Centre of the Universe

“An assured lunch and time with my darling cousin?  Sounds like some kind of magical,” Albus laughed, snuggling up against Dominique and stretching comfortably.  He hummed.  “I mean, if you’re going for a flatshare you can probably find someone to split a larger place.  I mean, we’ll certainly try.” He honestly didn’t know any friends who needed a place right now, but he’d inquire.  Anything for family and all that jazz.  At least this was going to be more fun than slogging through a full family dinner. 

“Darling, my kitchen counter is my romance department,” he teased, waggling his eyebrows.  That wasn’t…entirely untrue.  He hummed and shrugged slowly.  “You know me, Dommi, just bouncing day by day, boy by boy.  There’s a bartender I wouldn’t mind shagging.  And a quidditch player I’ve been pressing up against for a while now.” He chuckled.  “But you know how that goes sometimes.  Oh!  There’s this cute muggle at my coffeehouse.  Just started there, summer job I’m guessing, but I’d love to get him after work.” He waggled his eyebrows again.  “And whhhhhy is your love life tragic?  You’re brilliant!  Wonderful human being.  Do I need to wingman?”

“Yeah, I know we’ll find a place eventually.” Dominique accepted that. She knew Julian pulling the rug out from under her feet was a dick move but now she had calmed down it was easy to see how to fix the problem. She’d found that room with him, she’d find another. It wasn’t as if she didn’t have places to stay if all went badly. She was sure any number of her cousins would let her crash on their sofas, and convincing Frank to convince his parents to let her stay at the Leaky Cauldron was always an option. She rested her head on Albus’ shoulder glad she’d come to see him.

“A bartender, a quidditch player and a muggle. You’ve got a line-up there, and I’m sure every one of them a keeper. So lucky. I’ve only got Ethan sniffing around and I’m not making that mistake again,” she took the joint from Albus, taking another drag before continuing. “Although I did agree to sleep with him if he found me a flatmate. Make it worth his time,” Dominique said with a laugh as if she didn’t think it was pathetic of her to crawl back to him. 

“Yes a wingman is what I need. It’s obvious you’re the only one who can see how amazing I am. Everyone else isn’t seeing clearly.”

Leah saw how the wine bottle bounced on the bed. “I don’t think I have any chance of not doing it” Leah chuckled “But I don’t wanna throw up or anything, you know that I’m not used to drinking” said Leah grabbing the bottle in her hands looking at the label. “Dom… wait don’t you think that they are a little too much?“ Leah looking at the dresses "I don’t really want everyone looking” said Leah kept caressing Pearl on her lap. “You came here to go out” said Leah rolling here eyes playfully “Where do you wanna go?” asked smiling at the blonde girl in front of her. Leah smiled after her friend’s subtle“Yeah, but remember something subtile, I don’t really think that make-up suits me” said getting up after leaving the cat on the bed “Let’s get me ready” smiled trying to cheer her friend up

“Ok, one or two glasses then?” Dominique asked hoping that once Leah had had a drink that would turn into more. “I won’t let you throw up, don’t worry... “ She said absentmindedly before pulling one she thought would look especially good an Leah. “Come on, you don’t want to blend in do you? You should try this one on,” Dom held up a black dress, more modest than she would have worn, but still exciting with sparkles around the hems. “And then I can do a red lip and smokey eye, it’ll be perfect!” Not as subtle as Leah had requested but Dom was eager to push her outside of her box. “Ok so there’s a friend of a friend throwing a house party other side of Diagon alley.  Lots of people, lots of fun”

The sudden shift in Dominique’s tone had Arlo utterly convinced she didn’t believe what she was saying. He was already thinking of ways to prove that she genuinely was a good person when she snapped at him. He faltered, feeling himself deflate as her words registered. He felt stupid for being hurt by them, it was no secret he wasn’t the first choice of company for a lot of people. He knew that, he wasn’t offended by that. But it almost seemed as though she was trying to hurt him. “I- I know.” He said quietly, unsure of what else to say. He fell silent again, watching her as she collected her change, falling into step beside her when she made her way further into the building. There was so much to take in but there was tension in the air, he knew she was angry and he couldn’t focus on anything else. Unable to hide his surprise when she told him she was essentially taking back her words, he shook his head. They weren’t technically untrue, after all. “No, it’s- it’s okay.” He assured her. “You were being honest…” 

“No. No I wasn’t, I - look, can we just forget it?”

