Chapter 19 – Realisation

"Dominique?"

Upon hearing her name, Dominique dropped the tiny bottle from her shaking fingers. It slipped to the cobbled stone floor and shattered into tiny pieces. The black liquid oozed over the ground around her feet.

With her heart beating wildly, and lip trembling uncontrollably, Dominique turned to face whoever had spoken her name. That voice had sounded so familiar...

"Teddy?" she asked in a strained voice, as she recognised him. Teddy Lupin stood tall, the sun shining through his dazzling turquoise hair, with an expression of mingled shock and suspicion. "Why are you here?" she whimpered.

"Vic needed me to pick up some stuff for the baby... why aren't you in school?" he demanded, his confused expression unmoving.

She looked at him helplessly. He would never understand. "I...I..." But the words wouldn't come to Dominique. She felt her stomach tightening and her throat go dry. Tears were welling in her eyes, and her vision blurred, until all she could make out was a faint bluish haze swimming in front of her.

Strong warm arms caught her before she could hit the ground. Dominique felt weak and lifeless, hanging limp in Teddy's arms, yet safe and protected. Not a single drop of the deathly potion had even touched her lips yet still she felt as though all the life had been drained from her body. If Dominique had enough strength to shudder then she would have. What strange twist of fate was this? If Teddy had been even a second later, she would have drained the potion, and fallen to the floor as her life slipped away. Dominique had never felt so lucky in her entire life.

"Eat it," Teddy commanded. Dominique blinked her eyes open. The sunlight was shining in her eyes and she felt warm. A lot warmer than she had in days.

"What?" she asked stupidly, only just aware that Teddy had set her down on a chair. He pushed a particularly exquisite ice cream sundae towards her across the table that they were now sat at. A leaflet with vivid moving pictures of children enjoying all kinds of ice cream, which was lying on the table, told her that they were sat outside Florean Fortesque's ice cream parlour. Without objecting, Dominique began to eat, savouring the taste.

Teddy observed her sternly, waiting patiently as she slowly devoured the ice cream. Once she had finished, the worries began to flood Dominique's mind. She would have to tell Teddy everything – about how she'd always been immensely jealous of her sister, how she'd always been in love with Teddy, and about how she could never live whilst their baby was in the family.

And then Teddy would, of course, tell her parents. She'd probably be expelled from school. And she'd be under constant surveillance, back at square one – watching her sister get all the attention whilst she remained completely useless to the world. And, of course, the baby would always be there, laughing joyfully while he was fawned over by her parents.

Finally Teddy spoke, casting all thoughts from Dominique's head. "What's going on, Dom?"

He did not smile. Her heart gave a slight flutter as he called her Dom, but this was quickly swept away as she acknowledged the cold, pained look in his eyes. His beautiful, blue eyes...

It was no use trying to avoid the question. Teddy had caught her in the act. He'd seen how close she was to taking the potion, and he'd probably already sussed out what the potion would do. If she didn't tell him she would be forced to talk back at Hogwarts in front of her parents and Professor Bobbin, maybe even with Veritaserum forced upon her.

She met his gaze, and took a shaky breath, certain that Teddy was the only person with whom she'd willingly share the trauma she'd been going through. His was the only face that could melt her heart.

And so she told him – all the jealously and pain she'd been experiencing throughout her life, carefully avoiding the part about her undying love for him – all the heartache she'd felt during Victoire's pregnancy – all the pressure and disappointment she'd received from her parents – all the boys that had used her in the hope of getting closer to Victoire.

Teddy didn't breathe a word during her tale. His expression never moved, but she could see the look in his eyes that meant he was taking it all in and processing it in his mind. Once she'd finished, she bit her lip nervously, waiting for his verdict.

Teddy shook his head miserably, looking weary and exhausted. "Oh, Dominique," he murmured pityingly. "You really don't understand how much your family love and rely on you, do you?"

Dominique didn't say anything. What did Teddy know? He was lying. He had to be.

"You don't know how much strength you've given Victoire during her pregnancy. It hasn't been as easy as it looks for her, and you clearly don't know how many times she expressed her gratitude for you to me."

