A/N: HELLO EVERYONE! Yesterday was officially my last day of university classes (I also handed in my last paper), and I wanted to update when I could because now my exam period has begun.
Note: So we all know that I'm horrible at writing accents, and since this chapter is all about the family reunion, I decided to forgo writing accents for the section on the reunion so that it would read more smoothly. Therefore, when you're reading about the reunion, just imagine that they all have varying degrees of accents, 'kay?
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Family Reunion
Wednesday, August 31st 2022
9:40 AM
Dom woke up on the couch in the living room the morning after their late night bonfire, but instead of being upset that she hadn't gotten to her bedroom, she was actually rather impressed that she had made it as far as the sofa, since the last thing she could remember was being outside with her head resting on Teddy's shoulder. She glanced at the clock on the wall as she sat up, and when she realized that she had been out for a good solid ten hours she put her uncommonly long sleep down to the fact that she hadn't gotten much the night before yesterday, and the fact that spending a whole day shopping can be rather tiring and strenuous, thank you very much.
Upon standing up, she looked out the window and noted that the weather outside looked bright and clear, a very good thing since their family reunion –which was slated for that afternoon– was planned to take place outside. In fact, the weather looked so nice that Dom quickly decided to spend what was left of the morning outside on the beach, as soon as she could round up her siblings and their significant others that was.
She was on the first floor, so she went towards the side of the house that held the bedroom Victoire and Teddy were staying in. She came to a sudden halt just as she turned the corner, and let out a light and exasperated sigh as she crossed her arms over her chest. It seemed like she found her sister, and Teddy.
They were both already dressed in their swimsuits, most likely having had the same idea she had, only they hadn't yet made it the rest of the ten feet down the hallway to the door that would get them outside. The distraction that had stopped them from getting outside was rather obvious. Teddy had Victoire pinned against the wall of the hallway, and they were engaged in a level of snogging that they really should have taken behind closed doors instead of the not-so-private hallway.
"A-hem."
Her sister and her fiancé froze, the both of them turning their heads so that they could see her, Teddy's hands moving to rest on Victoire's lower back –which was a much more publicly appropriate place for them compared to where they had been when Dom first came upon the pair.
"So we're going swimming?" Dom asked the pair with a smirk, her sharp gaze noting that they weren't exactly as bashful about being caught as they would have been four years ago.
As it was, Victoire recovered very quickly, "Yup, go get your swimsuit on. We'll see you outside."
Dom snorted but admired her sister's nonchalance, "'Kay, I'll also go see if Louis and Cecilia want to join us."
She turned her back on them, and then called to them from over her shoulder, "Oh, and by the way, you should do that a little more privately next time. We wouldn't want our little brother accidentally stumbling upon you like I did. It might offend the poor boy's delicate sensibilities."
After that she left because she was about seventy-five percent confident that this time they would make it outside.
To get to the staircase to go to the second floor, Dom had to glide past the doorway to the kitchen. She stopped to peek inside it in case Louis and Cecilia were in there eating, but stopped before even getting the door open the whole way. Her brother and his girlfriend weren't in there, however her mother and her father were.
Fleur and Bill were sitting at the kitchen table, tea and coffee cups in hand with the sections of the paper sitting out on the table directly in front of them. Her mother looked as though she was trying very hard to focus on the financial section. A task that was made more difficult it seemed, by Bill whispering into Fleur's ear, his hand slowly sliding up from where it had been resting on her bare knee and towards the hem of the striped sundress she was wearing. Dom just rolled her eyes and backed out of the kitchen. She was allowed to harass Victoire and Teddy because the former was her sister, whereas her parents were in their own house so they were allowed to do whatever they wanted.
After a trip up the stairs, Dom decided to find Louis and Cecilia before changing into her own swimsuit, and she eyed the closed door to her brother's room a little warily before shrugging to herself and reaching for the door knob.
"Louis don– ahaha!"
"What was that Cee-Cee?" He asked in reply as he rolled them over so that she was underneath him. His fingers were still digging into her waist, causing her to squeal with laughter, while his other hand travelled down to her knee. He knew that she was also ticklish behind it, and that he could get her to giggle louder.
Dom leaned against the door frame, it was obvious to her that neither eighteen-year-old had heard her open the door. She waited until Louis was just about to lean forward and place a kiss on Cecilia's laughing mouth to remark.
"Tickle fighting, really?"
Cecilia and Louis stopped what they were doing and looked up at her. If Dom hadn't recognized right away what they were doing she might have considered their situation to look almost as compromising as the one she'd caught Victoire and Teddy in just five minutes earlier. Even though it was actually a lot more innocent than the other situation.
"What do you want Dom?" Louis asked in a bored tone as he unobtrusively rolled off of Cecilia.
His sister glanced down at her perfectly lacquered silver finger nails, "Vic, Teddy, and I decided to squeeze in a few hours on the beach this morning before we have to go to the reunion. I've come to extend an offer to you two to join us, unless of course you'd prefer to continue acting like eight-year-olds."
Louis rolled his eyes at his sister and then looked at Cecilia, "Fancy a swim?"
