Year 5: Out of Sync

Chapter 42: October 2017

As the term wore on, Dominique's attitude continued. She flirted with every boy she came across, figuring that one of them maybe, eventually, would stick. It was better than waiting around all year for nothing to happen.

Her friends disapproved, but Dominique didn't care. It wasn't any of their business what she did. She'd stayed out of Tom and Brooke's relationship so far, and though Miles wasn't currently in one, she'd leave him be when he one day met a girl he liked. And that's all Dominique was trying to do. Find a guy that she was interested in and who was interested in her. And what better way than getting to know her options?

And then there was Summer. Dominique hadn't meant to start anything with her, that day on the train, really, she hadn't. At least, it hadn't been her intention when she'd started her day. But Summer had a way of getting under Dominique's skin, and she couldn't help herself. And now it seemed that Summer had made it her personal mission to flirt with and seduce more guys than Dominique did. And Dominique had taken up the challenge.

"This whole thing is completely ridiculous," Brooke insisted one night. It was a Monday night, so not really a night to be running around the castle with guys. Instead, Brooke and Dominique were working on their history of magic papers while Tom and Miles got in some specifically beater-oriented practice time down at the pitch. "You need to just slow down and re-evaluate what you're doing."

"How would you feel if I told you to re-evaluate your relationship with Tom?" Dominique demanded.

"That's totally different," Brooke insisted. "We care about each other. You barely even know these guys and you're skulking around in dark corners and abandoned classrooms with them."

"Just because my life doesn't look the way yours does doesn't mean I'm doing it wrong," Dominique insisted.

"I'm not saying you're doing life wrong," Brooke said. "Just… not as well as you could be?"

"That's not any better," Dominique muttered. "Can we just do our assignment and not talk about this?"

Lately, it seemed all Brooke wanted to talk about, and Dominique was getting fed up. She just wished she had her friends' support. But Brooke was completely against it, claiming that Dominique needed to find what she had with Tom, Tom just sided with Brooke all the time, and while Miles didn't say much on the subject, he was constantly sending Dominique disapproving looks and moping around the school. It was incredibly frustrating. And while she knew deep down that her friends meant well, it mostly just felt like they were against her.

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"Hey Dominique." It was Wednesday morning, and the fifth years were gathering outside the potions lab, waiting for Professor Abbott-Longbottom to unlock the room. Brandon Thurkell, their year's Slytherin prefect, had sidled up to Dominique and was now standing right next to her, a hair's breadth away.

"Hey Brandon," Dominique returned, not making eye contact. She knew what he wanted. He'd been making small advances like this for weeks, and he was not subtle. He wanted a repeat of their encounter on the Hogwarts Express, only he wanted more. And Dominique wasn't interested. She'd given Brandon his chance, but there was no future there, so there was no point.

"Got any plans for later this evening?" Brandon wondered.

"Ooh, classy," Dominique said sarcastically. "Asking a girl out on a Wednesday night. Couldn't wait for Friday?"

Brandon shuffled a little and shrugged uncomfortably. "I've got rounds on Friday night," he said in his defense. "And besides… after what happened on the train, I didn't really take you for a Friday night kind of girl."

"Just get lost," Dominique muttered.

It wasn't that she didn't like Brandon. He was nice enough. Dominique just wasn't interested in dating him. And there was no point wasting her time with him when she knew she wasn't interested when she could be with someone else. Someone like… Carter Hanson, for example. Carter was a Hufflepuff in her class. He was pretty cool, and decently good-looking. Definitely more worthy of her Wednesday night than Brandon was.

Professor Abbott-Longbottom unlocked the door to the potions classroom and people began filing in. Dominique timed her entrance carefully and followed right after Carter, making a beeline for the seat next to his before one of his Hufflepuff friends could claim it.

"Hey Carter," Dominique greeted him.

"Dominique," Carter said. "This is a surprise."

"I thought it was about time we get to know each other," she said suggestively.

"Y-yeah," Carter agreed, nervously knocking his textbook off the table. Dominique had to admit it was kind of adorable. Not at all the take-control type like Brandon had been, but Dominique was okay with that. It meant she could take control. "Definitely."

