A/N: Alright. So, I'm just going to pretend that I actually had this whole thing planned out when I started writing it, and that this chapter was always intended to explain the title. Yeah. I'm just going to go with it. Thanks a million to all my reviewers! I love you guys.
Chapter 36 - The Cave (Sam)
I cheered along with everyone else while the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams took to the pitch. Most of us were in Gryffindor spirit all the way. My face was painted half red half gold, courtesy of Roxie.
I glanced down the line of my friends. Roxie and Rose were at the very end with Rose's hair dyed even more scarlet than it normally is and Roxie's brown hair dyed gold. Lucy was next to them, along with Lysander Scamander.
I wish there was a spell I could make that would show the way people feel about each other…
Scor was next to Lysander, and after him were Dylan and Al. I was on the very end, cheering for Dom as loud as I possibly could.
"Excuse me, young man," said a very adult voice from next to me. "What's your name?"
"Sam Baker," I said, looking at the man next to me. He was holding a clipboard. "What's yours?"
"Thomas Fletcher," he said. "I'm a Quidditch scout."
I nodded. Quidditch scouts tend to lurk at the Hogwarts Quidditch games.
"You seem to know the Gryffindor team pretty well," he said. "Who's playing?"
"Well, the Keeper is Lyra Malfoy. She's a seventh year," I said, pointing at her as she caught the Quaffle that Em had just thrown at her. It's so weird when Gryffindor and Slytherin play each other, since Will's kind of in love with Em and then he has to play against her. "The Seeker is Kelly Wood, she's a fourth year."
The scout nodded. "What about the Chasers?"
"Well, Will Corner's the really good one. He's a seventh year," I said, pointing at him as he flew by with the Quaffle and scored what looked like a nearly impossible goal past the Slytherin Keeper. "Then Christina Webber's a fifth year, this is her first year on the team. And Jacob Lloyd's a third year."
The scout nodded. "And the Beaters?"
"Hugo Weasley," I said. "He's only a fifth year as well. But Dominique Weasley's the captain, and she's a seventh year and she wants to go pro."
The scout smiled at me. "We've had our eye on Dominique Weasley for a while, don't worry."
I nodded at him and turned back to the game in time to see Dom save Will's life from a passing Bludger. I really hope she makes the team.
OOooOOooOOooOO
"I don't want to do NEWTs," Roxie said, looking absolutely terrified. "At all. For any reason. Do we have to? Can we just…not?"
"No," Will, Rose, Ly, and Em said in unison.
"You'll be fine, Roxie," Dom said. "I'm going to fail all of them and then not get a spot on the team because no one will have an idiot on their team."
"You're not an idiot," I said.
"Thanks, Sam," she said, smiling at me. I love it when she smiles.
"I totally understand why James was freaking the fuck out last year," Al groaned, staring at his books. "Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck-"
"Steady on, mate," Dylan said, looking slightly worried.
"Fuck," Al replied.
"Well, it's not like any of us really need our NEWTs to do what we want to do," Lucy said comfortingly.
"No?" Al demanded. "Because they let just every Tom, Dick, and Harry be a Healer these days do they?"
"Okay, well, Al may be fucked, but the rest of us should be fine regardless," Lucy said.
"Maybe I can write my medical thesis on the effects of drugs and alcohol on NEWT performance," Al mumbled, hitting his head on the table.
"Well, that's not going to help," Rose said. "Hitting your head on the table."
"Easy for you to say," Will said. "You're the best in the year."
"Not at Transfiguration, or Charms, or Potions," Rose said. "Since I've got to compete with you lot."
Ly, Will and I stared at the table, slightly chagrined.
"I do sort of need my NEWTs for my career," Ly said.
"Please," Roxie snapped. "Fred and James got eight NEWTs at an acceptable level between them and Dad's still going to give the business to them. And you."
"The best part in all of that is that I'm pretty sure James was the one who got all eight," Dom added.
"Yeah," Roxie agreed. "My brother's a fucking idiot."
"Everyone's brother is a fucking idiot," Dom replied. "Like mine."
"Mine's not," Al said. "Thus my problem."
"Mine is," Ly said. "Obviously."
"Mine too," Rose agreed.
