Victoire was four the first time she noticed it. Her parents had dressed her up really pretty-like in a blue frock and taken her to a party. The guests all cooed at her like she was a little puppy and commented on how "darling" and "pretty" she was.

Victoire hid her face in her mother's skirt and hugged her leg. She didn't like the stares. Victoire spent the rest of the night clinging to one of her parents or the other.

It happened whenever they went out in public. The staring. The compliments. The attention. Victoire hated it. She resisted going out when she could, opting to stay home and watch her younger siblings as soon as she was old enough, or, when she did have to go out, bringing a book with her so she could forget her surroundings and the stares and sink instead into fantasy and fiction.

She read whatever she could get her hands on—fables, storybooks, sci-fi, classics, biography, even the dictionary once—but her favorites were always fantasy and fairytales. Heroes and quests, battles and monsters, princesses and damsels, it was all enchanting. Sure, she had real magic in her life, but there was something so much greater about the magic in her books. There was magic in the words and the love and the story, not just the spells.

Victoire wished real life could be more like her books.

But it wasn't.

And, when she turned eleven and had to go to school, she couldn't hide so easily any more. The swirling, chaotic crowd on the platform made Victoire feel sick to her stomach. She could see eyes in the churning mass, eyes staring at her. She looked down, a blush spreading across her cheeks. She wore a plain black t-shirt and jeans. Her silver-blond hair was pulled back into a simple braid. She had dressed this way on purpose, in hopes of drawing as little attention as possible. It hadn't worked.

She looked up and said goodbye to her family, hugging her parents and younger siblings tearfully. They were her fortress. Her family were the only people who didn't stare at her like she was some kind of ethereal thing, unearthly and beautiful. She didn't feel beautiful. Just embarrassed. But that was okay, within her fortress. She was safe there, from the stares and the attention. She was normal.

And now they would be apart for a year. Victoire would be stuck with all these people who were staring at her unabashedly, as if she were some kind of circus attraction.

She steeled herself, saying final goodbyes to her family and boarding the train. She hefted her things and made her way down the train, avoiding the eyes of anyone she passed on her way. She sat in the first empty compartment she found, pulling out her book and burying herself in it, forgetting herself, her surroundings in favor of the fantastic world of fiction.

Teddy found her first. She had hardly read three pages when he opened her compartment door and popped his head in. "There you are, Vic," he said, smiling and opening the door all the way. He stepped inside. "You disappeared. Mind if I sit with you?"

Victoire smiled. "Sure, Teddy."

Victoire put down her book, memorizing the page number (three hundred seventeen). Her father said it was rude to read when other people were with her. Generally she didn't heed this advice, but she liked Teddy. He was practically family, so he didn't react to her appearance anymore, thank Merlin. And, besides, she felt normal around him. With his rainbow hair and constantly shifting appearance, he drew more stares than she did. Standing next to Teddy, Victoire could feel average.

"So," Victoire began eagerly as Teddy got settled. "What's Hogwarts like?" She really wasn't quiet, as anyone in her family could tell you, but around people outside of the extended Weasley clan, she retreated into herself, embarrassed.

Teddy grinned. "Most of the time it's fun," he said. "But it's still school. There's homework and teachers and History of Magic. Oh, but you'll love it, Vic. It's a huge castle, like in one of your books, and so much magic you can hardly believe it. And just wait until you see the library. You'll die, guaranteed."

He laughed and she joined him. Oh, this was so exciting! Teddy made her tension disappear so quickly.

Then the compartment door opened again and two girls and a boy looked in. The boy greeted Teddy familiarly.

"Vic, you don't mind if they join us, do you?" Teddy looked at her earnestly, pleadingly.

And how could she say no? So she nodded.

Teddy gave her his biggest grin. "Great! So this is Jacob Larsen"—he gestured to the boy, who had brown hair and eyes, along with a smattering of freckles across his nose—"Mary-Anne Johnson"—a tall girl with blond ringlets and grey eyes—"and Lara Hiccup"—a short, snub-nosed brunette. "Guys, this is Victoire Weasley."

They all greeted her cheerfully enough and she smiled back.

But Jacob was staring at her in awe and Mary-Anne kept shooting her accusing glares for no apparent reason. Victoire sighed internally, no longer excited about Hogwarts. It wouldn't be different. Merlin, she wasn't even there yet and she was already getting stared at. Seriously. She was such a freak, no matter how pretty everyone else called her.

So she picked up her book again, opened it to page three hundred seventeen and read for the rest of the train ride, forgetting her manners once again.