IMPORTANT MESSAGE AT BOTTOM...

Chapter Seven

Help

    ‘I am such a bloody coward.’ Ben thought as he looked across the booth at Dominique; he was twirling his quill in his fingers, attempting to do his transfiguration essay and failing blatantly. It was hard to concentrate when the sun was hitting her hair in such a way that it lit up like fire, or the way she smiled at him briefly every one and a while, glancing through her pale lashes…

“Benjamin Wood, get your head out of the clouds and bloody answer me!” Felicity was shouting in his ear, much to Ben’s annoyance; had he really not noticed?

“What?” he growled, suddenly aware that Dom wasn’t sitting at the booth anymore and that he’d been staring at sunlit air for a few minuets.

“I get that you’re daydreaming about our best friend and everything-”

“I am not!”

“-but we seriously need to talk about Dominique.”

Sighing, Ben pushed his essay aside –and all thoughts of Dominique and her fiery hair and pale lashes- and nodded “I know; but I don’t think we can help her on our own anymore.”

“To help we need to know what’s going on.” Felicity looked tired, less buoyant than usual; her usually shining eyes were stressed, and Ben wondered if she was sleeping well, judging by the dark circles under her eyes. “I don’t think she’s just stressed, or tired or any other lame excuse she feeds us; it’s something bigger. More serious.”

“So…what should we do?”

Felicity let out a big breathe of air, blowing her dirty blonde bangs out her eyes in annoyance “Do I have to do everything, Benjamin?”

“Hey, you’re the one that said I had my head in the clouds.” He defended, stuffing his books back in his bag.

“Fine.” Said Felicity, standing “But will you just ask her out? It’s driving me crazy.”

Staring at his friend, Ben wondered if it was really that obvious. “I am not-”

“Oh shut it, everyone knows you’ve liked her since forever.”

            Neville Longbottom didn’t get a lot of time to himself. It was a Sunday afternoon, Hanna was at the pub and although he was supposed to be getting some work done at home, he’d decided to bring their infant son, Frank, with him to the school were he could mark a few papers in peace. It had never bothered Neville that he’d had his son nearly ten years later than most of his classmates, and he and Hanna had nearly given up having children when she’d become pregnant only a year before.

“You’re not going to give me any problems, are you Frankie?” he said to his son, who was fast asleep in a basinet in the corner; three months old and the quietest baby many had ever seen.

Leaning back in his chair, Neville opened his book, picked up his tea and was just about to settle in when a knock came at the door.

Sighing, Neville put down his book and tea, heaved himself out of his chair and opened his office door to find a very worried Benjamin wood and Felicity Bones. “Oh hello, Ms. Bones, Mr. Wood…I’m afraid I’m terribly busy at the moment, but if you’d like to come by on Monday-”

“Please sir,” Felicity said, and Neville saw the way her lips trembled; something was obviously very wrong “We really need your help.”

Pushing all other plans out of his mind, Neville focused solely on his students “Right, come in…would you like some tea?”

“That would be nice Professor, thank you.” Said Ben, and the two sat on the couch across from Neville's armchair. They had a clear view out of the windows of the grounds, the black lake and the ForbiddenForest beyond. “I know it’s the weekend, but we heard you were in and it really can’t wait…”

“It’s not a problem, really; better than marking papers.” Neville smiled and two cups of homemade lavender tea floated over to the, two sugar cubes dropping in each and a plate of molasses cookies navigating their way to the coffee table. “So, what can I do for you?”

“We think Dominique is in some sort of trouble.” Felicity said, not touching her tea, just holding it in her hands; the warmth was soothing.

“What sort of trouble?”

Ben and Felicity looked at each other nervously, and Ben took it upon himself to voice the problem “Well…Dom isn’t…well, she doesn’t eat.”

Setting his cup down, Neville narrowed his eyes and looked at his two students seriously “Please, elaborate.”

“She pretty much just drinks tea and maybe a little bit of toast in the morning.” Felicity sipped her tea; Ben’s remained untouched and going cold on the table. “Also, it’s as if…as if she’s not even Dom anymore.”

“You believe Dominique has an eating disorder, then?” asked Neville.

“We haven’t…it hasn’t been labelled, exactly.” Ben said, running a hand nervously through his hair “But Professor, she isn’t…she isn’t the Dom we know. It’s worse than just the not eating; she’s always tired, constantly stressed and snaps all the time. It’s not her.”

