A Year in the Life

"That's getting to be really annoying," Dominique said from her bed, as she lazily flipped through a magazine.

"Are you jealous?" Victoire asked, disappearing with a small pop once more. Seconds later, she reappeared in the room again. It was the fifth time she had done it in the last several minutes, and she'd been doing it since she had gotten home after passing her Apparation test.

"No," she said as she flipped another page. "I'm just annoyed."

"Someone's grouchy."

"Someone's oddly hyper," she said, lowering the magazine and staring at her.

"I'm excited," she said as she did a ballerina like spin on the spot. "Only an hour to go until the party!"

"I'm so happy you can only turn seventeen once," Dominique mumbled, just Victoire pulled out her wand and started to levitate a nearby book. Dominique reached out and pushed it back down.

"You need to get into a better mood already," Victoire said as she gave her sister a reproachful look. "You've got one hour." With that, she disappeared out of the room and reappeared downstairs in the kitchen moments later, just as her mother and father were arriving home.

"Apparating all over the place, then?" Bill asked as he started placing several parcels down onto the kitchen table.

"It's a pretty great feeling," she said with a smile as she started to poke around some of the bags and boxes. Fleur lightly smacked her hand.

"Don't be nosy."

"Are you hiding something?" Victoire asked.

"It's a possibility," Bill said, pulling out his wand and pointing it towards the kitchen door. It opened with a click. "Have you checked out the tent outside yet, Vic?"

"Are they finished?" she asked, grabbing her cloak off of the hanger by the door and following her father outside. On the side of the house was a smaller party tent that had been put up earlier that day. Victoire had thought the tent was a bit over the top, but she couldn't ask her friends to stand around in the freezing cold all night.

"I've got to secure a Heating Charm for it," her father said as they both walked towards it. "Otherwise, you'll all be frozen solid by nine o'clock."

"I don't think too many people will hang around if that's the case," she said. Her father pulled back the entrance drape and gestured for her to step inside. It was festively decorated and several tables and chairs were set up, as was a large area for people to dance. Other, smaller, tables were lining the sides of the tent for snacks to be set up. It was exactly as Victoire had requested, since she had explicitly told her mother that she didn't want things too over the top. She wanted it to be more of a relaxed and enjoyable get-together, rather than a big to-do. She couldn't help but feel that if it wasn't so cold out, this would be far easier to achieve. But she took what she could get.

She smiled. "Perfect."

"I think you mother's a bit disappointed there aren't ice sculptures," Bill said with a glance at his daughter.

"The last thing I wanted was ice sculptures," she said, checking her watch. "Oh, I should probably go and get ready."

"You go ahead," he said as one of the wizards who had set up the tent began to approach the pair of them. "I'll finish up here."

She smiled before exiting the test and began jogging back towards the house. It was a cloudy, gray day, and she couldn't help but suddenly notice the choppiness of the ocean. The waves were reaching irregularly high heights as they crashed up against the cliffs below. It was especially blustery, and the winds felt strong enough to pull her right over the edge and into the sea if she got close enough. She stopped moving any closer. It wasn't worth the risk. Not today. She turned and jogged the rest of the way to the house; eagerly throwing open the front door, she only narrowly missed her mother as she came down the stairs.

"Are you all right?" her mother asked.

"Oh, I'm fine," she said slightly out of breath. "I'm just excited."

She eyed her skeptically, but smiled. "You should probably go and get ready. Your guests will be arriving soon."

"Right," she said as she made her way towards the stairs. She was in such an energetic mood that she decided to take them two at a time until she reached the landing at the top.

"Now," she said out loud to no one. "What to do first...?"

An hour later, Victoire was pulling her wand out of her hair and letting a curl bounce to her shoulder as she examined herself in the mirror. Everything seemed to be in place, just as someone knocked on the door.

"Come in," she said as she stood and smoothed out her pale blue dress robes.

"Hey," said Louis, poking his head in. "Mum wants to know if you're almost ready."

"I think I'm good." She glanced at her brother. "How do I look?"

"Fine," he said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Are you wearing makeup?"

"Yes. I figured I could dress up a bit, seeing as it is my birthday."

"Wha--" he began, right as their mother suddenly called up the stairs after him.

"Louis! Jack is 'ere."

"Excellent," he said before turning away. He disappeared a moment later.

"How are your friends getting here before mine?" she called after him, following him downstairs.

"Oh, sweetheart!" Fleur said as she caught sight of her daughter. "You look wonderful!"

