Chapter 11
Problem Solving
September 16th, 2013
Tyriana was sitting at breakfast in the Great Hall with her friends when a male voice behind her that wasn't Caden's said her name. She turned around. It was Hawkins.
"What're you doing here?" she asked. She sensed her friends perking up behind her; they were paying close attention to this unusual encounter too. Slytherins never visited the Gryffindor table.
"You asked me to tell you when Zannah got a new wand," he said. "She just told me that she got permission to go to the Ollivander's shop in Hogsmeade yesterday. She showed her new wand to me a few minutes ago and I saw her glance your way a couple of times, too. She didn't look happy."
"Thanks for telling me, Julian," she said.
"Julian?" he repeated, feigning disbelief. "You actually know my first name?"
She nodded. "The nicer you are to me, the better my memory."
"Bullshit. Well, I've got to get going. I told Zannah that I was only coming over here to discuss the mess you made in the bathroom this morning, so…"
"What mess?"
"Merlin's beard, Tyriana, that was a lie! I had to tell her something that she wanted to hear so she'd let me go. She'd hex me if she thought I was coming over here to do anything other than ruin your morning! Anyways, see you later." Hawkins hurried away.
Tyriana resisted the urge to glance Zannah's way; that would only make the true nature of her conversation with Hawkins very clear.
"Well, shit," Brielle muttered. "That bitch has a new wand."
"Do you want us to escort you around today?" Siobhan offered. "She won't attack five of us."
"I'll be fine," Tyriana said. "This is between me and her. She'll probably just try and hex me. What's the worst she can do?"
"I recall you saying something like that last time," Siobhan pointed out. "Something about Zannah being the kind of girl to scream and throw her makeup? She attacked you, Tyriana. You're predicting that she's going to hex you this time. I'll bet she's way passed that. She's going to curse you."
"I'll be fine," Tyriana said again.
Tyriana spent the morning and early afternoon being extremely vigilant, but she saw no sign of Zannah in-between classes. Afterwards, she headed to her room and changed into her Quidditch robes, grabbed her broom and strategy notebook, and headed down to the Quidditch pitch. It was the first day of training.
Tyriana was the first Gryffindor to arrive, which didn't surprise her given that practice would not be starting for twenty minutes. After retrieving the trunk of Quidditch balls, she mounted her broom, intending to spend the excess time enjoying her Firebolt Supreme.
She was just kicking off from the ground when a voice behind her screamed, "Colloshoo!" Tyriana's feet stuck to the grass an instant before they left the ground. Her broom took off anyway, shooting out from between her legs and into the sky like an unguided missile.
Tyriana knew that someone had hexed her, and she had a pretty good idea of who it was: Zannah. Unfortunately, her wand was underneath her Quidditch robes. Her hand was scrambling for it, but she knew that Zannah had more than enough time to cast a second spell before Tyriana could defend herself. She prepared herself to endure whatever embarrassing hex or jinx Zannah's psychotic brain could concoct.
Then another voice joined the first. "Immobulus!"
To Tyriana's surprise, the charm did not apply to her, nor did she fall victim to another hex from Zannah. Her fingers finally grasped her wand and, as her feet were still glued to the ground, she turned her torso to see what had happened.
Zannah was thirty feet behind her, frozen like a statue with her wand raised. Her mouth was open, as if she'd been about to give another incantation. Behind her was Lydia, who must've cast the Freezing Charm.
Tyriana cast two spells. The first, "Accio Firebolt Supreme!" sent her broom flying back into her hand before it crashed into anything. For the second, she pointed her wand at her stuck feet and said, "Finite Incantatem." The effects of the Stickfast Hex vanished and she was able to move her feet again. "Thanks," she called to Lydia.
"No problem. I'd heard about your fight last week and when I saw her following you down here I figured that she couldn't be up to any good."
"Well, you certainly saved me from being embarrassed by another hex. Say, do you think Slytherin has thirty points that I can take?"
"Probably not, but you should do it anyway."
"I agree. Thirty points from Slytherin."
"You know, if she's going to keep attacking you like this you should probably report her."
Tyriana nodded. "I should. When the Slytherins find out that they've lost points again they'll be furious with her, and she'll want to express her frustration on me."
"I wouldn't be surprised if they were mad at you, too. I mean, you've taken at least eighty points from them by now, right?"
