Thorns
The Marauders' Era
Chapter 4: Competition
November came all too quickly at Hogwarts, as time always seemed to pass much too quickly there, bringing with it a biting chill and the promise of a cold winter. November also brought the first official inter-house quidditch match: Gryffindor vs. Slytherin.
Tessa twirled her medium brown hair into a secure messy bun. Taking a deep breath, Tessa ran her fingers over the silver lettering that spelled out her last name and team number on the back of her green outer robe: ROSIER 8. Smiling to herself, Tessa donned the green robe for the first time.
"Ready, Tessa?"
Tessa turned to see Edgar holding a broom for her, a smirk playing on his lips. While he was a quiet boy, arrogance seemed to radiate from him as it did from almost all Slytherin students. To ignore the knots twisting in her stomach, Tessa tried to channel Edgar's arrogance so she wouldn't lose nerve for her first game.
"Always," said Tessa, with casual air, hoping she would feel as brave as she sounded.
"Alright," Emma Vanity, Slytherin's captain, called out, "today we're going to destroy Gryffindor. We will not leave that field today without a win!"
The team did a brief huddle before they walked toward the field. The sound of the other students from behind the green and silver curtained was deafening as they waited to see the biggest rivals square off. It was said both Gryffindor and Slytherin scored highly skilled players this team, and everyone wanted to know who had the better players.
Edgar touched Tessa's wrist, causing her to jump. Tessa glanced back at Edgar who smiled at her.
"Remember," he said, flipping beater's bat skillfully, "nothing touches you. You just worry about scoring."
"Er, thanks," said Tessa, her cheeks flushing as she mounted her broom. On Emma's signal, Slytherin flew out onto the field, making a round before getting into positions.
As chaser, Tessa found herself staring directly into James Potter's eyes…and he looked like hell. Tessa guessed one part of it that he was as nervous as her, the other part of it, she figured, was because it was Sirius' birthday last night and she didn't want to know what trouble the boys got into.
"Sirius told me I should help Slytherin lose as a birthday present," said Tessa, earning a laugh from James.
"I agree," said James, "should I tell him where to find you when you're crying after the game because of your loss?"
"Tell him I'll get him a better present next year, Potter, this game is mine!"
Madam Hooch blew her whistle, signaling the beginning of the game. Slytherin and Gryffindor were a blur of red and green and gold and silver in the sky that chilly and sunny morning.
Tessa immediately rose higher amongst all the other players. Her teammates were grappling for the quaffle when she whistled to one of them. Soon she found the quaffle in her arm and she was speeding toward Gryffindor's goals posts.
"HEADS, TESSA!" Edgar shouted, and Tessa got low on her broom just as a buldger flew over her.
"I thought you had my back," she shouted back with annoyance, "I didn't know that meant take off my head!"
While Tessa wasn't watching, Edgar had gone head-to-head with one of Gryffindor's beaters, using his beater bat to knock the bat out of the Gryffindor's beater hand as well as direct the bludger at James.
The momentary annoyance distracted her long enough to have James jostle her, causing her to nearly lose the quaffle. Tessa's eyes narrowed; gone was James' tired eyes as he mirrored the competitive look in her eyes.
"I'm not sure how I feel about this," said James, jostling her again. Tessa had a strong feeling he was holding back from using all of his strength.
"That's okay, I'll be sure enough for us both!" Tessa suddenly guided her broom low and sped forward, throwing the quaffle into one of Gryffindor's goal posts.
"TEN POINTS SLYTHERIN!"
Cheers erupted from Slytherin's stands as Gryffindor recovered the quaffle. Tessa noted a bludger flying toward her, but before it could connect, Edgar was there, hitting it away from her, and toward a Gryffindor player. Tessa cringed as it made a direct hit and one of the Gryffindor chasers fell from his broom.
"Better," asked Edgar.
Tessa made a noncommittal sound before joining the melee for the quaffle.
For a while the game was neck and neck—sometimes Gryffindor was in the lead by 30, and then Slytherin would catch up with 50 points. One hour into the game and Tessa began to feel tired as sweat dripped down her brow. Currently the score was tied.
"Come on," she muttered, watching her team's seeker diligently look for the snitch while evading bludgers, "where's that snitch?!"
Tessa noted that James had the quaffle and she sped after him, knocking into him.
"Back down Tessa," James said through gritted teeth, knocking her back. Without warning, both he and Tessa were slammed by the other two Slytherin chasers, both of which happened to be sixth year boys. The force of the impact was so jarring that James lost the quaffle, and both he and Tessa were knocked from their brooms.
