Disclaimer: Characters belong to the genius JK Rowling. Inspiration by the song '22' performed by Taylor Swift.
Author's Note: This is for the Taylor Swift 'Red' Challenge by Forever Siriusly Sirius. The song I used for inspiration was '22.' Kind of ended up more…serious than expected.
"We're happy free confused and lonely at the same time. It's miserable and magical. Tonight's the night when we forget about the deadlines."
–Taylor Swift, 22
6th year Dominique Weasley sauntered into the Gryffindor common room with the aim of preparing for a night with her boyfriend, Kevin Malloy. It was nearing the end of Winter Break at Hogwarts, and Dom was planning on making it last.
But as she weaved through the maze of chairs leading to the dormitory staircase, she spotted her cousin Rose huddled in a nearby seat. She was reading a copy of the Daily Prophet and looked so pathetic that even Dom couldn't help but check up on her.
"Reading the newspaper? Tsk, tsk. You have homework to catch up on, Miss Rebel," Dom said lightly, poking Rose on the shoulder.
Rose peered up over the paper through her wire-rimmed glasses. Dom immediately saw the red tear streaks on her cousin's freckled face. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes and asked simply, "Did Scorpius break up with you again?" The look on Rose's face answered that question. Cue eye roll.
"Here we go," she mumbled under her breath. "Okay, Rose? How about we…uh, hang out tonight…like, together," she said painfully. Dom really wanted to see Kevin.
But Rose smiled that Granger-smile. And the evening began.
They made their way up to Dom's dorm, where all her other roommates were gone for the holidays. Rose dropped on to Dominique's bed, who raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
Not surprisingly, things were (extremely) awkward between the two distant cousins. There was limited talking, and both girls seemed uncomfortable. Even though only two years apart, they didn't have much of anything in common besides the Gryffindor uniforms.
Mercifully, they were saved by Roxanne. Always the bubbly dancer, she burst through the door in flannel pajama pants, a crinkled and stained Gryffindor shirt and, of course, her signature sunglasses despite being indoors. She obviously wasn't expecting to see anyone inside, for she adopted a look of surprise and quickly blurted "All right?"
"You know, some people may call nosy what you call curious," Dom said with a shake of the head. "Rose and I were just-"
"Say no more," Roxie interrupted. Turning to Rose and propping her sunglasses up on her forehead, she continued "He ended it with you again, did he? Poor bloke, it's like he doesn't know that you'll end up together anyways within the week. Well I suppose it's lucky I was in here searching for my, er, Potions book. Now I can party with my cousins!" All this flew out of her mouth at a mile a minute, leaving tearstained Rose in awe of her cousin's causality with her love life.
Roxie turned on some music with the flick of her wand, and before long she and Dom were pulling a reluctant Rose off the bed and the makeshift dance floor. Just as the music built up, there was a knock at the door.
Without a reply, Lucy and Lily tumbled through the doorway, the two 3rd years looking excited and mischievous at the same time.
"Ooh, a party! I thought I heard music," Lily exclaimed happily, quickly joining her cousins in the middle of the room. "Luce and I were just walking past and thought we'd see what's happening."
Yeah, right. More like "We just did something incredibly stupid and thought we'd stop by to use you guys as our cover," Dom thought as Lucy began doing cartwheels around the room. But what the hey. The more the merrier.
So the party began. Lucy left mysteriously and quickly came back with at least 20 galleons worth of wizarding candy. Roxie pumped up the music. Even Rose looked relatively happy to be there.
Surprisingly, Roxie was the first to drop. Beads of sweat were rolling down her caramel face as she flopped right onto the ground. She was quickly joined by Lucy, Dom, and Rose. Lily was last to join as she took the time to gather all the uneaten candy and put it in the middle of the circle where her cousins gathered.
They stared at each other and snacked for a while, with a bit of chatter here and there. In all honesty, each of them was simply enjoying being together. Even though they were all in Gryffindor, they were rarely all in one place. Of course, Vic wasn't there (she was out of Hogwarts, a Lupin) and neither was Molly (probably stressing over the NEWTs, even though it was Christmas. Nonetheless, there was a feeling in the air usually reserved for time at the Burrow. But it was only a matter of time as to when all the secrets that were constantly weaved into the Weasley family would finally pour out. There was a long silence, and then-
"Scorpius said I wasn't honest enough for him. Felt like I wasn't "being me" around him anymore. As if he knows who I am more than I do," Rose said, scoffing in disgust. "Good riddance. I feel so free right now, but also completely miserable and it makes no sense to me." She started laughing. "Forget him."
"I'm totally going to bomb my OWLs. Longbottom gave us a practice exam and I'm predicted to get a bloody dreadful. Dreadful! Mum's going to kill me," Roxanne babbled quickly. "And to top it off, the boy I fancy is chatting up my best friend."
"I think I'm falling in love with Lysander, even though he doesn't have a clue," Lily confessed (at this, her cousins exchanged glances spilling with 'Oh yes he does'). "He's just so…perfect."
"My parent's divorce is final on Monday," Lucy whispered suddenly, directed towards her feet. "It's been coming for ages, it's not like I didn't see it coming. But Molly's all torn up and I don't know what to do."
There was a silence in which everyone thought about saying something back before realizing there wasn't much to say. Everyone looked expectantly to Dominique, the only girl who hadn't spilled her story of heartbreak. But she didn't have one to tell.
So she just grabbed a Chocolate Frog and chuckled. "It's just incredible how screwed up we all are- well, you guys are," she said. This got her pelted with various candies, including a few Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans to the mouth- most of which tasted something like barf- or worse.
After the food fight, in which Dom was the main victim (though, to her credit, she caught most of the treats in her mouth), the cousins lay in a circle on the floor, their heads meeting in the middle. It was well past midnight, but there was candy remaining and none of the girls were anywhere close to falling asleep. They stayed still and talked, dreaming aloud. Many of them spoke of things they themselves had no idea were on their mind. There was a general feeling of trust and love and family and friendship and no one wanted it to end.
But the final knock was evident. Lily, popping up from her position on the floor, was the one to answer it. "Well it's about time," she said dramatically, pulling open the door and tugging Molly in. "I was beginning to wonder if the Prefect would ever join us."
But Molly, with her pressed Gryffindor garments and dull-looking glasses, was having none of the family mood. She was angry. "I've been waiting since 6:00, Lucy. I would think," She began, staring daggers at her sister, "that some people would respect one's wishes–" And then her firm voice crumbled and she burst into tears.
Everyone had gotten up and huddled at the doorway for a bit, until Rose came up to Molly. She gently took the older girl's arm and led her to the middle of the room- where Rose started dancing to no music. They all joined her, forgetting all the confessions and heartbreak and falling into a world made of relentless giggles and happiness.
Sure, they were confused and depressed and lonely. But they were also free and magical and, most importantly, family.
A/N: So it's kind of a (huge) mess, but I worked really hard on it. If you can, drop a review and tell me what you think. Yay for constructive criticism! This was for my very first challenge: The Taylor Swift 'Red' Challenge by Forever Siriusly Sirius.