Year 6: The Broken Pieces of my Heart
Chapter 60: June 2017
Exams passed in a blur, and before Victoire knew it, it was almost time to leave Hogwarts for the summer. Though in some ways it felt like the year had gone on forever, in other ways Victoire felt like she'd only just begun her sixth year, and now it was over already.
One afternoon, Victoire was in the sixth year lounge with Kara, Brianna, Jonathon, and Joe, playing a game of exploding snap, when an owl started pecking at a nearby window.
"Who do you think that's for?" Jonathon wondered, glancing around the room. There weren't too many people in it, and deciding that it must be for one of them, he got up and opened the window.
The owl immediately flew to Victoire, quickly answering the question of who the letter was for. Victoire didn't recognize the owl, and when it dropped its letter in her lap, she didn't recognize the penmanship on it either.
"Who's it from?" Kara asked curiously.
"I have no idea," Victoire admitted.
"Well open it up," Joe encouraged her when she just continued to stare at it.
"Yes, right," Victoire nodded, ripping the envelope open and allowing the letter to fall out and land in her lap. She tossed the envelope aside and opened up the letter, her heart starting to pound as she realized who it was from. "It's from that greenhouse in Ireland," she said excitedly. "The one I applied to for the summer work program."
"And?" Joe asked eagerly. "Did you get it?"
Victoire glanced down at the letter and took a deep breath before reading.
To Ms. Victoire Weasley,
Thank you for your application to the summer work program at the Dublin Herbology Research Center. We are pleased to inform you that your application has been accepted. Enclosed, you will find all the necessary information as well as a few forms that will need to be filled out and returned before your arrival. Work begins on July 1. We look forward to working with you.
Sincerely,
Heather O'Reilly
Director of student summer work program
Dublin Herbology Research Center
Victoire waited a beat after finishing the letter before looking up at her friends in wonder. "I got in," she announced.
Following her announcement, her friends immediately began congratulating her, and telling her how great it was going to be, and how jealous they were that she would be working in Ireland all summer. Brianna was only working at the WWN, which was in London, and Kara would be working at the Muggle daycamp once again.
After a few celebratory rounds of exploding snap, everyone parted ways. Jonathon had rounds, Joe had to head back to Hufflepuff, and the girls made their way back to Gryffindor Tower.
"So, are you nervous at all?" Kara asked Victoire as they climbed the single flight of stairs to the seventh floor. "I mean, you'll have to live away from home."
"Well sure, but I do that all year," Victoire pointed out. "This won't be any different."
"You're going to get to meet so many interesting people," Brianna sighed jealously. "The Dublin Center is a big deal. There'll be students from all over the world. Do you know how many they accept each summer?"
"As I understand, there'll be six of us," Victoire replied. "But I don't know who they are yet. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one from Hogwarts that applied though."
"Promise you'll still write to us," Kara insisted. "Even if you're really busy, don't let those international students make you forget about us."
"I would never forget about you guys," Victoire promised. "And besides, I'll be back at Hogwarts in September the same as you both. So this isn't changing anything."
VvVvVvVvVvV
Over the next few days, Victoire had a ton of things to sort out. The Hogwarts Express returned to London on June the 30th, and Victoire would be expected in Dublin that very night, which meant there would be no time to stop by Shell Cottage in between. She'd already owled her parents to tell them, and though they were disappointed that she wouldn't be home for the summer, they were excited for her all the same.
When Victoire's exam results were ready, she picked them up from Professor Longbottom and was pleased to have received E's in both potions and care of magical creatures, and an O in herbology. It was quite the feat, especially considering how far she'd fallen mid-way through the year. Victoire felt extremely proud for being able to pull her grades up the way she did.
Having the final bit of documentation needed for the Dublin Center, Victoire duplicated her exam results and stuffed them into an envelope with her other forms and sent the package back to the Dublin Center with one of the school owls.
Before Victoire knew it, June 30th had arrived and she was boarding the train with her friends, heading back to London. Victoire was antsy the whole way, and though her friends reassured her that she would have a great time, she started to become nervous. What if she hated Dublin? What if she wished she'd never applied and that she'd stayed home? What if she realized that she didn't want to work in herbology after all and the whole thing had been a big mistake?
Joe reassured her that it was only for two months, and that if she hated it, she could always quit and come home. Victoire doubted she would do that – it had been a whole process getting in, and her acceptance had meant the rejection of other hopefuls out there.
Too soon, the train was pulling into King's Cross station, and Victoire was wheeling her trunk out onto the platform. She said her goodbyes to Kara and Brianna, promising to write. She and Joe shared a swift kiss and Victoire promised not to fall for any handsome international students while she was away in Dublin for two months.
Then, meeting up with Dominique and Louis along the way, Victoire located her parents, waiting for her excitedly and also a little sadly.
"Well, Victoire, are you all ready?" Bill asked.
