Sleeping in her own bed, in her own room, in her own house was an experience that Victoire couldn't anticipate ever getting old. This was the thought currently running through her head as she awoke and found herself staring straight down into her pillow. Nothing was better than waking up at home.
She groaned a bit and flipped onto her back before finding her gaze landing on the ceiling. There was a small dark spot positioned right above her bed that she always found herself focusing on during these lazy days where a proper lie in was the one thing on her mind. The mark had been there for ages; caused by an accident that at the time she believed to be the end of the world, but now was just an amusing anecdote. It was funny how time had a tendency to change one's perceptions.
She smiled as she thought back to that day; one that had seemed like only yesterday, but was actually years ago. Time had flown by since those summer days where she and Ted spent their hours doing loads of nothing, yet it always seemed like something.
She could remember in exact detail where she had been sitting in this room and what she had been doing. She was nine years old; rail thin with knobby knees and hair that reached all the way to her waist. Ted had been there too; she could picture him exactly. He had just hit a growth spurt and his trousers were too short on him. His hair was messy and blue—the color he always wore it if he had his way. Most importantly, he was eleven and couldn't stop talking about leaving for Hogwarts.
She'd been in a mood that day. The thought of Ted going off to school had certainly made her sad, but she hadn't wanted to show it. She didn't want to be a baby; plus, Ted would think it was stupid. He wouldn't understand. He was so excited and practically wishing the day was over as it was. He wanted the entire next four days to be over as fast as possible. He couldn't stop talking about Hogwarts and going away.
"It's ten inches," Ted said as he pulled out his wand to show it to her. "Hawthorne and dragon's heartstring."
She stared at it; almost afraid to touch it. They had talked about getting their own wands for as long as she could remember and here he had his own.
"Go ahead, take it," he offered.
She sat down on the edge of her bed and slowly lifted it out of his hands. "Wow," she said quietly.
"Pretty cool, eh?"
"I want one," she said with a small smile.
"You'll get one." He shrugged and sat down next to her before taking it back. "Just a couple years."
"Two more years," she mumbled. "That's an eternity."
"Not really."
"You say that because you get to leave soon." She stood up and walked to the window. The day was getting late and anytime now Ted's grandmother was going to turn up to take him home. She wouldn't see him again until who knew when. He'd be off at school meeting new people, learning magic, and making new friends while she sat at home. Stuck here in her room.
"I got my robes, too," he said, completely oblivious to her mood. "And my books, and Harry even got me an owl."
She turned back around and stared at him curiously. He got an owl? His own owl?
"What did you name it?" she asked.
"I haven't yet," he said. "What do you think I should name it?"
She furrowed her brow in thought and plopped down next to him again. "You should name it Auggie."
"Why?" he asked, making a face as if he thought that was dumb.
"Because I like that name."
"Why?"
"Why not?" she countered. "It's a nice name. I read it in a book."
He laughed. "It's stupid."
"You're stupid."
"You're stupid," he said in trade of quips that could go on all day if they let it. Victoire, however, chose to change the subject instead.
"What house do you think you'll get?" she asked as she glanced at him.
He shrugged. "I'm not sure. I guess I could go anywhere. Harry was in Gryffindor and so was Ginny, and they both told me that's what my dad was. My Grams was in Slytherin and she said my mum and granddad were Hufflepuffs."
"Which one do you want?"
"I'd be happy with any of them," he said as a small smile crept over his face. "Maybe Ravenclaw to be different." He smiled the more he entertained the thought.
She smiled with him, but it didn't take long for her to remember that she wouldn't be able to sit around laughing with him much longer. She frowned.
"Harry told me you can't wear your robes until you're on the train and close to school," he added.
"Why not?"
"I guess you just don't," he said. "He also said that when I get there, I have to go and visit Hagrid. Do you remember him?"
She nodded.
"He said he's expecting me, so that'll be good." He paused and became quiet. "I'm sort of nervous."
