Dominique Weasley would never claim to be beautiful, but that didn't mean she wasn't aware of the fact; it was simply that others would state it for her without the girl's input being necessary. Sharing the typical Veela traits of long silvery hair and high cheekbones inherited from her mother who proudly held a quarter of the Veelas blood, so highly regarded, paired with the tall lankiness of her Weasley relatives, none would deny that Dominique's genetics left little to be desired.

And although such notions of "blood purity" were deemed sickening and old-fashioned, the mixed message presented itself, as men and women alike seemed to worship the ground she walked on due to her Veela heritage, let alone after they discovered that she was related by marriage to the famous Harry Potter -- or Uncle Arry as she and her siblings called him -- well, the girl wasn't likely to receive unbiased treatment after such a revelation.

For this reason above all others, it was such a beautiful face that was embedded with confused brown eyes, often flitting backwards and forwards in doubt of who to take as a genuine friend, or merely an admirer. She had no shortage of admirers yet did any truly want to know her, or had they already build up an image in her mind of who she was?

Dominique would have had her pick of those in her year to befriend, that was for sure, as the boys were falling over themselves from the first to compliment her 'silky hair' and 'chocolatey eyes' while the girl knew fully well that her hair was often brittle as it crinkles, and her eyes were not by any means the hue of the chocolate that Teddy Lupin ate so often. No, her eyes were the warm Weasley brown with a reddish tint to them and the clear texture of an unbroken sheet of Grandma Molly's caramel, but the colour of the upturned earth by the gnomes in the garden of the Burrow.

They were eyes that had held so many emotions in so many faces, eyes that came with a sense of pride and responsibility, even if the one endowed with them did not inherit the red hair to complete the set. Eyes that would betray their owner by always appearing warm even when the person felt cold.

The warm brown that burned with a fiery flame in Aunt Ginny's face, generosity in Uncle Ron's, sadness in Uncle George's and on and on through the ranks of the Weasley's, such certainty of feeling.

Yet while Dominique's eyes granted her appearance the sense of approachability, they were also relentless in their movement, looking from one person to the next, spotting everything while the girl in their possession was never granted the skill to read what others wanted from her.

She could watch and learn that Teddy's hair only turned that precise shade of teal when Victoire smiled at him, that Sally Sussex helped Pietro Dyers with his Herbology assignment, and him with her Ancient Runes, in spite of the fact they openly hated each other. She saw the way Mila Harris and Jess Schotte linked their little fingers together whenever one of them struggled in a lesson, and whole heartedly longed to have a friendship as supportive as theirs. She saw that Aswan Boots pretended to be worse at Muggle Studies than he was, because they took the class with Slytherin and he didn't want to be teased.

She saw so much when they didn't know she was looking at them with her Weasley brown eyes, foreign in her unfreckled face.

People expected her to be extroverted, the focus among the crowds of students occupying the halls of Hogwarts, yet somehow in spite of her beauty, those flickering brown eyes and her involuntarily nervous demeanour let her fade to the background where Victoire stood in relief.

But then, Victoire had always been easier in herself than Dominique, still and poised. So confident in herself and her friendships that Dominique longed for the ease of her sister's existence.

She made it seem so easy, slipping in and out of broom closets with Teddy Lupin, always chattering with friends in the corridors, the faintest of freckles dusting her nose that gave her leave to joke with the other Weasleys. Victoire's ears went red when she was angry. Dominique's lower cheeks flushed.

She saw so much, except for when they looked at her. When they looked at her all she saw was admiration, but of which sort she could never tell. Were they smiling at her jokes or just pretending to be amused? Were their eyes blank, or was she imagining it?

For what reason did their focus lie upon her? Dominique knew some of them must hold simple curiosity, some interest in her family background, some admiration for her looks, and some a genuine wish for friendship. Some of them must like her for who she was.

Dominique wasn't under any illusions that the world hated her, from all her watching she knew that any sort of person could find friends. For example, Keire Nott-Zabini stood so regal and coldly intelligent, yet other Ravenclaw's flocked to her for personal advice and comfort, in spite of the fact that the girl held no sympathy, only brutal truth, her eyes icy chips that assessed and balanced the situation with such a lack of biase.

Then Ricky Jordan that caused such disruptions in lessons, always joking with professors, there were those that couldn't help but admire his confidence to the point that they would welcome him to sit with them, no matter that he usually chose to remain a solitary oyster.

And then there was Callie Roy, the shy girl that hid behind her glasses frames, and never made the move to seek out friendship, yet Dian Kerry and Christopher Lu would always make the effort to reach out to her and invite her to play board games or go to Hogsmeade, encouraging her to talk. Dominique could never understand why she stood out to the pair as friend material in the first place, yet that was what made it so beautiful, that the two boys saw something in the quiet Gryffindor that no one else did.

There were so many more that she observed, such a variety of people that held different character traits yet all found friends among others at Hogwarts. There would certainly be people that wanted friendship with Dominique for the sake of friendship, the problem lay with the fact that she had no way of telling them apart from those that simply cared about her family tree.

