"That was a good speech", said Alicia as she rounded the corner towards the entrance of the pitch. It was the first week of October and practices were no longer off limits for the Quidditch teams.
"Yeah it was", said Angelina readying her broom to take flight. All three chasers reached the entrance and kicked off ready to start their first practice of the season. They were first on the pitch and decided have a few laps around the stadium before anyone else showed up.
Tessa reached the entrance next. She noticed her roommates flying and ran towards their direction. She leaped off the ground mid-sprint and positioned her broom underneath her. She flew at full speed towards her friends and caught up behind them. She rode behind Angelina which created a diamond formation in the sky as they rounded the hoops at one end of the pitch.
Tessa looked down to see Oliver strolling out if the entrance. They all slowed down and hovered near their captain as everyone else on their team began to kick off the ground towards the sky.
"We'll do a small warm up for the start of the day", said Wood. "Let's starts with you three shooting at those hoops over there, and Tessa you be keeper." Olive kicked off the ground and went towards the other direction as he threw a Quaffle to Angelina.
The warm-up went well as the Chasers practiced their formations with an equal ration of defenses and goals made by all four players. After warm-ups they scrimmaged for a while until their time was up for the day. Tessa began to tie up her sneakers as George turned to her before he left her alone in the locker room.
"You sure you'll be okay to run alone?" George asked with a slightly concerned voice.
"Yeah, no worries", replied Tessa as she finished knotting her shoe lace.
She ran towards the Lake and slowed to a fast walk. She began to stretch her arms and legs after that long practice. After stretching, she continued her jog towards Hagrid's House. She ran along the forest until she heard footsteps quickly behind her.
"Hey!" Tessa whipped around nearly tripping over an exposed limb when someone caught her arm.
"Fred! You scared the crap out of me!"
"You need a running partner," said Fred.
"Uh, yeah", said Tessa. She began to run through the woods towards the enormous hut. When she saw a figure running in the opposite direction. As the forest opened she saw the figure to be Flint who had a scowl on his face and ran past Tessa while keeping his eyes on Fred.
"I think it's time to give him a remedy", laughed Fred once he was out of range. Tessa laughed with him as they continued to the castle.
The perfect potion ceased to exist as Fred and Tessa put it in the fireplace at the Gryffindor common room. Everyone was away leaving the room to the two fifth years. Tessa sat on the small couch facing the fire resting her aching feet on the coffee table in front of them. Fred sat down next to her sharing the same tiny table as a foot rest.
"So", said Tessa after a long silence, "why did you show up so urgently?" Tessa smiled as she was admiring Fred's profile shaded perfectly by the fire.
"Intuition", said Fred faking a smile his eyes certainly did not show. Tessa nodded her head and looked at the fire instead.
"It's probably a good thing she shouldn't know", Fred thought to himself as he watched the girl getting lost in her thoughts as well. She shouldn't know that Marcus was waiting for her to leave the pitch and ran the opposite direction to catch her alone in the woods. His intentions were not innocent and Fred was not going to let Tessa leave his side until the remedy was placed in his drink by his brother during their first match.
"I will let nothing happen to her", thought Fred to himself.
He felt a slight bump on his shoulder as he looked down. His face was engulfed in hair. He smiled and turned his head back towards the fire making sure his movements were slow. "This is nice", he thought to himself as he lowered his head to rest on hers.
"Really, nice", he whispered to himself hoping that no one would come into the common room for the rest of the evening.
"Password?" Tessa and Fred both jerk their head up and quickly moved away from each other. Both felt too awkward to acknowledge how she got there or how he didn't move her, so they both turned and waited for whomever to come in. The painting swung open to reveal most of their house walking in. Students chatting away about their classes dispelled the beautiful serenity in the room. Tessa stood up to talk to Ginny, whom waved her over to an empty frantically. Fred stood up and walked towards the painting. He was ready to tell his brother of the devastating loss to their project.
Tessa sat down at a table occupied by Hermione, Crookshanks, and Ginny. "So", said Ginny with a smirk on her face, "I saw something rather interesting since I was the first one to walk into the room." Tessa blushed.
"It just kind of happened," said Tessa looking down at her trainers. "We had a bit of a scare with an experiment, but it's ending tonight. It was perfect". Tessa sighed with Hermione who looked relieved after she heard the termination of the potion.
"Well it looks like that experiment has opened a door", said Ginny still smiling broadly at Tessa.
"I don't know", said Tessa blushing even more. "It'd be nice if it had", smiled Tessa who was looking at an ecstatic Hermione and Ginny at what could be after tonight.
