when a tornado meets a volcano
Lily Luna/Teddy/Victoire

just gonna stand there and watch me burn
but that's alright because I love the way it hurts
just gonna stand there and hear me cry
but that's alright because I love the way you lie
- love the way you lie, eminem feat. rihanna

Her name is Lily Luna Potter and she's always had a talent for running away.

….

They were friends growing up, Lily and Teddy, so shouldn't she have some sort of claim over him? Only she doesn't.

When she was born, her parents claim that she cried when Victoire held her. It was only when Teddy held her that her cries calmed and a huge smile overtook her face. That might have been a signal for what was going to happen.

But no one took it as such. They assumed that Lily was amused by Teddy's multicoloured hair.

Well, the redheaded baby grew a few years. She became a bit tall for her age, skinny, and quite fit. The girl always had energy no matter what she was doing- she was sort of like a ball of fire. But as Teddy could tell, her favourite activity in the world was running.

She would always beg to play tag with him, and when he finally relented, he would be the one that would chase her around for hours. Never once did she even show a sign of being tired. It was always the game of cat-and-mouse with him, but rather than him being the cat, she was the cat. Whenever she would chase him, she would catch him within five minutes, then claim it 'wasn't fun' whenever she chased him and make him chase her again.

On the sidelines of their little game sat Victoire, who would finger-comb her blonde hair and raise her eyebrows at Teddy, silently asking him why he would play the childish game for so long with the little girl. He'd just shrug and mouth one word: "Harry."

Though at the time Lily didn't know it, Teddy had a lot of loyalty to her father because really, Harry was like a father to him, which pegged Lily as his little sister. When Lily was born, Teddy had made a promise to her father that he would look after the little redhead.

But Lily didn't know this and assumed that he was playing with her purely because he wanted to.

She didn't notice the small smiles Teddy shot Victoire that would eventually lead to her downfall.

…

She was running one Saturday afternoon quite a while ago, the wind blowing her red hair back, causing her the same rush she always got when she was running. "Come find me, Teddy!"

"Lily," Teddy's voice echoed through the woods. "Lily, your dad is calling, it's time for dinner."

"Well, that's too bad," Lily yelled back. The forest that loomed around her was kind of scary, she realised with a start. It was starting to become dark, and the moon shone through the trees in that way that reminded her of werewolf movies. She yelped, trying not to become scared- if she was scared, then she wasn't brave Gryffindor. James would be right and she would be in Slytherin.

Tears started to roll down the little girl's face as Teddy yelled back, "Lily! You better get back here right now; your father isn't pleased with you-"

"But Teddy," She choked through the sobs, "I'm lost and I don't know where I am and I fell down and got a boo-boo-"

She heard an impatient sigh before his relenting tone broke through the impending silence. "I'm coming to get you, Lily, don't go anywhere."

There was the sound of feet trampling leaves, and she did her best to calm her thrumming heart as she waited. With the absence of people, the forest seemed a lot scarier than she remembered. She'd ran down this way because of the sunny memories of her past in the forest- hunting with James and tagging along with Rose and Albus- but in the darkness, those memories were driven out of her mind.

Finally, Teddy arrived with his strong arms and a bit of an irritated look on his face. "Lily Luna, what in the world were you thinking, running into the forest and making me come find you?"

"I was thinking that you would rescue me," She hiccupped, looking up at him with her pleading brown eyes.

"Well, Lily," He told her seriously, swinging her up into his arms, "As much as I hate to be the one to tell you, I'm not always going to be there to save you."

"No, you will, Teddy," She murmured, ignoring the feeling of pure safety and happiness that just his holding her brought to every pore in her body. "Don't tell yourself that you won't." With a sigh, she turned her head over so that her face was buried in his tie and inhaled. That was her favourite smell in the world- the smell of Teddy Lupin's Gryffindor tie.

"Lily, one day, we'll be living in separate worlds, as much as it pains me to say it," He replied, ruffling her hair affectionately.

But she refused to believe it because in her mind, they were best friends and best friends didn't leave each other. And instead, she fell asleep in his arms, her tiny halo of red hair pressed against his chest. She woke up momentarily when Teddy put her into her bed, and she tried to pretend like she wasn't awake but two voices drifted into her ear.

