"Did I tell you guys I had a run-in with the Weasley twins?" Bryony said, pulling the cherry-flavored sugar quill from her mouth.
"Why would you bother?" Roger snorted, reaching over to grab her Arithmancy notes. "We've seen them in classes for the past four years and they've never bothered to actually acknowledge any of us."
"Probably because you're a prick," Marcus chimed in from his position on his bed. "And because you two compete in Quidditch."
"We'll they're probably afraid you'll give them detention for life if they ever so much as talk to you," Roger snapped back, making Bryony roll her eyes and swat his arm.
"Back to the point, please?" Yutaka said, looking up from her notes. "The dreamy Weasley twins?"
"Dreamy was not included in the original statement," the brunette clarified, but her roommate just shrugged it off. "But no, I was interviewing Oliver for the paper a few days ago and the twins entirely crashed it."
"That sounds about right," Roger murmured, comparing something from her notes to his.
"I don't think they had any idea who I was."
"That also sounds about right," Todd added from behind her.
During their first year, before the TowerTimes, Quidditch and dating had become major influences in their lives, the group of Ravenclaws who had started school with Bryony got together every weekend and exchanged notes from the week, helped each other with research and tutored anyone who was struggling in any subject. Overtime, life started getting in the way and the group grew apart, so they called it quits on weekends and changed to one night a week before they headed to Astronomy class. The nine students would get together in the boy's dorm room and all notes, resources and candy was fair game until they had to head up to class.
"I don't think they're bad people," Joan chimed in, pulling her lollipop out of her mouth. "I think they're just focused on a very tight group and probably didn't recognize you."
"Or maybe they're just the pricks," Adam said with a sigh, prodding the book he was supposed to be doubling. "Can we just forget about it and have someone help me with this spell?"
Bryony smiled slightly and slid off the bed, swatting Todd's groan of protest away. Her strength were Transfiguration and Arithmancy, so it generally fell to her to help with those subjects.
Becky was also working on the same homework assignment and scooted over to make room between the two of them where the brunette could settle in to help.
As the clock inched closer to 11, the group started to pack up and trade snacks until next week. The girls ran up to their dorm to drop their unnecessary books before meeting back up in the common room and trailing out.
Before they were even out of the tower where the Ravenclaw common room was hidden, a voice called from behind them, "And where do you think you're going?"
"Stand down, we have Astronomy," Marcus called. He pulled out his Prefect badge, prompting Bryony to do the same, before the other person rounded the corner and he rolled his eyes, tucking it back away. "Bry, I think you can handle this one."
Her eyebrows pulled together slightly as she took a couple more steps down, smiling when she saw Cedric waiting by the statue off to the side of the winding staircase.
"Don't be late for class," Becky said, prodding her best friend before the group continued on their way with just a few cat calls from the guys.
"Hi you," the brunette said, pulling her boyfriend's lips to hers and knotting her fingers in the slight curls that were starting to form at the base of his neck. "Your hair is getting long."
"Our first actual time alone all semester and you decide to talk about my hair?"
"Good point." She pulled his lips back down to her, feeling his smile as they pressed their bodies together in a familiar rhythm.
All too soon, as usual, she pulled away. "Class."
"Skip."
"Can't."
"Goodie-goodie."
"Bad influence."
"I won't argue with that one."
She laughed before kissing him again, pressing herself against him as much as she could. "Do you think we could sneak me in to your dorm room this weekend? I just have Slytherin practice and my story during the day, and I don't have patrol until next weekend."
"I think we can make something work," he said, brushing back her hair. "Even if we can't get you in, we should take the day, just the two of us."
"I love you," she said softly, squeezing his hand.
"Love you, too," Cedric said, dropping another kiss on the top of her head before she hurried away, rushing down the stairs and taking the familiar path up to the tower.
When her alarm went off the next morning, she almost threw the watch that was charmed to vibrate across the room. The turnaround from Astronomy class to Gryffindor's practice on Friday mornings was definitely going to be the thing that killed her during the semester.
She pulled herself out of bed, trying to be mindful of her roommates as she padded to the bathroom. The girl scrubbed her face to try and wake up a bit before just putting on her base makeup. She considered putting on her uniform before going to practice, but decided better of it, thinking she could grab a shower during her free period after breakfast. Instead, she pulled on her jeans, a pair of combat boots and a grey boyfriend t-shirt before heading out the door, only pausing a moment to grab a tan leather biker jacket as an afterthought. Bryony knew she had left her bag in the common room the night before, so she slung it over her shoulder, smothering another yawn as she made her way down to the entrance hall.
She was pulling on the jacket, grateful she had thought to actually bring it, when she spotted her photographer waiting for her, almost falling asleep again the well. The brunette grinned, squeezing Tristan's arm when she got close enough, giggling when he jumped and knocked his glasses askew. The Gryffindor smiled down at her, his dimples in full force as he adjusted his glasses before scratching the back of his head.
"Long time, no assignment," he teased, knocking her arm.
"No kidding," she agreed, wrapping her arms around the one he offered as the pair started making their way out to the Quidditch field. "I didn't know I was going to get to work with you even though I'm not working on news anymore."
"Not many people wanted this shift due to the crazy hours you guys need crews. I figured Oliver wakes me up when he leaves for practice anyway, so I might as well be useful about it."
