Tomorrow is another day

Chapter 9

As the girls walked into their Transfiguration classroom they quickly sat themselves down in the middle. Not many people had arrived yet and so they went for the best seats. After all, according to Abigail, the front row is for overachievers and the last row is for the slackers. The middle of a classroom is usually the best seat. Neutral. That way they can be spared from an unwanted reputation. Abigail was quite busy protecting her reputation. It was strange to Cassy, since she wasn't aware they had a reputation to uphold yet. Then again, she never had to before. She never really cared much about reputations. They did nothing for a person in the end, she thought.

Reputations never told you much about the person they were supposed to describe. The popular girl in this school could be the nerd in some other school. It was a matter of opinion, not of facts. And Cassy liked facts more, they were simple, clear. There was now grey area in facts. Opinions were completely grey. And though everyone was entitled to their opinion they should not determine someone or something.

As the rest of the class filled in Cassy tried to look at the seating through Abigail's eyes, trying to figure out if there was even the slightest bit of truth to her words. Sure enough Jessica sat down on the front row, next to a girl Cassy hadn't been introduced to. But she did recognise the girl as another Ravenclaw, she had seen the girl in the common room once or twice now. Both seemed eager for class to begin. Well at least they were serious, overachieving was yet to be determined.

In the back she saw Tom and Scorpius taking a seat, but unlike slackers, they immediately took out their books and a scroll for their notes. So perhaps Cassy should just ignore Abigail's wisdoms on this subject. She felt Abigail jab her in the side and quickly she turned around.

"What?" Cassy asked, while rubbing her side. Abigail obviously didn't know her own strength.

"I saw you looking" Abigail said with a smile and looked back over at Tom and Scorpius.

"Right. That means something?" Cassy replied a little confused. She really didn't see anything wrong with looking over at her classmates to see who would be slackers and who wouldn't be.

"You like him" Abigail teased and Cassy just looked more confused then ever. Who was she supposed to like?

"Who?" she asked and Abigail just wiggled her eyebrows.

"Can't blame you of course, he is pretty cute." Abigail said vaguely and Cassy felt a little lost now. Judging by Abigail's response she really was supposed to know who she was talking about.

"Who!" Cassy asked a little louder now, a bit annoyed by her own apparent ignorance.

"Scorpius of course" Abigail said and Cassy laughed.

"Seriously? No, that was not why I was looking that way" Cassy replied in all honesty and it was now Abigail's turn to look confused.

"It's not? Then why were you looking" She asked, surprised that could be more reasons to look at boys.

"In case you missed it, I'd been looking around the entire class to see who we share this subject with." Cassy said and Abigail just looked more confused. She really could not understand that people would actually look around a room for that.

"Right, because that's really interesting" Abigail said with sarcasm. Cassy just nodded and wanted to drop the subject. Luckily for her that was the moment the teacher walked in and class started. She did not want to give Abigail the opportunity to continue the conversation.

During lunch Cassy and Abigail met up with Rose. They spoke about their classes and Cassy was glad to see that Rose was enthusiastic about learning, like her. She really liked Abigail, but she had noticed that the girl really didn't pay much attention in classes. Perhaps she didn't need it, after all she was a Ravenclaw. Perhaps she would just do well, without much work. Cassy however feared she would not.

That afternoon they had one more class, a double period actually. Defence against the Dark Arts. Something that intrigued everyone in their year. Not many knew exactly what to expect. Cassy didn't either, but she was anxious to find out. Their teacher showed them a bit of the basics, told them what to expect of the year and how and when they would practice. Something Cassy could not wait for. They would have a double period every Monday and a single period every Thursday. They would spend the single period for theory and the double period for practising. Except this first class, simply because the teacher found it important to explain everything thoroughly. Cassy couldn't help but agree. And she was happily surprised that even Abigail seemed to think studying was important for this class. She had not once looked over the boys next to them. Of course that could also mean she didn't find the two Hufflepuff boys very attractive, but Cassy really didn't care for the reason.

That evening they had dinner at the Ravenclaw table and Cassy didn't take the time to seek out Rose afterwards. They already been given homework and she wanted to get it done. Rose would understand. She hoped.
She worked hard and long on the few assignments they had received and she was happy to say that by the time she went to bed, everything was done already. Perhaps she wasn't as far behind as she feared, being muggleborn and all. Perhaps the teachers actually figured everyone needed to start from square one. She didn't know the reasons, but she was happy for it. It meant she wasn't behind from the start.

