A/N - Another relatively small chapter, I promise they will get longer, haha. There's a little importance in this chapter, the introduction of an important character. Let me know what you guys think, I hope you like it.

Thank you so much for reading this story. I know this isn't the most popular pairing nor does this story have the most. . .sensitive topics, but thanks.

Disclaimer - I do not own Harry Potter.

Christmas day in Dominique's life has always painfully been the same. Everybody cramped into the Burrow - nobody ever suggested going to a different house even though George, Percy, Ron and Ginny all have houses bigger than the Burrow. All the 'adults' got their own room. When Dominique and her cousins and siblings all got too old to sleep in a shared bed at the bottom of their respective parents' rooms, they all got made to either sleep in the attic or in the living room.

For years, Lily and Dominique would persuade their Uncle Charlie to conjure up a bed in his bedroom for the girls to share while they listened to their own siblings and cousins fight over where they were going to sleep - but now Dominique was sick of it.

She hated coming to the Burrow for Christmas; especially since Lily wasn't here to keep her amused with jokes or laughing about how ridiculous the whole concept of family time at Christmas is when at least a dozen arguments surface every year.

Every year the day would run the same; a huge breakfast made by the aunts and grandmother and her mother, then her grandfather and uncles would tidy the kitchen afterwards. That was followed by the opening of gifts in the living room with everybody all cramped in with each other - privacy or personal space doesn't exist when you're a Weasley. After presents everybody did whatever they liked until lunch was served, then they usually played a game of Quidditch in the freezing cold weather and then a huge feast for Christmas Dinner was served up. After that, since Louis and Lucy, the two youngest members of the family, had turned seventeen a few years ago, everybody got drunk.

Dominique was keen to start the last family tradition by the time everybody was sitting around the kitchen table for lunch.

"Guys, I have an announcement." Uncle Charlie announced when everybody was silent; a silent Burrow on Christmas Day is a very rare occasion so Dominique didn't blame him for taking the chance while he could. "You all know that last Summer, I discovered I had a daughter,"

Dominique groaned internally; Uncle Charlie arrived home in June all pale, demanding to speak to her father. After her Dad took him to one side and talked to him for a full night, Charlie announced that a young girl had come looking for him. Blake Cross, a twenty one year old girl from all around Europe. Blake told him that she was his daughter and several paternity tests later showed this was the truth.

Although she had never met Blake, Dominique had heard a lot about her. All of the parents in the family had met her, and Dominique's grandparents had met her a dozen times.

"She's coming today. For dinner." uncle Charlie told the entire table. "She's very nervous. She's read about all of you,"

Dominique looked over to the counter where a rack of elf wine was waiting to be opened. She longed for a glass, sensing that this Christmas was going to be the worst one yet. She was already feeling stressed, under an immense amount of strain considering it was the first one without Lily. Everybody could see that Aunt Ginny's eyes were red-rimmed. Uncle Harry, James and Albus were a lot more stressed than usual. Teddy was quiet and had barely uttered a word all day. Victoire had been even more short with Dominique than she normally was.

"We can't wait to meet her Uncle Charlie." said Roxanne.

"So. . .um," Hugo cleared his throat, causing everybody to look at him. Dominique knew what was coming; in school and since they left, Hugo had never been shy or uncomfortable. This past year whenever Lily had come up in conversation he had always become uncomfortable whenever speaking about her. "Did you tell Blake about Lily?"

A hush descended around the table; Dominique looked at people for their reactions. Honestly, she was amazed her and Lily's secret had stayed secret for so long. Nearly thirteen months had gone by since Lily 'ran away' and everyone still believed that lie. Nobody knew the truth about Lily.

"Yeah, she knows Lily's left." uncle Charlie spoke quietly.

"I thought she'd have been in contact. Last Christmas was so fresh but it's been a year." Aunt Ginny admitted in an even quieter voice.

Dominique dropped her fork and pushed her chair back.

