Raising Albus

CH 23 Victoire, Teddy, then A Difficult Christmas Eve

The first part of this was from a different story, but I have inserted it here because Teddy is going to play a critical role in the Albus Potter books.

*

It was the first Friday of November, two thousand and fourteen. Teddy was in his sixth year at Hogwarts. Victoire was in her fourth year, as was Rose Sprout. Teddy was leaving the dinner table, and Rose walked right up to Teddy, saying, "Teddy, we need to talk."

Teddy knew Rose Sprout. Well, everybody knew Rose. Her mother was, along with Professor Longbottom, Professor of Herbology, and Professor Sprout had lots of younger children, but Rose was the oldest. Rose was short and sort of round, although Teddy had to admit that a lot of the roundness was in nice places, top and bottom. No boy was ever shaped like Rose. She was popular, too. Rose knew the school as well as anyone, where hidden passageways were, and where you could hide and the professors would not find you. Rose also knew what you could get away with, and what could get you into trouble.

Teddy sat down at the Gryffindor table. "I'm listening."

"We need to talk privately!" Rose insisted.

"How privately?" Teddy asked.

"The Portrait Room is all right," Rose replied.

The Portrait Room was very near the main dining room. All around the outside were paintings of people killed in the long battle against Tom Riddle, including but not limited to the over fifty people killed in the Battle of Hogwarts. The paintings were on the wall, and in the middle was a large area of comfortable seating. It was an excellent place for couples or small groups to gather and talk, and sometimes snog, somewhat private but not totally private.

Teddy let Rose to the corner where portraits of his parents and Fred Weasley were hanging. "Closest I can get to hanging out with my parents," Teddy observed. Because of the time between their deaths and the time the paintings were finished, these paintings had only a shadow of their owner's personalities, but there were times when talking to them was better than not having anyone to talk to.

Rose and Teddy sat down in comfortable chairs facing each other. "It's you and Victoire," Rose started. "If you are just a cousin to her you really need to let her date!"

"I'm not really a cousin," Teddy explained. "Not biologically, anyway."

Rose snapped, "Well, you are treating her like a cousin, not like a girlfriend."

"Victoire seems just fine with our relationship the way it is now," protested Teddy.

"She's not, but she does not know how to tell you," insisted Rose. "Besides all the other girls in her class see the way she talks about you and looks at you. She wants to have BABIES with you someday. That's not a cousin, that's a girlfriend! At least a girlfriend, if not more."

"I'm trying to be an Auror," insisted Teddy. "I may be gone overseas for a while. When and if I get back we can get serious, but I don't want Victoire to think I'm going to settle down right after Hogwarts."

"Victoire knows what you want to do," Rose replied. "All the other girls see numerous boys who would like to take her to the Christmas Ball. If you intend to get serious with Victoire, be her boyfriend, it is time to ask her to the ball as a boyfriend, not a cousin. If you want her to date others, it's way past time you let someone else invite her to the ball. I can get a date for you if you don't know anyone else you want to ask, and that way other boys will feel free to invite Victoire."

"I could invite someone else myself," Teddy ruefully admitted. "It's just, well, ... it's just that I really don't want to invite someone else. It would be hard to see Victoire going out with someone else."