Months rushed by after the holidays; Teddy went back to school, stressed about homework and learning new things. He loved Hogwarts so much though that he didn't mind; it was home to him, but in a different way than Harry and Ginny's house was. That was home too, and Teddy supposed you could have more than one place where you felt safe and warm and welcome.
His classes got harder after the holidays though. Teddy was the smartest out of him and his friends, although he still found the lessons rough. Lizzie was okay, about the same as him, and they played off each other and studied together well. Emily was a disaster though. She never wrote down her homework, so she hardly remembered to do it, resulting in poor final grades in every class. She got all the tests and questions right in class though, which was hard for Teddy to believe, since he never, ever saw her study.
"Mom and Dad say that she's smart, she just doesn't apply herself," Lizzie said snootily once, as they were all doing potions essays late at night. Emily had taken to doing a fantastic sketch of an owl taking flight on the back of her paper instead. She was also a great artist. She had drawn a dragon on Teddy's hand once in History of Magic, and he kept on asking her to retrace it since he liked it so much.
"At least I'm more interesting than you" Emily snorted, crinkling her nose and turning her page to texture in owl's talons. "You're just average. Average grades, average looks, average-" she was silenced, since Lizzie had thrown an ink bottle at her, spilling it all over the couch (and the sleeve of Teddy's robes).
The twins and their fighting were just another thing that came with Hogwarts, or so it seemed to Teddy. They were still his friends, and they still liked each other it seemed. Once when Emily had to go to the hospital wing for the flu, Lizzie didn't sleep for two whole days, saying it didn't "feel right" without her sister.
They were all startled when the year seemed to be flying by, and the Easter holidays were fast approaching. They tried to study for tests, but couldn't end up doing so properly.
Finally, after spending almost an hour on herbology homework but not seeming to make a dent, Teddy decided to write a letter back home to Harry, as he did about twice a month. Harry wrote every week, which made Teddy both a little embarrassed and also guilty for not responding every time.
Dear Harry,
I'm definitely enjoying Hogwarts still. The classes are getting harder; it's difficult to imagine what I will have to do next year, since this is only first year! My friends Lizzie and Emily are good too, a bit chatty and fight a bit but they're still my friends. I was wondering if they could stay in the summer once? I'm sure you'd like to meet them.
How are James, Albus, and Lily? I can't wait to see you all again, and I can't wait to see how much Lily has grown in the last few months since I've seen her, and I'm sure James will want to play quidditch and Albus will want to play cards. Though I do love school, I am also looking forward to being home next month, even if it does mean Ginny's horrible cooking! (No offense, love you Ginny!)
Soon to be home,
Teddy.
He rolled up his parchment, rubbing his eyes and looking at the clock. He couldn't wait to see Victorie and the rest of his family too. Sure he'd miss Hogwarts, but he would always come back. He packed up his things and headed to bed, imagining the good times he would have at home this summer.
--
Dominique was not having a very good time at home though. Victorie was very angry about not being able to go to Hogwarts for sure, and she was taking it out on her little sister. Whenever Dominique messed up, she was quick to point it out and laugh at it. Whenever she broke something, Victorie rushed to tell her mother, Victorie pulled her sisters hair, she scratched her, messed up her room, hid her toys, told her to shut up, and it drove Dominique to the point of tears.
She didn't dare tell her mother. Fleur would have scolded Victorie, but Dominique didn't know that, and she wasn't going to risk it. She sat and took it and let Victorie torture her. She only came downstairs for meal times and even then ate very little as quick as possible in order to lock herself in her room again.
The only person she wanted to talk to was her father, and he was almost always busy with work. When he did come home she was suddenly seized with the fear that she would be bothering him, be an "annoying burden" as her older sister had put it and cried into her pillow. When he came to tuck her in she pretended to be asleep. When her mother came in with tea because she thought Dominique was sick, Fleur would shake her and pleas her to come downstairs and go outside or eat or play with Louis. One day, Dominique was tired of faking sleep; her mother knocked on the door and again, tears welled up in little Dominique's eyes.
"My dear, this izznt right, 'oo should be outside. I theenk 'oo are sick-" fleur was bustling with two cups of steaming green tea for the two of them on a tray.
Dominique burst out crying.
"Oh my, oh shh-" Fleur set the tray down on Dominique's bedside table, and held her daughter's little body close. "Shh, eet's okay..."
