Written for the OWLs Competition for Herbology, with the following prompts: confused, first, letter
Written for the Achieve that OUTSTANDING Challenge for Acceptable, with the following prompts: stress, failure
"Hey, Dom," Victoire stage-whispers from a desk on the other side of the library. "I need your help."
Like hell you do, Victoire, Dominique thinks irritably. Two and a half feet of full parchment are due in Transfiguration tomorrow, a foot of which is currently completely blank, and Marie needs to help Dominique with her Cheering Charms for class; it's a third year spell, but Dominique can't seem to grasp it. It's nine-thirty, Dominique writes slowly, and any interruption of her precious work time will mean a Poor from Professor Mina for the incompletion of the assignment, plus a lecture from the ancient Charms professor.
She pushes her chair out from the desk anyway. Victoire has no reason to depend on others; she's practically perfect, usually, although prideful. So if she's asking for help, she must really need it.
"Only a minute, Victoire. I've got Transfiguration to finish."
"It'll only take a sec, promise."
"Yeah?"
"You've got to help me with my Potions essay, Dom. I don't know what I'm doing."
"Don't be stupid, Victoire. You're two years older than me. You're in NEWT level Potions."
"Yeah, which I just barely scraped into. Trust me, Dom, you'd do twice as well in this class if you took it right now." ("Doubt it," Dominique mouths.) "It's just really confusing, Dom, please – "
"You've never had a problem in Potions, why do you now?"
"I've always had a problem in Potions. You've never noticed how hard I've worked on Potions to make sure I get Os?"
"Well, just work really hard, like you have with everything else. You'll be fine."
"Look, Dom, I'm telling you, I don't get what I'm doing! Seriously, I need help with this!"
"Ask someone else, Victoire, you don't need it. And I need to work on my Transfiguration essay, and Marie needs to help me with Cheering Charms," Dominique hisses as Madam Pince, the elderly librarian, rushes in to scold Victoire for raising her voice.
ooooooooo
"Hey, Victoire!" Dominique waves when she sees her sister passing her in the corridor a few days later.
Victoire acknowledges Dominique's cheery greeting with a slight nod of her head and speeds up, seemingly to avoid talking to her sister.
Dominique corners her later in the library. "What's up, Torie?"
The elder sibling sighs. "I got an E on that fucking essay."
"Oh, good job!"
"It was a really, really low E. I was really close to an A."
"So? It wasn't an actual A, was it? And even if it was, you'd still have passed!"
"I haven't even gotten a high E before, Dom, the lowest I've ever gotten was a low O."
"Seriously, so what? You don't have to be perfect all of the time."
"Yeah, well, everyone else thinks so, so everybody's opinion kind of overrides yours, sorry."
"What do you mean? People still think you're perfect, an Exceeds Expectations isn't going to change that. That's the point. You exceed expectations."
"You really don't get it, do you? Well, I've got more Potions to work on, so have fun being an asshole." Victoire huffs and leaves.
Dominique doesn't get it; everyone does think Victoire's perfect. She's beautiful, intelligent, likeable, and popular. She's going to be a Healer, and she's going to be a great one. She gets great grades and she's a wonderful friend to the many that she has. She's inherited much of Fleur's Veela genes and is completely stunning all of the time. Even if she's prideful and quick to anger and self-absorbed and won't do something if it won't benefit her, she's the closest to perfect anyone's going to get.
It's not going to be a big problem. Victoire'll get over it soon.
eeeeeeeee
Victoire speaks to Dominique even less as the next few weeks go by. It's early December when Dominique notices tear tracks on Torie's face when they bump into each other as they rush to their next classes.
aaaaaaaaa
By January, they aren't talking at all. Dominique sees her in the corridor between Transfiguration and Charms, but even then Victoire determinedly refuses to make eye contact, staring straight forward or making sure that her friends are on the side opposite Dominique so that she can pretend her sister isn't there.
ppppppppp
Mid-February, Dominique steals a glance at the Hufflepuff table during the morning mail and watches Victoire open a letter dropped off by the family owl. She crumples it up, slides it into her back pocket, and excuses herself from the table.
They still see each other in the hallways.