“Those are side effects of eating disorders, and I think you two were very brave to come here today.” Standing, Neville went over to the bassinet were Frank had started to cry “I’m sorry, my wife is working and the flat was a little to noisy for us today.”

“He’s very sweet Professor,” Felicity said, she and Ben walking over to their teacher “And bravery means nothing unless it has an outcome; our friend is in trouble.”

Ben put a hand on Felicity’s back comfortingly “We love Dominique, Professor Longbottom; she’s our best friend. Please…will you help us? Help Dom?”

Neville held his son close and nodded gravely “Of course I will, and we will all have to continue to be brave for Dominique. I was once told by a very great man that there are all kinds of courage, and that takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends-and I would like to add on to help them.”

“Thank you, Professor.” Ben and Felicity said together, and left the office.

Neville stood by the window with his son, breathing in the baby scent; if his son ever had an eating disorder, what would he do? It was a hard subject to approach, but if Frank ever did fall into any sort of trouble he as a parent would do anything to help him recover.

He could only imagine what Bill and Fleur Weasley must be going through, if they even really knew at all.

Kissing his son, Neville put on his cloak and prepared to go home; he had a very serious appointment with Dominique Weasley to prepare for.

            Monday evening was always stressful; there were new papers to write, a whole new week to face-and in Dominique’s case, a meeting with her Herbology professor.

The halls were empty as she walked to the other side of the castle, knocked on the door and waited to be answered; and wondered what this could be about. Her grades her practically perfect, so what could the issue be? Nothing was wrong, except that she was bored in all her classes, so what was there to be said?

“Dominique, hello.” Neville Longbottom opened the door with a stiff smile, welcoming her in and ushering her over to the sofa instead of the desk. “Tea?”

“Erm…sure?”

‘This isn’t a normal student-professor check up meeting,’ Dom thought, taking the cup of tea, looking into the water to see tiny flowers blooming at the bottom, staining the hot water a deep pink.

“A hobby of mine, making tea.” Said Neville pleasantly “This one is a mixture of some rare flower I found in the greenhouse years ago-not poisonous, don’t worry!- and a bit of honey and-”

“Professor?” interrupted Dominique “Sorry, but…I have a paper due tomorrow for ancient ruins, and I’ve only got the outline.”

“Of course, of course.” Leaning back in his chair, Neville smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring way “Do you have any idea why you’re here, Dominique?”

“Not really, no.” Dom sipped her tea, even though she knew the honey was full of calories.

“There are individuals who are worried about you, Dominique.” Said Neville slowly, and seeing the anger flitting across Dom’s face, quickly continued “And don’t get mad, please; it is only because they care a great deal for you, and don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“I’m not going to get hurt.”

“You never know.”

Silence beat past, professor and pupil staring steadily at each other, tea growing cold.

“May I ask you a question, Dominique?”

“I don’t think it would matter.”

Letting another moment of silence pass, Neville put his tea to the side “Do you know what an eating disorder is?”

“Yes.”

“And what do you think of it?”

“I think that you’re being vague, Professor.” Said Dom, not even bothering to hide her anger “I also don’t see what it has to do with me.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Sometimes we deceive ourselves, Dominique.” Neville tried to be convincing, to show one of his favourite students that she needed help “I think you don’t see how sick you are, how sick you look.”

Fuming, Dom stood up “I do not look sick-I may not be beautiful, but I do not look sick.”

Neville stood also “Is that what this is about, Dominique?” he asked “Being beautiful?”

“No!”

Yes.

“There is no such thing as truly beautiful, Dominique.” He said softly, reaching out “Not in this world.”

Blinking rapidly, Dom pulled away-she felt badly, since she’d always liked professor Longbottom, but he was wrong. “Not when you’re half Veela, Professor, and your sister is Victoire Weasley and you have red hair.”

“Dominique, please just listen to the voice of reason. Just give me a few minutes, to help you…”

“I do not need help!” she cried, hot tears running down her cheeks as she fled the office, running down the halls. Her feet slammed against the stone, and as she slouched against a wall somewhere deep within the castle, the last rays of sunlight fell through the windows.

‘There may be beauty in the world,’ she thought ‘But I am not part of it.’

A/N: I liked this chapter, mostly because Ben and Felicity were so funny in it-at least, I thought they were sort of funny...I try my best, so whatever. 

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So guys, I don't know if you know, but I made a little video thanking everyone-my fans, my friends, just about Wattpad in general. I'd LOVE for you all to see it, and I was thinking of making a video about my books. I thought I'd do a video for CMP first, then an overall one for The One Series later.

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