"Come on then."
Tessa woke to her Mother's voice. She looked up to see shaded light from the sun poking through the tanned portion of the high rise tent.
"You better be up by the time I get back," yelled Tessa's mother as he shut the tent flap. Tessa laughed while sitting up in her hammock. She stretched her tired arms and swung her legs over the side placing her feet into her into her fuzzy slippers.
The tent was used mainly for her parent's profession, and due to the size, Tessa slept on the top floor that had been used as the place of her parent's office. The lofted balcony was in the center of the tent suspended by cord and seven pillars. Six on the outside and one dead center that had floating stairs wrapped around, in a spiral, where each step gave slightly to your weight.
Tessa put on high-waist shorts and a jacket over her vintage band shirt, and walked down the spiral staircase with Rosie in tow. She skipped to the kitchen and pulled out a muggle brand of yogurt from the fridge.
"The Weasleys should be here," said Tessa's Father.
"Yeah," said Tessa with a mouthful of yogurt.
"And Cedric, too," said her Father ruffling the Daily Prophet open. Tessa smirked at Cedric's name and leaped off the counter walking over to the exit of the tent.
With yogurt in her left hand and her new Firebolt 2000 in her right she walked between elaborate tents until she found an opening between two that felt spacious enough to fly through. She threw her breakfast in the trash and leaped onto her broom rising quickly above the tents and weaving between the flags on top.
She reached a high enough altitude to see the forest on one end to the old cabin, with the nosy groundkeeper, and rolling hills on the other. She reached into her satchel for the letter the twins owled her the day prior. She pulled out the note with a map attached. She looked at the map to see little bumps scribed onto the parchment, which she assumes were tents, and a detailed circus tent near the forest edge.
"E42," said Tessa. She stuffed the letter into her pocket and dove towards the ground. She landed in another open space by the forest. Her feet skipped the dewy ground until she halted to a stop in the center of the square space.
She looked up at the horizon to barely see the tree line in front of her. She looked down at the ground to see pegs with the letter "F" on each marked space. "Damn," mumbled Tessa as she trudged through the mud towards section E.
After tripping over a tent's flower patch that grew too much over the night, she looked up to see signs littering the ground with sections E on every single one. "Finally," mumbled Tessa as she reached a sign with the Weasley's named poorly misspelled on a sign. She pulled open the tent flap to an eruption of greetings.
"Tess!" shouted the twins in unison.
"Good to see you again," said Mr. Weasley as he walked out of the tent.
"We're about to leave," said Ginny after giving Tessa a tight hug.
"Getting some fire wood," said George after hugging her quickly.
"Wanna come?" Fred asked, finishing his brother's sentence. "Of course," said Tessa with a smile.
The woods were surprisingly quiet compared to the ominous brown noise at the campsite. Owls hooting and fluttering between the trees made it more beautiful, to her anyways.
"How was the trip?" George asked while picking up a large twig underneath Tessa's feet.
"It was great," said Tessa laughing as she moving her foot from the pulling twig. "Met some family in France."
"Ohhhh, France," said Mr. Weasley as he looked at some bright green moss engulfing a fallen tree stump. "You're Father told me about them. Muggles aren't they? I'm sure you had a great time."
"They were nice," said Tessa with a giggle. "See where you're good looks come from then," said Fred with a wink as he pushed further into the woods with his father and brother.
"But—," yelled George.
"We were asking more about the training with Puddlemore," yelled Fred.
"Good for you," yelled Mr. Weasley. "You are coming home with us after the match?" The three men stopped and waited for Tessa's answer.
"I will in the morning," responded Tessa loudly.
"Good we'll hear more about it then," said Mr. Weasley.
The three trudged through the woods again leaping over fallen trees and snagging kindling they deemed worthy for their fire.
"How are you and Cedric?" Ginny asked quietly.
"To be honest," said Tessa. "He hasn't responded to my owls. Even when I made it back home he didn't reply to my letters to come and visit."
She slumped slightly thinking about her boyfriend's lack of effort.
"Bloody imbecile," mumbled Ginny as she hastily picked up a few twigs next to a rotting tree. Tessa nodded her head as she continued through the brush.
"If I had known…I would've have smacked him up the side of the head at that nasty…boot of a portkey. Would've never known who'd done it with that thing spinning you every which way," said Ginny angrily and snapping twigs with her thumb and forefinger.
"Portkey?" asked Tessa quickly.
Her body straightened as Ginny's bent over to look for more kindling. "Oh! He was with us on our portkey here. He didn't say anything to us. If that's what you were inferring," replied Ginny while lightly fondling a twig that was spared from her treacherous grasp. Tessa frowned and nodded her head.
"Figures," she mumbled.
"There you are!"
Mr. Weasley came wobbling out of the bushes with an arm full of large broken pieces of wood. "About time to head back," he said walking past the two girls.
"Yeah," said George.
