Chapter Three

The Second Clue

By Queen Tessandry de Sanyochisei

The Great Hall had emptied of all but the teachers and a few students, one prefect from each house and the Head Boy and Girl, and, no surprise here, the Authors.

Dumbledore was, of course, still in control of the situation.

"Rosa, please send an owl to Ivy. We're going to need her to help the students. Violet, Angela, try to figure out who this Dark Archer is. Tradrin, Nicholas, find out how he got in here in the first place. Minerva, Severus, Flora, Medea, try to calm down your Houses."

The teachers nod and walk out of the Hall to do their various tasks.

"Prefects, Mr. Avis, Miss Veliurn, help your Head of House calm your houses down. Console those you can until we can get Ivy at work."

A chorus of 'Yes, sir's and they left as well. All that remained now were the teachers and the distraught (or awed in Alex's case) authors. The teachers had moved away from the authors, leaving them to deal with Alex.

"Wow! I didn't know that Medea Jeminy, Rosa McCloud and Tradrin Fatespirit really existed! I thought they were just part of –" Alex says excitedly but Tess cut him off.

"As much as I enjoy hearing from a fan, don't talk about fanfiction or books here. Get me?" Tess snaps, glaring from where Circe still quietly wept.

"What? I don't get why you're not excited. We're actually inside –"

"Bakare! Shut UP!" Tess yells at the over-eager author. "Do you have one milligram of empathy? We've just lost a member of our group to a nasty and his replacement is an overly excitable, deadhead with no sense to keep his mouth shut when told? Not a very good trade off, if you ask me, even if I didn't like Chase in the first place."

Alex had recoiled from the empress during her rant, as her hair had seemed to billow up and around her head with no wind in the Hall to stir it. Surfer quietly sidles up next to Alex.

"Tip one, don't get Tess pissed off. I got locked in her dungeon for a month just for breaking a window." Surfer whispers conspiratorially. Alex let out a low whistle, amazed at the extreme punishments Tess would foist on anyone who crossed her.

Everyone had taken a disliking to the new author, sans Surfer who liked anyone who got on Tess' bad side since it meant company for him.

"Stats." Ariety says, the one word sounding like a snake strike.

"Alex Bakare, 16, USA." Alex says quickly, not wanting to further aggravate his fellow (currently hostile) authors.

"Here's the deal. Yes, we're in the HP world. Don't talk about how amazing it is and how exciting it is to be here. It disturbs the locals if you talk about them just being characters in a book. Secondly, you're not trusted. For all we know, that stupid Dark Archer sent you here."

"Whose the –" Alex starts but Liz cut him off.

"He's the nasty that killed Chase. He vanished right before you came in so we have every reason to suspect you." Liz calmly explains, no trace of anger or condemnation on her voice.

"Don't make it seem so minor, Liz. Help me get Circe to her room. I don't know where it is." Tess says, sounding as though the next person who rubbed her the wrong way would wind up very injured. Liz nods and takes one side of Circe.

"C'mon, C-girl." Tess coaches as they get the young woman to her feet.

The three girls leave the group. As they got to the doors, Tess turns and glares at Alex. Alex shrinks in on himself under her green-eyed penetrating stare. To Alex's immense reprieve, Tess left after a few moments.

"Tessa, Tessa, Tessa…" Venus sighs, shaking her head. "Sorry about her Alex. She's just over protective of her friends. She's not upset over Chase but she's upset that Circe's been hurt. It makes her frustrated and frustrating."

"No problem. Just someone remind me to buy her a broom…"Alex says shakily. Venus laughs then stares, wide-eyed, at Alex.

"That's bloody brill, Alex! Just BRILL! A broom!" Venus exclaims and dashes off to talk to Dumbledore.

"Why don't I like it when she does that?" Tawny asks Maia, who was standing next to her. Maia shrugs, grimacing as well.

~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~

Two days later, in a deserted classroom, the student authors held a meeting. Alex, having been sorted to Gryffindor, had been generally accepted into the fold. After all, why would Dark Archer choose a Gryffindor to do his dirty work? And why would the Gryffindor do it in the first place?

"All right, mates. I've already cleared this with Dumbledore and Hooch so there's no getting out of this." Venus says as she pulls a large, bell-shaped parcel and places it on the table between her and the rest of the student authors.

Venus pulls the string that was holding the parcel together and seven varying, but very much new, brooms roll out to gleam dully in the dim light of the almost deserted classroom. One red-tinted Firebolt and darkish Nimbus 2001, two pale brooms with "Windrider" in bright gold, and three blue-washed brooms with "Rainstorm" written in silver. Chloe and Tess each take a broom and look at them inquiringly.

