Year 2: Read My Lips

Chapter 16: February 2015

"Come on Brooke, it's Valentine's day. Choose a romance," Dominique pleaded. The two girls were in the fiction section of the library choosing new novels to read and Dominique was desperate for Brooke to read a love story.

"But I'm really enjoying these mysteries," Brooke insisted. "How about this, if I choose a romance, you have to read an Ursula Turner."

"I'm not going to read about detectives and crime on Valentine's day!" Dominique cried, as if this was outrageous.

"Well if you won't read one of my books, then why should I read one of yours?" Brooke demanded.

"I'll make you a deal," Dominique decided. "You read Love Brewed in Paris now, and when Halloween comes around, I'll read Ursula Turner and the Haunted Castle."

"Okay, well first of all, if you're going to read an Ursula Turner, don't read Haunted Castle," Brooke instructed. "For your first mystery, I'd recommend Ursula Turner and the Secret of the Lost City."

"Fine," Dominique rolled her eyes. "And second?"

"Second, no way is that fair!" Brooke cried. "You know by Halloween we'll have forgotten all about our deal and then you'll never have to read a word about solving puzzles and finding clues."

"Look, it's not my fault that Halloween is so far away," Dominique said. "It's not like I control time."

"No, but there's no reason why you have to wait for Halloween to read it," Brooke pointed out.

"But if you read a romance on Valentine's, then doesn't it make the most sense that I read a mystery on Halloween?" Dominique asked. "It's poetic."

"It's avoidance is what it is," Brooke said. "It's a sneaky way of tricking me into reading some dumb romance."

"Hey!" Dominique cried. "Don't hate on romance books. They've done nothing to hurt you."

Brooke rolled her eyes. "You know what? Fine. I'll read Love Brewed in Paris. But come Halloween, you'd better be prepared for me to remember this and make you read Secret of the Lost City.'

"Really?" Dominique cried, almost disbelievingly. She'd never expected Brooke to cave so quickly.

"Yeah, whatever," Brooke shook her head, grabbing the romance novel off the shelf.

"You're going to love it," Dominique assured her friend.

"We'll see about that," Brooke said, not so convinced. "I'll meet you back in the common room?"

"Sure," Dominique agreed, still debating between three novels that all looked equally as good as each other.

Brooke left and Dominique sat down, deciding to read the first chapter of each book before deciding which to read for Valentine's day. In the end, she couldn't decide between two of the three and elected simply to take them both out and come back for the third when she was finished.

After signing the books out with Madam Maxwell, Dominique started heading back to the common room. She had a thrilling chapter in her Defence textbook to read about trolls and a very exciting assignment to complete on Shrivelfigs before she could really enjoy her new novels.

She climbed the stairs from the second to the third floor and then proceeded to cross the third floor corridor to reach the Grand Staircase, where she could ascend to the seventh floor. As she entered the rarely travelled third floor corridor, she heard voices coming from the far end.

"You're so beautiful," a male voice murmured.

"Kiss me again," a female voice replied.

Dominique groaned. She was so sick of constantly coming across lovestruck couples kissing all over the castle. Ever since the beginning of February, they'd been everywhere. In the common room, in the corridors, eating next to her in the Great Hall. And now that it was Valentine's Day, it was like everyone's love hormones were on full power.

Dominique could turn back and take the other way back to the dorms, but she was already going this way and she didn't much feel like re-climbing the stairs she'd just climbed. So she continued on her way, figuring she'd just ignore the couple and hopefully they wouldn't even notice she was there.

As she got closer though, she realized she recognized the couple. Though her back was to Dominique, she could have recognized the long blonde hair anywhere. It was Victoire. And the boy she was kissing… Dominique gasped. It was Teddy!

She froze on the spot and then in a panic ran to hide behind a suit of armor so her sister wouldn't see her. Victoire and Teddy were kissing! Those five words just kept replaying over and over in Dominique's mind as she tried to process them.

The couple broke apart and Dominique couldn't breathe, afraid that they'd seen her. She was having enough trouble dealing with all this new information, she wasn't ready to talk to her sister about it quite yet.

"Don't you have to go and talk to Professor Thicket about your assignment?" Dominique heard Victoire ask breathlessly.

