A/N: Hey everyone, I've been feeling so guilty about making you wait for an update, and I just finished two papers and a presentation (although I still have several left) so I figured that I'd reward you guys (and myself because hopefully I'll get some nice reviews and hear your thoughts).
Warning: Brogan is extremely adorable in this chapter, but hopefully it's too minute to be fatal, and Dom is shameless, as always ;) And also, there's lots of Fleur, so yes, I know that my accent writing is horrible.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, but I think I will take credit for my OC's in this chap, especially Mark.
Recap from Last Chap: Quidditch game after party, Louis and Cecilia were adorable as always, and we learned that Louis is taking Cecilia out on a date for the whole day (this chapter) and won't tell her where he's taking her. Dom flirted with Konstantin, and apparently everyone but Clark. Clark told Vic that it had been forever since Mark had a date. Vic and Teddy heard more about the Holmwood smuggling case from Konstantin and his partner Niko, and Vic interrupted Ally and Xavier to call them and tell them that she finally got her residency acceptance from St. Mungo's.
Acceptance
Tuesday, August 30th 2022
8:25 AM
Victoire should have known better than to try to dress while in a hurry, but the smell that was emanating from the kitchen made her try to beat her record for how quickly she could get ready. Teddy, who had a time advantage because he had slipped into the bathroom before she had the chance to, was sitting on the bed and laughing unabashedly at his fiancée as he watched her try to get into the wrap-around white sleeveless blouse that he could tell by the look on her face she was starting to regret picking out.
After a few more seconds of fiddling with the ties and holes, which felt more like minutes to her, Victoire let out a heavy sigh and threw her hands down to her side in frustration.
"Need some help there Sweetheart?" He asked her, making sure to try to temper his smile since he was addressing her directly.
She pouted and crossed her arms over her chest, "A shirt shouldn't be this bloody difficult to put on."
Teddy stood up and crossed the few feet of distance between them. He grabbed both open ends of the wrap's ties and smirked at her, "Well while I would be perfectly fine with your walking around with your shirt open like this, I don't think your family would appreciate your attire. So, would you like some help?"
In response Victoire lifted her arms up and stood still as he quickly wrapped the ends of the blouse around her and tied them together around the back.
"How in the name of Merlin did you figure out how to do that?" She asked him as he finished the tie with a bow behind her.
He smirked at her and pressed a kiss to her forehead, "It's easy when you're not trying to rush like you were."
Victoire pursed her lips, "It's hard to concentrate on the ties when all I can smell right now is bacon frying in the kitchen."
"Let's go get you some food then," Teddy told her, gesturing for her to go first.
When they got into the kitchen the rest of Victoire's family was already there. Fleur was standing at the stove with the frying pan, Louis was at the counter buttering toast, and Bill was watching the tea kettle and the coffee machine. Dom was the lone person at the table, and she was sitting with her face pressed against the woodened surface of said table, her eyes firmly closed.
Fleur heard them enter and instructed them to go ahead and sit down at the table and that breakfast was pretty much ready.
Victoire flopped into the chair next to Dom's and poked her sister's arm, "Are you alive?"
"Mmhmm," Her sister replied with a hum as she sat up properly, "Just a little tired, I didn't get much sleep last night."
"What time did you get in?" Victoire whispered to the redhead. She and Teddy had left the party the evening before, not extremely early, but earlier than Dom, and she was curious to know when her sister finally came home.
Dom gave her sister a sly smirk, "It was actually this morning."
Victoire rolled her eyes and rubbed her hand down her face, "Of course it was. So did you go British or Italian last night?"
After counting to five without a response from her sister, Victoire felt her stomach tighten with worry, "Dom?"
"I might have gone Bulgarian?" Dom told her, her voice higher pitched at the end and coming out more like a question than a statement.
Victoire sighed and none-to-gently introduced her forehead to the surface of the kitchen table, "Seriously?"
"Old habits die hard," Her sister replied with a nonchalant shrug.
"Mmhmm," Victoire replied, hitting her head against the table again.
Dom patted her sister's back and said in a cheery tone, "On the bright side, he is definitely not involved with his partner."
"You didn't have to sleep with him to figure that out," The blonde muttered, keeping her voice low as their parents and brother had just joined them at the table.
Bill handed out cups of tea and coffee while everyone started to fill their plates with the assorted breakfast foods. Victoire was just reaching for the large plate of bacon that her brother had conveniently placed directly in front of her, when her mother offhandedly commented.
"Oh Victoire, a letter arrived for you about an 'alf 'our ago," Her statement was punctuated with a wave of her wand, causing a thick envelope to fly over to her eldest daughter.
Victoire reached forward and opened the envelope. She only read the first paragraph before letting out a very loud and exciting scream.
"Vic?"
"I got in!" She squealed, turning to Teddy beside her and throwing her arms around his neck and squeezing him tightly.
Teddy laughed and hugged her back, "I take it you're referring to a residency spot in the D. A. R. ward?"
She nodded her head and had to wipe away some tears of happiness that were starting to well up in her eyes. Her parents and siblings all started talking at once, and she read a few extracts from the letter at their request. After everyone gave her hugs and congratulations she excused herself from the table so that she could contact her friends. She sent Sandra a text, knowing that she and Kyle probably had a late night as they had spent it with Kyle's family members that live in France, but decided to directly call Ally.
Her cousin was very sincerely happy for her, but she cut the conversation short, which Victoire didn't blame her for. She placed another quick call to Spencer, who was also very happy to hear from her, before joining her family back at the table.
"What did Spencer say?" Teddy asked her when she sat down with them again.
Victoire smiled and added some pepper to her eggs, "He said that he's going to arrange a night out with everyone to celebrate after we finish our first week."
