Chapter 6
“Alright!” Victoire watched with interest as MJ Sinclair stormed back out onto the field. She’d ended tryouts about a half an hour earlier, and had been discussing with Alex Wood and Wes Finnegan, the only two remaining players from the previous year, since. “I’ve got our names. If you hear your name called, you’ve made it. After we call the starters, I’ll let you know if you’re a reserve. If you don’t make it, try again next season, or when somebody gets hurt and I have to replace them. This is based on tryouts today, how we’ve seen you fly in the past, and how well we think you’d work with the team. Got it?”
Everyone nodded, and Victoire clasped her hands together. “There’s no way he doesn’t make it.” Rose said from next to her. “He outflew everyone on that field.”
“Yeah,” Georgie said. “But he missed a couple key shots.”
“Because he’s 12!”
“I’m just saying,” Georgie said. “She has a reason to not give it to him.”
“She’s not going to do that,” Ana said from Victoire’s other side. “Because she’s got six of his cousins in the stands, and she knows you lot have no boundaries. She doesn’t have a death wish.”
“Shh, she’s down to the last one.” Victoire said, effectively shutting up the clamor around her. She watched as MJ Sinclair looked at the hopeful players before her with a stony expression, before raising her eyes to the stands and making direct eye contact with Victoire. Victoire swallowed nervously.
“Jamie Potter.” MJ said clearly. Victoire grinned as her cousins celebrated around her. “Alright, that’s our starters.”
“Alright!” Georgie shook Victoire’s shoulder, grinning. “Maybe she doesn’t hate us as much as you and Dom think she does!”
“She doesn’t hate you,” Ana said. “She just doesn’t like you all. Which, honestly, is completely understandable.”
“Hey!” Rose said.
“Except for you, Rosie.”
“Thank you!”
Victoire shook her head. “You’re right about her not liking us,” She said. “Did you see the look she gave me?”
“I’d look at you like that too if I was being practically intimidated into putting someone on my team.”
Victoire frowned. “We’re not intimidating her,” She said. Maria hummed.
“Uh, yeah you are. Six Weasleys, or Weasley-Grangers, in the stands, just because one of you is trying out? Everyone here knows you’d talk to her after if Jamie didn’t make it.”
“We’re here for support!” Rose defended them, but Victoire frowned. It did sound pretty bad when Maria put it like that.
“Support, intimidation, it all blends together.” Maria stood, tossing her dark braid over her shoulder. “I’m going to go find Elliot. Ana, walk back with me?”
“Sure,” Ana stood. “See you later, Vic.”
“Bye,” Victoire said, absently, as her friends left. She watched Jamie trot after the rest of the team into the changing rooms, wondering if MJ was actually intimidated by them.
“Are you still planning on meeting Dominique with me?” Rose asked her. Victoire nodded. “Oh good, I wasn’t sure. Thought you might've somehow made other plans.”
“I've been with you ever since we made those plans." Victoire said in confusion, "and besides, I don’t have much homework. And Teddy does, since he’s taking seven NEWTs, so I can't hang out with him all day, I've got to let him study at least a little bit. You just saw my two best friends leave, so all my other options for plans are depleted.”
“So we’re your back up plan, nice Vic.” Rose said dryly. She offered Victoire her hand. “I’ll try not to take offense to that.”
“Sorry,” Victoire said. “Bye Georgie, Freddie, Eli. Bye Hugo and Hugo’s friends.”
“Bye Vic!” Hugo grinned at her. “Bye Rosie! Have fun with Dom!”
“Thanks,” Rose said, before pulling Victoire off. “I’m glad Jamie made it,”
“Me too,” Victoire muttered as they made their way up to the castle. “I would’ve actually had to talk to MJ Sinclair otherwise.” She shivered in mock fear.
Rose sighed. “You and Dom say that, but they’re actually very nice.”
“They’re not awful, but you can’t disagree that they don’t like us. They’re standoffish.”
“MJ is that way with everyone, it’s just worse this year for some reason. Probably NEWTs. And Lucy is perfectly lovely, she just doesn’t adore our family like the rest of the Hogwarts population does. I don't believe you’re complaining that they don’t have an unhealthy love for us like the rest of Wizarding Britain, right?” Rose raised an eyebrow at her, and Victoire frowned.
“Maybe you’re right, maybe my standards are just off because everyone else adores us,” She said. “But you saw how she looked at me when she called Jamie’s name.”
“Probably was just proving a point,” Rose said, as they entered the building. “Come off it, Vic. You and Dom need to let them live.”
“We let them live!” Victoire said. “I just didn’t want her not letting Jamie on the team because of whatever she has against us.”
