Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Author's Note: Written for Uni (Uni Shall Not Sink) courtesy of the Gift-Giving Extravaganza 2014. Sorry this is late, and I hope you like it!
In first year, Dominique decides that Professor Patil, the Transfiguration instructor, is her favorite teacher.
She makes the class interesting. Dominique finds almost all of her classes interesting anyway - she's one of those people who enjoys most academic pursuits - but the way Professor Patil teaches Transfiguration makes it even better than everything else. Dominique can't even put her finger on exactly why she enjoys the teaching style so much. She can't explain it to people when they ask; her only answer is that Professor Patil is just a really good teacher.
Dominique always tries to come up with extra questions to ask, whether during class or after. She likes the way that Professor Patil always will answer her questions, even if there isn't enough class time and they end up sidetracked for ten minutes because of what Dominique asked. Not all teachers are that willing to answer questions, and Dominique knows there's something special about the ones that do.
Near the end of Dominique's first year, Professor Patil asks her to stay after class. At first, Dominique is worried - staying after class usually isn't a good thing, because it tends to mean either misbehavior or bad marks, and she hates both of those.
As she goes up to the desk, though, Professor Patil takes out a Transfiguration book - a different book, one that's not required course reading. "Here," she says. "It's a little advanced, and you don't need it for classes, but I can tell you're really interested in the subject. You can come to me and ask questions if you need some clarification."
Dominique's grin stretches from ear to ear, and she skips off with the book. That night, she stays up until one in the morning and reads half of it. The next day, she's exhausted, but she finds her way to Professor Patil's office after classes, and she asks questions - and gets answers - for nearly an hour.
o0o0o0o
In third year, Dominique realizes she fancies girls.
Third year is when most people at Hogwarts start dating. None of the relationships tend to last very long, of course - relationships between thirteen- and fourteen-year-olds never do - but the occasional trips to Hogsmeade provide opportunities for official dates that are far more exciting than just holding hands in the corridors. Many of Dominique's classmates end up dating someone that year, whether another third year or, in a few cases, a fourth year, but Dominique doesn't.
She doesn't think that any of the boys are date material. It isn't even that they're all stupid and immature, because they're not. Many of them are, of course, because third-year boys have a bit of a reputation for being stupid and immature, but there are a few that she has conversations with and considers her friends. She likes hanging around with a couple of the boys.
She just can't imagine dating any of them. It just seems strange to her to think of holding hands with a boy in a romantic way, even, much less actually dating or kissing one. She tries to fancy them, tries to join in on her roommates' conversations about who she would like to date, but she just finds herself completely uninterested in the idea.
Then, she sees Liana Morrows jogging around the grounds of Hogwarts in a little less clothing than usual, and she thinks to herself that she wouldn't mind holding hands or kissing her, and the pieces slowly start to click together in her mind.
o0o0o0o
In fifth year, Dominique thinks she might have a little crush on her Transfiguration professor.
It starts as simple platonic adoration - Professor Patil is a strong, capable, intelligent woman who holds a well-respected job that she's very good at, all qualities that Dominique admires. Transfiguration is still an intriguing subject to Dominique, just as it was back in first year, and Professor Patil still answers all of her questions, even though Dominique's questions are far more complicated now.
It transforms into something more, though. Dominique can't help but realize that Padma Patil is an attractive woman. She's close to twenty years older than Dominique, but she's still only thirty-five or so, and she doesn't show any outward signs of aging. Her skin is still smooth, her hair still jet-black with no trace of grey, her figure still lean.
Dominique's admiration of Professor Patil couples with how she finds her attractive, and they merge into romantic attraction - at least that's how Dominique explains it to herself. She hates to think that she's one of those girls who has a crush on a professor, but now she can't deny it. She is one of 'those girls', and while before she used to scoff at people who fancied their attractive professors, saying that there was no chance of anything ever happening, she keeps her mouth shut now. She's not in any place to be criticizing others when she spends her spare time daydreaming about her Transfiguration teacher, anyway.
o0o0o0o
At the very end of seventh year, Professor Patil approaches Dominique and asks if they could meet in her office.
A tiny part of Dominique's mind instantly wanders off, imagining scenarios where Padma - she can call her 'Padma' in her head, she supposes, as long as she never says it out loud - tells her that now they're not student and teacher anymore. She imagines a scenario where Padma's noticed her staring, noticed her rapt attention, and interpreted it as the romantic feelings that they are.
Dominique still nurses a crush on her, after all. It's still going strong, and Dominique attributes it to the fact that they see each other almost every day, and Padma always pays attention to Dominique. Dominique doubts (although she wishes) that Padma reciprocates her feelings, but there's something inherently satisfying about the fact that Padma willingly talks to her and lets Dominique ask all of the Transfiguration questions she wants.
When Dominique enters the office, Padma says, "I wanted to run some experiments over the summer. Experimenting with Transfiguration in ways that aren't really taught or even explained in school. Testing the limits of Gamp's Laws, the expansion of matter, and a few other things I haven't fully thought through yet. The thing is, I want somebody to help me out with some of the details. And I can tell you truly enjoy the subject, so I was thinking that I could offer you a position as my assistant for the summer. If you don't want to, I understand - I'll take an ad out in the Prophet, but I thought I should ask you first."
Dominique smiles. "That sounds amazing," she says, and Padma also looks pleased. Maybe this wasn't the scenario she had imagined, but she supposes that this is certainly better than nothing - and who knew what spending the summer with Padma could lead to? They weren't student and teacher anymore, and as she leaves the office, Dominique feels a glimmer of hope.
Not part of my normal headcanon. This was fun to write, though. I actually do see a lot of similarities between how I portray Padma and Dominique in my fics, and I really liked writing their mutual love for Transfiguration here.