Chapter Three: The Astronomy Tower

"Wake up, you wanker," Dom sat straight up and groaned, instantly regretting the quick movement. James, who had spoken, was jostling Fred awake.

"We fell asleep," Dom said groggily. She tried to open her eyes, but her lashes were glued together by her mascara.

"Obviously," said James as he reached for his wand and shoved it into his pocket.

"What time is it?" Fred asked groggily.

Dom looked skyward. It was still dark in the forest, but in the sky, the faintest glints of orange were beginning to appear.

James pushed his jumper sleeve up his arm. "It's a quarter of six," he said with a glance at his silver watch.

"Shit!" Dom exclaimed. "Our parents are going to be here in two hours! Where's my jumper?"

"Here," Fred mumbled as he passed her sweater to her.

"Okay, can we go now?" Dom asked as she pushed her head through her jumper.

"Here, take the map," James said as he pushed the old piece of parchment into Dom's hands. He shook out the pine needles from the invisibility cloak then wrapped it up and tucked it under his arm.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," Dom mumbled as she tapped the map with her wand.

"Fred!" James shouted.

"Here," Fred called as he leapt over the burnt remains of their fire.

The three began quickly moving through the woods towards Hagrid's hut as fast as they could manage over the roots and slippery pine needles. They moved faster as the woods thinned. Once they made it to the edge of the forest, James threw the cloak over them and they broke into a run.

Before they entered the Entrance Hall, they stopped and caught their breath.

"Okay Dom, what's the lay of the land?" James asked her.

She looked at the map and quickly scanned their path to Gryffindor tower. The occupants of the castle were stirring, but professors had not left their own quarters quite yet. There were a few students in their common rooms and a very limited number who had made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast, but mostly, their coast was clear.

Suddenly, Dom's eyes were pulled towards a Weasley who was not where they were supposed to be. She looked closer at the Astronomy Tower. "Mischief managed," she mumbled as she tapped her wand against the parchment.

"You're good to go," she said as she handed the map to James.

"Where are you going?" Fred asked her.

"I've got something I have to do," she said. "I'll see you both back in Gryffindor tower."

"Okay, be careful!" James called after her. She slipped out from under the invisibility cloak and slipped into the Entrance Hall. She quickly covered the distance to the Astronomy tower and ran up the stairs, taking two at a time.

"Lucy," she called gently as she entered the tower. "Lucy, are you okay?"

Lucy had wedged herself in the corner of one of the observation windows. Her black curls were piled atop her head in a rather haphazard looking bun. She was wearing a dressing gown over a sweatshirt and sweatpants, her feet shoved into slippers. Dom noticed how her grey eyes were red-rimmed and bloodshot when Lucy looked at her.

"You look like a racoon," Lucy commented as she regarded her cousin. "You also have twigs and leaves in your hair."

Dom bit her bottom lip as she wedged herself in the same window as Lucy. She allowed her knees to rest against the other girls.

"I'm tempted to ask what you were doing, but I have a few guesses based on how you look," Lucy said.

"You don't want to play that game with me, I have some guesses about what your night looked like based on how you look," Dom said back.

Lucy crossed her arms over her chest.

"Luce, I know you're seeing Sarah Centurn," Dom said gently as she looked out the window.

"Well, for a Skeeter wannabe, you've got a pretty shitty scoop. I'm not seeing her anymore, we broke up," Lucy said with a snarl.

"Stop lashing out at me. I'm trying to be here for you, to talk to you. And honestly, I don't see anyone else here. Maybe, if you hadn't pushed Sarah away like you're pushing me away right now, you'd still be with her."

Lucy looked like she had been slapped. Dom watched her cousin's eyes fill up with tears. She extended a hand towards her cousin's knee, but Lucy twisted her body to the side. "I'm sorry—" Dom started.

"What makes you think I want you here talking to me? We're as different as two people could be. I don't even think I really like being around you. You make me feel like shit about myself."

"What?"

"Look at you, you're gorgeous without even trying, even right now when you look like a mess. And you're so confident, I don't even know how you manage it. Everyone who meets you instantly falls in love with you. You know how to talk to people, how to make them feel comfortable. You've got everyone in this family going to you for advice." Lucy left out a bark of a laugh. "Even my sister talks to you about what's going on with her. She doesn't talk to me. I can't even manage a friendship with my own sister, the person who I should be closest to. I can talk to my dad and Gramps, and that's about it."

"Lucy—" Dom started. She leaned forward and placed her hand atop the other girl's. Lucy tried to twist out of her grasp. "No, look at me," Dom ordered. "I'm jealous of you! You get good marks, you're a prefect. You have a great relationship with your mom and dad, they're proud of you. You have a plan and you stick to it. You know what you want to do with your life and you actually know how to get there. God, I'd trade so much about my life if I could be smart like you so my parents could be proud of me."

