The week after O.W.L.s flew by, and before anyone knew it, the last full day at Hogwarts had arrived.

Lunchtime found Victoire, Danny, Molly, Sam, Monica, Ben, Jake, Jade, Alexa, and Liam down by the lake, laughing and talking with one another. Victoire was lying in the grass, her head in Danny's lap. His back was up against a tree, and he was playing with her ponytail, running his fingers through her hair gently.

"This year went by faster than I thought it would," Victoire said.

"A lot has happened to you, that's why," Danny said, smiling down at her.

She grinned at him, "Yeah, you could say that."

"Who would've thought you'd end up with a Slytherin?" Monica said. Danny made a face at her, and she laughed, "Kidding, I was kidding."

"I know you were," he said, "You've teased me enough about it at this point, and I'll repeat myself: Blame the hat, not me. Besides, who'd have thought you'd end up with a Hufflepuff?"

Ben grinned, "As you said, Danny, blame the hat, not me."

"Will do," Alexa said, laughing. Ben rolled his eyes as the rest of the group joined in the laughter.

Molly ruffled Sam's hair, "I'll miss you next year, you crazy person."

"I'll still be around plenty," Sam said, "I had a talk with Bradley, and he said that we'll get plenty of days off, so I was thinking of looking for a flat in Hogsmeade so that I can be there when you lot come down, and also so that I can come up and visit every once in a while. It's not too far for me to go to get to practice, and I'd like to be close."

Molly's mouth dropped. She threw her arms around him and hugged him, "Really?"

He chuckled, "Of course, I wouldn't lie about something like that."

"It'll be good to have you around," Monica said, "It saves us from having to listen to her whining all the time about how much she misses you. This past weekend when you were gone for recruitment… Wow."

"I do not whine," Molly said.

"Pretty damn close," Jade said, smiling, "I don't blame you though. I'm just glad I've got another year with this one." She elbowed Jake, who clutched his side.

"Ow!"

Jade rolled her eyes, "Oh, stop being such a baby."

"Vic never abused me when we dated," Jake said.

"Except emotionally," Victoire said.

"True," Jake said.

Victoire laughed. Danny shook his head, "Remind me again why I spend all my time with a bunch of Gryffindors and a Hufflepuff?"

"You don't spend all your time with us," Victoire said, "You spend almost half of it with Seb."

"But still, why?" Danny asked, "You lot are making me go soft."

"You started dating my best friend, that's why," Alexa said, "It tends to happen."

"What was I thinking?" Danny asked.

Victoire reached up and smacked his shoulder, "Oh, shut up, you know it's the best decision that you've ever made."

"Very true," Danny said.

"This is too cute, I think I'm going to die from an overdose of it," Alexa said.

"You're weird," Jade said, rolling her eyes.

"I know," Alexa said, ignoring the laughter of her friends.

The boys abandoned them a short while later to get one last game on the Quidditch pitch before they had to go back up to school. Victoire and the girls started off on a walk around the lake.

"It's been an absolutely mental year, hasn't it?" Molly asked.

"I'll say," Victoire said.

"How are things going with you and Danny, anyway?" Jade asked, "I mean, they looked good, but looks can be deceiving."

"Case and point, Teddy and me on Valentine's Day," Victoire said, her voice dry. She brightened a moment later, "They're going really well, actually. He's going to meet my parents at the train station, just to say hello before we leave. His family is going to Spain for two weeks, so I won't see him until almost the end of June, but he said he'll write me a lot. When I wrote Mum and Dad and told them I was dating a Slytherin, I just received responses that said 'I'm happy for you," from Mum, and 'If he hurts you, let me know,' from Dad, so I don't think that they'll be too much trouble."

"That's good," Alexa said, "The fact that my parents like Liam has made things a million times easier as far as our relationship goes, since I don't have to worry about whether or not they'll like him."

"My parents will love Ben either way, so I'm not worried about it," Monica said, "And Jake goes over well with everyone, so you're good, Jade."

"I told Mum," Molly said, "Dad still doesn't know, she told me not to tell him. He likes Sam, but I'm sure that opinion would change the second he found out that Sam was more in the way of snog-worthy than big brother figure."

Victoire nodded, "Yeah, I told Mum about what happened with Teddy so that she won't be surprised about the lack of his presence over the summer. Of course, I don't really know what he's doing as far as the Auror program goes, so for all I know, he could be spending the next two years in another country and I might not even need to worry about it. Either way, I felt better having her know. It was wrong that she didn't, I mean, she is my mum, and I've never had a problem telling her things like that before."

"We've got good parents, as far as that stuff goes," Jade said, "I sent my mum a letter the day that Jake asked me to be his girlfriend."

