may
May
If there was one thing about Hogwarts students, it was that they never turned down a reason to party.
The last match of the quidditch season is between Gryffidor and Slytherin: a guaranteed recipe for disaster. And traditionally, both houses are set to throw a huge party: in celebration or despair. Anyone over fifth year spent the entire week trying to decide which party they were going to. It was all anyone was talking about. As usual, most of the Ravenclaws were headed to Slytherin that evening. The two houses had a strange bond. They were the inter-house version of the friend you had couldn’t remember the birthday of, but would help them hide the body if it came down to it. Similarly, the majority of Hufflepuff students were talking about hanging with the Gryffidors.
Tessa was more interested in how the end of the season would play out. Something that wasn’t very evident when she was sprinting down the corridors trying to make it to the pitch on time. She can hear the chatter of the pregame conversation as she approaches the stairs, relieved she wasn’t going to miss anything. She’s cursing her tardiness as she ascends the massive amount of stairs, because she is severely out of breath when she finally slides into her seat next to her roommates.
“Oh thank Merlin you’re here! If I have to listen to Willow groan about how the season is ending any longer I will throw myself over that rail. She’s not even playing!” Evelyn blurts out as Tessa removes the robe that began to suffocate her halfway through her sprint to the pitch.
“Hey! I’m just upset that I only have a year of quidditch left. Pandora doesn’t mind it, do you Dora?”
“Oh. No, I was becoming quite annoyed with you.” Dora pleasantly responds as she draws little stars on her arms with an enchanted quill.
“Rude. You never hear me complain when you start talking about the creatures you’ve met in the forest.” Willow pouts.
“I’ll listen to your grief Lo, I’m rather sad about it myself.” Tessa offers.
Willow doesn’t get a chance to speak before the commentator’s voice sounds across the pitch. As the two teams approach their positions, Tessa runs over the mental list of her predictions for the match that she had memorized this morning.
Potter first goal
- Black bludger interception for King
King first snitch spotting
Avery second goal
- Black snitch catch…
And so on through every moment of the match. She had spent hours memorizing every number, so she hoped that it all went exactly as she predicted it to be. She even goes as far to be confident enough to think she nailed this one.
But when Madam Hooch blows her whistle to signal the start of the match, everything goes to shit.
Avery zooms across the pitch. Something he never did because he knew he didn’t have the speed for it. He went straight for the beaters, and dedicated himself to get in their way. He was cutting them off at every turn and getting dangerously close to forcing them to crash into each other. Close enough that Potter thinks it necessary to come to their aide. As Potter arrives at his desired destination, Avery abuses the moment Potter takes to check in with his teammates to sprint off to the other side of the pitch and easily snatch the quaffle out of the Gryffidor chaser’s hand.
It takes Avery only a couple seconds to get close enough to the hoops. In a perfectly timed performance, Mulciber flies in harmony with Avery to distract the Gryffidor keeper. The dominos inevitably fall, and Avery puts the quaffle through the hoop.
Potter Avery first goal
The play is perfect. It’s the kind of play that Colin would never come up with himself. He has never had the ability to know his opponents that well. How would he have thought to use Sirius as bait to get Potter away from the quaffle? Cheers are erupting around her, but Tessa has slipped so far into her own head that it doesn’t register that she should probably be cheering too.
She doesn’t have any time to figure out what she must have done wrong on her predictions before it happens again.
Potter starts zipping around the field with surprising speed and individually speaking to all of his teammates. In the lull of any actual plays from either team, all attention is on Reg as he takes a very sharp dive. But Tessa knows he hasn’t seen the snitch. Reg always goes at top speed when he is trying to catch the snitch, but he’s basically jogging compared to his top speed. King, however, takes the bait Reg is dangling. The Gryffidor seeker speeds after the other in a floating foot race.
As Tessa watches the two players, she gets the feeling that she has seen it before. Only that’s impossible because these two specific teams haven’t played each other before.
And then it hits her.
She has seen it before, but it was something of her own imagination. A new subcategory of her project where she was messing around with making different plays and using the Slytherin team as a prototype. Reg using his speed and endurance to throw the other team off was a play she had very clearly imagined in her head. If he would just start looping the field to cause a bigger distraction for…
Reg pulls up from his dive and starts looping the pitch before she can finish the thought. Creating a perfect replication of the play she had scribbled in her notes not long ago. Except, she had never told Reg about the play because she wasn’t sure she had mastered that part yet. In fact, she hadn’t even told Remus she was starting something new because she wasn’t confident it would work. No one but her should have known about them.
But the puzzle pieces always fall together eventually. How did they get them?
The Slytherin team was personifying her version of a perfect match, and it wasn’t a coincidence. Coincidences are just carefully crafted statistics. Someone on the team had her work, and she was determined to prove that.
She let herself surrender to her mind to remember how she had wanted this play to end. If it was truly her work then Avery would use the distraction to…
Colin just scored again. Exactly how I said he would.
The breath she had just wrangled back into normalcy was sucked from her body completely. The mystery of it all pulling her into the past to uncover the missing piece. She had hid them in the…the quidditch book. Dammit, she had left it in the common room the day they had fought. She had run back to find it untouched once she had realized her mistake.
Except it wasn’t untouched, was it?
All of the pages had been exactly where she had slotted them through the book. As far as she knew, they were still sitting in the book at the bottom of her locked trunk. Colin would not have had time to get them this morning, and he was terrible at memorization. So, how is he managing to lead his team accordingly?
