Year 2: Show Some Strength
Chapter 12: October 2016
Despite Justin's concerns, Ben was turning out to make a pretty decent astronomy club president. Trent was really stepping up as project manager, and even Arnold was doing well supporting the team as vice president. After much deliberation amongst themselves – though Louis predicted it was mostly Ben's idea – the astronomy club's project for the year was announced. They were going to be taking on a massive celestial mapping project for Professor Brunwell. It would be on the same scales as the kind of thing the people at MAI would do. Louis was extremely excited about it, as was Justin. And now that they were returning members, they would be given their own assignments, rather than shadowing older students.
Just like last year, there were three new students that joined the club. All were in first year, two boys from Ravenclaw and a girl from Hufflepuff. Ben, Arnold, and Trent were each assigned to one of them, as they were the members of leadership, though Greg was a little upset that he hadn't been assigned a shadow, given that he had been in the club longer than Trent.
Meanwhile in classes, they'd moved onto actual second-year material, which was significantly more challenging than first year material. First year had been all about the basics. In second year, things got more tricky.
In transfiguration, instead of going into basic theories of the various types of transfiguration, they were now diving in-depth into the first of them; animate to inanimate transfigurations. In history of magic, they were going to be spending the year going in-depth into the history of wizarding politics – a subject Louis knew was going to be dry and painful. In potions, the potions were getting more complicated, in herbology, the plants were getting more complicated, in charms, the spells were getting more complicated… the only course where Louis didn't feel completely inundated was astronomy, and that was only because of the loads of extra stuff he'd learned from the astronomy club last year.
Since term had begun, Flint and the Slytherins had mostly left Louis and Justin alone. There had been a few assignments that they'd forced the Gryffindor boys to complete for them, but they'd been straightforward enough and hadn't required as much rewording as if it had been an essay. It was still early in the year though, and Louis remained on edge.
The biggest downside, at least for Louis, was that Justin seemed to have renewed his interest in Dominique over the summer and now spent much of his time staring at her across crowded rooms.
"She's beautiful," Justin said dreamily. "She's like the moon."
"The moon?" Louis frowned. "What about the sun? Don't guys like you usually say girls shine like the sun?" He was being sarcastic of course, he didn't want Justin to compare Dominique to the sun either.
"No, Dominique doesn't shine – well she does, but it's more than that. She glows. Like the moon," Justin replied.
Louis rolled his eyes. "The moon doesn't glow. It reflects light from other things. So basically, you're saying that Domi doesn't have any of her own light and has to reflect other people's light?"
"That's not what I'm saying," Justin insisted, shaking his head. He was making very little sense. "I'm saying she glows. The sun gives out a big burst of light and then one day when it explodes, all that light will be gone. The moon will always be there, giving off a softer, steadier light. Dominique is like that."
"Well I still think you're crazy," Louis declared. "And that you should focus on your schoolwork and the astronomy club."
Justin shook his head. "I've decided," he announced.
Louis sighed. "Decided what?"
"I'm going to meet her. I'm going to introduce myself to her."
"What? Why?" Louis practically whined.
"Because I have to know her," Justin insisted. "I have to make sure that she knows me."
"She knows you," Louis muttered. "I've mentioned you before."
"It's different," Justin shook his head. "She has to know me as me, not as your friend."
"I'm sure you realize that I'm completely against this endeavor?" Louis questioned.
Justin nodded. "Yes, and I'll do it without your help, thank you very much."
"Well alright then," Louis shrugged. "I suppose I can't stop you. Though I wish you wouldn't."
LlLlLlLlLlL
Over the next week, Justin continually tried to initiate a meeting between himself and Dominique. He tried catching her on her own in the Great Hall, but she was always with one of her friends. He tried waiting for her to be alone in the common room, but she would always go up to her dorm, where Justin couldn't follow. He tried to convince Louis to find out her class schedule so that he could run into her coming out of a class, but Louis refused to get involved, maintaining that he thought it was weird for him.
"That's it," Justin declared one afternoon. "There's nothing else for it."
"Nothing else for what?" Louis frowned.
"I'm going to have to stalk her."
"Who? Dominique?" Louis asked in surprise. "What are you talking about?"
"She's never alone in the common places, you won't tell me her class schedule. What else am I supposed to do?" Justin insisted.
"Give up?" Louis suggested, almost pleadingly.
"No," Justin shook his head. "I'll just have to follow her for a time. Make note of her movements. Figure out where she goes."
"You're coming across more than a little creepy, you know," Louis pointed out.
"I'm not being creepy," Justin dismissed the thought. "I'm being diligent. I'll just map out her day-to-day movements and then isolate the times she's most likely to be on her own."
"Why can't you introduce yourself to here with Brooke or Miles around?" Louis asked, naming the two friends that were most often surrounding Dominique.