Dominique opened her mouth to speak – to contradict him.

"Pretty much every day she said to me how lucky she felt to have you in her life, and I am by no means making this up. She told me you were always there for her when she needed it. You were the only one clever enough to think of telling someone that Victoire was ill. Who knows how much time would have passed before we realised Vic was pregnant if you hadn't done what you did?

"And she said you were the only one who didn't judge her. You were the only one who didn't overreact, or make a big fuss about it, and treated her just the same as before. You really don't know how much she loved you for that."

Dominique was speechless. What would Teddy say if he knew she'd only told Professor Longbottom out of spite? That the reason she hadn't acted any different was because she was dealing with too much emotion in her own life?

"And even if you don't believe me about Victoire, you have to listen when I say how much your parents really love you. When Victoire ran away she told me everything. Your parents don't think she's perfect, Dom, they really don't, and they love both of you equally. She said before she left that her and your mother had been arguing and she'd told her how she's a big disappointment and that you, Dominique, would never let her down."

"She – she really said that?" Dominique asked in disbelief. Was this true? Did her parents genuinely think that she was just as good, sometimes better, than Victoire? Her perfect, flawless, older sister Victoire?

Teddy nodded. "Did you honestly think that killing yourself would have made anything better? Do you not realise how your death would affect the rest of us?" he asked patronisingly.

Dominique blushed. Perhaps she had leapt to the decision to quickly. Would she have really gone through with it if Teddy hadn't intervened just at the last, crucial moment?

"Nobody would care if I died," she mumbled pathetically, dropping her gaze. Although she couldn't see it, so much rage was swelling inside Teddy that his hair had turned a fiery red colour.

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" he told her fiercely. Then in a much calmer, gentler voice he said, "I would care."

Dominique looked up at him, wide-eyed. Surely she had not heard correctly. Teddy was looking at her fondly. "Life without you, Dominique, would be unbearable."

A warm tingly feeling seemed to spread through Dominique's body and her heart accelerated rapidly. Teddy leant across the table, the sunlight streaming through his now turquoise again hair, illuminating him like the angel that he was to her. Dominique could barely breathe. This was so sudden, so unexpected.

Teddy closed the gap, kissing her lips softly. Dominique closed her eyes, lost in the moment she'd dreamed of forever.

And all too suddenly it was over. He pulled away after barely more than two seconds, and as he straightened up and offered her a sympathetic smile, Dominique suddenly understood everything.

Teddy Lupin had just kissed her. Not because he was in love with her (she would have despised him if he did because of the massive betrayal this would be to her sister), but because he wanted to give her strength – to encourage her – to let her know that life really was worth living.

She knew it was out of desperation. That he had been telling her anything he possibly could to convince her to want to live, and that by kissing her he could really prove that there were people in this world that cared for her and loved her. If she had not just tried to commit suicide, he would never have done it. But she didn't even care.

Perhaps the sun was getting to her, but Dominique felt more elated than she'd ever done before, and not because the secret love of her entire childhood had just kissed her. No, it was because she finally believed him.

She could not expect to feel as happy and loved as she'd always wanted if she didn't even try to fight for that feeling. If she constantly told herself she was miserable and hated life then how was she ever going to enjoy it? Victoire wasn't the problem, it was herself. And Dominique now realised how foolish she'd been to ever believe otherwise. All she needed was an attitude change – a different outlook on life – and Teddy had given her that realisation.

"Just to let you know, Dom," Teddy said, startling Dominique, "there will be a time when you find a nice boy, who loves you exactly for who you are, I'm certain of it. And when that happens, I know you'll be as happy as me and Victoire are together." He smiled at her, a genuine, warm smile.

And whereas this kind of comment would have normally caused Dominique to be filled with hatred, and jealousy, and depression, she smiled back. And it felt great.

Because Dominique suddenly realised that she didn't need Teddy. She wasn't in love with him after all. It wasn't the boy she'd been craving – it was the love and friendship that Victoire received from him.

Dominique had never been more pleased that Teddy and Victoire were together. She now saw exactly how perfect they were for each other. And she knew, in time, that she would find her own Teddy Lupin too.