Year 3: Those Fragile Bonds
Chapter 29: May 2016
As April turned into May, the rainy season began to subside and sun once again shone through the windows of Hogwarts. All the students were in much brighter spirits, Dominique and her friends among them. The only downfall was the upcoming final exams that would soon be upon them and the increased workload in each of their classes.
Professor Tonks was still trying to cram in more inanimate to animate transfiguration spells before the end of the term. Professor Flitwick had only just started a new unit on vertical movement spells and expected the third years to master both ascendio and descendio in time for their exams. In astronomy, Professor Brunwell was running a little behind and had only just started showing his students how to analyze the movement of stars using star charts, after teaching them to map and track them, and in care of magical creatures, Hagrid still expected them to learn about salamanders and diricawls in full.
Potions, however, was the worst of them all. Professor Abbott-Longbottom had just started a lesson on belladonna, a poisonous plant that was used in a variety of potions. To supplement the lesson, their Professor decided it might be fun to brew a potion using belladonna in their next class, and so it was decided that the class would read up about sneezing solutions in preparation for their 'fun day' or potion brewing.
"This is insane!" Dominique complained when class let out that afternoon. "We're already drowning in our actual coursework, and now Professor Abbott-Longbottom is adding assignments? Is the sneezing solution even going to be on the exam, or is she just torturing us with extra work for no reason?"
"I'd say if we're brewing it in class, it's fair game for the exam, even if it wasn't originally part of the syllabus," Tom replied intelligently.
"Syllabus?" Brooke frowned. "What syllabus?"
Tom shrugged. "Well I assume Professor Abbott-Longbottom is following a syllabus," he replied.
"Who's to say brewing the sneezing solution isn't on the syllabus?" Miles wondered.
Tom shrugged again. "It just seemed so last minute. If it was on the syllabus, she'd have mentioned it sooner to prepare us."
"Well I don't think there's a syllabus," Dominique declared. "I think the Professors just make everything up as they go. Why else would we always get bombarded with work at the end of term? Because they suddenly realize they spent the year wasting our time with nonsense, and then have to cram all the useful information into our brains in the last month of classes."
"I'm sure the Ministry distributes a syllabus of some kind," Tom pointed out. "You know, just outlining the things the teachers have to cover. Or else how would they know how to prepare us properly for the O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s?"
"And you really think they follow those?" Dominique countered. "You're telling me that Hagrid's teaching us about all the magical creatures the Ministry wants him to teach? Because I'm quite certain that come fifth year, I'm going to have to do a lot of independent study if I want to pass his class."
"Then why did you take care of magical creatures anyway?" Brooke wondered. "Why not take arithmancy like me and Tom?"
"Or ancient runes," Miles jumped in. "We just finished learning about the passive voice."
"The what?" Dominique asked.
"The passive voice," Miles repeated. "You know, as opposed to the active voice."
"Let me guess," Tom said. "The active voice goes running once a week, and the passive voice lies around eating pastries all day."
Brooke laughed. "Sounds like Dominique's the passive voice of this group."
"Hey!" Dominique cried. "I'm not lazy, and I don't just eat pastries all day. I'll have you know that I watch what I eat."
"Yeah, but you're not exactly exercising," Brooke pointed out.
"Yeah," Dominique nodded. "Because exercise makes you sweaty and gross. If I just don't eat the extra calories, then I don't have to burn them off later."
"I don't think it works that way Domi," Tom said, shaking his head.
"Come on guys, the passive voice!" Miles exclaimed. "When the verb acts on the subject of the sentence instead of on the object!"
"Miles?" Tom turned to the boy. "Nobody cares."
Miles visibly deflated and Dominique felt bad.
"Aww, that's not true," she protested. "I care about the passive voice. It sounds very interesting. Only right now I really need to read up on the sneezing solution, so many you can tell me about it later."