"I need a proper drink." she muttered when people looked after her.

As Dominique grabbed the bottle and a glass she tried not to think about the reactions of the people behind her; she knew that they all thought she was having a bad time being away from Lily but they were wrong. Dominique was having a bad time keeping Lily's secret and keeping Lily safe. . .but she had no choice.

"Why aren't two of the best seekers in the family playing?" Dominique looked up from her nails to see her uncles Charlie and uncle Harry on either side. She hadn't even heard Harry sit down beside her.

Dominique would have to admit that these two were her favourite uncles. They were both just so cool. When she was younger, she admired both of them. Uncle Charlie was her second father, he spoilt her and Lily more than the others. Uncle Harry. . .well he was an Auror, something Dominique always wanted to be. She sometimes regretted dropping out of training three months before she finished the Academy to become a fully-fledged Auror. The month after she dropped out, Lily got admitted to the hospital.

The weeks before Lily admitted she needed help, Dominique was ready to force her into professional care and the newly qualified-Auror salary isn't enough to cover living costs for two of them.

"Don't feel like playing in the cold." Dominique shrugged a shoulder. She really wanted to play, but she needed to figure out how she was going to get the other three hundred galleons for Lily's fees.

She really didn't want to sleep with anybody for money again, not when she only did that last night.

"I don't want to be sweaty for when Blake gets here. She'll be here soon." even though Dominique didn't want too, she still could hear the excitement in Charlie's voice. He had always been honest when everybody had asked about why he hadn't ever married or had children, "I've never found the right girl," well it's now obvious that he didn't need the right girl for the job. A random one night stand has clearly done the job for him.

"How have you been, Dom?" Uncle Harry asked, sitting down on the bench beside her.

"Just fine." Dominique said back in a clipped voice. Of all the family, she didn't want her uncle Harry who is the Head Auror getting too close to her.

"You still working at that restaurant?" Uncle Charlie asked.

"I'm. . .between jobs at the moment." Dominique said vaguely.

"You've met your rent?" Uncle Harry asked quietly; he needn't have bothered asking quietly, nobody could overhear anyway.

"Lily and I paid for our apartment in full. No rent, no mortgage." Dominique reminded him; she had considered selling the flat in the middle of muggle London that her and Lily had lived in since the day they graduated Hogwarts nearly four years ago, but she couldn't do it. She couldn't sell the flat that she shared with Lily because Lily would need some normality when she gets better.

"Well your bills, food. . .you can pay for all of that?" Uncle Charlie asked.

Dominique put her hands in her lap closed her eyes and hung her head. She didn't want to see her favourite uncles reactions to this; "I'm not Blake and I'm no Lily. There's no need for you two to worry about me."

She heard two sharp intakes of breath but didn't open her eyes. She then heard the bench creak slightly as one of her uncles got up to walk away from her.

"You're right. You're not our daughter, but you're our niece. To be completely honest, you're my favourite niece." Uncle Charlie put a strong hand on her wrist and squeezed gently. "And I will always worry about you. You're my number one niece, remember?"

Dominique smiled despite herself, remembering when he first told her she was his number one niece.

"Uncle Charlie!" Dominique and Lily shrilled at the same time, running towards their uncle, kicking snow everywhere, covering Rosie and Molly who were reading a large book on one of the benches.

"Hey, Dommie, Lily-Luna!" he opened his arms to catch the pair of them as they jumped up into his arms. The ten year old girls giggled loudly as their favourite uncle swung them both around in his arms.

"What took you so long?" Lily pouted when he set them both down. They each took one of his hands and led him towards the house - away from their other cousins and siblings. Uncle Charlie was theirs, they didn't like sharing him.

"I had to stop off and see a friend about Victoire getting an interview. I took them both out for dinner -"

"You've saw Victoire before us?" Dominique and Lily both stopped walking at the same time, looked at each other and then up to their uncle; hurt etched upon both of their small faces.