"What are we going to do, Teddy?" It was Victoire.

Another voice drifted in and out, so that she could only catch part. "Still young… desperate for attention… lost on purpose…"

"Don't lead her on," Victoire said, her voice coming louder and clearer than Teddy's. "She's only a child, so she won't try anything yet…"

Then there was silence, and she imagined that maybe they were kissing (ew!) or something like that.

Her heart skipped a beat- were they talking about her?- but she decided they couldn't be and let herself drift fully off to sleep in the bed.

That night, she dreamed of racing through the woods and a boy with multiple hair colours at the end of the line, waiting to pull her into his strong arms.

….

When she was a bit older (but it still seems like a while ago), she heard her dad talking to Teddy.

"She needs to get some of that energy out," Harry Potter declared. "Have you got any ideas?"

"I know just the place," Teddy explained, and she watched, fascinated, as he ran his hand through his hair and it changed back to its normal blue. Shifting from one foot to the other, he told her father, "Have you ever considered signing her up for cross-country running?"

Lily's father cocked his head. "No. What is that?"

"Cross-country," Teddy repeated, but when no sign of recognition showed on Lily's father's face (she doubted it, because he wasn't quite up to date on Muggle things), he continued. "It means that you're running long-distance, just running- nothing else. Sort of like a race. I reckon that Lily would be rather good at it, and I know a team for elementary schoolers, if you think that Lily would be interested…"

She was interested; she was very interested. Her father (who knew her quite well at that point in time) grinned at Teddy. "That sounds perfect, actually. When can she start?"

"Well, they have their next meeting tomorrow," Teddy replied, placing a stack of papers in front of Harry. "If you want, I think me and Vic would be available to take her there."

Smiling gratefully at his godson, Lily's father nodded. "That would be amazing. Thank you so much, Teddy- you're a lifesaver. Lily's quite the handful, isn't she?"

"Very much so," Teddy agreed with a grin. "But we can surely handle her."

Pouting, Lily crossed her arms. They could handle her? It wasn't as if she was five anymore- she was eight and very grown up, couldn't they tell? She was nearly four foot five!

But, since she was curious, she willingly went with Teddy and Victoire to the cross-country meeting, secretly hoping that they wouldn't actually run all the way across the country- England was rather big, from what she had heard.

When she got there, she noticed that there were a lot of children there. Worried, she twirled a piece of hair around her finger and noticed that Teddy and Victoire were holding hands. Well, that won't do, she thought, walking up between the two of them and prying their hands apart, slipping one of her hands through Teddy's and the other through Victoire's. Much better.

Someone walked over to them, clutching a clipboard. Looking from Teddy to Victoire to Teddy, she asked, "This your daughter?"

The almost seventeen-year-old Victoire nearly snorted, looking down at Lily with a smile and then back up. "No, my cousin."

"I'm Harry Potter's daughter," Lily announced proudly, grinning up at the lady.

The lady looked confused, which wasn't the typical reaction. Teddy just shook his head at Lily before looking up at the lady. "She means that her father is quite the popular lawyer. She's a bit delusional- if she starts talking to you about anything out of order, that might be why."

The lady nodded, shooting Lily a tiny frown before grasping the child's hand. "Okay. Thank you, now come with me, all of you. We'll have this little Lily some tryouts."

Lily shot Victoire and Teddy a frightened look, but it was too late- they were already holding hands and doing their weird smiles again. Angrily, she walked off with the lady to a crowd of children, where she grabbed hold of the first boy she saw, noticing the Deathly Hallows necklace around his neck- a clear symbol that he was also a wizard.

"Hi," She said, extending a hand. "I'm Lily Potter."

"Potter?" The boy's jaw dropped and she grinned. This was the reaction that she was used to getting. She loved to see people's jaws drop because of her.

Hand on her hip, she nodded. "Gonna stand there and stare at me or tell me your name?"

"Albert," The boy replied nervously. "Albert Rosier."

Rosier? Her mind raced. As in Rosier the Death Eater? This made him even more forbidden to her, and all the more appealing- now she could show Teddy that she was a big girl, a big girl that played with the sons of Death Eaters.