"Thanks for trying," Miles chuckled, shaking his head. "But it's fine. I know ancient runes isn't particularly interesting, especially when we're just relearning English grammar and applying it to the runic languages."
"Oh," Brooke said, nodding and feigning interest. "So are runic languages very similar then to English, in terms of grammar."
"You can stop pretending to be interested," Miles assured her.
"Yeah okay," Brooke nodded. As it was, she'd been dreading the possibility of Miles giving a long and drawn out answer. "Potions then?"
All three of her friends nodded.
"Potions," Dominique confirmed with a sigh, as they took seats around a table in the library and produced their textbooks to start learning.
DdDdDdDdDdD
Their next potions class was the following afternoon, immediately after lunch. Though they weren't entirely prepared, after only a day to read up on the sneezing solution, Dominique and her friends felt confident they could figure it out during the lesson.
Professor Abbott-Longbottom was exceptionally chipper, as she gave out some last minute instructions and informed them all that while they hadn't yet learned the properties of fire seed, that they should be able to use it in the potion without complications.
Just as she was about to let them start their potions, a Hufflepuff in the third row raised her hand.
"Yes Rachel?" their potions Professor called on the girl.
"Can we work in pairs?" Rachel wondered.
Professor Abbott-Longbottom considered the proposition for a moment. "Yes, I think that would be a good idea," she decided. "Since you're all probably very unfamiliar with this potion, it'll be good to have someone to bounce ideas off of."
Immediately, Dominique and Brooke exchanged a nod, affirming that they would partner up for this project as usual. At the table in front of them, Miles and Tom exchanged a similar nod.
"However," Professor Abbott-Longbottom held up her hand, as students all around the room started forming their teams. "I think I'll decide who partners with whom. You've all been working with the same people so much lately, it'll be good to get some different perspectives."
Everyone groaned at this, and Dominique sent a glare in Rachel's direction. If she hadn't said anything, she would have been working alone, but still surrounded by her friends. And since Professor Abbott-Longbottom had no problem with people talking while brewing their potions, she still could've asked for help if she needed it. But now she was going to get stuck with some random partner, probably not even from Gryffindor.
Professor Abbott-Longbottom began to circulate through the room, pairing people up at random. Tom ended up getting paired with Rachel, and Dominique could only hope he told her how stupid her idea had been.
Miles got paired with William Stimpson from Ravenclaw while Brooke got paired with Zeke, much to Dominique's annoyance. At least she was with a friendly face, even if the four of them didn't hang out with Zeke all that much anymore.
When Professor Abbott-Longbottom came up beside Dominique, she prayed she wouldn't get paired with Quinn. She didn't know this potion well enough to not mess it up, and she really didn't want to get back on Quinn's bad side. Especially not after finally becoming invisible to the Slytherin girl. So when the Professor paired her with Summer Snow, Dominique felt an immediate sense of relief.
"What are you smiling about?" Brooke frowned as Professor Abbott-Longbottom continued pairing up the students.
"I was afraid I would get paired with Quinn," Dominique confessed, even as Quinn got paired with poor Karen Bonell from Ravenclaw.
"Summer's not any better," Brooke warned.
Dominque rolled her eyes. "You're exaggerating. Sure Summer's done some mean stuff to you, but she's never locked you in a closet or landed you in the hospital. I'd much rather be her partner than Quinn's. Besides, she only torments you because you're her Quidditch competition. All I have to do with her is brew a simple potion."
"Well don't say I didn't try to warn you," Brooke said with a shrug. "She might not be as cruel as Quinn was, but she also doesn't have Quinn's sense of justice. She'll never stop once she gets started."
Just then, Professor Abbott-Longbottom finished pairing everyone off and instructed them to find their partners and get started. Dominique grabbed her things and lugged herself over to Summer's work station, leaving Brooke and Zeke theirs.
"Hey," Dominique said, dropping her cauldron on the desk and smiling politely at her partner for the period. "Looks like we're going to be working together."