"It's just nice, knowing that at least one of your family members approves of or likes the person that you've decided to go out with," Alexa said, "It kind of helps to get rid of the uncertainty that you're going to end up having some extremely awkward family dinners, you know?"

"Exactly," Monica said, "I hate those."

"With a passion," Victoire said, "They're the worst, which is why I was a little worried about what Dad's reaction would be. He'll get confused about where Teddy is, but hopefully Mum will help me to come up with some excuses."

"I'm sure she will," Molly said, "She's not exactly the kind of person who would sell out her own daughter, especially about something like that."

Victoire shrugged, "I dunno, all I know is that I'm one hundred percent ready to move on from it now. Things happened, and it's really sad that they ended up the way that they did, but we knew that was a risk going into it, and it happened, so there's not really any point in dwelling on it anymore. I also know that I'm a complete and total idiot and I absolutely overreacted, but I'm not quite sure what to do about that… I'll figure something out."

"You're learning," Alexa said, "That's good."

"I think I've been learning that lesson since the day I was born," Victoire said, "Given when I was born and all of that. Moving on has just sort of become a part of life, you know?"

There was a series of nods from the rest of the group, and then Monica spoke.

"Well, at least we don't have to worry about serious exams next year," she said, "Having a summer of break from school will be really nice though."

"It's always nice," Jade said, "You guys can come by if you want to, we have a pool."

"And you lot are welcome to come by my house to swim in the ocean as well," Victoire said, "It might be a little bit cold, but I'm sure we can handle it."

"We'll do plenty of things together over the summer," Alexa said, "I don't think my parents are planning on kidnapping me this year."

"And I know Mum will help me sneak out if it becomes necessary," Molly said, "But Dad likes you guys, so I doubt it'll be a problem."

"We'll just have a lot of fun," Monica said, "It's not like we really need to be worried about much of anything this summer, so we might as well just make the most of it instead."

"Definitely," Victoire said.

The Leaving Feast came and went. All of Victoire's group of friends clapped enthusiastically as the seventh years stood, each one sad to see Sam go, and soon enough, they were getting off the train at King's Cross. Victoire laced her fingers through Danny's and led him over to where her parents stood with Louis.

"Mum, Dad, this is Danny, my boyfriend," Victoire said, "Danny, this is my mum and dad."

"Hello sir," Danny said, reaching out to shake Bill's hand. He then turned to Fleur and gave a slight bow, "Ma'am."

Fleur laughed, "'e ees so polite!"

Victoire smiled, "That he is."

"I trust you know that I need to give you the standard father-boyfriend talk?" Bill said, narrowing his eyes at Danny.

"Yes sir," Danny said, "I'm ready whenever you are."

"Let's do it now, shall we?"

Victoire chuckled as Bill led Danny a short way away from the rest of the family.

"'e makes you 'appy?" Fleur asked, looking at Victoire.

"Very much so," Victoire said, watching her father and boyfriend, "I really do like him a lot, Mum."

"Good," Fleur said, "Very good." Her eyes widened, and she fell silent.

Victoire opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, only to shut it when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see Teddy, who stood there with his hands in his pockets. His hair was the same shade of light brown that it had been for the past couple of months, and his eyes their usual shade of hazel, both of which Victoire knew were his natural appearance, not something he'd morphed into. His eyes were solemn as he looked at her, and she tilted her head slightly, observing him. She hadn't bothered to really, truly look at him in months, and it shocked her to see how tired he appeared to be, his eyes dull. Alexa had been right all those weeks ago when she had said he didn't look good.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" he asked, "I promise it won't take long, and it's nothing mental or bad or anything, or at least, Sam told me it wasn't, so hopefully that's good enough for you to talk to me."

"Alright," Victoire said, after a few moments of contemplation. She followed him to an area where no one was standing, and crossed her arms, "What is it?"

"I feel terrible about what happened with us," Teddy said, "Terrible, stupid, idiotic… If you think of any other good adjectives to throw in there, please do. I was being a huge git and I know that. I just wanted to let you know that one, I was never actually dating Liv, we were just studying Potions because she's the best in the entire class and we figured it would be a good trade if she helped me make sure I was as prepared as possible for that while I helped her with Transfiguration." As Victoire opened her mouth to speak, he held up his hand, "Just wait, let me finish. I'm only telling you that so that you don't think I was with her all the time because I was trying to make you jealous. She approached me, and I saw no reason to not do it. Second, I'm not going to be here this summer. The Auror program is sending a number of us who are already in the program because we rushed our N.E.W.T. scores off to Australia to spend the year there learning some of their ways of dealing with Dark wizards, so you don't have to worry about seeing me. I really am sorry, Vic, and I understand if you can't forgive me now, but I hope you will eventually. That's all I had to say, so… Bye, I guess."

