Sun trickled in through the windows on a bright morning a week into school. A handful of owls seemed to be carrying a parcel that was long, tightly wrapped, and heavy enough that it took three owls of decent size to ferry it over and drop it with a heavy thump in front of Tansy. A few other owls followed, extra parcels falling around it. One upended a bowl of porridge on Delta, who glared wildly at the owl responsible for it.

"Is this it?" Nova was reaching for the oblong package, excitement bubbling up.

"I think so," Tansy grabbed the twine securing the wrapping and began to reveal the broom within the paper. However, the warm brown broom flecked with gold was not what sat in front of her. The wood was pale, almost a smokey grey flecked with silver inlayings. The handle was brightly polished and shaped like an arrow fletching. The twigs were sleek, whitish brown with tiny buds still attached, The pegs were silver and while it was a handsome broom, it was not the broom that Tansy had paid a lot of money for.

"This isn't The Griffin," Tansy began crossly, picking up the broom so that she could glower at it better.

Underneath was a sealed envelope, which Nova picked up and opened. "Wait... Blue, wait," she waved at her, bringing Tansy back to her seat as she clutched the broom. "Dear Ms Belmont, with our most sincere apology, we at Sky Craft regret to inform you that our professional model, The Griffin, is out of stock and on back order for a year. As we have noted that you have ordered various other products, we have sent you our latest model, which has not been released on the market yet, Artemis 21. This broom is a sleek, Seeker broom with a distressed Cypress handle and twigs from a budding elm tree. Quick like an arrow, the Artemis was created to be aerodynamic and the quickest broom of its kind. While it does not possess the same features as the Griffin, we hope that you will be satisfied with the performance of the Artemis 21 and give us your thoughts on its ability after your season.

"Artemis excels as bursts of speed, reaching its peak acceleration just 1.2 seconds after launching. The broom has also proven to be more sturdy than the Griffin model and we anticipate a grand release for the broom, however since it is still going through trials, we are not actively marketing it at this moment in time-" Nova broke off and glanced eagerly at the greyish broom. "Tansy this broom isn't even on the market yet!"

"And it's also on trial still. Who knows if this thing will throw me off mid-flight," Tansy seethed, wondering if all her money had really been worth this trial broom. She was more cross than excited, having been hoping to have the warm Griffin in her hand to showcase. Instead, she had a broom that people would question until they say it perform.

Her Quidditch robes, goggles, gloves, and broom kit were contained in the other parcels. She awkwardly ferreted them back up to her dorm before class and rejoined Nova for Charms. Their Charms class this year was to be held with Ravenclaw and the Rosewood twins sat at the same length of desks. Many of their classes the previous years had not been together, favoring Gryffindor or Hufflepuff as their class majority. On top of that, it didn't quite sit well with Megan that they had become friends with Jasper, though she never had heard the entire story.

Tansy opened her book to focus on the Banishing Charm. Much of what they were learning was material touched upon in previous years, but with the O.W.L.s approaching at the end of the year, the professors wanted to make certain they were loaded on with the appropriate material. In all truth, Tansy was eager for the end of the day to try the broom out, wondering if she were going to be sending an angry letter back to the company about how she had gotten cheated out of a lot of money.

Her daydreaming was interrupted by a sharp tap, Flitwick was blasting a pile of pillows in front of him away. They had already learned this spell and this was just another day to go over the purposes. When it was the class's turn to try their own hand, she sat back, watching as a tiny smile touched Flitwick's lips. However, the smile faded when his tiny form was flung across the room and into a pile of reserved pillows.

Eyes turned to see who had missed and with a shaking hand, one of the Ravenclaws ducked behind their stack which they had missed miserably. Flitwick got up and dusted himself off, nonplussed by the situation until said student missed again and sent a chair hurling toward the window. Flitwick only managed to deflect it just in time before it shattered the glass.

"Oh dear, oh dear me," he squeaked, trying to get the rogue objects under control.

On their way out of the class Lee was shaking his head. "My goodness, we learned that spell two years ago and it's rather simple," he sniffed.

