"I'm sorry I ruined your date but..."

"It was not a date!"

"Pffft, that was definitely some kind of date."

"It was not a date! I don't date! I've never been on date! Stop calling it a date!"

"Wait, seriously? Not a single date? Seriously?" Freddie was looking me up and down the same way Rose had a couple of days ago.

"There is nothing wrong with me!" I shouted pointing a finger at him.

Freddie put a hand on his hip and rolled his eyes at me and scoffed at my finger. I frowned realizing that Grayson was probably the only person that would ever be scared of a 5 foot 4 (5'3" AND 1/2) person pointing a finger. "Come on," Freddie demanded dragging me into the Castle. "This is really important."

Freddie pulled me into an empty classroom and then closed the door. "I need your help," he said hands on his hips staring at me pleadingly.

I sighed. "What do you need help with?" I asked sitting on top of a desk ignoring the loud (and scary) creak that it made from the pressure of my weight. I let my feet dangle and pulled off some of my cold running gear as I waited for Freddie to open his mouth.

"Quidditch."

I blanched dropping my neon ear warmer on the ground. "No."

"You don't even know the details!"

"Have you heard the rumors?" I asked eyes wide. "If I help you with Quidditch, I'm helping Potter and Potter is... is... Potter," I spat.

"We really need to work on your insults," Freddie drawled. "You don't even know what I was going to ask," he said stomping his foot.

I rubbed my temples. "Fine, I'll bite," I declared crossing my arms. "What could I possibly help with?"

He sat down on the desk in front of me. "Can we beat Slytherin with the current team? I mean, is there something strategic..."

"No. No! No! No! No way!"

"Why not?" Freddie whined and pouted at me.

"Does James even know you're here asking me for advice?"

Freddie had the good sense to look down. "Maybe not," he muttered.

"I will not be responsible for dissension in the ranks!" I said waving my hands around dramatically. "And he's a good for nothing..."

"Cass," he was still whining, pleading with those stupid puppy dog eyes, "we're going to lose."

I jutted out my lip signaling that I didn't give a bowtruckle about whether or not they were going to lose.

"Look," Freddie said taking on a serious tone. "I don't know if you're aware but I don't have a lot of job options..."

I opened my mouth to protest but Freddie held up his hand.

"My dad would love me to get into the family business but I don't know if that's what I want. We both know I can't do anything that involves Potions. Blood makes me squeamish so Auror or Healer seems like it's out of the question and..."

"Okay," I said putting my hands up ending his rant. I sighed and rubbed my eye for a second. "So you want to be a pro-Quidditch player?" I asked as I watched him fidget.

Freddie shrugged. "I don't know but there are always scouts at these games. I just don't want to limit even another one of my options."

I stared at Freddie for a few moments trying to will myself to tell him the team (POTTER, specifically) could fend for themselves.

But, for some reason the words wouldn't come out of my mouth as much as I wanted them to. For some reason, Freddie's feeling that his options were limited spoke to me. My maman repeatedly made not-so-subtle comments about me moving out of country, to a country where people didn't know the name Nott, to have "more options." I wouldn't wish the feeling of dread on my worst enemy. It was that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, which always came when I thought about graduating, leaving my friends, and moving out of the country.

Freddie wasn't my enemy. He was my friend.

"Merlin, I'm such a sap!" I yelled suddenly.

Freddie fell off the table in reaction to my outburst.

I rolled my eyes in response. "Do you have a piece of paper?"

He quickly stood up and dusted himself off. "Yea," he said pulling out some paper and a pen. "So you'll help me?"

"What's Potter's current strategy?" I asked looking at the paper and trying to visualize everyone on the current roster for Gryffindor and Slytherin.

"Well, James was saying that their Beaters..."

"... suck because Goyle and Flint are out because of me..."

"...or because they're arses and bullies?" Freddie said in a clipped tone.

"... so you-all will control the Bludgers," I continued ignoring Freddie. "You and Ollie will dominate the Bludgers. That's good, that's really good actually."

"Right, that's what James said. So he wants us to direct the Bludgers at their Chaser Team."

