Gazing into the mirror, Casey stood with her wand pointed at her hair, already starting to wince.

"Well, do it already!" Angelina shouted at her, laughing. "You've been talking about for weeks, get on with it!"

"Don't you want to wait, though?" Alicia asked, wincing harder than Casey. "You could have someone who knows what they're doing-"

"I know what I'm doing," Casey insisted, shifting her wand to the right but making no attempt to actually cut her hair like she'd been preparing to do for weeks.

"Doesn't look like it."Angelina snickered, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall behind her.

"You aren't making this easier!" Casey said. Then, before she could process it, she muttered a charm and snip. One curl fell to the floor, leaving her with one curl much shorter than the rest, ending just under her chin.

"That wasn't so hard, see!" Casey triumphed, setting her wand down and gathering the rest of her curls into one hand in order to observe the solitary shorter curl resting next to her face. "I think it'll look good." Without the reluctance she had before, she picked her wand back up and snipped each curl one by one, leaving her with with a shiny black bob of curls.

"I'm impressed, Case," Angelina said, staring into the mirror next to her. "It looks better than I thought it would."

"Better?" Alicia smiled. "That's an understatement! It looks amazing."

"Thanks," Casey smiled, squinting slightly as she adjusted her part a little to the side. "I'm a bit surprised myself."

"Fred's going to love it." Angelina chirped, smiling mischievously.

"Stop," Casey said, but she didn't put much effort into the word and she began to blush. She fingered her hair a little longer, trying to see how it best looked until she realized she'd be late to meet the twins and Lee like she'd promised if she stayed any longer.

When she got into the common room, she saw George and Lee idling near the fireplace.

"Hey guys!" She greeted them. George and Lee turned to look at her and immediately their eyes widened.

"Case!" Lee nearly shouted. "Look at you!" He stepped forward to touch her hair and George whistled.

"Looking better than ever, Volkova." He mock-flirted. "It's going to be even harder to keep my hands off of you now."

"Oh, knock it off," She giggled, pushing Lee's hands out of her hair. "How would you like it if I did that to you, Jordan?"

"Hey, I'm not the beautiful woman," Lee argued. "No one wants to touch my hair."

"No excuse," Casey dismissed him. "You keep your hands off of me unless I tell you to touch me."

"Yes ma'am," Lee answered.

"Where's Fred?" Casey asked, trying to keep her tone as normal as possible. Thankfully, George didn't tease her or even indicate that he remembered their conversation from the night before.

"He's gathering the Aging Potion that we made last night. It's almost done."

"You're not still doing that, are you?" Casey asked.

"Of course we are," George said. "You don't have to help us, Case, but you're not allowed to stop us. Remember?" Casey opened her mouth to argue but George shook his head.

"Seriously, Case, we're going to do this whether you like or not," George insisted. "We've got a chance at one thousand galleons." Casey still wanted to argue, but she knew it was futile and that Fred and George were just as stubborn as she was, if not more so. She shook her head softly but muttered,

"Fine." At that moment, Fred walked up from behind her with two viles of a transparent liquid in his hands.

"It's perfect!" He exclaimed as he came to stand next to Casey. He handed one to George.

"Look at that, Case," George smiled as he pocketed his vile. "These might be even better than yours." At her name, Fred's brow furrowed and he looked down at Casey next to him as if he hadn't even noticed her there. When his eyes fell on her, they widened in shock.

"Case?" Fred continued to stare at her, a petrified look on his face.

"Morning, Fred." Casey laughed. "Is there a problem?"

"No," Fred said, his expression fading back to normal. "No, there's no...but...what did you do to your hair?"

"Oh, didn't you hear? It was a huge fiasco." Casey joked. "A dragon got into our dormitory last night and burned all of my hair off. This was as much as I could grow back." Fred continued to stare at her hair, baffled.

"We think she looks beautiful," George offered Fred, shaking him from his concentration on Casey's new haircut.

"I-" Fred stammered. "I think it's beautiful, I just-I was-" He said while giving George a pleading look.

"He's speechless," George told Casey with a laugh. "C'mon, let's go down to give this potion a try. Got the parchment, Fred?"

"Yeah, I..." Fred said, now completely red in the face, something Casey had never quite seen before. He turned to look at Casey again, squinting as though he were picking his brain about what to say next. Before he could say anything, though, George and Lee stepped toward the portrait hole, so Casey and Fred followed.

"I...I do think it looks good, Casey," He finally muttered as they headed down the corridor. "It's just different. It surprised me."

"Don't worry about it, Fred," Casey said, only slightly disappointed that Fred only used the word 'good' when both George and Lee had described her as beautiful.

When they arrived in the Entrance Hall, they saw the Goblet perched on its stool with several students gathered around it. Angelina, who had rushed ahead of her to get down to the Entrance Hall, was smiling breathlessly.

"I did it!" Angelina beamed, hugging Casey.

"Congratulations, Ange," George said, patting her on the back. "You're one of the lucky few who are old enough?"

"Yeah, turned 17 last week," She said. "I figured I'd give it a try. Are you and Fred still planning on putting your names in?" Angelina glanced at Casey. She had gotten an ear full during the weeks prior about Casey's disapproval of the twins' plans.

