Something had changed.
Somewhere between the Christmas Day Quidditch match—James’s team, the Montrose Magpies, demolished Puddlemere United—and those lazy, listless days that consisted of nothing more than hours lounging in front of the fairy-lit tree wearing one of Molly Weasley’s hand-knit jumpers and eating far too many cookies and sweets, heavy under the lull of butterbeer, Teddy Lupin had developed a bit of a crush.
It had taken them completely by surprise, really. They had, after all, known James Sirius Potter since the eldest Potter son was born, rushing with their father and Sirius to see Harry’s firstborn, not even fully understanding what the fuss was about. The baby had looked like a matchstick, reddish-brown hair on top of a redder, wrinkled face. He’d looked more like a garden gnome than a person, and Teddy had been disappointed. As the two had grown, though, they’d become friends, sharing adventures and a mischievous sense of humor that would rival that of their relatives.
James was there when Teddy had realized they wanted to go out with Victoire, and he was there for that relationship’s inevitable end. The two were in different years, of course, and so they didn’t spend a significant amount of time together at Hogwarts, but due to the nature of their family’s ties, they did share every major holiday and birthday, as well as a good bit of time during the summer.
As much as they tried to pin down the precise moment when they realized they had feelings for James Potter, it was murky, unclear until it hit them like a wall of bricks. Teddy and their family were at the annual Christmas Quidditch game, cheering on James and the rest of the Montrose Magpies. James had flown by the box where his family and friends were sitting, waving his Beater’s bat at a Bludger and shooting Teddy a smirk and a wink. Teddy felt their face flush, a perplexed expression at his reaction, and James had bit down on his bottom lip to keep his smile from spreading as he flew away.
Teddy had leaned back, heart pounding, and when Albus caught their eye, he gave them a knowing look before cupping a hand to Scorpius’s ear and whispering furiously. Normally, Teddy would be irritated, but they were too busy trying to process what had just happened to care.
Surely, James was just showing off. As much as Harry denied that his father had ever been proud, Regulus and Sirius both affirmed that James Potter, Sr was a swaggering wizard when it came to Quidditch, and his grandson had definitely inherited both his ability on the pitch and his attitude. It was the Christmas Day game, it was being projected over the Wizarding Wireless to every Wizarding home in the United Kingdom, and the stadium was filled with attendees who made the annual event part of their celebrations. How could it be a stretch, then, to assume that James was playing to his audience? Who better to share his performative side with than his family and friends who happily came to see him play?
But what had that wink been?
Why had it sent Teddy’s heart catapulting somewhere into the depths of their stomach?
*****
“Are you going to join the rest of the family or are you going to hide in here and sulk all night?”
Teddy sat up at the sound of Rose’s voice, running a hand through their rumpled hair. They had come to lie down on the bed in Percy’s old room, needing a moment away from the annual Weasley holiday festivities.
“I’ll be down eventually.”
Rose frowned, looking remarkably like her mother as she walked over and sat down beside them. The bed dipped slightly, their legs touching, and Teddy leaned back to stare at the ceiling with a sigh.
“Teddy, what’s wrong? You’ve been moody all night.”
It was really no wonder that Rose was such a good Auror—she was annoyingly perceptive. Teddy had thought they were hiding it well, forcing laughter, but in reality, their mind had been swirling incessantly, spinning through a mental Rolodex of potential answers to the one question that burned inside: was there something more to James’s wink, to the way they were interpreting it?
She leaned back on her elbows, giving them an impatient look. Her long hair curled over her shoulders and brushed the wrinkled quilt.
“It’s nothing, really,” Teddy offered a weak smile. “It was just a long semester; I’m happy to have a break.”
“Tough year?”
“The students are always unruly at the start. We haven’t fully meshed yet, and I know not everyone is as passionate about Ancient Runes as I am.”
Rose snorted.
“My mother begged me to take that subject, but I couldn’t be fussed with it.”
Teddy had become obsessed with it once their father told them how he had used Runes to rescue Sirius from beyond the veil. It was a fascinating subject, and Teddy tried to impart as much modernity and relevance as they could into a subject that was considered ancient centuries ago.
Rose was watching them, carefully, her brows furrowing over her wide brown eyes.
