Yells echoed down the long hallway of the Hogwarts Express.
"I don't want to sit with you! Let go of me!"
"Come on! Father says-"
"I'm free here, remember? Free for a whole ten months!"
"I don't give a crap what your dad says anymore! I'm sick of you ruling my life!"
"Uh, I'm SUPPOSED to rule your life, freak!"
Suddenly one of the compartment doors banged open and out stepped three children, a boy with black hair and a scar, a boy with red hair and freckles, and a brunette girl with bushy hair.
They saw a blond boy with sleeked back hair pulling on the arm of a girl with dark brown hair in pigtails holding a kitten. Two stout, stupid looking boys and a bulldog faced girl flanked them.
"Hello. I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy." The blond boy said.
"Harry Potter" the boy with the scar answered tensely.
"Ron Weasley." The redheaded kid answered.
"Hermione Granger." The bushy haired girl said.
"Who's she?" the boy named Harry Potter asked as he gestured to the pigtailed girl.
"No one." Draco Malfoy said quickly.
"I'm Cassie. Cassie Wells" she answered, giving the Malfoy boy an evil look. Fortunately for her, he didn't see. He was too busy staring at Hermione.
The girl called Hermione took a step forward.
"Excuse me. But it seems that you have a seating problem?"
"Not exactly." Malfoy said.
"She can sit with us." Hermione said evenly.
The girl took a step away from Malfoy and his friends and walked into Ron's, Hermione's, and Harry's compartment.
The trio slid the door shut behind her and sat down. Cassie sat next to Hermione.
They instantly began asking rapid questions.
"What do you mean 'free'?"
"Why is he dragging you around everywhere?"
"Why were you with him in the first place? He seems like a prat."
Cassie sighed. "It's complicated."
"So?" Harry asked.
"Well…"
"Well what?"
"It's a long story."
"It's a long ride."
"Fine. Just…. Don't make a fuss about it, okay?"
"Agreed."
"Fine by me."
"Sure."
"I'm muggle- born. I don't have wizarding parents. In fact, my parents died when I was little. I got my letter, but when I went to Diagon Alley, I had no idea what to do or how to do anything, let alone pay. My letter said to go to Gringotts, so I did. Apparently my aunt was a witch, and I was supposed to inherit her fortune. Except I couldn't present a wand or anything… and they kicked me out. I didn't know what to do, so I just started wandering around a bit. I ran into Draco Malfoy in front of the ice cream parlor, and he asked me where I was going and I told him I didn't know. He asked why, and I explained to him my situation. He offered help and bought me an ice cream. Then he got all weird when I told him I was muggle born. Eventually his father showed up and he talked to him for a bit. Then I saw a flash of light and I think I fell in some sort of trance. Next thing I remember, we're still in front of the ice cream parlor, but Draco Malfoy's father has this wicked sort of smile on his face, and he is holding a piece of paper, and I have a quill in my hand and I don't know why. Malfoy's dad gives Draco a bag of wizarding money and tells him that should cover it. He takes the quill from me and walks away. Draco hands me the bag of money and he follows me while I buy my books and stuff. When I try to leave without him, he says I can't. I ask why and he says, "Don't you remember?" and I start to say no, but this woman shows up out of nowhere and puts me in another trance. When I wake up, I'm in his house, Malfoy Manor. It's like, huge and creepy with all these paintings, like a medieval castle. I'm in a small room with a little wardrobe, a bed, a little desk and chair, and my trunk. Oh, and there's a little eeny dumbwaiter too. There's no windows, but two doors. One leads to an incredibly small bathroom, and the other is locked. After a bit the locked door opens and Malfoy comes in. I don't remember much for the next two days, but I got into a lot of trances and such. After that he orders me around and stuff, and I listen because otherwise he puts spells on me and all that crap. His parents basically ignore me. If I ever ask what happened, Malfoy gets all evil, well, more evil than usual and says," Don't you remember?" But after a lot of eavesdropping and poking around, I figure out that when I got put in the trance the first time, Malfoy's father made me sign some sort of magical contract or something, and I have to work for the Malfoys until I'm seventeen, at least, and they buy me schoolbooks and such. I got so angry but I can't do anything about it. After a lot more poking about and eavesdropping, I figured out that somehow their house elf caught some laundry one of them threw and somehow that freed it. Around the end of the summer, they got a new one, I think her name is Mopsy, so then I basically belonged to Draco. September first finally comes, and I have to go to school so they send me with Draco and now I'm here."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat speechless. The purring of the kitten in Cassie's lap seemed unusually loud in the dead silence of the compartment.
After several moments Ron finally muttered, "Bloody hell!"
After a few more minutes, Hermione said, "You're joking."
"No, no I'm not."
Harry said, "That's got to be illegal."
