Year 5: Out of Sync
Chapter 47: March 2018
Though Summer continued to be a pain in Dominique's side, the month of March brought with it a distraction that superseded any previous issues that had been going on amongst the fifth years. It wasn't just Dominique and Summer's feud that was put on hold, but all feuds, disagreements, and conflicts seemed to lessen in importance as pamphlets began to circulate throughout the four common rooms detailing the types of jobs that existed in the wizarding world.
A notice went up on the bulletin board in the Gryffindor common room indicating the dates and times of each of the fifth years' career advising sessions with Professor Longbottom, their Head of House. They would be happening in alphabetical order of last name, which meant Dominique had to wait until the last session for her own meeting.
In preparation for these career advising sessions, the fifth years were encouraged to read through as many pamphlets as they could and to think about the kind of job they might want to pursue.
"What do you think?" Miles asked as Dominique sat with the rest of the Gryffindor fifth years around a table covered in pamphlets. It had been a while since all ten of them had come together like this, but the impending career advising sessions had them leaning on each other's advice.
"Well I definitely don't want to have anything to do with the Ministry," Brittany declared.
"That seriously reduces your options," Timothy noted. "Even this pamphlet for the Diagon Alley post office has the Ministry logo in the corner."
"Well I already know what I'm going to do," Brooke declared, leaning back in her chair. "I'm going to be a professional quidditch player."
"Well sure," Holly allowed. "But what's your backup career plan?"
"I don't need a backup career plan," Brooke declared. "I'm going to be a professional Quidditch player."
"Brooke," Joy said hesitantly. "You realize you're a seeker, right? Do you realize how unlikely it is to join a professional quidditch team as a seeker right out of school?"
"Well I'm sure I'll be put on the reserve team at first," Brooke said. "But after a few years – "
"On average, seekers suffer less career-ending injuries than any other position," Joy informed her. "Partly because of their speed, partly because the beaters spend more time protecting them that the other players, and partly because for so much of the game, they just fly around aimlessly looking for the snitch while the other players do battle."
"Are you saying being a seeker isn't hard?" Brooke demanded.
"Not at all," Joy assured her. "I'm just saying that because of that, seeker positions don't open up on professional teams very often. Seekers are the players that stick around the longest, because they don't get injured as often and can keep playing when other players have to back down for their health."
"So, you're saying you don't think I have what it takes to get recruited?" Brooke challenged. "Because let me tell you something, even if there's only one team looking for a seeker the year we graduate, I'm going to be the seeker they go after."
"You're not being realistic!" Joy insisted. "I'm not saying it won't happen, I'm saying you should be prepared in case it doesn't."
Brooke crossed her arms. "I'm going to be a professional quidditch player," she announced. "You just wait and see."
Joy sighed but dropped the subject. Dominique wisely stayed out of things. Personally, she agreed with Joy that it was good to have options. Her sister Victoire hadn't left herself with options in her fifth year and it had almost ruined her. Luckily, Professor Longbottom had helped her to come up with a plan the following year and now she was on track to be a professional herbologist.
Dominique wasn't going to be so foolish. She was going to take this career advising seriously.
She grabbed a handful of pamphlets and began to flip through them. She could be a healer, but Dominique didn't really like being around sick people. Plus, she really didn't want to have to deal with distraught families. She could be a reporter, but she wasn't really that great of a writer. Every time she received an essay back from one of her teachers, they were always commenting that she needed to improve her grammar and spelling. She could work somewhere in the Ministry. There were tons of entry-level jobs there. Dominique picked up a pamphlet about the various jobs in the Department of Magical Transport. There was the apparition test center, the broom regulatory control office, the floo network authority, the portkey office, or the office of creative transportation. None of these jobs appealed to Dominique and she realized that she didn't want a job where she had to sit behind a desk all day filing paperwork. She wanted to do something exciting with her life.
