It wasn't until dinner, when the Potter's were long gone, that Dominique left her room and trudged down to the kitchen. She slumped in her usual seat, trying not to look unappreciative of the canned broth in front of her but nonetheless yearning for her mother's French Onion soup instead. Sadly her father had taken on a bulk of the cooking since her sister had left so this was the best she could hope for. Louis seemed perkier than usual as he hopped into the chair opposite her, which drew her attention to the fact there was only four place settings.

"What about Teddy?" She voiced the question as soon as popped into her head.

"He's having dinner with Harry and Ginny," her father's voice was weary as he sat down beside her, clearly tired after putting on a front for their less than welcome guests. "Then he said he needed to go to his flat to get a few things."

"Oh," Dominique wasn't sure why she was quite so disappointed at this. Sure, she'd wanted to tackle the elephant in the room tonight, but there was always tomorrow.

"Did you have fun with your cousins, mon chou?" her mother asked Louis, addressing him by the much-disliked pet name. Not that she could blame her brother for not enjoying being called 'cabbage' (though if he hadn't been obsessed with the food as a toddler their mother probably wouldn't have latched on to it).

"It was alright," he shrugged non-committally before blowing on another spoonful and shovelling it in. "Lily kept talking about some big get together at the Burrow in a couple of weeks, for Aunt Ginny, Uncle Percy and Molly's birthdays. Are we going?"

There was an uncomfortable pause where Dominique watched her parents have some sort of telepathic exchange across the table. It was their father who answered; "Not sure yet."

"Fair enough," it took very little to satisfy an eleven year old boy. "But Al said Nana was threatening to move the party here if we don't turn up."

It was difficult not to laugh at the dumbstruck looks on both her parents' faces, though she understood their feelings. Dominique could think of nothing worse than being thrust into what was pretty much the same situation as the graduation party, though perhaps with fewer random people and a lot less alcohol. She could only hope she wouldn't have to see Sean Finnegan until the inevitable return to Hogwarts come September. She'd managed to avoid answering her friend/one-time fling's persistent owls over the past couple of weeks but she thought it was probably a matter of time before he rocked up at her front door to try and talk. Although the fact James hadn't mentioned anything was a positive sign that Sean had managed to keep that night's events to himself, so maybe he was equally as embarrassed as her.

"Dom?"

She blinked out of her inner monologue to find all eyes on her, her father having clearly just asked her something. "Huh?"

"Your father asked if you wanted to go too, minou." Her own pet name, 'kitty', was far less offensive than her brother's but she crinkled her nose at it nonetheless.

"Uh, well we might as well," Dominique smiled weakly. "How bad could it be?"

She saw her parents exchange a look that meant she couldn't help thinking this was the wrong response. Sure enough, her mother had a grim expression for the rest of dinner and mumbled something about wanting an early night before shuffling off upstairs, though of course they all knew she wouldn't sleep for hours yet. Once Louis had followed suit, having socialised far too much for one day, her father set about washing up, for some reason choosing the muggle way over simply getting them to clean themselves. She thought she might as well help and stood beside him at the sink, carefully drying the bowls as she studied her father – his previously bright red hair now had an increasing number of grey streaks running through it and the lack of sleep made him look as though he had two black eyes.

"I'm not an exhibition piece, Dom," he joked as he caught her staring.

"Sorry," she grinned. "You just look…"

"Like crap?"

Dominique snorted. "I was going to say worn out."

"Sure you were," he winked before he set the last bowl on the side and sat back down to watch her. "I think we're all a little exhausted these days." She nodded. "How are you doing, minou?"

She raised an eyebrow at her father. "It's even worse when you call me that."

It was the first time she'd heard any real warmth to his laughter in a while. "I'm your dad, hideous nicknames are part of the package."

"Mmm, but weird French ones seem unnecessarily cruel."

He tilted his head to one side. "You're avoiding the question."

It was getting difficult to continue to focus on the final bowl in her hand that was long since dry. She set it down and then leant against the counter, meeting her father's gaze that had been intently fixed on her the entire time. "I'm fine, Papa."

He looked unconvinced. "You don't have to bottle everything up, Dom."

"I'm not," she replied far too quickly to be believable. "I just don't have anything to say."

"All of us have something to say, minou. But you're the only one who hasn't let loose."

