Year 7: Meant to Be

Chapter 61: September 2017

It was Victoire's last first day of school. It was a bittersweet feeling. On the one hand, Victoire could hardly believe that it was the last time she would ever pack up her things, make the journey to King's Cross, and board the Hogwarts Express with all her fellow schoolmates. On the other hand, after spending the summer at the Dublin Herbology Research Center, Victoire knew that she was ready. She was ready to be out in the real world, working and doing valuable research instead of sitting in a classroom and being told when and where to be. So while in some ways, it felt crazy that she was already a seventh year, the year also couldn't go by faster.

"I'm just so proud of my girl," her father, Bill, said, as he straightened the badge gleaming prominently on the front of Victoire's shirt.

Victoire smiled and batted her father's hand away. She'd found out when the booklists had been released a few weeks ago. She'd been selected as that year's Head Girl. It was an honor, even more surprising due to Victoire's behavior the previous year. She never would have expected that after having to have her prefect duties suspended that she'd still end up Head Girl.

But here she was. And she was really excited about it.

Victoire's mother sighed as the time grew closer for Victoire to board the train.

"I just don't know what I'm going to do without you, chèrie," she said sadly.

Victoire patted her mother on the shoulder. "It's no different than any other year," she assured her. "I'll just be at school."

"But this is it now," Fleur insisted. "After this year, you'll be moving out and leaving us. Maybe to work at that Center."

Victoire smiled sadly. It was true. Once she finished her final year of school, it would be time to go out on her own and make her way in the world. The Dublin Center was an option, and there were tons of other places she could end up. She still had time to figure that out, but whatever she did, she would be starting her own life. It was a reality all parents had to face eventually.

"Don't worry about that right now," Victoire insisted. "For now just worry about this term. I'll be at school for a few months, and then I'll be home for Christmas."

"You're right, of course," Fleur nodded, reaching to wrap Victoire in a hug. "I'm just being silly."

"Not silly," Bill muttered, reaching in for a hug of his own.

A part of Victoire wondered if she should be exasperated by the drawn out goodbye. Dominique and Louis had escaped a while ago and were already on board the train with their friends. Meanwhile, Victoire couldn't seem to escape. But she loved her parents, and she understood that this goodbye was harder for them than the others. And it didn't help that Victoire had spent almost the entire summer away from home.

"I've got to go," Victoire said then. It was getting close, and as Head Girl, Victoire needed to get to the prefect's carriage to confer with the Head Boy before the prefects arrived. "I'll see you soon. And I'll write."

"You'd better," Bill said, feigning sternness.

Victoire smiled. "I love you both."

She took up her trunk and began to walk towards the front of the platform. It would be easier to board the train at the front instead of in the middle and trying to push her way through the train corridor to the front.

As she was walking, she suddenly felt an arm wrap around her wrist and pull her backwards. She spun around angrily, ready to tell whoever it was off, only to find herself face to face with Teddy.

She hadn't seen Teddy in ages. Not since Christmas, when he'd taken her heart and smashed it all over the ground. While Victoire had gotten over him and moved on, she still wasn't prepared for how she would feel coming face to face with him again.

"Teddy?" she gasped in surprise. "What are you – why are you here?"

"I came to talk to you," Teddy said. "I tried coming around your place this summer, but they said you were away on some summer work program."

"At the Dublin Herbology Research Center, yeah," Victoire nodded.

Teddy looked impressed. "That's – that's really great," he said. "That's a really tough program, I've heard. Good for you."

"Thanks," Victoire said with a shrug. It was true that it was a pretty prestigious program, but she wasn't really interested in receiving praise from Teddy. He'd made it clear that he didn't want to be a part of her life, so there was really no point to this conversation. "Look, I should really be go – "

"Is that the Head Girl's badge?" Teddy gaped, pointing to the shiny new badge pinned to Victoire's shirt.

Victoire sighed. "Yeah, it is," she nodded. "I really need to – "

"So I guess you're doing pretty well?" Teddy surmised. His hand was still on Victoire's wrist. It wasn't a particularly tight grip, but it was enough that Victoire didn't feel as though she could turn and leave.

"Yeah," she nodded, becoming annoyed with the conversation. What did Teddy want? Why was he here, and why was he making her late for the train? "Yeah, I'm doing really well."

"That's so good," Teddy said, his face a little sad.

Victoire gently pulled her arm from his grip, taking hold of her trunk again and moving to wheel it away.

"Victoire, wait!" Teddy exclaimed, grabbing her by the shoulders and turning her to face him again.