"You want us to clean?" Ray asks cynically, her usual hyper-ness absent.

The rest of the authors were staring at Venus now, who was smiling fit to crack her face.

"You didn't…" Tess says, staring in disbelief at Venus.

"YEP! Authors Vs. Gryffindor, two weeks from last Saturday!" Venus says proudly and Surfer, Tawny, Maia, and Ray promptly faceplant.

"Well… If we can't get out, we might as well get in… Who's playing what?" Alex says quietly, not wanting a glare from the rest of the group, or more specifically, Tess.

"Well… Chloe'll play Keeper and she gets the Nimbus; Alex, Ray and Tawny are the Chasers and they get the Rainstorms; Maia's our Seeker so she gets the Firebolt; and Tessa and I are the Beaters and we get the Windriders."

"Hey! What about me?" Surfer exclaims in complaint as the others select their brooms.

"Oh honestly… Will you please remember that First Years aren't allowed brooms, Tsunamiya?" Tess snaps as she selects a Windrider and hands the other to Venus.

"Why does everyone have to remind me I'm a First Year?" Surfer asks in resignation.

"I don't know, Surf-n-turf. Maybe because you keep forgetting?" Ray asks examining her Rainstorm.

Tess, staring at Ray, sets her broom down and walks up to Ray. Abruptly, Tess takes Ray's hand and shakes it firmly.

"Thank you! You may be hyper and Slytherin but I like you!" Tess says, still shaking Ray's hand. Ray smiles warily but gradually accepts the Empress' praise.

"Okidays… We've got practice for the half hour after lunch until the match to pull everything together. See you all, except Surfer, tomorrow after lunch. Cheers!" With that, the Authors meeting broke.

Ray, looking smug, and Surfer, looking downcast, walked to their Slytherin dorms in loud silence, Ray's Rainstorm the subject of Surfer's sourness.

Venus and Alex walked to Gryffindor Tower in companionable chitchat, if only to discuss how in all the blue blazes of the imaginary place that Christians like to damn people to the Authors would stand a chance against the unstoppable Gryffindor Quidditch team.

Chloe and Tawny strolled slowly in the direction of Hufflepuff Tower, quietly comparing brooms.

Maia and Tess were silent all the way to Ravenclaw Tower. Maia gave the large shelving unit on the fifth floor the password ("Birchwood") and entered. The Ravenclaw Common room was deserted save a couple late studiers and a girl curled in her chair by the fire.

As Maia continued to her dorm, oblivious to the studiers and the girl, Tess stands frozen by the edge of study tables and chairs. Unwillingly, her feet took her to the girl curled by the fire.

Tess places her hand lightly on Cho Chang's shoulder. Cho snaps alert and whirls to face the empress. Tess had, not her usual forbidding look on her face but an understanding and kindly look directed at the older girl.

Cho quickly wipes away the tears that had formed during her reverie. "What do you want?" Cho asks, her voice cracking at the end.

Tess inwardly winced but she had to do this now that she'd started. It would help herself as much as it would help Cho.

"I want to help." Tess responds quietly, removing her hand and taking the seat next to the troubled Sixth Year.

"You can't. No one can understand." Cho says and returns to staring at the fire.

Tess sighs and says quietly, "You'd be amazed…"

"Shock me." Cho snaps, glaring at the young empress.

"I know about Cedric –" Tes starts and Cho winces at the mention of the handsome Hufflepuff. "But let me tell you my story. Maybe then you'll know that someone can help? And if not help, understand?"

Cho sizes Tess up. Her icy blue hair was unruly and her forehead lacked her usual silver circlet. Her bracelets jangled softly, like bells chiming, as she rearranged herself on her chair and her nails flashed silver every time they caught the firelight.

What caught Cho's eyes though was the sad look that was in Tess's own pale green eyes. Cho'd seen the same look every time she glanced at a mirror ever since she'd heard of Cedric's death.

"Alright."

"His name was Gryffin Archiah…" Tess starts, her mind traveling through space and time to her home and the boy not much older than herself from her guard that she'd loved.

~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~

"Welcome, fellow students and Professors, to, quite possibly, the most unusual Quidditch match in Hogwartian history. For the first match of the year we have the Authors vs. Gryffindor. It should be interesting how the assortment of houses on the Authors' team will effect their playing ability…"

Alex, having, by some weird fluke of trust, been elected Captain, shakes hands with his Gryffindor counterpart, Alicia Spinnet. As Madam Hooch's whistle signaled both teams into the air, Lee Jordan could be heard explaining how the Authors' points would be split between the players respective houses, Slytherin getting about half of what the other houses would due to the fact that there was only one Slytherin on the Authors team. (Surfer Tsunamiya's Note: HEY! I would have been on the team… Except for my stupid sister, Tess putting me in FIRST YEAR!!! I'll get you later for this Tess!!!!!!)