A pamphlet on curse-breaking caught her attention and Dominique tentatively picked it up. She began to recall stories that her father had told her and her siblings growing up about his adventures in Egypt, working as a curse-breaker for Gringotts bank. He'd faced dangers and had constantly been exploring and undertaking various quests and escapades. His life from before he'd settled down had always sounded so exciting. That was what Dominique wanted. She wanted to do something exciting with her life. She wanted to be a curse-breaker.
She began flipping through the pamphlet and noted that there were tons of locations besides the pyramids in Egypt. There were pictures of curse-breakers walking through jungles, spelunking through caves, even pictures of curse-breakers diving down into the ocean to sunken ships filled with treasure. Dominique's skin prickled with excitement as she imagined herself swimming down to a pirate ship and then finding a treasure map that she would return to her team for decoding, and the ensuing adventure to follow the map to the treasure chest. It sounded like fiction, but the pamphlet was right in Dominique's hands.
"Hey look!" Grant exclaimed then, pulling Dominique from her thoughts. "Wandmaking. That sounds like fun."
"It sounds like a lot of work," Zeke corrected him. "You'd have to spend years studying wand lore as an apprentice before you could even think about trying to craft a wand. And even then, the precision that goes into making them would be enormous."
"Hey, I don't mind putting in the work," Grant insisted, opening up the pamphlet and reading further. "And I've always been interested in how wands work."
Dominique glanced around the table as this conversation was happening. Grant had his pamphlet on wand lore while Zeke was perusing a pamphlet for the Department of Magical Games and Sports at the Ministry. Timothy had a few pamphlets that he was looking through, among them one for the St. Mungo's healer program. Holly and Joy were passing a couple pamphlets back and forth between them, all of them for various Ministry of Magic departments. Brittany had shoved all the Ministry pamphlets away from her and was currently inspecting one for a potions research lab that specialized in the development of medicinal potions.
Brooke had picked up a pamphlet about the professional quidditch career track and was looking at the different teams that operated out of the British League. Miles and Tom had both picked up quidditch-themed pamphlets as well, but they were looking at pamphlets detailing jobs in the industry for non-players, like refereeing, coaching, managing, announcing, and so on.
"You don't want to play professional quidditch?" Dominique asked Miles with a frown.
"Of course I do," Miles said. "But so does Tom. What are the odds they recruit two beaters from the same year? Odds are one of us isn't going to make it. Maybe both. Brooke may not want a back-up plan, but I do."
Dominique thought this was very wise.
"I think you'd make a great coach," she said. "If you don't end up playing, that is."
"Thanks," Miles said. "But usually they choose coaches from the pool of retired quidditch players, not newly graduated students. I could probably be an announcer though. You don't need much more than a basic knowledge of quidditch and the players to do that."
Leaving Miles to his musings, Dominique went back to reading her pamphlet on curse-breaking, trying to decide where she would most like to work. There was a certain draw to working with sunken ships and treasure maps, and Dominique was an excellent swimmer, having grown up on the beach. On the other hand, there were some pictures of the Aztec temples that also caught Dominique's attention and she was torn. Though she supposed she had plenty of time to figure out where in the world she wanted to work.
Career advising took place over the course of a week, and Dominique's session was on the Friday afternoon. When her turn finally came, Dominique excitedly bid her friends goodbye as they headed to a boring history of magic lesson, which Dominique got to skip in favor of meeting with Professor Longbottom.
"Dominique," he greeted her when she knocked on her Head of House's door. "Come in."
Dominique entered and sat, perching on the edge of the seat in excitement.
"So, have you thought about what you might want to pursue as a career?" he asked.
Dominique nodded enthusiastically. "I want to be a curse-breaker," she declared. "Like my father was before he married my mother."
Professor Longbottom leaned forward, his brow furrowing. "I see," he said. "Have you looked into this career at all?"
Dominique nodded and produced the pamphlet on curse-breaking, which she'd been carrying around with her all week. "I never knew how many different places there were in the world where curse-breakers worked," she admitted. "When my father talked about it, it always seemed like it was just the pyramids in Egypt. But there's so much more to it than that."
