Title: Staying True To Yourself
Author: scarletladyy
Pairing(s): Teddy/Victoire and Teddy/Rose
Word count: 2,076
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
Summary: Teddy fancies Victoire, but has terrible trouble trying to get her to go out with him, so he changes his appearance to her dream man. Instantly attracted to his new looks, Victoire asks him on a date, but Teddy soon realises how shallow she is, and that she'll never love him for who he is. However, there is one girl who will.
Author's Notes: Written for prompt #88 for teddy_fest 2010. Thank you to my beta chemical_haven.

Teddy polished off the gift he'd just bought from Hogsmeade: a lovely silver charm bracelet. It'd cost him all his pocket money that Uncle Harry had sent him, but he felt it was worth it if Victoire would finally recognise him.

"Ready, Teddy?" James laughed.

Teddy rolled his eyes. "That joke is years old, mate."

James shrugged. "Shall we go, then?"

"We aren't going anywhere. I am. How is it going to look if I have you tagging along after me?" Teddy took one last look in the mirror to straighten himself out before taking off out the door, ignoring James' laughter behind him. He knew Victoire was in the common room with her friends, he just had to try and tear her away, which he knew in itself would be a task. Taking a deep breath, he called out her name. "Victoire."

Victoire turned around, looking less than pleased. "Oh, it's you."

The smile plastered on Teddy's face was wavering slightly. "Can we talk?"

"Right now?" Victoire looked at her friends. "We're kind of busy."

"It's important," Teddy tried to stress. "Really, you'll like it."

Victoire's eyebrows rose as though she didn't believe him. "Fine. Five minutes, that's it."

Teddy nodded and took her over to the side of the room, his back to where he knew her friends were watching them. "I got you something."

"Oh?" Victoire feigned interest. "What? Because that box of chocolates was hardly my style."

Teddy bit his lip. "Sorry about that, but I think you'll really like this." He took the beautifully wrapped box out of his pocket and handed it to her, watching her face carefully as she undid the bow and then ripped open the wrapping paper.

"It's a bracelet," she said mundanely, not even picking it up and taking a look at the charms. "Thanks," she muttered, stuffing it into her pocket and leaving to rejoin her friends.

"Wait," he called after her. "Why... Why don't you like me?"

Victoire shrugged. "You're not exactly tall, dark and handsome, are you?"

It was a dig at his appearance, quite obviously. Despite being a Metamorphmagus, Teddy had never really changed how he looked except on Halloween to suit his costume. He quite liked himself, though Victoire seemingly didn't. He realised that if he even wanted to have a chance with her, he had to change to suit what she wanted in a man.

*

The next morning, Teddy went down to breakfast as his new self: tall, dark and handsome. He'd changed pretty much everything he could, from his hair colour and style to his weight and height. He was the exact spitting image of the man he'd always heard Victoire talking about, so he was sure his plan couldn't fail. As he wandered through the Great Hall and down to his seat at the Gryffindor table, he heard lots of whispers of 'Who's that?' and 'Isn't he handsome?' He felt great about himself, and even more so when Victoire came in and blushed at the sight of him, creating a space that wasn't there before between him and Rose.

"I'm Victoire," she said, flicking her hair back into Rose's face.

"Do you mind?" Rose replied, attempting to move away from her.

Victoire ignored Rose and held out her hand. "And you are?"

"Teddy." He smiled at her, not missing the brief shock on her face.

"You look... different." She giggled, twirling strands of her hair around her fingers. "Handsome different, of course."

"Thanks," Teddy said, grinning at her. "Fancy going on a date?"

Victoire blushed. "Certainly. I know just the place if you'll meet me in the common room tonight."

"Of course," said Teddy, watching her walk away and feeling very pleased with himself. He'd finally got the date with Victoire that he'd been after for years. So what if he'd had to change his appearance to do it?

"She's just using you," Rose said quietly when she'd left.

"You're just jealous," Teddy remarked, though he immediately felt guilty.

Rose rolled her eyes. "She wasn't even interested in you until you changed your appearance!"

"So?" Teddy shrugged. "Who cares? She wants to go out with me."

"You don't care that she basically wants you as a trophy boyfriend? She won't give a damn about you," Rose snapped. "You'll be a laughing stock."

"At least people will know who I am," Teddy spat, dropping his breakfast things and storming out of the Great Hall. He knew his comment was below the belt; Rose hated people thinking everyone only knew who she was because of her parents, but he was just so angry at what she'd said. He fumed along the corridor, barging into everyone that got in his way, until he found an empty classroom to blow off steam in. He slammed the door shut and was about to cast a silencing spell before the door was forced open. "What the—? Oh, Victoire."

"She's wrong you know," said Victoire. "Rose."

"You heard what she said?"

Victoire shrugged. "I know what she thinks of me. And you."

"And me?" Teddy raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean by that?"

"Come off it." Victoire laughed. "You can't seriously tell me you don't know?"

Teddy stared at her, completely baffled by what she was referring to.

"Oh." Victoire tried to stifle her giggles, but it wasn't really working. "You don't know. Rose likes you. Like that."

"Ha!" Teddy scoffed. "You're having a laugh, aren't you? We're just friends."

Victoire snorted. "Why do you think she hates me so?"

"Er," Teddy started, but he really didn't know what to say to that. "Girls always hate each other. It's a mystery, nobody ever knows why."