“You know, if you miss your buddy, you could just message him.”
Teddy’s stomach dropped.
“What?”
“James. Albus said he just posted some video on WizTok, so he must not be too busy.”
“Ah,” Teddy said weakly.
“I’ll see you out there,” Rose stood, fluffing her curls and bouncing over to the door, where she turned to give them a knowing smile before she left, closing it softly behind her.
Teddy groaned, scrubbing their hands aggressively over their eyes until they saw stars.
*****
The Weasleys’ Christmas party was exhausting. It was Christmas night, almost immediately after everyone had returned home from the Quidditch game, and between that and what truly had been a grueling semester of teaching at Hogwarts, Teddy was exhausted.
Fielding a million questions about their mother (Tonks was fine, yes, she was spending the holiday with her mother and Kingsley, all was well, yes, I’ll tell her you said hello) and dealing with Lily Luna, who was like having a very chatty shadow, was doing little to calm him.
“You look like you need this,” George had said, passing Teddy a rocks glass of Ogden’s as they passed.
“Thanks,” Teddy tipped the glass in salute before gulping back half of it in one swallow.
Sirius was sitting on Remus’s lap—the two of them insufferable even at their age—and twining his fingers through Remus’s curls while they talked to Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Teddy smiled, admiring the ease with which Sirius and their father were able to just move past friendship and become life partners, the way everyone simply accepted it.
“Hey,” Victoire said, flipping her waist-length blonde hair over her shoulder.
“Hey,” Teddy said, suddenly feeling awkward.
“Having fun yet?” she asked.
“Always.”
“It’s the same every year, I don’t see why we have to do this. My aunt invited me to stay in France with her and instead I’m here. Do you know how many hot people are on Owlr there?”
Teddy hummed, sipping their drink again for something to do. In actuality, they were avoiding eye contact with everyone else in the room. Molly Weasley had already looked up from her knitting to beam at them from beside the wireless. It was always the same.
Any time Teddy and Victoire ended up talking to each other, the families would stare, and exchange superior, knowing glances that made Teddy want to melt into the floorboards. As much as the Weasley/Potter/Granger clan wished for some claim to them, to bring them into the fold by marriage if not by blood, Teddy knew that there was no future between them and Victoire. They had been down that road before, and it didn’t work out—she wanted more than they were able to give. They were quiet, reserved and introverted, bookish like their father. They weren’t one for parties or heading into the spotlight, and having inherited their mother’s clumsiness made Teddy even less inclined to be front and center.
Victoire, on the other hand, craved the spotlight—she was made for it, with looks like hers, and it was a role she fell into easily, even becoming a minor influencer on WizTok. When they were together, she had tried to coerce Teddy into filming videos for her and with her—something of which they wanted no part.
“What are you doing New Year’s Eve?” Victoire asked.
When Teddy looked at her, they were startled to see the way she was staring—hair flipped to one side, eyes smoldering, leaning back on her elbows against the side table.
“This?”
Teddy hated the way it came out like a question, but it was true. Same group of people, different place. The Potters always hosted New Year’s Eve. Victoire looked Teddy up and down before rising from her slouched position.
“Well, you know where to find me if you need someone to kiss at midnight,” Victoire blew him a kiss before waltzing away, her long hair dancing behind her.
“What the fuck,” Teddy sighed.
*****
Once back in the privacy of their small but comfortable flat, Teddy braced their hands against the sides of the bathroom sink, assessing the face that stared back from the mirror. Cerulean hair—even though Teddy had inherited their mother’s Metamorphmagus abilities, the default was always blue. It was comfortable, and it suited them, they thought. Hazel eyes—like Remus’s. Full mouth, freckles—like Remus’s. Tonks’s aristocratic nose and arching brows—a byproduct of the Black family genes. White gold hoops in their lip, ears, and a tiny white gold stud in one of those defined brows—all choices that were exclusively Teddy (but never silver, which would have harmed their father). That, and the ink sleeve that peeked from beneath the hem of the black t-shirt that had been washed so many times it was soft and faded and oh so comfortable.
“Just do it already, you can bloody handle it,” Teddy told the reflection, which winced in response.