"Professor Thicket can wait," Teddy replied, kissing Victoire again.

"No really," Victoire insisted, pulling back. "I don't want to keep you. Besides, I have transfiguration reading waiting for me back in the common room."

"Sounds like fun," Teddy replied.

"Oh yeah," Victoire agreed sarcastically. "Cross-species switches. Riveting."

"Alright, well I'll come and join you as soon as I speak with Professor Thicket," Teddy promised, kissing Victoire one final time before letting her go.

"I'll be waiting," Victoire replied, taking a step back.

"I won't be long," Teddy assured her.

"See you up there," Victoire added.

Dominique wanted to gag. Why couldn't they just say goodbye like normal people? They were going to be seeing each other in half an hour anyway, what was the big deal? Finally, Victoire disappeared down the hallway and Teddy walked back in the other direction towards Dominique.

Dominique pressed herself to the back of the suit of armor as Teddy passed by, praying that he wouldn't notice her presence. When he didn't and he disappeared down the stairs at the other end of the corridor, Dominique relaxed.

So Teddy and Victoire were… together. Or something. Dominique wasn't entirely sure what it was. The fact that she didn't know about it meant that they were clearly trying to keep it a secret. Were they ashamed? Dominique could understand why they'd feel weird about it. Teddy had been like a big brother to the both of them all their lives. But they weren't related. Teddy wasn't a blood relative. He was Uncle Harry's godson. And he'd always been closer to Victoire than the rest of them. Dominique had always attributed that to age, but maybe it had been more than that. She wondered how long this had been going on. It couldn't have been long, or Victoire would have said something… right? Dominique thought about asking her older sister about it, but decided not to. Victoire would bring it up when she was ready to tell her, and until then, Dominique would just have to pretend she didn't know. It wouldn't be difficult. She and Victoire hardly hung out much these days. They talked sometimes, but mostly they spent time with their own friends. It would be easy to simply not bring it up.

DdDdDdDdDdD

"Dominique!" Brooke exclaimed when she finally arrived in the common room. "You took longer than I thought. Did you finally settle on a book?"

"What?" Dominique frowned. "Oh yeah, I did. I mean, no. I mean, I ended up taking out two of them. I couldn't decide."

"Are you alright?" Brooke asked. "You seem off."

"Yeah, I just…" Dominique sat down next to Brooke and looked around to make sure nobody was listening in. "I just saw something I definitely wasn't supposed to see."

"Ooh!" Brooke squealed. "I love gossip!"

"This isn't really gossip," Dominique said. At least, it wouldn't really count as gossip for Brooke, because it had to do with her older sister. "I accidentally almost walked in on my sister… kissing Teddy."

"Teddy your cousin?" Brooke gasped.

"He's not actually our cousin," Dominique clarified. "He's my Uncle Harry's godson."

"Oh," Brooke nodded. "Wow… did you know?"

"That they were together?" Dominique asked. "No. Victoire never told me."

"Wow," Brooke repeated.

"Yeah," Dominique nodded. "So now I'm just a little…"

"Scarred for life?" Brooke asked.

"Well…" Dominique hesitated. "Yeah, a little. I mean, I know she's dated guys before… well at least one guy. But I never had to see her kissing him or whatever."

"You'll get used to it," Brooke assured her. "When I first saw my brother Jared making out with his girlfriend… well let's just say it was an adjustment."

"An adjustment," Dominique laughed. "That's one way of putting it."

"So do you want to start with Defence or with Herbology?" Brooke asked, changing the subject.

"Well Defence will probably take longer," Dominique said. "But Herbology is going to be harder."

"I say we get Herbology out of the way first then," Brooke declared. "At least once we get to Defence we can just curl up and read in a couple of armchairs."

"Sounds like a plan," Dominique agreed, setting herself up with the assignment instructions, some fresh parchment, a quill, some ink, and her Herbology textbook. "Alright," she said, when there was nothing left to do but start. "Here we go."

DdDdDdDdDdD

A while later, Brooke and Dominique had finished their Herbology assignments and were comfortably curled up in armchairs reading their Defence textbooks just as they'd planned. Out of nowhere, Miles walked up to them, a box of chocolate frogs in his hand.

"Hey Domi," he greeted his friend.

