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"This is it" Victoire sighed "only nine hours and twenty three minutes to go"
It was the night before September 1st, or really the morning of September 1st, and little Victoire Weasley was finally eleven years old. For the past two years all Victoire could think about was boarding the Hogwarts Express. It wasn't like the last two years had been torture, she loved her family and she got to know her cousins a lot better too. The only flaw that her cousins had really was that they were, well, not Teddy. Sure, Teddy came back for the breaks and he sent her a ton of letters during the year, but after spending almost every minute together for eleven years, it wasn't the same. The three months she got with Teddy were great, but not long enough. The only reason that Teddy wasn't at her house right now was that his Gran complained that she never got to see him. She might have a point really. Teddy spent almost all of his time here at the shell cottage, at Uncle Harry's, or at the burrow. Quite a full schedule for a thirteen year old. His Gran demanded that she get at least one full day with her grandchild before he went back to school.
Victoire lay staring up at the ceiling counting down the minutes. Her nervousness about leaving home, her excitement about going to Hogwarts, and her happiness that she gets to see Teddy all added up to Victoire counting down the time until eleven a.m. A light breeze rolled in through open window of her shell cottage window causing Victoire to shiver slightly. After getting up to close the window, she decided there wasn't any chance of falling asleep anytime soon. She reached under her pillow and pulled out one of her most prized possessions: a scrapbook.
She always slept with this scrapbook under her pillow. Not that she was afraid of losing it, or even that it was particularly comfortable, but this scrapbook meant the world to Victoire. It contained all the letters Teddy had sent from Hogwarts. From the novel length to the three-liners, every letter was saved. She always opened up the scrapbook whenever she started to feel lonely or started to miss Teddy. Sometimes she would just glance at a few letters from Teddy to remind herself that he was only an owl away, but other times she would spend hours reading letters she already knew by heart. Pulling out a particularly long letter, she remembered Teddy had sent this just after his first week of school. After turning on the lamp on her bedside table and snuggling farther into her bed, she began to read.
Dear Vicky,
Hogwarts is amazing! I really wish you were here to see all of this. Sorry about sending those short letters, I've been running around all week. Now that I have time I don't even know where to begin! Hufflepuff is incredible of course. I know that my godfather thinks Gryffindor is the best house, but I really can't see how it could be better than this. We're right near the kitchens, so every morning is filled with the smell of bacon and eggs and we don't need to walk up hundreds of steps to get our common room either. All my housemates are really great too. Christian Macmillan, he's a little shorter than me with brown hair and brown eyes, is kind of shy but he's hilarious. In Professor Binns' class, he teaches History of Magic, he once spent fifteen minutes pretending to shove a bezoar down his throat because the lecture was "poisonous to his health". We're in all of the same classes which is great because I still get lost about five times a day. Not that Christian has a better sense of direction, but I don't feel so bad if I'm late WITH somebody. Chase Wood, he's got blond hair and green eyes, and Taylor Smith are two other friends of mine. Chase can be a bit pompous some times, like in flying class with Madam Hooch. She wanted us to hover above the ground and then touch back down, but Chase just had to do some barrel rolls to show off his skills. Unfortunately, he tried his last barrel roll a little too close to the ground. Nothing like a small concussion to take someone down a peg right? I'm actually writing this letter right now in the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey only allowed one of us, Christian and Taylor were here earlier, to stay by his bedside. Said if there were too many of us we wouldn't let him get his rest. I think it's ridiculous, Taylor, Christian, and I were only playing exploding snap and after the amount of sleep potion she poured down his throat, I don't think a raging hippogriff would wake him up. Oh right, I almost forgot to tell you about Taylor. She has red hair, like Ginny's, but she has these awesome hazel eyes. I'm going to start wearing them sometimes instead of just wearing my blue ones. She is pretty easy going, except when she starts to go off on Chase that is. They argue so much I'm beginning to wonder that if they didn't bicker they wouldn't even be friends. Weird thought right?
