I know, it's a miracle, but this is a het story. There aren't many het couples I love in HP, but THIS ONE IS SPECIAL. It came up as a prompt in the recent Teddy Fest on Livejournal and I couldn't pass it up. The story pretty much wrote itself. Anyway, even if no one else read it, I LOVE THIS STORY. :D

*** ONE ***

Teddy Lupin met his first crush when he was fifteen years old. He had admired girls before that, of course, since only complete wankers felt no attraction to anyone by the time they were that age. He even had something of a girlfriend at the time. But he had never felt anything quite so startlingly intense-rather like a punch to the gut-as when he walked up the steps and nearly bowled her over.

She was amazing. Her brown eyes seemed to drill into his very soul, stripping away his secrets and baring his innermost desires. He stared into them for a full fifteen seconds before his gaze fell, only to light on something even more astounding-her cleavage.

Teddy's jaw gaped open and he tried desperately to drag his eyes elsewhere, but they were so amazingly full and perfect and… there, swelling nearly out of the tight, emerald green bodice that tried to contain them.

"If you plan to drool on those, can you give me some warning so I can grab a flannel?" she asked in a dry tone and Teddy wrenched his gaze away, stammering.

She stepped around him as he attempted to stutter out an apology, although his vocal cords seemed unable to connect to his brain. Her robes rustled as she moved and her full lips curved as she turned her head to look back at him. His heart nearly stopped when she gave him a wink.

Teddy stared after her, earning a glare from Professor Susscrofa, who accompanied her, yammering in her delicate ear. Teddy wanted to cringe. Susscrofa quite resembled a warthog and his hairy eyebrows were adorned with random long hairs that stuck out at odd angles. His meaty hand was wrapped around the elbow of Teddy's new object de amour, guiding her down the stairs.

"…our students are not normally so rude, Ms Parkinson, and I'm sure Teddy is on his way to class, are you not, Mr Lupin?" Susscrofa's voice was a cross between a bellow and a sneer. He was the head of Hufflepuff house and had never liked Teddy.

"Ms Parkinson," Teddy said on a breath, earning a jab from Robin.

"Oi, Teddy, come back to earth."

"Did you see her?" Teddy asked, watching the sway of Ms Parkinson's hips as she descended the stairs and rounded the corner. She never looked back.

"Fab tits, for a bird her age," Robin commented and dragged at his arm.

Teddy gave him an affronted look. "She's not old!"

Robin rolled his eyes. "Probably over thirty. And that's old, mate. Manda Glasgow has tits as nice as hers."

Teddy grimaced. Manda Glasgow might have a great rack, but she had eyes like a bovine and a habit of chewing gum that only increased her resemblance to a farm-bred heifer. She was nothing at all like the amazing Ms Parkinson, with her flawless skin, pouty lips, smouldering eyes, and-

Teddy heaved a smitten sigh and hurried after Robin. Chances were he would never see the fabulous Ms Parkinson again.

******

But Teddy did see Ms Parkinson again. Quite frequently, in fact. The school was planning a huge event for the fifteenth anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts. Ms Parkinson (whose first name, he discovered, was Pansy, like the beautiful flower) had the job of planning much of the event as some sort of Ministry liaison. Teddy hadn't paid much attention to the specifics; he was simply happy that she was frequently visible to his adoring gaze.

To Teddy's dismay, Pansy barely acknowledged his existence. Several students had been assigned to provide Ms Parkinson with whatever she needed. Teddy's fevered mind had concocted many fantasies in which Pansy needed many things from Teddy, including kisses, soft touches, and declarations of love. Unfortunately, in reality, she only ever seemed to need manual labour.

"Move that shelf to the right about six inches," she said, cocking her head.

Teddy strained his muscles and wondered if it would be too obvious if he took off his shirt. Thanks to his metamorphmagus abilities, he could enlarge his muscles at will, so he didn't have to appear as a scrawny teenager. He frequently imagined himself going to her wearing the body of an older man, fooling her into believing he was of age...

Teddy sighed. But that would be dishonest and he refused to sully the purity of his love with such a massive lie. Eventually, the truth would come out and he would be exposed as a charlatan.

"There!" she exclaimed. "It's perfect, Tommy. Thank you for your help."

He turned to look at her, dejected. "Teddy," he corrected for the third time. Merlin, she could not even remember his name.

Pansy smiled at him absently and gave his head a pat. Her eyes were on the wall, no doubt already plotting the position of the next fixture that Teddy would have to manhandle into place. "Yes, dear. Teddy. Can you go fetch the fabric samples I left on the table over there? I need to determine which will look best next to this..."

Teddy heaved a long-suffering sigh and went to do her bidding.

******

Teddy researched everything he could about Pansy Parkinson. He discovered that she had once gone to Hogwarts, had been sorted into Slytherin, and had been "a very average student" according to Headmistress McGonagall. Teddy was glad to hear it, because he was a very average student, himself.

His godfather was less flattering when Teddy went home for the holidays and broached the subject.

"Pansy Parkinson?" Harry seemed to recoil for a moment and then he snorted before looking at Auntie Hermione. "What's she up to now? At Hogwarts?"

"Probably trying to rise up the next Dark Lord," she replied.

She and Uncle Harry burst into amused snickers, but Teddy did not find it laughable at all. He had seen Pansy do nothing that even hinted of evil. She was beautiful and perfect and smelled of sugar biscuits. He decided they were simply biased against Slytherins, to which he could slightly relate, since the Slytherins in his year were largely unbearable, but he was willing to give Pansy the benefit of the doubt. She was an adult and any childish transgressions she had committed should have been long forgotten.

Congratulating himself on such a mature thought, Teddy set about thinking up ways to get Pansy to notice him.

******

All of Teddy's methods of getting Pansy's attention failed spectacularly. She seemed to have eyes only for her work, and when the big event came the Great Hall looked spectacular, draped in the colours of all four Houses, with magical sparklers shooting off fireworks that evolved into nebulous scenes from the war, guaranteed to leave war veterans sobbing into their butterbeer.

Of course, it all paled next to the vision that was Pansy. Her dark hair was upswept and held together with sparkling green combs and two glowing fairies. Her robes were also green, which Teddy had noted was her favourite colour, and clung tightly to her voluptuous curves. Emeralds glittered at her neck and wrist, and her smile shone brighter than them all. Teddy ached at the very sight of her.

Visiting dignitaries and Ministry officials crowded the Great Hall. There had been a fancy ceremony and feast that included the Hogwarts students earlier in the day, but after curfew only the adults and the seventh-year students remained, to dance and drink and have maudlin chats, mostly reminiscences about the war. It was frightfully boring.

Teddy was only allowed to view it because he had borrowed Harry's invisibility cloak-possibly without permission-and huddled in an out-of-the-way corner to observe Pansy. He wished he had gone to bed with the other students when he saw Pansy on the arm of a handsome blond-haired wizard. She laughed at him with a familiarity that made Teddy's heart clench, leaning close enough to kiss.

When she strode onto the dance floor with the man, it was more than Teddy could bear. Devastated, he fled the room to nurse his broken heart.

He had to face it. Pansy Parkinson was a woman of the world and he was just a silly student harbouring a crush. He had to get over her. Two days later she was gone from Hogwarts, as though she had never entered it and disrupted Teddy's life. He tried to forget her, a vow made easier by the fact that he didn't see her again for seven long years…

~TBC~