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Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters and places from the Harry Potter world, which is trademarked by JK Rowling. However, all plots are my own and are in no way endorsed by JK Rowling or anyone affiliated with the Harry Potter universe.
Chapter 1: September 2012
"There you are!" Victoire exclaimed, throwing open the door to the train compartment where her friends were sitting and clattering in. She pulled out her wand and cast the levitating spell, maneuvering her trunk onto the luggage racks above them. "Oh it feels so good to use magic again," she said. "Maman confiscated my wand as soon as we got to the house. She said it was because she didn't want me leaving it lying around for Dominique or Louis to pick up, but I know it was because she didn't trust me not to use underage magic."
"We know," Brianna said, exasperated with her friend already. "You told us about eight times when we came to interview your aunt and uncle, and you told us about twelve more times each in your letters."
"Have I been repeating myself too much?" Victoire asked.
"Yes!" Kara and Brianna exclaimed together.
"I'm sorry," Victoire sighed, flopping down in her seat. "It's just been so boring. I mean, I know I was able to entertain myself for the first eleven years of my life with just my family, but after having been away from them, it's tough being back for two whole months. I really missed you guys!"
Suddenly, Victoire noticed that there was an unfamiliar occupant in the compartment. "Oh, hi," she said uncertainly.
"Victoire, this is my sister Savannah," Brianna introduced her. "She's starting Hogwarts this year."
"Nice to meet you," Victoire said, feeling terrible for the first impression she must have made. "Sorry about all that, but my brother and sister were driving me crazy all morning. I just need a few hours and I should be back to normal."
"It's okay," Savannah said. "Don't try and be all normal or whatever for me. I don't want to be a bother, I just needed somewhere to sit. I can try to find an empty compartment somewhere else."
"No, you don't need to leave," Victoire insisted. "It's nice to have you here. Hey, do you play exploding snap?" she asked excitedly. "It's so rare that we have a fourth player and it's more fun the more people you have."
"I never learned, but I'm told I catch on really quick," Savannah says.
"It's true, she does," Brianna confirmed while Kara scrambled to get her deck out.
While Kara began to explain the rules to Savannah, Victoire leaned over to Brianna and whispered, smirking. "So what was that you were saying last term about how you were going to harass her this year? Looks like once again, I was right."
"Shut up," Brianna said, bumping her shoulder against Victoire's. "She's my sister. Obviously I'm going to look out for her."
Victoire smiled. Brianna sure liked to put on a good show, but inside she was all melted chocolate and marshmallows.
VvVvVvVvVvV
The candy trolley came by a little while later and the girls paused their game to buy some snacks. Then they reclined in their seats as they ate their makeshift lunch.
"They should really have a trolley with healthy food too," Brianna commented as she ate her licorice wand. "I mean, sure candy is great, but what about the people that are on a diet or something?"
"You don't need to go on a diet," Kara assured her friend. "You're gorgeous."
"Well obviously," Brianna replied. "I just meant, you know, what if I was trying to stay away from candy. Or what if someone was diabetic?"
"There are potions for that, you know," Kara pointed out.
"I'm just saying, there should be other options besides candy. We might all be students, but that doesn't mean we want to fill our veins with sugar and rot our teeth," Brianna insisted.
"You should write to someone about that," Victoire suggested, not really meaning it.
"You're right," Brianna said, grabbing some parchment, ink, and a quill from her trunk. "I'm going to write the Headmistress right now."
"You know I was kidding, right?" Victoire asked.
"No, but it's a good idea," Brianna replied. "If I want them to change something, I have to be proactive. I can't just sit back and expect them to read my mind."
"I suppose not," Victoire said. "But do you really think the Headmistress is going to take the time to consider your letter, not to mention implement your ideas? She has a lot of other stuff going on, you know."
"It's worth a try," Brianna said. "And if I don't hear back in a few weeks, I'll just go up to her office and talk to her in person."
Victoire closed her eyes and shook her head. Her friend wasn't getting it.
"Fine," Victoire said. "Write to the Headmistress and see where that gets you. But remember, I'm almost always right about these things."
"We'll see about that," Brianna muttered, scribbling away furiously.
VvVvVvVvVvV
"Truth or dare?" Victoire asked.
"Truth," Kara declared.
"Alright, remember that night you didn't come back to the dorms until really late, and we asked where you were and you claimed you'd been in the library studying?" Victoire asked.
"Oh no," Kara groaned, dropping her face into her hands.
"I would like to know where you really were," Victoire declared.
Kara took a deep breath. "I was having some… digestive problems," she said, closing her eyes in embarrassment. "I got stuck on the toilet in the second floor girls' bathroom with Moaning Myrtle yelling at me for about an hour."
"Oh my gosh, seriously?" Victoire asked, bursting out laughing. "I can't believe it! No wonder you didn't tell us!"
