Intentions

The first time Teddy Lupin met Victoire Weasley, he had no intention of marrying her, thank you very much.

Because he was only two years old, and she was an infant, and he was a little miffed that his grandmum had dragged him away from his toy trains to meet someone who didn't even know how to think yet.

"Go on," Grandmum said, guiding Teddy to the baby's bassinet. "Say hello."

Teddy reached into the wicker cradle with one hand to stroke Victoire's skin. "Hello," he said, and then he gasped, because Victoire had wrapped his index finger in her entire hand, and he hadn't expected that at all.

"She likes you," Grandmum said, and he heard the smile in her voice.

"Grandmum?" He turned to gaze up at her with pale, blank eyes. Victoire was still holding his finger. "What does she look like?"

His grandmum touched his shoulder. "She's beautiful. Blonde hair, and big blue eyes, just like yours."

The eyes in question grew wide. "Just like mine?"

Grandmum sighed and moved her hand up to his wild hair (it was green today) and began to stroke gently. "Well," she said, "not quite."

"Oh." Teddy turned back to Victoire. "So she's not blind like me?"

"No, darling. She isn't blind."

"Teddy?" Victoire Weasley asked when she was five and he was seven and they were tiny little people who had no intention of marrying each other, thank you very much.

"What?" He sucked away the last of his popsicle and set the stick down in the grass.

"Is it hard, not being able to see?"

He shrugged. "I s'pose so." He adjusted himself so he was lying on his stomach. A warm summer breeze made the grass wave, tickling his chin. "I'm always worried about crashing into things."

Victoire giggled. He heard her shift her position, too. "Like Uncle Ron," she said, and she put her hand in his so he would know where she was. Their hands didn't quite fit - hers were too small, and anyway, his were sticky from the popsicle - and Teddy pulled his away after a moment.

"Grandmum says my mum used to crash into things," he said, wiping the popsicle juice off on his shirt. "She says - "

"Teddy!" Victoire cried, and suddenly both her hands were on his head. "Your hair changed!"

"Oh, did it?" He shook her off. "What color this time?"

"Blue. Light blue."

"I dunno what light blue looks like."

"It looks like the sky," she said.

"I dunno what the sky looks like, either."

"Oh. Right." She was silent for a moment, and then: "It looks like fresh air and friendship and freedom."

"Freedom." Teddy reached out for her hand. She took it. "Freedom is lovely."

"Don't go," Victoire said, and it was years later, she was nine and he was eleven and he was getting on the Hogwarts Express and she wasn't, and they were best friends with no intentions of marrying each other, thank you very much. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you, too," he said, reaching out for her hand - it was still too small, but he made it fit anyway. "Who's going to tell me when my hair changes color?"

She giggled.

(He could hear the tears.)

"Listen, Vic, I'm going to be home before you know it."

"I know." She let out a sigh. "Hold still," she told him, and then her lips brushed his cheek.

"You hold still," he said with a grin, bending to return the kiss - and he missed, as he always did, and nearly fell forward when his lips touched only thin air.

"Come here," she giggled - a real one, this time - and she guided his face to her cheek. "I'll see you soon."

"Vic?"

"Yes?"

"What color is it now?"

"Hm." She grasped his chin between her fingers and angled it down, so she could see the top of his head. "Gold," she decided. "The color of a big warm fireplace."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Then it was Teddy's turn to say, "Don't go," because he was eighteen - too old for Hogwarts - and she was sixteen - too young to graduate - and they hadn't had their first kiss yet, but it was no secret that they liked each other.

(They still had no intentions of marrying each other, thank you very much.)

"I have to," Victoire said, slipping her hand into his. "Your hair is pink," she added.

"What kind of pink?"

"Neon pink. Like the taste of firewhiskey."

"Firewhiskey is nice," he said, freeing himself of her hand so he could wrap his arms around her waist. "Come have some with me. Right now."

"I can't," she said, going up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. "I'll miss the train."

"That's the idea," he said with a wink. "Hold still." He bent to kiss her cheek - missed, like he always did - and with a tiny noise from the back of her throat, Victoire seized his face between her hands and pulled it down until his lips were planted firmly over hers.

"That's neon pink," she whispered when they were through.

"I think I just found my favorite color, then," he murmured, and this time when he leaned in to kiss her, he didn't miss.

"I love you," Teddy said when he was twenty-one and she was nineteen and they'd been together for three years, but really it had been longer than that, it had been their entire lives, since the first time she grabbed his hand from her bassinet, since the first time she'd explained the colors to him, and he had every intention of marrying her, thank you very much.

"I love you, too," she said.

"Here." He offered her a bottle. "I want to try something. And we're going to need this."

She took the bottle. "Firewhiskey?"

He nodded. "Neon pink."

He could sense her grin. "Okay. What are we trying?"

"First thing's first." He tapped the bottle in her hands. "Open it up. Pour us each a glass."

She did, and he drank it all in one gulp. "Teddy," she said as she poured him another. "What's going on?"

He pulled her in for a kiss. "I have a question for you."

"And you have to be drunk before you'll ask it?"

"It's a big question. I'm nervous."

She had her hand on his forearm. "Is this one of those things where you try to build me up, make me think it's something huge, get me all anxious - and then ask me what color your hair is?"

He shook his head. "Not this time. What color is it, by the way?"

"Red, tonight. Like a Weasley's." She waited for him to laugh. "Come on, Teddy, that was funny! Because none of the Weasleys have red hair anymore."

"They don't?"

"No. My whole family has blonde, Roxanne and Freddie have black, James has brown - Teddy, this isn't the point. You have red hair tonight. What's your big question?"

He took both her hands - and they were too small for his hands, but he held them tightly anyway. "Victoire, I love you so much."

"I love you, too."

"I love every inch of you. I love holding you. I love talking to you. I love the way you laugh. I love the way you're here, right here, no matter what, every time I need you, and even during the times when I don't, even during the times when I only want you."

He heard the tears in her voice. "Teddy."

"And I love the way, when we were little, you used to take my hand to show me you were next to me, just in case I forgot." His voice was wavering, and he felt entirely neon pink. "I love the way you used to tell me what all the colors looked like, because yes, I was born without the ability to see, but you became my eyes, and I'm not - with you, I'm not blind anymore."

"Teddy."

He squeezed her hands. "You asked me once, a very long time ago, if it was hard, not being able to see. And I told you it was. But Victoire. I wouldn't change it. I would not change one instant of it. I don't need to see. I don't even want to see. All I want is you. For the rest of my life. For the rest of forever."

And he wasn't on one knee, because he didn't want to let go of her.

(She said yes anyway.)

Quidditch League, Round 2
Position: Keeper
Word Count: 1,419
Character: Teddy Lupin
Verb: drinking

[100 Prompts: "I want you to hold me, I want you to love me, I want you to be there every single time that I need you and even during the times when I don't. I want you to marry me!"]

[Fiddler on the Roof Character Challenge: Tzeitel - write about marrying a childhood friend]

[Disney Character Competition: The Tramp - write about Teddy Lupin. Prompt: Fingers]

[Het-Pairing Boot Camp: red]

[Relationship Bingo Board Challenge: E1 - Next-Gen Era]