And then suddenly, without any warning, he had pulled her face to his and was kissing her. And it was everything Victoire had been missing since last December. It was heat and it was passion and it was fireworks. Victoire couldn't help herself. For a moment, she forgot herself totally and completely and wrapped her arms around Teddy's neck, pulling him closer, losing herself in him completely until there was no oxygen left in her lungs and she had to come up for air.

And when she did, her mind snapped into focus and furiously she pushed Teddy away, wiping his kiss from her lips, as if that were even possible, and glaring at him angrily.

"What the hell was that?" she demanded, so many emotions roiling around inside of her.

"I'm sorry," Teddy said miserably. "I just wanted – I needed – Victoire I miss you. I miss you every day. I miss you so much it hurts, and I can't think, I can't breathe, because all I do is remember how I hurt you, and all it does is bring me pain. I should never have broken up with you. Please Victoire, please, take me back."

He took a step forward, and Victoire took a step back.

"No," she said, with a frown.

Teddy halted, shock and dismay all over his face.

"No?" he repeated, not sure if he'd heard correctly.

"No," Victoire confirmed. "You can't treat me the way you did, put me through what you put me through, and then come back expecting that things can just go back to the way they were. You were right to break up with me. We weren't working. But that wasn't my fault, it was yours. As soon as you started that new job, I became your lowest priority. You treated me like crap, and then blamed me. And yes, maybe you were right about a few things. I had wrapped my identity up in you too much. And once we were apart, I had to face that. And I grew. I've become my own person. I have goals and aspirations now, beyond being your wife or girlfriend or whatever. And I'm happy. And you don't get to come back now and pull me back down. We're done. We had our run, but it's over now, and you need to accept that and move on."

"But – "

"I have a train to catch," Victoire insisted, turning away.

"Victoire, I love you!" Teddy called out desperately.

Victoire faced him again, sadly. It didn't make her happy to put Teddy down like this. Just because he'd destroyed her didn't mean she wanted to destroy him in return.

"And I loved you once," she said. "But I don't now. Not anymore."

And with that said, Victoire did leave, wheeling her trunk away and heading for the first car of the train.

Teddy didn't call out again, or try to stop her, and Victoire had to force herself not to look back.

This wasn't her fault. Teddy had done this to himself. Victoire had moved on, and she'd had every right to. Her life was so much more full now than it had been before. She had her work, which had been so fulfilling. She had her friends, who she spent way more time with now. She had Joe, who never made her feel overwhelmed or pressured to always be focusing on him. For the first time, her grades really mattered outside of just her N.E.W.T. scores. She'd been promoted to Head Girl on her own merit, and nobody else's. She had everything a person could need.

So why was a part of her regretting walking away from Teddy?

Victoire pushed that thought away and boarded the train. She made her way right to the prefect's carriage, knowing that she should've been there ten minutes ago.

She pushed open the door and hurried inside, pulling her trunk behind her, and then stopped short.

"Joe!" she exclaimed, her voice coming out higher than intended. "You're here early!"

"I could say the same for you," Joe returned, helping Victoire to lift her trunk onto the above-head luggage rack.

"Oh, I guess I hadn't gotten the chance to tell you yet – I made Head Girl!" Victoire proudly displayed her badge.

Joe's eyes went wide and he smiled as he pointed out the badge gleaming against his sweater. "Me too!" he exclaimed.

Victoire congratulated him. It was crazy, that they'd both been chosen as the two Heads. But it was also really exciting. Victoire looked forward to working with Joe over the course of the year.

"So, I guess we should discuss a few things before the others show up?" Joe suggested.

Victoire nodded. "Yeah, we probably should," she agreed.

Joe leaned forward for a quick peck on the lips before he sat down across from Victoire. As Joe got out some of his notes, Victoire touched a hand to her lips and then looked out the window, her emotions a jumbled mess. She couldn't help comparing the kiss she'd just shared with Joe to the one she'd shared with Teddy. While one had been passion and need and desperation, the other had been casual and sweet and simple. Victoire had never shared the kind of passionate kiss with Joe that came so easily to her and Teddy. But maybe that was just because they were still in the beginning stages of their relationship. Maybe she just had to wait for things to progress.

A part of Victoire felt guilty for not telling Joe about Teddy. But she knew that if she did, it would only open up a can of worms that she really didn't want to open. So instead, she remained silent, letting Joe share his ideas, and voicing a few of her own. They came to an agreement on all important points just as the prefects arrived and the train began to move, and Victoire let Joe take the lead with the meeting, using the time for herself to push Teddy as far from her mind as possible.