He’s a wizard, you idiot. He duplicated them. Fuck.
“No way your boyfriend is actually playing good for once, Tess!” Willow exclaims beside her, pulling her back into the match. All it takes is seeing the smug look on Colin’s face as he flies around to get her out of her seat and running back down the stairs.
Finding the entrance to the field is more difficult than she imagined it would be. Having never actually played, she had no idea what the layout of the pitch actually was. When she finally stumbles upon the opening that leads out onto the field, it only takes a couple seconds before she is taking determined strides out onto the field. Thank you mom and dad for the freakishly long legs. For something so utterly broken, her heart still resides itself to try and beat out of her chest.
That was the one thing that was mine, asshole is the soundtrack steps as she goes.
No one notices there's someone storming the pitch for much longer than Tessa expected. Apparently it takes a trained eye to notice someone from all the way up in the air. So it’s Reg that lands a couple feet in front of her to obscure her path. He looks angrier than usual, which is terrifying because he always looks angry. Maybe in a different plotline Tessa stops to examine her friend’s emotional state. But in this one, she’s numb to the needs of other people until her work is back in her hands.
“Tessa?! What the hell are you doing?! You could get trampled out here!” Reg screams at her as she continues to storm past him. He reaches to snatch her wrist and tries to pull off to the side of the field, but Tessa grew up with older brothers and quickly throws him off. She doesn’t have time for this.
She’s sure he’ll follow, but he can trial in her wake if he’s so persistent. Unfortunately, he is taller and fitter than her, and gets back in front of her in little time. The distorted picture in front of her alerts her that she had been crying. She should have grown out of that by now.
“Tessa, what the fuck is going on? Is someone hurt?” Reg asks as he looks around for something he could have missed. Madam Hooch must have paused the match when she saw Regulus land, because all the other players are hovering in place and peering down at the two of them.
Tessa surveys the sky in search of Avery, ignoring the protests from her friend. She spots him easily. It’s infuriating to still know someone well enough to pick them out in the sky after they’ve hurt you. Tessa thinks it would be only fair if heartbreak would erase all the memories left behind. The mix of adrenaline and rage pumping through her takes control of her, and her feet are moving swiftly in the direction of her boyfriend. She must not be subtle at all, because Reg picks up on it immediately.
“Is it Avery? What’d he do?! Talk to me Tess. Please!” It's the begging that causes her to stop and look at him. The desperation in his eyes is out of place among the stoic mask he always has perfectly placed. Tessa never takes the time to really appreciate his beauty during their regular interactions, and here it's almost painful how artistic he looks. His tragic beauty is flawlessly complemented by the desperate expression on his face. She can’t tell if it’s looking at Reg or the broken pieces of her heart that makes her insides feel like they are being torn apart.
“Oh I'm sure he did plenty. I apparently don’t know anything! Tell me Reg, has Colin suddenly become a captain of the year or am I a sorry fool?!” Tessa shouts, her arms flailing about like a crazy person. To everyone else, she must look just like her brother. Cold and uncaring. Yeah, well, that sounds much better than broken and used.
“I mean, he wanted to try some new plays. Gryffidor has already got the cup in the bag no matter if they win today, so it was the perfect time to try something new. What does it have to do with you?” Reg treads lightly, presumably scared to spook her.
“Everything. It had everything to do with me.” Tessa admits as the tears finally start to pour. She must look so pathetic and weak standing out here in the open as everyone watches her world crumble. “It had everything to do with me because those plays are me. They are everything I am! I’ve spent hours slaving away on the numbers, and he took them. I suppose he will finally get the praise he has always wanted. Too bad it will cost him his life.” She explains as she takes off again. This time Reg doesn’t follow. He is smart enough to know he can’t do anything.
In no time, she is standing below Colin, and lifting her head to look at him. She almost doubles over in despair as she faces it all. All her work, and all the hope for her family: gone. All over a boy who does nothing but stifle her chances of independence.
If he wants her to sit in those stands while he ruins her life, she might as well ruin his in the process.
“Colin!” She screams at her loudest volume. She sees him look down, but the distance distorts her ability to read his expression. It isn’t until he is hovering a couple feet above her that she can see the apathetic look on his face. You always did love looking down on me, didn’t you?
“Tessa? What the hell could be so important you needed to stop the match to scream at me? I mean seriously, you should have been taught better manners. But your parents were always…”
“You can be quiet now. It’s probably for the best that you don’t bring my family into this, I’m angry enough as is.” She projects up to him. Of course he would make it impossible to have this fight at a normal volume.
“Is this about Abby? She doesn’t mean anything ya know. We were just hanging out.” Colin responds, acting like this conversation is a giant inconvenience to his life. Tessa should be shocked by the confession, but she finds she doesn’t give a fuck what he did with his dick.
“Well, isn’t that something? I guess being unfaithful isn’t as important to you as you said it was. Oh well!” Tessa says with a scarily cheery voice. “And no, Colin, it isn’t about whatever girl you’ve managed to convince you’re a decent guy. This is about you being a lying piece of shit who would do anything to get the upper hand. Too bad you got caught. Smart wasn’t smart enough this time baby.”
A smirk pulls at Colin’s mouth, forming a devilish expression that fuels the fire in Tessa’s body. The son of bitch is proud of it.
“What are you talking about? I make all the plays for my team.” He says with a tone so sincere Tessa doubts herself for a minute. But she knows better than to let him fool her again. “Such a shame you caused such a scene Tess, it’s rather unladylike of you. Now go to the dorm, and we can discuss this after.”
