Cassiopeia sighed angrily and for the third time in a while, she looked at her watch. Ian was more than half an hour late for their date. It was not the first time either. During the last three weeks, he hadn't once managed to be on time, which was just not like him. Determined to wait ten minutes and not even a second longer before heading back to the Gryffindor tower, Cassiopeia leaned back against a wall and once again opened her book which she (for some unknown reason) brought with her. However, she couldn't really concentrate on the reading because of a sense of foreboding. Her relationship with Ian seemed to be deteriorating steadily. She wondered if she had done something wrong but honestly, it was Ian who had changed drastically over the summer. Sure, he always had been rather cocky and sometimes rather annoyingly possessive of her, which was a reason why neither Lily nor Mary liked him very much. Ian had never really even made any effort to get to know Cassie's friends better; he would always merely acknowledge their presence with a brief nod before leading Cassiopeia away from them. Nevertheless, when they were alone together, he was nice. He was really smart and also funny. Though Cassiopeia didn't approve of this behavior and many times, she tried to include her boyfriend and her friends into a talk, she understood that it was just what Ian was like. He didn't make friends easily. That was also the reason why Cassie was so confused with his behavior during the last weeks. Several times already, she saw him talking with Sirius Black and when she would ask him about it, he would only cryptically say, "she wouldn't understand" or "not to worry her little head about it". Moreover, last week she had even seen him company of some Seventh year Slytherins.

Sighing once again, Cassiopeia looked up from her book and frowned immediately, when she saw two familiar figures talking in a dark corridor.

"Speak of the devil…" she muttered under her breath as she saw her boyfriend and Sirius part their ways, with Black patting his back in a friendly manner and heading away.

"Hey, baby!" Ian exclaimed when he saw her and Cassie closed her book.

When Ian gave her a kiss, Cassiopeia forced herself not to turn away from him and instead, she frowned. "Where have you been?" she asked and he shrugged.

"Just fell asleep. Then I had some business to take care of. Why?" he asked and Cassie gave him an incredulous look.

"Why? Because I have been waiting for you for half an hour….we were supposed to go out on a date…" she added hesitantly when she saw Ian's confused look.

"What, today?" Ian exclaimed and Cassie looked at him in awe. They had arranged the date just the day before.

"Well, yes. Did you forget?"

"Shit, it slipped from my mind." he cursed.

"But how could it slip from your mind? We've talked about it at the breakfast today."

"I don't bloody know! I have been busy lately, alright? I'm sorry." he added feebly but Cassie couldn't miss his irritated tone.

"Busy with meeting Sirius Black and some Slytherins all the time?" Cassiopeia inquired and he sighed angrily.

"Will you give it a rest already? I told you not to worry about that! It's my business!"

"Stop yelling at me! I just want to understand what is wrong with you? You've never talked to them, you claim to hate Sirius, you're irritated all the time, not to mention you forget things. What's going on?"

"Nothing!" he snapped at her. "Nothing's going on, you're just oversensitive because I forgot our date." he said and Cassiopeia stared at him. "Look," he added, calm again. "I'm sorry I forgot. Really. I'll make it up to you, I promise. How about tomorrow?"

"I have my shift in the Hospital Wing." she said quietly and he sighed.

"Alright, then, how about the day after tomorrow?"

"After dinner?" she asked and Ian nodded.

"I'll pick you up in the Entrance Hall, ok?"

"Ok." she finally gave him a small smile and seeing it, Ian smiled too and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Do you forgive me, then?" he asked sweetly and Cassiopeia sighed but smiled anyway.

"Alright. But you're still a jerk." she added and slapped his chest.

Lily Evans was appalled. She was sitting with her best friends on the comfiest sofa in the Gryffindor common room, interrogating Cass about her early return from a date with her boyfriend. "He really said that?! What an arsehole!" she exclaimed loud enough for the whole common room to look at her curiously and Cassie shushed her. "After once again forgetting your date he is bloody rude to you? Why are you even dating that prick?!"

