A/N: Finally, next chapter we get into the plot, and honestly I'm excited to add more of Connor into this! Thank you to 4plywhenicry, CannonRebel, TheNarnianMugglebornAvenger, TsukiBop, Wolverine123, amber-wa, harudha558 for the favourites and follows! I really appreciate them!


It became a habit of the Gryffindor Crew to practically bodyguard their Eagle after she valiantly rescued Potter from Heartly and her goonies. They were especially salty about hearing it from Potter instead of her - she had to beg for their forgiveness, which was awkwardly hilarious as it was in front of the entire school – and Beauxbaton and Durmstrang, mind you - in the Great Hall.

Fred was the one with her as George had detention with Lee for setting his tarantula free in the common room therefore making a bunch of people cry and scream. Angelina had prefect duties which she was always extremely dutiful about so they had decided to sit by the Black Lake and compete to see who could skim pebbles furthest across the water.

"So," Fred said, breaking the serene silence that was around them, his voice overpowered the sound of the pebble sploshing into the water. "You and Thompson."

"What about us?" She asked, skimming a pebble across the shimmering surface of the black water, just going that bit further than Fred's to make him groan. "I win again. That's two cupcakes you owe me."

"Fine, we'll go to the kitchens in a bit." He laughed "Does Missy deserve four pairs of socks or just four separate socks?"

"Uh, four separate so – just say two pairs. You only own four pairs."

"That's completely and utterly false." He stated "Anyway! Back to the subject at hand, you and Thompson. We heard from Cho who told Padma who told Parvati who told Dean who told Seamus who told Harry who told us that you two broke up."

"Things travel fast." She replied with a light-hearted chuckle "Yeah, we thought we might as well."

He looked out to the lake, eyes glistening in the midday sunlight "…Was it because of us? You both were fine before we went to the Three Broomsticks together."

Cara thought back to how Daniel took to digging through her head, and then through Fred's and wondered if it was true that Fred thought about her a lot. Everything inside her wanted to scream that it was bullshit and that Daniel just wanted an excuse to break up with her.

But what if?

"I dunno if we were fine." She tilted her head to the side, and tugged her scarf tighter around her neck as the breeze became chillier "He's always fancied Cho and that kinda spoiled things for the both of us, I'd say."

"How many guys fancy that girl, Merlin's beard." Fred exclaimed, then wrapped his hands in the ends of her scarf, shivering. He glanced at her and she swallowed thickly, wondering if his usually solid brown eyes always had those golden flecks in them. "It's a bit weird that you got with him when he fancied someone else."

She tinkered out a laugh, scratching her neck awkwardly "Yeah, well, I thought maybe he'd stop liking her and start liking me." She replied "But, that doesn't matter anymore, does it?"

He eyed her with a tilt of his head "I guess not." He said "But, if we were one of the reasons, then…We didn't mean to, y'know? I'm sorry 'bout it." He tugged on his collar with a cough.

She blinked at him, and her unblinking gaze made his cheeks flush red. "He's a legilimens, you know." She commented idly, picking at her cuticles. "I didn't know until he-"

"He's a WHAT?" Fred exclaimed, leaping to his feet with wide eyes "I mean-shit, does he look through people's heads a lot?"

Cara didn't know what to make of his reaction, she supposed the idea of someone digging through people's heads was shocking enough so it might not even mean anything. "I dunno, he dug through mine, said something about yours too-"

"That cockhead! I'll get him back, don't you worry, Cara-" She stood and whacked his arm with a frown until he looked down at her, pouting "Ow! What the hell?"

"You won't mention it." She said "He probably doesn't want people to know, and I don't really want to get into more shit with him. We're on rocky ground already."

"But Cara! He looked inside our heads! That's surely against our human rights!" He exclaimed, and then swallowed hard enough for her to see his throat contract. "Did he…mention what he heard? Inside my head?"

"Not really." She shrugged. Me, she thought, he said you thought about me. Do you? The idea that Fred Weasley took time in his day to think about her made butterflies flutter in her stomach but she quickly shoved them away to pat the boy on the shoulder. "Why're you so panicky, huh, Weasley? Got some dirty thoughts up there?" She winked.

