CMP Q&A video on the side!

Chapter Eight

Dreaming & Reality

    It was raining. It seemed to be raining every day, all day-the snow had long ago melted, and students had begun to become bothered. Everyone moved in a rather sluggish state, and lessons became more of a chore than usual-Easter break was looking very appealing.

Dom had just finished throwing up the little breakfast she had eaten, and Felicity’s instance, and opened the bathroom door to find her friend sitting on her own four poster bed, knees held to her chest.

“Hey.” Felicity said.

“Hey?”

“Come sit, I want to talk to you.”

Crossing the room, Dom sat on Felicity’s bed; the two friends looked at each other for a few moments. “What do you want to talk about?” she asked, a little suspicious.

“I have a serious question to ask you.”

“Okay, shoot.” Dom was a little impatient with Felicity now; first she bothered her all the time to eat, now this.

Biting her lip nervously, Felicity glanced away from Dom “Are…Dominique, are you pregnant?”

Dom just stared at her friend for a few moments, then burst out laughing “Are you-kidding-me?” she giggled, hiccupping slightly with laughter “If I thought I was pregnant you’d be the first to know!”

Felicity’s shoulders relaxed and she smiled sheepishly “Sorry, it’s just…you’ve been acting weird, and I’ve noticed you haven’t had the red curse for a few months-you know we all get it at the same time.”

Shrugging, Dom hugged Felicity tightly “It’s just stress, Fellie; it happens to me, you know that. I’ve never been regular anyway.”

Letting out a relieved sigh, Felicity nodded “I know, and I’m sorry-I’ve been such a bother to you lately.”

“Neither of us have been exactly peachy, so lets just forget it. The rest of the girls are planning a fun night anyway-let’s enjoy that, eh?”

The girls smiled and hugged a little longer, then broke apart. “How about we let Ben beat us at chess, or go watch the practises-it’s always fun to see them get all wet.”

“And muddy!”

The girls giggled, linked arms and left the dorm-not another word about eating or non existent pregnancies were mentioned for the rest of the day.

            “And Wood saves another brilliant goal! It seems Gryffindor is in for the win once again, especially with this future Quidditch star on the team!”

It was the first clear sky in days, and the Quidditch match was as suspenseful as ever; Gryffindor versus Slytherin, and the students were going wild. From their spot in the stands, Felicity and Dominique watched Ben’s every move, cheering themselves hoarse.

Hovering in front of the goal posts, Ben let himself sneak a glance at Dominique; she had her hair in a long, loose braid, and wore a short flowing dress the same colour as moss-it was very distracting. The knee length boots and black stockings didn’t help much either, or how she was screaming his name.

“WOOD! WOOD! WOOD! WOOD!” the Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs chanted, and Ben pumped his fist in the air. The Slytherin beater tried to take advantage of his moment, but Ben saved his shot all the same-the crowd went wild.

Only minutes later, Albus Potter caught the snitch and Gryffindor was declared the winners. The school poured out onto the pitch, and the first to reach Ben was Dominique-she threw her arms around him, and much to his surprise and delight, kissed his cheek for a complete three seconds.

“You were absolutely, mind blowing brilliant!” she breathed, pulling away.

“I think we most definitely deserve a celebration.” Felicity said, and the son of George Weasley’s partner shouted:

“Gryffindors lets get this party started!” Jordan led the team and the rest of the house back to the common room, where the party indeed started-and continued.

~*~*~*~

            A snitch flew above the heads of the party goers, golden wings glinting in the lamp light. Ben had been watching it, watching the people who tried to catch it; he’d been surrounded all night by his classmates, but his eyes –although entertained by the snitch- followed Dominique.

She drifted from group to group, talking with everyone; he hadn’t seen her so social in a long time, and it was nice to see her interacting more with others. He was enjoying her dress even more now on the ground, the blue fabric sticking to her black fishnet tights. Every girl in the room had dressed up for the occasion, but his eyes only had time for Dominique Weasley and her blue dress.

Finally breaking away from his little group of fans, Ben sought around for Dominique; he finally found her sitting on the stairs, having a conversation with Maisy Spinnet, another girl in her year.  

“Care to dance, Dom?” he asked, knowing he was blushing but not minding.

Dom glanced at Maisy, who nodded encouragingly. Standing, Dom led Ben out onto the dance floor; the music was a little loud, and he couldn’t get nearly as close to her as he wanted, but Dom was dancing with him. By choice!