They were going bowling. It was supposed to be a nice day. It was going to be a nice day even if she had to pretend, and pretend she did as if nothing had happened between them. Dominique lifted her chosen ball, running her hands over it until she found the holes for her fingers and showing them to him. “You pick them up like this and just... throw.” She demonstrated with a smile walking up to their ally and throwing the ball knocking over only a handful of skittles, but grinning as if she’d gotten them all. She didn’t have much of an idea about what was a good score at hitting any of them had been an achievement for her last time. “We get two goes each turn.”

Ethan didn’t purposely try to annoy Dominique; it just kind of happened. For as long as he could remember, they bickered and they shagged. He always said something stupid, and she always seemed to know all the right buttons to push. “C’mon Dom. It’s not like that.” Ethan countered shifting his gait. It was unwise to underestimated just how much the chaser relished an opportunity for to prove himself— or perhaps it was very, very smart A blow to his abnormally large ego was exactly the way to get what you wanted from Ethan. 

With that, he shrugged, cocking his head to the side to come up with an alternate plan. It wasn’t unlike Ethan to have his cake and eat it, too even if he was on a strict quidditch training regiment. “Fine, bathroom in five?” Ethan suggested. He always did love the thrill of sneaking around. 

“The bathroom?” She wrinkled her nose at the idea, as if sneaking off to the bathroom with a guy wasn’t a staple of her wilder Saturday nights. She would much prefer a bedroom, giving them plenty of space. They rarely had that at school though, broom cupboards being the prime location for hooking up. It was a luxury to make it back to someone’s dormitory, especially when they were in different houses. “Fine, I guess.” If they were going to relive their Hogwarts days the bathroom would do just fine. 

“I hope you haven’t lost your flair. I spent so long training you, what a waste it would be if you’d forgotten everything.” She was back to teasing him, annoyance fading as quickly as it had arrived. When she looked back she liked to act as if she had known exactly what she was doing and it was Ethan who had been the newbie, not quite sure what to do. “I’m getting a shot first. See you in a bit.”

Mia smiled softly as Dom talked about her dad. For a moment, it almost seemed like it was normal. Expect for the awkwardness hanging in the air. Hearing that her dad listened to her games and Dom overheard was sweet, but weird. She had always thought after Hogwarts, Dominique would come to her games in person, sit in a box during the match and flirt with all her male teammates afterwards. Hearing that it was weird for Dom to hear her name hurt her. “Trust me, it’s weird for me to hear my name too. You could always come to a match if you want, I have extra tickets and I’m pretty sure my brothers are tired of coming.”

Now, Mia was shifting from one foot to the other awkwardly. Trying to decide whether to make up an excuse to leave. She nodded politely as Dominique talked about her life now. “That’s great, Dom, I’m happy for you,” Mia said sincerely. But she felt like they were worlds apart now. It felt like reaching into the dark, she had no idea how Dom felt now. She wasn’t even entirely sure why she had pulled away, of course she had a good idea. But who knows if that was all in her head. “I’m glad you’re doing that, maybe you could give me a reading or something.”

When Mia offered tickets to her game Dominique beamed. She had never been especially interested in Quidditch. Of course, she knew the basic rules and what positions did what, she couldn’t grow up in her family and not absorb them, but she hadn’t gone to a Quidditch game since Hogwarts unless someone else was dragging her along. Mia’s offer was nice though. It felt like the other girl was reaching out, and if Dom had to sit through two hours of the simultaneously boring and violent game to take it, she would. “Yeah, actually that would be fun. Maybe I’ll bring someone along. We can go out for drinks after?” She didn’t want Mia to think she was pathetic and had no one to go to a Quidditch game with. They were probably good tickets, she could find someone to accept. Maybe a nice boy. She didn’t want Mia thinking she wasn’t over whatever feelings she may or may not have had. Dom suspected the other girl knew.

“Yeah, sure. A reading. Maybe I’ll try to see the outcome of a game - if a nasty bludger is coming your way. Then you can look out for it. I’ve never tried predicting a game of quidditch before.”