Before Cassiopeia could answer, Mary snorted. "Beautifully expressed, Lily. Such a fine vocabulary you use!" she teased the redhead and Cassie chuckled while Lily rolled her eyes. "But Cass, Lily's right, you know? Ian should not be treating you like this."

"What would you want me to do? Break up with him?" Cassiopeia said exasperatedly. When neither of the girls said anything, she gasped. "I don't believe it! You're basically telling me to dump my boyfriend!"

"We're not telling you to do anything, Cass. We're just saying that if someone was treating me or Mary like this, we would dump him on the spot." Lily reasoned and Cassie scoffed.

"Yeah, right. Because dumping your boyfriends after every small fight is perfectly reasonable." she said darkly.

"It was not the first time he was like that! You can't just let him tread onto you like that."

"Stop it! I'm not stupid, you know?! I am aware that he was being a jerk but I also know him much better than you two do. I know you don't like him much and I accept it but normally he is not like that. There's something wrong with him, something is going on. So even if I am angry, it would be rather cruel to dump him when he might need my help, don't you think?" Cassie said.

"I'm sorry." Lily said quietly. "I didn't mean it like that, of course I don't want you to lose your boyfriend, but I just think you deserve better, that's all."

"I'm sorry too but… how are you going to help him? Because from the point I see it, it doesn't look like he wants your help, you know?" Mary interjected and Cassie sighed.

"I know. He's awfully stubborn." she complained.

Lily thought of another word to describe Ian Jones, but for the sake of her best friend, she bit her tongue and offered her an encouraging smile instead. "Perhaps it's nothing. He's sixteen-year-old boy, after all. Who knows what's going on in their heads." she mused and both Cassie and Mary snickered.

"Trust me, not much." Cassiopeia said. "It's usually just Quidditch and sex." she joked.

"Well, it certainly applies to Potter." Lily muttered and shot a glare across the room at James as he was passing by.

"Hey." Cassie snapped her fingers right in front of Lily's face. "Concentrate. We're trying to solve my love life."

"Sorry." Lily blushed and turned her attention on to her friends again.

"Anyway, something is going on. It's not nothing. Ian has never been acting like this. I'm really worried."

"Then you have to find out what it is, considering he won't tell you." Mary said reasonably. "If you want us to help you stalk him, all you have to do is ask." she said and Cassie smiled.

"Thanks. But this is something I should do by myself."

"You really are going to stalk your boyfriend?" Lily snorted and Cassiopeia shrugged.

"What else can I do? Unless…" she trailed off as her sight fell on a person on the other side of the common room. Suddenly, she got an idea. "Wait here." she said before marching to the corner of the room. There, rather uncharacteristically since it was not in the centre of attention for once, Sirius Black was sprawled across the sofa. His head was propped against the armrest, one of his legs was hanging of the side and his eyes were closed. He looked perfectly calm and relaxed and Cass almost hesitated to disturb him.

"Sirius?" she said tentatively.

"Hmm?"

"I need to talk to you"

"Hmm" was his response again and only after a moment did he open his eyes. "To what do I owe this pleasure?" he asked lazily.

"Well I- I have a question. It's about Ian." she said and only then did Sirius sat up slowly with a sigh and ran a hand through his longish messy hair.

"Yes? Though I don't really see how can I be of any help. I barely know that bloke" he said.

"But that's just it!" Cassiopeia exclaimed and sat down next to him. "You barely know each other, you don't even like each other and still you are having mysterious meetings in the corridors. Why is that?"

"Why do you ask me? Why not to ask Jones?" he asked warily.

"I have. Several times. But he won't talk to me. I just know something is going on with him and I hoped you could help."

However, Sirius shook his head. "Sorry. If he doesn't want to tell you, then it's really not my place to tell."