"No kidding," Summer said sarcastically, pushing Dominique's cauldron to the corner of their station. "We're using my cauldron. It's top of the line."
"Okay," Dominique agreed, ready to do whatever she could to stay on the girl's good side. It would make the period so much more pleasant. "Do you want me to get the ingredients?"
"Well I'm not leaving you alone with my cauldron to add the water and start the heat," Summer said. "So yeah, that would be good."
Dominique turned and headed to the potions cupboard, shaking her head as she did. From what she knew, Summer had an attitude like this all the time – it probably had nothing to do with her in particular. She just had to keep being friendly and make it through the period.
She moved quickly in the potions cupboard, grabbing the belladonna, fire seed, and various other ingredients that she remembered they would need. She hadn't brought the recipe for consultation and hoped that she hadn't forgotten any.
When she returned to her and Summer's workstation, she laid out the ingredients and turned to Summer.
"Where do you want to start?" she wondered.
"Well what's the first step?" Summer returned. "Because that would be the place to start."
Dominique nodded, grabbing her textbook and flipping it open to the correct page.
"There," she pointed to the first step. "One of us needs to crush the fluxweed."
"You can do that," Summer delegated. "I'll watch the temperature of the water to make sure it doesn't get too high. We can't add the fluxweed if it start to boil."
Even though Summer seemed to be choosing jobs that didn't even count as jobs, Dominique kept silent. In an effort to keep the peace, she calmly began crushing the fluxweed in her mortar, adding it when it was ready.
"Now we add some beetle dung – you can be the one to touch that," Summer said, scrunching up her nose when Dominique took the stopped off the small vial of liquified beetle dung to pour into the cauldron. Luckily, Professor Abbott-Longbottom had portioned the beetle dung out into individual vials for them ahead of time, so that they wouldn't have to stand over a large jar of the stuff measuring it out.
"Next you need to add the belladonna," Summer instructed, reading from Dominique's book. "I'll stir, you grind it up in your mortar."
"Would you mind if I use yours?" Dominique asked. "Mine's dirty from the fluxweed."
"Oh, it's not a big deal, it's not like fluxweed sticks to the side of the mortar," Summer insisted. "If it matters that much to you though, you can rinse it out."
Not in the mood to make extra work for herself, Dominique threw the belladonna into her mortar and started crushing it until it was a fine powder. She carefully sprinkled it into the potion, watching as Summer stirred slowly in a clockwise direction and the potions started turning a brilliant purple.
And so the lesson went on, Dominique doing the actual work and Summer stirring and watching the thermometer to make sure it didn't get too high. They were only meant to boil it once all the ingredients had been added. To boil before then would result in disaster.
Finally, after a very long period, they were done. The potion looked decent. It was meant to be green, and looked more turquoise than some of the other cauldrons around them, but it wasn't fully blue like Carly Sutton and Dylan Becker's, nor was it solidifying into a paste like Carter Hanson and Blaine Townsend's.
Carefully, Dominique measured out some of their solution into a vial and labelled it with her and Summer's names, bringing it up to the front for grading. When she returned, Summer had already disposed of the remainder of the potion and was cleaning out her cauldron, so Dominique grabbed the other pieces of equipment they'd used and got started washing those.
"Well I think that went well," Dominique said brightly as she and Summer tidied up their workstation.
"I don't like you," Summer declared, seemingly out of the blue.
Dominique turned to the girl and frowned. "Well that works out pretty well," she said. "Because I don't like you either."
Summer turned to look at Dominique, nodded once, and then grabbed her bag and disappeared out the door. Perplexed by their strange exchange, Dominique met back up with her friends to go to their last class of the day – Defence.
"How did it go with Summer?" Brooke wondered as they headed up to the fifth floor.
"Fine," Dominique shrugged.
"Really?" Brooke frowned. "She didn't say anything?"
"Well, she did mention that she didn't like me," Dominique admitted. "But that was only at the end, and then she walked off."
"Weird," Brooke made a face.
