Of Riddles and Verses
Tessa had been standing in front of the door of the Ravenclaw common room for an hour now, trying to get past the riddle. It was a ridiculously easy one, she knew, but for the life of her she couldn't remember what had no locks or keys, yet had golden treasure hidden beneath.
"Just let me in please," she pleaded for the fifth time. It was two am, she had fallen asleep in the library past curfew and was now too tired to haggle with ridiculous door knockers. If anyone saw her…
"Miss Grey?"
Jumping at the sound, she whirled around, one hand reaching for her wand while the other found a place against her racing heart.
"Mr. Herondale!"
Standing in front of her was a somewhat familiar face. William Herondale. He was a year her senior and another Ravenclaw, whom she had often seen flaunting rules and lounging about at the Gryffindor table with his silver-haired friend. He was the topic of every whispered conversation in her dorm, from how his father had disgraced a pure-blood family by marrying a Muggle, how he had all the works of Dickens memorized and how he was an excellent duelist, one of the best Hogwarts had ever seen. Oh and that he was a heart-breaker, but Tessa usually paid little heed to such gossip. Not that any of that mattered at the moment. Here was another Ravenclaw, out after curfew for reasons unknown who looked sane enough to solve the riddle and help her in!
"I am so sorry that I startled you," he said, as she continued staring between him and the knocker. "I assume you need help with the riddle? Ridiculous thing really, keeping students from safety and sleep!"
"I keep invaders away from this tower! Any Ravenclaw should be able to answer this riddle or have the patience to wait. What has no lock or key but golden treasure inside is hid?" Tessa looked beseechingly at William, forsaking her pride for the sake of sleep. She knew the answer, but for the sake of everything holy and Charles Dickens, she could not remember a single letter. "Merlin's pants! Is this what has been keeping a fair lady such as yourself awake so late at night Miss Gray? A paltry play of words?" William leaned against the door, his body silencing the protests of the knocker, as he smirked at her. It was a challenge, a friendly one and Tessa, no matter how sleepy, could never resist the allure of verbal banter. "Why, my dear Mr. Herondale, what can I say but that I needed a gallant night such as yourself to help me eliminate the wrong answers." The massacre of Victorian speech fell from her tongue just like Will's smirk fell from his face before he looked at her and boomed a laugh. "Well played, Miss Gray, well played, but I shall not keep you up on this eve much longer. Eggs." The last word was directed at knocker that swung open. Before she could beat herself up for forgetting something so simple, Will spoke up. "Fall asleep in the library again, Theresa? They really should put in some beds for us Ravens there. Honestly, even my fabulous self would have forgotten this riddle, had I not been indulging in some of Tolkien's Hobbit myself." "The scene with Gollum and Bilbo?" "Beautiful and smart, you are a woman after my own Miss Gray. However, did you know the original…" **** Tessa woke up the next morning, her head on Will's shoulder and an open copy of Alice in Wonderland on her lap. They had fallen asleep arguing over the validity of Alice as a classic!
"There is plenty of sense in nonsense sometimes, Tess," was the last thing she remembered hearing. Thankfully, none of their house-mates was paying much notice to the two asleep in chairs near the fire, but Tessa knew if any of her dorm mates saw her with the Will Herondale, she wouldn't hear the last of it for months. Hurrying, she conjured and threw a blanket over Will, returned the book to the spot in the Common Room Bookshelf and ran up the stairs to her dorm.
Tessa was fully ready to put the whole episode behind her. While arguing with Will over books had been fun, Tessa knew that it was one of the many Ravenclaw encounters over the doorknob and that it was very unlike that she would ever hold a conversation with Will again. What she wasn't expecting was Will to drop down in the chair next to her over breakfast, while his silver-haired Gryffindor friend followed hesitantly. The book that banged onto the table next to her was more of a daily occurrence on the Ravenclaw table.
"There. I remember you saying women could not be violent unless pushed. Ever read Lady Audrey's Secret?"
"She's a murderer? And I never said women don't have violent instincts, I just said that we are less likely to be prone to blood-lust!"
After that, Will became a part of her daily life. From arguing over Sydney's character in A Tale of Two Cities to finishing Ancient Runes over hot chocolate in the kitchens at midnight, Will and Jem had become permanent parts of Tessa's life. Waiting by the door to help Will in immediately when he sneaked in after full moons was now as much a part of Tessa's routine as falling asleep in the library after curfew. And yet, she was surprised when she found him lounging by the door knocker, clearly in a heated argument, a few months after their first meeting.
