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Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters and places from the Harry Potter world, which is trademarked by JK Rowling. However, all plots are my own and are in no way endorsed by JK Rowling or anyone affiliated with the Harry Potter universe.
Chapter 1: September 2015
"Hey guys," Dominique greeted Tom and Miles. In was September the first, which meant Dominique was on her way back to Hogwarts. Except this year, her brother was coming too. "This is my brother Louis. It's his first day and he's a little nervous."
Nervous was an understatement. Dominique could practically feel her little brother shaking as she pushed him into the compartment. Louis had always been shy, but Dominique had never seen him this bad. Usually he was surrounded by family, who he was comfortable around. With strangers, though he'd always been reserved, he's never shown such a degree of fear as he was exhibiting now. Dominique could only hope it was just first day nerves and that they would dissipate once Louis became acclimated to his new surroundings.
"Hey man, I remember you. Good to see you," Miles greeted Louis with a smile. Dominique was instantly grateful for her friend's understanding. Obviously, it wasn't ideal for Dominique to have brought her kid brother along with her, but Dominique also couldn't just leave him to fend for himself. "I'm Miles, in case you don't remember me," Miles added.
"Yeah, I remember you," Louis nodded.
"And I'm Tom," Tom jumped in. "We're Domi's friends."
"Hi," Louis said. Dominique could tell Louis was uncomfortable and tried to think of how she could get him to calm down. As she levitated hers' and Louis' trunk up into the luggage racks, she wondered if Louis would be more at ease once Brooke arrived. Louis had grown up surrounded by girls – Dominique and Victoire, in addition to their mother – were the three people he'd spent most of his time with.
"Anyone seen Brooke?" Dominique asked casually.
"Not yet," Tom replied. "But she's always running late."
With impeccable timing, Brooke pulled open the compartment door at that very moment and pushed her way through. "I'm here!" she cried. Dominique felt Louis shrink away from the new arrival and closer to Dominique and she put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Hey Brooke," she said. "This is my baby brother Louis."
"Oh! Louis, I've heard so much about you!" Brooke cried. "Aren't you so excited to be finally going to Hogwarts?"
"Not really," Louis replied., causing Dominique to sigh to herself.
"Oh," Brooke said with a frown. "Well that's – "
Dominique gave Brooke a look, telling her not to push Louis just now. He didn't need to be interrogated.
"Alright Louis," Dominique said, crouching down. Louis had yet to reach his growth spurt, so there was a significant height difference between the two. "Now I'm going to give you two choices. You can stay here with me and my friends until we get to Hogwarts, or else we can go for a walk and see if we can find a first year compartment where you can try and make some friends."
Brooke hoped Louis would pick the second option – not because she didn't want him around, but because she knew it would be better for him to be a little more independent. She watched as Louis bit his lip and knew that she wasn't going to get the answer she was hoping for.
"I want to stay with you," Louis said quietly.
Dominique nodded understandingly. "Alright," she said, sitting down next to Tom. "You can stay here."
She patted the spot between her and the wall, knowing that Louis would feel more comfortable with Dominique between him and her friends. Though the situation wasn't ideal, Dominique was sure that Louis would get used to the idea of being away from home soon. And once he did, he'd make friends in his own year and start building a life at Hogwarts. Until then, Dominique just had to be there for him and make sure that he was alright.
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The rest of the day passed quickly, at least for Dominique. Louis was quiet for the majority of the train ride, only speaking up when the trolley lady came around, asking Dominique permission to purchase a sweet. Dominique informed him that he was eleven now and that he could make those kinds of decisions without her, and Louis happily bought some pumpkin pastilles to munch on.
When the train pulled into Hogsmeade station, Louis became nervous again, not wanting to part from his older sister. Dominique explained that the first years had to go up to the castle in the boats, and when Louis expressed his fear at getting lost, Dominique decided to entrust him to Professor Hagrid's care. If it didn't make Louis feel any better, at least Dominique wouldn't have to worry about leaving him all alone.
When Dominique and her friends reached the Great Hall, they waited patiently for the first years to make their arrival – the boats always took much longer than the carriages, which Dominique supposed was part of the design. Finally, the first years were escorted inside and Dominique waved to her brother, smiling encouragingly as he nervously made his way towards the front.
The sorting was pretty standard, with a fairly even dispersal of students to each of the four houses. When Louis' name was called, Dominique found herself holding her breath. The hat took a while to deliberate and Dominique had to start breathing again lest she suffocate. She clenched her jaw as she waited in anticipation for Louis' house assignment and was relieved when the hat finally declared him a Gryffindor. If he'd been sorted into any other house, not only would he have been devastated to have deviated from family tradition, but he'd be separated from Dominique in a way that would prevent her from checking up on him as much as she would like.