Teddy flopped on their bed—a must, one that was big enough to take up most of the tiny bedroom—and pulled out their mobile. One of the perks of being a wizard in this era was the invention of the adapter for mobiles to work around magic. An old student of their father’s, Padma Patil, had come up with it after spending one summer in the Muggle world with a cell phone and realizing it was “an essential.” She was making millions of Galleons off of it, apparently, but Teddy found it didn’t matter to them who made it, just that it existed and ensured they could indulge in a secret pleasure: James’s WizTok.
Thumbing up James’s account and clicking on the most recent video, James making that save with the Bludger from the Christmas Day game. Teddy clicked the comments, mostly witches commenting about how cute he looked on his broomstick, or how they loved his hair, and a few others remarking on his form and technique. It had been rather spectacular, but that wasn’t shocking—James was an excellent Quidditch player.
Teddy scrolled to the next video, and immediately felt a whole swarm of birds take flight in their stomach. Had there been any doubt about how Teddy felt for James, it was now crystal clear: Teddy was fucked.
The video was sexy, and Teddy watched it four times on a loop before realizing they were actually open-mouthed and drooling. It took a bit of it hitting their leg for them to process how foolish they looked, and they were thankful that no one else was around to see. It wasn’t Teddy’s fault. James was hot.
The video depicted James, freshly showered after the match, nothing but a towel slung low, low, low on his waist, his defined V on full display along with a trail of hair that stopped in the hint of a patch just above the line of the white terrycloth. The camera panned up over his abs (who had eight clearly visible abs, seriously?), over his pecs, which were still glistening with drops of water, and to his face. By the third view, Teddy was able to take in the tattoo of antlers and stars curling around James’s biceps, the smirk on his golden face, the way his mahogany hair shone more red than brown in the overhead lights, the slope of his nose, his twinkling brown eyes.
Again.
Teddy was a goner.
After watching a few more times, Teddy scanned the comments: witches and wizards alike proclaiming James was posting thirst traps, that he was hot as fuck, that he should DM them… Millions of views just since that afternoon, thousands of comments… for James. It was mad.
Rose’s voice echoed in their mind, reminding them that they could, indeed, just message James. It wasn’t like James knew about this whole internal battle that Teddy was having—how could he, absent as he’d been?
Teddy worked the silver-colored hoop of the lip ring between their teeth, worrying, fretting, and then—finally—opened up a DM.
BlueMoon98: Hey, showoff.
Heart pounding, Teddy clutched the phone like it was the lifeline that would keep them from drifting out to the sea of worries in their own mind. When it vibrated with a response, they yelped, dropping it to the floor.
JamesSiriusPotter: Showoff?
Oh shit.
Did it not go as planned? Was it too aggressive? It was meant to be a joke… really, those abs were no joke.
“Stop overthinking,” Teddy muttered. “It’s James. You’ve known him since he was born.”
Ew.
Bit weird to think about, that, but James was only five years younger than Teddy’s 26 years, so they chose not to focus on the fact that they’d known James since he was nothing but a shriveled up raisin in diapers.
BlueMoon98: Oh, come on. Look how many views you’ve got.
BlueMoon98: Showoff. 😊
JamesSiriusPotter: Oh, shove off
JamesSiriusPotter: you’re just jealous haha
BlueMoon98: I want to know where those abs came from
BlueMoon98: You eat more food than anyone I’ve seen, and I grew up with my father.
BlueMoon98: Glamour?
JamesSiriusPotter: I’ll have you know, I work very hard for these.
JamesSiriusPotter: No glamour necessary, babe
JamesSiriusPotter: 😉
Babe????
Teddy hyperventilated on their bed for the next twenty minutes.
*****
Over the course of the next two days, Teddy kept their phone on them like a teenager. Sirius remarked on it—he still railed against most Muggle technology, fascinated though he was with their music, fashion, and most everything else about them. Remus just rolled his eyes and sipped his coffee, but he, too, gave Teddy a pointed glance when they ignored the conversation over breakfast to message James under the table.
JamesSiriusPotter: I’m bored
JamesSiriusPotter: We’re waiting for the next Floo connection
JamesSiriusPotter: Playing in France tonight
BlueMoon98: Ah, that should be a good game.
BlueMoon98: Reckon you’ll be home in time for the NYE party?
