Teddy tore his gaze away from his wife’s bright, sparkling eyes. Her cousin was standing there, wearing a broad grin on his face.
Victoire threw her head back and laughed. “You may,” she said, putting her hand daintily in his. “Provided the groom doesn’t mind, of course.”
Fred looked at Teddy, who threw his hands up and stepped back. “Just one,” he said. “And it’s only because you helped get us together.”
Fred snorted. He clearly didn’t think that he’d done much of anything. “Right. Because you would have kept your hands off-”
“Fred, did you want to dance?” Victoire cut in, and he got the hint. Before they departed, she leaned back in to brush her lips against Teddy’s.
“Hurry back,” he said softly.
“I will.”
He stood off to the side as Fred whirled Victoire across the floor, almost glad to have a moment to himself. He had not anticipated being a groom to be quite as much work as it had turned out to be.
Not that he was complaining - he’d gotten a beautiful bride out of the deal, after all.
“Excuse me,” someone said, and he shook his head to clear it.
“Yes?” he asked, looking at the woman who had just approached him. She had a lightly pinched sort of look, and her blonde hair was noticeably streaked with grey.
What stuck out the most, however, was how nervous she looked. Her eyes were darting this way and that, almost as though she were looking for someone, and she was clenching her handbag so tightly that her knuckles were white.
“Are you Teddy Lupin?”
He frowned. She must be a friend of his grandmother’s or godfather’s. “Yes?” he repeated.
She plunged a hand into her purse and drew out an envelope. “This is yours,” she said quickly, glancing around the room as she handed it over.
He took it and looked at her in bemusement. “Um - I’m sorry, who who -”
She smiled tightly. “I knew your grandmother when we were younger,” she said. “Well, I just wanted...” she trailed off. “Congratulations.”
While he was standing there trying to process the exchange, she walked away. He watched take one last, nervous look around before slipping out the door.
“What’s that?” Teddy looked up. His grandmother was coming toward him. When he stared at her blankly, she gestured to the envelope in his hand.
He shrugged. “Dunno,” he said, handing it over. To his surprise, she slit it open and pulled out a large, brass key. She scrutinised it for a moment without saying anything, and then dropped it back into the envelope.
“She said she knew you,” he said after it became clear that she wasn’t going to say anything else.
“She did,” his grandmother said after a protracted pause. He waited, and she sighed. “It’s a long story. She did something unforgivable a long time ago, and I guess this is her way of making it up to me.” She handed the envelope back to him. “Be careful with that,” she warned. “If I’m not mistaken, there’s a lot of gold in that vault.”
Before he could press her further, she turned and strode away. He took the key out of the envelope again and frowned at it.
“Where’d that come from?” Victoire asked, coming to a stop in front of him and plucking the key out of his hand to examine it.
When she was done, she returned it, and he slipped it into his pocket. “I’ll tell you later.” He held his hand out, and she placed hers in it. Without meaning to, his grip tightened slightly, and she squeezed his hand back. “May I have this dance?”
She smiled at him. “You may.”
A/N: Well, that's it - I hope the end was satisfactory for you! Thank you for reading, and as always, I'd love to hear your thoughts. :)
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