Chapter 10: June 2015
As it turned out, Quinn had been mad at Joanna because Joanna had unknowingly checked out a book from the library that Quinn had needed for her History of Magic paper. In return, Quinn had seen fit to steal Joanna's cat. In the days following, Dominique tried everything to convince Quinn to return the cat, but Quinn adamantly refused, claiming this was her revenge.
"I really think we should tell one of the Professors," Dominique said to Joanna one afternoon after another failed attempt to get Tommy back.
"That'll only make it worse," Joanna wailed. Her eyes were red from all the crying she'd been doing, and her nose was running like a faucet. "If we involve the Professors she'll get even angrier and she'll just want to get back at me more."
"But what she's doing is wrong!" Dominique insisted. "She can't kidnap your cat. It's kidnapping! It's catnapping!"
"I can try apologizing again," Joanna suggested.
"You've apologized twenty times already," Dominique shook her head. "You'd already apologized before she took Tommy. Obviously apologizing isn't working."
"But I don't know what else I can do!" Joanna cried. "Just think of how scared Tommy must be. What do you think she's doing to him down in those dingy dungeons?"
"I'm sure she's treating Tommy just fine," Dominique assured her. Though she wasn't sure she really believed this, Joanna at least needed to believe that Tommy was alright. "Just having you know she has him is enough, there's no reason why she'd be hurting him."
"I just wish I knew he was safe and warm in the basement," Joanna sighed, referring to where the Hufflepuff dorms were located.
"I'll talk to her again," Dominique declared. "I'll make her see reason, I promise."
"Thanks Dominique," Joanna said gratefully. "But you know, you don't have to do this. It's not like he's your cat."
"I should never have given him to Quinn in the first place," Dominique shook her head. "I'm responsible for this whole mess, so I should fix it."
Thanking her again, Joanna left. Though Dominique had told her that she was going to try talking to Quinn again, it had been a lie. Dominique could plead with Quinn to return Tommy until she was blue in the face, but the Slytherin wasn't going to cave. There was only one thing left to do, and if Joanna refused to do it, then Dominique would have to do it for her.
"Professor Longbottom?" Dominique called out, knocking on the door to her Head of House's office. "May I speak with you?"
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"You got Professor Longbottom involved?" Miles asked disbelievingly that night in the common room.
"What was I supposed to do?" Dominique demanded. "She was holding a cat hostage and the Professors are here to help when these things happen."
"This is Quinn Adams we're talking about," Tom reminded Dominique. "She's evil. And she's bound to find out it was you who ratted on her."
"Well whatever she decides to do to me, at least I know Joanna and Tommy are back together," Dominique replied. Though Joanna had been less than enthusiastic about Dominique's methods, she'd been overjoyed to be reunited with her cat.
"So what happened exactly?" Brooke wondered. "You told Professor Longbottom and then…"
"Well first he brought in Professor Abbott-Longbottom, since she's the Head of Hufflepuff. And then they brought in Professor Tonks who's Head of Slytherin. And then Professor Tonks went down to the dungeons and came back with Tommy," Dominique recounted.
"I wish I could have been in the dungeons to see Quinn's face when Professor Tonks demanded she return Joanna's cat," Brooke said. "I bet it was priceless."
"Oh I definitely wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere in the vicinity when Professor Tonks went down there," Dominique confessed. "She was probably so mad. I just hope she didn't take it out on some innocent first year."
"No, she wouldn't have," Tom replied. "Because she's going to take it out on you."
"Stop being such a drama queen," Dominique rolled her eyes. "Everything's going to be fine. What could Quinn possibly do to me?"
"Are you kidding me?" Tom cried. "She's already doused you in swelling solution and stolen a girl's cat! Who knows what she's capable of?"
"See? You're blowing everything way out of proportion," Dominique said. "She didn't douse me in potion, she just spilt some on my hand. It was no big deal."
All three of her friends gave her pointed stares.
"Okay fine, she did it on purpose," Dominique sighed. "So maybe I should watch my back for a few weeks."
"More like the rest of eternity," Tom muttered. Dominique pretended not to hear that.
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Over the next few days, all thoughts of Quinn flew from Dominique's mind as she and her friends studied intensely for their second-year final exams. When it was finally time to write the exams, Dominique's head was so crammed with information that she didn't have room to worry about Quinn even if she'd wanted to.
The morning of their first exam, everyone was panicking. While first year exams were all theoretical, some of their second year exams were practical, including this first one; charms. As Dominique and her friends were finishing up their breakfast, Dominique suddenly realized that she'd left her wand in her dorm – and she was going to need that to complete the exam.