"Well, she signed a magical contract, so in the eyes of the ministry, it's not." Hermione said.
"But she was in a trance!" Harry protested.
"The Imperius curse. My dad's told me about it." Ron said.
"But- But it's one of the Unforgivable curses!" Hermione cried.
"It's got to be!"
"It can't be! It's illegal!"
"It HAS to be!"
"Moving on," Cassie interrupted.
"That's horrible. You belong to that prat?" Harry asked.
"Pretty much. I even have to do his homework."
Everyone was silent.
"Where'd the cat come from? It's making Scabbers nervous." Ron finally asked.
"Who's Scabbers?"
"My rat. He never does anything but sleep."
"Oh."
"Really though, how did you get it?"
"Well I was feeding the peacocks and this little kitten squeezes through the gate and comes wobbling up to me, mewling. I felt horrible for her, so I smuggled her up to my room and cleaned her up. She stays in my wardrobe and eats table scraps and catches mice in my room. Her name's Tabitha."
"They have peacocks?"
"Yeah."
"Did the Malfoys find out?"
"Sort of."
"What do you mean?"
"They never noticed her but when I smuggled her to school she started meowing and jumped out of my robes but by that time we were on the train. He couldn't do much to me but he was really mad. If he writes to his parents about it, I'll catch hell."
"Oh."
After a bit Hermione said,"If there's any way to legally get out you out of this, I'll find it."
"Yeah, I could buy you your schoolbooks and stuff." Harry said.
"You could come stay with us. Ginny gets a bit lonely with six brothers, I bet she'd love to meet you" Ron added
"Thanks, guys" Cassie said.
"No problem. You hungry?" Harry asked.
"A bit."
"Here" he tossed her a Chocolate Frog with a smile.
"Thanks"
"Now you've heard all about me, what about you guys?" Cassie asked.
"Not much to tell. I have five brothers and a sister. Bo- ring." Ron said.
"My parents are muggles. They're dentists." Hermione said.
"My parents died when I was a baby. Vol- sorry, You – Know – Who killed them. I live with my aunt and uncle and my horrible cousin. "Harry explained.
Cassie cocked her head. "Is You – Know – Who the same as the Dark Lord? That's what the Malfoys call him. "
"I suppose… But only followers of Voldemort call him that." Hermione said.
"Is that bad?"
"Very, very, very bad, Cassie. Very bad." Ron said.
"What do you mean? You don't know?" Hermione asked.
"Everything I've learned about the wizarding world is what I've heard when eavesdropping. I think the Malfoys are followers of him…" Cassie said.
"We have to tell someone!" Hermione cried.
"Who would believe us? " Ron asked bitterly.
"A teacher! A Ministry official! Someone!" Hermione said.
"I don't know, Hermione, Malfoy's dad donated a lot of money to the Ministry…" Cassie said.
"I'd call it legal bribery." Ron said.
"Well, there's not much we can do now, is there?" Cassie sighed.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione sighed back.
Suddenly the compartment door slid open without warning. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle stepped in.
"So you're the Harry Potter, aren't you? They're talking about it all down the train." Malfoy said.
"I suppose." Harry replied.
"As I said before, I'm Draco Malfoy. You want to come and sit with us? You don't want to hang out with the wrong sort, if you catch my meaning."
"I think I can tell who's the wrong sort myself, thanks."
Malfoy didn't go red, but his pale face turned slightly pink.
He probably would have left if Hermione hadn't interjected in her know – it – all way, "You definitely know someone's the wrong sort if they have slaves."
Malfoy turned to face her. "You talking to me, Granger?"
"Yeah."
"Hermione…" Cassie whispered. Her face had gone slightly pale.
"You scared of me, Wells?" Draco said to Cassie. He knelt to look her in the eye and whispered. "Looks like you've finally found your place." He continued. Cassie's face drained of all color.
That did it for everyone else in the compartment. Harry, Ron, and Hermione jumped up, but the cat beat them to it. She stood up from Cassie's lap, arched her back, hissed, let out a fevered meow/battle cry and slashed Malfoy across the face with her claws. Four bleeding scratch marks were on his cheek. He howled in pain, and the cat let out another meow and latched itself onto his head, scratching and hissing and biting. "Crabbe! Goyle! Get it off! Get it off!" Malfoy shouted as he danced wildly around the compartment.
Unfortunately, Crabbe and Goyle had been digging through the sweets Harry had bought, and Goyle grabbed Scabbers' tail by accident. Scabbers sunk his yellow rat fangs into Goyle's finger. Goyle started bellowing and shaking his finger as well. Scabbers flew across the compartment and hit the window. Malfoy succeeded in grabbing Tabitha by the scruff of her neck, and flung her across the room as well. She hit the window, slid down onto the ground.
