The next morning, Tee was shook awake by Katie Bell. "Whassa' matter?" she groaned, rubbing her eyes.
"Wood's just decided we're gonna have an early morning Quidditch practice," said Katie.
"What?" said Tee disbelievingly. "Why couldn't he have decided this when we were all awake?"
Katie shrugged. "I dunno, but if you don't hurry he's gonna throw a strop. I'll meet you in the common room; I've gotta go wake Ginny."
Tee got up and dressed at top speed, then grabbed her broom. Rose was still fast asleep so she left her a note on her bedside table. Katie and Ginny were waiting for her in the common room. Ginny didn't look particularly happy about her rude awakening either.
"Where's the rest of the team?" asked Tee. "Don't tell me Wood's just picking on the girls."
"Nah, he's already dragged them down to the pitch," replied Katie. "So let's go."
The three of them trudged slowly down to the Quidditch pitch. Well, Tee and Ginny did. Katie was several steps ahead of them. She was obviously used to being unexpectedly woken up for early practice.
"Slightly regretting this now?" Tee asked Ginny, though she was grinning.
"Just a bit," laughed Ginny. "If they'd given me another hour's sleep I wouldn't mind so much. I went to bed really late last night."
"Tell me about it," agreed Tee. "We stayed up even later. I don't even remember going to bed, I was that shattered."
They found the rest of their team sat on a bench at the near end of the pitch. Fred and Harry were both tousle-haired and heavy-eyed. George was actually asleep against the wall behind him. Wood was stood in front of them next to a large portable board.
"Good morning, everyone," greeted Wood brightly, as the girls sat down.
"Is it?" muttered Fred.
"Now as you all know, it's our first match next Saturday," announced Wood. "And it's against Slytherin. So we need to get through as much practice as we can, because we know that Slytherin like to play dirty. So I've came up with some tactics..."
He began to explain the diagrams on the board. The whole team sank into a stupor. It was like being in History of Magic. Even Katie was subdued and she'd been wide awake just a few minutes ago.
"Stay there," Tee whispered to Fred, resting her head on his shoulder. "I want something to lean on." Fred didn't even bother to protest.
It took Wood over an hour to explain the tactics on the diagrams. By now George was snoring, Tee kept drifting in and out of sleep whilst still leaning on Fred and Katie was sat forward with her head in her hands – none of them could tell whether she was asleep or not.
"Right then!" Wood suddenly clapped his hands together. The others all jumped to attention, apart from George, who had to be nudged awake by Harry. "Let's get started. On your brooms, everyone."
The team grumbled and mounted their brooms. Wood was undeterred by their lack of enthusiasm. But even he could see that tiredness was affecting the practice. It was a wonder they were all managing to stay on their brooms without falling asleep.
Altogether, it wasn't a very successful session. Everyone's reactions were slower, the three Chasers kept dropping the Quaffle, Harry had absolutely no chance of finding the Snitch, and George very nearly hit Fred around the head with his Beater's bat instead of the Bludger he was aiming for.
Wood wasn't too happy. But he agreed that it was a bad idea to make them practice so early, unless they'd had a good night's sleep.
Throughout the week, he kept them all busy during their free time with constant practice sessions. It didn't seem to bother him that it had been raining every night, so they came back from every practice soaked to skin and, more often than not, covered in mud.
Before they knew it, it was the morning of their first match against Slytherin. Fortunately, it was the first dry day they'd had all week.
"You nervous or not?" Rose asked Tee over the breakfast table, fifteen minutes before the match.
"Not, actually. It'll be a nice feeling to beat the Slytherins," replied Tee confidently.
"And it'll be good payback for Montague," added Fred. Montague was one of the Slytherin Chasers.
"You ready to go down?" asked George, pushing away the remains of his cereal. "Wood'll be having a barmy if we're not there for his pre-match pep talk."
"Yeah, and no-one wants that," agreed Tee, pushing her chair back and getting up. She turned to Rose. "I guess we'll see you after the match then."
"Okay, good luck!" exclaimed Rose, giving her a hug. "I'll be sat with your fan club. Have fun." She gave both Fred and George a quick hug too. "Try not to murder too many Slytherins. You'll only get detention."
"Well, we can't promise anything," grinned George.
