TESS

"THAT WAS AMAZING!"

Raven hugged Tess fiercely. "That one maneuver, the one where you flipped over the hoops—that was brilliant! Can you teach me how?"

"I'm not sure," Tess admitted. "It's kind of instinctive."

They reached the entry to Ravenclaw Tower. "Shall you do the honors, or I?" Raven asked. They'd spent a little more time than the others in the changing room, and even through the thick door, they could hear sounds of celebrating.

The knocker smiled down at them. "Congratulations! Go on in." Without asking a riddle, it swung open. Raven pushed Tess forward.

"Are you sure you haven't played Quidditch?" Quinn demanded, instantly at Tess's side. "Because by the way you play, it looks like you've been practicing since birth!"

"It's all in my arm," Tess told him. "I used to play American football."

Then she was swept away by the enthusiastic crowd. If they won a match and this was how they celebrated, Tess almost didn't want to know how they'd react if they won the Inter-House Quidditch Cup.

After a few hours, Tess made some excuses and slipped away from the party. It was simply too loud. She left the tower and made her way out of the castle, moving towards the lake. There was a sheltered, peaceful spot she'd discovered in her second year, and whenever she wanted to get away from a huge crowd, she'd gone there. It was a little clearing filled with lush green grass and moss, and lined with thornbushes that no one else wanted to go through. It was right on the edge of the lake. The only ways to get to it were through the thornbushes or the water. It was virtually hidden from the castle, too.

As she was walking down, she saw something black huddled on the shore near where she had found the secret entrance to the peaceful clearing. She tipped her head to one side and broke into a jog, wondering what it was. As she neared, the black lump unfolded itself. Tess screamed inwardly. It looked like a Death Eater.

She pulled out her wand, holding it steadily in front of her. She could duel okay—

Then she recognized the figure.

"Draco?" she exclaimed. She stuck the wand in her belt and rushed forward. "You're sopping wet!"

"Took a swim in the lake," Draco said. "Not entirely on purpose. D'you know a spell to make me dry off?"

"Yeah . . ." Tess gave her wand a complicated wave and pointed it at Draco. Steam rose from his suit—why was he always wearing that black suit? It was so dark—and he rubbed his arms. "Thanks."

"No problem." Tess beckoned. She led him to the entrance to the unknown clearing. "Apertum Lignum." She pointed her wand at a tree. With a creaking sound, a door carved itself into the bark and opened. Tess stepped in and found herself in the clearing. Draco appeared out of thin air beside her. "That was the weirdest thing I've ever seen."

"Eh," Tess said indifferently. She glanced up at his face and blinked with surprise. "What happened to your face?" There were countless cuts and scratches, including one on his lip. She reached up and touched one. Draco winced, his hand coming up to cover hers. "Please don't."

"Sorry." Tess drew her hand back, swallowing. She turned and looked out over the lake. "How'd you get them?"

"I jumped through a window into the lake," Draco said. "Stupidly, I forgot to cover my face."

"Do they hurt?"

He nodded.

"Would you like me to fix them?"

Another nod.

Tess tapped his face with her wand. "Episkey." The all the cuts vanished except the one on his lip. It faded to a sort of silverfish color. "Oooh," Tess said. "That's a scar."

"What is?" Draco felt his face.

"You had one on your lip," Tess said. "It scarred."

"Ah, well," Draco said. "The casualties of dueling."

"Indeed," Tess agreed. "Who were you fighting anyway?"

"Blaise Zabini." An ugly expression crossed Draco's face. "When Urquhart fell, I'd hexed him. Blaise accused me of doing such; like I was going to admit it. So I jumped through the window into the lake."

"How smart of you," Tess remarked. She sat in the grass and looked out at the lake. "When in doubt, jump into the lake—but go through a window first. Let's all follow that code."

Draco sat next to her, shrugging. "It was that or get hexed and jinxed and cursed beyond repair. Nearly broke my wand in doing so," he added regretfully. "Man, that would have gotten me in trouble. What's your wand made of?"

"Black walnut," Tess said. She handed it to him. "Black walnut, dragon heartstring, fourteen and three-quarter inches, reasonably pliant. Got it from Ollivander's. What about you?" It had vines wrapping around it almost to the tip. The vines had flowers on it.

Draco handed her his wand. "Hawthorn, unicorn hair, ten inches. It's . . ." he glanced sideways at her. "Reasonably pliant also."

They traded wands. Tess waved hers around, causing a bouquet of flowers to pop from the end. She set them on fire and threw them in the lake. Draco whistled. "Harsh. It's just a bouquet of flowers."

"I dislike flowers." Tess laid her wand in the grass beside her. "Don't you ever get hot in that stupid suit?"

"Oh, totally," Draco said. "I just can't take my jacket off beca—" he stopped abruptly and stood. "How do I get out?"

Confused by the sudden change of tone, Tess picked up her wand, rising. "Venia Copia." A pathway through the thornbushes appeared. Draco rushed through them and disappeared into the forest.

"Draco," Tess called, taking a step after him.

"Everte Statum Maxima!" an unfamiliar voice shouted behind her. Pain lanced through her body, like someone was sticking needles into her skin. She screamed, falling to her knees. Then the pain was gone and she was trying to catch her breath.

She turned, trying to get to her feet. Blaise Zabini (she recognized him from the Quidditch match) was standing a few feet away, murder written on his face. "I will become the best Chaser Hogwarts has ever seen," he told her, seething. "Not you. Everte Statum Maxima!"

The pain came again, this time enough to make her black out for a few minutes. When she woke, Draco was standing in front of her, his wand still pointed at Zabini, who appeared to have the Full Body-Bind curse on him. He was also Stunned and bound by ropes. Tess must have made a noise, because Draco spun around and fell to his knees beside her, gathering her into his arms. "Are you okay?" he demanded.

