Year 2: Read My Lips
Chapter 18: April 2015
"Good morning class!" Professor Tonks greeted her second years the morning of their last class before the Easter holidays. "Today we're going to be continuing our study of switching spells by having our first practical lesson. Has everyone reviewed the theory like I asked last class?"
Dominique nodded along with the rest of the class. She was extremely excited to finally be attempting something new. So far, they'd spent the whole year studying animate to inanimate transfigurations, and while it had been fun at first, it had gotten boring. She was definitely ready to try something new.
"Excellent," Professor Tonks nodded. "Well then everyone come up front and take two buttons – just make sure they're significantly different from one another that you'll be able to tell if you switch them. We're going to start small and work our way up to the bigger items."
Dominique stood and got in line with the rest of her classmates, some of whom were pushing and shoving to get to the front. Dominique wasn't sure why they were so eager when everyone was going to be getting their buttons soon enough, and decided to just wait at the back of the line where things were calmer.
"So how long d'you reckon it'll take you to get the spell right?" Miles asked Dominique in a joking tone.
"Hey, I'm good at charms, not transfiguration," Dominique said. "This could take me just as long as the rest of you."
"Well it may be true that you're better at charms," Tom agreed. "But you're still pretty good at transfiguration as well. Better than most of us in fact."
"But I'm not like, the best at transfiguration or anything," Dominique insisted.
"No," Brooke agreed. "I think that honor is reserved for Blaine Townsend. I still can't believe he turned his beetle into a button on his first try!"
"Hey, do you think any of the buttons we use today were originally beetles that got stuck as buttons?" Tom wondered.
"Probably not," Dominique shook her head. "If we were working with transfigured beetles, the spell would be about a thousand times harder than working with buttons. We have to start with simple inanimate to inanimate switching spells. Something as complicated as an animate inanimate to animate inanimate switching spell would probably only be taught in third or fourth year. Maybe even fifth."
"Okay, you lost me at inanimate," Tom muttered, staring at Dominique like she was crazy.
The four Gryffindors reached their Professor's desk and each grabbed a pair of buttons. Dominique took one that was rather large and green and another that was much smaller and black. Once they had their buttons, they returned to their desks to start practicing.
"What's the incantation?" Brooke asked.
"Bakopos," Miles replied.
"Right," Brooke nodded. "Right."
"Do you need to go over the theory again?" Dominique wondered.
"No," Brooke shook her head. "No, I'm good."
Lapsing into silence, all four of them began to attempt the spell. The only sounds were the sounds of the incantation being said and occasional grumblings when it didn't work.
"This is hopeless," Dominique cried, suddenly nostalgic for the much easier animate to inanimate transfigurations they were working on mere weeks ago. "I'm never going to get this."
"Wait!" Miles cried. "I think I've got it! Let me try one more time."
Dominique paused in her attempts to watch Miles. He carefully pointed his wand at one of his buttons and cast the spell. Suddenly, before their very eyes, his white button grew and turned purple while his purple button shrank and became white.
"You did it!" Dominique exclaimed in shock. "How'd you do that? How did you know you had it?"
"I don't know," Miles shrugged. "I just knew. It's hard to describe."
"Oh, congratulations Mr. Bailey," Professor Tonks said as she passed by. "That's our third successful switching spell, good job."
"Hear that?" Tom said excitedly. "Third in the class!"
"I bet Blaine Townsend already got it," Brooke muttered. "Probably didn't take any effort either."
"Brooke, why are you so angry with Blaine Townsend all of a sudden?" Dominique asked.
"I'm not," Brooke said. "I'm just jealous that he's so much better at transfiguration than the rest of us."
"Whatever you say," Dominique nodded, going back to her work.
DdDdDdDdDdD
As the Easter holidays started, the second years struggled to work on their switching spells – Professor Tonks had assigned an assignment that was meant to make them easier, but it was only proving to complicate things.
"This is just dumb," Brooke grumbled. "I hate transfiguration."
"Really?" Tom asked. "But you're so good at it."
"Oh shut up," Brooke stuck her tongue out at the boy.