When they got down to the changing rooms, Wood was quite confident. Harry, Ginny and Katie were already there and they seemed pretty positive too.
"Hope you're all ready for this, guys. This is one we definitely need to win," announced Wood. "Especially since the Slytherins have already been engaging in dirty play." He looked meaningfully at Fred. Everyone now had an idea of who had poisoned him.
"Don't worry, we won't let them win," Tee insisted determinedly, her jaw set.
"Good, that's exactly what I want to hear," said Wood, satisfied. He looked at his watch. "Right, we've got about five minutes… Everyone into your robes!"
Once they'd all changed into their Quidditch robes, they collected their brooms and headed out onto the pitch. The stands were now full of students, donning clothes and banners of either red or green to show which team they were supporting.
"Okay, now I'm near terrified," admitted Tee, seeing the hundreds of students in the stands. She suddenly felt very small.
"Don't worry; you'll be fine," reassured Fred, both him and George clapping a hand on her shoulders.
"Well, good luck, everyone," said Wood, also looking slightly nervous now. "Just play like you did in practice and we're guaranteed a win."
The Slytherin team was now on the pitch as well. Everyone mounted their brooms and kicked off into the air, apart from Wood and the Slytherin captain, Marcus Flint.
A fifth year Gryffindor boy with dreadlocks called Lee Jordan was doing the commentary. "So for the Gryffindor team, we have Wood, Bell, Weasley, Carroll, Weasley, Weasley and Potter!"
Tee couldn't help smiling to herself. Half their team was taken up by one family. This commentary could end up getting a bit confusing.
"Team captain, Wood, has had to replace two of his previous Chasers this year," continued Lee. "Which is a shame as Angelina Johnson was rather attractive..."
"Jordan!" snapped Professor McGonagall, who was sat next to him in the commentator's box. "Stick to the game commentary."
"Sorry, Professor," said Lee. "As I was saying, the last Chasers have been replaced by Ginny Weasley and Tia Carroll. Sure hope they're up to scratch."
There was an appreciative cheer from the crowd. Tee looked round and could easily notice the huge "We love Tee" banner at the front of the stands. And her eyesight wasn't exactly brilliant. She groaned.
"And for the Slytherin team, we have Bletchley, Flint, Montague, Pucey, Derrick, Bole and Malfoy!" announced Lee. Tee was happy to hear at least half of the crowd booing as the Slytherin team were introduced.
"Captains, shake hands," the referee, Madam Hooch, directed Wood and Flint who still remained on the ground. The two glared at one another and shook hands, a little harder than necessary. "Now mount your brooms. On my whistle..."
Wood and Flint mounted their brooms and kicked off. Wood retreated to his position guarding the goalposts, and Flint took his place next to his fellow Chasers. Madam Hooch released the Golden Snitch, which darted out of sight, and the Bludgers from the crate at her feet. She took out the Quaffle and held it up.
"Three... Two... One..." She gave a sharp burst on the whistle and threw the Quaffle up into the air.
A Chaser from each team darted towards it. Katie got there first and caught it neatly. She then passed it straight to Ginny.
"And it's Bell in possession... Passes to Weasley... Passes to Carroll... Now back to Bell... Flint tries to intercept and fails... Bell still in possession... Passes to Weasley... She shoots... She scores!"
There was a huge roar from the majority of the crowd. Rose, Kayley and her friends could distinctly be heard singing.
"So that's 10-0 to Gryffindor in just the first two minutes of the game!" announced Lee happily. "Pucey has the Quaffle... Passes it to Montague... Passes it back to Pucey... He shoots... And he's missed! Bell takes the Quaffle and passes up-field to Carroll..."
A Bludger streaked towards Tee as she raced towards the Slytherin goalposts. She didn't even need to duck, because Fred suddenly appeared at her side and swung at it hard with his Beater's bat, knocking it in the other direction.
"How's it going?" he shouted, grinning.
"Great!" Tee shouted back, as she threw the Quaffle to Ginny.
"Carroll nearly hit by a Bludger, but blocked nicely by one of the Weasley twins – can't tell which... She passes the Quaffle to Weasley... Hang on, is anyone else getting confused by this?"
"Jordan!" warned Professor McGonagall. "If you're confused by your own commentary, then maybe someone else should do it."
