Chapter 2
September 1st was a nightmare, as it always was. First Louis lost his shoe. Victoire didn’t know why they cared, he wasn’t even going to Hogwarts, but he’d lost his shoe and they had to look for it. Then Dominique had a meltdown because she couldn’t find two of her books. They were in the bottom of her trunk, but of course they didn’t know that until the entire trunk had been unpacked. And then, on the way out the door, Victoire realized she’d forgotten her wand. Her father looked like he was going to explode, and her mother was muttering about how she’d raised them, and by the time they got to King’s Cross, everyone was furious.
“‘Lo, Bill.” Uncle Fred greeted her father, and her father muttered something in response. “You too then?”
“Oh, what happened with your lot?”
“Eli blew up George’s trunk,” Uncle Fred said flatly. “Their mother is dealing with it, and him. I’m loading up Georgie.”
“You win.” Victoire’s father said, and handed Uncle Fred a galleon. Then, Uncle Harry came up, his face stony. “Uh oh, Harry might get it.”
“Hm?” Uncle Harry said. “Oh, everything went smoothly. Helps that only James is going. Did you hear the news?”
“What news?” Uncle Fred said. Victoire rolled her eyes as she adjusted her robes. Clearly not. Uncle Harry glanced at her, and Dominique, and she did her best to look like she wasn’t listening, instead fidgeting with her robes some more.
“Oliver Wood is missing,” He murmured, softly. Dominique nudged Victoire, her eyes wide. Oliver Wood was a friend of their parents, but more importantly, he was the second person to go missing this summer. The first was a woman named Penelope Clearwater, and while her parents and aunts and uncles had looked like they’d known the name, she’d never heard it. “News just broke.”
Uncle Fred swore, softly. “You’re joking?”
“Afraid not.” Uncle Harry looked at her father. “Bill, are you sure you haven’t heard from him? You and Charlie are the only ones who might’ve, Ron’s asking Charlie now.”
“I swear I haven’t. You’d know. Wish I had, though. Can’t believe he’s pulled off the vanishing act for this long.” With a sudden chill, Victoire realized they were talking about Uncle Percy. She said as much under her breath to Dominique, desperately trying not to look guilty. Dominique’s eyes narrowed.
“We can check the yearbooks when we get to Hogwarts,” She murmured. “Maybe Oliver Wood and Penelope Clearwater knew Uncle Percy, that’s the only reason I can think of why they’d bring it up.”
“How very Ravenclaw of you,” Victoire muttered back. Dominique grinned at her, before her eyes caught on something behind Victoire.
“Hey, Vic. Do MJ and Lucy Sinclair always get to the station alone?” She asked. Victoire didn’t want to think about the Sinclair’s right now, but she still turned around to see Lucy Sinclair tumble through the barrier, her dark curly hair wild. She looked a little flushed, and her sister immediately offered her her hand.
“I don’t know, they usually beat us here.” Victoire said. The sisters watched as the Sinclair girls hurried towards the train, Lucy greeting people with a strained smile on their way there. Victoire noticed a glint on MJ’s robes, and groaned. “Tell me that isn’t what I think it is.”
Dominique seemed to notice the same thing. “Teddy’s going to lose his mind,” She said.
“Everything alright girls?” Their father had noticed them. He followed their line of sight, just in time to see Lucy Sinclair hop on the train, and MJ hand their trunks in. They looked heavy, they must not have been charmed. “Oh, is that the head girl this year?”
“Looks like it,” Victoire said, her voice heavy. “That’s MJ Sinclair.”
“Those are the Sinclair girls?” Uncle Harry sounded surprised. “Why aren’t their trunks charmed? I thought their parents were magical.”
“They are,” Dominique said slowly. “And even if they didn’t do it, MJ is over seventeen. She was born in late September of 1997, so she had to start a year after she’d already turned 11. She should’ve charmed it lighter.”
“It’s possible she doesn’t know the charm,” Their father said. “I didn’t know it until after I graduated.”
It seemed impossible that MJ Sinclair didn’t know anything, but the evidence for it was before them. “Maybe,” Victoire said. The train whistle interrupted her train of thought. “Oh! We have to go.” She lifted her charmed trunk, and turned to give her father a hug. “Love you Dad, see you in December. Stay safe.”
“Stay safe?” Her father lifted a scarred eyebrow, and Victoire flushed.
“Just, with all the people going missing…”
“I promise I’ll be okay,” Her father said. “Aren’t you supposed to be in the Prefect’s compartment by now? Some kind of meeting?”
“Yes, yes, I’m going!” Victoire exclaimed. “Love you! Bye Uncle Harry, Uncle Fred! Say goodbye to the rest for me!”
“Bye Vic, have a lovely term!” Uncle Harry called. “Owl if Jamie makes the team, Merlin knows he won’t.”
“I will!” Victoire scurried on the train, and found a compartment with her cousins in it to put her trunk into. “Dom will be right in, I need to go find-”
“Your boyfriend?” Rose asked. “He was just in here, looking for you. I assume you’ve heard the news?”
“MJ Sinclair is head girl? I saw her badge.”
“Yep, you better go find him, he’s going mental.” Rose said. She nudged Jamie when he laughed. “Shut up, Jamie, it isn’t funny.”
“His everything turned red, Rosie, it was hilarious.” Victoire winced. Teddy usually had pretty good control of his metamorphosis, he must be pretty upset about it. Well, she would be too, if she had to work closely with MJ Sinclair all year.
Dominique tumbled into the compartment. “Is there room for my trunk? I need to go find Lisa and Emilie, but I don’t know if they’ll have space. Especially not if the boys are with them.”
“There’s room,” Rose said. “But only if you spend at least ten minutes with us.”
Dominique put her trunk away and rolled her eyes. “I’ll be right back. And Vic won’t hit that.”
“Vic’s a prefect.”
“That’s not why,”
“I know, but she needs to console Teddy. And we know she loves us. Not sure about you.” Jamie said. Dominique pinned him with a sour look.
“That’s cold, Jamie.”
“It’s the truth.” He said. “Hey, tell Wyatt to come here if you see him. Either of you.”
“I’m not telling Wyatt Thomas to come in here, that’s cruel to Rose.” Victoire said as she stood. “I’m leaving now, don’t blow up the train.”
“We’re not the ones you need to worry about!” Jamie yelled at her, as she ducked out of the compartment. He was right, of course. She wondered where the twins were, and Freddie, but decided that was a problem for after the glaring issue of her boyfriend’s partnership with MJ. And gosh, the girl was going by her first name in her head now, it was only a matter of time before they were best friends.