"I'm going to find a copy of Switching Spells for Simpletons," Dominique announced. "Because none of this is making any sense to me."
"Oh good," Brooke exclaimed. "I'd like to take a look at that too if you don't mind."
"No problem," Dominique agreed.
Pushing her chair back, Dominique stood and began making her way through the library to the transfiguration section. As she passed the Arithmancy section, she noticed out of the corner of her eye that there was a couple kissing in one of the aisles. Normally she would have simply kept walking, but for some reason she stopped and turned her head.
"Oh!" she exclaimed when she realized what she was witnessing once again. It was Victoire and Teddy wrapped up in each other, Victoire leaning against the bookshelf.
At her words, the two sprung apart, Teddy launching himself against the opposite bookshelf and Victoire falling forward a bit and then covering her mouth in surprise.
"Dominique?" Victoire asked.
"Victoire!" Dominique said, wishing to Merlin she hadn't have made a sound. "I was just… you know, passing by…" she made to leave, but Victoire wouldn't let her.
"Dominique, we should talk about this," Victoire insisted.
"I don't think there's anything to talk about really," Dominique replied, avoiding eye contact with both parties. Teddy was awkwardly staring at the books on the bookshelf and Victoire looked like she was close to tears. "Obviously you're just looking for a book in the library. There's nothing strange about that."
"Dominique come on," Victoire pleaded. "We all know what you saw, so let's just have an adult conversation about it."
Dominique frowned. Couldn't they just pretend this had never happened and move on? Why was it so important to talk about it when obviously Victoire wasn't ready to be sharing?
"I'm twelve," Dominique pointed out. "And you're fourteen. The only adult here is Teddy, and he's barely an adult at that."
"I'm practically fifteen thank you very much," Victoire huffed, as if that made her an adult. "And you're practically thirteen, which makes you practically a teenager, which makes you old enough to have this conversation."
Dominique sighed. When Victoire was determined to do something, she did it. There was no getting out of this now. "Okay," she said. "What do you want to talk about?"
"I want to talk about what you just saw," Victoire replied.
"I told you, I didn't see anything," Dominique replied.
"Okay," Victoire said slowly. "Obviously you're in shock, so maybe we just need to take a minute for you to process – "
"I'm not in shock," Dominique stopped her sister before she could go any further. She sighed then, realizing there was no avoiding things now. "Look, if you're going to make me talk about it… I already know."
"You already know what?" Victoire asked in confusion.
"I already know about you and Teddy," Dominique replied.
"You already know what about me and Teddy?" Victoire asked ether.
"I know you're together or whatever," Dominique revealed. "I mean, I don't know much obviously, but I saw you kissing in the corridor back in February."
"And you didn't say anything?" Victoire cried.
"I figured you'd tell me when you were ready," Dominique replied honestly.
"So you're not… freaked out?" Victoire asked hesitantly.
"I was at first," Dominique admitted. "But I've had a lot of time to think about it. If you guys are happy, then that's what's important, right?"
This got Dominique her first reaction from Teddy, who met her eyes and smiled.
"Thank you Dominique, that's very mature of you," he said.
"Have you told anyone?" Victoire demanded.
"If you mean from the family, then no," Dominique shook her head. "But I told Brooke and Tom and Miles."
"Do you think they would tell anyone?" Victoire inquired, almost fearfully.
"I doubt it," Dominique shrugged, not sure why Victoire was so worried. "The other second years don't want to hear gossip about random fourth and sixth years. They want to talk about people they actually know."
"Okay," Victoire said, taking a deep breath. "Well can we just keep it quiet for now, please? We aren't ready for the family to know yet."
"Sure," Dominique agreed. "But you are going to tell them eventually, right?"
"Of course," Victoire said in a rush. "Just not until we're ready to field all their questions. I mean, maman and papa will be bad enough, but we're going to have to deal with Uncle George making jokes, and Uncle Percy's probably going to be all disapproving. And Merlin only knows what Uncle Harry's going to say. He's practically Teddy's father."