Substitutions

“And you’re a Weasley.” That much was obvious already based on having met Victoria earlier.

Beatrice took the opportunity then to divert her gaze from the waitress, having decided not to cast her out. She looked rather helpless that it wouldn’t be of benefit to either of them if Beatrice reported her for being irritating. That same odd feeling that Beatrice couldn’t quite place… it told her, though in no exact terms, that this other woman would circle her way back around. Her voice had calmed, sort of; it was clear that she wasn’t made of the same stuff her legendary family members were. “Is that supposed to make you special?”

While she hadn’t had any real conversation about the names she took, she was aware enough based on the soft warning her father told her when she went to London. She hadn’t felt anyone be particularly obsessive with regard to her name and she thought she would be prepared to encounter someone who had asked about it… though she didn’t anticipate someone being this much in awe of it.

“Is that why I’m so intriguing? Because I’m a Lestrange? Am I just—some kind of animal you can ogle at for your entertainment?” She tried not to sound demanding, though her steely attitude hadn’t softened much since she had come here regardless. She too found the Weasley girl interesting, though not in the same way—the conversation, though more annoying, was becoming more entertaining by the passing second the waitress was intimidated.

There was a clear look of surprise and concern when Beatrice pointed out that Dominique was a Weasley. “How did you know that?” Had the Lestrange family been following her family? Were they planning on attacking them somehow for being blood traitors, or whatever percieved slight the Lestrange family took? If that were the case Dom was surely an obvious victim. Easiest to pick off from the pack. Not for the first time she wished she could handle her wand better. “Have you been spying on me?” There wouldn’t be much to spy on - wiping down tables and pouring pints - but maybe that’s what Beatrice was here, staying at the Leaky Cauldron, in the first place. 

Beatrice was almost mocking her, asking if the family name made her special. Ego overcame fear and Dominique found herself bragging. “I am special. But not because I’m a Weasley. I have the gift of sight.” The only thing she had to be proud of, her ‘gift’.

“No. Not just that.” Clearly Dom had gone about this all wrong if she wanted to learn more about Beatrice. Instead she was having to defend herself on why she found her interesting. “You sit at the bar scribbling away on your parchment and then you come up here and hide out. You never see anyone else, never have guests. It’s strange.”

The Story of Tonight

Whatever mistakes Julian had made were going to be lost on him with every drink he took. There had already been shots involved at some point—some with his brother, some with his parents?—but nothing was better than when the alcohol was disguised with some fruit juice, to the point that Julian did not recognize the solute nor the solvent involved in whatever he was sipping on. He raised a glass, clinking it against whoever else had stuff in their hands and cheering on others at the table games.

He hadn’t seen Dominique that day, or if he had, he didn’t remember seeing her. Not that it mattered; she was going to make herself known anyway. But if she were planning on embarrassing Julian in front of everyone there, there were two issues with what her plan was. The first being that Julian had no idea that this was her plan and whatever shame he had was long drowned in alcohol. The second being that whatever embarrassment she was hoping to inflict was probably not going to make much of a difference to Julian, not because he was drunk, but because he was probably going to embarrass himself more on his own at some point.

“I was—I was gonna tell you later!” Julian patted her on the head, his half-assed attempt to placate her probably not helping his case. He was trying to remember what other thing he was planning on promising her, but was having trouble doing so. He had at least planned on giving her half his deposit just to save her the hassle of… well, whatever she was doing. He gestured wildly with his hands at her—trying to point out that her means of conflict resolution resolved nothing and only created more conflict. “You know—this is why—this is why I left, you know!”

It was a surprise to see Julian quite so drunk. Dominique had never seen him like this before. Usually, it was the other way around - Dom sneaking back into the flat drunk, inevitably knocking things over and waking him up, only to attempt to placate him with her drunken ramblings. Well that’s how it had been. Roles reversed, Dominique attempted to duck from his patting her on the head. “Ew, don’t do that!” Her hands ran to her hair, brushing over the part he had touched, clearly even more angry at him than she had initially been. 