Dominique pulled her chair closer to Carter's as Professor Abbott-Longbottom began her lecture about unicorn horn. For the first few minutes, the two just sat and listened to the lecture. But very quickly, Dominique got bored. So, as nondescriptly as possible, Dominique reached out her foot to find Carter's leg, and began to rub her foot up and down.

She immediately felt Carter stiffen when her foot touched him, and he chanced a sidelong glance at her. Dominique waggled her eyebrows, and Carter licked his lips, the tension between them getting thicker and thicker. Though Dominique was confident she'd made her point, she didn't let up, continuing to torture Carter all though that first class.

"So," Dominique said once they'd been dismissed. "Shall we continue this later on, then?"

"I'd like that," Carter agreed. "I'll meet you after last class?"

Dominique smiled at the enthusiasm but shook her head. Carter was going to have to wait just a little longer than that. "After dinner," she contradicted him. "We can meet in the Entrance Hall and find someplace quiet from there."

Before Carter could respond, Dominique had already left. She knew what she was doing. She wanted Carter on his toes. She was going to spend the day watching his anticipation build. And then she was going to have her way with him.

DdDdDdDdDdD

Carter was late to dinner. It was a little surprising to Dominique that he was, having expected that he'd be the first one there and the first one done, eagerly awaiting his rendezvous with Dominique afterwards. But Dominique could wait. She was patient. And she had nowhere else to be later.

"Doesn't it just make you feel gross?" Brooke insisted, watching as Dominique consistently checked the Hufflepuff table for signs of her, for lack of a better term, date. "Doing what you're doing with all these guys?"

"And what exactly is that, Brooke?" Dominique demanded. "What am I doing?"

Brooke mumbled something unintelligible and went back to her dinner. Just as Dominique thought. Dominique knew what everyone thought she was doing with these guys, but the truth was that she hadn't slept with a single one yet. Oh, she'd gotten close. Even closer than the time on the train with Brandon. But she hadn't actually done it.

That didn't mean her friends would believe her if she said so. So, she let them believe that she was sleeping with the entire school. It wasn't any of their business anyway, and even if she was, there'd be nothing wrong with that. It was her prerogative. She was fifteen years old, after all. A lot of people started at a much younger age.

"Wouldn't you rather be with someone you love?" Miles insisted, taking over from Brooke. "Don't you think that it would be better?"

Dominique shrugged. "I mean, sure, in theory," she agreed. "But how do you expect me to find someone unless I check out my options? It's not like there's anyone proclaiming their love for me right now."

Miles mumbled something, and like Brooke, suddenly found his meal very interesting.

Dominique turned on Tom, silently challenging him to say something too. But he was already very engrossed by his peas, and clearly had nothing to add to the conversation.

"Okay," Dominique declared. "Well now that that's settled, I'm going to the Entrance Hall to meet Carter."

Dominique had decided that maybe Carter had elected to skip dinner in favor of meeting Dominique sooner. Either way, she was no longer interested in sitting with her friends in the Great Hall and waiting for Carter in the Entrance Hall would involve less interrogation and judgment.

So, Dominique got up and made her way to the double doors, pushing the closer one open and stepping out into the Entrance Hall. It was much less noisy in the Entrance Hall, and also colder, because it was directly connected to the door that led outside. And for some reason, both these facts managed to register with Dominique before she was able to process what she was seeing right in front of her.

Because right there, in the middle of the Entrance Hall, Carter Hanson was making out with Summer Snow.

"Oh, hey there Dominique," Summer said, pulling away from Carter, but not letting him go. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Oh really?" Dominique challenged, putting a hand on her hip. "Because I'm pretty sure you knew I'd be coming out here soon. In fact, I'm pretty sure you were just waiting for me to come out here. Why else would you be standing there kissing my date?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Carter said, holding up his hands. "We didn't have plans to go on a date. We had plans to… well… you know."

"Whatever," Dominique brushed him off. "The point is, you knew I had plans with Carter, so you came and threw yourself at him to one-up me."

