Year 3: Those Fragile Bonds
Chapter 28: April 2016
"Oh look how nice it is outside!" Dominique exclaimed one Saturday morning.
So far, spring at Hogwarts had been a wet one. It seemed that almost everyday it was raining, meaning that everyone was kept cooped up in the castle. Today though, the sun was shining, and the ground looked like it might be almost dry – a perfect opportunity to spend some time outside.
"It is," Brooke acknowledged, crawling out of bed and over to the window. "Oh, but we have that big potions essay to write today."
"Who cares about potions?" Dominique cried. "We can do potions tomorrow."
"I don't know if that's really the best way to go about it," Brooke said hesitantly, torn between getting her work done and taking advantage of the beautiful weather. "We should really get potions out of the way now so that we don't run out of time."
Dominique sighed in exasperation. "Come on Brooke, we don't need two whole days just to do potions," she pointed out.
"Well no," Brooke agreed. "But there's also the defence and charms assignments."
"Those are so short they might as well not be assignments at all," Dominique brushed them off. "They're barely even worth mentioning."
"Except that they have to get done too," Brooke reminded her. "Preferably today. If we have time left over, then we can go outside. If not, we'll just go outside tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" Dominique cried in dismay. "But by tomorrow it'll probably be raining again."
"Fine," Brooke rolled her eyes. "Tonight then."
"That won't work either," Dominique protested. "The sun will have gone down, it'll be colder… it won't be the same."
Brooke sighed. "I want to enjoy the sun as much as you do Domi – "
"Then stop talking about school and just do it!" Dominique cried. "So we have to stay up a little later on Sunday night to finish our potions essays, big deal! It's been weeks since the sun's been out, and I want to enjoy it."
Brooke blew out a breath. "Fine," she declared. "We'll spend the morning outside, but after lunch it's straight to the library."
"When did you get so strict about school?" Dominique frowned, feeling like she barely knew her friend anymore.
"If I'm failing any of my classes, I won't be eligible to play Quidditch any more. One of the players on the Slytherin team just got suspended and I'm not going to let that happen to me," Brooke declared.
"Oh, who was suspended?" Dominique asked casually, hoping it was Summer Snow.
"David Warrington," Brooke replied, naming a boy in the year above them. "Rumor has it he's failing history of magic."
"And Professor Binns actually noticed enough to have him suspended?" Dominique asked in surprise.
Brooke laughed. "No, it was Madame Volant who suspended him. I guess one of her jobs is to keep track of the players' grades."
"Do you think you're at risk of failing anything?" Dominique frowned.
"Not right now," Brooke shook her head. "And I'd like to keep it that way."
Dominique nodded. She understood that Quidditch was strangely important to Brooke and figured if it meant Brooke was more focused on school, then that could only be a good thing.
DdDdDdDdDdD
The girls got dressed and packed their bags with their homework for the day and then headed down to the Great Hall to meet up with Tom and Miles. As usual, the boys had arrived at breakfast first and were already starting on their second plates of waffles when the girls sat down to their first.
"So Brooke and I were talking," Dominique said as she piled some fruit on top of her waffle. "And we were thinking – "
"Whoa!" Tom interrupted, gesturing animatedly to Dominique's pile of fruit. "What are you doing to that poor waffle?"
"What?" Dominique frowned. "I like fruit."
"But you're destroying the waffle!" Tom cried. "Why can't you eat your fruit on the side like a normal person?"
"Like a normal person?" Dominique frowned. "Who says there's any normal way to eat a waffle?"
"I do," Tom claimed. "And it's with butter and syrup. Not with fruit."
"Well I'm not only having fruit," Dominique said, as if this idea was ludicrous. "I'm going to throw some whipped cream on top too."
"That – that doesn't – that's not – "
"So apparently Tom can't talk right now," Miles spoke for Tom. "He's a little too overwhelmed."
"I can talk," Tom said, recovering from his momentary lapse in speech. "But Domi, you – you should be ashamed of yourself."
"Ashamed?" Dominique demanded angrily. "For eating waffles the way I want to?"
"Do you often eat them like that?" Tom wondered.