Over the years, the twins had also grown. Lee had shot up in height, especially over the last summer. He was lanky and dwarfed everyone else. His nose seemed a bit long for his face and his hair was parted neatly to the side still. He had also needed glasses and now wore a pair of horn rimmed spectacles.

Megan had gotten a bit taller and rounded out slightly. Her lips constantly formed in a pout, her eyes turning up to her gangly brother. "Not everyone is as intelligent as you are," she told him curtly.

"Did you have any issues casting it?" Lee asked her stoutly.

Megan murmured beneath her breath, glancing at Tansy as if to plead for a subject change. "So I heard you're on the Quidditch team now."

"Yeah, we'll see how that goes," Tansy sighed, her mood had been swinging back and forth about the whole ordeal.

"Hopefully, you can shape them up. No offense, but Slytherin has been hurting, relying on dirty tricks to win them games and not skill," Tansy should have been offended, but she knew that Megan closely followed international teams and games. "If you want, I can lend you some of my stuff to watch. It's always good to look at old games recorded on my ominoculars, I've accumulated them all from the past summers."

"You'd let me borrow them?" an ominocular with several games on it was probably worth a lot. Wizards did not have televisions to watch live games and often heard about them over radio or by the newspaper the following day.

"I've got a newer one with the most recent games. Haven't looked at the old one for some time, but it's got some really good plays that would be helpful. I'll give it to you after dinner," Megan offered with a shrug.

Later that had Potions with Gryffindor. Jasper joined them around a cauldron as Slughorn sauntered in, an easy smile on the elderly man's face as he directed them to open their books to the chapter containing the Draught of Peace.

"This potion may be very useful for many of you this year. With the O.W.L.s coming up, a lot of students begin to get anxious or agitated. You may not be feeling it now, but I assure you that the O.W.L.s will sneak up on you," he gave a chipper smile and then lifted a few ingredients off of his desk. "Now for this potion you need powdered moonstone, syrup of hellebore, powdered porcupine quills, and powdered unicorn horn. Now I must warn you that this potion is very difficult and if you don't get it on the first try, don't feel deterred. Now please collect your ingredients. Groups of 3-4 for today, but come the test, you shall have to do it on your own."

"I can go grab the stuff," Nova shrugged, sliding down from her stool to approach the cabinets with a plethora of other Slytherins and Gryffindors waiting patiently for their turn.

"Heard you got your broom today," Jasper scooched closer to Tansy.

"Yeah, I'm going to try it out later today," Tansy shrugged.

"I also heard that it wasn't a Griffin. You had me thinking you were really going to spend that much coin on your first broom," there was a twinkle in his eyes, as if it were quite hilarious.

"I did spend a lot of money on my broom," Tansy informed him stoutly.

"Greyish silver broom? Arianna said she couldn't really tell what model it was, though I speculated it was perhaps a Moonbeam."

"Wrong," she breathed just as Nova returned with the materials, which were not yet powder, and sat between them.

"Alright, help me grind these up," Nova ordered, doling out the materials.

Nova had gloves on while handling the hellebore. After carefully measuring the powdered moonstone, Tansy added it to the cauldron and began stirring.

"You have to stir it until the potion turns from green to blue. Should take 7 turns clockwise," Jasper told her, Tansy was already counting the motions she had made. The Gryffindor began measuring out the next amount of moonstone saying, "So what kind of broom is it? I don't know of many that are the color that Arianna described."

Tansy, trying to focus on what she was doing, barely heard was he was saying. "Uh, an Artemis," she muttered, silently cursing herself. Was that round 6 or 8? The potion had turned blue, so she stopped turning it and let Jasper dump in the next amount of powdered moonstone, trusting his measurement.

"Counterclockwise, 7 times until it turns purple," he directed, leaning back against his stool. "An Artemis? Never heard of that before. Are you just making some broom up? I bet it is a Moonbeam."

Tansy scowled and a smile unfurled on Nova's face. "Yeah, sure it's a Moonbeam."

