flawless -- victoire weasley

Chapter 17

The next morning, Victoire was woken by her sister and cousins dancing around the room. Lucy, Dominique, and Roxanne were all the same age, so they had been naturally bonded since the moment they were born. Today was no different. They held hands and danced around the tree house, waking all of their cousins up. She sat up and tried to rub her eyes, but found one of her hands was still holding Teddy's. They made eye contact and both turned scarlet, quickly letting go before any of their cousins saw. 

The younger cousins had all lined up by the door, waiting for the older ones impatiently. 

"C'mon, Molly! Get up, you guys!" Hugo cried. Teddy, Molly, Victoire, and Fred were all dragged out of their sleeping bags and out of the treehouse. 

All thirteen of them sprinted into the house, where their grandparents were already awake and sitting in the kitchen, drinking tea. 

"Happy Christmas, my darlings!" Grandma Molly gave them all a kiss on the forehead as they passed her. 

"Go unwrap your gifts under the tree, there's some from us," Grandpa Arthur said, his eyes twinkling. The kids eagerly made their way into the living room, where stacks of gifts were sitting under the tree. 

Sure enough, they each had something from their grandparents. As they unwrapped, their parents started arriving, Ron and Hermione first and Percy and Audrey last. They all spent the morning in the living room of the Burrow, laughing and talking. 

Somehow their grandparents always gave the best gifts. Of course, they got their Weasley sweaters, each a different color and had their initials embroidered on the breast. But that was the gift from their grandmother. When Grandpa Arthur gave gifts, they were always great. He always gifted a Muggle object, which was why the Weasley grandchildren used phones, TVS, and such at home. This year, they all got different books. And Albus and Rose, being the book nerds that they are, took it upon themselves to go around and see what everyone had gotten, giving their opinion on said book. They were all classic books, Lucy had been given Pride and Prejudice, James got The Catcher in the Rye, and so on and so forth. Lily and Hugo were only eight and seven, so it had been harder to find classics that they could enjoy and understand, so they received children's illustrated versions of Shakespeare plays. 

There were many sweets and candies to be unwrapped, and new decks of Exploding Snap as well. They all helped in the kitchen to make Christmas dinner as well. 

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"Molly, Victoire, Teddy, come help me with the pies again!" The three of them filed down the basement stairs to retrieve the pies and brought them to the kitchen, where Grandma Molly put them in the oven. Victoire was the last one up the stairs, and when she deposited the pies in the kitchen, she was ushered back into the living room, where all of her cousins were sitting in a circle with huge grins on their faces. 

"What's going on?" Victoire asked cautiously, taking a seat next to her mother. 

"Your cousins have a surprise for you, Viccy," she answered, tears starting to sting the corners of her eyes. All twelve of them, even Teddy, pulled out a package and gave it to her. She took one and started unwrapping it. The paper tore away to reveal a lump of yarn. Her brows furrowed as she pulled it out of the paper and looked at it. 

"It's a hat!" Dominique said proudly. "Grandma taught us all how to knit so that we could make you hats!" At her words, Victoire looked closer and could see that the grey yarn was supposed to be a hat. 

"Thank you, Dom," she pulled her sister in and gave her a tight squeeze. "Wait, you all made me hats? All of you?" They all nodded in reply, their grins never faltering. "Thank you so much." Tears threatening to spill down her face but she held them back as they all piled onto the couch around her, enveloping her in a hug. 

After years of thinking that some of them hated her, Victoire's mind was finally put at ease, knowing that her family loved her more than anyone in the world could possibly love her. It was right then that she decided that she would live, no matter what. She would live for Teddy, who had always been there for her. She would live for Molly and Fred, who always knew how to make her smile. For Dominique, Lucy, and Roxanne, because they needed her. For James and Louis, because they were still innocent. And for Albus, Rose, Hugo, and Lily, who were so young, she had barely begun to get to know them. And for all of her aunts and uncles, who couldn't stand another heartbreak. And for her grandparents, because a grandparent should never outlive their grandchild. She would survive this disease, and she would fight for her life.

Despite Victoire's internal struggles, she managed to have an amazing time with her family. It was Christmas day and she was surrounded by her favorite people in the world. Later, when she got back home, she FaceTimed Haileigh and Will, happy to hear their voices and see their smiles. She told them that she was gonna kick cancer's ass and they talked well into the hours of the night. Dominique, Louis, and her parent's had been asleep in their separate rooms for hours before Victoire came in from sitting on the back patio with her phone. 

She went to bed with her heart full of love and not a single ounce of dread for the chemotherapy she was about to start.