"Yeah, all the time," Dominique nodded. "So I don't know why you're freaking out. You've seen me do this before."
"Huh," Tom made a face. "I've never noticed before."
"It's going to be alright man," Miles said, patting his friend on the back. "You're going to make it through this. Here, have some more syrup."
Miles handed Tom the syrup and Tom happily poured a generous amount over his waffles.
"See, now to me, that's a disgrace," Dominique pointed to Tom's plate. "You've practically drowned your waffles in syrup. It's just a pile of sugar."
"Exactly," Tom smiled, digging into his food. "Tha's the poin'," he added, his mouth full.
"Well anyway…" Brooke said, changing the subject. "As we were saying before, Dominique and I thought it would be nice to spend some time outside today since the sun's out for once."
"Good idea," Miles agreed. "I feel like my vitamin C is deficient."
"Then you should really eat an orange slice," Dominique said, offering him one off her plate.
"What?" Miles frowned.
"Vitamin C is in oranges," Dominique explained.
"Oh," Miles nodded. "Okay, then which one comes from the sun?"
"That's vitamin D," Brooke replied.
"Okay, then it's my vitamin D that's deficient," Miles corrected himself while Dominique ate the orange slice.
"I might have to bail," Tom said then. "I've been having some trouble with potions and Professor Abbott-Longbottom assigned me some extra work on top of the essay for this weekend, and I really can't miss a whole day of homework."
"Don't worry about it," Dominique said. "We're only going to spend the morning outside and then in the afternoon we'll do some work in the library."
"Oh well alright then," Tom agreed readily. "I'm in."
The four finished their breakfast, and once they were ready, eagerly hurried outside to enjoy some fresh air.
The ground was still a little muddy, so the four third years decided against sitting by the lake and instead opted to take a walk along the forest line. While students weren't allowed to venture deep inside the Forbidden Forest, nobody ever got in trouble for being along the boundary line.
"I think I'm burning," Dominique said, examining her arm. "Do I look redder than usual to you?"
"Oh stop," Brooke rolled her eyes. "You never burn and you know it. I'm so jealous. Your skin is so perfect."
"Just because I've never burned before doesn't mean I never will," Dominique retorted.
"Doesn't it though?" Tom asked. "I always figured it was a Veela thing."
Dominique shook her head. "Victoire burned once when we went to a beach once when we were little. She refused to let maman cast the sunscreen spell on her and by the end of the day she looked like a tomato."
"I bet she never made that mistake again," Brooke laughed.
"Definitely not," Dominique agreed.
The four continued walking along, venturing further and further from the castle. Nobody was in much of a rush to get back, and the breeze was lovely.
"Hey," Miles said suddenly, looking up at the sky. "Does that look like a raincloud to any of you?"
Dominique looked where Miles was looking and saw that there was indeed a dark grey cloud coming in from over the Forbidden Forest.
"Well there you have it," Dominique sighed. "Today will be the only nice day. By tomorrow, it'll be raining all over again."
"I wish it could just be summer already," Brooke whined. "Spring is great and all to wash away winter, but it's so gross and muddy and rainy – you can never go outside."
"I agree," Dominique nodded. "Summer's definitely the best season. And not just because there's no school for most of it."
"Definitely a perk though," Tom added.
"Oh for sure," Dominique agreed.
They continued on their stroll even further down the grounds and away from the castle when suddenly, a raindrop fell and landed on Brooke's nose.
"Did you feel that?" she asked immediately.
"What?" Dominique wondered, not having felt it.
"A raindrop," Brooke replied. "I felt a raindrop."
"You're probably imagining things," Tom assured her. "No way is it going to rain today with the sun out like it is."
"No wait," Miles said, raising a hand to his forehead with a frown. "I felt rain too."
"Please tell me you're kidding," Dominique pleaded. She wasn't ready to go back inside yet. She wanted to enjoy the nice weather at least a little longer before they lost it for another two weeks.
"Sorry," Miles apologized. "But I definitely – there's another one!"
Dominique felt a raindrop then. It landed on her cheek and ran down to her chin.
