Victoire had finally managed to make it home for the holidays. She was finally free from the neverending noise of her fellow schoolmates. She never really noticed how much screeching the younger students actually made until she found herself in her room surrounded by peace and quiet.
Her parents had been at King's Cross Station to meet her, her younger siblings were more than excited to see her come home for the holidays. They crowded around her and squeezed her around the middle until she could barely breathe.
They had Apparated home and Victoire had immediately taken her things up the stairs to her room, where she locked the door to make sure no one could get in. She spent the next thirty minutes sitting on her bed, staring at the wall, and listening to the waves crashing on the shore near her cottage. The salty smell of the sea somehow managed to seep into her room even though her windows were closed. Her room was exactly as she had left it, except cleaner thanks to her mum.
She lay down on the bed, spread out her arms and closed her eyes in contentment. She would never admit it, but she missed home. Victoire never told anyone she missed them or that she loved them, it was just the way Victoire was. Her parents and siblings always greeted her with hellos and I love yous, but Victoire herself could never get the words out.
And as much as Victoire loved Donna, she was getting a little tired of hearing about Quidditch all the time, because frankly, Victoire didn't care. She wanted to add something useful to Donna's conversation but she didn't pay any attention to Quidditch at all, as a result she never had anything useful to add except humming in agreement. Poppy was much better in these situations than Victoire was.
After Victoire had unpacked a few things that she knew she would wear often —mostly sweaters— she headed downstairs to spend some time with her family. Shell Cottage had been a lot smaller when she was younger but as the number of children in her family grew, so had the inside of her house. Victoire found her parents in the kitchen cooking together, and her siblings playing cards in the living room.
Dominique and Louis were sitting facing each other and playing a game of Exploding Snap. Victoire sat with them and watched them play. Dom would occasionally glare at Louis every time he played a card that put her at a disadvantage and Louis looked ready to fling himself away at the slightest hint of the cards exploding. Victoire remembered that one time he had played with the cards and accidentally singed his eyebrows when Louis was younger. The fear had never really left him but that never stopped him from playing with the cards. And it never stopped Dom from teasing him about it in an effort to distract Louis enough to let her win.
"Watch yourself there Lou, might set your eyebrows on fire," Dom said teasingly. Louis ignored her however and focused on his cards. Except for the slight tightening of his leg muscles you couldn't really tell Dom had bothered her brother at all.
"At least I can win a game of Exploding Snap without having to cheat," Louis shot back calmly. Victoire would've oooohed but that would've dragged her into their bickering.
"Fight me!" Dom yelled, throwing down the cards in anger.
"Square up, sis!" Louis exclaimed, throwing down his own cards and putting up his fists. Victoire watched in amusement, she couldn't believe that they were only ten, they sounded like some of her schoolmates in the hallways.
"Maybe you two should play another game," Victoire interrupted as her siblings were rolling up their sleeves. And without any warning, Victoire's siblings threw themselves at her and tackled her to the ground. For a second she thought they were actually going to hit her but all Louis and Dom did was plant a kiss on each side of her cheek.
She hated them. She hated them so much. Which was why Victoire was wrapping an arm around each of her younger siblings to hold them to her and gave them a kiss on the forehead, because she hated them.
Victoire had two days to spend with her family, before they had to head off to the Burrow to spend Christmas with everyone else. Unlike her extended family, Victoire's family wasn't nearly as loud and wild, unless Dom and Lou had a little too much candy. And they liked it that way, her parents liked being around her, Dom, and Lou without talking. They didn't need all the excitement that came with the rest of Victoire's cousin to enjoy each other's company.
The time passed in a blur, Victoire helped her dad out with his flowers in the garden, and her mum with the laundry. Victoire spent some time with her siblings and told them stories about Hogwarts. They were one year away from entering their first year, and the closer they got to getting their letter, the more questions they had for Victoire. At the insistence of Louis, Victoire even taught Dom and Lou how to write a good essay (although she wasn't sure they understood much of what she said).
Before Victoire knew it, she was getting dressed to go over to her Grandma Weasley's house with the rest of her family. The rest of her family members each carried a few presents in one arm and had Floo powder in their hand, waiting to go. There were so many people in their extended family that they all had to get presents for and as a result Christmas ended up turning into a little bit of a hassle as everyone tried to transport all the presents on one trip. Victoire tried especially hard to get the presents to the Burrow on one trip despite the fact that her mum always told her she could make two. But Victoire always responded with, "I make it with one trip or die trying."