"Well that's that," Tom declared once the sorting was over. "Nothing to worry about now. Louis' going to be just fine."
"Yeah," Dominique nodded, keeping her eye on her brother as he took a seat with the other first years, his posture a clear sign of the fact that he was not comfortable at all. "I sure hope so."
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After the feast was over, Dominique and her friends slowly made their way up to the common room, where they were immediately told to scram. The upperclassman party was getting started and Dominique and her friends weren't old enough to participate yet. Dominique felt a twinge of jealousy for her sister, knowing that as a fifth year, she would be allowed to stay down in the common room this year, but when she saw that her sister was heading out on her prefect's rounds, the jealousy immediately dissipated. Being a prefect was great and all, but Dominique couldn't imagine that she'd ever want to be one – not if it meant not getting to do the things she wants to do.
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"Look!" Brooke exclaimed the following week, pointing excitedly at the notice board. "Quidditch tryouts are this weekend!"
"Great," Dominique rolled her eyes obviously. If there was one flaw in her friendships with Brooke, Miles, and Tom, it was that they were all way too interested in Quidditch.
"I'm going to try out," Brooke declared. "Now that Claudia Cloude has graduated, there's a spot open for a Gryffindor Seeker."
"Paul Cooke graduated last year too," Tom pointed out, referring to one of the previous team's beaters. "Maybe I should try out too."
"If you're trying out for beater, then so am I," Miles declared.
"Ooh," Tom said. "Are you sure you want to go up against me? I mean, there's only one slot and I'm pretty fantastic."
"Come on guys," Dominique rolled her eyes. "You really think that they're going to let a couple of third years onto the team? I'm sure there are plenty of experienced upperclassmen who will want to try out as well. It's much more likely that they'll get chosen for the team."
"Plenty of third years have made the team in the past," Miles pointed out. "Sometimes they even let second years join, when they're really good."
"Didn't your uncle make the team as a first year?" Tom asked. Dominique knew he wasn't really asking. Her Uncle Harry's Quidditch fame was well-known among the Quidditch fans of Hogwarts.
"Those are all extenuating circumstances," Dominique claimed. "That only happens when the players are really good."
Miles' face fell. "Domi, what are you saying?"
Dominique sighed and closed her eyes as it occurred to her that her point was being misconstrued. "I just mean… that I hope you fly your best when you tryout," Dominique finally said, seeing that she'd only dig herself into a hole if she continued trying to talk her friends out of it.
"Thanks Domi," Brooke smiled. "We appreciate your support."
"Sure," Dominique said.
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Saturday morning was the day of the Gryffindor Quidditch team tryouts and Dominique was pretty sure her head was going to explode from all the Quidditch talk. Ever since the notice had gone up on the noticeboard, it was all her friends could talk about. If anything, Dominique was just glad that this was the end of it. After breakfast, her friends would go tryout, she would go read a book, and by lunchtime they could go back to normal.
"Domi, are you sure you won't come to cheer us on?" Brooke asked for the thousandth time.
"No," Dominique shook her head adamantly. "I've already told you I'm not interested in Quidditch. We agreed back in first year after I went to that game that you'd never bother me about it again."
"But that was when strangers were playing," Miles pointed out. "This would be watching your friends play."
Dominique shrugged, not seeing the difference. "Either way, it's just a bunch of people flying around and throwing balls at each other," she said. "It just doesn't appeal to me."
"But – "
"Just let it go," Tom shook his head.
"Thank you, Tom," Dominque said gratefully.
"Oh, don't get me wrong, I still think it's lame of you not to come," Tom clarified. "But it's obvious we won't be able to change your mind."
Before Dominique could reply, Tom began to stand, Brooke and Miles following suit.
"We'll see you after," Tom said, waving goodbye to Dominique.
"Right," Dominique nodded, thrown off a little by Tom's dismissive attitude. "Good luck."
Brooke shrugged. "Thanks, I guess," she said.
Dominique frowned. "Why only 'I guess'?" she asked.
"If you really cared, you'd join us," Brooke said. "But we'll fly just fine with or without you. Enjoy your reading."
Dominique spluttered as her friends walked away from her. They had completely misunderstood her intentions. It wasn't that she didn't care about them, it was that she didn't care about Quidditch. How could they not see that? Of course she wanted them to do well, though of course logically she knew none of them would make the team. But that didn't mean she needed to waste a morning sitting on an uncomfortable wooden bench, bored out of her mind.
