Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did I'd have oodles of money and probably wouldn't know what to do with myself.
A/N: There are no excuses for this. None at all. I have no idea how this even evolved into what it has become. At first it was just kind of an experiment to see why people liked Lily/Teddy so much (and I'm still not quite sure, but whatever) and it just kind of took its own direction. I happen to love Lily in this story, though, because she's just so horribly awful and she knows it, but she just can't bring herself to give a damn. She's fun.
"Games are a compromise between intimacy and keeping intimacy away."
-Eric Berne
All Fun and Games
At first it's just a fun little game.
Lily Luna Potter loves playing games and she hates losing.
But right now she's winning. Oh yes, she's winning. Because, after all, Teddy has his hand up her skirt right now, not Victoire's. In fact they're in Shell Cottage and the whole thing is even more delicious because she's sitting on Victoire's desk and his body is over her and this feels so good, just like it always does.
But because the Game Master is in control and always has the keys she pauses the game with a slight mwah! sound and pulls her mouth away from his and slides off the side of the white desk. She doesn't want things to get too far, not here and not now. Teddy has this sort of dazed and confused look on his face as if she's confounded him but she knows she hasn't, at least not with her wand.
He's shocked, like he should be. After all she's the Weasley baby and here she is, getting intimate with the oldest of the new generation. But Lily's seventeen now and she can do whatever the hell she wants- as long as daddy doesn't find out, of course.
"I think that we need to get back to the party," Lily says, smoothing out her skirt and checking her reflection in one of the mirrors that Victoire has scattered all throughout her room. It's a good thing that she didn't wear any lipstick today; it'd probably be all over her face.
"Yeah, I do too," he says finally, dragging himself out of the funk that he had been in after Lily removed her lips from his. "Look, Lily... this, this was an accident, okay?"
Leveling his gaze on her Lily stares at him seriously. "There are no accidents. Everything happens for a reason." They continue to look at each other before Lily turns a switch inside herself, the one that everyone is always confused by but the one that Lily loves because it's so easy to flip, and smiles at him, teeth gleaming and lips slightly red and swollen because of him.
She's still in control, and she knows it by the way that he stares after her as she walks off. She can practically picture him running a hand through his hair, that stupid look on his face, wondering how in the hell he's going to explain this to Victoire. (He won't, of course, but that's the fun part.)
Feeling extremely pleased with herself she walks straight over to her oldest cousin and starts talking animatedly about something-or-other from Witch Weekly, which she knows that Victoire reads cover to cover every week.
She watches with careful eyes as Teddy comes down fifteen minutes later and when he sees them talking together his face pales- he's always been such a terrible liar- and Victoire doesn't notice it, but she does. She smiles at him again and he just looks at her, really looks at her, before shaking his head and heading for the refreshments table.
May the games begin.
She doesn't hate Victoire, really, she doesn't. They're cousins, after all, and family sticks together. Lily and Victoire actually used to be friends in those fairy tale summers at their grandparent's house.
So she's not quite sure why she's playing this dangerous game (the one that she's winning, thank you very much). It's not just some lame attempt for revenge, she doesn't do it because she hates her cousin. Technically there's no reason why she should be doing this other than the fact that she wanted to win the game. The only thing that you can do is either be a pawn or be on top and the top looks pretty damn good to her.
She wants to see if she can win him, just to know if she can. (Which, if last week was any indication, she so, so can.)
The player with the most cards wins.
Lily's always been a 'no strings attached now let's go have some fun kind of girl'. So when Teddy, six months into their game (the one that has been going on for much too long but for some reason she just can't seem to stop herself), tells her he loves her she laughs.
He hasn't broken up with Victoire yet, so really, how much does he really love her? He just loves himself and that makes the whole thing hilarious because selfish people can't love, not really. (It's part of the reason that Lily has never been in love herself.)
So she tells him so and she watches as his face turns red and his jaw sets, because whatever he was expecting from her it wasn't this. "Don't delude yourself," she tells him and flips some of her red hair behind her shoulder. "You're still with Victoire and that's not going to change any time soon, is it?" He'd better not, because then he'd ruin all her fun and she'd probably end up being more disgusted with him than anything.
