Bryony made her way back to the Ravenclaw common room after the Slytherin practice on Saturday in a much worse mood than she had been in after the Gryffindor practice, even though it had been at a much more reasonable time. First off all, her photographer Jake, a Hufflepuff, hadn't been there on time, and then he forgot an extra roll of film and ran out of space after like three pictures, so she just sent him back to the paper with what he had, begging him to hurry and see if he could get back with a new film roll to take actual shots of practice. Flint then hadn't allowed her in the changing rooms and didn't let anyone talk to her after practice, so she had no new sound for an entire story she was supposed to write for Sunday's edition. When she had tried to confirm that they would at least be able to talk next Monday or get a schedule from him, he blew her off and walked back inside the changing rooms, which he had locked behind him. Jake then showed up with a new roll of film.
To top it all off, it had started pouring rain before she got back inside, so she was soaked.
Marcus glanced up at her as she stormed into the room and headed straight for the staircase, doing a double take once he realized she was drenched to the bone.
"You need anything, Bry?" he called after her as she headed up the stairs.
"The Slytherin Quidditch captain's head on a plate," she shouted back, before slamming the door of her thankfully empty dorm and stripping down as she walked in to the attached bathroom.
After turning the shower on as hot as it could go, she stepped in and let the scorching hot water pound on her back, hopeful that it would release the tension she was holding in her shoulders. She stood there and soaked it all in for a minute, before letting out a frustrated noise. It was a stupid to let him get to her, but this was something she was supposed to be able to do and do well.
She scrubbed her body down under the still scalding water and squeezed the shampoo out of her hair before stepping out into the steamy bathroom. The girl glanced at the mirror across from her, but was grateful it was steamed over as she wrapped a towel around herself and padded back out into the dorm. She went straight to her closet, looking for a clean and dry outfit for the day.
"I hung your clothes from earlier up," a voice said from the other side of the room, making her jump slightly. Joan raised an eyebrow at her from the spot on her bed where she was flipping through her Charms textbook. "Just in case you were wondering."
"Thanks," she replied, sighing again as she pulled open the closet. Feeling a heavy gaze still on her, she turned around and caught Joan's eye. "What's up?"
"I feel like I should be asking you the same thing."
"I just can't stand Marcus Flint." Bryony grabbed one of Cedric's old Quidditch jerseys that was hanging up and a clean pair of jeans from her trunk before heading behind the screen to change.
"Right, Marcus mentioned something in the common room about you wanting a Quidditch captain's head on a plate, and I assumed it wasn't Cedric."
The brunette smiled slightly. "Normally a safe bet." Her roommate didn't say anything, so when Bryony walked out from behind the screen she went over and laid down on Joan's bed. "Thank you for asking, though."
"We just want to make sure you're okay," the American said, handing over a cherry-flavored Sugar Quill. "I think this is the third time I've seen you this week, and I doubt you've slept more than 20 hours total. It's just the first week."
"Trust me, I know." She nibbled on the end of the treat, settling deeper in to the bed. "Thankfully, I don't have patrol until next Saturday, I don't have to watch the paper for another two and a half weeks and this is my off week for captain interviews, since Henry will do both Captain's Corners. I'll just have the two practices to cover, that is if Flint even lets me, our study group and classes."
Warm brown eyes met electric blue for a moment, but Joan just shrugged. "If you're sure. Let us know if anything comes up and you need something."
"Of course." Bryony stood up and shook out her still damp hair before twisting the curls up in to a messy knot. "Thanks again for the Sugar Quill. I'll make it up to you on Thursday."
"Don't forget that Becky's birthday is this week, so we have to plan something for her."
The girl mentally cursed, closing her eyes for a moment. "Do you have time to plan tomorrow night?"
"We'll figure something out."
"I have to head to the newsroom and write this story with no actual sound in it, so wish me luck. If you guys need me, I'll be with Cedric after that." She slung her bag over her shoulder and waved on her way out, ignoring her roommate's teasing comments which hadn't stopped despite the years the couple had been dating.
Marcus gave her a questioning look as she headed back through the common room, but she just waved and continued her familiar path, trying to construct the story in her head before she actually got to her desk.
But even 20 minutes later, when she was actually sitting at her desk with her notes scattered around her, the story just wasn't coming.
Bryony groaned and let her head drop on to her desk, closing her eyes for a moment and taking in the buzz of the newsroom as they got ready to print their second edition.
"You seem like you're having the time of your life."
For the second time in less than an hour, the brunette practically jumped out of her skin in shock. She heard her executive editor's familiar laugh and let out the breath she had unknowingly been holding, and rubbed her forehead. "Craig, hi. I haven't had much of a chance to see you this year."
"No kidding," the seventh year Hufflepuff said, sliding in to Henry's chair across from her. "I remember O.W.L. year. At least I wasn't an editor at the time."
"But now you're taking your N.E.W.T.s and you're the head of the paper."
He shrugged slightly. "I'm taking less classes than I was in fifth year, plus this is my second year as exec. It calms down." Craig reached over and grabbed some of her notes. "But this is your first year as more than just a staff writer. I get that it's a lot to handle."
"I'm just still working on the whole sports thing." The words fell out of her mouth before she could stop them, making a light shade of pink dust her cheeks before she continued. "I tried over the summer to learn as much as I could, but it's an entirely different world than turning news stories."
