Picture If You Will

"Picture If You Will"
Part Three

Terry felt the warm rush of accomplishment fill him as he came down the stairs the next morning after Padma's surprise party to find Cho and Roger seated very close together by the fire. Their heads were bent over Cho's camera as Roger pointed out and explained various features and functions. The younger wizard noted that the Quidditch captain was smiling quite a bit more than usual as Terry shuffled by and pulled a book off one of the shelves that lined the room. He sat down in one of the squashy armchairs opposite the couple to read, keeping half an ear tuned into their conversation.

Roger was just starting to cover the various types of film and their merits when Lisa arrived. She smiled at the couple before moving over by Terry and plunking herself down in the chair next to his.

"Step one accomplished," she whispered her warm breath tickled his ear.

Terry raised an eyebrow at that comment. "Step one?"

The young witch sighed. "Now that they are spending more time together outside of practice, we need to see to it that they continue."

"And what if they don't require our assistance?"

Lisa smirked. "Then our task is a great deal simpler."

"Good, I enjoy simple."

"Lazy," Lisa laughed, "you are incredibly lazy."

"That's why I'm a Ravenclaw and not a Hufflepuff," Terry shot back.

* * *

The following Monday provided the matchmakers with the perfect opportunity to see how their plan was progressing. At a quarter to midnight, the entire house left their tower, navigated darkened hallways, and climbed the winding staircase to the Astronomy tower - the tallest in the Hogwarts castle.

The room at the summit of the Astronomy tower was Professor Sinestra's exclusive domain and reflected her personality. The focal point of the large room was the professor's enormous brass plated telescope, which was always polished to such a high gloss that if the class were held during daylight the students would be blinded. As if not to detract from the shiny instrument, only the velvet-draped windows interrupted the rough-hewn stonewalls. The deep blue of the drapes was embroidered with tiny gold stars set in the polar constellations. In the torch-lit classroom, the embroidered stars twinkled more than their counterparts in the sky.

Terry set up his telescope next to Lisa on one of the many oak worktables scattered about the room, he could just make out the two bears and Cassiopeia on the curtains nearest him. Past the windows was a narrow balcony. The night was warm for the time of year, but one would still require a cloak outside of the heating charms.

One row in front of him, Cho and Roger had chosen to work together. Cho was in the process of helping Roger adjust his tripod.

"Just a touch more..." Roger muttered, he leaned forward and a lock of his hair slipped in front of his eyes.

"There!" Cho said, glancing up at Roger. She reached up and brushed the hair away from his eyes.

"Thanks," Roger told her. The two smiled at each other, eyes locked. Slowly, as though time had ceased to exist for them, their faces moved closer. Terry was certain that they were about to snog when across the room Stewart Ackerley dropped a book. The pair jumped apart at the sudden realization that they were not alone, faces very red. Roger pretended to look in his bag for a quill while Cho asked around for another piece of parchment even though there was already a fresh sheet on the table in front of her.

Upon noticing this, Lisa jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow and indicated the pair with a slight movement of her chin. "Cho seems to have recovered from her depression, doesn't she," Lisa whispered, her eyes sparkling with pleasure. To Terry's ears, she sounded very pleased with herself. "Pity Stewart is so clumsy."

"Roger is no longer all work and no play," Terry teased. "Mandy has stopped complaining about his over zealousness."

At the mention of Mandy Brocklehurst, the light in Lisa's eyes dimmed a bit and she turned her attention to the arrangement of her books. Terry was reminded of Roger and Cho's behavior of only a few minutes earlier.

"Sinestra should be here soon," Lisa mumbled. She bent over her parchment, scribbling, and her loose hair formed a veil that hid her features from him.

Lisa's words proved prophetic as Professor Sinestra swept into the room a moment later. All conversations closed like books, to be revisited later. A former Ravenclaw herself, Sinestra had high expectation for the students of her house and woe to any Ravenclaw who fell asleep during one of her lectures.

"We'll be learning about Venus tonight." Sinestra announced. "As you already know from your reading, Venus is best viewed in the evening and morning, so you will have to look for it outside of class. Venus is the Roman name for Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. Can anyone elaborate?"

Being a Ravenclaw class, many hands shot up in the air.

"Yes, Miss Fawcett?"

Fawcett tossed her long blond hair back and grinned. "She had an affair with the God of war, but," the mischievous witch paused a moment for effect. "She was the wife of Hephaestus, the lame god of the forge."

"Correct, five points to Ravenclaw." Terry saw Sinestra's lip twitch with suppressed amusement. It was typical of Fawcett to remember such a detail.

"Miss Chang?"

"She was the mother of Cupid, the ancient Greek god of love," Cho supplied.

"Also correct. Five points." Sinestra looked around the classroom. "Miss Turpin?"

