“What are you doing here, Malfoy?”
Dominique Weasley glared at Scorpius Malfoy, who was standing on the other side of the counter at Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes. She was working there for the summer to earn enough money to buy a dress for the Yule Ball at Hogwarts that coming winter without having to ask her father for the funds, but, as she was rapidly learning, sometimes the Galleons were just not worth it. As much as she was desperate to not be the only seventh-year that did not go, she was finding out quickly that she did not like working with the general public—at all—and, especially, this member of the general public, now across from her.
Scorpius, to her annoyance, smirked in that irritating way that he sometimes did, the left corner of his mouth curling as if suggesting that he knew something she did not. What she was sure she did not know was why she had even noticed the tendency of his in the first place. The only reason that she knew him at all was because both of them were prefects, and he had been her cousin Lily Potter’s boyfriend for a couple years at school, but that had ended last year, which was his fifth-year.
He simply quirked a brow and asked, “Why, Dom, aren’t you glad to see me?”
She crossed her arms in irritation. “If you’re here to buy something, then welcome to Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes, but if not, then no.” Why would he possibly want to see her?
Chuckling, Scorpius decided to elaborate. “Well, your cousin working in the back—Lucy, I believe—told me that you’re going on break here in about five minutes, and I fancied sticking around to talk to you a bit.”
“What could you possibly want to talk to me about?” Dominique really wanted to know the answer to this; she was not about to waste her break on any of Scorpius’s ridiculous games.
Taking her hand, which had been planted on the counter in vexation, Scorpius turned it over in her hand as if he was examining it, something that both thrilled and angered her. How dare he do such a thing, and in public, no less? She had half a mind to scream for Uncle George at the top of her lungs and have this tosser kicked out of the store forever, but something in his tone, something genuine, halted the cry right in her windpipe. It was as if he had just snatched her will to resist with a simple touch.
After sending her mind on a short little foray into the world of dizziness, he, apparently, had decided to answer her question. “I just want to, you know…talk. You are permitted to do so on your break, are you not?”
Dominique opened her mouth to tell him just what he could do with his request, but nothing escaped. She wanted so desperately to say ‘no,’ but her traitorous lungs refused to obey. Not willing to look stupid in front of this boy, she closed her mouth and decided to bestow him her best imperious stare, something she had inherited from her part-Veela mother.
However, her expression did nothing but incite laughter from Scorpius. “So, I’ll meet you outside, then?” When she did not say anything, he grinned at her and strode out of the shop.
Oh, bollocks, she said to herself. That did not go at all as I had planned. Peeved at her general lack of composure, she flew in circles around the shop, straightening displays that did not need the work in a desperate attempt to stall her oncoming break.
After about ten minutes past her scheduled break time, Uncle George poked his head out of his office. “Say, Dom, aren’t you supposed to be on break now? Lucy will cover you.” He turned his head toward the stock room. “Oi! Lucy, come cover the counter!”
When her cousin arrived, Dominique trudged out the front door, dreading her meeting with Scorpius. She hoped that he was not still there, but she had no such luck; he was leaning against the side of the building and smiled the way he always did when he saw that it was her.
“Ah, there you are! I was beginning to think you’d left.” He took her hand again, but, this time, he bent at the waist and kissed it in the most obnoxiously old-fashioned way. “If you could indulge me, my lady, I would love to take you to Fortescue’s for a dish of ice cream.”
Ice cream. Ice cream? He was bothering her for bloody ice cream! Dominique wanted to scream at the top of her lungs to set this idiot straight, but, again, she could not find it within herself to do so. Instead, she woodenly followed him down the street to Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour, dragged by the same hand that he had kissed. As if I don’t know the way myself. Ruddy git.
As they approached the counter, she readied to order her favorite flavor, which was Raspberry Sorbet, but, to her surprise, he had ordered it for her already. How did he know?
They sat at one of the umbrella-covered tables which shaded them from the July sun, she with her sorbet and he with his mint chocolate. For the first couple of minutes, she allowed her mind to wander as she absently ate her dessert. Her thoughts raced, and they were all about him. Malfoy. Scorpius. She wanted desperately to know why he had wanted to spend this time with her, how he had known she was working that day, and mostly, how the hell he had known what her favorite flavor was at Fortescue’s. She wanted to ask him all of these things, but her traitorous mind kept straying to the feel of his hands on hers.
