AN: Prompts: Use the same word to start and end fic, has to involve an emotional state of rapture

wc; 1322

Other than having access to the Ravenclaw tower strictly off limits to anyone not wearing donning silver and blue, those found within not apart of the house could claim it was merely happy accident - but the chance was so small that the lie was not worth uttering.

From her window, Victoire looked out, her eyes ever active as they scanned over the grounds for Teddy on his rounds. He had been made Head Boy this year, and while it had taken some time for them both to adjust to this change, she could not be prouder.

He was always so adult-like, being the first to advance in his class, and being one of the most well liked boys in the whole school. He had the advantage of being very nice, and at an age where girls found him handsome, did not break any hearts.

No, for Teddy Lupin, he was never seen to have, even one, affair of the heart.

From below, she saw a small flash of light, a mirror, and she quickly closed her Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook - who wanted to learn about Hippogriffs anyway - and hastily retreated out the common room door and down the spiral staircase.

He had that effect on her.

It was late in the afternoon, classes were well over, and she had waited all day for the moment when they could finally be together.

It had begun, like most stories do, long ago; when they were children. Unlike tales where bratty boys pull the pigtails of pretty girls - everyone could agree that Teddy Lupin was the perfect child. He had been sweet and caring since he was a baby, more eager to make people laugh than to tease them.

The whole Weasley - Potter - Granger clan had gathered at the airport to await the arrival of Hermione's parents. Even after all their years of having a witch for a daughter, they did not allow her to transport them by any sort of magical device. The alternative muggle option wasn't favorable for the witches and wizards, so the amount of waiting in airports had meant they had spent ample time together.

Slipping through the school, relatively unnoticed - there were an abundance of child aged ghosts - Victoire made out onto the grounds and sprinted to his location.

It had been annual, at first, to meet close to the Whomping Willow. To anticipate an afternoon of studying advanced potion making - without the anxiety of old, wrinkly, Slughorn breathing down their necks.

Soon she had found herself looking for his face anywhere in a room, and she found him looking for her too.

"Teddy," she called, seeing him turn as she opened her arms to embrace him, moving even faster before leaping into his outstretched arms. The ache of being apart was suddenly soothed as they kissed, his warmth and gentleness radiating around her. "Oh Teddy, you've grown." Victoire stated, rather abruptly, after their lips had parted.

"That's a strange greeting," he replied softly, gazing at her fondly, capturing her lips once more. "Barely a letter all summer, and that's all you have to say?"

"No," she wrinkled her nose, as if disgusted with the notion, her eyes smiling. "Tall men appeal to me, that's all."

She loved the way his hair turned the same shade of red his cheeks did, when a blush did appear to spread over them, the colour of a fresh candied apple.

"What I want to say wasn't exactly appropriate," she cooed, an impish grin appearing, watching as a look in his eyes said he did approve of that.

The arrival of footsteps made them stand aside, launching them both into a conversation about the weather. When the danger had passed, they closed the gap, their voices going hushed once more.

"I heard you are going to be assistant to old Slughorn this term." Teddy mused, she nodded, running his fingers through her hair. "I suppose that means you won't need me to assist you this year"

"What an intolerable assumption," she replied, she liked to attach herself to their study sessions as a lifeline throughout the year, running her fingers over his ribs. "I don't have any desire to be an Auror, Teddy, and I might as well focus on things like Potions, Ancient Runes and Charms if I going to be at all useful in society."

"Only a Ravenclaw would worry about being useful in society," he chuckled, not worried about the attack on her perceptions, looking at the sky. "There are better things in life to attend to, like being happy."

"Making a baby, you mean."

Teddy groaned, leaning back from her, listening for footsteps in the background. Victoire, wearing a smirk, slid his bag off his shoulder and to the ground. "I am never going to live that down."

"About as much as I can forget that I shall 'You shall bear the fruit of your loom, in a bedroom of your pleasing."

"Ugh," the noise was guttural and disgusting, but he didn't pull away. "Victoire?"

"Yes, oh devoted one?"

"When did you know?" he asked, his voice low and steady.

"The beginning of third year." She answered frankly. She was a being of truth, they both recognized that in one another, so it came as no surprise that they had felt the same from an early age.

"Would you want to?" he asked, after a moment's hesitation, his fingers looping through her hair as if it were a belt. "Victoire?"

Blinking her blue eyes, trying to slowly blow out the air she had been holding, she nodded. It felt like he was ramping up to ask her something

"Victoire."

"What?" she chuckled uneasily, shifting and squirming, biting her bottom lip. "I can't help the way I get when I am nervous. I like books, and the smell of leather bindings on a bookshelf. If you want to bone, then just say the word, I can get us into a classroom faster than anyone else."

"Victoire Weasley, I am trying to be serious." Teddy huffed, his hair turning colour, like the shade it had been when he was born.

"Sorry," she nodded, feeling the flutters in her stomach as she tried to bottle the nerves. They were both nervous, though Teddy didn't show it as easily as some might; he often preferred to be silent. There was an old saying, one she knew now to be quite true, that still waters run deep. "Are you asking me if I want to make a baby right now?"

He scrunched up his nose at her and she felt herself relax. Teddy Lupin was many things, but he wasn't boring. "Not exactly."

"If you don't want to create a new olive branch, then what are you asking me?" She pressed, waiting for the words, lowering her voice.

Teddy removed his fingers from her hair and stepped backwards, looking at the bottom of his shoes for a moment before meeting her eyes once more. "You should return to your common room before curfew, Miss Weasley." He touched his head, winked at her, then turned and strode away; cloak billowing out behind him like a whiff of smoke.

"A nice night for a walk," the curt, crisp, voice of Minerva McGonagall floated into her eardrums like she imagined Tinkerbell might fly. "Miss Weasley."

"Headmistress." Victoire replied, dipping her head, watching the old woman's eyes go to a spot on her head.

"Do you make a habit of wearing rings in your hair?" Minerva asked, raising an eyebrow as the girl's hands flew to her hair, smiling in satisfaction.

Victoire felt the rise and fall of her breast, as if it was a bridge between her heart and soul, as her finger felt the sharp cold of metal tied neatly placed within a lock of her hair.

There it was. The final piece. For both of them, there was never going to be any other.