"I need to make an impression," Justin explained. "I can't do that if she's got her friends with her, she'll have split attention."
Louis rolled his eyes, but didn't press the point any more. If Justin wanted to become a stalker, that was fine. At least Louis knew he had relatively innocent intentions.
LlLlLlLlLlL
The following week was even weirder for Louis. Justin awoke extra early, so that he could dress and get down to the common room before Dominique left for the day. He would lurk in a corner and then follow her down to the Great Hall, where he would perch at the far end of the Gryffindor table and make mote of who she was eating with. When Louis would eventually make his way down and join his friend, Justin's attention was always elsewhere, and Louis ended up making conversation with himself and his toast.
As soon as Dominique was finished breakfast, Justin would follow her to her first class and make note of that one as well. Then he would bolt off to his own class, where Louis would be saving him a seat – though Louis wasn't sure why he kept doing his friend this courtesy when he was stalking his sister. Justin was almost always late and got yelled at more than a few times by their professors.
After first period, Justin would race back to the classroom Dominique had had her first lesson in, in the hopes that she would still be there. If she wasn't, he'd find someone else in her year and follow them in the hopes that they would lead him to where Dominique was. Usually this tactic worked, but it meant that Justin was late to almost all his classes, not just first period.
At lunch, if Justin didn't get to the end of Dominique's last morning class in time, he would race to the Great Hall to catch up with her and then perch at the end of the table, watching her some more. When she and her friends would get up, he would follow them around the school until afternoon classes began. Then the whole cycle that had taken place in the morning would start all over again. And after classes were over, Justin would follow her all around the school – to the library, to the common room, to the Quidditch pitch… And every one of her movements got tracked on a more and more weathered-looking piece of parchment.
"Since when does Dominique like Quidditch?" Louis frowned, glancing at Justin's parchment one evening. Dominique had already gone up to bed, which left Louis with a rare instance where he could command all of Justin's attention.
"I'm just reporting the facts," Justin declared. "And the fact is that she goes to the Quidditch pitch regularly to watch the Gryffindor Quidditch Team's practice."
"I mean, her friends are on the team," Louis noted, more to himself than to Justin. "I suppose it makes sense."
"I've made my decision," Justin declared then.
"Your decision?" Louis frowned.
"Of when I'm going to officially meet Dominique," Justin clarified.
"Oh Merlin," Louis groaned. "Alright, let's hear it."
"I'm going to talk to her at the next Gryffindor Quidditch practice," Justin declared. "It's the best opportunity because all her friends will be flying around and she'll be sitting alone."
"And you've observed this already?" Louis asked.
Justin nodded.
"And you didn't think to just introduce yourself then, instead of writing about it on your creepy parchment?" Louis asked, not understanding the logic. If he'd come across Dominique alone, wouldn't that have been his chance?
Justin shook his head. "No, I wasn't prepared then," he said. "I'll be prepared this time."
"Prepared?" Louis repeated as a question. "What do you need to prepare?"
"Myself," Justin replied. "You just don't understand."
"You're right," Louis nodded. "I don't."
LlLlLlLlLlL
So when the next Gryffindor Quidditch practice came around, Justin headed down to the pitch and Louis remained back in the castle working on a herbology assignment for Arthur Pritchard of Slytherin. Honestly, Louis thought the whole endeavor was a waste of time. Dominque was not going to be interested in Justin. The most she would be was slightly flattered, but it would end there. What Justin was looking for, Louis couldn't imagine, and he didn't want to try.
When Justin returned from his endeavor, Louis immediately looked up to gauge his friend's emotions. He's expected disappointment, maybe some anger, if Dominique had promptly rejected him, but instead he seemed happy and excited.
"How'd it go?" Louis asked nervously.
"Great," Justin smiled, taking a seat. "Looks like I'm joining the Quidditch team."
"Excuse me?" Louis frowned, sure he'd heard wrong.
"Well not this year, obviously," Justin replied. "This year's team has already been chosen, and I'm terrible at Quidditch. But next year, next year I'll join."
"Didn't you just say you're terrible at Quidditch?" Louis frowned. "How do you expect to make the team?"
"How does anyone?" Justin challenged Louis. "I'll practice. I'll train really hard all of this year so that next year I'll be ready."
"Have you thought about which position you'll play?" Louis asked, wondering how thought-out this new plan was.
"Chaser," Justin declared. "The only seventh year on the team is a chaser, and I'll have an easier time replacing a graduated student than trying to usurp a current player. Plus there are three chaser slots and only two beaters and one seeker and keeper, so my chances are inevitably better."
"Okay," Louis said slowly. It did seem like Justin had put some thought into this, but Louis was still missing the why of it all. "And what's brought this on?"
"Dominique likes Quidditch players," Justin declared. "It's not about the game, it's about the players. So I told her I was one, and that I would be on the team next year."
Louis dropped his head into his hands and moaned. "Why would you…? What were you…? Seriously Justin?"
