Chapter Seven
The Christmas Dance
By Queen Tessandry de Sanyochisei
"Come on, Cho! If I have a date, you HAVE to go!" Tess argues with the reluctant Ravenclaw Seeker.
"For the last time, Tess, no! I'd look pathetic if I showed up stag!" Cho argues back, desperate to get out of going to the dreaded Dance.
"So get a date! Cho, I'm sure there's some boy just dying to take you to the dance! Honestly how could there not be?" Tess retorts. Cho sighs.
"Why are you doing this to me? Am I not allowed to suffer silently?" Cho complains, looking plaintively at the ceiling. "What act of High Treason did I do in which past life to deserve this?"
"Look at it this way, Cho-darling." Tess says with an insinuating smile. "It'll help the recovery process. That… And I point blank refuse to go to a dance without someone to talk to should my partner turn out to be the worst dancer in this side of the Dimensional Sea."
"But Tess…" Cho whines, resorting to the last tactic in the 'I Wanna Get Out Of This' manual.
"Don't 'but Tess' me, Miss Chang." Tess says sternly. "I dare you to accept the next date to the dance, no matter who it is… Well… It has to be a guy but you know what I mean."
Cho looks at her friend, questioning the status the young woman before her held in her world.
"How do I let you talk me into these things… First it was the House raid on the toilets, now this?" Cho complains. "Fine… I'll do it… But I promise I won't like it. Not one minute of it."
"I never said you had to like it, hun!" Tess replies, grinning now that her friend had caved. "I just said you had to come with."
"Tessandrilene Madia Wendracon, sometimes I wonder why you got put here. You act so like a Slyth." Cho says, standing and brushing imagined dust from her robes.
"Bah! I don't need power! I have enough as it is!" Tess shrugs the accusation off with a grin.
"You know, for being an empress, you sure are manipulative." Cho says in wonder of the sixteen-year-old empress.
"Aw… Shucks… It comes with the territory. Need to keep people happy and in line… And since the two don't usually coincide…" Tess trails off, still grinning like an idiot.
"Fine. I'm going… Might as well get this over with." Cho says and walks towards the Tower door.
"That's the spirit, girl!" Tess calls back.
"You so owe me, Wendracon." Cho retorts and leaves.
"I'll make it up with my presence gracing your company." Tess calls as the door closes, settling back into her chair and curling up with her book.
Maia quietly steps towards the occupied empress.
"Yes, Maia?" Tess asks, not looking up from her book.
"Um… The rest of us, the authors I mean, were wondering if…" Maia trails off. Tess looks up, only mildly perturbed.
"Wondering what?" Tess asks, her eyes belying the genuine interest in her voice.
"If you knew anything about someone named GryffindorArcher." Maia says in a rush. She sighs, relieved to have gotten it out without having her head bitten off. However, the hopes of it staying that way were slim, as Tess's eyes flash with opalescent fire.
"Where did you hear that name?" Tess asks, deadly quiet.
"I didn't! When Venus did the scrying for us, he was one of the suspects in our disappearance from the real world." Maia babbles nervously, quickly switching to defense.
"Wouldn't that just fit." Tess snaps, standing and setting her now closed book forcefully on a nearby table. After that, Tess stalks out of the Common Room, leaving a very confused Maia behind.
Breathe, Tessa. Tess silently coaches as she walks around the school. The only way he could get here would be if Surfer took him. While I very much doubt that… It's better to be safe than sorry. Tess thinks, and heads towards the dungeons.
However, she needn't go all the way to the Common Room door, as she found Surfer in the Entrance Hall, pleading with an ethereal-looking Slytherin Third Year. By the end of the discussion, Surfer was cheering himself on behind the girl's back. The girl leaves for the Great Hall, abandoning Surfer to the Entrance Hall.
"Yo, Suffer!" Tess calls from her unobtrusive observation point. Surfer whirls around, startled.
"Not you… Just when something good happens to me, you show up. Do you have surveillance on me or something?" Surfer complains as Tess approaches.
"Naw… not worth the time and money. My timing's just perfect that way." Tess responds grinning.
"Well… What do you want?" Surfer asks shortly.
"I know how you hate to remember this experience, quite frankly, so do I, but you remember when you were in Sarcastia, on Parth?" Tess asks at length.