Harry and Ron stood up with their wands out, ready to attack Malfoy, but Cassie and Hermione beat him to it.
"Evil-"
"Rotten-"
"Cruel-"
"Idiotic-"
"Disgusting-"
"Slimy-"
"Spoiled-"
"Hateful-"
"Nasty-"
"Bratty-"
Both girls punctuated each word with a slap to his face. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle scrambled out of the compartment.
Cassie and Hermione stood panting, faces red with anger.
Both boys stood stunned for a moment.
Then Cassie and Ron ran over to see what had become of their pets. Ron's had fallen asleep, and Cassie's little kitty was a bit rattled but okay.
"Your cat's bloody brilliant." Ron said, amazed.
"Thanks." Cassie said, sitting back down.
Harry said," Sorry to ruin the moment, but Cassie's dead if Malfoy's father hears about it."
Cassie groaned.
"You think?"
"He has all year to cool down…" Ron mumbled.
"Or simmer." Hermione said.
"Don't remind me." Cassie said. "I can't believe I did that."
"Why are you so scared of him?"
"Why do you think?"
"Oh."
"Just… watch my back for me, okay?" Cassie asked, glancing at the compartment door nervously.
"No problem."
Ten months later (because I'm lazy and SERIUOSLY don't want to write the first year right now)
Cassie flew into Harry's, Ron's, and Hermione's compartment. She slammed the door behind her and leaned against the door, gasping for breath.
"Hide me!" she cried.
"Malfoy?" Harry asked as he dug through his trunk. He held up the Invisibility Cloak and threw it over her and gave Cassie a boost onto the luggage rack. She crouched there, making sure the cloak covered every in of her, and held her breath. Harry, Ron, and Hermione resumed their conversation as if nothing had happened. A few second later, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle showed up, panting.
"Where's Cassie!"
"I thought she was with you." Hermione said.
"She ran! She lives with me so-"
"Uh, Malfoy? This isn't our problem. We don't care. Get out."
"I- You- You'll pay for this, Potter!" He stormed out.
They waited for several minutes before Hermione said to Cassie, "Now what are you going to do?"
Cassie jumped down and handed the Cloak back to Harry.
"She can come with me!" Ron said. "She can share with Ginny-"
"What about your mum? Will she be okay with it?"
"I might've mentioned it to her, and besides, Ginny will hear and beg, and mum hates the Malfoys,"
"How will we smuggle her off the train?"
Ron sized Cassie up.
"I think that maybe if we crammed Fred's stuff into my trunk and George's trunk, we could fit Cassie and her cat in there. Ginny always comes with mum to pick us up, she could carry Cassie's trunk. It should work."
He stuck his head out of the Compartment and yelled,"Oy! Fred! George!"
"Yes?" the twins asked.
"We need your help, bring your trunks and get in here."
"Why?"
"Because! Just hurry up already, we're almost to the station!"
Fred and George walked in dragging their trunks.
"This better be-"
"Good-"
"Or important-"
"Or else-"
"We'll –"
"Hex you."
Ron explained his plan to the twins, who looked at him doubtfully.
"You really think it will work?" George asked.
"I suppose."
Fred started moving his books and stuff into George's and Harry's until it was (mostly) empty. Cassie picked up her cat and curled up inside with room to spare.
Harry checked his watch.
"We have ten minutes."
Fred closed the lid of the trunk and picked it up. Everyone carried their trunks out, and Ron ran back and got Cassie's to give to Ginny to carry.
"Mum, can Cassie stay with us for the summer?"
"Oh, mum, can she, please…" Ginny begged.
"Well… I suppose… But where is she, dear?"
"In Fred's trunk."
"Why?"
"She's hiding from the Malfoys. They kidnapped her last year, and Draco's looking for her. Please, Mum, she'll explain later."
"Alright…"
"Yes!" Ginny said. She had been desperate for a friend and heard all about Cassie in Ron's letters.
"Ginny, You'll have to share." Mrs. Weasley said.
"Oh, mum, thank you, I'm fine with sharing."
Ten minutes later, Cassie was sitting between Ginny and Fred. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were loading up everyone's trunks in the back. The windows were open and she thought she heard Draco Malfoy moan to his father, "But it wasn't my fault! She ran away… I checked all the compartments, she wasn't there! What do you mean you might not let me get a new broom! Potter has one! It's not fair…."
She and Ginny started chatting happily away together, and the Weasleys drove off towards their house.
Two months later (again I'm lazy and don't feel like writing the summer)
Harry, Cassie, Hermione, and some of the Weasleys stepped into Flourish and Blotts to buy their books, the last things on their list.
