AUTUMN
Chapter One
Freckles
Dominique ran herpale fingers through the knots in her dark red hair; desperately trying to make something of it-never in her life could Dominique remember her hair doing what she wanted. The long curls seemed to just grow even more tangled as she struggled, and suddenly there was another pair of fingers smoothing out the knots.
“Relax darling,” her mother soothed, her French accent standing out in the sea of British. “It is easy if you stop fighting; let mother help.”
Huffing, Dominique lowered her hands in defeat; she would never have the same silky straight, silvery blonde hair as her mother and siblings, the dark blue eyes and flawless porcelain skin. No, she had inherited her father’s unruly deep red curls, skin that looked as if it had never seen the light of day, incredibly pale blue eyes and freckles. How Dominique hated her freckles, how they dusted her shoulders and arms, her cheeks and wrists, ankles and even her eyes! Her light blue eyes had dark flecks, something her father had also given her-she loved him dearly, but wondered why she couldn’t at least have inherited her mother’s willowy and graceful figure. Dominique was curvy –“You are slender, darling.” Fleur so often said- with a stomach that wasn’t round or large or anything, but it wasn’t flat as she always dreamed.
“There!” Fleur had someone teased Dominique’s curls into a long fishtail braid, even taking the silk flower pin in her hair and putting it in Dom’s. “Much better Dominique; you just need to know what to do and your day will start much better.”
“I don’t need advice, Mum.” Dominique grumbled, pulling at the edges of her white cardigan “I just need more conditioner.”
“Or you could brush your hair for once.” Louie remarked, coming up to his mother and sister, Bill directly behind.
“Don’t be mean to your sister, Lou.” Bill said calmly. Dominique almost wished she were a boy sometimes, just so she could pull off the broad shoulders and dark hair better-her father was incredibly handsome, even with his long hair, fang earring and scars. If Bill could catch a Veela, then Dom must be doing something very wrong.
“It’s the truth!” he cried as Dom swung her fist at him.
“I brush my hair, you nitwit!”
“Children!” Fleur scolded, hugging Louie “Be good to each other and at school; study hard and write often.”
“Okay Mum,” they said together, and after hugging her parents again, Dom got on the Hogwarts express for the last time.
Bare fields whipped past the window of three teenagers compartment. Stretched out along one seat was a boy, lean and muscular; his hair was a light, ash blonde that was constantly falling in his eyes-one would think it might affect his flying, yet he was still the star member of the Gryffindor team.
Ben Wood was pretending to listen to the third person in the compartment, but his eyes constantly strayed to Dominique; she was sitting with her back against the wall, looking out the window in a dazed state. The girl who hadn’t stopped talking since they’d got on the train was Dominique’s best friends, Felicity Bones; she had the sort of eyes that were so large you had the impression of a deer in headlights, but they suited her dirty blonde hair and rosy cheeks.
“-And I told him that if he wanted to take me to a broom closet, he better have a mint first.” Finished Felicity in a huff.
“Fascinating, Fellie, really.” Said Dominique “Did you go then?”
“Go where?”
“The broom closet.”
“Of course not,” Felicity said “He was a dolt.”
“What do you think, Ben?” Dominique turned to her friend, who was slowly sliding off the seat.
“What?” in surprise of hearing his name, Ben Wood slipped from the seat and onto the floor, Bertie Botts every flavoured beans spilling all over the compartment floor.
Dominique looked down at him with a look Ben knew well-she was trying very hard not to laugh at him, but her eyes gave her away so easily. How was it that Ben could never read her, unless she was laughing?
“What do you think?” she repeated.
“Oh, er…a dolt, biggest dolt out there.” He said hurriedly, scrambling back on the seat and fixing his black jumper. “Um, I’m going to…the trolley…yeah.” Face burning, he left the compartment.
Felicity was already talking again, and Dominique merely shrugged and returned to her book. Through the glass doors into the compartment Ben watched Dominique; she was wearing some sort of clingy black shirt and a white knitted sweater, little diamonds glinting in her ears. Her long red braid curved around her neck and was so long it rested in her lap; golden light highlighted the gold strands in her fiery hair, making it look as if she had a blazing golden halo.
“Anything from the trolley dear?”
Jolting out of his day dream, Ben nodded “A pumpkin pasties please, actually, three.” Re-entering the compartment, he dropped a pastry on each girls lap and sat in his own seat, nibbling the edges. “You’re welcome.”
“Ooh, thanks Benjamin!” Felicity said, eating hers in three large bites.
Dominique merely looked at hers; eyes narrowed “No thank you, Ben.”
“No thank you?” Felicity said in disbelief “But they’re your favourite!”
“I’m not hungry,” she said, taking two sickles out of her coin purse and dropping the pastry and change in Ben’s lap. “But thanks anyway, Ben.”
Staring at the crumbling pasty and coppers in his lap, Ben’s shoulders drooped “Yeah…sure. Okay.”
The Great Hall echoed with the Sorting Hat’s song of the new school year and laughter, the clinking of cutlery and excited chatter. Dominique, Ben and Felicity sat together a little off centre at the Gryffindor table; once again wearing their uniforms-Dom was surprised to find hers needed to be taken in.
“Are you going to eat anything?” Felicity asked, cutting a lamb chop into pieces.
