Azkaban's Youngest Prisoner

Ch. 10

Chapter 10:

*Time Skip: Few days later after school*
*Tessa's POV*

"Tessa! Tessa hey!" I turn around and see Harry running towards me from the end of the hall.

"Oh hey Harry what's up?"

"I um... I- well we um... Hermione, Ron, and I were uh wondering if you wanted to do homework with us outside in the courtyard because it's really nice out today..." Harry looks down and  fiddles with fingers.

"Oh ok sure!" Harry looks up in surprise.

"Really?" I nod. "Wow ok yea uh let's go!" He turns around and I follow him outside. We round the corner and I see my brother, along with Pansy and Blaise, sitting on the ground leaning their backs against the wall behind them. Draco looks up and glares at Harry, reaching up and grabbing my arm to stop me. Harry stops when he notices I stopped following him.

"Go ahead Harry I'll meet you there." Harry nods and runs off to his friends who are sitting across the courtyard. Draco stands up and faces me.

"What are you doing?"

"Doing homework." I say blandly.

"With THEM?" He points to the trio sitting on the ground across the courtyard.

"Draco, please don't make this a big deal. They probably just feel bad for me."

"Fine. I hate you." Draco crosses his arms and gives me a glare, different than the one he gave Harry. I can tell that he's not genuinely mad at me, more just annoyed.

"Love you too." As I walk away, I hear Draco mumble something about "after what he's done for me". I shake my head and make my way over to the trio sitting on the ground. "Sorry Draco was being stupid but I'm here now." I put my books down and scoot next to Harry.

"Thank you for doing homework with us, Tessa," Hermione says.

"Thank YOU for inviting me." I flip open my DADA textbook and start to write a paragraph for my homework. Hermione clears her throat and elbows Ron. He rolls his eyes and fumbles with his papers.

"Um Tessa, could you help me with my potions homework?" Hermione elbows him again and he grunts. "Please?" I laugh.

"Of course Ron." I scoot over next to him and he hands me his parchment. I begin to explain to him the reason behind why he has to cut something rather than crush and the difference between the antidote to common potions and the antidote to uncommon potions. He mumbles a quick thank you and Hermione giggles as I move back over to my seat next to Harry. We all start going back and forth between doing homework and talking for a few minutes. Suddenly, something quickly flies over my head. We duck from the swiftness of the object.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Ron exclaims. We look up to spot the flying object that nearly missed our heads.

"It looks like a-" Hermione starts.

"Broom?" Harry finishes. We all stare up at the sky in awe as we watch the broom fly around by itself. The broom stops flying around and sustains itself in the air and green fireworks appear to burst around it. We all turn around and look up to see someone flying on his own broom towards the one in the middle of the courtyard. The boy whips around and grabs the floating broom and gives me a wave. I give a sarcastic laugh and stand up to meet the boy who was now starting to make his way to ground level.

"Cedric, what are you doing?" I give the hufflepuff a confused look as he lands on the ground.

"Proving myself."

"What?" He hands me the broom that flew over my head. My eyes widened as I took a closer look. "A Firebolt?!"

"Yea!" I look up to see him with a wide grin on his face.

"Why did you-"

"You told me I needed to prove to you that I genuinely wanted to talk and get to know you. So I got you this!" He says, cutting me off.

"How did you know I needed a new broom?" I ask, giving him a smile for the first time.

"I talked to your brother the other day and asked him about things you like. He said you really love quidditch and that you needed a new broom so I snuck into town and got you a new one." I gave him a shocked look.

"You talked to  my brother?" He gives me a nod. "Voluntarily?" He laughs and says yes. I turn around and look at my brother. He gives me a wave with a huge smirk on his face. I shake my head and turn back to face Cedric. "So you really did all this, just to get me to talk to you?"

"Yes. Yes I did." He gives me another smile.

"Were the fireworks really necessary?" I laugh.

"Oh yea they were. Something tells me you're a big gesture kind of girl." I take a sharp inhale. I was a big gesture kind of girl. "So now do you believe me when I say I genuinely want to get to know you?"

"Ok ok yes. I believe you now." Cedric gives me a happy look after I finally agree to tolerate him. Before he walks away I stop him. "Thank you Cedric. I really appreciate the gesture. No one has ever done this for me before."

"Anything for you, Tess. " He gives me another warm smile as he makes his way back to the castle. I jog back over to the trio, broom in hand.

"What was that all about?" Hermione questions as I sit back down.

"He got me a new broom. It's a firebolt." I say.

"A Firebolt?!" Ron exclaimes.

"That's the best broom out there! It's much faster than the Nimbus 2001's" Harry follows.

"I know! I still can't believe he did that for me." I reply.

"Why did he do that for you?" Hermione asks.

"He tried talking to me one time in the library and I saw his friends laughing behind him. I assumed he did it on a dare so I turned him down even when he said he wanted to get to know me. Then another time he stopped me in the hall to try and talk to me again. I still didn't believe him so I told him he needed to prove it if he wanted to get to know me just to get him off my back. I didn't think he'd actually try and prove it to me." I explain.

"Wow, he must really want to talk to you." Hermione replies as the boys still stare at my new broom in complete shock.

"Yea... I guess he does." I say.