Year 4: Friends and Foes
Chapter 35: January 2017
The holidays passed as quick as a blur, and before she knew it, Dominique was back at Hogwarts. The time off had been a nice break from everything, but as soon as she'd returned, all her problems from first term had carried over.
She and Tom still weren't speaking, Miles remained distant, Summer was constantly ruining her chances of ever having a moment alone with Adrian, and Adrian continued to be oblivious to her very existence. Not to mention, she noticed that her brother's friend had developed a habit of following her around the castle every now and then and staring at her occasionally in the common room or the Great Hall.
The only thing that hadn't changed was her friendship with Brooke. Brooke was a constant in her life, and right now, Dominque needed a constant. She relied on Brooke's friendship more than even she realized. The only problem was that Brooke had also remained friends with Tom through it all. While Dominique had always claimed that she didn't mind, and that she understood, a small part of her was starting to resent Brooke for it. She could understand why Miles had stayed friends with Tom, but especially after the disastrous Hogsmeade weekend, Dominique had expected Brooke to side with her.
And it was finally starting to bother her.
Day after day, Dominique had to split her time with her friend with a boy that hated her guts. Brooke would show up late to the library, because she'd been with Tom. She'd have to skip out early because she'd made plans with Tom. She'd spend hours down at the Quidditch pitch with Tom practicing – though Dominique had to admit that one was a little out of Brooke's hands.
Dominique was just tired of it.
"Hey Domi, sorry I'm late," Brooke said one evening, dropping her bag on the floor and flopping into a chair. "Tom and Miles and I stayed behind after Quidditch practice to work on our dives and time just got away from us."
"Where are Tom and Miles now?" Dominique asked, wondering why she hadn't seen them come through the common room.
"Probably still down there," Brooke replied. "When I realized how late it had gotten I left, but they decided to go a little longer, since nobody has the pitch booked for the rest of the night."
Dominique nodded. "Did you have fun?" she asked, a little jealously.
Brooke could tell from Dominique's tone that she wasn't asking out of innocent interest.
"Don't be like that," Brooke pleaded, hating how torn she felt. "I'm trying to make the best of this. Don't make it any harder than it already is."
"I'm not," Dominique insisted. "But it is hard."
"I know," Brooke said. "It sucks for me too."
"At least you don't have to spend hours on your own all the time," Dominique replied. "I feel like I barely see you anymore, like you're spending all your time with him."
"I'm doing the best that I can," Brooke said, distressed. "What more do you want from me? To stop hanging out with Tom altogether?"
"Well…" Dominique hesitated. Of course that would be the ideal situation, but she could never ask it of Brooke.
It didn't matter. Brooke interpreted Dominique's hesitation correctly.
"No," Brooke shook her head vehemently. "No, we agreed that I wasn't going to take sides."
"Not even when you know I'm in the right here?" Dominique asked.
Brooke started shaking her head even more. "You can't do this to me," she insisted. "You said you were fine if I stayed friends with the both of you."
"I know," Dominique acknowledged. "But it's just a lot harder than I thought it would be."
"You're not making Miles choose," Brooke said. "Why are you asking it of me?"
"It's different for Miles," Dominique muttered. "He's a guy – "
"Oh, so this is all because I'm not a guy?" Brooke cried.
"Just hear me out, would you?" Dominique insisted. "Miles is a guy, and so is Tom. They share a dorm together. They're both beaters – "
"I'm on the Quidditch team too you know," Brooke reminded her.
"Yeah, but you're the seeker," Dominique rolled her eyes. "You're the least integrated member of the team. You just fly around on your own looking for a golden ball."
"It's called the golden snitch," Brooke corrected. "And the fact that you think I'm the least integrated member of the team just goes to show how little you actually know about the sport."
"I just meant…" Dominique sighed. She was getting off track. "With Miles it's different. But you're supposed to be my best friend, and recently it feels like you spend all your time with Tom and I'm just where you go when there's nothing left to do."
"I left them to come see you," Brooke said, starting to get upset. "We were having a great time down at the pitch, but I left early so that we could hang out."
"But you also stayed behind later than you would have so that you could hang out some more with them," Dominique added.
Brooke raised her eyes to the ceiling in frustration. "Merlin Domi, can I do nothing right?"
"I just don't understand how you can stomach being around him," Dominique said. "Not after all the things he's said. To me and to you. He yelled at you that day in Hogsmeade too."
Brooke sobered at Dominique's words. "He didn't mean everything he said," she replied. "He was angry and upset. People say things they don't mean when they get upset."
"And what about what he said last year?" Dominique asked. "Because I think he was very clear on his feelings about me then."
"Well yeah, only…"
"Only what?" Dominique demanded.
"Nothing," Brooke shook her head. "It's nothing."
"No, I want to know," Dominique said, getting worked up. "Tell me what you were going to say."
Brooke sighed. "Just that not everything he said was completely misguided. And he was looking out for me, you know, and can I really fault him for that?"
"Oh, I see how it is," Dominique cried. "So this is all about you!"