Lucy and Dom looked at each other and then burst into a weird fit of sobs and laughter. Lucy reached for her cousin's hands and the two girls clung to each other.

"So, we're each jealous of the other," Lucy said after she was able to calm down enough to catch her breath.

"Looks like it," Dom confirmed.

"Does that feel a bit clichė to you?"

"Extremely," Dom grinned. "You know, when we were little, and my mum would bring us over to your house for playdates, I always wished we could be friends. It made sense to me. Molly and Vic were so close, but you'd always be off reading a book or doing something else. I thought you found me boring."

Lucy laughed again. "I was intimidated by you. You could keep up with Molly and Vic. Not you know, physically, we were smaller than them. But they wanted you around, they actually listened to you about clothes or friends or boys. Even when you were little, you were so insightful." Lucy took a deep breath and dabbed at her eyes with the sleeve of her dressing gown. "I'm sorry I made fun of your O.W.L. results."

Dom shrugged. "You're not the first one," she mumbled.

"You're not stupid," Lucy cut her off.

"Yes, I am. School is really hard for me."

"That doesn't make you stupid. It just means you're good at other things."

"Yeah, like what."

"You probably wouldn't have ended up dumped like me."

Dom stared at Lucy and blinked, then she started laughing so hard she gave herself a stomach cramp. She had to stand up and stretch. Lucy furrowed her brow as she regarded her cousin. "What's so funny?" Lucy finally asked.

"I've been dumped! I failed my O.W.L.s because I was in a stupid relationship."

"What?"

"Yeah."

"I didn't know you were seeing anyone."

"No one did!" Dom laughed again, then her cheeks turned scarlett. "It wasn't really the type of relationship you tell your family about."

"What! Did you talk to anyone about it?"

Dom looked sheepish and bit her bottom lip. "I finally wrote Aunt Ginny when I thought I might be getting in over my head."

"Aunt Ginny?" Lucy asked inquisitively. "But why. . . " she trailed off.

Dom took a big sigh. "Aunt Ginny is the only person I know who would even remotely cool about me having a—erm—purely physical relationship."

"Ah," Lucy said as she matched her cousin's sheepish expression.

"But, I was deluding myself into thinking that was something I could do," Dom said. "Do you remember Roger Entwhistle?"

"Oh no," Lucy said, her tone sympathetic.

"Oh yes," Dom sighed.

"He was an arse, he'd always find some younger girl and spend the whole year hooking up with her and then break it off right before final exams. He'd been doing it since his fourth year!"

"Yeah, well, I convinced myself that he wouldn't do that to me," Dom said as she looked down at her hands. "We started hooking up right after the Welcome Feast. He literally bumped into me when I was leaving the Great Hall that first night. He told me I looked like Vic. He asked me to the first Hogsmeade weekend and we spent most of that Saturday making out at the Three Broomsticks in the loo. We got written up so many times that first term.

Then, in April, he started—erm—trying to go further. I didn't really want to, but you know, I was kind of toying with the idea. We eventually moved to the library so we could at least pretend to be studying when others came across us.

Well, right before the exams, I had just had enough of him pressuring me. So I—I went down on him in the library—"

"—what section?" Lucy interjected suddenly.

"Why does that matter?" Dom asked.

"Well, I guess it doesn't! Sorry, I was just curious," Lucy explained.

Dom laughed gently. "Erm, I think it was Transfiguration. I know it wasn't a restricted section. The professors certainly knew what I would get up to in the restricted section, no one was giving me a pass." Dom took a big sigh.

"So, after my first foray into exhibitionism, I asked if he would reciprocate. Well, he kind of lost it. Started going off about how improper that was, how disgusting he found it, demanding to know who else I had been hooking up with. It turned into this massive row. We got kicked out of the library.

We actually ended up in the Owlery and he broke up with me then.

Honestly, at that point I was relieved, glad to be rid of him honestly. And I had no idea how I was going to end things with him, so I was glad that he did it.

But, when I went to sit my exams on Monday, I couldn't focus. I just couldn't stop worrying that he was going to tell everyone what we did, how much he had hurt me, how stupid I was for putting up with him all year and not studying." Dom took a shaky breath. "So yeah, you're not the only person who's been dumped."

"I wish you felt like you could have talked to me about it," Lucy said after a moment of silence. "I also would have been happy to help you study, or you know—curse Roger Entwhistle while he slept peacefully in his bed."

"Yeah," Dom shrugged. "Too late now though, isn't it."