"Thank you," she said with a large smile. She glanced into the living room and saw a stocky, muscular looking boy sitting on the couch and talking to Dominique. It was Louis's best friend, Jack Ians. He was a quiet boy with a polite and shy nature about him, which was surprising given his burly appearance. He was a Beater on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, a Muggleborn, and probably as different from her brother as one could get, given Louis's outgoing nature. Yet they'd been the best of friends since their first-year.

"Hi Jack," she said with a small wave.

"Happy birthday," he said politely, as Louis reentered the room with two butterbeers in his hands, one of which he threw to Jack.

"Thanks," she said as she glanced at her sister. Dominique's hair was down and she was wearing a pair of Victoire's old dress robes. Her jaw dropped slightly upon seeing younger sister.

"Mum made me," she said begrudgingly before Victoire could speak.

"I've always told you that you clean up nice," Victoire said, just as she heard the kitchen door open and shut. She turned and saw her father smiling at her as he entered.

"Everything is good to go," he said. "You look beautiful, Vic. You too, Nicki."

"Iz all of ze food outside already?" Fleur asked.

"That it is," he said, "as are a few guests."

"Who's out there?" Victoire asked eagerly.

"George and Angelina," he said. "Then some kids I don't know."

"George and Angelina didn't bring ze children?" Fleur asked.

"I guess Angelina's mum is watching them," he said as he washed his hands and watched as Louis, Dominique, and Jack all passed him to go outside. He grabbed the door and held it open after them, gesturing to Victoire to follow.

"I can't go out there yet," she said. "I've got to wait for more people to arrive."

He eyed his daughter skeptically. "Why?"

"Because it'll look stupid if nobody's there and I'm standing around by myself," she said, as if it was the most obvious reasoning in the world.

"Right," he said in a manner that seemed to say he wasn't sure he wanted a further explanation. "Well, we'll be outside...Celebrating your party without you until you decide to come out."

"Let me know where there's a least twenty people there," she called after her father, as someone suddenly could be heard coming through the fire place via the Floo Network.

"I'll see who it iz," Fleur said as she walked out of the kitchen. Victoire tried to listen to see if she could recognize any voices, but all she could hear was her mother greeting, and leading them out of the front door with the instructions to go around the side of the house.

"I'm too excited to wait any longer," she said as her mother reentered the kitchen. She stood and grabbed her cloak.

"I'll wait back 'ere for a bit and guide everyone," Fleur said, "but I'll be over shortly."

Victoire smiled before walking out into the chilly air of the evening. Looking up, she saw the gray sky getting darker and darker the closer evening drew. She could hear laughter and music coming from the tent; immediately she felt her heartbeat get faster the closer she approached. She could see several people queuing up outside and walking inside in groups, so she decided to make her way to the other side of the tent, where she knew another entrance was located.

"Here we are," she said as she located the entrance flap and made her way through it. She smiled as she was greeted by the sight of her friends jubilantly wandering around the tent.

"Victoire!" said Sarah Kirke, a fifth-year girl and a friend of Dominique's. "Have you been here the entire time?"

"I sort of snuck in," she said as Sarah hugged her.

"Well, happy birthday!" she added as several other faces appeared from all directions to barrage her with birthday greetings and compliments.

"I can believe my niece is seventeen," her uncle George said as he greeted her in the middle of the room with his wife, Angelina. "Damn, you all grow up fast. I'm going to turn around tomorrow and see that Freddie and Roxie have turned forty."

"They're not even ten yet," Angelina said shaking her head. "Let's not rush them any faster than we have to." She turned to Victoire. "Happy birthday, sweetheart."

"Thank you," she said, as a friendly face came hustling through the crowd towards her.

"Happy birthday!" Whit said with a hug.

"Thanks!" she said. "I thought you said you were coming by early?"

"I got caught up with some errands," she said as she pushed her hair out of her face. "But I'm here now. You look fantastic!"

She smiled.

"Seems like everyone is here," Whit said as she scanned the faces in the room. "You sure can draw a crowd."

"I don't know about that," she said modestly as she, too, started looking around the room. There was no sign of Colleen Lynch or any of her cronies yet. Was it too much to ask that they would find better things to do tonight? "Here, let's get some punch," she said as she grabbed Whit's arm and made her way towards the snack table, where brother and several of his friends already picking their way through any of the worthy snacks.

"Here's the girl of the hour!" said Natalie Young, her brother's current girlfriend. She was a skinny girl in every sense of the word. Even her eyes looked skinny. Victoire had a sudden urge to warn her brother to keep her away from the cliffs outside; she was afraid of what one swift gust of wind would do to Natalie.

"Happy birthday," said another girl, who Victoire recognized as a seventh-year Slytherin named Mavis.

"Thank you," she said as she helped herself to some punch. "I'm glad you all could come."

