Chapter 4: December 2016
"What am I going to do?" Dominique groaned, letting herself fall back-first onto her bed in a dramatic display.
"What are you talking about?" Brooke asked, looking up from the book she was reading – another Ursula Turner she'd borrowed from the library.
"I'm talking about Adrian!" Dominique exclaimed. "It's almost the end of term and I still haven't gotten a chance to properly talk to him."
"Just sit down next to him in the common room," Brooke suggested. "He's down there all the time."
"But he's always with his friends," Dominique pointed out. "It's awkward if his friends are there. And whenever he's alone, it's because he's studying. I'm not going to interrupt him while he's doing his schoolwork."
"Well you'd better do something," Brooke declared.
"What? Why?" Dominique asked, suddenly worried that Brooke knew something that she didn't.
"Because I can't go through another term of you complaining about this!" Brooke cried. "So, either find your Gryffindor courage and talk to the guy you like or forget about him and move on!"
"You're right," Dominique nodded, mind made up. "I need to just suck it up and do it. If I strike out, then I strike out, but I can't keep on going like this."
"I think he's down in the common room now," Brooke said hopefully. "You should go down there."
"I can't talk to him now!" Dominique cried. "I've already taken my makeup off for the night and I'm wearing my pyjamas and he's probably down there with Cameron and Caitlin anyway. No. I know exactly when I'm going to properly introduce myself."
"And when's that?" Brooke asked.
"After the Gryffindor/Hufflepuff game," Dominique declared. "When he wins, he'll be in such a good mood that he'll have to say yes when I ask him out."
"And if we lose?" Brooke asked.
"Well obviously you can't lose," Dominique said. "I'm counting on you Brooke, so don't disappoint me."
"Gee, like there wasn't already enough pressure on me," Brooke rolled her eyes.
"But don't catch the snitch right away either," Dominique urged her. "Let the game go on for a bit so that Adrian can save a few goals and feel good about himself. If you catch the snitch before anyone does anything, then it'll be like it was just a seeker's match."
"You sure seem to have a good grip on how Quidditch works," Brooke pointed out. "Could it be that you've actually started paying attention to our practices instead of just watching Adrian?"
"Of course not," Dominique shook her head. Quidditch was still the most boring thing she'd ever had to sit through. "It's just that you and Miles talk about it so much, I was bound to pick up on something eventually."
"So the Hufflepuff game," Brooke said, steering the conversation back on course. "That's only a few days away. Are you sure you're ready?"
"I'm ready," Dominique nodded. She felt herself filled with a strange sense of calm at the thought of finally doing it and asking Adrian out. After almost four months of mooning over him, it was time to take action.
DdDdDdDdDdD
The day of the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff game was a cold one. It was one of those days where it feels like the air is so sharp it's cutting into your skin like a blade. One of those days where no matter how much you bundle up, it still feels like you're standing in the cold in your underwear and you feel like you're dying and the tears that are forcing their way out of your eyes are freezing to your cheeks and you don't know why you're crying except that it's so darn cold outside.
Dominique was not excited.
"At least you'll be moving around," Dominique complained as she pulled on a fourth sweater. "I'm going to be stuck standing there in the cold with nothing to do to distract myself."
"Trust me, it'll be worse being up in the air, flying around with the wind and the cold," Brooke returned. "My face is going to be so chapped after this is might just fall off. You can at least wrap your head in a scarf and hide under it. It's not like you care about watching the game."
"True," Dominique nodded. "But it's still going to suck."
Once they were bundled and ready to go, the two Gryffindor girls headed down to the common room. Miles and Tom were there waiting, and Dominique purposefully ignored Tom, instead grabbing Miles by the arm and pulling him towards the portrait hole.
"Excited for the game?" she asked loudly, so that Tom would hear her taking an interest in her friends. It was a little passive aggressive – okay it was a lot passive aggressive. But Dominique was still really mad.
"Yeah, I think our chances are pretty good," Miles nodded. "Hufflepuff's captain from last year graduated and now Lisa Burrows is leading the team, and while she's a great chaser, my impression is that she's not as knowledgeable about the rest of the positions. I don't expect them to present much of a united front."
"Hopefully it'll be a short game then," Dominique muttered.
At her comment, Miles looked sad, and Dominique realized how it had sounded.
"No, I didn't mean it like that!" she cried. "I only meant it because it's so cold outside, everybody's going to want to get back inside where it's warm."
Miles nodded, but the damage had been done. Dominique sighed. Ever since the disastrous Hogsmeade trip, there'd been a wedge in her and Miles' friendship. Nothing like with Tom, but it was still a little uncomfortable, and Dominique didn't know why. She couldn't understand why Miles was taking the revelation that she liked Adrian so personally.