She found that surprising to hear. He seemed so happy about leaving; when did he have time to be nervous. "Are you?"
"I won't know anyone." He frowned. "I mean, I'll know Hagrid, but I won't know anyone else. I'll be by myself."
"You'll make friends, though," she said. "Probably loads of them."
"Maybe," he said as he stood up and put his wand into his pocket. "I hope so."
"You will," she said confidently. "You'll probably go and make better friends than me."
He seemed to consider this for a moment. "I doubt it. I've known you almost my whole life." He suddenly pulled something small—a box, by the look of it—out of his pocket. He began examining it before adding, "You're my best friend."
"I am now ," she said, "but you're probably going to meet someone older and more fun."
"You worry too much," he said, still examining his box absently.
Victoire felt tears welling up in her eyes as he said this. The more and more she thought about him leaving, the more upset she got. Her stomach started to hurt. She didn't want her friend to leave.
"Do you think this…?" He began to say, though when he looked at her he suddenly stopped and grew concerned. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," she said, wiping her eyes on her sleeve and sniffling a little. "What's that in your hand?"
He continued to stare at her, but quickly looked back down to the package. "Your Uncle George gave it to me when I was shopping in Diagon Alley. He gave me loads of stuff to take to school with me, but he said I had to be careful with it."
She stood and walked over to look at it. It had a small string sticking out of it and the word 'Caution' written on the side. "What happens when you pull the string?"
"Dunno," he said. "It was the first thing I grabbed at the shop. I figured we could experiment."
She urged him to pull it then, but since they were inside he claimed that might have been a bad idea. They weren't currently allowed outside because the weather was dreadful, so Victoire took it upon herself to reassure him that it was fine to pull indoors.
"It's probably just a cracker that makes noise." She took it from him and sat back on the bed. "I've seen these in the store."
"You pull it, then," he said as he sat and watched her expectantly. "I'm not getting in trouble."
She stared back down at it. The tiny instructions said to pull the string in a wide open space and to keep out of the hands of small children. She looked around her room. This space was plenty wide enough.
"Alright, here we go," she said as she closed her eyes and began to pull. Ted stuck his fingers in his ears.
It was in that instant the cracker exploded and a flood of light and sound filled the room as though a miniature fireworks display went off. Both she and Ted ducked to the ground for cover, watching as little wispy fireworks shot around the room. As a last minute finale, a single miniature fireball shot straight into the air and hit the ceiling; singeing a small black spot right above Victoire's bed.
She and Ted turned and looked at each other, both of their eyes wide and their mouth's open.
"That was so cool," he said finally.
"I'm in so much trouble," she said anxiously as she stood up and stared at the spot. She couldn't understand how her parents weren't in her room that instant to see what the commotion was all about, but she didn't even hear footsteps up the stairs.
"It's just a little spot," he said as he hopped up on the bed and started to examine it.
"We shouldn't have done that," she said as she felt tears in her eyes again. Her emotions were already high, this was the last thing she needed.
"Vic, don't cry," he said, looking down at her and hopping off the bed. "It'll be okay. I promise."
"You don't know that," she said as a few tears started falling down her face. She started breathing very quickly. "My parents are going to be so upset."
"Please don't cry," he said, almost pleading with her. "What can I do to make you stop crying?"
"I-I-I don't know," she stammered before she sat back down.
"They may not even notice," he said. "You could paint over it."
She looked up at the black spot on the ceiling and started to cry harder. She knew her parents would notice it first thing and that she would get into so much trouble. Ted was leaving and she would take all the blame. He would get to run off to Hogwarts and learn magic and have fun while she would get scolded and probably grounded.
"Please don't cry," he repeated, looking uncomfortable. "If I name my owl Auggie, will that cheer you up?"
She briefly stopped sobbing and looked at him, her face red and puffy. "You would name him Auggie?"
"If it would make you stop crying."