Finally, Scorpius broke the silence. “As it seems that you have been temporarily muted, which is impairing your ability to ask the million questions that are no doubt floating about in your mind, I shall answer them anyway.” Again taking her hand, he ran his thumb and index finger down each of her digits, causing nothing short of biological havoc in Dominique’s mind.
“Dominique Marie Weasley, will you do me the honor of allowing me to escort you to the Yule Ball this winter?” Not bothering to wait for an answer, he continued to chatter on. “Normally, I wouldn’t ask so early, but I wanted to make sure you had enough time to shop for your dress and whatnot, so I decided to just go ahead and procure your company as soon as possible.
“So, my lady, what do you say? Will you go with me?” Scorpius did not look at all like someone who was waiting for answers; instead, he seemed as if he already knew what she would say and was just waiting for her to realize it herself.
Dominique was, in a word, stymied. She had not expected to be asked to the ball so early, and by no means at all had she expected Scorpius to be the first one to ask. She had half a mind to tell him to sod off, but to be honest with herself, she really wanted to go - with him. Now, if only she could find it within herself to vocalize any of that.
“I, um…” she stammered. “I—sure. Why not?” Oh, Merlin, why did I say that? Dominique really did want to go with him, but she did not want him to actually know that.
Instead of taking her hesitance as a bad sign, Scorpius grinned and kissed her on the cheek. “Excellent! I’ll see you on the Express, then?” Again, not waiting for her answer, he floated away, leaving her sitting with two soggy bowls of ice cream and a load of questions that she had never asked.
On the Hogwarts Express, Dominique was cloistered in the prefect carriage, something she had to endure as the newly appointed Head Girl. By some insane happenstance, her troublemaker cousin, James Potter, had also become Head Boy, so now she was stuck with his insufferable antics not only during prefect meetings but also in Gryffindor Tower, most of her classes (they were both in the same year), and every family function. At that point, after listening to him regale one of the younger, more impressionable students with tales of his exploits, she could not possibly think of one person that she wished not to see more than James.
And then he walked through the door. Dominique had completely forgotten that Scorpius was a prefect, so she would, naturally, be stuck patrolling halls with him and, in general, have his presence foisted on her at more intervals than she would have liked. She had already stupidly agreed to go with him to the Yule Ball, and, as she did have a shred of honor, she would not change her mind.
All through the meeting, as she explained the duties of a prefect to the new people in the group, James played around, the older students napped, and Scorpius simply watched her as if observing art in motion. It was really disconcerting, to say the least. How could he look at her like that, like some prize to be won, or a piece of meat? He was insufferable, he was relentless, and, oh, Merlin’s knotted knickers, he had a dimple!
Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! Dominique berated her mind. She was in a genuine situation here, and all she could think about was the a-bloody-dorable dimple that graced his perfect face. She was in trouble. Oh, yes, she was definitely in trouble.
As soon as the meeting was over, Dominique practically bolted from the carriage, but she was not quick enough to evade her suitor. Instead of running as fast as she could in the opposite direction, she patiently waited for the rest of the bored prefects to file out the door before she addressed him.
Scorpius gestured that she should reenter the carriage, and as much as she really wanted to disobey, Dominique filed into the car, sat down on the bench she had just vacated, and looked at him askance. Instead of putting himself across from her as a proper gentleman would, he sat down right next to her; he was close—very close. She could feel the warmth emanating from his skin, and his scent filled her nostrils in the most pleasant fashion. Who knew that the scent of fresh-cut grass and mint could be so—sexy?
As Dominique continued to stare in silence into his silver eyes, Scorpius ran his finger down her jaw with a feather-light touch, every millimeter more exquisite than the last. Really, he could do that forever, and she would not mind at all. When he spoke, she could swear that he was being affected by their close proximity, as well. “So beautiful,” he breathed.
Beautiful. Yes, it was beautiful, this feeling she had. How could it be anything else? How could anything be so perfect?
Dominique was forced to reconsider her assessment when he gently lowered his lips onto hers in the softest kiss that she was sure she would ever receive. Her body vibrated like a tuning fork, perfectly in tune with him, with Scorpius. She felt as if she was on fire, but she had the chills at the same time, and the whole sensation was completely foreign.
And, just like that, it was over, and he was leaving her there, completely overwhelmed, her heart begging for more. How could he have this type of power over her? It was as if he had shackled her to him and called her his, and the worst part—or was it the best?—was that she wanted to be his.
