Victoire had to laugh. She couldn’t help it; the look on Teddy’s face “ shocked, amused, and slightly irritated “ was so endearing (and so like how she felt) that her giggles kept coming even when she tried to stop.
“We kept it secret for so long!” Teddy exclaimed. “The whole summer, none of the kids suspected a thing. We even kept it from James at Hogwarts, which I thought was impossible. And then he just runs into us at the Platform and our entire cover is blown.”
“You’re not upset, are you?” Victoire asked, lacing her hands around his waist and leaning toward him. “I mean, we couldn’t have kept it quiet forever. All the grownups knew by Easter; I expected one of them to slip before now.”
He shook his head. “I’m not upset. Just a little annoyed that we were interrupted when I was trying to say how much I’ll miss you.”
“How much?”
Teddy kissed her, long and sweet. When he pulled away, he murmured, “At least that much.”
“It’s going to be dreadful this year without you,” Victoire sighed. “As pleased as I am about being Head Girl, I don’t expect I’ll have much fun. Tina’s not going to be any fun, either “ she’ll just want to sit and mope about Seth being gone, and because I’ll just want to sit and mope about you, it’s going to be depressing. And on top of all that, thanks to our little run-in with James, I get to deal with constant teasing from all my little cousins.”
“Somehow, I doubt it will be as bad as all that.” Teddy smiled a little as he stroked her hair. “I might need to stop going to dinner at the Potters’, though. There are some small cousins there that will love to tease me as well.”
Victoire tightened her hold on him. “I need to go; the train will leave any minute. I love you so much.”
“I love you so much. Write me as soon as you figure out a way to stop the children from teasing.”
“I’ll probably write before then. See you in Hogsmeade.”
“I’m already counting down the days.”
“We’re disgusting, you know that?”
Teddy rolled his eyes. “Cut us some slack. We’ve never spent this much time apart in our whole lives “ even when we weren’t best friends.”
“Miss you,” Victoire murmured, kissing him one last time. “I really need to go now. Good luck with your new job.”
“Good luck with your last year. Don’t let anyone steal you away.”
“You jest,” Victoire called, stepping away and climbing up the steps just as the train whistled warningly. “I’ll call you on it when I come back at Christmas and you’ve got some beauty with hair as fair as corn silk on your arm.”
“Keep talking junk and I might not write you back,” Teddy yelled back. “For a day or two.”
“Goodbye!” Victoire waved one last time before resigning herself to running the Prefects’ meeting. After it was over, she ran into Tina, as long-faced as she was, and they ended up amusing themselves with how disconsolate they were.
“Why aren’t we crying yet?” Tina asked, shaking her head and smiling. “Some depressed girlfriends we are.”
“Speak for yourself,” Victoire replied haughtily, staring wide-eyed into the distance until her eyes watered. “I must miss Teddy more than you miss Seth.”
“Don’t start that,” Tina warned. “You will lose.”
“Oh really?” Victoire wiped her eyes so she could properly narrow them.
“Yes, really.” And Tina flashed her left hand toward Victoire’s face. “Fiancees always win out over mere girlfriends.”
“And you waited this long to tell me?” Victoire exclaimed, grabbing Tina’s hand to examine the ring. “You were just hanging out, waiting for me to suggest a war over who misses their boy most? Despicable!”
“I would’ve brought it up eventually,” Tina defended, smiling a little at her finger. “I actually thought you’d notice it first.”
“I miss Teddy too much,” Victoire responded, smirking. She was a little bit shocked, but so incredibly glad about Tina’s news that she forgot for a moment how lonely she felt. “When is the happy day?”
“Probably the summer after I graduate, but it depends on a few things “ like our work,” Tina said. “Victoire, I’m so happy, but I miss him!”
“I do know a little bit how you feel,” Victoire said, but a little wistfully. Teddy wouldn’t talk about marriage while she was still in Hogwarts. She could mostly understand that, but seeing the glow on Tina’s face made her wish that he’d at least let her mention what kind of rings she liked.
“It’s not as if your fate is any less certain,” Tina remarked suddenly. “As soon as you stopped fighting against your destiny with Teddy, it was set in stone.”
“I don’t think I was doing all the fighting,” Victoire felt she had to say.
“I know. But you can feel, can’t you, how you and Teddy are meant to be, and always have been. Your day will come.”
“Thanks.” Victoire shrugged. “I guess I can wait as long as I need to. His justification for not wanting to talk about it is good, after all. It would just be so, so …”
“Gratifying,” Tina supplied with a grin.
“Yes, it would be gratifying to have such a tangible symbol of the way we feel about each other,” Victoire continued, gesturing to Tina’s ring. “But we’re best friends that are in love, and after all the work I went to I’m not planning on changing my mind!”
“And we know Teddy well enough to know that he feels the same way.”
Victoire felt her heart prick at the mention of him. She missed him so much already. It was definitely time to change the subject. “What kind of wedding are you going to have?” she asked.
“You can help me choose!” Tina said. “You’re my Maid of Honor!”
“Oh, okay!” Victoire replied. “Thank you for asking me.”
“You would’ve said yes anyway,” Tina responded matter-of-factly, and the two girls sat in happy activity, dreaming of the promises of the future.
Gratification and Justification by Cinderella Angelina
Chapter Notes: I was sitting at work (a rather boring place) and decided it was about time to wrap this up. So I wrote an epilogue today.
Chapter Endnotes: Okay, so ... I was definitely not planning on Tina getting engaged. Or for the epilogue to even be that long, but once it was written I knew it was true. I hope you enjoyed this story!