"I don't have a brother," Lucy said.
"Me neither," I said. "Oh god, I don't want to do NEWTs."
"Don't panic, Sam," Dom recommended. I nodded and tried not to hyperventilate.
"All seventh years," Professor MacMillan said from the front of the Great Hall. "Please stay here. Everyone else, please proceed to your classes."
Most of the hall stood up and walked off, chatting happily, blissful in the fact they didn't have to take the stupid test. OWLs were bad enough. I don't want to take NEWTs too.
"Alright," Professor MacMillan said. I like Professor MacMillan. He let me take advanced Charms for years. If I had any wherewithal, I'd want to be a Charms teacher like him, but I don't. I have no ambition. I have no purpose. I just…
"Oh, Merlin, I don't want to do this," Dom whispered next to me.
Without thinking about it, I put my arm around her.
I just want Dom. Is that too much to ask?
"Please take a desk," Professor MacMillan said. "And once the tests are distributed, you will have three hours, no talking. Use only blue or black ink. If I see a single jar of Everlast Colour Change Ink, I will personally charm your quill so you end up writing on yourself instead. As the name is honest, don't expect it to ever come off."
As he spoke, the tests were magically distributing themselves. Mine landed on my desk with a thud. I swallowed nervously. Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic.
OOooOOooOOooOO
I stared at the empty desk in front of me.
I wonder if I could make a charm that would let me see exactly what I got wrong on my test…
That's probably how they grade them.
I hate NEWTs. It's not like I'm even going to have a job when I get out of Hogwarts in anything useful. All I can do is invent charms. That's not exactly employable. I have no prospects.
Fuck.
The future is fucking scary.
"Mate, breathe," Will recommended, handing me a glass of water. "And calm the fuck down."
"Can't," I said. "I've failed all my NEWTs. Every single one. Without question."
"Sam, you couldn't fail a charms test if you tried, had both eyes closed and your wand arm behind your back," Lucy said.
"Remember when the three of us were best friends?" I asked.
"You mean before we started shagging girls instead of being friends with them?" Will asked.
"Yeah," Lucy replied pensively.
I started to hyperventilate.
"Sam, there's nothing you can do about it now," Will said. "Why don't you go take a walk?"
I nodded and walked out the door of the Great Hall towards the Black Lake. I'd barely gone ten feet from the door when someone threw their arms around my neck.
"They offered me a spot on the team!" the girl screamed. "I'm actually going to be a Holyhead Harpy!"
She let go of me at that point and I was able to see it was Dom. Her hair was glowing in the sunlight.
She linked her elbow through mine and dragged me down the slope towards the lakeshore.
"Of course, I don't necessarily get time on the pitch in my first season, but I'm actually on the team," she said. "And training starts in July, so I'll be spending half my time in the flat that Ly and Roxie and I are sharing in Diagon Alley and the other half of it on the pitch training. But the team's strength was never in the Beaters before, so maybe it'll have to be up to me now."
I nodded like I knew what she was talking about.
I wish there was a charm that would let me see what the hell my friends mean when they talk about Quidditch…
"And I need to find out if their current Beater refers more to The Beaters' Bible by Brutus Scrimgeour, or Quidditch Through the Ages or Beating the Bludgers – a Study of Defensive Strategies in Quidditch, because I used all three here when I was captain and they work really well together, even though Kennilworthy Whisp wrote two of them and Scrimgeour wrote the other."
I kept smiling and nodding like I had some ability to understand the words coming out of her mouth. She was talking so fast that I really didn't.
I wish there was a charm that let you slow down a person's rate of speech so you could actually understand them…
Especially Dom. I want to hear every word she says.
"And it's not that I'm exactly the first player not to have her name start with a G, but I'm pretty close I think," Dom continued. "I dunno. Aunt Ginny said there was someone back in the 1300s who's name didn't start with a G but no one's ever heard of her. Maybe I should change my name."
"Don't forget dying your hair Weasley red," I mumbled.
She beamed at me. "And that too," she said.
She kept talking as we sat down next to the lake.