"Will?"
"Tess, thank Merlin you are here! The knocker won't believe me when I say that the truth is I am in love with it! My fabulous self, bowing down and asking for its hand in marriage and yet it remains firmly shut…"
Tessa couldn't help it, she burst out laughing and Will joined in.
"A little trouble with a riddle?"
Moving in front of him, she faced the knocker and answered, "truth is what I perceive it to be, and thus nothing."
The door swung open but before she could enter, Will grabbed her hand softly.
"Tess?"
Her heart skipping a beat like it did every time he practically sang her name, she turned to face him. Running a hand through his hair, he looked her in the eye and said, "Tess, my family holds a ball every Yule…and…and I would be honoured beyond words if you would accompany me there this year…as my date."
Speechless, Tessa started at Will. She had heard of the Herondale balls, from her roommates and their friends. It was Jessie's dream to go. However, more than that she was having trouble focusing on what Will said next. As his…date? She knew what date to his family's Yule Ball meant.
"William, are you sure? I am a Muggle-born and you…"
"I am a Half-Blood Tess and you are a metamorphmagus. More important, I am Will Herondale and Tessa Gray and we love talking about books. I have never seen anyone as pleased to see books as you are as if they were diamonds and after…after Ella died, Tess, it was books that made me feel like I was not completely alone and you…you love the same books as I do. You are a wonder, Tessa Gray. You are not my Lucie, Tess, for you are not the last dream of my soul, you are the only dream I am unable to stop dreaming and I…I feel like I am catastrophically in love with you."
Floored, Tessa couldn't stop the words that flew out of her mouth.
"Will, the first time I saw you, I thought you looked like a hero from a storybook. You joked that you were Sir Galahad the next day when I fell from my broom. Remember that? And for so long I tried to understand you that way- as if you were Mr. Darcy or Sam Gamgee, especially when you are around James. It took me so long to understand this, Will; you are a person just like me. Not a hero."
"So, that means?" Will's voice had dropped as did his hand from hers. Reaching out, she took it again and continued,
"Don't you see, Will? You are like me. You say the things I think but never say out loud. You read the books I read. You love the poetry I love. You make me laugh with your ridiculous songs and the way you see the truth about everything. I feel like you can see inside me and see all the places I am odd or unusual and fit your heart them, for you are odd and unusual in just the same way. I am a Muggle-born Will, and yet you fascinate me as much as this new world of ours does, especially the way you mix magic and technology. You don't scoff at Muggle works, Will, you enjoy them. You would enjoy a rollercoaster as much as a game of Quidditch, just like I would. You are a person like me, Will. Not a hero but a person. We are the same."
"Tess…"
Will's voice was a whisper as his eyes fell shut and his hand tightened on hers.
"What does that means Tessa? Don't say those words unless you mean them. Am I…am I just the boy you met a few months ago, trying to get past the door…or"
"It means yes, William. It means, yes, I will go to your ball as your date, Mr. Herondale."
"Well, that's great, Miss Gray. I wouldn't know what I would do otherwise, deprived of your sweet company."
"I am sure you would survive the night, good sir."
"Oh, but how could I? Without the sweet glance of your eyes and the fire of your arguments?"
"I am sure James would keep you company William. Now, are there any rules, I ought to know about?"
"Well, my dear Tess, you ought to be able to dance. After all, you will be on the floor with the most dashing gentleman of the ball."
"Are you implying I don't know how to dance Mr. Herondale?"
"Why, Miss Gray, how can I accuse you of such ungenteel behavior…except, a little practice would ease my heart…"
"I am afraid, I will have to refuse fair sir, for I don't dance with strange men."
"Stranger huh? Why, Miss Gray, and here I thought you were professing love to me, a few moments ago."
Grabbing a cushion from the couch, she aimed it at his head which he ducked and the both of them burst out laughing.
"I suppose, I could give you this one dance, Mr. Herondale. My mother's not home and this is my favourite song."
As she stepped into his arms and swayed in the light of the fire-place, Tessa did not feel like Jane Eyre finally meeting Mr. Rochester. No, she felt like Theresa Gray meeting William Owen Herondale and his lips touched hers; she thanked all her stars for the riddles and verses of the Ravenclaw door-knob.