1. Friends

"Congratulations!" Victoire said, hugging Teddy two or three seconds longer than what was socially acceptable. But it was fine: they were best friends anyway.

Teddy laughed, his arms crushing Victoire and swirling her around. Teddy always did that to her, and the other Weasley or Potter children. He was the big brother everyone wanted to have, and so they looked up to him.

"I'm not a child, Ted." Victoire said to him, as he set her down. Teddy was sporting white blonde hair that day. It was his latest trend, ever since he had seen The Bubotubers in concert the week before.

"Oh, but you still look like one, Vic." he teased, winking his eye and hugging the next relative in line: her mother.

They were all at the Burrow, dinner was about to be served and the occasion was Teddy's graduation party. They were all home for the summer, and Teddy was going to start Auror training in a week. His lifelong dream.

"Don't be an arse!" Victoire said, her mother making a surprised face. "I'm already 16."

"Victoire," her mother said with a reproachful face. "Teddy already knows how old you are, my dear. Don't call him an arse, or anyone else for that matter."

"Sorry." Victorie retorted, blushing slightly. Her mother was always trying to correct her behavior whenever she acted in an unladylike manner. Her father hugged Teddy next, patting him on the back, and then Fleur and Bill went into the kitchen with the other adults, leaving the two friends in the living room. Dominique and Louis had gone up to one of the bedrooms to try out the latest Weasley Wizard Wheezes product their Uncle Ron had given them. The children were outside playing Quidditch.

"Don't worry, Vic." Teddy whispered in her ear. "To me you'll always be my dear sweet little baby sister."

"We are not siblings," Victoire said, looking at him in a daring way. "and I am not a baby."

Teddy laughed again. Harry Potter came strutting in, two glasses with an amber liquid in his hands. He saw the two teenagers in a secluded corner of the living room and came up to them. He offered one of the glasses to Teddy, and Teddy realising it was a glass of firewhiskey smiled broadly.

"Is it ok?" Teddy asked, grabbing the glass form Harry.

"Yeah, sure." Harry patted him on the back. "You're an adult now. And I couldn't be more proud. Graduating as Head Boy and having almost perfect scores at NEWTs, you could have been anything, and you decided to become an Auror like me! You certainly make me proud."

"Thanks, Harry." Teddy said, his smile turning even bigger. "You and Ginny have always been there for me, and I really appreciate it."

"Any time, Tedds." Harry said, patting him on the back once again. He smiled at his godson with honor, and then went away into the kitchen again.

"Why are you so pleased? You've been drinking since you were 16." Victoire said to him, flipping her hair over her shoulder. She liked the way her blonde hair fell all the way to her hips, she felt sexy flipping it.

"But he offered it to me. It's different. This right here is a rite of passage. It's like saying: you are one of us, come and join us." he said, moving to sit down in the loveseat.

"You're so full of yourself, you finished Hogwarts three days ago." Victoire sat down beside him. "And I must say, in this family being Head Boy or having high marks in every subject is not impressive anymore."

"Just because you had awful OWLs doesn't mean high markings are a bad thing either." Teddy teased again, his hair acquiring a bluish tone. How sexy, Victoire thought. For her Teddy was the sexiest with his hair blue.

"Awful? I just did poorly in Divination. And do I have to remind you that I don't need Divination to work as a healer?" she said.

"Then you're glad you're dropping it next year?" Teddy asked.

"Of course." said Victoire smugginly. "I can't wait to focus on more important things. Herbology and Potions ought to be more interesting from now on."

"You're surprisingly bookish." Teddy said laughing.

"You were just the same when you entered your sixth year, so shut up." Victoire said, punching him lightly on the arm.

"I'm glad you're focus." Teddy said, rubbing his arm. "But I'm sure your concentration will last until September 1st."

"What are you talking about?"

"I know you, Vic." Teddy said, leaning into her, the loveseat was small, but the closeness was an advantage for Victoire. "I know you and Dominique. You're always boy crazy."

"That's an utter lie." Victoire defended herself. "And if we do so happen to chase boys, it's not for our own advantage."

"Oh, yes, right." said Teddy, reclining in the loveseat and taking a swing of his drink. "The matchmaking game."

"It's not a game, it's a serious business. We've been making couples for two years now, and most of them are still going strong."

"You're not responsible for that." Teddy looked at her with pitiful eyes. "I don't know what delusions go on inside that head of yours, but you cannot make people fall in love. You can't even make someone in love with yourself."

"I bloody well can!" Victoire said, crossing her arms over her breasts. "I'm not ugly as you seem to think."

"Oh, I have no doubt of your beauty, you have Veela blood in you, anyway. But one thing is making someone lust over you, and the other is making them completely in love, head over heels, no other in the world for me, with you." Teddy said with a smug expression, taking another swing from his firewhiskey.

