Chapter 9

As the weekend approached Tessa could hardly contain her happiness. She was in such good spirits she did not detract points from two boys who had a scuffle in the hall outside her classroom. Instead she sent the hexed boy to Madam Pomfrey for care and then used the incident as an excuse to have the class practice defensive spells. The first assistant, who happened to be the boy who did the hex, sadly wasn't very successful in repelling Tessa's demonstration and had to sit through class with jelly legs. She also let the weekend come without giving any homework for which she was told she was the best teacher ever.

Remus' letters came with the same question, "Have you asked yet?" She hadn't. But she was sure there wouldn't be a problem. When he threatened to send her a howler if she didn't make sure, she relented and approached Dumbledore. It was Friday after the evening meal when she stopped him on his way out of the Great Hall.

"Headmaster?" she began.

Noticing her hesitation and her formality, he said, "Yes, Professor? I am always at the disposal of my staff."

She suddenly felt like a guilty school girl. "I was just wondering if there were any, ah , restrictions for faculty visiting Hogsmeade. I was planning to go into town tomorrow, so I thought I should check," she finished awkwardly.

Dumbledore cocked his head to one side for a moment and looked at her. She stood a little uncomfortable under his regard. Finally he spoke, "No, Tessa, there are no restrictions. Is there anything else you would like to ask me?"

Tessa swallowed hard as he held her gaze with his twinkling blue eyes and said abruptly, "No, Albus, nothing else. Good night." She turned to leave feeling a bit dishonest not giving him the full reasons for her trip to Hogsmeade. Before she took two steps, Dumbledore spoke again and she turned to face him.

"Say hello to Remus for me, won't you?" he said, his face a mask of innocence.

Tessa smiled then laughed and Dumbledore's face broke into a broad smile. "Of course," she said and watched him make his way out of the Hall.

She quickly scribbled a note to Remus and made her way up to the Owlery. She was surprised to find Harry there as well. He turned around startled but relaxed when he saw who had opened the door.

"Hello Harry. Sorry to frighten you."

"I thought you might be Filch. He likes to harass me ever since someone told him I was ordering Dungbombs by owl last year."

Tessa laughed. "From the look of it, Filch doesn't come up here too often. Can I ask who you are writing to? Or would that be too nosy?"

"Remus. Thought I'd just, you know, fill him in on how things are going."

Tessa nodded and indicated her note, "Me too. I was just coming up to send him a short note as well."

"Do you want to tie it onto Hedwig?"

"That's very nice of you. Thanks." She handed him the note and he added it to his own. Tessa moved over to stroke Hedwig's feathers. Harry soon finished and Hedwig flew off into the evening.

Tessa looked out of the window and said, "Remus really enjoys hearing from you, Harry. He's alone at Grimmauld Place a lot, so he appreciates the letters." She looked over her shoulder at him. "So what do you two talk about anyway?"

He looked relieved for a moment that she didn't know the contents of his letters. Then he thought for a moment. "Not too much; school, Quidditch, that kind of thing." He moved to stand next to her at the window.

She nodded her head and looked out the window again. "He didn't by any chance mention the DADA club, did he? I asked him to convince you about it." She looked at him out of the corner of her eye with eyebrows raised and smiled, hopefully.

"Yes, he mentioned it," he said exasperatedly.

"Well?"

"I don't know. Maybe. It would be a lot of work and with Quidditch season starting…" he trailed off.

"You're right. It probably will be a lot of work. Maybe there is a way we can set it up so it won't be only on your shoulders this time. Are you at least willing to meet with me to see if it might be possible?"

She could see him wrestling with the idea for a moment. "Ok, Professor," he said grudgingly.

"Great. I'll set up a time for you and Ron and Hermione to meet with me and we can hammer out the details. You better get back to your common room before curfew. I don't want Filch to have any more reason to hassle you."

He smiled and looked around to make sure they were indeed alone, then said, "Goodnight, Tessa."

She winked and said, "Night, Harry." She watched him out the door then stood leaning against the window watching the sky for a short time. Finally she made her way back to her chamber and climbed into bed. After much tossing and turning, and excited speculation she slept.

Tessa woke up just as the sun broke over the horizon. It would be hours until she would make her way to Hogsmeade. She smiled knowing that Remus still slept peacefully miles away. She sat up in bed and watched the sky turn bright and the clouds that had been covering the sky for the last week melt away in the sunshine. She thought it was a good sign that the day was beginning on such a glorious note and hoped the rest of the day would continue in a similarly happy fashion.