"Stop being such babies." James muttered, walking past them to get into the warmth of the house.

"Yeah, he always sees you before us. Get over it." Fred added sourly.

That didn't convince Lily or Dominique. The two of them pushed their way past their uncle, into the kitchen and then they both ran up to Dominique's parents' room. They stayed up their all night. When Grandma Molly called bed time, the two of them slowly made their way over to Uncle Charlie's room where they had a bed set up. When they entered the room, they saw two large boxes sitting on top of their shared bed.

Curiosity got the better of them, Dominique looked over at Lily and grinned at the sight of presents, clearly meant for them. One box had a light pink ribbon and the other a rich purple silk ribbon - their favourite colours. The two girls rushed over and ripped the papers off of the boxes. Inside the boxes were two metal cages and inside the cages were two cats. Dominique had an all black cat with a silky shiny coat. Lily had an all white cat with a long coat that she could brush and comb.

"My two number one nieces are big girls now." a deep voice from behind them made them both jump and turn around. "I thought it was time you two had pets of your own."

Lily and Dominique shared another look, only this one had large broad grins across their faces.

"Thank you uncle Charlie!"

"You got us Bubble and Gum that year." Dominique chuckled, thinking of the two cats that she was now caring for alone. The two very spoilt cats that hissed at everybody but her and Lily.

"Yeah, I've never laughed so hard at those two names." uncle Charlie chuckled; he swung an arm up and put it around Dominique's shoulders, pulling her into him.

"Come on Nicky, what gives?"

Dominique allowed herself to get comforted by her uncles hug.

"What do you mean?"

"Blaise Zabini, quitting your job at that restaurant, apparently you're always out partying -"

"Nice to see the cousins are talking about me." Dominique muttered, looking over to where most of her cousins were flying through the air.

"We're worried about you." Uncle Charlie told her firmly. "We've lost Lily, we don't want to lose you." a stab of guilt ran through Dominique's heart; she spun a lie that Lily hated being in the media spotlight. That she hated being a Potter and just wanted a normal life, where she wouldn't be plastered across the front page for simply going to the market. Dominique told her entire family that she and Lily had a row over the family's popularity in the media and then Dominique woke up the next morning to find Lily had vanished, only taking one bag of her clothes and belongings with her, leaving her cat and her wand behind.

The truth is, just over a year ago Lily nearly died after taking too much drugs and that was when she begged Dominique for her help. Dominique read somewhere about Hôpital privé de la Grande Sainte-Thérèse pour la communauté magique, a magical hospital in France. The Great Saint Theresa's Private Hospital for the Magical Community, as it is in English, treats witches and wizards with a variety of problems. Mental health to drug related. It's expensive, but Lily was worth it.

Dominique visited Lily twice a week, sometimes more when she had the time. Every visit seemed to be the same, she would sit and talk to Lily about the old times, catch her up on gossip that she had heard. Lily would either sit in silence, sit and whimper or sit and scream in pain and beg Dominique to kill her.

"Uncle Charlie. . ." Dominique sat up straight and took a deep breath; this is it, she told herself. Dominique braced herself for the fallout of admitting the truth about Lily. "The thing is, I haven't -"

"Blake!"

Charlie stood from the bench and waved over Dominique's shoulder. He walked away, leaving Dominique tempted to scream in frustration; that just showed Dominique that she couldn't tell the family. They all have too many distractions. . .she has to do this alone.

While the cousins all focused on meeting their new cousin, Dominique quietly slipped back into the warmth of the house. She looked out of the window and could briefly see a small black haired girl shaking James' hand. Dominique hurried into the kitchen and quickly gulped down the rest of the wine in the bottle that she opened at lunch time. Her Aunt Ginny joined in her with a very large glass over lunch so there was just under half a bottle left.

"What are you doing?" Dominique turned round at the voice; Teddy was standing on the staircase looking at Dominique through careful eyes.

