Never Alone

Author Note: In my story, Victoire is a year younger than Teddy. Also, here George is married to a Muggle woman - I wrote this before the information about Angelina came out.

Chapter 2

A year later...

"Bye, Mum. Bye, Dad. Bye everyone!" Victoire yelled, when the Hogwarts Express started moving.

"Vickie is crying! She's crying, crying!" James yelled disgustedly and Victoire clenched her fist and pointed it at her cousin who laughed and then started waving at her. The red train headed for the far end of King's Cross and the people who had come to see their kids off, started waving and saying their final goodbyes. Victoire smiled at the whole Weasley family that had come to wish her good luck, and waved at them. Her mother and father, as well as her grandparents, returned her smile, trying to give her courage, Uncle George grinned and patted his pocket, obviously referring to the great assortment of his stuff that lay hidden in her nice blue trunk - he wanted to remind her to make full use of it. Uncle Ron winked at her, James' chin trembled a little and little Lily, who suddenly seemed to realize that both Victoire and Teddy next to her were leaving, started wailing while Dominuque, Victoire's six-year old sister, started running after the train and when her mother caught her, she burst into tears.

Teddy shook his head. "They are unbelievable," he said and making sure that both girls were looking at him, he made his nose elongate into a grey elephant's trunk and his ears big and flopping. Dominique and Lily started laughing, and the express gained speed and soon everyone was far behind them.

"How do you feel, Vickie?" Teddy asked.

"I'm fine," she shrugged and then looked up at him - when had he grown so much? "Would you think that I'm stupid if I tell you something?" she asked.

"No, of course not," he assured her.

"I miss them already... Just a little," she added hastily, and Teddy was reminded of that same day a year ago, when he had woke up so excited and frightened to go to Hogwarts at the same time, and a little sad, because his parents would not be there to see him off, and he would have to go to the station with his grandmother only. He had eaten his breakfast, Gran had Levitated his trunk in her car and he had passed through the wall between the platforms 9 and 10 for a very first time -

- and they've been there, each one of them. Harry and Aunt Ginny with baby Lily in Harry's arms, James and Albus bubbling with excitement because of their first passing through the barrier, Granddad Arthur with his dusty clothes, obviously coming straight from work, Grandma Molly, who was smiling brightly and mopping at her eyes, muttering about how her dear boy had all grown up, Uncle George in violet robes, awfully mismatching with his bright red hair, holding a well-disguised bag with his products in one hand and his son Fred with the other, trying to stop the boy from climbing into the express, Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron, who said that next year, he would have a driving license and then he would be the one who would drive Teddy to King's Cross, Uncle Percy and pretty much everyone except for Uncle Charlie, who had had to leave suddenly for Romania, and Aunt Elly, who could not come through the barrier because she was a Muggle. Fred had seemed intended to use his mother's absence for achieving great goals, because he was constantly trying to break out of his father's hold and Uncle George was forced to threaten him with two weeks grounding. Victoire had been there too, along with her parents and siblings, and though still angry, she'd tried to smile at him and not let her sorrow show, when everybody had started to wish Teddy a good time at Hogwarts, and James had begun running after the train -

"It's fine, Vicky," Ted said. "I miss them, too."

She smiled at him, reassured. "Care to find a compartment in here?"

"Ah - yes, of course," he answered, and Victoire's smile frozen a bit. He did not want to sit with her! Why should he, she thought miserably, he's found new friends now, at Hogwarts, he's become so tall and smart. Why should he bother with a small stupid first-year?

"Come on, Vicky," he said impatiently, "let's find a nice compartment, before the others take each fine seats."

She shook her head. "No, it's better if we separate here. Go and find your friends, and I'll try and look for other first-years."

Teddy frowned. "Are you sure?" he asked, and waved at a tall boy with sandy-blond hair. "Yes, I'm coming, Jake!" he yelled.

"Yes, I am," Victoire said. "I should try and make some friendships here. Dad always says that Hogwarts Express is the best place to get to know your peers."

"Yes, he does," Teddy agreed. "Well, if you think it's better - "There was visible relief in his voice. "See you in the Great Hall!" he said and headed towards that ugly boy, Jake or something.

For a moment, Victoire did not move. Despite her earlier words, she held no desire to try and make friendships. She had grown up with the knowledge that she was not like the others. She had heard the whispers, "She's such a nice girl, yes, but yet, blood is blood, and she's part Veela, you know - " She sometimes felt awkwardness even in her own friends - they weren't fine with the idea that she was different, and they kept asking her weird questions, as whether it was true that Veelas sucked the blood of men who were in love with them, and feed on it to sustain their beauty. Victoire held little hope that the girls in Hogwarts would be much different. It had been always Teddy who understood her best, because he himself had sometimes felt the rejection of the others because the fact that his father had been a werewolf. It had always been Teddy and Vickie against the world and now, he had found new friends and forgotten about her. It hurts to be alone..

However, there was no point in staying in the corridor and lamenting her loss. Victoire threw her long silver hair across her shoulder and with a determined face bent to take her trunk from the floor. I'm a Weasley, she thought, and Weasleys never give up. She started walking down the corridor, looking in every compartment, but they were all full. Finally, almost at the end of the train, she found one that was almost empty. "Mind if I sit here?" she asked, opening the door.