She shrugged in response, and Louis helped her to her feet. Cecilia followed Dom out of the room, and across the hall to the room she shared with Dom, which held her suitcase.
Cecilia opened it up and let out a long suffering sigh at the sight of her open suitcase; it was in complete and total disarray. She had no one to blame but herself though, for the state of her balled and wrinkled clothing. She had packed them all as hurriedly as she could the evening before, trying to finish quickly so she that she would be subjected to only the bare minimum of her father's anger.
To say that he had been cross when Cecilia suggested that she stay with the Weasleys a night earlier than expected would be an understatement. Oliver Wood had been very vocal in his disapproval of his daughter leaving a night early. He hadn't yelled at her –only because Brogan was in the room next door– but his low tone had gotten his feelings across quite sufficiently. Cecilia still wasn't sure why extending her stay at the Weasleys' from one night to two bothered him so much, all she knew was that it did, very visibly. Not even her mother could stop his rant, although she did smooth over the incident slightly and reminded her father very sternly that not only did the plan to stay an extra night make logical sense, but that Cecilia was eighteen, an adult, and that she could do whatever she wanted.
All in all, she hadn't left her father on the best of terms and her suitcase looked a mess. She even had to shift around for a good five minutes until she found her bathing suit, balled up and hidden underneath a Puddlemere United pullover sweater.
1:57 PM
"I knew I should have packed a dress to wear, or at least a skirt," Cecilia muttered to herself as Victoire –the last straggler– joined the rest of the family in the entranceway where they were waiting to leave for the family reunion.
Cecilia had been curious at first, when she and Dom were getting ready for the reunion after their morning on the beach, to see the redhead slip into a toxic-neon green sundress and pair it with a pair of bright purple wedge shoes. She was only slightly hesitant in asking the middle Weasley child about the dress code for the afternoon, knowing that Dom usually erred on the side of flashy even if she was supposed to look demure.
Dom had explained that it was supposed to be casual, but cautioned that her extended family was rather vain, they all had some portion of Veela blood after all, and that they usually upped the ante to dressy-casual. She had also assured Cecilia that the sleeveless navy and white polka-dotted blouse –that was resting on the top of the pile in her suitcase– was dressy enough as long as she had capris or shorts to match. Cecilia took her advice, and wore the blouse with a pair of white shorts and navy sandals.
While Dom had been helpful, Cecilia was starting to feel underdressed as she saw that Fleur was in a white and black striped sundress, and that the newly arrived Victoire was clad in a spaghetti strapped floral wrap dress.
With everyone finally gathered, they walked out of the house, Bill put the security wards in place, and Fleur gave her three children a look, "You remember w'ere we are goeeng?"
They let out a string of "Oui Mamans" and then spaced out so that there was enough room to apparate. Victoire and Teddy held hands, although Cecilia wasn't sure if it was because they needed to side-along or if they just couldn't go very long without touching each other. As she considered this, Louis grabbed both of her hands and told her to hold on tight because he did need to side-along her.
"Where are we going anyway?" She asked curiously as the Weasleys around them began to disapparate.
"Nice," Louis told her with a smile before apparating them.
When they landed in Nice, it took Cecilia several moments to take in the vast, and rather beautiful, scenery around them. After realizing that the area looked somewhat recognizable, not that she'd ever been to one before, she turned to Louis and asked, "Are we at a vineyard?"
He wrapped his arm around her waist and gave her a smile, "Yup, Tante Gabrielle's husband Marc owns it. It has a lot of space so they offered to host the reunion this year."
Cecilia nodded, and as the group ambled closer to a large outdoor pavilion, Fleur and Bill in the lead, she noted that there were already several people present and scattered around the large yard and gardens that were directly adjacent to the vineyards. Several feet ahead a blonde man and woman started greeting Bill and Fleur, and Cecilia kept back a little while Dom, Louis, and Victoire joined the fray.
"Is everyone here blonde?" Cecilia mumbled to herself as she noted that everyone she could see so far had heads of hair in several varying shade of blonde.
"Not everyone," Teddy said quietly from beside her.
She jumped a little, not realizing that he was that close or that he heard her talking to herself. Cecilia looked around again, "I mean besides Dom and Bill."
Teddy chuckled and pointed to his own hair, which was his customary turquoise blue, "While most of their blood relatives are blonde, the significant others of their relatives are usually of a different hair colour."
Cecilia remembered Louis saying that all of his blood relative family members on his mother's side were female, so following that theory, she and Dom would be the only females at the reunion who weren't blonde.
"Teddy! Cecilia!" Victoire called to them excitedly as she made a gesture for them to get-their-arses-over-there. The two non-blondes shared a look before walking over to their significant others.
Victoire grabbed Teddy's hand with her right and looked at the blonde woman and man, "Tante Gabrielle, Oncle Marc, you remember Teddy don't you?"
"Of course," Gabrielle –who strongly resembled Fleur and therefore Victoire– replied as she leaned forward to kiss either of Teddy's cheeks, "Bonjour Ted."
Teddy replied in kind while he reached out to shake Marc's proffered hand.
"And allow us to congratulate you on the engagement, we were so happy to hear about it in Fleur's letter from June," Marc told the pair with a genial smile.
