Chapter Nine
Wedding Dresses, Sisters & Secrets
Dominique’s ceiling had cracks. Well, one long crack, to be more specific. The walls of her room were pale blue, covered in photographs and posters of famous paintings and book covers, sayings that caught her fancy; it was half of the attic, with one sloping ceiling and a large round window and either end. Both rooms had views of the ocean and of the fields behind the house, but that was were the similarities ended.
Dom thought of her sister’s room as she studied the crack, how it curved a little and was slowly creating tinier cracks emitting from the larger one.
Victoire was neat. Her clothes and books and knickknacks were all perfectly organized in size and colour and alphabetical order, whatever order she could put it in. Bill found it funny; Fleur thought it was responsible, Louis thought it was weird-Dominique wanted to be like her.
The crack was stretching, morphing into something unthinkable as Dom’s eyelids grew heavy-what was she thinking?
Oh yes, she wanted to be her big sister.
Not just like her, in looks and habits, she wanted to physically switch lives so she could forget the turmoil in her own mind. Just for a little while.
Slipping herself into Victoire’s shoes, Dom pictured what it would be like-to be Victoire Weasley, bright and beautiful, stunning and charming with a ring on her finger. Would it be hard, knowing people expected so much of you?
Dom decided being Victoire might be easy-easier that being Dominique.
“Ladies, are you ready?”
It was a cold, blustery morning and several female members of the Weasley clan were gathered in Fleur’s kitchen, finishing off dainty cups of French press coffee and delicate cookies-Dom sat squished between Victoire’s best friend Serena and her cousin Roxanne. She didn’t eat a thing.
“Aren’t you hungry, darling?” asked Fleur, smoothing out Dom’s curls. “You barely ate!”
“I’m fine, Mum.” Pulling away, Dom reached for her cloak. She felt insignificant surrounded by beautiful women, wearing her usual skinny jeans and a baggy white sweater, a blue scarf wrapped around her neck. Victoire looked radiant in a pair of white jeans, a flowy pink top and heels, her ring glinting whenever she moved.
The group took the floo to the London branch of Gladrags, which had a Bridal department on the second floor. Everything seemed to be in different shades of cream and white when Dom stepped out of the fire place, stumbling into her Aunt Ginny. It was also oddly clean, and every surface seemed to have flowers sitting on it-and doilies. Lace and doilies and flowers were everywhere, mixing into a white and pink mass.
“Welcome to Gladrags!” a perky young woman said, appearing as if out of nowhere. “You must be our eleven; my name is Patricia, and I’ll be assisting you today. Now, where’s the bride?”
Victoire stepped up, flashing Perky Patricia one of her dazzling smiles “I am.”
“Oooh, and what a pretty one you are, too! Come with me, everyone-we can get started!”
Dom could practically see the exclamation marks at the end of all Perky Patricia’s sentences.
Soon they were all sitting on large white ottoman couches, looking a little like powder puffs and sipping tea and hot chocolate, helping themselves to the cookies. Dom sipped her tea, grimacing at the sudden rush of sweetness that hadn’t passed her lips since Christmas. The first dress Victoire came out in looked a lot like the meringues sitting in front of them, and everyone shook their head.
The next dress had a long train that looked like gently lapping waves; more shaking of heads.
There were dresses that had birds zipping between the folds, dresses with so many bows and ribbons Victoire could barely walk-there was champagne and ivory and snow white, sashes and trains, lace and tulle. Some had skirts so large Victoire could barely move, some resembled lingerie more than dresses.
And then they all knew, after they’d tried on at least a dozen dresses, that this was the one. It was light ivory, strapless with a wide satin sash and a full skirt. There were flowers on the corset like part, and sewn into the skirt here and there. When Victoire walked out, everyone in the room let out a collected sigh.
“Oh darling…” Fleur sniffed, bring her hand to her mouth as tears came to her eyes “You look stunning!”
Everyone took turns cooing and awing over the dress, but Dom could only look at her sister. Victoire looked like a real bride; with pink cheeks and glittery eyes-she was practically glowing with happiness. Looking at her sister so happy, so in love and just content with the way her life was going, Dom wanted to cry.
For once though, it wasn’t because she was jealous. No, she wanted to cry because she was so happy for her sister, for knowing that Victoire was at her very best, and simply knowing that she was okay.
“Nicky, what do you think?” Victoire asked-no one else ever called her Nicky.
Looking up, Dom smiled at her sister-the first genuine smile Victoire had seen in months “I think you look like a real bride.”
“Give us a spin, love.” Fleur said, clapping her hands together “Let’s see how it looks on the move.”
Victoire spun, dress billowing out like a cloud; she caught Dom’s eye, and the sisters smiled at each other.
