The train slowly left King's Crossing as all of the parents and children waved Goodbye. Tessa leaned out the window with the first years and waved Goodbye to her parents who surprised her at the Leaky Cauldron.
"At least, you got to see your parents," said George who pulled Tessa back in.
"Yeah, it was nice staying in my own bed for one night. Nyx liked the house too," said Tessa while reaching for her cat at the top of the compartment.
"Your parents are nice," said Lee who had officially met them for the first time that morning.
"They are," said the twins in unison at the massive amount of snacks stuffed in Tessa's bag that her parents gave her for the train.
"The best parents," said Tessa quietly smiling out at the view of London.
The train ride felt like minutes compared to hours as it pulled into the station at Hogwarts. Tessa picked her head up from Lee's shoulder, who also fell asleep and chose to lay his head on the door.
"Evening sleepy heads," said Fred as he helped Tessa up to grab her bags. Nyx, still in Lee's lap, stretched her body and sauntered over to the empty, and warm, space that was recently vacated.
"No, no, no," said Tessa as she tried to grab the cat and put her in the cage Fred was holding.
"Here already?" asked Lee, who heard girls giggling at his state while they exited the train. George rolled his eyes and nudged his sleepy friend out of the way to leave as well.
The carriage was also quiet on the ride to the castle. Fred and Tessa didn't say much when Angelina asked questions about their Holidays and told them about hers.
"You guys are quiet," said Angelina once the carriage stopped at the entrance.
"Yeah, just sleepy," said Tessa as she leaped off the carriage first.
"Yeah. We'll feel better tomorrow," said Fred who followed suit and tried to catch up.
Tessa reached the Great Hall first and sat down with the Trio.
"Tess!" said the three in unison.
"Hey guys," said Tessa happily as she sat down next to them.
"Heard what happened over the Holidays," said Harry with a chuckle.
"Yeah, a bit nasty, since they didn't know apparently but we pulled through," said Tessa. Hermione whipped her head towards Tessa with such force you could hear a slight pop from her jaw cracking. Harry and Ron kept on greeting the students who filed in one by one as Tessa stared at her plate in shock and realization that Harry in fact meant the wrath of Mrs. Weasley and not Fred being a twat.
Once dinner was over, Hermione dragged Tessa to an empty bathroom.
"You and Fred—", said Hermione with shock and anticipation.
"—Yes," said Tessa interrupting the witch before she could say anything else.
"He wasn't too keen on me staying for the Holidays. I beginning to think that all that stuff he was doing over before we left Hogwarts was from Cedric, and jealousy," said Tessa slowly slumping towards the ground with the sadness setting in around her.
Hermione and Tessa were the last to reach the Common Room. Everyone greeted them with jovial banter and excitement to see them once again for the semester. Even Fred came to say hello to Hermione and gave her a big hug.
"Have you introduced your cat Tessa?" Asked Lee once she was in earshot.
"You got a cat?" Hermione asked excitedly as she looked through the cage that had yet to be opened. "Hermione meet Nyx; Nyx meet Hermione," said George as he opened the cage. Nyx leaped out and wove between Hermione's legs.
"She's a beaut," said Alicia as she picked her up and rubbed underneath the cat's chin.
It took a week for Rosie to settle into Hogwarts, and it took Tessa even longer to settle with the fact that she and Fred were over. Her grades rose since she rarely hung out with Fred outside of Quidditch practice and classes. She mostly stayed with Hermione in the Library and played wizard's chess with George during off time. When she did go to the Hall of Hexes to help them with projects, the twins and Lee were always in there with her, so it felt less personal for her when she was indeed in the same room as him.
"I don't understand," said Fred with annoyance after Lee and Tessa left the study room for a late class.
"You did it," said George stirring a potion three times before placing the crushed ingredients in his bowl to the cauldron.
"How so?" Fred asked with a defensive tone. "You made her think you liked her, and abruptly stopped during the Holidays. To anyone that's rejection," said George confidently as he began stirring the potion counterclockwise. Fred only glared at his brother and walked over to one of the windows to look over the Lake.
"Fred, stop!," yelled Tessa as he threw another snowball at her. She ran across the courtyard and tripped as Fred grabbed her waist picking her up over his shoulder.
"Atleast, their flirting again," said Ginny to Hermione who shook her head in agreement, but still looked at her book that laid in her lap.
"Oi!," yelled Harry as Tessa threw a snowball into his shoulder. Ginny laughed and ran out into the courtyard to join in on the fight that grew increasingly bigger than it was as Fred threw Tessa over his shoulder.
The Common Room was filled with laughter as everyone chatted away or played gamed by the fire. Fred, George, and Lee sat in a corner talking about a new potion they created that successfully didn't ooze out of the cauldron or look like a bubbling liquid of death. Tessa sat with her roommates playing muggle poker and gossiping about boys in their classes. The night flew by until it was forced to an end by Percy and the Head girl ushering everyone to bed.
"This night has been great," said Tessa to Angelina.
"Yeah hopefully tomorrow will be even better," Angelina replied as she blew the lights out while Katie and Alicia mumbled in agreement.
A loud bang opened the girl's dorm room. "Get up you four", said Headgirl as she scrambled to shut the door and help grab clothes.
