MISSED CALLS ➡︎ TEDDY LUPIN [2] ✓

xlvii. GRYFFINDOR COMMON ROOM

Avalon stood in the Gryffindor common room, all but wearing a hole in the ornate rug as she paced back and forth in front of the staircase that led up to her room.

It was six minutes to five in the evening, when Teddy had said he would be coming by to pick her up for their date, and every second that passed made Avalon more and more nervous. She was so anxious that she felt like puking.

A first year came in through the portrait hole, making a beeline for Avalon.

"Hey, Avalon?" The first year boy said quietly, almost hesitantly.

Avalon stopped her pacing for a moment to look at the boy. "Yeah, Toby, what's up?"

He smiled at the fact that she remembered her name. "Um, someone's outside asking for you." He replied.

"Blue hair? Tall?" She asked, causing himto nod. "Alright. Thanks, Toby. Have a good day, alright?"

Toby just smiled some more and gave her a wave.

Avalon walked quickly towards the portrait, pushing on it so it swung open to reveal the hallway outside of the common room. Teddy Lupin was standing there, a basket full of various objects and yellow tissue paper in one hand and a bouquet of daylilies in his other hand.

She fought back a grin. "How'd you know my favorite flower?" She asked, reaching out to accept the bouquet.

"Well, I asked Oliver. He didn't know, so I asked Isabel, and she didn't know either. But then she suggested I text your mum, and she said you liked daylilies, so..." Teddy rambled, a hint of a smirk on his lips.

Avalon raised her eyebrows. "You texted my mother just to find out my favorite flower?"

He blushed, and immediately tried to change the subject. "Anyway, er, this is for you as well." He held up the basket before grabbing her hand and leading her over to a bench along the wall.

He sat her down on the bench and shoved the basket into her lap, taking the flowers from her so she could focus on the gifts he'd gotten her.

The first thing Avalon saw in the basket was a small, rectangular box with French script on the top that said Cartes de Tarot in beautiful gold writing—he had gotten her a new set of tarot cards.

"Oh, Teddy." She whispered, shamelessly smiling. "You shouldn't have!"

She'd been meaning to get a new deck for months, since hers had been in her possession since she was eleven and had seen their fair share of wear and tear; they were a gift from Reese, so she had been hesitant to ask for a new one at the risk of offending them.

"Shut up, keep going." He said, his arm resting on the back of the bench, just inches away from being around her shoulders.

She delved deeper into the basket of treats, finding her favorite sweets from Honeydukes, a stuffed lion, and lastly, a yellow bracelet made of embroidery thread with a tiny bead with a T engraved on it stitched into the bracelet.

She held the bracelet up and looked at him with a questioning expression. "Trying to claim me, Lupin?"

"Well, yeah. Obviously—like I said, won't stop 'til you're my girlfriend." He said, winking. "But I was at my grandmother's house over the holiday and found it in one of the boxes of my mum's old things. Apparently my dad got it for her when they first started dating."

Avalon's heart was in her throat. "And you're giving this to me?"

The fact that he was willing to give her something of his mother's, whom he had never gotten the chance to know, was enough to make her tear up a little.

And suddenly, Avalon was no longer insecure about his feelings for her. Sure, she knew she liked him far more than he liked her, but at least she could say with one hundred percent certainty that he wanted her the same way that she wanted him.

"Yeah, Ava, I'm giving it to you." He said quietly.

She wiped at her eyes to prevent the tears from falling down her cheeks. She didn't say anything in response; instead, she threw her arms around his shoulders and drew him into a hug.

"Thank you. I really don't know how to express how much this means to me." She whispered in his ear.

Teddy pulled back from the hug, smiling as he tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. He stroked her cheek with his thumb, making her nerves tingle and face flush.

She took a shaky breath, mustering up courage. "You know you can kiss me anytime you want, right?" She said with as much confidence as she could.

"Might have to take advantage of that." He said quietly.

And then he started to lean in, and she was so excited that her hands were trembling.

Just like the first two times they'd kissed, Avalon's entire body came alive with raw nerves, and she felt him smile against her lips.

She felt like she could kiss Teddy a million times a day, every day for the rest of her life, and never ever get bored of it.

He pouted teasingly when she broke the kiss, diving in to place one more short, sweet peck on her lips.

"As much as I love kissing you," She murmured as she stood up from the bench. "I do believe you were supposed to take me on a date, yeah?"

ITS DATE TIME BABY