Tess shook her head weakly. She had never heard the spell Zabini had been using, but it felt just like she imagined the Cruciatus Curse to be like.

Draco rose, hugging Tess closer to his chest, and took off through the path in the thorns. Tess let herself drift away, awake but not paying attention to anything. Then she heard an enraged shout. She opened her eyes. Quinn was standing very close to Draco, his eyes blazing and his fists clenched. Raven was behind him, also glaring.

"What did you do to her?" Quinn yelled.

"If you want to blame someone," Draco snapped, "blame Blaise Zabini. He's in that clearing over there." He pointed over his shoulder. "So why don't you let me get Tess to the hospital wing?"

Tess tried to see it from Quinn and Raven's point of view. They must have been looking for her, knowing that she came into the forest to escape from people. So they search the edges. The fringe of the forest. And then Draco Malfoy shows up from nowhere, carrying Tess in a pretty friendly manner, saying that he needs to get her to the hospital wing. That's got to be suspicious, Tess thought.

"YOU LITTLE—" Quinn shouted, his face nearly red.

"Hush, Quinn," Raven commanded, shoving him behind her. "Malfoy, why do we have to blame Zabini?"

"He did something to her," Draco said. Now he sounded unsure. "I don't remember the incantation—it made her scream, though."

"Everte Statum Maxima." Tess croaked out the incantation, then instantly wished she hadn't; it sent fire whirling though her, making her try and curl up. She was hindered by the fact that she was in Draco's arms.

"What?" Quinn's face appeared behind Raven, oddly curious. "Like Everte Statum but more powerful?"

"That's what Maxima does," Draco replied, a touch sarcastically. "Please let me past."

Tess mentally searched her insides, wondering what could cause her such pain. What she found out made her nearly scream in frustration, even though it was a minor amount and she'd be able to leave the hospital wing at least by the next day. She worked up enough steel to talk. "Internal bleeding . . ."

Raven paled; Quinn went an ugly shade of violet. Draco took this as a go as fast as you can and brushed past them. He bent his head low to Tess's ear. "How do you know you have internal bleeding?"

Tess shook her head helplessly, unable to answer.

"Why do you have internal bleeding?"

"I don't know," Tess nearly shouted, causing so much pain she nearly passed out. Draco must have sensed this, for he picked up the pace but dropped the questions.

Tess must have fallen asleep or blacked out, because when she next opened her eyes, she was lying in a bed in the hospital wing. She woke up just in time to see Raven and Quinn leave, passing Draco (who was coming in).

"Were you faking sleep?" Draco asked, seeing her open her eyes.

"Naw," Tess answered blithely. "If I was I would have laughed. I suck at feigning sleep."

Draco pulled up a chair and sat, staring down at her. After a few moments he asked, "Are we friends?"

Tess blinked. Were they really? He had carried her over here, he had been nice to her, given her that neverending box of chocolate and Glaedr, but before that he'd forced her to come to Malfoy Manor, where his father had kicked her in the back and opened one of her scars—one of the scars that Draco Malfoy had given her.

It was taking her so long to answer that Draco's face was getting a hard edge. Tess closed her eyes, considering what she was going to say.

"Yes," she said slowly. "Yes, I think we are."

Draco nodded and stood. He paced to the window, putting his arms behind his back, and stared out at whatever the window faced. "And friends tell each other secrets?"

"Of course," Tess said, sitting up. A tiny, horrible part inside her was thinking, he wouldn't know; I'm probably his first friend ever. She squished it down.

Draco nodded again. If Tess hadn't known better, she would have thought that he was bracing himself for something. He closed his eyes. "Please . . . please don't . . . freak out."

Tess's hand groped for her wand unobtrusively. "I'll try not to, but it depends on what you tell me."

Abruptly Draco wheeled around, pulling up his left sleeve. "I don't know who else to go to," he confessed. "I don't know what to do—I wish I was never chosen!"

On the inside of his forearm was the Dark Mark.

Tess's fingers found her wand. "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS," she shrieked, whipping it around to point at Draco. A jet of white light hit him right in the chest and he stiffened, then collapsed. Ignoring any/all pain, Tess scrambled out of the bed and stood staring down at him, gasping and terrified. No. No no no no no no no no no. This—this could not be happening.

She couldn't help it; she made a small noise of fear and shock and—anger? Why was she angry?

"I trusted you," she breathed, knowing as soon as the words left her mouth that they were true. "I trusted you so D*** MUCH! You couldn't bother to tell me you're a Death—a Death—a—"

She stopped, unable to complete what she was going to say. Finally, weakly, she muttered the countercurse for the Full Body-Bind.

Draco scrambled up from the floor, panic in his eyes. Neither said anything for a long time. At last Draco spoke. "I need someone my age to talk to."

Tess said nothing.

"I can't talk to Crabbe and Goyle, they won't understand," Draco went on. "Both of their fathers are Death Eaters too—"

"So you decided to use me," Tess spat.

Draco stared at her. "If I'd been using you, would I have left you there for Zabini to do what he wished? Would I have healed you at my house? Would I have given you those presents? Would I have bothered to comfort you when you were crying?" He stood there, trembling. "I don't need you to answer that. I know the answer; you know it too. You just can't face it! I am a Death Eater, Theresa! I regret making that decision, but I recognize—"

With no control whatsoever over what she was doing, Tess went to him and hugged him, cutting him off mid-sentence. She was crying. "I don't care. Oh my GOD I don't care." She stepped back, looking up at him, and kissed him on the lips. Then she ran from the room.