She jumped out of bed and carefully chose her outfit for the day. She wanted something that could turn from conservative to provocative with a few subtle changes. She planned to explore the town after lunch and then meet Remus for their date afterwards.

She finished getting dressed and made her way down to the Great Hall. She went to the teacher's table and realized that it was still very early. No other teachers were at breakfast yet and very few students were seated at the House tables.

She sat down and food appeared on the table. Tessa ate a quiet breakfast by herself and was quickly done. She had just poured a cup of tea when the doors of the Hall opened and a bleary-eyed Ron, Harry and Ginny came into the room carrying their broomsticks. She watched them go the Gryffindor table, oblivious to her presence and sit down. They sat and ate in sleepy silence for a few minutes but then she heard them begin chatting.

She finished her tea and stood up. Ron, who was facing the head table, finally noticed her and told the other two. Ginny turned and waved. Tessa walked over to them and stood behind Harry and Ginny.

"Morning," she said. "Early practice this morning I take it?"

"Yes," said Ginny. "Katie is even tougher than Angelina was last year."

"Well, the first match is coming up soon and we really need to practice. We have a new Chaser, well, two if you count Ginny, and our beaters really need some work," Ron said. Tessa noticed that when Ron talked about Quidditch his self assurance rose 100.

"Mind if I stop by to watch some of the practice? I am going to Hogsmeade later this afternoon, but have nothing to do this morning. Or is that not allowed?" Tessa inquired.

"Sure, come over and watch," Harry said. "But don't expect too much, it's just a practice."

"Don't worry, I won't expect the World Cup or anything," she smiled.

More students began filtering into the hall now so Tessa adopted a less familiar attitude with the three. She cleared her voice and said, "Have a good practice but don't forget about the 20 inches you owe me for Monday." Ron and Harry made pained faces and Ginny smirked. She winked at Ron as she left and noticed that for the first time since she had met him he didn't turn pink.

She strolled around the lake for a while, enjoying the morning sunshine glittering on its surface and then went over to the Quidditch pitch. Watching from below it was difficult to see what exactly was happening. She saw Ron guarding the hoops at one end of the field as the three chasers flew around tossing the Quaffle to each other in a variety of formations trying to score off of him. He was doing very well from what Tessa could tell.

The beaters, she couldn't see from this distance who they were, had only one bludger to contend with but still were have difficulty keeping it away from their teammates. Tessa saw Ginny and Katie having to dodge it on two separate occasions causing them to first, miss a goal and second, drop the quaffle. She supposed that gave the girls a good opportunity to get used to real game conditions but in a practice session showed the inadequacy of their beaters.

A red streak flying about the pitch must be Harry she thought. The speed he achieved on his broom she had never seen before. She knew he had the latest and greatest sporting broom available and this was the first time Tessa had ever seen it in use. She couldn't see how any other team stood a chance. And not only because of the broom; Harry's flying was very impressive.

The sun moved slowly across the sky as she watched their practice. She left the pitch and made her way back to the castle. Tessa felt as if the day was creeping by. When she reached the main staircase she could see that the Great Hall was still filled with students having breakfast. She climbed the flights of stairs that led to her chamber to discover that she had two hours until lunch would begin.

She cleaned herself up from her walk and then spent the remainder of the time puttering around the room picking up this and rearranging that but always with an eye to the clock which she was sure was running slow. When she had done everything she could find to do in her room, she moved to her office and then, to her classroom organizing as she went.

Finally, it was time for lunch. Tessa raced out of her room, into the corridor and down the staircase once more. She stopped at the door of the Great Hall to compose herself. It wouldn't do for a teacher to dash giddily into the Hall, though she never felt less like a sober professor in her life. The picture of a calm and completely serious woman, Tessa walked into the room. She was glad to see that she wasn't the first person there for lunch. Many students and teachers were already in the midst of their meals. She sat down and willed herself not to rush through her meal even though her excitement had her wanting to skip the meal entirely and run to the gates of Hogwart's and down the road to Hogsmeade.

Soon she was joined by Professor Flitwick whose company she normally enjoyed. Today, however, she felt herself wanting to escape his chatter and be on her way. He seemed to think that her distraction was a sign of a bad mood and kept trying to draw her into conversation. Tessa excused herself abruptly offering a pitiful excuse and went once more to her chamber to freshen up and check her appearance in the mirror one more time, just to be sure. She dashed down the hall and the two flights of stairs, across the entrance hall and opened the front door flooding the room with brilliant fall sunshine. Nervous happy butterflies fluttered in her stomach as she walked down the slope past the Lake toward the gates.