Year 2: Read My Lips

Chapter 17: March 2015

The seventh of March, Dominique woke to the sound of her wand alarm wailing in her ear. Fumbling for her wand, she cast a quick finite to shut it off before the rest of her dorm mates woke up and yelled at her for disturbing their sleep.

She swung her feet around and stood up, hissing in surprise when her feet met the cold floor. She quickly pulled on her slippers and grabbed her bathroom kit before heading into the bathroom to start getting ready for the day.

"So what are we doing today?" Brooke asked, wandering into the bathroom while Dominique was standing at the sink washing her face.

"What are you doing up so early?" Dominique frowned. "It's a Saturday, you should be sleeping in."

"Maybe I should be asking you the same thing," Brooke countered.

"You know I booked time with Professor Abbott-Longbottom in the after-hours potions lab this morning," Dominique reminded her friend.

"Oh right," Brooke nodded. "She's going to help you brew a sleeping solution."

"Well it didn't go well last time, and I'm going to need to know how to do it if I want to pass second year," Dominique pointed out.

"When did you become so studious?" Brooke mocked.

"Shut up," Dominique rolled her eyes. "I didn't have much of a choice. Professor Abbott-Longbottom basically told me I had to brew it again, and properly this time."

"Well I hope you have fun," Brooke said.

"Fat chance," Dominique muttered. "And you still haven't explained what you're doing up so early."

"Oh, it's no big deal," Brooke shrugged. "Sometimes Miles, Tom, and I wake up early on the weekends to train when the Quidditch pitch hasn't been booked."

"And you never thought to tell me?" Dominique asked, affronted.

"It's not like you'd want to come anyway," Brooke pointed out. "Besides, you're always asleep."

"Good point," Dominique allowed.

The girls finished getting ready and then descended to the common room, where Miles and Tom were ready and waiting for Brooke.

"Good morning!" Dominique greeted the boys.

"Dominique!" Tom said in surprise. "I didn't realize you were coming to watch us practice today. Is there something special happening that I don't know about?" He smiled, almost expectantly and Dominique frowned.

"No, I have an appointment in the potions lab with Professor Abbott-Longbottom," she clarified.

"Oh right," Tom nodded, his smile fading. "Well have fun."

Dominique made a face. "Why do people keep saying that?" she wondered.

DdDdDdDdDdD

After two hours in the potions lab with Professor Abbott-Longbottom, Dominique was starving, so she headed straight for the Great Hall. Her friends weren't back from the Quidditch pitch, but she noticed her sister sitting by herself, so she decided to join her.

"Hey Victoire," Dominique greeted her.

"Hey Domi," Victoire returned. "You're up early."

"So are you," Dominique returned.

Victoire shrugged. "Yeah, I didn't sleep well last night and I couldn't keep lying there in boredom, so I thought I'd come down and have some brunch."

"I had an appointment with Professor Abbott-Longbottom," Dominique shared her own tale.

"How'd that go?" Victoire wondered.

"Fine," Dominique shrugged. "I can brew a sleeping potion now."

"Well that sounds like a success," Victoire smiled.

Dominique nodded and then glanced around the room surreptitiously. "So where's Teddy this morning?" she wondered, her tone innocent.

Victoire shrugged. "How should I know?" she asked.

"I don't know," Dominique said, taking a sip of pumpkin juice. "You two just tend to hang around together a lot."

"Well were you looking for him for something?" Victoire asked. "Because I can let him know you're looking for him when I see him."

"Oh no, that's not necessary," Dominique shook her head. "I was just curious."

"Alright," Victoire allowed. "Well I should actually be going because I have someplace to be."

"I thought you couldn't sleep and just came down for food?" Dominique probed.

"Right!" Victoire said, her eyes widening as if she'd been caught in a lie. "That's true. But I would have had to get up soon anyway, because I have this thing… that I need to get to."

"Okay," Dominique nodded. "Well you'd better get to it."

"I'd better," Victoire agreed, standing up. "It was good talking to you."

"Yeah, you too," Dominique agreed, waving as her sister hurried out of the Great Hall.

Victoire was meeting Teddy somewhere, Dominique was sure of it. Though she was a little hurt that her sister was still keeping everything from her, she mostly didn't care. She would tell her eventually. Or the tow would break up, and then there'd be nothing to tell anyway.

A few minutes later, Brooke, Miles, and Tom returned from the Quidditch pitch and joined Dominique in the Great Hall.

"How was practice?" Dominique asked.

"Great," Tom replied. "Until Hufflepuff kicked us off the pitch."

"You didn't know they had booked it?" Dominique wondered.

"Oh no, we knew," Miles assured her.

"So then what's the problem?" Dominique wondered.

"They were five minutes early," Brooke said, looking at Tom and rolling her eyes. "Tom's being a drama queen."

"I am not!" Tom exclaimed. "We had five minutes more on that pitch and they stole them from us."

"Calm down," Miles insisted. "Five minutes isn't going to make that much of a difference."