It was some time before she was able to regain her feet and stumble back to the train car that contained her friends and cousins of more desirable company. She sat down, ignoring the questions about what had taken her so long, and stared at the wall behind Lily.
Oh, Merlin’s saggy bollocks, how could she forget about Lily? She had just kissed Lily’s ex-boyfriend! Well, he had kissed her, but that was completely beside the point; she was a horrible, horrible cousin and an even worse friend. Dominique knew that she would have to tell Lily eventually, but, if her cousin asked her not to see him again, could she actually go through with it? What had seemed like a complete bout of insanity that summer at the shop had rapidly turned into her own personal obsession—an obsession with Scorpius Malfoy.
After the feast in the Great Hall, Dominique knew that she had to tell Lily - the sooner, the better. The second her fourth-year cousin came into sight, she practically dragged the other girl into the nearest empty alcove.
Lily stared at Dominique like she was insane, which, considering the circumstances of this impromptu abduction, was not completely unwarranted. Finally, apparently done with trying to guess what was going on, Lily asked, “What gives? Don’t you have Head Girl business to do?”
Shaking her head madly, Dominique stuttered, “I, um, well…I needed to, er, ask…” Drawing a calming breath, she added quickly, “Scorpius asked me to the Yule Ball. Is it all right if I go with him or not?”
After a dropped jaw and a stunned silence, Lily’s expression began to mutate into what Dominique figured to be some mix of anger and disapproval. “No, it’s not all right! How could you do this to me, Dom? Do you have any idea how embarrassing this will be if you go with him?”
Dominique had not expected this level of venom from her normally sweet-natured cousin, but, honestly, if their roles had been reversed, she would have probably felt the same way. “All right,” she said resignedly. “I’ll go tell him straightaway.” She could feel her heart sink at these words, because, in the short span of time between boarding the train earlier that day and exiting it, the thought of attending the ball with Scorpius had become an important, exciting one to her. But that was all over now.
Once Lily stormed off, Dominique sneaked her way down to the dungeons, desperate to find the Slytherin common room, or at least the one person that might be in it that she wanted to see. When she reached the correct hallway, there was almost nobody in sight save for a few stragglers. She was glad that she was wearing her Head Girl badge, or someone might be very curious about why she was down there in the first place. Not that it’s any of their business.
At last, she spotted him leading a couple of first-years by their collars toward the entrance to the common room. When he looked up from his charges, he was initially startled to see her, but that soon changed to delight as he shoveled the errant firsties through the door. He gave her that gorgeous Malfoy half-smile and asked, “So, what brings you down here?”
Though she knew she had to do it, Dominique was sure she would be physically ill if she told him that she could not have anything more to do with him. She kept telling herself over and over in her mind to think of Lily, and that was the only thing that could make her say what she was about to say. “Er, I don’t know how to say this, but…” She bit her lip for a while before continuing. “I can’t go to the ball with you. Lily was furious when I told her.”
“Oh.” That was all he said, but in that simple syllable, Dominique could feel the disappointment that radiated from it. She wished with all her being that she could take it back, but she would never see this boy after school, most likely, while Lily would be her cousin forever. Her priorities were clear.
Still, she could not leave him feeling so…desolate, so she walked up to him and rested her hand on his cheek. “I really was looking forward to going with you, just so you know. I…” Dominique was uncertain whether she should continue with the admission that was on the tip of her tongue, but she owed it to him to convey just how much she did regret their missed date. “I even asked Madame Malkin what color your dress robes were going to be so I could make sure my dress matched.”
Scorpius simply stared at Dominique after her confession, either appalled that she had done something so…stalkerish, or in awe of the fact that she had really wanted to go to the Ball with him that badly. She had no idea which of those was true, but she really wished that he would say something. She simply wanted to run far away from that dejected look that marred his face. “Please say something,” she begged.
Instead of using words, he pressed her against the cold dungeon wall and ravaged her lips with his, stealing her breath as well as her ability to think. This was far different than their first kiss, but she was not going to rank them - she loved the feeling of both.
And, as soon as he had been there, he was not, leaving Dominique struggling for air and trying to find the will to tell herself that she could not allow herself to fall under his spell again. For Lily.