But she laughed anyway. "Albert? What sort of name is that?"

Albert blushed and stammered. Luckily for him, Teddy came to his rescue. "Lily, stop torturing the poor child. I swear to Merlin that you're the opposite of your parents. Anyway, you're up to race, and it's quite the long distance, so you'd do best to pace yourself-"

"Yeah, yeah," Lily replied icily, glaring at him- she was upset about his first comment. Obviously she wasn't the opposite of her parents; people called her the exact likeness of her mother all the time.

But she stepped up to the line anyway. Once they blew the gun, Lily was off, running as fast as her short little legs would take her. Before long, she was passing people, one by one- and this felt good, she was finally showing Teddy that she was good for something. Before long, there was only one person between her and first place.

She pushed herself- go faster, Lily, prove you're not worthless, Lily- but her legs couldn't go any faster as she was not even nine years old yet, and in the end, she claimed second place. The girl who had claimed first- a pretty girl, but with a proud face that made Lily want to punch her- stuck her tongue out at Lily. Lily resisted the urge to lunge for the girl and instead turned to Teddy, wrapping her arms around him. "Did you see that, Teddy? Did you?"

"You were great, Lily-Petal," He told her gently, sharing a grin with Victoire before the lady came over to them.

With wide eyes, she asked Lily softly, "Was that your first time running?"

"I run a lot at home," Lily declared proudly, "But yes, my first time running cross country!"

"She's very good," The lady whispered to Teddy. "In fact, you might even say that she's a natural."

Teddy chuckled softly, looking fondly down at the little girl. "Don't tell her that- it'll make that ego of hers even bigger."

"Ego or no ego, we want her on the team," The lady tapped her clipboard with her pen. "Think she'd be willing?"

"Excuse me," Lily interrupted haughtily. "I can hear very well, thank you, and speak too, and anyway, I'm perfectly willing to join your little cross-country team." She crossed her arms and grinned.

.The lady stared at Lily, a mixture of shock and admiration. Neither Teddy nor Victoire seemed even a bit surprised, they just exchanged a glance before grinning at Lily. Lily raised her eyebrow at the woman as if to say, 'have anything more to say?'

"Yes, that's fine," The lady said with a harried glance at Teddy and Victoire. "Next week, we have a meet here. I know that you haven't had a lot of practise but it would do us all a great favour if you could try to compete-"

"I'll be there," Lily promised with a huge grin.

Then Teddy and Victoire thanked the lady before dragging a happy Lily back to her house.

…

Then, before she knew it, it was the day of her competition. She was one excited little girl and, much to her parents' annoyance, talked their ears off until they finally gave in and drove her to the race an hour quickly.

"Is Teddy coming?" She asked, bouncing up and down in the seat of the car that her parents had bought for Muggle appearances.

Her parents exchanged a glance before Ginny turned to the backseat and gave a small frown. "Lily, Victoire had something going on and she invited Teddy to go with her. He wanted to come; he really did, but Vicky's vocal competition is really important to her, so…"

Lily's big brown eyes filled with tears. "He's not coming?"

"Oh, poor Lily," James retorted from his place beside his sister. "Her true love isn't coming to her track meet. Big whoop."

"He's not my true love," Lily said, her bottom lip trembling. "He obviously loves Victoire more than me, so maybe I should just give up on love!"

Albus and James burst into laughter. Ginny and Harry exchanged another glance before Harry sighed this time. "Lily, you're a bit young to know anything about romantic love, but anyway- Teddy's not the only boy in the world, and he's a bit too old for you, anyway. Don't you want to see him happy? Victoire makes him happy."

Her lip trembled again as she looked up at her brothers. "It's not funny! And… and I could make him happy, too."

"We know, Sunshine," Harry said, his voice taking on a caring tone.

That day, she ran both for Teddy and against Teddy- because she had to show him up. She had to show him that she was something worth seeing, that he should skip Victoire's stupid voice recitals to see her run. Her feet flew, and she ran with all of her might. But she missed the win by about ten seconds.

It disappointed her, but she got up and stormed away, plotting revenge on this girl. Now Teddy would never love her, if she was a loser like this.

….