"Yeah, I guess," Lucy shrugged sadly.

"Do you think it's too late for you and Sarah?" Dom asked.

"I'm not sure," Lucy mused aloud.

"What were you two fighting about yesterday?" Dom asked gently.

"She wants me to tell mum and dad about her."

"Do you not want to tell your parents because she's a girl?" Dom asked gently.

Lucy seemed to think about this for a moment. "That might be a part of it. I don't want to disappoint them. I think I'm more afraid of them finding out she's in Slytherin than I am of them finding out she's a girl."

Dom smiled at her cousin. "You're afraid of your parents knowing the house your girlfriend is in for school? You know that's something that in, like, two months, isn't going to matter anymore. She's graduating."

Lucy smiled back. "I know, it sounds ridiculous doesn't it? It's just that dad has strong opinions about, you know, anything having to do with dark magic or Voldemort, and when it comes to magic stuff, mom just defaults to whatever dad thinks."

"Do you really think Uncle Percy is going to flip out about your girlfriend being in Slytherin for like, eight more weeks?"

Lucy looked at Dom and raised an eyebrow. "I think my dad can manage to flip out about anything."

"Oh, I know, but, I guess, do you think he really has the capacity to manage another feud with his only other kid?"

Lucy seemed to think about this for a moment. "Yeah, I see what you're saying." She pondered silently for a moment. "You know, I think you're right. I know everyone just sees dad as this difficult guy who follows the rules, but this whole thing with Molly, I think it's hurting him a bit more than he's letting on."

Lucy's face fell. "But it doesn't matter if I tell them! Sarah and I aren't together anymore."

"I think Sarah really cares about you. I think if you show her that you're willing to tell people that, she'll come around," Dom said.

Lucy took a shaky breath. "This is one of those times I wish I were brave like the rest of you."

"Luce, you are brave. You can do this. It's not like Gryffindors have a monopoly on bravery."

"I guess," Lucy said, sounding unsure.

"I know I am," Dom laughed. The girls fell into a comfortable silence and they looked at the grounds in the bright, early morning light. It was going to be a gorgeous day. "Now, I can ask the question I've been dying to know! What's it like, being with a girl?"

Lucy smiled and turned a bit pink. "Um—I don't know how to describe it. I've never been with a bloke before. But, I guess if there's a word that comes to mind, it's soft. I'd guess boys don't really have the same sort of softness."

Dom seemed to ponder this for a moment as she stared out the window.

She could see a group of people appear in the distance and head towards the castle. "Oh no! What time is it?" Dom exclaimed as she squinted to see if she could count the number of people in the group.

Lucy pushed at the sleeve of her dressing gown to look at her watch. "It's just barely past eight!"

"Oh no! They're here. How bad do I look?" Dom demanded.

Lucy looked at her cousin and winced. "Um here, let me help," she reached up into Dom's hair and pulled out twigs and leaves as Dom rubbed furiously at her eyes.

Lucy stopped helping. "I'm in my dressing gown and slippers! They'll know I was out all night!"

Dom stepped back to look at the other girl. "Um okay, let's do this—what size shoe do you wear?" Dom groaned when Lucy revealed that her feet were significantly smaller than hers. "Well, it's nothing a few charms can't fix. Give me your slippers," she commanded. She pointed her wand at the slippers and quickly made them bigger. She slid down to the ground and quickly began untying the laces on her trainers. She removed her shoes and then pointed her wand at them as well and shrunk them. She handed them to her cousin. "Here, put these on."

Lucy looked at her cousin and blinked. "But, Dom—you can't wear slippers."

"I can, it's fine. It won't be a surprise to anyone that I snuck out." Dom bent down and rolled her jeans up to her midcalf. "Here, give me your robe. That'll really sell it."

"Dom—"

"It's fine," Dom tied the bathrobe around her body and pulled it as low on her hips as she could so as to make sure her jeans did not peek out from underneath. That would look odd if she was wearing jeans with a bathrobe. Her jumper looked casual enough though that it could be what she wore to sleep, or to visit someone else. She took her hair out of its top knot and shook out the remaining twigs and leaves. Then she ran her hands through her hair haphazardly to make sure it looked like someone else had mussed it. She scrubbed at her lips with the back of her hand until they felt sore and swollen. "There, with the trainers on, you look like you were out for a run or something," Dom commented appreciatively as Lucy knelt down to tie the shoes.

"But, I don't go for runs."

"Who knows, maybe you started running with your new Quidditch captain girlfriend," Dom winked at her cousin.

Lucy still looked worried. "You don't have to do this, you know."

"I know, and it's fine. You go downstairs after me. They'll pay less attention to what you're wearing after they see me."

