"I'll catch up," Dominique said after she and the Slytherin girls decided to see what was happening out in the common area. She'd waved Zara and Erin along; stopping beside her own room once she noticed that the door was ajar. When she pushed it open, she found Jack sitting on the edge of his bed rubbing his face vigorously with a towel. She watched him for a moment before finally knocking three times in a cursory manner to let him know she was standing there.

He looked up. "Hi."

"Hi," she said, feeling as though the natural thing to do would be to take the seat across from him on her own bed, but fighting that instinct. She would be breaking her number one rule of this place if she did that—letting herself drink and finding herself alone with him. She instead lingered in the entryway while she left the door wide open. "You look knackered."

He made a face as if to say she had no idea. He really did look completely exhausted, though she had no idea whether he was physically or mentally tired. While she envied his position, she didn't envy what seemed to be non-stop days of constant meet and greets on top of hours of Quidditch.

She leaned against the doorframe, partly because it seemed casual, but mostly because she felt a little wobbly. "You ready for tomorrow?"

"As I'll ever be," he said, though she detected some nerves in his tone. He stood up from his bed. "I'll be happy when it's all said and done and I can relax again." He smiled. "You've had a few drinks tonight. Wish I could switch places with you right now."

"And I wish I could switch places with you."

His smile faltered. "Right. Sorry. I don't know why I said that. Obviously, you'd rather…"

She waved him off, not in the mood for the sad talk about how she deserved to be there and it should have been her, too. She was done feeling sorry for herself. Her choices had been made; dwelling on them wasn't helping anyone. "Let's not. Let's just focus on the fact that you get to play tomorrow and that's remarkable."

His smile was forced this time.

"Seriously, in the time I've known you, you've gone from—" She made her voice sound high pitched and a little silly, 'Oh, I want to play Quidditch, but I don't even know what position to try,'" she resumed her normal voice, "to one of the top Beater candidates right now. You know that's fucking madness, right?"

He seemed a little awkward under her praise, but as far as she was concerned he needed to get over it.

"Fucking madness," she repeated, shaking her head. "But in all honesty, while I'm obviously mad with jealousy, I really am happy for you. Truly."

"You mean that?"

"Of course." She made a face. "Do you actually think I'm not happy for you?"

"You stopped speaking to me for months when I got captain." His eyes locked on hers. "Can't really blame me for being worried about how you'd react."

It was a fair point. It wasn't until that moment that she realized she may have been mistaking his anxiousness at all of these high rankings and prime playing spots for humbleness. He wasn't trying to downplay the fact that he'd achieved all these things because he was trying not to brag or thought he didn't deserve it. He was downplaying it all because he was afraid she was going to be angry with him.

"I guess I can't," she said as that realization continued to resonate with her. "But, unlike the captain thing, you properly deserved this, so…" She smirked, hoping he saw that she was attempting a joke. "I mean, it wasn't you who made me stay out all night that night and then play like shit. That was my fuck up."

"I mean, it sort of was my fault. Had I not been occupying the room when you came back—"

"Jack, I could have easily blown up your whole little sex party had I wanted to. You know I'm not above that. I probably should have, but instead I went and ran into Reynolds and made some decisions and…" She shrugged. "The rest is history now."

"So, you did sleep with him?"

"You knew that. I told you that the other day."

"You never really said what you did. I was trying not to assume."

She laughed. "Why not? Everyone else does."

His face was hard to decipher at that moment, "People always assume the worst. I wasn't trying to do that."

"'The worst' is certainly not a term I would use when referring to that night," she said. "It was actually the opposite of—"

"Alright, well, good for you, then," he said hastily, suddenly reminding her of Louis whenever the topic of sex and her came up. He obviously saw her similarly. If anything, it felt a bit like a slap in the face that he was now acting the same way her brother did when it came to her being a person capable of having sex. It was one of the many boxes he probably had her placed in.

She cleared her throat, now wanting to escape the room. "Everyone's gone out to the common area? Do you want to…?"

"Yeah," he said, nodding. "Yeah, it'd be good to just turn off for a bit. Some mindlessness after this day."

"Well, there's plenty of mindlessness with that lot," she said, stepping out into the corridor. Jack had followed her out, now shutting the door behind them. They walked mostly in silence, though Dominique got the distinct impression that it was due more to him just being tired than anything more.

In the common area they were greeted by a fairly boisterous scene. For being the boring dorm, the room was packed with plenty of people. Cliques and pockets were scattered throughout every table, everyone chatting and laughing. It felt as if she'd walked into a high energy pub; certainly nothing like the common area of the first night she was here.

