Alrighty, new post!

“And where are you from?” a man with curly brown hair and tanned skin asked as he joined me at my booth without asking to.

“London,” I answered with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m from Dover. We’re practically related.”

“I thought you looked familiar,” I deadpanned and he laughed loudly. I thought maybe he’d had too much to drink. And then I changed my mind when he started to blur and I thought I’d had too much to drink. But I decided I deserved a night to drink myself into oblivion, since I’d just turned down my boyfriend of three years’ marriage proposal. And then his hair transformed into a turquoise color, taking me out of my thoughts, and I gasped.

“Teddy!” I shouted in surprise and he grinned roguishly and sent me a wink. “What in Merlin’s name are you doing here?” I asked.

“Well, I thought to myself, where would Abigail Weasley go after she turns her boyfriend down when he proposes? She would probably go to her favorite pub in her favorite place in the world. Romania. And Fred told me this is where you went when your Grandma passed away, last year.” Teddy shrugged as he reached across the table and took my hand in his.

“Well aren’t you the detective. I’m sure the Auror force is lucky to have you on their team,” I whispered as I stared down into the amber liquid of my glass.

“Are you okay, Abi?” he asked quietly.

“Do I look okay?” I countered as I took a swig.

“Why did you say no, Abi?” Teddy asked, ignoring my question.

“He deserves better than me,” I whispered as I buried my face in my hands.

“How can anyone deserve better than you? You’re the best,” he smiled. I shook my head at him before downing the rest of the liquid and signaling the barman for more.

“Oh, Ted, you have no idea how wrong you are,” I whispered. “Can we please talk about something else?”

“Vic and I are filing for divorce. It didn’t work out,” he stated and my head shot up.

“What?” I demanded.

“All we do is fight. I got fed up with it and so did she. It was like we were playing house, so I asked for divorce and she agreed,” he explained as if it wasn’t a big deal. But it was. It was a very, very big deal. And just as my heart had shattered that day on the platform when James told me he’d caught Teddy and Victoire snogging, Teddy just glued the pieces back together with his news of a divorce.

“So, am I sorry or happy for you?” I asked uncertainly. He didn’t seem down by the revelation, so I wasn’t sure.

Teddy laughed and my heart spluttered at the sound. He was incredibly enticing when he laughed. It wasn’t forced or fake; it was true and beautiful.

“We can go for happy, I guess,” I grinned. “Want to go for a walk?”

“Love to,” I whispered.

“Can I ask you a question?” Teddy asked as we walked arm in arm down the dirt path that led to the dragon reserve. I was still barefooted, and Teddy did not keep the jokes about that to himself when he had noticed.

“Open book,” I murmured.

“Why Romania?” he asked with real curiosity.

I glanced up at the dark sky that twinkled with glittering stars. “Everything. The stars, the air, the dragons, the beauty, the familiarity… Shall I go on?” I asked him with a small smile.

“Hmm, the air, eh? It sort of smells like burning wood to me,” he mused and I chuckled.

“To me, too. But it’s a Heavenly smell to me. I’ve smelled it since I could breathe, basically. My Mum said that whenever I got fussy when I was little and we were here for the summer, all she’d have to do was take me outside and I’d calm down,” I revealed to him. He chuckled as he pulled his arm from mine and wrapped it around my shoulder. I shivered a little and he tightened his hold on me. I yawned as I laid my head on his chest.

“Can I ask you a question?” I whispered and he had to lean down to hear me properly.

“Open book,” he echoed and I smirked.

“Why’d you come looking for me, Ted? We haven’t really been all that close for years, or ever really.”

He sighed as he weighed his answer. “It felt like the right thing to do, I guess. And I wanted to. I was worried about you, Abi,” he answered and I could feel my face flushing in pleasure at those words.

“Thanks, I guess. I’m glad you did… This is me,” I said as we stopped in front of a small cottage. It was the family’s vacation cottage; my Dad lived there when he worked at the reserve. He and my Mum had actually moved back to Romania last year, when my Dad was offered his old job again. They live a couple of blocks down from our ‘vacation house’.

I don’t really know if we can call it that anymore. Since it’s more of home, rather than vacation now. But Dad still doesn’t have the heart to sell it. And I was grateful, because I wasn’t in the mood to run into them tonight. It was in walking distance to it and the backyard overlooked part of the reserve. At night, sometimes, you could even see the dragons breathing fire, and it’d light up the night like a firework display.

Teddy walked me to the door and then hugged me tight.

“Do you want to stay? There’s plenty of free beds,” I offered and he grinned as he opened the door for us.

That night, I became smitten with Theodore ‘Teddy’ Lupin again. We stayed in that cottage for two weeks before I finally decided to face the music and go back home. Alfie and I were able to salvage our friendship, especially once Fred and James cornered us and reminded us about the pack. It was awkward at first, of course, but we worked through it. I heard he started dating some bird from Kent now. But that’s not until later, much later.


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Disclaimer: The quotes starting with "Where are you from?" and ending with, "We're practically related," is from the movie Burlesque.