With a sigh, Dominique finished her breakfast and then headed back up to the common room. She was halfway through a really good book and was hoping to finish it before her friends returned, as they had all agreed that the afternoon should be spent doing the extensive homework they'd been assigned. If Dominique had thought adding two elective course loads would decrease the amount of work she'd have to do in each course, she'd been wrong. In fact, the homework in each class had only increased, to compensate for the lost class time. Not to mention the extra homework from her electives.
When she reached the common room, she found Louis sitting by himself, as usual, working on something school-related. Dominique sighed. She kept telling Louis he needed to make friends with the other first years, but so far she only ever saw him alone. She was worried about him. If he didn't start hanging out with his classmates soon – Dominique was afraid he'd spend his full seven years at Hogwarts alone.
"Hey Louis," she said, taking a seat next to her brother.
"Hey Dominique," Louis replied.
"What're you working on there?" Dominique wondered, gesturing to his homework.
Louis shrugged. "Just transfiguration," he replied.
Dominique nodded. "Do you like transfiguration?" she wondered.
Louis nodded. "Not as much as astronomy though," he amended.
"I see," Dominique replied. "Why aren't you studying with any of the other boys in your dorm?"
Louis shrugged. "We don't really talk," he replied.
"When I was in first year," Dominique said. "All the first year Gryffindors would study together. We'd get a long table here in the common room and we'd all help each other out."
Louis nodded. "Yeah, well the guys in my year don't to that," he replied.
Dominique sighed. "Louis I really think you need to start making friends," she said.
She could see Louis clam up at this and instantly regretted saying it the way she did. She should have eased into it better. Now her brother would just fight her, instead of considering what she had to say.
"I'll make friends my own way," Louis declared. "When I'm ready."
"Alright," Dominique agreed, backing off. "I just hope that that means soon."
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When Dominique descended to the Great Hall for lunch, she was met with a big surprise. Instead of finding her three friends dirty, sweaty, disappointed, and waiting for her, she found only two. Brooke, while dirty and sweaty like the rest of the Gryffindors who had tried out for the team that morning, was not sitting with Miles and Tom. Instead she was sitting a ways up the table, surrounded by Kurt Robins, Adrian Carter, Caitlin Bell, and all the other members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
"What's going on?" Dominique asked as she sat down with her two male friends, who were watching Brooke with jealousy in their eyes.
"Isn't it obvious?" Miles asked bitterly. "Brooke made the team."
"Seriously?" Dominique gasped in surprise. This was certainly an outcome she never would have predicted.
"Yes seriously," Miles said, rounding on Dominique. "Is it really so surprising that one of us managed to make the team?"
"No," Dominique said immediately, holding her hands up in defence.
"Don't lie," Tom grumbled. "You've made your opinions on the subject perfectly clear. Looks like you were right about us though, because Paul Peterson blew us both out of the sky."
"Look, I didn't mean it," Dominique assured them. "I'm sure you're both excellent fliers. And you know what? Next year, you'll be in fourth year, and then you'll be even better at flying and you'll stand an even better chance of making the team. Just because you didn't make it this year doesn't mean you aren't good, it only means someone else was better."
"Somehow, I'm not comforted by that at all," Tom muttered.
Dominique chose not to try to cheer her friends up anymore. Obviously they just needed to wallow for a while. "Brooke sure seems happy," she noted, watching her other friend as she laughed with her new teammates.
"Yeah," Miles nodded, his voice devoid of emotion. "She sure does."
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After lunch was over, Brooke met back up with Dominique and the boys, practically bouncing with excitement. She immediately launched into a detailed play-by-play of the tryouts, stressing that Miles and Tom flew excellently, even though they didn't make the team.
"And when I caught that snitch," she said, speaking of her own tryout, "I was just filled with this intense sense of joy, because I knew it meant that I'd made the team."
"Well congratulations," Dominique said, genuinely happy that Brooke was so happy. "I'm truly glad you made the team."
As they made their way up to the common room, so that Brooke, Tom, and Miles could all shower and change out of their dirty tryout clothes, they ran into Quinn Adams and her posse.
"Quinn," Dominique nodded, sucking in a breath. She hadn't run into the girl since being back at Hogwarts, and suddenly memories of their altercation at the end of the previous year rushed back into Dominique's mind.
"Dominique," Quinn nodded back cordially. "Brooke, I heard you made the Quidditch team."
"I did," Brooke nodded, taking a step closer, offensively. "Slytherin tryouts are this afternoon, are you heading down?"
Quinn let out one loud 'ha'. "Don't make me laugh," she said. "Quidditch is for sissies, like you and Summer."
