Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ His Greatest Fear ❯ Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

 

Victoire did indeed Apparate to Hermione and Ron's but no one was home. She shouldn't have expected them to be. After all, it was the middle of the day during the summer vacation. She expected that Hermione and Ron were at work at the Ministry, and Rose and Hugo were undoubtedly at friends' houses where they generally spent their days when their mum and dad had to work, which was pretty much every day except the weekends, and sometimes even then. Rose and Victoire used to spend summer days together, but seeing as Victoire had made plans with Ian for the day, Rose had made other plans it seemed. Hugo was truly not allowed at home by himself, so Victoire figured that someone had arranged for him to go to a cousin's or friend's house. She sighed as she leaned back against the front door. She sat down on the top step of their stoop with her head in her hand thinking about what she was going to do. She was still there three hours later when Teddy finally found her.

 

Teddy was not at all happy with the way things were unfolding. Victoire had just Disapparated out of Diagon Alley and he had no idea where she was most likely to go. He had Disapparated to Hogsmeade hoping that she would have gone to Madame Rosmerta's to have a butterbeer to calm her nerves, but the only familiar face he saw besides the bartender herself was Hugo Weasley with one of his friends that Teddy didn't know. He reasoned to himself that Hugo had to at least know where Rose was. Since Rose and Victoire were rather close friends, he figured he could find Victoire if he found Rose. At least, that was the hope that he was clinging to. He didn't dare give rise to any other ideas that she might be elsewhere, somewhere that he couldn't find or get to her. He approached Hugo hopefully.

“Hey, Hugo!” he greeted him heartily, so as not to immediately alarm him of his current distress.

“Hey, Teddy, what's going on? I thought you were in Romania working with Uncle Charlie!”

“He gave me the day off and I was doing some visiting. Do you know where I might find Rose? I was hoping to see her before I went back this evening.”

Hugo frowned and looked rather vicious. “She went off with that Scorpius Malfoy, even though Mum and Dad don't know it. They think she's off with one of her other friends. I hate lying to them for her. But I suppose she would do the same for me if I asked her. And if she wouldn't I would remind her that I did…anyway, I don't know where they were going, but last time they went out, she said they went to a muggle move thatter or something like that. I can't remember what they're called and I didn't want to ask Mum. She knows everything about muggles, but she would have wanted to know why I wanted to know. She knows I don't take Muggle Studies. Anyway, Rose said they went there so no one would recognize them.”

“Uh, thanks, Hugo,” Teddy replied. He was mystified. He had been brought up by his grandmother Andromeda, who was a witch so he had no idea what this so-called “move thatter” was, but he knew that if it was something popular that muggles liked, there could be hundreds of them in London. He figured the only way to find out would be to ask someone who knew a thing or two about muggles, and currently the only person he could think of that did was Aunt Hermione. He had always called her that, even though technically they weren't related. He supposed she would be at work, but he hated to rat out Rose by asking what this muggle location was. Perhaps if he thought really hard about Rose, he could Disapparate to where she was. He decided to try this method before completely giving up hope and asking Aunt Hermione.

 

Rose laced her fingers through Scorpius's and smiled up at him. His crystal blue eyes pierced her brown ones as the sun sparkled back at her from his eyes. His ash blond hair fell messily around his ears. He was not so fair as his father, but the resemblance when seeing them standing side by side was rather striking. She enjoyed these times with him, because they always went to a muggle attraction and no one knew nor cared who they were or that they were together. They just looked like a normal muggle couple. Rose knew from her mother how to dress like a muggle and had helped Scorpius the first few times. After he had made himself a small muggle wardrobe he just chose one of the outfits.

They were going to an art museum today. This was something that was no uncommon in the wizarding world and some wizards and witches even had paintings hanging in these galleries. Rose was interested to see which names she might recognize.

A little while later, she and Scorpius were in a deserted room of the museum inspecting a painting done by someone Scorpius knew to be a witch when a loud CRACK made Rose let out a small scream and grip Scorpius's hand hard.

“It worked!” Teddy yelled triumphantly, causing Scorpius and Rose to look perfectly confused once the shock wore off and their hearts stopped pounding.

“Sorry, but what worked?” Rose asked breathlessly. Scorpius still had a look of shock mingled with confusion on his face. He seemed to have lost his ability to speak as his mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.

“Well,” Teddy began, “I had no idea where you were, so I concentrated really hard on your face in my mind and Disapparated and I appeared here. I'm really glad to see you. And don't worry, I won't tell your mum where you are or who you're really with. Hugo already explained that much to me. Look, it's been about an hour and a half since Victoire Disapparated out of Diagon Alley to who-knows-where and I was wondering if you could help me find her. Where might she go if she were upset?”