"Hey Miles," Dominique replied, looking up from her textbook. "What's up?"

"I brought you chocolate," Miles said, holding the box out to her. "You know, because chocolate… Valentine's Day… it's like, a thing."

"Wow, thanks Miles," Dominique said gratefully, reaching out and taking the chocolate. "Hey Brooke, look, Miles got us chocolate for Valentine's Day."

Brooke looked up from her textbook and smiled when she saw the chocolate. "Chocolate frogs are my favorite!" she exclaimed, reaching for the box and opening it up right away. "Thanks Miles!"

"Oh!" Miles said. "Well actually those were… you're welcome."

Once Brooke had freed a chocolate frog from the container for herself she held the box out for Dominique to take one, which she did gladly.

"Did you want one?" Dominique offered Miles.

"Oh no, that's okay," Miles shook his head, shifting awkwardly from one foot to the other.

"Are you alright?" Dominique asked. "Did you need something?"

"No," Miles continued to shake his head. "Well actually… I guess I was just wondering… if you maybe wanted to play a round or two of gobstones?"

"Oh, I'd love to," Dominique said. "But I can't tonight. I've got to finish this chapter for tomorrow and then Brooke and I made plans to read. How about tomorrow though? Would that work for you?"

"Oh, yeah," Miles nodded. "Of course. Tomorrow."

"Great," Dominique smiled. "Well if you're not going to take a chocolate frog I'm going to have another one," she decided, grabbing a second frog from the box and biting into it. "Did need anything else?"

"No, I'm good," Miles said. "I'm just going to go… yeah."

He backed away and hurried up the stairs to the boys' dormitories.

Frowning, Dominique turned to Brooke.

"Did Miles seem a little weird to you tonight?" she asked.

Brooke shrugged. "Miles always seems weird to me," she replied. "But he brought chocolate, so I'm not complaining."

"Hmm," Dominique hummed, thinking back to her conversation and trying to figure out if there had been something going on. "Oh well. I'll see him tomorrow anyway."

She polished off her second chocolate frog and then dived back into the chapter she was reading on trolls. She couldn't wait until she was finished and she could start on her novel. Why did Professors have to assign homework on Valentine's Day anyway?

DdDdDdDdDdD

Miles returned to the boys dormitory feeling confused and a little embarrassed.

"So how'd it go?" Tom asked, tossing his copy of Quidditch Through the Ages aside and leaning forward.

"How do you think it went?" Miles demanded, sitting down on the edge of the bed and shaking his head. "I'm up here with you, aren't I?"

"She didn't want to play gobstones?" Tom asked.

"Apparently she and Brooke have plans to read tonight," Miles frowned.

"Oh, that is such a burn!" Tom cried, only realizing after he'd said it that he was coming across as extremely insensitive. "Sorry man," he added.

"But that's just it," Miles said. "I don't think she even realized… she thought I'd brought the chocolates for her and Brooke."

"And you didn't correct her?" Tom asked.

"Well I didn't want to be rude," Miles shrugged. "Besides, Brooke had that box open in like, a nanosecond. I didn't have the time to say anything before she had half a frog shoved in her mouth."

"Well there's always next year," Tom pointed out optimistically. "Domi's not going anywhere."

"Yeah, I guess," Miles shrugged. "Whatever. I'm just going to do my Defence reading."

"We have Defence reading?" Tom asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Miles nodded. "We have to read the chapter on trolls for tomorrow."

"Well then it looks like I'd better get started on that too," Tom said, swinging off his bed to rummage through the pile of textbooks, bits of parchment, and dirty laundry that sat at the end of his bed. "Thanks for reminding me."

"No problem," Miles sighed, stretching out on his own bed with his textbook propped up against his knees. "Happy Valentine's Day," he muttered.

DdDdDdDdDdD

The next morning at breakfast, Dominique couldn't help but stare at Victoire and Teddy down the table. They were acting normal enough. It wasn't unusual that they sat together at meals – they'd been eating meals together probably since before Dominique had started attending Hogwarts. Dominique tried to spot changes in the behavior that would suggest they were together, but from what she could tell, they may as well just be really good friends.

"What's wrong with Dominique this morning?" Tom asked, directing his question at Brooke.

