Chapter 5
The first week of school had gone dreadfully slow, in Victoire’s humble opinion. She was proved correct in that MJ Sinclair hated her, because everytime Teddy scheduled them to work together for patrols, she was switched out with someone else. This had the unfortunate consequence of her barely being able to see her boyfriend, which had definitely put a damper on her week.
“I just don’t understand,” Victoire said, tearing a piece of toast apart. “Why is it so hard to partner us together?”
“Probably because you’d do the things you’re supposed to be stopping people from doing.” Maria said, calmly placing sausage on her plate. Ana snickered.
“Like making out in broom closets,” She added. The two beamed at each other.
“We can be responsible!” Victoire exclaimed. She noticed MJ enter the hall, dressed in her quidditch gear, and lowered her voice. “And besides, this means I barely get to see him.”
Maria rolled her eyes. “You saw him last night, and before Charms yesterday, making you late.”
“And before potions, and at lunch, and-” Ana continued, grinning.
“Okay, okay, I get it!” Victoire said. She watched as MJ grabbed a few things off the table, and then nudged Alex Wood. Alex was their keeper, and in Victoire’s opinion, the next most likely candidate for Captain after MJ. “Looks like tryouts are starting soon.”
“Why are we going again?” Ana asked, “None of us are trying out.”
“I need to make sure she keeps her promise to let Jamie on if he’s the best, and I need to watch tryouts to see if he’s the best.” Victoire said.
“Naturally,” Maria said. “I’ll meet you down there, I’m going to finish my breakfast in peace.”
“Don’t lie,” Victoire said, rolling her eyes.
“Okay, I’m going to say I’ll meet you down there, and then show up at the end if at all,” Maria corrected. Victoire sighed. “Hey, you prefer it when I’m honest.”
“That I do,” Victoire stood, catching sight of Hugo entering the hall, “Hey, Ana, give me like three minutes, I gotta talk to Hugo.” Ana snorted.
"I think I'll stick with Mar," She said. "At least one of your cousins will go with you.
"Whatever you say." Victoire started over to the Hufflepuff table, Rose coming up beside her, immediately proving Ana right. “Hey Rosie.”
“Gonna talk to Hugo?” Rose asked. Victoire nodded. “I talked to him earlier this week. He’s doing well,” She hesitated.
“Oh, now what?” Victoire asked.
“Apparently Lucy Sinclair has been a big help,” She said, tightly. “I know you and Dom don’t like her-”
“More like she doesn’t like us.”
“-but it sounds like she’s been really nice. Please don’t do anything to ruin that.”
“I would never!” Victoire said, affronted. Rose pinned her with a look. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“You and Dominique are literally trying to stalk their parents,” She said. “You instigate at least half of the confrontations with the Sinclairs.”
“They hate us and they’ve admitted it.”
“MJ hates you, and probably for good reason.” Rose shook her head, muttering something.
“What was that?”
“I said, I’m honestly shocked you two fight so much, you’re incredibly similar.” Victoire stopped.
“Take that back, right now.” She hissed.
“I will not! You’re both oldest daughters, you’re both committed to your family, and you’ll both do anything to defend them! I’d bet anything this whole rivalry started over some weird misunderstanding. Or, she just doesn’t love us, which, between the three hellions and Jamie is so fair, and you got overprotective and started a cold war over it! She’s allowed to not like us, but her sister is perfectly civil, and I’m begging you to let it be.” Rose crossed her arms and glared at her, and Victoire wondered how she was intimidated by her 12 year old cousin. “I mean it, Vic.”
“I can see that,” Victoire said. She sighed. “Fine, I’ll just see how Hugo’s doing, and I won’t say anything about the Sinclairs.”
“Deal. Tell Dom to come off it too,”
“I can’t do that, you know how she is once she’s sunk her claws into a mystery. And this is her newest mystery.” Victoire ducked an owl which swooped too lowly over her head. “Is that all?”
Rose wasn’t looking at her, but was instead looking at the Daily Prophet, sitting on the table next to them. “You said Dom would need a new mystery to leave the Sinclairs alone? How about this one?” She handed Victoire the Prophet, where an image of a woman about their parent’s age was on the front page. The headline read “LIZA OURAY-FLINT, MISSING”.
“Another one?” Victoire murmured.
“What do you mean another one?” Rose demanded. "It was just Penelope Clearwater before this, right?"
“Uncle Harry was telling Uncle Fred and my Dad that Oliver Wood had gone missing at the train station.” Victoire glanced at Rose. “This makes three.”
“Wood? Like, Alex Wood?” Victoire blinked, she hadn’t put those dots together. “And this would probably be Peter’s mom.”
Peter Flint, a 7th year Hufflepuff. Victoire’s head snapped to the Hufflepuff table, but he wasn’t there. “Yeah, she would be.” Victoire swallowed. “I wonder why all these people are going missing.”
Rose snatched the paper from Victoire’s hands. “Well, I’m going to go tell Dom to look into that instead of the Sinclair sisters. Go check on Hugo, see if he’s heard about Peter.”
“Yeah, okay.” Victoire watched her cousin rush off to the Ravenclaw table, before sliding in beside Hugo at Hufflepuff. “Hey Hugs, how are you?”