"Merci Oncle Marc," Victoire replied sincerely.
Louis introduced Cecilia next, which really grabbed Gabrielle's attention since she'd never met her before, and both his aunt and uncle were very kind and very enthusiastic in their greetings. Gabrielle might have even mentioned more than once that she was excited to finally meet Louis's girlfriend.
Cecilia blushed very prettily and slyly tried to examine Louis's aunt and uncle. There was a strong and obvious resemblance between Gabrielle, Fleur, Victoire, and even Dom and Louis that Cecilia put down to the Veela genes, and besides the blonde hair and blue eyes, all Cecilia could focus on was how beautiful her boyfriend's aunt was. She had previously thought that she was becoming a little immune to Veela looks after knowing the Weasleys for eighteen years, but it seemed that she was only slightly resistant to the ones she'd met before. Gabrielle's husband, Marc, was also very good-looking and blonde, even though he didn't have Veela genes. The main characteristics she came away with from him was that he had a very kind smile, and that he looked to be about ten years older than Gabrielle, and therefore much closer to Fleur's age.
Another pair of beautiful blondes ran up to the group next, and hugged their Tante Fleur and Oncle Bill very tightly. The blonde eight-year-olds then went on to hug Victoire, Dom, and Louis, and the latter smiled as he introduced Cecilia to Émilie and Esmé, his cousins. Despite sharing blonde hair, blue eyes, and even a child version of Veela charm, Louis explained that the twins were fraternal and that they were Gabrielle and Marc's children.
The twins ran off a few minutes after the greetings and introductions, and Fleur went in one direction so that she and her sister could catch up, while Bill and Marc went in the other in search for some drinks. The five that were left decided to stick together for the first part of the reunion, since they were sure that the next half hour at least would be spent greeting family members and introducing them to Teddy and Cecilia, or reintroducing in Teddy's case.
Somehow, that half hour felt like it both dragged on forever and went by like a whirlwind. The first people they ran into after meeting the twins were Madeleine and Gérald. Madeleine was a cousin of Fleur, looking very much like Cecilia expected a part Veela would look, and was roughly the same age as Gabrielle. Her husband Gérald was quieter than she was, but also very polite; he sported a head of long curly hair that was the closest shade to brown that Cecilia had seen anyone sport at the gathering so far. They were very interested to meet Cecilia, Madeleine saying something in French to Louis that made him chuckle, blush slightly, and press a loving kiss to Cecilia's temple.
The couple they met next were more interested in hearing about Teddy and Victoire's engagement, which thankfully Cecilia allowed to not be directly in the spotlight, and gave her the chance to examine Louis's relatives. Tatienne looked to be in her early thirties and was wearing a pair of high-heeled shoes that could probably put even Dom's highest-heeled pair to shame. Tatienne's husband Etienne on the other hand, was demure, practically silent, and at youngest in his late sixties. His much younger and prettier wife ended up asking one too many times why Victoire and Teddy had decided to wait two years to get married, and the group of Weasleys separated from the odd pair soon after, and before Victoire could do much but grumble in an irritated manner under her breath.
Thankfully, the next several introductions went better and much more like the first, although Cecilia was starting to have a hard time remembering the names after she'd been introduced to the twentieth new person in as many minutes.
"This has gone rather well," Victoire observed happily as the group of five found a table laden with drinks. They all decided to start with a French brand of butterbeer.
Teddy nodded and wrapped an arm around his fiancée's waist, "I agree, you haven't hexed anyone yet."
Dom snorted, "That's only because we have yet to be subjected to Gisèle."
"Speak of the devil," Louis muttered into the lip of his bottle as his brown eyes narrowed at a figure coming towards the group.
Dom made a face, Victoire sighed heavily, Teddy squeezed his fiancée comfortingly, all while Cecilia tried to hide her confusion at their reaction to the pretty blonde who strutted more than walked up to them. Cecilia assumed that the blonde was Gisèle. She was tall, almost taller than Victoire and Dom, had long legs, a slender figure that bordered closely to too thin, pale blue eyes, high cheek bones, and even though she was definitely beautiful, she didn't seem to have that aura that every part Veela she had met that day usually gave off.
"Dominique bonjour!" Gisèle said in a very high pitched tone as she reached for the redhead and kissed her on either cheek.
Dom reciprocated the greeting, or more accurately, stopped herself from slapping her cousin in response, and said her cousin's name in reply and without any greeting attached. Gisèle turned to Victoire next.
"Salut Victoire," She said leaning forward to kiss Victoire like she did Dom. Gisèle hurried through it and then smirked at seeing Teddy standing at Victoire's side, "And hello Théodore, you are looking very well."
Victoire didn't even try to hide the glare she sent the other blonde upon hearing her call her fiancé by his full first name in such an intimate tone. Louis decided to intervene before Victoire let her temper get away with her.
"Bonjour Gisèle," Louis greeted his cousin, who was only a year older than Victoire. He quickly held his hand out to shake hers, as to avoid having to do an awkward cheek kiss with her.