Now that? That is shocking. “You don’t think I’m seriously going to let this go, do you?”
“I mean, why wouldn’t you? No one will believe you Tessa. Face it, no one cares about you. And you’ll never get anyone else to date you. No one else knows how to keep you under control like I do. All that time I spent taking care of you and you wouldn’t even let me fuck you!” Colin shouts from the high perch of his broom.
Suddenly everything is very simple. He’s going to twist everything to his benefit no matter how much she screams at him. He would have actually had to care for her for any of it to mean anything.
“Fly down here would you? I don’t think I fancy having to look up at you when I say this.” She asks calmly. It takes him a minute to give in and float down to stand next to her.
She makes sure her plan of action is solid by setting her face in a smile she knows is lethal to the boy. The sweet and docile smile on her face was always the one that made him beg to fool around with her. Thankfully, she never once let him touch her like that. Besides, she now knew exactly what would weaken this boy.
She approaches him with a scarily calm demeanor, standing so that her head is right next to his. He isn’t taller than her, so she doesn't have to move to whisper into his ear, “I know what you did. Deny it all you want, but I’ll always know. Every time something doesn’t go your way, you’ll have to wonder if I’m behind the scenes pulling the strings. My one promise is I will ruin you if it’s the last thing I do.”
As she slowly walks away, Tessa uses the last of her strength to turn around and project one last thing at Avery. “By the way, if you didn’t get the hint, we’re done! I pity the next girl who has to kiss you!”
Hope your teammates heard that, you piece of shit.
As she retreats from the battle, Tessa passes by a seething Regulus standing exactly where she left him. He holds up just his pinky. She hooks hers around it and they both give a little squeeze. I’m with you, it seems to say. And it's that thought that carries her the rest of the way off the pitch. It isn’t until she is out of the view of the crowd that Tessa really loses it.
Her knees give out and she collapses against the wall. Air doesn’t grace her lungs with relief, and her heart might as well be punching her ribcage from the inside. Her vision is slightly blurry, but her mind is so congested that the tears have stopped actually falling. Her back somehow makes it against the closest wall and she slides down to the ground clumsily. It is only pulling her knees to her chest and burying her head into them that pulls her away from reality for a moment.
“Tessa…” a scared voice speaks from down the corridor. “Fuck, what happened?” Is the voice that accompanies the sound of quick steps down the hall. Tessa feels someone sit next to her, but she knows the second she looks up that she will break. If she continues to hide, no one will know she was ever like this.
“Tessa, please look at me. I know you’re upset with me, but I’m not going to leave you alone like this.”
Tessa, at her own despair, is still human. She can’t hold back anymore, and throws herself into Remus’ chest. He immediately wraps himself around her, pulling her into his lap like a child. The comfort is painful, so the tears finally come. She knows she is making a mess of herself, but it’s all unimportant after everything.
“He took them, Remus. All of it. All the work I did. My chances at helping them…” her voice cracks at the last sentence. All she can see is Graham's adorable face riddled with sadness as he overhears his siblings screaming at each other. The tired look on her mom’s face when Dean brings up the war. How will they survive it now?
“Tessa, I’m not letting him get away with this. But for now, let’s not think about him, okay? Just sit here with me, okay?” Remus says as he uses his extremely long arms to cradle her into him.
They sit there on the floor of the corridor for long enough that Tessa can breathe somewhat normally again. It isn’t until more voices from down the corridor start getting louder that either of them move.
“I don’t fucking care if this is your changing rooms, McKinnon! I’m going to get to Tessa if I have to kill you to get there!”
“Reggie…”
“No. Shut up, Sirius. This isn’t about you. It’s not even about me! Get your team out of my way or you won’t have one.”
“It’s fine, Marlene. Just let him through…” another voice cuts in.
“Fine. But only because I trust you Captain.”
Loud footsteps bring Regulus around the corner, trailed by the entire Gryffindor quidditch team. Tessa looks up and realizes where she must have found herself. Of course I managed to break down right in front of the changing rooms.
“Tess…” Reg lets out as he storms the rest of the way down the hall. His voice is friendly, but his walk is all heir to the house of Black. The stern look on his face drips with power, and it makes Tessa uneasy with so many bystanders around.
Reg stops above the two other students and crosses his arms in a stance of strength. “What the hell did he steal, Tess?” Reg commands, not a hint of emotion on his face. Her head slowly rises to meet him in the eye, and she prays that he won’t pry. Two was more than enough people to bear witness to her failures.
“Don’t make me do this Reg.” She begs, glancing over at the Gryffindors that are frozen in place down the hall.
“How else will I know how painful his death needs to be?” Reg bites out.
“Regulus…I—”
“Shut up, Lupin. This doesn't concern you.”
“Actually it does, Black. I know exactly what he stole.” Remus challenges. If anyone knows how to appeal to a Black brother, it’s Remus.
“Is it worth killing him over?” Reg asks
“Absolutely.” Remus bites out.
It’s the confession of anger from their friend that brings life back into the statues down the hall. James and Sirius start towards them, trailed closely by the rest of their teammates.
“Does someone want to explain to the rest of us why the hell my match got paused and Regulus is threatening to kill people?” James asks hesitantly.
Tessa pulls back from Remus so she can look him in the eye. They seem to communicate through pure necessity that they have to reveal something. She has no doubt that his friends would stand here for hours prying after seeing Remus was involved somehow.