Her hands snapped from her hair to her hips although it seemed futile yelling at him when he was in this state. That didn’t mean she wasn’t going to do it though. “Later?! When?! On the day you were moving? I needed to find somewhere to live too genius.” It was incredible that Julian couldn’t see what he had done wrong and even worse that he was trying to turn it back around on her. Well, maybe this time she could be to dignified one in their fights. He always somehow had the upper hand and she was left screeching at the top of her lungs getting nowhere. 

“I’m not the one being the asshole here Julian.” 

Mikhail noticed her slowly relaxing position because it was his job to keep an eye on everything and understand exactly what was going on around him at all times, though he didn’t understand the source. He had been doing his best to be reassuring, and clearly Dominique needed that to some extent. It made him wonder if there was more going on than she was admitting to, but he wasn’t going to ask. If she was comfortable enough with him to say, then she would. “That’s ok. When learning to defend yourself, there is no end date or…achievement at which point you stop learning. Even I am still learning because every time it seems people can’t come up with new things, they do,” he shrugged, “I would be more than happy to help if you ever decide you need it.” He crossed his arms and tilted his head slightly. “Then why not get a new job? What do you like?”

It took a while for her to think over his words. She could still learn to defend herself, even if it was something she’d never considered before. It seemed hopeless, sometimes it felt like her wand was actively fighting against her, but she supposed given time he might be right. “I guess... Do you think maybe we could go over some of those shield spells you taught me? I tried the other day and I can barely get it to work I haven’t done it in so long.”

“Wild.  I’m tellin ya, there are legends we don’t hear.  I’m sure of it,” Albus replied with a laugh.  The comment on sweaters sent him into hysterics, his laugh loud and open into the evening air.  He tried to catch his breath, and it just sent him to giggling again.  Hard to rectify that image with the woman who put down the Mad Lestrange woman, but that was Gran.  Fiercely protective, terrifyingly powerful, and overly fond of big hugs and butterscotch.  He hummed, calming down and taking a long sip of his drink.

“Aye, isn’t, but at least it’s right in the middle of everything.  I mean, you might be living in a shoebox,” he replied, tapping idly at his leg.  He grinned at his cousin.  “Anytime Domi.  I’m happy to help!  Just like you’ll be happy to buy me lunch for my time.” He waggled his eyebrows and laughed again.  “Me?  Vulgar?!  I resemble that remark deeply!  I’m the very image of an easy man, with commentary to match.” He paused and looked thoughtful.  “Well depends I think.  That’s part of it.  Or a counter than can be cleared in a moment of passion?  Oh!  Or some sort of hanging rack to hold onto?” He snickered.  “Really, Give me twenty, I’ll think of more parameters.”

Albus’s laughter was infectious and soon Dominique was joining in with his hysterical giggles, clutching his arm. It took a while to calm down, their laughter restarting after a moment of silence but once Albus had stopped, she followed suit, covering her face with her hands to stop it happening again. She knew just looking at him would make her burst into giggles again. Dom only peered through her fingers when he spoke again, pulling her hands away completely to prod him when he waggled his eyebrows. “Yes, fine I’ll get you lunch in return. I’m going to miss my big room with Julian though, it was bigger than my last one.” She supposed some sacrifices were going to have to be made. 

“No! No!” She started laughing again elbowing him to make him stop. “I don’t want to hear about you and your kitchen counter. How is the romance department by the way? Any new interests? You must tell me. My love life is tragic.”

“You’d be surprised how many people just see a big dog and don’t bother trying to get to know him…” She smiled softly, reaching down and giving the dog some well deserved belly rubs. She knew all too well about what people thought of big dogs based on when she had adopted him. Between being warned no less than 37 times about how big he’d more than likely become and that there was ‘no shame’ in changing her mind and going with a smaller breed, and the several families that passed him and the other large dogs up she knew she couldn’t just leave him behind. “If you ever want to take him for a walk you’re more than welcome to…he enjoys lounging about in the sun as much as any other dog but he’s a great run partner.”