"So what if I did?" Summer challenged. "You gonna do anything about it?"

Dominique turned to Carter expectantly.

Carter looked from Dominique to Summer, and then back again. "I think I'll stick with her," he said, gesturing to Summer. "You know, since we're already – "

Dominique didn't let him finish the sentence. In a flash, everything had shifted. It was no longer about seeing if she and Carter had any chemistry. Obviously, they would never work if he was choosing Summer over her. Now Dominique had something to prove to Summer.

So Dominique reached out and grabbed the nearest guy she could find. It just happened that it was Dylan Becker, a fifth year Slytherin. And from the flash in Summer's eye, Dominique knew that the fact that she'd grabbed someone from Slytherin house made it all the more defensive to the other girl.

Without warning, Dominique pulled Dylan to her and shoved her face against his, kissing him as graphically as she could. This wasn't about him, it was about Summer, and showing Summer that she was better than her.

Dylan responded, of course, just as any guy would with an attractive girl throwing herself at him. Dominque threw her arms around his neck and he reached around to squeeze her ass. She felt herself get shoved up against a wall, and then she broke the kiss, keeping in mind that while she was trying to make a spectacle, she was also in the middle of the Entrance Hall and didn't want to give away tickets to a free show.

"So that's how it's going to be then?" Summer demanded, furious. She grabbed Carter by the front of his shirt and pulled him towards her, making a show of devouring his mouth with hers. Dominique rolled her eyes. Carter was a nice enough guy, but he was not cut out to handle Summer Snow. She'd picked the wrong guy.

"Come on then, handsome," Summer said, detaching herself from him and pulling him towards the Grand Staircase by his wrist. "Let's find somewhere more private to carry on."

She was talking to Carter, but she was looking at Dominique. She was raising the stakes. And Dominique wasn't about to back down.

"Come on Dylan," she said, pulling him along in the opposite direction. While Summer was heading down the stairs towards the dungeons, Dominique led Dylan upstairs into the castle. "Let's continue this someplace where we can be alone."

Summer and Dominique continued to look at each other, each silently daring the other to back down. But that wasn't in Dominique's nature. So, she led Dylan up to the first floor and chose the first abandoned classroom she came across.

She locked the door behind them, not interested in having someone walk in on them, and in seconds found herself pinned against the backside of the door, Dylan's mouth on her mouth, her neck, her chest, his hands coming up to feel her breasts.

He pushed her robes off first, and his followed quickly after. Dominique's shirt was the next to come off, and then Dylan was all over her, while she remained trapped between him and the wall.

When Dylan started to unbuckle his belt, Dominique knew they'd reached the end. She pushed him away, shaking her head.

"Sorry, but this isn't going any farther today," she informed him. She'd only gone this far because she wanted to make a point to Summer. But Summer wasn't here, and Dylan wasn't the guy she'd meant to be with that night.

"Seriously?" Dylan demanded, a little angrily. "Then why bring me up here at all?"

Dominique balked. "I'm sorry," she said, offended. "I guess you got the wrong impression, but I never said – "

"Oh, you never said, but it was implied," Dylan insisted. "And I bet Summer and that Hufflepuff bloke are having a banging good time down in some dark corner of the dungeons right now, while I'm stuck up here with you."

Dominique clenched her teeth. She hated that Dylan was right, and she hated even more that it bothered her. Summer would never know, but Dominique would know. Summer had won.

"Look, if you don't want to, then maybe I'll just go find Summer and – "

"No!" Dominique cried. She hadn't meant to do it; it had just come out. She just knew she couldn't let Dylan go to Summer. Because then Summer would know that she hadn't sealed the deal with Dylan, and she'd lord it over Dominique for the rest of time. "No, you can't go."

Dylan shrugged. "Well look, you know what I want," he declared. "So if you're not going to give it to me, then I'm going to go somewhere I know I can get it."