I guess I should tell you about my classes now. Chase is still passed out cold and I don't need to be back in the common room for another half hour. My favorite class is definitely Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Wispen. He used to play keeper for the Wasps! He is the Head of my House and he led us first years up to the Sorting Hat. I think the Deputy Headmaster usually does it, but supposedly he is away on "research" for Hogwarts. No idea what that's about. Anyway, Professor Wispen is the only person I know more Quidditch obsessed than Chase, not that I would ever tell Chase that. In our first class he showed us how to protect ourselves from Dark Magic by casting these protection spells on coins and buttons and stuff. It was a great class and my button almost defended a direct tickling spell! It was a lot better than Christian's coin…. which exploded. His eyebrows are still a little singed now that I think about it. The only thing I didn't understand in the class was when Taylor asked him if he used protection and he laughed saying only when he doesn't want another kid. Professor Wispen looked like he was mentally kicking himself after that and he kept muttering "they are only eleven!" I guess he realized his answer didn't make any sense. What does using protection from the Dark Arts have to do with having kids? Anyway, my least favorite class is potions. Professor Vomis is a git! He made us brew the Elixir of Facial Distortion on our first day. When I said I can change my face without any potions he took away fifteen points from Hufflepuff and gave me a zero for the day. You would think I had stood up and slapped him for the expression of his face. I'll have to get even with him somehow, but I'm guessing I'll need your help. You were always the brains behind our operations. Any suggestions?
Oh Chase is finally coming to. If I'm going to make fun of him for losing his head butting contest with a rock, then I'm going to need my full attention, so I'll stop this letter here. Sorry if I couldn't give you the full picture here at Hogwarts but I'll send a lot more letters soon.
Your Best Friend,
Teddy
P.S. Make sure you take away someone's wand before you relentlessly torment them about barrel rolls or they might set your robes on fire. Just a fair warning from someone with a recent firsthand experience.
This letter always made Victoire smile. She loved that Teddy found a new home at Hogwarts. She didn't understand Professor Wispen's comments either but she still laughed at Christian's joke and his failed attempt at protecting a button. She flipped through the book a little while farther before she saw a letter from Teddy's second year at school. Still not feeling tired, she pulled it out and lay down to read again.
Dear Vicky,
So how is life at Shell Cottage? You said in your last letter that it was boring, but with our family I can't see how that is possible. There are many ways to describe the Weasley family, especially Uncle George, but boring is not one of them. Not much is going on over here but we are only a month into the school year. Professor Wispen is still my favorite and Professor Vomis still loathes me. I don't really understand what I did? Maybe he just isn't a fan of blue haircuts? Anyway, Chase and I decided to not try out for the Hufflepuff team this year. Most of the team is seventh years so it would have been tough. We'll probably go out for the team next year though. Classes are about the same, just harder material. There really isn't much to talk about. Christian and I are still best friends, Chase and Taylor actively find topics to argue about, and Hufflepuff is last in the point standings already. That's going to change though, I think this might be the year Hufflepuff pulls through and decorates the Great Hall with yellow and black at the end of the year. A fourth-year Ravenclaw friend of Taylor's, Deanna I think?,kindly reminded me that Hufflepuff hadn't won the House Cup in half a century. I kindly replied that Ravenclaws are nerds. I admit, it wasn't my proudest moment, or even my best comeback. I'm writing at a table in the Hufflepuff Common Room right now. It's pretty late but I don't have transfiguration until ten tomorrow so I'm not worried. Taylor and Chase already went to bed but Christian is here with me. He's trying to practice transfiguring a goose into a pillow. I know what you're thinking, why is there a goose in the Hufflepuff common room? Well let's just say that when you can change into the caretaker it makes smuggling much easier. Putting the goose under my coat was easy, making my coat stop squawking required more work. Eventually I got the goose all the way back to the common room and earned myself one GIANT favor from Christian. Well anyway, Christian is trying to transfigure this goose for the practical test tomorrow. He can make the goose turn into a pillow, but it still retains some its…um….more goose qualities. Not many things are funnier than a second year chasing after a sprinting, squawking, fluffy pillow, however. Sorry this letter isn't that long but I'll write a longer one during the weekend.