"Well when we don't make the team next year, I suspect you'll be singing a different tune," Tom muttered.

"If we don't make the team next year because of five minutes, then we probably don't deserve to be on the team anyway," Brooke pointed out.

"Whatever," Tom grumbled, piling his plate with just about every food in sight. "I'm starving."

DdDdDdDdDdD

That afternoon found the four second-year Gryffindors around a table in the library working on their term papers for History of Magic. It wasn't the most fun of activities for a Saturday afternoon, but it needed to get done at some point.

"So what're we doing after dinner?" Tom wondered as everyone scribbled away.

Miles shrugged. "We could play some gobstones," he suggested.

"Yeah, don't I still owe you a game?" Dominique recalled.

Miles shrugged. "No big deal," he muttered. "I'm not keeping count or anything."

"Really?" Tom asked, unconvinced. "You guys are telling me that all we're going to do tonight is play gobstones?"

"Did you have something else in mind?" Brooke wondered.

"Oh no!" Tom shook his head. "Whatever you guys have planned is fine with me."

"But we don't have anything planned," Dominique frowned.

"Right," Tom nodded, as if he was in on a secret that nobody else seemed to be aware of. "No plans. Got it."

Dominique shared a bewildered look with Brooke and Miles. Wha - ? she mouthed. Miles shrugged and Brooke made a face.

Deciding to focus on her assignment, Dominique pushed thoughts of Tom's strange behaviour away and tried to figure out where she'd left her train of thought. She had just gotten back into the headspace of her topic when she felt Miles kick her under the table.

"Hey – "

"I have to go and find a book," Miles announced loud enough that people at the nearby tables shot him irritated looks. He made a face at Dominique indicating that she should follow.

"Yes," Dominique said loudly, pushing her chair back and standing up. "I also have to find a book."

Brooke looked between Miles and Dominique with a confused expression. "Do I need to find a book too?" she wondered.

"I think you do," Miles nodded.

"Should I come too - ?"

"No," Miles shook his head. "No, you should keep working on your paper."

"Oh I see," Tom nodded. "Should I wait for your guys here, or should I just head up to the common room in a bit?"

Brooke narrowed her eyes in confusion. "We're just going to look for some books," she said. "We'll be right back."

"Gotcha," Tom nodded with a smile. "Go ahead, I'll just be here."

Feeling like she had completely missed something, Dominique followed Miles and Brooke down and aisle and then towards the back of the library where Tom was sure not to hear them.

"Is something going on?" Dominique wondered. "Why is Tom being so weird today and why did you feel the need to drag us all the way back here without him?"

"Guys," Miles said seriously. "We messed up."

"What do you mean we messed up?" Brooke asked. "What did we do?"

"It's not something we did," Miles said. "It's something we didn't do. Or rather, something we forgot to do."

He looked expectantly at the two girls, as if waiting for them to magically figure out what they had forgotten. When neither of them had a miraculous epiphany, Miles decided to just tell them.

"It's March the seventh," he said. "It's Tom's birthday."

Dominique's jaw dropped open as realization flooded through her. Of course it was Tom's birthday. He's been reminding them his birthday was coming up for weeks. He was probably expecting some huge surprise party and here they'd gone and completely forgotten about him altogether.

"What are we going to do?" Brooke asked. "Did either of you even get him anything?"

Dominique and Miles both shook their heads.

"This is bad guys. This is really bad," Brooke muttered.

"I know," Miles agreed. "But we still have time. He doesn't know we forgot yet, so if we just manage to pull something off tonight, then he'll never have to know."

"How are we going to plan a whole surprise party when it's already three o'clock and Tom's waiting for us back at the table?" Dominique demanded.

"We'll have to take it in shifts," Miles decided. "One of us stays with Tom while the other two plan a party."

"Okay," Brooke nodded. "I'll take the first shift with Tom while you two figure out what we're going to do."

"And I'll come and relieve you in a bit, and then Miles can switch with me," Dominique added.

"Okay," Brooke nodded, grabbing a book off the shelf at random and starting to walk away. "You guys have got this!"

As soon as Brooke had left, Dominique turned to Miles. "What do we do now?" she wondered. "Where do we even start?"

"We make a list," Miles decided, grabbing a quill and some spare parchment from one of the nearby tables. Madam Maxwell liked to keep spare supplies around the library for students who forgot their own or ran out. "What needs to be done?"

"We need people," Dominique decided. "And food. And something to do at the party."

"We're going to need a place too," Miles added, scribbling everything down. "If we want to use the common room, we'll have to run it by a prefect."

"Teddy's a prefect," Dominique said. "I can check with him, I'm sure he'll agree."

"Perfect," Miles said. "I'll put your name next to that one."

"We'll also need presents," Dominique realized. "At least from the three of us. He'll be expecting presents since he didn't get them this morning."

"That might take some creativity," Miles muttered.

"And what about decorations?" Dominique asked. "Or music?"

"I don't think we're going to have enough time to decorate," Miles noted. "Music is achievable though."

