up all night dreaming of mistletoe?”
“No.” Tina blushed. “Christmas season’s over, in case no one thought to remind you.”
“Oh, that’s too bad. I was going to break out the carols.” Seth appeared to be running even later than Tina; he’d just arrived.
“Oh, go ahead and sing us one,” Tina said, appearing slightly more alert.
“Sure, go on, Seth,” Teddy encouraged.
“I was joking,” Seth replied, glaring at Tina. “My voice is not at its best this early in the morning, and I’d hate to lose points for disruption of breakfast.”
“Some other time then,” Tina said. She made room for Seth next to her then began attacking her breakfast with zeal.
“You shouldn’t feel obligated to sing just because Tina tells you to,” Victoire thought she should add. It was a nice opening for Seth to point out that he valued Tina’s orders, or something like that.
“Teddy told me to as well,” Seth pointed out.
“Oh, well, then, by all means, some other time.” Victoire smiled sweetly as Seth piled eggs high onto his plate.
“Nice try,” Teddy whispered, nudging her. “But he’s well-practiced at avoiding anything at all akin to a confession.”
“If I’d known it would be this hard, maybe I wouldn’t have signed up,” she whispered back.
“What? Lose my favorite partner in crime? This cannot be!”
“I’ll stick to it now. But we’ve got to come up with a better plan.”
“I’ll put my full attention to it during Charms this morning.”
“No wonder you need me to tutor you.” Victoire slugged him lightly on the shoulder. “Do you ever pay attention in that class?”
“I see no reason to gratify that with an answer,” Teddy said loftily, standing and gathering his books. “Perhaps we shall meet later today, Miss Weasley.”
“Perhaps,” Victoire agreed, sounding like her mother when she used her haughtiest tones. “Until then, Mr. Lupin.”
He bowed, then left. Victoire glanced at Tina and saw both her and Seth staring at her, but they quickly busied themselves with their breakfast when they noticed her looking.
“I think I’ll meet you in Transfiguration, Tina,” Victoire said uncertainly. Just why had they been staring? Interactions between her and Teddy were nothing new. She decided that she would never understand why her friends did the things they did and made her way to the Transfiguration classroom to think about a good plan.
Victoire could hardly wait for lunch so she could talk to Teddy again. It made her happy just to be near him “ happy and frustrated all at once “ but she did have important things to discuss with him as well. She was disappointed, then, to see only Seth at the table.
“Where’s Teddy?” she asked while Tina sat down and helped herself to a sandwich.
“He said he would be in the library for a while,” Seth replied, looking meaningly up at her. “Probably wants you to meet him there.”
“Thanks,” Victoire said with a smile, rushing off.
“Whoa there, Miss Weasley.” Professor McGonagall caught her arm just as she was rounding the corner towrad the library. “Skipping lunch, are we? This won’t do; I’ll have to put you in detention.”
“What, why? It’s no crime to miss lunch. Aunt Hermione told me she used to skip it all the time.”
“That’s not the way you’re supposed to react. You’re not supposed to have a valid reason to get out of detention.” Professor McGonagall pouted, a very incongruous expression with her character.
“Teddy, this isn’t funny,” Victoire said, narrowing her eyes. “I thought of a good plan and I want to tell it to you. I don’t feel comfortable telling McGonagall.”
“Okay, fine.” Professor McGonagall melted into a seventh-year Gryffindor, though the pout remained. “Victoire, sometimes you’re no fun.”
“One of these days you’re going to be morphed into a professor and the real one is going to come walking by and you’ll be in huge trouble,” she scolded.
“You sound like your grandma,” Teddy informed her, starting to grin. “Do I have dirt on my face, too, Gran Molly?”
Victoire squinted at his face. “Just there,” she said, licking her finger and rubbing vigorously.
“Ow, ow, stop it!” Teddy pulled her hand down. “Now tell me your awesome plan. I want to see if it’s better than mine.”
“Well, it still involves the Hogsmeade weekend,” Victoire said, resisting the urge to pull her hand out of Teddy’s grasp. Maybe this was one of those tests Tina told her Teddy was going to give her, to see if she was serious about her feelings or not. “But I’ll ask Seth.”
“This is way too much like my plan,” Teddy interrupted, dropping Victoire’s hand as if he’d never been holding it. “Except in my plan I asked Tina.”
Victoire wished he’d pick up her hand again. It’d been nice to pretend that they were actually holding hands. She forced herself to think of Tina and Seth instead. “Will Seth go with me?” she asked.
“I think I can convince him,” Teddy replied. “Will Tina go with me?”