JamesSiriusPotter: Not sure
JamesSiriusPotter: Might need a time traveler to make it
JamesSiriusPotter: haha
BlueMoon98: Fingers crossed 😊
Fuck.
Now why did they say that???
Too suspicious, too desperate, too weird, too—
“Teddy, Sirius asked you a question,” their father said, rather impatiently.
“Sorry, what?” Teddy slid the mobile into the pocket of a cardigan they’d stolen from their mother, furrowing their brows and trying to bring their attention back to the present.
*****
RoseByAnyOtherName: *send a video*
Teddy clicked the video, opening it to see James, flexing his biceps—shirtless, again, and then turning to show his absolutely ripped back, the muscles rippling as he flexed, the gold hoop he wore glinting with his glasses. Teddy loved when he wore his glasses, but that was hardly the most notable thing about this video.
Why did Rose send this?
BlueMoon98: Thanks?
RoseByAnyOtherName: Seems like our dear Jamie is getting a little big for his britches.
RoseByAnyOtherName: 😉
BlueMoon98: How so?
RoseByAnyOtherName: Don’t act like you haven’t noticed. He’s been posting thirst traps since Christmas Eve.
Teddy had noticed, thankyouverymuch, and they had saved every single one.
BlueMoon98: Oh really?
RoseByAnyOtherName: Teddy, you’ve liked them all. Don’t pretend you haven’t seen them.
Teddy panicked.
BlueMoon98: Didn’t everyone? Haha
RoseByAnyOtherName: You. Me. Drinks tomorrow. See you at the Three Broomsticks at 7 sharp.
BlueMoon98: Sure
Why did it feel like they’d just gotten scolded by Professor McGonagall?
*****
Teddy sat in a corner booth in the Three Broomsticks, nursing a butterbeer and waiting for Rose. Thanks to their father, who instilled them with a healthy fear of being late, they had arrived 15 minutes early. Rose, of course, walked in at precisely 6:59pm, leaning in to hug them in a cloud of vanilla and some sort of rose-scented hair product.
She slid her purse off her shoulder, tossing it into the booth alongside her coat. Eyeing Teddy’s drink, she narrowed her eyes.
“I’ll be right back,” she said, turning on one heel and heading over to Madame Rosmerta before Teddy had even had a chance to say hello.
When Rose returned, two drinks in hand and a smile on her face, she passed the glass of Ogden’s, neat, to Teddy and sat down.
“Thanks, Rosie,” Teddy smiled.
They clinked glasses, toasting to the season. Rose settled in, sipping her gillywater. Teddy fiddled with their cocktail napkin while Rose used hers to dab at the condensation rings on the chipped oak table.
“So,” she said briskly, focusing her attention on Teddy at last.
“So.”
“New Year’s Eve.”
“It’s… coming up soon.”
“It is.”
Teddy nodded awkwardly, looking off to the side and wondering where this was going. Rose had tucked her full lips into her mouth to keep from smiling. When Teddy flicked their eyes to her rosy cheeks and bright eyes, she looked as though she were about to burst.
“Yes?” they prompted.
“What is happening with you and James?!” Rose exploded.
Teddy had, unfortunately chosen that moment to take a swig of whisky. They choked, setting the glass down with a hard thunk as they sputtered and gasped for air.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Rose moaned.
Teddy held up a hand, shaking their head and fully aware of how much attention they were attracting. How mortifying.
“I’m all right,” they rasped.
“I didn’t mean to take you by surprise,” Rose was unrelenting.
“You didn’t. I just—”
Just what?
Just was taken aback by the mention of their godfather’s son and how fucking attracted to him they were?
Sure, that should go over well.
“Did you end up messaging him?” Rose said, clearly trying a new direction.
Teddy rolled their eyes, fidgeting with the white gold ring they wore on their thumb. With a sigh, they looked up at Rose, who was innocently sipping her gillywater and focused her large chocolate eyes over her glass.
“I did,” Teddy conceded.
Rose clapped her hands, adjusting so that she was sitting on one foot and leaning forward, her thick curls flying around her shoulders.
“What did he say?”
“Um. He called me babe?” Teddy offered.
