Things About the Next Generation:

Harry's kids and their cousins are really fascinating me right now. I think it is all that they have to live up to that really catches my interest. This is how I imagine them. I have five completed so far. Review please!

Dominique Weasley

1. Dominique has only been jealous of her sister once. Generally, she has always hero-worshipped Victorie. They could not be more opposite. Victorie was blonde, bold, and brave. Dominique has always been mousier, shy, and cowardly. But that's okay because she has her big sister to take care of her. Only one time did she stare at Victorie with envy, wishing for her etheral beauty and her reckless bravery. Only once did she wish she were a Gryffindor, strong and brawny rather than the unfailingly average Hufflepuff she was. She only wished for what could never be hers the first time she saw Teddy Lupin wrap his arm around Victorie's shoulders, pressing a kiss to the side of her head ever so briefly.

Only for a moment, she wished it was her own hair that shimmered in the sun, her own eyes that laughed at the world. She wished Teddy Lupin would stare at her with that absolute adoration in his ever-changing features.

2. Dominique has never liked her cousin, James. Though only a few years older than herself, she saw something cruel, something wild in him that always frightened her. She stood closer to Victorie when he was around, finding comfort in her nearness. Victorie had always adored James, seeing him as the little brother Louis refused to be.

Dominique was afraid of the wildness in James because sometimes she wished there could be wildness in her own eyes.

3. Dominique has always loved her large family. Something about the sheer size and volume of the Weasley's has always soothed her. Her one and only wish in life is to be the matriarch of her own large family, much to her big sister's disappointment. Victorie always said that taking care of Dominique (seven years younger) and Louis (ten years younger) was enough for her. She never wanted children and was shocked and dismayed when her protege expressed a desire to be a homemaker, the lowest of ambitions in her eyes.

Dominique hated that she cared what her sister thought.

4. Dominique was eleven when she went a little crazy. It was her first flying lesson and she had never been on a broom before. She had always been much too frightened, and Victorie had scoffed at anything to do with Quiddich. Dominique wished so much to be like Victorie that she almost missed the one thing at which she was truly good. While Madam McDonald ran inside with little Alice Longbottom, Jacob Brown, the hotheaded Gryffindor, challenged her to a race. Dominique declined, of course. He asked if she was really Victorie Weasley's younger sister. "Victorie would do it," he had goaded. So of course, Dominique raced.

And she found that she was very good at it.

5. Dominique had always identified most strongly with her Uncle Harry. Perhaps he knew this, because he always took her aside to talk Quiddich when the entire family got together. They shared a true love for the game that neither Albus, nor even James, and especially not Lily, possessed. Harry joked once that Quiddich was the only thing he was good at.

Privately, Dominique felt the same way.

6. When Dominique was thirteen, she caught Teddy staring at her. She flushed and looked away only to find him still staring when she dared a glance in his direction. This time she prayed for some of her sister's boldness and stared back. He smiled and her heart beat faster. Slowly, he made his way toward her. He leaned down to murmur in her ear. "You have chocolate all around your mouth," he had whispered. Dominique has never hated anyone as much as she hated Teddy in that moment.

Except perhaps herself.

7. Dominique was sixteen before she felt Teddy's eyes on her again. It was her birthday and she was, for once, the center of attention. Her long light brown hair was carefully curled by her mother, and her pale skin and freckles did not stand out quite as badly as usual. Her figure, though not long and willowly like her mother's or light and fragile like her sister's, was shone off very nicely in the dress she'd bought just for the occasion. She could not seem to stop smiling as her father, Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron brought out the racing broom bought just for her, not a hand-me-down. She felt glowy from the inside out and Teddy could not help but notice. He stared at her all night, but she never allowed herself to meet his eyes once. She was over him. She was so over him.

Dominique had always been good at lying to herself.

8. Dominique was eighteen when she realized she was not, in fact, over Teddy Lupin. At the same time, she realized that she had no idea what to do with her life. This seemed like a good time to go away for a while, and so she joined her mysterious Uncle Charlie in far-away Romainia. She finally found who she looked were so similar, in all but the hair. They were similar in other ways. Dominique found she adored chasing dragons. She finally found something else she was good at, besides Quiddich. She also found her Uncle Charlie who became her favorite relative. There was something about his calm patience that relaxed Dominique for the first time in her life.

Her worries finally ceased, and she could just live.

9. Dominique had no plans to return home. She stayed in Romainia for six and a half years. It was only when she came home for her Grandad Weasley's funeral that she realized how much she missed it, and decided to stay for a while. She was welcomed by an enormous hug from her big sister, tears from her mother, and a bouquet of yellow roses from none other than Teddy Lupin. Her entire family stared at her in something akin to awe. She realized, belatedly, that perhaps she finally looked pretty to them. Her hair, still not golden, was lightened from the sun. She was still small, but muscled, like an athlete, and her skin was darkly tanned. She realized, with a laugh, that the must think her exotic.

For once, Dominique was the beautiful one.

10. Dominique had no desire to get into any kind of a relationship with her childhood crush. His initial overtures went ignored, though she did press a single yellow rose between old spellbooks, just for nostalgia's sake.

It was, after all, cruely ironic that he should suddenly decide he loved her after she spent years figuring out how to live without him.

11. In the end, it was Uncle Ron, of all people, who convinced Dominique to give Teddy a chance. "They'll always forgive you," he told her with a faraway look in his eye. "You won't always be in her shadow. He loves you for you, and that's something to hold onto." Dominique had never thought of herself in Victorie's shadow, but she had wondered if Teddy was simply settling for second best.

Though she did not exactly understand what Uncle Ron was talking about, or where he was coming from, she did realize that he was right about giving Teddy a chance, regardless.

12. Victorie was Maid of Honor in Dominique's wedding. She tied her hair back into a severe bun, and picked out her own disgusting bride's maid dress. Dominique tried not to be offended at her obvious attempts not upstage the bride, but in the end, she settled for being amused. That was so like her sister, after all.

She also knew that no matter what Victorie wore, Dominique would be the only one Teddy saw.