Lockhart was there for the book signing, and Cassie quietly left to buy her own books. She left her cauldron and supplies with Ginny, and after buying her books and running back to put them with the rest, slipped up the narrow spiral staircase that led to the second floor. She didn't see anyone up there, so she started wandering through the shelves. She heard someone and whirled around. Draco Malfoy heard her and turned from the balcony.
"Well, well, well, who do we have here?"
Cassie backed up towards the wall, her eyes wide with fear. Draco stepped closer, until she was flat against the wall. Draco leaned one arm against the wall and said,"You've only grown more beautiful over the summer, Cassie. I'm amazed."
Cassie supposed she had changed. After testing one of the twin's prank candies, her hair had started growing and not stopped until it reached past her calves. She wanted to chop it all off, but the twins told her she shouldn't. Harry and Ginny told her not to as well, so she left it. Now it fell, loose and wavy across her shoulders. She had also changed in other ways, too. She had gotten taller, and got… curves and stuff.
Draco put his other hand behind her back and slid it down onto her waist.
"You still belong to me." He said ominously. "So if I ordered you to kiss me, you'd have to,"
Cassie made a small squeaking noise and all the color drained from her face.
She looked up at Malfoy. He was still pale, with sleeked back blond hair, and he had a scar on his cheek where Tabitha had scratched him a year ago. He was about a head taller than her.
Malfoy said, "So, gorgeous…" And bent his head to kiss her on the cheek.
Cassie squeaked again. Just then, Hermione and Ginny came pounding up the stairs.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Get off of her!"
"You evil little rat!" they yelled as they grabbed Malfoy and dragged her off Cassie. All three girls ran, panting, down the stairs and out of the bookshop, grabbing their cauldrons as they went. The trio crashed into Fred, George, and Ron outside.
"Watch it!" The twins called in unison.
"Why are you going so fast?" Ron asked.
"Malfoy… tried to… tried to…"
"Spit it out!"
"He tried to kiss Cassie!"
"He what!" the twins shouted.
"He tried to kiss Cassie!"
"He put his hand up on the wall and put his other arm around her waist! And he kissed her on the cheek!"
"That –"
"is sick-"
"revolting-"
"foul-"
"disgusting-"
"We get it! But if he gets his hands on Cassie-"
"We know, we know."
"Do you guys have your stuff yet?"
"Yeah."
"Could you take Cassie back to the house?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, sure. Ginny, tell mum where we went."
"Hermione let's go." Ginny said.
"Guys, go!"
Fred, George, Ron, and Cassie ran back to the big fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron, and used Floo powder to get back to the Burrow.
The four kids stood in the living room of the Weasleys house.
"Malfoy is such a creep." Ron said. He looked really mad.
"That's not how you flirt with a girl" George said.
"What made you guys experts?" Ron asked crossly.
"Watch." Fred said.
He took both of Cassie's hands in his.
"You hold her hand-"
George whispered, "Your eyes are like amethysts," into her ear.
"Compliment her-"
Fred started twirling her hair between his fingers.
"Play with her hair-"
George took her and spun her as if they were dancing.
"Dance with her-" He pushed her over to Fred while she was still spinning.
Fred caught her, and he dipped her.
"While dancing, romantically dip her-"
George took her and picked her up and spun her around.
"Or do whatever that's called-"
Fred ran his hand along Cassie's bright red face.
"Caress her cheek-"
"Give her-"
"Candy-"
They both dug in their pockets and put joke candy into the pockets of her robes.
"Or you can-"
"Take her hand and-"
Each twin took one of her hands.
"Kiss her on the cheek!" they both said at the same time, and then kissed her at the same time.
Ron looked very cross.
He shot the twins an evil look, and they dropped her hands.
"Cassie, I need your help with homework." He grabbed her arm and dragged her up to his room.
He closed the door.
"Don't let them do that!"
"Oh, come on, Ron! They were just messing around."
"They're too old for you!"
"What is wrong?" she teased. "Jealous?"
"Maybe I am!"
Cassie plopped down on Ron's bed. He sat next to her and took her hand.
"I am jealous, Cassie! I like you, too!"
Then Harry opened the door.
He saw their hands and ground his teeth.
"Ron. Can I talk to you for a sec?"
Ron walked out and closed the door behind him.
She couldn't make out the words, but it sounded like they were arguing.
Ron walked in and Harry asked if he could talk to Cassie.
Harry took both her hands and said, "I like you too, Cassie. Who's it gonna be? "
"I- I- have to go talk to Ginny." Cassie ran down the hall to Ginny's room.
"You're kidding."
"Am not."
"The twins?"
"Yes."
"They're just teasing."
"Ron?"
"Yes."
"Harry?"
"Yes."
"Draco I saw. This is crazy."
"I know. And don't worry, you can have Harry. "
"Ha ha."