Gisèle's perfectly painted lips slipped into a slight pout before she plastered a large white smile on her face, "Bonjour Louis. My, my, my, haven't you grown into a handsome young man?"
Louis nodded, his face not betraying how uncomfortable he was with how she was looking at him, and gestured to Cecilia, "Gisèle, this is my girlfriend Cecilia Wood." He turned to Cecilia and smiled at her, "And Cecilia, this is our cousin Gisèle, she's-"
"I'm Marc's daughter," Gisèle cut in, giving Cecilia a very critical look as she examined the younger woman from head to toe.
Cecilia noted how Gisèle made the point to say that she was only Marc's daughter. That along with the fact that Gabrielle was too young to have a child Gisèle's age, and that Gisèle didn't have the genetic Veela charm, reminded Cecilia that a few days ago Dom had referred to Gisèle as their step-cousin. She wasn't related to them by blood.
"It's nice to meet you," Cecilia said reaching forward to shake Gisèle's hand. The blonde looked at it for a minute before giving Cecilia her limp hand, "A pleasure." It didn't slip past Cecilia that she didn't say whose pleasure it was.
Gisèle turned back to look at her cousins, she gave Louis a charming smile before setting her sights on Victoire, and by extension Teddy, "So, anything new mes cousins?"
Victoire put a bright smile on her face, "Teddy and I got engaged in June."
"Yes of course," Gisèle said with a smile, clapping her hands together, "I recall hearing Papa and Gabrielle say something about that. So when is the wedding? Next summer?"
Victoire was rather certain that Gisèle didn't actually care when the wedding was, but was using the question as an excuse to speak to Teddy and give him a simpering smile. Victoire clenched her teeth, her smile turning more into a grimace, and her fiancée gave her a sideways look before replying to Gisèle, "We're planning for it in two summers' time actually."
"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?"
Teddy's grip on Victoire's waist quickly became restraining, and he used one hand to make sure that she didn't reach for her wand, although he was rather certain that she'd skip the wand and go straight to muggle duelling if she had to. Cecilia's eyes widened, not fully believing that she'd heard what she did, while Dom looked offended on her elder sister's behalf.
Louis, ever the peacemaker of the family, tried to change the topic, "And what's new with you Gisèle?"
"Oh, you know, I've been so busy with work lately, I didn't even think I'd be able to make it today," Gisèle replied with a self-sacrificing smile.
Dom rolled her eyes, "Well it's too bad then that you could."
Gisèle narrowed her eyes at Dom before making a 'tutting' sound, "Jealousy doesn't look good on you Dominique, it's so unbecoming for a Veela of all people to be envious of little ol' me."
"Why in the world would Dom be jealous of you?" Victoire asked incredulously as she came to her sister's defense, "She's a junior associate at a law firm, and by my last recollection you're an actress/singer/dancer who hasn't done much of any of the three."
Gisèle gasped. She felt insulted, but not for the obvious reason, "An actress? Oh Victoire dear, it's obvious you haven't heard of my newest job. I'm a model for Siren's Secret now. I made my debut this past spring and I can't believe you haven't heard about it. What, were you living under a rock for all of April?"
Victoire crossed her arms over her chest, "It was actually a series of underground tunnels, and it wasn't voluntary."
Gisèle sent her a baffled look, but Victoire ignored it in favour for turning to her sister and brother, "Had you heard about this?"
"Unfortunately, I picked up the spring catalogue only to drop it in surprise upon seeing the cow's face, and much more of her body than I've ever wanted to see, on the cover," Dom admitted with a scowl on her own face.
She was really taking it personally, not because she was jealous of Gisèle, but because Siren's Secret used to be her favourite undergarment store and now she couldn't look at the catalogue because she was afraid of seeing her most disliked cousin's annoying face (and body) in it.
Victoire looked at Louis, who looked around awkwardly, settling his gaze on his shoes, "I kinda knew too. Anish somehow ended up with a poster of her from her photoshoot and tried to put it up on our dorm wall. I made him take it down and used some excuse about how putting posters of scantily clad women up on the walls was misogynistic and degrading. The last thing I needed him to know was that it was actually because the poster was of my cousin."
Cecilia looked at Louis and raised an eyebrow, "Is that why Anish spent the latter half of April telling me that I needed to stop turning you into a 'pansy-wuss' who spends way too much time thinking about the feminazi agenda?"
"Probably, yeah."
Victoire was still a little confused, "Why didn't anyone tell me about this?"
"You already spent half of May vomiting, I didn't want to make it worse," Dom explained with a shrug. Victoire had to nod in response to that reply, in thinking about it that way, she was rather glad that they'd abstained from telling her about Gisèle's new skimpily clad job.
"Well congratulations Gisèle, I'm sure you worked very hard for your position," Victoire replied a little awkwardly, she glanced at her cousin again and observed that Gisèle did look much skinnier than she remembered from seeing her the previous year.
Gisèle nodded self-importantly, "Oh it did, you don't know how much work goes into being a supermodel."
"Of course not, I only just spent the last four years in healing school after all," Victoire muttered sarcastically.
