✓ | RECKLESS AND BRAVE | Draco Malfoy

12 | LUMINESCENCE

LUMINESCENCE
(n.) the emission of light by a substance that has not been heated

THE CLASSROOM WAS SCORCHING HOT AND TESSA WAS DISTRACTED. It was finally exam week, and the blazing temperature was doing nothing to help Tessa take her written exam. She was forced to use an Anticheating quill—they all were. She didn't mind, she never had a reason to cheat anyways.

     Ever since detention in the forest, Tessa couldn't keep her mind away from the cloaked figure, the burning pain in her wrist, the unicorn blood, the Sorcerer's Stone, and what Firenze had told her. It was all very strange and kept Tessa awake at night.

     They were taking their last exam, History of Magic with Professor Binns who was a ghost, when they were finally being told to stop and roll up their parchment. This caused a wave of cheers from the students for having finished all tests, even from Tessa who whooped with Ron excitedly.

     "That was far easier than I thought it would be," Hermione said as the four of them walked out into the grass outside. "I needn't have learned about the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager."

     Tessa scrunched her nose up at the girl and clicked her tongue. "Nope—no more school talk. Exams are over, that means we're not going through our exam questions anymore."

     Ron nodded fervently as Hermione sighed but complied. The four wandered wandered down to the lake and flopped under a tree. The Weasley twins and Lee Jordan were tickling the tentacles of a giant squid, which was basking in the warm shallows.

     "Hey, Fred! George!" Tessa called out with a grin, waving at the duo and at Lee as well. "Hey, Lee!"

     George and Lee waved at her enthusiastically as Fred grinned back at her and hollered right back, "Hiya, Tess!" He turned back his attention to the giant squid after Lee had elbowed him with a cheeky look on his face.

     "No more studying," Ron said happily, stretching out on the grass.

     Tessa nodded excitedly. "I can't wait to get back to reading Pride and Prejudice. I haven't gotten the chance to continue reading it since two weeks ago, I'm proud of myself for actually trying to focus studying on exams."

     Ron chuckled at her, his eyes shifting to Harry as he said, "You could look more cheerful, Harry, we've got a week before we find out how badly we've done, there's no need to worry yet."

     Tessa turned to Harry, tucking her foot under a leg as she leaned back on her elbows. Harry was rubbing his forehead when he bursted out in frustration, "I wish I knew what this means. My scar keeps hurting — it's happened before, but never as often as this."

     "Wait," Tessa blurted out, jerking from her position to sit straight. "Me too." She brought her arm on her lap, fingers stroking the white scar on her wrist.

     "Go to Madam Pomfrey," Hermione suggested.

     Tessa raised a hand. "I did. She said there's nothing she can do about it."

     "I'm not ill," Harry replied Hermione. "I think it's a warning . . . it means danger's coming . . . "

     Ron said nothing at first, simply reaching over to put Tessa's hand down. He then said, "Harry, relax, it's probably not that drastic. If Tessa's scar is hurting too, it might be common for scars to feel some sort of pain every now and then. Also, Hermione's right, the Stone's safe as long as Dumbledore's around. Anyway, we've never had any proof Snape found out how to get past Fluffy. He nearly had his leg ripped off once, he's not going to try it again in a hurry. And Neville will play Quidditch for England before Hagrid lets Dumbledore down."