As February fell upon Hogwarts, the students' restlessness was becoming apparent. It almost seemed as if the professors suspected this and acted accordingly by announcing a Hogsmeade trip. Victoire always suspected that the increased number in detentions correlated with the headmaster's decision to pick a Hogsmeade date. The fidgety nature of students tended to affect the teachers as much as it did each other. Students tended to be more disruptive the longer they were contained within the school, and there were only so many ways to alleviate that.
"This Saturday," Whit said as she read the notice off of the bulletin board in the common room. "The 12th."
"Excellent," someone said from behind her as more and more people crowded along the board to see the news for themselves. "I could go for some Honeydukes."
There was a murmur of agreement as Victoire and Whit made their way out of the portrait and began talking about what they were looking forward to on the way to their afternoon lessons.
"So, you're definitely going with Stuart, then?" Whit asked.
Victoire made a face. "I have no idea. We've talked maybe three times since he brought it up and he hasn't mentioned it since."
"But he told Colleen Lynch you were going together."
"Nice of him to tell her and not me," Victoire said before they took a shortcut down to the bottom floor to get to their Herbology lesson.
"And it's right before Valentine's Day," Whit added as they entered the entrance hall and walked towards the front doors.
"It is, isn't it?" she asked. "Well, we'll see what he has to say, won't we?"
Victoire surprisingly didn't have to wait long for an answer to that question. Just as she was exiting Herbology later that day, she and Whit ran smack into Stuart on his way inside for his own Herbology lesson. Of course she would run into him when she had absolutely no time to talk.
"Hey," Stuart said with a smile. "Can we talk?"
"I've got to get up to Runes right now," she said, knowing that she barely had enough time to get there given the allotted amount of time. "After that, though? At dinner?"
"Yeah, okay. See you then." He waved as he turned and entered the greenhouse. Victoire headed in the opposite direction as she set back towards the castle and caught up with Whit.
"Looks like you'll have your answer soon enough," Whit said. "You probably could have had it right there."
"Well, according to my mum," she began, "it's always good to make them wait a bit. You never want to seem too available."
"My mum doesn't give me advice like that," Whit said. "She just tells me to make sure my ears are clean and to study hard. Perhaps if she did, I wouldn't be as clueless with boys as you seem to think I am."
"For the record," Victoire said as she held the front door open, "I never said that."
"You don't have to say it," Whit joked, stopping just before the entrance. "But, I'll see you after class, alright? We can go to the library before dinner and finish that Defense Against the Dark Arts essay."
"Ugg. Do we have to?"
With a smile and a quick wave, Whit took off in an opposite direction, leaving Victoire to make her way upstairs to her Runes class. As it were, she found herself practically jogging down the final corridor because she knew how much Professor Tate hated tardiness; just as she turned the last corner, she stumbled across Natalie and Aspeth standing off to the side, absently chatting. Natalie looked upset about something, but the second she noticed Victoire, she forced a weak smile.
"Hi Vicki," Aspeth said pleasantly. Natalie waved slowly, but said nothing.
"Hi," Victoire said in passing, not bothering to stop.
"In a hurry?" Aspeth called after her.
She threw them both a forced grin before opening the door and entering her the front of the room, Professor Tate stood facing the classroom, though she took the moment to glance at Victoire before turning her gaze to the wall clock. Victoire looked as well. She was thirty seconds late.
"Take your seat, Miss Weasley," Tate said as Victoire hastily did as she was told. "Everyone else please pass up your translations from last lesson and then get out your guides. We're starting a new chapter today."
Victoire sat quickly; she was quite surprised she hadn't been given a lecture in front of the entire class for once. It seemed that Professor Tate was particularly adamant about getting the lesson started today, so perhaps she was simple spared the scolding for the sake of time. Given that Tate went straight into lecturing the hour away, and Victoire straight into concentrating on what the various complicated symbols and signs meant according to her runes translation guide, this seems as much an explanation as any.
"Your homework is the same as last lesson," Tate said after an hour, once she'd shut her own book and gestured for everyone to pack up for the day. "Once you get that down, you're excused."
Victoire smiled, happy to finally be done for the day and for having escaped a lecture due to her tardiness. As much as she enjoyed Runes, she couldn't help but feel as if her brain melted after each lesson.
"Miss Weasley, may I see you?" asked Tate suddenly.
