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The last day at Hogwarts flew by, full of packing and preparing for their break. Teddy had tried to approach Juniper multiple times since her outburst last night, but each time he was turned away. Juniper was always firmly flanked by Rory and Jade. Juniper couldn't even be around him without thinking of his betrayal.

James was caught at a crossroads. Teddy was as good as his brother and Juniper was his twin sister. Charlie and Leo were staying as far out of it as possible, knowing war could ensue if either of them picked sides.

Juniper felt a pang of guilt, she didn't want to cause all of this. She didn't want any of the boys to have to choose sides, he was their best friend, and her own issues shouldn't affect that. Already it was getting exhausting to avoid Teddy. She'd never realized how much time they'd spent together on a daily basis. There was gaping, Teddy shaped hole in her life, and she had no idea how to fix it.

Juniper didn't know how she was going to survive this holiday. Teddy basically lived at the Potter's house, it would be pretty damn hard to ignore him when he was in the adjoining bedroom. She could already imagine the tension, the awkwardness, and poor James. He wouldn't know what to do with himself. Her family loved Teddy, and he loved them. It wouldn't be fair for either party to deprive them of that. Merlin, this Christmas was fixing up to be the most miserable ordeal.

And then Juniper had an idea.

She made a quick call, hugged her friends goodbye, and before she knew it she was on a train. But not a train headed for home. No, Juniper was headed for France.

Juniper watched the Scotland countryside fade away as she leaned her head against the window. Bill and Fleur Weasley had invited the Potters several times for Christmas and other holidays, but Miranda's job as an Auror kept her far too occupied.

Juniper had only seen Victoire, Dominique, and Louis a handful of times, but she just needed out. Her mum had let her go instantly, in fact she was excited Juniper was "broadening her horizons".

"Mademoiselle? Nous sommes arrivés. Mademoiselle?" A cool hand gently shook Juniper awake. "Attends tu quelqu'un? Mademoiselle?"

"Oh, er..." Juniper opened her eyes, trying to process what the woman was saying. She knew snippets of French, but not enough to decipher what the woman was saying. Silently she cursed her parents for not forcing them to learn a language. Her dad never learned a second one, although she says Parseltongue should count, and her mother, well she wasn't sure about her mother, but she assumed it was the same story.

"Erm- je ne sais pas...? Er...sorry I'm not..."

"Ah you are English, yes?" The woman gave an amused smile, speaking perfect English with only a hint of an accent.

"Yes." Juniper blushed, but she was relieved. "Thank you, just let me grab my bag and I'll be out of your hair."

"No problem Mademoiselle." The woman waved her concerns away airily, "I can walk you out, do you have someone waiting for you or should I call a taxi?" She asked as the walked down to the station.

"No I should have someone waiting for me, her name is-"

"Juniper!" A flash of violet and platinum catapulted at Juniper, hugging her so tightly it was difficult to breathe.

"Hi Victoire." Juniper strained, patting the girl on the back.

"My apologies mon chéri, I'm a hugger." Victoire released Juniper, laughing. She grabbed Juniper's bags and chattered incessantly, "You look a lot different than the last time I saw you, but I knew it was you from your eyes."

Victoire had also changed quite a bit in the fast years. Though she was still as drop dead gorgeous as she had been her whole life. She was tall, willowy, with legs for days. A perfect smile, upturned nose, pale blue eyes, and porcelain skin, she was the spitting image of her mother. If it weren't for the vibrant violet steadily growing out from her blond roots, they could have been twins.

Victoire handed off the bags, and began to speak in rapid fire French to the mustachioed taxi driver. Juniper and Victoria hopped in the vehicle, and Juniper was slightly in awe.

"So you're beautiful and bilingual." Juniper shook her head in disbelief, "God really does have favorites."

"That's not the only type of bi I am, Victoria winked, but don't worry my girlfriend and I broke up a month ago, we're in the same boat Juniper."

"I- what are you-"

"There is no better place to get over a guy than Paris. The food, the nightlife, the people."

"I- I'm sure, but there is no guy."

"Girl then? You didn't strike me as the type but-"

"No, I mean I'm not- getting over- I've never even been in a relationship."

Victoire raised an eyebrow, "There is someone though no?"

Juniper hesitated, and Vivian nodded knowingly, "My intuition never lies. I have to admire your dedication darling, it must've been a hard one if you crossed country lines to separate yourself. Most girls just go to the spa."

"What can I say?" Juniper laughed, relaxing, "I guess I'm special."

"I knew I was going to like you." Vivian tapped the glass partition, "C'est ça, arrête s'il te plait." The driver stopped, pulling up in front of a quaint ivy covered cottage, narrow and three stories, backing into a meadow.

