Victoire's first thought when she woke up Christmas morning was that she should probably give some thought to the possibility that she'd lost her mind. Three days ago, she'd never even kissed anyone, and wasn't really anticipating that that would change in the immediate future.

Now, she'd spent the better part of two evenings in a row making out with one of her best friends and was probably going to end up having sex with him before they went back to Hogwarts, and the only hesitation she was grappling with was whether she could get away with doing it on Christmas.

'xoxo'

(gdedworth, vic)

8:19am

vic: hey

gdedworth: please don't tempt me bc i really really can't today
gdedworth: but if you suggest it i'll lose my fucking mind trying to find a way

vic: i just wanted to say happy christmas

gdedworth: wow, now i feel like a dick
gdedworth: sorry
gdedworth: happy christmas, vic

vic: it's okay, i was thinking about your dick, too
vic: if i was there, it'd probably be in my mouth

8:28am

gdedworth: victoire are you fucking kidding me

vic: what are you thinking about right now?

gdedworth: honestly?

vic: yes

gdedworth: how much i want you underneath me, moaning my name as i play with you
gdedworth: and the expression on your face when i slide into you for the first time
gdedworth: and how good it'll feel to have you come around my dick, not just my fingers
gdedworth: and how once i've gotten you off i'm going to fuck you senseless
gdedworth: … and since i'm being honest, also how much i fucking love your boobs in general

8:40am

gdedworth: vic?

vic: sorry
vic: are you sure you're not free today?

gdedworth: i'm positive
gdedworth: we're visiting my grandparents and staying there overnight

vic: but now i really really want you

gdedworth: i know
gdedworth: i really fucking need you right now

vic: would it help if i told you that i was touching myself right now?

gdedworth: if by help, you mean make me lose my fucking mind, yes

vic: this whole thing escalated quickly, didn't it?

gdedworth: i blame you
gdedworth: vic, i need to go take care of this and get ready
gdedworth: if you keep teasing me i'm going to lose my fucking mind before i see you

vic: xoxo

Victoire's mother stuck her head out of the kitchen when Victoire reached the bottom of the stairs. "Happy Christmas," she said cheerfully.

"Happy Christmas, Mum!"

She found herself listening to her brother and sister chatter about their classes and their friends rather than interjecting much on her own. There was a certain sense of relief at having someone else be the center of attention, and while she usually wasn't bothered by the constant activity whirling around everyone at school, it had started to bother her more over the past two weeks. She was used to being able to relax around her friends, but right now, it was feeling like half of them were fairly uncomfortable with who she was.

Which was not a good feeling.

Her uncharacteristic quietness had clearly not escaped her parents' notice; Victoire had just finished the first chapter of one of her new books after lunch when her mother joined her on the couch.

"Hey, Mum," she said, dogearring the book and closing it. "What's up?"

Her mother studied her for a moment. "I was going to ask you the same thing. We told you our concerns about what you've been doing at school, but we didn't really talk about how you felt."

Victoire looked away. 'Told you our concerns' was a very, very mild way of putting the conversation she and her parents had had after she'd gotten home. "I'm fine."

"Victoire."

Her mother had always been good at seeing through her bullshit, and she was never quite sure how to feel about it. "I don't know, Mum," she said after a very long pause. "I just - bumping into her was just an accident at first, and then I wanted to know why she gave me the comb, and then…" She trailed off. "I don't know. I was curious, and this was the best way to get answers."

"Are you going to keep doing it?"

Victoire winced - she'd been able to dance around that question in the previous conversation, but she'd known it was going to come up again. "Yes? I think so? I just - I want to." When her mother didn't respond or look away, she sighed. "I don't know, Mum! Yes. I know that everyone else is freaking out, but I just don't get why, really. Whether or not something bad could have happened, it didn't - I'm fine."

Unlike virtually everyone else, her mother didn't challenge her assertion that she was fine. Instead, she said, "Why do people think you are not fine?"

Victoire opened her mouth, stopped, and closed it again. That wasn't quite a question that she'd been asked before. "I - I don't know. Maybe because Fred got so sick. Which she didn't mean to do, it was an accident -"

"Yes, Vic. I know."

Her mother's voice was calm, and somehow, Victoire felt more thrown off-kilter by the sympathetic approach than any of the other reactions people had had. "Do you think there's something wrong with me?" she asked softly.

The corners of her mother's mouth twitched. "Define wrong."

Despite the subject matter, Victoire started to giggle. "Mum!"

Her mother shook her head. Now she was smiling, too. "I would not say something is wrong with you. I think that you do not always have very good judgment and that this decision could still have consequences you do not realize - but I also know that I made many decisions with consequences that I did not forsee when I was only a little bit older than you are. Consequences are not always bad - or good. Sometimes consequences are just changes."