"I knew it! Oh come on Belmont, a Moonbeam is not the best Seeker broom. I told you that a Saturn would be better, especially as an amateur broom," he let out a wistful sigh and shook his head.

The potion wasn't as purple as she would have hoped, but stopped turning it once she reached 7. Turning the heat down, they allowed the potion to simmer.

"You worried that Slytherin is going to win still?" Nova mused.

Jasper laugh, albeit harsher than he might have intended. "Even if Tansy is the best thing on the Slytherin team, they'll have to get their act together. Your chasers don't work together and the only good thing is that your keeper isn't half bad."

Was the Slytherin team that bad? Tansy had thought they'd done well enough in the past years, but she also didn't watch Quidditch outside of Hogwarts. She'd have to take a look at the games Megan had recorded before making her decision.

The trio continued to work on the potion and the small discrepancies that Tansy had noticed became more prominent toward the end. Instead of a poof of light silver vapour, a dark black smog bubbled off and smelled strongly of sulfur. Covering their mouths, they glanced around desperately and noticed they had not been the only failed potioneers in the room. In fact, a manner of failed cauldrons sat around them. Some were spitting green sparks, another was glubbing slowly, casting dangerous droplets outside the cauldron, another was whistling loudly.

Slughorn scurried around as fast as his legs would allow him, dismayed that everyone seemed to be having problems. He tutted to himself and began taking care of the potions one by one. However, when he paused at their desk to counterbalance the potion so it could be tossed away, someone began shrieking behind them.

One cauldron had exploded and the potion had spewed over several students. With a flash, the concoction burst into flames, and those doused by it were flailing wildly.

Slughorn whipped his wand out, "Aguamenti!"

Water spouted from the end of his wand like a fire hose and he put out the fires, while water spilled into more cauldrons, ruining even the good potions. This set off a terrible chain of events as Slughorn tried to gain control of the classroom, most students drenched, and others still terrified. More cauldrons began to rupture and students crawled underneath their stone desks to try and evade the failed potions.

"Get out of the way! Get down!" Slughorn directed as he had more fires to put out.

Tansy and Nova had stuffed themselves beneath the desk, but did not see Jasper for a moment. He appeared, clutching his arm and groaning.

"Did you get hit?" Nova gasped, Jasper's face remarkably pale.

"I'll be fine, just a flesh wound," he muttered.

"Maybe I can heal it, let me-" Tansy crawled over and peeled back his sleeve. What she saw made her scream. "Professor! Professor!" she shrieked, her own head swimming as she turned her eyes away from the skin and flesh that was sliding from Jasper's arm like it was molten.

Her ears were ringing as she stood up. Slughorn had taken control of the room and a few other students appeared to be hurt by burns. "Professor!" she screeched as he was bent over someone, healing a nasty burn. "Jasper is hurt very badly-"

"There are a lot of students hurt badly, if you could-" Slughorn started.

"No you don't understand!" Tansy told him forcefully. "His skin is falling off the bone!"

Potions hadn't been her best class, but Slughorn had been impressed by her other work and earning points for Slytherin. She wasn't an unruly student and followed directions cordially. However, he'd always favored the students who were more apt at potions, regardless of their house.

Slughorn paled considerably when he heard this and left the student he had been helping to hurry over to Jasper who was now covered in a sheen of sweat. When Slughorn looked at his arm, the professor appeared as if he were going to faint for a moment.

"Tansy go to my cabinet in my back office. Look for a bottle labeled with PT. Quickly now, it's in a tear shaped bottle, locked away. Use this-" he took a tiny skeleton key from his pocket and handed it to her. He then began to mutter incantations beneath his breath to stem the bleeding.

Tansy snatched the key and nearly ran into the door, fumbling the knob. A plethora of tiny drawers were assorted against a wall in a huge cabinet. Her eyes widened, heart thrumming heavily in her ears as she hurried forward and began ripping shelves out. She saw a few required a key, trying the key before she found a match. A tear drop shaped bottle held a clear liquid in it labeled as 'PT'.