Gisèle scowled at her, "Whatever." She glanced from Victoire to Dom and haughtily announced, "I'm bored." She nodded slightly to Louis, barely spared Cecilia a glance, and then looked at Teddy. She let out a long sigh and a small smile, "It's really too bad that you didn't take my advice from last year Théodore."
She was gone not long after that, and Victoire was a little upset that Gisèle had left before she got a chance to hex and/or punch her. Everyone was quiet, still holding their butterbeers, when Cecilia slowly said.
"She's not exactly the friendliest person is she?"
Dom snorted and finished her drink, "No she is not. She's always been jealous that she's not part Veela, and has had her knickers in a twist about it ever since her father married Aunt Gabrielle and she was forced to realize that she wasn't the prettiest and perfect centre of attention anymore."
Cecilia nodded and then looked curiously at Teddy, "What was the advice that she gave you last year?"
"Gisèle was very vocal in her opinions on how as a metamorphmagus I could pick a more attractive regular face so that I wouldn't seem as out of place when I'm with Victoire. Specifically she suggested making my nose smoother and going for a more subdued hair colour," Teddy explained, he could hear Victoire's teeth grinding as he repeated Gisèle's advice.
"That's awful."
Teddy shrugged, "It would have hurt more if I didn't already know that she was shallow and superficial."
"So should I be grateful that she practically ignored me?" Cecilia questioned, only partly joking.
"Absolutely," Louis told her with a smile.
Dom sighed and magiked a bottle of wine and wine glasses over, "If I'm going to have to talk to her again at some point this afternoon, I'm going to need something stronger than butterbeer." She filled a few glasses half-full, sent one to Victoire, who accepted it; offered one to Teddy who shook his head; and then proffered the glass to Cecilia.
"No thank you," The younger girl replied a little hesitantly.
"Are you sure?" Dom asked her, "It's from this vineyard so it's actually really good."
Cecilia shook her head. She knew that she was a lightweight and she really didn't want to accidentally get drunk on two glasses and make a fool of herself in front of Louis's family. The glass was offered to Louis next, who also turned it down. Dom just shrugged and filled the glass up to almost full before taking a sip of it herself.
Amazingly, Dom was able to finish the glass before their grandparents happened upon them roughly ten minutes later. Cecilia had had the opportunity to meet Fleur's parents before, and they were nice and polite to her as always. She was a little jealous of Louis in that respect. It wasn't fair that both sets of his grandparents were nice while she had to get by with the nice but sometimes odd grandparents on the Bell side, and her always odd and rarely nice Grandmother Eilionoir on the Wood side, although her grandfather on her father's side had been nice while he was alive.
Apolline and Marius Delacour left after they had the chance to greet their grandchildren and to appropriately congratulate Victoire and Teddy face-to-face on their engagement. Dom strolled away a few minutes later saying something about needing to find one of their cousins who wouldn't annoy the crap out of her, leaving Victoire, Teddy, Louis, and Cecilia in a group.
"I know that you told me that you have a lot of family on your mother's side, but I didn't think that there would be this much," Cecilia commented as she looked at the yard around them that was filled with what looked to be a hundred people.
Victoire gave the younger girl a sympathetic look, "Yeah, Grand-mère Apolline is one of seven sisters. You'll probably meet all of them later. If you're really lucky though, you'll be able to avoid meeting Grand-tante Thérèse, she's the crazy Auntie Muriel of this side."
"Seven sisters?" Cecilia asked interestedly. It was starting to sound like the opposite of her father's family as Oliver Wood was the youngest of seven boys, he did have one sister though.
"Seven full sisters, she has a few half-sisters as well," Victoire explained.
Cecilia bit her lip, "That's a lot of half-Veelas."
"Yup."
Bill and Fleur stumbled upon the group next, and Victoire's mother gave her a sympathetic look when she heard that they'd already met Gisèle, and Bill began a description about the man who was Fleur's Aunt Célestine's new boyfriend. It turns out that Henri was only a few years older than Fleur, and therefore almost thirty years younger than his new girlfriend, and both of these facts really creeped Fleur out even though she had tried her best to keep a straight face during the introductions. Bill didn't have a chance to finish the story however, because Fleur spotted a particular relative of hers and decided to bolt. She grabbed Bill's hand, asked her children to stall for her, and dashed away in the opposite direction.
"Victoire! Louis!" A genial male voice called as he walked up to the group. He sent an inquisitive glance past Victoire's shoulder, "Was that Fleur I just saw over here?"
Victoire shared a faux puzzled look with her brother before lying innocently, "No, I haven't seen Maman since we arrived."
"Ah well, I'm sure I'll run into her at some point," The man replied with a careless shrug.
Victoire was trying to nod in response but she was quickly pulled into an embrace by the man. He also decided to kiss her sloppily on each cheek, "So how are you my dear?"
"I'm fine," She replied a little tersely as she pulled away and leaned into Teddy's side.
"Good, good," He replied, giving Victoire a rather long –and for her, uncomfortable– speculating look before smiling oily, "I say my dear, you are looking more and more like your beautiful mother every time I see you."
Victoire clenched her, as of yet, empty wand hand tightly, "Thank you."