Dominique pulled herself out of her thoughts and rounded on Tom.

"There's nothing wrong with me, thank you very much," she said.

"She's in a mood because she found out her sister's dating her cousin," Brooke replied flippantly.

"What?" Tom cried, pumpkin juice spurting out of his mouth.

"He's not my cousin," Dominique rolled her eyes. "Brooke's just being dramatic."

"It's more interesting if he's your cousin," Brooke claimed.

"If by interesting you mean disturbing," Dominique countered. "Besides, it's a non-issue. We are not talking about it."

"Clearly it's not a non-issue," Brooke pointed out. "Not if you can't stop staring at them."

"I can so stop staring at them," Dominique insisted.

"Even Tom noticed something was up," Brooke said. "Doesn't that tell you anything?"

"It tells me that Tom likes to poke his nose where it doesn't belong," Dominique said.

"Hey, don't turn this around on me!" Tom cried, holding his hands up in surrender. "All I wanted to know was why you were so quiet and why you weren't eating any pancakes."

Dominique stabbed a piece of pancake with her fork and shoved it into her mouth. "There, I'm eating my pancakes," she said, her mouth full and little bits of pancake spewing out.

"Dominique that's disgusting," Brooke said, wrinkling her nose. "Please chew with your mouth closed and don't talk when it's full of food."

Dominique swallowed. "I'm not a child," she muttered. "I know how to eat food."

"Could have fooled me," Brooke muttered.

"What's wrong with Miles?" Dominique asked, changing the subject. "He hasn't said a word all morning."

"He's fine," Tom assured her, taking a bite of his own pancakes.

"Is there a reason he needs you to speak for him this morning?" Brooke wondered.

"It's just one of those mornings," Tom shrugged. "You know, bad night, rough morning, really tired…"

"He seems depressed," Brooke noted as she watched Miles push his pancakes around on his plate, not eating or even seeming to have heard any of their conversation.

"He's not depressed," Tom insisted. "He's just tired, like I said."

"Should he even be here?" Dominique wondered. "Maybe he should go back to bed."

"Attending class isn't really an optional thing here," Brooke pointed out. "And it's not like he's sick. He can't just go to the hospital wing because he's tired."

"I guess…" Dominique agreed. "Well if he doesn't wake up or whatever soon, then he's going to have a hard time taking notes in Herbology."

"He'll be fine," Tom assured her. "Don't worry, I'll wake him up when it's time for class."

"What're you going to do?" Brooke asked. "Slap him in the face?"

"If I have to," Tom nodded.

"You don't have to slap me in the face," Miles muttered, looking up from his plate of pancake mush. "I'm fine. I'm awake. I'm good."

"Nice of you to join us," Brooke said.

As Tom opened his mouth to say something, Dominique found herself glancing over in Victoire and Teddy's direction again distractedly. Teddy was saying something and Victoire and her friends were laughing at it. Then Victoire said something and her friends stood, gathering their things. Victoire looked over at Teddy and he leaned forward, pressing the quickest of kisses to her cheek before pulling back and allowing Victoire to stand and gather her things as well.

"There!" Dominique cried, pointing in her sister's direction. "Did you see that?"

"See what?" Brooke wondered.

"He kissed her! Just now! It was so fast I wouldn't have seen if I hadn't been looking, but it happened!" Dominique said.

"So what?" Tom wondered.

"So… I don't know," Dominique muttered. "So I was right? So they are together?"

"I don't think anyone was disagreeing with you on that," Brooke frowned. "Didn't you say you caught them making out in a corridor?"

"Yeah," Dominique nodded. "But nobody else was there to see it."

"Well it's not like we think you made it up," Brooke said.

"But what if I'd imagined the whole thing?" Dominique wondered.

"I find that highly unlikely," Brooke replied.

"Well what if – "

"Dominique," Brooke said, placing one hand on either of her friend's shoulders and staring her straight in the eye. "Stop obsessing about your sister and your cousin."

"He's not my – "

"I don't care," Brooke interrupted her. "If they are together, then that's great. They will tell you in their own time. And if they're not together, then there was nothing to worry about from the start, right?"

"Right," Dominique agreed.

"Great," Brooke nodded, letting Dominique go. "Let's get to Herbology."