The Halfwolf (Year 1)

You Lose

"Merlin's beard, Gale, can you spin any slower?! My shoulder feels like it's about to break off!" Zach looked across his chest from his crab-walk-style position across the Twister mat. Gale had the spinner sitting her lap, giggling at Zach, Matt, and Tyson, who were in various positions across the board.

"Remind me again who picked this bloody muggle game?" Tyson groaned from his frog-sit. Gretchen gracefully raised her hand from her seat beside Gale, a sly grin on her face. Tyson groaned again.

"That would be me, and for this reason." She pointed a finger at the three boys in their various knots, earning scowls from all three. Zach's arm started shaking.

"GALE!"

"Huh? Oh, sorry Zach. Right hand red." Gale looked up and grinned, Zach scowled again as he gingerly lifted his right hand from behind him and tried to reach across to the red dot between his feet. His left arm finally gave out and his butt hit the mat. "Ohhhhh sorry Zach. You're out."

"Ya think, Lovegood?" Gale grinned as Zach joined her on the floor. Gretchen slipped the spinner from her lap and spun for Tyson, moving his left foot to yellow. Matt's movement of right foot to blue put him and Tyson in matching poses facing one another. Tyson grinned down at the first year.

"No hard feelings, little dude, but I've got enough leg and arm strength to outlast you on this." Matt slowly smiled up at Tyson, a look of smugness on his face.

"Alright, Ty, right foot red," Gretchen said. Tyson looked down at his feet, which were crossed on yellow and blue under him. He slowly slid his foot sideways underneath himself, managed 6 inches of movement, and promptly fell forward onto his face. With a groan he pulled himself onto his butt and looked over at Matt, who'd gone from smiling pleasantly to smirking. He pushed himself up from the floor, feet still crossed under him. He bent forward so he was only a short distance away from Tyson's face, still smirking.

"I don't need to be strong to have the flexibility and endurance to beat you, Tyson. I have 4 older sisters. When you're the only boy in the house, you have to learn to hide well or be used as one of their dolls." He hopped up and walked across the room and flopped onto the couch next to Teddy and Molly. Gretchen stood up and stretched, then bent and pulled Tyson's watch arm up to read it.

"Wow, that late already?" She looked over at the first year Hufflepuff boys. "Best be heading to the common rooms before curfew. Tyson and Tonya may be prefects, but they can't do anything about the other three houses." Everyone started getting up and collecting their jumpers and snacks.

"We need to do this again soon." Sophie said as she gave Gretchen a hug. "It gets lonely in my dorm alone all the time." Gretchen held Sophie out at arm's length and smiled at her.

"Anytime you want some company, you just owl me alright? I'm happy to give you some company." Sophie smiled and nodded her thanks to her. Molly started shooing the Ravenclaw girls out of the passageway first before they were late to their common rooms. Gale walked over and hugged Zach, who rested his chin on the top of her head. Hannah came over and pulled Teddy away from his friends. She looked up at him, an expression Teddy couldn't quite place on her face.

"Thank you for inviting me down here with you, Teddy. It was a lot of fun." She smiled up at him, Teddy shrugged his shoulders.

"No problem. You're one of our friends, so it was only right for you to join us." He saw Hannah's eyes dart over to the group and back up to Teddy's, then down to her shoes. He furrowed his brows at her. She fidgeted with her fingers before speaking again.

"I was...well, I was wondering if maybe..." she took a deep breath and said quickly "Iwashopingmaybeyoucouldowlmeovertheholidays?" Teddy blinked at her in surprise. She peeked up through her eyelashes at him, cheeks slightly pink.