A/N: This is the Seeker from Montrose Magpies writing for QLFC Round 2.

Prompt: Hogsmeade Station

Thanks to my team for looking through it, and thank you, Cyp, for the title!

Word Count: 1254 (+7 for the title)

Disclaimer: I have no intentions of making money from this story, so all the recognisable stuff belongs to J.K. Rowling.

When Wheels Start Turning the Other Way

Dominique jumped down from the carriage before it could grind to a halt. Her legs were tensed, already prepared to run to make up for the lost time, but her eyes couldn't find her group of squabbling cousins anywhere nearby. She let out a huge sigh, her eyes scouring the platform once more to make sure they weren't waiting for her somewhere, and then dropped her gaze to the pavement she was standing on. Her toe absently rubbed at some old butterbeer stains.

She hefted her rucksack onto her shoulders and made her way towards the nearest door of the train as a warning whistle sounded out. For a moment, she paused, looking around for the last time — as a Hogwarts student, at least — at the measly little roof supported by four columns that formed Hogsmeade Station. It didn't look like much, but it had always been a place of excitement and joy, acting as a sort of liminal space between school and not-school. This time, however, it didn't have its usual allure.

It took her almost ten minutes to find her brother and her cousins — all cramped up in a single compartment; the lack of room meant that Lily was perched on James' lap. Dominique didn't bother knocking as she opened the compartment door, only for her brother to yell out: "Who have you been snogging now, for you to take so long?"

She let out a loud breath as she turned to Louis — he knew perfectly well who she would have been snogging, had she been actually doing that. "I was returning books to the library. You know Madame Pince would hex me into oblivion if I kept them." It wasn't technically a lie — she had done it earlier in the morning, but she knew that telling them the truth wouldn't do her any good.

She nudged Hugo, who was sitting near the compartment door, in the shin. "Stand up," she said, making full use of her height advantage. "You can sit on my lap."

"Bloody hell, no," he swore, wrinkling his nose as if she were some disgusting being. She flinched; she had expected the refusal, but not the disgust.

"Sorry, Dom." The apology came from Molly, who, despite being a bigger-than-Aunt-Hermione nerd, somehow fit into this mismatched group better than she did now. "The compartment's full." She gave Dom an apologetic look — at least, it looked like it was apologetic — before pointing at Scorpius, whose unmissable platinum blond hair Dominique had somehow missed when she came in.

She shrugged, not meeting any of their gazes, her eyes fixated on the little station that sat outside the compartment window. Shifting her heavy backpack again, she turned on her heel. It was easy to pretend that the rebuff didn't bother her, but Merlin, it did hurt! She had always sat alongside her huge group of cousins during the past seven years of train rides, yet somehow, it had been easy for them to just kick her out — and on her last journey, too!

Thankfully, it didn't take long to find an empty compartment even though almost every student was on the train now. Sliding the straps of her backpack from her shoulders, she let out a sigh of relief and flung it onto a seat. She settled down on the opposite one, bringing her knees to her chest. The absence of the cumbersome bag felt like a weight had been lifted (quite literally) from her shoulders, but she couldn't shake the heavy feeling of rejection from her mind — or her heart, for that matter. She looked out of the window, staring at the town in the distance. Her mind pulled back memories of all the happy times she had spent there while she had still been a cherished member of the Potter-Weasley gang. They had always waited on the platform until the last person arrived so that they could all board the train together, and then they used to spend the whole train ride home laughing and reminiscing.

Before it had all changed.

Simply because she had brought a girl home last Christmas.

Dating a girl — and a girl who was the daughter of a Death Eater, no less — had not gone down well with her family, bar Uncle Charlie, who had said he was glad she had found someone.

Her brother's reaction had hurt her the most. The two of them had always been close since Victoire had preferred Teddy's company over spending time with the 'brats' (as she liked to call them). Before that day, she honestly could never have thought of having a real fight with him, let alone him figuratively breaking all ties with her.

But Merlin, maybe Louis had been right? The tears that she had been holding back ever since that night finally spilled over her eyelids, making streaks down her cheeks as she thought back to the true reason she had been late for the train.

"So you're going to Romania?" Kelly's expression was neutral, except for her lips, which were pressed together so tightly that they had lost their colour. Dominique simply nodded. "Well, then, this is it."

For a moment, Dominique couldn't process what her girlfriend was saying. She caught on soon enough, though. "A-Are you breaking up with me?"

"Isn't that why you came looking for me, bringing that news on the last day of the school year? Of our last year completely, actually."

Dominique sighed, then sucked in a huge breath. "No. Okay. I was wrong. I should have told you earlier. B-But—"

"But what?" Kelly let out a humourless laugh. "You thought everything would be all right and I'd just kiss you and wish you good luck with a smile? You thought I'd wait for you while the dragons turn you into an asexual, female copy of your Uncle Charlie? Oh, and I wouldn't find out about that until the very last minute, too, right?"

Dominique tried to reign in her anger, she really did, but hearing her idol insulted was not something she could take without snapping back. "Is that really what you're worried about? Or are you simply making excuses?"

Kelly's eyes blazed. "Fine, yes, I'm making excuses. I don't want to be with you. I figured out I like guys better. I've no doubt you'll feel that way, too, soon." She sneered. 'And I was going to come find you to tell you that, but you made it simply easier."

It would be an understatement to say that that had not ended well — at all. There had been shouts and screams, and then there had been hexes flying about until some other seventh-year who had somehow been delayed as well had conjured a shield and dragged her away from there. All she had wanted to do was tell Louis about it, but then she had remembered that he didn't want to know.

So yes, maybe Louis had been right. Maybe she had been insulting Uncle Fred's memory — and that of countless others — by dating a Death Eater's spawn. And maybe she had been wrong in thinking it was right for girls to like girls.

The whistle sounded again, louder and clearer this time, and as the train started moving, she looked back to the station where she had once stood with a big smile on her face, excited to reach the castle, only to leave the same place, seven years later, in tears.