Still your best friend,
Teddy
P.S. If you ever try to transfigure an animal, make sure that you can catch it BEFORE it destroys whatever room it's in.
Victoire finished the letter and remembered with a smile that Hufflepuff hadn't made a miraculous comeback in the standings, but finished dead last yet again. Not that this stopped Teddy from proclaiming the entire summer that this was the year! Glancing at her clock, and seeing she had spent almost two hours reading and rereading these letters, made her think she should really try and get some sleep. After putting the letters back and placing the scrapbook securely under her pillow, she turned off her lamp and attempted to drift off to sleep. She eventually slept with dreams full of squawking pillows and a certain blue-haired boy.
Victoire was woken up a few hours later unceremoniously by her younger brother Louis jumping up and down on her bed. Cursing her decision to stay up late, she got up and started to prepare for the trip to Platform 9 and ¾. The trip went smoothly and Victoire, remembering how Teddy only had a small group send him off, decided to mirror his decision. After using a portkey with her Mom, Dad, brother and sister, she met up with Teddy, Uncle Harry, Aunt Ginny, and his Gran.
"Hey Vicky. Get any sleep last night? I know I didn't the night before the Hogwarts Express left," said Teddy. They had just walked through the barrier and were standing on the platform before the train.
"Yeah I slept pretty well," lied Victoire. She already felt nervous and didn't want her Mom and Dad overhearing and fussing over her before she left.
"Now Victoire," began Bill while kneeling down to look his oldest daughter in the eyes, "your Mother and I love you very much. If you need us, we're only an owl away ok? I'm proud of you for being so brave right now. When I was here with your Grandma and Grandpa I was practically shaking. I was the first of a long line of second generation Weasleys. Now you're the first of the third generation. Remember that while you're at school. Now give me and your Mom a hug before you leave."
After Victoire hugged her Father and spoke with her Mother for a little while, it wasn't a very long conversation as Fleur seemed to be having trouble keeping tears back, she spoke with her Uncle Harry, Aunt Ginny, and Teddy's Gran. She also hugged her brother Louis and her sister Dominique and promised to owl them often. After all the goodbyes had been said, she walked with Teddy up to the edge of the platform, right in front of the steps leading her to the Hogwarts Express.
"So Vicky," said Teddy while standing next to Victoire, "you ready to go to Hogwarts?"
Victoire was definitely excited. This is what she had wanted for two years. She wasn't standing by her parents waving at Teddy while the train pulled out of sight, she was going to board the Express with Teddy. She was going to Hogwarts. She knew she shouldn't be, but all of this made her incredibly nervous as well .Following Teddy up the stairs, they settled in an empty compartment about halfway down the train.
"It's ok to be nervous you know. At least your hair stayed the same color when you got on the train," laughed Teddy. Could he really read me that well thought Victoire.
"What makes you think I'm nervous?" asked Victoire much more confidently than she felt.
"Oh come on Vicky. I've known you for eleven years now, you don't think I can tell when you're nervous by now?" asked Teddy. "We got away with a lot but not everything. Remember when your Mom caught us tying your Aunt Gabrielle's dresses together a few weeks ago?" laughed Teddy. "We had to wait for your Dad to get home from work and I thought we were going to be grounded for life after that."
Victoire smiled, that was perhaps the worst hour of her life. She remembered when her Dad came home and they had to tell him that they had tied all her Aunt Gabrielle's dresses together to make a hammock. Victoire had really wanted a hammock since she first laid eyes on one when she was eight and she still thought Aunt Gabrielle had way too many dresses. Surprisingly, her Dad wasn't even that upset. He laughed when they told him what they trying to do and even bought a hammock the next day. Aunt Gabrielle was less happy, however, but she'll get over it eventually. Victoire remembered how awful that hour of nervousness was and that it led to nothing. This train ride is probably the same thing thought Victoire.
"Yeah, that hour was horrible," laughed Vicky, "and thanks, I know you're trying to get me to relax and you're doing a good job so don't stop!"