"Easily. And that's just for the stuff that relates to her."
"You'll probably have the whole house bearing down on you by the time we have our Quidditch match against them."
Tyriana nodded. "You're absolutely right. I have a life of hell to look forwards to."
"Well, if you ever need anything I'm glad to do whatever I can to help."
"Thanks, Lydia." Tyriana clapped the much taller girl on the back. "You're a great friend. Feel free to join my friends and I in the Great Hall sometime. They'd love to meet you."
"Sure."
Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Hugh and Jessamine. "What's this?" called the former, nodding to Zannah's frozen body.
"This is Zannah, the same Slytherin who attacked me last week. She hexed me a few minutes ago. Lydia arrived just in time."
"I'm sorry we weren't here to help," Jessamine said. "What should we do with her?"
"The spell's only going to last a couple more minutes," Lydia said.
"Hang her from the goalpost," Hugh suggested, sniggering. "Or use her as target practice for our Beaters."
"No… I need a way to get her to stop attacking me. Embarrassing her further won't help."
"Expelliarmus!" Jessamine said, and Zannah's new wand wiggled its way out of her stiff fingers and flew into the Chaser's waiting hand. "Let's take her up to Professor McGonagall."
Tyriana nodded. "We've got fifteen minutes till practice starts. That should be enough time, if we hurry. Jessamine, come with me." Turning to Zannah, she said, "Mobilicorpus!"
Zannah drifted off the ground.
Tyriana and Jessamine mounted their broomsticks and, using their hands to control Zannah's flight, flew her up to the entrance to the castle. They were just in time, as Lydia's Freezing Charm wore off seconds after they landed.
Zannah immediately rushed towards Jessamine, trying to get her new wand back.
"Impedimenta!" Jessamine shouted, not even having a chance to dismount her broom before casting the spell. Zannah was stopped dead in her tracks, as if she'd hit an invisible wall. She whirled and headed for Tyriana instead.
"Incarcerous!" Ropes sprung out of the end of Tyriana's wand, binding Zannah's hands and feet. Unable to keep herself from tripping, Zannah fell onto the stone floor with a cry of surprise. "Mobilicorpus!" Zannah's body levitated again, and Tyriana and Jessamine were easily able to guide the captive Slytherin to the Headmistress's office.
"What happened?" McGonagall asked after ushering them in.
"This is the second time this student has attacked me, Professor," Tyriana said. "Last time my friend and I had to go to the infirmary. This time she hexed me on the Quidditch field."
"I am familiar with the first incident. Had practice started when she hexed you?"
"No. I arrived before the rest of the team and she hexed me from behind. Professor, I'm hoping you have a better solution to resolve this because all I can think to do is take points away from Slytherin every time it happens. She seems to have an irrational and extreme hatred of me because of my blood status and the fact that I interrupted her attempt to… um… make out with Julian Hawkins. He has since told me that he did not want to… um… do that with her, but she just can't seem to take a hint."
Just then, Tyriana's binding spell faded. A few seconds later, the levitation spell faded as well. Zannah quickly scrambled to her feet, glaring daggers at everyone including the Headmistress.
Tyriana continued, "Um, Professor, if you'll excuse us, Jessamine and I need to get back to the Quidditch field. Practice starts in a few minutes."
"You are dismissed. I'm afraid this is not my first time disciplining Zannah. I will ensure that she bothers you no further."
"Thank you, Professor." Tyriana and Jessamine hurried back to the Quidditch field, where the entire team was now assembled. This included the reserve players she'd selected on her own time after the tryouts had ended. Clover (Tyriana figured that formal training and practice would give her a better shot at making the team in the future) and Gordon were her backup Chasers. She had two because she expected Slytherin to be quite brutal on the field and the Chasers would be in the thick of it. Charles was her backup Beater (she figured that anyone whose job was to hit Bludgers had a high risk of getting injured, too). She didn't have a backup for Lydia or herself, but she figured that she could replace the former with Trevor if it became absolutely necessary. He would not, however, be practicing at all with the team; she couldn't bear the sight of him. If something happened to Lydia she'd stomach his presence just long enough to win the match and then banish him from her sight.