When Victoire's turn came, she had one bag hanging off of one arm, filled to the brim with presents, and another 10 tucked into her armpit and sitting on her arm. Her left hand held the Floo powder. She dropped the powder, yelled out "The Burrow!" and held her presents and bag as close to her as she possibly could. It wouldn't be the first time that presents fell out of fireplaces that they shouldn't have.
Once Victoire had stopped spinning, she carefully put down the presents she had been carrying and gave herself a moment for the world to stop spinning. Once the walls had stopped moving, Victoire gathered the presents and made her way to the room where the giant Christmas tree was always set up every year.
Normal families opened presents at home, but the Weasley's and Potter's opened up theirs on Christmas Eve while they were all at the Burrow together. She put her presents under the tree, before exiting the room and going into the kitchen where, naturally, everyone was squeezed in. Everyone was sitting around the table and talking while the younger kids ran around yelling at each other. Uncle Harry was listening to careful instructions being given to him about cooking, while Aunt Ginny teased Victoire's Uncle Charlie about something that she couldn't hear.
Aunt Angelina was showing Uncle Ron how to peel potatoes using the right spell, and Grandpa Weasley was sitting at the head of the table listening to a story that Uncle George was telling him. Uncle George had his little girl Roxanne sitting on his lap, and her twin brother Fred was in Grandpa Weasley's arms.
Victoire slid into the open seat next to her Aunt Hermione, who was quietly reading a book while everyone else talked. There was always an empty seat next to her Aunt Hermione, and Victoire was beginning to think that her Aunt made sure there was a spot next to her.
Hermione was the one that Victoire liked best, her Aunt just understood where Victoire was coming from, she understood Victoire's ambition and the cold attitude that she had with anyone that wasn't family or a close friend. And Hermione never judged her for it, she was the one that Victoire felt comfortable being around the most.
Victoire's parents arrived a few minutes after her and immediately found a spot in which they could fit into the scene. James was in his fourth year at Hogwarts, and already stressing out about OWL year. Although the two of them never really acknowledged each other much in the hallways at school, James never left her side whenever they were home for the holidays.
Victoire hadn't seen him yet though, she had seen every other cousin of hers go running in and out of the kitchen, and she could hear them thundering up the stairs yelling at each other. James however had still not been spotted.
About five minutes later however, James took his spot next to Victoire, like he did every year. He slid in next to Victoire on the bench without her noticing. One minute he wasn't there and then she turned around he was.
"Victoire how are you?" James asked, eyes widening in surprise. He always acted like he didn't pass by Victoire in the common room daily, as if he didn't see her entering a classroom that he was exiting. They never acknowledged each other's existence, Victoire didn't know why, they just never did, it had always been that way. Albus never really talked to her either when they were at Hogwarts, but she had a feeling that was mostly due to the fact that Albus was afraid of her.
"I'm doing fine," she replied.
"That's good, good," James said nodding. "NEWTs aren't too difficult for you then?"
"No, I'm doing fine, I mean, I stay up late a couple nights a week but it's nothing too stressful," Victoire replied shrugging. James had asked the same thing when she was in Sixth Year, and the same thing when she was in Fifth and doing her OWLs. For some Victoire never really struggled with school in the same way the rest of her classmates did. She had just as much, if not more homework, and yet she had half of the stress.
"How's your year going so far for you?" Victoire asked in turn. She found herself actually wanting to know the answer funnily enough. She turned to face James as much as she could on the limited seating room that they had.
James' drooped when she asked the question. His smile became a little smaller, and his shoulders slumped in defeat. "I'm so stressed Victoire, what if I don't do well this year, and I fail my OWLs next year!"
"I stay up until midnight or one in the morning studying for class," James said, burying his hands into his hair.
Victoire looked at him with concern. It wasn't healthy that he was already worrying about OWL year before he even started fifth year. She was worried about how he was going to handle OWL year if he was already this stressed out over only fourth year.
"You'll make it through the year James don't worry, you've always got your family here for help," Victoire said, rubbing James' arm in support. James could get through anything, he was always worrying about something, convinced that whatever the thing was that it wasn't going to go well and then he made it through it. At least he would be going into OWL year with an idea of what to expect.
"You never struggled this much," James replied with a sigh.
"Not everyone is me, a lot of people struggle through school, I was one of the lucky few," Victoire replied. She couldn't tell James that she had found moments when even she struggled to keep up because it wasn't true. Victoire wanted to be supportive but she couldn't lie to her cousin's face. She had never really struggled at Hogwarts, and everyone knew it, she couldn't lie to be supportive even if she wanted to because James would know that she was lying.
