“Auntie Victoire!” a voice called. Victoire turned around to see her niece, Marie, Dominique’s daughter, walking up to her house. Victoire smiled, pushing some of her greying hair out of her face, and walked over to her.
“Marie! What are you doing here?” Victoire asked, smiling as Marie embraced her softly. Marie gave a small smile, and patter Victoire’s cheek.
“No one has forgotten the date, you know,” Marie told her, “Maman and Grandmaman are talking, Great-Grandma Molly is cooking, and Auntie Rosie and Auntie Lily are planning on coming over soon. I wanted to beat them all to it, and talk to you. Auntie, I hope you’re not feeling too bad.” Victoire gave her a tight smile, some of her wrinkles creasing more.
“Of course I am feeling bad, Marie. We would be celebrating our 30th anniversary today. And I still don’t know whether he just left, or whether he died. I don’t know what has happened to him, and it haunts me every day,” Victoire muttered. The tears in her eyes muddled her eyesight, and she couldn’t see Marie properly.
“Great Uncle Harry tried to find him,” Marie murmured, “Or, that’s what Maman told me.” Victoire nodded.
“Oh yes, Uncle Harry looked for him so hard. But he never found him,” Victoire whispered, and she started crying. Marie put a comforting arm around her.
“Oh, Auntie Victoire. I’m so sorry,” she whispered, and kissed Victoire’s forehead. Victoire was shaking with tears. Another hand was placed on Victoire’s shoulders, and she muttered something to Marie. Marie nodded, and walked off quickly.
“Soeur,” a voice said, “My poor, dear, sister.”
“Dominique, I am fine,” Victoire whispered, her tears contradicting her every word. Dominique tutted slightly.
“Ne mentez pas, Victoire. You are not fine. It’s okay to be upset. There’s nothing wrong with it. But you must know your family is here,” Dominique said.
“Dominique, please, you know how I hate you using French and English at the same time,” Victoire snapped. Dominique let go off Victoire instantly.
“I am sorry,” Dominique whispered.
“’Nique, just please, go. I want to be alone,” Victoire whispered. Dominique nodded slowly, watching her sister carefully, concern written all over her face. Dominique turned, and slowly started walking away from the house.
“Why am I the one so miserable, when 30 years have gone past, and your husband died 4 years ago, and you are the happier of the two of us?” Victoire asked suddenly. Dominique turned to look at her sister.
“Because, Victoire, We had plenty of time together, happily married. I grieve him, yes, but I am still happy. We had 22 wonderful years or marriage, 25 years together. You and Teddy never even got married,” Dominique said. Victoire nodded.
“Or perhaps, I’ve always been the more dramatic sister,” Victoire laughed as she wiped her eyes. Dominique laughed too.
“Would you still like me to go?” she asked. Victoire paused for a moment, and shook her head.
“No. I’m sorry. Again, I was being dramatic,” Victoire said, and she walked into the house.
“Not dramatic. You were upset,” Dominique whispered before she followed her sister inside. They sat down together, and talked, both of them trying to avoid the topic of husbands.
*~*
Victoire forced a smile onto her face as she walked into the Potter’s household. Her Uncle Harry and Auntie Ginny were having another party. Goodness knew why, because she didn’t. She hoped it just coincided with the fact that 30 years ago that day her and Teddy would’ve been getting married.
Who was she kidding? She knew they were only throwing this party to try to help cheer her up. And she was going to pretend it was working. Harry and Ginny had been hurt when he never came back as well, and she thought they may as well be happy on this dreadful day.
“Victoire!” A pair of arms were swiftly wrapped around Victoire, and she hugged the person back before realising who it was. She was surprised to see it was Emilie, her sister-in-law. They had never really gotten along much, but Emilie was always very kind to Victoire on this day.
“Hello, Emilie,” Victoire said. Emilie stepped away from her.
“Bonsoir. ‘Ow are you today?” Emilie asked. Victoire smiled at Emilie softly.
“I’m okay, thank you, Emilie,” Victoire said. Emilie smiled, and walked away, over to where her son, Jacques, and Louis were standing. Emilie whispered something to Jacques, who rolled his eyes, and Louis made his way over to his sister, smiling. Victoire smiled back. Her brother was the nicest brother she could wish for. Even though he was younger then her, he was always there for her.
“Hello Vic,” Louis said, and Victoire hugged him. They broke apart, and Victoire looked at Louis disapprovingly when she saw the worried crease in his forehead.
“Louis, don’t worry about me. I’m 51, I can worry about myself just fine,” she tried to joke. Louis just rolled his eyes, and put an arm around her.
“You haven’t seen Isabelle in a while, she’s been looking forward to seeing you,” he said. Victoire nodded, and they walked over to a corner where Louis’s daughter Isabelle was. Isabelle was the only one of Fleurs grandchildren to have the white Veela hair, and the beautiful Veela face. Isabella smiled broadly when she saw Victoire, and hugged her.
“Tante Victoire!” she exclaimed. Victoire smiled and hugged her back. Victoire and Isabella then started talking for awhile, keeping well away form the subject of Teddy. Isabelle and Louis were the few people who knew not to talk about it.
They heard a scream come from the kitchen, and the room went quiet. The family all looked around at each other, and then Victoire sighed.
“If no one else is going to see what happened, I’ll go,” she volunteered, and she walked over to the kitchen, passing Rose and Scorpius with Jacqueline, and pushing James and his latest catch apart. She pushed open the kitchen door and saw Ginny standing there in shock. Victoire frowned.
“Auntie Ginny, what on earth happened?” she asked, looking at the floor where Ginny had dropped a bottle of wine. Ginny just kept staring at the wall behind Victoire.
“Here, I’ll clean that up,” Victoire said, whipping her wand out and cleaning up the mess on the floor. She then put her wand away, and followed Ginny’s gaze, and her mouth dropped open. She couldn’t believe it. After all these years, he had returned. Teddy Lupin, looking 30 years older, but with bright blue hair, was standing by the wall. He grinned at Victoire.
“Hello, my love,” he said.
“Teddy?” she asked incredulously. Teddy gave a small nod, and Victoire continued staring at him in surprise. After 30 years, Victoire was seeing Teddy Lupin.
AN~ Since I'm nice, I will give some translations for the French :D.
It's probably wrong, I used an online translator, so if you see anything wrong, please tell me. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, thanks for reading, please review!
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