Tessa, uncomfortable with all the strangers, focuses her response at Reg. “He stole the most important project that I’ve ever worked on. I started creating prediction calculations combining wizarding and muggle mathematical methods with behavioral analysis. I was testing them on quidditch matches, and I made a model of plays that would in theory guarantee the Slytherin team a win. It’s all very new, and not at all ready to be used. But Avery found them and has claimed them as his own work. That’s why he’s been doing so well in this match. It was never supposed to be used like this. There’s plans for it, and it has to stay quiet or…my brother, he can’t find out I’m using muggle mathematics.” She didn’t realize how much she had said until her chest was rising and falling heavily from lack of air. “Sorry, I tend to ramble when I’m upset.” She says and turns back to Remus to let him put his arm around her in a sign of protection.
“Don’t be sorry.” Potter blurts out.
“Wait, isn’t that guy your boyfriend?” McKinnon asks, clearly confused by it all.
A shutter runs through her as she is reminded, “No. He’s not.”
“Finally! That dude sucks, like a lot.” Sirius adds.
“You have no idea…” Reg and Remus both say under their breath at the same time.
There’s a moment of silence where they all just stare at each other. Tessa wants to crawl into herself and never come out under the intense scrutiny. She knows, with the exception of Reg, that her company consists of a bunch of morally correct people. Her messed up moral compass under the lens of all these Gryffidors is not something she wants to be here for.
“So what’s the plan?” Potter finally asks to break the impending silence.
“Plan?” Tessa asks hesitantly.
“Well you didn’t think we were going to let him get away with it right?”
“I mean yeah… why would any of you care about me?”
“Okay, rude. I thought we were friends, Tessie. And please, I’ve been dying to punch that pureblood prick since third year.” Sirius says.
“Yeah, Pads is right. That guy sucks a lot. How do we beat him?” Potter asks and leans in. “Let’s hear about all this genius mastermind stuff you do. I’m very impressed.”
“That’s the thing. You can’t beat him. Not without the time for me to make plays for your team. Even then, I don’t know if it would work because it was never meant to go against itself. As long as you’re still you, they’ll win.” Tessa explains.
“Maybe. But I can make the match as long as I want to. King sure isn’t going to catch the snitch.” Reg adds.
“Are you saying…” SIrius starts.
“We make it absolute hell for him.” Reg finishes his sentence.
“That’s… perfect. We don’t need the points, so we can just make it horrible for Avery until he is begging Reg to end the match. Here’s what we’ll do…” Potter turns and gives instructions to his team on how they are going to make the match go completely off course.
Tessa is staring in shock at all the people plotting against Colin just because he did something to her. Remus catches her staring at the group and nudges her shoulder to get her attention. “What? Surprised people want to help you out? You’d be shocked how many people actually like you, even if you try to pretend they don’t…”
“It’s just… there’s nothing in it for them.”
“That’s not the point. It’s about…mutual mischief for the greater good.” Remus says, grinning at her like the secret troublemaker he is.
“Why do I feel like you’ve used that excuse to get out of trouble with McGonagall before?”
“Oh, because he has! Minnie only let him use it once though.” Potter butts in.
“Well, I’m glad to be included in the greater good. Thanks, Potter.” Tessa says shyly.
“No need. I am always down for a little trouble. And it’s James.” He responds with a stupidly handsome smirk. “Alright, team. Let’s go have some fun.” And then just like that, the Gryffindor team (plus Reg) are off towards the pitch. Once again Remus and Tessa are left alone in the corridor.
“So… are you gonna go watch your ex get slaughtered out there?” Remus asks, treading lightly.
“No.” Tessa decides. “I’ve been inspired.” And then she’s off, walking out the way she came. Remus easily keeps up with her with the perks of his extremely long legs.
As they approach the bottom of the stairs up to the stands, Tessa sees all of her roommates huddled together with concerned expressions. Pandora notices her approaching and runs to her. She throws herself into Tessa’s arms and wraps her legs around her waist. “Thank goodness we found you. I was worried.”
“I’m sorry. All of you. But I don’t have time to explain, and I need a favor.”
“All ears baby girl” Willow says as she approaches.
“I need you to break into the Slytherin changing rooms. Before the match is over.” She’s met with questioning looks, but they don’t say anything until she is finished talking. “There should be a bundle of parchment inside Avery’s quidditch bag. It’ll be in my handwriting, and I need you to destroy it.”
“Are we going to get detention for this? Because if we are, I'm gonna make it worthwhile and destroy all his stuff.” Evelyn suggests.
“Detention is only for people dumb enough to get caught.” Remus says smirking.
“Amazing.” Evelyn responds, matching the boy’s smirk.
“If you can’t get in, then you need to find Reg and let him know. Those papers cannot get in anyone’s hands that aren’t yours or his. I’m not sure how much time we have, so you better get going.”
Her roommates nod, and start in the other direction.
“Going to let me in on your plan?” Remus asks from beside her.
“Avery may have taken what’s mine, but that doesn’t mean I can’t take it back. He’s smart, but I’m smarter. If I can manage to destroy his versions of my work, he won’t be able to use it again. He was always terrible at memorizing.” Tessa says as she starts walking towards the castle.
Remus follows her on instinct, “Wait…versions?”
“Why do you think we are headed back to the castle? If there’s a copy in his quidditch bag, then there’s a copy in his dorm too. I need to break in and destroy it before he returns.”