"I kind of wish I still hadn't," Kara said, her face beet red.
"Alright, your turn to ask," Victoire said.
"Alright, Brianna, truth or dare?" Kara asked.
"Dare," Brianna decided.
"I dare you to go into the compartment next door and tell them that you farted in the hall and that they shouldn't come out for the next twenty minutes while it dissipates," Kara said.
"What?" Brianna cried. "That's disgusting!"
"I'm not telling you to actually fart," Kara said. "Just tell them you did."
"That's even worse!" Brianna exclaimed.
"Worse than actually farting?" Victoire asked. "I'm not so sure about that…"
"Come on Bri, you have to," Savannah said eagerly.
"Fine," Brianna said. "But you guys have to stay here." Reluctantly, she got up and left the compartment, shutting the door behind her.
The girls all crowded around the window to watch as she stepped up to the next compartment's door and tapped on their window. They could faintly hear her telling them about the fart and they all collapsed into a fit of giggles as she stormed back in furiously and threw herself down in her seat.
"Guess who's in the compartment next door?" Brianna asked.
"Who?" Kara wondered.
"The second-year Gryffindor boys. All of them. I just made a fool out of myself in front of all five of our classmates. By the time we get to class tomorrow, everyone's going to be talking about how I farted on the train," Brianna cried.
"At least it's not the worst sort of gossip," Kara said. "It'll blow over quick, don't worry about it."
"Easy for you to say," Brianna said, crossing her arms. "You're not the one who had to do that."
"Go ahead then Bri, it's your turn," Victoire said.
"Fine. Victoire, truth or dare?" she demanded.
"Truth," Victoire said, not ready for the kind of dare Brianna was sure to issue in the mood she was in.
"Which of the boys in our year do you think is the most attractive?" Brianna asked.
Victoire flushed and looked down at the ground. "Oh, I don't know…" she muttered.
"Oh, you do know, I can see it in your expression," Savannah insisted.
"Come on, tell us," Brianna said eagerly.
"Okay, well then I guess, you know, wand to my head and all… I'd have to say… Probably Cameron," she muttered.
"Cameron Philbrick?" Kara gasped. "Really?"
Victoire shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Sure, he's nice-looking," she said.
"Oh, he totally is," Brianna agreed. "He may not be my first choice, but he's totally a respectable option."
Victoire breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that Brianna approved. She was always nervous around Brianna when the topic of boys came up. She wasn't sure exactly how much experience Brianna really had, only being twelve and all, but she talked a really convincing game.
"Who's Cameron Philbrick?" Savannah asked.
"Oh, he's just next door, why don't you do a walk-by and take a look?" Brianna suggested. "He's the one by the window wearing the green top," she added.
Savannah got up and disappeared for a moment, returning with a smirk on her face. "Totally cute," she agreed, sitting back down.
"All right Savannah, truth or dare?" Victoire challenged.
"Dare," Savannah decided, probably not ready to divulge her deepest, darkest secrets to people she barely knew.
"Alright, I dare you to steal a chocolate frog from the candy trolley," Victoire said.
"No way, that's not fair!" Savannah cried. "Stealing is illegal!"
"Oh come on, it's not that big a deal," Brianna insisted. "Everyone does it. Besides, they overcharge for that candy anyway."
"Alright, fine," Savannah said, taking a deep breath. "I'll do it."
The trolley wasn't far, having turned around after it's first trip to make it's way back to the front. It didn't take long for Savannah to fulfill the dare, returning with not one, but two chocolate frogs hidden up her sleeves.
"My baby sister is all grown up!" Brianna said when Savannah tossed the first frog to her and the second to Victoire.
"You don't want it?" Victoire asked, holding it out. "You did do all the work, after all."
"I couldn't eat it, it wouldn't feel right," Savannah said.
Victoire shrugged. "Well I can," she said, peeling off the wrapping and snapping a leg off before the frog could jump away. "Here Kara, have the rest, I already had one earlier," she said, keeping the leg for herself.
VvVvVvVvVvV
Soon, the train was pulling into the station and the girls were waving goodbye as Savannah nervously joined Hagrid and the first years to go down to the lake. Meanwhile, Kara, Brianna, and Victoire followed the crowd in the other direction to take the carriages up to the castle.
"So what house do you think Savannah's going to be sorted into?" Kara asked as they soared towards Hogwarts.
"Well she really wants to be in Gryffindor like me," Brianna said. "But I'm convinced she'll end up in Hufflepuff."
"I don't know," Victoire said. "The way she stole those frogs? She might very well end up in Slytherin."
"I guess we'll see soon," Brianna said, as they landed. She pushed open the carriage door and they clambered out, hurrying to get good seats at the Gryffindor table where they'd be able to watch Savannah be sorted without too many people in the way.