"We're starving," finished a hangry Fred pushing passed the girls quickly.
The group hobbled out of the woods with arms full of kindling falling with each step they took. They all tossed it into a rusty cage Mr. Weasley bought at an "antique" store in their village.
"Alright kids," said Mr. Weasley hobbling out of the woods last. "Let's get breakfast started." He began fumbling in his pockets, which Tessa took as a cue to leave before her assistance was needed.
"I better go," said Tessa walking away before she was called upon to help.
"Aw you can't go now," said Fred frowning. He slumped slightly as Tessa continued to walk.
"I'll see you after the match," she yelled as the crowd grew thicker around her.
"That could be weeks from now," yelled the twins in unison. She laughed and waved goodbye until the crowd devoured her into the throng of people weaving through tents and by-standers at the ones with lavish exteriors.
With more people awake as the day passed on, the tents sprung to life with magic. Moss covered tents with fairies weaving through the thick hills on top one tent, an army of gnomes guarding a mini water fall at another, and fur lined tents with the frames made out of pure gold that were covering an entire section for a very large, and wealthy, family. Tessa didn't care much for the last one, so she pushed through the throng of people gossiping about the owners and gawking at the gaudy exterior at the same time.
She found an open space soon to be covered by a family of twelve Bulgarians and their crimson tents when she took the opportunity of the space and ran through the campground. Tessa leaped off the ground to hop onto her broom once she made it to the center of the increasingly small space. She soared into the air and slowed to a stop once she was at the same height with the tallest tent in that area.
It only took her a moment to find her section of the campgrounds. With the blank canvassed tents and muddy spots dotting every inch of them, she sped towards her home away from home. Tessa nearly laughed when the keeper didn't question their group as they walked through the gate with state of the art camping equipment. Tessa was the only odd one out with her high-waist light blue jeans, flannel shirt and Doc Martens, but she still fit in well to the muggle's liking.
She landed at the entrance of the tent and pulled the flap open.
"How was the walk?" her Father asked as he tried to hold Alfred in the tub caked with dirt and grass.
"It was nice," said Tessa sitting at the island.
"Kinda like a recap after being gone for waaaayyy too long. Mostly from procrastination," said Tessa reaching for an Orange and peeling off the skin. Her Father chuckled and scrubbed Aflie until his fur was covered in foam from the soap.
"Well at-least it was fun", said her Mother as she looked up from her book in the corner. Tessa stuck out her tongue and her mother chuckled.
"It's almost time for the game," said her Father as he quickly rinsed and dried the dog with his wand. "Mrs. Poplov has a doggy daycare and we can't miss it." Tessa laughed and grabbed the leash on the table.
"I'll take him dad," said Tessa waiting for her Father to finish.
"Thanks dear," said her mother.
Tessa waved Goodbye to her parents as she walked the opposite direction of her crew. She weaved between tents, mostly due to Alfie yanking the leash the entire way, until she reached an eccentrically shaped wagon covered in over lapping posters with Viktor Krum's face on them. An old woman sat by a fire with a pipe in her mouth only looking up at Tessa when she coughed to announce her presence. The old woman mumbled and pointed at the entrance of the wagon.
Tessa bowed slightly and climbed up the wobbly steps to the door. She turned the knob and the door whooshed inward so quick that it dragged both her and Alfie into the nomadic home. Her knees dragged along the polished floor, until the door banged onto the adjacent wall. A gaggle of girls began to giggle as Tessa struggled to get herself and the dog up from the waxed floor.
"Ah! Little Thornhills."
A beautiful woman stood up from behind the counter and motioned for Tessa to come forward. The interior of the wagon was huge. It still had a rustic touch of traditional Gypsy values, but in no way was it old. It was crisp with state of the art magic and technology. "Jesus Christ," mumbled Tessa at the women in front of her. Each one ranged in beauty with little differences between them.
"Alfie," squealed the girls as the German Shepard wagged his tail and whimpered with glee.
"Iz been a'while," said the older woman coming from behind the counter and reaching for a hug.
"Mrs. Poplov," said Tessa gasping for breath as the busty woman let go.
"Me nephew iz playing in ze turnment don't you know," she said proudly.
"Who dos'nt know," said one of the beautiful blonde girls holding onto Alfie's leash.
"Of course," said Mrs. Poplov shaking her head.
"See you," said Tessa as she backed to the door before being stuck in a conversation, again, about her nephews increasingly growing career. The door shut quickly behind her as the old bat by the fire scoffed at the busty brunette's sight.
"Feisty that one," said the old woman motioning to Alfred leaping at the window by Tessa's head.
A puff of smoke billowed out of her mouth, and, loomed for a brief moment in front of her face, forming into a butterfly that flapped its smoky wings towards the sky. "Nice trick," said Tessa waving goodbye. The old woman nodded and puffed more billows of smoke less magical as Tessa walked with the crowd of people heading towards the forest.