Victoire frowned at her mother. She hadn't heard it put in quite that way before. "So - wait -"

"We will talk about the details of this later. Right now, I am just asking how you are feeling."

Her mother knew her habits of deflecting conversations that she wasn't entirely comfortable with far, far too well. "I don't know, Mum. Usually when I do stupid things, my friends back me up, but I'm not sure they are this time, and it doesn't feel great. I mean, Fred is, obviously - and so is G, actually, but -"

"What is different?" her mother asked.

She had to stop and think about that one. "Little things, I guess. They're just… looking at me funny, and they seem a little more quiet around me - like they don't know what to say. It feels like they're mad - but G told me that they weren't, it's just that I scared everybody and they don't like that I lied to them, but I don't know if he's right. He's not being weird, so maybe he's just projecting."

"If he was wrong, and they were mad, would it stop you?"

Victoire frowned at her mother. "Uh - well, no."

"Why?"

"Because I want to know," she said finally. "I'd just rather not lose my friends over it. And they are overreacting - even if she makes the non-human parts a little more non-human, you're way more veela than me and you're fine."

That made her mother smile. "That is a conversation for another day - and keep in mind that it may not bring out the same things." She shook her head, white blond cascading over her shoulders. "But I do think that things with your friends will be fine, with time. Try not to worry. Do you want a hug?"

Victoire nodded. "Thanks, Mum," she said into her mother's shoulder. "I - I think I'm gonna go get ready for tonight and do some schoolwork, okay?"

"Sure. I love you, Vic."

"Love you too, Mum."

She was partway through her second Transfiguration assignment when she heard a knock on her open door. She glanced up. "Oh - hi, Dad."

"Can I come in?" he asked. She nodded, and he came over to lean against to footboard of her bed. "Your mother said you talked a little earlier, but I wanted to check in, too. Are you feeling okay?" She felt her temper start to rise, but he shook his head quickly. "Emotionally, Vic."

"Oh." She sighed and tossed down her quill. "I dunno. Yeah, mostly. I think I just feel a little - overwhelmed, I guess - by how many people think that I'm just completely stupid." She studied him. "Do you?"

He shook his head. "I think that you have a real problem with impulse control and boredom, which - if I'm being honest - you've probably inherited from both of your parents." That made her laugh - she'd somehow forgotten how good her parents were at lightening tense situations with humor. "I was serious when I said that your choices this fall have been incredibly reckless, but I do understand them - I ran off to Egypt to explore tombs until a war dragged me back home. I get it."

"So you don't think I'm stupid?"

"Only in the same way that your parents are." She felt a smile stretch back across her face, and the tension in her started to ease. "No, Vic. That doesn't mean that you can keep sneaking out to hang out with a banshee the same way you have been, but you're not stupid."

She shoved her papers away from her and hugged him. "Thanks, dad. I love you."

"I love you, too, Vic - even if you've given me more grey hairs of both your siblings combined." He paused on his way out. "We're heading to your grandparents' in a few, but if you're not feeling up to the whole family, you can hang back - we'll just tell everyone that you're feeling under the weather."

"Oh," she said. "I - yeah, actually. That would be great. Thanks, Dad."

"Sure," he said. "I hope you feel better. If any of your friends are around, it's fine if they come by or if you go over there - just leave a note and tell us if you don't think you'll be home until tomorrow."

She was nearly done with the assignment when her tablet chimed. She winced as she reached for it - she'd meant to message Fred, but she'd gotten sidetracked finishing up the paragraph she was writing. After a quick exchange in which she told him that she was largely fine and that he didn't need to leave the party to come by, she turned her attention back to her essay.

When her tablet glowed an hour later, she didn't pick it up at first, assuming that it was Fred saying that he was bored and was coming over, anyway. When it glowed again a few minutes later, though, she reached out for it and immediately cursed.

'xoxo'

( , vic)

7:51pm

gdedworth: i'm not saying i can
gdedworth: but would you be free later tonight if i could get out of staying here?
gdedworth: like it'd be really late

7:57pm

gdedworth: vic?

vic: fuck, sorry! didn't see this!
vic: yes!

gdedworth: okay let me see what i can do

vic: late is fine - i stayed home from the family party so i'm just sitting here
vic: if you wanted me to, i could stay over, my dad told me it was fine if i wanted to do something with my friends

gdedworth: FUCK
gdedworth: i'll go talk to them

a/n: just as a general fyi - there are a lot of things about sidenote-verse that will continue to stay true, but this story kind of veered off in unexpected directions, so it's not necessarily going to stay perfectly lined up with my other next-gen stories.