Rose squeezed their forearm until Teddy was certain there were little crescent moons imprinted into the skin.
“I knew it!” she all but shouted.
“Rose, what precisely do you think is happening here?”
“Teddy,” she rolled her eyes, “he obviously likes you.”
Teddy’s brow furrowed; it didn’t seem so bloody obvious from where they stood. Rose seemed to sense the confusion.
“You can’t tell me you haven’t noticed. He’s been posting those frankly appalling displays ever since he winked at you at Christmas. Oh, yes, don’t think we didn’t notice,” she said, noticing their expression, nostrils flaring.
“We?” Teddy said weakly.
“Yes, we—Albus, Scorpius, myself. We aren’t blind, you know.”
“You’re speculating, Weasley,” they said, brushing the smooth blue hair off their brow.
Rose shrugged.
“Suit yourself,” she said. “But I know you like him too. You forget, I’ve been watching you both my entire life. I know enough to know when something’s changed.”
Teddy dropped their head to the table, resting it on the arms of their robes and knocking the rest of the Ogden’s to the floor with a clatter. Rose tutted, waving her wand to clean it up quickly, and then patted Teddy on the head like a puppy.
*****
Teddy couldn’t decide if Rose’s insight made things better or worse.
After the pub, Teddy scrolled through their mobile, noting the two new videos from James’s WizTok page—one a montage of some saves from the latest match in Spain, the other another thirst trap. James was sprawled out in the sun beside a surfboard, one hand resting on the waistband of his trunks and tugging them low enough to show off that fucking V again. Teddy wanted to lick it. His other arm was thrown over his face, blocking it from the sun, but also, unfortunately, from Teddy’s view.
BlueMoon98: You know, if you’re going to do all this traveling for work, you could make it look a little less fun.
JamesSiriusPotter: But that would be lying
JamesSiriusPotter: I’m having a blast
BlueMoon98: It shows. 😊
JamesSiriusPotter: Just working on my tan, you know
JamesSiriusPotter: I’ll show you when I see you, O Pale One
JamesSiriusPotter: How’s the weather at home?
JamesSiriusPotter: :P
Teddy snorted, then glanced out the window. The snow was falling in thick clumps, illuminated by the golden streetlight. It was freezing. Teddy waved their wand, conjuring a roaring fire that still did little to warm the place.
BlueMoon98: Just fucking lovely.
BlueMoon98: Exactly as you’d expect.
JamesSiriusPotter: That good, huh?
BlueMoon98: It’s an English winter James.
BlueMoon98: It’s snowing, it’s freezing, and, as usual, I can’t seem to get warm.
JamesSiriusPotter: Aww I’m sorry
JamesSiriusPotter: I’m relaxing and drinking vodka crabs
JamesSiriusPotter: vodka crans***
JamesSiriusPotter: Wish you were here.
Me too, Teddy thought.
BlueMoon98: You’ve no idea.
JamesSiriusPotter: I’d warm you up.
Teddy almost died. They gaped at the message for a full five minutes, at a loss for how to respond. Flirting with Victoire had never been this difficult.
JamesSiriusPotter: It’d***
Ah.
Well.
That fucking figured.
*****
New Year’s Eve dawned (if one could call it that) grey and overcast. A light snow fell outside, coating the already-sparkling white blanket that drifted around post boxes and streetlamps in soft little dunes.
Shocking.
Really.
Of course it had to be a picture-perfect holiday, and freezing, and Teddy was going to spend another New Year’s Eve surrounded by tangential relatives eyeing them speculatively and hoping they would snog Victoire to ring in 2025. Teddy checked their phone—instinct at this point, to immediately wake up and see if James had messaged or posted anything new.
Pitiful.
Teddy fiddled again with the shiny ring on their finger, sucking in the lip ring to fidget with that one too. This entire situation was so anxiety-inducing. And of course, nothing from James.
The day passed in that way that days do when one is anticipating something happening later—dragging on, impossible to relax into solely because of the knowledge that in ten hours, nine, eight…five… three… one has somewhere to be. Teddy rattled around their flat, sipping on coffee (which only served to further the anticipation and anxiety) and unable to read, or focus on guitar, or even cleaning (Sirius’s distraction of choice).
