Call Me Pretty

Chapter One | Freckles

AUTUMN

Chapter One

Freckles

 

    Dominique ran herpale fingers through the knots in her dark red hair; desperately trying to make something of it-never in her life could Dominique remember her hair doing what she wanted. The long curls seemed to just grow even more tangled as she struggled, and suddenly there was another pair of fingers smoothing out the knots.

“Relax darling,” her mother soothed, her French accent standing out in the sea of British. “It is easy if you stop fighting; let mother help.”

Huffing, Dominique lowered her hands in defeat; she would never have the same silky straight, silvery blonde hair as her mother and siblings, the dark blue eyes and flawless porcelain skin. No, she had inherited her father’s unruly deep red curls, skin that looked as if it had never seen the light of day, incredibly pale blue eyes and freckles. How Dominique hated her freckles, how they dusted her shoulders and arms, her cheeks and wrists, ankles and even her eyes! Her light blue eyes had dark flecks, something her father had also given her-she loved him dearly, but wondered why she couldn’t at least have inherited her mother’s willowy and graceful figure. Dominique was curvy –“You are slender, darling.” Fleur so often said- with a stomach that wasn’t round or large or anything, but it wasn’t flat as she always dreamed.

“There!” Fleur had someone teased Dominique’s curls into a long fishtail braid, even taking the silk flower pin in her hair and putting it in Dom’s. “Much better Dominique; you just need to know what to do and your day will start much better.”

“I don’t need advice, Mum.” Dominique grumbled, pulling at the edges of her white cardigan “I just need more conditioner.”

“Or you could brush your hair for once.” Louie remarked, coming up to his mother and sister, Bill directly behind.

“Don’t be mean to your sister, Lou.” Bill said calmly. Dominique almost wished she were a boy sometimes, just so she could pull off the broad shoulders and dark hair better-her father was incredibly handsome, even with his long hair, fang earring and scars. If Bill could catch a Veela, then Dom must be doing something very wrong.

“It’s the truth!” he cried as Dom swung her fist at him.

“I brush my hair, you nitwit!”

“Children!” Fleur scolded, hugging Louie “Be good to each other and at school; study hard and write often.”

“Okay Mum,” they said together, and after hugging her parents again, Dom got on the Hogwarts express for the last time.

            Bare fields whipped past the window of three teenagers compartment. Stretched out along one seat was a boy, lean and muscular; his hair was a light, ash blonde that was constantly falling in his eyes-one would think it might affect his flying, yet he was still the star member of the Gryffindor team.

Ben Wood was pretending to listen to the third person in the compartment, but his eyes constantly strayed to Dominique; she was sitting with her back against the wall, looking out the window in a dazed state. The girl who hadn’t stopped talking since they’d got on the train was Dominique’s best friends, Felicity Bones; she had the sort of eyes that were so large you had the impression of a deer in headlights, but they suited her dirty blonde hair and rosy cheeks.