Chapter 20 – Pride
Victoire stared down into the beautiful face of the baby cradled in her arms. He looked so much like Teddy that it was unreal. He had the same little facial features as his father, right down to his tiny button nose and soft red cheeks. Not that it really mattered – both being Metamorphmagi they could change their appearances at will. But the only thing that Victoire's baby hadn't inherited from his father was his eyes. They were her eyes.
She cooed at him softly, stroking the few strands of hair that lined the top of his head. So much had changed that it was unreal. If a year ago someone had told Victoire that in a year's time she would be sitting in the hospital wing at Hogwarts, cradling her new-born son, whose father happened to be Teddy Lupin, she wouldn't have believed a single word. She would have thrown back her head and laughed at this suggested madness. Only it wasn't suggested. This madness was real; It was her life now.
Seeing her unnamed child's eyelids flicker, Victoire began to croon a soft, sweet melody until he lay sleeping in her arms. Without warning, Victoire felt her eyes slowly slide shut too, her baby's angelic face fresh in her mind.
"Victoire. Victoire, sweetheart, you need to wake up."
Victoire's eyes drifted open. Teddy's face was looming above her. It had been a while since Victoire had last looked at his face in detail and understood how truly beautiful he was. He beamed down at her.
She pushed herself up with her elbows until their faces were barely an inch apart. Unable to restrain herself, Victoire clasped his shirt, pulling him in so that their lips met. Kissing Teddy was like a little slice of heaven. A little slice of Heaven they hadn't been able to enjoy for a while. Having a baby had reduced the romance in their life for a while, but now Victoire was ready for their love to re-blossom.
With the baby on her mind, she released Teddy immediately, even pushing him back slightly. "Where is he?" she asked, panic-stricken, and glancing across the bed. He had been in her arms last night, so where was he now? "Where's my baby?"
Teddy grasped her hand reassuringly. "Our baby," he reminded her gently. "It's fine, Vic. He's fine – Fleur took him out for some fresh air."
Victoire sighed in relief. "I'm not fit to be a mother, am I?" she asked, voicing the worry that had been on her mind all night. "Neither of us are – I mean, we're just not ready to be parents, are we?" She looked at him for guidance.
Teddy hesitated. "I think we'll be great parents, Vic, when the time is right. But I don't think now is our time – we're both still so young."
Victoire nodded in agreement, mulling over his words.
Teddy stroked her hand soothingly, listening to the birds chirping through the open window. "I've been thinking," he said after a while. "I love our son, Victoire, I really do. But it's just that, like I said, I don't think now is our time to be parents." He swallowed nervously, worried about what he was going to suggest next. What if Victoire didn't feel the way he did? What if she was horrified with his suggestion?
"I'd completely understand if you disagreed," he began, glancing away to watch the birds out the window. "I was talking to Neville a while back and he told me that Hannah couldn't have children, and I thought that maybe –"
"We could give them our baby," Victoire finished for him.
Teddy dared to turn his head and look at the reaction on her face, but Victoire was staring straight ahead, apparently deep in thought.
"I know it seems kind of –" Teddy said hurriedly, searching for words that would coax a better response from her.
"Perfect?" she suggested, looking at him innocently, with her head slightly cocked.
"R-really?" he asked uncertainly.
"Yeah," she said, nodding. "Yeah, it's perfect! I mean, think about it. Neville and Hannah can't have children, and we have a readymade baby that we're too young and inexperienced to raise. They're both such lovely people – they have good jobs, good accommodation, and they're not exactly strangers. They would let us visit him whenever we wanted, and I'm sure they would let us be as involved with raising him as much as we wanted too. Oh, Teddy, this really is perfect!"
Victoire smiled at him adoringly, full or praise and love.
"I'm glad you think so," Teddy said, thrilled with her reaction. He leant down and kissed her again. Everything in their lives seemed to be going right again.
And Teddy and Victoire weren't the only ones getting their lives back on track. Dominique was like a completely different person. With her new mind-set, she held her head high whilst striding around the castle. Gossip about Victoire seemed to have died down, and as bizarre as it seemed to Dominique, people talked to her. And it wasn't only about Victoire that they were interested in; they seemed to be genuinely interested in talking to her.
With her new attitude and determination to change her life, she became more popular. She grew out of the paranoia that people were only using her to get to Victoire, and even the teachers seemed to be impressed with her new approach to life. Everybody loved the new Dominique, but nobody loved it as much as herself. And nobody felt as proud as Teddy Lupin. The progress she'd made since the events in Diagon Alley were incredible.
Teddy would always hold a special place in Dominique's heart, but he belonged to Victoire, and she understood that now. It was as though all the desperate longing to be loved by him had been completely banished since she'd realised how much she was actually already loved. She didn't need to be loved by Teddy anymore. She was free.
And it wasn't even entirely Teddy that had helped her realise that. It was Victoire. Dominique had been walking down the corridor the day after she'd snuck out of Hogwarts, when she had found Victoire walking towards her, going in the opposite direction. Dominique had never been too close with her big sister, and an encounter in the corridor was not what she had expected so early on in her new life. She settled on a friendly smile as they passed, but to her surprise, Victoire pulled her to one side.
"Are you alright, Dom?" she asked, looking down at her little sister with a concerned expression.
"He told you, didn't he?" Dominique had yelped.
Teddy had told Victoire everything – Dominique thought she could trust him! How could she have been so stupid? Of course Teddy would have told Victoire – all her secrets about her jealousy and hatred towards her, and her drastic decision to take her own life to escape it all. Could she trust anybody in this world?
"Told me what?" Victoire had asked quizzically. "Who?"
"I..." Dominique was in complete shock. Victoire had never been terribly good at acting. Her confusion was genuine. Teddy really hadn't told her anything.
"I'm fine," Dominique said quickly, addressing Victoire's original question, ignoring the suspicion etched in her sister's face. "Better than fine," she added, and for once, she genuinely meant it.
Victoire breathed out. "I'm so happy to hear that, Dom. It's been so crazy in the past few months that I can't even remember the last time we had a proper conversation."
Dominique's gaze fell to the floor. She couldn't look Victoire in the eye. Dominique was the reason they'd grown so far apart after all.
"I want to thank you," she said, reaching out to clasp her sister's hand.
"Thank me?" Dominique asked warily. Thank her for what?
"Yeah. You gave me so much hope during my pregnancy. You didn't overreact like everybody else, and you didn't get in the way or anything. You gave me space and you gave me courage. Everybody else tried to give me advice or criticise me, but you were the only one who let me get on with my own life. So thank you."
And before Dominique could react or tell Victoire that she'd got it wrong – that she'd only acted the way she had because she was bitter and jealous – Victoire had pulled her into a hug. It was a rare occasion. The Weasley sisters very rarely hugged; Dominique had always kept her distance. But now, hugging Victoire filled her with warm, sisterly love. Teddy had not lied to her. He had not told Victoire anything, yet here she was, hugging Dominique and thanking her. Dominique felt truly loved.
"Your hair smells nice," Victoire said as an afterthought, as she pulled away from her. She affectionately twirled a curl of Dominique's soft brunette hair around her finger. "I've always loved your hair," she said, enviously eyeing the strand of hair wrapped round her finger.
Dominique very nearly laughed. The idea of Victoire envying Dominique's hair was preposterous! Yet in that moment it was true. So Dominique didn't laugh. She smiled instead. And it felt good to smile; it felt good to be appreciated.
And for the first time in her life, Dominique felt proud to be Victoire's sister. She felt proud to be a Weasley.