"Summer's trying out?" Brooke asked, a hint of intrigue in her voice.
"Seeker," Quinn nodded.
"We heard her telling Carly in the bathroom," Marsha Bowman, one of Quinn's friends spoke up from behind.
Quinn turned around and gave Marsha a look, telling her to be quiet, and then turned back to Dominique and Brooke.
"I'll see you both around," she said, holding her head up defiantly. "Oh, and Dominique? You'd better watch your back."
Dominique felt herself go cold as Quinn and her two friends disappeared down the corridor.
"Well I guess she didn't forget," Dominique muttered, swallowing heavily. When Quinn had tried to make Dominique miss her Charms exam last year, Dominique had foiled her plan by escaping the closet she'd been locked in. When Quinn didn't retaliate, Dominique had thought that she'd decided to let things go. Apparently, she'd been wrong.
"Oh whatever," Tom muttered, propelling Dominique towards the stairs that led to the seventh floor. "What's the worst she could do?"
"Lock me in a closet with a silencing spell on it?" Dominique suggested. "So that nobody finds me? Pour an even more dangerous potion than a simple swelling solution on me?"
"This is Hogwarts," Tom assured Dominique. "If she does anything seriously bad, she'll be expelled. You don't have to worry."
"I'm not too sure about that," Dominique muttered.
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The four third years reached the common room, and Dominique's three friends immediately made for their respective dormitories to get themselves cleaned up. Meanwhile, Dominique noticed Victoire laying on a couch with Teddy, her head resting in his lap. Dominique walked over to them, determined to talk to Victoire and her concerns regarding Louis.
"Not being too discreet there, are you?" Dominique greeted the two, causing Victoire to jump in surprise. Her sister pulled herself to a sitting position, making room for Dominique to sit down with her and Teddy.
"It's the middle of the afternoon," Victoire replied. "And it's a beautiful day. Everyone's outside. Besides, we're not keeping our relationship a secret, we're just keeping it quiet."
"Whatever," Dominique shook her head. "That's not really what I came to talk to you about. I wanted to talk to you about Louis."
"Okay, what's up?" Victoire wondered.
"I'm worried about him," Dominique revealed. "He still hasn't made any friends, and it's not good. I don't want him to go through school all alone."
"He won't," Victoire assured Dominique. "He'll make friends eventually."
"How would you know?" Dominique demanded. "He doesn't even talk to his dorm mates. He spends all his time either with one of us, or doing his homework by himself. Maybe he wasn't ready for this. Maybe he was right. Maybe he should've stayed home with maman."
"Okay Dominique, calm down," Victoire said. "It's only been a week. Louis has plenty of time to make friends. Not everyone makes friends as easily as you do, you know."
"You did," Dominique pointed out. "We're you friends with Kara and Brianna from the beginning?"
"Sure, but that's not the point," Victoire said. "Louis isn't like us. He's much more reserved. And just because he hasn't bonded with anyone yet doesn't mean he won't. Teddy and Billy didn't become friends until their second year, and they were dorm mates since first."
"I didn't know that," Dominique said. "So Teddy, you were a loner like Louis?"
"Not exactly," Teddy shook his head. "I spent most of my time with Tyson Perry back in first year, but then he got really into Quidditch and we drifted apart."
Dominique frowned at that. Was Teddy implying that she and Brooke might drift apart now that Brooke was into Quidditch? And what about Miles and Tom? What if they made the team next year? Would Dominique lose all her friends?
"Look," Victoire said. "Just give Louis the benefit of the doubt. I'm sure he'll find his place here soon enough."
"Yeah," Dominique nodded. No longer thinking about Louis' friendship problems, but rather her own, she stood and started walking towards the stairs to the girls' dormitories. "Good talk Victoire," she added. "We'll talk again soon."
"Okay," Victoire replied, shrugging and laying back down on the couch.
Dominique ran up the stairs to her dorm and entered to find Brooke pulling on the last of her clothes.
"Hey Brooke," Dominique said. "So, are you ready to get started on that homework? The boys should be about ready now too."
"Oh, sorry Domi," Brooke replied. "I actually decided to go and watch the Slytherin tryouts. If Summer Snow's trying out for seeker, then I want to see what I might be up against."
"Oh," Dominique nodded, disappointed. "Right, well okay then. I guess I'll see you later then?"
"Definitely," Brooke said, practically running out the door.
Alone in the dorm, Dominique slowly sat down on the edge of her bed, an acute sense of loss filling her gut. She could tell herself she was only imagining it, but it seemed very clear to her now. She was going to lose Brooke. Possibly forever.