Teddy and Victoire Chapter 13: Dominique's Tale, a harry potter fanfic

Chapter 13 – Dominique's Tale

Teddy's vision blurred, and odd shapes fluttered before his eyelids, that one word echoing around inside his mind.

Pregnant...

Was that his name he just heard? Was someone trying to communicate with him? Teddy didn't know; he couldn't hear anything other than that one petrifying word ringing in his ears. He felt hands grasp his sides firmly, but whoever had grabbed him wasn't strong enough, and he felt himself slip to the floor, the world around him going pitch black...

"He – he just p-passed out when I told him. He's going to be alright, isn't he? He's still alive, right!?"

"Miss Weasley, please calm yourself. Mr Lupin is perfectly fine – just in shock, poor fellow. But can you blame him? Don't you remember how shocked and distressed you were when you first found out?"

"Mhmm."

"I'm sure he'll come around in a few minutes or so. Look, I think you'll find he's starting to come back right now. Shall I leave you two in peace?"

"Thank you so much."

"Not a problem, dear."

And before Teddy could even begin to take in what he'd just heard, he found his eyelids flickering open, and the anxious face of his beautiful girlfriend staring down at him.

"Victoire?" he asked dreamily, whilst his eyes adjusted to his surroundings.

She nodded gently. "You're in the hospital wing, Teddy. You fainted," she said nervously, biting her lip, as though she didn't want to remind him of why he'd fainted. And then it all flooded back. He sat up abruptly, his heart racing wildly, and beads of sweating forming on his brow.

"Teddy, I'm pregnant," Victoire told him firmly, before he could say or ask her anything first.

His eyes widened in shock, but he tried to remain as calm as possible. "And, it's... mine?"

She laughed nervously. "Of course it is, Teddy! What kind of girl do you think I am?"

Teddy blushed deeply and laughed a little too loudly. Then the seriousness of the situation clawed at him, and he fell back on his pillow, groaning loudly.

"Teddy, it's fine," Victoire reassured him.

But Teddy didn't feel reassured in the slightest. "How long have you known?"

"About a week."

"Does anybody else know?"

"Only Professor Bobbin, the nurse, and Professor Longbottom," she said, listing off the people on her fingers.

"Neville knows?" Teddy asked in surprise. It was fair enough that the headmistress and school nurse knew, but why her Herbology teacher?

"He's head of Gryffindor, remember?"

Teddy hadn't considered this, not having been a member of Gryffindor house.

"He's the one Dominique went to when I wasn't feeling right, which reminds me – Dominique knows as well," she told him, referring to her fifteen-year-old sister. "But they're the only ones, along with you." She paused, and looked hesitant before continuing. "We – Professor Bobbin and I – thought it would be best to tell you before we told my parents..."

Teddy felt a lump form in his throat. He was as good as dead. Bill would slaughter him on the spot the moment he found out just how horribly Teddy had corrupted his innocent little daughter.

"Bill's gonna kill me..."

"Me too," Victoire said miserably. "You never know though. He might be thrilled about having a grandchild." She was trying to joke, but no matter what they said, they both knew exactly how Bill would react when he found out Victoire was pregnant with Teddy's child.

Teddy couldn't believe he'd gotten into this mess, and so quickly as well. A few months ago, he and Victoire had never even kissed, and now they were expecting a baby. What was he going to do? He couldn't provide for a baby – he didn't have a house or any money, and it would probably be years before he was able to become a full time Auror.

But if he was an Auror, how on earth would he be able to care for his child? There didn't seem to be any possible solution where they could all be happy.

"What are we going to do, Teddy?" Victoire sighed. She thought back to approximately a week ago, when she'd first found out she was pregnant.

"Are you okay, Vic?" Dominique asked her elder sister, worriedly.

She and Victoire weren't close. They were just too un-similar, and rarely spoke during school. Victoire usually kept to herself most of the time. She was extremely popular, both with the girls and the boys, but much to Dominique's confusion, she never noticed. There was always one thing on her mind. And that was Teddy Lupin.

Dominique had no idea what was going on between Teddy and Victoire, but she knew something was up. She had a keen eye, and over the summer they had both been acting differently, even all the adults seemed to know what was going on. It was like they all had a huge secret that they were keeping from her and all her cousins. It was frustrating!

The truth was that Dominique was extremely jealous of her sister. Victoire had all the qualities that anybody could possibly desire. She was elegant and graceful, she had beautiful golden hair, she was incredibly popular and all the teachers loved her, she was adored by everybody who met her and favoured by their parents, she was deeply talented when it came to singing.

And she had Teddy Lupin.

