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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 2013
"Come on Domi, at this rate the train's just going to pick up and leave without us," Victoire whined as her sister gave their mother yet another hug goodbye.
"No it's not," Dominique said. "It'll at least blow the whistle to warn us before it starts moving."
"It already did that. Twice," Victoire stressed the word twice.
"Yeah, but it's not until the third whistle that we really have to worry," Dominique said.
"Okay, well I'm getting on the train," Victoire decided. "By maman, papa, Louis, I'll see you at Christmas." Victoire waved and climbed aboard the train.
As much as she loved her sister, Victoire was getting extremely fed up with her. All summer it had been 'Victoire, when we're at Hogwarts together…' and 'Next year at Hogwarts, it's going to be so much fun…' Victoire was done. She needed a break. She'd promised her parents Dominique could sit with her and her friends on the way to school, but now she was regretting that decision. All she wanted was a nice train ride with her friends where they could talk about their summers and play some truth or dare.
Victoire glanced out at the platform one more time to find that Dominique had caved and begun yet another round of hugs. She decided that Dominique was old enough to find Victoire and her friends on her own, and so she grabbed her trunk and began to roll down the hall.
As usual, Kara and Brianna were already seated and waiting for her. As soon as she arrived, she shoved her trunk under the seat, not in the mood to find her wand to levitate it, and lied down on the seat opposite her two friends, stretching out so that she took up the whole space.
"I'm exhausted," Victoire groaned. "All morning, Dominique's been unable to keep still. She was jumping up and down in the back of the car all the way to King's Cross and now she can't stop hugging maman!"
"I'm sure it's not that bad," Kara said.
"Oh it is," Victoire assured her. "This morning, she tried to borrow my sweater. She said that since we're going to be in school together, we should be able to borrow each other's clothes. And for someone who hasn't been sorted yet, she seems pretty confident she's going to be in Gryffindor."
"You think she'll end up in a different house?" Brianna asked.
"Oh no, she'll be in Gryffindor. Almost all the Weasleys end up in Gryffindor," Victoire said. "But she's a first year, she should be panicking about what house she's going to end up in, not planning sleepovers in the third years' dorm."
"Wait what?" Brianna asked.
"Don't worry, that's so not going to happen," Victoire assured her. "She's going to stay right where she belongs with the other first years."
Just then, the train started moving and Victoire shot up in her seat. "We're moving!" she cried.
"Yes, congratulations on your amazing powers of observation," Brianna replied sarcastically.
"Did Dominique get on the train?" Victoire asked in a panic, looking out the window and scanning the crowd for her family. "I don't see them on the platform…"
"I'm sure she made it on just fine," Kara assured her.
"Look who's really all sweet and protective now," Brianna mocked, referring to the previous year when she'd been in Victoire's shoes with her sister Savannah.
"Oh shut it," Victoire rolled her eyes, laying back down. "Either she got on or she didn't. If she didn't, then it's too late now. She'll just have to find some other way to get to Hogwarts."
"Oh, but she can't miss the train ride!" Kara cried. "It's part of the experience!"
"I think she'll live," Victoire replied. "Teddy didn't take the train in his first year. He was already at the castle a few days early because his grandmother – Professor Tonks – had decided to take the teaching position. He only rides it now because his friends are on it and he likes to hang with them, but it's not like you die if you don't ride the train."
"Yeah, but it's better if you do," Brianna said. "How else are you supposed to make friends?"
"Well considering I spent my first train ride in Teddy's compartment and still managed to make friends with you guys, I'm going to say it's not that key," Victoire said.
Suddenly, the compartment door slid open and a nervous-looking Dominique appeared, standing in the hall with her trunk.
"Victoire, I thought you were going to wait for me at the door," Dominique said accusingly. "Maman made you promise you'd make sure I was alright."
"Dominique, you're eleven," Victoire said. "If you can't find a compartment on a train by yourself, then you shouldn't be going to Hogwarts."
"Maman said I could sit with you," Dominique added.
"So sit," Victoire gestured to the only half-full compartment. "There's plenty of room."
Dominique awkwardly clambered in, pulling her trunk behind her, just barely managing to shut the door. She tried to lift the trunk into the luggage rack, but ended up just leaving it in the middle of the room and plopping herself down on Victoire's legs.
"Ow!" Victoire cried, jumping up. "What'd you do that for?"
"You were taking up all the room," Dominique said. "If you can't keep your feet on your side, then I'm going to sit on them."
"Oh my God, we are not doing this!" Victoire cried, tucking her feet under her bum. "Dominique you are way too old to pull all that 'you're on my side' stuff. If you're not going to act like a little kid, then you can go and sit with the other little kids."