When she returned to Slughorn, Jasper was unconscious. He threw the glass stopper aside and upended the bottle over the grevious wound. Unable to tear her eyes from the wound where the skin and flesh had sopped right off, she watched as the muscle and skin began to reknit itself. She was awed as Slughorn completely upended the bottle and Jasper's arm, which had been nothing but bone, was returned to its normal state.

"How..." she breathed, astounded by the magic of the liquid. "Is it a potion?"

"No, phoenix tears," Slughorn told her, his face relieved that it had worked. "He's going to need to be brought to the Hospital wing, he lost quite a bit of blood. He may appear fine physically, but there will be some recovering to do."

Slughorn stood up and surveyed the damage done to the room before a shaky sigh escaped his lips. "I'm getting too old for this," he whispered, not intending for anyone to overhear him.

Slughorn proceeded to summon a stretcher for Jasper and a couple of other students, which Nova and Tansy marched over to the Hospital Wing. The matron, Madam Pomfrey frowned when she saw a handful of 5th year Potions students heading into her charge.

The strict woman hurried over to Tansy and Nova, the two students who appeared to be unscathed. "What's going on? What happened?"

Tansy explained the mess in the Potion's class and how some of the cauldrons had exploded. She couldn't attest much to some of the other injuries, but was able to explain in great detail how the skin had fallen right off of Jasper's arm.

"Goodness, we're lucky Professor Slughorn had phoenix tears in reserve," Pomfrey left what would have happened hang out to dry.

Jasper was put into a bed to recover and Tansy pulled up a chair, taking out her book to begin on some of her homework. However, she was a bit distracted, wondering how he had been able to withstand the pain. Her eyes listed around the room and she watched as Madam Pomfrey whipped around the room like a dervish, healing the burns with her wand and administering potions to ease the pain.

Never had she thought much about healing, not able to do it until she had acquired Excalibur. Her old wand had been repulsed by healing and never had a knack for it or stirring any potions that had healing qualities. Now, she watched Pomfrey hungrily, wondering about the charms she used, how she knew which potions would work best...

She barely noticed that anyone knew had entered the Hospital Wing, having kept her eyes on Madam Pomfrey. With a cry of absolute anguish, someone ran over to the bed that Tansy had been sitting by. Her attention snapped back and refocused on Jasper, who had yet to stir from his sleep.

"Oh my! Oh my sun and stars I can't believe it, I really can't believe it was true," the girl breathed out in a sob as she fell to her knees next to the bed.

Tansy just glowered at her, the noise causing Madam Pomfrey to perk up, glaring in their direction as her peaceful workplace had been disturbed by the rest of the school getting out of class and coming to visit their companions who may have been injured.

"Can you quiet down? This is a hospital not a Quidditch game," Tansy scowled, assuming that the girl was Jasper's new flame.

Tansy didn't know if she was older or younger, but she was a very pretty girl. She had a sheet of long, raven hair and almond shaped eyes that were a warm brown. She was petite and had a narrow waist, her long hair falling around her in a curtain.

Tansy expected her to narrow her eyes an give Tansy a scrupulous look, but the girl bobbed up and sat at the edge of the bed. "Oh, you must be Tansy Belmont. Jasper spoke about you all summer," the girl said. "Ming Zhang, pleasure to meet you."

Tansy wished she could have said the same, but she only managed an unconvincing half smile. "Pleasure," the word rolled of her tongue thickly.

"I heard that a cauldron exploded in your class. You're not hurt too are you?" Ming asked politely and earnestly.

"Fortunately, no, but Jasper was injured quite badly," she admitted.

Ming glanced over at him nervously, but saw that he just appeared to be sleeping. "And now?"

"He's all healed, but will need to recover his strength. He lost a bit of blood," she repeated Slughorn's diagnosis.

