sometimes love is not enough [teddy]

[victorie]

Victoire shivered violently as a gust of wind sent her long, blond locks scattering around her face. She wrapped her arms around her body in an attempt to warm herself up. What she really wanted to do was go home, shimmy into a thick, flannel pajama, wrap herself up with a hand-knitted shawl given to her by her grandmother, and warm herself up with a large cup of cocoa. Instead, on her first day back from the South of France, where it was balmy and sunny, her superiors at St. Mungos insisted she gather a couple of textbooks that she would need for her Healer's licence renewal course, a course Healers were ordered to take every two years. She supposed it was kind of them to inform her of information she had missed while she was visiting family in France after taking a couple of weeks off of work. It would have been nicer of them if they had gotten the books for her.

Beggars can't be choosers, though.

Her teeth were chattering as she walked through the relatively empty, narrow streets of Diagon Alley. She had gotten too accustomed to the lovely weather in Menton, France, which felt humid and sunny as opposed to the dark skies and the windy gust. The fog didn't help either. It made Diagon Alley look menacing. Her escape to France was quite welcomed and one she wanted to take quickly after the massive heartbreak she felt a little after graduating from Hogwarts. Staying with her maternal family for awhile was refreshing. A girl needed that sort of refreshment, especially after the intense past four years this particular girl had gone through. But she was back to reality now. Back to being an adult. An adult with responsibilities. Another gust of wind had her hunching her head down and plowing through, another shiver causing her to shake and cuss under her breath. How long would it take for her to grow accustomed to this again?

With her head hunched down against the elements, all Victoire could see were her feet and the dirty snow with a hint of cobblestone. She walked quickly. She had walked these streets all of her life. She knew it like the back of her hand, because things in the wizarding world rarely ever changed. Change was slow. Painstakingly slow. As in... several thousand years slow. She didn't really need to see. Flourish & Blotts was her destination. However, she didn't count on the fact that there'd be people in the streets. And suddenly, she found herself bumping into a fellow pedestrian.

"Merlin, I'm so sorry, I didn--oh." Her voice trailed off as her blue eyes glanced at the face of the person she had bumped into. If she had only looked up. If she had only swerved a bit to the left. She would have never bumped into Teddy Lupin, her ex-and only-boyfriend. "Hi." She said, her voice neutral. She hoped her face appeared the same way. She had a knack of looking detached when she needed to. Like she needed right then.

[Teddy Lupin]

Teddy swallowed as he pulled close the door of the wandshop behind him, double checking its locks. Mr. Ollivander had retired earlier going up and asked him to lock up the the shop, if and when he left. Ever since the break up with Jade, which he still hated himself for, he'd thrown himself into work, not leaving the office until wee hours of the morning, and back again after breakfast. The last thing he needed was another stint in rehab for being a depressed little boy who had a broken heart. What sucked though was that the broken heart was more for his first love, Victoire and lesser towards Jade, whom he liked but never loved.

He stomped his foot, pulling his coat tighter around himself as he walked back down the alley, the whole length of it. He had to go through the Leaky at the other end before Apparating to his apartment, hoping to avoid seeing any family like he had for the past few weeks. What he didn't expect was slamming into a body curling itself away from the cold. His hands automatically moved to steady the person but the moment his palms touched the familiar curve of shoulders, he yanked them back, looking up with a startled gaze.

"You're back," was the first thing he blurted, trying to control the mind numbing feeling taking over him at the moment, the one which rendered him sad, and speechless. He blinked for a second before smiling a small polite smile. "Hi, I mean...I didn't know you were coming back so soon. How was France?" he asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

[victorie]

Seeing him right now wasn't exactly what Victoire had in mind. In fact, she wasn't even dressed for such a meeting. Everyone knew that when you're going to run into your ex, you want to look like you just walked off of a Witch's Weekly fashion shoot. Instead, she felt frumpy in a thick coat, a pair of jeans, thick gloves and her favorite pair of old sneakers she's had since she was fifteen. Not to mention that the only make-up she was wearing was lip balm to keep from chapping in the cold weather. The wind had caused her hair to become a complete and total mess. No, she did not scream 'lovely', at least not to her. Her intention had been to go to F&B, get her books and go back home. Running into an old boyfriend, THE old boyfriend, wasn't exactly what she had in mind. It was the complete opposite, actually.

She smiled haphazardly at his blurted phrase. She wasn't sure whether he was happy or disappointed that she was back in the country. Why should it matter, though? He was no longer hers. Or vice versa. And Victoire had sworn to herself that she wouldn't allow herself the luxury to contemplating any sort of romantic reconciliation. Not after the way he had treated her. Dissecting his words and the meaning behind his demeanor was not something that she ought to be thinking about. Not just because it was ridiculous to do so... but because every time she seriously began to consider her relationship with Teddy, she fell into a dark mood. She was happy now. She worked hard to be this happy. Why should she allow a chance encounter with him to ruin that? She wouldn't.

"Yeah. Work beckoned me to return sooner than I really wanted to." She said, forced to raise her voice above the sound of the wind whipping her hair around her face. "France was beautiful. I regret leaving it now. I mean... it's cold... here." She explained. She didn't want to make it sound like she wasn't pleased to run into him. She also didn't want it to sound like she was too pleased. Merlin, what sick game running into an old lover entailed. Too much politics. It was most likely one-sided, she though, he was probably on his way to see his girlfriend. "So, um... how are you?" She asked politely. She'd be damned that it get back to her family that she was rude to Teddy. She hated making her family members pick sides. She wouldn't stoop that low.

[Teddy Lupin]

Teddy stared at her, watching her eyes crinkle shut slightly as her hair blew in her face. She looked like the wind was attacking her, which it was and she was losing the fight. But he didn't think it mattered because she was always going to look beautiful to him no matter what happened. It wasn't the veela genes, though they contributed too, but it was the fact that she didn't look picture perfect. She looked natural, real, tangible. He could almost reach out and push the hair back. Of course, he did no such thing, just smiled politely, running his hand through his own, dark turquoise hair.

He swallowed at her wry smile, wondering if she was amused by his reaction, or genuinely pleased. "I take it you didn't want to come back? How was your family there?" he said with a smile on his face, all the while wondering what he'd have done if she'd really left. Not that it really mattered, since he'd left her first, simply because he was too ashamed to tell his girlfriend that he was getting admitted in the hospital she worked at. She would've understood, she of all people wouldn't have judged. Really, he told himself that for the durations of those thirteen months he was there, but all that changed when he came back and she looked happier without him. Ignoring his trailing thoughts, he put a slight joking tone. "Did you get me French chocolates?" he said, knowing that she knew that he adored the sweet. Then he realized how pathetic it sounded.

"I'm -" he thought, searching for an appropriate phrase. How was he? He was busy with work. He was guilty for hurting Jade. He was still very much heart broken over the girl in front of him. He remembered the words from Dominique's letter, screaming at him. But he felt like an idiot even thinking about saying the words, So, our sister tells me you were asking about me? Why?. "Okay. I'm pretty okay," he said. He looked the ground, kicking around a rock. "How are you? You look good," he said, and then cringed silently, realizing how it sounded. Merlin, he should hide under a rock. "I mean, you look well. Not that you wouldn't be," he added, tackily.