Dominique was always the second, never quite as perfect as her sister. Her hair was long and curly and golden, but Victoire' s was platinum and silky and perfectly straight, framing her face just right. Her eyes were indigo like the night sky, sparkling like stars from time to time, but Victoire' s were light blue, like the noon sky, and always shining like the sun. She was a bit short and her cheeks were still a bit round and puffy, while Victoire was tall and thin and elegant, with her perfect nose and her perfect chin and her perfectly shaped face.
When Victoire smiled, sang, danced, talked, or drew, everyone around her smiled. She was good at everything; Quidditch Captain, best of the class, daddy's girl... Dominique couldn't compare. But of course, Victoire was always the one people compared her to. So Dominique tried all the time to be better, but of course she never got there. How could she when her goal was so elite. She tried during the first year, but then she gave up.
And so Dominique started hiding. Her hair grew to cover her eyes, so that she had to push it back to see properly. She hid herself in books, where there was no Victoire and she was the heroin, the perfect one who saved the world. Sometimes Dominique wished she had wings, so she could fly away from home and live adventurously in the wild. She was sometimes tempted to fly away on her Saturn 3000, but she always quickly shut down those fantasies, feeling guilty. After all, it wasn't Victoire' s fault that she was so perfect. It wasn't a mistake.
So Dominique just hid her eyes behind her hair, she hid herself in the back of the class and she was just known as Victoire Weasley' s sister. But Dominique was very observant, always had been, so she knew everyone in the castle. She amused herself by secretly solving mysteries. And Dominique made friends with the ghosts. They were the only ones who didn't judge her. And the ghosts quickly came to love Dominique, the peculiar girl who always stopped to talk to them and never missed one of their Deathday parties. Even Peeves became friends with her, after she pranked him to prove she wasn't a goody two shoes. But quickly after, in her second year, they started to fade, until only a few were left, so secretive that Dominique hardly ever saw them. They faded because Dominique had made them happy.
So Dominique sometimes hid in the Forbidden forest, were she played with the pixies and the unicorns and the hippogriffs and many other magical creatures. Of course they weren't the same as having human company, and Dominique was still lonely and imperfect and alone. Not that anyone noticed.
Then, in her fourth year, as she arrived in the beautiful clearing, her hiding place, she saw someone waiting there. She remembered he was Lorcan Scamander. He had a twin, called Lysander. She'd seen him at Christmas at the Burrow. He'd been playing with Lysander and Lily. Dominique remembered all this in a flash, thanks to her excellent memory. Of course, she didn't go into the meadow after she saw him there. She was too shy for that, and she regarded her hiding places as her' s, so she'd have to find a new one. But as she turned around she tripped, because, of course, she'd always been clumsy. And she twisted her ankle while tripping, so she let out a sharp cry of pain.
And as she reached to her mouth to close it in alarm, she noticed a familiar weight was missing from her neck. It was her pendant, given to her by her parents on her sixth birthday. It was star shaped and silver of course, because Victoire was the golden moon, but Dominique still wore it everyday. So, forgetting not to make any noise and crying out in alarm this time, she started searching where she'd fallen.
"Can I help you?" she heard a voice ask from behind her. She spun around, but seeing as she was still lying the ground, the dramatic effect was ruined, although she did raise a lot of dust.
It was the boy who'd been sitting in the meadow of course. She eyed him warily. Dominique didn't often speak to live humans. The boy had dreamy eyes that were brown and green and blue and grey all at the same time. They looked slightly like paint, stirring slowly in the water. His hair was black and as long as those muggles who rode on the sea, staying in balance on tiny pieces of wood, except they were usually blond. Sunbleached hair, her mother had called it.
He was looking at her expectingly, still waiting for her answer she realized.
"I've lost my pendant." she said slowly, her own voice sounding strange to her ears.
"Accio pendant!" he said suddenly, drawing out his wand. The silver pendant flew to his hand from where it had landed a few meters away, obviously propulsed forards when she fell.
He smiled as he handed it to her, and she found herself smiling back automatically. She quickly stopped and got up, promptly falling back down as soon as she pressed on her sprained ankle.
"Are you ok?" he asked alarmed, reaching down to help her back up.
She nodded, but he insisted on accompanying her to the Hospital Wing.
"I'm Lorcan, by the way." he told her as they slowly walked up to the castle, hiding when someone passed, because they weren't supposed to go in the forest.
"I know"
He looked at her quizzically but she just carried on walking.
The day afterwards, Dominique hid even more than usual. As she walked up the staircase to the Griffindor common room, she was stopped by Victoire. Dominique supressed a thrill, for Victoire always pretended she didn't exist at Hogwarts.
"Dom!" Victoire called out, using her hated nickname. She stopped and turned to see Victoire half running towards her. She looked perfect, as usual, her hair streaming behind her like a river of light.
She walked down towards her sister, because someone as perfect as Victoire should never be running towards someone. People always ran towards her.
When she finally reached the point where Victoire had stopped, she looked up at her sister expectingly, her blue eyes big.
"Dom, guess what! I'm going to the Yule ball with Teddy Lupin!" she told her, clapping her perfectly manicured hands excitedly.
So Dominique buried her crush on Teddy Lupin deep down inside herself and forced a smile as Victoire ran off to tell someone else. Then she ran to the dormitory and cried, burying her face deep into a pillow. Her tears ran, crystal clear, and her sobs were muffled by the pillow. Dominique didn't often cry. She'd learnt that everybody noticed if she cried. And that if she cried whenever she desperately needed to, her whole life would be spent in tears. So Dominique hardly ever cried.
Of course she wouldn't be going to the Yule ball. It's not like anybody would ask her, and even if someone did, she couldn't really dance with a strained ankle.
And of course Teddy Lupin would never of asked her out, why would he. He probably didn't even know she existed.
And of course she'd never be like Victoire, because Victoire was perfect.
And of course she'd never be good enough.
But she wished, just once, that she could be the perfect one. That she was the beautiful one, the one who got asked out by Teddy Lupin, the one who was loved by everyone, the Quidditch captain, the one with the perfect grades. Just once, she wished she could be like Victoire.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. Quickly brushing her hair into her eyes and rubbing her cheeks to hide her tears, she opened the door. Standing there was Lorcan.
"Hi, mind if I come in? I want to talk to you." he said. Dominique stood aside to let him in.
"You're Dominique right?" he asked.
She nodded.
"How's your ankle?" he asked smiling.
She gestured that it was alright.
About half an hour later, they were sitting on the bed talking about Quidditch. Or rather, Lorcan was talking, often asking questions and Dominique answered with gestures. And when, several hours later, they went downstairs for dinner, Dominique felt like she had a real friend. She hadn't thought about Victoire a single moment.
I'm thinking that was probably the longest thing I've ever written. To continue or not to continue, that is the question. Should I make this a oneshot or not? Tell me by reviewing! Please!