Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ His Greatest Fear ❯ Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

 

After crying for a few moments, Victoire lifted her face and wiped the tears away. A determined look crossed her face. Rose didn't like what she was seeing. She knew that look.

“Vicky, what are you thinking?” Rose asked apprehensively.

“I have to stop him from leaving. He doesn't know how I feel about him.” Victoire stood up and began running down the corridor.

“Don't be late for Transfiguration exam!” Rose called after her, knowing that there was nothing she could do at this point to stop Victoire when she was so determined to do something.

Victoire ran all the way to the Great Hall and skidded to a halt, narrowly missing being hit by the doors opening. She ran in, breathless, to the Gryffindor table. Her old group of friends sat chatting. Ian was there, capturing the attention of the girls in the group. She didn't bother to stop and talk to them, and they voiced their complaints as she ran by. She spotted Teddy toward the end of the table. Ross sat by him, and both were laughing. She opened her mouth to call his name when Anne appeared, seemingly out of nowhere and sat down beside him. Victoire's blood began to boil, and she struggled to keep herself in check this time. She watched helplessly as Anne sat down beside Teddy, and leaned in kissing him on the cheek. Teddy looked up, suddenly, as if feeling that he was being watched. His eyes met hers as tears welled in them. She shook her head and turned to run back in the direction she had just come from.

Teddy sat there for a moment, watching Victoire retreating, wondering briefly what had just happened. He had come into the Great Hall after talking with Rose about his plans for the summer. He had sat down and Ross had told him a great joke, which he had laughed at. It was the first time in weeks he had really laughed and felt even the slightest bit happy. Then Anne, who had become rather annoying what with her incessant flirtation with him, had come up and planted a kiss right on his cheek. He had told her time and again that he really wished that she wouldn't do it, but she continued to torture him. He assumed that she was just hoping he was going to ask her out since Victoire had officially ended their relationship. The next thing he knew, he saw the last person he had expected to see and she was already running away crying.

He pushed Anne out of the way rather rudely, and took off running after Victoire. He wasn't letting her get away again. Not this time. He caught her just outside the Great Hall, grabbing her arm as he fell toward her pulling her down with him. He took the opportunity to pin her to the ground despite her struggling.

“You have to talk to me, Victoire. Please,” Teddy pleaded, choking on emotion.

“What do you want me to say, Teddy?!” Victoire cried out through her tears, finally giving up the struggle and looking up into his eyes. She felt a surge of emotion crash through her body when their eyes met. She loved him but she couldn't let that control her. She just couldn't let go of what he had done.

“I want you to say that you want to be with me. I want you to say that you still love me. I want you, Victoire, and only you.” Teddy's eyes were pleading with her, but she knew she had to stand strong.

“Teddy, I can't do that. I just don't trust you. I want to trust you, but I can't. I do still love you, but, Teddy, it's over. You have to accept that. Move on with your life. Let me move on. I cannot possibly move on if you keep doing this. You reopen these wounds and make them fresh again. Just when I think I'm going to get past it, you come along and tell me that you still love me. Please, don't. Not anymore.” Victoire closed her eyes so that she couldn't see the hurt and tears in his eyes. She hated doing this to him. But as badly as she wanted to be with him, she couldn't do it. She just didn't feel it was right.

Teddy's heart was beating double-time in his chest. He couldn't believe this was happening to him. He was losing the one person he had loved with his whole heart. It was his greatest fear realized. He had always feared losing everyone he loved, and it was happening. He pulled himself off of Victoire. He didn't even bother to help her up. He couldn't bear to even look at her. He walked away from her and didn't look back.

 

It had been two weeks since the school year at Hogwarts had ended. Teddy had arrived in Egypt safe and sound with Charlie. Charlie had met him in Hogsmeade so that Teddy wouldn't accidentally Apparate in the wrong spot. Since he had arrived, Charlie had become like his older brother. He had listened to everything that had happened with Victoire and was helping him move past it. Teddy was eating better now and sleeping all night again. He had wanted to write to Victoire a million times, but he couldn't ever find the words to express his feelings without just outright saying that he still loved her. She had asked him not to say that to her anymore. Rose had written to him. She was visiting Scorpius every few days since he was her new sort of old boyfriend. Her letters didn't contain much about Victoire, but Teddy gleaned what he could.

One letter in particular, though, really upset him. He sat at the table in Charlie's kitchen for over an hour staring into space after reading it. Rose had rambled on for two pages about nothing, and then, right at the end, she mentioned that Victoire had gone out on a date with Ian and that Anne enclosed a letter of her own. Anne's letter, however, was not what he was expecting either. She was apologizing for her appalling behavior in kissing him and flirting with him when he so obviously needed his space and she hoped he would forgive her. She went on to say that she would completely understand if he chose not to ever talk to her or see her again.