“I think I can convince her,” Victoire replied. “And then do we sneak away and leave them alone or flirt madly with our dates and make them jealous?”
“Both. This is too creepy, Victoire. How did you come up with the exact same thing I did?”
“When you morphed into me, some of your brain cells did too, and they got stuck, so now you think like me.”
“That’s horrible.” Teddy was appalled. “Just imagine all the brain cells I’ve got that aren’t mine. Are you sure we’re both not just geniuses?”
“You can just keep telling yourself that.” Victoire smiled and patted his cheek gently. “If it makes you feel better.”
“Thanks. We should hurry and eat lunch before McGonagall comes by and tries to give us detention.”
“Or we faint from lack of nutrition,” Victoire supplied as an alternative. “I think our plan’s going to work wonderfully, don’t you?”
“I hope so.”
It took Victoire about a week to figure out just what to say to Tina to prepare her for Teddy’s impending invitation. In the meantime, Teddy and Seth continued to sit by them at meals. Neither Teddy nor Victoire felt that they were making any progress when it came to Seth and Tina, but Victoire was happy. She hadn’t felt so truly close to Teddy since before he went to Hogwarts. They’d been good friends still, but their competing demands for attention had drawn them apart.
Now they were closer than ever. Victoire didn’t really understand why “ whether it was because they were united in a cause as they hadn’t been since the great Prank Uncle George escapade or because of some mystical connection they’d forged under the mistletoe, Victoire couldn’t be quite sure. Well, she could be fairly sure it wasn’t the latter, but Tina was fond of that theory. (Tina also didn’t know about the cause they were united in.)
Finally Victoire thought she’d better not procrastinate any longer. One night, after they were in bed, she put down her book and said purposefully, “Tina.”
“What?” Tina looked up.
“I want Teddy to go to Hogsmeade with me,” Victoire said. “But if I ask him on a date, he might say no.”
“I doubt it. Victoire, you’re best friends. Of course he’d go with you.”
“Will you go with him instead?” Victoire burst out, keeping to her script even if Tina was foiling her plans. “I can get him to ask you easier than I can get him to ask me.”
“You could always ask him,” Tina said dubiously. “I don’t know what the point is of me going with him.”
Victoire bit back a sigh of frustration. This was much harder than she’d thought it was going to be. “Don’t you see how it takes all the pressure off if you go with him? I could take Seth or something and we could all go as friends, but it would almost be like going just with Teddy.”
“This is one of your more harebrained schemes,” Tina remarked, “but I suppose I’ll go along with it.”
“I think it’s a good idea,” Victoire muttered. “So does Teddy.”
“What? I didn’t hear that last part.”
“Oh. Just that I want to spend time with Teddy.”
“Right. Well, I’ll go with him to Hogsmeade. If you can get him to ask me.”
“I’m sure I won’t have any trouble with that,” Victoire said with certainty. “Good night, Tina.”
“Good night.”
Victoire turned out the light with a sigh. It had seemed fairly logical when she’d worked it out before. Now the flaws in her reasoning were clearly laid out. Well, at least Tina had agreed to the plan.
The Plan. Victoire and Teddy had initially dubbed it “The Date Plan,” but in the days leading up to the Hogsmeade weekend they’d shortened it to “The Plan,” to save both time and awkward explanations if anyone overheard them. They didn’t talk about it much. Teddy thought that over-planning would stilt the conversation and make everything more difficult, so Victoire only mentioned it when commenting on the shrinking number of days, or if she was particularly frustrated with Tina and Seth’s reluctance to admit anything.
Finally the day arrived. Tina was taking rather more care with her appearance than usual, and when asked why replied simply, “Whether or not it means anything, I am ostensibly on a date. I should at least look like I’m on one. It’s common courtesy.”
“Oh. So it’s not who you’re going with or anything,” Victoire probed lightly.
Tina turned and looked askance at her. “Um, Victoire, Teddy’s yours. I’m only going with him as a favor to you.”
“Well, Seth is going, too,” Victoire said, her annoyance overcoming her caution for a moment.
“Yes, he is,” Tina agreed, but didn’t volunteer any more information. “And he will be pleased to have such a lovely date. You’re just about ready, right?”
Victoire picked up her cloak and shook it out. “Yep. Let’s go.”
Seth and Teddy were waiting downstairs in the Common Room. Teddy gave a shadow of a wink to Victoire before turning to Tina and complimenting her warmly on her outfit.
“Hey there Victoire,” Seth said, not even looking at the spectacle Teddy was providing. “You look quite lovely today.”