"It's okay; I was only joking, Professor," insisted Lee. "Bell now has the Quaffle... She shoots... Damn, blocked by Flint... Wait! She's back in possession! She shoots again... and scores!"
Again, there was a loud round of applause and cheering from the spectators. Within the next fifteen minutes of the game, Gryffindor had scored four more times and Slytherin still hadn't scored once. There'd been no sign of the Snitch, so Harry hadn't had much to do, apart from when a stray Bludger had pelted his way and he'd been forced to roll over in mid-air to avoid it.
"So that's 60-0 to Gryffindor! Shame about the Slytherins though," said Lee brightly. "They'd better pick up the pace a bit."
Already annoyed that they were down by six goals, the Slytherins didn't take too lightly to Lee's comments. Derrick, one of the Beaters, vented his frustration by hitting the next Bludger directly at Wood. Luckily, Wood moved out of the way at the last second and it just missed him.
"Foul!" shouted Madam Hooch, blowing her whistle. "You do not hit Bludgers at the Keeper unless the Quaffle is in the scoring area. Penalty to Gryffindor!"
By now, the Slytherins were positively sour. Ginny took the penalty shot and scored again, bringing the total up to 70-0 to Gryffindor. The game resumed play.
"Montague's in possession... Passes to Flint... Flint makes a reverse pass to Pucey... Back to Montague... Montague's heading for the goal... He shoots... But no, nice interception there from Carroll!"
There was a particularly loud roar from the Gryffindors in the crowd as Tee streaked down the pitch towards the Slytherin goalposts.
"She passes to Bell... But it seems Bell wants Carroll to do the honours... Passes back to Carroll... She shoots... And yes, she scores! 80-0 to Gryffindor!"
Tee beamed. Her first goal for Gryffindor! She did a small loop-the-loop in celebration.
"Nice one, Tee!" said Fred, hovering near her. Tee grinned and gave him the thumbs up in reply.
Angry about her intercepting his shot, Montague suddenly grabbed Bole's bat from him and hit a Bludger straight at her. Tee didn't even see it coming. It hid her hard on the side of the head, knocking her clean off her broom. Without stopping to think, Fred directed his broom down into a dive. Dropping his Beater's bat, he was able to use both arms to catch Tee and pull her awkwardly onto his broom with him. Luckily, being a Beater meant he had good balance.
"Time out!" he shouted angrily, trying to hold her up. The broom was losing height since it wasn't built to carry two people.
The Gryffindors in the crowd were booing and protesting angrily. Madam Hooch nodded and blew her whistle. The players started to descend to the ground.
"Are you okay?" Fred asked Tee gently, as he slowly guided the broom down.
"That depends..." mumbled Tee, blinking stars from her eyes. She was sat in an awkward side-saddle position on Fred's broom and was in danger of slipping off. She clung onto his arm. "Is George with you?"
"No, he's over there somewhere..." replied Fred, confused. George had flown off in pursuit of Tee's abandoned broom, which was now drifting lazily through the air by itself. "Why?"
"Because I can see two of you."
"Okay, that's not good." By now, they'd reached the ground. Fred dismounted the broom, one arm protectively around Tee's waist to support her.
At this point, everyone else was on the ground as well. Katie and Ginny were arguing with several of the Slytherins and Wood was shouting at Montague for trying to sabotage his Chaser. Eventually, Madam Hooch had to blow her whistle again to get everyone's attention.
"Penalty for Gryffindor!" announced Madam Hooch. "Only Beaters are allowed to handle the bats and direct Bludgers at other players."
"That's it? A penalty? He could have killed her!" shouted Fred. He would have gone straight for Montague if he hadn't been acting as Tee's crutch.
"I will also be speaking to his head of house after the match to make sure he gets detention for violent play," added Madam Hooch.
Fred gaped. "But that's still..."
"Drop it, Fred!" said Tee sharply, nudging him hard with her elbow.
"No!" objected Fred just as sharply, though he tightened his arm around her defensively. "This has gone too far now."
"Do you want to get disqualified?" said Tee.
"Montague should be the one who gets disqualified," pointed out George, who had now joined them, clutching Tee's broom as well as his own.
"I'm fine, really," insisted Tee, even though her head was pounding and she was leaning all her weight against Fred because she couldn't see straight from dizziness. "Just leave it until after the match at least."
