Fives Times
One
"Watch it, Weasley."
The boy who pushed past her had to be at least a fifth year; burly and big, with a green tie hanging loosely from his neck. He laughed loudly with his friends. Apart from the ruthless taunts, they mostly ignored her, for which she was grateful.
The corridor was empty, now. She should be on her way to first-year Transfiguration... if Dominique could actually find the classroom, that is. A cold breeze blew through the castle walls, and she shivered. Where was she? She'd never been to this part of the castle before.
There were portraits hung on the walls, bigger than usual and in ornate frames. Knights in garish armour and ladies in corsets and dresses, cats and dogs and kings of the most spectacular kind.
Dominique kept on walking. If she kept on walking, she was bound to find it eventually, right?
"Not lost, are you?"
Dominique gasped and almost fell forward. A portrait was speaking to her; a tall, handsome man draped in robes of brilliant scarlet and gold, leaning on a sword.
"Y-yes," she said, pausing. "I am."
"Didn't ask for directions, girl?" The man asked.
Dominique said nothing, but bit her lip and looked down. The older children teased first-years, gave them the wrong directions, and she wasn't going to be the one first-year who ended up in the dungeons.
"Scared, are you, lassie?" The man in the portrait laughed, and without waiting for an answer, continued. "Well, I got somethin' to say to that, would you know - don't be afraid of them, no. You are in the house of Gryffindor, a better house I've never seen. Courage is found in unlikely places, m'girl. Aren't gonna go anywhere without it, am I right?"
Two
"This one," said the Muggle Art Professor, "is Godric Gryffindor." The third-years eagerly peered at the portrait, startled when the pompous-looking man with the smirk knelt down and nodded.
"Small ones," the man said, adjusting his cloak. Dominique Weasley stood at the back, textbook underneath her arm and brow furrowed. She was taller than most in her year; taking after her father's height, she was already taller than all of the women in her family (excluding Angelina and her mum) at the age of twelve.
The girl with the flaming hair caught the portrait's eye. "Well, innit the lost girl," he said, and there was no doubt the portrait was talking to Dominique, who looked up with wide eyes. "Take my advice, have you?"
She stared at him blankly for a moment before what he said registered. She nodded hastily.
As they were walking away, Alice Longbottom gave Dominique an incredulous look. "Godric Gryffindor gave you advice?"
Three
Don't curse them. Don't curse them. Don't curse -
Dominique growled, throwing her inner monologue out of the metaphorical window. Her brother did nothing wrong! He was only a first year! Louis had done absolutely nothing, and he'd gotten a hex and a painful charm from a pack of elder Slytherins just because.
She stormed away from the crowd at the end of the corridor, too preoccupied with the cloud in her mind to see where she was going.
After a good few minutes of fuming, Dominique stopped and looked around. She was in the corridor with the Gryffindor painting, wasn't she? She must have been quite angry to have gone such a long way -
"Aren't angry, are you, girl?"
Gryffindor leaned against his gleaming silver sword, a mix between a smirk and a smile on his face.
"Just a little bit," admitted Dominique. She was still flushed from anger, no doubt, but the storm clouds in her mind had cleared up a little bit.
"If you leave it all in there, it's gonna fester and rot, from the inside out, wouldn't you know. Let it out."
Dominique sighed, and the portrait Gryffindor adjusted his robes and smirked once more, shoulders straight in a clearly confident manner.
"Takes courage to walk away, m'girl. Takes a lot more courage than hexing them into oblivion."
Four
"Shh! If we're caught out here, we've got detention until the end of the year..."
"Bugger that," Dominique whispered, laughing, "until we're thirty!"
"Why are we out here, again?" James asked, snickering.
"It was your idea. You wanted to go find the Room of Requirement without anyone else around, James."
"Ah," said James, nodded as if he hadn't forgotten. "Where is it, then?"
"It only shows up when you need it, git," reminded Dominique. "And anyway, I doubt we're anywhere close to it. This isn't the right corridor..."
It was the corridor with the Gryffindor portrait, although she doubted James knew that. It wasn't travelled very often. She didn't know why.
"Ah," spoke a voice, deep from behind them. James flinched violently in shock and gripped his wand. Dominique turned to where she expected to see the portrait talking, and indeed he was. Godric Gryffindor was rimrod straight, shoulders back, with a confident air – well, as confident as a portrait could be. "Troublemakers, out and about, are you?"
"Shh!" whispered James, waving his hands about.
"Don't you worry, girl -"
"- I'm not a girl -"
"- there isn't anybody 'round these parts. The lost small one, innit?" He asked, nodding to Dominique, who nodded back in affirmation.
"Nothing wrong with a little trouble, don't get me wrong, will you. Go use my courage for something amusing, will you?"
Dominique smiled and pulled James aside.
Five
Only one more week, and then she'd be gone. Graduated. An actual adult – how scary the thought of that was! Hogwarts was her home. Gryffindor was her home. There wasn't going to be any papers or essays or textbooks for real life, and for the first time, she wished there was.
She was so excited to grow up and leave this place, but with only days left, she wasn't. Not anymore.
Dominique adjusted her tie, rubbing the end with her thumb and forefinger. No more uniforms. No more late-night common room fiascoes, no more sneaking out and pulling pranks with James.
Merlin, would she ever miss it. Dominique continued to wander throughout the castle, sighing loudly.
"Nothing troubling you, is there?" The portrait asked. Dominique whirled around – she hadn't even realized she was in this corridor.
"Only a few things," she replied with a wry smiling.
"Growing up, innit?" Gryffindor asked, and Dominique nodded. "I've seen lots of you grow up. Told them all this, said they better listen up, because this last one is important, yes. Growing up takes courage. The most courageous act is becoming yourself. Don't forget that, girl."
a/n - If not for the 355 Pairings Challenge, there's a great chance I wouldn't have written this. It got my muse going, and this was loads of fun to write. Um, I'm not really sure how to characterize Godric Gryffindor himself, but I'd imagine his portrait would speak uniquely, due to a mixing of different time periods (and perhaps accents). Word count: 1,108.