Teddy laughed before resuming the conversation. A few minutes later Teddy said he was going to find some of his friends, Victoire remembered them through the letter, and that he would be back in a little while. Victoire was only able to stare out the window for perhaps a minute before a girl with long, curly black hair and brown eyes burst through her compartment door.
"Hey can I sit here?" asked the slightly out of breath girl, "I was sitting with some people but I think they're going to all be Slytherins, or at least they acted like it."
"Yeah sure, I'm Victoire Weasley"
"I'm Emily, Emily Bishop" replied the girl.
Victoire and Emily talked the rest of the train ride, only interrupted when Teddy poked his head in, saw Victoire had found someone her own age, and stated he was going to sit with his friends for the remainder of the trip. Victoire didn't mind really, Teddy had helped her relax and she wanted to make at least one first-year friend.
The train ride went smoothly and just after nightfall they arrived at Hogsmeade Station. She watched Teddy wave at Hagrid, before walking away towards some carriages. She was about to follow before Emily spoke up.
"Hey Vic, where you going? First years travel by boat across the lake, remember?" asked Emily.
Victoire sighed, she knew she wasn't going to see Teddy all the time, but they had just arrived and they were already separated. Following Emily, she entered a boat with a pair of girls that Victoire hoped were twins. Either that or her vision was started to go double. The trip was uneventful, unless you count Hagrid stroking a large tentacle when it came out of the water, which may have been a bit of a shock. The soon-to-be first years climbed out of the boats and were greeted by a man that Victoire remembered was Professor Wispen from Teddy's letters. She assumed the deputy headmaster must still be doing his "research" if Professor Wispen was greeting the first years again. He seemed to have greater control over himself then Teddy described on his first night as he didn't make any references Victoire didn't understand. He did look like he was biting his tongue to stop from talking when one girl asked him if they slept with their Housemates on the first night.
Do NOT say only if you buy them dinner first, they are ELEVEN! thought Cameron vigorously to himself.
Eventually, they made their way up the staircase and into the Great Hall. She waved at Teddy who was already sitting at his table. He smiled and gave her the thumbs up. Soon, students were being called up to have the Sorting Hat placed on their head. Victoire knew this was coming, she had a man on the inside. She saw that Emily, one of the first students called on, was sorted almost immediately into Gryffindor. She had expected this because on the train Emily said she definitely wanted to be placed in the lion's den. What she didn't expect was that she would be the very last named called and the entire Hall would be giving her their full attention. She walked up and had the old hat placed over her eyes.
Ah, now you are a tough one to place. You LOVE to pull jokes, and they are cunning, but you won't sacrifice your friends to help yourself, so NOT Slytherin. A good head on your shoulder, and a thirst for knowledge, but it is not overpowering so NOT Ravenclaw. You are a hard worker and loyal no doubt, but you are also brave. Where to put you? Ah, you have dear friend in Hufflepuff I see, but, no, every Weasley has been placed here and you shall be no different. Your bravery wins out so better be GRYFFINDOR!
Victoire then had the hat pulled away from her eyes and saw the entire hall clapping as they did with the earlier students. She saw Teddy wearing a sad smile and clapping half-heartedly. She wished she could go and join him but she wasn't a Hufflepuff, and deep down, she knew it all along.
The rest of the night seemed like a blur with the magnificent feast and no shortage of congratulations from the older years. She waved to Teddy has he walked down into the dungeons following dinner and walked up to the Gryffindor tower with her housemates. Pretty soon, she was lying in bed, next to Emily's, and a few other girls' she would get to know tomorrow. She had put the scrapbook safely under her pillow and fell almost right asleep.
She had waited two years to go to Hogwarts to be with Teddy and in one night, they were separated by more than distance.
Next chapter will still be during the same year but from Teddy's perspective. I tried to make this one a set up chapter; next one will have more dialogue and important events. PLEASE -- I'm not too proud to beg – REVIEW! It's like a slap to the face when 194 people visit but don't review! Well not quite, but it WOULD make me happy if you tell me what you think.