I don't want Dom to spend half her time in training and the other half in her flat with Ly and Roxie. I mean, I want her to be in training, and I want her to be happy, but I want her to spend some of her time with me. Just a little. Not too much. Just enough. Maybe just a kiss good morning and breakfast occasionally.
I came up with a new theory when I invented a charm that lets you remember what you did while you're drunk. I think that the reason I ended up sleeping with Ly at all (however drunk I was) is because she's got blonde hair and blue eyes and when you're drunk, she looks sort of like Dom.
"When did you find out?" I asked.
"I got out of the NEWTs and my owl was waiting for me with the letter," Dom said before launching off into more Quidditch babble.
The only reason I dated Roxie was because she seemed interested. Dom never really did. She was sort of my best friend, besides Will and Lucy. And she was always nice to me, she just never seemed particularly interested in me as anything more than a friend. And despite all that…
"I've been in love with you for seven years," I said suddenly before I realised I was speaking aloud and slapped my hand over my mouth.
Dom's rapid fire speech slowed down until she'd stopped talking in the middle of a sentence.
"What?" she asked quietly.
I cringed, but since I can't avoid answering a direct question, I repeated, "I've been in love with you since I first saw you in first year."
Her bright blue eyes were wide and her mouth was slightly open in shock.
I figured my foot was far enough in my mouth now that I may as well have it done with.
"You were so excited to be sorted into Gryffindor," I said. "And then you smiled at me. And I think I've been in love with you ever since. Sorry. I'm glad you made the team."
I stood up and started walking back to the castle.
Well, that's that then. She's probably never going to talk to me again. I wouldn't talk to me again.
I wonder if you could make a charm that would let you talk to yourself in actual conversation…
Oh, wait. That's a disease, isn't it?
I was about twenty feet from the castle door when someone tackled me. I made a somewhat manly noise of shock when I hit the grass.
From the bright blonde hair and the sparkling blue eyes, I realised it was Dom.
"Why did you walk away?" she demanded.
I took a moment to assess our situation. I was lying on the grass, Dom was lying on top of me mostly, except she was holding herself up by pinning me down.
"Erm…because I figured you'd never want to talk to me again?" I offered.
She stared at me like I was mental. "Why wouldn't I want to – never mind. You're mad."
She took her hands off my shoulders, grabbed my face, and kissed me. Without me telling them to, one of my arms wrapped itself around her waist and held her closer while my other hand buried itself in her hair. She ran her tongue over my lip, and I opened my mouth obligingly.
"Weasley! Baker!"
Dom sat up quickly and rolled off of me. I sat up ashamedly and stared at my toes while Professor MacMillan crossed his arms and glared at us. I was unsuccessfully hiding a smile.
"I appreciate that you're done with your NEWTs, but this is not the place for PDA," he said. "You two are scaring the piss out of the first years."
"Yes, sir," Dom and I said demurely, standing up and straightening our clothes. We started walking back towards the castle, but Professor MacMillan grabbed my shoulder. He raised his eyebrow at me like he was trying to scrutinise my soul.
"That the girl you were always mooning over?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," I replied awkwardly.
He clapped me on the shoulder. "Good job," he said. He glanced around surreptitiously. "I didn't say anything."
"Yes, sir," I agreed, grinning cheesily at him and running to catch up with Dom. She laced her fingers through mine.
"I didn't realise it at the time, but I think it was probably first year for me too," she said softly, staring at our interlocked fingers.
I grinned stupidly. Then I stopped in the middle of the Entrance Hall and kissed her again.
I really like kissing Dom.
Then someone wolf whistled. We broke apart and found ourselves faced by Will, Lucy, Dylan, Al, Em, Roxie, Ly, Rose, and Scor.
"About fucking time," Roxie said, shaking her head at us.
"So how'd this finally come about?" Will asked.
"Sam said he loved me," Dom explained, smiling bashfully.
"How'd that happen?" Lucy asked curiously.
I shrugged. "I dunno," I said. "I guess I just…didn't panic."
Review! (And, no, this is not the end of the story. Obviously. I sort of feel like the beginning author's note kind of makes it seem like I'm ending it. But I'm not)
Title - "I will hold on hope, and I won't let you choke on the noose around your neck. And I'll find strength in pain, and I will change my ways." - Mumford and Sons