"King, Al Potter and Overcliff?" I asked to confirm as I drew three circles on the piece of paper trying to remember their statistics and playing styles.

"Right."

"So, he thinks you-all can win by getting a 160 point lead," I mused.

"Yea, I think so, in case Carl doesn't catch the Snitch. What do you think? That's pretty good right? Or no?" Freddie asked clearly nervous while tapping his foot on the floor.

I bit my nail and played out the strategy in my head. "It's not quite enough," I concluded after a few minutes.

Freddie groaned.

I hopped off the table and started pacing. "You and Ollie will hit the Bludgers at the Chasers but Al's really good at dodging. Overcliff's decent not great. King will be thrown off. Given how tired they'll be and their talent, in the first hour, I think you can get a lead of about 50 points. By an hour and a half, I think you can get it up to 80 to 100 points. By the second hour, almost 120 to 150. Anything above two hours, I think you're basically in the clear."

"Then what's the problem?" Freddie asked me. "With a 160-lead in two hours, we win even if Malfoy catches the Snitch."

I walked back over to the desk and flipped the paper over. I drew an oval pitch. "Most Seekers fly high and hug the outside of the Pitch."

Freddie nodded his head. "Of course, it gives you the most visibility, the best chances of spotting the Snitch in the fastest time."

"Malfoy doesn't use that tactic. He uses the Karoonda tactic..."

"The Seeker from the Australian National Team? Lucy Karoonda?"

"Right. They call her Lucky," I said drawing a zig zag across the Pitch. She goes up and down and across the Pitch in zig zags to one, confuse the other Seeker, and..."

"...because, most times, Snitches aren't on the outskirts of the Pitch. It's somewhere in the middle or in some random place... she tries to get..."

"Lucky," Freddie and I said at the same time.

"Okay, then what's the problem?" Freddie asked confused. "Malfoy uses this odd strategy based on luck."

"He's fast. And he has a good eye. He actually does get 'lucky.' Remember Hufflepuff last year? He caught the Snitch within 30 minutes."

Freddie scoffed. "Fluke."

"Remember Ravenclaw?" I asked with a hand on my hip.

"Wasn't that a normal game?" Freddie asked clearly trying to remember last year's games.

"74 minutes, longer but still not enough time."

Freddie stared at me for a second. "Holy Merlin, you're kind of a freak huh?"

My jaw dropped and I felt like I had whiplash. Where was this coming from? "Excuse you?"

"How do you have all this in your head, my gosh!" he said eyeing me.

"Stop insulting me!" I said hitting him on the arm. "I'm not a freak! And, you asked me for help!"

He smirked at me. "Give me my best pitch to a pro-Quidditch team."

I rolled my eyes. "That's not a hard question. Your hit percentage is above 85% in games consistently. You're also not just precise, you're powerful with the potential to get more powerful. In the pro-league when knocking someone off their broom is allowed, you'll..."

"You know this isn't normal right?" Freddie asked cutting me off. "I know my best pitch but it's odd that you know my best pitch. I also have a suspicion that you know this about every player on every team. You're a fanatic! You should definitely be on the team! Look, what if I spoke to Potter about..."

"Hit the Bludgers toward Malfoy. It would be better if Ollie were on board. Two Bludgers constantly being hit at Malfoy is almost a 100% guarantee that he won't catch the Snitch. He'll be too distracted. He'd have to get really lucky. Potter's probably going to yell at you because you'll be going against his orders but you have to stick with it. Carl's not horrible. With Malfoy distracted, Carl will catch the Snitch within 90 minutes, maybe a little bit less."

Freddie nodded his head along. "Okay. But Cass, we could probably..."

I sighed loudly cutting him off. "I'm never talking to Potter again."

"Cass," he called as I started walking out of the classroom.

"Good... oof," I ran into something solid, I was off-balance and I closed my eyes ready to brace myself to fall until I felt someone's arm reaching out to steady me.

"Sorry, thanks," I said smiling and opening my eyes. My smile dropped as I looked up into the honey-colored eyes of James Potter. He was gnawing on his dry lips as he looked down at me. He let go of me quickly and ran his hand through his hair, roughly, making it messier.