"Okay, so what are our priorities?" Dominique asked once the list was complete.

"Definitely getting permission to use the common room," Miles said. "We should do that first. Also finding people."

"Okay, so I'll find Teddy and get the all clear to have the party in the common room," Dominique nodded. "You try and find as many of the other second year Gryffindors as you can and ask them to please come tonight."

"What time should we plan for?" Miles asked.

Dominique thought about it. "Well we can probably get food from the kitchens, so we won't have to eat dinner in the Great Hall. How about six?"

"Perfect," Miles agreed. "That'll probably make it easier to get permission to use the common room, if it's partly during dinner when nobody will be there anyway."

"Okay great," Dominique nodded. "Let's meet back here in an hour and then I'll switch off with Brooke."

"Sounds like a plan," Miles agreed.

DdDdDdDdDdD

"Teddy!" Dominique cried, bursting into the common room, relieved to find the prefect lounging on the couch with Victoire.

"Dominique," Teddy returned. "Can I help you with anything?"

"Yes!" Dominique said. "I was wondering if the second years could have a party in the common room tonight from six to eight? It's Tom's birthday."

"And you're only asking me now?" Teddy frowned.

"Well I – "

"She was looking for you earlier," Victoire jumped in. "We spoke over brunch. I told her I wasn't sure where you were, so she was probably looking for you but couldn't find you because…"

"Right," Teddy nodded.

"So… can we?" Dominique repeated.

"It's from six to eight that you want the common room?" Teddy checked.

Dominique nodded.

"Oh come on Teddy, let them have their party," Victoire pleaded.

Teddy sighed. "All right fine," he agreed. "I'll put a notice on the board now to let everyone know the common room is booked for a private party. But people will still be free to pass through and you're done as soon as the clock strikes eight."

"Thank you SO much!" Dominique cried, giving Teddy a hug. "You just saved my life."

"Thank your sister," Teddy said, scribbling a note on a piece of parchment and then heading over to post it on the notice board. "I was going to say no."

"Thanks Victoire," Dominique smiled. "I have to go and find Miles."

"Have fun!" Victoire called out after her sister.

"Will do!" Dominique called back.

DdDdDdDdDdD

Dominique returned to the library to give Miles the good news. He was relieved to know that their location was set and he in return announced that he'd located both Zeke and Grant, who'd promised to pass on the message to Timothy and the other girls. They were both looking forward to the party and were sure the other second years would be too.

Trading with Brooke, Dominique took over Tom duty, which mostly consisted of working on her term paper while Tom made a bunch of pointed remarks about how Brooke and Miles were taking a long time to locate the library books they'd gone to look for. By the time Miles switched with Dominique, the food and music had been planned as well as some fun games that they could all play. All that needed to be done was to scrounge up some gifts to give to Tom.

"I've got nothing," Brooke said up in the dorms as she and Dominique frantically searched their trunks for anything that resembled a gift.

"I've got some chocolate frogs left over from Valentine's Day," Dominique said, discovering the box under some clothes.

"How many?" Brooke asked.

Dominique counted. "Five," she sighed. "That's only good for one gift and we need three."

"I could tell him his present's on owl order and that it got delayed," Brooke offered.

"That could work," Dominique nodded. "Now we just need something for Miles to give him…"

"He could offer to do his homework for a week or something," Brooke suggested.

"Miles would never do that," Dominique shook her head. "He's too honest."

"Well I'm not," Brooke said. "He can take the owl order excuse and I'll do his homework."

"Perfect!" Dominique exclaimed. "Looks like we've got ourselves a party!"

DdDdDdDdDdD

At six o'clock, Dominique and Brooke waited in the common room with the other second years for Miles to arrive with Tom. They had needed to employ the help of more than one prefect to clear the room prior to the party, as many upperclassmen had either been unaware of the notice on the board or else simply chose to ignore it. However, the common room had successfully been emptied, and Teddy was nearby in case Dominique needed him again.

"He should be here any minute," Dominique said, checking the time. It was five past six, so Tom couldn't be far.

Just then, the portrait hole swung open and Tom climbed through, followed by Miles.

"Happy Birthday!" everyone cried, clapping and cheering while a joyful Tom beamed at them.

"You did remember," he smiled happily. Someone started the music and Tom excitedly headed straight for the food table, grabbing a number of sweets for his dinner.

"Think we pulled it off?" Miles asked, stepping over to where Dominique and Brooke were standing.

"I think we did," Brooke nodded. "He seems happy and has no idea we forgot."

"We definitely did it," Dominique agreed. "I just hope this never happens again."

"Oh it won't," Miles assured her. "I've marked all three of your birthdays in my calendar permanently. You'd just better not forget mine."

"Well even if we do, you'd never know," Dominique joked. "We are now master last-minute party planners."

"Hey guys!" Tom said, coming over. "Aren't you going to eat anything?"

"Yeah, of course," Dominique nodded. "Come on guys, let's enjoy the party."