“Thanks.” Victoire fluttered her eyelashes and favored him with a smoldering half smile. “You’re looking quite dashing yourself,” she murmured, stepping closer to him and running her fingers lightly up his arm. “I’m fond of this sweater.”
Seth blushed profusely and stammered his thanks, rallying himself to offer his arm to Victoire after Teddy offered his to Tina’s. They paraded through the corridors and down the stairs until they hit the jam that the caretaker Filch was creating with his inspection of all Hogsmeade-goers.
“I was thinking we might go to the Three Broomsticks,” Teddy said as the line moved slowly forward. “Tina, does that sound all right to you?”
“Um, sure,” she said, nonplussed.
“And then maybe we could go on a walk, see the sights together,” he added, a hint of what Victoire would call romantic longing in his voice.
“It all depends on what Victoire and Seth want to do,” Tina said, panicking slightly.
Victoire would laugh, and in fact she almost did, but she couldn’t help being slightly jealous. She’d give anything to have Teddy use that tone of voice with her, and mean it. She forced it out of her mind and clung to Seth’s arm.
“Oh, it doesn’t really matter,” she said blithely, leaning her head close to Seth’s shoulder. “Anything works.”
She was gratified to see a flash of hurt in Tina’s eyes before she turned and walked toward the door.
“Here now, missy,” Filch said, catching her arm. “Ain’t you a bit young to be trying to go to Hogsmeade?”
“I beg your pardon,” Tina said stiffly. “I’m a sixth-year. You stop me every single time, and every time, I walk past.”
“Let her go, if you please,” Teddy said, the very picture of a chivalric knight.
“It’s all right, Argus,” Professor Vector, the professor assisting in inspections, said. “Tina’s as old as she says she is.”
Filch muttered, but he let the group pass with no more than a glare. As soon as they were out of earshot, Victoire, Seth, and Teddy burst out laughing.
“It’s really not that funny, guys,” Tina said.
“Yes, it is,” Victoire gasped. “It reminds me of that song Peeves made up in our first year. Do you remember it?”
Seth and Teddy nodded and, completely ignoring Tina’s threatening glare, joined Victoire in singing the annoying little ditty: “Tina Tina tiny Tina, Tina Tina tiny Tina, teeny-tiny Tina Timmins!” They sang it again, loudly, so that it reverberated through the grounds and caused people to turn and look at them.
“Stop!” Tina shouted. “Guys! I’ll never get it out of my head now!”
“I think that’s the point of it,” Teddy pointed out, but then remembered that he was supposed to be flirting, not teasing. “We’ll stop,” he said, pinning Victoire with a stern look. “I’m sorry, Tina.” He patted her arm sympathetically.
The rest of the walk to Hogsmeade was spent on less controversial topics, though Victoire had to keep catching herself when she accidentally started humming the song. She was thoroughly enjoying herself nonetheless, and never really stopped laughing until they’d chosen their booth at the Three Broomsticks.
“Hello there, kids,” Hannah Longbottom said, approaching them as they took their seats. “Here for a special Valentine’s Day outing?” Her cheeks went rosy as she smiled happily at them. “What can I get for you lot?”
“Um, butterbeers for all of us,” Victoire said. She could tell from the others’ expressions that they hadn’t realized that this was the nearest Hogsmeade weekend to Valentine’s Day either. Just that slightly dazed look, and a sudden reluctance to look at one’s date “ how awkward.
Victoire determined she’d better do something to take their mind off the fact that they were there together on the most romantic date day at Hogwarts. So she scooted much closer to Seth and said, just loud enough that the others could hear if they strained, “Tell me, Seth. What are your plans after graduating?”
“Well, my uncle’s going to try and get me a job at the Ministry if I do well on my N.E.W.T.s. International Cooperation,” Seth said, clearly battling between embarrassment at Victoire’s behavior and fascination at her interest.
“Oh, how impressive!” Victoire cooed, moving even closer. “That’s a very interesting field. My mother sometimes does some work there and I think you’d like it.” She smiled alluringly, and Seth, who had been dividing his gaze between the table and her face, lost all interest in the table whatsoever. Victoire put her hand gently on his arm. “Mama doesn’t have an awful lot to do with that department, but she could probably put a good word in for you if you like. I’ll tell her how good you are.”
“That’d “ ” Seth cleared his throat nervously. “That’d be nice.”
Victoire glanced at the other side of the table. Tina definitely looked mad, which Victoire thought could only be good. She was going to smirk privately at Teddy but was shocked to see that he looked angry as well. She glared back at him and tilted her head toward Tina, trying to wordlessly remind him to flirt as well.
