Chapter 4
Victoire made it into the Great Hall, and immediately scanned the room to make sure all of her cousins made it in one piece. After the year that Freddie, Georgie, and Eli had gone missing between the train and the feast, and had turned up after being caught trying to smuggle baby mandrakes into the castle, Victoire always did a headcount.
“Do you see Eli?" Teddy asked, coming up beside here.
“I see Dominique, Rose, and Jamie.” She said. “Oh, there’s the other three. Not where they’re supposed to be.” She glared at the Slytherin table until her cousins noticed her, and then they slunk over to join them. Sometimes, she wondered why she had to be the oldest.
“What were you doing over there?” She demanded.
“Definitely not playing a prank on Slytherin,” Eli said.
“because we’re well-behaved and would never.” Georgie finished.
“Is it going to interrupt Hugo’s sorting?” Victoire demanded, knowing Aunt Hermione would kill them if it did. The three shook their heads.
“Is it going to ruin my night in general?”
“Not yours. His those, and the head girl’s.” Freddie nodded at Teddy, who moaned.
“Fix it,” She snarled, ever the good girlfriend. Georgie sighed, and darted back towards the Slytherin table. She turned to Eli. “Go back to your table,” she hissed before turning to Freddie. “You too,”
“Thanks, Vic.” Teddy said. Victoire kissed his cheek.
“You’re in charge of them, you know.”
“Yeah, but you’re scarier than I am.” Teddy shivered. Victoire swatted his leg. “Hey!”
“Shouldn’t you be at the Hufflepuff table right now?” She said. Teddy sighed.
“Yes,” He said. “I was here to see if you knew where Eli was.”
“Well we found him,” She said. “Stop breaking the rules, you’re head-boy now.”
“Who knows how that happened,” Teddy said, before standing. “See you later,” He was interrupted by the doors swinging open. “Or not,” He sat back down. “I’ll head over after the sorting I guess,”
She was going to make a comment, she wasn’t sure what yet, but then all the first years tumbled in, Hugo among them. The sorting was about to begin. Teddy nudged her as the first kid went up.
“Gryffindor for him,” He said, confidently. Victoire glanced at the child.
“No, Ravenclaw.” She said, moments before the hat did. She smirked at Teddy’s look. “Look at that. I'm always right.”
"You are so not," Teddy said, before proceeding to be wrong about the next one too. Victoire won three out of the next eight, while Teddy only got two. By the tenth one they were both bored, and Victoire scanned the room for Georgie again.
“I’m going to kill him,” She muttered, before catching sight of him sitting next to Dominique and Freddie at Ravenclaw. “That kid.”
Teddy followed her line of sight. “Probably only made it halfway back before the sorting started, at least he’s with Dom.”
“Fair enough,” Victoire grumbled, before hearing Hugo’s name called. “Oh, it’s Hugo’s turn!”
Personally, Victoire thought Hugo would probably be a Ravenclaw or a Hufflepuff, even though he and Rose were hoping he was a Gryffindor. She was hoping for Ravenclaw, because that’s where Dominque and Freddie were. Teddy and Eli were in Hufflepuff, but she’d rather have Dom in charge of shy Hugo than those two.
“HUFFLEPUFF!” The hat shouted, shattering Victoire’s hopes. She cheered anyway, hearing her cousins do the same. When she sat down, Teddy spoke.
“Oof,” He said. “That sucks. Would’ve been better for him to be with Dom.” At least Teddy knew that he was a bad influence, Victoire thought. Acceptance was the first step to recovery and all that.
“He’ll be okay,” Victoire said, her eyes tracking her cousin to the Hufflepuff table. He sat down across from the five kids who’d been sorted before him, a few seats away from Eli. Her eyes caught on Rose, sitting a few places down from her. She looked pained, trying to catch her brother’s eye. She knew the two had wanted to be in a house together.
The room suddenly erupted in noise around her, and Victoire realized that the Headmistress must’ve already finished speaking. She glanced at Teddy. “You should go to Hufflepuff now,” She said. “Check on Hugo for me?”
“I will, I’ll see you at breakfast.” He kissed her cheek and stood. “Oh, uh, hi MJ.” He looked guilty, probably because he was, and probably because of MJ's face. Victoire felt a twinge of sympathy for the head-girl, before remembering that MJ hated her.
“Lupin,” MJ looked furious. “I won’t ask why you’re at Gryffindor’s table if you go tell your cousins, or whatever you call them, to go remove the muck from above Slytherin’s table so I don’t have to do it.”
Victoire and Teddy snapped their heads around to look at Slytherin’s table, where a floating cloud of … something could be seen. “I told them to fix it,” Victoire yelped.
“Well clearly they listen as well as Lupin does to the rules,” MJ said. “Lupin, go.”
“Yes ma’am.” Teddy stumbled off, stopping at Ravenclaw first to speak to Georgie and Freddie. The two said something to him, which caused Teddy to take something from them before shoving Georgie towards Gryffindor’s table. MJ remained standing above Victoire until he got there.
“10 points from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw.” She said flatly. Georgie sighed.
“Teddy’s a kill joy and fixed it,” He protested. Victoire glanced back to the Slytherin table, and sure enough, the floating cloud was gone. “Nothing even happened.”
“My dinner was interrupted, that's what happened.” MJ said. “Next one’s a detention, Weasley.” She stomped back down the table to join her friends, who laughed at her arrival. They glanced down the table at her and Georgie, and Victoire wondered where her own friends had gone. She spotted them a few seats away from her, and Maria waved at her, a seat available next to her.
“Why does she hate us,” Georgie asked. Victoire didn’t look at him as stood. She nudged him towards Eddie Jordan, one of his roommates.
“I’d hate us too, George.” She told him. “Especially you, Freddie, and Eli.”