Chapter Two
"Get your feet out of my face."
"Yeah, well get your morning wood out of my back."
Tessa groaned quietly at the sound of Blaise and Theo's bickering, not wanting to open her eyes and face the day. Her body was jostled as Blaise was knocked gently into her by Theo jerking his hips into Blaise's back. She giggled as she opened her eyes and looked up at Blaise, who was watching her with his amber eyes. At some point in the night she had turned into him, and his arms were fully wrapped around her.
"You're the one that decided to lay with your head at the end of the bed, Theo. Draco loves a good cuddle, you know." Tessa said as she watched her friend sit up slowly and wipe sleep from his green eyes.
"I do not want a cuddle from Theo, Tess." Tessa turned to Draco as he laughed and stood, stretching, his heather gray shirt riding up on his stomach. None of the boys missed her eyes trailing the hem as it rose.
"Simmer down." Blaise murmured into her ear and Tessa shoved his shoulder, her face turning red as she also moved to get out of bed.
"I'm going to brush my teeth." She muttered before disappearing into the bathroom that adjoined her bedroom, shutting the door firmly behind her.
She stood in the bathroom, splashing water on her face before staring at herself.
"Get it together, Tessa. You can't go there; you promised."
At the end of last summer, the four of them had made a pact that none of them would date one another. It was clear that between their hormones, and spending every possible minute together outside of the school term, some feelings other than friendship were beginning to form between Tessa and each of the boys. But having to choose between them, and the possibility of losing two of them in favor of keeping one? She couldn't fathom it. It had nearly torn her to pieces when she'd kissed both Blaise and Draco over the summer, at different times of course, and then she'd messed up again at Christmas with Theo.
Tessa brushed her teeth and hair, throwing it up into a ponytail before returning to her bedroom to find Draco placing her trunk back onto her now made bed.
"Where did Theo and Blaise go?"
"To pester Severus about breakfast and coffee."
"Oh I hope they convince him to get those danish from Elise's Bakery. I've been dreaming about them for weeks."
"And we'd never deny you a strawberry danish, would we, princess?" Blaise said has he came into the room with a white bakery box, Theo trailing behind him with a cup tray filled with four to go cups.
"You're my favorite." Tess said as she flipped open the top of the box and picked out a strawberry danish, rising up on her toes to give him a kiss on the cheek before stepping over to Theo and grabbing the cup marked 'Tess'.
"What, no kiss for me?" He pouted.
"After you tell me what I can expect from the people I'm staying with this summer, we'll talk about a kiss." Tess said before taking a bite of danish and settling herself cross legged on her bed.
"It's the same shit we've told you for years, Tessa. Potter and his friends are stuck up prats. Weasley is dumber than a box of rocks, and the Mudblood-"
"You know I hate that word, Draco." Tessa snapped at him, her eyes cutting to him.
Theo and Blaise snickered as Draco looked down at the chocolate muffin in his hand, having the decency to look cowed.
"Granger will more than likely be nice to you; she's an okay person, honestly. That's assuming Potter and Weasley don't convince her to ice you out, which is likely considering how much they hate your dad." Blaise took over the explanation from his seat on top of her desk.
"That's dad for you - always making me friends." Tessa quipped, taking a sip of her latte.
"Don't know much about Black, but I can assume his hatred will be obvious and harsh." Theo continued from his spot by the window, looking down into the street. He turned to look at her, his face hard. "Don't take any disrespect from them, Tessie. And you contact us if you need help."
"I'll be fine, Theo; you're so overprotective." Tessa rolled her eyes.
"The Weasley twins will be there. Hilarious, but smart. I don't imagine they'll give you trouble. I don't know much about Mr. and Mrs. Weasley other than father hates Mr. Weasley." Draco jumped back in.
Tessa remembered Draco telling her about his and Lucius' interaction with the Weasley's, Potter, and Granger at the Quidditch World Cup last year. Lucius maintained that Mr. Weasley was an utter fool for his fixation with Muggles, but Tessa was more inclined to believe that there was something that went on during their school years to cause that animosity than simple disdain for Muggles.
"To be fair, Draco, the list of people your father likes is very small." Tessa mused aloud. "I'm not entirely certain he's fond of me. Although I know for a fact Narcissa loves me because I have my own room at your house." She sighed. "I am going to miss that bathtub this summer."
"Father doesn't like any of you; says you don't give me the proper respect I deserve." Draco said as he pretended to pick a speck of lint off his shirt.
The others roared with laughter, Blaise slapping his knee and Theo holding onto the window sill to keep from falling to the floor. Tessa had to place her coffee cup on the bedside table to keep from spilling it all over the bed from laughing so hard.
"This is exactly what I was talking about."
Draco's response sent them into laughter again, and it took them a few minutes to reign it in. When they were almost calm, Severus stepped into the room.
"You should finish packing quickly, Theresa, as we're expected at Hogwarts within the hour. Boys, keep her on schedule."
He turned and exited the room, leaving the four of them in tense silence.
"Promise me you won't do anything stupid this summer, okay? Just do your homework, snitch Firewhiskey from Theo's dads cellar, and go flying on the Manor grounds." Tessa said, reaching over to take Draco's hand and looking at the rest of them.
"We'll keep our heads down; we promise." Theo stepped over to his bag that he had thrown on the floor the evening before and set it on the bed before pulling something out. "We got this for you, seeing as you are always leaving your wand lying around. And if we're going to war…"
"I am becoming quite accomplished at wandless magic, you know. My father is Severus Snape. Plus, I can't do magic outside of school, so as long as it's safe in the house, it's fine." Tessa said lightly, though she frantically tried to remember where she had laid her wand down last, but couldn't.