"But-"

"No. Really, I can't. We have some business going on and I just can't afford to ruin it." he said apologetically.

Cassie sighed resignedly. "Alright then. Sorry for pressing you to tell me." she said and got up, seeing Sirius wouldn't tell her anything. However, before she could leave, he suddenly caught her arm in a firm grip.

"Just remember what I told you this summer. He's not the best boyfriend material. Be careful around him." he said and she nodded, thoroughly confused. Nevertheless, she was determined to find out what was happening even without Sirius' help. However, a chance to solve the mystery came much sooner than Cassie thought it would. She didn't even have to spy on Ian to find out.

For their next date, Ian was surprisingly early and in a very good mood. They went for a walk on the grounds and the whole time Ian had his arm around her shoulders and giving her his full attention. It was almost like the old Ian, kind, affectionate and funny. After what seemed like a very long time, Cassiopeia felt almost relaxed around him, though she wasn't naïve enough to be lulled into a false sense of security. Only today did she notice that his eyes seemed somehow…different. On one hand, they seemed awfully tired and the dark circles around them only enhanced it. On the other hand, the look in his eyes was almost anxious. Nevertheless, Cassiopeia decided not to spoil their day by questioning that surely would lead to another argument since Ian was trying very hard to compensate for the last date. Since it was October already and the weather was quite chilly, Ian took off his jacket, wrapped it around her shoulders, and took her hand as they were slowly heading back to the castle.

However, as they were slowly walking over the courtyard, Ian suddenly stopped. "Would you wait for me for a bit? I need to take care of something." he said cryptically and without waiting for her answer, he strode across the courtyard. Only then did Cassiopeia notice a group of Slytherin Seventh Years standing there, obviously waiting for Ian. Sighing, she realized it would be way too obvious to spy on them now. Instead, she just watched from distance their smirks as Ian neared them with long strides. Since the weather was cold, her hands were beginning to freeze and subconsciously, she slid them into the pockets of Ian's jacket. However, as she did so, she immediately felt that the pockets were not empty. When she looked at what she was holding, with a shock she found out it was a small beg of white powder. Painfully familiar white powder. Realization hit her immediately and finally, she connected all of the instances of Ian's strange behavior.

"I'm so stupid." she whispered to herself. Although everything was making sense now, it was still hard to comprehend. It was even harder than to find the very same thing about Sirius. But finally, she understood Sirius' warning about Ian. She was so lost in her thoughts that she barely noticed Ian walking back fast, he was almost jogging towards her.

"Sorry, I just need my jack-" he said when Cassie gave him an emotionless look.

"Forgot this?" she asked dully, holding out the small bag. Seeing the thing in her hand, Ian froze.

"Look, it's…Well, I don't have time to explain what it is right now. Just give me that bag, I will explain later." he said and she snorted.

"You don't have to explain. I know what it is." she said and Ian chuckled.

"How would you know? You're a pureblood and this is a muggle thing." he said and Cassie couldn't help but feel offended.

"It is a muggle drug." she corrected him. Ian sighed angrily.

"I really don't have time to talk about it now, Cas. Just give me the bag." he said, reaching for it but Cassiopeia jerked her hand away.

"Come on, they are waiting for me! Stop causing a scene here and give it to me!"

"No!" she barked, jerking her hand away again.

"Give me the damn thing!" he snarled and grabbed her wrist in a steely grip, leaving bruises in his wake. He snatched the bag from her hand forcefully and left towards the Slytherins without a second glance at her.

Numbly, she watched him to hand the bag to one of the boys and receive a pouch of money in return. Then he stalked off into the castle, not caring that she was still standing there. Finally, Cassiopeia recovered from the shock and ran all the way to the Gryffindor tower, tears streaming down her face and her wrist throbbing. Suddenly, Sirius' warning about Ian was so much clearer.

Sorry for the awful delay, I had a writer's block. I'm really interested in your opinions since I'm not at all sure about this chapter.