"We should probably think about heading back to the – " Brooke started, but as she spoke, the raincloud that had been coming towards the school shifted just a little and blocked out the sun, casting a shadow over the grounds.
"Brooke's right," Tom agreed. "We need to get back before – "
Before Tom could finish his sentence, there was a rumble in the sky and in seconds, rain started pouring down over the grounds in sheets.
"Run for the trees!" Dominique cried, sprinting in the direction of the foliage. They were so far from the castle that it would be foolish to try and run all the way back in the open.
Dominique shoved her way through bushes and over fallen branches and logs until she was deep enough into the forest that the branches and leaves above her were shielding her from most of the rain. Turning around, she saw her friends following her and she was relieved. She'd hate to be in the forest alone.
"What are we supposed to do now?" Miles demanded. "We can't just stay in the forest all day. It's not safe in here."
"Well we won't make it to the school from here in that rain," Dominique countered. "It's too far away and the rain's coming down so hard you can barely see."
"What do you propose then?" Tom wondered.
"We get as close as we can to the castle while inside the forest and then make a run for it from there," Dominique declared.
"You want us to travel through the Forbidden Forest?" Brooke asked, shivering. "What if we run into something?"
"We're barely in the forest at all," Dominique pointed out. "Anything dangerous is much deeper inside, especially with the rain, they'll want as much cover as they can get."
Even where the four Gryffindors were standing, some rain was making it's way through the canopy above and falling on and around them.
"I'm with Domi," Miles decided. "We won't accomplish anything trying to get back through the rain. We'll likely end up running into the lake by accident because we can't see."
"Okay, that's two of us on board," Dominique declared. "Tom? Brooke?"
"I'll do it if Tom does it," Brooke decided, looking to Tom for direction.
Tom nodded. "Alright, I'm in," he agreed. "But we keep the tree line in sight at all times."
"Agreed," Dominique nodded. If they lost sight of the tree line, there's be no way of knowing whether they were walking parallel to it, or whether they were venturing deeper into the forest, and Dominique knew for certain which of those she didn't want to do under any circumstances.
"Alright then," Miles said. "Come on."
Miles took the lead, followed by Dominique and Brooke, with Tom taking the rear. They walked slowly, afraid of what might be waiting for them up ahead. And on top of the fear of the forest, the rumbling thunder and flashing lightning from the storm was only making the third years even more jumpy.
"What was that?" Brooke gasped at one point.
"Don't worry," Tom assured her. "I stepped on a twig."
Thunder rumbled and Brooke took a step closer to Dominique, clutching her arm in fear.
"How much farther is it?" she wondered.
"Still a little ways to go," Miles responded. "We walked pretty far before."
Suddenly, a flash of lightning shot down from the sky and zapped a nearby tree. The whole forest was lit up in a blinding burst of light, and then the tree was falling.
"Get out of the way!" Tom screamed, grabbing Brooke and Dominique and pulling them out of the path of the falling tree. He pulled them to the ground on top of him and Miles dove to the ground too, landing next to them all piled together.
"Was anyone hit?" Miles cried, jumping up as soon as it was over to assess the situation.
"Not me," Dominique said, rolling off Tom's left side and reaching for Miles' hand to pull her out of the mud. "Brooke? Tom?"
"I'm fine," Brooke said, shaking a little as she picked herself up. "Tom pulled me away in time."
"And I'm just a little sore from having two bodies fall on top of me," Tom groaned, pushing himself up out of the mud.
"Well you kind of pulled us on top of you," Dominique pointed out. "So you only have yourself to blame for that."
"Good point," Tom nodded. He was by far, the most covered in mud of the four of them. He tried shaking some of it off his clothes, but it was no use.
"You're going to need to change your clothes when we get back," Brooke observed.
"I think we all are," Dominique pointed out.
Brooke looked down at herself, as if only noticing now that she also had mud splattered all over her.
"Oh," she muttered. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Let's keep moving," Miles declared, now that it was clear that everybody was alright. "We'll be safer in the castle."
They had to circumnavigate the fallen tree, because the trunk was too large for them to step over, and soon Miles was stopping and frowning at the tree line.