Dominique's eyes narrowed when she saw her 'cousin' looking at her. Years ago the two were relatively friendly to each other. . . now, now it's all it takes for the two to be civil to one another.

"None of your business." Dominique sneered; the rest of the family may love and worship Teddy but Dominique resents him. She hates that he was the only person in the family beside Dominique who knew about Lily's drug problem but he never once stopped or intervened.

Lily being in Saint Theresa's hospital is just as much Teddy's fault as it is Lily's and Dominique's.

"Shouldn't you be outside, meeting your new cousin?" Teddy scowled at her; Teddy had changed since Lily 'ran away.' He used to be happy with everybody but now he excludes himself from family events as much as Dominique does. Dominique knew and hated that the family just assumed that he too found it too difficult to be around the family without Lily.

"Shouldn't you be burying your head in the sand?" Dominique scowled back.

Teddy was saved from replying because the back door opened up and the family all bustled in.

"Ted, Dom, meet Blake!" Grandma Molly led the small black haired girl into a chair but neither Teddy nor Dominique looked at her. They just focused on having a little glare-off.

"Teddy." Uncle Harry warned his godson sternly.

"Dom." Dominique's father warned her, grabbing hold of her arm and pulling her away from Teddy's gaze.

"Stay the fuck away from me, Lupin." Dominique growled at him, she neither cared nor regretted that her Gran gasped in shock at her language and she honestly couldn't care that her new cousin was probably shocked at witnessing a Weasley fight first hand on her first full family visit.

Teddy just clenched his jaw and glared at Dominique; she knew she touched a nerve. "Stay the fuck away from me, Lupin," is the last thing Lily ever said to Teddy and she was high as a Hippogriff when she said it.

"Nice to meet you, Blake." Teddy nodded his head in Blake's direction. Without saying a word to anybody, Teddy grabbed his jacket from the back of a chair and sauntered out of the back door, slamming it behind him.

Dominique escaped upstairs soon after Teddy stormed out. She didn't even say hello to Blake, she didn't really care about meeting one cousin when all she could focus on was taking care of the ones who needed her.

Needless to say, this didn't go down very well with her parents.

When the hatch to the attic opened up with a slam, Dominique looked away from the window to see her mother and father climb up the remainder of the stairs before they were fully in the attic.

"I'm sorry I argued with Teddy." Dominique got it out before they tried to guilt trip it out of her.

"We expected zat." Fleur scolded, walking over to sit on the windowsill with her daughter. "What we didn't expect was for you to be so cold towards Blake!"

Dominique blinked in surprise. "I haven't even spoken to Blake."

"Exactly. Charlie is upset that you've just ignored her. He was excited for you two to meet." Bill explained. "And as soon as she came into the house you came up here."

"Dad. . .I don't need another cousin in my life. I have more than necessary."

"Dom, this isn't about getting another cousin. This is about you supporting Charlie and his relationship with his daughter. Come on. . .we get that you don't like being here without Lily. Can't you put that aside for an hour and come and introduce yourself to Blake?" Bill squatted down so he was on his knees and gently tapped his daughters knee. "She's a lovely girl, honestly. And she's only about a month younger than you."

Dominique pondered this; when Lily went away, Charlie came back to England for support. He didn't go see Ginny or Harry or Lily's brothers first, he went to Dominique and made sure she was alright. He was the only person who didn't comment on Dominique dropping out of the Auror Academy. He didn't comment when she told him she was between jobs at the moment, he just offered money.

"Fine. . .but I'm not gonna promise to like her. And I'm gone as soon as I wake up tomorrow." Dominique let out a deep breath and stood from the windowsill.

When she finally stopped descending staircases, Dominique found herself in the kitchen where most of her aunts and uncles were sitting. A small, black haired girl was sitting with her back to Dominique. From what Dom could see, Blake was smaller than average, extremely skinny but oddly comfortable in her spot.