At the end of that summer, her brother was going to start school, so she was dragged to the platform. Teddy went too, but not to keep Lily company- to say goodbye to Victoire for the year. She was secretly relieved that Victoire would be going off to school that year but Teddy wouldn't- that meant she would have the whole year with him to herself.

But all of that changed when she grew angry with her parents because she couldn't go to Hogwarts still and went off to sulk in the corner. She saw- something.

What she saw was Teddy and Victoire snogging each other's faces off.

Upset and unhappy, she ran back to her parents and started crying, pretending it was because she couldn't go to Hogwarts. That was when her brother, the idiot, came back, yelling about how 'their Victoire was snogging their Teddy'. She bit her lip and pretended that it didn't hurt her, this stupid childhood crush.

For most of the year, she ignored Teddy, and that was when they began to grow apart- the two sort of childhood friends. Once upon a time, they were sort of close, but once he chose Victoire over her (at least that was what it seemed like to her), all of that went to waste.

The only time that she had any contact with him after that was one letter that she wrote to him:

Dear Teddy,

I dunno, I don't really wanna write to you but Mummy said I had to cause you're the only one who knos about my worrys! And Mummy said that you culd help me!

Because I think I might be in Sli…. Slyte… SLYTHERIN.

And if Im in Slytherin Jamesie will hate me.

What do I do?

Signed,

Lily Luna

It took a while, but she finally got her response from him a few weeks later.

Lily-petal,

It's been a while. Is everything okay? Give your father my regards.

Little girl, if you are put into Slytherin, your family will still love you. Even James, though it might take him longer to come around. It just means that you're clearly smart, cunning, and tricky. These are actually really good things. Did that help?

And why have you stopped talking to me? Is it because of Victoire? Real mature, Lily. You knew that I liked her…

Love, Teddy.

Reading the end of the letter and his platonic love, she frowned and ripped the letter into tiny shards, throwing it into the fire.

….

When she finally got to go to Hogwarts, it changed everything.

Her worst fears came true. Much to her intense surprise (but everyone she knew already saw it coming), she was in fact, sorted into Slytherin.

She stuck out like a red thumb. The only other person related to her in Slytherin was Dominique, and Dominique had silky blonde hair, not Weasley red. It was kind of a shocker for everyone she didn't know- Dominique hadn't been too much of a shocker, because she was half-Veela and Bill wasn't too well-known. But Harry Potter on the other hand, he was the symbol of anti- Slytherin. He was the one who would never in a million years be a Slytherin. How, then, would his daughter be a Slytherin?

But she kept her head up and pretended once again that she was happy with the Hat's decision, because she was finally showing Teddy that she was special, and showing her parents that being a handful could sometimes make a difference.

One of the first people she saw when she sat down at the table was Albert Rosier, because he was sorted just after her. Just like that, they were instant friends- the timid boy and the handful girl.

And the whole school lived in some sort of fear of her, blah blah blah. Except for the guys, who apparently thought she was good looking. That was when her life irreversibly changed.

She figured out that the guys thought that, well, she was good looking. So she started to change her dressing style around fourth year. Her skirts became shorter; her shirts became tighter. Her ties were tied loosely around her neck. She could tell that it made even Albert uncomfortable, which was quite the accomplishment.

She started to fool around with guys. She didn't quite go all the way, because she was Lily and she still had some dignity left even after Teddy. But she did some things that she regretted in the future and the rest of her family could only just watch with angry eyes.

Some of them blamed Teddy, others just blamed her natural rebellious nature. But either way, she wasn't the same Lily that she had been a few years ago. It had only been a few years, yes, but she was completely different than she had been before.

Some resorted even to calling her a certain word that began with an ignored them- what did they know about her? She was Lily and she was a blazing star, no matter what any of them might say.

And she didn't receive any news from anyone about Teddy or any letters from him, so she just assumed that he had gotten married and forgotten about her.

And that, dear readers, is where our story truly begins.

…

Lily Luna Potter is walking down the corridor in one of her infamously short skirts, brandishing her wand, looking for someone, when all of a sudden she kicks something metal. Yelping, she rubs her sore toe and glares at the trashcan.

The crowd of people laughs. "Look, even your girlfriend has kicked you, Rosier!"