"Make sure that you watch yourself around the muggle alcohol, you know what happens when you drink tequila shots," Dom commented with a smirk in her sister's direction.
The older sister rolled her eyes.
Near the end of breakfast an owl arrived with The Daily Prophet, and Louis let it in. He handed it over to his parents, and as they opened it up to take which sections they wanted, they stumbled across the 'Society Section'.
Bill glanced at it for a second, let out a low whistle, and then tossed the section across the table to where Victoire and Dom were sitting, "There's some pictures in there from the party last night."
The two sisters put their heads together and had completely different reactions to the picture on the front page of the section. Victoire let out a groan and pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation, while Dom smiled brightly and broke out into laughter. Teddy and Louis got up from their chairs so that they could look over the girls' shoulders to see what they were looking at.
"I don't think Ally and Xavier are going to like this," Louis commented slowly as he took in the whole front page of the 'Society Section'.
There was only one picture on the page, and it was a full length one of Xavier from the party the night before, with Dom at his side giving him a big smacking kiss on the cheek. In reality, Dom had been enthusiastically thanking Xavier for agreeing to introduce her to one of his teammates from the British team, but someone must have taken the picture at just the right moment to capture the flirtatious looking image. To be honest, they did make quite the stunning couple, and it seemed that whoever took the picture and captioned the article thought the same, as the title above the photo read 'Professional Keeper Xavier Wood Celebrating Britain's Win Against Italy With Redheaded Beauty'.
"It's a little wordy," Dom acknowledged, "But that is a fantastic picture of me. I mean look at my curves in this shot."
Victoire rolled her eyes and flipped the paper over so that she didn't have to look at the picture anymore, "I see that they're really milking that on-again-off-again angle of Ally and Xavier's relationship."
"At least they're throwing another woman into the mix, there's only so many times that out of context pictures of you and Xavier can make front section news Vic," Teddy mused, trying to go for humour.
"I am eempressed Dominique," Fleur addressed her youngest daughter, "You look both elegant and fetcheeng een zis photo."
Dom smirked, "Is that code for 'thank goodness that you haven't given the whole wizarding world a view of your bits'?"
Louis made a face at the mentioned of his sister's figure, and tried to change the direction of the conversation, "So Vic, is there a big weight off your shoulders now that you've gotten your residency offer?"
"Most definitely, if felt like life was at a standstill while I was waiting for it," She replied readily.
"Well now zat you 'ave got zat all sorted out, per'aps you and Teddy can actually start zinkeeng about your weddeeng and finally set a date," Fleur commented firmly. Her tone was almost offhand, but the look in her eyes said that she was not to be trifled with.
There was a full minute of awkward silence before everyone jumped into action.
"I'm due to grab Cecilia for our day out, so I'm just gonna go now," Louis said as he hurriedly got to his feet and left the room.
Dom was right behind him, casually informing them that, "Stasia and I have plans to go shopping on rue de la Paix and Avenue Montaigne, so au revoir."
Victoire and Fleur were still staring each other down from either side of the table when Bill slowly stood up and looked over at Teddy, "I've got some little household repairs to look at since it's been a while since we've been here, so how about you come and help me out Ted?"
Teddy hesitated, obviously not wanting to leave his fiancée alone with her domineering mother, but he decided that it was probably in his best interest to listen to his future father-in-law.
By the time it was just Victoire and Fleur left in the kitchen, the younger woman was ready to escape the room herself. She felt uncomfortable just sitting across the table form her mother, so she stood up and started using magic to tidy up the dishes and the kitchen.
"I see you 'ave gotten better weeth your 'ouse'old charms," Fleur said without inflection as she stood up to help with the cleaning and spells.
They got all of the leftover food put away by the time Fleur asked, "So even zough you 'ave not 'ad ze decency to inform your famille zat you 'ave set a date for ze weddeeng, I assume zat you and Teddy 'ave at least discussed eet togezer."
Victoire started nervously tapping her foot on the floor, "We have set a date."
"Dieu merci!" Fleur exclaimed as she excitedly thanked God, "So w'at 'ave you decided on?"
Her daughter took a deep breath to calm herself before replying, "We've decided on July."
Fleur clapped excitedly, "Formidable! July ees techniquement only ten months away, but I theenk eef we get ze invitations out as soon as posseeble-"
"Maman," Victoire interrupted quietly but firmly, "We have decided on July 2024."
Her mother paused for a minute as though it was taking her longer than necessary to comprehend what Victoire had told her.
"Zat ees almost two years away," Fleur replied with a baffled pout.
"I know."
There were another few moments of silence, Victoire's foot tapping faster than before.
"Why are you waiteeng so long? Are you 'aving second t'oughts about accepteeng Teddy's proposal?" Fleur asked her daughter worriedly and in a quiet tone.
Victoire looked down at the marble surface of the kitchen counter and forced her foot to stay on the floor. She held in a heavy sigh. She knew that her mother was going think that as soon as she told her about the more distant date for the wedding that she and Teddy had decided upon. She took a deep breath and locked eyes with her.
"No, I'm not having second thoughts."
"Zen why are you waiteeng so long?" Fleur asked her uncomprehendingly.
She knew that there was something going on with Victoire's decision. Her daughter was not the type of person who could wait patiently for things. Victoire had always hated waiting. Whether it was waiting for her siblings to wake up on Christmas morning so that they could all open their presents together, waiting until she turned eleven for her Hogwarts letter, or waiting five minutes to eat cookies after taking them out of the oven so she wouldn't burn her tongue; she had a hard time being patient. Fleur was actually somewhat amazed that Victoire had waited as well as she had for the past several days to get her residency offer. And by 'well' Fleur meant that Victoire had only had the chance to partially drive everybody crazy because they had been out and about so much.