Dominique couldn't have been more different. Whereas Victoire had inherited some of the Veela genes from their mother – the genes that made her so beautiful, and melodic, and desirable to others – Dominique had inherited none. Even Louis, their twelve-year-old brother had the same ivory skin and soft golden locks that Fleur and Victoire had.

And even though Dominique prided herself on being a Weasley, she couldn't even feel like one of them either. Everybody knew that Weasley's had vividly red hair – they had done for generations. Alas, Dominique had very plain, coffee-coloured hair. How she had brown hair was beyond her; she looked more like her auntie Hermione than she did any of her own blood relatives.

It was true that fewer Weasley's now had red hair. Some of her cousins, such as James, Albus, and Roxanne, had dark hair, but they had obviously inherited this from their non-Weasley parents. It was so unfair that Dominique looked neither like a Weasley nor a Delacour.

And yes, it was extremely frustrating that she was constantly in the shadow of her perfect sister, Victoire, who got everything she wanted. Why was it that Victoire got the looks, the popularity, the intelligence, and the guy, when Dominique got nothing?

It wasn't that she was un-pretty, it was just that compared to Victoire, nobody could possibly look beautiful. And Victoire wasn't even that great at magic or school, it was just that the teachers and students loved her so much that she always got extra help, whereas Dominique had to pull through on her own. And when it came to popularity, the only boys that showed a liking to her were only using her to get closer to Victoire. She had a handful of a few close friends but Dominique had learnt to trust no-one.

And finally, there was Teddy. Granted, she wasn't sure what was going on between them yet, but Victoire always got whatever Dominique wanted, and Teddy and Victoire had been best friends forever, so it was almost certainly guaranteed that they would fall in love, if they hadn't already, that was. And once again, Dominique would be left with nothing

It was hard not to fall in love with Teddy. He was extremely generous, and friendly, and handsome, and, well, perfect. But of course, Dominique knew she could never have him. He was four years older than her for a start, and he was too close to Victoire to ever notice her.

Still, she could always dream. And dream she would.

So even though she often kept as far away as possible from Victoire, Dominique couldn't help but feel concerned as her usually perfectly healthy sister, had turned an odd grey-tinged colour. The common room was bustling, but Victoire's usual hordes of admirers seemed to be preoccupied with school work. It was no wonder, what with most of them having NEWTs that year. Dominique felt it was her duty to check her sister was alright, as nobody else seemed to have noticed.

"I'm fine," Victoire quivered. "I must've just eaten something funny at dinner," she said with a casual flick of her hand, trying to dismiss the matter. Normally Dominique wouldn't have pestered Victoire, but she knew something wasn't right. It was very unlike her sister to get unwell. She'd always assumed it to be her super Veela genes or whatever, but this seemed to be an illness that resisted her usual strength.

"Don't you think you should go the hospital wing? You look like you're going to be sick..."

But Victoire was being stubborn and gritted her teeth. "I'm fine, Dominique. Please just leave me alone. I need to study," she growled. But Victoire was far from studying. She had, in fact, been in the process of writing a letter to Teddy, the second one of the day, and she couldn't tell Dominique the real reason for her sickness, which, in fact, wasn't even a sickness at all.

It was heartbreak.

Victoire had been feeling sick ever since she'd been forbidden to see Teddy. Heartbreak was the only possible explanation – Victoire was never ill. And now she knew why, after experimenting her talent with Teddy, it seemed she had some kind of healing power. But heartbreak could not be cured by her genes, or by her singing; the constant nausea was something she was just going to have to get used to.

"Okay," Dominique replied with a shrug. She sighed as she strolled away. The one time she socialises with her sister, and tries to help, and she's shot down and told to go away. Charming.

But Dominique ignored Victoire's reassurance that she was fine and marched straight to Professor Longbottom's office. She was no longer doing it for Victoire's sake; she was doing it out of spite. She knew it would annoy Victoire greatly to be pestered by the teacher's about her health, and Dominique couldn't miss out on an opportunity to irritate her darling sister.

So it was with a smug expression that Dominique confessed Victoire's mysterious illness to Professor Longbottom, and insisted that Victoire was refusing to go to the hospital wing. Neville looked concerned with the information. It wasn't uncommon for a student to get sick – they were only human after all – but Victoire had never been ill whilst she'd been at Hogwarts, and that was very worrying.

Whilst Dominique watched with a satisfied expression as Professor Longbottom hurried to the Gryffindor common room to pursue Victoire, the timing couldn't have been more perfect. It just so happened that the exact moment he burst into the common room, and hurried to Victoire's side, Victoire was unable to keep the contents of her stomach in any longer...