The floor of Victoire’s old room was scattered with magazines and clothes, and in the centre of it all the two sisters sat closely. Victoire was braiding Dom’s hair as she sewed a hole in a dress-whose dress it was neither knew, it just sort of floated between them.
“I love your hair, you know that, right?” Victoire said, running her fingers through Dominique’s thick curls “It’s so vibrant, mine is so straight and pale.”
“The grass is always greener.” Said Dom dryly “There, done.”
Looking over Dom’s shoulder, Victoire smiled “Thanks, you know I’d have messed it up-what am I going to do when Teddy gets a hole in his sock or something?”
“Magic?”
“Send it to you?” they laughed together, feeling like they hadn’t really laughed together in ages. “Dom, can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” Dom shrugged, closing her eyes briefly; she loved the feeling of Victoire braiding her hair, always had.
“Is something bothering you? I mean, you’re really quiet and very skinny…I’m just a little worried, that’s all.”
Finding herself frozen, Dom wondered what to tell Victoire-something that would get her off the track of her looking skinny. And Merlin did it feel good to hear Victoire say that-that she, Dom, looked skinny. Did Victoire look in the mirror? Dom was nothing in comparison, not in her mind anyway.
“I…well, yeah.” Shifting uncomfortably, Dom was thankful she was facing away from her sister “I sort of did something.”
“Did something? What sort of something?” Victoire continued to braid Dom’s hair into a long fishtail, swapping small locks of hair back and forth.
“Well, technically he did something to me, but whatever.”
“Dom!” cried Victoire, catching the bit about the he. “Tell me.”
“I sort of…kissed…Ben.”
“You sort of kissed Ben?” Victoire asked, grinning wildly, knowing Dom couldn’t see.
“Well, he kissed me…but yeah.” Dom knew her face was flaming red, and stared at the floor.
“I can’t believe it.” Victoire said, a little emotional over the fact “I always knew he liked you!”
“Who said he liked me?” Dom said, swivelling around in surprise “He just kissed me-we were at a party, it happens.”
“Quidditch party?” asked Victoire, raising her eyebrows.
“Erm, yeah.”
“And they won, didn’t they?”
“Yeah, so…?”
“Oh, he is completely smitten!” shrieked Victoire, now giddy with excitement-she’d always known, anyway; Ben couldn’t hide his bashful looks from this half Veela sister.
“How would you know?”
Victoire straightened, excited that she could finally help Dom-who never needed her help with anything, ever. How she was so independent blew Victoire away; she’d never had to help with homework or break up fights, only shoo away a few village bullies when they were younger.
“No guys going to snog just anyone after their big win! Ben was confident, excited and positive because of the game, which is why he finally after all these years got up the courage to kiss you. He might’ve kissed any old person –if anyone at all, knowing Ben- after he lost because he was feeling insecure and angry.” She smiled at Dom and started to braid her own hair “He was feeling good enough about himself to kiss you, had the confidence in himself-he wouldn’t go wasting that on anyone silly and unimportant.”
Dom just nodded, wondering what Victoire would say if she really knew how they’d gone about kissing. She wouldn’t be as excited if she did.
Dinner at Shell Cottage was usually quiet, with happy chatter and good food (depending on who was cooking that night). Louis would go on about Quidditch, what silly thing he’d done recently, Fleur commenting that girls didn’t usually like it when boys wolf whistled at them. Victoire told them about the wedding plans a bit, and her and Teddy’s further search for a new apartment, as their current one wouldn’t be available after spring. Dom was silent.
“What have you been up to, Dominique?” Bill asked, twirling spaghetti around his fork thoughtfully “Anything you haven’t told us yet?”
“Nope.”
“New teachers?”
“No.”
“Anything happening with your schoolwork?”
“Same as ever.”
“New friends?”
“Same friends, Dad.”
“Boyfriends?” interjected Fleur, smiling lightly.
Dom shook her head briefly, glancing at Victoire in desperation.
‘Please don’t tell.’ She begged with her eyes ‘If there is one thing you don’t have to tell, let this be it.’
“Are you sure, Dom?” Victoire asked innocently “I think I remember something about an abandoned corridor?”
“What abandoned corridor?” Bill and Louis chorused, Fleur grinning happily at her younger daughter.
“There was no abandoned corridor!” cried Dom.
“Right, a secret passageway, wasn’t it?”
“Victoire!” knowing her face was scarlet, Dom looked down at her plate.
Bill was frowning “Who’ve you been seeing in an abandoned corridor?”
“Secret passage, Bill.” Fleur corrected with delight “Right Victoire?”
“If I heard correctly.”
Fuming, Dom stood up “You’re all ridiculous.” She stormed out of the room, only to turn back and glower at them “And there was no secret passageway!”
A/N: A little lighthearted filler for you all!
Question: Do you think Dom will catch on to Ben's feelings, will her family finally see that something dangerous and wrong is going on? Tell me what you think.
Rose<3