Rolling her eyes, she casts a spell once again (him being a trashcan is a sort of normal occurrence), converting him back into his normal human self. But unlike her parents, she's not the best at spells so his feet stay metal. She giggles before turning to glare at the crowd. "You're all idiots, and if this is the best you could come up with, losers, too. Leave before I transfigure you all into trashcans!" Lily threatens, putting on an angry face before grabbing Albert's hand. "Come on, kid, let's go."

"Where are we going?" Albert questions, clunking around beside her.

"Anywhere," She starts to say, but she's interrupted by a loud voice that she vaguely recognizes. "Miss, I believe your skirt is not regulation length."

"I believe you're- oh," Her eyes widen when she turns around and sees who's standing there. It's Teddy Lupin, the man whom she's lost contact with for so long that it's almost unbelievable that he's standing before her. "So, Lupin, you come back into my life after so long and the first thing you say to me is that my skirt is too short?"

"Lily," He says finally, staring at her- at her too-short skirt and her perfect red hair. "You've grown up, and you're a Slytherin."

"That I am," She replies with a roll of her eyes. "Now, do you have something of importance to say, or can Albert and I be on our way?"

He stares at her, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Meet me later in my office. We'll have tea or something."

"Or something," She echoes with a frown, marching away with Albert and scowling at Teddy.

"Wasn't the guy that brought you to the cross country field for the first time or something?" Albert wonders, wiping off his sweaty forehead.

"Or something," She repeats, starting to run and leave Albert in his clunky shoes behind.

….

To her own surprise, she actually shows up at the 'teatime' with Teddy. Leaning back in her chair, she scowls at him. "What do you want, Lupin?"

"It's Professor Lupin," He says, gritting his teeth, "and what the heck kind of thing do you think you're pulling, Lily?"

"I'm not pulling anything," she says innocently. "I'm expressing myself and can you not respect that, Professor Lupin?"

"Expressing yourself through becoming a- you know what, I'm not going to say it, I'm sure you've heard it plenty already," He spits through his teeth.

She raises her hand daintly. "Verbal abuse."

"Anyway, as I was saying, why did you disappear on me all of that time ago? Was it… because of Victoire?" Teddy asks softly, staring at her. "Because you had to have seen it coming, right?"

"Actually," Lily replies primly, "I didn't see it coming, but all right. Are you, well, still together?"

"We're engaged, Lily," He replies.

That's when her whole life comes crashing down. She should've seen this coming, but the problem was, she'd always been slightly oblivious and all.

…

Her first desire is to stay in the Slytherin common room all weekend and sulk, but Albert drags her to their cross-country match. She runs her hardest for the first time in a while, because what she needs more than ever now is to prove herself.

So she comes in first place, but it doesn't really matter now because she'll always be second to Teddy.

The cross-country match is far too little a thing for it to really matter to her now. But Albert hugs her and everyone tells her that she did great, that she's an amazing runner, but how can she believe it? She scowls and marches up to her room again, feeling like a big brat. It's like the first time she doesn't get what she wants, she goes and sulks.

But she's Lily Luna and that's just the way she does things sometimes.

….

For some reason, she ends up talking to Teddy about her life. It's wrong, she knows, because he's Teddy and she's been in love with him since forever but he randomly abandoned her. But it all comes spilling out, the long list of boys that she's been involved with and everything.

He sits there and listens to it all because he's Teddy and he made a promise to Harry (but she doesn't know that, does she?).

So she thinks that maybe, just maybe, he cares about her.

Then, one day, when she's talking to Teddy once again, she notices once again how handsome he is and how utterly kissable his lips are. So she moves a bit closer, pushing her skirt up a little more, smiling a perfect smile and continuing on with what she was saying. She doesn't notice how he gulps and pushes himself back a little.

But then she moves even closer so that her face is right next to his, and then, even though she's only a fifth year and he's a teacher, she kisses him. To her, it feels just right- like it's everything she's been waiting so long for.

For a moment- a few moments of perfect bliss- he kisses her back, and it's perfect, just what she's been waiting for. But then he mumbles something like 'Victoire' against her lips and pushes her violently off of him.