"I told her I don't like her either."
At this, Brooke let out a laugh that caused Miles and Tom to turn around and ask what they were talking about.
"Nothing," Brooke shook her head. "Just reliving potions class."
Tom made a face and immediately went back to whatever conversation he and Miles had been having.
"I can't believe you said that," Brooke said, once the boys were occupied again.
Dominique shrugged. "If she was bold enough to just say it, then why not? Besides, I don't like her. At least for your sake."
"Aww," Brooke said, raising her hand to her chest. "That's so sweet."
"Yeah well, what are friends for if not for hating the people that hate their friends?"
DdDdDdDdDdD
As usual in Defence, Professor Derlid paired everyone up to practice duelling with the spells they'd learned so far. It seemed as though his lesson plan for the entirety of the month of May was just to have them practice everyday, which was both exhausting, but also a welcome reprieve from intensive studying. There was very little preparation required for his classes now that they weren't learning anything new, which meant they could focus their studying on their other classes. Dominique and her friends were pretty sure it was going to be a practical final exam, what with all the duelling practice they'd been getting recently.
Their partners in defence class were assigned each day by Professor Derlid – his intention was to put them against lots of different people, and also to make sure that they were all duelling against people at a similar level as them.
When they arrived in their defence classroom that day, the duelling pairs had already been written out on the board, and Dominique groaned with exasperation when she saw that she was once again paired with Summer Snow.
"At least you don't have to talk this time," Brooke pointed out optimistically.
"Yeah, just shoot dangerous spells back and forth," Dominique groaned. "Not much better."
"They're not dangerous," Brooke assured her. "Professor Derlid won't let anything bad happen."
"If she hits me I'll still feel it though," Dominique returned. "And I don't care that there are mats all over the floor, I still have bruises from yesterday when I duelled with Hilary Gordon."
Professor Derlid cleared his throat to get everyone's attention and informed them that they should get started.
"Looks like we're working together again," Dominique said awkwardly, approaching Summer.
"Whatever," Summer said, flipping her hair back. "But before we start, I think we should make the tickling hex off-limits."
"Agreed," Dominique nodded. She hated rictusempra. Not because she couldn't cast it – she was actually quite good at that. But she hated being hit with it, and being sent into an uncontrollable bout of laughter.
The two girls moved apart and faced off, waiting for Professor Derlid's say so. Once everyone was in position, he gave the okay to begin, and Dominique immediately sent a stinging jinx in Summer's direction.
Summer dodged it easily enough, and returned with a disarming spell. Dominique ducked to avoid it, only to find another coming straight for her. Knowing she didn't have the time to stand up and move out of the way, she flattened herself to the ground, feeling the energy of the spell pass over her, barely missing her.
From her position on the ground, Dominique raised her wand and cast a leg-locker curse in Summer's direction. Not expecting Dominique to attempt any magic until she was upright again, Summer was caught off guard and her legs snapped together, causing her to topple over.
With Summer occupied casting the counter curse to unlock her legs, Dominique pushed herself off the ground and got back into a good duelling position. She sent her next jinx in Summer's direction at the same moment that Summer regained the use of her legs, and Summer quickly dodged out of the way, letting it sail past her.
The two girls sent several more spells back and forth, dodging and jumping and crouching every which way in an attempt not to get hit. At one point, Dominique cast the mini-tornado jinx at Summer, but she missed and all she managed to do was ruffle Summer's hair a bit.
After that, Summer sent a trip jinx at Dominique, which she failed to dodge, and Dominique ended up falling to the floor face first.
"Ouch!" Dominique cried, her hand unclasping her wand as she used it to break her fall.
Triumphantly, Summer hurried over and grabbed Dominique's wand off the floor, holding it up high in victory.
"I win!" she declared with a smile.
Dominique groaned, dropping to the floor for a short break before she took her wand back and they started their duel anew. She could not wait for exams to be over. Summer couldn't come too soon.