"Oh good, that's very good news," she paused, her doe-like eyes pinning Tansy to her spot. "Did you heal him? I mean..." she twiddled her fingers together in a manner that was so adorable that Tansy wanted to vomit in her mouth. "Jasper spoke about his best friends, but was especially fixated on you. Kept saying that you were probably the next greatest witch in our generation, so I became quite excited to meet you. I was going to meet you on the train but-"

Tansy's cheeks flushed as she recalled their trip from the Hogwart's Express. She had noticed that he had stopped someone before entering alone. Had that been Ming? "Oh... well, here I am," Tansy said weakly. "You said he was telling you about me over the summer?"

"Indeed! He was staying at his uncle's which is in the same town that my family lives in. He recognized me and we hung out a bit. And the rest was history," she released a wistful sigh and then turned her eyes back to Tansy.

You don't know her, give her the benefit of the doubt, a voice reasoned in the back of her head.

"Well, if you're going to keep an eye on him, I'll be going then. I have a few things I need to do before dinner," Tansy said politely, her chair scraping beneath her as she stood up hastily.

The noise caused Jasper to stir. He blinked open his eyes and saw Tansy first, a good natured smile unfurling over his tan face. "Do I still have an arm?" he asked bemused.

"Yes, fortunately Slughorn had phoenix tears to heal you. Ming has arrived to take over watching you, I've got to practice on my new broom. You better get well so that my team can whip yours," Tansy forced a grin to reassure her friend that everything was alright.

"With that broom?" he huffed lethargically, trying to sit up.

Both Ming and Tansy reached over, intending to push him back down into the bed if he tried to get up. "Rest or you won't be playing me," she scolded, frowning at him like a mother at a child.

"I'll be certain that he stays in bed," Ming promised, her eyes were sweet when she looked at Jasper, but twinkled mischievously when she looked at Tansy.

Damn it, Tansy thought, nodding in Ming's direction. I kind of like her.

Instead of just exiting the hospital wing, she waited for Madam Pomfrey to finish fussing over other, injured students, before the matron came round to investigate why Tansy was still hanging around.

"You didn't get injured too did you?" she sniffed disdainfully.

"No, I just had a question..." Tansy started, Pomfrey's leer making her shift uncomfortably. "Could I volunteer my time to help out here?"

Madam Pomfrey gave her an inquisitive look, albeit softer than her typical scowl. "You're on the Quidditch team now, aren't you? When would you have time?"

"I'll find it," Tansy assured her.

"Why do you want to help?"

"I want to learn more. I studied under Professor Otters and Professor Potter in Defense Against the Dark Arts. I certainly haven't learned everything, not by a longshot, but I like being well rounded and I think I should focus on my ability in healing magics and potions as well."

"Hm," Pomfrey clicked, contemplating it for a moment. "You're quite accident prone. Learning how to heal might benefit you. Alright! I want a weekly schedule once you have Quidditch settled."

"Thank you, thank you Madam Pomfrey-"

"Don't disappoint me!" Madam Pomfrey snipped before heading into her office, the door banging behind her.

Tansy let out the air she had been holding in and started for the door. When she rounded the corner, she ran headlong into someone else who was holding their nose, sending the books underneath their arm spilling all over the floor.

"Oh!" Tansy cried, startled a bit before feeling awful that she had just knocked their things over. Bending down, she began collecting the scattered items. "I am so sorry-" but when she glanced up to see who it was, she saw a wizard that she did not recognize.

"It's ok... I was not looking," the teen said, holding his bloody nose as he tried to scoop things up with one hand. He had a strange accent, perhaps Norwegian? Or German?

"Ooh, what did you do?" she motioned to his nose as she helped neatly pile his belongings.

"I fell," the most common lie of them all. He removed the bloody handkerchief to reveal a broken nose which was still gushing crimson liquid.

"Getting hit in the face by a bludger might be more believable," she frowned, taking Excalibur out of her pocket. "Do you mind? I know a spell that might help."

The student shrugged his shoulders.

"Episkey!" Excalibur performed spactuarly, snapping the boy's nose back into place and the bleeding stopped. Tansy was so astounded that the charm had worked that she couldn't help but grin at him. "And then this- Tergeo!" the blood that had run down his neck and the front of his shirt evaporated and he appeared unscathed.

