When Victoria walked into the dorm, she saw Pansy kneeling in front of her trunk, rummaging through her things.
"What in the hell do you think that you're doing?!" Victoria demanded. She went up to Pansy, grabbing her by the shoulder and jerking her away from her trunk. "You can't just go through my things like that, you know!"
"Get your hands off me!" Pansy shrieked. "I know that you're hiding something!"
"Are you crazy?! I'm not hiding anything!" Victoria exclaimed. "You're absolutely bonkers, you know that?"
"You're hiding something Lestrange, I know that you are!"
"I'm not a Lestrange, I'm a Weasley!"
"Oh yeah?" Pansy smirked a bit at that. "Then why hasn't your so called mother written you any letters?"
"what...how did you know that?"
"Oh, I know a lot more than you think. I know that your mother and your brother that's the perfect don't talk to you, I know that even your dad is sending you less and less letters."
"How the hell do you know so much about me?"
"You and I share a dorm, I was bound to learn things sooner or later."
"Why are you doing all of this? It's like you and Malfoy are out to make my life a living hell."
"Oh, Lestrange...that's because that's exactly what he and I are doing. He gave you a chance to be with the popular kids, and you threw it back in his face, we just don't let that kind of thing go, especially when you like to rub it in our faces."
"So that's all that this is? Some revenge ploy?"
Pansy shrugged her shoulders. "Think of it as more of a warning."
Victoria rolled her eyes. "Whatever, I don't have time for this. You think that you're hurting me by saying all of these things? I know that my mother and Percy aren't the biggest fans of me being in Slytherin, but you know what? There's nothing that I can do to change that, and if they really love me, then they'll push past all of it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have better things to do then argue with someone as petty as you."
The days until Christmas break seemed to just fly by for Victoria.
"I still wish that you could stay at the castle with us." Ron said in a morose voice as he walked with Victoria to the front hall, where students were waiting for the carriages that would take them to Hogsmeade Station.
"I'll be back before you know it Ron, and I promise that I'll write you letters."
"Tori, there you are." Blaise walked up to her, a small suitcase wheeling behind him. "You ready to go? Quincy and Lynette are going to meet us at the station, there's some things that they have to do before they leave the castle."
"Oh...alright then." Victoria gave Ron a quick hug before she walked outside to the carriages with Blaise. She wasn't really sure what pulled the carriages, there were no animals in front of them, so she just assumed that they were pulled along with magic or something.
Victoria and Blaise's carriage was just about to pull away when Quincy and Lynette came running up. They were both panting and out of breath.
"Took you long enough." Blaise commented.
"S-Sorry." Quincy responded. "There was just something that we had to help Professor Quirrel take care of before the holidays."
"Quirrel?" Blaise wrinkled his nose. "What were you helping that weirdo with?"
"Just...just some class things." Lynette stammered out; if Victoria had thought more about it, she would have seen the signs that the two were hiding something. But she didn't think too much about it, she was about to spend Christmas with her friends, and that was really all that she cared about.
"Now, when you meet our parents, don't be surprised if our mother is a little...odd." Lynette said as the train pulled into Hogsmeade station.
"What do you mean?" Victoria asked curiously.
"She was in the wizarding war, dad said. Someone attacked her and she hasn't been quite right in the head ever since. Sometimes she'll mumble under her breath, or act like she's talking to someone when there's no one else in the room, so if she does something like that, just try and ignore her."
"Um, alright." It sounded kind of odd to Victoria but she didn't say anything about it because she didn't think that it was her place to.
"I heard that something similar happened to Longbottom's parents." Blaise added. "They're both in St. Mungo's in the Long Term care ward."
"Yeah...my parents had something to do with that." Victoria said, her face red with shame. "I don't know what exactly it was that was done to them, the only thing that I know is that the Longbottoms were messed up pretty badly."
"Well, it's not like it's your fault." Quincy said. "I mean, you were only a baby when that happened, right?"
"Well yeah, but I still can't help but feel bad about it, you know?"
"Try not to worry about it." Lynette told her. "It had nothing to do with you, and it's not like anyone is holding it against you."
Victoria let out a small scoff at that. "Some days it feels like everyone is holding my real parents against me."
"Then they're idiots." Quincy stated. "Victoria, you're one of the nicest people that I've ever met, if anyone thinks that you're going to be like your mum and dad, then clearly they've never met you."
"The only thing that you share with your mother is that when you first wake up in the morning, your hair is as crazy as hers." Blaise joked, and Victoria rolled her eyes. "Ha ha, you're bloody hilarious Blaise." She did feel slightly better though.
"Now come on." Lynette nudged her. "We need to plan everything that we're going to do during the Christmas holidays, and trust me, there's going to be a lot."
"Just don't take me shopping, that's all I ask."
"Well...no promises there."
They all shared a laugh, the mood bright and merry as the train chugged on towards London.