She’d removed the long sweater she’d had on earlier, and now Ben could see that there was a V-neck in the back of her dress as well, a slight ruffle around the edges. She had on a brown belt, and he noticed her black boots had a bit of heel on them; her earrings were silver feathers, long and glinting in the lights. The backless V of her dress showed off her spine, and Ben saw that he could count every knob if he wanted to, trace her ribs; if she were a toy he’d have been able to pick her up by one with the tip of his finger.

Maybe it was the butterbeer, or confidence from winning the game, but Ben had a surge of confidence; wrapping an arm around her waist, he pulled her closer, so their hips touched. Dom looked at him in surprise, and he just smiled nervously at her-neither pulled away.

The music slowed a little, and they melted into each other; it seemed natural. Ben’s hands went around her waist, holding her close; Dom let her hands rest on his chest. A lock of auburn hair was tickling his arm, and it made Ben sure that he wasn’t dreaming-how many times had he dreamed of this?

The gentle twirling and the heat was making Dom dizzy, and she remembered the brownie she’d had earlier-suddenly she felt sick.

“I…I feel a little dizzy, I’m going to get something to drink.” She said as the music grew faster once more, and Ben nodded.

“I’ll get it, you stay here, okay?” he said, waited until she agreed-he smiled at her before slipping through the crowd.

Once she knew he couldn’t see her, Dom turned towards the portrait hole and climbed out and began to run-she didn’t have much time.

~*~*~*~

            Ben returned to the place he’d left Dom to find her gone. He circled the room, abandoning their drinks. Someone eventually was able to tell him they’d seen her go through the portrait hole, and Ben quickly followed suit.

With the help of a few paintings, he figured out she’d gone to the loo a few corridors away. ‘Why didn’t’ she just use the dorms loo?’ he wondered, but continued on-he’d just see of she was alright. She had looked a little pale.

Knowing the bathrooms would be empty, Ben walked in, but stopped when he hear an odd sound. It sounded like someone being sick, and Ben walked further in-technically he wasn’t allowed in the girls loo, but it sounded like someone was having a pretty rough time. And where was Dom?

“Dominique?” he asked hesitantly to the washroom, voice echoing off the walls. The sounds of sick stopped. “Dom?” he called out, walking along the stalls and looking under the doors-he stopped when he saw someone kneeling on the ground.

“Is that you, Dom?” asked Ben, knocking on the stall door “Are you okay?”

“I-I’m fine, Ben.” said Dom’s weak voice from the other side “I’ll be back in a minute, you go on without me.”

“Are you sure, you didn’t sound so good.”

“Go away, Ben!” she said harshly.

“Dom…” said Ben slowly “Open the door.”

“No!”

“C’mon Dom, don’t lie to me-you don’t sound okay.”

The sounds of retching could be heard on the other side of the stall, and in a fit of panic, Ben flicked his wand so the stall door flew open. What he saw made him want to be sick.

Dom was on her knees, two fingers stuck down her throat, fist pressed into her stomach. Her face was pale, and tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Dominique…” Ben said slowly, obviously horrified “What-what are you doing?”

“Go away!” she sobbed, trying to push him away “Please Ben-”

“Stop it!” he cried, dropping to his knees as she pressed her fist into her gut again, gagging as her reflexes kicked in.

“I can’t!” Dom’s frail body was shaking with sobs, and Ben pulled her close “I can’t stop; I have to-have to do it!”

Holding her close, Ben pressed his lips to her hair and tried not to cry himself; this was so much worse than anything he could have imagined “You don’t have to, Dom, you don’t…”

“I do!” she sobbed, and suddenly Ben was leaning down, capturing her lips with his.

The kiss seemed to go on forever and end all at once, like not breathing and flying and bating in sunlight. Dom’s fingers knotted themselves in Ben’s hair, and his hands held her close, gripping onto her skeletal hips.

Pulling away only because she could no longer breathe, Dom and Ben started at each other. Neither spoke. Their gaze didn’t’ break.

“Dominique…” Ben whispered, but Dom scrambled to her feet.

“I-I…” looking distraught, she shook her head as fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. “I have to go.”

Dominique spun on her heel and ran, Ben calling her name after her. Finding herself in an old classroom, Dom sank down on a windowsill and leaned her head against the cool glass.

Dominique never thought anyone would ever want to kiss her.

Or even would kiss her.

She supposed that it must just be a fluke in the universe, and wiped her eyes-no one would ever want to kiss her, and she’d been getting over that little fact for a long time.

But Ben had. Benjamin Wood had kissed her, and Dom let herself smile a little.

A/N: It finally happened! Sort of, anyway...and naughty Ben, going into the girls loos!

Question: What do you think of these...interesting developments? Do you think Ben will go after her again, or will Dom just continue to push him away? Also, what did you think of my little CMP Q&A video?

Rose<3