They say "all in all we're just a-nother brick in the wall." I refuse to oblige. I want to stick out. I want to stick out from Victoire, and not just be her little sister. At least people say we're just as pretty and just as smart as each other. But I do not want to be a pretty little housewife, like I believe she is destined to be. That's why i really look up to Aunt Hermione and Aunt Ginny. They've got so much...spunk. And they're feminists like me. Did you know, Aunt Ginny used to play for the Hollyhead Harpies? And Aunt Hermione used to work for the Ministry.
I've just come back from holiday at the Burrow with everyone, and it's my fourth year at Hogwarts. I've really been thinking lot about where my life is going to go. Even though I already chose my extra courses, it's not a guarantee for where I'm headed.
I think I'd like to own a shop in Diagon Alley like George, but not for jokes, for clothing and fashion. I think it's time for witches and wizards to come out of the Dark Ages and modernize.
This is what I thought before I fell asleep. It felt like only two minutes had passed when I was woken by my friend Cheryl. It took me a few seconds to focus on her facial features, not just light tan skin and a mass of beautiful blond curls.
"Dominique! Wake up!" Cheryl shook me. "You need to eat breakfast."
"Ugh," I groaned. I rolled over and fell off the bed.
"Ow!" And then I swore. Cher just giggled. "Thanks, Cherie," I said sarcastically.
"Sorry! I wasn't the one who made you roll over," Cheryl said innocently.
I still glared at her for good measure as I went over to my dresser and began putting on my uniform. When I was done, we went down to the Great Hall for breakfast. I must've looked like a mess. My hair was not brushed yet, and I had no makeup on. It was all in my bag. I'd stop in a bathroom on the way to Potions.
Despite my probably revolting appearance, Crevan, my strawberry blond stalker, still approached me.
"Hello, Dominique," he said coyly, sitting down next to me. I had an egg half hanging out of my mouth. My eyes were unforgiving poisoned daggers. For a second Crevan looked a tad surprised, but quickly got over himself.
"What do you want, Crevan? Can you not harass me today?" I asked, munching on my egg, which still hung halfway out of my mouth.
"Why?" He laid his hand on my thigh. "Do you not love me anymore?"
"I never did. We were never together. Can't you leave me alone?" I ate the rest of the sunny-side-up egg.
"What's wrong, sexy? Won't you give me a kiss?" His hand slid further up my thigh. I picked that vile thing off my leg.
"I hate you, Crevan. Why don't you understand me? Maybe if you weren't trying to rape me every two seconds I would think of you in a better light. But you're a horrible, disgusting pig!" I shot at him. I slid over a foot and a half on the bench.
"Just gimme a kiss," he followed, and tried to push his face into mine, but I stood abruptly and left, letting him fall and face plant on the seat.
I stomped out of the Great Hall. Cheryl tried to follow after me, yelling my name, so I ran. I ran into the nearest bathroom I could find, got myself a stall, and began bawling. That's when I realized I was in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, i couldn't stop crying until Myrtle herself came peering over the stall door.
"I guess even pretty girls get rejected sometimes, too," Myrtle sighed.
"I didn't get rejected, Myrtle." I lashed out. "You have no business talking to me! I get molested almost every day, and we're either all too paralyzed to do anything about it, or no one's around to help me stop him."
"Oooh, who is it?" Myrtle asked, hungry for gossip.
"Crevan Lowry." I wiped away my tears. "Usually he just presses for kisses and just pesters me. Maybe once before he's actually touched me, but he's gotten more aggressive. This time he was trying to feel up my skirt! Oh, why am I even talking to iyou/i about this?"
I pushed myself up off the floor, and stepped out of the stall. How long did I have till class? I stood in front of the mirror. Oh, God, I looked worse than before. Shit. I ran my hand through my falling-apart ponytail. I pulled it out, and ruffled my hair, letting it fall into a purposefully-messy flowing blond mass.
Then a thought crossed my mind.
"Shit." I slumped down onto the floor. "Next class I have is Potions."
"Ooh, is Crevan a Slytherin?" Myrtle asked genuinely.
"Yeah," I answered irritably. "Why do you even care anyway?"
"Because it's so boring, and I'm so lonely wallowing in this accursed bathroom." she said sorrowfully.
I sighed, "Well, you can hang out with me, I guess, but only when I come here."
"Sure, any friend is better than not even having one," Myrtle said, ironically optimistic-sounding for her pitiful tone of voice.
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When the period was over, I hurried down to the dungeons, trying to avoid my classmates, and get to the classroom to talk to Professor Boynton. I turned around a corner to see a stream of students, and ran back. Cheryl had seen me, and was smart enough not to say anything as she followed me back behind the wall.
"Where were you?" Cheryl whispered.
"Bathroom," I looked around the corner and pulled back.
"For the whole class?"
"Yeah, I couldn't go because Crevan was going to be there."
"What an asshole."
"Then why don't you stick up for me?"
"What am I supposed to do?" she asked cluelessly.
"Tell him to back off!" I yelled frustratedly. I turned the corner and continued to Potions class.
"But then they'll say we're lesbians."
I turned around, ready to punch that bitch in the nose. "So you let your best friend be sexually harassed on a daily basis because you don't want to be called a lesbian? What kind of a friend are you?"
Cheryl tried to say something, but I cut her off.
"Don't even, Cheryl. Maybe if you help me out I'll accept your friendship again."
I stormed off into Professor Boynton's class. I don't even know what happened to Cheryl.
"So, why'd you skip class this time, Dominique? You can be honest with me," Boynton came to greet me at the door, "why do you miss my class all the time? And hen you are in class, you always seem on edge."
"I can't exactly tell you," I said uncomfortably. I want this terror to end, but I can't exactly just itell/i Professor Boynton. Myrtle's different. She's been dead for almost a hundred years anyway.
"Oh, come on, Dominique," she rolled her eyes, exasperated. "Do you want to com in here and talk to me during lunch? I don't want you to miss your next class." She raised an eyebrow at me when she said that last sentence.
"Yeah, that's fine," I felt a weight be lifted off my shoulders. I wouldn't have to face Crevan at lunch. I wouldn't have to face Crevan at lunch! I felt my visage lighten.
"I'll see you then," Professor Boynton turned around and walked back into her classroom.
I began to head up, winding through the dungeons. But I only turned one corner when a pair of hands pushed me up against a grimy brick wall.
"Why don't you want to have lunch with me, Dominique?" Crevan spat my name.
"Get off me, you cretin!" I pushed, but it was to no avail. Damn, where was my wand?
"Never," he leaned in and brushed his nose against mine. That's when it hit me that I couldn't do anything. I was literally and figuratively up against a brick wall.
"HELP! HELP! SOMEONE HELP!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.
That was when he smashed his lips into mine.