“Teddy,” Charlie had said, breaking into his random thoughts, “I have to go tend to a hurt Hungarian Horntail today. I don't think you should come to deal with this just yet, so if you don't mind, you can just stay here today. Or you can go shopping around town.” Teddy had nodded absentmindedly, and Charlie had bid him farewell before Disapparating.

Teddy scrambled around in some drawers in Charlie's office and found some parchment and an inkwell and quill. He scribbled a quick note to Anne that he forgave her and hoped that they could still be friends, although his time would be limited. He then pulled another piece of parchment out and put Rose's name at the top. He also wrote her a quick note on how he was doing and that he hoped she would keep him updated. He sent them both by Charlie's owl Maris and set out for a day on the town, only not in Egypt. He didn't want to continue pondering how in the world he was going to win Victoire away from Ian, but he wanted to be in familiar territory. He decided he would go to his favorite place in London—Diagon Alley.

Victoire walked quietly through Diagon Alley with Ian. They had had a bit of Butterbeer when they first arrived and had been in several shops. No matter how hard she tried, Victoire just couldn't get him off her mind. She had hoped that Rose mentioning that she had been seeing Ian off and on would have gotten a rise out of him, but all it had earned was to please keep him updated on everyone. She wanted so badly to write him. She had just passed her Apparition license, but was still quite afraid of being splinched. The first few times she tried it with her mother's help, she had left an ear behind. The second round of tries, she kept leaving chunks of her hair. It was terrible. Her mother kept saying it was because she wasn't concentrating, which wasn't entirely untrue. She kept thinking about him.

Every corner she and Ian turned in Diagon Alley that day, she hoped with all of her heart she would see him. She had no idea why he would be back in London, but she hoped desperately that he would be there for whatever reason. Then it happened. She was passing Flourish and Botts and she saw the edge of someone's bright red hair, and not the color of her Uncle Ronald's either.

“Ian, would you excuse me for a moment? I want to stop in here and look at a book I've been wanting. I'll meet you at Florean Fortescue's in a bit.” She smiled graciously at him, using her part-Veela against him. He nodded and headed on for the ice cream parlor. She ducked into the book shop. She studied Teddy from afar. His face had filled back out, so he had obviously begun eating again. Perhaps spending time with Charlie was good for him. She slipped in and out of the rows of books trying to get closer to him without his noticing. She had just pulled herself into the row of books right behind him when he turned around.

 

Teddy knew he had seen something out of the corner of his eye. Whoever it was had disappeared down an aisle of books, though. He turned his attention back to the book he was eyeing. He picked it up almost disbelievingly. It was a book about a man whom he considered to be almost like his father—Harry Potter. Fortunately it was not written by the awful Rita Skeeter. He took it on to the counter so that he could purchase it when he saw a blond head of hair dart into another aisle. He would have sworn on his life that it was her. How could it be that the one day he decided to visit Diagon Alley would be the day she decided to be here as well?

“Is this all for you, son?” a kindly woman behind the counter asked.

“Yes,” he replied, pulling out some money. He paid for it, but instead of leaving, he went to the aisle where he had just seen her go. But there was no sign of her. He ambled down the aisle. He knew she still had his cloak, and she could be using it. He began perusing the other books on the aisle so as to not look suspicious if she were near. He pulled a book down off the shelf and met her blue eyes through the crack. He heard her gasp as her eyes grew wide. He grinned through the gap. He put the book back on the shelf, but before he could get back up to the front of the store, he heard the bell over the door jingle as she rushed out.

He sighed and ambled slowly back up the row of books. He left the store and looked up and down the street both ways. He saw the back of her head as she stood talking to someone in front of the ice cream parlor. Upon closer scrutiny, he realized it was Ian Paxton, Anne's brother. He sighed again. He had hoped that when Rose put in that letter that she had been seeing Ian that perhaps it was Victoire's way of trying to get him to come back to her or maybe to let him know how it felt to think that your significant other was with someone else. But seeing them together outside of school made his heart ache. He walked over to them, hoping he could at least get her to speak to him. But as soon as he got close, she shot him a look that said, “Don't you dare!”

As Victoire shot him the look that she didn't want him talking to her while she was with Ian, even if she didn't like Ian like that, Teddy got a pained look on his face, and with a loud crack, disappeared. She turned back to Ian, who was talking about something. She wasn't really sure what.

“…and while you were in the bookstore, I saw—” he was saying.

“Ian, I have to go,” she interrupted suddenly.

“What? I thought your mom said you could spend the whole day out.” He sounded hurt, but she honestly couldn't care less at this point.

“She did,” Victoire replied, “but I just remembered that I promised Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron that Rose and I would watch Hugo tonight. He still can't stay home by himself, according to their rules. I didn't tell my mum about it. So I'll see you later.” She didn't even give him time to respond before she, too, disappeared with a loud crack. She only prayed she didn't leave her ears behind.