"What's going on?" Said Angelina.
"I don't know, but it's urgent we must meet in the common room," said the girl visibly shaken. She left after all four had decent clothes on and skipped stairs to the next room with the exact inertia as before.
They heard her voice fade as they sauntered down the stairs calmly. All four entered a very empty common room with only Ron and Harry talking to Professor McGonagall.
"For once, I'm glad we sleep next to the Headgirl," whispered Tessa as the girls giggled reaching the end of the staircase.
"This is no laughing matter girls", said McGonagall.
"We weren't laughing at—,"
"I know Miss Thornhill, but now is not the time to make jokes about your superiors even if they are in the same year."
Fred and George with their roommates were next to reach the bottom of the stairs as they tried to hold it together after seeing Tessa get yelled at by the Head Master.
"Shut it," whispered Tessa as Fred reached her side. He winked at her and lightly grabbed her hand as the Common room slowly began to fill with students.
"Alright, is everyone here?" asked the Professor towards the Prefects.
"Yes, Head Master," said Percy with a firm hand on the Headgirls' back. "Alright we need to form a line and briskly, but calmly, walk to the Great Hall."
Once everyone reached the great staircase there was a loud brown noise that enveloped the castle. Everyone was murmuring and whispering about what was going on or what happened. They finally reached the Great Hall to see mattresses with blankets and pillows covering the Great Hall.
"You will be staying here tonight students," said the Head Master as did every other Headmaster in the Great Hall. Thankfully the teachers were too busy to notice or even begin to care with girls and boys sleeping next to one another. Tessa positioned herself between Fred and George while Angelina took the matt to George's right. Lee eagerly took the matt next to her. With a huff, Angelina rolled to face George for the rest of the night. Once the lights were blown out, the Great Hall filled with a swirling of stars and Galaxies. Fred rolled over quietly and reached for Tessa to come closer. Finding her waist he pulled her towards his body resting his chin on her neck.
"Night", he whispered in her ear. She barely uttered a sound and melted into his body as sleep began to envelope her.
Tessa woke to a low rumble of chatter from students who woke up to see the sunrise through the Great Hall windows. These students mostly consisted of Ravenclaws as they were taken notes and recording the view with non-magical cameras they were given by the muggle studies professor. Tessa rolled over to see George lying on his back with his half of his body on her matt as he sprawled across all the sleeping pads that surrounded him with at least one part of his body.
"Looks like he slept well."
Tessa looked down to see Harry sitting up and stretching his arms over his head.
"And it looks like you didn't," replied Tessa in a concerned tone.
"Just a hard floor is all," said Harry tightly. "Wanna go for breakfast?"
"Sure," Tessa replied with a slight smile on her face and proceed to follow Harry to the entrance of the Great Hall.
They both sat at the Grand staircase with steaming bowls of soup in their hands. Both Harry and Tessa sat, quietly, relishing in the joyous silence that would soon be interrupted.
"I always like sitting with you when things are…stressful," said Harry quietly as students started to grab bowls of soup for themselves.
"Good," said Tessa with a smile on her face. They both knew they had a silent acknowledgement that when one looked annoyed or stressed they only smiled at each other and sat together for a while, if asked.
The entrance of the Great Hall roared with laughter and chatter as students slowly let their worry go into the air as nothing happened for most of the morning.
"Oh there you are," said Hermione as she reached Tessa and Harry who were talking quietly with two empty bowls stacked between them.
"Nice seeing you Tess," said Harry as he got up to go with Hermione and Ron somewhere Tessa had no clue about.
"You and Harry are close."
Tessa looked to her right to see Angelina walk up the staircase and plopped down next to Tessa.
"Yeah," said Tessa nodding at Harry as he looked back towards Angelina and Tessa.
"The twins are looking for you," she stated lazily as Lee made his way to the staircase spotting his target.
"Tha—".
Before she could finish, Tessa turned her head and Angelina was gone. Tessa looked over to Lee who made his way towards the dungeons as he lost sight of her roommate. She laughed to herself, got up, and walked up the stairs towards the Hall of Hexes.
"Bout time you showed up," said Fred as he walked passed the door with a pile of book in his arms.
He winked at Tessa and walked over to a desk positioned at a, very rarely used, part of the study room and dropped the books onto a dust covered desk. Smoke and dirt filled the air from the unsettled particles which surrounded the books and Fred himself. He merely waved away the dust as Tessa turned to George and looked at the cauldron in his hands.
"Skipped breakfast to finish this," said George, as he poured the concoctions onto silicone sheets from the kitchens.
"Elves were kind enough to let us borrow this," said Fred.
"They adore us," finished the twins in unison.
"I'm sure they do," muttered Tessa, sarcastically to herself, as she picked up some clean sheets and began copying notes from the books on the more used desk to the right of the room. Fred sat next to her and organize the books in the order both the twins wanted Tessa to scan through.
"Lee's late," muttered Fred reading the notes as Tessa set them aside. Tessa sharply lifted her head up and put her quill down.
"He went into the dungeons," said Tessa wide eyed remembering the last time she saw him. The room became deathly silent as papers stopped being shuffled and candy stopped being thrown on the sheet in frustration.
"Bloody Hell," all three said in unison at the realization of what happened to their partner.