"Ah, Blake, this is Dom. Dominique, this is my daughter Blake." Charlie introduced the two girls happily.

Dominique smiled over at her uncle as Blake stood up from her chair and turned to face Dominique.

When Blake turned to face her, Dominique felt her eyes widen and her mouth drop open in surprise.

Dominique recognised Blake and judging by the same expression on Blake's face, she recognised Dominique.

"Nice to meet you, Blake." Dominique spoke first, forcing all shock from her face and extending a hand out for her new cousin to take.

"You too, Dominique." Blake narrowed her eyes but didn't call Dominique out on not saying that they had already met a few months prior to this day.

Dominique watched Blake curiously all through the dinner and she paid extremely close attention to detail; Blake's mother was a muggle from a group of people called 'Gypsies.' From what Dominique could gather, they traveled around Europe setting up their homes with camping equipment. Blake's mother never told Blake who her father was and when she displayed signs of magic from a young age, her mother and her mothers family told her it was her Romany Gypsy genes coming out. It was only when Blake's mother, Rosaline, died when Blake had just turned eighteen that she finally learned who her father was. Obviously it took Blake nearly two years to sum up the courage to contact her father.

Dominique sensed a lie through that last bit; she knew why it took Blake nearly two years to get the 'courage' of contacting Charlie.

Blake needed to get clean and her mind back on track before she contacted her father.

Dominique excused herself after dinner and went outside to the bench she was sitting on before he uncles ambushed her earlier. She closed her eyes and thought back to when she first met Blake about two or three months before Charlie came to England saying he had a daughter.

Dominique carefully shut Lily's door on her way out. Her cousin had just had to be sedated to go to sleep since the latest fit nearly injured Lily. Dominique sat down in one of the chairs in the small waiting room, hardly noticing she wasn't alone.

"She never means it you know."

Dominique looked up to see a small, dark haired, extremely skinny girl sat two rows in front of her. The girl turned round and Dominique felt a pang of familiarity with this girl.

"I'm Rosaline. My room is next door to Lily's." Rosaline introduced herself.

"Dominique Delacour." Dominique hated that Lily insisted on using fake names. Only a handful of healers knew that they weren't a Delacour and a Dursley and that they were in fact members of the most influential wizarding family in the wizarding world. Not that Dominique would cash in on using her surname. . .she just didn't feel herself without it.

"Lily never means it when she says she hates you and that she wants you to kill her." Rosaline spoke honestly. "We go to some of the activities together, if we're both feeling up to it."

Dominique carefully looked over Rosaline and wondered why she was in Theresa's.

"Muggle drugs, mild depression and an eating disorder." Rosaline told Dominique when she caught her looking. "Don't worry, I've been clean for just over a year now and I've been eating three square meals a day nine months." she joked. Dominique tried hard to stifle the laugh that she wanted to let out at Rosaline's brute honestly.

"Good to know." Dominique joked back.

Rosaline smiled sincerely and then looked at the clock above Dominique's head.

"I've got to go. . .last therapy session of my stay here." Rosaline stood from her chair. "Lily. . .she seems like she isn't getting better but she is. She talks about you a lot. In one of the dumb-arse poetry sessions we went too about a fortnight ago, she wrote a poem about you. Of course, the poem turned into a wandless spell and it turned the woman on the magazine cover to turn into you. . .but the intent was there."

Before Dominique could do anything other than let out a shocked laugh, Rosaline walked away.

"Mind if I join you?"

Dominique looked up to see 'Rosaline,' standing in front of her. She shook her head slowly and watched as Blake sat down and pulled out a box of muggle cigarette's. Blake lit one up, took a long drag and waited a while before she let the smoke out.

Dominique just watched the smoke linger in the air between the two of them for a minute before she spoke. "So, still having three square meals a day?"

Blake took another drag before she answered.