"Maybe if we go quickly we'll miss them," Lucy said hopefully.

Dom looked out the window and could no longer see the figures. They were out of time and out of luck. Her extended family would be waiting in the Entrance Hall for McGonagall to come greet them. She and Lucy had to pass through the Entrance Hall to get to their dorms.

"Okay, let's go," Dom said as she steeled herself and headed towards the stairs to descend the tower.

She treaded the stairs carefully in the slippers. Her charm had worked well, but Lucy had worn the shoes in different places that Dom would have. As the girls made their way to the Entrance Hall they passed a few other students. Dom noticed a few confused glances, but honestly she could not decipher whether or not people were confused by her spending time with Lucy or by the way she was dressed. She hoped it was the former.

Dom paused before she led the way into the Entrance Hall. She could see her sister next to Molly and Teddy, the latter of whom had chosen black hair which slightly resembled that of his godfather for the occasion.

Lucy pulled on Dom's arm as she went to step into the hall. "Really, you don't have to be a martyr for me."

"Just promise me you'll try to find Sarah and have a chat before the ceremonies today," Dom said as she gently removed her cousin's hand from her arm.

Dom took a purposeful step into the hall. For what felt like one long, blissful minute, no one noticed her presence. Then, she heard her sister's voice call her name. "Dom?" Vic asked inquisitively.

She had made it to the Grand Staircase, but her foot hovered above the first stair, frozen in place. She took another deep breath and spun around slowly shoving her hands in the pockets of the borrowed bathrobe and biting her bottom lip. "Good morning," she said cheerily. "It's really beautiful out, isn't it?"

Dom looked through the small group for her mother and father. Her mother looked Dom up and down. Quickly, in a flash of realization, Fleur's eyes narrowed. Bill also seemed to cotton on quickly. His scarred face contorted into an expression that over the last few months Dom had come to associate with disappointment.

Fleur pushed past her in-laws and moved towards her daughter, crossing her arms across her chest. Bill followed behind her with a hand pressed between his wife's shoulders.

Bill extended his other hand to his daughter's shoulder and guided her away from the stairs to a corner of the hall.

"Dominique Collette Weasley," Fleur hissed. "Of all days to pull this, why today?" Fleur's eyes glinted with anger.

"I was just—erm—out, and I lost track of time," Dom quickly explained.

"Out?" Fleur spat. "Look at the state of you. It's obvious what you were doing. Do I even want to know who you were 'out' with?"

Dom shrugged her shoulders. "Probably not," she mumbled.

"Really Dom, we just want you to have more respect for yourself. This is an important day for your family. No one who cares for you would put you in this kind of situation," Bill stated quietly. Dom had a hard time meeting her father's eyes.

"That's not what matters here, Bill," Fleur turned towards her husband. "She needs to take responsibility for the choices she makes," Fleur crossed her arms tighter around her chest and her admonitions switched over to such rapid French that Dom was unable to keep up.

Bill shook his head and gripped his jaw. "Go upstairs and change and then come back down here. This discussion isn't over, but I'm not having it today," he said with finality.

Dom chanced a look away from her parents when she noticed movement at the edge of the Entrance Hall. Lucy had made her appearance and was selling their story with a few well-placed hamstring stretches. Dom could not hide her smile as Lucy was happily greeted by their grandparents and her parents.

"This is no laughing matter, young lady," Bill said.

Her smile immediately fell from her face. "Yes, dad," she said quietly and looked back down at her feet.

"Go upstairs, now," Fleur commanded in English.

Dom turned and quickly headed up the stairs, making her way to the Gryffindor tower. The Fat Lady's portrait swung open the moment she arrived. She was greeted by another large portion of her extended family. Fred and James were leading their younger siblings and cousins through the portrait hole. James extended a hand to his sister to help her jump down.

"Nice bathrobe," Fred commented as he raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, cheers," Dom mumbled, ignoring the questioning look on her cousin's face. "The whole lot is downstairs, I'm sure they'll be glad to see all of you."

James cursed. "I had hoped I could get a bacon butty first," he mumbled as he ran a hand through his damp hair.

"Nope, you needed to prioritize a shower," Fred laughed.

"Well, I need to prioritize my shower too," Dom mumbled as she moved towards the still-open portrait hole. She felt Fred's hand on her wrist.

"Where'd you go?" Fred asked her.

"Don't worry about it," Dom said as she shook Fred's hand off. "I had something I needed to take care of."

"Oh, well James and I needed to talk to you. We had the same dream—"

"Fred, go downstairs. We can talk later," Dom told her cousin. She needed a moment alone, some time in another scalding shower so she could wash away the memory of her father's disappointed face.