"The dirtiest." He responded "One small prank, and I won't mention why we did it. He'll think we're just being arseholes, as usual."

"Com'on, he doesn't need that." She tried "Leave him be."

"An itty bitty one."

"Fred."

"And I thought you had a sense of humour. And sense of justice."

"Your moral compass is flawed."

"I think Thompson's moral compass is proper shattered if he's digging through people's private thoughts!"

She glowered "Fine! But, don't make eye contact because he'll find out what you're planning."

Fred beamed, and swung an arm around her shoulders, leading her back inside the school "I knew you'd come around, Sparky! All it takes is a bit of TLC."

"That was more persuasion than tender loving care." She commented, feeling a bit sticky with warmth pressed against Fred's overheated body. It was like he had a constant fever or something.

"TLP then." He shrugged against her "Tender loving persuasion."

"That's fair." She laughed "Go get the socks, I think we'd better get some cupcakes, don't you?"

Fred groaned dramatically, and marched forwards so she had to run to catch up. They must have looked like prats running into the Gryffindor common room, up the stairs to the boy's dormitory and digging through Fred's suitcase only to sprint out again. She wasn't sure when it became a race to who got where first, but it did. The amount of times they ran into walls, fell on their faces and collided with other students was too many to count.

Missy was absolutely delighted to be handed the patterned socks, and although they were a bit too big, she cried giant dollops of tears that ran down her cheeks and onto the floor when she practically bowed to them.

"Don't cry Missy, you're too cute for that." Fred winked down at her and nudged Cara with a raised brow when the elf squealed out a shriek and shoved her head into her jumper that was ten times too big. She calmed down after a bit, with Cara patting her back

"Could I have two chocolate cupcakes please, Missy?" Cara asked politely, smiling and pressing her hand warmly on the head to try and soothe the house elf.

"Of course, missus Sparks can have two cupcakes, two cupcakes coming right up!" She rambled, and soon, handed Cara two chocolate cupcakes with a gentle curtsy and blushing giggle. "Are they to your liking, missus?"

Cara took a giant bite of the cupcake and stuck her thumb up "Delicious, as always."

Missy looked over the moon and turned to Fred "Does Mister Weasley want anything from Missy?"

"I'm all about the giving." He replied "Hope you like the socks."

"Missy does! Missy really, really does! Missy can never thank Mister Weasley enough!" She squealed. They left after bidding goodbye to Missy then slowly waltzed back to the common room before dinner.

"Here." She handed Fred her second muffin, looking at him in disgust when he shoved the whole thing into his giant mouth. "For fuck sake, man, you've no manners."

"Pfft." He said, spitting crumbs everywhere "I've seen you eat when you're hungry, shove it all in, don't you?" He prodded her squishier stomach, making her squirm and whack his hand away with flushed cheeks.

"I'm cuddly." She stuck her nose in the air.

"Are you now?" He said, and before she knew it, he lunged at her and wrapped her in his sturdy arms, holding on tightly. She puffed her cheeks out when her neck heated red, and pressed her hands to his forearms. A part of her said that she was trying to push him away because this could look bad seeing that Fred was dating her close friend. Though, unfortunately, Cara felt as if she was trying to merely convince herself that.

"Cuddly enough for you?" She asked, voice muffled by his jumper-ed arms. "Enough to jump me in the corridor, ey?"

"You weren't wrong." He shrugged, letting her go but keeping an arm around her shoulders. A flock of students turned the corner which she immediately recognised as Diggory's crew, laughing and bantering as per usual, surrounding the champion himself. Or, she supposed, the first Hogwarts champion. "Ugh, look who's coming." Fred whispered close to her ear.

"Hey Sparks." Diggory nodded at them as he passed, smiling brightly at her wave "Weasley." Fred nodded back, lips pursed when Diggory stopped. "Say, I heard about Heartly and her friends, must say, it's pretty amazing that you came to Potter's rescue."

"What is he, a damsel in distress?" One of his friends guffawed.

"Yeah right!" Another replied.