“And she let him on the team, so can we forget about it now? It’s been like two weeks of this, ever since the last family dinner. I know I’m sick of it. It’s hardly noticeable that they don’t like it if you don’t keep bringing it up.”
“Fine!” Victoire said, throwing up her hands. They entered the library and she automatically lowered her voice, remembering the last time she’d gotten thrown out of her. “I’ll let it go, happy?”
“I would be if I believed you.” Rose said, with an undue amount of sarcasm for a twelve year old. “Look, there’s Dom surrounded by books.”
“I think she might be taking this more seriously than she takes her homework.” Victoire said, in wonder. Rose snorted as the two headed over to join her. “Found anything good, Dom?”
Dominique glanced up, her blue eyes wide. “Um, I think so.” She said. “Sit down,”
The two did, and Dominique waved her wand. “There,” She said, “now we’re muffled, and no one can hear us. Check this out.” She handed them a newspaper clipping. “Hogwarts graduation, 1994.”
“Oliver Wood is in this,” Rose said. “And look, there’s Penelope Clearwater and Liza Ouray. And Marcus Flint. Weird, I thought he switched sides halfway through the war.”
“I did too, but he’s in a photo with a bunch of Gryffindors, which was not very Death Eaterly behavior,” Dominique said.
“A happy photo,” Victoire observed. “They must’ve all been friends.”
“Must’ve.” Rose said. “Who are the other people in the photo? There’s a few more, maybe they’re next.”
“Well,” Dominique said. “This is where it gets interesting. One of them is Walter Robbins, a muggleborn who went missing during the war, reported missing by Oliver Wood. Then there’s Ramona Greengrass, TJ Meyers, Audrey Sinclair, and…”
“Well, get to it, who else?" Victoire said, tired of her sister's flair for the dramatic.
“Percy Weasley.” Dominique said. “As in, our missing Uncle Percy.”
Victoire blinked, and then looked back at the photo with renewed vigor. She scanned the faces again until her eyes caught on a tall, skinny, and pale figure. The Weasley hair wasn’t able to identify him, because the photo was black and white, but he was definitely related to them. “Uncle Percy was friends with all of these people, not just in the same year as them?”
“Yeah, why?” Dominique said.
“Just, to hear our Uncles tell it, Uncle Percy didn’t have very many friends during Hogwarts.”
“Well, either they’re lying or this photo is, but he looks pretty friendly with them to me.” Dominique said. “There’s one more thing, related to the mystery Rose wants me to drop.”
“Here we go again,” Rose muttered. “Oh, what is it now?”
“This is a year and a half before Uncle Percy got estranged from the family. He dropped off the face of the earth four years after this. If all these people knew him, including Audrey Sinclair, maybe they knew what happened to him. And maybe Audrey told her daughters, and that’s why they don’t like us.”
“That’s a stretch.” Rose said. “You think the Sinclair girls don’t like the Weasleys because their mom was Hogwarts friend with our uncle, who’s been missing for almost twenty years? In order for them to still dislike us, they would’ve had to have been super close, and we would have to be the reason Uncle Percy was missing, or a big part of it. I think you’re just extrapolating. Focus on the actual mystery, Dom, and leave the poor Sinclairs be.”
Dominique shrugged, not put out. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” She said. “Still worth mentioning though.”
“Barely,” Rose put the photo down. “You find anything else?”
“Just random stuff, which could be put off to weird coincidences. There’s some files in here mentioning what their after graduation plans were. With the exception of Oliver Wood going to Puddlemere, they were all working in the ministry.”
“Hardly a coincidence, the ministry is a top post-Hogwarts employer,” Victoire said. “What else?”
“Nothing, really.” Dominique said. “If I want more info on any of them I’d have to go through the ministry, and the only one that I’d really have a reason for doing that for is Uncle Percy. Even then, almost anything we’d find out could be told to us by our parents. We’re back to square one.”
“Not really,” Rose said. “You proved one thing, they were all friends during Hogwarts. That means they’re connected beyond just going to school together.”
“Yeah,” Dominique waved her wand, taking down the noise spells. “But how does that help?”
“Maybe we ask the kids whose parents have gone missing, see if there’s any other connections.” Rose said, before wincing. “Or would that be rude?”
“Probably rude,” Victoire said. “Let’s save that for a last resort.”
“Um, sorry.” A new voice joined the conversation, and the three girls turned to see Lucy Sinclair standing there, an eyebrow raised. “Is there any good reason you’re looking at a photo of my mom and her Hogwarts friend group, or is MJ right and you’re trying to stalk us?”