Victoire still avoids her sister's eyes.
And then at the end of the month, Victoire doesn't pass her in the corridors anymore.
ddddddddd
At first, Dominique passes it off as Victoire not wanting to see her sister. But she soon realizes that Victoire's friends are still passing her, less cheerful than they seem to have always been, and surely they would've found a new route with Victoire if she'd decided not to go that way anymore.
She confronts Louis later. He simply looks at her.
After ten seconds or so of silence – a long time, for silence in a conversation – he speaks. "You mean… nobody… told you or anything?"
Dominique is beginning to become anxious. She shakes her head slightly, waiting for an explanation.
"Come on, Dom," he says in a hollow voice and leads her out of the Gryffindor common room. They walk through corridors and rooms, and soon, Dominique realizes where they are headed: the hospital wing.
"What happened, Louis?" Dominique asks slowly as they near it.
Louis looks at her sadly. "You'll see, Dominique."
He pushes open the door and leads his sister into the hospital wing, greeting Madam Pomfrey and showing Dominique to the eighth bed on the left. Its pastel blue curtains are closed off, but Louis confirms that he has permission to open them.
"What happened?!" Dominique asks again, the tone and tempo of her speech rising as she approaches the sterile hospital bed.
Louis opens the curtain.
Nothing seems wrong.
Until, of course, Dominique notices that Victoire's left forearm is made of gold, and notices the white scars running up the upper arm.
"Oh my God, Victoire, what the hell – "
Victoire's eyes open. She sees Dominique and scowls, as beautiful as ever.
"What are you doing here? I didn't tell Madam Pomfrey to tell you!"
"But… Why?"
"You didn't seem to care," Victoire says stiffly.
"What – why – why the fuck wouldn't I care about your arm being chopped off? And how did it even happen?"
Victoire only frowns. "Volnus spell went a little too far," Louis interjects quietly as he leaves to talk with Madam Pomfrey.
Volnus.… Victoire had been cutting herself. Victoire. Perfect, wonderful, lovely Victoire. What reason could she have?
Then again, Dominique doesn't know everything about what was going on with Victoire, especially not during the last few months. "Why, Torie?" she asks softly.
"I'm… I… I failed Potions first semester."
"But that's not any reason to – "
"That's the first time I ever got a failing grade. Ever."
"It's not a big deal, really, I failed Divination last year, and I swear, I'm going to get a Troll on the Arithmancy O.W.L."
"It's not a big deal for you, people don't think you're perfect."
"Uh, okay, still, it's no big deal…"
"No! You don't get it! I got a letter from Dad when he found out I'd gotten a P, and it's all, 'Victoire, you have a reputation to uphold, get an O, don't get a failing grade, Victoire, I don't want people thinking my girl is anything less than perfect…' And it really sucks! Because I'm trying! And nobody will help me with it – " (Dominique gulps guiltily) " – because they think I'm just seeking attention and I'm really perfect at it! But Potions this year… it's just become, like, twenty times as confusing, and I'm so fucking confused.
"And then I got a Dreadful on an assignment, and I just… I don't know. Dad's going to get so angry when he finds out. Mom, too. I don't think I can do Potions anymore."
Dominique's eyes widen in shock. "No! You can't train to become a Healer then!"
"Yeah, I know, but I guess if I don't understand NEWT-level Potions, Healer-level stuff is going to be impossible," Victoire says sullenly.
"No, seriously! Oh my God, Torie, you can totally do this, I'm serious. You're so talented, I can't even tell you. You can totally get your Potions grade back up. You're going to be the best Healer, I swear…"
"Thanks, Dom."
"No problem."
Dominique stands up. "Torie, I'm so sorry."
"It wasn't you who cut off my arm," Victoire sighs.
"It was my fault."
"No, it wasn't."
"Yeah, it really was. And I'm sorry. I'm an awful sister, and I'm sorry."
Victoire gives Dominique a small smile.
"Are you okay now, Victoire?" Dominique finishes. "All good? Not… you know… depressed?"
"I'm not really sure about that one."
"Hey, if you ever need someone to cry on, you can come to me. And I've got a friend who's an expert at Cheering Charms."
ttttttttt