t Chapter 3
Time sped on and soon the chill September breeze was creeping its way into my room. It was finally time for me to begin my first term at Hogwarts of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I awoke that morning with a nervous pit in my stomach but also lightness in my heart. Though my fears regarding the school were still present, they were eased with the knowledge that I would be spending the time with my two closest relatives and friends.
Soon that lightness turned into excitement as I crawled out of bed and rushed down stairs, the smell of bacon and pancakes leading the way. I quickly descended the stairs and entered the living room to find Dominique just coming from her room. She was already dressed, her strawberry curls put up in a ponytail revealing the mass of freckles that gave her an almost tan complexion around her cheeks. Of the three of us she had inherited the Weasley gene's the most. She looked at me for a minute as if contemplating whether or not to berate me at that very moment but to my surprise (and fortune) she thought it best not to with the rest of the family just in the other room. She simply scoffed and went into the kitchen and I followed slightly behind her. I had always wished things could have been different that morning and for once she could have just been happy for me…or at least pretended to be.
As I expected the kitchen was alive with joy and excitement. My father, mother, and sister Victoire all sat at the table waiting for me to arrive. I was greeted with warm smiles and praises of admiration from all of them. I began to help myself to some bacon when Victoire nudge me to get my attention.
"Read this when you get a moment alone." She whispered to me as she set a small piece of parchment on my lap underneath the table. I clandestinely stuck the parchment inside the front of my pajama bottoms and continued eating as if nothing had happened.
"Well are you ready?" My father said peering at me with his beautifully scarred face.
"As ready as I'll ever be."I replied with a smile, diving into my food.
"We'll be meeting everyone else at the station in just a little while so hurry and finish your food and get dressed. Did you pack like I told you to last night?" He asked.
"Yeah." I lied in between bites of pancake. At that point I quickly stuffed my face and bolted upstairs to begin packing my things.
After about five minutes I realized it was going to take a miracle to pack all of things up for school. From clothes, to text books, to potions ingredients, to keep sakes; it seemed as if I had a never ending list of things that I needed to take with me and not even a bottomless trunk made the job any easier. I heard a knock at the door an instantly prepared myself for the tongue lashing my father was going to give me for not having my things packed when Victoire peeked her head through the crack. She looked around at the cluttered disarray that was my room and flashed a brilliant smile.
"Need some help?" She asked suppressing giggles.
It wasn't long before everything had been packed (her being able to use magic outside of Hogwarts was a definite plus). We sat on my bed for a second talking and laughing about the good times we had had together. There was a pause in the conversation and she then looked over at me with a very serious look on her face.
"What are you going to do about Dominique?" She asked in a sobering tone. I hadn't given much thought to it up until that point. With everything else happening Dominique was the last thing on my mind but as my head began to wrap itself around the very real fact that I would be going to school with her Victoire rested a hand on my shoulder and continued, "You need to learn to stick up for yourself little brother. You're not going to have mom and dad to watch over you 24/7 at Hogwarts. Sure the professors will be there but there is still a whole lot that goes unseen and unnoticed by even them."
"What happened to just not letting her get to me?" I asked sarcastically even though part of me was actually curious as to what she had to say.
"You shouldn't let her get to you…but you shouldn't let her walk all over you either. You gotta take action."
"You make it sound so simple. How in Merlin's name am I going to do that?" I replied falling back on my bed. She soon followed suit.
"Now that I can't tell you."
"Then I might as well not even go." I said watching stray rays of sunlight dance on the ceiling.
"You'll think of something…and if you don't I'm sure Hugo will and Lily will be right there ready to jump into whatever plan he has." I gave a slight chuckle at the accuracy of her statement, "Mom, Dad, and myself may not be there but you will have Hugo, Lily, and anyone else you may meet. Don't ever forget that little brother."
"I won't—I love you Victoire."
"I love you too Louis."
XxX
The steam coming from the train formed a dense cloud that overcast the many families bustling about platform 9 ¾ saying their goodbyes. I stood with my entire extended family as we all exchanged words of farewell and good luck. I couldn't shake the thought that I was going to need all the luck I could wrap my tiny hands around. Every chance she could get, Dominique would send menacing smirk my way at which time I would advert my eyes to the giant train. That train was about to take me away from everything I had ever known and take me to a place where no one knew me nor had any reason to. If Dominique were to have her way I would be a social pariah and the more I thought about it the more I began to believe that she might just have her way.
The sound of the train's horn resonated off of the stone walls of the station and the noise from the many people seemed to double as kids began to scramble for the train and families tried to squeeze in their final words. I gave my parents and Victoire the tightest hugs I could muster before hurrying with Lily and Hugo to find decent seats on the train. As soon as I stepped on the train the tears began to flow, I couldn't help myself. It was really happening and there was nothing I could do about it. The excitement I had been feeling that morning quickly dissipated and was replaced with a most sobering fear. It wasn't difficult to hide my tears from the other students as they were all busy zooming between cabins greeting old friends and meeting new ones. At some point Lily must have noticed my tears and I felt a firm grip around my hand and saw a warm smile grace her freckled features. In that singular smile she said everything I needed to hear so wiped my face and returned the smile she had given me.
