sophieisgod | FIC: Results (Teddy/Victoire)

Title: Results
Rating: PG
Word count: 1320
Summary: Teddy and Victoire get their exam results. Drunkness ensues.

CONGRATULATIONS
TEDDY AND VICTOIRE

proclaimed the banner strung across the kitchen of The Burrow. Four hours into the party, and the room was starting to look as if a very large cake had exploded. Harry and Ginny were still dancing, revolving slowly in a corner of the room, failing to notice that James was trying to melt something. Amid the dozens of empty bottles, Ron had his head on the kitchen table, blissfully unaware that Hermione was rolling her eyes at Fleur, who was trying not to laugh.

Teddy Lupin drained his glass and got to his feet, casting a fond look at his gran, snoozing proudly in an armchair by the fireplace. He slipped out of the back door and across the yard, breathing deeply; the cool night air made everything sharper after the fuzziness of butterbeer. He was woozy, and he wanted to remember this night.

A loud cry of “Oi!” broke the silence, and Teddy turned to see Victoire Weasley tripping across the garden towards him, a grin on her face and a bottle in her hand. His slight frown softened into a bemused smile as she breezed past him, grabbing his hand and pulling him through the hedge.

“Right,” she said, as they stood in the field. “I think we owe ourselves a victory lap, Mr Lupin.” Teddy supposed his face must have looked rather blank, because Victoire gave an exasperated sigh, and said “I want a piggyback.”

“A piggyback?” he repeated, attempting to convey sophisticated disdain with a quirk of his eyebrow. “I’m terribly sorry, but you appear to have mistaken me for someone else. You see, I, Teddy Remus Lupin, am now a graduate of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and I must behave accordingly. I am obviously far too mature to be engaging in-” he wrinkled his nose in mock disgust “- piggybacks.”

“Honestly, you are an imbecile,” she told him, setting her bottle down in the grass and leaping onto his back. “Onward, proud Hippogriff!”

Teddy groaned library and obediently set off at a canter. He tried to concentrate on not tripping over any gnomes, but Victoire’s arms were around his neck and her long hair was tickling his face. She was singing now, loudly and off-key,

“Oh, we are so very, very clever for passing our exams!”

It was strangely endearing.

“You truly are a lyrical genius, Vic,” he told her. “Now get off, you’re strangling me.”

Victoire obliged, tumbling into the grass with a muffled “Oof!” She lay there, giggling, as Teddy plonked himself down beside her.

“How much have you had to drink?” he asked, rolling over to look at her. She hiccupped.

“Well, I had… seven butterbeers, I think. And some of my dad’s Firewhisky. And then something that tasted like pond, and then Uncle Ron gave me some mead.”

A slow grin spread across her face.

“My bones feel all bendy.”

Teddy snorted. “Bendy bones, that’s impressive. You do realise that your mum’s going to kill you in the morning? Literally, you won’t be alive anymore.”

“Hah!” scoffed Victoire. “She can’t kill me, I’m a genius. And so are you! We passed our exams…”

Sensing that another verse of “Oh, we are so very, very clever” was imminent, Teddy frantically searched his slightly mushy brain for a new topic of conversation. However, his brain was choosing to linger on wholly unsuitable subjects, like slender wrists and swishy hair and things that smelled of strawberries.

Fortunately, Victoire interrupted this worrying line of thought by demanding, “Where’s my bottle?”

Relieved, Teddy said, “It’s over by the hedge, you absolute lush. And don’t even think about asking me to get it, I’m busy lying down.”

He folded his hands behind his head, and smirked as Victoire half-heartedly swatted at him.

“Billywig,” she mumbled, before yawning hugely and stretching like a cat. Teddy felt his breath catch in his throat as he watched her back arch. He traced the lines of her shoulders with his eyes, saw her hips lift off the ground… It was very disconcerting, the way that one of her movements would catch his eye and all of the thoughts would fall out of his head. Sometimes he thought that she was making him ever-so-slightly mental. He wondered if she knew.

“Teddy?”

He started at the sound, and attempted to look nonchalant, hoping that his thoughts weren’t written on his face. Mind you, she was probably too drunk to read them anyway.

“It’s dark,” he said, sitting up and pulling his wand from his pocket. “Lumos.”

“Come here,” said Victoire, taking it from him and scratching at the earth with her fingers. She stood the wand in the shallow hole she had made, packing earth around its base so that it stood upright, illuminating them.

“There,” she said, satisfied, and flashed Teddy a heart-stopping smile before settling back down in the grass. Even with dilated pupils, she was lovely. It was horrible.

“What are you going to do, then?”

He looked down at her, and then looked away quickly, because the light from his wand was catching her cheekbones and making her hair glow.

“What, you mean now?” He really didn’t want to think about answering that question.

Victoire giggled. “No, idiot, I mean in general. After Hogwarts.”

“Oh. Right,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “I haven’t thought about it, really. Travel?”

“I want to go to Egypt,” said Victoire, almost to herself. “The way my dad talks about it… And it’d be nice to go somewhere hot. And Pyramids!”

She wriggled closer to him.

“Don’t go too far away, though. I’d miss you.”

‘I’, not ‘we’.

“Flatterer,” said Teddy, as his stomach flipped over.

Victoire reached up and poked him in the ribs. “Shut up, you awful man. I mean it. It’s going to be weird enough, you not being at school anymore. Just, you know, don’t forget about us.”

He nudged her back, gently. “I won’t.”

They were still for a moment.

“They’d be proud of you,” said Victoire. Teddy shifted.

“I know that,” he said, suddenly uncomfortable. Harry had taken him aside at the party and told him so, his green eyes earnest and his hand on Teddy’s shoulder. His gran said it practically every day. He always felt awkward, and grateful.

“I know you know that,” she persisted, sitting up. “I don’t just mean about your NEWTs. Teddy, they’d be proud of you. You’re great.”

She looked at him for a minute, and then leant over to kiss his cheek, but somehow, because of the butterbeer and the mead and whatever else, she missed, and got the corner of his mouth.

Teddy didn’t move, and neither did Victoire. Her breath was warm on his face.

“Your hair is blushing,” she whispered, and then she brushed her lips against his, very softly.

“Mmph,” said Teddy, and pulled back. “Vic, you’re drunk, and I’m not exactly -”

She kissed him again, and he felt her mouth open, and his was opening too, until he realised what was happening and jerked away again.

“Your mother will hurt me,” he said, looking wildly around the field, half-expecting to see Fleur charging towards them. “She’ll do something French…”

He trailed off as her thumb grazed his cheek. She kissed him again, and she did taste of strawberries, and he felt dizzy.

“Your hands are dirty,” he said, desperately. “You’ve got soil all over them.”

Victoire tilted her head to look at him, and her face was all shadows and light.

“Shut up, Teddy,” she said, and then she covered his mouth with her mouth.

Teddy thought about all the girls he’d ever kissed, and how none of them had glowing hair, or looked at him with eyes like the universe, or pounced on him in a field, and he finally, finally, wrapped his arms around Victoire, and held her tightly, and kissed her back.

------

“Nox.”