"My lips are sealed," Dominique promised, pretending to zip her lips shut and throw away the key.
"Thanks Domi," Victoire replied gratefully.
Dominique nodded once more, and then hurried out of there before her sister could try to talk to her some more. Though she'd had some time to work through her emotions already, being forced to talk about it with her sister hadn't been fun.
She reached the transfiguration section and grabbed the book she was looking for from the shelf before hurrying back to join her friends, making sure to take the long way back to avoid running into Teddy and Victoire again.
"You look terrible," Brooke noted as soon as Dominique sat back down. "What happened back there? Did you run into the Bloody Baron? I hear he's taken to haunting students in the library recently."
"Worse," Dominique shook her head. "I ran into Victoire and Teddy."
"Not again!" Brooke cried. "They weren't making out again, were they?"
"They were," Dominique nodded. "And this time they saw me. I had to stand there and talk to them about it."
"What did they say?" Brooke asked, leaning forward in interest.
"Nothing much," Dominique shrugged. "Just that they don't want anyone to know and I should keep quiet about it until they're ready."
"But you've already told us!" Brooke pointed out. "Plus, if they're making out in the library, then they're not being all that discrete."
"It sounds like they're more concerned about the family finding out," Dominique said.
"Oh right," Tom nodded. "Because they're related and all. So it's going to be a pretty big scandal."
"For the last time Tom," Dominique rolled her eyes. "Teddy is not our actual cousin."
"I don't know," Tom shook his head. "If you were adopted, would you date your brother, even if you weren't technically related?"
Dominique wrinkled her nose. "First of all, my brother is actually my brother, so that's disgusting. Second, it's entirely different. Victoire and Teddy didn't grow up brother and sister, they grew up as friends."
"I still say it's weird," Tom shrugged.
"Well just don't say it to them," Dominique requested. "Because Victoire will just get mad at me."
"What do you think I'd say?" Tom wondered. "Hey people who are significantly older than me and who I barely know. I think your relationship is super weird and creepy. Just thought I'd let you know."
Dominique laughed. "Just do your homework," she insisted.
DdDdDdDdDdD
A few days later, the second years were still struggling with the switching spell. Before the holiday, Professor Tonks instructed them to continue practicing outside of class, but still almost everyone had been unable to perform the spell yet. In Gryffindor, only Miles and Joy had pulled the spell off, and even then, only a couple of times.
"We should all get together tonight to practice," Brittany suggested to the Gryffindors. "You know, like we used to."
"That's a good idea," Timothy agreed. "You guys in?"
Dominique agreed, along with the rest of her friends as well as the other second year Gryffindors.
"We'll bring the snacks," Dominique smiled, gesturing to herself and Miles. Pillaging snacks from the kitchens had been one of their favorite activities during large study sessions last year and Dominique looked forward to doing it again.
"Sounds like a plan," Zeke nodded. "Let's start after dinner, so that we can have some time to relax first."
Strangely, as Dominique found herself looking forward to studying with the other Gryffindors later. She missed a lot of them. Ever since she'd become close with Miles, Brooke, and Tom, she'd stopped spending time with the others. Though they weren't people she'd want to hang out with all the time, or share her secrets with, they were nice and fun people who she always had a good time with.
As soon as dinner was over, Dominique and Miles hurried down to the kitchens to get a couple of baskets of treats to bring up to the common room. Guppy was more than happy to accommodate them as usual, and they even had to talk the house elf down from four baskets to two – they never ate a full four baskets and they didn't want to waste food.
When they arrived in the common room, Brittany, Joy, and Holly had claimed a long table near the back where they always used to work and were waiting for them. Dominique and Miles dropped the baskets on either end of the table and joined the girls. It wasn't long before Brooke and Tom arrived, followed closely by the other boys, all ready to get to work on the switching spell.
"Alright, Miles, Joy, any words of advice?" Grant asked as everyone laid out their buttons on the table.
Miles and Joy exchanged a look and then Joy shrugged. "Not really," she admitted. "Just remember the theory and remember that buttons are light, so you don't need to account for weight."