Fred walked into the study room where George was working on sickly treats.
We lost the bet", said Fred.
"Figured", said George stirring a bright orange potion clockwise. "Especially after you ran to Tessa when I pointed out that Flint was running towards her direction."
"It was intentional", said Fred defensively. "I saw him walking near the Lake before practice.—"said Fred in a matter-of-fact tone.
"—He was waiting for her", interrupted George. "I'm not saying you chasing after her were wrong, but she can handle things on her own. You should know after years of your ass getting kicked in dueling class."
George finally looked up to see his brother. Fred stopped pacing and was brooding in a corner looking at sketches of packaged boxes and bottles that Tessa made.
"I know you're protective of her, however, I don't think you realize when you're overprotective and when you're not. When are you going to tell her?" George asked his brother who finally seemed to calm down after talking about Flint, which seem to light a fire in his brother.
"I'm not ready yet," said Fred who was still looking down at the sketches. "I like her a lot, but I want to have a friendship with her for now; I don't want to ruin this." Fred finally walked over to the cauldron and took over stirring for his brother.
"Just don't get mad when more guys become interested because they are and she won't wait for you," said George while stretching his aching arms and walking over to a few open books on a table nearby.
Classes and practices came and went, and it was time for the first Quidditch match. The sky in the Great Hall was very ominous as Tessa was eating her breakfast with the team while listening to Wood talk about tactics against Hufflepuff, at the Gryffindor table. After breakfast, they quickly ran to the stadium and prepared for the most exciting game of the season, so far.
"I'll meet up with you guys later", said Tessa as she was still getting Harry's affects from the locker room.
"Look, you did a great job out there. Being Seeker is extremely hard in this type of weather." Angelina patted Tessa on the back and closed the curtain behind her. She didn't want to face anyone after that disaster of a game.
"The worst I've ever played", thought Tessa to herself as she turned to leave the locker room. She walked out with one arm free as she closed the curtain shut. "Looks like the only luck you had was taking someone's place."
Tessa shut the curtain so fast she nearly ripped the rood off the wall. Turning around she saw Marcus Flint leaning on a wall nearest the exit.
"If you hadn't noticed, the weather prevented me from playing well", said Tessa trying to find a way around Marcus without getting near him.
"But", said Flint as he paused while leaning of the wall and walking towards Tessa. "You look better off the field anyway. Wouldn't want to ruin this perfection playing more games now would we."
"There you are. Thank you for waiting on me dear". Cedric Diggory sauntered out into the hallway and made his way towards Tessa.
"Glad you could make it was beginning to worry about you", said Tessa who speed walked to Cedric. He grabbed Harry's equipment from her hands as she put her arm around his waist. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and they walked out without saying a word to the Slytherin Captain muttered slurs and profanities in the darkness.
"Thank you", said Tessa as the exit opened to a cloudy sky lit up in hues of yellow and orange from the castles' lights.
"No worries", said Cedric. "I saw him waiting outside of your locker room and decided to wait as well." They walked a few feet until Tessa registered that he wasn't moving his hands away from her shoulders. She wasn't moving her hands either, so she kept on walking with a grin plastered to her face at Cedric keeping the charade going.
They made it the castles' entrance when Cedric turned his head slightly. Two giggling girls from Gryffindor stopped dead in their tracks and began to excitedly whisper at the sight they were witnessing.
"Well we've been spotted", said Cedric with pink cheeks flushing his skin.
"Good, let's take the long way", said Tessa. A smile erupted from his face as they slowly made their way to the Common Room. They began talking about classes and things that interested them, besides Quidditch, until they reached the Gryffindor Common Room.
"This is where I leave you", said Cedric as he removed his arm around her shoulder. "I'll see you around; maybe Hogsmeade?" Tessa looked up at the 6th year to see whether he was still playing or was serious.
"Uh, yeah. I should be there", said Tessa after she realized he was serious. "I'll hold you to it then. See you around." Cedric walked away with his hands in his pockets and skipping down the steps to his dorm.
Tessa exhaled the breath she held in from surprise, and walked into of the common room to look for Fred and George. Swinging the painting shut she felt someone grab her.
"You're so lucky!" Angelina harshly whispered as she felt her friend bouncing up and down in excitement.
"Yeah", said Tessa in response. The two girls who spotted them earlier already made their rounds in the Common Room. She won't be playing any matches soon after the stunt they pulled, and only she and Diggory would know why.