As soon as they stepped outside, the cold hit them full force. Tom cursed and Dominique immediately started rubbing her hands together to create friction.
"Brooke, I take back what I said," Dominique called out to her friend behind her. "Catch the snitch as fast as you can."
They hurried down to the pitch quickly, and Dominique watched jealously as her friends and Tom headed into the changing rooms, where it would be warmer, to prepare for the start of the game. Meanwhile, Dominique had to climb up into the stands and take a seat in the cold.
She noticed that some of her other fellow Gryffindor fourth years were already there, and decided to join them. It would be slightly warmer if she was sitting amongst others than if she was alone and completely exposed to the elements.
"Hey guys," she said, approaching Grant and Zeke. "Mind if I join you?"
"I thought you hated Quidditch," Grant said. "What are you doing here?"
Dominique shrugged. "My friends are on the team," she said, figuring that this was a safer explanation than the truth. "I'm just hoping the game ends quickly and we can go back up to the castle and drink some hot chocolate."
"Ooh, I could go for a hot chocolate," Zeke nodded as Dominique took her seat next to the boys.
Dominique mostly ignored the conversation between Zeke and Grant, as it mostly revolved around the upcoming game and she had just about zero interest in it. Instead, she continued rubbing her hands together and tapping her feet in an effort to keep warm and watched the door to the changing rooms like her life depended on it.
After much too long a wait, Madame Volant and the two teams emerged, ready to start the game. The captains shook hands, and then everyone flew up into the air to take their positions. Madame Volant released the snitch, then the two bludgers, and then finally launched the quaffle into the air, commencing the game.
As usual, the beginning of the game mostly involved the chasers arguing over the quaffle while the keepers stood guard hovering near the goalposts. The beaters focused most of their attention on the chasers and the seekers flew around without much focus. Gryffindor took control of the quaffle first, and immediately flew it in the direction of the Hufflepuff goalposts in an attempt to score their first goal, leaving Adrian to fly around the Gryffindor goalposts a little lazily while still keeping his focus on the game.
To be honest, Dominique was disappointed that Adrian wasn't seeing very much action. The Hufflepuff chasers were having trouble keeping control of the quaffle long enough to cross over to the Gryffindor end of the pitch, let alone to get it close enough to Adrian for him to have to do anything interesting. She supposed it should be a good thing – Gryffindor was definitely winning the game – but it was boring.
Somewhere along the way, the Hufflepuff team did start to rally a bit and made a couple of attempts at scoring on the Gryffindor team. Adrian blocked the shots expertly, and even dodged a couple of bludgers while doing so. If the game would have gone on longer, he might have been able to show off a bit more, make some more impressive saves, but Brooke caught the snitch too soon for that and the game was over.
Dominique was ecstatic. Over the course of the game, she'd become so cold that she was mostly numb at this point, and though watching Adrian was always fun, the rest of the game had been a snooze-fest. And since Gryffindor had won, Adrian was sure to be in a great mood when she headed down to the pitch to talk to him.
Unlike the last time, Dominique allowed Adrian and the rest of the team to return to the changing rooms to change and shower before she headed down to the pitch. It also gave the students in the stands a chance to head back up to the castle, giving her less of an audience. She was filled with nerves and didn't need the whole school watching when she finally approached Adrian.
Trying to look as casual as possible without betraying how hypothermic she was becoming, Dominique strategically placed herself near the exit to the changing rooms and leaned herself nonchalantly against a nearby post. Her plan was to make it look like she was waiting for Brooke or Miles, and then to catch Adrian on his way out.
Before anyone emerged from the changing rooms though, an unwelcome face appeared.
"What are you doing here?" Dominique demanded, infuriated that this was happening again.
"I could ask you the same question," Summer Snow replied.
"I'm waiting for my friends," Dominique claimed.
"Oh good," Summer said. "I was afraid you were going to say you were here to ask out Adrian again, and that would've just been sad. Especially since I would only beat you to it."
"What makes you think Adrian would ever go out with you?" Dominique demanded.
Summer flipped her hair over her shoulder haughtily. "Well, I'm beautiful, and charming, and I play Quidditch, so we have that in common. Why wouldn't he go out with me?"
"Because you're the enemy!" Dominique cried.
Though she hadn't meant it to come out the way it had, she could see in Summer's face that she shouldn't've phrased it like that. All she'd meant was that Summer played on an opposing Quidditch team. Dominique knew that after the second wizarding war, the strong enmity between Gryffindor and Slytherin had started to fizzle. Though a great deal of hostility still existed, the whole 'Gryffindors are good, Slytherins are bad' mentality had become extremely dated. It wasn't fair to judge a whole group of people based solely on the house they'd been sorted into.
"Well, I suppose we'll just have to see whether Adrian is as small-minded as you think he is. If he rejects me solely based on my house, then maybe he should be with you. But I know he's not like that," Summer sniffed.