Victoire folded her hands together, "We just decided that it would be for the best."
"Pourquoi?" Her mother questioned her again, still not fully understanding, "You Love Teddy and you are already liveeng togezer, w'at ees zere to wait for?"
"I want to wait to get married until after I've had the chance to finish my residency and get my feet on the ground, and Teddy has agreed with me," Victoire explained.
Fleur frowned, "You weell be feeneeshed weeth your reseedency by next summer. Why can you not get marreed zen?"
"I don't want to just be done with my residency, I want at least a year of work in an actual position, whatever position I end up getting after I finish, before . . ."
"Before w'at?" Fleur asked her, suspicious of how she let her sentence trail off.
Victoire swallowed thickly and crossed her arms over her chest, "Why do you want me to get married so soon?"
Her mother smiled slightly and reached forward to gently place her hand on her daughter's cheek, "Victoire, I know you, you do not like waiteeng and you especeeally do not like people telleeng you zat you cannot do somezeeng. I would 'ave zought eef anyzing zat I would 'ave 'ad to conveence you to push ze weddeeng back furzer to geeve us more time to arrange eet. Ze fact zat you are waiteeng w'at would be conseedered so long to get marreed concerns me. As for why I want to see you get marreed, I weell admeet zat eet ees partially selfeesh, I do want grandcheelren at some point, but I can wait a few years for zat. I just want you to be 'appy, and I know zat marryeeng Teddy weell make you 'appy."
"I want to wait two years to get married as a precaution," Victoire softly explained.
Fleur titled her head, "A precaution for w'at?"
Victoire sat down at the table again and put her face in her hands, her mother slowly sat down in the chair next to her.
"Victoire?"
"I know that I'm not exactly the best at following rules, but I do try to follow the ones that I set for myself. And I've set this 'rule' because I want the chance to put in at least a year of work before maybe taking a maternity leave," She expounded.
Fleur smiled understandingly, "I can understand zat, but you do not 'ave to 'ave cheeldren right away, I can wait much more patiently zen you can."
"But that's the point, I can't wait very patiently. We want children right away," Victoire pulled anxiously at her hair, "Hell, I want a baby right now."
Her mother's eyes sparkled with excitement at hearing that statement, "Zen we weell get you marreed as soon as posseeble and you can get to work on that."
Victoire groaned, "But I want a career too, and it's so much harder to get a career started if you have to take time off after your residency instead of going straight into whatever job offer you get."
"Eet weell not be easy," Fleur said as she started to run her hand through Victoire's loose blonde hair, "But eef anybody can balance a healeeng career and a fameely eet ees you."
The younger woman sighed and gave her mother a sad smile, "I'm not as strong as you think I am Maman. The whole reason why we set the date two years into the future is because I know if we get married next year that I'm not going to be able to wait another year to start our family, I just won't be able to, I'll cave at some point. I just – I want to have everything right away but I know that I can't, so I figured putting up smaller goals and rules would be better. First is to finish my residency, second is to get through a year of work in a position after residency, and then third will be to finally get married."
"Eet sounds like you 'ave everytheeng settled zen," Fleur told her, pulling her into a hug.
Victoire buried her head into her mother's shoulder. She took a deep breath and inhaled her mother's familiar scent, "But am I being selfish? I know that Teddy wants to get married and start a family as soon as possible too, and I don't want him to think that the things I want are the only things that matter."
"Ma chérie, Teddy 'as known you your 'ole life. I zink eet ees safe to assume zat before 'e decided to propose zat 'e took your dreams for your career, and your stubbornness, eento account," Fleur said with a bit of a smirk.
"He says the same thing whenever I bring it up but-"
Fleur stopped her, "No, no buts. You 'ave to trust 'im to tell you 'ees true feeleengs about zese zings."
"I do trust him," Victoire said quickly, "It's just hard to take in sometimes, that he keeps putting what I want before what he wants."
Her mother gave her a soft smile, "Zat's w'at you do w'en you are een love. You would do ze same for 'eem, non?"
"Of course I would."
"Zen zere ees nozeeng for you to worry about," Fleur said with a bright smile, rubbing her hand on Victoire's arm.
Victoire smiled in response.
"Alzough I am a leettle deesapointed to 'ear zat I weell 'ave to wait almost zree years to see my first grandchild," Fleur added with a wicked laugh.
Her daughter rolled her eyes, "Try to be positive Maman, maybe Dom or Cecilia will get pregnant in the meantime."
Fleur swatted her eldest daughter's arm and rolled her own eyes in response.
9:01 AM
"Cee-Cee, is it really necessary that you do that at the breakfast table?" Oliver asked her as he watched her braid back her wet dark hair.
Cecilia's fingers worked quickly to finish off the rather long braid. She had jumped out of the shower only five minutes ago and didn't get the opportunity to cast a drying charm on her hair before she heard her mother calling her to breakfast. She had rushed to get dressed and the run a brush through her hair, but was a little perturbed to enter the kitchen and find that even though breakfast was ready, they were still going to have to wait for Xavier and Ally to arrive.
"Sorry Dad." She had been having so many little arguments with him lately that she was just too tired to debate with him about something so small.
Brogan was sitting next to her, and not understanding what had passed between his elder sister and his father, he smiled brightly up at Cecilia and told her, "Pretty hair."
"Thanks Bro," Cecilia replied with a smile in return as she leaned over to mess up his own rather shorter hair.
Xavier and Ally entered the combined hotel room a few minutes later, apologetic smiles on their faces and looking rather hurried, both of their hair looking a little messy and windswept even though they had only been in a room down the hall. Her brother offered a sincere apology, but had only enunciated half of it before their father waved him off good-naturedly and with a welcoming smile.
