our universe

- B E F O R E -

teddy's pov:

I hate Xavier Zabini.

Okay, that's not fair. I don't hate him. I just really really really dislike him, loathe him even, and would prefer he stay as far away from Juniper as humanly possible. I don't want to be nice to him. But he's Junie's boyfriend.

Boyfriend.

Junie has a boyfriend.

I mean, I'd kinda guessed. She hadn't been hanging around us as much, gone at odd hours, sneaking off between lessons. She was weirdly giggly at times. She never said anything about it though, so I just pushed it to the back of my mind. It wasn't something I particularly wanted to think about, and if she wasn't telling us it couldn't be serious. It wasn't something I had to worry about. Right?

Wrong.

Merlin, when I walked in on her and Zabini in the classroom, it felt like I would explode. All I could see was red, and I wanted to charge in there and punch him in the face until he let her go. She looked so pretty that night too, and I'd told her so. Stupid. Wish I hadn't done that. And then she called him her boyfriend.

I didn't know why I was so angry. Why was I so angry? Yeah, I'd done everything humanly possible to prevent her from dating, but that was over. Yeah, for some reason I wanted to kiss her all the time now, but she was still my best friend. I should be happy for her. I should be happy for her. She likes Xavier. But why? Why not-

No. Not doing this today, Theodore. You're just being protective. Like James would. Or Charlie. Or Leo. Like a big brother. She wanted me to get along with him. And I was going to try my very best. Little did I know how hard that would actually be. Half the time I was around him I wanted to beat him into a bloody pulp, and the other half I wanted to clutch Juniper close and never let her go.

It started with the incident on the Quidditch pitch. Her leg was bothering her again. I could always tell. And it was especially bad because she'd played through the pain the other weekend at the game against Hufflepuff, even though I'd told her to sit out. I didn't know what I expected. She was the stubbornest girl I'd ever met, never listened to anyone, least of all me. I wondered if she listened to Xavier. I wondered if Xavier even knew she had an injury.

"Oh good you're here," Juniper called to me, black ponytail bobbing as she exercised. She grabbed my hand and led me over to the grass. Though I'd helped her stretch dozens of times since that first morning, my pulse still raced when she guided my hands to her waist.

She bent over and reached for her toes, effortlessly contorting her body into what looked like a very hard position. God, speaking of hard. I angled my body as far away from hers as I could, staunchly looking skyward and not at her long, long legs. Christ. What was wrong with me? She has a boyfriend. She has a boyfriend! You can't have her Teddy. Off limits. Off limits.

I just couldn't help it sometimes. When she told me to shut up, or fell asleep with her glasses still on, her hair in the morning, her lips. I could write poems about those lips. Like last week before the party, when I'd been teasing her about her skirt. Okay not just teasing. I was flirting. Definitely flirting. Which was so so wrong because she was there with another bloke. Who knows, I might've kissed her right there and then if fucking Zabini hadn't walked in.

"Hey!" Juniper waved a hand in front of my face, "Earth to Teddy." She rose, brushing her leggings off.

"Sorry." I stepped back, "Leg okay?"

"Yeah." She shrugged, letting her hair loose. The dark tangles tumbled down her back, and I wanted nothing more than to grab a fistful of them in my hand and- ugh. Deep breaths Teddy. Think about Alison Leavenworth, you're seeing her this weekend remember? She's very pretty, good snog, but she's not- nope. Also, pay attention! Junie's talking again.