"Well, today it's been two square meals and then a huge box shaped feast but yeah."

Dominique watched as more smoke, this time in the shape of rings, came floating in front of them. "You didn't tell them."

"How do you know I didn't just tell them that Lily is a drug addict with mental health problems?"

Dominique felt like punching Blake. She really wanted to punch Blake but she wouldn't. She would not lose her temper and punch her new cousin. . .not while she knows her secret.

"Because they're not out here demanding answers."

Blake considered this and took a couple more drags before she next spoke.

"How is she?"

"Not much change. She somehow managed to convince a fellow patients visitors to smuggle her some High's in." Dominique admitted; a couple of months ago, Lily went back to square one when Marcus found a stash of empty vials in her room. They actually thought that Lily was ready to be released but she had to start the program from the first step all over again.

"Relapse while in hospital. There's a first. She bribe them with sexual favours?" Blake asked as if she was discussing the weather.

"Yep. Now Lily doesn't go anywhere without an escort. Usually Marcus. Me when I visit." Dominique hated talking about Lily like she was a character out of a story.

Blake and Dominique stayed silent for a short while, not saying anything. Blake stopped smoking and just sat and looked around the yard of the Burrow. Dominique sat and thought over how she was supposed to get three hundred galleons.

Her job in the restaurant barely paid enough to pay for food, never mind Lily's lodge. She'd have to do something quick and doing something quick usually meant doing something illegal.

"Telling them will destroy them all, won't it?" Blake stood up and discreetly nodded over to the house. Dominique turned in her seat to see a few faces peering out of windows.

"It would destroy our family."

Blake nodded her head slowly.

"Your secret is safe with me, Delacour. You owe me."

"Thanks, Rosaline."

Dominique looked around the club for somebody fitting her criteria; handsome, male and rich. They didn't even have to be handsome, just male and rich would do.

She needed to find another one hundred and fifty galleons; she managed to persuade her boss at the restaurant to give her a raise. . .and she would find some other way of feeding herself for the next couple of weeks. Now all she had to do was find a rich muggle, flirt with him enough for him to take her somewhere private and then she'd get the rest of the money.

"Bingo." Dominique whispered to herself. She spotted a middle aged bald man sitting at a table alone. He was tapping away on what Dominique recognised as a mobile-phone. Luckily, Dominique got an Outstanding in her Muggle Studies N.E.W.T. and she also had experience with getting money out of muggle men. She fished her own phone out of her bag, made sure her make up and hair were perfect and stood up from her stool at the bar. As she walked over she pulled her dress down over her breasts another inch and up at her thighs another two inches.

Taking a deep breath Dominique very carefully slided into the chair beside the guy and put her phone on the table, showing him the screen.

"Natalia." Dominique smirked when the man looked up. "That's my number." she tapped her screen and bit the inside of her cheek when the guy looked Dominique over, taking in the short hem of her very small black dress and the very low neckline.

"Nice to meet you, Natalia." the man extended a hand. Dominique took it and swallowed the bile that rised in her throat when he kissed the back of her hand, his tongue lingering for far too long. "My name is Clive. Would you care for a drink?"

As the night progressed, Dominique began to order more and more drinks for the table. Whenever Clive was distracted with something, Dominique would reach into her bag and slyly add a drop of a potion of her own making into her drink. It eliminated all traces of alcohol in her drink, meaning that while Clive was quickly becoming extremely drunk, Dominique wasn't.

When Clive suggest Dominique join him back at his hotel suite, Dominique agreed. She allowed Clive to drape his arm across her back and grope her bottom as she led him from the bar. She let him rub his hands up and down her thigh in the car to the hotel and in the elevator, she allowed him to move his hand further up her dress until the tips of his fingers were tracing the detail on her panties.

She opened a bottle of champagne when she got into the room and poured out two glasses, one for herself and one for Clive.