"Lily, what the heck do you think you're doing?" He rants, glaring at her. "I have a fiancée, Lily, and I love her very much! Not to mention I'm your teacher- and Lily, I'm 9 freaking years older than you, this is wrong, Lily, it's just wrong."

"I love you," She whispers, her voice all sorts of mangled.

He stops. He stops ranting, stops pacing. Instead, he just freezes and stares at her, his eyes wide, because he hadn't seen it coming, as much as she had thought it meant to be or whatever. With a shake of his head and a frown, he says, "I'm so sorry, Lily, I shouldn't have led you on. I really shouldn't have. I'm such an idiot. But… you know it can never be."

She nods quietly, staring at the ground and feeling shame for the first time in her life. Then he opens his arms and she lies her head on his chest, feeling his heart beat under hers, and she wonders why love has to be so cruel.

She's grown up from the little Lily that she once was, and she sees now that Teddy and Victoire are sort of perfect together. So where does she fit into the equation?

Nowhere.

So she just pretends that it's okay with her that Teddy and Victoire are together, pretends that she's okay. In her dorm room, she hangs up a calendar with the dates on it. Each day that it comes closer to the wedding, she ticks off the date on the calendar. It's like a countdown to Doomsday or something.

Victoire asks her to be a bridesmaid, probably remembering the days when they were all young. Lily accepts with a tiny smile.

…

The day of the wedding comes soon, much to her chagrin.

Into her red dress, she's forced. Everyone exclaims on how pretty she is, but really, if she's beautiful or whatever, wouldn't Teddy be with her like he's supposed to be instead of Victoire? Instead, she just stands to the side and watches everyone fuss over the cute couple.

During the ceremony, she walks down the aisle with Victoire's cousin on the other side, a French boy named Alexander or something like that, a boy with brown hair and brown eyes who is always telling perverted jokes. They stand up at the front together.

Then Teddy and Victoire come out. The preacher goes through the typical ceremonies, when finally they get to the vows.

"I do," Victoire says with the utmost of confidence, before it's Teddy's turn.

Lily's brown eyes meet Teddy's, pleading evident in them. He shakes his head gently, so that no one notices but her, before he says in the loudest voice possible, "I do."

Everyone cheers, congratulating them, and Lily hangs her head. She hadn't really thought that he would change his mind, but it's still quite the disappointment. Everyone's congratulating them, and she- she just can't take it anymore.

Without even a glance back, she runs from the chapel, kicking off her high-heels. She runs into the forest, but what she doesn't know is that someone who cares about her very much saw her run.

Albert Rosier chases after her, as fast as his legs can go, and for the first time ever, he beats Lily Luna in a footrace. He stands in front of the girl, blocking her pathway. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm running, Albert," She replies, as if it's obvious. "I can't stay here anymore."

"But Lily, even if Teddy's an idiot, there are still people who love you," He tells her desperately. Just like him.

Suddenly, she realises how attractive he is, and she sinks onto the ground beside him with a laugh. Maybe it just wasn't meant to be with Teddy, but maybe she'll stay.

If she decides not to, it's obvious that she can run. She's Lily Luna Potter and she's always had a talent for running away.

….

In the end, she ends up with Albert Rosier, because she's always had a thing for trashcans.

Teddy and Victoire end up married, happily ever after and all of that.

So maybe it's finally time for little Lily to grow up and learn some maturity, because she thinks that Albert even deserves better than her.

But he's Albert, her shiny trashcan (half of the time, because as she later learns, it's his Animagus), and he's there for her even when she doesn't believe in herself.

A few months later she finds out that Teddy only helped her because he made a promise to her freaking father, and it hurts less than it would've before.

Because now Albert is her sun, and that's something Teddy never was to her.

A/N: OH MY GOSH, I HAVE NO IDEA.

I TOTALLY SHIP LILYTRASHCAN. AND AH, IT ENDED TEDDYVICTOIRE, YAY? DID THAT BREAK CLICHÉ OR WHAT? I LOVED WRITING THIS. YAY FOR PROCRASTINATION =D

This is for the Lily-Haters Squad. Anyone want to join after reading this? ;D

/is completely satisfied now.

LEAVE ME A REVIEW, WILL YOU? No favouriting with no review, thank you very much!

End.