Victoire looked up to the front of room where her professor was currently staring back at her. She slowly nodded, now realizing that while she was still done with Runes for the day, the escaping a lecture part was probably too good to have been true.
As the last of the remaining students shuffled their way out into the corridor, their voices and laughter growing suddenly much louder the second they were out of the classroom and free to be, Victoire found herself dawdling to where Tate was currently sorting through a stack of parchment at her desk. It wasn't until the door snapped shut behind the final student exiting that Tate spoke.
"Where are you coming from before this lesson?"
"Herbology," Victoire said. "The back greenhouse."
"I see. And do you come straight here?"
She nodded.
"Well," she said, "if that's true, then I can hardly hold your brushes with tardiness against you, now can I? However, I was led to believe that it was possible to get everywhere in the castle within the allotted amount of time between classes."
Victoire pursed her lips ever so slightly. "To be honest, I think the person who determined that may have had very long legs and walked very fast."
Tate actually smiled a little, which Victoire found odd for some reason. Granted, for as strict as she was she did have moments of compassion-she just didn't smile often. "Just please make sure you make the effort to get here before class begins. If for some reason you do find distractions between here and Herbology, I suggest you ignore them."
"Yes, professor," Victoire said with a nod.
Tate looked away and said nothing more, but gave her a signal that Victoire took to mean she was excused. Victoire didn't hesitate; as she left, she thought about whether or not Tate believed that she was lying or not. Perhaps if she hadn't dawdled to tell Stuart she had no time to talk she would have made up those thirty seconds, but still...
She found herself caring less and less about the matter once she arrived at the library to look for Whit, though an immediate scan of the room showed that Whit was nowhere to be found. Victoire walked the entire length of the room in search of her-including the back corners-even though she knew that Whit preferred the tables that were near the entrance. If she was here, she'd be sitting near the front.
After a few minutes of searching even the most obscured nooks and corners of the bookshelves, Victoire shrugged and gave up, deciding that she may as well go back to the common room if Whit had decided to blow off their essay-writing date. It wasn't as if she really wanted to do that essay yet anyway; she'd do it when she was in the mood. When she'd be in the mood...well, that she didn't know, but she was sure she'd find the motivation soon enough. At least that's what she kept telling herself as she climbed the stairs to Gryffindor Tower and entered through the portrait hole. She had just began to do the math as to how many days she had until her essay was due when she was abruptly accosted by her sister on her way out.
"You'll never believe what happened," Dominique said, grabbing Victoire's arm.
"What?"
"Lou and Natalie just had this huge row in the common room. In front of everyone."
Victoire stared at Dominique. "They did? What about?"
"I don't know," she said, looking over her shoulder to where Whit was talking to Sarah and Eleanor. "We just walked in during the middle of it. I asked Whit what she knew, but she said she'd only arrived a few seconds before we had."
Victoire's eyebrow rose curiously as Whit approached the pair where they stood. "Did you hear anything they were saying?"
"I tried to ask Jack," Whit said, answering for Dominique, "but he said he wasn't even sure what it was about. He said Natalie came over and sat with Louis and him, then he went upstairs to grab something and when he came back, they were at it." She paused and looked over her shoulder. "By the looks of things, I think it's safe to say the split up."
"Really?" Victoire asked, her mouth falling open. "Did it look like Louis chucked her or the other way around?"
"I couldn't tell," Whit said, glancing at Dominique, who had shrugged. "I only caught about two minutes of the end of it and they were both upset and heated. Jack said they'd been at it for at least five minutes before that. It ended when Louis just got up and left. Jack followed him and Natalie just sat over there," she pointed to a chair across the room, "crying."
"You're kidding," Victoire said, her voice now distant. "I wonder what happened?"
"You won't be able to find out until after our Potions lesson," Dominique said, checking her watch. "Speaking of which, I need to go or I'll be late." She shook her head. "And I suppose I get to be stuck in that class with them fuming before I get to listen to Natalie cry all night in the room." Her face hardened. "You know, I never liked her. You know why?"
"You'll have to let me know what happens," Victoire said, ignoring her sister's attempt to take the piss on Natalie. "Poor Lou, I thought he liked her."
"Maybe she chucked him?" Whit suggested. "He looked angry. Angrier than I would have thought he would have been had he been one who had called it off."
"He really did look angry," Dominique agreed, taking a few steps towards the portrait hole right as Sarah tugged on her robe to beckon her to follow her to class. "And you know it takes a lot to get Louis angry."
