Lessons in a Tree House
June 18, 2006: What it Means to Be the Oldest
Six-year old Victoire Weasley pulled the sleeve of her father's old brown jacket, which he always wore.
"Is it done yet?" she demanded.
"Almost," her father assured her, laughing a little while she huffed sat down patiently. He nailed the last nail into place. The tree house was complete.
"Are you done now?" Vic asked, surprised when he unexpectedly stopped working.
"Yes, I am, Vic," he said smiling, "Come on. Let's go inside." They walked inside and sat down: because Bill couldn't stand up in the tree house. It was empty and only had one window. You could see Shell Cottage from the window as well as the waves crashing down on the shore at the bottom of the cliff. Fleur was watching Dominique and Louis play in the garden. He had a sudden thought.
"Vic, do you know what a sister is?" he asked. Vic looked at him as though he was stupid.
"Course I do," she said proudly, "I'm one. Dominique's my little sister."
"Yes, that's right, and Louis is your little brother," he pointed in the direction of two-year old Louis and four-year old Dominique.
"I knew that too," Vic said.
"Vic, do you know what it means to be the oldest?" her father asked.
"To be born first?" she asked hesitantly. Bill laughed.
"Yes, but much more than that!" he said, "You're lucky. I was the oldest of seven kids-imagine that, seven but you are only the oldest of three."
"Seven," Victoire gawked, "But that's so many!" Bill nodded.
"But since I was the oldest: that meant that all of the younger kids looked up to me. I had to show them what to do, I had to break up their arguments, and teach them things, and tell them things…" he trailed off.
"All because you were born first?" she asked in surprise.
"Yes, all because I was born first," he said wistfully.
"Do I have to do all that stuff?" Vic inquired.
"Yes," Bill said grinning, "You have to set a good example."
"Well then, I don't wanna be the oldest!" Vic cried.
"You haven't got a choice," Bill said, "But you'll get through it, I promise. I did." Bill said, thinking about his seven siblings. Vic pouted.
"Why can't Dom be the oldest? She would do a better job than me!" she cried.
"You'll be a great big sister, you just wait and see," he said. Then he smiled, "Now, you want to go get some ice cream?
A/N-Done for alohomra080's Daddy's Girl Competition. This is going to be a three-shot, so the other two chapters will be up soon. Each chapter is a lesson that Victoire learned throughout her life, in her tree house.