"I think this is as close as we're going to get," he declared. "I can see the entrance courtyard from here."
"Alright, let's go," Dominique nodded. "If we run for it, we should be able to make it without getting too wet."
"I wouldn't mind getting wet at this point, honestly," Brooke muttered. "It might wash some of this mud off at least."
The four approached the edge of the tree line carefully, feeling as the trees thinned out because the amount of rain falling on them started to increase. Finally, the castle was fully in view and they could see the large front doors of the castle.
"On three," Tom decided, starting the countdown. "One… two…"
On three, Dominique started her mad dash for the front doors, not even looking to see if her friends were following. After a couple of moments though, she knew they were because she could hear them splashing through puddles next to her as they ran as well.
The rain was coming down harder than Dominique had ever experienced. It was like running through a waterfall – or at least, it was what Dominique imagined running through a waterfall might be like. She'd never done it herself.
Miles reached the door first, pushing it open and tumbling inside. Brooke and Tom were also ahead of Dominique at this point and hurried in after him. As soon as Dominique made it through, she collapsed on the ground, panting from her sprint as Miles shut the door once again behind them.
"What do you four think you're doing?" a grouchy voice cried angrily from the doors to the Great Hall.
"Mr. Filch!" Dominique exclaimed in surprised, pulling herself up off the floor. "We were just – "
"Getting mud all over my nice clean floors, are you? I'll have you in detention for this!"
"It's not our fault," Tom insisted. "We got caught outside in the thunderstorm and only just made it back."
"I looked outside before I cleaned the floors," Mr. Filch informed them all. "Everyone was back. There was nobody left. You all must have snuck out while I wasn't looking just to get dirty so that I'd have to do the floors over again. Well you can't fool me, because I know what you did, and I'm not having it! You'll be the ones cleaning up this floor, mark my words!"
"No, Mr. Filch, you have it all wrong," Brooke insisted. "We were outside, we were just really far from the castle, so you probably didn't see us – "
Dominique thought Brooke was wise not to mention the Forbidden Forest. That would only get them in a whole different kind of trouble.
"A likely story," Mr. Filch said, narrowing his eyes.
To Dominique's relief, at that moment, Professor Longbottom emerged from the Great Hall and paused when he saw the scene before him.
"What's going on here?" he wondered.
"These students are messing up my floors!" Filch screeched.
"It's not on purpose though," Miles assured their Head of House. "We got caught out in the rain and only just made it back."
"Well that sounds positively dreadful," Professor Longbottom sympathized. "Why don't you four hurry on up and get changed before coming down to lunch."
"Of course, Professor Longbottom," Dominique nodded, ushering her friends towards the Grand Staircase. "Thank you."
They ran off before Mr. Filch could try to get them in even more trouble and could hear him screaming at Professor Longbottom even as they climbed to the second and third floors.
"What is wrong with Filch anyway?" Brooke wondered as they climbed up to the seventh floor. "Why is he so grumpy?"
"Beats me," Dominique shrugged. "I'd say he's old, but apparently he's always been like that."
"I don't know why he doesn't leave since he obviously hates us students so much," Tom commented. "Why would he want to work somewhere he hates so much?"
"Maybe he doesn't hate the school, just the people in it?" Miles suggested.
Tom shrugged. "Well whatever it is, he's a pain to have around."
"Agreed," Brooke nodded.
The four friends arrived at Gryffindor Tower and immediately went to their dorms to change out of their muddy clothes and into something warm. Dominique and Brooke elected to take quick showers, because there was mud in their hair too, and when they were nice and clean, they all met up back in the common room.
"Well, I guess it's a good thing we went out this morning," Dominique commented as they headed down to lunch.
"Seriously?" Brooke frowned. "After all of that?"
"Yeah," Dominique nodded. "If we'd waited for tomorrow or even this afternoon, we'd have missed our chance for sun. At least this way Miles got to replenish some of his vitamin D."
Her friends laughed and Dominique smiled. Though it hadn't been an ideal morning, what with the thunderstorm and all, Dominique had enjoyed it immensely.