"I thought she really liked him," Victoire mused more to herself than anyone else. She turned to Whit. "But, I'm sure he won't have a problem finding some other girl to help him feel better. I am a little curious to know what happened, though."
Whit nodded, and once again began to reiterate the little details she had witnessed when she had walked in, as the both of them began walking up to their dormitory. "And I just got so caught up in it all of that that I forgot to meet you downstairs," Whit concluded, plopping down on her bed as she said it. "The entire common room was buzzing."
"So, that's your excuse," Victoire teased, popping open her trunk to put away some of her books as she spoke. To make room, she pulled out an extra pair of robes and several pieces of parchment that she had banded together in a small bundle and placed them on the floor. "It's okay, I wasn't really looking forward to writing it anywa-"
"What is that?" Whit interrupted, gesturing to the bundle.
Victoire glanced down at what Whit was referring to. "Oh, just letters from Ted."
"You save them?"
"I save everything." She pulled out another larger bundle. "These are from my parents. They date back all the way to first year. I read them when I get homesick." She reached in and pulled out another bundle to show her. "And these are just random letters and notes I get from people." She dropped those and the letter from her parents back into her trunk before reaching out to undo the ones from Ted. "Which reminds me that I have to write him back. Usually I'm the one teasing him for taking forever, but it's been over a week since I got this last one." She shrugged. "I should do it now..."
"So, I take it you don't want to do that Defense Against the Dark Arts essay?"
She smiled innocently. She didn't even have to say it, Whit was already reading her mind.
"Uh-huh," Whit said, realizing that no essays were getting written anytime soon. She instead reached out to pick up a nearby book before stretching herself out on her own bed to read-but not before allowing a defeated sigh to escape her.
"It'll get done," Victoire said as she readied her quill and parchment to set to work writing Ted back. "Don't act as if it won't..."
"Uh-huh," Whit repeated.
Victoire smiled, taking her quill in hand and looking down at the blank parchment in front of her. After taking a moment to gather her thoughts, she began to write:
Ted-
I'm sure I'm going to hear it the next time I hear from you, but yes, it has taken me almost a week and a half to respond to your last letter. I'm a horrible person, I know.
Apparently Louis is having girl trouble at the moment. I haven't heard the details since I was in class, but from what I have heard, he and his current (ex) girlfriend had a very loud row in the middle of the common room. It seems strange since Lou usually keeps that sort of stuff quiet, but perhaps he didn't have much of a say in the matter. I have a suspicion that she chucked him. I don't know. I feel terrible now though, but he's bound to be better off. I was never particularly fond of her, but she was nice enough. Then again, this is a girl who's recently started trying to vie for spot in Lynch's inner circle…And I've warned her! So I'm sure that says something about her.
Speaking of Colleen, she decided to call a sort of truce between us. I don't know how sincere she is, but she said she's tired of the fighting. I agreed to it because I don't think I'm any worse than I was before, but I still don't trust her. She's been nothing but polite to me since then though…But, we both fancy the same boy and she's already told me she's not going to give up on him, so no matter how sweet she is now, it's bound to come to a head eventually.
I hope your grandmother is feeling better. I told my mum about her and she said she was going to send some things over to her. I hope she did, or else I just painted my mum to be lazy. Oh! Easter holidays start in early April, so plan accordingly since I will be home! I'd like to see your new, well, I guess now old place! I suppose I'd like to see you too. Maybe…
With love xoxo,
Victoire Isabelle Weasley
She read it over once before picking up the letter to blow on the ink. Once she'd believed it was dry, she folded it up and placed it in her bag so that she'd have it ready the next time she stopped by the owlery. After she'd finished, she glanced at Whit, who was now hanging her head off the edge of the bed and reading upside down.
"That cannot be comfortable."
"Don't knock it until you try it," she said from behind her book.
When the dinner hour did finally fall upon them after and afternoon of killing time, Victoire and Whit were the first ones out of the common room to the Great Hall. Victoire was hoping that she could find her brother to find out what had happened-to make sure he was okay-but she hadn't seen him or Jack since earlier that day. She had seen Natalie, however; she had been marching straight up the stairs after afternoon classes, though she hadn't looked upset or mad. She looked solemn and puffy eyed.
"I don't know where'd they'd be," Victoire said once she and Whit entered the Great Hall.
"Probably somewhere calming down," Whit said, scanning the length of the Gryffindor table. "I'm sure the last place he wanted to be was in the common room if he knew Natalie was going to be there. It did just happen."