The girl who was inside the compartment, smiled in welcome. "I'll be glad to have company," she said, and Victoire fully entered in. "Especially someone my age. Since my eleventh birthday, I've been feeling very awkward around the other kids. My friends kept pestering me with questions where my boarding school was and when I couldn't give them a good reply, they were angry with me."

"So, you're a Muggleborn then?" Victoire asked, sitting down.

"You know, my parents thought it was a joke when my letter came. They didn't believe that it was real until Professor Longbottom make an appearance and made my old stuffed lion roar and jump."

Victoire laughed.

"And what about you? Are you a Muggleborn?" the other girl asked, closing the magazine that she had been reading.

Victoire shook her head. "No, everyone in my family had been a wizard and a witch, for ages. I am Victoire Weasley, by the way."

The girl laughed. "Right, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Naomi White," she said, offering her hand for a handshake.

Victoire shook her head, disbelief in her eyes. "You must be joking."

Naomi laughed and her dark face lit up. "Really! My parents think it's funny to have a name, so obviously mismatching with our skin color. And I was named Naomi after Naomi Campbell."

Victoire blinked. "Who?"

"You mean you've never heard of Naomi Campbell?" Naomi seemed astounded. "Well, it is obvious that witches don't know everything - Come here," she said, reaching for her magazine, "you need a little education."

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Several hours later...

"Weasley, Victoire!"

Slightly trembling, Vickie went to the incredibly frayed, dirty hat that was going to seal her fate for the next seven years, and placed it on her head. It could have been worse, she thought, it could have been a troll or something like that.

"A troll?" a voice suddenly asked in her head, and she almost jumped. "During all my years here, I've been called names that I wouldn't repeat in front of a lady, but this is simply too much. Really, a troll?"

By now, Victoire had realized that the speaker was none other than the Sorting Hat itself. "I'm sorry," she apologized, "it's just that my uncle George - "

"No need to explain anymore," the Hat interrupted her, and Victoire had the sudden feeling that it was smiling. "George Weasley, you say? My, my, this boy never changed, huh? Oh, I remember them perfectly fine, the twins. And the other red-heads, the Weasleys - but wait, wait, you aren't a red-head, eh? No, you're not like the rest of them - "

"I am!" Victoire thought furiously. "I am like them. I am brave like them and I belong in Gryffindor, so say it and let's finish with it!" No one should ever know about her fear that she might turn out to be as different from her family by nature as she was by her looks. After all, her mother, although well-liked in the family, was not like them.

This time, the Hat definitely chuckled. "Not so fast, child. Yes, you are more like them than you think - but you are also different. There is something very unique about you - I've never seen a - damn it, I thought Veelas were just a myth!"

That was not the Hat itself, it was just the personality of its former owner, Godric Gryffindor, leaking through. Victoire did not know that, though, and she felt very affronted. "I assure you that my mother is not a myth," she thought angrily.

The Hat chuckled again. "I see. But she's never stood on this stool, has she?"

"No," Victoire answered reluctantly, "Mum never attended Hogwarts. She attended Beauxbatons instead."

"Ah, I understand now. So, where to put you, where to put you? Let me see - Ravenclaw? Yes, you might do fine there, but let's see the other houses - I can't afford a mistake. Hufflepuff - no, definitely not Hufflepuff material - "

"Why not?" Victoire asked. "I can work hard!"

"Yes, on the tricks that your uncle George has taught you. I'm afraid that it doesn't count here, my dear. Now, Slytherin - cunning, intelligent, just fine - "

"It's not fine!" Victoire thought, horrified. "I don't want to be in Slytherin."

"This isn't about what you want!" The Sorting Hat's voice suddenly became harsh. "It's about who you are and where you'll fit the best. And that, Victoire, is my decision to make, not your wish to fulfil."

"So, you're going to put me in Slytherin?" Victoire asked sadly.

"I'm still thinking over that. And what if I do put you there?"

It took all of Victoire's self-control to keep herself from shouting with terror, but Fleur's lessons in good manners were finally repaid. "I'll survive," Victoire thought determinedly. "I'll do my best to succeed there."

"And how would you feel as the first Weasley ever who's been Sorted in Slytherin?"

"I'll live through it," Victoire thought, even though her mind refused to accept this terrifying chance.

The Hat chuckled again. "I see. Well, I've seen all that's worth to be seen in your head, so - "

"That was it?" Victoire asked with resignation. "It is Slytherin, then?"

"Yes, that was it. Good luck, Victoire Weasley of GRYFFINDOR!"

The Hat shouted the last word loud, and Victoire stood up, almost trembling with relief, and it was not until the students on Gryffindor table started cheering for her like they had done for their other housemates, when she realized that she had made it - she was here, at Hogwarts, and she was a Gryffindor, and Teddy pulled her on the seat next to his own and said that he had been saving it for her, and his friend Jake was not so ugly now, when he smiled at her and offered his congratulations, and moments later Naomi joined them at the table, and there was only one thought in Victoire's head. Never alone, never again.