"Excuse me, one moment." Clive held a finger over his mouth when his mobile started ringing. "Oh hello sweetheart, how are you? Yes. . .that's good. . .oh brilliant! Well sweetie it's just nearing two a.m. right now. . .alright, Daddy will speak to you tomorrow. Tell Mummy I love her and look forward to seeing her tomorrow." Clive looked at Dominique sheepishly when he put the phone down and on to the bar beside the champagne bottle.

"Does my marriage bother you?" Clive asked, accepting the flute of champagne from Dominique.

"Does it bother you?" Dominique went over to sit on the bed and carefully crossed her legs slowly; giving Clive full viewing.

"Nope. What Maureen doesn't know won't hurt her."

"Then it doesn't bother me." Dominique wanted to scream that Clive was disgusting, fat, ugly and bald but she didn't. She just smirked at him and said nothing when he came to sit beside her and pressed his lips against hers. Dominique stayed silent when his sweaty hands groped her body, pulled her dress up and pinned her to the bed.

When Clive put one knee on either side of her, effectively trapping her underneath him, Dominique restrained herself from spitting up in his face. Instead she smiled seductively up at him.

"Would you care for a bath?" she suggested.

"A bath?"

"Yeah. . .we can finish up here while it's running and then you can wash my back in the tub." Dominique smirked up at him, a plan forming in her mind. "You go and run it. I'll pour us another drink and slip into something a little more comfortable. . ."

Clive leant down and planted a wet, sloppy, disgusting kiss over Dominique's lips and then was off her in a flash.

Seizing her moment, Dominique hurried over to where the champagne bottle was and positioned herself so her back was to the bathroom door. She poured the bottle with one hand while she quickly tapped away on Clive's phone with the other. Dominique scrolled through the many names in his address book before she found 'Maureen' and pressed the call button.

Dominique just pushed the phone away from her when she felt Clive's sweaty hands on her back, unzipping her dress.

"Are you sure you want to do this. . .you are married, Clive." Dominique made her voice sound seductive, but inside she wanted nothing more than to turn round and kick this slimeball in the space between his legs.

"I told you, Natalia, my wife is of no concern to me." Clive muttered, pressing his lips to the back of Dominique's neck. "Now. . I'll go get in the tub and you can come and scrub my back."

Dominique turned her head so he could see her smile. "I'll be in there in a minute."

Clive kissed her once more and then headed back into the bathroom, thankfully for Dominique he shut the door behind himself.

Dominique sprung into action, she quickly pressed the end button on his phone, kept hold of it in her hand, zipped her dress back up and hurried over to where Clive had laid his suit jacket over a chair at the desk. Dominique shook the jacket wildly so the content fell out.

A heavy, full leather wallet and a set of car keys to what Dominique was sure would be a very expensive car in the under-ground garage of the hotel.

"Natalia?"

Dominique grabbed her clutch bag from the floor beside the bed, put the wallet and the keys inside her bag, followed by the phone and then made her way towards the door to the hotel room.

Dominique sipped her coffee and looked over she shiny red car in the drive that came with the flat. She was sitting on the balcony of the flat the morning after her encounter with Clive. She needed to come up with a plan for the car; if the small amount of knowledge she had about cars was right, she could pay for at least the next six months of Lily's fees with this car.

"New toy?"

Dominique looked away from the balcony view to see a few of her female relatives sitting or standing in her kitchen. Her cousin Roxanne was the one who asked the question, Dominique remembered that her cousin had a fetish for muggle things - including and especially cars.

"Yours if your price is right." Dominique shrugged a shoulder, moving over to put the mug in the sink. "What are you all doing in my kitchen? I have places to be."

"It's about the New Year's Eve party." Aunt Hermione said.

"No. I said no on Christmas, I've got plans for New Year." Dominique shook her head and rolled her eyes as she looked through the huge pile of laundry for something to wear for her shift at the muggle restaurant. She saw her Aunt Ginny trail her fingers over the door in the kitchen that led to Lily's room.

