Year 7: Meant to Be

Chapter 67: March 2018

Victoire spent the next few weeks in a happy daze. Though she and Teddy were separated by distance, she'd never felt closer to him. They exchanged an average of three letters daily – Victoire was sure they were soon going to wear out poor Moony – and it was all Victoire could do to pull her thoughts from Teddy to do her schoolwork. Which she did manage to do, just as Teddy made sure he was working diligently at the job he desperately needed to keep.

Kara and Brianna were happy for Victoire. Though she'd seemed happy with Joe, the difference between then and now was spectacular. And things between Brianna and Stanley and between Kara and Johnathon were going equally as smoothly. For once, all three girls were exceptionally happy all at the same time.

"Truth or dare?" Brianna asked Victoire.

Though the girls played their game a lot less often now that they were older and more mature, their games of truth or dare hadn't died out yet.

"Truth," Victoire selected.

"Have you and Teddy slept together since you got back together?" Brianna asked, as presumptuous as ever.

Victoire flushed. "Yeah, the first day," she confessed.

"In Hogsmeade?" Kara frowned. "Where?"

"We might have taken a little detour," Victoire revealed. "To Teddy's apartment."

"Alert the authorities!" Brianna cried in mock horror. "Hogwarts Head Girl Victoire Weasley breaking Hogsmeade outing rules!"

"Shut up," Victoire rolled her eyes, slapping Brianna on the arm. "Alright, truth or dare Bri."

"Dare," Brianna selected.

"Aw, come on, pick a truth," Victoire complained.

Brianna shrugged. "Sorry," she said. "I picked dare."

"But dares are so boring now that all three of us have boyfriends," Victoire whined. "We can't dare each other to do anything interesting."

"You can dare me to do anything you like," Brianna challenged. "Leave Stanley out of this."

Victoire frowned. "So, you're saying if I dared you to go and kiss one of the boys over there, you'd do it?"

"It's a dare, isn't it?" Brianna returned.

"Don't you think Stanley would be upset if he knew you were going around kissing other guys?" Victoire frowned. She knew that personally, she would only choose truths from now on, knowing that Brianna would dare her to do something inappropriate with one of the Gryffindor boys in the common room, and that Teddy wouldn't like it.

"Stanley wouldn't care," Brianna shrugged dispassionately. "And neither do I."

"Alright then," Victoire allowed, taking the challenge. "I dare you to kiss Joseph. For a full minute. With tongue."

She laid the dare out in such a way that she was sure Brianna would refuse. A peck was one thing, but a full on make-out session was another. But to the surprise of both Victoire and Kara, Brianna stood up and walked right over to Joe, sitting down in his lap and pulling his face to hers in a long and languid kiss.

Victoire had to look away after a few seconds, so uncomfortable the sight was. Brianna was clearly putting on a show for her benefit, and Victoire regretted setting the dare. She should have just had Brianna do an embarrassing dance or something equally as stupid, like the dares they'd issued back in second year.

Brianna returned to the circle with a satisfied smirk on her face and Victoire gave her a judgemental look. "You really expect me to believe that Stanley would be okay with that?" she demanded. "What if Stanley were kissing Ravenclaw girls the way you just kissed Joe?"

Brianna made a face that told Victoire she really didn't care. "What Stanley does in his spare time is none of my business. As long as he's still focused on me when we're together, I'm all set."

"There's something very backwards about that way of thinking," Victoire frowned.

"Can we just get back to the game?" Brianna demanded. "Kara, truth or dare?"

"Truth," Kara selected. Victoire got the distinct impression that she'd chosen it to avoid having to repeat the dare Brianna had just done. Johnathon really wouldn't like it if Kara started making out with other guys, especially given that he was sitting across the room right now with Cameron Philbrick and Adrian Carter.

"When are you going to suck it up and sleep with Johnathon already?" Brianna demanded.

Kara immediately flushed red, and Victoire jumped in, incited.

"Come on Brianna, leave Kara alone," Victoire insisted. "You know she doesn't like to talk about that sort of thing."

But when Brianna got into one of her moods, there was no stopping her from getting what she wanted. And apparently Victoire's dare had sent her into a mood.

"Kara chose truth," Brianna said. "If she wasn't ready for a truth, she should have picked dare."

Victoire sighed. "Kara, you don't have to answer if you don't want to," she assured the other girl. "This game is childish. I don't know why we still play."

"No," Kara shook her head. "No, it's alright, I'll answer. To be honest… we were thinking this weekend."

"What?" Victoire and Brianna both cried at the same time, drawing the attention of over half the common room.

After assuring everyone that it was nothing, Victoire and Brianna pulled their chairs closer to Kara's to ensure they weren't overheard having such an important discussion.

"This weekend?" Victoire repeated. "Why this weekend?"

"Well, the timing works really well," Kara muttered, twirling the ends of her hair with her fingers. Her eyes were fixed on a spot on the floor, as she was unable to look her friends in the eyes. "Adrian has a tryout for the Chudley Cannons and Cameron's going to cheer him on, so they've got permission to leave this weekend. And Joseph's mother's really sick, so he's been given leave as well. And Johnathan says he's going to talk Nathaniel into sleeping on the couch in the common room. I guess he's done it for the other guys in the past. So we'll have the whole room to ourselves."