A few people in mumbled various pleasant responses, as Victoire caught Natalie's eye. She smiled as a gesture of good faith.

"I'm trying to convince your brother to dance," Natalie said in an overly friendly tone, as if she wanted people to think that she and Victoire were closer than they actually were.

"Good luck with that," she said with a glance towards her brother. "Louis is not a dancer."

"I told you," he said with a nod towards his sister.

"I could have told you he was miserable," Dominique said as she appeared and began helping herself punch. "He's absolute rubbish."

"Yeah, he's really bad," Jack added with a laugh as he turned his body abruptly and accidentally elbowed Whit's arm, causing her to spill punch all down the front of her robes. He stepped back and immediately grabbed at several napkins. "I'm so sorry," he said, his cheeks blushing out of embarrassment.

"It's OK," she said quickly. She took the napkins and started dabbing herself.

"Here, wait, I can fix it!" Victoire said as she pulled out her wand and cast a cleaning spell upon her. The stain lifted quickly, and Whit smiled meekly at the several people who had turned to watch the display.

"Next show is in twenty minutes, everyone," she said, still attempting to grin. "For my next trick, I think I'll slop butterbeer down my front before moving on to solid food."

A few people smiled before returning to their own conversations. Jack laughed, which was something that seemed to make Whit blush. No matter how polite and meaningless it was, she tended to freeze up whenever a member of the opposite sex paid any particular attention to her.

"Sorry," he said again, "I really am a klutz."

"Oh, it happens." She still looked rather embarrassed, but forced a brave smile. "You know, I had set out tonight to get a room full of people's attention, so 'mission accomplished.'" She smiled awkwardly. "Granted, I was hoping it was for something a bit more interesting and elegant, but having punch spilled down my front works too."

"Were you really?" asked Natalie, having clearly missed Whit's sarcasm.

Whit's face turned even pinker as she glanced around the faces slowly. "I was joking. Poorly, it seems..."

"I got it," Victoire said with a reassuring smile.

"I got it, too," Jack said. He was smiling as well.

"I still don't get it?" Natalie asked as she looked up at Louis. He shrugged as if to say he didn't either, but Victoire had a sneaking suspicion that he just didn't feel like explaining it to her.

"Sorry," Jack said. "I don't know your name?"

"I'm Jane," she said as she stuck out her hand in an awkward formal motion. Given the expression on her face, she looked as if she regretted doing it the second she had stuck it out.

He grinned and shook it back. "I'm Jack. You should at least be able to properly identify the guy who spilled punch all over you."

"Call her Whit," Victoire said. "Everyone else does."

"Why's that?" he asked.

"My last name's Whitters," she said still looking fairly uncomfortable. "It's just caught on over the years."

"It's cool," he said with a small smile. "What house are you in?"

"She's in Gryffindor," Victoire said with an obvious look. "She's in my year, Jack. You've had to have seen her around hundreds of times."

If Whit hadn't been embarrassed enough before, she was now mortified. She stared down at the ground and looked as if she was ready to melt into it. However, given the expression on Jack's face, he now shared in her embarrassment for having not recognizing someone who he'd most likely sat right next to on one occasion or another.

"My, my," Dominique said as she smirked at Jack, "aren't we perceptive?"

"I'm sor--" he began, before several random boys appeared and started loudly greeting their group. Several noticed Victoire and started loudly singing happy birthday to her while taking turns hugging and twirling her around.

"I'm going to go and sit," Whit yelled over the commotion.

"Wait, I'll come," said Victoire as she managed to slip away from the boys, who had already focused their attention on another group of giggly girls to entertain.

"You don't have to," she as she walked to a nearby table. "This is your party, and you should be out having a fun."

"So should you," Victoire said. "I know you're not a fan of this sort of crowd, but you still sucked it up and came for me."

"It's not that," she said with an awkward smile. "I mean, it's not that I don't like these people. It's that I barely know them." She sighed. "You saw your friend there. I'm invisible to most of these people, and I all but blend into the wall. It makes me wonder what I've been doing for the last six years at school."

"You're not blending," Victoire said as she shook her head. "You're just not running around trying to draw attention to yourself like so many of the people we go to school with do. That's a good thing."

"I think that depends on what side of it you're on," she said as several fourth-year girls came over to wish Victoire a happy birthday. She smiled and waved politely, but didn't turn away from Whit.

"You can be whatever you want," she said as she suddenly thought about herself. "Just make sure that what you're striving to be is what you really want, because one day you may wake up and realize it really isn't as fun as people make it out to be."

Whit cocked her eyebrow. "Huh?"