The Hufflepuffs and Slytherins were sitting at the same table they'd been at the day before, only Zara was now sitting in the seat Dominique had spent much of last night occupying. They were playing cards, with Michael's bottle of Firewhiskey and Zara's bottle of champagne sitting prominently on the table. By the looks of things, the champagne was nearly gone. That could only mean both Zara and Erin had still been going strong.

"Look who it is!" Michael said as they approached their table, now looking around for extra chairs. "Sit. Join us."

They had to search for chairs, though Jack did all the work and eventually returned with two for the pair of them. Everyone slid around a circular table and squished together; she and Jack sandwiched between both groups. Mike offered to deal them both in for the next round, but Dominique was perfectly happy to watch. Her head was starting to spin more and more with each passing moment.

"Weasley, there's a bit left," Erin said as she picked up the champagne and shook it in front of her face. "It's got your name on it."

She shook her head. The three glasses she'd had were more than enough. Erin didn't ask twice and took the last bit and topped off both she and Zara's cups. Both of them started laughing for some reason at the gesture.

"So, mate, you nervous about tomorrow?" Michael had asked Jack as he absently arranged his hand of cards.

"A healthy amount of nervousness, I think. "I'm trying not to think about it."

"You want some?" Michael asked, offering him his bottle of Firewhiskey. "I feel as if we should be toasting to your success or something."

Jack shook his head. "Any other night, you know I would. But I'm looking to take it easy. I'm probably going to sleep soon."

"Boring," Erin mumbled. She was clearly drunk now and was wobbling slightly in her chair. She was also holding her cards backwards and exposing them all to the rest of the table.

"Whatever happened with that French girl you met?" Michael continued. "You two never got together?"

Jack shook his head, clearly keeping a tight lip. Michael made a face that seemed to express what a shame that was, but was now busy throwing more cards down to trump the cards Zara had played and beat her. He cheered when he won the hand.

"I think Weasley clearly wins the week for most memorable encounter," Ellibit muttered. "Zara, did you hear about her and Reynolds?"

"For fuck's sake," Dominique mumbled, rubbing her eyes. "I would have never even talked to him if I knew everyone would talk about this."

"That's old news," Zara said, waving her hand as if she couldn't be bothered—despite the fact that she was more than interested days ago. "Heard that ages ago." She looked at Dominique. "Have you seen him since?"

"No, but I wasn't looking to," Dominique said as Michael dealt everyone new cards around the table.

"The sex couldn't have been that good," Zara muttered, picking her cards up.

Perfect. Why not have this conversation now? After she'd been drinking and the boy she fancied sat directly beside her, completely sober. This was exactly what she wanted to do.

"She said it was good," Ellibit offered. "She said a lot of things about it."

"What do you all talk about?" Michael asked, looking at Ellibit.

"Same stuff blokes do," Zara said, slopping a bit of champagne out of her cup. "Except with cocks. Size, stamina, whether they're crooked or not. Don't be a prude, Ellison. Let us have our fun."

Michael was caught off guard by that, and even Jack's expression was one of half amusement and half shock, but neither said anything. Erin and Zara fell into absolute hysterics, while Ellbit shook her head and was now muttering something about that not being entirely true. Dominique had a small laugh as well, hoping they could divert the conversation away from the specifics of her sex life and onto something more group focused. That idea was quickly scrapped when Jack nudged her and asked. "Are you going to tell your sister?"

"About?"

"You and Reynolds. Didn't they date?"

Erin laughter died in an instant. "Wait a second, you slept with your sister's ex? Weasley, you have no shame!"

Dominique sat up straighter. Not that she owed any of these people any explanation, but after being faced with these accusations, she felt the need to defend herself. "First of all, they didn't properly date." She glanced around the table to see everyone was listening. "They kissed once at a party and went to Hogsmeade once—"

"So, what you're trying to say," Michael asked, his tone more than obvious as to what he was playing at," is that they went...on a date?"

"You can stop," she said, throwing him a look that dared him to push this. "What I'm saying is that it wasn't serious, so piss off." She turned to look down at the tabletop, now attempting to convince herself that Victoire wouldn't be upset. She genuinely hadn't considered her hearing about this, so the idea of talking to her about it hadn't crossed her mind. "Anyway, she's madly in love with her boyfriend now. She wouldn't care. This isn't an issue."

"They only kissed the one time?" Jack asked. "That's it? I thought they were at it for awhile."

"That's what Stuart said."