"But you said you thought it was stupid," she said with another sniffle.
"If you like it." He sighed. "It's alright, I guess."
She smiled a little. For a moment, she forgot about how her parents were going to be angry and about all the trouble she was going to get into. She forgot about Ted leaving for school and that she'd soon be alone. The only thought that crossed her mind was that this was the nicest thing Ted had ever offered to do for her. She didn't even care if he did it, she was just happy he had offered…
It was funny how one little spot held so many memories, Victoire thought as she pushed the covers off of her and pulled herself out of bed. She had, in fact, got into a load of trouble once her parents had found out, but only in the form of extra chores and a long lecture. Ted had left for school shortly after, but things hadn't been so bad. She learned that it really wasn't the end of the world when your friend went away; it also made her realize that she really did value Ted and his company. Before that, she'd never really thought about it. He had always just been there.
She suddenly thought about what Whit had said in their dormitory as they were packing their trunks. The idea of her and Ted as anything more than friends was ridiculous; even laughable. After all, this was Ted. Ted Lupin...There were loads of reasons why that would never work out, but she was having a problem pinpointing them. She wasn't attracted to him, that was one. Then again, she'd never bothered to think about him like that. Well, at least not since she was a little girl. And that didn't count. Without attraction, where could you go from there?
Sure, they had similar interests, goals, outlooks, and senses of humor. Sure she could trust him and knew that he'd bend over backwards for her if she really needed it. Sure, she knew he was a great guy, but all those reasons were why they were friends in the first place. Why should she ever have to think about it being anything more?
Yet, she did…and she hated Whit for putting this nagging thought at the back of her mind. The strange part was that she couldn't understand why it was nagging her at all. Why was she sitting here trying to validate reasons why it wouldn't work? It just wouldn't. It was as simple as that.
A knock at her door interrupted her thoughts. "Vic?"
"I'm up," she called back.
"There's some breakfast ready downstairs," her father said. "Plus, you've got some post so I thought I'd wake you."
"I'll be down," she said as she started running her hands through her hair. She looked straight ahead and saw the picture that Ted had given her for her birthday sitting on her desk. She knew when she saw him tonight she'd finally be able to put all this nonsense behind her. After five minutes with him, she'd remember why any of the thoughts she had just been having were clearly as laughable as she suspected them to be.
As she made her way down the stairs, she saw her father and mother sitting at the kitchen table splitting the Daily Prophet between them. Dominique sat beside them quietly eating porridge and staring blankly out the window. She could see Louis's pajama covered legs sitting out from behind the icebox as he tucked himself away inside obviously looking for something.
"Morning, sweetheart," her mother said as Victoire sat down at the table and poured herself some pumpkin juice. "Did you sleep well?"
"Yeah," she said. "It's always good to be back in my own bed."
"I think I prefer my school bed," Louis said as he emerged with some jam and sat down next to Dominique. "I think I'm taller than my bed is long now."
"I can put a stretching charm on your bed," their father suggested. "A few inches shouldn't hurt it."
"You have gotten much taller," their mother said. "You are as tall as your father now."
Their father peeked over the paper at his son, as if he was trying to see if this was true. With Louis sitting though, it was impossible to tell.
"My robes are getting short of me as well," Louis added.
"Didn't we just get new robes?"
"That was me," Dominique said.
"And me," Victoire added.
"I haven't gotten any new robes since before fourth year," Louis said as he generously put jam on his toast.
"How come Lou got all the height?" Victoire asked. "I'm not even as tall as mum."
"You're at a perfectly average height," her mother said as she folded the paper over in front of her. She glanced at Dominique before she could speak up. "As are you."
"You girls got all the beauty," their father said.
"I resent that," Louis said with his mouth full.
"You're very pretty, too," he joked, causing Victoire and Dominique to both laugh.
"Do you all have a lot of homework over the holiday?" their mother asked, setting the newspaper aside and pulling out her wand. She looked to be charming things off the table to tidy themselves up.