The crowd gasped as James and Tessa landed in a heap on the ground, and cheers erupted as Slytherin scored a point. Tessa rolled onto her feet and helped James up.
"You good, Rosier," asked James, running a hand through his unruly hair in frustration.
"Yeah, you made a decent landing pad. You?"
"Never better."
James and Tessa mounted their brooms to rejoin the game. James swore, watching the ruthless Slytherin players, and shook his head angrily. "Some teammates you have," he said, "willing to hurt their own man for a point."
"That's quidditch," Tessa shouted after James, but he ignored her. An odd feeling weighed down in Tessa's stomach, but she ignored it for now. Finally, after some time….
"THE SNITCH HAS BEEN CAUGHT! SLYTHERIN WINS!" Madam Hooch blew her whistle and all of Slytherin erupted into cheers. Tessa cheered along with her team before both teams dismounted to shake hands.
"You're very good, James," said Tessa, when they shook hands.
"So are you," said James, "now that I know how you play, I won't be as nice."
"Good," Tessa replied, with every intention to hold him to that promise.
Some time later, Tessa finally left the showers, promising Emma that she would hurry back to the common room for the after party. On her way back to Slytherin's dungeons, Tessa noticed Sirius, waiting in the hallway that lead back into the castle, casually leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets.
"Hey, Sirius," Tessa greeted, surprised. "How's James?"
"Sulking, naturally," said Sirius, shaking his head. "The loss was unexpected."
"Er, sorry," said Tessa, unsure of what to say. She then brightened. "By the way, happy birthday!"
"Thanks," said Sirius, pushing away from the wall with all the confidence of a 13-year-old boy.
"I have a present for you!" Tessa rummaged through her book bag. Tessa smiled as she produced a couple items from her bag. One was a cauldron cake intricately frosted and designed in Gryffindor colors, and the other a plain-looking roll of parchment.
"I went to Hogsmeade a couple days ago—"
"HOW DID YOU GET TO—"
"SHHH, Sirius," Tessa covered Sirius' mouth, wide-eyed, glanced around. "Do be quiet," she said angrily. "DID YOU JUST LICK MY HAND?!" Tessa pulled back immediately, wiping her hand on her black pants. "You toad!"
"Tess," Sirius laughed, shaking his head incredulously. "How did you get to Hogsmeade?! You know it's only third years and up that can go! And on a weeknight too!"
"You sound like a prefect," said Tessa, rolling her eyes, but she was unable to contain her smile. "You make it sound like you're the only rule-breaker out there."
"Tess, really, how did you get out," asked Sirius. All last year, he, James, Remus, and Peter scoured the castle for secret tunnels and passages. They managed to find one, behind the statue of a one-eyed witch, but they knew there had to be more.
Tessa shrugged, pride rising in her, knowing she was able to stump Sirius Black. "Let's just say I got to know some friends with things to share. Now, do you like your presents?"
"A better present would be to tell me what passage you used—ouch!" Sirius laughed as Tessa swatted his arm. He glanced down at the cauldron cake, knowing it was probably chocolate, which he very much enjoyed. He was more puzzled by the plain parchment in his hand.
"The cake looks good, and er, thanks for homework parchment?"
Tessa smiled again. "You could use it for homework if you like, but I suggest something else. This parchment is enchanted, have a look."
Tessa took back the parchment and drew her wand from her book bag. Silently, she tapped her wand on the parchment. "This parchment can shrink and grow to whatever size you want it to be," said Tessa, shrinking the parchment to the size of a galleon then growing it until it spilled from her hand onto the floor. Tess then shrunk it back down to the size of a simple piece of notebook paper.
"This parchment recognizes its users magic," explained Tessa, "and only responds to the one who owns it." Tessa handed the parchment back to Sirius. "You try. Tap your wand on it."
Sirius eagerly drew out his wand and tapped it once on the paper. Instantly, beautiful calligraphy began to appear across the page: Miss Tessa Rosier wishes her friend Mr. Sirius Black a very happy birthday and relinquishes hold of this parchment to the arrogant toad who is very much among her dearest friends.
Sirius glanced up at Tessa; his dark eyes alight with mischief and delight, as if Tessa had sparked ideas in his head.
"Thank you, Tess, I appreciate this," said Sirius with full sincerity, folding the parchment and tucking it into his pocket for later. Tessa beamed, and he found himself smiling along with her, mostly because this girl never ceased to amaze him.