Victoire shrugged. It's not like there was much more she could do to prepare at this point. She would be taking all of her Hogwarts things with her to Dublin, mostly because she didn't have time to go home and re-pack. But that was fine. Her school robes were just plain black robes anyway, so as long as she didn't wear her Gryffindor tie, she would look just like any witch. And she had tons of other clothes as well. There were a few things she'd be bringing with her that she doubted she'd need – like her cauldron for example – but there was no avoiding that.
"I guess so," Victoire said.
Dominique and Louis immediately became upset that Victoire had to leave so soon after getting back. They were disappointed that they would get to spend any time with her before she disappeared for the whole summer.
"We go to school together," Victoire said in response to their complaints. "You see me all the time."
"But it's not the same," Dominique whined. "At Hogwarts you have your friends and I have mine. We don't hang out like we do in the summer."
"I'm sorry," Victoire said, genuinely. "I have to go to Dublin, but next year I promise I'll try to spend more time with you."
The family slowly made their way to the far end of the platform, where there was a fireplace connected to the floo network for people who lived very far away. Bill had already contacted them about Victoire, and they'd connected the Dublin Center to their network to allow Victoire a speedy trip to Ireland.
"Are you sure you don't want one of us to go with you?" Bill asked, gesturing to Fleur and them himself.
"No," Victoire shook her head. "I can do this on my own. I'll see you in August." The program ended about a week before school began again, which meant Victoire would have a week to spend at home with her family before the beginning of seventh year.
"We love you," Bill said, wrapping Victoire up in a hug. After Bill, Fleur gave her a hug too, and then Dominique, and then Louis. When they were all done, Victoire straightened her robes – instead of changing into Muggle clothing on the train, she'd just removed all the bits that were Hogwarts specific in preparation for her arrival at the Dublin Center.
"Well," Victoire said, looking at the fireplace and then back at her family. "Here I go."
She stepped into the fireplace, grabbed a bit of floo powder, and threw it on the ashes below.
"Dublin Herbology Research Center," she stated as clearly as possible.
With one last look at her family, Victoire was sucked into the chimney. She felt herself tossed this way and that, squeezed and pressed and contorted as she travelled through the network. It took longer than any other floo trip she'd taken, probably because Dublin was much further away than anywhere she'd travelled before, but eventually, the compressions stopped and Victoire felt herself stumbling out onto solid ground, coughing and blinking away the dust and ash that had come through with her.
"Welcome." Victoire was greeted by a witch wearing brown robes and holding a clipboard. "Name?"
"Victoire Weasley," Victoire replied.
"Excellent," the witch said, checking something – probably her name – off on the clipboard. "My name is Heather O'Reilly, and I am the director of the student summer work program."
Victoire recognized the name from the letter she'd received and she immediately stuck out her hand.
"Pleased to meet you," she said.
"If you'd like to meet some of the other students, they're just gathering through that door there," Heather pointed to the only door in the room. "I'm just waiting on the last student before we begin orientation."
"Alright," Victoire nodded, grabbing a hold of her trunk once again and heading for the door.
She exited the small floo room and stepped out into a larger common area with tables and chairs and couches. It was kind of like one of the Hogwarts lounges, Victoire found herself thinking.
"Hey, we've got another one!" a girl cried out excitedly, causing everyone in the room to turn and look at Victoire. She shifted uncomfortably at the attention and then stepped into the room properly, the door closing behind her.
"Hi," she said nervously. "My name's Victoire."
"Nice to meet you," the girl that had spoken said, coming around to greet Victoire properly. "I'm Dana, from Illvermorny, in America."
"Really?" Victoire said, surprised. She'd known the Center accepted people from all over the world, but she hadn't thought about the possibility of people coming from different continents on top of it. "Wow, alright, well I'm from here. Well not here, but I am from Britain. I go to Hogwarts."
"Ah, you're the local," Dana said, as if she'd expected Victoire. "They always accept at least one student from either the UK or Ireland or Scotland."
"Oh," Victoire said, the information being news to her. "I didn't realize – "
"Don't worry, I'm not saying you don't deserve to be here, because you obviously do or they'd have chosen someone else. I'm just saying – well, never mind," Dana muttered. "Come on, you should meet the others."
Dana pulled Victoire further into the room and introduced her to the other three students that had arrived so far. There was one student from Indonesia, another from Australia, and the third was from Romania. They told Victoire their names, but honestly Victoire was too overwhelmed to remember them.
When the final student arrived, Victoire discovered that he was from France and was a student at Beauxbatons. Victoire suspected that this would give them plenty to talk about, since her mother had attended Beauxbatons, but it wasn't the time for that, because Heather was about to start her tour.
"Alright, welcome everyone," she said. "I'm just going to show you around quickly, and then we'll get you settled in your rooms for the night. Tomorrow we'll be starting work in the greenhouses, and you'll get to meet some of our herbologists and researchers. For now, just try to remember where things are so that you can find your own way to breakfast in the morning."
Heather then explained that the room they were currently in was their lounge. It would be where they would spend their free time if they didn't want to be in their rooms. Then Heather took them through some of the rest of the center, showing them where the dining hall was, where the greenhouses and research labs were, and then finally showing them their quarters.