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

Her father stood up and leant beside her, looking down at her whilst making Dominique wish she was taller than a house elf for possibly the billionth time in her life. "Louis has talked it out with me a couple of times when we're alone. Your mother and I seem to end up talking about it every night. But you've not said a word about your sister." One arm looped behind her and drew her to his side. "Talk to me, Dom."

She shrugged, refusing to meet his gaze. "I don't know what you want me to say."

"Anything would be good." He paused. "How do you feel about it?"

"About Victoire deciding to up and leave us all with nothing more than a note after promising me she'd explain everything later and practically shooing me back to her own graduation party?" Dominqiue could feel her eyes stinging and wondered why she was suddenly crying the equivalent of Niagara Falls these days when she was usually so composed. "I'm totally fine with it."

"Dom, you know your sister-"

"Can we please just use her name?!" She flung her arms up in exasperation and pulled away from her father. "Everyone in this house seems to be magically incapable of saying Victoire anymore and it's driving me mad!"

"Calm down."

"I can't!" The tears were now making tracks down her cheeks. "I can't calm down because I'm so bloody angry with her and we're all walking around with our heads hanging down like she's been stolen away from us, when the fact is she left us by choice for her own, selfish reasons!"

"It's ok, minou." Her father's voice was soothing but his eyes were sad as he looked on at his younger daughter's melt down.

"No it's not! She abandoned us! She abandoned me!" Dominique was struggling to breath between sobs. "And yet I still sit on that windowsill every single night and stare at the sodding gate desperately wishing she'd come home and it's not fair that I have to feel that way while she's out there waltzing around in some new, simple life without me."

She collapsed into him after that, all the fight drained from her leaving nothing but sorrow as she wept into his shirt, her father gently stroking her back and kissing the top of her head before softly hushing her. Eventually she managed to move away and look up at him with a miserable expression.

"I want to hate her."

"But?"

She bit her lip in thought before answering. "But I can't." He seemed to let out a sigh of relief. "As much as I think I should hate her for leaving, all I can do is wish she'd come home. Because I need her and I love her and I want to stop feeling guilty for letting her leave in the first place but as long as she's not back with us, where she belongs, I can't."

His large hands gently cupped her cheeks and forced her to look up at him. She'd never seen her father look quite as fiercely protective as he did now. "I don't ever want to hear you blaming yourself again, you understand?"

"But-"

"We don't blame you." His voice was firm as he pulled her back to his chest and hugged her tightly. "None of us blame you."

And as she steadily inhaled her father's familiar scent, Dominique just about managed to convince herself that his words might just be true.

%%%

There was a vague hum of noise drifting upstairs from the joke shop that, despite it being past closing, was still thriving with activity due to the owners, his father and Uncle Lee, messing around with some new prototypes in the testing room. Fred would've normally joined them, his sister Roxanne had even poked her head round the door to ask if he wanted to sneak down with her (their mother banned them from going near untested products whilst their father was far more lenient), but instead he found himself lounging on his bed, re-reading the same piece of parchment he had carried in his pocket all day in the hope it might inspire his response.

The past two weeks Fred had been exchanging owls with his long-time friend and, possibly, new love interest Robyn Thomas in the hopes of deciding just what they had between them. The night of Victoire's disappearance had completely fallen apart once Dominique had managed to rush her parents home, with his grandparents deciding to wrap up the event and a majority of his family popping into Shell Cottage in hopes of learning what was going on. He'd rushed around the marquee to see if he could spot Robyn, but he'd been disappointed to learn from their mutual best friend, Jonathan Wood, that she'd left with the majority of the guests. Not disheartened, he'd sent her a message explaining the full situation and was relieved when she'd returned an understanding reply. After that they seemed to revert back to sending the ordinary letters, just as they did every holiday, though a lot more frequently and it got Fred questioning whether his friend just wanted to return to their normal relationship. But then came today's letter.

%%%

Hey Freddie,

I told you my neighbours were coming over to Mum's yesterday right? The muggles who my step dad works with? I don't know why I'm asking, I know I did! Well they came round for dinner – Mr and Mrs Reid and their son, Joshua, and as always they asked about my 'special boarding school', so I spent the whole time dodging their questions. Nightmare. And as if it couldn't get worse, after dinner the adults ditched me and the kid and before I can make my sneaky exit he tries to snog me! As in he was full on wagging his tongue as he leaned into me! What the hell?! Naturally, I punched him in the face. There was so much blood from his nose, it was ace!