"Stay up late celebrating last night and oversleep?" Oliver asked conversationally as everyone in the family finally settled down at the table.
The two in question shared a look. Ally quickly looked down at her plate, leaving Xavier to put together a polite explanation, "Sort of, Ally got a call from Vic while we were . . . getting ready, and they had a chat so that pushed our timeline back a bit."
"What was Victoire calling you about?" Katie asked Ally curiously as she simultaneously handed over a platter of toast.
"It seems that she finally got her residency offer from St. Mungo's this morning," Ally explained.
Katie smiled brightly, "She must have been very excited."
"She was," Xavier replied with an eye roll, "I would have preferred if she waited to call until a more proper time however."
Ally flicked his ear for insulting her cousin and then looked at Cecilia, "Did you have fun last night? Everywhere I turned I saw you mingling with one Quidditch player or another."
Cecilia let out a small laugh, "Yes, I never thought just talking to people could be so exhausting though."
"But was it helpful?" Oliver asked her with a knowing smile.
"I guess," Cecilia replied with a shrug, "Although the number of times that I was informed that I look like Mum was probably more than I've ever heard before in my life."
Katie reached across the table to pat her daughter's hand, "At least they didn't tell you that you look like your father."
"Hey!" Oliver and Xavier called at the same time. The latter pouted and mumbled, "People say I look like Dad."
Beside Xavier, Ally rolled her eyes but then patted her boyfriend's hand sympathetically, using her other hand to hold her fork so that she could continue eating.
Cecilia had just helped Brogan add just a little more maple syrup to his pancakes when the mobile phone in her pocket started to ring. She quickly looked down and pulled out her phone, pretending that she didn't catch a glimpse of the suddenly disapproving look that came over her father's face.
"Cecilia-" Oliver began only to be interrupted by his daughter.
She glanced directly at her mother, "It's Eliza, may I be excused so that I can talk to her?"
"Of course," Katie replied quickly.
Taking the call in her bedroom, Cecilia hastily pressed the 'talk' button.
"Hello?"
The voice on the other end of the line responded, "Hi Cecilia, I'm not interrupting anything am I?"
"Of course not," Cecilia truthfully answered. If it had been Louis calling her instead of Eliza, she was pretty sure that her father would have berated her for leaving the breakfast table to talk to him on the phone, however, because it was her female friend, she was rather certain that her father no longer cared about her breach of etiquette.
"Okay, I just . . . I thought it would be nice to catch up."
Cecilia sat down on the edge of her bed, "Are you okay? Is there something wrong?"
The other side of the line was silent for several moments before, "I'm just feeling overwhelmed right now."
"Oh Honey, has something happened? Is everything alright with Rowan?" Cecilia asked into the phone, her voice breaking a little. She knew that something serious had to be up, Eliza was a very proud individual and asking for help wasn't usually her go-to response.
She heard Eliza let out a long sigh, "No actually, Rowan's perfect. She's sleeping well for an infant of her age, she's gaining weight as she should, she doesn't cry much, and she hasn't had another fever yet."
"That's fantastic to hear. And Eliza, it's alright to feel overwhelmed."
"I know."
Cecilia bit her lip, "Xavier's game is already finished, so I can go back home and come see you if you'd like? To give you a bit of a break."
"No, no, no, there's no need-"
She interrupted her friend, "Eliza, it's not a big deal, really."
"You don't need to come back early," Eliza's voice argued, "I'm not even going to be home for most of the day. My Mum arranged some sort of meet and greet with my muggle relatives to give everyone a chance to see Rowan, so I'm going to be back home for most of the day."
"Is the gathering why you feel so overwhelmed?" Cecilia questioned her softly.
On the other side she could practically hear Eliza's deliberation in the silence, "I know that Mum's been very delicate in how she's explained my teenage pregnancy to the family, but I'm still not ready for all of the sideways looks or the questions I'll get about my baby daddy."
"I can't say that I've ever been through what you're going through, but I do know a thing or two about nosey but well-meaning family members. If you want me to come and support you Eliza I will," Cecilia told her sincerely.
Eliza's voice on the other end had a brighter tone when she spoke next, "I know you will, but I don't need you to cut your holiday short. Just talking to you on the phone has really helped my anxiety levels. I'm sure I'll be able to survive the gathering now."
"You're sure?"
"Absolutely."
Cecilia smiled into the phone, "Alright then, and don't forget to send me pictures of the little girl if you catch her doing something adorable."
"Will do," Eliza laughed, "Thanks Cecilia. Bye."
"Bye."
Cecilia put her phone back in her pocket and left her room to go back to the kitchen/living space. The first thing she noticed was that Xavier was banging his head against the kitchen table, with Ally rubbing his back soothingly.
"What'd I miss?" She asked a little worriedly as she unhurriedly slipped back into her seat at the table.
Ally slid what must have been a newly arrived Daily Prophet along the table and over to her. She glanced down at it and noticed that it was the interestingly termed 'Society Section'. It didn't take too long to tie the picture and the caption together.
"You and Dom actually make a pretty cute couple Xav," Cecilia casually told her brother.
He didn't seem to think it was funny. He looked up and sent her a glare, before knocking his head against the table's surface again. Ally rolled her eyes a little at his dramatics, her hand still rubbing small circles into his back.
"At least it's not another picture of you and Vic."
"That doesn't make me feel much better," He muttered into the wooden table.
Brogan, not understanding what was going on besides the fact that the paper held a picture of Xavier and Dom –not that seeing his brother's picture in the paper was exactly new– just looked curiously at his older brother before turning to his father and asking, "What's wrong?"
Oliver patted his youngest son's head, "Nothing, just don't believe everything you read."
"I can't read," Brogan argued back. He was familiar with some letters, especially the ones that made up his name, but he couldn't exactly read strings of words.
