Don't call it fate - it's just a poltergeist

Dom was honestly more surprised than anyone to have kept up the Gamekeeper job this long. She had bad luck when it came to jobs, as she seemed inherently irresponsible. She was too scattered, too spontaneous to be real employee material, but apparently she was doing something right. She couldn't think what. She had slept with a coworker, had a cousin who had almost gobbled up another student, and she still had no idea what the actual job had entailed. But here she was, still with a job and a title.

Weird.

Every now and again, an actual task presented itself. A note had come across her desk - as in, it had found her when she had been harassing the house elves for some banana nut muffins - informing her of a fight between some students in one of the unused dungeons. It took her a moment after she took off to locate the dungeon to realize that she was going to break up the fight, not watch it. It made her falter and then she realized stepping into fight was even more exciting than watching one. So she didn't mind.

She had taken to wearing whatever she wished, since no one seemed to care anymore, and she must have looked quite the sight, hurrying down to the dungeon in a colorful romper and scarf, her hair bouncing atop her shoulders.

She entered the dungeons, plunging deep into the room, her wand raised. It looked like an unused classroom, with extra chairs and tables moved in - classroom turned storage. It was obviously a student hideaway, with burnt cigarette butts and old bottles littering the corners of the room. But there was no fight. Weird.

The year was nearly over, and yet it seemed that house rivalries would just never come to an end, despite the fact that their anxieties were soon to be dealt with by a few months off for summer or a graduation and some time to travel or be with family before they found a job. Or, equally, the students might be taking off straight to a career, which was just as well as far as he was concerned. His first job had actually led to his owning the Leaky. Not so much the teaching part, but he usually enjoyed that, too. Except when he got notes like this one, saying students were in a fight.

The last time he had heard about students being in trouble, Lily Potter had gone werewolf on everyone, and the elder Zabini had been torn into. Declan frowned but wasted no time, leaving his classroom and heading down into the dungeons straight away. Looking down at the note again, Declan barged into the room specified, shocked to find that nobody was there except Dom. Of. F*ucking. Course.

His eyebrows pulled together and he halted just inside the door, ignoring it when it closed behind him. One hand pushed into the pockets of his trousers, while the other held up the note to her.

"What is this about, Dom?"

She began questioning her own sanity, just for the moment, mind, when she heard a scuffle behind her. Ah! There were the perpatrators. She turned around, opening her mouth to speak, when all of the air left her lungs. Oh. Awkward. It was Declan Arryn. Course it was. Of course it was. 

He beat her to speaking first and she felt indignation rise in her effort to defend herself. "I don't know what you mean! I was given a note that said there were students fighting in this dungeon. I'm wondering of maybe they left, or it was a prank or something."

No sooner had the words left her mouth than the door behind Declan slammed closed. She reeled back a second and then crossed the room, tugging fruitlessly on the door handle.

According to the woman in front of him, two notes had been sent out, one to each of them. Declan's anger towards Dom dissipated, only to be replaced by frustration at not understanding what had happened. Had the students left?

The door slammed, shocking him into turning over his shoulder and watching Dom as she tugged at the door. She seemed particularly eager and determined to get away from him, which wasn't hardly amusing. Everything was so backwards. Why had he told her he wanted to drink at the ball? That was a massive mistake. It had ruined whatever semblance of friendship they had once held onto.

Sighing audibly, Declan walked over and set his palm against the door. "Dom. You're a witch," he reminded her, drawing out his wand. "It's worth trying to unlock it."

Unfortunately, when he gave it a go, the magic did nothing. In fact, a moment later, when he groaned and pounded on the door, Declan was sure he heard a cackle from the other side. His chin whipped towards the doorway, a surprised frown taking his features. "If he weren't already dead, I'd kill him," the professor snapped, shoving off and walked across to the middle of the room.

The door just wasn't giving under her weight, and Declan wasn't helping. His comment was especially unhelpful and she dropped her hands, slowly turning around to face him once more, her jaw slightly tipped open, as though shocked to have been met with such sass so early on. She would not have minded the comment, probably would have laughed it off, had he had not opened with the slight implication that she had allowed them to end up alone in a room together. Not that minded, of course. Why would she? But she also didn't, you know, necessarily want to be alone with him considering... everything.

