"You know that there is only one possible way out of this situation, right?"

She looked at her friend skeptically, and finally, begrudgingly nodded. "Yes." She sighed, looking back down at the floor, seeming especially interested in a speck of dirt a few millimeters away from her right shoe. "But, are you completely sure-"

"I'm sure as sure can… Er, be." Her friend replied, his face stretching upward into a smirk. "What is the problem? Is ickle Vicky scared to get a tinsy winsy detention?"

The gruff, strained tones of Filch weren't getting any quieter, so Victoire only spared Teddy a glare, rather than the full-on tirade that was whirling around and around in her head. Filch had definitely become a lot more tetchy and irritable since the occasion of his eighty-second birthday, and it was on your own neck if you got caught by him.

It wasn't so much the punishment that was driving Victoire up the side of the broom closet she and Teddy were occupying, it was more the concept of having a bright red mark next to her name for centuries- no, millennia to come!

She was completely sure that two misbehavers in the far, far future – a mental image of her cousins James and Fred came to mind – would find the sheet of parchment entitled 'Victoire Weasley' and laugh uproariously over that little red dot, forever marking her out as a…. As a…

A troublemaker.

Victoire shuddered at the thought.

"Aw, come on Vicky." Teddy pleaded, his face crestfallen. "Your Dad got detention loads of times, do you remember how he told the story of the escaped jelly-monster last Christmas?"

"Yes, but Dad wasn't a Prefect then, was he?" Victoire hissed, narrowing her eyes at the barely noticeable outline of Teddy Lupin. "Oh no, he was a first-year."

"And did Aunty Hermione get detentions when she was a Prefect?" She could hear Teddy raising his eyebrow. When Victoire didn't answer for a while, she was far too busy banging her forehead against the closet side, Teddy sighed. "Did she?"

"There was a marauding mass-murderer on the loose, does that count?" Victoire scoffed, shaking her head. "No, it doesn't. Now, if you know what is best for you Teddy Remus Lupin, then you will stop talking right now."

"I know you're in there!" Filch yelled triumphantly, making them both jump. "I can hear you! And I'm not moving until you relinquish yourselves to a nice bought of scrubbing the Trophy Room until it shines!"

Victoire muttered an appropriately themed French swear word under her breath, and thumped her forehead once more against the side of the broom closet.

…oOo…

Victoire glared at Teddy as her hand mechanically rubbed the same dirty spot several times over. These trophies were so filthy, the idea of them ever shining before seemed surreal. As did the idea of them being able to shine the trophies without magic, because naturally they weren't allowed to use magic.

Filch had been standing outside the broom closet until they had come out. Their voices had given them up, and Filch had refused to leave until they got out.

Filch's triumphant look as they left the broom cupboard had only darkened Victoire's mood. She now had a big, red mark beside her name. It was all his fault.

"Don't look at me like that," Teddy said, amusement in his voice.

"This is all your fault! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here!" Victoire snarled, holding her dirty cloth at Teddy threateningly.

Teddy sent a smirk her way, "You didn't have to follow me into that broom cupboard, you know…"

Victoire's glare hardened, before she smirked suddenly.

She noticed Teddy's smirk slide off his face in reaction to her smirk, and softly started humming to herself as she returned to shining one of the smaller trophies that she had previously been working on.

"Vicky?"

She ignored him.

"Victoire?"

She moved onto another trophy, this one slightly larger than the last.

"Victoire please-"

"Do get back to work, or we'd be stuck here for the entire night. I, for one, have other things to do."

A quick glance to her right, told her that the worried look on Teddy's face had yet to abate even as he slowly reached for the trophy he had been working on.

"What are-"

Victoire sent Teddy a look, and he stopped talking immediately, going back to work on the trophy in his hands.

They worked in silence for two hours. Teddy kept shooting Victoire glances, as if trying to figure out what she was planning but she didn't give anything away. Teddy would be on guard if he knew what she was planning.

Mrs Norris was the first one to greet them, breaking their silence with a loud meow. Filch wasn't too far behind, eyes beadily taking in every shiny surface in the room. He didn't look particularly impressed with their work but Victoire doubted he expected much from them.

"Your detention is over. Make sure you don't do it again, or I'll see to it you end up cleaning Moaning Myrtle's," Filch snarled.

Before Teddy could even move, Victoire quickly walked up to Filch who glared at her suspiciously.

"Teddy told me the only reason he gets so many detentions is because he," here Victoire leaned forward with a triumphant glance at Teddy who looked horrified, and with a loud whisper said, "has a crush on you."

A quick glance at Teddy told her that he was on the edge of hyperventilating.

Filch's eyes shot to Teddy, who shook his head rapidly, not realising that it was only making the situation worse.

Victoire shot Teddy an innocent smile which quickly morphed into a satisfied smirk as she left the room with a bounce in her step.

The next day, everyone wondered what had Filch in such a good mood that he had been caught whistling.

Written for Triwizard Tournament Round 3: Working together.

Note: The first part, before the page break, was written by Ellie (chocolatecheesecakes). The title is also hers. I just finished what she started XD