Tess and Venus almost immediately got into a weird Bludger beating competition with Fred and George that remotely resembled a doubles tennis match. Maia and Harry were pretty evenly matched as Maia had this strange ADD-like behavior that allowed her to listen to the commentary, avoid what Bludgers the Twins managed to get through Tess and Venus (with one of the two Authoresses following closely) and search for the snitch while keeping an eye on Harry. (Authoress's Note: Believe me! It CAN be done!)

Chloe and Angelina were pretty evenly matched as well, both having blocked all but a few attempts on their respective goal hoops.

You can guess that the Chasers weren't too mismatched either. Contrary to Lee's elusion to possible discord in the Authors team, the three Author Chasers; Tawny (Hufflepuff, remember?), Alex (Gryffindor), and Ray (Slytherin); worked as seamlessly as any other team.

The points slowly mounted on both sides over the next hour. Maia gave up on listening to the commentary and avoiding Tess or Venus chasing a Bludger at about the time the score was 50 – 50.

The score didn't change much over the next five minutes save for Ray managing to get past Angelina by faking a pass to Alex, who was beside her, then making a toss for the goal.

The sun had just hit its zenith when Maia sees the flash of gold and silver zip past her. Without another second wasted, she zoomed off in pursuit of the Snitch. She didn't need to look back to see that Harry was following her closely.

Abruptly, the Snitch took a downward turn after sharply avoiding Chaser Diana Featheredmoon. Maia dove after it. Harry dove as soon as he saw Maia do so, diving after the Snitch at a different angle from his Author counterpart, allowing him to catch up with her.

As the snitch leveled off several inches from the ground, a dark hand shot out from underneath the pitch (think along the lines of the freaky zombie from the grave thing) and caught the Snitch. The two Seekers hadn't had time to stop their dive but their brooms were frozen and slowly rising into the air without any aide of steering from their owners.

At the same time, the Dark Archer slowly rose from the ground, the Snitch still trapped in a raised fist.

"I win." He says while looking at the Snitch. He then clenches his hand. An audible crack and the Archer opened his hand and tipped it to one side. Little pieces of silver and gold fall to the ground.

The game had come to a very quiet halt. Serenity, who'd just been passed the Quaffle, had fumbled it, leaving it to drift slowly to the ground. The Archer drifts upward leisurely until he was fairly centered in the game.

Tess screams an incomprehensible curse at the Archer as she whacked a Bludger, then the other, at him. All he had to do though was wave an impatient hand at the two black balls and they fell to the earth below.

"Such language, Tessandrilene… And you're an empress? Tisk, tisk." He says, scolding with a dark smile. He had a trick up his sleeve, and the Authors knew it.

"Shattering winds." The Archer says and winds formed around him then exploded outward with such force that would make any tornado jealous.

Tess fell from her broom, apparently unconscious, but Venus caught her before she'd fallen far then she was blasted by the wind towards Tess's broom, which was now flying towards the Whomping Willow. Serenity, Katie, Angelina, Chloe, Tawny, Alex, Ray and Maia had tumbled off the seat of their brooms but had managed to keep their grip on them.

Diana hadn't been so lucky. She was fast falling towards the pitch below. Serenity, having retrieved her seat on her broom, starts to follow in a steep dive to catch her but Harry got there first, catching the Second Year Gryffindor a scant two feet from the ground.

Venus, straining to keep Tess, still out cold, on her broom, and the rest of the Authors look towards where the Archer had last been only to find him gone. The two teams landed and started to take count of what'd happened.

Diana had passed out from shock and relief. Surfer was found in the Slytherin side of the stands, out cold like Tess.

Alex found a piece of cloth with a weird design so he picked it up and pocketed it to show his group later. Right now, he needed to follow the others to the Hospital Wing.

~*~^~*~Small Switch of PoV~*~^~*~

I had gotten to the Hospital Wing as soon as I could, having only a blissfully short meeting with the Head Girl, Morwen Veliurn, and Bumble-dore, as I prefer to reference him, to stop me.

The new one, Alex, had found my latest clue. I had to see if they'd figure out that piece.

I had a grin on my face by the time I'd reached the Infirmary. I quickly wiped it from my face. I was there under the ruse that I was there to see Diana. The only reason my being there was plausible was because she was in my house and I was known to do weird things every once in a while.

