Author's Note: Yay! Another story. Sorry, it's angsty, but what do you expect. I'll be doing all of the cannon next generation, and have mentioned a few OCs who will probably still exist in my Next Generation universe.
For reference: Indira Thomas is the daughter Dean Thomas and Parvati Patel. She has a twin brother, Naveen. Sym Finnegan is the son of Seamus Finnegan and Lavender Brown. He has two younger sisters, Fiona and Maureen.
1. Louis's favourite uncle is Uncle Harry. Everyone else is so much personality: Aunt Ginny and Aunt Angelina are fiery; Uncle George and Uncle Ron are playful; Uncle Percy, Grandmum and Aunt Hermione are bossy; Uncle Charlie, Dad and Grandpa are aloof; Aunt Audrey and mum are worrisome. But Uncle Harry is just Uncle Harry, very loyal, very wise, sometimes serious, and sometimes not, and Louis wants to grow up to be just like him.
2. It has always been hard being beautiful. Dominique lines her eyes with black and dyes her hair to keep the Veela at bay, and Victoire has somehow mastered being both breathtaking and homely. Louis however, has no escape from the hungry stares, men and women alike, and far too soon he finds himself miserable, unable to escape the perfection he's been cursed with. He numbs the pain with slender thighs and imperfect faces and all the alcohol he can stand, and no one ever suspects the monster hiding beneath his flawless façade.
3. He has a fascination with the human form. From a young age he has an addiction to skin, and bones, the arch of a back, the hollow of a neck. He picks up an eye for art and by his fourth summer he spends most of the time in his room, sketching and painting, and creating.
4. Sometimes, it is like he and Dominique are twins. Both of them believe that they can read each other's minds, and no one can tell them otherwise. He doesn't talk much, and she talks all the time and it's the perfect kind of symmetry.
5. Hufflepuff suits him. He is not gallant like James, or bold like Freddie nor clever like Lysander. He is kind(ish) and quiet(sort of) and very, very unassuming. Uncle George gets a kick out of his yellow tie, and Louis decides to put him up on the list of favourites right under Uncle Harry.
6. His first nude is of Indira Thomas. She is the most exquisite person he has ever laid eyes on. She is tall, almost as tall as him, with reddish brown skin and long lashed amber eyes. She wears her hair in a heavy braid down her back, and paints mendhi onto her hands and feet, and it is this that makes him ask her. She is not shy as he watches her, studies the contours of her back, her waist, her hips, her thighs, and paints their likeness onto a canvas. When he is finished, he gives it to her, but she tells him to keep it, and as he watches her leave, all he can think about is painting her again.
7. They form another group of Marauders, in a strange yet inevitable way. He and Fred are already in school, Fred an outrageous fourth year, Louis the quiet second, and James s precocious first. But from the time James was born he hears stories of his grandfather and his pals, and they don't even have to settle on a name. He likes that they each have a predecessor, someone who they fit so similarly with from the past. When Lysander Scamander comes along, Louis can't help but be cautious of him, knowing that the only place left was once occupied by the man who betrayed his hero.
8. His first kiss is a woman he meets at a bar. The guys make fun because he is still "lipless at 16" as they say, so they take him out. Freddie racks up girls like billiard balls and James has managed to convince the bartender that he isn't 14. Louis isn't one for pubs, so he nurses back beers like they're pumpkin juice, and the waitress doesn't complain. He takes a glance at her—old, older than him, but with young, round eyes—and he decides to be bold for once. They spend an hour making out in the alley around the corner. Louis doesn't even remember her name.
9. Indira demands he love her. He says that he can't, that he won't, and even with all her scarlet and gold she gives up and moves on to Sym Finnegan. Louis doesn't tell her that he was scared she'd never live up to the girl in his sketch book, with the mendhi on her hands and the heavy, heavy braid.
10. After school he moves to France. The women are loose and beautiful, and he lets his hair grow long and chain smokes and paints on the street for money. He has lived there for two years when he runs into Indira on the street, honeymooning with Finnegan. There is a part of him that feels sorry for asking her out, sorry for kissing her, sorry for making love to her. But then he remembers that he doesn't have her, and that he should be the one that people feel sorry for.