"I can do that in a matter of days, Ted."

"Alright, then. Do it." Teddy said.

"What?!" Victoire exclaimed. "I don't need a boyfriend right now, thanks."

Victoire felt a pinch in her chest. She already knew Teddy didn't feel anything of the romantic sort towards her, but it still was rather painful to be reminded of it. Maybe she was indeed just his friend, and although they had been the closest of friends for the last 12 years, she had no hope whatsoever of Teddy Lupin ever feeling something more.

"That's what I thought. You already know you won't be able to. And he doesn't have to be your boyfriend. Just make him fall for you, and then you can do with him whatever you want."

"You are a despicable human being." Victoire said disbelieving. "But how would I know he's in love with me?"

"Ask him to meet Bill." said Teddy laughing. "If he accepts then you'll know."

Victoire fell silent for some seconds. It sounded like a fun thing to do this year, without Teddy there, Hogwarts was going to be boring. And she could always dumped the guy when the matchmaking was completed. But still it felt like a betrayal towards her own feelings. She was already in love with Teddy, and accepting his game was like accepting defeat. Maybe it was time for her to do it, Teddy was not going to be hers.

"I'll do it." she said in a quiet voice.

"What?" Teddy looked at her with incredulity. "I was only joking, Vic."

"No, it sounded like a dare to me." her voice grew stronger, as her resolve. "I'll make someone fall in love with me, and then you'll have to take my matchmaking skills seriously."

"You just want a boyfriend." Teddy dismissed it.

"Maybe I do." Victoire said, smirking. If she was going to get the nail out, she needed another one to completely erase him from her mind. "It sounds like a good thing to get out of a dare."

"Alright, then. But he has to be completely-"

"Head over heels with me." Victoire interrupted. "I get it, Ted."

"And it has to be deliberate. If he already likes you, then it won't be your matchmaking skills. It has to be someone that doesn't know you."

"But I have a condition." Victoire said.

"Name it."

"You'll take me to the club with you and your mates tomorrow night." she said, smirking at him with evilness in her eyes. Teddy had forbidden her to come along, he didn't want to look after little kids, and had even made his mind to flirt with some girls and get drunk. But Victoire wanted to be there, not just because she had never seen Teddy drunk, but because it was going to be one of the last times she could see him before he went away to Auror training.

"What? You get a boyfriend and you get to come clubbing?" he asked, annoyed. "That doesn't sound fair to me!"

"Come on, Teddy!" Victoire whined.

"I'll make it even, then." Teddy said, smirking. "You'll have to seduce a bloke of my choosing."

"What?" Victoire crinkled her nose, her disgust apparent. "You're going to appoint some nasty loser, aren't you?"

"Oh, no, my dear Vicky." Teddy said, patting her on the hand and using the pet nickname Victoire hated. "Having a nasty loser as your opponent would be too easy, someone like that would immediately fall in love with you. It's the other way around."

"Who…?" Victoire hesitated.

"How about...Edward Nott?"

"But…" Victoire looked at her friend with distrust. "Nott is a Slytherin, and a pure-blood, and a seventh year!"

"So what? You said anyone would do!" Teddy laughed. "Just take the dare."

"If I accept, would you let me go to the club with you?"

"Yes, alright." Teddy said, waving his hand to dismiss the subject.

"I'll do it!"

So the next night, at 9:30, Teddy Apparated into the Shell Cottage garden. He was wearing a button down shirt and some jeans, his hair still white blond, sticking out in every direction. He was kind of nervous, but he was not yet aware why. And as he made his way to the front door, the uneasiness in his stomach deeply grew. For the last month or so, he had been feeling quite uneasy whenever Victoire was involved. He had started noticing how boys would look at her whenever she went, and he always cursed her for being oblivious to it. She stood out, and he was not comfortable with that. Partly, that was why he wasn't happy about taking her to the club. She was his dear friend, she was like a little sister to him, so looking at all those guys eyeing her like she was a sex toy was enough to make his blood boil.

And yet he had proposed that stupid dare the night before. At first he thought it would be amusing. Pairing Nott to her was quite clever from him, he had thought at the beginning, Nott was a known playboy, and he never took anyone seriously. But as the party at the Burrow continued and he could settle into the idea a little bit more, he started to worry.

He knew Victoire and he was sure she would never do anything with that guy. She was a prude, she could talk about sex and love and read dirty magazines, but in reality it was all a facade. She was as scared of sex as she was of the dark when she was six. He knew Victoire would never do it with a guy she was not in love with. But it was that exact thought that made him start to worry. Nott was indeed a playboy, and playboys always made sure to enamour their victims.