"What? No," Brooke backpedalled. "That's not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying that… I'm saying that I don't want to have to pick sides, and I really hope for your sake that you're not about to force me to, because you won't like my answer."
"Well if that's the way it's going to be, then maybe I'll just go read my book in bed then, and let you get back to your flying," Dominique spat.
"Well fine," Brooke returned, now equally as mad as her friend. "Maybe I will go back down to the pitch, and spend time with friends who aren't attacking my every word."
"Well fine," Dominique cried, grabbing her bag and storming up to the dorm.
As soon as she slammed the door shut behind her, Dominique regretted all the things she'd yelled at Brooke. She hadn't meant for things to go as far as they had – everything had somehow spiralled out of control, and Dominique wasn't sure exactly where that had happened. She wanted to go back down and apologize, but figured Brooke was already halfway to the pitch by now. So instead, she collapsed onto her bed and held her head in her hands, trying to figure out how she was going to fix things.
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"Just talk to her," Miles insisted the following afternoon.
Ever since their fight, Dominique and Brooke hadn't said a word to each other. Dominique wasn't sure whether Brooke was still mad, or whether she, like Domi, was simply too scared to speak first.
"I can't," Dominique shook her head. "What if she doesn't want to be friends at all anymore?"
"Of course she's not going to say that," Miles insisted.
"You don't know that," Dominique said obstinately. "Not for sure."
"I talked to her. She feels badly about what happened," Miles claimed.
"Then why doesn't she say something?" Dominique wondered. "Why do I have to make the first move?"
Miles sighed. "Well one of you has to," he said. "Unless you want to be estranged like this forever."
Dominique could tell Miles was annoyed. Since there was already some tension between the two of them, Dominique didn't want to push.
"Look, it's fine," Dominique said, dropping the subject. "We'll figure it out or we won't. But you don't need to get involved."
"I know I don't have to," Miles said. "But I'm tired of having all my friends be estranged. I wish it could be like it was last year."
"Well it can't," Dominique said bitterly. "We're way past that now. Maybe you should just forget about me and stick with Brooke and Tom. Then you won't have to go between the two parties all the time, and you'll only lose one friend instead of two."
"Okay, first of all, you and Brooke are going to work this out," Miles declared. "And second, I'm not going to just stop being your friend for no reason."
Dominique shrugged. "Tom and Brooke seem to think there's good reason."
"Again," Miles said, "you and Brooke are just having a fight. You're still best friends."
"Okay, well Tom then," Dominique amended, not wanting to get into the Brooke debate again. "I'm sure he's shared all his thoughts on me with you. How can you still stand to be around me when I'm apparently such a terrible friend?"
"You're not a terrible friend," Miles shook his head. "You're a great friend."
"No, Tom was right," Dominique insisted. She wasn't completely sure why she was trying to estrange Miles, but the words kept coming. "I'm a terrible friend. I never supported Brooke last year when she made the Quidditch team, and I've never supported you or Tom since you joined this year. The only reason I go to practices and games is to ogle at Adrian. I'm extremely selfish and you should all just leave me behind."
Dominique knew the Adrian thing was a sensitive subject for Miles, probably because he'd thought her sudden interest in Quidditch had been about him and the realization that it wasn't had come as a bit of a shock. She could see a multitude of emotions cross his face as she spoke, and she felt bad for putting him through that.
"Dominique, listen to me," Miles said. "I do not think you're a terrible friend. Was I upset to find out that you were watching the practices because of Adrian? Of course I was. Do I think it makes you a terrible person? Of course not. I don't think you're selfish, I think you're human. And I'm not going to let something as small as that stop me from being your friend."
"Even though you're still kind of mad about the whole Hogsmeade thing?" Dominique asked.
"I'm not mad," Miles said. "I was never mad. I was just sad. But it had nothing to do with you. You didn't do anything wrong. So you like Adrian. You're allowed to have a crush on a guy."
Dominique found herself puzzled by Miles' words, but didn't want to dig too deep. She got the feeling there was something Miles didn't want to say, and she didn't want to push him.
"I'm sorry anyway," she said instead. "And it is nice to know there's still one person in my corner."
"There's more than me, I promise you," Miles assured her. "Brooke will come around, and you've still got your entire family on top of that. You have lots of people, don't doubt that."
Dominique went to bed that night with a lot to think about. Despite the rift that had grown between them recently, she was so glad to have Miles in her life. Without him, this whole situation with Brooke would be completely unbearable.
And as for Brooke, Dominique wanted to be the one to bridge the gap, but she was afraid. Miles had said that Brooke felt bad and wanted to mend their friendship, but Dominique couldn't help but second guess him. What if Brooke was only telling him what she thought he wanted to hear, or worse still, what she wanted him to relay to Dominique? What if the whole thing was a trap? No, Dominique just couldn't make the first move. To be rejected by Brooke twice in a row would be too much humiliation to bear.
The next morning, Dominique went down to breakfast alone. Miles was continuing to split his time between Dominique and Brooke and Tom, and that day he was having his breakfast with the latter. Dominique took a seat with her other dormmates, Holly, Joy, and Brittany, who were more than accommodating and she poked at her breakfast moodily.