"Mum, what they gave us should be illegal," Dominique said, her face very serious. "I think you should write a letter to McGonagall."
"I don't remember Vic getting this much work last year," Louis muttered.
"I did too," Victoire said. "And of course you've got work to do. You seem to forget that you've got O.W.L.s coming up."
"I've always thought the exam structure at Hogwarts was strange," her mother said as she took a bite of her eggs. "At Beauxbatons, we did it very differently. We didn't sit for exams until our sixth year."
"Is it too late to transfer?" Dominique asked.
"Right, because it would be so much easier," Victoire said as she rolled her eyes. "You'd have to still do all the same stuff, just in an entirely different language."
"I know French," she said matter-of-factly. "Fluently."
"You can't read it well enough to actually take lessons in it," Victoire said. "You know that."
"I could handle it just fine, I think," said Dominique with a pensive expression.
Victoire helped herself to porridge. "You can barely get through the letters that Mama and Papa and Aunt Gabrielle send. You really think you could sit there and read an entire textbook in French?"
"Speaking of your aunt," her mother interrupted before her daughters could get into it, "we spoke the other day and she has invited you all down to Marseilles for the summer."
"Excellent," Dominique said, sitting up rather excited. "For how long?"
"She did not say," she said. "But I told her I would talk to you all and see how you felt. She even said that she would love to take you to Paris for a week."
"Really?!" Victoire asked, her eyes lighting up. "Paris?!"
"I will work out the details with her," her mother said. "But your father and I thought it would be a good idea."
"As long as they're home by the start of August," their father quipped, setting down his paper then and looking around at the group of them. "Because that's when you've got tickets for the Quidditch World Cup and—"
"WE GET TO GO!?" Dominique yelled, dropping her spoon onto the table with a loud clatter. Both Louis and Victoire had recoiled at the sheer volume of her voice; their mother was now throwing her a look as if she'd gone a bit mad.
"Since it is back in Britain," her father said, also looking rather startled by his daughter's outburst. "Yes. It's the first time since 1994, so that's over twenty years. The committee had been so weary to bring it back since the last World Cup here ended in such disaster and chaos, but Britain apparently made a good case."
"Weren't you at the last one, Dad?" Louis asked.
"Yeah," he said. "Wow, I remember I was twenty-three. It was an incredible match, even though I've never been the biggest Quidditch fan around." He frowned. "Then afterwards—"
"Let's not talk about that over breakfast," her mother said with a silencing look.
"So wait," Dominique said. "Just to clarify: we actually get to go? You've got tickets and everything?"
"Ginny's invited you. She said she practically had tickets thrown at her at work. She's invited us all, but I can't go because I'll be traveling with work. Your mother's not particularly interested in going. I thought I'd see if you three were interested."
"YES!" Dominique yelled, causing Victoire to want to kick her under the table. "A hundred times, yes!"
"What about you two?" their father asked, glacing first at Louis. "What do you say?"
"Definitely for me," Louis said.
"Sure," Victoire said. "That will be a lot of fun. Who's playing in it?"
"They haven't even started play-ins yet," Dominique said, glaring at her as if that should have been obvious. "They don't even start until June. We won't know who's made it to the finals until July."
"It won't matter who goes," her father said. "You'll have fun either way."
"Can I get a ticket for Jack?" Louis asked with a glance at Dominique. "He'd love to go and there's no way his parents are going to get tickets because they're Muggles."
"You'll have to ask your aunt," their father said. "I don't see it being a problem, though. Between Ginny's position as a Quidditch reporter and Harry being Harry, the last thing anyone has to worry about is getting Quidditch tickets."
"I think he should get Victoire's ticket if we can't manage," Dominique said.
"Absolutely not," Victoire said.
"You barely even like Quidditch."
"I like it enough to not give my ticket up."