"And you only need to account for size if the buttons you're using are significantly different in size," Miles added.
"How much is significantly?" Holly wondered.
Miles deliberated. "If the bigger one looks more than twice the size of the smaller, then you should account for size. Otherwise, it's probably not significant."
The second years got to work, but when after twenty minutes nothing had happened, some of them began to be discouraged.
"We should've gotten an older student to help us," Timothy complained. "Miles and Joy don't know anything. They can't even get the spell to work anymore."
"Wait!" Zeke cried in excitement. "I got it! Look, I'll do it again!"
Everyone crowded around while he cast the spell and Brittany even started clapping when the spell was successful.
"How'd you do it?" Brooke insisted.
"It's like Miles and Joy said," Zeke shrugged. "I took weight and concentration out of the equation and then accounted for size because one of my buttons is much larger than the other."
"Wait, you took out concentration?" Holly frowned.
"Well I figured if I was taking weight out then it stands to reason…"
"Of course!" Holly cried, scribbling something and then trying the spell again. "There!" she cried. "I got it!"
Eagerly, Dominique looked back at her own paper and checked to see if she'd factored in concentration. Unfortunately, her equation looked right, which meant she was back to square one.
"Domi," Miles whispered, leaning over. "Pass me a butter tart, would you?" he asked.
Absentmindedly, Dominique grabbed the butter tart and then accidentally dropped it all over her notes.
"Oops!" she cried. "Sorry, I'll grab another one."
"Nah, this is fine," Miles said, grabbing the larger bits and popping them into his mouth. "Thanks."
Dominique rolled her eyes. "You're like a garbage pit in there, you know that?"
"I'm a growing boy," Miles retorted.
Dominique brushed the crumbs off her notes and then noticed something she'd overlooked before.
"Hey Miles," she said, frowning. "Look at this…"
Miles leaned over to read from Dominique's notes. "Switching spells can be performed on any two objects, providing the first object is in the caster's vicinity and the second object is within one hundred meters of the first. So what?" he asked.
"So, you don't have to be able to see both objects to cast the switching spell," Dominique realized. "You only have to be looking at one, and you just have to know what and where the other one is."
"Okay…?" Miles frowned, not seeing where Dominique was going.
"Cover one of my buttons with your hand," Dominique demanded.
Unsure but willing to give anything a try, Miles placed his hand over the green button, leaving only the black one visible.
Dominique closed her eyes to center herself and then when she opened them again, she focused her attention completely on the black button and replacing it with the green one. She cast the spell and to her delight, the black button grew and changed color.
"I did it!" Dominique cried in glee.
"You did," Miles said in surprise. "But how?"
"I realized that I was simultaneously trying to make the black button green while making the green button black. I was trying to perform two spells instead of one. I didn't have to think about making the green button into the black button because if the black button became the green button, then the green button would naturally become the black button. I was overcomplicating the situation!" Dominique cried.
"That's genius!" Miles cried. "You're right. Those few times I managed to cast the spell, I was only focusing on one button, only I didn't realize that's what I was doing."
"Hey guys!" Dominique cried, getting the attention of the whole table. "We figured out what we're doing wrong!"
DdDdDdDdDdD
By the end of the night, all the Gryffindors could successfully switch their buttons and some had even gone on to attempt slightly bigger objects. Dominique was elated and so happy that she had figured out what was wrong so that she could continue to expand her knowledge of switching spells.
"Game of gobstones before we turn in?" Miles offered as the other Gryffindors trickled up to their dorms, exhausted.
"You're on," Dominique nodded, claiming a spot on the floor while Miles hurried to get the game. It had been a long day and an even longer week, but Dominique was happy. Though studying with the other Gryffindors had been fun and she'd like to spend time with them more in the future, it had made her realize how much she truly valued her friends and how great it was to have people to play gobstones with after having a major magical breakthrough.
"You go first," Dominique declared once the game was set up.
"I don't think so," Miles shook his head. "I went first last time. You have to do it now."
"Fine," Dominique said, grabbing a marble and getting into position. "I'll go first and beat you anyway."