His father sent him a bright smile, "That helps then."
"Malcolm and Clark are never going to let me live this down," Xavier complained, still obviously not over the picture in the paper.
Ally started to dole out more words of comfort to her boyfriend, and then there was a knock on the hotel room door. Cecilia brightly observed that it was probably Louis at the door, and then Brogan jumped out of his seat and announced as he ran to the door that he'd get it. Oliver and Katie listened closely to the door and heard Brogan cheerily yell Louis's name and then a muted thump that they assumed was the younger boy running into the elder one.
A second later Louis walked into the combined kitchen living space, carrying a chattering Brogan on his hip.
"Where's Vic?" Brogan was asking Louis as they entered everyone's view.
Louis chuckled lightly and set Brogan down on his feet, "She didn't come with me."
"Why not?" The little boy pouted.
The elder boy bent down to look Brogan in the eyes, "Do you bring your big sister with you every time you go somewhere?"
Brogan made a pinched face as he sent a sideways glance in Cecilia's direction, "No."
"I don't either," Louis replied with a chuckle. He stood up, ruffled Brogan's hair a little, and then turned to gaze at Cecilia with a smirk.
His girlfriend rolled her eyes in response, picked up the mug that held her cooled breakfast tea, and chugged it down so that she could get up from the table. As she tried not to choke on her tea, her mother greeted her boyfriend.
"Good morning Louis."
He replied in kind and then Ally asked her cousin about his eldest sister.
"So Vic finally got her residency offer?"
Louis rolled his eyes indulgently, "Yes, thank goodness. Apparently she's the last of her friends to get one and she was having a hard time being patient until it arrived."
"I could tell, she called me right away to let me know that she had it, it's hard to be mad at her when she's so excited though, right Xavier?" Ally said, turning to her boyfriend at the end of her statement.
The professional Quidditch keeper didn't reply, he was still rather too busy staring at the photo of himself in the paper, and the intensity of his gawking made Ally sigh. She took the paper away from him and tossed it to the other end of the table where he wouldn't be able to reach it, "The longer you stare at it the more it's going to irritate you."
Louis only needed to get a glance at the section of paper that Ally had pulled away to realize exactly what page it was, "I see that you got the paper this morning."
Xavier groaned again and banged his head on the table. Ally patted the back of his head and then smirked at Louis, "How'd Dom like being on the front page of the Society Section?"
"She's surprising happy with it actually. She thinks it's a rather flattering photo," Louis explained thinking back to how he had rolled his eyes at his red haired sister's reaction a little earlier that morning.
"Of course she did," Ally replied with a laugh, "A better reaction than Victoire would have had."
Louis nodded, "Yes, Victoire was having a rather good time this morning actually, got her residency offer and Dom ended up in the paper instead of her."
Ally smiled again while across the table from her, Cecilia shoved the last quarter of her peanut butter covered toast into her mouth and chewed it only as much was needed to make it small enough to swallow. Her mouth was still awkwardly sticky but somehow she was able to force out the words, "I'm ready to go Louis."
"Has he told you where he's taking you yet?" Katie asked her daughter with a smirk as she pushed another cup of tea towards her. There was no way Cecilia was actually going to leave when she still had peanut-butter-mouth.
Cecilia glanced at Louis with a pout as she chugged the second cup of tea and then looked at her mother, "No, he won't tell me. All he said was to make sure that I wore comfortable shoes."
"Which I see you did," Louis told her with a smile as he glanced down at the simple tan-coloured sandals she had on her feet, they buckled around her ankles.
"Let's go already, you're probably going to make me wait to the last minute to find out what we're doing," Cecilia said, a pout still on her face as she walked over to her boyfriend's side. She meant to pull him down for a kiss –he could tell by the look on her face what she was going to do before she tried to reach for him– and decided that that was probably not a polite thing to do in front of her family, especially her father. Instead he figured it would be better to put a bit of space between them.
Louis grabbed her hand and started to pull her towards the door, "C'mon then, time's a wasting."
"How long are you going to be out?" Oliver yelled to them just as they got the door of the hotel room open.
Cecilia peeked at Louis curiously herself, all she had weaseled out of Louis the evening before about their date was the aforementioned request to wear comfortable shoes, and the afterthought at the end of the night when he told her that she should prepare for a long day.
"I'll have her back in time for dinner," Louis promised her father in a tone that was an interesting mix of sincere and charming.
Oliver frowned, obviously not happy that he didn't know what his daughter and her boyfriend were going to be doing for the rest of the day. Katie on the other hand smiled brightly as she waved goodbye to them and told them that she hoped that they would have a good day.
Once they were in the hallway with the door closed behind them, Cecilia turned to Louis, "Can you please tell me where we're going now?"
"Nope," He responded, giving her a bright smile and pulling her down the hall by her hand.
"Pretty please?"
"Mais non."
"Are you sure?"
They had just reached the lift.
"Yes."
Cecilia stopped and pulled her hand away, "So you will tell me then?"
Louis scoffed. He walked up to her, put his arm around her waist, pulled her close, and used his index finger to tilt her chin up so that he could look down into her eyes, "No. I am going to surprise you woman, even if I have to piss you off in the process."
She rolled her eyes and stretched up onto her tiptoes, "Well if you're not going to be polite enough to let me know where you're taking me, you could at least finally give me a hello kiss."
"Well I apologize for trying to be respectful in front of your father," He replied with a slight eye roll.
"Just shut up and snog me already Louis."
It was only about a half hour after Cecilia and Louis's departure when Victoire and Teddy found themselves at the Woods' hotel room. Victoire had only made it a few feet into the room before Brogan came barrelling towards her. She picked him up and gave him a tight hug, nodding her head lightly as he jabbered into her ear. She set him back down and quickly found herself hugging Ally, her favourite cousin repeating how happy she was to hear about her residency offer. Xavier hugged Victoire after Ally let her go, and then Katie and Oliver each had their own turns.