"You're probably right," Victoire said, setting off to sit at Gryffindor's table. "I just hope he's not doing something stupid."
"What would he do?"
"I don't know," she said. "Louis can be pretty emotional sometimes when he's upset because he rarely lets himself get that way. It's almost if all this pent up stress comes out."
Whit but her lip as she sat down across from Victoire and observed the movement of the Great Hall as it started filling up with people. By the time it was half full, there was still no sign of Louis, though Dominique and several of her friends appeared. She seemed to read Victoire's thoughts and immediately claimed she had no new information as she sat, but did say that when she had tried to ask him, he had brushed her off and then left straight after class with Jack in tow. She hadn't seen him since.
"I hope he's okay," Victoire said as she suddenly became worried for her brother's mindset. She continued scanning the entrance for him, becoming so fixated on keeping a look out that when Stuart Reynolds happened to appear in front of her, she stared straight through him.
Dominique elbowed her in the ribs.
"Hey," Stuart said, watching Victoire strangely. "Are you all right?"
"Stuart," she said straightening up. "Hi. Yeah, sorry, my mind's elsewhere."
He smiled. "One of those days, huh?"
"You could say that."
"So, they announced the Hogsmeade date," he said. "And I just wanted to make sure that you were still interested in going down there with me. I don't know if you've thought about it since-"
Whit snorted a laugh and made an attempt to cover it up by pounding her chest and pretending she was choking. Dominique started giggling at Whit's choking, but made no attempt to hide her laughter.
"Are you choking?" Stuart asked her, his face slightly concerned.
"I'm fine," Whit croaked with another fake cough as she picked up a goblet and started drinking from it. "It just went down the wrong pipe."
Victoire threw her a doubtful stare before turning back to Stuart. She smiled. "Sorry, you were saying?"
"I was wondering if you still wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me."
"I'd love to," she said with a bright smile. "That would be fun."
"Great," he said, just as his blue eyes caught the light and Victoire swore she saw them twinkle. She knew she probably imagined it, but she liked her version more than the more realistic version. "We can meet right outside."
"Sounds great," she said, still smiling. It was then that Dominique nudged her again and nodded towards the entrance, where Louis and Jack were walking in. "Right outside the entrance," she repeated in acknowledgment, nodding quickly. "I'll be there."
"Cool," he said. "See you later?"
"See you," she said absently, right as Louis started to pass by her on his way to the other end of the table. The second Stuart turned around, she reached out and grabbed at her brother's arm. Dominique had already done the same.
"What?" Louis snapped.
"Don't 'what' us," Dominique snapped back.
"Sit," Victoire demanded.
He rolled his eyes, but sat regardless. He was clearly not in a good mood. "I take it you heard?"
"I did," Victoire said, "and I want to know what happened."
"Hell if I know," he said as Jack went and sat down next to Whit on the other side of the table. The two exchanged looks as Victoire noted that Jack's face seemed to confirm her assumptions about Louis's piss poor mood.
"Well, tell me what happened," Victoire said.
"Why'd you run out of Potions so fast?" Dominique asked at the same time.
He sighed and looked at the food in front of him. "You know, I'm not even hungry."
"So don't eat," said Dominique, just as Flynn Taggart walked by and slapped Louis on the back.
"Rough luck, mate," he said.
"Yeah, thanks," Louis mumbled.
"What happened, Lou?" Victoire asked.
"You want to know?" he asked. "Fine. Out of nowhere…out of the fucking blue, she comes and sits down and tells me that she doesn't think things are working out. So, I asked her what she meant by that, and she says that I don't understand her and that I'm always putting her down."
"What? Since when?" Dominique asked, glancing at Jack. He nodded as he stabbed a piece of chicken with his fork.
"So, I told her that she was acting strange," he continued. "I guess that set her off because then she started getting loud and saying that that was exactly what she meant. She kept going on and on, and then I looked around and noticed people were watching. People were sitting there thinking I'm some sort of royal prat because she's yelling at me. So I started getting loud and I told her that if this is what she wanted, fine. We were done. Whatever."
"And that was it?"
"Nope," he said. "Get this. She starts crying and saying that our relationship obviously meant nothing to me because I wasn't even trying to fight for it."
"Wait," Dominique began, "she said this as she was breaking up with you?" She laughed. "What a twit."