Dominique considered her options. Up until now, she'd been very careful about not crossing the lines that she'd drawn for herself. But really, when she thought about it, crossing that last line really wouldn't be any different from some of the stuff she'd already done. And did it really matter who she did it with? She'd been holding onto that last little bit of herself because of some archaic notion that she should save it for someone special. But she could still have that with someone special when he came along, even if she crossed the line here with Dylan tonight. It didn't have to mean anything.

"Alright fine," Dominique sighed, relinquishing herself to the Slytherin boy. "I'll give you what you want."

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When Dominique returned to the common room that evening, she didn't feel much different at all. Except that she did. She felt very different.

On the one hand, she was still the same person. That hadn't changed. She was still Dominique, still had all the same likes and dislikes, friends and enemies. But on the other hand, she felt… freer. She wasn't holding anything back anymore. Which was good, in a way, but also bad. Dominique couldn't decide how she felt.

She found Miles sitting by himself, reading a book. Brooke and Tom were cuddling together on a couch, and it was clear that Miles didn't want to bother them. Dominique joined him, sitting herself down in the chair next to his and curling her feet up under her.

"Hey," she said casually.

"Hey," Miles replied, not looking at her.

"Everything alright?" Dominique asked, sensing that something was wrong.

Miles turned and looked at Dominique, his face seemingly pained.

"Miles, what's wrong?" she asked, worried.

"Dylan Becker?" Miles said. "Really?"

Dominique shrugged, sensing that the conversation was about to drift in a direction she wasn't going to like. "So what?" she demanded.

"It's Dylan Becker," Miles insisted. "Gets terrible grades, doesn't care about anything but himself…"

"Well I didn't sleep with him for his grades," Dominique muttered, saying the words before she thought them. She immediately clapped a hand over her mouth, but it was too late.

Miles didn't say anything for a moment. He just stared at Dominique with a sad face and nodded.

"I didn't want to believe it," he said. "Brooke was sure that's what you were doing, but I insisted that you weren't. Now, here's the proof."

Dominique thought about telling him that really, it was only the one time that she'd gone that far, but then thought better of it. It was none of Miles' business for one, and for another, he probably wouldn't believe her anyway.

"I live my life my way," Dominique declared. "You live your life your way."

Miles was quiet for a while, and Dominique wondered whether the conversation was over or not. She kind of wanted to get out her book and read, but didn't want to seem rude.

"Summer Snow approached me a couple weeks back," he declared.

"What?" Dominique frowned, surprised and confused at the turn the conversation had taken.

Miles nodded, turning so he was looking at Dominique again. "She propositioned me. Asked me to meet her in a broom closet after classes."

A strange and unfamiliar emotion rose up in Dominique. A combination of sadness and rage.

"I turned her down, of course," Miles added. "I mean, I could never – "

The sadness and rage subsided but didn't altogether go away.

"Whatever you and Summer are doing, it needs to stop," Miles declared. "It's getting out of hand and you're going to end up hurting each other, and everyone around you."

"I'm not – "

"Carter Hanson," Miles declared, interrupting Dominique. "You really think he was ready to handle whatever Summer had in store for him? But he got caught up in it all because of you. Because you singled him out."

"Carter can handle himself," Dominique insisted. She couldn't be held responsible for his choices. He could have chosen her if he'd wanted. She wouldn't have pushed for anything he didn't want.

Miles sighed loudly. "I just think – "

"Well keep it to yourself," Dominique ordered. "I'm not interested in your opinion here. I appreciate you not taking Summer up on her offer. She'd have lorded that over me forever if you'd said yes. But as for what I do with my time, that's my decision."

"That's the only reason?" Miles asked softly.

"What?"

"That you're glad I said no to Summer," Miles clarified.

"Oh," Dominique frowned. "Should there be another reason?"

Miles turned away, took a deep breath, and let it out.

"Goodnight Dominique," he said then, grabbing his bag and getting up, his destination the boys' dorm.

"Goodnight," Dominique returned.

She had no idea what had just happened, but it was clear Miles was upset about something. Whatever it was though, he probably had no right to be upset about it. So, Dominique shook her head, cleared the conversation from her mind, and grabbed her novel from her bag, getting nice and cozy before opening it up. Miles would come around in the morning.