That White Dress
V is for Victoire
Victoire trailed her hand along the hem of her dress slowly. She was sitting on a comfortable couch, her legs pulled up beside her, staring dreamily out the window. Her dress was beautiful, and she was as happy as she could be.
December 3rd was such a great date. Almost perfect in a sense. She couldn't believe her Mum had listened.
Victoire started as someone rapped on her bedroom door. "Victoire?" Fleur called in a muffled tone.
"Yes, Mum?" Victoire asked, revelling in the strangeness that was her mum's voice. It had changed so much over the years. Victoire's father had been giving her mum lessons to improve her English.
"Are you ready to come down to eat dinner?"
"I'll be there in a minute," Victoire said as she jumped to her feet and ran to the armoire in front of her couch. She quickly pulled on a robe and looked down at her feet to make sure that her Mum wouldn't notice Victoire wearing a dress.
"Darling, are you okay?" Fleur asked as Victoire noisily knocked against her bedside table as she had tried to adjust the robe and caused numerous important items to fall to the hard wood floor.
"Yeah, Mum! I'm fine," Victoire said. "Je ne suis pas blessé."
"Ê-êtes vous sûr?" Fleur asked, slipping into her French hesitantly.
"Yes, I'm sure," Victoire snapped, unleashing a bit of her teenager.
"Okay. Okay," Fleur whispered. "Come down when you're ready."
Victoire took cautious steps towards the door and pressed her ear against it slowly, checking to make sure her mum had really left. Once she heard the stairs stop creaking, she ran to her armoire and threw it open. Victoire rifled through her clothes in a frenzy, picking out a good pair of Muggle jeans and a light blue shirt.
Once Victoire had managed to get out of her dress and put on her new clothes, she picked up the dress and held it up to the sunset shining through her window-seat. She sighed as the glitter bounced sunlight everywhere and she quickly hugged the strapless dress. She had been asking for the dress for quite a few months – she wanted to wear it to the annual Victory Ball held at Hogwarts at the end of each year to celebrate the end of Voldemort's reign. Everyone dressed up – and for the first time she would be too!
Victoire knelled on the ground by the armoire and pulled the box out from under it. She opened it, causing wrapping paper to fly out. She bit her lip as her conscience began to nag at her, and she quickly folded the dress neatly and stuffed it into the pink box with silver writing. "Le peu magasin de robe," it said.
Victoire gave a sigh of contentment and picked up the box to hug it. Her mum had gotten such a grand dress for Christmas! Her life was now complete. She would go to that dance – just waltz in – and all eyes would turn on her. They'd see how beautiful she was and she would land all the guys. Well, more guys than normal.
A smile slowly crept up Victoire's face and she just shook her head. It was truly unbelievable. Victoire slowly stood up, stretched, and then walked out of her bedroom, turning instantly and running down the stairs. By the smell of it, the food was going to be delicious.
"Where's Dad?" Victoire asked as she entered the room, noting her father's empty seat.
"He's running late. He shall be back soon," Fleur replied awkwardly. She still stumbled over her English sometimes.
Victoire nodded and smiled sweetly at her siblings sitting at the table.
They gave her knowing looks and smirked, causing her smile to falter. If they knew that she had peeked at her Christmas presents and told, she would be so dead.
Fleur set down her fork slowly and turned to Victoire. "What have you been doing today?" She asked with a laugh. "I have not seen you all day."
Victoire stared dumbfounded at her mother. "Uh - er – I - ow!" Victoire reached down to her leg and shot a deep glare at her brother Louis.
He smirked evilly and ducked his head back down to his food, chewing slowly.
"Um – I've been reading this book I got in Hogsmeade!" Victoire declared as she turned back to her mum with a new spark in her eye.
"Oh, what book is it?" Fleur asked as she picked up her napkin and dabbed at her lips.
"It's ca-" Suddenly, Victoire broke off into a fake coughing fit. What book could she possibly think of? She really didn't read at all unless it was for school.
"Are you okay, Darling?" Fleur asked as she leaned over Victoire and put her hand on Victoire's back.
Victoire jerked, feeling red hot at her mother's touch. How could she be such a terrible daughter? She was lying straight to her face all for a beautiful, beautiful dress.
"Er – I...Mum, I'll go get it. I'll be back!" Victoire pushed past her mother anxiously and ran up the stairs, pounding her feet down loudly. She opened her bedroom door and ran into the purple room, fervently looking for any kind of book she could possibly show her mum.
Victoire stumbled over the box on the floor and fell to the floor loudly.
"I'm back!" A deep voice cried, causing Victoire to hurry to her feet. Judging by the gasps she had heard from the kitchen, the family had heard her fall and they would all come rushing up to her room to see what had happened; to see the Christmas dress. Victoire cursed and rushed to hide the dress.
"Where are you all going?" Her father's voice sounded.
"Victoire went up to her room and then we heard a loud crash," Fleur said with a trembling voice.
Victoire glanced around the room frantically and stood up onto her feet, running to her armoire. She had to hide the dress and then fix up the wrapping paper tonight so she could put it back in its rightful spot before her parents caught her!
As quickly as she could, she stuffed the large box into the armoire, she then shoved the two doors closed and turned around to her family – who had just arrived.
"Are you all right, Victoire?" Bill asked.
Victoire gave a tight smile and nodded frantically. "I'm fine. Je suis grande, en fait!"
Fleur and Bill exchanged disbelieving looks. Bill then turned to his daughter with a half smirk. "Hand over the dress."
"Louis, Dominique – leave, please," Fleur demanded.
Louis' face fell and he slouched, slowly dragging himself out of the room while Dominique gave a high-and-mighty laugh, closing the door behind her.
Victoire blushed angrily and scuffed her bare foot against the wood floor angrily, causing her to wince.
"Darling, you can still have the dress," Fleur said sweetly.
"I can?" Victoire asked, raising her head in surprise as she dug out the dress from her armoire happily.
"Yeah," Bill said as he reached out for the dress and wrenched it from her grasp, "but you'll have to wait until you birthday."
"What?" Victoire said in surprise, furrowing her eyebrows and glaring at her father. "What if it doesn't arrive on time!"
"We'll see what happens," Victoire's mum said, giving her a small wink. Victoire suppressed a smile. She would be getting the dress!
Bill nodded. "You'll just have to wait and see if you get it on time for the Ball."
Victoire fixed her face to an angry, upset expression. There was no need to let Dad know she would still be getting the dress until Christmas.
Fleur placed her hand on Bill's arm softly. "Bill, let's go eat. Victoire can stay here and think."
Bill nodded and turned towards the door, but still keeping his eye on Victoire. "You realize you've done wrong, right?"
Victoire nodded sullenly.
"Good, think about that some more," Bill muttered.
Victoire sighed as she watched her parents leave, but once the door had closed and she heard them make it to the bottom of the stairs, Victoire jumped onto her couch in victory.
A/N: By the way, if you haven't gotten this already – my story jumps around in time. It's really just a bunch of one-shots thrown together.
I'm so sorry that I didn't use Fleur's accent. I just tried and I didn't feel comfortable with it. Moreover, I feel that if Fleur had problems speaking English, then Victoire would too and that would just create a very complicated mess for me. Therefore, they still speak French – obviously – but Fleur has just been getting better at speaking English.
Um...also – I am one day behind right now. I plan to write two chapters on Saturday to catch up. Pray for me.
Reviews are adored and would be a wonderful present!