"Congratulations Vic, you're going to be fantastic," Oliver told her sweetly as he gave her a tight squeeze. He pulled away after a platonically appropriate amount of time and kindly patted her on the shoulder.
She was still gazing at Oliver rather dazedly even though he had pulled away, and Teddy, Ally, and Katie all giggled at her reaction while Xavier made a face, "Honestly Vic?"
"Something wrong Xav?" Victoire asked her friend, not even bothering to take her eyes off of Oliver, who looked very handsome when he smiled so wickedly.
Xavier pouted, he seemed to be doing a lot of that that morning, and crossed his arms over his chest, "You know what you're doing."
"On the contrary, I haven't the foggiest," She replied with a smirk that bordered on evil.
He rolled his eyes and muttered something to himself that was too quiet for her to pick up on. Everyone ignored him while Katie asked conversationally, "So what are your lot's plans for the rest of the day?"
Victoire threw her arm over Ally's shoulder and smiled brightly, "Ally and I are going to go to all of our family members at this hotel and tell them the good news."
"When did I volunteer for that?" Her brunette cousin asked confusedly as she sent the blonde a raised eyebrow.
"You didn't have to," The part veela replied, "Besides, I need to say goodbye to the kids before they go off to Hogwarts on Thursday."
Ally ducked out from underneath Victoire's arm, "Again that sounds more like a you than a we."
Victoire rolled her eyes, "And afterwards, I promise to take you buy you some tea that won't make your face pucker up like you've swallowed a whole lemon."
That promise –that was much more of a bribe– combined with Ally being too tired to argue with her energetic cousin, made the younger cousin agree to the elder's proposed plan. The girls sent Teddy and Xavier a pair of specific looks, and the two rolled their eyes before following their girlfriend/fiancée out the door after saying their goodbyes to the other three Woods.
Victoire had a lot of fun knocking on all of her family's hotel room doors and then barging in to tell them that she finally got her residency offer, as well as to wish them goodbye and safe travels. Harry and Ginny had rolled their eyes indulgently at her enthusiasm; Hermione had let out an excited sound while Ron just shrugged at her keenness and gave her a hug; Percy and Audrey were appropriately polite and to the point with their congratulations; and Rose, Al, and Hugo were very courteous while Lily verbally wondered why Victoire was so excited and asked why she didn't expect to get an offer in the first place.
The last hotel room that they had to visit was the one that housed Baxter, James, and Freddie, and when Victoire knocked on the door, Ally's younger brother opened it, and then shut it right in their faces before she could get out the last syllable of 'good morning'. The blonde frowned at closed door and knocked again, not completely joking as she asked Teddy if he would break down the door if she needed him to. Her fiancé patted her shoulder and told her that he didn't have jurisdiction to do so, but before she could retort the hotel room door opened again, Baxter standing in the doorway this time.
The visit with the three boys was short, James and Freddie getting slightly more attention because they were going back to school the day after the next, and when they were finished Ally led the other three down to the hotel lobby, telling Victoire that she owed her more than one cup of tea. On exiting the large lift, they spotted another familiar face.
"Good morning Mark!" Victoire called jovially as she spotted the professional Quidditch player standing off to the side of the lobby, halfway to the hotel's main entrance/exit.
Mark turned his head and smiled at the two couples, "'Morning ladies, gentlemen."
"My, my, my Mark, that's some snazzy luggage you've got there," Xavier pestered his teammate in a teasing tone.
In one hand, Mark held the handle of a child-sized suitcase that had a picture of muggle Spiderman on it, and on his other side sat a larger blue and purple floral patterned suitcase. Despite the fact that neither suitcase looked like something a man in his late twenties would own, he hadn't looked too embarrassed to be standing with them.
Mark rolled his eyes at Xavier's comment, but Victoire was rather certain that she spotted his cheeks reddening slightly, "They're not mine Wood. Clark and I are helping his sister and nephew checkout. I'm watching their luggage down here while they do a last look around their hotel room. So what are you lot up to?"
"I promised Ally I'd buy her some tea," Victoire explained.
The beater looked between Ally and Xavier next, "That reminds me, I saw The Prophet this morning and-"
"You might not want to go there," Ally cautioned quickly, "We just convinced him to stop bashing his head against hard surfaces."
Mark chuckled, "It can't have been worse than the look on Clark's face this morning when he saw it."
"Did he react poorly?" Victoire asked curiously.
"No, he just pouted because the picture of Dom reminded him that she hasn't agreed to go on a date with him yet," Mark replied.
Victoire rolled her eyes and before anyone could say anything else, one of the lifts dinged and the doors opened, letting out Clark, his sister Tabitha, and his nephew Zach. The trio spotted Mark, their luggage, and the other four and made their way over. Clark greeted the two couples, making sure to harass Xavier a little over being in the paper again, while Tabitha walked over to take their luggage off of Mark's hands.
"Thanks for keeping an eye on them, it turns out that Zach's other running shoe somehow got stuck between the wall and the bed's headboard," Tabitha said reaching for the handles of her and Zach's suitcases.
Mark teasingly moved the luggage out of her reach, "I believe my offer to help with your suitcases included helping you carry them out of the hotel. Besides Tabitha, I don't have many opportunities to be chivalrous so I'd appreciate it if you let me pretend while I have the chance to."
"I very much doubt that you'd ever have to pretend to be chivalrous Mark," Tabitha replied with a small smile as she stopped reaching for the suitcases.
