POV: Dominique Weasley
I awoke to the sting of the bright sun on my eyelids. I brought my hands up to rub my sleepy eyes, and stretched my arms above my head, causing several cracks to resound. I slowly sat up and threw my legs over the side of my bed.
I groaned from being woken so early; the clock read 9:34. I stood up and headed out of my room, taking the stairs two at a time. I ran my hand across the dark-wooded railing and the tan wall. I loved our cottage dearly, sometimes I felt like the sea was
my only escape. Not only swimming, but just sitting in the sand or jumping on the rocks. With my family, there were few times when you could be alone. The sea was my haven.
I reached the bottom of the stairs and walked into the kitchen. "Good morning, Dom," my little brother, Louis, greeted.
"Mornin' Lou." I smiled affectionately at him and took the seat across from him.
"You're finally awake, Dom! We saved you some breakfast," Mum said, dropping two large pancakes onto my plate.
"Thanks, Mum," I happily dug in right away and sighed in pleasure. Mum's cooking is nothing compared to Grandma's, but she makes a mean pancake.
"We have something to discuss at dinner," Mum informed, looking at Louis and me. Louis sent me a questioning look but I only shrugged in response; I had no idea what she was talking about.
"Okay... Where's Dad?" I asked.
"He and Uncle Percy went to a Quidditch game, but he'll be back before lunch."
After breakfast, I charged up the stairs and into my room. I stripped off my pajamas and pulled on my bathing suit. It was black with gold polka dots and it had a small skirt.
I walked over to my desk, but I stubbed my toe on my chair. "Shit," I swore, holding on to my foot with one hand and the desk with my other to steady myself. I accidentally knocked over a few letters that were on my desk so I bent down to pick them up.
One was from my sister, Vicky; one from my best friend/cousin, Roxanne; one from Frank Longbottom, my boyfriend. No one knew that we were dating besides Roxy because we weren't very serious yet, especially since we're both so young. We were going into
our fourth year at Hogwarts, all of us in Gryffindor.
I shook out my foot to clear the last of the pain and stood back up. I jogged out of the house and down to the shore of the beach. I inhaled a deep breath of the cool wind, warm sun and salty water.
I walked along the shore to the rocks and sat on top of my favorite rock, dipping my feet into the clear water. There was a small indentation in the rock that fit my bum perfectly. I gathered up my white-blond hair and brought it over to my right shoulder.
I leaned back on my elbows and let the sun bathe my skin. This was my heaven. This was how I got away from the drama and stress of my overwhelming family. I even felt the need to get away from Roxy at times. I loved the girl, and she's my favorite person
in the world, but sometimes she could be a bit overbearing and hyper.
Roxy loved to fly to release her stress; her and her twin, Fred, were beaters on the Gryffindor team. I, however, couldn't stand flying. I was terrified of heights, but swimming and laying in the sun was my absolute favorite thing to do.
I knew that Lily's favorite thing to do was read; James pranked; Vicky sewed; Fred flew, as did Roxy; Louis slept. All of us have different personalities and hobbies but we fit together as a family perfectly, even though everyone has their own version
of the Weasley temper.
I took in a deep breath after having laid out in the sun for an hour. I sat up, stood on the rock and stretched out my whole body. I cracked my back, neck and fingers. Then I brought my hands above my head, arms straight, and dove into the water.
The cold water soothed my hot skin and refreshed my senses. I rose above the water and gulped in a large breath of air. I sighed and began to float in the water. It felt so good, so calming that I felt as though I were dreaming.
I began to swim laps back and forth, along the length of the shore line. I allowed the water to wash over me and after about thirty laps back and forth, I stopped as my legs began to tire. I swam up to the sand and laid on my stomach, resting my head
on my arms and set my feet in the wet sand.
The tide came up my ankles and washed to sand out of my toes. I laid there for an hour, as I had on the rock earlier.
"LUNCH TIME!" Mum called from the back door. I hopped up and brushed off the sand from my bathing suit. I took one last refreshing breath before I headed inside. I made sure to wipe off my wet feet on the rug outside the door.