"Wonderful again to see you Lothaire," Louis said loudly as he stretched his hand out to the man, he was hoping to take the man's attention off of his sister, who obviously wasn't enjoying it, and onto him.
"You too Louis," Lothaire replied, he was still smiling but it wasn't as bright as the one he had given Victoire.
Louis then introduced Cecilia to Lothaire, explaining that the dark brown-haired man was married to his mother's cousin Léa. Lothaire shook Cecilia's hand, thankfully not attempting to kiss her cheeks like he had with Victoire. Once he was done he turned his gaze back to Victoire, who loudly reintroduced Teddy to her mother's cousin by marriage, and informed him that they got engaged.
"Ah yes, young love. I remember well when I first fell into it, I knew right then and there whom I wanted to marry and spend the rest of my life with," His eyes had taken on a slightly glazed look, but he was still looking at Victoire in a way that unnerved her.
"How romantic," Louis interrupted Lothaire's musing, "To still be in love with cousin Léa after all these years."
Lothaire jumped a bit at Louis's words, "Léa, yes. My beautiful wife."
Victoire bit the inside of her lip and frowned when she noticed that she had Lothaire's attention again, "Are you still studying healing Victoire?"
She plastered a small smile onto her face, it was the best she could do, "I'm officially finished with the schooling part and will start my residency in St. Mungo's on Monday."
"Excellent," Lothaire replied as he clapped his hands together, "Not that I expected anything else of course, you're obviously both as brilliant and as beautiful as your mother."
Victoire smiled at the compliment even though she really would have preferred to shudder in abhorrence. She was really starting to wish that she had high-tailed it away when her mother did.
"And how is Fleur? She must be glad to be back in France even for a few days after spending the majority of each year in gloomy England."
"Both Mum and Dad are very well thank you," Louis replied a little tersely.
Victoire folded her arms across her chest and added, "And yes, Mum does like coming back to France when she can, but she especially enjoys it when we can join her, or at the very least when Dad comes with her. She loves her family and hates to be away from any of us, especially Dad."
Lothaire's bright smile dimmed a little, but he recovered, "Fleur always did have a gentle heart."
Cecilia, who had been very quiet and was just watching the odd interaction, had to bit her tongue to keep in a disbelieving laugh. Fleur was always very nice and kind to her, and Victoire was right when she said that she cared very much for her family, however, in spite of both her appearance and her name, Cecilia wouldn't consider Louis's mother some delicate little flower.
Louis made the comment about seeing cousin Léa in the distance, and Lothaire automatically stiffened at the sound of his wife's name and remarked that he should probably go find her. He waved goodbye to Louis, and then turned to Victoire and gave her one more skin-crawling-inducing look before saying, "You really do look just like your mother." He left just after that.
Victoire downed the rest of her wine while he walked away and Cecilia asked the burning question, "What in the world was that all about?"
"That," Victoire observed distastefully, "Is the reason why Maman left France and came to England after she graduated from school."
Cecilia's eyes widened, "Really? Is he some sort of . . . an ex-boyfriend or something?"
"He wishes he made it that far," Louis replied in what had to be the unkindest tone she had ever heard him use.
Upon noticing Cecilia confused look, Victoire expounded, "Lothaire went to school with Maman. He fancied himself in love with her and decided that they'd be perfect for each other. Things were dicey in their seventh year because, as you know, there was the whole Tri-Wizard Tournament thing. When they graduated he thought that they'd finally get together and start to settle down and build a life together. Maman on the other hand did not like him in that way, or at all really, and decided to leave for England because she wanted to try something new, but also in part because she wanted to get away from him. She came to England, met Dad, and well, you know the rest."
Cecilia now understood why Fleur had skedaddled away when she could, and she really didn't blame her for it. She did however, feel the need to ask a clarifying question, "So he used to fancy your mother, and when he realized that she'd never return his feelings he decided to marry her cousin instead?"
"That seems to be the way it went, yes," Louis told her.
"So he's like her Austin Pennington then?"
Victoire's eyes widened at the comparison while Teddy snickered, "Merlin, he would be her Pennington!"
"And what, even though your parents have been married for over two decades, and he's married to her cousin, he thinks that he still has a chance with your mother?" Cecilia asked realizing how some of the man's sly inferences could be construed that way.
Victoire made a face, "He's not exactly the brightest lumos in Charms class."
Cecilia nodded and then thought of something even more uncomfortable, "Wait, so he fancied your mother when they were younger . . . and he kept telling you Vic that you're just like your mother when she was young . . ."
"I know right," Victoire agreed, knowing where the younger girl's train of thought was going, "Even though I love my mother, I've learned that most times when men try to compliment me by telling me that I'm just like her when they knew her, it doesn't exactly come off as sounding as much like a compliment as they think it does."
Cecilia folded her arms over her chest and said hesitantly, "People tell me all the time that I'm just like my Mum."
"If they're comparing you to Katie I'm sure that they're being sincere. It just sounds really creepy when you're hearing it from someone who used to lust after your mother. As long as it's not coming from someone who used to fancy Katie when she was your age, or still does fancy her, you're probably safe," Victoire reassured her.