"That's kind of a hard time to forget, Wendracon." Surfer says, leery of the strangely polite empress.
"Well, I was just curious, and this could help us get out of here faster so please try to answer, did you take anyone here after you left?" Tess asks, her winning smile in place for all it was Surfer she was trying to manipulate.
"Nope… Well yeah… But he promised he'd leave me be if I did." Surfer responds with a shrug. "And if you so much as think that it's him anyways, I'm going to have to kill someone… And I can't promise that it'll be him." Surfer adds with a meaningful glare at Tess.
Tess shrugs. "If the person you took here is who I think he is, then I wouldn't believe anything he 'promised'. I speak from experience."
Tess turns to walk away only to crash into someone else, namely Garret Avis.
"Hello Tess." Garret greets with a smile, just the barest hint of restraint flashing in his eyes.
"Hello Gary." Tess replies, returning his smile. "Tsunamiya, I'll be talking to you later."
"Can't you just leave me alone?" Surfer groans.
"No." Tess answers and pulls Garret away.
"Author business again?" Garret asks with a lopsided grin.
"Yes. I feel like I'm missing out on something the rest of them know." Tess sighs. "I must be the only one actively trying to put the clues together."
"Give them a break, Tess. After all, considering that all of you aren't from this world, to be dropped here must be something like a dream come true. However, you have an obligation to get back to your world. Also take into consideration that the only way you've known about this world is through writing and books…" Garret explains rationally, earning him an unblinking stare from Tess.
"You speak as though you too are an author." Tess says, suspicion clear in her gaze.
"I'm merely speaking from your point of view, Tess." Garret demurs.
"You spoke to easily of this world being a book…" Tess continues.
"My dear Tess, I've long been known for my ability to see other's viewpoints and speak of them with the ease I would my own." Garret replies, calm despite the suspicious stare from the smaller girl.
"I must be talking to you too much…" Tess says as she shakes her head as though dispelling a thought. "Are you ready for tomorrow?" Tess asks, changing the topic quickly.
"That would be why I came to find you…" Garret answers, smiling to himself.
~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~
This isn't fair! I have to work Ellektra Amnemanci up for weeks and Alex goes and gets the hottie of the Ravenclaw Team in five seconds! I'm beginning to regret not following Ariety's example and boycotting the stupid dance.
I mean what does Alex have that I don't? I'm older. Older men have more experience. Surfer thinks as he smiles. C'mon! Where does he get off asking Cho Chang out and getting her within five bloody seconds when Ellektra has been available for weeks? I've been trying for weeks too!
Surfer continues on this train of thought until he reaches the Slytherin Common Room. Then he just thinks, Eh… Ellektra is hot enough for two women.
Idly, he runs through the Author couplings. Lessee… Tess is going with the 'perfect Gryffindor blowhard Head Boy' Avis. I'm going with Ellektra. Maia is going with Corwin Boot. Tawny, shockingly enough, is going with Draco… I wonder if he got hit with a Bludger one too many times last week...
Venus has, not surprisingly, nailed George Weasley. Chloe is going with Lee Jordan. Ray has sunk so low as to bully Dennis Creevey into going with her. She says she's planning on ditching him after two minutes but I don't believe her.
Liz, Circe, and Delia managed to get themselves dates within the Hogwarts staff. Liz got the CoMC backup, Corvus Raven. Circe is going with the Herbology assistant, Jin Sahng. Delia says she's going with her 'friend', Gin Koorino, but the rest of us say she's positively smitten.
Surfer's thoughts were derailed as Ellektra enters the Common Room.
"Ah, Ellektra, my dear, what color will you be wearing tomorrow's eve?"
~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*~
True enough to her word; Ray did ditch Dennis within a few minutes. Ariety made a cameo appearance at the beginning of the festivities, leaving immediately after a quick chat with Dumbledore.
Tess was becoming almost unbearably smug, as Cho seemed to have lied about having fun, but her smug attitude was tempered by her actually relaxing about finding out how to get back.
Tess was taking a break, getting drinks for Cho, Garret, Alex and herself. As she reaches for the punch ladle, a silken voice makes her freeze, mid-motion.
"Enjoying yourself, are you?" Tess whirls around, backing against the table, to face the Dark Archer. Tess's first impulse acted upon had her grabbing the nearest glass and tossing the contents at her current bain. However, with a show of power, he returns the liquid to the glass.