She blinked a bit at the invitation, looking back over at her. “Oh, I didn’t really have any plans for this weekend. But I think I’m gonna pass on the party…while I absolutely adore that family I’m not much of a party person. I wouldn’t be too hard on Julian though….he did just have his whole career upended with that last injury…”

Dominique had never taken a dog for a walk before but the idea of running with him seemed appealing. She loved running, it was a good way to clear her head and she liked the satisfaction she felt when flopping back down onto the sofa. She wasn’t especially fast though and had a feeling Ronan would run much fast than her naturally. “Maybe... does he tug on his lead? I’m not sure if I could keep up with him. My runs are much more like jogs than sprints.”

The disappointment on Dom’s face was clear but she didn’t argue the point, not wanting to start a rift already. “If you’re sure, I think it will be a good time.” The defence of Julian was something that irked her more than the rejection of her invitation. Sure, he probably had his own stuff going on but he could’ve told her he was going to move out instead of leaving it as a surprise and her in an awkward situation. “Ugh. Whatever. He seems fine to me. He was being a baby not telling me he was moving out. Anyway, I’m over it. I’m here now.”

Ethan immediately regretted doubling back to the drink table to snag another round of firewhiskey. If had known he was going to bump into the one person he was either pissing off or getting with then he probably would have just settled for some water back in the fridge instead. Right away Ethan could tell that Dominique was annoyed with him, and he grimaced bracing himself for the whatever the hell it was that he did this time. 

“Yeah, actually now is sort of a bad time to collect.” Ethan shrugged, eyes darting back and forth from Dominique to behind him. He scratched the side of his head contemplating a solution. “What about tomorrow instead?”

Sometimes Ethan’s audacity brought Dominique past the point of anger and right back around to laughing again. So she had turned up to this dumb party he’d invited her to, looking her best - which she was annoyed he hadn’t even commented on - and now he was too busy. The audacity.  “Who even are you? Seriously, you’ve changed Ethan. You used to be fun.” Back at Hogwarts they’d find any excuse to sneak out of a party and back to his dorm. She was starting to realised how much she’d missed that and how care free they’d been.

“Actually tomorrow doesn’t work for me.” This was partially true, she had planned on spending the day hungover in bed, but if he was going to act too busy then so was she. “What about Tuesday?” Planning their hook up for a Tuesday evening wasn’t exactly the passionate and spontaneous experience she had wanted. It felt like they were an old married couple planning sex around their weekly yoga class. “Actually, forget it. I’m sure we’ll run into each other some time when it’s convenient.”

Leah was already curled on the sofa in her scarlet tank pyjama’s she heard the door. She groaned as she got up from the sofa and walked downstairs. Leah opened the door and finding Dominique behind it. “Dom, what are you doing here it’s late?” asked Leah surprised. “But I’m already in my pj’s, you can’t do this to me” said dramatically, trying to make her friend forget about going out that night. Seeing that the girl was not going anywhere without her she let her in and walked her to her room. Leah sat on the bed and pointed the wardrove “You can choose anything, but you know I’m not drinking” said smiling while her cat curled between her legs “I had all the night planned, you know” chuckled “I was about to read a whole book and then just go straight to bed” Leah explained caressing her cat like if she was an old woman.

“It’s not that late.” Dominique protested, although she full well knew most people weren’t used to keeping the late hours she had to keep as a bar tender. As soon as the pair reached Leah’s bedroom Dom started rifling through the wardrobe, dropping the bottle of wine with a thud onto the bed. “You’re not going to let me drink alone, are you?!” She had just pulled out a couple of dresses, hanging them on the top of the wardrobe door when Leah complained that she’d already had a night planned. Dom turned, the sweetest smile on her face she could muster. “Don’t be boring. You can stay in and read tomorrow night. At least have a glass of wine with me. We can stay in instead if you really want.” Dominique didn’t care much what they did, she just wanted the company.

“Now, are you going to let me do your make up?”

When Mia bumped into Dominique in the middle of Diagon Alley, her jaw dropped a bit. At Hogwarts, they were ride-or-die, unusual for a Slytherin and Hufflepuff. But somehow, they just worked together. Then, things had gotten weird. Mia could sense Dom liking her in something beyond their usual close friendship. The two drifted apart and suddenly Mia found herself barely knowing who the girl in front of her was now.

“I’m good,” She smiled. “Still playing for Puddlemere, you know. Quidditch all the time as usual. What about you? What are you up to?”