"Oh wow! I should learn that spell," he marveled, tapping his nose.

"I don't believe I've seen you around before," Tansy commented, extending a hand to the student across from her.

He was a lean boy of an average height with dark, sandy blonde hair that was short cropped and stuck out as if he fervently ran his fingers through it. He had an angular face with a straight nose and stormy blue eyes that were almost dark grey. It was difficult to tell if he were the same age as her or slightly older.

"Oh... You wouldn't have. I just transferred here this year. My parents got a job with your... Ministry of Magic and we moved to England," he pronounced the 'Ministry of Magic' slowly, as if the English words were clumsy on his tongue. "I went to Durmstrang before this, so it's a bit of a... change and I don't really know where I'm going."

"When did you get here?" Tansy asked, brows furrowing.

"This past weekend. I was a little late, so now I am playing catch up," he gave an embarrassed smile.

"And where did you- Oh, how rude. My name is Tansy Belmont," she stuck out her hand.

He shook it, seeming happy that someone was actually talking to him cordially. "Roscoe Berjsen."

"Where did you get sorted?"

"That one-" he pointed at her emerald green tie.

"Oh, you're in Slytherin? What year?"

"Fifth."

"We're in the same year then! Do you need help finding anything? Or maybe getting back to the common room? I'm headed there now to put on my Quidditch equipment."

"Oooh, Quidditch?" Roscoe's face lit up at the mention of the sport. Across all of the wizarding world, Quidditch was a beloved sport that foreign wizards all shared a passion for. But then, as if he remembered something, his face became ashen.

Tansy and Roscoe started back for the Slytherin common room. "So you want to tell me how you really broke your nose?"

"I don't know what you mean..." Roscoe blubbered.

"Who punched you?"

"I was being rather insolent. I just thought..."

"You're a brand new student and someone had the gall to punch you?" Tansy frowned.

"Don't worry about it," Roscoe brushed it off.

Tansy wanted to know, yearned to know, but she decided she was better off letting Roscoe open up on his own.

"Can I come with you to the field?" Roscoe asked.

"Sure," Tansy said, silently noting, I probably shouldn't go on my own anyways.

Upon returning to the dormitories, Tansy slipped on her new Quidditch uniform, admiring the slim fit of the garment before she pulled on her gloves, tucked her goggles into her pocket, and picked up her Artemis.

Roscoe was waiting on one of the couches, staring up at the windows that gazed into the Black Lake. His eyes were round as saucers as the local giant squid waved at him from behind the glass. He too had changed into uniform and somehow, had his own set of Slytherin Quidditch robes.

"You're on the team?" Tansy asked, taken aback as he held a dark broom labeled as the Meteor.

Roscoe had a bit of a baleful look on his face. "Yeah... that's why-" he pointed to his nose.

He had just gotten to Hogwarts and had been placed on the team. She wondered who might have gotten the boot, because she knew that captain wanted a successful team.

"Did you play at Durmstrang?" she inquired.

Roscoe nodded.

Roscoe and Tansy headed out to the pitch that was deserted for the time being. Glancing down at her broom, she took in a deep breath of air and then mounted it. Her boots clicked against the silver pegs and the broom levitated without even a nod from Tansy.

She leaned forward and Artemis zipped off. Her hair whipped behind her and she had to veer up the moment she took off so that she didn't hit the wall of the stadium. Merlin's beard! This broom went from zero to real in no time, she thought, her heart in her throat.

Quick like an arrow she was a few hundred feet above the pitch in the blink of an eye. The Artemis turned on a dime, reading the smallest lean or pull, swaying and bending with Tansy's breath. She believed for a moment, that the broom could actually read her mind. She began doing all sorts of tricks, accelerating the broom to maximum capacity and heading straight for the ground or wall to see if she could turn last second. Adrenaline rushing, Tansy let out a cry of excitement mixed with astonishment.