"Maybe I will," Dominique said defiantly, standing up. "You're just being mean. I don't think I like you very much at Hogwarts."
"We're not even at Hogwarts yet," Victoire retorted. "At least think before you say things."
"I'm leaving," Dominique declared, opening the door again and dragging her trunk back into the hall. "Enjoy your boring train ride without me."
She slammed the door shut, leaving Kara and Brianna looking stunned.
"Maybe I don't want siblings after all," Kara muttered. "Not if it would always be like that."
"It's not always like that," Victoire muttered, stretching her legs back out. "It's just been a really long morning."
"Do you think one of us should go after her? Make sure she's alright?" Kara asked.
"She'll be fine," Brianna said, waving her hand. "We all did fine on our own in first year. She'll figure something out. Or else she'll be back in about twenty minutes."
Victoire laughed. "So what did you guys do on your first day?" she wondered, realizing that she'd never heard these stories.
"Oh, it was awful," Kara muttered. "First I found this one compartment that was totally empty, so I sat down. But then these Slytherin boys came and made me leave, saying that it was their compartment and that they always sat in the same one and that I needed to find the other Flobs and sit with them. Then I ended up sitting with Sara Pucey and Hillary Davis, and they spent the whole time talking about how they were going to be sorted into Slytherin. When they asked me where I wanted to be sorted, I lied and said Slytherin too, because I knew they'd make fun of me if I said Gryffindor. Not very brave, I know."
"My train ride wasn't so bad," Brianna said. "I sat with a whole bunch of other first years… Barbara Mitchell, Mia Harper, Stanley Towler, Johnathan Cadwallader… I think there was one other guy… oh yeah! Frederick Edgecombe! Anyway, I don't remember what we talked about, but it was alright. I could tell none of them was going to be my best friend or anything, but they were okay to spend the day with."
"Victoire, you said you sat with Teddy?" Kara asked.
"Yeah," Victoire said. "He found me being bullied by some older student and then said I could sit with him and Billy. It was a pretty fun afternoon actually."
"I'm jealous!" Kara said. "I wish I'd known someone on my first day. It was really scary, knowing that I was totally alone."
Victoire was silent for a minute. Was she being a horrible sister? Should she go out and find Dominique and apologize and tell her to come back?
She was about to say she was going to find her sister, but just then, the trolley lady came by, dragging the candy trolley behind her while pushing the healthy food trolley that Brianna had come up with ahead of her.
"Anything off the trolley dears?" the lady asked.
"Oh, I'll have a sandwich," Brianna said, reaching for her trunk to grab some money. "Tuna please."
"I'll have a cauldron cake and a licorice wand," Kara requested.
"Kara!" Brianna cried. "You're not going to buy something healthy off my new healthy foods cart?"
"Sorry," Kara shrugged. "I like being able to eat sweets on the train. It's part of the fun of the trip."
Brianna shook her head. "Vic, you at least have to buy something healthy."
"Alright, I'll have a ham and cheese sandwich and a chocolate frog," she decided.
"Vic!" Brianna cried.
"Hey, I'm still eating the sandwich," Victoire said. "I just so rarely have the opportunity to eat chocolate that I had to take advantage."
"Ugh," Brianna sighed. "Is anyone buying from the healthy trolley?" she demanded.
"I'm sorry dear," the trolley lady replied. "But given the choice, teenagers would much rather suck on a sugar quill than eat a sandwich or pick at a salad."
"This is terrible!" Brianna cried. "All my hard work gone to ruin!"
"It's not so bad," Kara assured her. "I'm sure the problem is just that people don't know about the healthy foods yet. Once they realize they have the option, I'm sure some of them will go for it."
Brianna glared at her pointedly.
"Okay, so not everyone," Kara admitted. "But definitely some."
"You're right," Brianna said. "We just need some more advertising. I'll write the Headmistress about it right now."
VvVvVvVvVvV
Soon it was dark and the train was pulling into Hogsmeade station.
"I never went to check on Dominique!" Victoire cried. "I hope she's alright!"
"She's fine," Kara assured her.
"Yeah," Brianna agreed. "Look, there she is with some boy!" she pointed down the platform in the direction the first years were assembling and indeed there Dominique was chatting animatedly with one of her soon-to-be classmates.
"I don't like him," Victoire muttered. "She doesn't need to be making friends with boys. She's way too young."
"Calm down," Brianna muttered. "It's not like they're getting married, they just met."
"She should be talking to the girls," Victoire said. "She should be looking for potential roommates and start getting on their good side now. Imagine where we'd be if one of us had befriended Raina or Caitlin on the train."