"Merlin hates me," I muttered to myself staring at a particular strand that was falling into his eye a little.

James quirked an eyebrow in response.

"What's up, JP?" I heard Freddie asking from behind me. I was surprised by how calm he was being given that we were just planning "The Revolution!"

Yes, I know, I'm dramatic.

"What's up with you, Fred?" James answered back.

"Nothing much... James?"

James nodded his head as he crossed his arms across his chest making the muscles in his forearms flex a little.

"Fred," he said slowly making sure to ignore my existence and keep his eyes trained on Freddie. "What were you two up to?"

"Talking... James. Is there an issue... James?"

I rolled my eyes as it was becoming clear that Freddie was starting to enjoy this little exchange.

James nodded his head in response and craned his head a little. "So you were talking in an abandoned classroom while everyone's at dinner, Fred?"

"Is there a question you really want to ask me, James, Jimmy, JP, Jimaroo?" Freddie asked in a tone that told me he was definitely enjoying this awkward feast of awkward way too much.

"I'm going to bed," I announced more to myself.

"Cassie, no, please, stay," Freddie drawled.

James narrowed his eyes at him in response.

"Nope," I said popping in the p as I started walking away.

"See you later, Cas-sea, baby!" I heard Freddie yelling after me.

I groaned and rolled my eyes. "Avada yourself," I yelled back to the sounds of Freddie's chuckles.

Hogsmeade had changed a lot since the days that my mother was in school. I don't think I'd call it gentrification because Hogsmeade didn't need to be revitalized or renovated but it was modernized and expanded in some aspects. It started with the McLaggen family and the Macmillan family lobbying hard for the Ministry to allow a group of investors to add new shops and streets. It made sense – there were hundreds of kids, some from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang in addition to Hogwarts, with a percentage of their parents' disposable income in their pockets just waiting to spend money in ridiculous new and "modern" ways. I had a feeling I would have preferred the simpler days of a few shops and mostly residential streets.

When I was a First Year, the movie theater was the "new big thing." They showed Muggle movies but with a "Magical Twist." That basically meant all of the movies were a "4-D" experience without the funky glasses. Ama dragged us to see any movie with "action!" And every single time the moving seats, the flashing lights, and the flying pieces of metal coming toward my head before disappearing gave me a giant headache.

Josh had a panic attack when "Hogmeade's West End" theatre came to town at the beginning of our Second Year. During our Third Year, Josh insisted that we sneak into the theatre to see Rent. He spent intermission explaining the First Act of the musical to me. (Stop judging me! I was only thirteen for Merlin's sake!)

Vicious Witches were in town this weekend. Four girls from different backgrounds with synchronized dance moves and amazing voices that were partially (or mostly?) auto-tuned. Famous for smash hits like You're My Patroneus, girls and guys were buzzing with excitement about the concert.

"Aren't you happy I made us get tickets so early?" Josh said with a smug look as he led the way down to Hogsmeade. I tried not to frown. I had honestly forgotten the fact that we had purchased tickets at the end of the school year, last year. But Josh was so excited that we were able to get some of the limited number of seats in the student section.

"Stop bragging, Joshua, it's lame," Ama said rolling her eyes but unable to hide a smile on her face.

I tried to give him a genuine smile as I wrapped my arms around my center. The 50-galleon ticket felt like it was burning a hole in my pocket. Ama's mum was a famous designer in the Wizarding World and her father was a workaholic banker at Gringotts. Josh, of course, was born into Muggle Royalty. I knew they wouldn't care if I made a comment about how much the tickets were but every time the words, I think I should sell my ticket or maybe, I should save some money instead of going to the concert were on my tongue, about to escape my mouth, I just felt incredibly queasy. I didn't want them to worry about me and I think I was still holding out hope that my allowance from my Grandfather just got lost in the mail. The biggest thing stopping me: I didn't want them offering to pay for me.

"This is going to be great," I said nodding my head quickly.

"I'm so pumped!" Josh said with a little kick step. "You're my patronus, the guardian of my heart!"

"Can he get more embarrassing?" Ama asked smirking as she put an arm around me.