Since Halloween was on a Monday that year, Dominique saw no reason to further impede her fellow prefects’ revelry, so she volunteered for patrol duty that night, and, as a gesture of pure mean-spiritedness, she had also volunteered James for the job. She considered it payback for the fact that she had to do all the work and all the talking during the meetings; as she had expected, he was not at all happy with the arrangement. He was stuck policing snoggers in the hallways while he would have been much happier joining their ranks with whatever random girl had caught his fancy at the time.
About an hour after the feast, she paced impatiently at the entrance of the Great Hall, miffed that James was running so late. She nearly tripped on her own feet when she saw that it was not James that was approaching her—it was Scorpius.
“Where is James?” she asked, desperate to fill the silence. Silence always led them to something dangerous.
Scorpius shrugged. “He asked me to cover for him. I think he said something about Lacey Billington and some various parts of her anatomy, if I recall correctly.” Staring past Dominique, he said stonily, “So, shall we get on with it, then?”
Though she had not expected him to act the way he had on the train, this level of cold indifference cut into her. If only she could change Lily’s mind about the issue, she could take that horrible look off of his face, not to mention the fact that it would thrill her to no end, as well.
They strolled though the halls wordlessly, neither one looking at the other. The only time the silence was broken was when one of them had to stop to chase couples slobbering on each other in whatever available space they could find. Normally, it did not bother Dominique to see it, but now she could not help but wish that Scorpius would throw her over his shoulder and find them a dark corner of their own.
She battled similar thoughts all night long, desperate to look over at him if only to see if he was experiencing the same, but she was too much of a coward. That hurt in his eyes had made her afraid to even venture a glance into his bottomless gray orbs and see what she had done to him.
After their tense and awkward night ended, they blurted out curt goodnight wishes, but, before he could descend the steps into the dungeons, Dominique ran to Scorpius. Unable to stop herself, she pulled his head down to hers and stole a quick kiss before running up her own flight of stairs toward Gryffindor Tower. She didn’t need to look back to know that his expression was probably one of utter shock. Good, she thought. He could use a little discord after turning my world upside down.
This was it. The Yule Ball had finally arrived, not that Dominique had remotely been looking forward to it. She had been asked by no less than a dozen boys, ranging from fourth-years to fellow seventh-years, but she had turned down all of them. Since she could not go with whom she wanted, she would simply go alone, dance with a few boys, and call it an early night. It was definitely not the way she had planned her night, but anything else just seemed hollow to her.
Carefully, she donned her glittering emerald dress, trimmed in black velvet and slits in all the right places. For the first time in her life, she felt like a real woman, but it would all be wasted on the rest of the partygoers. What she really wanted was an audience of one, the one, to tell her that she as beautiful as she felt, but Scorpius would probably have found another date by then. Only she would be stubborn enough to attend alone despite several very good offers of accompaniment, surely.
Dominique waited until all of her roommates left before she reluctantly trudged toward the Great Hall. With every step, she realized more and more how much she really did not want to go. All summer, she had slaved at the shop to buy her own dress for this very event, but, now that it was upon her, it all felt shallow and unimportant. What—or rather, who—she wanted would be spinning divine circles at the ball with whomever else had caught his eye, and she would probably spend the night drinking punch and trying not to smear her makeup with her tears.
As soon as she caught sight of the crush in the Great Hall, she lost all nerve, all will to continue with this farcical pursuit. What she really wanted was some air, but it would also have been nice to be as far away from the revelry as possible. Without so much as a glance over her shoulder, she sped up the stairs and wove her way through various corridors, not really caring where she was going.
By the time she stopped running, Dominique found herself in the Astronomy Tower. Though the open air was biting into her overly exposed flesh, it felt much better than the cloying merriment down below.
She leaned on the battlement and looked out at the night sky in wonderment. The moon was barely a sliver, leaving the rest of the black expanse to be filled with millions of glittering stars, uninhibited by clouds. It was perfect, it was wonderful, it…did not matter at all. Dominique sighed, wishing that a certain someone could be there to share this miraculous sight with her.
It was as though her longing had been given a life of its own. She felt his presence before she heard him speak.
“It’s a beautiful night.” Scorpius leaned against the stone wall next to her, looking out over the grounds and at the heavens above them.
Dominique was sure that he was trying not to look at her, but she could not tear her eyes away from him. He was garbed in exquisite emerald robes trimmed in the same velvet as her own dress, his shirtsleeves the whitest of all whites; his pale, cream-colored skin exuded warmth next to it. At that very moment, he had to be the most attractive sight in the world, and it was not just because of how well-dressed he was; it was because he was there with her.