"I put myself to sleep my listing off Potions ingredients, or reciting the textbook from memory," James replied with a grown.
"You can always come ask me for some help if you're struggling," Victoire responded. The words were out before she's even thought about it. Victoire Weasley didn't offer help to anyone, everybody knew that, she didn't offer tutoring because she didn't have the patience. She hadn't even wanted to help Poppy when the girl had first approached her and yet here she was offering up her time for her cousin.
"Really?!" James exclaimed in surprise. If Victoire was as dead inside as she had been in the previous years, she would've taken back what she had said. But Poppy and Donna had done something to her that had warmed her cold heart and she found herself unable to say no to the hopeful look on James's face. His eyebrows were getting ready to take flight by the looks of it.
"Sure?" the answer came out as a question, as if Victoire herself didn't know what the answer was. She gently closed James' open mouth and waited for a response.
James threw himself at her with a hug and squeezed. "Did I ever mention how much I love you," James said. Victoire patted his back awkwardly and gave a small smile. But after several minutes of James holding on to her she grew a little annoyed.
"James, get off me," Victoire said. As soon as James let go, he fired off question after question at Victoire, barely giving her enough time to answer one before asking another. When she had agreed to helping him she hadn't realized that her job as a tutor would be starting so soon.
She was in the middle of explaining how a certain plant worked in potions when Nana Weasley announced that dinner was ready. Everyone over the age of eleven was required to help set the table in order to get ready to eat.
The rest of the evening passed with food going from hand to hand and everyone talking loudly. Jokes were flying across the table, little kids giggled, and the adults had gotten very drunk. Victoire wondered what people would think if they saw the great Harry Potter and Ron Weasley giggling in their seats at a bad pun.
Her mum's cheeks were bright red as she laughed and let out a little hiccup. Victoire's dad was especially red in the face, ginger genes could do that to a person.
Victoire herself hadn't drank anything, she didn't really like the taste of alcohol, or being drunk for that matter. After dinner was finished, everyone left the kitchen as the dishes washed themselves and gathered around the Christmas tree. No matter how drunk anyone got, the presents had to be opened before they went home for the evening, that's just the way that it was.
The younger kids of course ripped into their presents in a matter of seconds. Wrapping was all over the floor as they yelled in excitement at their new toy. Once the younger children were out, then it was Albus, James, and Victoire's turn. They opened their presents much slower and made less of a mess than their younger presents. Victoire had gotten two pairs of boots, a few sweaters, a pack of new quills, and a large pile of books on her favourite subjects from Aunt Hermione, and Uncle Ron. She couldn't help but grin when she saw the new books she had gotten. Victoire could feel the knowledge sitting in between the covers of the books, just waiting to be read by her. She of course loved her sweaters and boots as well, they were warm and fit her winter aesthetic, but the books was where it was at.
She had hugged Hermione and Ron after unwrapping her books. "Thank you, I love them already!" Victoire exclaimed with her arms around the two of them.
"You haven't read them yet?" Ron replied, the edges of his lips twitching upwards.
"What's your point?" Victoire asked, as she sat on the ground and hugged the books to her chest. She didn't need to look at everyone else to see the amused looks on their faces, but Ron knew how Victoire felt. After all, he had almost ended his friendship with Hermione when they were in third year over a broom.
Victoire couldn't wait to start reading her books as soon as she got home. And in the end it was the adults turn. Hermione, like Victoire had gotten books as presents, Ron had been given every piece of the Chudley Cannons that had come out that year. Harry had gotten everyone tickets to the next Quidditch match that was taking place between the Hollyhead Harpies and the Tornadoes.
Ginny had of course gotten them the paraphernalia necessary to support her former team. Victoire was a fan of the Harpies, more out of loyalty than anything else. She didn't care about Quidditch but her Aunt Ginny had been on the Harpies team, and they were as good as any team out there, so Victoire counted herself a Harpie fan.
Victoire's mum, Fleur, had received everything that she had wanted. This was mostly due to the fact that she had made a list of things she wanted and let everyone else decide who was going to buy what.
Charlie had received anything and everything related to dragons, from books, to figurines, to protective gear that would keep him safe, mostly, when he was dealing with dragons. By the time Grandpa Weasley was opening his present, Victoire was half asleep where she was sitting and missed the rest of the gift unwrapping. She was jolted awake by her mum telling her that they were going home.