"I'll take that as a no then, shall I?" Dark Archer (Let's go with D.A. for short, shall we?) says, taking the class from Tess and placing it back on the table.
"Get away from me." Tess says scathingly and tries to turn only to find she couldn't as he steps closer.
"Tess, what's –" Cho trails off, standing to one side of Tess, as she sees who else was by the punch bowl.
"Oh ye gods…" Garret mutters, closing in on Tess's other side.
"Ah, you've found a new confidante and champion… You've split the job too I see." D.A. says seeming to smile through his dark shroud.
"Get out of here, Gary, Cho. This isn't your fight." Tess says, not taking her eyes off of D.A., ice floating beneath every word and action.
"Oh, sticking up for yourself now? That is an improvement." D.A. sneers. Tess's expression remained as ice; her eyes flashing like the sun off of a frozen lake.
"I never needed anyone to fight petty squabbles for me." Tess responds, cold austere encasing every syllable. "Nor did I ever need a mask to hide behind."
Tess finally manages to turn on her heel and make her way out of the hall. Outside and away from the noise of the ball, Tess just manages to breathe before being cornered by four Third Years; a Ravenclaw, a Gryffindor and two Hufflepuff.
"We'd heard from Cecilie that you weren't one to tangle with…" One of the Hufflepuffs says.
"Now we know why!" The other Hufflepuff adds, grinning.
"If you ever start up lessons on how to do that ice stare and put down, be sure to sign us up." The Gryffindor says with a sly glint in her eyes.
"Boy, Tess! When you were cutting him down to size, I thought the Ice Age had returned!" Cecilie, the Ravenclaw, states, in considerable awe of the Sarcastian Empress. "When I told Mariel, Maggie and Jeni that I knew you, they went nutters and wanted to meet you."
"Ye gods! I would've been yelling that sleaze out!" Jeni (the Gryffindor) says, punching her left palm with her fist.
"You wanted to do that right?" Mariel (the first Hufflepuff) asks expectantly. Tess smiles distantly.
"An empress can't afford to indulge in fits of emotion. Could cause a political uproar." Tess states simply, the smile vanishing beyond a horizon of ice.
"Oh but you wanted to!" Maggie counters. "Just try to tell me truthfully that you didn't want to throw a mirror."
"A lady doesn't throw a mirror." Tess says. "A mirror is seven years bad luck. She throws a vase or a chair, preferably out a window."
The Third Years laugh and head back into the hot and crowded hall. Tess, sighing, goes outside to clear her head with fresh air.
Ariety greets Tess as she steps out the doors. Tess nods a mute response and walks down to the lake.
She sits on a fairly flat rock and stares at the only too familiar stars. She spent her time quietly finding all the commonly taught constellations, even making up a few of her own.
Her private game is brought to an abrupt halt after she had connected Rigel, Betelgeuse and Sirius and naming it the Archer's Bow.
"Oh what a bittersweet revenge you have chosen for me, Archiah." Tess says with a sigh, her native language flowing clearly on the night air for she had no fear of eavesdroppers. Garret freezes in his tracks a few meters away, hearing and comprehending the empress's words.
"No matter what I do, I can't get away from your memory, can I, Viemouraux?" Tess continues in Sarcastian while gazing at the constellation Orion. She was completely oblivious of Garret's proximity.
Garret quickly and quietly walks back to the school, grinning maliciously, leaving Tess to her Astronomy. He was pleased no end by this partial success.
Authoress's Note and Disclaimer: My standard disclaimer for this story is still applied. Don't make me retype all that crap… All it does is boast up the file size.
Notes about this chapter specifically: My cast didn't object to the cliffy… None of them (save Archer [Thank you GryffindorArcher!!!]) responded to my post on our private group so it's their tough cookies. I'm not going to tell what 'viemouraux' means because I'll be telling you later. I translated the Sarcastian so I didn't have to create the language… HEY! I'm NOT J.R.R. Tolkien! (For those of you who don't know who Tolkien is… READ A BOOK!!!)
I'm having a small trouble trying to figure out where to start, I would appreciate ideas from not just my cast. Thank thee!
Hmm… Maybe once I'm done writing this, I'll open up that group as a discussion list but until then… And until Chapter Eight…
Tah-tah!
~Queen Tessandry de Sanyochisei~