Unexpected (A Harry Potter Fan Fiction)

Chapter 6

They both jumped over a branch lying on the forest ground. They had been searching for a while now and at some point they had stopped calling Roxanne's name regularly. Only after at least a quarter of an hour did they call out again.

Since they had stopped calling out, it had been quiet. Dominique felt awkward and out of place now most of the panic had worn off. She looked at Teddy. His hair was blue as usual, but the colour seemed a bit dull. Dominique thought it reflected how he was feeling. He couldn't be anything other than stressed out, everyone was. 

Not many people saw that though, they thought Teddy was brave and tough. They pretended he wasn't scared out of his wits. Maybe they did that because it gave them hope or maybe they just didn't use their eyes properly.

Dominique tried not to, but with the last part she thought about her sister. She couldn't stand how Victoire treated Teddy, as if he should be the one holding her up at all times. Dominique just couldn't understand how someone like Teddy could be in love with someone like Victoire.

"How's Victoire?" Dominique said without actually wanting to know. She just needed to say something and since she had thought about Victoire, this popped up in her mind first.

"Okay, I guess. Just like the rest of us," Teddy answered without turning around.

"Is she as whiny to you as she is to me?" she didn't mean to say that, but she did. Dominique always tried to hold back anything she had to say about her sister because it was always mean and she knew that's not fair to Teddy.

He just laughed. "Could you blame her?"

"No," Dominique answered. "That's one of the things that I'm jealous about."

Teddy turned around and looked at her questioning. "What do you mean?"

She stopped walking too and waved her hands around awkwardly. "I mean that Victoire can do everything wrong and still everyone adores her. I try very hard to do nothing wrong and still I make mistake after mistake."

"That's not true," Teddy objected. He turned around again and continued his path. "You don't make that many mistakes and Victoire isn't perfect at all. Nobody is."

"Yeah, right. Tell me one thing that isn't perfect about Victoire." Dominique didn't mean it literally, just a comment. That's why she didn't expect Teddy answering.

"Um . . . let's see. Sometimes she is too stressed about how things work out and forgets to have fun," he started.

Dominique couldn't help but think that she wasn't like that. That one of the things Teddy didn't like about Victoire was something he could like about Dominique. She felt kind of guilty for thinking like that though.

"She cares a little too much about her appearance." Teddy almost tripped over a plant, but caught himself just in time by grabbing one of the overhanging branches. "She's over-perfectionistic, she can be a little dumb, and sometimes she forgets to consider other people's emotions. Oh and she's . . ."

"I get it, I get it!" Dominique interrupted and she laughed. Teddy laughed too and glanced over his shoulder to her. She saw his eyes and immediately stopped laughing and turned her head away.

"Why ―" Teddy began to say but just that moment a branch decided to pop up in front of Dominique and she tripped. He tried to catch her but his hands just missed her. She fell and hit her head. "Let me ―"

"Don't," she said somewhat annoyed and pushed his helping hand away. "I can get up myself." She did, Teddy's arms close to her so he could catch her if she fell again. That had been a smart idea of him because when Dominique stood again he suddenly felt dizzy. This time he did catch her.