(Teddy Lupin x Slytherin!Reader): Move
Summary: Enemies to lovers trope where Teddy is a know-it-all (he was Head Boy after all) and neither him nor the reader know how to have healthy relationships
A/N: apologies for spelling and grammar
"Watch where you're going Lupin," you hissed as the currently pink haired boy bumped into you.
"If you didn't stand in the middle of the corridor I would have to." he snapped back before heading off to class.
Most people assumed you too just hated each other, and to be fair, that's not how it all started.
You'd both been first years, and your potions teacher had partnered the two of you up.
It hadn't been too bad at first, you'd almost considered Teddy a friend, you were both trying to make friends and seemed to click right away, you liked how caring and relaxed he was and he liked how you were so focused and determined. But one day he got really weird towards you in class and ever since whatever inside him switched he'd started nitpicking every time you made a mistake on a potion.
"You were supposed to crush three beetles, not two." He would comment in a tone that could only be described as haughty.
"I must have misread the directions, sorry."You replied, feeling a bit embarrassed considering the fact that they way Teddy pointed it out made it seem like only and idiot would make the mistake.
A few days later a similar thing happened.
"Did you slice these?" Teddy asked as he pointed to the Valerian root you had just finished cutting into slices that was sitting on your cutting board.
"Yeah." You reply, unsure of why he’s asking.
"They're terrible." He replies before grabbing them and throwing them out.
"Sorry." You say while he starts cutting a new one.
It continued for several weeks as you tried to study harder and improve so that Teddy didn’t continue to make you feel like a complete troll at potions but eventually you hit your breaking point.
Teddy glanced over at you as you were stirring your potion, "You're supposed to be stirring clockwise, not counter-clockwise."
"Well if you know everything about potions, why don't you do it?" You replied angrily.
"Maybe I should, you clearly don't know what you're doing." He shot back.
"You're a real dick, Teddy Lupin." You mutter before stomping up to the front of the room and asking your professor to assign you a new partner and leaving Teddy to stew.
And from there things just went downhill.
"Well, if it isn't the darling of the Slytherin house." Teddy muttered as he walked past you in the library.
You sigh as you look up from the book you were reading and glare at Teddy, "Don't you have some plants to tend to or something?" You shoot back.
"Don’t you have snakes to talk to?"
"Lupin...your godfather can talk to snakes. It's not just a Slytherin thing. If you're going to be house-ist at least choose something good." You pointed out
"Could," he shoots back, "It was the Voldemort part of him that could speak parseltongue so it's still a Slytherin trait."
"Do you ever get tired of being an insufferable know-it-all?" You ask sarcastically.
"Do you ever get tired of being a-”
It got even worse as you got older. It seemed like every year Teddy grew even more over the summer and got even more attractive. Instead of getting over your weird feud so that you could actually talk to the guy you had developed a crush on you managed to make it worse. You started to purposefully do things you knew bugged him. You would get partnered up with each other and you would purposefully perform a spell wrong or "accidentally" spill gross potions ingredients on him. You had no idea why you did it but it just happened when you were around him. And most times he did it right back, in herbology classes he would give you faulty earmuffs when you worked with mandrakes and in care of magical creatures he once set a hoard of nifflers on you buy transfiguring the stuff into your pockets to gold.
"If you don't move out of the way I will hex you." You huff out at Teddy when he stands in the doorway to the Charms classroom, blocking your way out, "Move." You repeat, giving him your most withering glare.
"Make me." He replies with a smirk as he crosses his arms across his chest.
"Don't you dare test me." You mutter as you push him out of the way, causing him to stumble back slightly so that you can get out of the room.
"What did I ever do to you?” Teddy asks you as you start down the hallway, “All I’ve done is carry this bloody torch for you since we were first years."
You stop walking suddenly when you hear what he said, causing him to bump into you slightly, "I thought you hated me." You tell him, trying to keep your voice low as Teddy pulls you into an alcove of the deserted corridor.
"I was in love with you. I just didn't know how to handle my feelings. And you hated me so I just went with it. It was easier that way." Teddy admits with a nervous glance at you, trying to read your reaction.
"Teddy, I liked you from the moment I saw you. I only treated you like shit because I couldn't figure out any other way to be around you." You reply.
"I'm supposed to hate Slytherins." He points out.
"I'm supposed to think Hufflepuffs are pansies." You reply.
And it was then that you cut him off by pressing your lips against his. You kissed him roughly, trying to get as much out of the kiss as you could, you had been wanting to do this for as long as you could remember after all.