Once the thrill had faded slightly she zipped down to meet Roscoe, who was floating in the middle of the field. The broom halted at her command, stopping instantly as if the arrow had plunked into the bullseye of a target.

"What kind of broom is that?" Roscoe glanced at it eagerly.

"An Artemis 21," she said, beaming.

"I've never heard of it and it's the fastest broom I've ever seen!"

"It's not on the market yet. This is a prototype," Tansy bragged, the anger she originally felt fading.

"With a broom like that our team we'll definitely win," Roscoe grinned.

"If the rest of the team cooperates," Tansy agreed. She then shielded her eyes from the sun that was coming down over the top of the trees, shading them in amber. "What time is it?"

"You were flying around for an hour or so," Roscoe did admit.

"What? I didn't even realize it! We should head back for dinner."

The duo soared down like birds gliding out of a tree and touched down in the verdant grass. It seemed as if there might have been an hour or two before dinner, because as they were exiting the pitch they crossed a handful of other Slytherins going to the pitch. Only two of them had brooms and Tansy saw why rather swiftly.

"Getting a feel for the pitch, Belmont?" Mulaney was one of the chasers for the team and had a very narrow, pointy face. He smiled crookedly at her, not unfriendly until he glared over at Roscoe beside her. "So you've met the Usurper then?"

"The Usurper?" Tansy repeated incredulously.

"Yeah, he stole Edwards' spot!" Ramsay had stepped forward to frown at Roscoe, who was a few inches shorter than himself.

"If he's better than Edwards, shouldn't he get the spot?" Tansy asked.

"That's yet to be seen," Mulaney retorted tartly.

"It's not my fault that your team is so bad that I can kick one off right after arriving. Isn't he older? Shouldn't he be better than you?" Roscoe spoke, directing his question toward Ramsay. Tansy glanced at him, bewildered by how well he spoke in English. Up until this point he had been bashful and stammered with his sentences. Now, he spoke clearly in an unaccented voice, each word clearly articulated. His expression was no longer ginger and he leveled his dark, stormy eyes to glower at Ramsay.

"Do I need to put you in your place again?" Ramsay asked, taking a menacing step forward.

Tansy slid between the two males. "No, no, no! We're a team and if the captain hears about this, it will be you off the team, Ramsay, and I'm aware that this means a lot to you," she intercepted, scowling at him like he was a child, despite having to crane her head up to look at him.

"Don't talk to me like you've been apart of this team, Scarface!" Ramsay snapped.

Over the course of the beginning of the year, no one aside from Gabby had made a remark about her scars. He touched a nerve and Tansy felt her face spasming in rage and disbelief. And this was the boy who had been her first kiss last year? "Perhaps Roscoe is right. Why don't you take the game more seriously and stop fussing about losing people who were no good?" she snarled.

"Roscoe? Who is Roscoe?" Ramsay's brow furrowed.

"What do you mean? He's Roscoe-" she gestured over to the blonde beside her.

"No, he's James Rosier," Ramsay informed her stoutly.

Tansy tried to control her rage and confusion before she said, "Either way! Get a hold of your emotions or you'll be off the team too!" She grabbed Roscoe… or James or whatever his name was and led him away. When they were far enough down the path, she glared up at him. "James?" she hissed.

There was a twinkle of mischief in James' dark eyes. "I didn't lie about going to a foreign school," he dropped the accent and smiled at her. "I went to Beauxbatons and my parents are the reason we moved up here. It was getting too dangerous in France and there's quite a few members of the Sacred Twenty-Eight here, so it's been a very smooth transition. The Malfoys are letting us stay with them until we figure out where we're going to move."

"Why… Why didn't you just say you were James Rosier?" she sighed, shaking her head.

"Eh, some people aren't fond of my family, especially since they were allied with the Death Eaters in the past, you know, similar story as the Malfoys. And I thought it'd be fun to pretend to be someone else for a bit. I do thank you for the nose though… And you can still call me Roscoe if you'd like."

Tansy rolled her eyes and grumbled beneath her breath. "Anymore surprises?"

James gave her a sideways look. "You shall see."