I let out a strangled laugh that sounded anything but natural.

Ama's smirk slowly dropped as she took in my face. Josh kept walking and started recruiting other students to sing with him. "Are you okay?" Ama asked quietly.

"Fine," I said quickly.

Ama looked ready to respond but someone cut her off. "Can I sit with you guys?"

Ama and I looked over to see Dom Weasley's light blue eyes staring at us. Her lips were quivering and she looked ready to burst into tears.

"At the concert? Sure," Ama said fishing out a tissue from her pocket. "We're all in the student section so that shouldn't be a problem. There aren't any assigned seats there."

"Ladies, we need to keep moving to get good-quality seats," Josh complained as he approached us. "Time is..." he stopped talking as he stared open mouthed at Dom.

"Did something happen?" I asked quietly while trying to signal to Joshua to stop being a creepy weirdo.

Dom took a deep, shaky breath as we continued to walk to Hogmeade, veering toward a less crowded path. "Gracie found out about... us," she stated with her lips trembling even more.

"You and Ollie?" Josh guessed finally closing his mouth but still staring at Dom.

Dom looked surprised, as her teary eyes got wide. "You didn't tell them you saw us?"

Ama gasped and put her hand over her heart dramatically. "You saw them?" Josh and Ama asked at the same time.

I shrugged carelessly knowing that I would be in for some intense lecturing later about how "friends tell friends about juicy gossip" or "friends don't let friends walk around not knowing about juicy gossip."

"Gracie told Mimi," Dom continued to explain. "Mimi kicked me out of her crew and is basically making all the Ravenclaw girls shun me. She's saying that she was still dating Ollie when we were hooking up but that's just not true."

We paused in front of the concert hall on a side street. From the outside it looked just as small and quaint as the other shops on the street. The only thing giving away the fact that teenage debauchery would be occurring inside were the harsh, flashing unseasonal Christmas lights lining the roof and windows. And I guess the fact that it said "The Warbeck!" in bright, flashing lights was also a dead giveaway.

Josh patted Dom's back sympathetically. "We don't have to go in now. We are an hour early," he said laughing uneasily clearly wanting to snag good seats.

"Yea," Ama agreed. "Maybe we can grab a snack or something," she said looking around the street.

Dom let out a sigh. "I wish Macmillan's Milkshakes & Smoothies was still open," she said motioning toward an abandoned building with plywood covering the entrances and windows to the left of the Warbeck.

My stomach tightened and my fingers felt numb as Ama and Josh gave me anxious looks. Mandy Macmillan was my father's first attack victim after joining up with Avery and Goyle. Her attack was the hardest for me to comprehend. One night, my father was kissing me goodnight and literally the next night, my maman was trying to hide news photos of Ms. Macmillan's unconscious and bruised body from me. Apparently, no one had rented or tried to take over Ms. Macmillan's shop since before my First Year so the abandoned building served as a constant reminder of my father's alleged deeds.

Josh cleared his throat loudly. "Actually why don't we just chill in the concert hall. We'll talk quietly so no one hears us," he offered.

"Yea, we can grab overpriced sodas or something," Ama said strutting determinedly to the entrance of the Warbeck. The inside of the Warbeck was massive with a large circular stage with auditorium style seating with balconies, galleries, and boxes. We made our way to the lower level seating section where we'd be seating.

Josh was bouncing up and down as we let him decide where to we'd sit. After moving three different times, we finally settled in some Josh-approved seats.

"So..." Josh said quietly, not to be distracted from some juicy gossip. "What's Ollie doing about all of this... drama?" he asked waving his hand around as he addressed Dom.

"You don't have to tell us if you feel uncomfortable," I said giving Josh a pointed look.

"No, no, it's fine. I'm happy to get this all out." Dom frowned and covered her mouth with her hand a little. "He-he broke up with me. Well, I mean, I guess not because you actually have-have to be dating someone to break up with that someone. We had an argument after the Quidditch tryouts. He told me what happened so naturally I asked him if he stood up for you, Cass."

I wrinkled my nose and sighed feeling sorry and a little shocked that my drama was causing a... breakup?