So when he knocked the door and Bill let him in the house, he was completely ready to cancel the dare and accept her matchmaking skills, even if he thought that was utter bullshit. But when she came down the stairs and saw her in baggy jeans and a large hoodie, he decided she was still just a kid, and Nott was not even going to be interested.

"Why are you not ready?" Teddy asked her once she had greeted him.

"What do you mean, Ted? I'm ready to go babysit Albus and Lily with you." she snorted. "Do I need to dress fancy for those brats now?"

"Er, yeah, right." Teddy said, looking at Bill, and then back at Victoire. Bill smiled at him and kissed his daughter before going back up the stairs.

"What's going on?" Ted whispered to Victoire once Bill was out of sight.

"I'll tell you outside." she whispered back, taking her purse from the couch and pulling him to the front door. Once outside she dragged him far away from the house, they walked towards the beach and when the house was out of sight, she yanked him into some tall bushes.

"Papa was not going to let me come if he knew we were going clubbing." she said, taking the hoodie off and revealing the upper part of a tight red dress. Teddy gulped.

"You mean you're sneaking out?" Teddy chuckled. Somehow the image of a rebellious Victoire was laughable.

"No, not sneaking out." she said, unbuttoning her jeans and taking them off. "I'm just not telling them where I'm going."

"And what would they say when you come back in the middle of the night?" Teddy said, watching her take off her white sneakers and pulling out of her tiny purse some big black high heels.

"I'm not. I'm crashing with you." she said, matter-of-factly.

"But I'm crashing at Jordan's. He just got a flat in London."

"Well, then." she said, smirking. "We both have to crash there now."

"You surely are a pain in the ass when you want to." Teddy said, taking Victoire's arm so she could put on her high heels. When Victoire had finished arranging her clothes in the right manner, she took a step back, and with her heels burying in the the sand, she looked at Teddy with dark blue eyes.

"So…" she asked.

"What?" Teddy asked cluelessly.

"What do you think? You know, about my dress?" Victoire stuck out her chest, trying to get a decent response out of Teddy.

"Er…" Teddy only glanced at her figure, and deciding it was not something one does with his sister, he just shrugged and said: "It's fine, I guess."

"Fine." Victoire said, her eyes falling a little. "I'm ready, then."

Teddy grabbed her arm, and concentrating as hard as he could, he took her in a side-along Apparition. It was about the fourth time he Apparated after his test, and he still had to put his full mind into it. Splinching would be a nasty affair to relate to Bill.

They Apparated into an alley in London. They could hear the music blaring off some nearby building and the grimy lights made everything darker. Victoire clung to Teddy's arm. She suddenly felt afraid, and although it was not unheard of, being a 16 year old in the middle of London going clubbing without her parents' approval, it made her uncomfortable. She was a good girl after all.

"Come on, it's this way." Teddy said, leading the way. He blushed slightly, thankful for the lack of lights, when he felt Victoire's breast brushing against his arms. He had never been that aware of Victoire's sex until that point in life.

After walking for a couple of blocks, the music became louder, and they saw the streets were full of clubgoers and night owls. Girls were dressed even more provocatively than Victoire, and Teddy's gaze kept wandering to those long legs and large breasts without meaning to.

"Oi, Ted!" a male voice shouted from a line of people nearby. Teddy went over, Victoire still clinging to his arm. It was Jordan, one of his mates from Hogwarts. He was already in line to one of the clubs, and he made room for them to stand next to him.

"Hello, Jordan." Victoire said, timidly.

"Vicky, I didn't know a good girl like you would like this kind of place." he said, using the horrid pet name.

"Well, I'm all up for trying new things." she said, gaining a little confidence. She had an easy-going personality and Jordan was a nice bloke that she usually talked to at Hogwarts.

"That's the spirit, girl. And may I say you look stunning this evening?" he said, eyeing her from head to toe.

"Thanks." she said, glancing at Teddy for the briefest of moments. He was looking around, not even hearing what Jordan was saying. He definitely regards me as a kid, if he has to look at other women when I'm practically throwing myself at him, Victoire thought.

As the night progressed and the line advanced, more of Teddy's friends arrived. Henry Lucas came with a Ravenclaw girl Victoire had only seen once or twice. Lewis Gardner arrived when they were about to enter the club; he was a serious boy Victoire had liked since she was in her first year and he and Teddy were in their third.

The club was loud and dark and it smelled like booze and cigarettes. Victoire instantly felt overwhelmed, she clenched Teddy's arm tightly, and walked beside him to one of the small tables. They were immediately offered drinks, and with a disapproving look from Teddy, she ordered some vodka with grape juice (the same drink the Ravenclaw girl had taken). Teddy shrugged off Victoire's arm, and took his drink to where Lewis was standing. They started making conversation and pointing out to some girls. Henry and the Ravenclaw girl were snogging at the other end of the table, and after some minutes, they disappeared into the dance floor.