"Not a damsel, but he was definitely in distress." She told them "Just human nature to act on instinct, I'd say. After seeing that, it's only fair."

"Right." He nodded with a smile ""Anyway, just wanted to apologise for them, I guess, since I know they won't themselves." He shrugged a bit with a half-grin, half-grimace on his face "Anyway, see you around!"

"See ya. Good luck tomorrow." She waved as they sauntered away.

"Cheers!" He waved.

"Ugh, small talk." Fred groaned quietly and then turned to her so suddenly that she jolted in her step, eyes wide. He looked a bit like a Labrador that perked up the minute it saw its owner.

"What?" She asked, bewildered.

"Have you heard? It's a rumour going around but no-one's sure yet, but the first challenge is apparently facing a dragon! How cool will that be? Me and George-"

"George and I." Cara corrected, smirking at Fred's glare.

"Okay, Angelina." He sneered, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, George and I sent a letter to our brother who works in Romania with dragons because he said he was doing something interesting this year. We connected the dots! He must be coming here, right?"

"Must be." She nodded "It'll be cool to see a dragon in real life-" Cara's heart suddenly skipped a beat in her chest as she was hit with a realisation. An idea formed in her head so quickly that she couldn't keep up.

"Cara? You look like you're gonna shit yourself, what's wrong?" Fred asked her with furrowed brows "Y'know, Angie's anaemic so she gets light-headed, don't tell me you have that too-"

"No, no." She rushed out "I have to go, I, uh, I'll see you later, yeah?" She said, then turned on her heel and started to jog down the corridor, set on a destination.

"Wait? Where are you going? Can I come?" He exclaimed, jogging up to her but she shook her head so her hair flowed down her back.

"No, it's kinda important!" She told him hurriedly "I'll see you later, we can test out that new whatever you and George made. See if it really does turn people's skin pink."

"You better tell me what you're doing!" He called, but she was already around the corner and running all the way to Dumbledore's office. She paused outside the statue, and tapped her foot on the ground impatiently as she tried to remember the password. She said loads of the previous ones, but none of them worked and slowly her idea became stupider and less realistic with every passing moment.

"Oh, fucking-" She exclaimed, pressing her head into her hands and tugging wildly with annoyance.

"Miss Sparks?"

Her head shot up, and she met the twinkling blues of the headmaster, slowly approaching with a soft smile on his face. "Sir!" She exclaimed, flattening her hair down to look more presentable. "Is it true? Is the first challenge really-"

"Do come in. We can chat inside." He said, and lowly said the password allowing the spiral staircase to rotate down so they could walk up them into his office. Cara always felt slightly intimidated in the presence of the headmaster, his person just emanated power and authority which disturbed her to no end. He was the good guy, a crack of light in the darkness, but sometimes he freaked her out just by being there.

She sat opposite him across his desk, back straight and legs crossed as she sat in the chair, tugging on the hem of her skirt. She inhaled shakily, feeling on the spot, knowing her request was far-fetched but she was going to ask anyway. "I heard the first challenge was something to do with dragons." He raised a brow, so she quickly continued before he could speak "My brother's never seen one, probably believes he never will. I-I wanna change that."

Dumbledore leant forwards in his seat, elbows on the table "Do you want a lemon sherbet?" He offered her a small bowl of the yellow wrapped sweeties and looked at her curiously.

Cara gaped at the man. Was he ignoring her request? Was he really going to just pretend she hadn't asked?

"I-No, thank you." She stammered, then before she lost her spirit said "Sir, please. I request that my brother come here for the three challenges so he can see what our world is like! He's always felt so alienated towards us, no wonder why, but I know he wants to be a part of it. Somehow."

"I understand your request, Miss Sparks." Dumbledore said "The Ministry are not very welcoming, I can admit, but I believe they will condone your brother joining us during the Triwizard Tournament. If I believe not, though, we can keep mum, yes?"

Cara's eyes widened. "So…He can come?"

"If he wants to, indeed." Dumbledore smiled. "It's tomorrow, you will have to get in touch. I was thinking we visit Number 06 in, say, two minutes to request your brother's presence in person? He may appreciate that more." His eyes shone, and Cara was almost certain that her eyes were the same.

