Wow, I haven't posted on here in such a long time...Regardless, I have been writing this story for ages now, and I thought I'd finally share it with the internet. As much as I hate how it sounds, this a romantic (cringe!) story between Dominique Weasley and Teddy Lupin. If you don't like that, you are under no obligation to read this, and can go and spend time reading fanfiction between other ships. I've grown to really love this story, and I hope you do also.
Disclaimer: As previously stated, this is fanfiction, and I am merely playing around with J. K Rowling's amazing creation that is the Harry Potter universe.
The morning Dominique Weasley found out about the new Wizarding Law was a blustery October day. Through the window over her kitchen sink, you could see the leaves turning a crisp, copper colour and above that, a scattering of bright kites dipping and soaring through the dull, grey sky.
After she was rudely awoken by a painful headache in the early hours of the morning, she'd been trying – to no avail – to get back to sleep; but when the sun started to peak through London's famous skyline and into her small flat, she admitted defeat and called in sick.
So, when an owl arrived bearing news of a Marriage law (dripping water and Merlin knows what else onto her kitchen table and scaring the shit out of Dominique's owl, Pip), Dominique almost chocked on her searing hot coffee, bringing tears to her eyes that could well have been tears of anger. Blinking them away fiercely, she turned her eyes to the heavens and swore loudly.
"It's outrageous!" she said with a mouth full of Cheeriowls to her parents as they busied themselves around Shell Cottage's little kitchen less than a week later. "Forcing us to get married? It's so cowardly and inhumane I'm genuinely shocked that Kingsley let this happen!"
"You've got to realise, Dominique, after the Second Wizarding War, so much magical blood was spilt that-"
"Oh shut your fucking mouth Victoire," Dominique grumbled at her sister as the blonde stepped through the green flames of the fireplace and onto the landing.
"Dominique!" Fleur said, scowling at her youngest daughter, her hands on her hips in what was a rather scary stance. Dominique merely rolled her eyes at her mother's protest.
"You know, I'm not even the slightest bit worried about this law anyway," Victoire said, idly twirling a ribbon of silvery blonde hair through her fingertips. "I mean, Teddy and I are so perfect for each other, and the Ministry would be barking up the wrong broomstick if they didn't put us together." Dominique mimed being sick into her cereal bowl.
"Well, I agree avec Dominique!" Fleur radically interjected. Dominique and her father raised their eyebrows in surprise. "You should be able to fall in love vhen you please and with 'oo you please. True love cannot be forced, no matter vhat those Seers at the Ministry think! Il est extrêmement et totalement faux!"
Dominque smiled smugly at her sister and took a large glug of pumpkin juice in victory. Victoire suck out her tongue pointedly.
"Oh grow up, the pair of you." Bill Weasley said, looking up from the Daily Prophet. "No-one would guess you were in your mid-twenties."
Just as Louis strode through the front door sopping wet (he made the unwise decision to Apparate over instead of Floo like his sisters), Dominique rose from her chair and meandered leisurely over to the sink where she proceeded to wash up her bowl like the strong, independent twenty-three year old she was.
As she let the sink fill up with hot, bubbly water, she let her eyes sweep across the flat, sandy beach outside the window where, behind a thick layer of cloud, the sun was rising. Heavy autumnal rain mixed with the sea spray spat from the colossal waves that crashed mercilessly onto the shore. She could see her face reflected in the glass, and took in her only slightly distorted reflection.
Her unblemished heart-shaped face was a pretty tan colour, but you could tell she would be fair skinned if she had less exposure to the sun. Wide, doe-like pale sea green eyes were framed by long, thick lashes and heavy eyebrows. A small, buttoned nose sat over a full set of lips and an excellent set of pearly white teeth.
Her once long, blonde hair had been cut at her shoulders, and fell in loose bronzy-brown waves. She'd changed her locks on a rather foggy day in February when she was just twenty, after two incidents: 1. She overheard someone at the Ministry calling her 'Victoire Weasley's little sister', and 2. She was victim to one of her colleagues obnoxious 'dumb blonde' jokes; she preferred not to be associated with her sister and with nine 'Outstanding's in her O. she was anything but dumb.
She thought, rather foolishly, of the Law she was required to participate in. Dominique was a restless person; always active and up to something or another, and it came to no surprise that she wasn't exactly the kind of person to hold a steady relationship and settle down. And her job – she was a Dragonologist, and because of that she spent most of her time out in Romania at the Dragon Sanctuary; she was hardly able to find and fall in love with someone if she most of her time overseas or cooped up in the Ministry filing reports for her team in the Dragon Research and Restraints Bureau (completely disregarding her short-lived romance with a gorgeous Irish co-worker).
