Room of Requirement

"Well, it's his choice," she shrugged. "And I doubt that Xander likes him in the same way. I mean, he's definitely more about the Quidditch type. Remember at New Year when he was feeling Ricardo's muscles?"

Tessa felt a twinge of guilt; she hadn't considered Giovanni's emotional wellbeing. "How's he been?" She asked, dropping her voice to almost a whisper to ensure that he couldn't hear her, despite the constant rumble of machinery around them.

"Do you think I should talk to him?" She murmured. "I might be able to get something from him at least."

"I'll corner him later then," she decided, placing a delicate hand on his knee. "I'm sure we can get to the bottom of this."

Her own lips parted a little at his touch, and she felt blood rush to her face. Horribly conscious of the fact that he could probably feel the heat radiating off her, she searched for something to say in response. "I realised whilst I was away that it's probably time I started thinking about other people, rather than just myself."

Leo chose that moment to start the ride, having been pointing out a few of the other roller coasters to the rest of the group. Tessa jumped, startled by the sudden movement of their seats lifting further off the ground.

She stared at him for a few seconds more, eyes round, before she directed her attention to the sight before her. They were travelling faster and faster upwards, and the ground was quickly shrinking below them. "Nic?" She shouted over the rush of air, voice significantly higher than usual. "Are you scared?"

Tessa looked across, reaching out for his hand and giving it a squeeze, just as they came to a gentle halt and were tilted forwards slowly, so that they were suspended above the room and facing the floor. She let out an audible gasp. "It's huge! You can see all the way across from up here."

"Tons..." She counted quickly in her head, but it was too difficult as the colours seemed to tangle together at certain points. "At least thirty. Not all roller coasters though - there's a wheel, and a massive slide by the looks of it. And it just carries on going, until it all sort of fades to white in the distance. I wonder how far we could go..." Her thoughts were diverted, however, as they started to move again. This time they didn't move up at all, but along the ceiling, all the while facing downwards.

"Merlin knows," she returned, enjoying the sensation of the cool air against her face. Somewhere, there was a dull throb in her head as if the altitude was too much for her to handle, but she pushed the feeling aside. "He really gets this place, doesn't he?"