"Sir, I can't thank you enough." She said, voice cracking as she bowed her head. Cara had never felt an emotion like this, and tried to well the lump in her throat to chill out.

He beamed, and held out his hand to her. She took it sheepishly, and took a deep breath in as Dumbledore apparated from the school. She reeled at the feeling of weightlessness and terror at the feeling of falling. It was only for a moment, a split second until she opened her eyes that she'd squeezed closed, to smell the familiar scent of her living room – the jasmine scent of her mother's perfume, the coffee Connor likes to drink mugs and mugs of, and the whiskey da has with dinner. She was met with the patterned wallpaper, the telly playing a random TV show she didn't know and ma, sitting on the sofa, with her hair dishevelled, jaw dropped, eyes wide and remote fallen from her hand and to the ground.

"Ma." She half-smiled.

"Have you been expelled?" Ma asked, horrified.

"Not at all, Mrs Sparks, your daughter is doing very well in her studies and will continue to thrive onwards. We are here due to another reason, a request." Dumbledore replied with a smile. "Is Connor Sparks in?"

"Oh-I-Yes?" Ma stammered, climbing to feet and rushing to the end of the stairs "Connor! Come down for a second, please!" There was a thump, and a creaking as Connor slowly descended down the stairs. His face was pale, almost sickly pale as he peaked down at the two of them and toyed with his lip between his teeth.

"Cara." Connor said breathlessly. "What are you doing here?"

"To see you." She replied, shoulders rising and falling hard as she inhaled sharper breathes with oncoming panic of rejection. What if he didn't want to be included? What if he wanted to forget he ever knew of it? "D'you want to see a dragon?"

"Cara, what on earth are you thinking-" Ma gasped.

She pleaded. "Please, mum. Let him speak, first."

He looked a lot like Ma in that moment, shocked, baffled, but there was something akin to terror in his expression that unnerved her. In his hand was the extendable ears, gripped in a white-knuckled fist; she assumed he must have been listening and that's why he looked so spooked when he came downstairs.

"If you do not wish to, then you do not have to, Mr Sparks. It is entirely your decision." Dumbledore informed him kindly. "Your sister believed that you would be interested to see a dragon in real life and wanted to invite you along with her."

"Cara." Connor's voice shook. "You better promise me." He seemed to be struggling to get his words out and croaked out "You won't forget I'm part of it afterwards."

"You always were." She replied shakily "I'm sorry I didn't realise that."

He laughed, eyes watering and lips trembling. "I didn't realise either." He brought his hand up to his face and scrubbed at his eyes until they were sore and red. Ma sobbed from where she stood by the sofa but she took no notice of her, too transfixed on Connor making an expression that wasn't anguish disguised as bitterness or anger.

Cara would have liked this to end with them hugging it out and starting to form a strong siblinghood like Fred and George's but she left without a hug, or even a fist bump, yet it felt like a huge leap for her and Connor. It felt like he looked at her properly for the first time in years. Dumbledore told him that they would come to collect him tomorrow morning, 8AM sharp, to bring a camera if he so wished and then they left with a pop.

"Sir." She said, and bowed her head to him "Thank you so much."

"I do hope you and your brother's relationship can reform, Miss Sparks, you both deserve it." He replied, voice warm. "Though, do tell Mr Sparks that he cannot show any of his friends the photographs he may take. Our existence is still majorly secretive." She nodded reverently and scrubbed at her eyes. "Miss Sparks." Dumbledore said softly. "I am incredibly inspired by your determination to include your brother. I know he has been rather unsavoury to you."

"It's not his fault." She wiped her nose on her sleeve.

"It never has been yours, either." He replied gently. Her throat constricted and her heart thumped in her chest, lips spreading into a relieved smile that made her heart soar. The day had been a blur after that, she could hardly remember it and honestly didn't care that much either. She was on Cloud 9.

That night, Cara slept far more peacefully than she had in years; without fits of nightmares and a knot in her stomach and felt for the first time in years that Cara Sparks wasn't the reason that Connor Sparks was a squib.


A/N: Thank you for reading! Comments are always welcome ;^D