Her second day was more of the same. All the teachers wanted to give them some basics and explain how the year would be organised. The only class that immediately started off with them writing down notes was History of Magic. Cassy was surprised it was taught by a ghost. It was certainly interesting and perhaps it could be fun. Sure the first lesson seemed a bit dull, but that could change…right?

Thursday she would start a little later, because Wednesday evening they were expected in the Astronomy tower for Astronomy. Apparently there was a great view of the sky from there and she could not wait to see that. It seemed so huge, so vast and she always wanted to know more about it.
So that evening Cassy walked towards the Astronomy tower with glee. She had taken a look at the books and was happily surprised by this subject. She already had a good feeling about it. She hadn't even bothered to look with which house they had this class. Of course, Abigail happily informed her over dinner. Slytherin. But that could not dampen her spirit. Perhaps she could even ask the teacher about her name, a constellation. Who knew what stories there could be told about the origin of her name.
She also knew this subject was more theory and studying, something she was good at, and not a lot of wand waving, which she was really not that good at, at all. How could she be? She had never really done it before.

Abigail tailed behind a little talking to some of the other students they met along the way to the tower, but Cassy could not wait and kept her strong pace. Of course that was until she nearly ran into Scorpius at the stairway. She jumped away from him like he had burned her and even Cassy could see the hurt and confusion flash in his eyes.

"Sorry" Cassy mumbled and walked around him, while Scorpius stood behind not sure why this girl tried so hard to stay away from him. It did not make much sense at all. It was far to soon for him to have received a bad reputation, right?

The class was over before she knew it. It was just so fun, so enthralling, that time simply seemed to escape her. During the hour she steered clear of Scorpius, like she had done every class so far, and she really focused on what the teacher was saying. Again a lot of basics, but teacher gave them all a turn to view the night sky through something that could be compared with a muggle telescope.

Absolutely amazing.

After class Cassy went to the teacher and asked about her name, but it was late the teacher promised to talk about it next week. Something Cassy could understand and she went down the stairway that the rest of her classmates had already descended. She usually didn't like walking alone in the semi-dark, but she had enjoyed this class so much she really didn't mind at all. Nothing could dampen her spirit.

"I'm not evil you know" Scorpius sneered as Cassy walked passed him.

"I know" she replied, surprised to find him lurking in the shadows. She thought he had left already.

"Then why do you act so scared around me" he asked her, still sneering. He really wasn't that scary and he surely wasn't going to let her act as if he was. He'd had it with people looking at him for his father's and grandfather's mistakes. He didn't make them. He wasn't even around at the time to participate in those mistakes.

"Knowing you're not truly evil, doesn't make me trust you right off the bat." Cassy answered him. She hadn't realised that he had interpreted her reluctance to interact as behaviour of someone scared. She wasn't scared. Just wary.

"What did I ever do to you?" Scorpius asked her quickly.

"Nothing. Nothing for me either" Cassy answered in all honesty. He surely was bold and straight to the point. Cassy wasn't used to that.

"what do you want from me?" Scorpius demanded from her. And that struck a nerve.

"I want to know what you want from me!" she replied a little heated and he looked taken aback. Who was he to ask her that, when he had sent others to figure things out about her, Cassy thought angrily to herself.

"I" he started but she interrupted.

"You sent Tom to Rose and me that first evening." Cassy stated, knowing she was right.

"What if I did?" he asked, not really seeing where this statement would lead too.

"I want to know why" she said in a matter-of-fact way.

"Just curious" he said simply, looking at his nails. Trying to look casual.

"I don't buy that for a second" Cassy countered still heated and his nonchalant attitude wasn't making it much better.

"Well, then don't" Scorpius replied, keeping his face unreadable to Cassy. He really didn't want to explain it to her. He couldn't even explain it to his best friend properly, not without mentioning what he had seen at the trainstation. And nobody needed to know that.

"I won't" she then replied.

"Fine" he now countered, annoyed by her behaviour. And angry at himself for not getting anything out of her.

"Fine!" she said back as loudly as he had exclaimed it and with that they both stormed off in opposite directions.

Cassy made her way back to common room still fuming at the boy she had left in the halls below. She knew he wanted something from her, but she could not think of anything that should interest him. She was just Cassy. Born to a muggle mother and no knowledge of her father. Angrily moping to herself she made her way to the common room and just when she was about to enter, something crossed her mind. She grabbed her books for Astronomy. Scorpius sounded familiar. And she remembered why it did just now. It's a constellation, like her own name.

Of course that would not explain his interest completely, but it was surely something to keep in mind. Cassy just felt like it was important somehow. She'd have a talk with Rose about it in the morning, perhaps she could shine some light on the situation.