Victoire nodded in understanding and followed her family back to the fireplace and waited for her turn to step in and go home. She barely made the climb up the stairs and to her room, she went through the actions of putting away her presents and then fell asleep as soon as her head touched her pillow.
When Victoire woke up the next morning, she found an owl waiting outside of her window with a letter tied to its leg. Her vision was blurry from sleep so she stumbled out of bed and over to the window to open it and let the bird come in. It hopped onto her dresser and held out its leg. Victoire untied the note to, and with a yawn, opened it to read.
Victoire, Hope your Christmas has been going well, you want to meet up with me and Poppy on the 29th in Diagon Alley to hang out, just the three of us. We've missed your sarcasm, we can't go on without hearing your monotone responses to things that we say, Love,
Donna (but you already knew that)
Victoire carried the letter with her to the bathroom as she washed her face, and she had it tucked into the waistband of her pyjama as she fixed her bed and went down to breakfast.
"Maman, is it okay if I go out to Diagon Alley with Donna and Poppy on the 29th?" Victoire asked as she got herself a bowl of cereal ready.
"Is there going to be anyone else present?" Fleur asked. She was seated at the table in the kitchen with a mug of coffee in one hand and the Daily Prophet in the other.
"No, just the two of them," Victoire replied. She took the seat across from her mum and began eating.
"Oui, vous pouvez aller," Fleur replied and sipped her coffee.
"Merci," Victoire replied through a mouthful of cereal.
Victoire was a little excited to see her friends, she hadn't really missed them but it felt like there was something missing from her life without Donna and Poppy present every day.
Victoire spent all the time up until the day she got to meet them reading the books that she had been given for Christmas. Victoire's parents found her reading in different rooms of the house, she was never without a book in her hands.
When the day finally arrived, Victoire was ready and out of the fireplace by noon. She found Donna waiting next to the fireplace for Victoire, but Poppy was nowhere to be spotted. The Leaky Cauldron was just as dark and gloomy as always, with its usual shady guests sitting in the corners of the room, but every witch and wizard was used to the sight already.
"I've missed you so much!" Donna exclaimed, throwing her arms around Victoire. Victoire stumbled back with the force of Donna's hug.
"I missed you too, where's Poppy?" Victoire asked. And just as the question left Victoire's mouth, a loud meow came from a cat that shot between Donna and Victoire, something clutched in its mouth as it went.
"THAT CAT HAS MY WALLET, STOP THAT CAT!" Poppy yelled, she pushed through Victoire, sending them staggering away from each other and ran after the cat.
"COME BACK HERE YOU ANNOYING LITTLE—" they could hear Poppy screeching as she chased after the cat. Victoire and Donna gave each other one look before immediately setting off after Poppy.
Donna was the fastest out of all of them, she came the closest to catching the cat several times but just as she was about to wrap her hands around the cat, it swerved away from her. Victoire tried to catch the cat by predicting where it would go next and beating it to the spot, but it just ended up running in between her legs or jumping through her arms.
The rest of the guests of the Leaky Cauldron simply ignored them and moved out of the way of the three girls. They had cornered the cat to the wall next to the staircase leading up to the rooms. Victoire, Donna, and Poppy formed a triangle around the cat and slowly approached.
"On three, we dive for the cat, but don't hurt it," Victoire said quietly.
"1…" they took a step closer. The cat looked between the three of them, wallet in its mouth as if waiting for them to make a move.
"2…" the cat took one step back as the girls took another step forward.
"3!" and they both dove for the cat. But as they landed on the ground, the cat simply hopped over their backs and darted up the stairs.
Victoire let out a loud growl in frustration, she has sacrificed her new sweater for that wallet and the cat had outsmarted all of them.
"Why are you three chasing after my cat?" a familiar voice asked behind them. The three girls turned their heads to the left simultaneously and stared at Matthew, captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. The cat sat in his arms, wallet still in its mouth, a smug look on its face.
"Your cat, has my wallet, for your information," Poppy told him. She got to her feet and marched up to the tall Quidditch player.
"Hand it over," Poppy demanded of the cat. The cat looked between Poppy and its owner, unsure of what to do.
"Arthur, give her the wallet," Matthew said to the cat, who looked up at him as if his owner had betrayed him and then dropped the wallet in his mouth in Poppy's hand.
And for some reason, Victoire found the situation more humorous than it actually was and burst into loud laughter right where she was on the floor.
"I really have missed you two," Victoire said through her laughter.
a/n: "Oui, vous pouvez aller" translates to "Yes, you can go," (according to Google translate)
"Merci" is "Thank you"