"Yeah…" Brianna muttered. "That wouldn't have happened and you know it."
"Come on, let's just get up to the castle before we miss the sorting," Victoire rolled her eyes, dragging her friends toward the carriages.
VvVvVvVvVvV
The first years entered the Great Hall and Victoire craned her neck to try and spot Dominique in the crowd. She was near the back, still walking with the same boy from before.
"He'd better not be sorted into Gryffindor with Domi," Victoire muttered under her breath as the first years gathered at the front and the sorting hat began to sing its song.
While the hat finished and Professor Longbottom started reading off the student's names, Victoire started fiddling with her fingers, trying to peel off the last of the nail polish on her fingers. It had chipped a great deal on the train, and she knew she was going to be putting on fresh polish tonight before bed anyway.
"Hey, Victoire," Kara nudged her. "It's Dominique's new friend."
Victoire looked up and indeed, the boy who Dominique had been chatting with earlier was walking up to the stool. Victoire leaned forward a little while the hat was lowered onto his head. When it announced him as a Gryffindor, Victoire sighed. "They're going to be best friends, aren't they?" she groaned.
By the time Dominique's turn finally came around, there was only one other student left waiting his turn. Victoire tried to catch her sister's eye before the hat fell over her face, but Dominique was looking somewhere else. The sorting hat didn't deliberate for long before it declared Dominique a Gryffindor and she gleefully jumped up and joined the rest of her new classmates at the front of the table.
"I can't believe it!" Victoire cried.
"What, you said she was definitely going to be in Gryffindor," Kara reminded her.
"I know," Victoire agreed. "What I can't believe is that she still hasn't looked over here. I mean, look at her, with all her new friends. I'm her sister. We've spent the last eleven years together, and suddenly I'm just some boring old third year that doesn't even deserve a smile?"
"Don't be jealous," Brianna teased her.
"I am not jealous," Victoire muttered as the final first year was sorted into Slytherin. "Nope, definitely not jealous."
VvVvVvVvVvV
"Hey Vic," Teddy greeted Victoire after the feast was over. "So Dominique's in Gryffindor too, how exciting is that?"
"So exciting," Victoire muttered, not feeling the excitement. She'd kept trying to catch her sister's attention all through dinner, but every time, Dominique had been in deep conversation with the other first years and hadn't noticed a thing.
"Why so bitter?" Teddy asked.
"No reason," Victoire muttered. "Have you seen a prefect? I don't know the password yet."
"Actually, I have," Teddy said smugly.
"Where?" Victoire asked.
"Where indeed?" Teddy repeated, only annoying Victoire further.
"Either tell me where the prefect is or let me go find one," Victoire insisted.
"Or I could just give you the password myself," Teddy said.
"So you've already talked with a prefect?" Victoire asked.
"In a manner of speaking," Teddy smirked.
"Okay seriously Teddy, what's going on with you?" Victoire demanded. "You're acting really weird."
"I can't believe you didn't notice it," Teddy sighed, pointing to a badge on his chest that hadn't been there the last time Victoire had seen him in his robes. "I'm a prefect!"
"Oh my gosh, seriously?" Victoire cried. "Congratulations!"
"Thanks," Teddy smiled. "I didn't want to mention it before, because I wanted to see the look on your face when you saw the badge, but then you didn't even notice it."
"I'm sorry," Victoire apologized. "I'm just so distracted with all this stuff going on with Dominique."
"What stuff with Dominique?" Teddy asked, concerned.
"It's nothing," Victoire muttered. "So do you need to escort the first years, or are you free to walk with me?"
"Sorry," Teddy apologized. "I'm supposed to take the first years. They make the fifth year prefects do it, supposedly because we're the closest in age, but I think the older prefects just don't want to."
"Okay, well I'll see you around," Victoire said.
"See you around," Teddy waved, walking away. "Oh, and password's flobberworm."
"Thanks!" Victoire called back as Teddy met up with his co-prefect, Beverly Longman, and began calling the first years to follow him.
When Victoire arrived in the common room, Dominique and the first years were already gone.
"I can't believe this!" Victoire cried. "It's like I don't even exist anymore!"
"Come on Vic," Brianna said, leading her friend up the stairs to the dorms. "Let her settle in and be with her friends. You can yell at her for ignoring you tomorrow."
"Fine," Victoire sighed, stomping up the stairs and entering the dorm, where Caitlin was already plastering her wall with her Quidditch posters and Ricky was curled up in a ball on Raina's bed while she unpacked her trunk.
"Hey, Victoire, I just met your sister!" Caitlin said, jumping down from her bed. "She seems pretty cool."