Professor Longbottom nodded. "Miss Weasley, I'm afraid I have a bit of bad news in this regard," he said.
Dominique felt her stomach drop as he said this. "What is it?" she asked nervously.
Professor Longbottom sighed. "Well in order to be a curse-breaker, a N.E.W.T. in ancient runes is mandatory, and a N.E.W.T. in arithmancy is recommended."
"But I'm not taking either of those subjects," Dominique said. When she'd signed up for her elective classes in second year, she'd chosen muggle studies and care of magical creatures.
Professor Longbottom shook his head. "But there are still lots of career options available to you," he said. "If adventure is what you're looking for, maybe you'd be interested in being a dragon-handler like your uncle."
Dominique thought of her Uncle Charlie, who worked with dragons in Romania. Whenever he came home to visit, he was always covered with burns and extremely grimy, even after Grandmother Weasley had him take a shower. Dominique didn't think working with dragons was something she wanted to do. She shook her head.
"Perhaps not dragons then," Professor Longbottom allowed. "But there are other creatures you could work with. There are graphorns, chimeras, griffins, manticores, nundus, or even quintapeds, all of which are considered dangerous." As he listed them, he produced pamphlets for jobs working with each one he mentioned. "Perhaps you could narrow your focus to one of them?"
Dominique shook her head again. "I don't want to work with magical creatures," she said dejectedly.
"Well if it's excitement you're after, there's always the auror office," Professor Longbottom recommended. "Or the magical law enforcement patrol if you don't want too much danger."
Dominique shook her head again. "I want adventure," she insisted.
Professor Longbottom sighed. "If you're really committed to becoming a curse-breaker, you could try taking ancient runes as a summer course through the Ministry's summer school program," he informed her. "But I'll warn you, the course is meant for those who fail the O.W.L. and wish to re-take it. It's not designed for those who've never been exposed to the subject matter before. It will be quite intensive."
"If that's what it takes," Dominique said determinedly. "Then that's what I'll do."
Professor Longbottom hesitated again. "At the risk of speaking out of turn – you have exceptional grades in charms. Have you considered pursuing a career with a charms-focus?"
"Curse-breaking would involve using charms," Dominique stated matter-of-factly.
"Yes," Professor Longbottom agreed. "But there are other career paths where you might be able to use your natural talents in a more productive way. I recall speaking with Professor Flitwick – that is, the former Professor Flitwick – back in your first year about some spell modifications you made during the school-wide water shortage to some hygiene spells?"
It took a moment for Dominique to recall the instance. It had been so long since first year. But it was true. Professor Flitwick had given her a book of hygiene spells to use while the water issue persisted and she'd adjusted some of them. It hadn't been that big of a deal. Her former charms Professor had thought she had a gift for charms, but ever since the new Professor Flitwick had taken over, she'd never talked to Dominique about this supposed special talent, and Dominique had all-but forgotten about the days when she used to invent her own spells.
"What's your point?" Dominique asked.
"Well it might be worth looking into a career in experimental charms," Professor Longbottom said, sliding a pamphlet across the desk to Dominique. "It would be a waste not to use such natural gifts."
Dominique took the pamphlet and wrinkled her nose at it. It didn't look exciting at all. There was no adventure in this job, no excitement. The pictures were of witches and wizards in offices, surrounded by paperwork and spell books. It was the opposite of what Dominique was looking for.
"Thanks," she said. "But I think I'll look into that summer school program for now," she said. She wasn't going to let a little thing like a missing O.W.L. stand in her way. And if she failed, she could just keep trying until she succeeded. Dominique was nothing if not determined.
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That evening, Dominique met up with William in the fifth-year lounge to relax. Now that the career advising sessions were over, they could finally catch their breath.
"How did your session go?" William asked as the two just lounged on one of the couches together.
"Not great, but not terribly," Dominique responded. "It's going to be more work than I thought, but I'm committed. What about you?" William's session had been that morning.