Finally, it was a reasonable hour to shower and begin getting ready, which Teddy did with great care, hoping to kill as much time as possible. Teddy pulled a few shirts out of one of their drawers and tugged them on, sliding on each ring in shining silver-colored stacks. Their hair was artfully mussed and moussed, flipping over his brow. A splash of cologne, then a second to ensure it lasted, and Teddy was done, stepping back to admire the look. They tried to spin their wand into their back pocket and sent it rolling across the tile floor, which ruined the effect.
Oh well, Teddy thought, at least I look okay.
They shrugged into a long pea coat and Chucks and Apparated to Potter Manor.
*****
“Don’t you own any of your own clothes?”
Teddy looked over at Scorpius—the spitting image of his father, really—and frowned. They had, admittedly, taken the long-sleeved t-shirt from their mother, but Teddy liked the way the shirt had thumbholes to play with. The t-shirt they wore over top—a Smashing Pumpkins one from the Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness tour—was one he’d taken from Sirius. It was vintage from the 90s, and Teddy loved it.
Albus let out a long-suffering sigh, sitting on one side of Teddy as Scorpius sat on the other.
“Well hello to you too,” Teddy scoffed.
They were not in the mood to be chided or mocked. Not tonight. Albus was scrolling through his mobile, and Scorpius was examining his meticulous fingernails. Their subtlety felt too planned, and Teddy adjusted uneasily.
“James says he might be able to make it home for the New Year,” Albus said casually, not looking up from his phone.
Teddy hummed.
“Quite,” Scorpius said, eyes focused across the room. “Though he’s not sure he’ll make it home in time for midnight.”
At this, Scorpius and Albus both cast a sidelong glance at Teddy.
“Well, that will be nice for him,” Teddy said, also feigning a casual air.
“You know he’s my brother, right?” Albus said pointedly. “I know things.”
Teddy pursed their lips, nodding sardonically.
“Yep,” they said, popping the P.
“And don’t think we’ve not all noticed you basically addicted to your mobile all of a sudden,” Scorpius lifted his chin haughtily, sounding insufferably posh and Malfoy-ish.
“Flirting,” Albus teased, seeming much younger than his 19 years.
Teddy dragged a hand over their face, groaning and throwing themself up off the sofa.
“What is with everyone? Leave me alone for a little bit, yeah?” they burst, irritated with everything and everyone.
Scorpius and Albus sat side by side, twin expressions of shock on their faces. Albus gave a sarcastic thumbs-up to them as Teddy walked away.
The Potters had made their home in the same beachside as Shell Cottage, where Teddy had spent a fair amount of time when dating Victoire. The area was familiar, then, even if it was a bit away from the actual cottage. No chance of running into anyone else, which suited Teddy just fine. They shoved their hands deeper into their coat pockets, cranking up the volume on the massive Muggle headphones that they’d spent the summer modifying to give perfect sound with no magical interference. They were listening to a song on repeat, about wanting to drink champagne out of plastic and feeling fantastic, hoping that it would seep into their consciousness and make them feel a little less shitty about the whole being-in-love-with-their-godfather’s-son-who-couldn’t-even-be-fucked-to-send-a-message-today thing.
The tall seagrass peeked out from the snow that sparkled along the beach under the moonlight, blowing slightly in the frigid breeze that rolled in off the ocean. The waves crashed, deafening even over Teddy’s music, the white foam washing onto the snow-covered sand, brushed stardust. Teddy furrowed their brow, staring up at the stars off the coast. They inhaled deeply, feeling the slice of winter air in their lungs, and exhaled, releasing the built-up tension they had been carrying all evening.
The snow started falling in whispers around them. It was late, Teddy knew, even before they had stormed away from the house. Best to try to get back before midnight and reconcile instead of ushering in the new year alone like a moody git.
As Teddy made their way back up the hill, trudging through snow in wet Converse (horrible), the sky illuminated in the distance—George Weasley’s popular invention, sparkling gold numbers that counted down against the black velvet night before exploding at precisely midnight in an eruption of colors and shapes.
10…
Teddy continued, hurrying their gait, hoping to make it back in time.
9…
A figure in the distance, coming towards them. Teddy pulled their headphones down around their neck, listening for any sign of who was approaching.