But it got me thinking about the stuff that happened at the Burrow with me and you, which I guess I've sort of been avoiding. I don't know why cause it's not like we've ever not been able to talk about anything with each other, but this is different. I don't know what would've happened if we managed to meet up after you talked to Dom, or even if you'd never gone to talk to her, but I'm kind of bummed we didn't get to see each other again. And Joshua's display of poor technique reminded me how awesome kissing you was.

I guess I just wanted you to weigh in on everything too – so don't leave me hanging!

Robyn

%%%

At last Fred had it confirmed what he already assumed in his head – first, he was a great kisser, and second, Robyn Thomas wanted him. But finding a way to say what he wanted without it sounding too sappy or else too much the opposite was becoming more and more difficult, as was keeping the letters from his sister. She always knew when something was up with him, it was like they had twin telepathy in spite of the five year age difference, and he was certain she had been trying to figure out a way to steal the parchment without him realising.

"Fred!" his mother's voice called down the corridor of the flat and he hurriedly shoved the letter into his jean pocket before she could burst through the door. She cocked an eyebrow at him, though that wasn't unusual since she always assumed he was up to no good, and then stepped aside as she continued. "You have a visitor."

His favourite cousin waltzed into the room and leapt onto the other end of his bed, calling a quick thanks to his Aunt as she left the boys to it. James looked unusually troubled as he shifted to get more comfortable.

"Mum made us go visit Shell Cottage today," he stated and suddenly his more serious demeanour made more sense to Fred. "I'm worried about Dom."

"How's she doing?" Fred felt a little guilty at the mention of his second closest cousin, having not talked to her since the party. He'd meant to send her a message but he'd got caught up in all his messages with Robyn and then during a visit to the Burrow he'd had a chance to talk to Hugo who'd said he was sending letters to Louis every other day and getting nothing back. He'd assumed she would want to be left to it.

"She barely talked to me, mate," James grumbled as he ran a hand through his brunette hair, a nervous habit he picked up from his father. "I tried – I really did! I was normal with her in front of the others and then I got her alone and I asked, but she just looked at me in this really sad way, never seen her like that before, and said 'another time'. Then she was just shut up in her room the rest of the day. I hung around for a bit but eventually I gave in and just snuck home when mum wasn't watching."

Fred shrugged. "She's dealing with a lot right now, maybe she just wants to be strong for everyone else. That's the kind of thing Dom does."

"But she never puts that front on with us, Fred, you know that. Like when their cat died and Dom was the one who found it, she was fine in front of everyone and then when we were up in her room she sobbed to both of us for at least a half hour."

"To be fair, Jay, she was ten." Fred smirked at the dirty look he received. "Well, what do you want to do? We can't force her to open up to us and she said 'another time', right? So I'm sure when she's good and ready she'll tell us what's going on."

"Maybe," the younger boy still looked grim but a little more reassured. "Teddy came back with us for dinner too – as if we didn't have enough misery for one day."

He grimaced sympathetically at his cousin. "That can't have been much fun."

"Most uncomfortable meal we've had for a while, that's for sure. Lily put her foot in it as always, asked him whether she would've been in the running to be a bridesmaid at the wedding. The death stares from mum were unbelievable," James was half-laughing. It was true that Lily Potter was always bound to bring entertainment to even the bleakest situations, if only by constantly saying the wrong thing. "Ended up in a huge argument in the hallway between the two of them – Ted couldn't get away fast enough."

The two laughed with one another before Fred noticed his cousin's eyes settle on his pocket and he swallowed hard. "What's that?"

He felt his cheeks flush and cursed the fact he'd inherited the Weasley blush from his father. "Just a letter."

"From who?"

"No one."

The brown eyes glinted with mischief at the hurried response. "Mhmm – as if you can get away with lying to me! It's a girl isn't it?!"

"No!"

"Why wouldn't you just tell me?" James exclaimed excitedly. "How bad can it be." He paused and then suddenly gave him a suspicious look. "It's not that minger Belby is it?"

"As if!"

"So you admit it's a girl then!" his cousin triumphantly declared. "Why are you being so secretive? Is it Lydia?"