"Victoire! Cela fait longtemps qu'on s'est vu!" A stunning blonde woman yelled in French as she suddenly appeared behind Victoire and pulled the other blonde into a tight hug.
Victoire squealed in response and tightly hugged the young woman back, "Tu m'as manqué!"
"I'm beginning to think that you're picking favourite third-cousins here," Louis called to the as of yet unidentified blonde in a teasing tone.
His extended cousin, who definitely looked to be part Veela, laughed as she let go of Victoire and then pulled Louis into a hug of his own, "You're such a brat, is it really any wonder why I like Victoire better than you?"
"Come off it, I know that I'm your favourite male cousin on this side," Louis told the woman with a smirk.
The blonde, who was roughly Victoire's size and looked to be of a similar age, pulled out of the hug, but not before giving Louis an eye roll, "You're my only male cousin on this side Louis."
"Exactly."
She rolled her eyes again, and with the action Cecilia was a little surprised to see that they were a very pretty but distinct shade of green instead of Veela blue. The green-eyed blonde turned to Teddy next, "Teddy! It's so great to see you again, and congratulations about the engagement, I almost squealed out loud when I read about it in the letter Vic wrote me in June. You sir, are one very lucky man."
Teddy laughed and pecked a kiss on both her cheeks, "Thank you Alexandrie, it's lovely to see you again too."
Cecilia's ears perked and she glanced at Louis, "You have two cousins named Alexandra?"
He shrugged, "This one doesn't go by Ally, so it's not too confusing. I will admit however, that it's odd that Victoire gets along best with her cousins when they're named Alexandra."
"Hello," The newly-identified blonde said brightly as she smiled at Cecilia, "I'm Alexandrie."
"Hi, I'm Cecilia Wood, I'm-"
Alexandrie gave her a beatific smile. "You're Louis's girlfriend," She finished for her, "I've heard loads about you from Louis." Alexandrie then smirked at her favourite male cousin and gestured towards him with her thumb, "This one here's quite taken with you Cecilia. I reckon that you could ask him to give up magic forever and he'd do it."
Cecilia laughed, "Thank you for the compliment, but even in his lowest moments during Charms class I doubt Louis would ever actually give up magic."
"True, however I am very impressed with the level of devotion that you've squeezed out of him, all without the aid of any Veela magic. It's quite the feat," Alexandrie responded with a smile.
"Don't be so self-deprecating Alexandrie, I know that you don't like the prospect of using Veela magic to get a man to commit to you anymore than I do," Victoire told her cousin with a specific look.
Alexandrie put her hands up, "I was trying to be modest. Besides, if I did use Veela magic it would have made my list of ex-boyfriends much smaller."
"Speaking of boyfriends," Louis said to his cousin cheerily, "Where's Matthieu? Did he not come with you?"
Alexandrie shook her head, "Non, we broke up a few months ago."
"A few months ago? Why didn't you mention it when you wrote to me last?" Victoire asked her cousin in surprise, Alexandrie had been with Matthieu for almost two years.
The other blonde shrugged, "We were trying to keep our break up on the down-low since we still work together, outside of our immediate family and closest friends we hadn't told anybody. I forgot to tell you when it happened because of that, and when our break-up became more public two months ago I figured I'd wait to tell you face-to-face."
"I'm sorry about the break-up then," Victoire told her sympathetically.
Alexandrie shrugged, "Don't be, it was time. Anyway, I'm with someone new now."
"Oh, did you bring him today?" Victoire asked curiously as she looked around the yard to see if there was a young man she didn't recognize.
"I brought her, yes," Alexandrie replied with a bit of a smug smile.
Victoire, not missing a beat, clapped her hands together, "Brilliant, when do I get to meet her? I expect you've told her all about me?"
Alexandrie rolled her eyes, "Yes you'll get to meet her, but no I didn't have to tell her all about you. She already kind of knows you."
"Really?" Victoire asked perplexedly.
"She's two years younger than me, so she's your age, and she was at Hogwarts during your seventh-year because of the Tri-Wizard Tournament," Alexandrie explained.
Victoire sighed, "She probably thinks I'm a right nutter then."
"Well it's not like that's a lie or anything."
Victoire swatted her cousin's arm once the words left her mouth, and then Louis asked interestedly, "So where is this girlfriend then?"
"She's probably stuck talking to Gisèle," Alexandrie said with an eye roll as she thought of their shared step-cousin, "Stephanie works with her so she can't really get out of it if Gisèle starts up a conversation."
"Wait, your new girlfriend's a Siren's Secret model?" Victoire asked her cousin with a raised eye brow.
Alexandrie smirked at her, "You know that I like my significant others to be just as gorgeous as I am. Moreover, that quirk seems like a common family trait." She said the last part with a sweeping gesture towards Teddy and Cecilia's direction and a knowing smile.
"Can't deny that one," Louis chuckled as he wrapped his arms around Cecilia's waist and squeezed her tightly.
"Is it also a family quirk to be cheesy?" Cecilia asked him.
Victoire laughed, "That comes from Weasley side."
"So what's Aurélie up to?" Louis asked Alexandrie, "We haven't seen her yet today."
