The Next Generation - Harry Potter

Christmas At Shell Cottage

Teddy

I was going to spend Christmas at Victoire's as her parents had invited me. They lived in a small cottage which overlooked the sea. As I was now old enough to apparate and had passed my test (which I had to retake many a time), I apparated straight onto the doorstep. I knocked once on the door and Bill opened it, grinning, looking slightly worse for wear but seemingly cheerful : Greyback's scars were a lot less prominent and had sunken into his face and he looked worn from his work at Gringotts. Victoire appeared from the kitchen, the spitting image of her mother behind her. She hugged me and as she pulled away, I could see the misty blue of her eyes, almost reflecting the lapping sea infront of her.

I helped to set the table whilst Fleur prepared a French meal of foie gras, she had insisted. Victoire talked about her last year at Hogwarts as we finished with a sumptuous pudding. "Where are planning on working, Teddy?" Asked Bill as he put down his fork. I had been asked this question a lot since I had left Hogwarts but I knew the answer, "The ministry. I'm going to start training to become an auror." This had seemed like a logical decision as my mother had been one. I had passed all of the necessary exams too.

Bill and Fleur had gone out to de-gnome the garden and we were left upstairs. Victoire showed me the sneakoscope Bill had bought her for Christmas. Luckily it wasn't spinning at that moment. She opened the window so her hair whipped around her face and looked down fondly at the garden. I joined her and saw a small, gravestone-like mound of rock in a patch of mud surrounded by weeds. Next to it was a small glass jar with a withered flower. Victoire turned and made to head down the stairs, but I caught her in the stairwell and looked up to see a bunch of mistletoe hanging from the rafters. She leaned in slightly and I was close enough to count the light freckles on her cheeks. I brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and leaned in. She tasted like coconut and chocolate and I felt something I don't remember feeling before. It was never like this.