Blaise picked up her wand from the desk, rowan and dragon heartstring, eleven inches, and stepped over to hand it to her before settling back on top of the desk. Tessa blushed and muttered a quiet 'thank you'.
"Give me your right arm." Theo said, and she held out her arm to him. He slid the soft leather forearm brace onto her arm, buckling the straps securely, and then took the wand from her and slid it into the sheathe point first.
Tessa ran her fingers over the leather admiringly. "It's beautifully made." She looked up at Theo and then Blaise and Draco. "Thank you."
"Well now you can get to it easily, and unless you're asleep or in the shower, it'll be close by. Honestly, you can just leave it in the holster then. Since you're left handed, you pull it out easily from the right forearm." Draco said.
"Makes sense. Although it's not exactly the most fashion forward if I'm wearing short sleeves."
"Are we telling her what we decided as well?" Blaise asked, looking at Draco first and then Theo, ignoring Tessa's complaint.
"What you've decided? What is there to decide?" Tessa narrowed her eyes at Blaise. "What have you three done?"
"We've decided that we're okay with sharing you." Blaise said bluntly, a smile on his face.
"Sharing me?" Tessa repeated dumbly, blinking at him. "What do you mean?"
"You're as subtle as the Cruciatus, do you know that, Blaise? Fuck." Theo growled at him before turning back to Tessa and placing his hand on her face, his thumb rubbing back and forth her cheek. "What he means is we've been talking about what we decided last summer, and we fucking hate it. Especially with what happened at Christmas."
"So you've decided to share me?" Tessa repeated again.
"We've decided that we would all like to date you, and as Blaise so ineloquently put it, that does mean we would share you with one another." Theo answered.
"We think we can handle it, you know. Not getting jealous and everything." Draco added, rubbing the back of his neck, a faint blush on his cheeks.
Tessa sat there, momentarily stunned, before slapping Theo's hand away and pushing him back so that she could stand up off the bed.
"What in the bloody fuck is wrong with you idiots? You just decided this?" She yelled, throwing her hands up. "What about me? What about what I think? You can't just unequivocally declare that you're okay with sharing me. Have you thought of what other people will say? What my father will say? Not to mention your families. Merlin, can you imagine what Narcissa and Lucius would say once the rumors hit Pureblood Society? And, again, what about what I want? What happens if you can't handle it, and it ruins our friendship?"
"I have to admit, I did not expect this reaction." Blaise mused, watching her throw the temper tantrum. He ducked quickly as the bedside clock came hurtling at his head and it smashed against the wall behind him.
"That's because you're an idiot!" Tessa screamed, her chest heaving from breathing heavily. "I've been agonizing about this for over a year, and the three of you just make this decision for us without consulting me or my feelings, or my point of view which, frankly, is usually the best because I actually think things through with my brain, rather than my dick."
"Technically you don't have a dick, but we get what you're saying." Blaise retorted, and Tessa launched herself at him before Theo grabbed her around the waist, holding her tightly.
"Let me go, Theo, I just want one minute with the smart ass." Tessa struggled against him, glaring at Blaise fiercely.
"Yeah, let her go, Theo. I love it when we wrestle." Blaise's eyes were bright with laughter and his body was relaxed as he continued to sit on the desk. He knew she wouldn't actually hit him, but she would go in for a good wrestle if Theo let her go.
"This is not going how we planned at all." Draco muttered from the other side of the bed.
"Do you think?" Theo shot back at him from above Tessa's head.
"How long have you been thinking about this?" Tessa asked, turning her attention to Draco. She had stopped struggling but Theo kept his arms around her just in case.
"Since you went back to Durmstrang after Christmas break." Draco answered at the same time that Blaise said, "Since you snogged Theo at Christmas."
"Mate, you are not helping!" Theo barked at Blaise as Tessa turned her glare back to Blaise.
"As fascinating as it is to watch this implosion, Tessa and I do have to be going."
All four heads snapped to the doorway, finding Snape standing there watching them with narrowed eyes. Theo quickly let go of Tessa who stepped away from him, squaring her shoulders.
"You know where the Floo powder is, boys." Snape continued as he stepped to the side, jerking his head toward the staircase. It was a clear dismissal.
The three boys paused before moving. Theo picked up his bag and stepped toward Tessa, dropping a quick kiss on her forehead before saying, "Write to us, Tessie, okay? We can talk about this."
Tessa crossed her arms and glared at him, but nodded sharply before making eye contact with Blaise and Draco as well. "I'll write."
Blaise winked at her and Draco gave her a smile as they left, and then Tessa glanced at her father, remembering at the last minute to slam up her Occlumency walls.
"I don't even want to know." He said in response as he flicked his wand and her truck closed and shrunk before he walked over and placed it in his pocket. "You have ten minutes before I expect you downstairs and ready to go."
Tessa shut the door behind him before hurtling into the bathroom to take a quick shower and change shirts before fastening a plain black cloak around her shoulders and heading downstairs. They really had picked the worst time to tell her about this. Why hadn't they said anything last night when they had the house to themselves and time to talk it over? They had discussed the ending ceremonies of the Triwizard Tournament, the return of Voldemort and what that meant for them, and what the boys had planned for the summer now that Tessa wouldn't be joining them - and all that time, they had been sitting on this bombshell. She couldn't believe that they had pretended that everything was the same last night when they had made a serious decision without her.
Tessa shoved the thoughts out of her mind as she and Snape Floo'd into Albus Dumbledore's office. She could think about her personal relationship problems after she was sorted, received her summer assignments, and met the people she'd be spending the summer with.