She didn't have a replacement for herself, and that was a problem. She was likely to be the main target of the brunt of the pre-game insults, hexing, and general warfare between the rival houses. We need a reserve Seeker. I need a reserve Seeker. But how do I find one? Unless she held another tryout (informal this time, which would make it quite an undertaking for her to schedule) she had to find that reserve Seeker amongst the existing players in front of her.
Her eyes settled on Clover, and a reason why she felt so determined to see the younger girl succeed occurred to her: Clover reminded Tyriana of herself. She was small, an underdog, and a natural on a broomstick. There's my backup Seeker. Glancing at her watch, Tyriana saw that she still had a minute until practice technically started.
"Hi, Clover. Could I have a word with you?"
"Of course."
They stepped away from the others.
"Clover, have you ever tried playing Seeker?"
"Of course. I would've tried out for Seeker if it was available."
"Well, we have no reserve Seeker and I have a feeling we're going to need one. Those Slytherins are going to be brutal with me, both on and off the field."
Clover nodded bravely. "I can do it."
"Brilliant. During practice I'm going to train you as a reserve Chaser but, if you're okay with it, I'd like to spend half-an-hour after every practice working one-on-one with you as a Seeker."
Clover nodded again. "That's fine with me. I can't do today, though; I'm busy after this."
"We'll get started after the next practice, then."
Clover nodded, and she and Tyriana returned to the others, who were eagerly awaiting the start of their first training session. The weather was perfect and their spirits were high. Unfortunately, their first training session would not include as much flying as she suspected they hoped it would.
Instead, she spent the time discussing formalities, basic drills, and tactics. They did briefly practice the latter, but by then it was getting late and she called the practice session to a close. Tyriana was very proud of how they performed and how well they worked together
The team even waited until she'd finished putting the Quidditch crate away before walking up to the castle as a group. They certainly made a sight to behold as they marched into the Entrance Hall like a wave of red and gold. Students stared, and she saw a few members of the Slytherin Quidditch team exchanging anxious glances. They climbed the stairs together until the fifth floor, at which point Tyriana split off from the rest to go to her suite.
When she entered, Hawkins was doing homework in his armchair. He glanced up and saw the red and gold of her Quidditch robes. "Yuck. Those things are as garish as ever."
"The Slytherin robes are still drab."
"They're green — the color of the turf. Natural camouflage. That's called intelligence. You Gryffindors are way too visible. You're just giving yourself a disadvantage."
"That means that we don't need an advantage to win."
"Win? What win? As I recall, Gryffindor didn't win our match last year. In fact, Gryffindor hasn't won the Quidditch Cup in the last nine years."
"Shut up."
"Bitter, are we?"
"You wish, Hawkins."
"Then I consider that wish fulfilled. It's no secret that you take your Quidditch defeats very personally, Gallagher. You are very bitter and everyone knows it." She was silent for a moment, unable to deny what he'd said. "How'd practice go?" he finally asked.
"About as good as it could've gone."
He nodded, not at all surprised. "Knowing you, no more details will be forthcoming."
"Nope. I'm going to go get changed." Tyriana retreated into her room, hid her broom and notebook, and changed into casual clothes. She then grabbed some of her homework and went back to the living room, where she plopped herself down on the couch.
"You should let your hair down," he said after a moment. "It looks much better that way."
She rolled her eyes at him, although she did undo her ponytail. "I'm starting to think you have an obsession with my hair."
He shrugged. "I'm just trying to help. I've heard a few guys say that they prefer your hair down and messy."
She raised her eyebrows. "Who's saying that?"
"A few seventh years and a prefect or two."
"Which prefects?"
"Uh… a Hufflepuff — what's his name? Caden something?"
"Caden Weiss," she said. "Of course."
He gave her a questioning look.
She shrugged. "We've… um… talked a few times. I already know that he's attracted to me."
It was his turn to raise his eyebrows. "That was an odd spot to hesitate."
"Shut up," she growled.
"You're not denying it," he noted. "Caden's who you went on that date with, huh?"
"Don't tease me."
He stood and stretched, groaning, "I won't." He headed for his room and paused on the threshold. "I hope you know what you're in for."
Before Tyriana could ask for clarification, he'd disappeared into his room and closed the door. His comment was too cryptic to decipher so she returned her attention to her homework. She'd ask him what he'd meant another time. However, she had too many other things to worry about and investigating his comment fell to the bottom of the list. Dinner, more homework and the curfew patrol came and went. Before long, she was fast asleep in her bed.