"If you feel uncomfortable, I can take you home." offered Jordan over the music to Victoire. She hadn't notice how close he was to her, and how apart from everybody they had become.

"No!" Victoire immediately responded. "I'm fine! I want to do this."

"My offer still applies if you change your mind." Jordan pressed.

"Thanks." Victoire took a sip from her drink. It tasted sweet, but it burned her throat slightly. She took another larger gulp from it, and she started feeling lightheaded. As the music and the people engulfed her, she drank her drink with more confidence. She started swaying with the music, and when her drink had gone, she had completely forgotten about Teddy ignoring her and had started to openly dance. She ordered a second drink, and after that, she ordered a third one.

"Jordan!" she said over the music, for the boy hadn't lose track of her the entire night. "Come dance with me!"

Jordan obliged. He led her into the dance floor, and grabbed her by her narrow waist. She placed her hands on his shoulders and started moving wildly and sexyly. She brushed her body to Jordan's a couple times, and as she was starting to enjoy the music, and Jordan was moving as wildly as she was, never letting her escape his hands, Victoire felt a hand on her shoulder and she instinctively turned around.

"Teddy!" she giggled, throwing herself into his arms. She heard him telling Jordan off and making some threats about keeping his hands to himself.

"You've drunk enough, Vicky." Teddy said to her, and closing his arms over her body, he hugged her. "I'll take you home."

"I'm completely sober." Victoire said, hugging him back. "Let's dance."

She moved inside his arms, her hips swaying and her arms tossing in a dangerous manner. Teddy remained serious and still, and his hands tried to contain Victoire's movements. But he failed miserably. The girl moved crazily, and he was desperately trying to stop anyone else from touching her.

"Vic, please stop." he implored into her ear. She hugged him by his neck, and brushed her lips to his cheek. She erupted in giggles, making Teddy stiffly disjoin her arms so he could stand straight again. He holded her hand and led her to the table with their drinks. She took a swing from her fourth glass before Teddy could stop her.

"Oi, Victoire." he called to her, taking the glass from her hands. "Grab your purse, I'm taking you home."

"No!" Victoire said in a loud voice. "I can't go home! I'm drunk!"

Bill is going to assassinate me, Teddy thought. He grabbed her purse with one hand, and took her hand in his with the other one. He could do a Sobering Charm to her, a trick he had recently acquired, but the club was full of muggles and he needed to take her out. He pulled her towards the exit, Victoire protesting and throwing her other arm in the air.

The backstreet of the club was full of drunk people and puke, so he kept walking towards the alley where they had Apparated into. And as they walked, he felt his heart hammering inside his chest. Why did he felt the urge to punch Jordan in the face just then?

"Oi, Teddy!" Victoire called from behind him.

"What?" he was in a foul mood.

"Where are we going?" she stood her ground at the beginning of the alley. They were apart from the crowded street and there was no one else in sight. "I thought we were staying at Jordan's."

"There was a change of plans." Teddy said, looking over her glossy expression and rosy cheeks. She was certainly drunk. "I'll sober you up in a jiffy and then I'll take you home."

"No!" she whined, throwing herself into his arms again. "I want to stay!"

"Come on, Victoire. Hold still." Teddy struggled with Victoire's antics, she wanted to hug him and stay drunk, she was discovering it to be a not so bad sensation. But Teddy kept pulling her from him and trying to aim his wand at her.

"No, Teddy." she said, hugging him even tighter. He sighed and relaxed his body, figuring he could wait until she calmed down to charm her. He patted her head.

"Let's stay." Victoire said, glancing up to his face. "I love you."

"I love you, too." he said, looking down and seeing her shy smile.

"No, you don't get it." she said, frowning.

"What is it?"

"I love you." and then she raised herself on her tiptoes and pulling his shirt, she kissed him on the mouth. Teddy was so shocked he didn't even have time to pull apart. His stomach somersaulted and his eyes automatically closed. The kiss was simple and tender, and even though Victoire was drunk, she didn't try to deepen it. Their lips just touched for the briefest of instants, and yet, for Teddy, it felt like an eternity.

Victoire finally separated her head, and giggled into his chest. She hugged him tightly again and after some minutes, she was calmed enough for Teddy to do the spell. A soft red glow emanated from his wand, and when it was over, Victoire held her head between her hands.

"I feel like my head might explode." she said, wincing.

"It's a secondary effect." he said, shrugging. "I'll take you home now."

"Why are you blushing? I didn't mean to..." she asked, grabbing Teddy's arm so he could Apparate them back into Shell Cottage.

"For no reason." he said, shaking his head and making his blush go away. Victoire noticed his hair had taken a pinkish glow before she felt the tug at the back of her belly botton.