The brunette smiled and squeezed her friend's arm as they continued their path. The sun was just starting to come up, so it made sense why most people would rather be in bed asleep. But Tristan and Bryony were actually both part of the group that had helped found the TowerTimes, and she had always looked up to the aspiring photojournalist for his dedication to the trade.
She remembered in her second year, before she starting dating Cedric, she actually had a crush on Tristan. She would spot him during meals and try to grab a glimpse of him in the hallways, the way most 12 year olds do when they have a crush on an older boy. He had been standing on a table in the Great Hall one Tuesday morning, trying to get people to listen so they could take their idea about a school paper to Professor Dumbledore. They had a group of about 10 people, but were looking for another 10 to be close to fully staffed before proposing it. Bryony had stepped up without a second thought, and she remembered turning bright red when he had grinned at her for the first time.
From there, the group went to Professor Dumbledore, who referred them to Professor Vector to lead the paper. She had helped them transform the unused classroom in the Astronomy tower for their use, get an old printing press from the Daily Prophet and start finding news to cover at the school. Bryony couldn't imagine most of her past three years without the paper, and part of her still held that 12-year-old hero-worship crush on Tristan for getting her involved, but mostly he had become one of her best friends and her most-requested photographer.
When they got out to the field, the brunette noticed she could hear Oliver's voice floating out from the changing rooms, so she pulled her blonde friend over to them, making their way through the open door back to the co-ed part of the room. They spotted the Scot pacing in front of a bench of six people, and he subtly nodded to them as he continued on with his speech.
"But we also know we've got the best – ruddy – team – in – the – school," he said, punching his fist into his hand, obviously not derailed by the appearance of the two. Bryony scrambled to pull out some parchment and a quill, foregoing her annotations one to actually be able to make notes as she went. "We've got three superb Chasers, we're got two unbeatable Beaters."
"Stop it, Oliver, you're embarrassing us," the Weasley twins said together, bringing a smile to the witch's face.
"And we've got a Seeker who has never failed to win us a match!" There was a beat after his statement, which made her glance up from the notes to see an intense look on the captain's face, which only broke for a moment. "And me."
"We think you've very good too, Oliver," one of the twins jumped in quickly.
"Spanking good Keeper."
"The point is, the Quidditch Cup should have had our name on it these last two years. Ever since Harry joined the team, I've thought this thing was in the bag. But we haven't got it, and this year's the last chance we'll get to finally see our name on the thing."
The dejected tone in his voice made the two journalists glance at each other, partly in surprise and partly in sympathy. Oliver's team seemed to feel the same way, as one of the twins jumped in immediately, saying, "Oliver, this year's our year."
A couple of the others chimed in positively, making some the desperation on his face lighten up a bit. He nodded toward her again the back of the room, redirecting the attention her way. "This year, as some of you guys have already seen, there's also a sports section in our student paper. Bryony will be at practice once a week, plus she'll be meeting with me about once every other week to get updates on the direction I see the team going. She'll also need to work out times to speak to us as a group, and she'll be looking for comments after games, so stick around after your shower. Feel free to chat with her about a practice or an upcoming game, but if you don't want her to report on something, it's best to leave it unsaid."
The brunette waved as six pairs of eyes took the two of them in. "I'm sure you guys are more familiar with him, but Tristan is also here as my photographer. He won't always be around, but don't be surprised to spot him."
"Aren't you dating Cedric Diggory?" One of the girls, who she believed was Angela, said.
"I am, but I hope you guys know that I'll keep my work separate from my personal life. Anything that comes up in practice or interviews, if it's something that you guys don't want publicized, it won't be. Pending a huge story, of course."
The team seemed to accept this and turned back around to Oliver, who nodded once. "Alright, let's get this season started."
As the players filed out in front of her, the twins stopped, looking her up and down.
"So you're not dating Oliver."
Tristan glanced at her in confusion, pulling the camera down from the shots he was taking of the team. "Come again?"
Bryony laughed, waving her hand at him. "No, unfortunately, it was not a romantic breakfast you guys crashed the other day. I assumed you had figured as much though."
"Trust us, we had," one of them said, glancing at his twin.
"We just didn't know you were going to be stalking us all year."
"You would think one Quidditch player would be enough for a girl."
Bryony grinned again, tucking away her parchment as she moved to follow Tristan and the rest of the team out to the field. "A girl can never have enough company."
"I'm Fred, by the way," the twin who ended up on her left told her.
"George," the other one said, sticking a hand out for her to shake.
"Charmed," she said, shaking his hand before reaching over to shake Fred's. "Any pro tips on telling the two of you apart?"
"Now, don't get presumptuous!" George said with a laugh, mounting his broom to join in warm ups.
"We never reveal our secrets," Fred said, winking at her before taking off as well.
After waiting for them to get out of ear shot, she looked over at her friend who was busy snapping away as the group tossed the Quaffle around, with one of the girls tossing it to a twin once he got within reach. "Is all season going to be like this?"
"It'll probably be even more fun in a few months." He paused to take another snap, before grinning at her again. "Oliver will get crazier about Quidditch, the twins will be stirring up all kinds of trouble and something always seems to go wrong in Harry's life. I'm sure it'll be an interesting season for you."
"And it's not even just them," she murmured, making her way over to a staircase to grab a seat in the stands. "I still get to deal with Slytherin."
"Yeah, no chance in hell I'll be at their practice tomorrow."
She snorted. "Thank for the support."
"Always here for you."