"Never mind." She waved her hand. "We've got an entire night to show people who haven't realized yet just how great you are. I'll introduce you to everyone here and--" She stopped speaking once she saw Whit's eyes suddenly widen in recognition of something presumably over her shoulder.

She lifted her hand in an attempt to point. "Behind you," she whispered.

"Behind me?" she asked as she turned around to see what was there. She turned so quickly that she startled the person standing there, who had his hand raised as if he was just about to tap her on the shoulder. He left it there and blinked several times in surprise.

"Hi," he said with a surprised, but pleasant smile. He had the deepest blue eyes that Victoire had ever had the pleasure of looking into. She could easily fall into them and hope never to be rescued. Now that would be a birthday present...

"Hi Stuart," she said as she felt herself get uncharacteristically smiley.

"Happy birthday," he said as his smile grew more sincere.

"Oh," she said, "thank you."

"I was actually looking all over for you," he said with a small laugh as he gestured around the room. "You're a hard woman to get a hold of."

"It's really not that hard," she said. She suddenly heard Whit deliberately attempt to turn a laugh into a cough from behind her.

"You look fantastic," he said looking her up and down. "Really fantastic."

She blushed, but smiled confidently. This was definitely a good sign. "Thank you," she said warmly. "Are you having a good time?"

"Yeah," he said with a quick nod, "I mean, I haven't really done much since I just got here, and I was looking around for you, but it seems like a great time. Are you having fun?"

"Oh, sure," she said, still smiling. "But I could always have more. It all depends on the company I choose to keep, I suppose."

Stuart returned the smile, just as Victoire turned and noticed Whit watching her with great amusement.

"Oh, Stuart," she said gesturing towards Whit and remembering her promise to introduce her to everyone. "This is my friend Jane Whitters."

"Hi," he said smiling at her.

The amused grin on Whit's face slipped away and was replaced with something that looked far more surprised. She seemed to have been taken completely off-guard by the introduction. "Um, hi."

"You're in Gryffindor, right?" he asked.

Whit nodded slowly, looking a little thunderstruck. Victoire knew that she wasn't attracted to Stuart, but there was a definite sort of magnetism about him that just pulled people in.

"I thought so," he said as he turned back towards Victoire. "Um...well, I'm going to go and grab something to eat, but maybe later if you could fit me in, I could get a dance? I know the birthday girl's time is valuable--"

"I think we can work something out," she said as she tried to hide the eagerness in her voice.

"Great," he said as he flashed his perfect smile and turned away towards the food table. She waited until he was well out of earshot before she even moved a muscle.

"Don't forget to breathe," Whit joked.

She turned and smiled at her; it was a smile that grew wider and wider by the second. That exchange could not have been anymore perfect, short of him dropping down to one knee and proposing on the spot.

"Well, there's no denying he's cute," Whit said, as Victoire slowly sat down and closed her eyes in an attempt to savor the moment. She now only had one goal for the night, and that was to get as close to Stuart as possible.

"Seems like your night," Whit added. "As it should be, since it's your birthday and all."

Victoire continued to smile as she glanced around the room. So far, this had been a wonderful evening, and it had just started! There was so much potential for the rest of the night! So much fun to be had, so many things to do! She could barely contain her excitement, until her eyes fell upon the entrance of the tent. Her stomach lurched instantly and she immediately stopped smiling. At that very moment, in walked Colleen Lynch, Aspeth Pucey, and Penelope Shears.

"Oh, damn..." she mumbled.

"What's wrong?" Whit asked as she observed Victoire's instant change of mood.

"You'll see in a second," she said as she forced a very fake smile onto her face. A second earlier, Aspeth had pointed in her direction. All three girls were now making their way towards her.

Happy birthday!" Penelope said as she reached her first and hugged her.

"Happy birthday!" Aspeth said as well. "You look incredible!"

"Thanks," she said attempting to return the enthusiasm. "Your hair looks really great."

"Do you like it?" asked Aspeth as she ran a hand through her short dark hair. "I was so afraid that chopping off so much would make it look terrible."

The truth was that her new, shorter 'do did make her face look far rounder than it had been before, but Victoire would have never said that in good conscience. Aspeth was pretty girl, but she was fighting a constant battle with her weight; even though she was, in any normal person's definition, anything but healthy looking. Then again, Colleen Lynch wasn't any normal person...

"I told her I think it makes her look squat," Colleen said as she breezed her way past Aspeth towards Victoire. "Longer hair suits her much better, but obviously, what do I know?" She smiled at Victoire. "You look lovely though, sweetheart. Happy birthday." She leaned forward and greeted her with an air kiss.