It was a little bit awkward. Dominique felt like there was tension in the air between them, making small talk now when they had one been best friends. Dom folded her arms feeling a little defensive about the whole thing, even though Mia had been nothing but nice to her. “Yeah, my dad supports Puddlemere. Sometimes when I visit he has the wireless on listening to your games. It’s weird hearing them saying your name.”

When the question was directed back at her she shrugged not really wanting to say. Mia was a professional quidditch player. It was glamorous and exciting. Dominique worked behind a bar and she didn’t even particularly enjoy it some of the time. “I’m working at The Leaky Cauldron. Still. I’m doing divination readings on the side though. Tea leaves, tarot cards, that kind of thing.”

Arlo laughed, a blush creeping to his cheeks. “I didn’t intend to.” He insisted, despite the statement only technically being true. He had relied on creating a stir in reality, he knew the drama, scandal, and subsequent attention would help to protect him from people who might otherwise want to do him harm. But he had never been the type to enjoy being talked about, he would much rather go unnoticed where he could. 

A frown creasing his brow as he listened to Dominique describe who she thought might be her opposite, he considered the deeper implications of what she was telling him. “Do you not see yourself as nice?” He asked, genuinely upset by the idea. Now he understood how Lily must feel each time he said something negative about himself. Dominique could be sharp sometimes, cold even, but she was nice. There was no doubt in his mind about that. His face only growing hotter at the mention of Quidditch players, he bit down on his bottom lip to repress a smile. His boyfriend was a hot Quidditch player, after all. 

Following her into the building with the neon sign outside, he was immediately hit by strange sounds he had never heard before. Watching curiously as she counted out her money, he made a mental note to offer her some Galleons when they were no longer surrounded by Muggles. “I’m trusting you to lead the way.” 

Arlo’s question struck a nerve. While that had been exactly what she had implied, hearing someone else say it out loud hurt. “What? No, of course I’m nice.” That’s what she always told herself, even if there was the nagging voice of guilt telling her about all the times she had mistreated her friends for her own gain. Clearly her insecurities had leaked out and now Arlo was looking at her with a frown that made her wish the ground would just swallow her up. She was starting to feel a little overwhelmed with it all, tapping her fingers hurriedly on the counter waiting for her change when she finally snapped at him. “If I wasn’t nice, I wouldn’t be friends with you.” 

She didn’t even mean it. She liked Arlo. Dominique almost instantly wished she could take it back. She wasn’t even entirely sure why she’d said it except for the panic that had risen in her when Arlo had questioned her view of herself. Dom snatched her change out of the server’s hand and marched down to their alley, all the way kicking herself. 

“Shit. Ok.” She said after being silent for a moment, fingers running over the bowling balls at their station. “That was dumb. I didn’t mean it.” It wasn’t exactly an apology, but it was as close to one as she could get.

Cake Cauldron Content

Dom’s suggestion wasn’t terrible. Frank himself didn’t really have a vision for the Leaky Cauldron, so whatever she said he would probably agree with. He repeated some of the words that got throw around; while his mother never really had to deal with any requests to make changes, there was a lot of pride on how established the Leaky Cauldron was to the wizarding community at large. “I dunno—something about how it’s original to the building… architectural integrity… historical significance… sometimes I think I’m better off taking a new place and just calling that my own—but I can’t afford to do that right now, not unless I get an investor or something?”

The Leaky Cauldron was successful, though Frank didn’t have any idea how much upkeep it took to get everyone paid. It wasn’t enough for him to miraculously afford starting a business outright—it wasn’t old pureblood money.

Frank shrugged when she talked about the teas. He was more of fruit juice fellow himself. “Hm. I was just wondering. I feel like all teas are made of different stuff, so I wasn’t sure you had consider all that stuff when you read—but it just all seems complicated to me.”

To him, it was nothing more than a mess of tea leaves. So he appreciated having someone around who could figure that stuff out for him—even if (though he didn’t know) Dominique didn’t have her own shit figured out either.

“I guess that’s why I’m here, right?” Frank gestured to the stair leading to the guest rooms. He had his own at the very end of the hallway, undisturbed from the rest, and it was enough to pretend that he had his own place even if he was living out of it for free. He probably wouldn’t be able to afford the actual price of living here on what he was getting paid now. “Saving money and all of that—I guess I can stay here then? At least until we’ve gotten to that thing we’re celebrating?”