And suppose I even found someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, she thought as her hands soaked in the now lukewarm water, bubbles dotting her forearms, I wouldn't want to get married. I would know I loved them, and they would know that, so what good does signing a Ministry parchment do? And then I'd be pressured to have kids, and I'd pity the child who ended up with me as a mother…
Unfortunately, Dominique's ponderings were shattered with a high pitched squeal. Dominique turned back around irritably.
"Teddy!" Victoire shrieked, flinging herself into his arms and nearly knocking him over. Edward 'Teddy' Lupin was looking rather ambushed, and tried to steady himself on the skirting board, deep blue eyes wide with what Dominique would have described as terror.
"Don't hurt the poor man Vic, you only saw him yesterday," Louis said between mouthfuls of a bacon sandwich.
Dominique hastily pulled her bowl and spoon from the sink and flicked her wand as so to send them off drying themselves. She kissed her parents on the cheek, and then Teddy to piss Victoire off (which worked), wished her brother a nice day before Flooing home to take her seven twenty-four portkey to Romania.
For the majority of her time in Romania, Dominique was situated in the Apuseni Mountains, which was the area where they kept the most dangerous and lethal dragons. Muggles knew it as the Bihor Mountains, with a volcanic range extending north, called Vlădeasa.
Vlădeasa was where the mothers were kept during nesting, as they were extremely protective, and consequently very vicious, often sending spurts of red-hot dragon fire into the sky, claiming their land, Muggles would interpret this as volcanic action.
Bihor on the other hand, was often full of frisky males, which is why when Harvey Ridgebit built the Sanctuary in 1949, they choose the mountains with the highest peaks to conceal the Dragons from the Muggle world. Of course, there are countless different security charms that ensure that no Muggle could ever even know Dragons were there, but it makes life a little less complicated for everybody.
Despite being mid-October, the weather in Transylvania was a surprisingly warm twenty-three˚ Celsius with clear blue skies stretching, seemingly, for miles and miles.
Dominique had materialised on a rocky ledge several hundred feet up a mountain, her eyelids slamming shut at the sudden burst of sunlight. Soon enough, her eyes became adjusted to the harsh light, and blinking rapidly, she vanished the battered old baked bean can and followed her usual route to work. It wasn't like one's typical route, as Dominique had to scramble over and up several feet of rocks, before sliding into a cave that unless you knew it was there, you'd miss it completely.
She landed expertly in a cool, dark room, carved out from the existing rock, with a gentle thud. The smoky grey ceiling was domed and damp with moisture, and as Dominique stepped forwards, she could hear the unmistakable sound of a bat's wings clapping together as it shot, startled, out of its hidey hole.
Dominique ignited the tip of her wand with light and moved her wand over her watch. Seven twenty-eight. It had only taken her four and a half minutes to reach the entrance cave, and she recalled that Jet – short for Juliet – and Chase were scheduled for a seven twenty six portkey, so they should arrive in two minutes or so, depending on how fast they were moving.
After three, long minutes of waiting, Dominique heard faint voices in the distance, though she couldn't understand what they were saying, she recognised their voices immediately, and soon enough, a figure came crashing into the chamber with a loud thump and an equally loud "FUCK".
Biting back a laugh, Dominique sauntered over to the new comer and offered her arm to her friend, who proudly declined and scrambled to her feet, quickly brushing herself off.
"That absolute fucker pushed me!" She exclaimed angrily, flushing a deep scarlet that clashed terribly with her pixie cut plum-coloured hair. Her rounded face was twisted into a scowl, with her high arching brows and electric blue eyes, she gave the impression that she was not a witch to be messed with.
"Love you too dear," A deep voice said, alerting Dominique of his arrival.
The first thing you notice about Chase is that he's a very large person. Like, as if someone had taken a normal sized person and thought, hey, I wonder how big I can make this person without making them seem part-giant. He was well over 6ft, with big, broad muscly shoulders and a big, broad muscly rest of him. He had a tough looking oval shaped face, but it was often adorned with a cheeky grin and crinkled, grey eyes.
Chase had been Dominique's mentor when she had started her physical training in Dragonology, and she had instantly taken a liking to him, given that he treated her the same as everybody else and not like she was just some fragile nineteen year old girl. Being that young, there were no other witches or wizards around Dominique's age, and Chase had kindly introduced Dominique to his then-girlfriend now-wife Jet, who was only six years older than her.
As Jet hit her husband on his shoulder – the highest place she could hit, being only 5'4 – Chase threw an arm around each of the women and they started walking through a tunnel lit by old-fashioned torches, casting long shadows across the curved walls.
"…and then, she said, 'they're not fucking ducks, grandma, they're rocks!'" Jet finished, throwing her head back and laughing at her own joke. Chase and Dominique looked at each other and raised their eyebrows. Dominique let out a breathy chuckle.