Remus nods and they walk a while in silence. Her anger starts to boil up the closer they get. By the time they reach the castle, she’s almost bubbling over in motivational irritation. And from the looks of her friend, so is Remus.
It’s probably the anger visible on both of them that causes Lily Evans to stop them in the corridor when she stops them.
“What’re you doing?” She asks sternly.
“Walking.” Tessa says bluntly.
“Really? Now that’s a thinker…” Lily teases. “I can tell something is going on, so it's best to just tell me so I can decide if I should stop you or help you.” Tessa sighs and gives her a quick rundown of the situation. Lily, like her two friends, becomes visibly more angry as the story flows.
“Oh I’m so in.” She says and the three of them continue on their path to the Slytherin common room.
A couple minutes later, it’s Lily who asks, “So how exactly do you plan on getting in?”
“No idea. I’m hoping an opportunity will present itself when I get there.” Tessa says nervously.
“No need…I um, I know the password.” Remus says quietly, eyeing Lily in anticipation.
“Of course you do.” Lily says, rolling her eyes. “At least it's for a good cause this time.”
When the three of them approach the dungeons, Tessa starts to feel unwanted nerves spike up. If she doesn’t get these back, Colin will have time to make more copies and hide them. This has to work or she will never get her purpose back in her hands.
As they get to the entrance, Tessa stops and turns to her two unlikely companions. “I have to go in alone. If either of you are in there, then people will get suspicious. The blue will protect me enough to not get hexed, but not if I have you with me.”
“We’ll keep watch. If anyone is curious, we can say it's prefect business and hopefully they’ll believe us.”
The three students nod at each other in solidarity. Remus gives Tess the password, and she’s off on her own.
When the entrance to the common room is opened, Tessa is no longer nervous. She knows that she is smarter than anyone who could be on the other side of that door. And she is proven right when the only person in the common room is Severus Snape.
“Cole. What’re you doing here? How did you get the password?” He asks from behind his book.
“Colin gave it to me to meet him here after the match. I wanted to surprise him by being in his dorm when he arrives.” Tessa responds, adding a lovesick tilt to her voice suggestively.
Snape eyes her curiously, but ultimately just returns to his book. Snape may be an asshole, but he doesn’t rock the boat when it comes to his classmates. They already get on to him enough for previously being friends with a muggleborn.
Tessa took her opportunity and made her way to the boys' dorms. She knew exactly where Colin’s dorm was, and made quick to the door. She knocked, hoping there was no one on the other side. When she heard nothing, she carefully turned the knob. The dormitory was void of life, even for a Slytherin dorm. Tessa, thankfully, had been in there before and knew which bed belonged to Colin.
The problem was finding what she was looking for.
She started with the trunk. There wasn't much in there, so she quickly turned away from it and went for the chest nearby. Every drawer was void of anything interesting except the last one. The drawer itself didn’t have what she was looking for, but it had a persistent stick when she tried to open it. She only got it open by forcefully maneuvering it outwards with sheer determination. Feeling around the furniture, her hand catches on a misplaced piece of wood along the top of the frame where the bottom drawer sits. She puts her head inside the drawer to get a better advantage over the wood. When the wood is pulled free, parchment begins sliding out of the hole left by the wood’s absence. No longer being held in place, all the contents of the secret compartment are dumped into the drawer below.
There you are.
Quickly counting the pages, she is relieved to find every piece of the missing work. Tessa replaces the chest to how she found it and quickly hurries back out of the dormitory. When she approaches the common room, she finds Snape had not moved an inch in her absence. Walking back out through the common room would surely ruin her cover, but she had to get out somehow. It's better to just walk straight through, she decides.
“I thought you were waiting for Avery?” Snape says, not even looking up from the page he is scribbling on. Creepy bastard.
“Oh, well you see,” Tessa begins with a tone of fake authority. “I was lying. Colin and I have just broken up and he still had some of my things.” Tessa says as she hurries through the common room and out the door. The shock value of the truth is one of her favorite weapons.
Lily and Remus jump at her exodus from the common room, but relax when they see it’s her coming through the doorway.
“That was fast.” Lily says, surprised.
“Yeah, Colin has no survival instincts. He’s never had to hide anything from his siblings or parents. False drawer bottom? Ammature work if you ask me.” Remus shakes his head at her antics, but Tessa is pleased to hear Lily laugh as she speaks. “Now, we need to get out of here!” Tessa continues, scrambling away from the common room.
The three of them make it to Gryffidor tower in record time. Tessa did not want to be anywhere Colin would know to look for her, and her friends were in agreement.
When they barge into Remus’ dormitory, they are met with an empty room. The quidditch match still isn’t over?
Tessa is mildly impressed by James and Reg’s ability to set apart their differences and work towards a common goal. With Sirius being their only real mutual connection, their interactions have got to be nothing short of extremely awkward. But in the end, she really shouldn’t be surprised. James has a streak of mischief challenged only by the Prewett twins a couple years ago. Reg, on the other hand, is extremely protective when provoked. She’s rather sad she didn’t get to see the two of them absolutely demolish her new sworn enemy.
“So, what do we do? Burn it?” Remus asks curiously.
“Probably.” Tessa throws the parchment onto the ground in front of her.
“Wait!” Lily interjects. “Can I read it first?”
She considers the redhead in front of her. She doesn’t particularly want anyone else to see the work she’s done, but she does owe Lily for all her help. More importantly, Lily would be an excellent insight into the muggle methods she has only read about.