She glared at Fred until he realised he wasn't going to win. "You sure you're up to playing?" he said reluctantly.
"Hell, like I'm gonna sit out!" replied Tee, forcing herself to stand up straight.
"So are we ready to resume play now that your conversation is over?" requested Madam Hooch, slightly sarcastically.
Tee nodded firmly and held her hand out to George for her broomstick. "Let's go!"
Whilst everyone was climbing back onto their brooms, Fred tapped Harry on the shoulder. "Get the Snitch quick, Harry," he whispered. "I don't want her playing for long; she should go to the hospital wing."
"Okay, I will," promised Harry determinedly.
Harry was true to his word. After some intense Seeking, he managed to catch the Snitch – and end the game – within the next ten minutes. Which was an added bonus because the Slytherins still hadn't had chance to even score.
"And Gryffindor have won the game!" announced Lee Jordan happily. "Two hundred and thirty to zero!"
The Gryffindor players all went to the changing rooms to change their robes. Rose appeared and then dragged Tee up to the hospital wing, despite her protests, followed by Fred and George. Thankfully, Madam Pomfrey said there were no signs of concussion or any other lasting damage – apart from a big bruise and likely headaches during the day.
The four of them spent most of the day sat down by the lake. The common room was full of Gryffindors celebrating their Quidditch victory, so they'd decided to go somewhere quiet instead for Tee's sake.
"I think we should go tell McGonagall about Montague," suggested Fred. He was leaning back against a tree with his legs arched. "Maybe then she'll see that he's got it in for us."
"Meh. Involves moving. Can't be bothered," groaned Tee, rolling over and burying her face in the grass.
"Well, someone should," said Rose reproachfully. "I'll go."
"And I will," offered George, jumping up. "Come on, this way's quicker..."
Tee looked up, bemused. "Well, they were quick enough to bugger off, weren't they?"
"I dunno what he's on about. They've gone in completely the wrong direction," said Fred, looking confused. "If they wanna go see McGonagall, that way will take longer. They should have gone that way..."
Fred pointed in the other direction. Tee could see Sam and Jensen where he was pointing. Fred had obviously spotted them too. "Hey look, it's your friend," he teased.
"Oh God, hide me..." said Tee quickly, crawling under Fred's legs.
Fred started spluttering through laughing. "What on earth are you doing?"
"Hiding. What does it look like?" laughed Tee. "Just stay there."
"That's probably not the best hiding place ever," chuckled Fred. "Why are you hiding from him anyway?"
"I just don't want him coming over and making a fuss about the match. Oh good, I think he's going back up to the castle/" She crawled back out. "Sorry," she grinned. "You're just my prop."
"Well, thanks," said Fred sarcastically, though he grinned back.
"Do you reckon George was trying to avoid them?" suggested Tee.
Fred shrugged. "Dunno. He's been acting weird all week."
"Aww, is your best friend abandoning you?" teased Tee.
"Well, it means that you get stuck with me instead," laughed Fred.
"Oh, dear lord..." Tee rolled her eyes.
"Shut up or you'll end up in the lake," grinned Fred.
"S'not a very nice thing teh say," said a gruff voice, making them both jump. They looked round to see that Hagrid had ambled over – his hut not being far from where they were sat.
"Oh, hey, Hagrid," greeted Fred, getting up to stretch his legs a bit. "Did you come to the match this morning?"
"I did. An' that was some ruddy quick thinkin' yeh did an' all after that damn Montague. Well done, mate," said Hagrid, pulling Fred into a crushing hug that momentarily stopped his breathing.
"Thanks, Hagrid..." gasped Fred, rubbing his ribs once Hagrid had released him.
"So yeh feel alrigh' now?" Hagrid asked Tee.
Tee nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, I'm fine. I've hit my head harder than that before."
"Well, I'm glad yeh okay," said Hagrid, leaning down to pat her on the shoulder. He obviously didn't want to be as rough, but Tee still felt like she was now going to have a new bruise. "So where's the other two of yeh?"
"They've gone to see Professor McGonagall," replied Tee.
"About Montague?" asked Hagrid. They both nodded. "I should think so too. Yeh need teh get all that sorted out."
"It would be nice," Tee agreed.
