"Dominique, ta mère est arrivée!" Your mother is here! Grandmère Apolline's voice carried up the stairs and into her room, where all her belongings were still in the process of being packed away. Dominique cursed under her breath as she began to snatch up the remaining items and clothes off of her bed and floor.
"Ma chère!" My dear! Her mother's familiar and warm albeit sharp tone sounded from her doorway. Dominique looked up sheepishly from her position on the floor and got up quickly to embrace her mother.
"Maman, it's so good to see you." She said breathlessly before returning to stuffing her suitcase.
"Dominique Apolline Weasley, you had a full day to pack all your things! What is all of this mess still doing here?" Fleur Weasley's eyes scanned her room, clearly not impressed by the undone bed sheets and piles of books and semi-folded clothes.
"I may have underestimated the time it would take to pack all this, and my friends came over earlier to say goodbye." Dominique smiled wistfully at the memory of her friends waking her up that morning to whisk her off to one last brunch together. It had been her cousin Mai's idea, or Mailys Krum who was the daughter of her Aunt Gabrielle and Uncle Viktor. It was like any other day of just hanging out, ending in thoughtful gifts from all of them which resulted in Dominique breaking her own rule of no tears. She felt her eyes moisten as her eyes landed on the card they had all made.
"Ah your friends, this all makes sense now," Her mother teased lightly, noticing her daughter's watery gaze, "you know, this all could be avoided if you just don't transfer!"
"Maman! You know I have to, it doesn't make sense if I want to work in London someday!" Fleur Weasley laughed slightly at her daughter's exasperated tone, one she had used excessively during the process of persuading her and her husband to permit such a transfer.
"I know, I know, ma chère! I'm just teasing. You were comfortable here and decided to leave, I don't doubt that you have good intentions." Dominique smiled at her mother, thankful that argument she had anticipated was not to occur.
"Mon dieu, Dominique, where is your wand? Are you choosing to move at a snail's pace?" Her mother's impatient nature was back in a flash, and pulled out her own to speed up the process.
After tearful goodbyes from her grand-mère and grand-père, her host family for when she attended Beauxbatons, Dominique climbed into the fireplace after her mother had left with a handful of Floo Powder. She blew one last kiss and dropped the powder while declaring 'Shell Cottage' as her destination. Within a few seconds, she found herself standing in her old living room, facing Victoire, Louis and her father who had clearly been waiting for her.
"Aha! Toire, a galleon please!" Louis beamed as he caught sight of Dominique, who in turn gave him a puzzled look.
"Ugh Dom, your hair! You told me you wouldn't ever cut it." Her older sister cried as she handed her youngest sibling the amount he had named.
"Well I'm glad the length of my hair was worthy of a bet while I was gone." Dominique smiled in amusement, as she ran her fingers through her strawberry-blonde hair, which had been chopped to shoulder length quite recently. Her hair had always been long to her bum for as long as she could remember, and that was precisely the reason why she had done it. Dominique thought it was fitting for all the changes as of recently.
"OK, now we have to decide what we're going to do with your hair for tomorrow!" Victoire gushed. Dominique's smile grew at her sister's beaming expression.
" Mrs Theodore Lupin. I can't even imagine it yet!" Dominique exclaimed sadly. It was her first night back and by tomorrow, her sister would be off with her fiancé, or rather, husband.
"Don't remind me, imagine how I feel!" Her father interjected gruffly. Dominique put down her bags to embrace her father, who cleared his throat and ruffled her hair.
"It's good to have you back, Dom. Glad you didn't change your mind about coming back."
"Yes, I reckon you'll do as a replacement for Toire." Louis added with a cheeky smile, which earned him a smack to his head.
The rest of the night was spent in her room, where Victoire worked relentlessly on perfecting Dominique's hair for tomorrow evening, until the latter finally had enough of being poked with bobby pins.
"Ow! Oh for Merlin's sake, Victoire, I'll wear it natural tomorrow if you don't stop." Dominique threatened as she rubbed one of the many sore parts of her head.
"Fine fine, have it your way!" Victoire pouted and sat down on her bed with a huff.
"Are you nervous?" Dominique sat beside her sister on the bed and rested her head on her shoulder, an old habit.
"Not really. I'd expected to feel a lot more stressed and anxious, but it really just feels natural. I reckon I've always thought I'd marry Teddy...ever since he kissed me in seventh year."
"I don't think the entire clan would forgive you if you didn't," Dominique remembered all the talk and excitement that had followed that memory of the first kiss, "You're so lucky, Toire. I'm so happy for you."
Victoire turned to look at her sister, noticing her wistful expression.
"I've missed you, Domi. We all have."
Dominique went to bed that night with what Victoire had said echoing in her mind. She hadn't seen her cousins and family friends since the winter holidays, and these were the people she would be spending her sixth and seventh year with. She could only hope they had missed her as much as she had.
Hi everyone! This is the very first chapter of my first fanfic and I really hope you enjoyed! It's super short and I believe future chapter will be longer with more content. Starting stories has always been a weakness of mine, so I think I can safely say that this will get better! Thanks for reading :)
xx noontides