“Here you go, dears,” Hannah said, depositing four frothing mugs on the table. “Don’t forget to leave us a tip,” she added with a wink, then bustled away to help other customers.
“She’s awfully nice,” Teddy said, trying to change the subject. “Reminds me a bit of you that way, Tina,” he tried, his smile and his tone of voice falling just a little flat.
“Thanks, Teddy,” Tina replied, not looking up at him or at anyone else.
Victoire rolled her eyes. He really was terrible at flirting. She took a sip of her butterbeer and looked back up at Seth, all prepared to say something else with a tempting smile on her face, but she was taken aback. Seth was already watching her, his stare almost blank.
Blast. She’d overdone it. She turned back to Teddy and Tina, but they were both staring at their drinks. There was no conversation to step into there. Huffing quietly, she joined the club and stared at the froth on her mug. The Plan appeared to be failing so far. Tina was getting appropriately jealous, but Teddy was not doing his job, so Seth had no opportunity to reciprocate the jealousy. And instead of trying to flirt better, Teddy was mad too! What was going on?
“Victoire, I just remembered I was going to talk to you about something,” Teddy said suddenly. “Do you guys mind if we leave for a few minutes?”
“No, go ahead,” Tina said, trying to look meaningly at Seth but unable to because he was still staring at Victoire.
“Okay, thanks. We’ll be back in a bit. Come on, Victoire.”
Victoire followed Teddy out of the pub with some trepidation.
“I brought Extendable Ears,” she said tentatively, pulling a couple out of her pocket.
“No.” Teddy’s brusque tone was as hurtful as if he’d pushed her out of the way. “I’m going to take a walk.”
“Oh.” Victoire dithered for a moment. She desperately wanted to hear what Tina and Seth were saying, but she watched Teddy’s stiff gait as he walked away and knew she had to go after him.
It took a bit of running, but Victoire edged in front of Teddy and blocked his path.
“What is wrong?” she cried.
“You don’t know?”
“Well, no,” Victoire replied, deeply hurt by his cold tone. “I was just following The Plan!”
“You went way too far. There is no call for you to ever use your ... inherited advantages.”
“My veela charms?” Victoire clarified incredulously. “What is wrong with my veela charms?”
“Wrong,” Teddy repeated slowly. “What is wrong...?”
“A bit hard-pressed to find anything, are you?” Victoire said acidly.
“No, that’s not it. Just trying to make sense of what I’m about to say.” Teddy stared impassively down at her. “Using veela tricks clouds people’s judgment. It’s almost like the Imperius Curse, except you get people to do what you want through seduction.”
“I’ve never seduced anyone in my life!” Victoire exclaimed angrily. “How dare you say such a thing?”
“You can’t deny that’s the form your powers take,” Teddy shot back. “I always wonder what you’re up to, what your motivations are.”
“Worried I’m plotting to take over the world? My ‘powers’ are not very strong.”
“They’re strong enough to do some real damage. It’s going to take some time for Seth to recover from what you did to him back there.”
“I didn’t mean any harm,” Victoire said softly, looking down in shame. “It was all in fun.”
“And you don’t exercise your power responsibly!” Teddy shouted.
“I’m sorry!” Victoire didn’t know what else to say. If he kept on like this she was going to start crying. “I didn’t know you hated it so badly. I...I’ll fix things, I promise. And I won’t do it again.”
“Good.”
She didn’t want to leave it on this note. Bravely mustering a smile, she said, “And to think all this time I thought you might just be immune. You never did respond normally.”
Teddy looked at her. She willed him to smile back, or better, ask why she was trying veela tricks on him in the first place. But he didn’t do either of those things, and she couldn’t read anything in his eyes.
Well, Victoire was not about to offer up an explanation for trying to “seduce” Teddy if he wasn’t going to ask. When it was pretty apparent he was not going to say anything, she turned and walked away.
The connection she’d felt with Teddy was faltering with every step. As tears started to fall, Victoire hoped with all her heart that he would come running after her. Surely he didn’t want to leave things like this any more than she did. But no sound of hurrying footsteps reached Victoire’s ears.
I guess that’s it, then, she thought sadly. Should’ve stuck with being friends. Even though she told herself that, she didn’t really believe it. She kept listening for sounds of pursuit. It was only when she reached Hogwarts castle that she let herself realize that not only were her romantic prospects with Teddy in vain, but she might not even have a friend anymore.
There must be some way to fix this.
Gratification and Justification by Cinderella Angelina
Chapter Notes: *chants* I only write happy endings! Though you're going to be wondering just as much as I did when you get to the end of the chapter how I'm going to pull that off.
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