"You met Dominique?" Victoire asked.
"Yeah, she was just in here asking if you were back yet. I told her you were still down at the feast," Caitlin replied.
"But I'm here now!" Victoire cried.
"Well don't tell me," Caitlin muttered. "I just told her what I knew."
"Oh no, what if she's miserable?" Victoire cried. "What if she hasn't made any friends and she was looking for someone to talk to and I wasn't there and now she's just sitting in her dorm crying her little eyes out?"
"She seemed fine," Caitlin shrugged. "But you'll probably find her in her dorm. First years are two floors up this year."
Victoire hurried up the two flights of stairs and burst into the first year dorm, only to find that Dominique was nowhere in sight.
"Do any of you know where my sister is?" Victoire asked.
"You're Dominique's sister?" the girl with the super long brown hair asked.
"Yeah," Victoire confirmed.
"She just went down to the common room to wait for you," the girl replied.
"Thanks," Victoire said, turning around and hurrying back down all the stairs to the common room.
"Yeah, yeah," she heard Dominique's voice carrying as she made her way down. "I'll leave in a minute; I'm just waiting for my sister."
"Dominique!" Victoire cried, rounding the last turn in the stairs and emerging into the common room to find Dominique arguing with some seventh year.
"You're the sister?" the seventh year asked.
"Yeah," Victoire said. "Why, what's wrong?"
"I told her the party is for upperclassmen only, but she insisted on waiting for you," the student said.
"Okay seriously?" Victoire demanded. "Not everyone's even back from the feast yet. Have you ever thought about, oh I don't know, giving us all like, twenty minutes before you start kicking us out?"
The student shrugged and walked away. "Just clear out before you overstay your welcome down here," she muttered.
"Victoire!" Dominique cried. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"
"Yeah, I heard," Victoire said. "Listen, I'm sorry about earlier, on the train…"
"Oh whatever," Dominique muttered. "I was being annoying and you just wanted to hang out with your friends."
"So you're not mad at me?" Victoire asked.
"I was," Dominique admitted. "But I'm not anymore."
"Well that's a relief," Victoire smiled, giving her sister a hug.
"Aww," Teddy's voice cooed as he came up next to them. "Sisterly love. What a sweet picture."
"Hey Teddy!" Dominique greeted him.
"So I guess you're pretty excited, huh?" Victoire asked. "Now that you're an upperclassman and all, you get to stay at the party tonight."
"Actually, I got stuck with patrols," Teddy grimaced. "Another job left to the fifth year prefects apparently."
"Oh well have fun with that then!" Victoire said. "You must be pretty excited. You get to be out after curfew, you get to hand out detentions and send people to their Heads of House…"
"Yeah, it's a dream come true," Teddy smirked. "Now go on, get up to your dorms before someone accuses me of being soft and letting underclassmen stay at the party. And a first year no less!"
Victoire stuck out her tongue. "Fifth year Teddy is no fun," she pouted, pushing Dominique towards the stairs. "I want fourth year Teddy back. He actually liked hanging out with me."
"I didn't know Teddy was a prefect!" Dominique said as the sisters climbed the stairs.
"Didn't he lead you back to Gryffindor Tower?" Victoire asked.
"Well yeah, but I meant before that," Dominique amended. "He never said anything when we were at Uncle Harry's for dinner last week."
"I think he wanted it to be a surprise," Victoire said.
"Well I'm surprised!" Dominique said.
"This is my dorm," Victoire said when they reached her floor, gesturing to the door. "I think it's time to say goodnight."
"Okay," Dominique said, her smile slipping a little.
"I'll see you tomorrow," Victoire promised.
"Yeah, alright," Dominique muttered.
"Hey, what's the matter?" Victoire asked.
"It's nothing," Dominique assured her sister. "I'm just nervous about classes in the morning."
"Well it's going to be fine," Victoire said. "They don't even assign real work on the first day. The Professors are just going to introduce themselves and talk about the subjects they're teaching."
"What if I can't find my way around?" Dominique asked.
"That's what prefects are for," Victoire said. "They'll be all over the place making sure that you all find your way to where you need to go."
"Okay," Dominique said, yawning.
"I think it's time you went to bed," Victoire smiled, giving her sister a hug. "I'll see you at breakfast."
"What if I can't find my way back to the Great Hall – "
"You'll be fine," Victoire said. "Stop worrying."
As Dominique headed up the stairs, Victoire slipped back into her dorm to rejoin her friends and get her nails painted before it got too late.
"Did you get everything sorted out?" Kara asked when she flopped down on her bed.
"Yeah," Victoire confirmed. "She's going to be just fine."