"No, Teddy," Victoire said as she shook her head. "Rose fancies you, and now I'm interested, she's being a jealous bitch. Don't let her get to you, okay?"

Teddy nodded. "I suppose... but what if you're wrong?"

"I'm not," Victoire said firmly as she turned to leave. "And don't forget about tonight's date!"

Teddy didn't have time to respond as she suddenly left, but unless he seriously hit his head, he really didn't think there was any chance of forgetting about their date. However, now he knew Rose liked him, that complicated things, especially if his relationship with Victoire were to ever get serious. As much as he wanted that to happen, he was still surprised that she'd agreed to go out with him in the first place.

*

Late that evening, Teddy walked nervously down to the common room. There were still a few people milling around, but none in his year, and nobody was paying any attention to him anyway.

"Hi," Teddy said as he joined Victoire by the fireplace. "Where are we going?"

Victoire giggled. "Follow me," she said as she grabbed his hand and led him out of the portrait. Since it was quite late, they had to sneak around carefully, hiding behind statues and in empty classrooms and broom closets when teachers, prefects or Filch could be heard.

"Isn't this romantic?" she teased as they squeezed together in a very small broom closet as Filch lazily wandered down the corridor.

"Er, yeah," Teddy whispered, feeling awkward at being so close to her.

"Perhaps we should stay here all night." Victoire let out a quiet giggle and lightly brushed her fingers across his neck, making him jump out of his skin.

"I think he's gone," Teddy said, quickly getting out into the open space and keeping a small distance from Victoire. "How far are we from where we're going?"

"It's on this floor," she said, "but I think we may have passed it. Oh no, wait, it's here."

Teddy looked around and saw a door open, and he realised this must be the Room of Requirement. Everyone knew about it—Neville Longbottom had hid from the Death Eaters for a year in there—but hardly anyone knew how to find it. "How did you... ?"

"Not now," Victoire said, shutting him up with a finger to his lips. "Ahh yes, it's exactly as he said it would be."

"Who?" Teddy asked as he looked around the room. It was, essentially, a bedroom, with a large red bed in the middle. There were rose petals all over the bed and the floor, with candles on tables around the room.

"Never you mind," Victoire said, taking his hand and pulling him towards the bed.

Suddenly, Teddy started to feel very uncomfortable. He'd thought this was going to be a date, not a... well, night of sex. "Why are you doing this?"

"Huh?" Victoire muttered as she started to take off her clothes. "Just come lie on the bed, will you? We haven't got all night."

Teddy sighed. This wasn't how he imagined his first date with her, and he was less than impressed with her apparent need to have get things over and done with so quickly. "Can't we talk for a bit?"

"No," Victoire said firmly, shooting him down. "Come on, this is your chance to have me. You've been pining after me so long, and now you get the chance to have me, you don't want to? You're lucky I'm even considering doing this."

"Then why are you?" Teddy spat, horrified at her words and seeing her true side for the first time.

Victoire shrugged. "You look good."

"Is that all this is about? You find me attractive so you want to shag me?"

"Duh." Victoire rolled her eyes. "I hardly like you for your personality, do I?"

"No," said Teddy. "But I know someone who does." He started to walk out, but he heard a nasty cackle behind him that made him turn around. "What?"

"You're not talking about Rose, are you?" Victoire laughed. "That's a rather large step down from me, don't you think?"

Teddy really wanted to rant about how lovely and kind Rose was, and how she was beautiful both inside and out, but he decided it wasn't worth it. With people like Victoire, he had to let it go, because no matter how much he told them the truth, they wouldn't listen. As far as they were concerned, they were God's gift to the world. "See you around, Victoire."

"So you're not going to stalk me anymore then?" he heard her call as the door shut behind him, showing him once and for all that he really had been stupid to think she liked him for who he was.

*

Teddy went down to the common room the next morning, having reversed to his true self. It was empty, so he sat down on the comfy sofa in front of the fireplace.

"Teddy?"

He looked around to see Rose, who'd clearly just woken up as she was still in her pyjamas. "Hey."

"You've changed back." She smiled, and Teddy noticed for the first time what a beautiful smile she really had. "I like it. How was your date?"

Teddy rolled his eyes. "A disaster. Turns out you were right about her. You may as well say you told me so."

"I wouldn't," Rose said, sitting on the sofa next to him. "You know that's not me."

"That's why I like you," he replied sincerely. "Perhaps..." he paused. "Never mind."

"What?" Rose prompted. "Go on."

Teddy blushed and looked away awkwardly. "Perhaps we could go out sometime?"

"I'd like that," Rose said, beaming. "But you'll have to change back to how you looked..."

"What?"

Rose punched him playfully on the arm. "I'm joking, you muppet! Besides, what made you realise I liked you?"

Teddy shrugged. "Instinct."

"You might want to get that checked out then." She laughed. "It seems to be a little slow."

Their conversation was cut short as other pupils began to wake up and come downstairs, and it wasn't long before Teddy's dorm mates surrounded him. Rose faded away into the background as her friends pulled her aside, and for the first time in a while he felt truly happy, as though he could be himself and be loved for it. All he needed to do now was get over his awkwardness to pull off a successful date, though he doubted Rose would mind if it didn't go exactly as he planned.

Which was, he thought, exactly why he liked her.