“I guess so. We have to burn it after, though.”
Lily resides herself to the floor, and excitedly picks up the parchment.
Without the high level of stress keeping her awake, Tessa is forced to meet her exhaustion and head on.
Choosing Remus’ bed as the site of her shutdown, Tessa throws herself on the mattress and busies herself with inspecting the canopy. The space next to her is soon occupied by Remus who pretends to also examine the canopy (a most certainly false inquiry considering it is his bed). They don’t say anything, but Remus lets Tessa scoot closer and lay her head on his shoulder. The exhaustion swiftly overwhelming her as she begins to drift off. She swaps how awful she feels for the comfort of safety in a friend’s arms and the peace of sleep.
But, no good thing lasts forever, and Tessa is thrusted back into reality when loud voices fill the room.
“Did you see that?! Marls wielded that bludger like a sword to Avery’s throat! Bloody lethal, that one.” Sirius exclaims as he slams open the door.
“Would you be quiet! T has just calmed down!” Tessa hears Remus whisper-yell from next to her. She chooses to keep her eyes closed in hopes to delay dealing with her mess for just a little while longer.
“Is she…okay?” James’ voice cuts in.
“Would you be okay after that, James?” The other boy must shake his head, because Remus keeps speaking. “However bad you think it is, it’s worse for her. Her work means everything.”
“It would have to be to create something like this. It’s bloody brilliant!” Lily declares quietly from her spot on the floor.
“Lily… you’re here. In our dorm.” James speaks hesitantly.
“Excellent observation skills, James. Would you like to tell us all what color the bedding is now? Or is that too advanced?”
“Whatever you like.” The boy responds, either oblivious or unbothered by Lily’s remarks.
“Does someone want to include me in the secret? Rather rude of you lot to talk about it like we all know!” A new voice sounds through the room. Based on the context of where she is currently hiding out, Tessa assumes it must be Pettigrew. Tessa doesn’t know the boy very well, but anytime they had been in the same room she often forgot he was there. Until now, she assumed that he liked it that way.
“It’s not our story to tell, Pete.” James says back. Silence follows the response, a cloud of awkwardness falling down so heavy Tessa felt it even in her fake asleep state. She only appreciated strange silences when it was by her choice, so Tessa started to itch with the need for someone to speak.
“Just tell him. I’d rather he think I went on a rampage for my honor and not whatever story Colin will spin to save his ass.” Tessa says, not moving from her spot on Remus’ chest.
“Best you tell it, I think. None of us know where you and Moony ran off too after the match started up again.” Sirius suggests as he perches himself on the end of the bed by Remus’ feet. Accepting her fate, Tessa sits up to lean comfortably against the headboard and draws her knees to her chest. The other boys take seats on the floor next to the bed like toddlers gathered for storytime. Tessa repeats the events of the day back to the group, and cataloging all their over the top reactions in her head to laugh about later. They even lean in with anticipation as she describes the trip to the dungeons.
“You just…walked in?” Peter asks.
“Well, yeah…not even the first time I’ve been there. Probably won’t be the last if I’m honest. I quite like Slytherins, actually. The normal one’s at least.”
“That’s brilliant. You’re brilliant.” James tells her.
“I agree,” Lily says as she joins them, a blush covering James’ face as she does. “This work is revolutionary. I have lots of questions.”
Tessa laughs at Lily’s academic heart taking over, “Well I hope you have your questions memorized, because those are getting destroyed now that you’re done reading through them.”
“Destroy them?! After all the trouble you went through to get them back?” Sirius asks shockingly. He turns around to face her so quickly that he loses his balance and falls forward. Much to the shock of Remus, he chooses to fall right into his lap instead of pulling himself back up. It’s almost comical how wide Remus’ eyes get when he realizes Sirius doesn’t plan on moving out of his lap. In scarily similar timing, Tessa and Peter both roll their eyes at the obliviousness of the two boys.
“I have what I think is the original copy stashed away. It’s actually vital that all the other copies are destroyed to avoid this very problem happening again.” Tess explains. “I just don’t know how I’ll do it.”
“Oh! I know!” James says excitedly as he jumps from where he is seated. He rummages through his things, and returns with parchment and a quill. He holds his hand out to Lily to give him the other pages, who grimaces at the thought of sending the paper off to its doom. James places the blank page on top of the bundle and writes one word in large letters across it.
AVERY
“There. I would have drawn his face, but I’m a shit artist, so you’ll have to use your imagination.” James says with a proud grin. “Do your worst, Cole” He whispers to her as the stack of paper is placed in her hands. While she never expected the golden boy to encourage her rage, she won’t deny herself the joy of it.
“Alright then, but someone needs to levitate it for me. I must do this standing.” Tessa demands as she jumps to her feet and reaches for her wand. Remus jumps up with her, accidentally dumping Sirius on the floor by accident. The black haired boy groans, but quickly finds himself relaxed on the floor next to Lily. Remus makes haste to her side and levitates the bundle of parchment in the middle of the dormitory without a word.
Immediately overcome by the emotion of the day, Tessa throws her most violent curses and jinxes at the paper. “You fucking piece of shit!” She exclaims as she finishes the paper off with a stern“Reducto.” Careful to charm her mess away when she is finished. The relief is fleeting, but Tessa can’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. When she meets the eyes of her companions, the rest of the crew joins her in her laughter.
“So… what now?” Peter asks as silence falls upon them.
“Well…I believe you all have a party to attend.” Tessa responds.