Suddenly, there was a commotion from the Slytherin table, and Dominique looked over to discover that Summer Snow was throwing up right there all over the table and floor.
"Oh my gosh, what's happening over there?" Holly cried in surprise.
"She'd puking her guts out," Joy said, wrinkling her nose. "Good grief, how much food can one person have to throw up this early in the morning?"
"She's not stopping," Brittany observed. "Look, they've given her a bucket and they're trying to help her up."
"Probably taking her to the hospital wing," Dominique muttered. "Something must be seriously wrong for her to be throwing up that much."
"It's almost like she ate a puking pastille and lost the other end," Joy commented. "The way she just can't stop vomiting?"
"But why would she take a puking pastille in the middle of breakfast?" Holly wondered. "And on a Sunday? What's that going to accomplish, apart from completely humiliating herself?"
"I didn't mean she had taken one," Joy defended herself. "Just that it looked similar to if she had."
"Why is nobody cleaning it up?" Brittany asked, drawing their attention back to the table and floor still covered in vomit. "A simple vanishing spell would do it."
"Look, Professor Tonks is on her way down from the staff table," Holly pointed out. "I'm sure she'll take care of it."
Dominique glanced down the Gryffindor table and saw Adrian with a few of his friends. They appeared to be making fun of Summer. Dominique couldn't help but smile a bit as Summer was escorted from the room and Professor Tonks dealt with the vomit. While she would never wish such an episode on anyone, for it to have happened to Summer was all too good. Adrian would never go out with her now, not after watching her puke her breakfast up all over the Great Hall.
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Dominique spent the rest of her morning in the library working on some assignments for school. When her stomach started to grumble, she packed her things up and headed back to the Great Hall to grab some lunch. She was hoping she could convince Miles to spend some time with her that afternoon, and maybe they could have a game of gobstones.
As Dominique reached the Entrance Hall, she found herself confronted by Summer Snow.
"I suppose you think that was funny then?" Summer demanded, hands on her hips and blocking Dominique's path.
"I'm sorry?" Dominique frowned, not knowing what the girl was talking about.
"This morning, me throwing up all over the Great Hall?" Summer clarified. "I suppose you think it was just hilarious."
Dominique shrugged uncomfortably. "Well I did laugh a bit, I won't lie," she admitted. "What's the big deal?"
"The big deal is, you snuck a puking pastille into my breakfast!" Summer exclaimed.
"What?" Dominique cried. "I did not!"
"Well Madam Eldridge seems pretty confident that I had to have consumed one, and the only thing I consumed that morning was the food on my plate," Summer declared.
"Okay," Dominique said. "But how would you expect me to manage to sneak the pastille into your food? Wouldn't it make more sense for one of the people sitting near you to have done it? I didn't go anywhere close to the Slytherin table this morning."
"Oh, I'm sure you have your ways," Summer insisted. "Besides, I know you've just been waiting for the opportunity to make me look like a fool in front of Adrian. Well now you've done it. I suppose you win. He'll never go out with me now."
Dominique had to stifle a chuckle. Summer was right, Adrian would never go out with her now. Though Dominique hadn't had anything to do with the incident, she almost wished she had.
"I'm sorry Summer, but I honestly had nothing to do with this," she said. "I can't say I'm sorry it happened, but I am most definitely not responsible."
"How can I believe a word you say?" Summer demanded. "Everything that comes out of your mouth is like poison."
"Excuse me?" Dominique said, unsure where Summer's new accusations were coming from.
"You'd better watch your back, Weasley," Summer declared. "Because I'm not letting this go unanswered. You've made an enemy of me, and I'm going to make sure you regret it."
With that said, Summer flounced off into the Great Hall, leaving Dominique confused and bewildered in the Entrance Hall.
"Hey," a familiar voice sounded from behind her.
Dominique turned to find Brooke standing alone.
"Hey," Dominique said in surprise.
"That was intense," Brooke said, referring to the conversation with Summer.
"Yeah," Dominique nodded. "She seems to think I slipped her a puking pastille, but I was nowhere near her when it happened."
"Yeah, logic is definitely not Summer's strong suit," Brooke agreed. "And once she's made up her mind about something, there's no changing it."
"Yeah well now apparently I'm her enemy," Dominique said, unsure what Summer meant by that.
Brooke shrugged. "She can't be any worse than Quinn was," she pointed out. "You made it through that."
"True," Dominique nodded. "Summer's no Quinn. It'll be fine."
"So listen," Brooke said, drawing patterns on the floor with her foot. "I just wanted to say… I'm sorry about the other day."
"Yeah, me too," Dominique agreed, relieved that Brooke wasn't still mad. "I hate fighting with you."
"Same," Brooke agreed. "Can we just forget about it?"
"Yes please," Dominique pleaded happily.
Brooke smiled and Dominique smiled back. The two girls headed into the Great Hall together, all conflict evaporating in an instant. Whatever Summer might throw her way, Dominique knew that with Brooke in her corner, she could handle anything.