Over the next few days, Tee had been as good as gold. She'd pushed away any embarrassing thoughts, which had been surprisingly easy to do. If only she'd done that sooner, instead of getting flustered over every little thing. It all felt pretty much back to normal now. Rose was happier too since her friend had been including herself more.
Tee still hadn't told her though. She didn't want to confide in anyone at Hogwarts – she'd always had a feeling that when people knew she liked a guy, they'd be scrutinising her every move around him.
What she needed was someone she could tell everything to who didn't share her life at Hogwarts. Which was why she'd spent the last hour in the dormitory writing a long letter to Ariadne – her other best friend back home – detailing everything. She may not get a reply straightaway, but it had felt good to put everything down on paper. Even though she'd been dealing with it fine for the last few days, it was still nice to be able to tell someone about it.
When she went down to the common room, Rose looked round straightaway. "We wondered where you were!"
"You're not living in your dorm again, are you?" asked George.
"Nope." Tee shook her head and held up the tied roll of parchment. "I'm just going down to the Owlery. I'll be back in a bit."
"Who are you writing to?" asked Rose.
"Have you got a secret boyfriend?" teased Fred.
Tee ignored Fred and answered Rose instead. "Just Ariadne."
"Aww, I miss Ariadne," Rose lamented. "We used to have some great conversations about Xena."
"That's one thing I don't miss," Tee chuckled.
"What's Xena?" interrupted George.
"A 'lesbian' television programme," answered Tee. She hid the letter behind her back – Fred had been eyeing it interestedly. "Which is why Ariadne likes it so much."
George gave Rose an amused look. "Why do you like it then?"
"Because it's good!" insisted Rose.
Tee choked back a laugh. "It really isn't. The only good thing I can say about it is that Ares guy was... Hey!" She felt her heart skip. Fred had just snatched the letter from behind her.
"I wanna know what you and your lesbian friend talk about," said Fred, fumbling with the string holding the roll together.
"Give it back, Fred!" Tee demanded, attempting to grab it.
It was a futile attempt. She ended up practically running round him in circles, whilst he twirled around holding it high in the air, way out of her reach. Fred found this very amusing. And to Tee's annoyance, so did Rose and George. Rose obviously didn't realise it was important, because Tee had no doubt that her friend would have been on her side otherwise.
"I just want a little peek," grinned Fred, stepping away and closer to the sofa. "I was only teasing you, but now I'm really interested to know."
Tee followed and quickly climbed onto the sofa, hoping it would give her the extra height she needed. She suddenly felt her stomach drop. He'd managed to pull the string off. She'd put everything in that letter. She still wasn't entirely sure if he was bluffing or not, but no way could she risk letting him see any of it.
Just as Fred started to unroll the parchment, she leapt wildly onto his back. Hanging onto his neck with one arm, she plunged her other hand into her pocket. She whipped out her wand and aimed it over his shoulder at the letter, shouting "Evanesco!"
The words Vanished from the parchment before her eyes. She'd never been so relieved. She gave many silent thanks to Professor McGonagall for teaching them that one.
"Aww, you're such a spoilsport!" complained Fred.
He tipped her off back onto the sofa. Tee was just contemplating escaping back to the dormitory when he suddenly jumped on top of her, pinning her arms back. Startled and embarrassed, she jerked forward instinctively, accidentally cracking her forehead against his in the process.
"Ow!" they both cried.
George and Rose were now roaring with laughter. So were the other Gryffindors that were in the room at the time, including Kayley and Sumayyah, Sam and Jensen and Harry Potter's third-year trio.
"You guys are better than any sitcom," giggled Rose.
Tee should have been proud with that comment. Rose had never watched any sitcoms until Tee had recently introduced her to some of her favourites, but right now, she had a sore head to distract her, not to mention the fact that Fred was still on top of her.
"I don't think it was that funny," she grumbled, rubbing her head.
"Were you going in for the kiss there, Tee?" grinned Fred.
Tee felt her face flood red hot. "I'll crack your head again with my fist in a minute," she threatened, trying to push him off.
She wished he wasn't so much bigger than she was. Actually, no, she wished she was bigger herself. Being short had all the drawbacks and no particular good points she could think of. Eventually, he let her up and she did escape back to the dormitory with the blank letter he'd tossed aside. Her face was still warm. She may have been trying to be good for the last few days, but she reckoned she was still allowed to be embarrassed over him literally jumping on her.
She was annoyed about the letter though. She didn't know how to reverse the Vanishing spell. But she hadn't dared to leave the blank parchment, just in case anyone else did know how to reveal what she'd wrote. Now she was going to have to start over. She sighed and found out her quill and inkwell again.
XXX
Tee was happy that she got to have Rose all to herself in Muggle Studies the next day. Professor Burbage had been called out of the lesson by one of her older students, so the class had a small break to themselves. This was good, because Tee had been meaning to ask Rose something in particular.
"How did you and George actually get together?" she brought up once Professor Burbage had left.
Rose laughed. "You've only just thought about it?"
Tee smiled sheepishly. "Well, it was all such a surprise when we first found out... I never really thought to ask before."
"Fair enough," agreed Rose. "Well, it properly started after the Quidditch match against Slytherin. Remember when you hit your head?"
"I think I can remember that," Tee joked. "So I'm guessing something went on when you two buggered off for so long?"
"Hey, that was partly because we couldn't find Professor McGonagall," Rose defended, though she was smiling. "But yeah."
"So what happened?" pressed Tee.
"I'd kinda been eyeing on Jensen," Rose admitted. "Harmlessly, I swear - I was never really that into him. Then George was insisting on some shortcut and I knew he was avoiding Jensen on purpose."