Just as Jet mockingly rounded on her husband for not laughing at her joke – which ironically made him laugh – the small group reached a gap in the tunnel, where sunlight with streaming through, cracking the darkness. Dominique clambered through first, welcoming the warmth of the Romanian sunlight, and set off to the large marquee where her fellow colleagues gathered, with Jet and Chase only a few paces behind her, Chase protesting that there was no way he could've pinched Jet's bum and it must've been some sort of insect.
"Dominique!" called Lead Supervisor Fergus Dingleby, greeting her with a toothless grin and a bottle of icy water. "I just found out from my nephew yesterday about this Marriage Law nonsense, and it occurred to me that you will be inevitably caught up in it all.
"Now," he said, looking at her earnestly, his drooping, hazel eyes wide with sincerity. "I cannot put enough emphasis on what I'm about to say. I know that part of this law requires you having at least one child, but it would be a great loss if you were to give up your career to be a mother full time. Of course if that's what you-"
"No!" She interrupted. "I mean, I will need to take off some time in the beginning," – she tried not to sound too displeased at this – "but I love this job, and I'm not giving that up because of some Ministry bullshit."
Fergus smiled fondly, and clapped her hard on the back. Dominique grimaced.
"Thank Merlin for that," And with that he hobbled off, and Dominique was quickly pulled by the elbow (courtesy of her Uncle Charlie) to where her team was assembling in preparation for the extraction of a Dragon egg from one of the nests in Vlădeasa. Gripping her broomstick firmly in her right hand, she pushed every useless thought of the Marriage Law from her mind and focused fully on the difficult task at hand, grinning wildly to herself.
It wasn't until January the following year that Dominique received her letter addressing who she was expected to marry.
She woke up at six am with a sick feeling in her stomach, and it took a tremendous effort to haul herself out of bed and make herself a cup of coffee. As she sat, perched on her kitchen counter after feeding Pip, she idly flicked through the Prophet, taking sips of her coffee as she did so.
It was eight thirty-seven when she heard the inevitable tapping on the window. Hair still damp from her shower and making wet-patches on her burgundy jumper, she felt her heart drop like a stone to the pit of her stomach. Swallowing deeply, she tiptoed over to the window and opened it, letting the jittery owl in.
It hopped in cheerfully, and trying to put off opening the letter any sooner, Dominique shook some owl treats into a bowl for the bird, even though it probably only flew for five to ten minutes (Dominique's London flat was only several stops away from Whitehall on the tube – and yes, she knew what the Underground was! She's not some uncultured snobby witch, you know!). As the speckled tawny launched itself into feasting happily on the treats, Dominique nervously untied the letter from the small creature's leg. She was shaking so much the poor bird was moving along with her.
Suddenly, she became very, very scared. She didn't know what she'd expected to feel honestly, but she'd found herself hoping that the Ministry would just call the whole thing off, or say, False Alarm!, but of course no such thing happened. Inside this fragile, flimsy envelope was the name of the man to whom she'd be married, whose children she would have to carry, who she would spend the rest of her life with, given there was no unpleasant divorce.
Dominique thought desperately of all the short lived relationships she'd had the past few years. Maybe if she'd made more of an effort to make it work, she'd already be happily married, and the only way this Marriage Law would affect her would be through others. But what good is all that now? Now, as she's standing in her kitchen, her hand trembling as she held the unopened letter?
Taking deep breaths, she carefully slid her index finger across the underneath of the envelope's tongue, breaking the blood red seal wax. The parchment seemed too delicate to contain something so life changing, and Dominique was overwhelmed with the desire to tear it up and not look at the name. But she didn't. She just stood there, for minutes, maybe hours, or possibly several sunlit days, holding the paper.
And then she slowly slipped her thumbs under the fold and biting down on her bottom lip, opened it.
The letter contained hundreds of different words in several paragraphs, but Dominique could only focus on two, nauseating words. Or more specifically, one name. One name that was emblazoned in giant red capital letters in the middle of the letter. One name that would undoubtedly ruin her life from this point onwards.
"Fuck," Dominique whispered.
She dropped the letter at her feet in shock, anger, confusion? Honestly, Dominique had no idea what she was feeling, but she was far from alright. The only thing her brain would comprehend was that she needed air and space and time to think.
Because she was marrying none other than Teddy Lupin.
So that's it for this chapter! I have already written a fair bit of this story, so I will probably upload another chapter soon. If one would be so kind as to review and let me know what they think of this story so far, it would honestly make my day! I may also give a sneaky preview of the next chapter to those who are interested!
And for those who were wondering, when Fleur says, "Il est extrêmement et totalement faux!", in English, it means, It is extremely and totally wrong!
Thanks for reading!