He responding smile was very pleased and Victoire automatically narrowed her eyes at Mark's interaction with Clark's sister. As the part veela was never one to be overly shy, or at least not in a situation where she knew most of the people around her, she took a step forward and held her hand out Clark's pretty, brown-haired sister.
"Hello, I'm Victoire Weasley," She put a sweet smile on her face and tried her best not to sound as demanding as she knew she sometimes came across as.
The other woman tucked a lock of her brown hair behind her ear before accepting the blonde's outstretched hand, "Yes I know–I mean . . . err . . . I'm Tabitha Westin. We actually went to Hogwarts together, I was four years ahead of you though, so you probably don't remember me . . ."
Teddy decided to try to cut down on the awkwardness that Tabitha was obviously feeling, "I'm Ted Lupin," he reminded her before asking, "Were you by any chance sorted into Hufflepuff and a prefect during school?"
Tabitha nodded, "I was." She was only two years older than Teddy compared to the four years she had on Victoire, so she wasn't surprised that he remembered her better than Victoire did.
"I remember you, you got me into detention in fifth-year for hexing Geoff Snyder in the halls," Teddy reminisced with a small chuckle.
Victoire glanced at Teddy, her head titled in confusion, "Why in the world would you hex Geoff Snyder?"
"Oh I didn't," Teddy explained, "Malcolm did, but Neville told him if he set a toe over the line one more time that he would banned from the next Hogsmeade trip. Malcolm had a date already for that trip, so I took the fall for him."
Tabitha bit her lip, "I'm sorry then, I didn't realize that it wasn't your fault."
Teddy was waving off her apologies before she was even finished, "That was the whole point of taking the fall. Don't worry about it, that was nine years ago."
She nodded her head and looked at Victoire, "Clark told me earlier in the year that you were interning with Puddlemere United, do you have much time left in healing school?"
"Actually I'm finished with school, I'm officially a healer now, but I have a year of residency to complete before I can be fully certified," Victoire explained.
"Well congratulations then," Tabitha glanced at her son, who was speaking very animatedly to Xavier, and gestured to him, "That's my son Zach."
Victoire smiled at the sight of the little boy excitedly talking to Xavier about Quidditch, "He's adorable. How old is he?"
"He's six," Tabitha explained. Zach must have realized that his mother was talking about him and he turned his head to her direction and looked at Victoire and Teddy.
"Do you play Quidditch too?" Zach asked them curiously and without so much as segue.
Victoire shook her head, "No I'm a healer."
Zach made a face and took a not-so-sly step away from her, his gaze slipped to Teddy who answered with a small smile, "I'm an auror."
That reply made Zach's eyes light up with interest, "Cool! Have you ever killed anyone?"
"Zachary Robert Westin! That is not an appropriate question to ask someone," His mother berated him quickly.
The little boy pouted at the chastisement, and Victoire was struck by how much the action made him look like his Uncle Clark.
"Tab didn't you say your checkout time was eleven o'clock?" Clark interjected as he glanced at the watch on his wrist.
His sister nodded quickly and grabbed her son's hand. Clark took Zach's Spiderman suitcase from Mark, and the two beaters followed after Tabitha as she dragged Zach towards the checkout desk. The four offered up some goodbyes, which the two couples responded back with before leaving the hotel themselves to get Ally that cup of tea that Victoire had promised her.
4:46 PM
"This was so much fun!" Cecilia exclaimed excitedly as she threw her arms around Louis's neck and hugged him tightly.
Louis laughed in response and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, "I'm glad you enjoyed it, once you got over your pouting about me not telling you where we were going that is."
Cecilia had found it within herself to forgive Louis for his keeping their outing a secret once she saw for herself where they were going. It seemed that her boyfriend, knowing Cecilia's love for excitement and adrenaline rushes, apparated them to Paris to the muggle Disneyland theme park. While some of the rides didn't exactly go as high as she could have on her own broomstick, several of them reached speeds that she'd never experienced before and she absolutely loved it.
Thankfully, she wasn't a complete novice to how muggle theme parks worked, even if she had never before been to one of that large a scale. Louis had let Katie in on his plan to take Cecilia to Disneyland, and had even asked if she thought if Brogan was old enough to enjoy it. Katie had thanked Louis for his offer to take Brogan, but she explained that her youngest son had been having some trouble with accidental magic lately and that she didn't think it would be smart to allow him to be around muggles while he was having issues.
"Which ride was your favourite?" Louis asked Cecilia with a bright smile as he wrapped an arm around her waist and directed her through the swarm of people who were entering the park as they were exiting.
Instead of being tired after a long day at the theme park, his girlfriend had quite the spring in her step as she skipped along beside him, "Oh, it was definitely that one that went really fast and high, you know, the one where we spun around a bit at the end?"
He chuckled at her description, it wasn't very specific and he really had no idea which ride she was talking about as they had been on a lot of them.
"And do you remember that one ride where we sat in that cart-like thing that went really fast?" Cecilia asked, waiting for Louis's nod before she continued, "I wonder if there's a broom out there that could go that fast."
Louis rolled his eyes lovingly at her musing and pressed a kiss to her temple, "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don't think there's a broom on the market that can go that fast."
"True," Cecilia replied with a sigh.
They travelled far enough away from the theme park to be able to apparate, and took a turn into an empty alleyway. Louis wrapped his arms around her waist and they disapparated together. When they materialized at their targeted location, they found themselves in an empty lane next to Cecilia's hotel.
"Thank you for taking me out today Louis," Cecilia told him softly as she looked up into his sparkling blue eyes.
His eyes darkened a little and his grip on her waist tightened, "Thank you for coming with me."
Cecilia stretched up onto her tiptoes and brought her face as close to his as she could, "I love you."
"I love you too," Louis replied tenderly as he slid his hand to the back of her head and bent his face towards hers to close the distance between their lips.