"And you're sure you're… ready?" Victoire questioned.

While Victoire and Brianna had both lost their virginity long ago, Kara had yet to cross that line. Kara was different. She was a lot more innocent in a lot of ways, and more delicate. Victoire just wanted to make sure she was doing this for the right reasons, and not because Johnathon was pressuring her into it.

"I'm positive," Kara nodded confidently. "I've given it a lot of thought, and we've talked about it a lot too. And I'm ready. I want to do this. I love Johnathon and he loves me, and we want to take this step together."

"Merlin, what's the big deal?" Brianna groaned. "Just go up there now and get it over with. Why wait for the weekend? You're way overdue, and all this 'love' nonsense? Don't make me gag. He's hot, you're hot, what more do you need?"

"Brianna!" Victoire cried loudly in chastisement. It was fine if Brianna wanted to be in a mood, but there was no need to be so insensitive.

"Sorry, I'm sorry," Brianna said, holding her hands up in defeat. "That was over the line. Kara, that's great, really. I'm happy for you."

"Really?" Kara asked, unsure.

"Really," Brianna nodded sincerely.

VvVvVvVvVvV

A loud crash woke Victoire, Brianna, and Raina. It was Saturday night, so Kara was missing for obvious reasons and Caitlin had left for the weekend to accompany Adrian to his tryout with Cameron. The three girls shot up out of bed and exchanged confused looks with each other.

"I'll go see what's going on," Raina volunteered, swinging her legs around and slipping them into her slippers before padding towards the door.

Her curiosity getting the better of her, Victoire slipped her own slippers on and followed Raina out the door, Brianna not far behind her. When they came to the landing outside their door, they discovered that the stairs had transfigured themselves into a slide – a not so uncommon occurrence in Gryffindor Tower.

Victoire groaned and rolled her eyes. "Probably just some idiot underclassman wanting to spy on us girls while we were asleep," she muttered, turning around to head back to bed.

"You'd think they'd learn their lesson after the first time, but no," Brianna muttered blearily. "They just keep on trying. Everyone thinks they can outsmart the stairs. But they can't."

Just as they were about to re-enter their dorm, a male voice sounded, calling out their names.

"Victoire! Brianna! Are you up there? Can you hear me?"

Victoire and Brianna exchanged puzzled looks.

"Who is that?" Brianna frowned.

Victoire listened more closely. "I think it's Johnathon," she said, shocking herself.

"Isn't he with Kara tonight?" Brianna asked.

The two girls immediately jumped onto the stairs-now-turned-slide and slid down to the common room to discover Johnathon standing at the foot of the stairs looking anxious.

"What's wrong?" Victoire asked immediately. "Where's Kara?"

"That's just it," Johnathon said in distress. "We were sleeping, and then all of a sudden she started twitching, like she was having some kind of fit, and she fell on the floor and she hit her head, and now she's not moving at all, and I can't wake her. I don't know what's happening."

Victoire knew immediately what must have happened. It had happened once before, and at the time, Victoire and Brianna had been just as worried as Johnathon.

"Did she hit her head hard?" Brianna demanded, leading the way up the stairs to the boys' dorm.

"N-no," Johnathon stammered. "At least, I don't think so."

"She should be fine," Victoire informed him. "We just need to get her to Madam Eldridge. I'm guessing in the… excitement of the evening, she forgot to take her potion."

"Potion?" Johnathon questioned.

Victoire stilled for a moment. Maybe Kara hadn't come clean about this particular issue yet.

"Never mind," Victoire waved him off. "We need to get her to the hospital wing."

Just like last time, Brianna cast the levitation spell, and Victoire cleared the way as they brought Kara down from the dorm, through the common room, and out into the corridor. Johnathon followed uselessly behind them, whimpering about whether she was going to be alright, and asking what was going on.

When they arrived in the hospital wing, Brianna deposited Kara on one of the beds and Victoire went to find Madam Eldridge. Luckily, the hospital wing matron was awake, as she had another student in critical care at the moment that required careful monitoring. Not that that was a good thing, Victoire noted mentally. But it worked out well for them.

"It's happened again," Victoire said by way of explanation. She pointed at Kara, and Madame Eldridge immediately set to work in producing the necessary potions.

"What's he doing here?" Madam Eldridge asked, pointing at Johnathon.

"I was with her when it happened," Johnathon informed her.

"You were – ?" Madam Eldridge scrutinized the boy and then pursed her lips. "You may go."

"What?" Johnathon cried. "But, what about – is Kara going to be okay?"

"She'll be fine," Victoire assured him, having to physically drag him to the door. "We'll keep an eye on her. You can see her in the morning."

"But what's going on?" Johnathon demanded.

"Now is not the time," Victoire insisted, shutting the door behind him.

With Johnathon gone, Victoire let out a breath. He was not going to give up until he got some answers. But unfortunately, they weren't her answers to give. Kara would have to be the one to tell him about her condition, and if she refused… Victoire was afraid that it might mean the end of their relationship.