“I am eating.” Said Dominique, frowning. She looked down at her plate; a few spoonfuls of peas, three lettuce leafs and a piece of chicken the size of a golf ball.
“That’s not eating, that’s pecking.” Scooping out a large dollop of mashed potatoes, Felicity put it on Dominique’s plate and practically drowned it in gravy. “That’s eating-follow Ben’s example.”
“Hey,” Ben said defensively “I’m a growing boy!”
“You’re seventeen and over six feet, what’s left to grow?”
“Lots; if I want to win the cup this year I’ll have to keep my strength up.” Ben’s gaze turned to Dominique “But you should eat, Dom; classes are going to be hell tomorrow-especially with your new head girl responsibilities.”
Pushing her plate away, Dominique swung her legs over the bench and stood up “For your information, I’m not feeling well-so just mind your own business. Now excuse me, I’m going to use the loo before directing the Prefects and first years.”
“Dom!” Felicity called after her, leaning back to see her friend exit swiftly out the large oak doors “She’s acting oddly.” She remarked, returning to her food.
“Is she okay?” asked Ben, watching with worried eyes the miniscule portions of Dominique’s plate.
Felicity shrugged “She’s just stressed I bet; head girl, past prefect, top of the class-she’s got a lot to live up to as well, now that Victoire is settling in with the international trade, graduated head girl and getting married.”
“That’s a lot of pressure.”
“You have no idea.” Sniffed Felicity “Lucky for me, my brother is a dunce-anything I do will look good in my parents eyes.”
No longer hungry, Ben pushed the peas around his plate gloomily “Do you think she’ll be able to handle it?”
“Dom?” Felicity laughed “She’s a tough cookie, but we should still watch out for her-we have no idea what she might do.”
Sighing, Ben pushed his own plate away, reassured though at the thought of Felicity and him looking out for Dominique “Like a bomb. A really smart, really crazy red headed bomb.”
The vomiting came easily that time.
All Dominique had to do was think of her sister in that little black bikini on the beach that summer, or the way Teddy looked at Victoire like she was his world-Dom wanted that. To have that –a person who loved her and called her beautiful daily, a willowy figure and nice slim hips- Dom had to take things to the next level.
Sticking her fingers even farther down her throat, Dom thought of that black bikini and gave one last heave-it hurt a lot, since she’d forgotten to drink milk before in her haste to get away from the delicious smells of food before dessert. Standing up, Dom wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and watched the remnants of her dinner floating in the toilet; peas and a bit of chicken.
She’d rid her system of the little nibble of toast she’d had for breakfast in the basement bathroom before leaving.
Leaving the farthest stall from the door, Dominique walked past each door, watching herself in each mirror. Her braid was coming undone, and there were black shadows under her eyes-she must be doing something wrong, she didn’t look any different. Leaning against one of the sinks, Dom turned the taps so the water would run; she rinsed out her mouth and wetted her face-she even pinched her cheeks to gain a little colour.
It was no use however, for in Dom’s eyes she still looked ugly.
“I just want to be pretty.” She whispered to her reflection “That’s all, nothing else-I’d give up everything.”
Narrowing her eyes, Dom went over every little thing she hated about herself-each flaw must be carefully picked apart, must be fixed and perfected until there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Dominique Weasley truly was part Veela.
“Eyes,” was the first thing that left her lips “To pale. I guess…freckles.”
Dominique had always hated her freckles. Her father liked to joke that she was born with them, but it was more like the moment her skin met the sun freckles just appeared. They dusted her cheeks and nose, speckled her shoulders and arms-she even had them on her wrists and ankles.
‘Freak!’ the Muggle village children had screamed at her ‘Who has dots on them? She’s a wild animal, a freak freak freaky freak!’
Their taunts and teases had followed Dominique through the first eleven years of her life. The village children had loved Victoire and Louie, played with them on the village beach often-but they rejected Dominique. When they grew older, the boys followed Victoire around like puppies-they only looked at Dominique when they felt like crushing someone.
Victoire was their summer fantasy, disappearing to a far off school during the winter months. With sun she came back, glowing and waiting to accept their praise.
Dominique was their toy who they tossed around-they’d thrown stones at her once, when they saw her opening and closing a small flower with magic. Their taunts changed to ‘Dotty witch, freak freaky dotty witch!’
Shaking her head slightly, Dominique’s knuckles went white as she gripped the sides of the sink. Deep down she knew that throwing up wasn’t the way to become beautiful, but she was blinded by fantasies of little black bikinis and showing those Muggle boys what she was made of.
“I’ll stop when I’ve lost a few pounds.” She promised herself “I will.”
With her fingers, Dominique brushed her cheek gently and closed her eyes; she couldn’t feel the freckles, but she knew they were there-taunting her, ruining her.
“Damn you freckles.” She whispered, and turned to leave the bathroom, but knowing she would be back.
A/N: I've had more time on my hands in Rome than I thought! Hopefully I'll be able to write more tonight; I'm going to St. Peter's square today, the Collesium tomorrow and so much more! I'm so excited, but I still have Eleanor Rubis and Dominique pestering me with ideas all day long!
Question: What do you think of Dominique? Of Ben? Of the STORY!?
Rose<3