Sirius watched Tessa at that moment in the corridor; it wasn't very often that they spent time alone together. Tessa stood in front of him, her long brunette hair tumbled loose and damp over her shoulders, smelling like a flower he couldn't quite remember the name of, but it reminded him of his favorite time of year—going back to Hogwarts. Her cheeks were still rosy from playing quidditch, which made her eyes look like a brighter blue. Sirius knew he fought with Tessa often, mostly because she was so easy to make fun of when it came to Slytherin, but what he liked about her was that she never let him get away with it. She called him out on his arrogance, and, depending on the joke, she would occasionally be on his side, sharing his fun.
Sirius knew that James was his very best friend, as was Remus, and Sirius grew to like Peter, but Tessa…Sirius knew that Tessa was in his circle too.
"Tessa."
Sirius and Tessa turned to see that Edgar was coming up from the quidditch field. Edgar glanced at Tessa and Sirius, one of his eyebrows arched in a mocking manner.
"What are you two doing," he asked.
"Wouldn't you like to know," Sirius answered. He had an immediate dislike of Edgar Nott that only intensified today after he watched Edgar hit a bludger into a Gryffindor beater.
"I was giving Sirius his presents," said Tessa, glancing between Sirius and Edgar, who sauntered toward them. "Yesterday was his birthday."
"Well I should wish you a good birthday then," said Edgar. "It's a shame Gryffindor lost, perhaps your birthday brought bad luck."
"Or perhaps we don't cheat," said Sirius, standing taller.
"Stop it," said Tessa, rolling her eyes, inserting herself between the two boys. Tessa glared at Edgar who immediately took a step back—she had learned early on that Edgar was the type that would instigate trouble so long as he got away freely. "Edgar we're late to the party, and Sirius, happy birthday, I'll see you around."
"Thanks again, Tess," said Sirius through gritted teeth, his eyes narrowing to slits as he watched Edgar touch Tessa's wrist in a too friendly way, getting her to turn her back on Sirius.
X
The party was loud and boisterous, and cheers erupted again when Edgar and Tessa arrived.
Edgar grinned widely and put an arm around Tessa as she smiled uncomfortably. "We owe our win to one of the greatest chasers we've had in a while," Edgar declared as Slytherins cheered again.
"I'm going to get pumpkin juice," Tessa murmured escaping from Edgar to a table laden with food and drink from the kitchens.
"How interesting that you and Edgar arrived so late to the party."
Narcissa smiled shrewdly at Tessa who coughed on her pumpkin juice. "I-is that what it looks like?! That Edgar Nott and I are—"
"A very lovely pairing," Narcissa purred.
Tessa glanced at Edgar from across the room, and her stomach jumped as she realized he was watching her this entire time. It made sense to her, now, why he was always around, offering to help her with potions and going out with her to Hogsmeade after her cousin Evan told her about the secret passage. Tessa frowned, trying to figure out how she felt about this.
He's not Sirius. The thought jumped out to her, seemingly out of nowhere, and she hadn't really thought about Sirius in that way, not really. She thought Sirius was rather cute, but he was her friend.
"-ssa. Tessa!" Narcissa laughed, getting Tessa's attention back. "You can decide how you feel about Edgar later," said Narcissa. "I mean, look at Lucius and I. I knew I loved him from the beginning but it took him a while to get there…" As she spoke Narcissa's eyes searched for Lucius who was in the corner of a room with Severus, Evan, John Wilkes, and Regulus, Sirius' brother, in a deep conversation away from the party.
Tessa made a noncommittal noise, unsure of how to respond to what felt like a girl-trap-traps set by girls in which there would be no winner, only anger and miscommunication—not that Tessa was above those.
"Anyway," continued Narcissa, not noticing Tessa's inner turmoil, "I want to host a Christmas party during Christmas holiday," said Narcissa, "and I would love if you'd come. You can come stay with me for a few days, and after the party my family will make sure you get back to your family safely."
"Sounds fun," said Tessa, carefully.
"I thought you'd like the idea. Only the best will be in attendance, and I already sent an owl to your mother so…"
Tessa nodded as Narcissa continued to fill her in on the details to which Tessa barely listened. Glancing around the Slytherin Common Room, Tessa noticed the clusters of students talking and laughing. Most were enjoying the party and the win, some were there for the free food and snuck away into private conversations. Tessa glanced back to Lucius' group of boys to which Edgar had now joined. She remembered platform 9 and ¾'s and Sirius promising to talk to her about why they had to show up early.
For once in her two years as a Slytherin, Tessa never felt more out of place than she did in that moment.
Author's Note: This story is prone to grammatical errors as I don't tediously edit. FUTURE REFERENCE: you are likely to see major time skips in this story because it will continue on to the First Wizarding War.
Author's Note PART 2: I still have a paper due, but I needed to get this out of my head haha. So, seriously though, the next chapter won't be out for a few days.
In the mean time, I love your feedback! :)
X