Juniper gasped, "You have a beautiful home."

"Been in the Delacour family for centuries, Maman has lived here practically her whole life." Victoria takes Juniper by the hand and drags her into the well lit front hall.

"Maman! Papa! Elle est ici!" Vivian called excitedly, "Dominique! Louis!"

A clatter of footsteps resounded from above as the rest of the family came down to meet their guest. Louis and Dominique look very similar to Bill, in fact Louis is exactly ho Juniper would've pictured a young less scarred Bill to look. To Juniper's surprise, Dominique looks quite a bit like her cousin, Rose. They have the same strawberry blond hair, but Dominique doesn't have the smattering of freckles crisscrossing her skin.

Fleur embraced Juniper warmly, her throaty chuckle like music. She was pristine as always. Juniper wondered if the woman would ever age.

"It's is so good to see you Juniper" Fleur welcomed, signaling for Louis to take Juniper's luggage.

"Oh you don't have to" Juniper started to say.

"Nonsense, Fleur tutted, you are our guest." She beckoned Juniper into the parlor where a large Christmas tree sat, aglow with magically lit candles. "How are your parents dear? Is your mother well?"

"They're fine." Juniper replied, marveling at the splendidly decorated room, "My mum sends her love."

"And how is little Calista? She started at Hoggywarts this year, no?"

"Hogwarts, maman." Victoire corrected, biting back a snicker.

"That's what I said." Fleur rolled her eyes at her eldest daughter, "Maybe my Victoire needs to get her hearing checked, that is what I think."

Victoire sighed, throwing her hands up in defeat.

Juniper stifled a yawn, "Cali's having great time, she's in Hufflepuff."

"Oh my goodness you must be exhausted from the train ride, I will not bother you anymore." Fleur cried agitatedly.

"Oh no, really I'm-"

"Victoire!" Fleur said, "Why did you make the poor Juniper stay up so late? Why have you not shown her to her room?"

Victoire blinked rapidly, looking at her mother with incredulity, "But I- you were the one who was talking- you"

"Excuse, excuses Victoire, aller! Maintenant, avant qu'elle ne s'endorme dans le salon."

"Oui Maman." Victoire escorted Juniper up to an eclectic room, covered in band posters and painted records. There were tapestries and rugs, several different patterns on the door, and a tie dye bedspread.

"Whoa." Juniper breathed, taking in her surroundings.

"Thanks, I kind of have a unique style." Victoire grinned sheepishly, as if that wasn't evident from her chunky doc Martens, ripped sheer stockings, and giant winter coat. "It's a bit much I know."

"No, it's brilliant." Juniper walked around slowly, eyeing the stack of books, the hanging plants, the drums and keyboard in the corner, the mural painted above the four poster bed. "You are such a Ravenclaw."

"What?"

"Oh nothing, it's one of the houses at Hogwarts. Where should I put my stuff?"

"Here, Victoire pulled out the trundle, I am fascinated by Hogwarts, it sounds so different from Beauxbatons."

Juniper paused, resting in an old photograph of a girl in blue uniform, "Is this your mum? I'm sure you haven't heard this one before but you look exactly like her."

"Tell me about it." Victoire replied. She shoved the photograph away, and Juniper detected a note of bitterness in her tone.

Juniper furrowed her brow with confusion, "You realize she's basically a model right?"

"That's precisely the problem." Victoire flopped down on her bedspread with a massive sigh, "She's Fleur Delacour, in bold, she's a pillar in this community. She's a pillar at Beauxbatons. Fleur Delacour is the definition of perfection. Do you have any idea how hard it is to live up to that expectation? I love my Maman, don't get me wrong, but her standards, especially for me, are unreachable. You saw her back there Juniper, she can be hyper critical. It's makes it insurmountably worse that I'm her carbon copy, people think that I am her, that I'll be how she was. All I want is to be who I am, without the giant fucking shadow of Fleur Delacour looming over me all my life.'"

"I actually kind of get it." Juniper sat down on the bed beside Victoire, "My mum and I are different too, sometimes I feel like she just doesn't get me."

"It's half the reason I do all this shit, Victoire gestures to her room, her clothes, the tattoos encircling her hands and wrists, and the multiple piercings in her ear, there's even one in her nose, I'm practically screaming for them to understand that I'm not my maman. It's why I dye my hair too, well that, and it pisses her off." Victoire smirked triumphantly, and then lifted the hem of her shirt to reveal a tiny piercing on her belly button, "They don't even know about this one."

"Nice." Juniper whistled appreciatively, wishing she had the courage to stand up to her parents like that. She would give anything for a fraction of Victoire's confidence. She was so unabashedly herself.