"It was really good actually," William responded. "Professor Flitwick helped me to narrow down which departments would be a good fit."
"Departments?" Dominique frowned. "You mean at the Ministry?"
Suddenly, Dominique realized that she and William had never actually discussed their chosen career paths with each other. Dominique had spent so much of the week with the Gryffindors in the common room that the subject simply hadn't come up.
"Well yeah," William replied. "Don't you?"
"No," Dominique frowned. "I want to be a curse-breaker."
"A curse-breaker?" William said in surprise. "But you're not even taking the necessary courses."
"That's why I'm going to take ancient runes over the summer," Dominique explained.
William furrowed his brow. "Dominique, no offence but – do you really think you'll pass? You'll be cramming three years of learning into two months."
"So I'll start studying now," Dominique decided. "You take ancient runes, right?"
"Yeah," William nodded.
"Great," Dominique declared. "So lend me your third year textbook and I'll start studying tomorrow."
"I don't have it," William replied. "I left it at home since I didn't need it this year."
Dominique sighed. "Then I'll borrow it from the library," she said in frustration. "Whatever it takes."
"To become a curse-breaker?" William asked, a hint of judgment in his voice.
"Is there something wrong with that?" Dominique demanded.
"Well it's just not when I envisioned for you," William replied. "And not to be presumptuous, but how is this relationship going to work if I'm working a desk job at the Ministry and you're off in the Amazon Rainforest swinging on vines and running into dangerous traps all the time?"
Dominique was caught off guard by this question and it took her a moment to formulate a response.
"I don't know," she said honestly. "But wouldn't you rather I do something that makes me happy, even if it means you only see me a few times a year?"
"I'd rather if you had a stable job in London that would allow us to live our lives together," William insisted.
"Well why do I have to be the one to compromise?" Dominique demanded then. "Why couldn't you become a curse-breaker too?"
"I don't think so," William shook his head. "I want a quiet life. I don't want to risk my neck everyday. I'll just get a quiet job in the Department of International Magical Cooperation or the Department of Magical Transport."
"The Department of Magical Transport?" Dominique balked. "Really?"
"Sure," William said. "Professor Flitwick thinks I'd be a really good fit in the portkey office. I'd be reviewing applications and making decisions on whether to approve or deny portkey requests."
It sounded like the dullest job Dominique could imagine.
"Well I can't spend my life stamping yes or no on bits of parchment," she said. "I need more than that."
"You could work for the office of international trading standards," William suggested. "They get to travel occasionally, to meet with the offices in other countries. It's a compromise."
"That's not a compromise," Dominique said. "And I don't want to be a curse-breaker for the travel. I want the adventure."
"But why do you need adventure to be life-threatening and dangerous?" William insisted. "Can't you have a stable job and have nice safe adventures when you get your vacation time?"
Dominique realized that they weren't going to agree on this, and she was getting tired of having the argument.
"Just forget about it," she muttered, grabbing her bag and standing up. "Let's not talk about this right now."
"We're going to have to talk about it eventually," William insisted.
"I know," Dominique said. "But not today."
As she left, Dominique thought about how much of a disappointment her day had been. When she'd woken up that morning, she was going to be a curse-breaker like her father. Now Professor Longbottom thought she should work in experimental charms, and William thought she should work in the office of international trading standards. Nobody thought she could do it. Nobody thought she had what it took to be a curse-breaker. But she was adventurous. She'd not been on many adventures, but that was because there wasn't much to do at Hogwarts that was adventurous. But the thought of being a curse-breaker excited Dominique in a way that no other job did.
She didn't care what anyone else said. She didn't care how hard it would be, or how many people told her it was a bad idea. She was going to do it. Or at least, she was going to try.
Dominique changed her course halfway back to the common room to head to the library instead. She was going to find that introductory ancient runes textbook and start studying now. The sooner the better. She was going to prove everyone wrong. She was going to prove that she had what it took and nothing was going to get in her way.