Approximately half an hour later, Dominique was sat on an uncomfortable chair in the hospital wing, with a vomit-stained Professor Longbottom by her side. The nurse kept darting in and out from behind the curtains surrounding Victoire's bed, occasionally stopping to wrinkle he nose in disgust at the smell wafting from Neville's robes. After returning from behind the curtain yet again, with a defeated look on her face, the nurse took a deep swig of water from a nearby glass.

"It's not looking good," she told them, shaking her head. "I've tested a lot of potions and spells to try and diagnose Miss Weasley's condition but none of them are coming back positively. It seems like the most ordinary sickness a human could get, yet her Veela DNA would completely wipe out all of the pathogens and germs that would be in her body, causing her to be sick. It just doesn't make sense," she sighed dramatically. "Unless..." Her eyes widened in shock, and possibly realisation. She narrowed her eyes and screwed up her brow in thought. "I wonder..." She bustled behind the curtain once more, muttering to herself.

Dominique and Neville sat side by side in an unbearable silence. What was going on? They heard the nurse mutter a spell, and a few moments later a loud shriek came from beside Victoire's bed. "Positive!"

The next moment, the nurse had hurried out from the curtain, her wand tip illuminated by a luminous pink glow. "Fetch the headmistress at once," she shrieked at the pair of them. "Go now, immediately! And for goodness sake, man, clean the sick of your robes," she bellowed at Neville, brandishing her wand hysterically as they leapt from their chairs.

Whatever was happening wasn't good, and Dominique couldn't help but feel guilty at the thought that she had earlier been thrilled by the fact that Victoire was ill. Why was it so serious that Professor Bobbin was needed?

All was revealed to Dominique as she re-entered the hospital wing, with a stainless Neville, and an anxious headmistress.

"What's the meaning of this?" Bobbin enquired, as she hurried to Victoire's bedside. The girl was laying helplessly, her hair splayed out like a fan on her pillow, and her tear-stained face as bewildered as the rest of them were. Dominique sighed internally. Why was it that Victoire could still look so beautiful, even when she was ill and in floods of tears?

"What's wrong with me?" Victoire moaned helplessly, staring up at the four anxious faces.

"Miss Weasley," the nurse said sternly. "I'm quite sure of the answer, but are you aware that you're pregnant?"

There wasn't enough time for the surrounding gasps to fill the silence, before Victoire was trembling again. "P-p-p-pregnant?" she stuttered in total disbelief. This could not be happening to her!

"But, surely you've made a mistake?" Bobbin insisted to the nurse, refusing to believe what she'd just heard.

"I'm afraid there is no mistake, Headmistress," the nurse informed her a little aggressively. "See for yourself." She held up her glowing wand.

Professor Bobbin gulped as she accepted the truth. "But to be pregnant, that would surely mean that Victoire would have to have..." she trailed off, blushing, suddenly aware that Victoire's younger sister and Professor Longbottom were also present.

"I – I did," Victoire gulped hysterically.

"Are you serious? Miss Weasley, this is a school, for goodness sake! That kind of activity is –"

"No!" Victoire cut in. "It was during the summer. I thought – I thought I was safe."

"What a foolish thing to do!" the nurse now joined in the rant, but Professor Bobbin had calmed down now.

Instead of looking furious, she now looked highly concerned. "Victoire, what on earth made you think that?"

"I used a spell," Victoire replied innocently, and repeated the incantation she'd used the night at Teddy's. But she knew something was wrong, as the two women shook their heads in what seemed to be disbelief.

"Victoire, you do understand that spell has to be performed two hours in advance for it to be effective?" Bobbin asked.

The answer was apparent as Victoire let out a strangled gasp and began sobbing again. After she'd been calmed down again, Bobbin asked the question that the others had been pondering since the news was announced.

"Victoire," Bobbin asked softly, "Do you know who the father is?"

There was a silence whilst Victoire took a breath. They all leaned in closer as the silence stretched out. Victoire nodded.

"Teddy. Teddy Lupin."

Dominique felt her hands ball into fists by her side, and she clenched her teeth furiously, trying to fight back tears. Once again, just as she predicted, Victoire had gotten want Dominique wanted. Not that she had exactly wanted to be pregnant...

And as the news sunk in, Dominique realised something. Victoire had made such an unforgiveable, disastrous mistake – she had finally done something wrong for a change. It seemed she was no longer the precious little angel that her parents worshipped so much.

But it was hard to feel triumphant as her sister wailed by her side, and invisible claws seemed to tear at the inside of her stomach.

Why Teddy?