Lydia Corner was Fred's ex-girlfriend, who he'd dated earlier this year before they broke up around Christmas time. Typical Ravenclaw, she'd claimed she needed to focus on their OWLs in summer and didn't have time for boyfriends. At Christmas time. Talk about being keen. The fact she was in Ravenclaw also meant she was one of Robyn's dorm-mates, though the two girls had never really seen eye to eye.

"I'm not getting back with Lydia, James." Fred had vowed to his friends that any girl who ditched him for her books was never getting a second chance.

"Well then who?!"

He wasn't sure why he was being so deceptive about this with James. Probably because he wasn't sure how Robyn would feel if she knew he'd told their friends all about the two of them before they'd had a chance to work it out together. Then again, this was his cousin and oldest friend he was talking about.

"You have to swear you keep this to yourself because she will kill me if she thinks I've told hundreds of people!" Fred wanted to smack the bemused look off his cousins face but perhaps now wasn't the best time. "The letter is from Robyn."

James looked taken aback at this but quickly managed splutter out a few words. "As in our Robyn?"

"How many Robyns do you know, Jay?" He couldn't help smiling at his cousin's attempts to get his head round this. "We kind of made out at Vic's graduation party."

"B-but we were all with you guys!"

"Well clearly not because I specifically remember snogging her on the kitchen table. And in the corridor. And a little on the stairs." Fred grinned but then took notice of James's response. The brunette now looked confused, maybe even a little upset. "Hey, I know that normally friends hooking up is a horrible idea but I swear this is different – Robyn's different. She sent me this today finally bringing up and she says she wants to know what I think about everything but to be honest I'm not really sure what to-"

"-Do you like her?" James cut him off and although he sounded nonchalant, the look he was giving Fred was frighteningly intense.

"Er… I think so?"

"It's a yes or no question, Fred."

He frowned at the sharpness of his cousin's voice. "What's gotten into you?"

"Well if you've done this when you're drunk only to ditch her now you've thought about it then it's gonna be pretty awkward for the rest of us, isn't it?! I think it takes a long time before the 'remember when you and Fred snogged' story becomes a funny joke rather than a conversation killer."

Fred put a hand on his cousin's shoulder. "That's not what I'm doing. That's not who I am."

"Then answer the question."

He paused. "Yes. I do like her."

"Then that's all you need to write." They sat in silence for a few seconds before the younger boy heaved himself up from the bed and headed over to the door. "Gotta go home, mum doesn't know I left, she'll go mental."

"Jay?" Fred called after him and he reluctantly turned round, the intense expression still there. "You're kind of scaring me. Are we… I mean, we're ok, right?"

The brunette shrugged. "Why wouldn't we be?" And with that unconvincing statement he was gone.

%%%

James raced through his home, storming up the stairs and shoving his bedroom door closed behind him. He immediately felt a surge of frustration along with the sudden urge to throw something, so he snatched an old textbook from the haphazard pile in his trunk and hurled the heavy leather-bound pages into the opposite wall. He repeated the action a couple more times before flopping forward onto his bed, his face pressing into the duvet as he took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm down.

Of all the girls in the entire Hogwarts population, Fred would of course have to be getting involved with the one he'd liked since he first met her. Well, probably – James wasn't sure his eleven year old-self had been capable of those kind of feelings about girls but as soon as he had, it had always been Robyn they were centred around.

He rolled onto his back and stared blankly at the ceiling, his fists balled up as he sniffed hard to stop himself getting teary-eyed and pathetic. He had no right to feel like this, it's not like he'd been trying to date Robyn – he couldn't even bring himself to tell her how he felt. Which meant their friend had every right to go and kiss or date whoever she wanted, even if it was his best friend and cousin. It wasn't like he could be mad at Fred either given he had no idea that James had a crush on Robyn, nobody did. He'd been keeping it to himself and just grinned and bared it whenever she'd had boyfriends or dates, though it'd been easy enough to avoid seeing her with them. But that would be a whole lot harder to do if she started dating Fred and he didn't want people to start asking him difficult questions.

Though of course, now he'd acted like a prat in front of Fred for, seemingly, absolutely no reason, so he'd now be under suspicion from his cousin anyway.

Brilliant.

%%%

So thank you to everyone who's been reading – I hope you've enjoyed it so far! I'm now also posting this story over on HPFF :) I have now finished exams and am on summer break so there is a possibility the posting of chapters will now become more frequent (but I am trying to spread myself between this and my other HP story). Reviews, favourites and follows all inspire me to keep going so thanks to you all!