"How do you forget your wand?" Miles frowned when Dominique stood up to go get it.
"I don't know," Dominique muttered. "I had so much on my mind this morning, I guess I just never thought to grab it."
"But don't you bring it with you everywhere?" Miles asked. "You shouldn't even have to think about it."
"How many times have you come down to the common room having forgotten to put on your glasses?" Dominique countered. "Sometimes people just forget things."
Miles backed off and Dominique hurried out of the Great Hall. If she was going to make it up to the seventh floor and then back to the second floor for her charms exam, she was going to have to hurry. Thankfully, Professor Flitwick had said he would be taking them in one by one in alphabetical order, so she had some time. She wouldn't be called until the very end.
As Dominique rounded the corner and headed towards the Grand Staircase, she found her path blocked. She skidded to a halt and froze.
"Quinn," she greeted the girl standing in front of her. "How are you?"
"Not so good," Quinn replied. "Did you know they gave me three detentions for kidnapping Joanna's cat? Three detentions."
Dominique fidgeted nervously. "No, I didn't," she replied. "Three, wow, that's a lot."
"Dominique, I don't like detention," Quinn said, stepping closer. Swallowing hard, Dominique took a step back in fear.
"Yeah, neither do I," she agreed. "Detention sucks."
"You know what sucks even worse though?" Quinn asked, taking another step closer.
"What's that?" Dominique asked, looking over her shoulder, desperate for someone to round the corner and save her.
"Having to go to detention when you didn't even do anything wrong," Quinn replied.
It crossed Dominique's mind to point out that Quinn had done something wrong, but she was so paralyzed by fear that she couldn't move, let alone speak.
"I'm going to make you sorry you ever stuck your nose into my business," Quinn said, stepping even closer. Her eyes were piercing and Dominique found herself unable to breathe.
Knowing that she needed to get out of there, Dominique spun around and made to run away, but before she could, two strong arms grabbed her by either shoulder and spun her around.
Dominique had no idea where they'd come from, but they'd clearly been waiting for Quinn to give them the go-ahead. Catherine Flint and Marsha Bowman – Quinn's two best friends – dragged Dominique backwards and shoved her into a broom cupboard.
"Help!" Dominique cried, but Quinn slapped a hand over her mouth to silence her.
"Now I want you to wait right here," Quinn ordered, "and think about what you've done. I'll come back for you around dinnertime."
"But we have our charms exam in five minutes," Dominique cried. "If I don't show up, Professor Flitwick will have to fail me."
"And then you'll be held back a year," Quinn nodded. "What a pity. Maybe they'll even expel you. It's what I'd do if I were Headmaster Slinkhard."
"Quinn you can't just lock me in a cupboard!" Dominique cried, trying to fight her way out. Unfortunately, Catherine and Marsha were both stronger than her and together, they were impossible to fight off.
Ignoring her, Quinn shut the door in Dominique's face. Dominique heard her utter a locking spell, sealing her into the cupboard, and then she heard the footsteps of the three girls walking away.
Frantically, Dominique fumbled for her wand, only to realize that her wand had been what she'd been on her way to get. Of all the days to forget her wand, why did it have to be the day she got locked in a broom cupboard?
Dominique listened for footsteps on the other side of the door. If someone passed by, she could call for help. She doubted that Quinn had managed to put a silencing spell on the door, as it was a fifth year spell and Quinn barely qualified as a second year. But there were no sounds to be heard. By now, everyone would be gone, ready to sit their exams, leaving Dominique with no other option but to sit down on an overturned metal bucked and start to cry.
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Dominique had been in the cupboard for over an hour by now and had lost all hope of ever making it to her exam. Why had she gotten involved with Quinn? She should have just left Joanna to fend for herself. At least she shouldn't have involved the Professors. Everyone had warned her that it was a bad idea, and now here she was, stuck in a broom cupboard with no way to get to her charms exam.
"…looked everywhere. She's not in the common room or the dorm, not in the library… where could she be?" a voice sounded from outside the door.
Dominique immediately stood up. She recognized that voice. It was Miles! She immediately started banging on the door and screaming for help, hoping that Miles would hear her.
"Dominique?" Miles's voice called out. "Is that you?"
"Yes! It's me! I'm locked in the broom cupboard!" Dominique cried. "Please get me out of here!"
There was the sound of footsteps running over to the cupboard, and then Miles cast the unlocking spell, freeing Dominique from her prison.