Victoire caught his hand before he could leave, "It's Tori, Lupin."

He smiled slightly, though his eyes stayed sad, "Wait, really?"

She stood on her toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek, "You're an idiot, I'm an idiot, we may as well be idiots together. Most of this was my fault anyway, I didn't really listen to you or consider your side, and that was stupid of me, because you really are important to me and I don't know why I can be so completely daft sometimes. So… Friends. I can do friends."

"Great," Teddy said, a small smile forming on his face, "I'll write you, or something. I leave the day after tomorrow."

Victoire nodded, "Alright. Good luck, and I know I never told you, so congrats on getting in to the Auror program."

"Thanks," Teddy said. He reached inside of his pocket and withdrew something. He handed a small package to Victoire, "I got this for you for your birthday, forever ago, but since we weren't really on good terms, I didn't give it to you, so… Here. But don't open it until I leave, expressions of gratitude disgust me."

He winked at Victoire, put his hand on his trunk, and with a loud crack, he was gone. She stared at the spot where he had stood, confused, only to shake her head and return to her mother. Bill and Danny arrived not long after, and Danny pressed a kiss to her cheek once Bill had clapped him on the shoulder.

"I need to go, my parents will kill me if I'm any later, but I'll write," he said.

"Great," Victoire said, smiling at him.

He squeezed her hand once and was gone.

"So you liked him?" Victoire asked, looking at Bill.

"He'll do," Bill said.

Fleur rolled her eyes, "'e likes Danny."

"I thought so," Victoire said.

Once Dom arrived, Bill and Fleur took them with Side-Along, and soon enough, they were home.

Victoire went up to her room and settled down on her bed, turning the package Teddy had given her over and over in her hands. After a while, she unwrapped it to find a small box.

When she opened it, there was a tiny charm with a Christmas tree on it, and a note, folded up into a tiny square. She unfolded it and began to read.

Written there in cramped, tiny, but unmistakably Teddy's handwriting, was a short message.

Tori,

This charm should go on the bracelet I gave you for Christmas.

I know my mum and dad would have loved you, and I wish she was here to see how lucky I am that you said yes to me.

I know I can be a major git, and extremely hard to put up with, but somehow, you manage to get past that side of me and bring out my best parts, and I know you're going to go so unbelievably far that it's almost inconceivable. The Auror program will be lucky to have you, but not quite as lucky as I am.

I know that you're probably wondering what it is that Sam and I have been whispering about all year, and I hope that this note gives you some idea. I meant it for real all those times that we said it before, and I mean it now.

I just want you to know that I love you, to the moon and back.

Forever and beyond even that.

Yours (You always did like that label, and it's true, I am yours, no matter what happens),

Ted Remus Lupin

(Teddy)

The paper fluttered out of her hands to the floor, and for the first time since she'd walked out on him on that frozen day in February, Victoire Weasley allowed herself to cry over Teddy Lupin.

A/N:

And there we have the final chapter! I wanted to post it on a Monday, just to keep with my initial uploading tradition ;)

They made up- sort of.

Victoire knows she's an idiot, don't worry, she just has trouble verbalizing it. She's starting to grow up though.

You do have to remember, she was fifteen for almost all of this story, and I know that's easy for us to forget because they're living in the Wizarding World, where people tend to feel a lot older than they actually are. We're used to Harry's story, where he had to grow up much quicker than anyone else, and while Victoire may be the oldest Weasley, she still makes a lot of stupid teenager mistakes.

I'm working on the sequel right now, and I suppose I can tell you the title now.

It's from a Patty Griffin song called "When It Don't Come Easy," and the title that I've chosen for part II of this possible trilogy is...

"If You Forget My Love, I'll Try To Remind You"

(It seemed fitting)

I'm about halfway through chapter two right now, and I can promise you that things are getting a lot lighter. I don't like only posting one chapter when I first start a story, so I might wait until I've written all of chapter three before I post the first two parts. We'll see. I only need to write another couple of thousand words before I finish chapter two, so I might just post it and then say that there's an indefinite upload schedule until I finish chapter three.

Also, don't feel too sorry for Danny. Good things are coming for him, even if it might not seem like it right now.

Thank you all for reading In Your Arms I'll Stay. It's the second story I've ever actually finished, and my first legitimate novel-length fanfiction, and it's wonderful to know that so many people have enjoyed it.

I look forward to seeing you all when I post the first two chapters of the sequel.

Peace and love x

~AC