For HedwigBlack's Minor Boot Camp Challenge! I've chosen Dominique Weasley who I have created an entire headcannon for and I love it to pieces.
Afraid.
Dominique takes hold of her older sister's hand; afraid that Victoire will disappear the moment she lets go. There are too many people at the station, more than she remembers from the previous year. She decides that it's because it's the first time she will board the train to Hogwarts.
The people around her barely even look at the hooting owl on top of her luggage despite how out of place it looks in the Muggle station. Though, on the 1st of September Kings Cross is always littered with strange animals and even stranger people.
Her dad, Bill, is pushing her trolley, while her mum, Fleur, pushes Victoire's. The latter has no strange animal sitting atop it, just a white cat resting in its cage, and the girls' younger brother sitting on the end. The wall between platforms 9 and 10 comes into sight and Dominique squeezes Victoire's hand without realising, her stomach turning.
"You girls go first." Bill nods at his daughters who are now standing in front of the wall, "At a run."
Victoire smiles down at her sister, tugs on her hand and runs at the wall. Dominique lets Victoire pull her along, her pace quickening as the wall draws nearer. Without flinching – because flinching results in pain – she runs through the wall, a big crimson train appearing in front of her.
"It's much more exciting when you're getting on it, isn't it?" Victoire asks, beaming. They move out of the way, so they aren't hit by their parents who come through the barrier soon after them, though Dominique's eyes never leave the train and her hand never leaves Victoire's.
"Vic, what house do you think I'll be in?" the eleven year old asks in a quiet voice. She wants nothing more than to be in Ravenclaw with her sister, but fears she isn't smart enough.
"Hufflepuff." Victoire smiles, not having to think about her answer, "Like Teddy."
People push past her, rushing towards their friends. There has been no sign of Teddy, though he is already at the station having arrived earlier than everyone else, as always. There is no use searching for a certain hair colour because no one ever knows to what colour Teddy has decided to change his hair. Dominique fancies the dark red colour even if she has only seen it twice.
"Is Hufflepuff a good house?" she asks in the same quiet voice as her parents appear by her side. Bill takes one hand off of the trolley and puts it onto her shoulder.
"All the houses are good houses." He says in an assuring voice.
"Teddy says that Slytherins are bad people. I don't want to be in Slytherin." Dominique worries that this will happen to her and her grip on Victoire's hand becomes too much for the latter to bear, so she pulls away.
"You're much too sweet to be in Slytherin." Though it isn't a voice she had heard that day. It was the voice of Teddy Lupin – his hair a socially acceptable shade of light brown - standing behind the girls casually as though he had been there since their arrival.
Having lost her grip on Victoire's hand, she turns around and wraps her arms around his waist, again afraid that if she lets go he will disappear. He puts an arm over her shoulder to keep her calm. He's barely fourteen but he knows how scared Dominique is and he wants to make her feel safe. He had done the same thing for Victoire at the same time the previous year.
One thing they all know for sure, Dominique will not be sorted into Gryffindor. The Weasley tradition of being in Gryffindor had been broken with Victoire being sorted into Ravenclaw, and it would not be set back on track with Dominique.
"Am I going to be okay, Teddy?" she whispers to him, not wanting her family to hear.
"What are you afraid of? You've got me and Vic." He comforts her but she sighs in frustration. The train lets off more steam than before, signalling that it has less than ten minutes until departure.
"What if I'm all by myself?"
"You won't be, I promise." He squeezes her once more to let her know that he is serious.
Her heart hammers in her small chest when her name is finally called by Professor Longbottom. She can't find Teddy or Victoire through the other people sitting at the house tables and it only makes her more anxious. Teddy's eyes would be enough to calm her down and Victoire's smile would be more comforting than ever.
The Sorting Hat touches her head softly before being released and weighing down on her like a brick. It speaks to her softly though to Dominique it sounds like random words are being shouted in her ear. She hears nothing of what the Hat has to say to her, she barely even thinks about where she would like to be sorted – into Ravenclaw with her sister would be ideal – all she wants is to be seated at a table. As the last person to be sorted, she feels highly embarrassed and worried that people will be mad at her for delaying their food.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" the Hat booms and she immediately gets to her feet. Teddy is the first person standing at the Hufflepuff table, his smile huge, his eyes wide and his hands clapping manically. He is all the way at the other end of the Great Hall, but Dominique rushes towards him, ignoring the other gaps in the table.
She's pulled into the gap beside him with much gusto and her housemates reach out to congratulate her and she happily accepts their handshakes and pats on the back.
"What were you afraid of, Dom?" Teddy asks her as Professor Justice makes his way to the podium. The blonde shakes her head and shrugs her shoulders, realising that she had never had anything to be afraid of.
50 chapters of Dominique Weasley, I'm writing them in present tense which I don't usually do so I hope it's okay! This isn't going to be in chronological order or in the order of the prompts, they will come as I am able to spawn ideas and have time.