I. Teddy and Victoire

First Kiss

26 December 2016

It took Teddy a full five minutes to recognize that the pounding racket in his head was not, in fact, his brain attempting to escape his skull. Rather, it was coming from outside the comfort and security of his closed eyeballs—from the front door of his tiny Wiltshire flat, to be exact. Groaning, Teddy dragged himself out of his bedcovers and began staggering down the dark hallway. "Bloody hell…Boxing Day…some of us like a lie-in…"

Running a hand through his disheveled hair, Teddy pulled open the front door—and his jaw dropped. "Vic?" he gasped. "I—I thought you were in France!"

Victoire tossed her hair over her shoulder, glowering ferociously. Then, she reached into her cloak pocket and whipped out a rumpled parchment. "A letter?"

Teddy's stomach dropped. "Oh—right—Vic—"

"I pour my heart out to you on Christmas Eve, and you send me a letter?" Victoire continued furiously, shaking the parchment under Teddy's nose.

Teddy swallowed. "Vic, I didn't know how else to—I thought you'd left for France already—"

"Do you have any idea how I felt?" Victoire demanded in a strangled voice. "I tell you I love you, and you say you need some time to think, and then—and then you ignore me for two days! Two days, Teddy! I've spent the past forty-eight hours seriously considering skiving off my grandparents' New Year's Eve party this year because I was so furious with myself for mucking up our friendship!"

Teddy gaped. "Vic, I didn't mean to—I mean, I feel the same—you didn't muck up—"

"You'd better have a bloody incredible apology up your sleeve, Teddy Lupin!" Victoire shrilled, jabbing him in the chest. "Because there is no way I'll ever agree to be your girlfriend if you think a letter is going to fix—mmph—"

It was several, long minutes before Teddy broke the kiss and pulled away, breathing heavily, his hands still cupping Victoire's face. He gazed down at her slightly parted lips—at her deep blue eyes, filled with astonishment—and smiled.

"Happy Christmas, Vic."

Author's Note:

Hi, everyone! Welcome to this quick little side project: a series of short (350-word) stories about Teddy and each of the 12 Weasley grandkids. I actually wrote these one-shots AGES ago, for a very old challenge on HPFC called the "Connect the Weasleys" Challenge. Well, I missed writing about the NextGen kids, so I decided to spruce these stories up and publish them. :)

This first one will be familiar if you've read my story 'Thirteen Days of Christmas.' So, I'm going to go ahead and publish two chapters right now (since this one's not exactly new material). After that, updates will be daily. Hope you enjoy!

Much love,
Ari