"Come on Dom, it's for charity -"

"Charity begins at home." Dominique interrupted Rose. She pulled out a pair of black skinny jeans and pulled them on under the short dressing gown that she was wearing.

"Dominique, come on. We're not asking you for much. Just go to the party and sit at a damn table for a couple of hours. You can go and hook up with a stranger once the event is finished." Lucy scowled from her position on the worktop.

"Mum, leave them. I'll do them later." Dominique ignored her cousins comment and scowled at her mother who was pulling an ironing board out of a cupboard and grabbed a pile of clothes that desperately needed ironing.

"You have no food but endless amounts of clothes?" Dominique's grandmother tutted and lifted a box that Dominique hadn't noticed before. "Honestly girl, you'll waste away soon."

Dominique just shook her head when all her aunts joined her mother and gran in taking control over the kitchen. Audrey moved over to the sink and began scrubbing the various dishes in there. Hermione put the food that Molly was pulling out of the box, which clearly had an undetectable extension charm on it. Ginny took a deep breath, turned away from the door and put all the ironed clothes in a fresh basket.

"I have to leave for work soon. . .just stay out of my room." Dominique grumbled, walking over to her mother and Ginny and grabbed the first shirt on the freshly ironed pile. It didn't really matter what she wore, she'd have to wear that disgusting green uniform anyway.

"Dominique!" her mother scolded when she let the dressing gown drop so she was stood in her jeans and the bra still from last night. "Is that a love bite?" this got all of the other girls' attentions and they all rushed over to look at the small mark on Dominique's shoulder.

Dominique groaned out loud and pushed Victoire and Lucy's hands away so she could pull her shirt over her head. She clearly hadn't remembered to get rid of it after she ran with Clive's phone, money and car keys.

"Is that why you don't want us going in your room?" Roxanne grinned and began to slowly walk out of the kitchen to where Dominique's bedroom door was.

"Oh. . .is Blaise here?" Hermione asked awkwardly, frowning a little at the thought of the elder married Slytherin being in the same apartment as them all.

Dominique jumped on that.

"Yes, and he's sleeping so kindly leave him the hell alone." she lied and shut the kitchen door, pretending to keep the apartment quiet for him. "He didn't get here until late last night, he needs to sleep."

She moved over to where she kept a stock of her own created potions and hunted through them for the paste like solution she created in her fifth year that removed hickeys and other bruises. Unlike the thick, heavily scented paste her uncle sold in his shop, this was more like a cream and was odourless. She applied it over the hickey and watched in the mirror on the wall as it vanished within seconds.

"What does his wife think?" Victoire asked icily. Dominique looked through the mirror to see her families reactions; her Gran was taking yet more food out of the box with a firm expression on her face. Her aunts were still doing their chores, looking disappointed all the while. Her mother wouldn't look up from the pile of ironing. All of her cousins were openly scowling and looking at Dominique like she was a piece of trash.

"His wife is none of my concern." Dominique muttered. Wanting to do something other than focus on the disapproving looks from her family, she reached for her make up bag and started on finishing her appearance for work. She applied a thin layer of eye liner, mascara and a touch of pale pink lip gloss on her lips.

"So you'll break up a family but you won't be part of a speed-dating event for charity?" cousin Molly asked in a quiet voice, but it was carried throughout the kitchen.

Dominique didn't say anything, she just tied her hair up in a tight pony tail, grabbed her knee-length coat and slipped on her shoes.

She grabbed her black leather tote bag and only turned to her family when she was ready to go.

"I'll do the stupid thing if the lot of you but out of my life. I mean it, my sex-life is none of any of your business. Leave me alone. Don't go in my bedroom. Oh, and if you want to help me, feed my cats." Dominique said before she left the apartment and her family behind her.

A/N 2 - I promise Scorpius Malfoy will make an appearance in the next chapter, haha.