"That's why we decided to pick you to do it," he said, not looking up from the notes. "I know you can write a damn good news story. We needed that strength and skill to transfer to a beat that, for the time being, we're still just testing out. It's a much bigger challenge for you than reporting on the fact that Sirius Black is still missing or that the Gobstones Club grew this year." The two made eye contact at that point, and he grinned. "I take it Flint was an absolute pillock?"
"Spot on."
"Well, because you don't have sound from practice, why don't you just make this story a brief? We already have your Gryffindor story plus the season schedule. If they aren't going to talk to us, we don't have to give them equal coverage."
"We don't?"
Craig smiled. "We gave them every chance to comment, and they declined. That's just as reportable as everything else from practice, or any soundbite you could have gotten. I'm not saying tear them apart, but if they're going to play this game, we can play it right back.
"Keep in mind, I won't let this fly for the entire season, but I also don't want to see you this stressed out this early on. Take a breath, grab some coffee and then turn the brief. Then I don't want to see you back here until Monday." He winked at her, passing her notes back before heading up to the assignment desk where Jamie and the other copy editor, Carrie, were both flipping through their own stacks of stories.
Bryony did get up to grab herself a cup of coffee they had from the set-up in the corner, blowing the steam away as she opened her multi-colored ink well and got to work. About 6 inches of parchment later, she dropped it in to the bin to be edited, waved to the editors and made her way out of the newsroom.
Glancing quickly at her watch, the brunette knew she had about half an hour before Cedric would wrap up his weekly library session, so she headed down to the kitchens and grabbed some of their favorite snacks. Instead of just walking out right away, she plopped down on one of the stools in the middle of the kitchen and pulled out her planner, glancing through the next week.
"Hey Danby," she called out, looking up and spotting the house-elf that normally helped her and Cedric when they would sneak in for a snack. "Could you help me with something?"
"Of course, miss. Is there another food we could get for you?"
"No, no, what you guys are doing is more than enough. I was just wondering; one of my friends is turning 16 this week, and we were planning on throwing her a party. Do you guys ever help with student parties?"
"Oh, yes miss!" he said, a smile growing on his face. "When the students get together on top of the Astronomy Tower around the break is our biggest event. We also have special requests, and are more than happy to help."
"There's a party on the Astronomy Tower every year?"
"Yes, miss. Only older students are allowed though, because we give them wine and Butterbeer, and even Firewhiskey," Danby giggled.
She blinked for a moment before scratching down a note to ask someone about that. "Well that's great! Actually, do you guys think you could handle having a group of students in here next weekend or something? There wouldn't be too many."
When the house-elf smiled at her, Bryony found herself grinning as well. "We would be so very happy to make that happen!"
"Great!" She scribbled in another note about the party before another house-elf she didn't recognize handed her the basket of snacks she had asked for. "Thank you guys so much for this, really, and thanks for your help, Danby!"
The house-elves all chimed in goodbyes to her as she made her way out the door, practically running in to Cedric who was on the other side of the painting.
"Hi!" they both said at the same time, making both of them laugh before he pressed a kiss to her forehead and grabbed the bag of snacks from her.
"Seems like we had pretty similar ideas," he said, taking a peek inside. "The common room should be pretty empty if you want to sneak in with me right now."
Bryony grinned and nodded, leaning up to press her lips against his for a moment. "That sounds amazing."
He grabbed her school bag as well, slinging that over his shoulder along with his own and carried the food in one hand, taking hers in the other as they meandered down the hallway to the stack of large barrels. He reached out and tapped the rhythm on the one in the middle of the second row, and gestured for her to climb in ahead of him.
While they hadn't done it often, the brunette had been in the Hufflepuff common room enough that the sixth year sitting by the fire just waved at her as she popped out of the passageway. Cedric stepped out a moment behind her, waving at his housemate before leading her up to his dorm.
The two settled in to his bed, Bryony's head settling in the perfect spot on his chest that they had practiced so many times. She had stayed with the Diggorys over the past few summers, not really having a home to go back to, and the two had snuck into each other's rooms enough that they knew how to fit together perfectly.
"What do you want to do for your birthday this year?" she asked after a few minutes. Cedric had pulled her hair down and was combing his fingers through it in a very distracting way.
"This."
"We can do this any time."
"Well then how about this?" he asked, pulling her face up to his to press his lips against hers deeply, in a way they tended not to while they were in the Hogwarts halls. She responded in kind, deepening the kiss when she rolled over and straddled his waist.
A short time later, after both had caught their breaths, she tried again.
"So about your birthday."
He laughed, pulling her closer and stroking her bare back. "I don't expect you to do anything, love."
"But it's your sixteenth birthday," she said, resting her chin on her hand. "We'll only celebrate it once. Plus I'm already planning Becky's for next week, and with yours in October, it at least gives me a little more time to put something together."
"But it's the the third of many, many birthdays I plan to celebrate with you." He pressed another kiss to her forehead. "All I really want is some time where we don't have to bother about Quidditch or the paper or prefect duties. I just want more of this."
She allowed her eyes to drift closed as his words settled over her, realizing just how peaceful it was to actually be in the moment with him. "I love you, Cedric Diggory."
"Love you, too."