“If you say so, dear.” Albus tutted quietly, not entirely sure himself whether his comment was on the fact Dominique thought she was too precious or the fact she’d just called him pretty. Possibly both, really. There was really no need to be calling anyone pretty, not even Dominique. But that was because she wasn’t. In order to be pretty, you had to have a generally soft set of features. Dominique was too edgy, with her make-up anyway. Without it, perhaps she could be pretty. But in this case, she was beautiful. Or, that was the safest thing for Albus to be thinking right now. Cousin restrictions and all. Not like he’d ever think of her in any other way, but it would certainly make him awkwardly question himself. Which was not what he needed. It would just add to the pile of shit he already had on his plate. For now, Albus concentrated on the fact that they were about to go out into the cold. Where the weather would bite at his nose, toes and fingers. Hopefully not his ears, seeing as his hat was so thick. Then again, so were his socks. Dominique opened the door, causing the gust of wind to take Albus by surprise and Dominique genuinely looked like she was going to blow away as quickly as her hat had attempted to escape from her head. She was too skinny. He made a mental note to remind her that she needed to put some weight on, because it was genuinely concerning Albus at that moment in time. She’d probably tell him to shut up. But where was the harm in trying?
They reached the lake and Dominique spoke for a long time about merpeople. Before she’d asked, Dominique had stared out into the lake in silence for a while and Albus had prepared himself for the questions he knew were coming. It always happened like that with her. Long silence, thinking, and then asking. It was a good process, at least that way Albus could tell whether or not her questions were serious. Because she’d thought about them. “I’m really not all that sure, I’m sorry. The best thing to do would be to ask the merpeople themselves, or Johnson. But I think they could relocate somehow. They have to have gotten here from somewhere in the first place, right? As for the all submerged thing, I think so. You wouldn’t want them mainly out of water anyway. They’d make that horrible high-pitched scrap which, apparently, really hurts your ears. Not like a mandrake, but it’s not a pleasant experience.” Albus remembered his time with the mandrakes, Slytherins had Herbology with the Gryffindors –unfortunately- and Lorraine hadn’t got her earmuffs on properly. After reporting this to his father, Albus found out Lorraine’s dad did exactly the same thing in their Herbology lesson. It made Albus wonder how alike Lorraine and Adam were to their parents, but also how alike other people were. Considering he wasn’t much like his parents, or so he’d thought, it was weird thinking of how other people connected with their parents in a sense that they carried personality traits their parents did. He probably did, but was just too down on himself to think he did.
“It’s a shame the lake doesn’t have a thick layer of ice over the top. We could have done ice-skating. Maybe another time, when there’s less of a risk of us falling in and catching our death. Which I’m certain we would. And, like you said, you’re too precious.” Albus mocked, pinching Dominique’s nose lightly with the free hand she wasn’t holding. It was nice, finally getting to know Dominique a bit better. Although they’d grown up together, got sorted in Slytherin together and he saw her every day – he didn’t really know her. He guessed her favourite colour was black, he knew her favourite thing to eat was chocolate and he knew she wasn’t sure whether or not she loved Scorpius. But that was it. He wasn’t even supposed to know the last part, though he doubted anyone knew. It was just easy to tell by her reactions. Scorpius had told her he’d loved her, Al was there, and Dominique seemed to dismiss the comment. But she wouldn’t string him along, or so Al guessed. He hoped. After all, as dicky as Scorp was, it would really suck should Scorpius get hurt by Dominique. Plus he was never really good with the whole comforting thing. Rose would have to do that, but Albus wouldn’t want her to. With Scorpius befriending him first, Al got sort of protective over wanting Scorpius to like him more than he liked Rose. It was stupid, but the jealousy seemed to overwhelm him when it happened. Dominique, though, that was different. He knew how Scorpius felt towards Dominique, and he knew that he could never compete for top spot. Being romantically involved with Scorpius was not his idea, but Albus was determined to stay top friend. As stupid as that sounded, even to himself. "C'mon, let's go through the forbidden forest. It should look really nice." He grinned, squeezing her hand gently.
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