"But somehow that argument about tryouts turned into whether I was serious about our relationship which doesn't make sense because he was the one that said he wanted to-to-to hold off on telling everyone so we took a break – a break from our non-existent relationship."

She sniffed loudly before continuing. "And then, when Gracie started spreading that we were hooking up, apparently James confronted him and he-he promised James that he wouldn't hook up with me-me-me again," Dom said trying but failing to cover up the fact that she was now full on crying.

I looked around the concert hall gnawing on my bottom lip. I noticed that Ollie was sitting a few rows behind us by himself. He was staring in our direction. He looked like he wanted to jump out of his skin as he stared at Dom. His curly hair was in its usual man bun but with hairs sticking up all over. His green eyes had large bluish bags under them and his beard looked patchy and unkempt. He quickly looked away when his gaze met mine as he realized that I was watching him watch us.

"Well, forget him," Ama stated with confidence and a sassy snap of her fingers. "This concert will be great!" she added taking the opposite tactic of Josh, clearly trying to distract Dom.

I nodded my head in agreement. "Yea, this is the perfect concert to belt out songs about your ex. Like, Stop Twisting My Wand," I offered.

Josh hummed his agreement. "There's also You're a Chamber of Secrets and Lies."

"Oh! And what about If Breaking Hearts Were a Crime, You'd Be in Azkaban for Life." Ama added. "We are totally going to get our dance on," she smiled encouragingly.

Dom let out a laugh. "Thanks guys, I'm actually really excited about this now. Ollie is so worried that we're somehow going to end up like James and Pia but if he doesn't have faith in what we have, why waste my time?"

"That's exactly right!" Ama said giving Dom a thumbs up.

"Who's Pia?" I asked as more and more students started to file into the concert hall.

Ama shrugged signaling that she didn't really know while Dom scoffed and Josh's eyes got wide.

"She's the daughter of Professor Patel," Josh stated. "I love that the family took on her mother's name. How modern and just right, right? She's also gorgeous with great style."

Dom let out a laugh at Josh's description. "Pia also has a strange relationship with James. I think if it were up to him, they'd be together in a heartbeat but Pia's been putting him through a rollercoaster ride. Everyone thinks Mimi has James's heart but it's really Pia, his non-girlfriend girlfriend," Dom said with an eyebrow raise. "She always pulls back when they are about to get serious."

Ama put her legs up and made a face. "Well, good for her. James is a sexist maggot."

I bit my lip and looked at Dom worriedly – Ama did just call her cousin a sexist maggot.

She shrugged reading my face looking bored and nonpulsed. "The Wotter females agree."

We all laughed and I relaxed a little.

"It's about to start!" Josh yelled standing up as the lights started to flicker. Ama stood up too and started cheering immediately.

I was ready to stand up but Dom tugged on my arm. "Is something wrong?" I asked her.

She looked down for a second. "Thank you."

"For what?" I asked with an eyebrow raised as flashing lights began to shine around us.

"For being so nice. None of my 'friends' were," Dom explained using air quotes.

"WE ARE THE VICIOUS WITHCES!"

I shrugged in response and gave her a smile. Dom was never mean to me so I saw no reason to be nothing but nice to her. "We're cousins, remember?"

She smiled back at me and nodded.

"WELCOME TO OUR SHOW!"

The crowd went wild as the chords of My Love is Like a Snitch started playing.

It was oddly nice outside for it being mid-November. Most of the student body was outside doing something. Ama and Josh somehow roped Dom into playing Frisbee with them. Instead of throwing a disc, I was reading another Nancy Drew book by the Great Lake. It was fairly relaxing. I was even able to tune out the rest of the student body laughing and horsing around.

That was until Mimi started shrieking.

"V! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD DO THIS! YOU HOOKED UP WITH STAN?!"

I sighed as the tension built up in my shoulders and there was ringing my ears. Not a freakin' moment of peace at this Merlin forsaken school. Who the hell is Stan?