“Vic!” Hugo grinned at her, and gave her a hug. “Guys, this is my older cousin, Victoire!”
“Salut,” Victoire said, watching Hugo’s friends wave. “What are your names?
“I’m Ryan, and this is Kennedy and Rachel.”
“Lovely to meet you, how was your first week?” Victoire stole a piece of fruit from Hugo, ignoring his cries.
“It’s been good,” Rachel said. “I wanted to sleep in, but Hugo wanted to watch Gryffindor’s tryouts. Are we even allowed to do that?”
“There’s no rules against it,” Victoire shrugged. “Are any of you going to go out for the quidditch team next year?”
Ryan lit up. “I am!” He said. “I’m a seeker.”
“He’s a good flier,” Hugo said, stealing his fruit back. “I saw him during class.” Ryan blushed.
“Well that’s good. How about you Hugh, how’s your first week?”
Hugo shrugged. “Been good. Eli told me to come to him if I needed anything, and Teddy said the same thing. Rachel and Kennedy’s prefect taught us how to charm things to glow if we need a nightlight! She’s pretty cool.”
Victoire remembered her promise to Rose, and carefully didn’t make a face. “Oh neat! Who’s your prefect?”
“Her name’s Lucy Sinclair! She’s a 5th year, and she’s awesome.” Rachel said. “She’s got an older sister in Gryffindor.”
“MJ Sinclair, right?” Hugo said, watching Victoire for her reaction. “Captain of the Quidditch team.”
“And head girl,” Victoire said mildly. “Well, I’m glad you’re having fun Hugs. Do you want to walk down to tryouts with me, or are you heading down a little later?”
“We’ll head down later! Do you know if Rosie’s coming?” Victoire glanced around to see Rose still talking to Dominique.
“No, but she’s talking to Dom, I’ll go ask her now.” She gave Hugo a quick hug, and then stood up. “Lovely to meet you all, I’ll see you later!”
“Bye, Vic!” Hugo cried, before turning back to his friends.
Victoire made it to the Ravenclaw table just in time to hear Dominique say “Well, they were all in the same year in Hogwarts, or close to it.”
“Who?” Victoire said, sitting beside her sister. “Bonjour, how was your morning?”
“Were you showing off to the firsties?” Dominique demanded. Rose rolled her eyes.
Victoire sniffed. “Never. Who was all in the same year?”
“All three of the people who are missing. Liza and Oliver were in the same house, while Penelope was a Ravenclaw. Marcus, Liza’s husband, was a Slytherin.”
“How do you know all of that just off the top of your head?” Victoire demanded. Dominique rolled her eyes.
“I went to the library yesterday, to look up Oliver. Ouray is a fairly uncommon last name, so I noticed it. Flint is obvious, he is known for betraying the Death Eaters during the war.” Dominique lowered her voice. “Do you know who else was a Gryffindor in that year, that no one has heard from in ages?”
“Who?”
“Uncle Percy.”
“Seriously?” Rose said. “Our missing uncle was in the same year as all of these other people who have gone missing?”
“Yeah,” Dominique said. “Weird coincidence, right? Oh, and I looked up the Sinclair sister’s mom, Audrey. Same year, just a Hufflepuff.”
Rose made an offended noise. “Rose wants us to come off them,” Victoire said. “Lucy is apparently being nice to Hugo, she doesn’t want us to ruin it.”
Dominique raised her hands in defense. “I’m just saying!”
“Focus on the missing people mystery, not your weird rivalry with the Sinclair girls.” Rose dropped the paper in Dominique’s lap. “Vic and I are going to tryouts. I assume you’re not interested?”
“I’m not interested when it’s my house.” Dominique said, dryly.
“Perfect. Go see if you can find any more connections between them other than they all went to Hogwarts together twenty years ago, we’ll meet you in the library after tryouts.” Rose said. Victoire blinked. “Come on, Vic.”
“Um, okay.” Victoire said. The two stood and started out of the Great Hall, Victoire nodding to Hugo as they left. “You’re oddly invested in this.”
“Random people going missing? Yeah, I am. They’re not high profile, there’s no reason they should be missing. If they’re missing for a reason related to the war, that means our parents could be in danger too. I just want to cross that out. I have enough to worry about.”
“Like what? Hugo’s doing fine, his friends are nice.”
“I do have my own friends.” Rose said. “And my own life. And my own grades to worry about. But mainly, if this quidditch tryout doesn’t go well, we’re shaping up for days of misery.”
Victoire rolled her eyes. “Sinclair said if he’s good, she’ll let him on. I thought I was the one worried about the Sinclair rivalry.”
“I’m not worried about it, I want it to stop.” Rose grumbled. “Shut it down from your end, Vic.”
“I’ll do my best,” Victoire said, with absolutely no intention of doing that. "Let's go watch some quidditch."
"Whoo," Rose said, completely her mother's child. "I'm so excited. Let's watch Jamie work too hard to prove himself." She shook her head. "He better make the team, or next week is going to suck."
"He will," Victoire promised, as the made their way down to the field. "I'm almost 100% sure of it."