“Will you join us?” Sirius asks hopefully.
“Heavens no! The only reason I’m here instead of my own dormitory is because I know Avery will go looking for me there. If I show myself at a party, someone will talk. He always finds out about stuff like that.” Tessa explains shyly, directing her gaze to the floor.
“I think you should stop caring about what he does or doesn’t know now that he’s no longer your boyfriend.” Lily says sassily, crossing her arms over her chest and sticking out a hip. Its funny watching the witch try to be assertive while having to crane her neck to look any of her friends in the eye.
“That’s a lovely thought Lily, but I’m not sure I know how…” Tessa starts before remembering her audience. “Which is something I should have kept to myself. Nevermind I said that. I don’t know any of you well enough to start dumping any more of my problems.”
“I would think after all this you would consider us your friends!” Sirius argues from his sprawled out position on the floor.
“I think you’ve got enough pureblood family drama for the lot of you. Don’t need to add mine to it. Besides, I’m not in the mood to party. I rather feel like hiding away until everyone forgets I stormed the pitch and utterly embarrassed myself.”
“I thought it was kinda hot. Not at all embarrassing.” James suggests, nodding his head encouragingly. Tessa turns to him, raising a questioning eyebrow at him. “What? Do you want me to pretend you aren’t attractive, Tessa? I don’t believe in keeping compliments to myself. Just ask Evans.”
“Unfortunately, that’s true. He never shuts up!” Lily agrees from behind her.
“See!” James adds excitedly, seemingly unaware Lily was not complimenting him.
“James is right Tessa. It was very attractive.” Sirius adds.
“You’re one messed up group if you think yelling insults is attractive.” Tessa adds.
“Like you’re one to talk. Almost every single crush you’ve ever had was a dick to you.” Remus counters.
“Well, duh! That’s because I’m messed up too!”
A chorus of laughs fill the dorm at her response. The warm atmosphere reminds her of her own dorm when the girls get excited about something.
“Damn! I forgot to check in with my roommates! They’ve got to be worried sick!” Tessa exclaims as she starts to rummage around for her things.
“Didn’t you just say you didn’t want to be in Ravenclaw tower?” Peter asks her as she frantically looks around for her robe.
“Yes, but I’d rather face Avery than let my friends spend a single second worrying about me. And it's not like I have anywhere else to—”
“You’ll stay here.” James says. “We don’t mind, and the party will distract anyone who thinks to look here for you.” She looks at the boy in front of her and is hit with the urge to hug him. It dawns on her that she has spent so much time protecting other people, she never lets other people protect her.
“That’s very kind of you, but I need to speak with Pandora, Eve, and Willow before they send a search party out for me.” Tessa rebuts.
“I’ll go for you!” Lily exclaims excitedly. “I’ve met Pandora, so she’ll know I’m not trying to trick her, and I’ve been meaning to find her and ask her a question anyways.” Lily says nervously.
Tessa is curious about the redhead’s insistence, but is blinded by her own desires to care too much about why she wants to go speak with her friends. Tessa walks over and reaches into Remus’ things to grab a piece of parchment where she knows he keeps them and begins to look around for a quill. It isn’t long before one is in front of her, extended by James who was still holding it from his earlier schemes.
Tessa grabs the quill and begins writing. “Make sure this gets to Evelyn. The two of us created a secret code in second year and she’ll be able to know what it says.” Tessa finishes the note and hands it off to Lily.
“So, you’ll stay?” James asks.
“Yeah, I think I will.” Tessa decides, thinking she should do what she wants to do for once.
***
It takes all of one day for Tessa to experience the repercussions of her actions.
He finds her after potions while she is walking alone through the crowded corridor. The sharp pain in her wrist as a hand tugged on her harshly was all she needed to know who it was. Only, she didn’t have to see his face, because a rather loud firework set off down the hall. Among the chaos, Tessa luckily slipped into the familiar shadows and escaped the impending trouble.
The shame of being saved by only the luck of a firework is what finally makes Tessa request help from her friends. It took only a vague retelling of her day for her roommates to be on board with helping her. She refused to hide out in her dorm for the remaining weeks, so she would just make sure that she was never alone and vulnerable.
And that’s how the odd crowd of Ravenclaws formed.
It started with her roommates of course. Pandora enlisted the odd boy Tessa partnered with in potions last year named Xeno, who was eager to repay her for the help she had given him. Then it was Willow who went to her quidditch captain Emmaline Vance for help. Soon enough the girls had managed a large group of volunteers. Benjy and Caradoc were easily convinced, and their roommate Gilderoy insisted he be allowed to join as well. The last member of their little group was a girl named Sybill that partners with Pandora in Divination.
They were a mismatched crew of intellects pulled together by a common purpose. For the next few weeks, wherever Tessa went, one of them followed. Sometimes she would be accompanied by many of them at once, and many times it would just be a random little dyad. At first, it really annoyed her. Tessa wasn’t known to be enjoyable company, and that was certainly because she would much rather be alone. Not having any time by herself was her nightmare. Until it wasn’t.
Now, her comrades were growing on her. In fact, many of them she would now consider friends. Maybe it was their mutual goals, or maybe it was the shock of her recent life events, but Tessa found herself letting these people in more than she had with anyone since meeting her best friends.