By the time Hagrid had left them, Rose and George still hadn't come back. And Hagrid had been talking to them for at least half an hour. "I take it George's so-called 'shortcut' didn't work," said Fred, who was sat down again beside Tee.
"No kidding," said Tee. "Hey, whatever happened to you teaching me the secret passageways here?"
Fred gave her a particularly devilish grin. "Well, I don't know if you've quite earned it yet..."
Tee punched him on the arm. "Shut up; yes, I have."
Fred laughed. "Hang on, I think you've forgotten who's in charge here."
Tee raised her eyebrows. "And why are you in charge?"
"Because I'm taller than you," grinned Fred. "Which also means I can do this." He pushed her hard and she fell over sideways.
"Hey!" protested Tee, pulling herself back up into a sitting position. "Now that was just mean!"
"No... This is mean," laughed Fred and he pushed her over again. He quickly got up.
"Don't think you're gonna get away with that, Weasley," threatened Tee, scrambling to her feet.
"Watch me," grinned Fred, starting to run down the grassy slope they'd been sat on.
Tee chased after him. Giving silent thanks to her friend Lauren back home – the sportiest person she knew – she dove into a rugby tackle, grabbing Fred by the legs and knocking him over.
"Ow! That was violent!" exclaimed Fred. He grinned suddenly. "Especially coming from someone so small."
Tee hit him again. "I'm an invalid; you're supposed to be nice to me!"
"Well, you should be nice to me unless you wanna go for a swim," smirked Fred. They were now dangerously close to the water's edge.
"Don't you dare," warned Tee.
"Then be a good girl or I will dare," teased Fred, tickling her.
"No! Get off!" shouted Tee, laughing as she tried to push him off. She grabbed him by the wrists and forced him back onto the grass, climbing on top of him.
"God, we can't leave you two alone for five minutes..."
Tee and Fred stopped wrestling and looked up. Rose and George were back, watching them with highly amused expressions.
"Five minutes? Try half an hour," said Tee, getting up. "What took you so long?"
"McGonagall wasn't there," said George with a shrug. "So we waited around for a bit. Dunno where she was."
"I'm surprised you two didn't end up in the lake," said Rose, looking meaningfully towards the water.
"Well, that was the original plan," grinned Fred. "But she didn't cooperate very well."
"That's because you're a bully," said Tee.
"Awww, you can't bully my Tee!" said Rose, giving Tee a hug. "Poor kitty..."
"Kitty?" Fred and George both raised their eyebrows.
"Yeah, she's my cat," giggled Rose. "Have you never heard me say that to her before?"
They both shook their heads. "Why exactly is she a cat?" asked George, bemused.
"Because she used to have spiky hair and it was fun to stroke.".
"Everything about you just gets weirder and weirder," Fred told Tee.
"Shut up," she said, prepared to hit him again.
"I don't care how weird you are, Kittykat," grinned Fred. "I still like you."
"Carry on calling me that and Rose won't like you, because that's her thing," Tee grinned back.
"Too right!" agreed Rose.
XXX
That night, as usual, the four of them were the last ones in the common room. After still being unsuccessful in trying to find Professor McGonagall, instead they were suggesting what they'd like Montague's punishment to be.
"We could always feed him to those giant spiders in the Forbidden Forest that Ron told us about," suggested George.
"Or we could force feed him a whole cauldron of poison," said Tee ruthlessly.
"Or give him some Amortentia and point him in the direction of Moaning Myrtle," added Fred, grinning. Moaning Myrtle was a miserable teenage ghost who haunted the girls' toilets on the second floor.
"Any one of those seems suitable," said Tee, rubbing her head. It still hurt and she felt drained of energy now. She didn't want to say so, but it was a bit obvious by the fact that she was slowly starting to lean against Fred again.
"I'm not a human pillow, y'know," Fred pointed out when her head was resting on his shoulder.
"Yes."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Congratulations, I think you've found the world's thinnest argument," interrupted George with a yawn.
"Come on, Tee; it's past your bed time," said Rose, getting up out of her chair.
Tee smiled but didn't move. "Whatever happened to you going to bed before me?"
"What happened is you got hit round the head and I didn't. So come on." Rose managed to pull Tee off Fred and point her in the direction of the stairs leading up to the dormitories. "Night, you two."
"Night," chorused the twins. Tee mumbled something sleepily that no one understood.