VvVvVvVvVvV

Madam Eldridge allowed Victoire and Brianna to stay in the hospital wing with Kara overnight. They pulled a couple of chairs up to Kara's bed and sat vigil. Victoire managed to stay awake until about 4AM, at which point she started to doze off. Brianna had conked out around three.

When Kara started to wake up, Victoire snapped to attention, shaking Brianna awake as well. Kara opened her eyes and was immediately disoriented.

"Where am I?" she frowned.

"You're in the hospital wing," Victoire explained gently. "You had another one of your… episodes."

"I did?" Kara made a face, as if trying to remember why she hadn't taken her potion. Then, everything started to come back to her, and she turned ghostly pale. "Oh my God!" she cried. "I fell asleep with Johnathon last night."

"You did," Brianna nodded with a grimace.

"That means – he was there when I had my seizure?" Kara asked, looking mortified.

Victoire nodded. "He came to get us. We knew what was going on."

"He doesn't know about my condition," Kara said, shaking her head. "I never told him anything about it. Oh my God, he's going to think I'm a freak!"

"He doesn't think you're a freak," Victoire insisted. "He was just worried about you."

"Did you tell him?" Kara asked, looking terrified.

Victoire shook her head. "No," she said. "But I think you should."

"No way," Kara insisted. "No way, I can't tell him."

"He needs an explanation," Victoire said. "He knows something's not right. If you don't tell him, it's going to drive a wedge between the two of you."

"But I can't tell him," Kara refused. "Once he knows about my condition, he'll dump me for sure. Nobody wants a sick girlfriend."

"You're not sick," Brianna jumped in. "You are living with a vey manageable condition."

"I'm sick," Kara disagreed. "I visit the hospital wing on a regular basis, I have to take medicinal potion every night before I go to bed, or I have seizures and fall out of bed."

"None of that sounds like a deal breaker to me," Brianna declared.

Kara sighed. "You're not the one who would have to live with it," she said. "Johnathon is. It's a lot to accept. Not to mention the fear, going to bed every night. Being worried that the potion won't work, and you'll fall out of bed and get a real bad concussion, or worse."

"Well if he dumps you over this, then he was never worth it in the first place," Brianna declared. "But you have to tell him."

Victoire could see Kara's defences breaking. She knew she had to tell Johnathon the truth, she just didn't want to.

"How long do you think I have before he shows up?" Kara wondered idly.

At that moment, there was a knock on the hospital wing doors, and then they opened to reveal Johnathon, just as frazzled as last night.

Victoire turned back to Kara and made a face. "I guess you have your answer."

"We'll let the two of you talk," Brianna said, standing up and motioning to Victoire to do the same.

Victoire rose and she and Brianna passed Johnathon as he hurried over to Kara's bedside.

"She's fine," Victoire assured him, to quell the fear she saw in his eyes. "She'll need a quick exam from Madam Eldridge before she's released, but she's fine."

"Thanks," Johnathon nodded, before taking a seat next to Kara. Victoire watched him take her hand in his before turning and walking out into the hall, the door to the wing shutting behind her.

She turned to Brianna. "What do you think?" she wondered, referring to Kara's worry that Johnathon may break up with her.

Brianna rolled her eyes. "They'll be fine," she assured Victoire. "Those two are the most annoyingly sappy couple I've ever met, and I've met you and Teddy. He'll probably end up starting a charity in her name or something ridiculous like that. They're not breaking up."

VvVvVvVvVvV

Victoire and Brianna didn't see Kara again until lunch. They were just sitting down to eat when she entered the Great Hall and came over to join them.

"So?" Victoire prompted her. "How did it go?"

"It was fine, just like you said it would be," Kara smiled. "He was so understanding. In fact, I'm pretty convinced he's going to start reminding me to take my potion before bed every night from now on, he was so concerned about my health."

"See?" Brianna said. "I told you there was nothing to worry about."

Kara let out a sigh of relief. "I know. I was worried for nothing. I should have told him ages ago. But I'm glad it's out in the open now. No more secrets."

"I'm glad everything worked out," Victoire said, taking a sip of pumpkin juice.

"So…" Brianna said once that topic was closed. "How did things go last night? You know, before the seizure and everything?"

Kara flushed redder than a tomato and Victoire elbowed Brianna in the ribs.

"You just have no boundaries, do you?" Victoire demanded. "Why do you need to know everything about everyone's sex lives?"

"I'm just curious," Brianna said innocently. "I want to know if our little girl had a good first time."

"Oh my God!" Kara said, burying her face in her hands. "No more embarrassing conversations today, please. Haven't I been tortured enough?"

"Yeah, leave Kara alone," Victoire insisted. "She'll tell us about it when she wants to, if she wants to."

"That's right," Kara nodded. "Thank you Victoire."

"You're welcome," Victoire replied.

When she'd slept with Teddy for the first time, the questions Brianna had asked had made her very uncomfortable. So, she could only imagine the discomfort that Kara must be feeling.

"I will say one thing though," Kara decided, smiling a mischievous sort of smile. "I definitely should have done it sooner."