Loved Despite of Great Faults
that you refuse to fade away
I hide to stay the same
where do we go from here
- loved despite of great faults, Blonde Redhead
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Sunday dinner at the Burrow has always been a noisy affair but nobody seems to mind much at all and as the children all grow up the noise diminishes slightly even if it will never disappear. It's the summer holidays so no one is absent this Sunday even Charlie is over from Romania. Of course, there aren't just Weasley's sitting around the table because as the children grow up boyfriends and girlfriends become serious enough to come over for Sunday dinner. Some are practically family anyway such as Teddy, Victoire's boyfriend, who was Harry's godson, Olly, James' girlfriend, who had been best friends with James their entire lives and Sage, Roxanne's boyfriend, another of James' lifelong friends and Neville Longbottom's son. Others were now well familiar faces like Joshua, Dominique's boyfriend of four years and Marilyn, Louis' long-term girlfriend. For others this was their first visit with the entire family. Lily's new boyfriend, Sean, was one of them and Albus' new girlfriend, Iris, was the other.
Everyone is gathered around the dinner table in the back garden and Molly reflects that it is lucky that she and Arthur have no neighbours because she is sure that nobody would be able to put up with the noise. She occasionally thinks she might have to warn the Lovegoods when they have a party just in case they could hear the noise and they live a bit away. It is still light in the back garden as the sun hadn't yet disappeared behind the house and the table is alive with excited chatter.
Nothing ever changes really. Molly still argues with Bill about the length of his hair which Fleur always defends, Arthur still asks Harry and Hermione about muggle appliances and he always gets the names of muggle things wrong and George always manages to draw looks of disapproval from not only his mother but Percy and Hermione as well whilst everyone else laughs at whatever he has done to earn the looks. Nothing ever changes with the Weasley family, really.
Dominique smiles fondly as she looks around her family all sitting at the table, leaning across each other for the carrots or roast potatoes. She smiles at the way James surreptitiously gives Olly a long, languid kiss when he thinks that no one is looking.
"Can you imagine what it'd be like getting our two families together?" Josh's voice distracts her from staring at her cousin across the table. She turns to look at him smiling at the wide grin across his handsome face and the way his blue eyes sparkle when he looks at her. Sometimes she can't quite believe her luck because not only was Josh very good looking but he was also a gentleman and he loved her as much as she loved him.
"Loud," she retorts with a match grin running her hand through her short burnt orange hair. Josh had a very large family himself, a very large and very close family. Josh's grandfather, Johnathon, had been one of seven and although his father, Jack, had only one sister he had also been very close to his eleven cousins. In fact, the whole family still got together. Joshua had a brother, Joseph and a cousin called Ruby but then he had twenty-two second cousins as well. Dominique had spent Christmas at his Grandfather's house a couple of times now. There had been around sixty people for Christmas dinner. Josh's granddad and Olly's grandmother had been twins.
"It'd be a nightmare," he laughs tapping the end of her freckled nose with one of his long fingers. "Smile button."
She has to smile back at him because he's always called her nose that and every time he does it she just can't help but smile.
"Do you really think it'd be a nightmare?" she asks after a moment worry causing her brow to crease into a frown. He looks at her intently for a moment, confusion the prominent expression on his face before it dawns on him why she's worried.
"No, Dom," he tells her wrapping his arm around her. "Don't get me wrong, it's going to be loud, extremely loud but it'll be amazing. Don't you worry."
She smiles against his chest and hugs him tightly to her for a moment before she pulls away. He looks at her and places his fingers under her chin to tilt her head so her eyes can meet his.
"Are you ready?" he asks her.
"Now?"
"I don't think there will be a better time," he says and before she can answer he grasps her hand as he rises to his feet. She has no choice but to stand up beside him. There movements don't go unnoticed and the table falls silent as every member of her family turns to look at them. She isn't nervous really but she's glad that she doesn't have a clear view of her father. She glances at Josh briefly and gives him a nervous smile before she looks across the sea of faces before her.
"Well," she begins ignoring her heart pounding in her chest as she grips Josh's hand even tighter, "as you all know, Josh and I have been together for four years now and we've been talking about it for a while now but we've decided to get married."
There is a stunned silence as Josh pulls her engagement ring from out of his pocket and slips it on her fourth finger on her left hand. They had decided it would be best for her not to wear it until they had made the announcement or else someone would have noticed. Then there is a delighted shriek as Molly gets up from her seat and rushes round to engulf her granddaughter and Josh in a massive hug.
"Congratulations," she says joyfully, "the first of my grandchildren to get married. Well done, Josh, Dominique."
As her grandmother let's go of her Dom looks around the rest of her family who are still looking at her and Josh in surprises. She knows why. She had never expressed any intention of every getting married, not even when she had been a little girl and now she was going to be the first to be married since Ron and Hermione. She watches with anxious eyes as her father gets to his feet and comes down the table towards her and Josh. He looks between them for a moment and then sticks his hand out towards Josh.
"Congratulations," he says with a wide smile, "I hope you know what you're getting into."