When the first years entered, Victoire was reminded of her first day and how nervous about making friends she'd been. She was suddenly so thankful for Kara and Brianna, knowing that without them, she'd be completely lost.
The sorting hat sang its song and the long list of students began to be read out and sorted. When Savannah's turn came, it only took seconds for the Sorting Hat to declare her a Gryffindor and Brianna beamed proudly as her sister hopped over to join her new classmates at the top of the table.
"Well I guess that's that then," Victoire said. "She's a Gryffindor now."
"Great," Brianna sighed. "Now we have to share a common room with her and everything."
"Oh come on, it won't be that bad," Kara insisted.
"Just you wait. She was fine on the train, but as soon as she makes friends of her own and starts finding her place, she'll be a nightmare," Brianna said.
"We'll see," Victoire said, diving into her food. She was starving. She would never tell Brianna, but the whole healthy foods cart on the train idea was a really good one.
VvVvVvVvVvV
"Hey guys!" Raina exclaimed, catching up with them as they headed up to Gryffindor Tower. "How were your summers?"
"Alright, what about you?" Kara asked.
"Great!" Raina said. "I planted all these new plants right at the beginning of the summer and they've really started to grow. I stopped by the greenhouses before the feast to make sure they got here alright – my mom brought them by Floo while we were all on the train. We set it up with Professor Longbottom, because he said I wasn't allowed to take them on the train after what happened last year with that Shrivelfig. Not that that's ever going to happen again. I totally figured out what went wrong there."
"Well I'm glad everything's working out for you," Victoire said as they reached the Fat Lady. They didn't even have to give the password, because there were a pair of students climbing through the portrait hole ahead of them. Brianna rushed forward to hold it open and they all scrambled through too.
"Well, I guess we'd better get upstairs," Kara noted when they arrived. The first years were gone and the upperclassmen were already moving furniture around for their welcome back to school party.
"I can't wait until we're old enough to stay down at the party," Raina said wistfully.
"I've heard they're no big deal," Victoire said. "Don't waste your wishes."
"Well when we're the ones throwing the party," Brianna said. "It's going to be epic."
"Totally," Kara agreed, leading them all up the stairs.
They pushed through the familiar door and Victoire smiled, looking around at the room that had become home to her the previous year. "We're back," she said to herself.
"Darn," Caitlin's voice sounded. Her head popped up from under her bed and she frowned. "I'd hoped you might not come back at all this year."
"Sorry," Brianna said, not sounding sorry at all. "Looks like you're stuck with us for another year."
The girls spread out, heading to their separate areas to unpack.
"Don't worry," Victoire heard Caitlin muttering to Raina. "I don't have a problem with you."
"Are you seriously putting those posters up again?" Brianna asked when Caitlin climbed up onto her bed with her Quidditch posters and sellotape. "Aren't you tired of them yet?"
"I'll have you know that these are brand-new posters that I got for my birthday a couple weeks ago," Caitlin said snootily. "And if you were really asking if I was over Quidditch yet, then the answer remains no."
"And you're still hanging them with sellotape?" Brianna asked. "You're not worried about them falling on you in your sleep?"
"They didn't fall on me last year," Caitlin observed. "I don't see why they would this year."
"Well, I just figure the sellotape must me getting pretty old right now," Brianna said.
"You know this is new sellotape, right?" Caitlin asked.
"Hey, does anyone mind if I play ocean sounds out of my wand while I sleep?" Raina asked, cutting into Brianna and Caitlin's conversation. "My healer says it's going to help me sleep better."
"I guess not," Victoire said. Ocean sounds were soothing to her, since she lived by the sea.
"Great," Raina said, muttering a few words and then placing her wand on her side table. Suddenly, the room was filled with the sounds of splashing and whales. Victoire had been expecting waves and seagulls. She groaned.
VvVvVvVvVvV
"Guys! Guess what?" Brianna exclaimed a few days later after having received a letter from someone. "Remember how I wrote the Headmistress about the healthy food cart idea? Well she loved it! She wants to meet with me to talk about what it would look like, but she's going to implement it!"
"Seriously?" Victoire asked. She'd been positive the idea was going to be tossed aside.
"I guess you're not always right, huh?" Brianna gloated.
"Well congratulations," Kara said with a smile. "This is really exciting!"
"It is, isn't it?" Brianna asked. "Anyway, I'm supposed to meet with her next week."
"That's great," Victoire said, deciding to be happy for her friend instead of mad that she'd been wrong.
VvVvVvVvVvV
A couple days later, the second years were on their way out of Defence class, when Professor Leftbridge asked Kara, Brianna and Victoire to stay back for a moment to talk about their summer work.
"What do you think he wants?" Victoire wondered.
"I don't know," Brianna said. "This is the only class we didn't copy off each other for."
The girls nervously walked up to his desk at the front of the room while the rest of the class filed out.