After being congratulated by all the girls in the common room and glared at by the boys, she made her way to the Hall of Hexes first before venturing any further through the castle. As she was rounding the corner of one of the staircases, she felt some yank at her arm and pull her into darkness. She immediately saw wavy strands of ginger hair enveloping her face and loosened the grip on her wand she had immediately drawn from her hoodie's pocket.
"He will never come near you again," said Fred who held her tighter.
"He better not," mumbled Tessa.
"We overheard what happened as Cedric was walking in the Great Hall with his friends," said George.
"You have some explaining to do young lady", said Fred after pulling her away from him swiftly.
"I do?!" yelled Tessa, at the back of Fred's, after they made it to an empty hallway. She tried to keep up with Fred's pace as he was in the lead.
"Just because he saved your arse doesn't mean you accept an invitation to Hogsmeade", said Fred over his shoulder argumentatively.
"He just beat us Tess," said George.
"And you decide to go on a date instead of going to the Hospital Wing", finished Fred.
"I was the only one who decided to grab Harry's things, since Wood was too busy wallowing in the showers, and everyone else left. Also, I was nearly attacked by the same guy you said you gave a remedy potion to. If Cedric hadn't have been there—"
"—He still doesn't need the reward of taking you on a date", interrupted Fred walking even faster. Tessa stopped walking with them after Fred ignored her grabbing his arm to slow down.
"IT'S NOT A DATE!" yelled Tessa. Her voice echoed through empty hallway as she looked at the back of Fred's head slowly fading in the shadows.
"So they left you in a dark hallway?" Hermione slammed her book shut and looked up at Tessa.
"Fred did, but George walked me back to the Common Room. Told me he'd see me around", Tessa said sullenly.
"He shouldn't have treated you that way even if Cedric's team just beat us. It's not right", said Hermione with a huff.
"Oh, relax. Fred's just jealous", said Ginny who was setting up the Wizard's Chess board for her and Tessa to play one.
"But why would he be?," asked Tessa. Ginny smiled and began to set up the players for the first round, or many, to begin for the night before answered Tessa's questions.
The next week flew by with no traces of Fred and George after classes. She only saw them at practices that became increasingly more intense as their next game was closing in. With such a busy schedule she didn't notice that Hogmeade was closing in as well.
"So what are you going to wear tomorrow", said Katie as she placed her clothes next to the chair by her bed.
"I don't know, something warm", said Tessa lazily. Silence enveloped the room as the girls turned to stare at her.
"You're going on a date whether you think so or not", replied Angelina with a laugh.
"Yeah he didn't ask you as a buddy, don't deny it", interjected Alicia. Tessa's face grew red with the thought of going out on a date. She was excited when Cedric asked and Fred seems like he doesn't even want hang out for a while, so why wait on him to get over whatever he's doing. She smiled.
"Alright help me pick out the clothes", said Tessa. Voices of excitement and advice enveloped the room on what to wear as the night flew by until Percy's girlfriend banged on their door a second time to go to sleep.
Hogsmeade was slow today with upper year students mostly studying at the bookshop or pubs. The four girls walked around visiting the various shops that gave them the opportunity to replenish on school supplies before Tessa left to meet up with Cedric.
"Where did he ask you to meet him?" asked Angelina quietly while in Spintwitches.
"Uh here actually," said Tessa looking around in hopes he hadn't showed up yet.
"Of course", rang out in response by all three of her roommates.
"Why did he not choose Honeydukes? Or Three Broom sticks, at least," said Angelina; who rolled her eyes at the fact that Tessa was meeting a boy in a sporting goods store.
"I know right", replied Tessa while Alicia and Katie mumbled in agreement.
Ding.
The door swung open quickly and slowly closed as the person tried to keep the wind from blowing it back, hard, against the wall. Angelina gasped and ran into the aisle where Tessa was inspecting a very old Swiftstick.
"He looks so good", mumbled Katie as he walked around the shop unknowing of the girls' presence. He walked passed their aisle obliviously looking in the other direction at nicer brooms across the shop.
"Go", muttered Angelina. Tessa shook her head frantically. Before she could even put the broom back she was shoved out of the aisle. She shockingly looked at the back of Cedric's head and threw the broomstick back at the girls giggling from Tess' perplexed expression.
"Oh! There you are", said Cedric as he walked up to her. He gave her a hug that lasted longer than Tessa anticipated and walked over to the counter to pay for the Quidditch repair equipment in his hand.