This game, it's fun, and the thrill just gets higher with each passing minute. A few times they'd almost gotten caught (but not by Victoire, and like hell would Lily Luna Potter get herself caught by some stupid family member) and that just added to the excitement of this game.
Teddy doesn't respond for a moment and she can see his jaw working. "I can break it off, for you."
Now that it's apparent that he isn't going to kiss her anymore Lily adjusts her top and puts her hair back into a ponytail. "Oh no, don't do that. Not now. I don't think that poor Victoire could take it." They both know it's true because Victoire has just started eating normally again and she's going through some major career changes at the Ministry. One more thing and she just might... snap.
"Fine." Teddy pauses and runs a hand through his blue hair, the exact shade that she told him that she liked once upon a time during one of those fairy tale summers before they both grew up to be the selfish human beings that are standing here today. "But I don't like this."
"Of course you do." Lily tells him smiling at him, once again causing him to look at her in confusion. "You wouldn't be here otherwise, darling."
Winner takes all.
The plan was set and it was full proof, that much was certain. Lily had thought about this- planned this- for months, and nothing was going to get in her way, not even her damn brother Albus.
It had taken her a while to shake him at the party- Lily's starting to think that Albus is suspecting that something is going on, even though he wouldn't ever dream of the truth in a million years because he still hero worships Teddy at times- but she does, eventually, because Kira Montgomery has come to this one and he knows better than to keep hanging around his baby sister when she's around.
Finally she's alone and she meets Teddy where she knows that she'll find him. He's always so so nervous about doing it at parties, but from the very beginning Lily's made it very clear that she gets to pick and choose when and where, and she chose here and now.
He's looking at her with that funny expression on his face- really, she has no idea how he's managed to keep it together for nine months when he bares his soul across his face daily- and she jumps him, wrapping her long legs around his waist.
Teddy holds her and turns quickly so that her back is against a wall. And really, this feels so good, why should Victoire have him to herself anyway? It's not like she ever did anything to deserve him.
But it's not like Lily did either, so really, why is she even thinking about this? So she kisses him harder and shoves her hand down his pants, just to get rid of the thoughts that all of a sudden come to the surface. Why now, at the end of her game?
Why couldn't she have gotten a conscience before this?
She loses herself in him and then she hears the door creak, the light shine on her face and she pulls away from him, trying hard not to smile. This is the final battle, so of course it is going to be the most spectacular.
The look on Victoire's face is a shattered one, like fragile glass. Lily has never been that delicate so she has no idea what is going on inside of Victoire at that moment in time, but she can see the anguish that has cobwebbed the blonde beauty's face.
"Oh God," Lily whispers, like this is the most horrible thing in the world, when really, it isn't. This is going wonderfully, so wonderfully that she knows that now she's won, once and for all. She isn't really sure what she's won exactly, though, but she smiles and takes the trophy anyway.
Victoire says nothing but closes the door and Lily can hear the muted sound of a sob. Teddy whirls on her angrily, his face pale. "You set this whole thing up, didn't you?" he asks heavily, leaning his body aganist the wall as though he doesn't have enough strength to stand up by himself.
Lily doesn't reply, but she can see that he's really starting to get upset. "Why? Why the fuck would you do that, Lily? I loved her."
She goes in for the kill, sensing. "You said that you loved me too. But honestly, you loved yourself more than anyone combined. You used me while Victoire had to deal with her problems because you couldn't deal with it anymore, remember?"
"You're a bitch." There's a vulnerability in his eyes that Lily guesses he doesn't even realize is there, but she does. She recognizes this for what it is and relishes in this, because she's not weak and needy at all so his expression won't be reflected in her eyes.
"And you're a bastard. I guess that we're perfectly matched now, huh?"
With one last look of disgust Teddy walks away, leaving Lily all alone, just like she was sure that she would end up. In order to win you've got to lose something, Lily's learned that lesson before. So now she's just lost her cousin and her... something else. But she can't bring herself to care.
Lily Luna Potter might be a bitch, but she's the one that always wins, in the end.
Game Over.