At last, Scorpius turned to face Dominique, his face unreadable. Just like he had months before, he traced her cheek with his finger, and, once again, her body celebrated the contact. Without really meaning to, she leaned her face into his hand, and she was almost purring in delight.
Apparently, this sent him over the edge. Scorpius claimed her lips as his own, stealing every hint of thought from her brain, filling it instead with crashing waves of longing. Her knowledge of biology was not lacking, but no one could have ever prepared her for the sheer intensity of this emotional upheaval that he was causing her. There was one thing of which she was certain: she did not want to fight it anymore—she could not fight it anymore. Nobody else mattered, not Lily, not her parents, not her friends—nobody.
When he finally released her, both of them were panting. It pleased Dominique to see that she had the same effect on him that he had on her. She could feel his hands, which had gravitated to her waist, tremble, and it titillated her that she had caused it. The color of his eyes had morphed into a stormy hue; she could have looked into them forever.
It was Scorpius who spoke first. “I thought you said that we couldn’t do this?”
“I did.” Dominique wasn’t sure she could say more than that.
He cocked his finely arched blond brow. “But, if that’s the case, then how did we end up here again?”
She smiled genuinely, finally regaining her ability to articulate. “I think it’s destiny. How else could we both end up here in the Tower?”
He framed her face in his hands and traced kisses around her jaw line. “You may call it destiny…” He scraped his slightly stubbled chin ever so lightly on her neck, which caused her to hiss in delight. “But I followed you up here.”
That snapped her back to attention. “You followed me? Why?”
Scorpius bored his silvery irises into her blue ones. “Because I can’t stay away from you. Not anymore.”
Dominique turned away from him, unwilling to allow him to see the tears that were springing into her eyes. “You know why this will never work, so you really shouldn’t say things like that.”
Whispering into her ear, Scorpius breathed, “Not even if I really mean it? Because I do.” He turned her to face him again, and his mouth fell into a frown when he saw that she was about to cry. “Please don’t. I…what do I have to do to make this right for you?”
“Right for me?” Dominique shook her head. “There’s nothing wrong for me. I just can’t do that to Lily, because she completely shattered when you broke it off with her, and I can’t hurt her like that, no matter how much I want to do otherwise.”
He considered this for a while before asking, “Did she ever tell you why I broke it off with her?”
Come to think of it, Dominique really did have no idea why Scorpius and Lily were no longer together, but if she was ever going to find out, this was going to be the time to do it. “No.”
Scorpius sighed. “I told her that I liked someone else.”
“Liked someone else…” As her voice trailed off, Dominique harbored the faint hope that this statement meant what she thought it did. Could that someone else be…?
As if he had read her thoughts, he said, “Yes, that someone was you. It was always you, Dominique. Lily was nice, and she was fun, but when she thought I was hanging onto her every word, I was really just hoping that she would slip and say something else about you, something I didn’t know.”
The wheels started turning in her head. “Is that how you knew my middle name and what flavor of ice cream I liked?”
He nodded. “And how I also know that you hate the color yellow, you’re part Veela, your favorite song is an old Muggle tune called ‘Dust in the Wind,’ and you try to differentiate yourself from your sister, Victoire, as much as possible, because you don’t think you’re as pretty as she is.”
This nearly knocked Dominique off of her feet. He knew her deepest insecurities but still found her beautiful. Somehow, though they had not exchanged so much as a dozen sentences before that fateful day at the shop, he had managed to know her better than just about everyone in the world, and that, to her, was more attractive than anything.
He was not finished, though. Scorpius fished though his pockets and produced a small, golden music box and handed it to her. He opened its little lid and revealed the two figures underneath, entwined in each other’s arms in dance. Tapping the box with his wand, the soulful strains of ‘Dust in the Wind’ met her ears.
Scorpius grinned and took the box from her, setting it on the edge of the battlement. At her look of curiosity, he took her hand in his and asked, “May I have this dance?”
Dominique accepted his offer, and, for the rest of the night, right until the sun began its steady march back to the top of the sky, they spun around to Astronomy Tower, dancing to the same song over and over again. It did not matter that, after that moment, they could never have this feeling again, for, that night, tomorrow was just too far away to care.