"Yeah, exactly," he agreed. "Exactly! She's trying to chuck me, yet I'm the bad guy because I don't want to fight to save it. I told her she was mental and that I'm glad we figured all of this out now because now I'm better off. Then I got up and left."
"How odd," Victoire said. "And you didn't suspect this at all?"
"Out of the fucking blue!" he said, loud enough for several people to turn and look at him. "I mean, she's seemed preoccupied the last few days, but nothing had changed between us."
"I'm sorry, Lou," Victoire said. She laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"And to think I actually liked her," he said. "I mean, sure she's dim, but she was fun. She was sweet."
"You're right on the dim part," Dominique mumbled.
"You'll bounce back," Victoire said. "There are probably loads of girls ready to queue up and take her place."
"I'm taking a break from having a girlfriend," Louis said as he shook his head. "I'm just going to screw around."
"You're not," Dominique said, making a face.
"Don't be gross," Victoire said, giving him a dirty look.
"If I can, I sure as hell am," he mumbled before he suddenly put his head down on the table. Victoire exchanged looks with everyone around here, but said nothing more on the subject. Instead, she started talking about how Professor Tate had scolded her for being tardy.
"She's got to know it takes ages to get from the back greenhouse to her room," Whit said.
"I don't think she does," Jack added. "Or she doesn't care. She never cared last year when I had a similar situation. She just told me to fix it."
"That's pretty much what she told me," Victoire said as Louis suddenly picked his head up. The others looked at him.
"I'm going back," he said as he stood up. "I'm tired."
"Do you want to talk?" Dominique asked him.
"No," he said, throwing his twin sister a small smile. "Thanks, though. Bye all."
"Bye," Victoire said as she watched him grab a dinner roll and walk off. She turned back to Jack. "Has he been like that all day?"
"No," he said with a shrug. "Earlier he was swearing a lot more. I really just think he's angry because it took him by surprise. I mean, last night she was all giggly and sweet with him and then today," he shook his head, "this. He'll be okay though, he bounces back pretty fast, you know? He was actually laughing about parts of it earlier."
"I just hate to see him like this," Victoire said.
"Louis is supposed to be the cheery one," Dominique added. "Vic and I are the emotional ones. Particularly Vic."
"Well, I want him to bounce back, too," Jack said, glancing down the length of the table. "I don't see Natalie anywhere."
"I saw her in our room after Potions," Dominique said. "She looked exhausted and when she saw me she just shut the curtains around her bed."
"Probably from all the crying," he said. He shook his head and threw his napkin onto his plate. "I'm going to back, though. See if Louis wants someone to listen to him curse and bitch some more."
Victoire smiled. "Let me know if he's really beat up over this, would you?"
"I know he'll be fine." He glanced at Whit and nudged her with his arm to get her attention. "What are you doing for Hogsmeade?"
Whit looked nervously at Victoire, who suddenly forced herself to become extremely interested in the vegetable medley on her plate. There sure were a lot of carrots in it today…
"Um, I'm not sure," she said faster than usual. "I was just going to pop down there for a bit to get something from Honeydukes, but then I was going to come back here because I'm not a fan of the crowds and the cold-"
Victoire kicked her from under the table. She heard Dominique give a small laugh from next to her, but shot her a look to tell her to be quiet.
"Um, I mean nothing." She blushed. "No plans. Why?"
"I wanted to see if you wanted to go together," he said with a hopeful smile. Victoire had given up on watching her vegetables and was now curious if Jack noticed Whit's nerves as much as she did. "I mean," he added, "we might end up hanging out with Louis, too, because of everything that's happened today, but if that's okay with you-"
"Louis has got other friends," Dominique said. She had also officially given up on any attempt to pretend that she wasn't listening. "He'll find a way to preoccupy himself."
"True," he said as they all watched Whit. She sat there chewing nervously on her bottom lip.
"If you don't want to…" Jack added, which in turn made Victoire kick Whit under the table once more.
"Yes," she stammered.
"Yes, you don't want to or yes you do?"
"I do," she said without daring to look at him. Victoire and Dominique exchange weary smiles.
"Oh," he said with an awkward, but happy smile before he slowly stood. "Um, cool. I guess I'll see you all later, then."
"Bye," Dominique and Victoire said, though Whit just sat there looking slightly thunderstruck.
"Was that as awkward as I thought it was?" she finally asked as she started to turn a little pink.
"Yes," Victoire and Dominique said in unison.
It was now Whit's turn to put her head down on the table.