"I was there, then," Jack said absently, discarding several cards and picking up more. "If it only happened the one time. I remember that."

Dominique turned to him, just as Zara and Erin also pulled almost identical looks that seemed to question why he would have been there. "Ew. Why?"

"It was at Victoire's birthday party," he said defensively, looking at all of the faces that were currently judging him. "I wasn't lurking in a bedroom or something; they did it right there in the open. I remember because that was the night Jane and I had started talking for the first time."

"Who the hell is Jane?" Erin asked. "Did we go to school with a Jane?"

"Yes. She's my ex," Jack said. "We dated for almost a year."

"When did you date someone called Jane?"

"I thought you dated that other girl for a year?" Zara said. "What was her name? It wasn't Jane."

"Yes, it was."

"I don't think it was," said Erin, causing him to stare at her as if she'd gone mental.

"He means Whit—Jane Whitters," Dominique said, tired of the back and forth. She understood their confusion. Every time Jack called Whit by her actual name, it confused everyone since he was the only one who ever did. "He always calls her that for some reason."

"Because it's her name," he said. "It's where we started things and I sure as hell don't care enough to change it now."

"Doesn't make it not weird," she said with a laugh, throwing all of her cards down on the table when she realized she had nothing to play. "Anyway, finish your story. You were being a weird creeper and watching Vic snog Stuart because…?"

"I wasn't being a—" He shook his head. "I only remember because Jane—" They both made a point to look at each other at that moment, which made Dominique laugh again and Jack roll his eyes—"Whatever. The two of us were outside the party, talking. Then Vic and this whole group of other people showed up. Reynolds, some of his friends, Colleen Lynch—"

Dominique wrinkled her nose. That was an unpleasant blast from the past. Colleen Lynch had fucked with everyone—Victoire, Louis, Whit, Jack— and had been the person Dominique had attempted to curse in the common room after she'd finally had enough of her treatment of them.

She'd never personally messed with her, but it was because of her that she'd received that suspension for the House Cup match her fifth year. If Colleen hadn't provoked her into cursing her, she wouldn't have been suspended; they probably would have won the House Cup and maybe Dominique's chances at being Quidditch captain wouldn't have been completely erased that day. The more she thought about it, Colleen Lynch had actually fucked with her the most.

"—and her friends were there," Jack was still saying. "And I had no idea what's going on, I was only trying to talk to a girl. But the next thing I know they're all playing truth or dare, and it's the most hostile version of that game I've ever seen."

Michael made a point of telling Zara it was her time to play her cards, but she made a motion with her hand to shush him. "Wait, I want to hear this story," she said. "So, what happened? Hostile how?"

"Well, to make a long story short," Jack continued, "Victoire and Colleen were obviously at odds with each other over Reynolds. I could figure that much out. They were going back and forth, then Jane—Whit, whatever—got bold and goes and dares Reynolds to kiss Victoire in front of all of us. And they do, but that sets Colleen off since you know how psycho she could be, so…" He shrugged. "Anyway, if that was the one time, that's why I saw it. I wasn't being creepy."

"What did Colleen do?" Zara asked. "We all know she's not taking something like that lightly."

"Yeah, I feel like Whit really didn't think that through," Dominique said.

"She didn't," he said. "Because of that, Colleen tried to destroy our relationship twice before it even got started. And here was the first attempt because after Jane did that, Colleen dared Victoire to kiss me, knowing that it would upset Jane."

"You kissed my sister?!" Dominique blurted out. She hadn't meant to; it had come out without thought. How—HOW?!—had Jack never mentioned this before? How had Victoire? How had Louis? He had to know. But if he knew, she'd have found out, so maybe he didn't know? Maybe no one knew? But he'd said there had been loads of people there watching the game, so someone knew. There was no way this would have been kept a secret. What was happening?

She felt warm; hoping it was the alcohol, but she ultimately knew that was only a part of it. Was she jealous of something that had happened almost two years ago? She hadn't even given boys, or snogging, or Jack a second-thought two year ago. But...Victoire? Of all people. Why? How? Why?

She suddenly felt absolutely no guilt for her night with Stuart. None.

"I can't believe you snogged Victoire," Zara said, laughing as if this was a fun and new piece of gossip she'd discovered.

"I didn't do it!" Jack said, watching everyone practically have a freak out over this apparent revelation. He looked at Dominique last. "Of course I didn't do it."

Her body instantly felt as if a cold wind had swept over her, leaving her a little clammy and shocked. The heat she'd felt trapped inside felt as if it was seeping out like steam pouring out of a kettle. She didn't know what to do. She barely knew what had just happened to her.