The insecurity harked back to her first year, where she had expected to find her friends for life in the first compartment of the Hogwarts Express that she sat down in, as seemed to be the occurrence for every other member of her extended family, yet instead was subjected to the twins Krissy and James Limebrook firing questions at her about Uncle Arry and his legendary defeat of Tom Riddle for the entire duration of the trip.

Well, saying they'd spoken about her uncle for the entire duration of the train journey wasn't quite fair. They had put aside at least half an hour to quiz her on her mother's legendary involvement in the Triwizard tournament, a year which Fleur herself claimed she'd much rather forget.

"But why'd she wear a skirt, facing dragons?" Krissy had wanted to know. Up until then, Dominique had thought she was fending off the questions pretty well, but something in her snapped at that point, as all the two seemed willing to do was pick through her family's mistakes as if they had never made a bad judgement in their lives.

"Because it allowed for better freedom of movement," she had snapped, and the anger transformed her beautiful face into something of terror, all fiery eyes and sharp cheekbones, and honestly that was the most like a Weasley she'd ever felt, as she flicking straight the folds of her own swishy blue skirt that she had donned that morning. "Don't underestimate the power a woman can give to a kick when she's not restricted by trousers."

Needless to say, she had not found friendship with the Limebrooks, in spite of how eager they seemed at first.

They clearly hadn't liked her to stand up to them with such force, perhaps they hadn't even judged themselves to be doing anything wrong, and yet the sad truth lay in the fact Dominique probably wouldn't have said the same thing had they questioned her now; the eyes that had held such righteous indignation now held only bewilderment as she was faced with so many choices yet no hints as to which was the right one.

Now she was entering fourth year, and Krissy and James had an extensive network of good friends, while she was left with none.

She had her family of course, loved then deeply: Victoire in the year above with her clumsy radiance and quick wit in spite of her lack of academic prowess; Teddy Lupin with his blue hair and hidden stashes of chocolate that the house elves helped him retrieve at a moments notice; Louie with his wide smile and perpetual humming, accompanied always by his best friend Leila's finger drumming; James Sirius who would be joining the school that year with his obsessively tidy hair and incessant teasing; a whole host of other younger relatives and older ones who made Dominique's existence both wonderful and humiliating.

But all of them were so grounded, they had found their places in the school and the world, while Dominique was still searching for hers almost half way through her education.

Skeeter had called her 'unpopular' in one of her toxic articles on the Potter-Weasley clan. The direct quote, Dominique believed, was: "An unwanted and unliked middle child, Dominique Weasley perpetuates the stereotypes of both arrogance and entitlement, preferring to remain aloof than to have friends, though this may be seen as a blessing since in spite of her outwards beauty she is inwardly ugly and as such disliked by almost everyone required to interact with her..."

And the bullshit went on.

Dominique was perfectly aware it wasn't true: the way people looked at her certainly didn't hint at dislike, and Skeeter wrote such falsehoods about every member of the family, Aunt Hermione explained she simply had nothing better to do with her time and wasn't talented enough at anything to earn a living through anything but hate-mongering. In spite of this, Dominique had found herself surprisingly hurt by the article, until she had walked through the doors of Shell Cottage after visiting Dobby's grave to find her favourite aunt, Audrey Weasley, standing on the dinner table and reading the paper with gusto. Making a few adjustments along the way.

"An unwanted and unliked nosy bitch, Rita Skeeter perpetuates the stereotype of both a toxic journalist and a cockroach one wishes to stomp underfoot, preferring to write factually incorrect sensationalist pieces than actually use her influence to accurately represent events, though this may be seen as a blessing since it affords us such stupid articles to make fun of when we find ourselves incredibly bored..."

At this point she was drowned out by the hooting and laughter of the others crammed into the small room -- honestly, Shell Cottage was not made for hosting their extensive family -- but Dominique found herself feeling far better. Her mother was staring at Audrey as though she might've left Dominique's father for the woman given half a chance, and the atmosphere among the group had lightened considerably since the article had first been released, with over half the adults and all the children ready to light the torches and march in protest, and small problem if Skeeter's house was accidentally burned down in the confusion.

The death threats had died down, yet Rita Skeeter still held no fans among the Weasleys, and their assorted friends.

Dominique was lucky to have such a family in all truth, yet it was those like Skeeter with their lies and stalking that made it difficult to be a member of a group of such high profile people.

Her problem at Hogwarts was like reading a Skeeter article: she searched and searched for the truth within the writing, yet so much of it was utter thestral mature that it was easier to assume that all of it was lies, just as it was easier to assume that everybody that sought her company wanted access to the Potters.

Except more and more lately, Dominique had been finding herself wondering whether it might be time to take a risk. Maybe it would be painful should she come across somebody such as the Limebrooks that evidently already had such preconceived views about who she was and how she should act, yet surely trial and error would pay off in the end and it would all have been worth it.

This year Dominique Weasley would make the effort to place her trust in those around her rather than surveying them with mistrust and anxiety.