To Victoire's surprise, they would not be getting rooms to themselves, but instead would be sharing. As the only two girls in the program, Victoire would be sharing with Dana. The student from France was assigned to share with the student from Indonesia, and the student from Australia would be rooming with the one from Romania.
"Supper will be served shortly," Heather added as she left everyone to their unpacking. "After that, there will be a meet and greet with the researchers you'll be working with, so dress to impress."
Heading into her shared room, Victoire immediately started taking stock of what she had to work with. This dorm was very different from the dorms back at Hogwarts. For one thing, there would only be the two of them sharing the room. Instead of being circular, it was rectangular, with the door in the middle and a bed, desk, and dresser on either side.
"I call left," Dana declared, immediately claiming her bed by launching herself on to it.
That left he bed on the right for Victoire. She wheeled her trunk over and opened it up, starting to slowly set out her things. She left the unimportant stuff in her trunk – things like her cauldron, her remaining potions stores, her Gryffindor tie, and her winter clothes. She unpacked all her robes and summer clothes, placing them neatly in her dresser, and took out her textbook and notes and placed them on the desk – she would still have to keep up with her summer homework after all.
While she worked, she glanced over at Dana to find the girl not bothering to unpack at all, but instead snacking on something that looked positively disgusting.
"What are you eating?" Victoire asked, wrinkling her nose. It honestly looked like Dana was eating fingers – long orange dusty fingers that crunched when she chewed. "You realize it's almost supper time. You're going to ruin your appetite."
"They're called Cheetos," Dana revealed, showing Victoire the bag. "And they're really good. But don't worry, they're not too filling, and I'm not eating too many, so I'll be fine for dinner."
Shrugging, Victoire went back to unpacking.
"So what's your plan for after graduation?" Dana wondered, making conversation. "Do you want to come to work at the Center? Or is this just a stepping stone to greater things?"
"I'm honestly not sure," Victoire replied. "Up until March, I had no idea what I was doing at all. Then my Head of House suggested working in herbology and showed me the pamphlet for this program."
"Seriously?" Dana asked in surprised, sitting up and turning to face Victoire. "You only just found out about the program?"
"Yeah," Victoire said uncomfortably. "Is that bad?"
Dana shrugged. "Not bad, I guess. Just… surprising. Most of the people here have known they wanted to work in herbology since their first years in school. Most have been preparing to apply to the Center for years. I didn't expect to meet someone who'd only just started exploring herbology as an option."
"I haven't only just started exploring herbology," Victoire defended herself. "I've always been interested in the subject. I just didn't consider it as a career path until recently."
"What were you planning on doing before now?" Dana asked.
Victoire shrugged. "It's not important," she replied, not wanting to get into the whole story with a girl she'd just met.
"Whatever," Dana muttered, putting away her Cheetos and getting up off her bed. "Come on, let's go to supper."
Checking herself once over in her mirror, and fixing her hair quickly, Victoire joined Dana and exited into the hall.
The ran into the four male students on their way, and the six of them made their way to the dining hall together. They almost got lost a couple of times, but the guy from France – François, Victoire recalled his name was – had a pretty good memory and re-routed them whenever they found themselves down an unfamiliar hallway.
Eventually, the did arrive at dinner, and Heather directed them to their table, where they would be eating all their meals together. When the food arrived, it was laid out on a long table on the edge of the room, and everyone took turns grabbing a plate and filling it, and then bringing it back to their own table. Victoire found this rather disconcerting after being at Hogwarts for so long where the food appeared on their tables by magic but figured she would quickly adapt to the new system. Victoire suspected Dana was already familiar with the idea from the way she sprung up to get her food before anyone else realized what was going on.
After dinner, the tables were cleared away and everyone began milling about the room. Victoire was introduced to a few researchers, and Heather introduced her to one witch who would apparently be Victoire's mentor throughout the duration of the program. Victoire would be helping her with her specific research, and if Victoire needed anything, she was the one to go to first.
By the end of the gathering, Victoire was exhausted. It had been a long day, and she just wanted to collapse into her bed. Dana led the way back to the sleeping quarters, which took less time than finding the dining hall previously. Then Victoire changed into her pyjamas and fell into bed, feeling a little uncomfortable at first for the last of curtains to pull around herself, but then realizing it didn't matter because Dana was already snoring away on the other side of the room.
The whole day had been so exciting, Victoire wasn't sure how she felt about the whole thing. Dana's comments had gotten Victoire wondering if she even belonged here, but she pushed those thoughts from her mind. Of course she belonged here, or she wouldn't have been accepted.
Furthermore, everything was so different here than anything Victoire was used to. The dorms, the dining, the people, everything was so new and strange. But Victoire would adapt, she was sure. And tomorrow, she would get to explore the greenhouses and work with the plants – something she'd been looking forward to since being accepted.
As Victoire drifted slowly to sleep, she found herself looking forward to the next morning. She wasn't completely settled in yet, but she was determined to find her place here and make her mark. Most of all, she was determined to learn a lot and to have fun. It was going to be an interesting summer, of that Victorie was certain.