"It's a dare, not the law," he said. "I wasn't going to do it."

"Why?" asked Erin. "It's just a game."

"Games are supposed to be fun, but there was nothing fun about that," he said, completely oblivious to Dominique's mini-meltdown beside him. "Colleen was trying to start shit. She was angry with Jane. She was angry with Victoire. She tried to kill two birds with one stone, but neither of us would do it."

Erin shrugged. "Victoire's pretty fit. I don't know too many people who would have passed on that."

"I was talking to her friend," he reiterated. "I didn't want to mess that up. And I obviously was not about to kiss my best mate's sister and deal with that fallout." He shook his head. "You can't do that."

Dominique's eyes shot to him immediately. He was looking at the Firewhiskey bottle on the table and absently reading over the label—completely oblivious to her gaze practically tearing through him. He had said that—can't kiss your best mate's sister—clear as day. She blinked a bit before glancing across the table to where Zara and Erin were both staring at her. She knew what they were thinking. They'd heard the words come out of his mouth as well. Even Ellibit was looking at her a little funny; as if she was attempting to gauge how those words may have affected her.

"Yeah, you can't," said Michael, the only other person who seemed completely oblivious to what was happening. He also was the only person still playing cards.

She suddenly sat up straight and looked directly at Jack, feeling bolder than she ever felt. She didn't know if it was the champagne, the environment, or the fact that everyone was staring at her, but she felt emboldened.

"You can't?"

He'd set the bottle back down and looked back at her. He probably assumed this was a random drunk rambling of a question, and perhaps it was, but she also now felt more clear headed than she had been all night.

"I can't…?" He seemed confused as to what was being asked and why he was getting such a look; why almost everyone at the table was looking at him. "I don't…? I mean, it was a stupid game. Wasn't worth pissing Louis off for." When she didn't look away from him and remained stone faced, he added, "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Completely clueless," Erin attempted to whisper to Zara, though her whisper tone at the moment was the same volume as her normal voice. "This is why I don't do boys. Don't know why you waste your time with them."

Dominique continued to stare at him, though after a few more seconds she finally let herself look away when it was clear he wasn't getting it. This was the icing on the cake. It was more than apparent that her feelings were entirely one-sided and she now felt rather embarrassed for having them.

"Hey Jack," Erin asked, holding up one finger. "Victoire is Louis' only sister, right?"

"You know she's not." He gestured to Dominique.

"Ohhhhh," she said with fake enthusiasm, pretending she'd just discovered something. She suddenly held up two fingers. "So, you're saying he's got two sisters?"

Zara could barely hold her laughter from beside her, though she did reach out to push Erin's hand and fingers down into her lap. "Stop it. Leave it alone."

"I thought maybe he needed a reminder."

"What are you…?" His confusion was boiling over into aggravation now. "Am I missing something?"

"Yes!" Erin yelled, though she was cut off by Zara shushing her and Dominique immediately attempting to change the subject.

"Can we play cards?" she asked, gesturing for Michael to deal them out. "I don't even care what game, let's just play."

Michael seemed happy to have the game back on track, and they played several hands that Dominique barely paid attention to. The others were back to laughing and chatting about random things, like why the bloke two tables down had a cat at the Trials or whether the chicken in the canteen had a funny aftertaste, but Dominique was giving the bare minimum amount of attention to what was happening. Everything felt hazy and distant and it was hard to focus. She simply continued to play her cards in silence over and over again until deciding she didn't want to be there any longer.

But she unfortunately hadn't left quick enough, seeing as Giggleswick and Baileymoore chose that moment to walk back through the front door. Baileymoore had dashed quickly toward the rooms for some reason, though Giggleswick had lingered behind and meandered over to their table. Michael and Ellibit were the only ones to actively greet him when he approached, though after a polite nod to them, he glanced around the table without much interest. "Why are you all sitting around tonight being boring? Why not go out and enjoy your last night? Have some actual fun?"

"I've gone out almost every night. I've had enough fun," Erin muttered, and Zara nodded as if to agree with her. Michael and Ellibit commented that playing cards and sipping Firewhiskey was their idea of fun, while Jack reminded him that he was having a mild night considering that he actually had to play tomorrow.

"Yeah, I'll be taking it easy tonight as well," Giggleswick said with a nod toward Jack. "Just in case I'm needed tomorrow. You never know." He glanced over at Dominique. "Lucky for you, you can get wasted since you're all done. Sort of looks like you might already be on your way."