"Enough about me." Victoire rolled over onto her stomach, propping her chin up on her palms. "Tell me about the guy who was crazy enough to ditch all of this."

"I told you there's no guy!" Juniper giggled.

"Mmmmm." Victoire rolled her eyes, lifting her wand and cueing a soft song with a nice beat from her magicked record player. Then she waved her wand at the overheads, making the whole room go dark besides the fairy lights strung around her canopy. "C'mon the vibes in this room are flawless, tell me it doesn't want to make you spill your story."

"Okay maybe a little bit." Juniper conceded, and Victoire clapped her hand giddily.

"Yes! Wait on sec I have to get comfortable." The girl grabbed a box of sweets from a secret drawer and winked, "Another thing my mother doesn't know about." She situated herself among her many throw pillows, "Okay, spill away ma chéri."

Juniper heaved a great sigh, sprawling on her back and beginning, "Well there's this guy..."

"Called it." Victoire whispered, munching on the chocolate, and Juniper gave her a look, "Sorry, sorry, continue."

"His name's Teddy."

"Hot? I promise I'll stop interrupting after this."

"Very." Juniper answered, pulling out a picture of the five of them on the first day of Hogwarts this year, "He's the one between me and James.1"

"The blonde?" Victoire's eyes widened and Juniper nodded, "Holy fuck, you were right, God does have favorites."

"And now you understand my problem, Juniper put the picture back in her bag, but it's not just his attractiveness. He can be sweet, he's funny, he's kind, he values family. I've known him since birth, he is- was- is- might be my best friend, and I had a massive crush on him."

"Had?"

"Well I was trying to get over him. I realized he's never seen me in that way."

"I'm assuming you were unsuccessful?"

"I tried! I really did, but it was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. We spend a lot of time together, and he's not the dating type so I've never had to deal with any girlfriends, and sometimes, sometimes he..."

"He what?" Victoire leaned in, intrigued.

"He confuses me. Teddy's an affectionate guy, and we're really close. I'd been trying to distance myself from him more, but he- he holds my hand sometimes. Or he wants me to sit next to him during a movie, or he- and he won't talk to any of his girls about anything but he'll pound down my door at one in the morning and confide in me. He treats me like- like- I don't know what it is exactly."

"Like a surrogate girlfriend."

"Yeah!" Juniper looked up questioningly, "Wait what?"

"A surrogate girlfriend, Victoire explained, he doesn't have a strong relationship with any girl but you. It makes it easier for him not to become too attached to anyone because he relies on you for all the hard stuff. The talking, the comforting. You have the job of a girlfriend without the benefits of one."
"Oh my merlin you're right!" Juniper exclaimed indignantly, "He was using me and I was just letting him!"

"If it makes you feel any better, he probably didn't even realize he was doing it. Most guys don't."

"It's a good thing I'm in another country and can't sucker punch him right now." Juniper growled, and Victoire laughed.

"So what spurred the sudden change of travel plans? Something must've happened."

"I found out he'd been threatening guys at my school to stay away from me. The whole time I thought no one fancied me."

"Yikes, Victoire winced, and then thought about it for a second, now that is confusing. Why would he do that? That doesn't fit into the whole surrogate girlfriend thing."

"I have no clue, and honestly I don't want to dwell on it." Juniper rubbed her head tiredly, "I yelled at him, and I've been shutting him out ever since. I knew seeing him over holiday would make it worse, so I came here."

"Hardcore."

"And I already miss him."

"That's understandable, he's your best friend."

"But he hurt me."

"Doesn't change that you still care about him, and I'm sure he still cares about you." Victoire squeezed Juniper's arm comfortingly, "The real question is if you still want him to be your best friend."

"Yes, I- think so." Juniper murmured quietly, "I don't want to lose him, but it's so difficult to be around him when I still...you know."

"So you have to get over him, Victoire stated, for real this time. It's the only way."

"How am I supposed to do that? If you remember correctly it didn't particularly go how I would've liked last time."

"I have few ideas." A mischievous grin spread across Victoire's face, and she took out a purple quill and notebook and started scribbling something down. "You said you'd never been in a relationship right? Have you been kissed?"

Juniper shook her head no.

"Ears pierced?"

"No."

"Tattoos?"

"No."

"Gone to any clubs?"

"No, Juniper responded suspiciously, why do I feel like you're going to be a bad influence?"

"Juniper Lily Potter, I'm about to change your life."

UMMMM DO WE LOVE VICTOIRE OR WHAT?

COMMENT AND VOTE PLEASE

P.S.

victoire

dominique

louis