Lisa's face was shadowed in the torch lit classroom. Only her eyes were truly visible. To Terry they seemed to catch and play with the firelight like the blue opals in his grandmother's favorite bracelet. In that instant he made up his mind to confess his new feelings to Lisa - and to do it that night before his resolve crumbled away like a cracker held too tight.

"She is described as born of sea foam, though in The Iliad she is described as the daughter of Zeus and Dion. Ten points."

"Very good, Turpin. It is rather typical to have slight variations in mythological stories - usually related to family relationships - appear in ancient stories. For instance, there are two versions of the Atalanta myth."

Terry dutifully took down the appropriate notes and when class had finally ended, he tugged on the sleeve of Lisa's robe as she slipped on her cloak and looped her striped scarf around her neck.

"Just a minute," he said. "There is something I need to tell you."

"What is it?" she asked, curious.

Terry glanced around them. Sinestra could be seen departing down the corridor that led to the stairs. Most of their fellow students were already gone and the handful that remained were in the process of gathering their things in preparation to leave.

He ushered Lisa outside onto the narrow balcony that in more violent times had been built for the use of castle archers. The arrow slits still cut into the stone like notches from some overlarge blade.

Lisa stood against the wall in her thick black cloak, unaffected by the cold. The cold wind played with the edge of her scarf and her hair, causing them to flutter like twin banners.

The words were not easy for him to speak. "I think...what I mean to say is...that I care very much about you Lisa and that I..."

"You fancy me," Lisa cut in.

Terry's eyes bugged out and the words dried up in his throat. "You know?"

Lisa laughed. "I'm a witch, we are far more observant than wizards."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Terry exclaimed. His father had once told him that women were from Venus, Terry was starting to give serious credence to that statement.

"Because I was not aware if you knew," she explained.

Terry worked out what she said in his mind. He had to admit that it made a kind of sense. "And how do you feel?" He asked softly.

Lisa leaned in closer. "I think actions ought to speak louder than words."

With that she closed the distance between them and kissed Terry. He pulled her close, his hands becoming tangled in her hair. He found he very much agreed with her sentiment.

* * *

Two hours later, Lisa sat in the common room trying to make some sense of her Herbology text. To the casual observer she appeared no different than she had one hundred and twenty minutes earlier, but Mandy Brocklehurst was not the common observer. She noticed Lisa's uncharacteristically messy hair, the deep rose tinge to her cheeks, and the contented light in her blue eyes.

"You and Terry disappeared for a bit there," Mandy noted as she crossed the common room and sat down in the armchair opposite the Lisa's. "You appear to have been thoroughly snogged, though you are not the only one. Cho came up a few minutes ago. She had the same look on her face as when she has the snitch."

The other girl closed her book and rested her chin on the back of her hand. A dreamy smile transformed the almost prim Lisa into the kind of witch to whom men would offer their hearts on silver platters. "I saw Cho and Roger come in, had to pretend I didn't hear them sneaking in. I do believe that your observation was correct."

"Where is Terry?"

"Upstairs. It is rather late. I know I ought to be in bed too, but I'm on duty tonight." A slight motion brought the silver badge pinned to Lisa's robes into better view.

"Will you report me?" Mandy teased, her lip twitching and eyes dancing with amusement at the prospect.

The prefect shook her head. "I would not trouble my partner-in-crime over something so trivial."

"So are you and Terry an official couple now?" Mandy asked, a pearly smile crossing her face.

The brunette flushed. "I would say so."

Mandy's smile widened and she stretched out lazily on her chair like a contented feline. "I cannot believe how well our little plan has worked out."

"Nor can I," Lisa replied, shaking her head gently as she spoke. "But then again, some wizards can be rather blind to what is right under their noses. Roger and Terry are prime examples of that. All we really had to do was give them a shove in the right direction."

"Cho appears much happier. She's fancied Roger for years. I knew the feeling was mutual, but," the curly haired witch shrugged. "After Diggory died, Roger started to think Cho was beyond his reach."

"Grief does odd things to people," Lisa reminded her friend softly.

"I know," Mandy said. Her tone was bland but Lisa knew she was thinking of her own departed loved ones. "I'm not insensitive, but some would have Cho make a vocation of being Cedric's grieving girlfriend. That isn't very healthy."

"No," Lisa agreed. Silence hung in the air for a long while before she moved to change the subject. "And you got something out of this as well: Terry's no longer mooning over you."

"Thank goodness! Terry's a great friend, but too much like a brother for there to be anything more between us. Good thing we managed to point him in a better direction before he hurt himself, you certainly seemed to appreciate out plan, eh?"

Lisa blushed again and suddenly found studying her shoes preferable to meeting Mandy's knowing gaze.