"That's not what I – " Dominique didn't bother to finish her sentence. It didn't matter what she said, Summer disliked her, and she wasn't going to change her mind.
Besides, Adrian was on his way out of the changing rooms, Caitlin Bell by his side. Dominique immediately straightened up, and saw Summer do the same out of the corner of her eye.
"Hi Adrian," Summer cooed as he passed by. "Great game."
"Thanks," Adrian smiled, turning his head in Summer's direction.
Dominique knew she needed to take this opportunity to say something or else Adrian would keep walking and Summer would have occupied all of his time.
"You're really good at catching," Dominique threw in, hoping that this was an appropriate compliment for a keeper. She wasn't fully up to speed on her Quidditch terminology.
"You mean blocking?" Summer asked, her tone making Dominique feel like a five-year-old. "When you stop a goal, it's called blocking, not catching. Catching is what chasers do when they throw the ball amongst each other."
"Whatever," Dominique muttered, feeling slightly embarrassed and also annoyed that Summer was monopolizing all her time with Adrian. "He caught the ball."
"I think you mean the quaffle," Summer corrected her.
"It's a ball, isn't it?" Dominique demanded. She shifted her focus from Adrian to Summer, now filled with irritation and frustration. "What's wrong with calling it a ball?"
"Well, the snitch and the bludgers are balls too," Summer replied. "You don't want to be ambiguous. You could have been talking about any of them."
"I think Adrian knew I was talking about the quaffle," Dominique retorted. "It's not like you can even catch a bludger anyway, and only the seekers interact with the snitch."
"I think as a Quidditch player, Adrian would appreciate it if people would use more precise terminology when talking about his sport of choice," Summer returned.
"I'm sure Adrian just appreciates that I was at the game, whether or not I know the proper terminology," Dominique insisted.
"I think we should let Adrian decide," Summer declared.
"Yeah, let's let Adrian decide," Dominique agreed, turning back only to find that Adrian and Caitlin had both disappeared, probably heading back up to the castle. Dominique wasn't sure at what point exactly he'd left, but it had probably been somewhere in the middle of her and Summer's argument.
"You scared him off!" Summer cried.
"No, I think you scared him off," Dominique accused. "You were the one who started correcting everything I was saying. We were having a perfectly lovely conversation before you butted in."
"I think you mean before you butted in," Summer clarified. "If you remember correctly, I was talking to him first."
"But he was only talking to you because you were here. He'd rather have been talking to me," Dominique said.
"So you admit you intruded on my conversation!" Summer exclaimed.
"I'm admitting nothing," Dominique shook her head. "Just stay away from Adrian from now on."
"You stay away from Adrian," Summer returned. "He's mine."
"No, he's mine!" Dominique cried.
"Uh, what's going on here?" Brooke's voice reminded Dominique that she and Summer were still standing out in the open where anyone could hear their argument.
"Nothing," Summer muttered, flipping her hair again. "We were just having a disagreement, but there's no point in continuing to discuss it. Cross me again, and you'll be sorry."
Summer began to walk back towards school and Dominique hated to let the Slytherin girl have the last word.
"Well you'd better watch your back!" she called out.
"Is that a threat?" Summer frowned, pausing and turning around.
"That's up to you," Dominique replied. "Come on Brooke, let's get inside. I'm freezing."
Pushing past Summer, Dominique and Brooke hurried back up to the castle, eager to get inside the walls and up to the common room where there was a fireplace and the possibility of grabbing a cup of tea or hot chocolate. As soon as they stepped through the doors to the Entrance Hall, Dominique started to feel the warmth returning to her body, and she started rubbing her hands together again to speed up the re-heating process.
"So what was that all about?" Brooke wondered as they began to climb the stairs.
"Summer seems to think Adrian's going to want to go out with her, and she keeps interrupting my plans to ask him out," Dominique replied. "This is the second time she's interfered and the second time Adrian's walked off having barely registered I was there."
"With all that yelling, I'd be surprised if he didn't notice you," Brooke commented.
"He left before the worst of it," Dominique sighed.
"Why don't you just ask him out in the common room?" Brooke wondered. "Summer couldn't interfere, because she can't come into our common room."
Dominique shrugged. "Well it's too late now. I missed my chance for today, and tomorrow we're heading home for the holidays. I'll have to wait until next term now."
Brooke shook her head. "It's not like we're going home this second," she replied. "You still have time before the train leaves tomorrow, and even then, there's a whole train ride ahead of us."
"No," Dominique shook her head. Her mind had been made up, and then Summer had messed everything up. She couldn't just spontaneously change her plans, she had to completely rethink everything now. "I have to wait until January."
"Whatever you say," Brooke said.