As I looked up, I saw Mimi loudly berating her number one sidekick (or doormat), Veronica. As shown by the Ollie-Dom situation (or the "Dollie Debacle" as it was tragically known around school grounds), Mimi forbade any of her friends from hooking up with her flings and ex-boyfriends. Mimi had many friends. Mimi had many ex-boyfriends. My super impressive detective skills were telling me that Stan is one of Mimi's ex-boyfriends. You can call me Cassie Nancy Nott-Drew from now on, thank you very much.

I wondered if James cared that Mimi was yelling at V about one of her exes.

I looked over at the Potter Posse. They were sitting a few yards away from me on rocks by the bank of the Great Lake. Louis, unlike me, was not to be distracted from whatever book he was reading. I envied his stick-to-itiveness. Freddie was watching the argument between V and Mimi with creepy interest. He was leaning forward and eating chips and swiveling his head between V and Mimi. Chris looked uncomfortable as he stared ahead not really looking at anything, just sitting there and staring. Potter was laughing with a girl I recognized from before, the one with shiny ebony hair and blonde streaks.

I tilted my head observing them. This seemed strange. Did Mimi and James break up? When did they break up? Who was he talking to now? Were they dating? How was her hair so shiny? Why was she touching his arm so much?

Wait. Why did I care? But seriously, why in Merlin's long, white beard did I give a flying snitch about Potter?

I shook my head trying to not spy on James but then I noticed he had stopped talking to Mystery Girl and was now staring in my direction. His hazel gaze was trained on me as I stared back frozen, completely mortified by the fact that I had clearly been caught being a creepy person. He quirked a single eyebrow as we continued to stare at each other.

"Potter's cute but do you want that to happen to you?" I heard Addie's voice saying. I turned my head and Addie was sitting next to me gesturing toward Mimi who was still yelling at V.

I scoffed. "I think I'd rather be in a relationship with the Giant Squid that they got rid of last year," I responded.

"Then why are you blushing?" she asked pointing at my cheeks with an annoying all-knowing smirk on her face.

I turned away from her and looked back at the spectacle. "HOW COULD YOU?! I LOVED STAN," Mimi screamed as she pushed V into the Great Lake.

Addie scoffed and I could practically hear her eye roll. "How barbaric…" she started saying but I tuned my sister out. I couldn't take my eyes off of where Veronica had fallen in the water. For some odd reason, I felt like something was off. I had this tight feeling in the pit of my stomach that she was in some sort of danger. Something just looked completely off about V's face as she was falling into the water. She looked so panicked. Extremely panicked.

I edged forward on all fours and looked around to see if anyone else was concerned. Everyone's attention seemed to be focused on Mimi's shrieking at James and Mystery Girl.

I looked back at the spot where V had fallen in. She still had not come up yet. How much time had she spent under the water?

"Shit Ade," I said while standing up and pulling off my socks and shoes.

She looked up at with confusion etched all over her face as I was taking off my jumper. "What's wrong? Why are you taking off your clothes?"

"She can't swim!" I yelled as I ran toward the lake barefoot. Once I got to the bank, I dove in headfirst.

The water was freezing and oddly grimy but I did my best to ignore it. The Great Lake was not as scary as it used to be. At some point, a professor with an iota of common sense decided it was not a good idea to have a giant squid in a lake where school children hang around. They moved the squid and the grindylows but there were still strange some creatures in the Lake. I dodged a couple of strange looking fish and tried to swim as fast as I could toward the spot where V was pushed in.

After swimming around for what seemed like forever, I found V struggling to get loose from a piece of moving seaweed. I tried to signal for her to calm down but she continued to struggle. After dodging a few fervent kicks, I was able to get the piece of seaweed loose from her trainers but by that time her body seemed to have gone limp. I circled my arms around her waist and pulled her toward the surface of the lake. V was by no means heavy but I'm fairly short with minimum muscles so it was a feat. I thought about letting her go just for a moment to get a quick gasp of air but I refused. I couldn't I decided. I wouldn't forgive myself if something happened to her. I swam toward the surface feeling a new wave of determination. It felt like I was not making any progress, like I was just swimming in place but I kept telling myself that could not be true as I tried to stop myself from panicking. I was almost there...

"Over here Cassie!" I heard my sister yell as I broke through the surface with V's body. I swam toward my sister's voice with V in tow. When we reached the bank, Addie helped me pull V out of the lake.