Secretly, Dominique was glad that Frank didn’t have the investment to open his own place. Frank was one of the few people she felt some camaraderie with. He was doing what he loved, cooking in the kitchen, but he was just as stuck as she was. On the wage they were paid, neither of them could leave The Cauldron until they had a new job and starting up a business was out of the question. While theoretically she wanted the best for her friends, she also didn’t want to be left behind. She couldn’t imagine doing her job with Frank, and even if she followed him to whatever new bar he opened, he would then be her boss. She wasn’t sure she’d want that either. 

“Maybe you’ll buy your own place in the future, but I think that’s a while off Frank. Concentrate on creating new recipes here - when you own your own business you’ll have so much to manage you might not have time to do that. Perfect your baking first.” She said this while looking between him and the cup, as if she was reading it’s contents, although she was only really giving her own advice. She liked to believe she had a sense about these things anyway and only needed to check the cup to verify. 

“If you save enough you might not even need investors! Yes, I think that’s best. I really think something good is going to happen for you this year Frank. Maybe we should invite some food critics to the pub, or redesign the whole menu - get some press attention.”

Mikhail didn’t want to say he knew Dominique incredibly well, but he knew her far better than he knew most of his students and that meant something to him. He also had a suspicion there was something on her mind that she just wasn’t talking about, until she started talking about it. “I never wanted you to do a ministry job,” Mikhail explained once she had finished, “My job was only ever to make sure you had the ability to pass your classes and protect yourself. Beyond that, my only aspiration for you would be to do something you enjoy. Life is too short to hate your job.”

He chuckled at the mention of strict Mikhail because very few people knew a non-strict Mikhail even existed. “I think I scare them on principle alone honestly.”

Her arms were folded defensively expecting Mikhail to sign or dismiss her concerns. Dom wasn’t entirely sure he even did care, he’d only been her tutor for a summer, nevertheless it was scary to imagine someone she respected thought ill of her. His reassurance made her happier, and she dropped her arms, hands in pockets - but she wasn’t about to show that she needed his approval continuing to complain. “Yeah well, I still don’t think I can protect myself. Maybe against a muggle but not someone with a wand... not one of those groups.” She had heard the same rumours as everyone else and was scared, even if she didn’t want to admit it. 

“I still hate my job sometimes, but it pays the bills. I like my co-workers, and the regulars and all that but pouring pints isn’t exactly glamorous.”

“We went on a date, if you could even call it that, the last time I got my hair dyed. I’m not sure that means we’re dating, and we certainly aren’t boyfriends.” He didn’t think. It was much easier to say to her that they weren’t then launch into the maybe and maybe nots. As much as Evan would like to date Teddy, evan was a lot younger than the other male. There was a possibility that would freak Teddy out at some point or they wouldn’t be compatible at some point because of it. Regardless, he allowed himself to be tugged to the bar. There was always a risk with Wizarding shots, and Evan was taking much longer to calculate than Dom.

Ultimately, he picked up a blue shot with ice formingo n the sides when Dom suddenly gained a French accent. “Cela semble approprié,” he teased before tipping back the shot. For a long moment he wasn’t sure what it was doing until he looked down and his skin was turning a light shade of blue. “Well, that’s a choice,” Evan laughed, “You’re quite right, but I have no idea.”

“If you’re going on dates you’re dating.” She said firmly, as if she had authority over everyone else’s relationship status. “But only one date? I don’t know if that’s dating. You need to secure a second one - somewhere romantic, a nice dinner or something. Then you’re dating. Be careful though. The last time I went on a first date with a guy I thought we were getting on really well and then he never responded to my owls. Saw him at the Cauldron last month and told him where to shove it and he claimed not to recognise me -” she rolled her eyes “- as if!”

Her french accent was already fading as Evan’s skin turned blue and she loudly laughed the effects of his shot. “Ok, ok. Truth or dare is a classic... if you don’t want to do the dare or tell the truth you have to drink. Your turn first.” She looked around for ideas. “I dare you to go over to that group and get them all to give you a piggy back.”