8…
Teddy wasn’t sure they were going to make it; the Manor was still too far away.
7…
Teddy’s heart pounding in their chest, but not from exertion. Coming down the slope of the hill, towards the beach, was James Sirius Potter.
6…
5…
“Teddy?”
“James!”
James raced the distance, closing Teddy in a hug.
“You made it!”
“I did.”
4…
They were still standing so close. James’s hands were resting on Teddy’s waist, left from where they had hugged. They were nearly the same height.
James’s cheeks were bright under the moonlight, his golden skin illuminating them, warming them.
3…
2…
Teddy could barely breathe, unable to move, terrified to see what would happen.
1…
As fireworks whistled into the night sky, James leaned in and pressed his lips to Teddy’s, hesitant at first. Teddy wrapped one arm around James’s neck, their other hand gripping the front of his jacket. That seemed to be all James needed, and then he was deepening the kiss, wrapping his hands in Teddy’s hair, gripping the small of their back, pressing himself closer as Weasley fireworks exploded in the air in the distance, a kaleidoscope of color painting the inside of Teddy’s eyelids.
“James…” Teddy panted when they finally came up for air.
“That fucking lip ring is going to destroy me,” James smirked. “I love it.”
“I can’t believe this just happened,” Teddy said.
“I’ve been flirting with you for months, you idiot,” James looked at them incredulously.
“You have?” Teddy thought back over moments that seemed innocuous enough, but suddenly they saw through a different light.
“Yes, I can’t believe you didn’t notice—Rose said I was about as subtle as a heart attack.”
“Rose?!”
“Oh my gosh, Teddy—you’re so smart you’re oblivious, I swear,” James said, pressing a kiss to Teddy’s cheekbone. “They all knew—Rose, Albus, Scorpius…”
“They’ve been hounding me for a week!”
“Imagine me—I’ve been on the front lines here for months, all three of them insisting I have to tell you, and once I started posting those videos, they were relentless!”
“Those videos,” Teddy warmed just thinking about them. “They devastated me.”
James laughed.
“I’m just happy I made it back in time to kiss you,” James said.
He cradled Teddy’s face in his hands.
“Your poor face is freezing,” James said, pressing a kiss to the tip of their nose.
“It’s winter,” Teddy shivered.
“I promised I would warm you up,” James said, using one hand to brush Teddy’s hair from their forehead. “But blue is the warmest color.”
Teddy raised a brow.
“You are—you’re just warm and kind and amazing, Teddy. I’m so excited to see what happens next with you.”
When their face flushed, James smiled softly.
“See? Now you’re warm.”
“A little bit,” Teddy said softly, looking at James from under their lashes.
“I have some other ideas…” James said, dipping his chin to kiss Teddy once more.
*****
The two made their way inside, hand in hand. Rose, Albus, and Scorpius tried to pretend they hadn’t been staring out the window, but they poured out champagne for Teddy and James, offering them each a glass as they walked through the door.
“Congratulations, you two,” Rose smirked, taking in their mussed hair and pink cheeks.
“Fucking finally,” Scorpius muttered.
“It was painful, keeping that secret,” Albus added.
“What secret?” Remus asked, eyes widening as he took in James and Teddy standing, hands clasped.
Sirius gave a knowing grin.
“Saw that coming a mile away, love,” he told Remus.
Harry walked over to hug James, noted their hands, and rolled his eyes to the ceiling.
“Oh, thank Merlin,” he said.
“You know, everyone seems remarkably unsurprised considering you all spent Christmas Day assuming I was going to marry Victoire,” Teddy said.
“Teddy, don’t be dramatic,” Rose rolled her eyes. “Victoire hasn’t been interested in you for ages and everyone knows it but my grandmother.”
Everyone laughed, toasting to life, love, health, and happiness in the coming year.
In the midst of everyone else dancing and celebrating well into the night, James led Teddy upstairs to his childhood bedroom, pressing the other into the sheets and bringing all of Teddy’s fantasies to life (including dragging their tongue over James’s V—and everywhere else). Teddy never liked new year’s resolutions or the pressure that came from needing to be better at the flip of a calendar year, but for once, they were anticipating the future and all the p o s s i b i l i t i e s that came with it.