Josh smiles and shakes her father's hand a look of delight on his face. Dom can feel a smile break out on her own face as her father turns and envelopes her in a tight cuddle.
"Congratulations, princess," he whispers in her ear.
"Thanks dad."
Suddenly the entire table erupts in shouts of congratulations and Dom giggles, actually giggles, as her father releases her. She smiles round brightly at everyone and clutches Lily's arms when she hugs her from behind. She can see her brother shaking Josh's hand enthusiastically and her mother is coming towards her with a glorious smile on her face. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she sees Victoire get to her feet, a troubled look on her beautiful face. She looks at her big sister who holds her gaze for a moment, her lip trembling, before she turns and runs towards the house. Dom feels her heart plummet to her feet as the family falls silent and they watch Victoire disappear inside.
"I'm sorry, Dom," Teddy apologises for Vic as he gets to his feet in preparation to go after her. Dom shakes her head. It isn't Teddy's fault. She can see Josh's troubled face as he looks at her and she take a deep breath trying to push away the hurt.
"Teddy," she says stopping him in his tracks as she shrugs off Lily's cuddle, "I'll go after her."
"No, Dom," several people try to protest but she shakes her head as she ducks away from them. She can feels everyone's eyes on her back as she makes her way towards the Burrow.
She ducks in through the back door and it's cool in comparison to the back garden where the sun is still beating down happily. She roams through the living room looking for any sign of Victoire. She glances in the kitchen as she passes but it is empty. She begins to climb the stairs but she hasn't got far to go before she find Vic sitting on a step with tears on her face.
Vic looks up at her as she stops in front of her and Dom doesn't quite know what to say. She had known that Victoire would react like this but how she had hoped that she wouldn't. She looks at her big sister as her lips trembles again.
"Oh Dom, I'm sorry," she cries and Dom's heart melts. She climbs the steps and sits next to her big sister whose silvery-blonde hair is trailing over her shoulders that are left bare by the sundress she is wearing.
"You and Josh deserve congratulations," Vic continues sniffing a little. "I didn't mean to ruin the moment for you. It's just that I ..."
She stops then and Dom knows her sister feels ashamed of herself for being so selfish. She puts her arm around Victoire's shoulders and pulls her into towards her. She wonders whether she should be angry with her for behaving so immaturely but she just can't react like that because she had known it would happen.
"I always thought I'd be the first to get married," Vic tells her in a sob. "I'm the oldest, after all. Teddy and I have been together for nearly eight years now, you'd think that he'd have proposed already or at least be ready to discuss it with me."
Dom sighs quietly because she knows all this and she knows that Vic is jealous not that she would admit that. Dom knows that Vic has been waiting for Teddy to ask her to marry him and Teddy in his ignorance hasn't even picked up on the hints. Then again there was always the Lily complication but Dom wasn't sure so she wasn't going to mention it.
"Listen to me, Victoire," she says to her sister softly, "I knew you would feel like this."
"So why didn't you just wait a little longer?" Vic asks her pulling back from the hug. "You could have given Teddy just a little more time. Now I feel humiliated."
"Vic," Dom says exasperatedly, "Josh and I got engaged last year."
"What?"
"Josh proposed to me last year," she repeats, "and I said that we couldn't say anything until you and Teddy got engaged but it's been a year now, darling. We can't continue waiting. I know Teddy seems to be taking forever but he loves you."
Even if she had noticed the Lily complication there was no doubt in Dom's mind that Teddy loved Victoire. She was still unsure whether they would get married but she didn't doubt his feelings for her sister. If he hadn't loved her they wouldn't have been together for so long and Teddy didn't ever look at other women, except maybe Lily but there was no way Dom was going to bring that up in case she was wrong.
"I didn't realise," Vic murmurs wiping the tears from under her eyes with her fingertips. "I'm sorry, Dom. I am a horrible big sister."
Wiping away her tears had been in vain as Vic starts crying again. Dom shakes her head and pulls Vic in towards her once more.
"No you're not, silly," she whispers in her hair. "It's okay for you to be upset. You and Teddy have been together for ages and you're the one who has always dreamed of getting married, not me. I understand you're my big sister after all."
Vic smiles through her tears as she pulls away once again. Dom looks at the red rims of her eyes and the tears still running down her face. She tucks a loose strand of silvery-blonde hair behind Victoire's ear and smiles at her.
"I hope Josh knows he deserves you," Vic tells her with a watery laugh which makes Dom grin.
"Of course he does," she replies good-naturedly.
"Congratulations, little sister."
Dom smiles as Vic wraps her arms around her neck in a massive hug. She squeezes her back around her waist catching the ends of her long hair.
"Vic," she begins after a moment as her sister continues to hug her, "can I ask you something?"
"Of course," she replies finally letting her go.
"Well, at the risk of being out shone," Dom says with a smile, "will you be my maid of honour?"
And Victoire nearly squeezes the life out of her.
Click that little button & give me a piece of your mind ... the nice piece preferrably. x.