"He does look good" thought Tessa to herself as she glance up and down at the Captain's attire. He wore black straight pants, a black fitted longed sleeved shirt that's slightly poking up from his light grey thigh length pea-coat, and light brown high top matte sneakers. She could tell that he borrowed some clothes from his friends to pull the look off, and he pulled it off well. He ushered her out of the shop and she careened her neck around to glare at her friends. They waved back, giggling, as she walked out the door into the brisk weather.
He let her lead the way as they walked down the increasingly busy street. "So, where to first?" Tessa turned her head to Cedric as she asked.
"Anywhere you wanna go", he replied smiling at her. Tessa blushed and made her way to a bookshop near the three broomsticks. She really just wanted to walk outside, and the talk with him their conversation so far went really well without any mention of Quidditch which would be great in helping with staying outside longer. Once they made it to a bookshop Tessa immediately stopped and turned around.
"Actually I would like to walk outside with you. It's so nice out and I highly doubt we'd get another day without snow at Hogsmeade." Tessa shifted awkwardly hoping he didn't think it was odd to just stand outside. It was a date.
"Actually, that sounds so much better than walking around shops aimlessly", said Cedric who seemed relieved that he didn't have to stay inside the whole Hogsmeade trip. Tessa smiled broadly and walked further into town.
The date was going surprisingly well. Cedric felt nervous at first after coming across a very annoyed Fred Weasley and other Gryffindors while walking to the equipment shop. He just wanted to know Tessa better after having a chance to hang out with her for a few days last Summer. It was pleasant being around a girl who liked the same things he did. Their conversation never ended as he thought it might and was glad the brisk air kept Tessa closer to him. Once they reached the end of the road Tessa sat on a stone fence to watch the people walking through town.
"I like watching people", said Tessa after a third year with a bag full of sweets ran across the street to his friends.
"Yeah it's a change of scenery", said Cedric who was looking more at the person next to him rather than the people in town. She looked up at Cedric, too, while he was still talking about the town's history and people.
"Damn", she thought as she looked at his profile down to his mouth. She didn't realize he turned his head back to her after scanning the crowd until his mouth was getting closer. "Shit, it's happening."
"Shit, it's happening," thought Fred. He threw his brother a few coins and ran out of Honeydukes after seeing Tessa and Cedric left the Quidditch shop. He fumbled in his coat bag and stuffed a few stink pellets into his hand for quick use.
By the time he looked up Cedric and Tessa were gone. "Damn", thought Fred. He shook his head and leaned against a wall waiting for the crowd to disperse so he would see them again; without being seen by Tessa.
"She'll keep a sharp-eye on you after your little tantrum", said his brother as they were walking to Hogsmeade. He shook his head as he remembered his brothers' words. And after what Lee overheard Ginny say to Tessa when he noticed them playing, too long, of a game of Wizard's Chess surely set him to make sure his plan goes smoothly. He had to make this go right; for him anyways. He looked up as the crowd parted to see Tessa and Cedric sitting on a stone fence.
"She looks great as always. Oh, why'd he have to match her", thought Fred as he looked at their black and grey attire. As he made his way across the street he nearly tripped trying to, quickly, hide behind a pillar as Cedric looked towards Fred's direction. He waited a few more seconds before looking from behind the pillar into their direction. He wished he hadn't.
Pulling away from the kiss, Tessa sworn she saw a wisp of red hair going into Honeydukes. She hadn't even thought about Fred this entire day, and, for once, it was nice. Cedric smiled and shook his head as he looked at his feet.
"Uh, sorry", said Cedric smiling. "I, uh, usually ask first", he laughed as he said it.
"No! It's fine," said Tessa still in shock of the sudden affection.
"Wanna go get some lunch?" Cedric asked as he looked up at the increasing crowd of students leaving the pubs and cafes.
"eh. Yeah", said Tessa smiling as Cedric grab her hand and walked with her to The Three Broomsticks.
"That was fast", implied Lee as Fred walked over to where he and George were standing.
"Not worth the time", said Fred picking up and put down candies anxiously.
"No, I meant—". George elbowed Lee and shook his head.
Fred knew they saw it; the whole world saw it. "Why? Fucking git. Still trying to show off, even off the field. No first kiss should last that long." He was lost in his thoughts the rest of the time in the shop. His stomach began to ache as the memory set in. He walked around, aimlessly, with his friends in Honeydukes until they decided to eat before heading back to the castle.
"The Three Broomsticks?" Lee asked jolting Fred out of his thoughts.
"No", replied Fred as they walked in the opposite direction to a small café.