Alexandrie shrugged, "She's around here somewhere with her boyfriend Denis." She glanced at Cecilia, "Aurélie is my twin sister."
"Are you identical?" Cecilia inquired.
"No, fraternal. Although we look close enough to be mistaken for identical, there's only so much genetic variation you can get and still look like you have the Veela traits," Alexandrie clarified.
Cecilia pursed her lips and looked at Louis, "So Alexandrie and Aurélie are twins, and so are Émilie and Esmé? You have two sets of twins as cousins?"
"Fraternal twins actually seem to run in the family. Grand-tante Apolline and Grand-tante Artemais are also twins," Alexandrie explained.
Just as they were speaking of twins, the youngest of the bunch came running by. Émilie and Esmé, wearing identical flowered sundresses even though they didn't physically look identical, loudly declared that Arrière grand-mère Séraphine had arrived. They ran away as quickly as they had arrived after they delivered their message.
"What does Arrière mean? I know that grand-mère means grandmother," Cecilia asked the French speakers of the group.
Victoire nervously patted her hair down as she expounded, "Arrière grand-mère means great-grandmother. In this case it seems that Great-grandmother Séraphine has arrived."
"Lovely," Alexandrie muttered under her breath, fiddling with the neckline on her dress so that it covered a little bit more skin.
"Your great-grandmother," Cecilia mused as she watched Louis re-tuck the bottom of his short-sleeved dress shirt into his khaki shorts, "As in your mother's grandmother?"
Victoire toyed with the bow of her wrap-around dress until it was perfect and equal. Alexandrie answered Cecilia's question as she readjusted the bobby-pins that held half of her blonde hair up in a small twisted bun on the back of her head, "That's how genetics works, yes."
"As in the person whose hair makes up the core of Fleur's wand?"
Louis nodded his head as he fidgeted with the once-rolled cuff of his shorts, "Yup."
"I've got her hair as my wand core too," Alexandrie exclaimed, pulling out said wand and charming her visible toenails a more muted rose colour as opposed to the highlighter yellow that they had originally been.
Cecilia swallowed thickly and watched the three part-Veelas primping themselves and fidgeting with their appearances, "Your Great-grandmother, as in the woman who is a full Veela?"
"Yes," Victoire told her softly before turning to Teddy and fixing his already straight shirt collar.
"Oh Circe."
Alexandrie let out a bit of a hysterical laugh and glanced at Cecilia, "No darling, she's worse than Circe."
A/N: So, I know that you guys have been waiting for this chapter since it was mentioned back in the first chapter, and I hoped that it lived up to your expectations. Please let me know your thoughts on it, and if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to leave them in a review or PM.
And for those of you who don't know, Circe is a Greek goddess who was a witch, and when she didn't like someone she turned them into small animals. In the Odyssey she turned Odysseus into a pig.
I really appreciated everyone's suggestions for quidditch magazine names, and if you have anymore feel free to keep them coming, I'll let you know in a couple updates what I've decided to go with. :)
Next update: Not sure, it will either be in two weeks, or at the end of April when my exams are done. I should note that directly after my exams my family has to drive down to Nova Scotia for my brother's university graduation, so it will be a busy time for me. You will most definitely get a new chapter up though, by the end of the first week of May.
Next Chapter: Vic, Dom, and Teddy and Louis and Cecilia deal with the aftermath of the family reunion. We get to see the Hogwarts aged kids board the train to go back and there might be a little drama of their own. Clark asks Dom out again, and as he does he unintentionally makes euphemisms that makes Mark blush and causes Ally to look at Mark funny.
Teaser for Next Chap:
"Her eyes went wide with surprise and she held her breath as he continued.
"I love you. I love every piece of you, and every inch of you, and I love that you're mine," He told her, his voice going rough."
Now, who do we think is talking to whom here?
I want to thank everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed!
Biggest thanks to:
rosesnlilies, Jilly98, BuckBeak90, liverpoolss, Rainbow Lava Ninjas, Rosie Loves Pi, Break This Spell626, Shirama, NicoleTheSmith, KawaiiOtaku0405, zvc56, B. arendes, MuggleCreator, Jennifer Jules, Venz, Devi2509, Autumn, PhoenixGravity, Emma Stanger, GryffindorsRock, Bubbly Bookworm, kIMaYa, and brucaslover43!
rosesnlilies: Cute, I don't know what some other people call them, but it never hurts to have more than one ship name.
Rainbow Lava Ninjas: That's so nice to hear.
Break This Spell: Well how'd you enjoy Vic and Gisele's showdown?
MuggleCreator: Perfectly fine to do both. This is a modern world after all.
Venz: I hope your uni work is going well.
GryffindorsRock: Sorry no bonfire, there was no plot or character development in it.
Bubbly Bookworm: I've never really heard 5 Seconds of Summer. I'm not the type of person who listens to a lot of music, and when I do it's usually country music.
kIMaYa: We will hear a little about Mark in the next chapter.
brucaslover43: I'm impressed with your dedication to my stories, and I'm glad that you like them.
I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter,
Please leave me any comments, questions, or concerns,
I wish good luck to everyone else who is going through final exams,
Until next time, DFTBA!