"What were you doing in there?" Miles asked, catching her as she fell out. Brooke and Tom stood behind him and Dominique had never been so happy to see her friends' faces.
"It was Quinn," Dominique revealed. "You were right Tom, I never should have gotten involved. She wanted to make me miss my exam so they'd have to expel me."
"Seriously?" Brooke cried. "She locked you in a cupboard?"
"Yeah," Dominique shrugged. "I guess it was pretty effective though. Now I'm going to fail charms."
"No Dominique, you still have time!" Miles cried. "Professor Flitwick hasn't finished the exams yet, you can still make it!"
"I don't have my wand," Dominique reminded him.
"Here, I have it," Brooke said, handing it over. "When you never showed up, we knew something was wrong. When we checked the dorm and I saw that your wand was still there, I figured I should grab it so that when we did find you we wouldn't have to make another trip."
"Thanks," Dominique said gratefully. "Wish me luck!"
She hurried up to the second floor at a run. She wasn't going to risk missing her exam because she'd walked too slow, not after everything she'd been through. When she arrived in the corridor, only Liam Watson and Sean Weston were still waiting.
"Dominique, you made it!" Liam cried in surprise. "Everyone was wondering where you were."
"It's a long story," Dominique replied, catching her breath and taking a seat with the two boys on the floor. "But I'm here now, that's what's important."
Professor Flitwick popped his head out of his office and called Liam in for his exam. As soon as the door shut behind him, Sean turned to Dominique with a cold look in his eye.
"Quinn won't be happy to hear that you made it," he said. "You should have stayed put."
"And risked being kicked out of Hogwarts?" Dominique asked. "No way."
"This isn't over," Sean warned. "Quinn will have her revenge."
"So you're on her side too?" Dominique raised her eyebrows in surprise. She hadn't realized that the whole of Slytherin House was backing Quinn up.
"I'm just saying that it's better not to cross her," Sean replied.
"Thanks for the warning, I guess," Dominique frowned, confused by the exchange.
Just then, Professor Flitwick returned, announcing that it was Dominique's turn.
"Remember what I said," Sean said. "Just try to stay out of her way."
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Soon, it was the end of term. After the day of the charms exam, Dominique had been on the lookout for Quinn everywhere she went. Her friends had refused to let her go anywhere alone. But it seemed as though Quinn had decided to leave Dominique alone. Maybe she'd decided that Dominique had gotten the message and had been punished enough. Whatever the reason though, Dominique was glad to be done with the girl.
The day before they were meant to leave the school, Dominique and Brooke headed down to the library to return the last of the books they had borrowed. Students weren't supposed to keep books out over the summer, as Madam Maxwell would use the summer to take inventory and mend the books that needed mending.
"Oh girls, I'm glad to see you," Madam Maxwell greeted them when they deposited their books on the counter. "I have a little end-of-term gift for the two of you."
Curious, Dominique tried to lean over the counter to see as Madam Maxwell turned and rummaged through one of her cabinets. She turned back around holding two brand new books in her hands.
"These are for you," she said, handing each of them a copy. It was the same book, and it was called Shadows at Night. "This was my favorite book as a young girl, and I thought you might appreciate it too."
"Thank you," Dominique and Brooke said in unison.
"This is so nice of you," Dominique added.
"Well, I just love to see young people so interested in reading. You don't see a lot of that these days, you know," Madam Maxwell said.
"Have a nice holiday," Brooke smiled.
"You as well," the librarian smiled back.
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The next day, Dominique and the rest of Hogwarts dragged their trunks out to the grounds and made their way to the Hogwarts Express.
"Well, we made it through second year," Miles smiled.
"I still can't believe I got an Outstanding in charms," Dominique muttered.
Her friends laughed and rolled their eyes. "We can," Brooke said.
"Can you levitate our trunks onto the luggage rack?" Tom asked.
"'Course," Dominique agreed, accomplishing the feat in half the time it would have taken anyone else.
"So, any summer plans?" Brooke asked as they all sat down. "Maybe we can meet up sometime and hang."
"That sounds like fun," Dominique agreed. "Count me in."
"Sounds like fun," Tom agreed while Miles nodded silently.
The train started to pull out of the station and Dominique watched nostalgically as the castle grew smaller and smaller in the distance. She'd be back though. The next two months were going to fly by and soon, they would all be third years. Dominique smiled. Third years. It had a nice ring to it. She could only hope she was ready.
Thanks for reading! Hope you liked the story.
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Next up in Dominique's story: Those Fragile Bonds