"What?" Justin asked innocently. "I had to make an impression. If I'm a Quidditch player, she'll remember me. If I'm just some uninteresting kid, she'll never think twice about me."
"And you're sure you want to do this?" Louis asked. "Join the Quidditch team? It'll be a lot of work. You might not have time to be in the astronomy club anymore if you do this."
"We all have to pay a price for love," Justin said in a weird voice.
"Please don't say things like that," Louis shook his head, as if to shake the memory of the moment out of it. "You don't love Dominique, you have a silly crush."
"It's not silly," Justin insisted seriously.
"Fine," Louis gave in. "You have a very real crush. But that's all it is."
LlLlLlLlLlL
The next afternoon, Justin because his new training regimen. For fun, Louis came down to the pitch with him and set himself up with his homework in the stands. He was looking forward to Justin realizing how terrible an idea this was.
Since Justin didn't have a broom of his own, he borrowed one of the school brooms. He took a battered looking Cleansweep from the broom shed and then mounted it and started flying circles around the pitch.
He did fine while he was just doing slow circles, but as soon as Justin tried to amp up the speed, he toppled off the broom and landed on the ground. Louis chuckled but tried to hide it. As much as he didn't approve of Justin's endeavor, he didn't want to outright make fun of him.
It took a while, but Justin eventually became comfortable going fast, and started to increase his altitude. He attempted a few dips and dives and found himself falling off his broom some more, only now his falls were even more violent because he was falling from higher up. Soon, Louis started cringing every time Justin fell, because he could only imagine the bruises his friend was going to have later on.
Mercifully, Justin's individual practice had to come to an end when the Hufflepuff team arrived for their scheduled practice. Louis was pretty sure he could see a smile on Justin's face when he learned he would have to relinquish the pitch.
As soon as Justin was changed and his broom returned to the broom shed, Louis met him down on the field.
"So how was that?" Louis asked, trying not to be too judgemental.
"It was a good first attempt," Justin said, though Louis could hear the strain in his voice.
"First attempt? So you're still intending on keeping up with this?"
"Of course," Justin nodded. "I can't give up after only one practice. I'll get better."
They started heading up to the castle, and Louis realized that Justin was limping and clutching one arm.
"Justin, you're not okay," Louis pointed out. "Do you need to go to the hospital?"
"No, I'm fine," Justin insisted. "I just need to rest a bit. Sleep it off. I'll be fine in the morning."
Louis shook his head. He thought Justin was crazy, but if Justin was this dedicated, Louis wouldn't be able to dissuade him. He'd just have to wait for Justin to give up on his own.
Luckily, for both their sakes, Louis didn't have to wait long. The following day, Justin headed down to the pitch for another practice. Louis decided not to watch this one. The one the previous day had been painful enough, and it was difficult to do homework from the stands. So Louis stayed behind in the library while Justin headed off to punish himself some more. About an hour later, Justin appeared in the library, battered and bruised and looking completely defeated.
"I don't think I can join the Quidditch team," he said. "I don't think I can do this."
"Are you ready to see Madam Eldridge?" Louis asked.
Justin nodded sadly.
Madam Eldridge was the opposite of impressed.
"What have you done to yourself?" she demanded. "Thrown yourself from the window of the Charms classroom?"
"No," Justin shook his head. "I was only practicing Quidditch, down at the pitch."
"And I suppose you're not actually on the Quidditch team?" Madam Eldridge questioned. "And had no supervision?"
Justin shook his head.
"And I suppose you're not the best flier the world's ever known?" she added.
Justin looked down in shame.
Madam Eldridge sighed. "Alright, hop up on this bed here and I'll give you a potion for the bruises. They should be all healed up within the hour and then you'll be good to go."
She went back into her office to locate the potion Justin needed and to grab the paperwork she had to fill out for every patient that walked through her doors. While she was gone, Louis took the opportunity to speak to Justin privately.
"So is it over now? All this nonsense?"
"If you mean the Quidditch stuff, then yes," Justin nodded. "I already told you that."
"I meant the nonsense with Dominique," Louis clarified.
"Oh," Justin muttered. "Well then no."
"What do you mean no?" Louis frowned. "If you can't play Quidditch, then what are you going to try next?"
"I'm not going to try anything next," Justin said. "If this has taught me anything, it's that I'm not going to change who I am for some girl. But I still really like your sister, so if I get more chances to talk to her I'm going to take them. We'll see if it ever amounts to anything."
Louis sighed. Having his best friend obsessed with his sister wasn't ideal, but this was better than what he'd been dealing with for the better part of the month, so he'd take it. "Alright," he said. "I'm just glad you're not going to go on with the stalking."
"No, I'm done with that too," Justin agreed. "It was too much. These things have to happen naturally. And I've got time. She's only in fourth year. I've got almost four years to make an impression."