"You're too sweet," said Victoire, her tone laced with cracks of insincerity. "You look fantastic as usual."

She smiled smugly as she threw her dark hair over her shoulder. Not a single curl fell out of place as she did it. "As usual."

Victoire kept smiling and hoped she was doing a convincing enough job of it.

"Seems like everyone's here," Colleen continued.

"Yeah," she said, looking around. "I wasn't sure if you all were coming actually--"

"Why wouldn't we come to one of our closest friend's birthday parties?"

Victoire blinked a few times. "Well, for starters, it started a half an hour ago, and as my closest friends I would have thought--"

"We weren't going to be the first people here," Colleen said with a short laugh. "That would just be pathetic. No offense, dear. We planned on being a little late, of course. First rule of thumb, you know that."

"Right..." Victoire said, as Penelope and Aspeth laughed. Colleen turned around and stared at the table where Whit was sitting and quietly watching them. She made a point of averting her eyes when Colleen focused on her.

"Are you saving these seats for anyone?" Colleen asked.

"Me?" Whit asked, pretending that she hadn't been listening to everything going on.

"Who else would I be talking to?"

She grimaced. "No, I'm not."

"Of course you're not," Colleen said as she pulled out a chair and took a seat. Penelope and Aspeth followed suit. Whit made a movement to stand up when Colleen caught her eye.

"Oh, you don't have to leave," she said. "At least, not until anyone else who we'd prefer to have sitting there comes along."

"Well, in that case, I'd rather not--" Whit began, but Victoire held up a hand to stop her.

"No. Stay." She dropped her fake smile. "You were there first."

Colleen glanced up at Victoire with a smile, as if she thought this was all part of some hilarious joke. When she saw Victoire face was stone serious, she began to frown.

"Oh, I forgot," she drawled. "You and--" She stopped and glanced at Whit. "Who are you again?"

"Her name is Jane," Victoire said, knowing full well that Colleen knew who she was.

"I forgot you and Jane are friends now," she said patronizingly. "I mean, I know we've been a little busy Vicki, but for you to drop so far--"

"Oh, give it a rest," Victoire snapped. "Drop so far? Because I've decided to make new friends?"

"Because of the friends you've chosen to make," she said with a scathing laugh. "I mean, I suppose it's only natural for you. Do you remember the people you used to hang out with before we took you in?"

"Took me in!?"

"Boring and plain," she added matter-of-factly. "Apparently, without our supervision, you fall right back into those old habits."

"Um, I can hear you," Whit said obviously. "I'm sitting right here."

"Unfortunately," Colleen said. Penelope giggled.

"You're unbelievable," said Victoire. She glanced at Whit apologetically.

"I'm aware of that," Colleen said as she stood up as stared Victoire directly in the eye. She suddenly flashed a patronizingly sweet smile. "But none of this tonight, Vicki. It's your birthday, after all, and I'd hate to spoil it for you."

Victoire half smirked, but didn't break eye contact. "You flatter yourself. But then again, someone has to, I suppose."

Colleen's face grew hard and looked as if she was ready to exchange a few choice words. However, in that moment, Stuart Reynolds reappeared as if he had been summoned by a charm. Colleen's eyes narrowed on him instantly, and she immediately stepped back from Victoire and smiled. Penelope and Aspeth both smiled as well, as if on cue.

"Oh, Stuart!" Colleen said as her mood changed in an instant to something more flirtatious and pleasant. "I had no idea you were here!"

"Yeah." He smiled. "I've been here for a bit."

"Had I known that, I would have arrived earlier!" she said as she glanced at the full table. "If only we had somewhere for you to sit..."

"By all means," Whit said. She practically threw back her chair in order to stand.

"Oh, you don't have to," Colleen said as she smiled sweetly at her. "I'd hate to be a bother."

Whit stared at her as if she had three heads, but didn't even bother to contain her laughter as she walked off towards the other side of the tent.

"Oh, it's okay," Stuart said, glancing at the seat. "I was actually making my way around and seeing who was here."

"That sounds like fun too," Colleen said. "I'd love to join you. I've been meaning to talk to you anyway--"

"Actually," Victoire interrupted as she glanced at Stuart, "Stuart, I was wondering if I could collect on that dance you had promised me earlier."

"You're the birthday girl," he said with a smile. He threw Colleen a look that seemed to assume that she would understand this reasoning, but the look on her face said that she clearly didn't.

He gestured for Victoire to lead the way towards the dance floor, and it took everything Victoire had in her not to turn to see the look on Colleen's face as they walked away. She wanted to concentrate on the positive of this moment instead of the negative. As far as she was concerned, Colleen wasn't even here.