"We need to check her pulse," I heard Josh saying from somewhere close. I was bent over and trying to catch my breath. Breath, I kept saying to myself. Just breath.

"I can't feel it! Ama went to get Abbott and McGonagall but what if she's not back in time," Josh was now screaming frantically and waving his arms around.

I pushed Josh out of the way and kneeled on V's side. Addie bent down on her opposite side. We both pulled out our wands.

Addie looked at me with a harsh stare. "I know you're tired but deep breath. Just like how father taught us?"

I took a deep breath, looked back at Addie, and nodded trying to calm myself. "Just like how he taught us."

Your father didn't find it necessary to teach you survival skills for these types of situations when you were 5 years old? You know, before he was on the run for allegedly committing various crimes? No? Lucky you. Or I guess lucky for V in this situation.

Addie pointed her wand at V's chest while murmuring something under her breath. As she lifted the wand, I pointed mine toward V's mouth reciting a spell that would blow oxygen into her lungs through her mouth. I lifted my wand after a few moments and Addie pointed it at her chest again. I then repeated my part of the spell while pointing it at her mouth again. Half way through my spell, V started spluttering and spitting out water.

"Oh, thank Merlin," Addie muttered while rubbing her temples as her face broke out into a slight smile.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

I heard V coughing. "EW… NOTT… SISTERS?" she spluttered.

My eyes shot open and Addie's face went hard instantly. "Excuse you, bitch?" Addie said while raising an eyebrow.

"Stay away from me," V muttered while standing up quickly and walking away in all of her soaked and muddy clothes.

I was shocked for a moment but I could not help myself from screaming after her. "Oh what was that?" I yelled. "Thank you for saving your pathetic excuse of a life? YOU'RE WELCOME!" I screamed while flicking my wet and muddied hair over my shoulder.

I reclined on the grass again and noticed the massive audience we had attracted. It seemed like more than half the school was staring at us or after V with bewildered and shocked expressions on their faces.

Probably noticing the same thing, Addie got up gracefully and brushed the dirt off of her clothes. "You okay?" she asked pointing toward me.

I nodded my head still out of breath from the swimming and then the yelling.

"Good, but next time Cassie?" she started.

I just raised an eyebrow in response.

"You let that ungrateful bitch drown."

With that, my sister pushed through the crowd as I stared after her. I noticed that Jay Stretton followed her with a look of concern on his face. I frowned. Was that still a thing? How did I, her favorite and only sister, not know that that was still a thing? Addie and I definitely needed to discuss the proper etiquette in terms of letting each other know about...

Josh cleared his throat. I looked over at him and he was offering me his grey sweatshirt.

I shook my head. "I'm not that cold," I responded.

"You're wearing a white t-shirt," he replied silently. I looked down slowly. Sure enough, you could see my bright blue bra through my thin white undershirt. At least I did not wear the bright pink one with green polka dots I thought to myself.

At this point in my life, the small victories meant everything.

I sighed while grabbing Josh's sweatshirt. "Thanks," I muttered. I wanted to pass out in a heap on the grass but it seemed like the worse plan of action as half the school was still looking at me with collective expressions of shock and awe.

As if he were reading my mind, Josh sprung up and offered me a hand. I took it and he pulled me up. I felt wobbly and light-headed but I ignored it as I pushed through the crowd and toward the castle.

Josh put a comforting arm around me and I leaned on him for support. "Cass, I thought you and Ama were scary but your sister's a maniac."

A/N:
Going back to work after a long break sucks. I'm also not feeling very well so I'm not entirely sure if I'll still like this chapter in a week when I'm off medication and can think clearly again lol

I do have to shout out to my sister again – she told me her lifeguard war story that inspired the Great Lake scene. Her story was obviously much less dramatic but involved an accidental fist in her face, which made me laugh hysterically. (Yup. I'm a terrible sister.)

We also had an hour-long "discussion" about whether or not Cassie would actually help Freddie (and indirectly James!).

Would love to know what you-all think about this one? :)

[The song names and lyrics here are all made up.]