She wanted things to be less awkward, she really did. There had been some sweet normalcy to the night of the werewolf attack in the Room of Requirement. Dom had hoped that, just maybe, they would be able to go back to some steadiness in their relationship, at least act like friends again. She really wanted things to not be weird with someone she had shared a night with, especially someone who had the makings of an interesting new friend.

But she could snark back as much as he did.

"I'm also a human with arms, so, y'know." She shrugged, a slight sneer on her face. She watched him attempt to open the door with a lifted eyebrow, hip cocked. When nothing changed, she leaned in and listened to the cackle. She smacked the door and called, "Peeeeeves, let me out! I thought we were cool!"

"I didn't mean it to sound like I was chiding," he pointed out with a frown. In truth, he wasn't sure what else to say that it might have been, so Declan didn't bother trying to correct her properly.

He didn't hear her complain at Peeves until he was looking down at his wand and trying to think up another spell that would be helpful. Declan lifted his chin in order to glance at her out of the corner of his eye. This wouldn't go well if they were already on edge. Releasing a sigh, Declan let his shoulders relax and faced her properly.

"It seems your friend is in a mood," he said lightly, his tone slightly teasing. "How long do you think we'll be stuck in here?" Declan added, lifting a hand to rub at the back of his neck. What were they supposed to do until they were set loose?

He responded to her immaturity with the most grown-up, boring adult face she had ever seen. She supposed, as a fellow adult, she shouldn't have thought poorly of Declan for trying to maintain a sense of maturity. But that was what frustrated her the most about him. It was this sense of adulthood and maturity that he used to distance himself from just being. She wanted him to just let go and feel as he did, do as he pleased, etcetera. And every time he acted like the righteous adult, it reminded her of one of the reasons their relationship had seemed to blow up.

She sighed and moved away from the the door, crossing her arms as she regarded Declan. Her last real time spent with him had been in the Room of Requirement, snuggled close for warmth and comfort as they waited out the night while Lily-monster destroyed the broom closet. That should have made their interactions less awkward, but it only reminded her that there was supposedly something weird between them, and all she wanted was a friend she could rely on.

He asked her a time estimate and she sighed again, leaning against the wall. "One thing I learned about Peeves... He's a lot more patient than people give him credit for. He could wait hours."

Declan looked up at her from across the room, genuinely listening to what she was saying - but at the same time, he wasn't really paying attention at all. Instead, he was too busy thinking about what had happened the last time they were stuck in a room together. Not that they had been stuck in the Room of Requirement, of course. But he wouldn't have left her there. And, beyond that, there had been such a moment that morning, where they had just sort of stared at each other before he turned away to keep from doing something that would make everything so much harder for both of them.

But there he was, looking at this wildly gorgeous girl, and wondering how he had messed it up so badly. Somehow, it seemed unlikely that anything else could have happened between them, though. Was there even one thing he could have said or done to make her think of him differently? He didn't think so. And that was a terrible, unfortunate thought. But what they both felt right now - that almost helpless and confused air that surrounded them? It was his fault, no matter what he wanted to say about what Dom may or may not have caused with her reaction to everything.

Declan had walked right into this one, had brought it upon himself. Because he didn't know her well enough and because he held on too tightly to his past regrets. He wanted to know her, but all he had worried about with Danica had nearly been topped by the blonde woman in front of him. Not because Dom was in any way a bad person, as he now realized Danica was. But because he wanted to be allowed to care for her in the way he had cared for Danica, yet he wasn't given that permission. He didn't know how to move forward from there. He had never known how to move forward with Dom, though, to be quite fair.

There wasn't a real reason to put stock in what he thought they could have if she refused to allow it. Maybe it would be better in the long run to just accept that it had happened and move on. It wasn't as though he would be asked back to Hogwarts in the fall. His lifeline to the school was leaving, and that meant he would, too. Even if it meant he wouldn't be around her in this setting again. Perhaps that, too, would be better for them. If they had just met one day in the Leaky, none of this would have happened. They probably wouldn't have been trapped in this stupid room, either. Peeves always did seem to enjoy messing with the ones who already had it rough, didn't he?