And that is how the lot of them ended up all gathered in the common room on a random night enjoying each other’s company. Evelyn goaded Gild into a game of chess (one he will most certainly lose). Sybill is reading aloud star charts to Dora and Xeno, while Dora draws intricate designs on the arm Xeno offered her as a canvas. Benjy and Caradoc are arguing with each other, heads bent over a textbook. Willow and Tessa are working on ballet nearby, something Tessa taught Willow to help with her balance and strength during matches. Emmaline is eagerly reading a copy of the Daily Prophet, annotating it with a quill like it is a profound piece of literature. Their wide array of interests is a picture perfect example of how wisdom presents itself in different people. Just as a wizard does not choose their patronus, they didn’t select their wisdom. Instead, the wisdom inside them presented itself in a form that was tailor made to the owner.
The group is peacefully among each other when the disruption occurs. A boy has dramatically entered the common room with a scowl on his face. His green and silver tie in hand, appearing to have been ripped off his neck.
“Did they finally discover you, Barty?” Tessa asks from the makeshift barre her and Willow are stationed at. The boy sighs dramatically and storms into the room with loud steps.
“Yes. I’ve been sentenced to detention for the rest of the term. A fate not even close to as bad as being forced to return here.” He growls out.
“You had to have known they would discover you weren’t actually Slytherin eventually, Barty. I mean, all of our year and yours were there for the sorting.” Evelyn points out.
“How did they find out?” Pandora asks as she gets up from her seat to approach the boy. Dora was always better at getting along with Barty than the rest of them. Tessa thinks it probably has a bit to do with Evan, but also believes Dora could charm anyone into her good graces. The blonde girl approaches the boy and yanks his arm until he takes a seat on the couch next to her.
“Avery keeps complaining that someone has been stealing from him, so Slughorn was forced to take a closer look at the dorm assignments, trying to figure out who might have been able to get into his dorm. Eventually, he discovered that I had not lived in the Slytherin dorms my first year, and looked up the record of the sorting. Since I was never able to find it, the record still says Ravenclaw. They called me to the headmaster’s office and forced me to explain how I had managed to be in Slytherin for years without ever having been sorted there.” At this, the boy smirks proudly. “Deep down, I think Sluggy was impressed. But I still had to be punished, and so they made me come back here.”
As the boy speaks, he scowls and grimaces like the thought of his current situation is painful to him. All the other Ravenclaws slowly find stopping points of their work to give the new addition their full attention.
“Well, shit. How do we send you back? Your bed is the much needed storage space these days.” Benjy breaks the silence.
Barty, dramatic and insane as he is, flies off the handle. “Do you think I want to be here?! I hate this place and that fucking bed.”
“Piss off, Crouch.” Caradoc butts in. Suddenly there’s a million voices arguing over each other, the rock and roll track that had been spinning completely lost in the chaos of noise. It isn’t until Barty launches off the couch to try and reach Benjy that Tessa and Willow join the fight to grab his shoulders and force him back to a seating position.
“Let me go.” He growls.
“Oh fuck off—” Willow starts, but Tessa cuts her off before their argumentative habits make everything worse.
“Get over it Barty. Do you think we want you here? Because we don’t. All you ever do is talk shit about this place when the only thing it has ever done to you is be the place your father wanted you to be. Your attitude is annoying and drove us all nuts for the singular year you were here. So if you think for one second that we wouldn’t send you back to the snake den if it was possible, then you’ve got it wrong. So grow the hell up and stop being a spoiled little brat. Be moody all you want, but what you aren’t going to be is rude to the only people that were there to protect me while everyone else conveniently forgot I was going through shit.”
“Tess, we didn’t—”
“No. I don’t want to hear excuses. It’s partly my fault that you are here right now anyway, so I’ll let it go. Just be civil or go hide away in the art studio and leave my friends alone.” Tessa’s chest is heaving by the time she is finished lecturing the younger boy. Maybe she overreacted, maybe she didn’t. All she knows is that she cannot have any more dramatics for the weeks left of term.
Barty, visibly angry, gives a reluctant nod. Tessa doesn’t know Barty too well, but she does know that he has never been one to have control of his temper (or any emotions for that matter).
“Don’t take it personally Tess, he’s just upset he can’t longingly watch Evan sleep every night now.” Dora bites out, giving him her classic older sister glare. Barty just gives her the finger.
And just like that, the group acquires their last member. They all quickly return to their tasks, moving along as if nothing happened.
Later that evening, when Tessa is about to retire to her room, Barty pulls her aside to speak privately.
“We didn’t mean to ignore you Tessa. Reg, Evan, and I. We just… we didn’t know what exactly happened until Evan heard from Pandora. Figured you didn’t want anything to do with Slytherins for a while.”
“That’s stupid. Colin’s actions are not a Slytherin thing, they are an asshole thing. I shouldn’t have said anything about it. I learned long ago it’s not worth it to expect anything from anyone. I was just lucky enough to have people in the house who were there when I asked.”
Barty smiles a bit, a smile different from the one he usually wears as the confident flirty boy personality he adopted years ago. “You should just like Reg.”
“Or he sounds just like me. I am older, ya know.”
The boy manages to laugh a bit at that. It isn’t until that moment that Tessa was able to see a flicker of sadness in the boy's eyes. “I miss them.”
“I know.”
The two of them stare at each other. Not quite friends, but nothing close to strangers. Maybe it’s that they both know what it’s like to not belong in a place you were supposed to be born to occupy. They say nothing else, and eventually make their way to their respective dorms. The next morning, when Tessa goes to leave the common room, she finds Barty waiting by the door to accompany her to class.