“Oh!” Victoire said, “Um,” She shared a frantic look with Dominique and Rose. “Well,”
“I hope it’s not the latter,” Lucy said, coolly, “because I’ve spent the last week convincing MJ that you aren’t out for her blood, and this would prove me rather awfully wrong, wouldn’t it?”
“We were looking for connections between the missing people!” Rose blurted out. Victoire resisted the urge to groan. Of course Rose was the weak link. “You know, Oliver Wood, Penelope Clearwater, Liza Ouray?”
“I’m familiar,” Lucy said, her voice tense. “What, you decided you couldn’t trust the aurors with this one? Had to solve it yourself?”
“Well, I’m interested in mysteries, and figured it couldn’t hurt,” Dominique said, weakly. Lucy pursed her lips. “Um, did you know your mum was friends with all the missing people?”
“I did actually,” Lucy said, sounding incredibly irritated. “Considering I was raised with them as my aunts and uncles.”
“Ah,” Dominique said, and nothing else. The three of them sat there awkwardly as Lucy stared at them. Victoire shifted in her seat uncomfortably.
“Well?” Lucy said. “Did you find anything else other than common knowledge?”
“Not yet,” Dominique said. “But I’m going to look through the ministry files next.”
“Are you?” Lucy said. “And how are you going to convince the ministry to let you see those files?” She looked like she was withholding the urge to roll her eyes, which honestly, Victoire could relate to.
“History project.” Dominique said, confidently. It was false confidence, and Victoire could tell. Based on the look on her face, Lucy could too.
“History project,” Lucy said, sounding incredibly unimpressed. She must’ve learned it from her sister. “On people you have zero connection with.”
“Actually,” Victoire said, feeling bad for her sister, and a little bit defensive. “We do have a connection to one person.” She turned the photo around and pointed. “Your mum was friends with our missing Uncle Percy.”
Lucy’s expression developed a sudden chill. “Ah, and they're to believe you just developed an interest in your missing Uncle Percy that couldn’t be satiated by your parents after what, fifteen years?”
“Almost twenty since their estrangement.” Dominique said. “And maybe I’ll say it’s a surprise for our parents, haven’t worked it out yet.”
“How about you don’t work it out at all and keep your noses out of it,” Lucy said, suddenly stomping forward. She snatched the photo from their hands, slid it back into its casing in the yearbook, and slammed the book shut, narrowly avoiding Dominique’s fingers. “Or, I’ll tell my sister, and she’ll deal with it.” Lucy raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think any of us want that?”
“We’ll stay out of it,” Victoire promised. Dominique made an offended noise. “We won’t go to the ministry, promise.”
Lucy picked up the yearbook. “I’m taking this,” She said firmly. She looked like she wanted to say something else but she settled on sighing and leaving. Rose breathed a sigh of relief as she went.
“Well that’s the worst possible way this could’ve gone.” She said, her eyes wide.
“I had no idea she’d blow a fuse when I mentioned Uncle Percy,” Dominique said with wonder. “Gives some merit to my idea that they hate us because of him, right?”
“No,” Victoire said, “but it does give merit to the idea that they hate us. She didn’t want us to go anywhere near anything regarding her mother.”
“She’s probably scared,” Rose said quietly. “Five people from her mum’s Hogwarts friend group are missing, three in the last month. I’d be terrified.”
Victoire and Dominique grew quiet, and Victoire felt a twinge of sympathy for the Sinclair girls. “Well,” Dominique said after a pause. “I won’t go through the ministry, but I’ve got other ways of getting information. Ways she won’t find out about.”
Victoire looked up in alarm, “Dom, maybe we should leave it.”
“Relax,” Dominique said. “I’m just going to owl Uncle Charlie. He was closer to Uncle Percy than the rest, if you hear Dad tell it. Maybe he knows something about his friends.”
“If he knew about them at all,” Victoire said, thinking back to the image of her missing uncle and his large friend group, and wondering why none of them were mentioned at all in any of the stories about their parents’ Hogwarts days. “He might not have. Seems like Uncle Percy had a lot of secrets.”
“Well, it’s long past time for those secrets to come out.” Dominique declared. She gathered up her books, “I’ll let you know when I hear back from Uncle Charlie.”
“Just make sure it’s not where Lucy Sinclair can hear,” Rose said, standing. “I’m going to go find Jamie.”
Victoire also stood. “Need help putting those away?”
“No,” Dominique said. “Teddy’s sitting by himself near the restricted section though.”
Victoire grinned. “Best sister ever,” She told Dominique. She kissed her sister on the cheek, before ducking off through the shelves to find her boyfriend, doing her level best to put the Sinclair girls out of her mind. She was mostly successful.