"Dom," he began finally, as though he were snapping out of his conflicted trip through his own thoughts. "I don't know if this is the right time, but I don't know what else to say. So... I'm really sorry. It seems like I say that a lot lately, but I am. I shouldn't have done anything. Not any of it. I didn't know you well enough then, and I still don't, because of what I said and how I handled it."

Shaking his head, Declan stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Dom, I'm leaving. I won't be back here in the fall."

Dom knew she shouldn't complain. It wasn't like Peeves had ruined any plans she had for the rest of the day. With graduation coming up, many of the staff had begun to prepare the castle for an influx of guests. Trees were trimmed and grass was cut, shrubs were groomed and manicured. The suits of armor and all the medals were being polished. The tables and the stone were all being scrubbed, and the fabrics and tapestries were all getting gentle baths. Dom probably should have had some part of it, seeing as she was Gamekeeper. But she was honestly scared of messing something up. She had kept the job by staying out if everyone’s way. And that was what she would continue to do.
 
But it was never pleasant to get stuck somewhere you didn’t need to be. Especially in a cold, musty dungeon. Especially when she probably had to be pretending to do some work. Especially with someone who thought you were immature and childish.
 
Honestly, that was what was left of her feelings towards Declan – that he couldn’t look at her with anything else but disappointment. She had enjoyed his friendship at Hogwarts. Everyone else looked at her in an unforgiving way – like she only had the job because she had family that was willing to pull some strings for her. And, of course, that was the truth, but it wasn’t because Dom didn’t want to do a good job! She just… was sort of useless.
 
But Declan hadn’t every treated her differently based on her work. They had become friends. And then the Yule Ball happened. She wouldn’t have guessed that anything would have changed just because of some lust. Her… well, she guessed they were her friends, they were all sleeping with each other. She was apart of that cycle, and they could all look at each other and laugh and smile and there was no weirdness about it. Why did things have to change?
 
Declan suddenly spoke, causing Dom to look up at him through her blonde bangs. She lifted her head a little higher, curious as to where he was going with this. It seemed positive, like the first step towards things changing. And then he delivered the bombshell.
 

“What?” Dom said, pushing off from the wall. “Why are you – not because of me?” She stepped closer to him, shaking her head. “No, no. But you can’t – you’re brill. And you’re my only friend here! Everyone else thinks I’m just some stupid kid  - and I mean, yeah, I sort of am. But – no. No, if it’s me your tired of, I’m probably going to get fired anyway. I’m rubbish. I leave. You stay.”

Surprise overcame him as she spoke and he immediately cut in with, "No! That's not-"

But it didn't matter what he thought it wasn't. Because she kept on and he just became confused. He didn't like the way she spoke about herself, and hated even more the fact that others said things that she took to heart. Particularly when those things were negative and made her think so poorly of herself. Or had she just always thought that way? Declan didn't know. He didn't know and it was killing him to be so unaware of who she was. What did she want him to do? Pretend he wasn't so confused? Or course he was!

"I- Dom, no," he replied, bridging some of the gap between them as well so he could reach for her shoulders. His thumbs ran across her upper arms over and over as he spoke. "No, it's not that at all. I'm needed at the inn. I wasn't asked to come back. I swear to you, this isn't about us. Or, you, rather. I know there isn't an 'us.' And that's okay," Declan promised, letting his hands drop down to take her own.

Declan didn't know how to make it better. He didn't know how to explain that, if she was rubbish, then he was that absolute worst. Neither of them were spectacular at what they had been asked to do at the school. So why did she think he was brilliant, somehow? That was just... beyond comprehension for him. How she could think of him that way when it was clearly untrue, but have no legitimate interest in him was so far beyond Declan that he couldn't find anything else to say for a while.

When he did find words, it didn't seem likely that she would believe him. She didn't seem to have done so in the past, so why start now? Still. He had to get everything out there and hope that it wouldn't make their time trapped even more awkward. So he shifted his weight and looked down at their hands while giving it a go.

"I think you're amazing, love. And I am going to miss you greatly. I'm just sorry that we're so different. That it ended up like this. I don't want it to end like this."