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Dad smothered me with his chest again and I wheezed.

“Can’t breathe,” I choked out and he released me hesitantly. I never will get used to those Weasley hugs.

“Sorry,” he said with a sigh. He ran a hand through his graying hair, which I made fun of often, even if I was eleven. “Are you sure you want to go?” he asked hopefully, even though my answer had not changed in the past five minutes.

“Charlie,” my Mum chastised with a small chuckle. “Leave the girl alone.” Mum bent down to kiss my forehead, and I glanced around nervously, hoping no one noticed. She grinned knowingly at me as Uncle George and Aunt Angelina met up with us with Fred and Roxanne.

“I’ll see you soon, Roxy, don’t be upset,” Fred was saying as he held onto his sister. She whimpered slightly as she clung to his neck and let out a sob. He looked at me as if I’d help him out of the predicament, but I just wiggled my fingers at him and smirked. He glared right back.

“Mum!” Fred whispered and Aunt Angelina chuckled as she pried Roxanne’s arms from his neck and promised she’d see him sooner than she’d think.

“Don’t get into trouble! And do your homework and pay attention in class! And, for Merlin’s sake, do not mess with Filch or Mrs. Norris!” Aunt Angelina told him. Fred smirked, which I found funny because it matched Uncle George’s in that moment. After Aunt Angelina hugged and kissed him, she turned to my parents and started talking to them and the triplets.

“C’mere, Abi,” Uncle George whispered and I grinned because I had a funny feeling that I knew what he was about to give us. He bent down to our level and glanced around surreptitiously before handing Fred and me identical bags.

He didn’t disappoint.

“Inventory?” I questioned as I peeked in the bag.

“Dungbombs, Skiving Snackboxes, Canary Creams, Extendable Ears, Weasley’s Wildfire Whiz-bangs, Self Inking and Spell Checking Quills, and Ton-Tongue Toffees. Use them wisely, and if you run low, owl me and I’ll send more. Here’s James’s bag, too,” Uncle George said in a business like tone. I grinned as I hugged him around the neck and pecked his cheek.

“George Weasley! What did you just give my daughter?” Mum demanded as she narrowed her eyes at the three of us. Dad smirked while Aunt Angelina shook her head in defeat.

“Going away presents, of course, dear sister-in-law,” Uncle George grinned, turning to wink at me. I stifled a giggle behind my hand as I grabbed Fred’s arm and led him over to a group of redheads.

“I was wondering where you two were,” James sighed dramatically as he wrapped an arm around each of our shoulders.

“Here, this is from Dad.” Fred handed over James’s *ahem* goodie bag, and James smirked mischievously as he peeked inside.

“Brilliant. Have you seen Teddy yet?” James asked as he glanced around. My stomach did little flip flops as I bit my lip. I was excited to know that I’d see more of Teddy now that we were going to school together. How wrong I was.

Fred and I both shook our heads in the negative and we all figured we’d see him on the train. Before we could even step foot on board, however, my Dad had called me back over, along with the boys. We all heaved sighs as we joined the large group.

“You’ll be careful, won’t you, Abi?” Dad asked me quietly. I sighed a small sigh as I gave him an angelic smile.

“Daddy, I’ll be fine. Plus, Fred and James will be there. And Teddy and Victoire, too. I’ll be fine,” I told him quietly as I kissed his cheek.

“But you’re my baby girl,” he whined.

“Daddy, Caroline is your baby girl; I’m all grown up now.”

“You most certainly are not! And you never will be. You’ll always be my little princess, and please don’t try to change that,” Dad chastised. I rolled my eyes and gave him a hug.

“Don’t worry, I’ll write you,” I whispered.

“Tonight?”

“Tomorrow,” I answered patiently.

“Promise?” he asked me and I nodded.

“Pinky promise,” I whispered as I help my finger out for him and he took it with a grin.

“Stop badgering her,” Aunt Ginny demanded and my Dad raised a brow at her. I gave my Aunt a thankful smile and she winked down at me.

I kissed each of my younger siblings on the cheek before kissing my Mum one last time. And then James and Fred led me toward the train. To time with Teddy. Or, so I’d thought.

“Should someone go look for him? Maybe he can’t find us,” Fred mused as we sat in our own compartment. Alfie Jordan, Uncle Lee’s son, was also sharing our compartment. He also happened to be Fred, James, and my accomplice to our many pranks at home.

“I’ll go!” I volunteered at once, perhaps a little too cheery because Fred gave me an odd look.

“I’ll go with you,” Fred declared, looking suspicious.

We walked down the corridor of the train with wide eyes and big smiles. It seemed like it never ended, but we both knew that it did eventually. As we walked to about the middle of the train, I noticed a blur of turquoise, and I almost squealed, but I made sure to stop myself from the embarrassment.

We bounded into the compartment, not bothering to knock with large grins on our faces for our find.

“Teddy!” Fred exclaimed as he went up to the boy in question and shook his hand.

“We’ve been looking for you everywhere, Mr. A—” I started.

“Abi!” Teddy interrupted me. He gave me a small smile as he did that one-armed hug thing with me.

“Look, squirts, it’s a bit cramped for room in here. Why don’t you run along and go back to your friends?” one of Teddy’s friends said to us.

Fred narrowed his eyes as mine grew wide at the realization that he was unsubtly throwing us out. My eyes locked with Teddy, and I had this hope build inside me that he’d stick up for us. For me. He’d want me around. But he didn’t.

“Teddy?”

“I’ll come see you guys before we get to Hogwarts, Fred, Abigail,” Teddy told us with a tiny smile. Abigail. That one seven letter word broke my eleven year old heart. He hadn’t called me Abigail since I was seven, before I told him we were going to be married. He’d call me Abi the few times he had to call me by name in front of my parents or the other adults. But other than that, it was always, always Mrs. Theodore Lupin.

I smiled painfully as I excused myself, letting my face crumple as I walked back to our compartment, Fred’s arm around my shoulder as if he knew. We said nothing, but we were both thinking the same thing. Teddy was different when he was with his school friends. We didn’t like that Teddy too much. I didn’t like that Teddy too much, because that Teddy wasn’t the Teddy that saved me on that broom that day. This Teddy was different.

Teddy never did come by and visit us like he said. Victoire stopped by shortly to say hello before going back to her friends, but he never came. Fred, James, and Alfie could tell something was wrong with me, but they knew not to ask. If I had wanted to tell them, I would have. They learned that the hard way when we were eight.

The next time we saw Teddy was when we were getting Sorted. He had given me an encouraging little smile as my name had been called, and I had this fleeting hope to be put into Hufflepuff so I could be with him. But I was a Weasley. And I went to Gryffindor.

I never saw Teddy that often after that, maybe a fleeting glimpse in the corridors or at meals. And of course for the holidays when we went home. But even then, he spent more time with Victoire and less time with us. It made me realize that there was too big of an age difference between Teddy and me, and that my secret infatuation would just have to stay a secret. It was in third year that I stopped the infatuation all together.


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