She couldn't let him weasel his way back into her head. She'd been doing so well ever since she'd gotten over him, and she didn't need to fall back into that spiral again. She just needed to refocus on what was in front of her and forget about what used to be. It couldn't be hard. She'd done it once before.

VvVvVvVvVvV

As Head Boy and Girl, Joe and Victoire both had to perform rounds that night. They'd agreed that they didn't want to start training any of the fifth years on the first night back, and they wanted to give as many of the others the opportunity to enjoy the various parties that were inevitably going on in the four common rooms.

It was late by the time Victoire returned to her dormitory that evening. Though most of Gryffindor house had already turned in, many of the seventh years were still down in the common room, enjoying the last of the pilfered food and drink from the start of term party/end of summer party. Kara, Brianna, and Caitlin were there, along with some of the boys, though Raina had already gone to bed.

They invited Victoire to join them, but Victoire was exhausted and didn't want to be asleep on her feet the next day. Plus she had rounds again the next night, training the new female Gryffindor prefect, Brooke Hill, one of her sister's friends.

Victoire retired to the dorm, climbing into bed almost as soon as she'd changed out of her robes. She was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

VvVvVvVvVvV

"Raina Hudson, I'm going to kill you!" a shriek woke Victoire up, and she wiped at her eyes blearily as she tried to ascertain what was going on. It was clearly still the middle of the night, as it was pitch dark outside, and Victoire couldn't understand why she was awake.

"It's not his fault!" Raina defended. Victoire's eyes adjusted to the dark and she could make out two figures – Raina and Brianna – facing off with each other, something clutched in Raina's hands. "If you'd kept your trunk locked like you're supposed to, this wouldn't be happening."

"Forgive me if I forgot one time to lock my trunk," Brianna cried sarcastically.

"You're forgiven," Raina replied.

"Ugh!" Brianna groaned. "You're insufferable! That was a brand-new skirt, you know."

"Throw it in the laundry," Raina suggested. "It's not destroyed, just a little dirty."

"It's been peed on," Brianna countered. "I'm not going to wear a skirt that's been peed on. Gross."

"If it went through the laundry, it wouldn't have pee on it anymore," Raina pointed out. "You're being ridiculous."

Victoire had to agree with Raina on that one. The whole thing was ridiculous. And why did they have to have this argument in the middle of the night?

With a groan, Victoire pulled the curtains of her bed closed around her and cast a quick silencing spell on them to block out the noise. Then she laid back down and went back to sleep. It didn't take long.

VvVvVvVvVvV

Term began the next day, and Victoire fell back into her old patterns rather quickly. She was still taking the same three courses, but now she was redoubling her efforts. And after spending the summer doing herbology research, she felt very well-positioned to be top of her class in herbology this year.

Her Head Girl duties were more numerous than her prefect duties had been. In addition to being responsible for supervising the entire student body, she was also directly responsible for the twenty-two school prefects. For making their schedules, ensuring that they were doing their jobs right, being the go-to person for any issues. She and Joe were also now the liaison between the teachers and prefects and had regular meetings with the four Heads of House. It was all so new, and adult. Victoire barely felt like a student anymore, at least not in the way she used to. Her teachers were no longer the intimidating adults they been back in first year. Now they were mentors, some of them even borderline friends.

Victoire also maintained a regular correspondence with Dana and François, from the Dublin Center. After spending the summer together, she'd grown close with those two in particular, and it was nice to be able to converse with likeminded people, who enjoyed herbology as much as Victoire did. All three had plans to apply to work at the Dublin Center after graduation, and while Victoire wasn't 100% certain it was her first choice (though both of her friends had told her she was crazy if it wasn't), she thought it would be cool if the three of them ended up working together next year.

Meanwhile, Kara and Brianna were just the same as she'd left them. Kara and Jonathon Cadwallader were still going strong, and Brianna continued to pretend that she was above having a boyfriend, and insisted on sleeping around with half their year.

Caitlin had been passed up for Quidditch caption in favor of Adrian Carter, which she didn't seem too upset about now that she and Adrian were apparently dating. Raina continued to be the same kooky Raina, conducting strange experiments down in the greenhouses and the potions lab. She now claimed that she was confident she'd finally found the right recipe for her revolutionary fertilizer and her plan upon graduation was to go into business for herself and sell it. Victoire truly wished her luck with that, though she suspected it wouldn't end up working out.

And Joe was the same as always: dependable, caring, supportive. Their relationship was strong and steady. And Victoire was happy. She was a seventh year – a senior – and she felt like she was on top of the world. She'd finally found her place in the world and she was shining in a way that she never had before. Life was good.