Hugo had finally happened upon an empty cabin and we quickly filed in with our belongings and shut the door behind us. Hugo let his pet cat Felix out of his caring case and the grey haired, blue eyed little thing quickly leapt onto my lap and nestled himself in my thick, black robes.
"He's always liked you better than me." Hugo said more so making a general statement than complaining.
"Well you were never a cat person; I'm not even sure why you got him."
"Well look at him! If that face had been staring back at you from a store window you would have bought him yourself!"
"I can't say I agree with you…I'm quite fond my owl to be honest." I said looking over at Richard in his cage. It was a strange breed of owl with brown, almost red feathers and piercing yellow eyes and a large face. He looked as if he was always judging someone.
"I agree with Louis, owl's are way better than cats." Lily chimed in lively.
"Says the girl who got herself a toad." Hugo replied with a chuckle. Obviously a fight ensued.
I turned my attention to the lush landscape that rushed past the frames of my window. The view and the rattling of the train soon put me in a trance. I sat there for a good amount of time, soaking in all my eyes could rest on before the swish of the compartment door opening shook me out of my own head. I turned to see a familiar pair of grey eyes. Scorpius stood there staring down at us from his standing position with a grin on his face. To Uncle Ron's dismay our generation of the Potter/Weasley clan made peace with that of the Malfoys. Scorpios had become a big brother of sorts to me over the years and thanks to my Veela blood he was always seen as just that to anyone who didn't know my family.
"Louis, Lily, Hugo." Scorpius began, "I'm sure you're all excited to be starting your first year."
"You have no idea." Hugo answered eagerly. He had always looked up to Scorpios who was known for his top marks and pleasant relations with both students and faculty.
"Wonderful." He said flashing another grin, "I have a favor to ask of you. A friend of my father, Mr. Blaise Zabini has a son who is also in his first year and I was wondering if the three of you could befriend the little guy?"
"I am not little." A venomous voice said from behind Scorpius. My heart stopped as I noticed who exactly was behind Scorpius. The same almond shape eyes and dark skin. He was the one who I ran into that faithful day. I quickly fixed my gaze outside the window in hopes that he wouldn't recognize me.
"This is Versailles—"
"You can call me Vincent."
"—alright then, Vincent. He's quite the personality. I'm sure you guys will get along fine."
Before any of us could protest or accept Scropius was gone just as quickly has he had come. I could feel Vincent's eyes on me as I desperately willed myself not to turn around and meet his gaze. I couldn't believe my terrible luck. I began to hear his footsteps along he carpeted floor walking towards me and to my dismay I was frozen to my spot. I would have given anything to have Uncle Harry's invisibility cloak. It wasn't long until he was sitting right in front of me his dark eyes peering into mine as if he was searching for something. I knew he recognized me and I knew Hugo and Lily must have been wondering what was going on. We just stood there in silence staring at each other. Hugo began to speak but Vincent cut him off.
"Hello, I'm Vincent." He said coolly stretching out his hand towards me.
"I'm Louis" I answered grabbing his hand into a limp handshake.
"I'm Hugo and this is Lily," Hugo started up again, "It's very nice to meet you Vincent. So where are you from?"
"I was born and raised just outside of Paris."
"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Lily asked
"No, it's just me, my father, and my mother. And various house elves but I'm not too sure if you would count them."
"Of course you would count them!" Hugo said passionately. If his mother had instilled anything in him besides her thirst for knowledge it was her avid love for the average house elf.
"Well I would have to beg to differ." Vincent began, I could see the blood rushing to Hugo's face, "There is absolutely nothing tying them to my family. Not blood nor marriage; at best they are servants." He said looking Hugo dead in the face.
I was preparing myself for the battle of the century. I could see Hugo's knuckles turning white and his mouth was contorting into the most unattractive shapes but Vincent just sat there coolly looking at him. Abruptly, Hugo shot up from his seat glaring at Vincent, he mumbled something under his breath and exited the compartment slamming the door behind him.
"Don't worry about him. He's just a little sensitive when it comes to that sort of thing." Lily said trying to mediate the situation.
"Duly noted." Vincent said rising from his seat, "Well it was nice meeting you all, I'm going to head back to my compartment. I'm sure Fredrick is hungry."
"Fredrick?" I asked curiously.
"My owl." He replied, his eyes fixed on me again. I didn't know why at the time but I was terribly relieved that Fredrick had happened to be an owl and not another person, "Well goodbye then." And like that he was gone.
After a moment Hugo returned, his face a few shades less red than it was before and he seemed relieved that Vincent had left. I however wished he had stayed. I spent the rest of the train ride drifting in and out of the group conversation, my mind fingering around with the few moments I spent in his presence. I wanted more than anything for him to come back through that door or for me to have a reason to go out and search for him but whatever ideas I came up with would have made Lily suspicious. She wasn't the most academically gifted witch in Europe but she had her mother's intuition and I knew she would know the second something was up. So I sat there, smiled, and waited.