Butterflies | Teddy Lupin

Chapter Fourteen

Charlotte slid into her seat beside Teddy in the Great Hall, side-eyeing the piece of toast on his plate. She still had a few more minutes left of the breakfast period before their first class and her stomach was growling at her. "Teddy, are you going to eat that?" she asked innocently, pointing at his toast. It was lying alone on his plate, surrounded by the remnants of his breakfast.

What she expected to happen next and what actually happened next existed in two separate realms. She expected him to shake his head no, for her to slide his toast off of his plate and eat it. She expected him to grin at her, to hear his laughter echo, to hear him tease her gently.

What happened was this. Teddy frowned. He nodded his head, pulling his golden plate closer to him. "I actually was. Thanks for reminding me," he said. He fiddled with the toast, picking it apart with his fingers. He glared at the side of her head, refusing to make direct eye contact. Charlotte had known him long enough to see what he didn't want to tell her, to see the sulk in his eyes and his actions.

They sat in silence for a few moments, each person stewing and refusing to break. Charlotte furrowed her brow, staring at Teddy with a critical gaze. She kept checking the clock at the end of the hall, watching it tick away. They were going to run out of time if she didn't say something. She bit her lip, paused, and then asked at last, "What's wrong?"

Teddy finally turned to look at her in the eyes. "How was your tour with Everett?" he asked, spitting out the other boy's name. Teddy's gaze was steady and firm, boring into her. There was an emotion in his eyes that she couldn't lay her finger on, something that she just couldn't place. It wasn't quite anger, not quite to the level of fury. It simmered, it boiled, it bubbled. He was sulking, teenage-boy-angst filling him.

Most of the time, Teddy was laid back and smooth, smile bright like his hair. He was "chill," as he liked to describe his personality, disorganized and spontaneous but layered with thick blankets of calm that he exuded. He was not in that state then, riled up and on high alert.

Charlotte blinked at him, shock coating her features. His words were so out of character for him, the bite in his voice usually never present. She hesitated before responding, biting her lip with concern.

"It was awful," she said almost snappily. Her voice was rising, causing the people at the table around her to look at her. There was staring, the hairs on her arms rising.

"I thought that it would be," Teddy said, self-satisfaction filling his voice. The feeling of being right was a warm one, and he basked in it.

His words caused the reason for his actions to click for Charlotte. A green-eyed-monster was creeping through his thoughts, pulling a shade over his vision and nudging his actions into anger. "You're jealous!" she exclaimed.

Teddy scoffed, rolling his eyes. The smile dropped off of his face. "I'm not jealous," he said. His voice rose in volume, pulling more and more eyes. The entire Gryffindor table was looking at him, and the tables next to them were starting to quiet down the chatter so they could discretely listen. 

Rosemary was eyeing Teddy, her eyes blown wide. Charlotte's remaining roommates were almost exact clones, the exact same expression on all of their faces. Charlotte and Teddy rarely fought. They got mad at each other, as any good friends did, but they were the type to talk it out instead of fighting in public.

"Sure you aren't," Charlotte said. She matched his eye roll, shrugging her shoulders and turning away from him. She was ready to let it go, to let it smooth over, until Teddy scoffed again. She didn't dare to hope, didn't dare to think that maybe, just maybe, his jealousy wasn't just from a protective friend.

"I really don't know why you think that I would be jealous," Teddy said.

"I don't know Teddy, why are you jealous?" Charlotte replied. Her voice was rising, rising, rising. She felt herself rising to her feet, felt her face screw up in anger. She was the Head Girl, she told herself, she had to set a good example. But she was also a teenager that sometimes let her emotions get the best of her.

"I'm not!" Teddy persisted, emotion-charged and blue hair turning red. He glared at Charlotte, fiercely firm in his stance.

Charlotte threw her hands up in the air, frustrated and angry and so many things at once. Her brain and her heart were pulling in two different directions. "Whatever, Edward. Come find me when you are ready to admit that you're jealous or ready to have a conversation like adults." She spun on her heel and stormed out of the Great Hall, her fists clenched tightly in balls at her sides. She left Teddy staring at her retreating figure, his mouth dropped open and speechless.

Charlotte sat in the library after her classes were done for the day, bent over her homework. It was her turn to sulk, her turn to overthink and wallow in her feelings. Rosemary found her there, staring at the piece of paper, the quill stalled in her hands.

"I'm such an idiot," Charlotte groaned when Rosemary sat down opposite her. She let her head on her elbows, the quill falling onto the parchment. "Why couldn't I have just let it go? Then I wouldn't be in this stupid fight with Teddy." She ran her hand over her eyes, slumping onto the table.

"Charlotte, you're allowed to have feelings, you know that right?" Rosemary said, sitting herself down next to her friend at the table. She gently pulled the essay away from Charlotte, taking the ink pot from where a strand of hair was threatening to dip into it.

"I know, it's just," Charlotte sighed. "Sometimes feelings are weird. Like with a Teddy."

"We know. The entire castle can sense the tension between the two of you. I think even McGonagall can tell," Rosemary said, her tone light and bright-spirited, teasing and happy and friendly.

"She has been pairing Teddy with me a lot," Charlotte said, suspicious. "Like we were in Transfiguration and she was like, pick partners, so I went with Daisy because I love Teddy but Daisy is better at Transfiguration, and then McGonagall was like, oh I changed my mind about the partners and she put me with Teddy. And Teddy was fun and that day he was kind of out of it because I kept catching him looking at me funny." She sighed, thinking back to that day.

A small smile grew on Rosemary's face, something that Charlotte took notice of. "Charlotte," she said gently. "Have you ever thought that the reason that there is tension between the two of you is that Teddy likes you back?"

Charlotte shook her head. "There's no way. There's no way," she repeated, staring wide-eyed at Rosemary. But when she really thought, when she really took a look at her relationship with Teddy, she knew that it wasn't true. Deep down in her stomach, where the butterflies grew, she knew. She was in love with Teddy Lupin, and she was 95% sure that he was in love with her.

"Rosemary, I think that you may be right," Charlotte said, standing up from the table. The excitement in her was growing, growing, growing, growing. She felt like she was glowing, glowing, glowing. Warmth spread through her body, through her smile and her limbs. The butterflies carried it around, leading her feet out of the library. She was floating on a cloud that would never let her down, walking on springs that pushed her up to the sky.

An invisible string pulled her to Teddy, to the spot where she knew that he liked to sulk. It pulled her to the top of the Astronomy tower, where they had spent days dancing around their feelings. She was light on her feet, bouncing as she raced through the hallways. Her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest, a drumbeat that pulsed along with her steps.

She ascended the twisting, twirling, staircase that led up to the Astronomy Tower, her heart beating faster and faster with every step. She was out of breath by the time she reached the top, her chest heaving up and down.

Teddy was right where she thought that he would be, nestled in a window, curled into himself. He was the perfect cutout of a boy, his face glowing bright with the moonlight.

Charlotte's breath caught in her throat, at the sight of him, even though she knew that he would be there. He never failed to make her stomach flutter, to make her heart start racing just that extra mile. Charlotte Ramsey was in love with Teddy Lupin, and she was finally going to tell him.

Author's Note

I haven't read this through so if you are reading this before I go back to edit it, hello and please feel free to call out my mistakes. I'm half-asleep but I want to get this published because oooh big chapter coming next! Exciting!! Thank you all for reading!

- Nicole