I bustle in, heading straight to the side of Diana's bed that was nearest Tsunamiya's bed. I hate him as much as I hate the whimsical empress, which is one reason why I knocked them out with more than the gust of wind I had under my command. However, being near his bed was the only way I could listen in on their conversation.

I barely paid heed to Serenity's pressed greeting. She would be busy fumbling over her gratitude to Harry for a while yet. She never was too good with thanking him.

The Traveler moans. I felt my heart leap. This is what I'd come to hear.

"What happened?" Tsunamiya asks groggily, sitting up. I pretend to be watching the unconscious Second Year as I listened to what the Authors discussed.

"You were knocked out. Can't figure out why but Tess is still out." Ray answers. I inwardly smirk; the idiot queen would get what she deserved… Pity she wouldn't know it was me all along until the end.

"That stupid Archer, can't he leave Quidditch alone?" Venus grouses. Of course I can't, McGonagall. I think to myself.

"What was his clue? Better yet, did he leave one or was he just toying with us?" Maia snaps. I supposed she had a right to be mad but in answer, I thought yes to all parts.

"I think this is the clue for this time." Alex says. I couldn't look but I figured he'd pull it from his pocket now and show it to the rest.

"What is that? A crest?" Tawny asks ignorantly.

"Looks like a Familial Coat of Arms." Chloe replies. "I don't understand the design though."

I had to stop myself from laughing outright. Any idiot could see what the design was.

"It's the constellation Orion, the Hunter." Alex chimes. Maybe I'd get my match after all.

"What's a hunter got to do with Archer boy?" Ariety, the only adult in the lot at the moment but that didn't signify much. She was still baffled.

"You meant Orion the Archer, didn't you, Alex?" Tsunamiya asks. Bingo, Maintenance Boy. You've just hit pay dirt. I think privately. Now things would get interesting.

"No… It's Orion the Hunter." Alex responds. I had figured he'd be ignorant of what other planets call the same constellations but not stubborn as well.

"Here, yes. Not on Parth. It's called the Archer there." Tsunamiya replies, just as stubborn.

"That only fits with his name, Dark Archer. Can't you tell us anything else?" Ray snaps. She was an idiot… She couldn't recognize that the only one that was close was the idiot Traveler.

"Let me see it and I might." Tsunamiya snaps back. Oh, a fight brewing… I could enjoy this.

Unfortunately, Ray snatched the fabric from Alex and shoved it under Tsunamiya's nose. Tsunamiya leans back and takes the patch from her, uncrumpling it and laying it on his bed covers.

"It seems familiar… I can't place it though." Tsunamiya says, sounding slightly reminiscent. Just as well he couldn't. The only one that could help them would be the empress and she would be out for a while yet.

"Oh well… We need to wait then. Tess'll prob'ly be more help if it has to deal with her planet." Maia says in resignation. She'd just ended the discussion and they were leaving, except for Venus, who was sitting in between the two beds. Pomfrey was notorious for over-fussing over minor maladies.

As if on cue, Diana groaned. Serenity immediately abandoned her attempts at thanking Harry to sit with her sister.

I stand and leave. I pause at the door and turn around. The blue-haired empress was still out soundly. She'd drift from the unconsciousness to slumber. I psychically plant, in her head, the dream that fueled my hatred of her. She would dream it when she was actually asleep. I would make her regret the day she ruined my life.

I turn and walk to the Great Hall. No use in missing supper over that egotistical, tempermental empress.

Authoress's Note and Disclaimer: Thank you all for letting me borrow these characters. Harry Potter and all original characters belong to J.K. Rowling. Ray Fira is property of Marie (rieb7@hotmail.com), Ariety Blythe and Chloe Frazier belong to Kel (Valentine715@aol.com), Venus McGonagall stars as herself (crystalvenusmcgonagall@yahoo.com), Tawny Miryton belongs to Meg (FunnyGurl895@aol.com), Liz Electra belongs to Liz (Lizard3100@aol.com), Circe Moss belongs to Circe (WatermelonSugar7@aol.com), Delia Phinium belongs to Pat (Trishd29@aol.com), Chase Phoenixcal belongs to Chase (Chase1312@aol.com), Maia Rahmlal belongs to Natalia (TOONatalia@aol.com), Surfer Tsunamiya belongs to my brother, Pory (Porygon11@aol.com), and Tess Wendracon belongs to me! More action and clues in Chapter Four. Tah-tah!

~Queen Tessandry de Sanyochisei~