"Fuck off," she said, her patience worn thin. "No one's going to need you tomorrow and you know it."

He shrugged as Baileymoore returned just then, holding up a piece of parchment to him for some reason. Giggleswick nodded and looked as if he was ready to be on his way, but not before adding. "Well, you have fun, Weasley. I hear you've been doing a lot of that lately. Getting close with Stu Reynolds. Been very busy."

Baileymoore snickered. That annoyed her more than Giggleswick's comment since it wasn't even a good insult.

"That's really the best you've got?" she asked, rolling her eyes as his lame attempt to shame her. "Oh no, I've had some sex. So scandalous." She sat back in her chair to look at him. "You should give it a go yourself. Maybe you'd be less of a knob if you could find someone who'd touch yours."

"I draw the line at talking about Giggleswick's knob," Erin muttered, wrinkling her nose.

"Weasley can't help it," he said without missing a beat. "She's obviously got a thing for Ravenclaw cocks."

A dark shadow passed over Dominique's face. That had been the sort of comment that got everyone's attention. Baileymoore looked shocked, but also highly amused as he attempted to stifle a laugh. Michael and Ellibit both looked as if they were pretending to have not heard and were glancing awkwardly at each other. Erin and Zara were staring directly at her, as if waiting for her to unleash the hell they'd become accustomed to from her.

"You're a piece of..." She had instinctively reached for her wand, but felt Jack grab her hand to keep her from pulling it out. She was in no mood and wasn't about to listen to some lecture from him about how she needed to calm down and think straight. Cursing Giggleswick was thinking straight; she had absolutely nothing to lose. Her Trials were over. She was done. Let them throw her out. It would be worth it.

But Jack was still holding onto her hand, even after he had stood up to face Giggleswick. "Walk away now."

Giggleswick rolled his eyes. "Or what?"

"Would you let go?!" Dominique said, still trying to wriggle her hand free from his grasp. He had—not unsurprisingly—quite the grip. "Let me take care of this!"

"I'm trying to keep you from taking care of this." He turned back to Giggleswick. "If you want to find out, we can go outside?"

"Jack," said Ellibit. "You have to play tomorrow. You can't—"

"Yeah, don't be stupid," said Zara, watching them both. "They'll throw both of you out. Not worth it."

Giggleswick remained stone faced. "I'm not scared of you."

"You shouldn't be scared of me," he said. "What you should be scared of is her if I let go of her."

Michael stood now. "Alright, stop everyone." He turned and started pushing Giggleswick along; forcing him to leave the scene. "Come on. You need to walk away. Walk it off. None of this."

Baileymoore, after cowering behind all the action, stood up straight and began trailing after the other two, who were currently walking toward the exit. Ellibit was watching them go as Zara started rubbing her eyes, saying, "It wouldn't be Quidditch without Weasley and Giggleswick trying to kill each other."

"Or my buzz," Erin muttered.

Jack sat back down, though he still hadn't let go of Dominique's hand until she made another heavy tug to get it back. He then let her have it.

"I didn't need you to do that," she said rubbing her hand.

"You're drunk. You were going to destroy him."

"No shit. That was the point."

"You would have gotten thrown out of camp."

"So?" she said. "I'm done here. I have no more obligations. What do I care?"

"You would have regretted it tomorrow." He paused. "And I care."

"Sure, right, whatever you say," she muttered, turning away. "And what exactly were you thinking? You were going to fight him and get kicked out? You? The one with everything to lose?"

"He wouldn't have come outside," he said, looking rather confident in that assumption. "He's all talk."

"I'm aware of that, Jack. Which is why I could have handled him. I don't need you standing up for me. I don't need anyone."

"I was keeping you from killing him!" he said. "And I'm also tired of listening to him. That was as much for me as it was for you."

She couldn't even look at him right now. How many bloody mixed signals could one person throw at someone? He thought she was beautiful, he wanted to be around her, he stood up for her, he always believed in her—but then he also chased after other girls, treated her as Louis does, dismissed her the second the idea of kissing came up. She couldn't take it. She didn't want to play this game anymore.

She stood up then, not wanting to listen to any more. He was annoying her. Everyone was annoying her. Her head hurt. She'd had too much to drink. She wanted everyone to disappear. She wanted to disappear.

As she left the table, she knocked straight into Jack as she passed. It had been a brusque move and she hadn't stopped to apologize, causing him to ask, "What's your problem?"

"I have no problem," she said. "I'm fine. I'm me." She turned to walk away, but not before lastly calling over her shoulder. "I'm your best mate's sister. And now I know exactly what that's worth."