"N-no it isn't" Dominique sniffles, tears pooling on the shoulder of Fleur's shirt where her daughter buried her face. "V-Victorie h-h-hates me. I'm stupid and annoying." Her voice was so thick with tears she couldn't go on speaking.
"She said that?!" Fleur was suddenly enraged, sitting up a bit taller. "When?"
"E-every d-day!" Dominique wailed, wiping her snotty nose on her sleeve, quickly, as though afraid her mother would scold her for poor etiquette, but Fleur didn't say anything.
"This has been going on for awhile?" Fleur's voice was soft, and also a bit hurt that her daughter hadn't come to her when she was struggling. Dominique nodded.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Dominique looked up at her beautiful mother, and Fleur looked down at the bright blue tear stained eyes and choppy pink hair of her eight year old.
"I thought you hated me too." She mumbled, chin trembling. "V-Victorie said so, and you s-seem to get so mad at me all the t-time," she bit her lip to stop herself from collapsing into tears again.
Fleur felt a terrible weight hit her, the sadness of hearing that you have made your own child think that you hate them, and she felt immense guilt seeing the pain in her daughter's beautiful eyes and knowing she caused it. She brushed Dominique's uneven bangs out of her face.
"I could never hate you. You are my baby girl! I'm so sorry if I'm ever too hard on you. I just want the best for you."
Dominique nodded, burning her face into her mother's arms, hiding her tears. The poor girl, at 8 years old, thought that she was hated and unloved. Fleur was very sorry, and she was determined to change that.
Fleur took every opportunity to tell Dominique how much she loved her, she cooked her favorite meals, she (tried) to do her hair every morning, she let her wear what she wanted and play outside. She still had to wash up ("How did you get so muddy!? You were outside for fifteen minutes!"). She still had to do her school work and learn proper French, but there was a way improved mother-daughter relationship, and Fleur was happy to see the glow and smile back on her little daughter's face.
Victorie however didn't change much towards her sister. She was sneaky with how she teased her, she was rude and moody and snotty, and sent Dominique into tears more than once a day.
So Dominique took to going outside. Sometimes she walked along the beach, getting sand in her toes and sea spray in her hair. Other times she climbed the rocks, scraping her knees and feeling the wind on her red cheeks. She liked to be alone, she liked to be in nature and feel the ocean and the air. She would run and run through the woods and the rocks and trees, feeling their branches, feeling the air in her lungs until she couldn't run anymore, then she would rest and watch the birds fly.
Sometimes Fleur and Louis would come along for a picnic (Victorie was always busy) and they would all enjoy the nature.
Dominique was still shy and sad a lot, and still didn't like herself very much, which was sad at such a young age. But her days were getting brighter and brighter as Fleur was determined to make it so.
And their whole family life got better when her and Bill resolved their issues. After weeks of minimal conversation, glaring eyes, and constantly bringing up the schooling situation, one night while Fleur was doing the dishes, Bill just watched her.
He watched her silver hair, a silky, silver sheet down her back, watched her graceful hands as they carefully and slowly washed every plate and glass. He thought of how they first met, how passionate and fierce Fleur was, how lucky he was to have found her. And suddenly it didn't matter where his kids went to school; he just wanted them all to be happy again.
He slowly walked over to her and took her by the waist. At first she was yet again annoyed by him, but when he swept her up for a kiss, her annoyance was abated with longing and love and tiredness, tired of all the fighting, and not talking to someone who made her so happy.
"I don't care where they go to school," Bill whispered, holding her close to his chest. "I used to, but now I see, if it's going to hurt us this much, it's not worth it."
Fleur sighed, closing her eyes tightly.
"I've missed you my love, eet 'as taken everything en my power too ignore you."
Bill laughed and lifted her off of her feet just a tad as he hugged her even tighter.
"I've been thinking that you're right though," she began, loosening her grip. "That way, Victorie can be with Teddy, and-"
Bill put a calloused finger to her lips, silencing her.
"We can talk about it tomorrow," he said, smiling. "For now, I just want to be with you, happy, again."
And he swept her off her feet and led her upstairs, and she giggled and knew that even though they were bound to fight, they were still made for each other.
--
Woah. What can I say other than I feel terrible. I know I haven't updated consistently in a long, long time and I feel so so bad. This last year I've been struggling with parent stuff and also mental health stuff but I won't bore you with the whole shabang, just that I was real sad and unmotivated to write. But I'm back now and I hope people still read this! And I hope you'll enjoy this update and the ones to come!
Much love!!!!! I can't tell you how much all the comments I've read have made me smile 💓 you guys truly are the best
- em