Turquoise Ribbon
(Victoires Age / Teddy's Age)
0 / 2 – He doesn't understand why Auntie Fleur suddenly gets fat. She never ate that much before. He's even more confused when she gets skinny again. And he nearly cries when he finds out he's missed the stork dropping off the baby, because who's going to tell Baby Vicky about it when she gets older?
1 / 3 – He wants to hold her, but they won't let him. Why? he asks, I hold my toys all the time. She's not a toy, they explain, she's a person. She'll get older like you and she'll grow. Will she ever be bigger than me? he wants to know. Probably not, Uncle Bill assures him. Good, he says…
Maybe I can hold her when we're older.
2 / 4 – Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron walk into the nursery to find a very tired Fleur asleep in the rocking chair by the window. Victoire is lying flat on her back on the floor, head lolled to the side, staring solemnly at Teddy, who is splayed out beside her, arms and legs thrown out like he's making a snow angel. That one's a bear, he is saying, lifting a chubby arm (just beginning to shed its baby fat) to point at the ceiling, which is enchanted like Hogwarts. And that one's a lion called Leo and that one's a hunter called Orion. But I don't really see any of them. I mean, that doesn't really look like a lion, does it? But he says he sees them, he tells her, cupping his hand to his mouth because he's telling a secret, because it makes Aunt Hermione happy.
3 / 5 – When Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny get married, Teddy and Victoire walk down the aisle before them, throwing flower petals like it's the best thing in the world to do. Everyone says their cute, and Victoire says in her baby voice that she and Teddy want to walk down aisles together more often. This makes everyone laugh. Victoire doesn't get it.
4 / 6 – They throw food at eachother at dinner, and they both get in trouble. You're not allowed to have foodfights, Aunt Ginny explains. But we weren't fighting, Teddy says. No, Victoire agrees, nodding, eyes wide, we weren't fighting. We were playing.
5 / 7 – When James is born, Teddy peers into the cradle and changes his hair to black. Victoire cries because she feels left out. Teddy promptly changes his hair to strawberry blonde and follows her around until she plays with him again. Uncle Ron laughs that the boy's already whipped and gets a slap around the head by Aunt Hermione. Teddy doesn't get it.
6 / 8 – He helps Uncle Bill teach her how to fly. She's a natural, and she slaps him over the head when he says he wouldn't have guessed it. Uncle Bill laughs. She's a Weasley alright, he says, and Teddy you better watch out.
7 / 9 – At Christmas, Uncle Harry sits him down and tells him the whole story about his parents. That night at dinner he's very quiet. Everyone is related except him. He feels rather like an…intruder, and he goes to sit upstairs alone. Three minutes later, Victoire sits down beside him and takes his hand. They don't speak, but Teddy feels better somehow. When Uncle Harry finds them, he mumbles that Victoire reminds him an awful lot of Aunt Ginny.
8 / 10 – When Lily is born, Victoire wonders aloud why she didn't get a flower name. Rose…Lily…Victoire. Teddy tells her, cupping his hand to his mouth because he's telling a secret, that he never much liked flowers anyway. He likes French better. She tells him this doesn't make sense. But she specifically asks him to sit next to her at dinner. He tells her he always does, doesn't he? But he smiles and thanks her anyway.
9 / 11 – When they go shopping for school supplies, he doesn't say anything as she shoves package after package after package of parchment into his arms because he's just got to have enough paper to write her every day. Auntie Fleur tells her she's being silly. He can't write her every day. Yes, Teddy says, I can.
10 / 12 – When he makes the Gryffindor Quidditch team, she's the first one he writes to. When she writes back, she sends him more parchment. Just in case. Teddy doesn't tell her, but he actually needed it.
11 / 13 – She finds she's rubbish at Transfiguration. Teddy tutors her every single night, rearranging his features every once in a while just to rub it in in her face. She laughs because it's entertaining.
12 / 14 – Whenever Teddy gets morose, which is whenever someone mentions his parents (are you Remus Lupin's son? wasn't your mum an Auror?), he taps on Victoire's window in the middle of the night. They race across the Quidditch pitch in the dark until they're both sore and windwhipped.
Teddy never felt so free.
13 / 15 – He asks her to come to the Yule Ball with him (even though there are plenty of girls who fancy him who are Fifth and Sixth and even Seventh Years) because, he says, she's practically his cousin and he knows she really, really wants to go. He doesn't tell a soul that it's because he knows she won't ask him to change his hair colour to match her dress and because she's so pretty it would be a waste. She says yes and thanks him profusely for thinking of her because she wouldn't have been able to go otherwise (even though she was asked last week by a Fourth Year Slytherin named Nott and a Sixth Year Ravenclaw named Davies and she told them both she couldn't go).
He doesn't really understand what the big deal is about Veelas. Until she descends the marble staircase.
14 / 16 – He never really likes any of her boyfriends (I mean, Caleb Davies is a bit self-obsessed, don't you think?). She thinks it's a bit of a coincidence that he'll think a boy is nice enough until she starts dating him and then the boy becomes self-obsessed, but she doesn't say anything. She doesn't say anything and she doesn't ask. But she hopes.
15 / 17 – After she breaks up with whats-his-face, he finds her in the Astronomy Tower. He's happy she's not crying (he hates when she's sad, and really, that means she wasn't really serious about whats-his-face, doesn't it?). He sits down next to her and takes her hand. She leans her head on his shoulder and sighs. Chivalry is dead, she tells him. He snorts and tells her she's just too dramatic, did anyone ever tell her that? But a whole hour later, when she shivers just a little, he drapes his coat around her shoulders. She smiles a little when he isn't looking.
16 / 18 – She searches the crowd when the train pulls to the platform and spots him almost immediately. She runs to him first (before Dad, Mum, Grandmum, or anyone else) and before she can tell him politely and primly that she's glad he could make it home for Christmas (like she planned to say) she finds herself jumping into his arms, hugging him tightly, and telling him Hogwarts just wasn't the same without him. He tries very hard not to kiss her on the mouth. He kisses her cheek instead and her cheek and his lips burn for ages. (Even though it's the middle of winter.)
He really kisses her on New Year's. No one seems particularly surprised.
17 / 19 – They're not particularly bothered when James walks in on them. Teddy only just barely makes it off the train before it pulls away.
18 / 20 – He brings her chocolate on Valentine's Day. No flowers, he says, because he remembers her insecurities. She laughs and slaps him over the head. They eat the chocolate and watch a silly romance movie. She doesn't leave his flat until morning.
19 / 21 – She ties a turquoise ribbon around the waist of her white dress. She says she wants to match his hair. This makes him happier…if that were possible.
A/N: So I know the formatting of this was a bit different, but I wanted to try something a tad bit experimental. Plus, I love this pairing and thought I'd try my hand at it because I'm toying with the idea of a longer TeddyVictoire story. Anyway, what do you think? Tell me if you have a favourite!
P.S. Look for a Hello Again update by the end of next weekend.