I heard a crack of Apparition behind me and turned to see Dad walking up the stone path to the door where I was.
"Dad!" I called, giving him a hug when he reached where I was.
"Hello Dom," he replied, hugging me back. "I see you've been tanning."
I looked down to see that my skin had turned a shade darker from me sitting in the sun all morning. "Mum made lunch," I informed him as I opened the door and walked inside to the kitchen.
We sat at the table and Mum greeted Dad with a smile and a kiss. "Bleh," Louis gagged. I ruffled his hair and he smiled at me.
"Okay, I can't wait any longer, can we talk about what you wanted to discuss at dinner now instead?" Louis asked, and I felt bad for not realizing how anxious he actually was about this.
Mum and Dad shared a look and then they both nodded. I took a huge bite of my sandwich and looked at them expectantly. The sat down in the chairs across from Louis and me.
"Well, your mother and I have come to a decision. We decided that, after this year at Hogwarts, you two will be transferring schools." I looked at Dad blankly, not quite understanding what he meant. "Dom will be going to Beauxbatons Academy, and Louis
will be going to Sort De Vol, so that you two may learn more about your mother's culture."
My eyes widened to the size of saucers. "S'il vous plaît maman , Ne me quitte Poudlard . Tous mes amis et la famille sont ici et je ne veux pas aller à Beauxbâtons ! Nous knoe français, nous visitons deux fois par an , pourquoi devons-nous être forcés
d' aller à l'école là-bas aussi ? Il est injuste , vous ne pouvez pas nous forcer à quitter tout ce que nous savons ! S'il vous plaît maman , ne nous rend pas basculons , s'il vous plaît !" (Please Mom, dont make me leave Hogwarts. All of my friends
and family are here and I don't want to go to Beauxbatons! We know French, we visit twice a year, why must we be forced to go to school there as well? It's not fair, you can't just force us to leave everything we know! Please Mom, don't make us switch,
please!) When my emotions get high, I switch to French because that's what Mum and Vicky always did, and after I started doing it, it stuck. I felt tears stinging at the back of my eyes but I pushed them back.
"Sweetheart, you'll thank us for this later. We did the same with Victorie and she loves it!" Mum argued.
"I'm not Victorie!" I shrieked at her, slamming my fist on the table.
I looked over to Louis for support but he just said, "I'm gonna go take a nap." And he walked away from the table.
"Can I stay with Roxy tonight?" I asked, my voice tight and rigid.
Dad nodded solemnly. I marched over to the fireplace in the living room. I grabbed a handful of Floo powder and stepped into the fire place.
"We love you," Mum said, looking at me pleadingly.
"I love you too," I muttered and dropped the handful of Floo powder and whispering Roxy's address. I didn't want them to think I hated them, but I needed time to process this. At least I still had this school year before I had to leave. Vicky changed
school her fourth year, so I guess it's better that I get one last year with my friends.
I got the queasy fealing that came with Floo travel and a minute later, I landed in Roxy's living room.
Aunt Angelina jumped in surprise, she had been reading on the couch. She smiled when she saw it was me. I walked over to her and she embraced me with a large hug.
"Hey, Aunt Angie," I spoke into her shoulder.
"Hello Dom," she ruffled my hair, "what brings you here, sweetheart?"
"I needed some time away," I answered vaguely.
"Why hello, Dom," Uncle George said, walking into the living room with Fred.
I hugged both of them and Uncle George informed me, "Roxy's up in her room, dear."
I smiled weakly and ran upstairs and into Roxy's room. Her eyes widened when she saw me but she smiled nonetheless.
A large boom was heard from downstairs and Aunt Angie shouted, "FRED!" While Uncle George proudly yelled, "That's my boy!"
Roxy rolled her eyes and I laughed at the boys' antics. I walked over to sit next to her on her bed and smiled shakily. "What happened, Dom?" She asked worriedly. I finally let the tears fall.
And that's how I ended up crying in Roxy's arms, on her bed, wearing nothing but a bathing suit.