"I was extremely impressed by your summer papers," he began with a smile. "I was especially impressed that you managed to get interviews with three of the most important people to the defeat of Voldemort in the second wizarding war. How were you able to manage that?"
"Well Harry Potter is Victoire's uncle," Brianna explained.
"Actually, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger are my aunt and uncle too," Victoire added. "I asked them if Kara and Brianna could interview them and then I convinced Uncle Harry to let me write my paper on him."
"That's incredible," Professor Leftbridge said. "Harry Potter never takes interviews anymore."
"Well, it was just me and it was just for a silly school assignment," Victoire shrugged. "It's not like it was an interview for the Daily Prophet. He hates those."
"Indeed," Professor Leftbridge mused. "I was wondering. Since you were able to get an interview with him, do you think it would be possible to convince him to come in some time? Maybe give a guest lecture about the second wizarding war? We're going to be talking about it a great deal over the next couple of months in class, and it would really mean a lot for the students to be able to ask questions, you know?"
"I guess I can ask him," Victoire shrugged. "I can't promise he'd say yes though."
"Oh yes, do ask him," Professor Leftbridge asked. "Thank you so much girls. I won't keep you any longer, just let me know if he's interested."
Victoire nodded and the girls headed off to Charms, albeit a tad late. Of course, Professor Flitwick didn't seem to notice as they made it in time to call 'here' for rollcall.
Victoire wasn't convinced her Uncle would agree to come and speak, but she supposed there was no harm in asking.
VvVvVvVvVvV
A couple days later, while Victoire and Kara were painting their nails and Brianna was in a meeting with the Headmistress about the health food cart, Caitlin stormed into the dorm and began ripping down her Quidditch posters.
"What's wrong?" Kara asked.
"Stupid Quidditch team," Caitlin grumbled. "Stupid Claudia Cloude only picking her friends and people that were on the team last year. It's not fair, I flew really well!"
"Okay, don't tear down your posters," Kara said, rushing over to stop her before she ruined them. "You're just angry you didn't make the team. It doesn't mean you hate Quidditch. Come on, sit down."
She eased the girl into a seated position on the edge of the bed.
"Listen to me," she said when Caitlin had calmed a bit. "You're a second year. You've only been flying for a year. There are tons of students in Gryffindor, most of whom are older than you and have been flying longer than you. Of course they got the spots over you. But that doesn't mean you should give up. Because next year, there will be even less people that fly better than you. And the year after that, even less. And if you keep practicing, you'll become an even better flier, and maybe you'll even surpass some of the people who are on the team now. You have five more years to make the team. So don't give up now."
"You really think I could make the team someday?" Caitlin asked.
"Sure I do," Kara said. "You run around the castle everyday, you train down at the pitch whenever it's free, you're definitely going to make it. But in order to make it, you have to keep trying."
Caitlin sighed. "I guess you're right," she said. "You know; I think I actually might like you a bit. When you're being nice, at least."
"Thanks, I guess," Kara replied, standing and returning to Victoire's bed.
Victoire raised her eyebrows. "What was that?" she asked.
"I have no idea," Kara said. "Just don't tell Brianna."
"Oh I won't," Victoire assured her.
Just then, an owl began pecking at the window. Since it was the window closest to Caitlin's bed, Caitlin opened it and the owl zoomed in straight for Victoire.
"Dobby!" she cried, recognizing her Uncle Harry's screech owl. It must be the reply to Professor Leftbridge's inquiry. She untied the letter and sent Dobby to the owlery to get some food, promising him that she would come to him with a reply letter soon.
She unrolled the letter and began to read, not sure really what answer she wanted her Uncle to have given her.
Victoire,
I must admit, my first reaction to your question was an immediate no. I've avoided speaking in public for many years now and couldn't imagine the field day the press would have if I agreed to speak at Hogwarts. But after thinking about it, I realized that it might actually be an opportunity. So few people your age understand what it was like, living through a war. Of course, it would be impossible to make them understand without making them live through one themselves, but it might be worth it to give your classmates a little taste of what it was like. At the very least it could give them a better appreciation of the subject. So I'm in. But I have two conditions.
First, no press. I don't want any reporters or photographers there. In fact, I don't want it advertised at all. I'll have to speak to your Professor directly of course, but I don't want the students to know I'm coming. It should be a surprise.
Second, I want to bring your Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione with me. We do these things better as a team. If your Professor can accept these terms, then have him send me an owl and we'll sort out the details directly.
On a personal note, I hope you're enjoying the beginning of your second term. Don't study too hard. I'll see you soon, I'm sure,
Uncle Harry
"Well we can't tell anyone," Victoire said quietly to Kara so that Caitlin wouldn't hear – not that she was listening. She was working on hanging her posters back up. "But Uncle Harry said yes!"