“You upset her? Honestly, Teddy, will you never learn?” Rose sighed and let go of Scorpius's hand. “You look awful, Teddy. Why don't you walk through the rest of the museum with us, seeing as there are some people in here now and if you Disapparate you're going to get in trouble and they're going to question us endlessly? When we finish, we'll find a deserted alley and you can Disapparate from there. I obviously don't need to tell you where she might be seeing as you concentrated on my face really hard and found me. You can do the same for her, can't you?”

“Oh, yeah,” Teddy nodded sheepishly. He was rather ashamed for not realizing this himself—that if he found one person in that manner he could most obviously find another in the same way. He checked his reflection in the glass covering a dark painting and saw he did look rather disheveled. He pulled out a pocket comb and managed to make his hair lie down a bit flatter. When no one was looking, he changed his hair from his color of the day to a nice dark brown. He got a few odd looks after that. He knew the muggles undoubtedly thought their eyes were playing tricks on them. He even changed his style to less unruly curls. He was going for the most unaltered natural appearance he could manage while still looking dignified. He hated how unruly his hair could get if he never changed it.

Finally, after the longest and most boring hour and a half he had ever endured in his entire life, Teddy emerged from the museum with Rose and Scorpius. They were discussing some painting they had both really liked. “Look, I hate to interrupt, but I didn't want to see the museum in the first place,” Teddy interjected.

“Well, seeing as we're out, I would say that you can leave whenever you please,” Scorpius sneered. Teddy had never liked him. He briefly thought of threatening to tell Aunt Hermione about the two, but decided against it as he turned to walk away. He nodded his head at Rose and she nodded back, mouthing “I'm sorry” and indicating Scorpius. Teddy just shrugged before disappearing around a corner into a dark alleyway.

 

Victoire yanked her head out of her hand at the sound of someone Apparating in the yard. She had been quite lost in thought and had no idea how long she had been sitting on Aunt Hermione's stoop. She felt rather bad about the whole thing. She should have gone on to her own house. Her parents would surely be worried by now. She saw Teddy's form in the late afternoon light. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to jump on him and kiss him and punch him and cry and laugh all at the same time. Fortunately, she didn't have to decide what to do at all. He was suddenly standing before her with his arms out. She didn't hesitate at all. She just followed her heart. She rushed into his arms without further thought on the matter. In the next moment, his lips were pressed against hers and she kissed him back with all the fervor she could muster. In the back of her mind, she was thinking that she couldn't believe she had let this go on for so long. She should have just believed him in the first place and so much would not have happened.

After holding her close for a few moments, Teddy pulled back to look at her. “I know that this happening doesn't make everything all right, and I know we're going to really have to work at making this work between us, but, Victoire, I can't believe we didn't just make up at the beginning.”

“It's my own stupid fault, Teddy. I should have just heard you out and talked things out with you before I just jumped to conclusions about you and Anne.”

“I have to tell you something, though. I did sort of date her after you were gone from Hogwarts.”

“I know, and I realize now that you were just trying to get over me. You thought you would never have me back, just like I thought I would never have you back. Oh, Teddy, we were both so stupid about the whole thing.”

“It's not going to be easy, you know,” he said.

“No,” Victoire said thoughtfully, “but it WILL be worth it.”

 

*three months later*

“Victoire, hurry up! You're going to be late for the Express! It leaves in exactly forty minutes!” Bill Weasley called up the stairs to his daughter. He loved her very much, but she really could be slow when she wanted to.

“I know, Dad, I'm coming!” she called back exasperatedly. She had only just finished packing her bags when an owl came from Teddy. He was saying how sorry he was, but that three dragons had escaped the night before and he didn't know if he was going to be able to see her off to school for her last year at Hogwarts. She was straightening her makeup from crying a bit over it, but she decided not to cry too much seeing as she would see him on the Hogsmeade weekends and when she got to go home. And he was certain he would be permitted to visit Hogwarts on some weekends when she didn't have too much homework. She sighed to herself as she dragged her trunk down the stairs glumly.

“Oh, Victoire, what eez it now?” her mother asked her, seeing the look on her face.

“Teddy sent me an owl. He said he probably won't make it to the train, because three dragons escaped last night and he's helping bring them in.”

“Well, that eez his job, eez it not? You will see him again,” Fleur replied. Victoire just nodded in reply. “Bill, see that she gets on safely. I am in no condition to travel.” Bill smiled knowingly at his wife.

“What's going on?” Victoire asked suspiciously.

“Your mother is pregnant, Victoire,” Bill replied. “We just found out! She's going to Saint Mungo's today.”

Victoire dropped her trunk as her face lit up. “Really, Mum? That's great!” She hugged her mother and kissed her on the cheek.

“I'll see you soon!” Fleur said as her daughter and husband headed out the door.