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Tessa stays up all Friday night working on her secret project ignoring the hooting and hollering coming from the common room of the Gryffindor tower. Apparently they had just won an important Qudditch game, she had joined the celebration for a few minutes because Scott was a chaser on the team and she wanted to support him, but had quickly snuck away at the first opportunity.She works through Saturday morning and afternoon running on excitement and sheer adrenaline, she is so close to finishing. It's dark outside the next day when she is finally satisfied. She exits the girls dormitory, a bounce in her step, determined to find Scott and tell him of her success. She pictures the wonder on his face when she tells him of her discovery and her heart flutters as she imagines his happiness.Tessa finds the common room deserted, realizing everyone must be in the Great Hall for dinner. She runs down multiple flights of cascading staircases, her excitement becoming greater with every bound and step. A crowd of the loudest and most boisterous Gryffindors greet her in the Entrance Hall. They are gathered near the area of beautiful hanging mistletoes and are jokingly pushing each other underneath and whooping and hollering at kisses between students. To her distress, she notices Scott among them.Her heart stops when in the next instant, Scott is pushed underneath the mistletoe to stand in front of a pretty Ravenclaw. He doesn't hesitate, pulling her in and kissing her to an explosion of cheers. Tessa sees them both blush and turn back to their friends as another couple is pushed underneath.She ignores the frantic beating of her heart and approaches Scott, pulling his arm. "I need to tell you something," she says urgently. He shakes his head, grinning at her. "Later Tess," he says and she watches in horror as he voluntarily steps underneath a mistletoe. A tall beautiful brunette she recognizes from her remedial home economics class is waiting for him and the girl laughs when Scott winks at her.She feels faint and can't stand to watch the spectacle anymore so she turns quickly and runs towards the staircase. She sprints up the staircases taking two steps at a time, running towards her only place of solace in the castle.Her tears fall freely in the girl's bathroom. Months of misery and resentment come pouring out of her in sobs and she's shaking with her emotion. Her muggle therapist always told her not to bottle everything inside but she doesn't know how not to. "Oh my, what does a pretty girl like you have to cry about," asks the girl ghost in her grating whiny voice. Tesss dislikes the ghost but vents anyway: "Why does he have to go and make things so complicated? I see the way he's acting like he's somebody else, gets me frustrated. Somebody else aound everyone else, watching his back like he can't relax, he's trying to be cool, he look like a fool to me."Suddenly Tessa stops her lyrical rant and ignores the nerdy ghost who begs her to continue. Her tears stop and it's as if the clouds have shifted and she can see clearly now. She quickly formulates a plan of action and it almost feels like she's on automatic as she hurries to her dormitory. Her heart is beating faster than it's ever beated before as she grabs her skates, a roll of parchment and a quill from her trunk.She runs to the owlery at top speed, a girl on a mission. Scribbling off several emotional letters, she ties them to the school barn owls and watches them set sail to Canada.She finds him still in the Entrance Hall, surrounded by an array of Qudditch players and their admirers. Moving swiftly, she grabs Scott's arm forcefully, determined to get his attention. "Come with me," she urges, pulling him from the crowd and out the front door of the castle."It's cold," he whines and she quickly casts a warming charm on him. "You were always good at charms Tess," he says, grinning at her. He finally notices the skates she has clutched in her other hand and he pulls out his wand, summoning his own.Tessa watches in fascination as she makes out his black skates flying out of a window from the Gryffindor tower in the beautiful moonlit sky. Her eyes swim with tears and her heart lurches, magic would never cease to amaze her. She had never lost that same wonder she had felt when as a 11 year old muggleborn she had received her Hogwarts letter and been thrust into this beautiful magical world.She looks at the dark haired boy beside her and remembers the younger version of him squealing and leaping with excitement when he had found out she had been magical too. "We're going to be in the same house just watch, best friends forever." She swallows at the onslaught of memories and a tear escapes. Scott grabs her hand and they run towards the frozen lake over the snowbanks just as they always did for as long as she could remember. He was always excited to skate with her and always wanted to do it as fast as possible.They slip on their skates and she guides him to the centre of the lake. "Careful Tess, we don't want to wake up the giant squid," Scott teases but she knew he was always cautious, keeping them to the edges of the lake, afraid of the sleeping monster that rested beneath. But she is determined and pushes and pesters him further onto the lake than they have ever gone before.She stops them and turns to face him fully. He raises his eyebrows at her serious expression. "I have something to tell you," she says. "You know how I'm good at charms..." "The best," he agrees. "Well I invented one," she continues, "and I was going to give it you as a Christmas present but I --" she hesitates. Scott smiles and gestures for her to continue.Tessa stares at him, her gaze flickering hard over his handsome features as if trying to memorize them. "It's a charm to sharpen skates..." she tells him and his face breaks into a grin and it's breathtaking. She averts her eyes and swallows, leaning down to take off her white ice skate. "But I messed up the charm and made the blade too sharp," she whispers, standing and showing him the blade of her skate.He looks confused and bends his head to inspect her skate. At the same time, she rapidly thrusts her skate and it's blade upwards, slicing his delicate neck. The angle is perfect making it quick and noiseless. She watches as Scott's body crumples to the frozen ground.Slipping her bloody skate back on her foot, she closes her eyes and pulls out her wand. Breathing deeply, she kneels and pulls his lifeless body close to her, watching as her magic carves and melts the ice around them. She gives a little yelp as she plunges into the cold water of the lake. She lets go of her wand, and closes her eyes, as they both sink to the bottom in an icy embrace.