"No one's giving up anything," their father said as he stood up and cleared his plate. "We'll manage. I'll ask Ginny to see how many she can get. I'm sure everything will be fine."
"I get to go to the World Cup," sang Dominique, jumping up from her seat to also clear her plate. "I get to go to the World Cup…"
"Victoire," her mother said, ignoring Dominique. "This came for you this morning." She held out a letter, which Victoire immediately took. She didn't recognize the handwriting on the envelope, but tore into it and pulled out its contents.
Victoire-
I hope your holiday is going well. I'm writing to let you know that I'm having a bit of a celebration tonight for my birthday (it's actually in a week, but we're celebrating before we get back to school). I would love it if you could come. No gifts or anything, just bring yourself and any of your friends if you'd like. The more the merrier. It's at the Dragon's Breath pub in Diagon Alley. I'm sure you've heard of it, it's not far from your uncle's store. We'll be there early and plan on staying until late, so stop by whenever. I hope you can come and I'm excited to see you.
Stuart
She read the letter over three times and smiled wider every time she read it. Stuart was inviting her out tonight to celebrate his birthday. She would have a chance to see him outside of a school setting entirely.
Her mind started to drift to what she would wear; she became so distracted that she didn't notice Dominique reading over her shoulder.
"Are you going to go?" she asked.
Victoire snatched the letter down and glared at her. "Probably."
"Do you still fancy him?"
"We're friends," she said as their mother suddenly started watching her across the table. "He's invited me to his birthday outing, and as a friend, of course I'll go. He came to mine."
"I thought you had plans tonight with Ted?"
She blinked. She was right. She and Ted had made plans to hang out and catch up. They were supposed to see Simon, and she was supposed to meet Simon's new girlfriend.
"No worries," she said. "I'll just have them all meet me at the pub and I can do both."
"You're putting your friends on the back burner for Reynolds?" Dominique asked, shaking her head. "You haven't seen Ted for months."
"No, I'm—"
"Which pub?" her mother interrupted.
"The Leaky Cauldron," Victoire said without missing a beat and before Dominique could say anything. She knew if she said she was going to the Dragon's Breath, her mother would say no. It wasn't a particular bad place, but she constantly seemed disturbed by its unclean nature and large crowds whenever they passed it in Diagon Alley.
She seemed to believe her—she had no reason not to—and continued clearing the table with a charm. Victoire looked at Dominique, who was staring at her suspiciously, so she took the moment to stand up and leave to go upstairs.
"The Leaky Cauldron?" Dominique whispered as she followed her toward the stairs.
"Shhhh…" she hissed as she beckoned her to follow. Once they were both in her room with the door shut, she turned to her. "You know she won't let me go if I tell her it's the Dragon's Breath. She thinks the place is dodgy."
"Because it is," she said. "That's part of its charm."
"You and I know that, but she doesn't care. Instead of seeing it for the fun place that it is, she thinks it's a dump."
"So, you're just going to lie?"
"I want to go really bad." She glanced down at the letter once more.
Dominique rolled her eyes. "All this for Reynolds"
"I'm not going to go and get piss drunk," she said. "I'm not even going to drink."
She stared at her.
"You're not going to tell mum and dad are you?"
"No," she said. "I don't care what you want to do. I just think it's stupid to lie over some dumb boy."
"As if that's any worse than some of the lies you've told," Victoire said as her eyes narrowed.
"You're not in a position to be pointing out my faults at the moment," Dominique said, crossing her arms over her chest.
She did have a point. It was always rough when Dominique was in a position of power. "I'm sorry. You're right."
Dominique sighed and turned towards the door. "I'll keep your secret, but you owe me. I'm not sure what yet, but you do." She gave her a look. Just don't be stupid, Vic."
"I won't," she said with a smile before Dominique shook her head and walked out. She returned to her letter and read it once more, smiling happily as she realized in just a few hours, she'd be having the time of her life.