She let out a breathless gasp as their lips met and wrapped her arms around Louis's neck as she forced her mouth roughly against his. He tugged at her bottom lip while he walked her back a few feet until her back hit the wall of the hotel. Cecilia felt her heart thumping wildly, and she let out a low moan and slipped her tongue into his mouth. Louis groaned in response and pushed her tighter against the wall so that he could feel all of the curves of her body press against him. One of his hands was wrapped in her black hair, the other sliding down her side and clenching at her hip.
Cecilia's mouth broke away from his because her chest felt tight and she didn't think she could breathe. He continued to kiss her, his lips travelling down her neck and turning into light nips as he got closer to her collarbone. Her fingers tightened in his blonde hair as he started to suck at her neck, and her breathing became more winded when she felt his teeth lightly graze her skin. Her stomach tightened pleasantly and her heart began beating even quicker.
"Unghhhh . . ."
Louis removed his lips from her skin and sent her an inquisitive look, "What was that?"
He was also breathing heavily, but Cecilia was rather amazed that he could put together a full sentence; even a small one.
"Nothing," She replied quickly, reaching for his head so that she could kiss him again.
Louis let go of her though, and put a few steps of space between their bodies. He ran a distracted hand through his hair, "I should get you back to your parents."
Cecilia pouted and he leaned forward and kissed her lips again before he could stop himself.
"Are you sure that you want to take me back to my parents?" She asked him, her voice still rough from the lack of air she had gotten while they were kissing.
He let out a long sigh and pressed his forehead against hers, "Yes, I promised your father I'd get you back in time for supper."
She frowned.
"But," He continued, a self-conscious smile coming across his face, "I do have a question. I already told you about the bonfire we're having tonight on the beach, and since you said that you'd come, I wonder if you'd like to stay the night? I know that you'll be coming tomorrow to stay with us, but it would probably be easier for you to stay tonight instead of going home late, and then arriving back tomorrow morning."
Cecilia bit her bottom lip and smiled shyly, "That makes sense, but only under one condition."
"What is it?"
"I think it would be best for me to address my father about this instead of you."
"Probably."
A/N: We got a lot of adorableness in this chapter, but also some serious talk between Vic and Fleur. So, what did we think of this chapter? As a whole or certain parts? Are you guys still enjoying it at least? Let me know in a review, or ask me some questions if you've got some.
ALSO: I'm at the point where I really need a name for the quidditch magazine that Cecilia works for, so I was wondering if any of you have a good name suggestion for a quidditch magazine. And if you do, could you leave it in a review and could I maybe steal one of them? I'll give you some credit of course, I'm just having a hard time coming up with a name :(
Next Update: Again, I'm not sure when it'll come out since I've got a month left of school, so make sure that you've got this story on your alerts, or that you check every once in a while to see if I've updated. Again, make sure to add me to your story alerts so that you'll know the minute I update :)
Next Chapter: I do have it written, and it will finally be the family reunion so we will get to meet a lot of Fleur's family.
Teaser for Next Chapter:
""Oh?" Gisèle asked with a bit of an evil smirk in Victoire's direction, "Getting married in two years? Giving yourself some time in case you meet someone else and decide to trade up?""
I want to thank everyone for following, favouriting, reading, and especially reviewing!
And I'd also like to remind everyone that if they are going to leave me questions in a guest review, please leave me a name or some way to identify you in your review so that I can reply in the next chapter. Thanks.
An especially BIG thank you to:
B. arendes, Bubbly Bookworm, Jilly98, GryffindorsRock, rosesnlilies, SunnyM, Ann, Rosie Loves Pi, no cure for crazy, Princess Cruella, Guest(1), Jennifer Jules, HP Queen, WolfGirl, Autumn, Seher Syed, loverofthetwins, kIMaYa, NicoleTheSmith, Guest(2), Guest(3), Guest(4), Guest(5), and Guest(6)!
B. arendes: I hope Vic and Fleur didn't disappoint.
Jilly98: I hope Fleur surprised you as much as she did Vic.
Ann: I know it was getting a little slow, but I felt like I needed to give everyone a chance to see where the Weasleys are all at before sending them back to work and school, during which they will be very busy.
Rosie Loves Pi: We might see Charlie's girlfriend when we see him next, but that probably won't be until Christmas. Victoire admits here that she wants to wait two years to get married and have babies, but she's not the only person in this story.
Princess Cruella: Well, Dom did admit to sleeping with him in this chap, but who really knows with her.
Jennifer Jules: We'll see Spencer when Vic starts up work again, so that'll be in three chapters' time.
HP Queen: I'm sure that Vic would be a great seeker, but she's very dedicated to her healing career.
WolfGirl: Vic's very dedicated to her healing career, so she probably won't try out for a professional quidditch playing position.
Guest(2): Nice to hear from you. We will definitely address the Oliver issue later in the story, but without giving too much away I think it's also important to remember that even though Cecilia and Louis have been together for a while, they spend nine/ten months of the year away at school, in which case Oliver would only actually see Cecilia and Louis together (or know exactly how much time they spend together) based off of how much they see each other in the summer. Also, it's one thing to know that your daughter has a boyfriend and is involved with him, it's another to have to continuously see it. As for one-shots, if I had the time I'd write them, trust me.
Guest(3): I just meant the whole Kurt-not-asking-Vic-questions-in-exchange-for-Teddy-not-wearing-his-harpies-shirt-thing to be a laugh in passing, I never really developed a list of specific questions.
So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter,
Please, please, please leave me your thoughts in a review,
Leave me some suggestions for names of Quidditch magazines too if ya got 'em,
I hope everyone else's papers, and exams go well,
Until next time, DFTBA!