"Sure are," Fred said, pulling the Aging potion out of his pocket. Casey glanced over at the goblet and saw a hazy blue line hovering a few inches off of the ground around the stool where the goblet sat. She looked from George to Fred and then her eyes landed on Lee who stood with his hands in his pockets, potion-less.

"You're not going to try?" She asked Lee.

"No," Lee said as Fred and George feverishly wrote their names on scraps of parchment. "My mum would kill me."

"Well, so will theirs," Casey muttered. "Good for you. One less person I have to worry about."

"Do you think it'll work?" Lee asked her as Fred and George inched over to the goblet, preparing to take their potion.

"I don't think there's a chance in hell," Casey said. "But you never know, I suppose?" She and Lee followed Fred and George to find Hermione, Ron, and Harry walking up to the twins as well.

"You're not telling me you're really trying to the Aging potion?" Hermione squeaked incredulously.

"They are," Casey confirmed, glad someone else thought the twins were as stupid as she did.

"It's not going to work," Hermione said, but Ron nudged her lightly.

"Oh, come on, Hermione," Ron said. "Let them try!" Both Hermione and Casey shook their heads in disapproval as Fred and George unstopped their viles. Fred looked back at Casey and winked.

"Here goes," he said to her, and then he and George counted each other down and gulped nearly half of their viles.

"Should they have had all that?" Casey whispered to Lee who merely shrugged. Fred and George waited a moment and looked each other up and down. Nothing had changed about them, but they both nodded and beamed, confident that their Aging potion had an effect. They both stuck their identical legs out in unison over the Age Line and stepped down tentatively, and when nothing happened, they stepped down with the other foot. When they remained planted to the ground, they both cheered jovially and high-fived. Before they could approach the goblet further and place their names in the flames, they were suddenly thrown back away from the goblet and through the air. They hit the ground and slid a few feet outside of the Age Line, and as soon as they stopped, two, enormous white beards sprouted onto their faces. Upon seeing each other, they immediately roared with laughter along with the rest of the students in the hall.

"I did warn you," Came Dumbledore's voice, and Casey turned to see Dumbledore walking into the Hall with an amused grin on his face. "I suggest you go up to Madam Pomfrey. She's tending to some students who have also decided to try and Aging Potion...though I must say," Dumbledore added with a chuckle, "None of their beards look as fine as the two of yours."

Fred and George kept rolling with laughter and mocking each other's beards as they headed for the Hospital Wing.

"Care to join us, Case?" Fred called to her as they neared the staircase.

"I'll be right up," Casey called back, still laughing along with Angelina at the sight of Fred and George with beards that rivaled Dumbledore's. "I want to see who else is entering."

"Right, take notes!" George called to her. "We'll want to try again!" Casey rolled her eyes and turned back to Angelina and the two watched a hoard of Beauxbaton boys strut toward the goblet and place their names within its flames. One particularly handsome boy noticed she and Angelina watching them and nudged his equally handsome friend and they both perked up, giving her and Angelina dazzling smiles. Before Casey could avert her gaze, Angelina smiled back, causing the two to approach them.

"Bonjour, mademoiselles," The blonde boy purred in a deep voice. Angelina nearly giggled and Casey suddenly felt embarrassed for her and a little indignant.

"No hablo francais, lo siento." Casey muttered in Spanish, instantly turning cold.

"What she means," Angelina came in to save the conversation, shooting Casey a brief glare. "Is that it's lovely to meet you. My name is Angelina, and this is Casey."

"Enchante." The blonde said, taking Angelina's hand and kissing it. "My name is Adrien." He went to take Casey's hand and she gave it begrudgingly, letting him kiss it lightly.

"My name is Fernande," The second answered. He was much darker than his friend, and a bit more reserved; he did not reach for the girls' hands but merely smiled.

"Have you entered the tournament?" Adrien asked, but Casey took no notice. At that moment, she saw her ex, Kiran, enter the hall with a few friends, but to her surprise, he was no longer accompanied by the pretty blonde girl that he'd seen him with nearly every time she'd seen him. He had a piece of parchment in his hand and he effortlessly crossed the Age Line to place it in the goblet's flames. Casey immediately wondered why she hadn't thought of this, Kiran was 17 and a talented wizard, why wouldn't he enter the tournament? As she watched him turn and laugh with his friends, she felt the haunting anxious feeling in her stomach and wished there weren't two beautiful french boys in front of her.

"And you?" Casey was torn away from watching Kiran by Adrien asking her a question.

"Excuse me?"

"Did you enter the tournament?"

"No," Casey said, barely getting her voice to remain steady while keeping Kiran in her sight out of the corner of her eye. "I'm 16 until November."

"Quel dommage," Adrien simpered, placing a pitying hand on her shoulder. Instinctively, Casey backed out of his reach and Adrien looked taken aback.

"I'm sorry, I have to go," Casey muttered.

"Are you okay?" Angelina whispered.

"I'm fine," Casey lied and she tore away from Angelina and the Beauxbaton boys so that she could get out of the Entrance Hall without Kiran seeing her, but as she nearly collided with him, she realized she'd been a little too late.

"Sorry-" Kiran started, but then recognition dawned on his face. "Casey?"

"Hi," she responded feebly, attempting to swerve past him.

"What did you do to your hair?" Casey stopped and turned back to Kiran who was looking at her as if he just saw a Krupp on fire run by him.

"It was weird," Casey started, barely trying to keep the anger out of her voice. "I woke up this morning and it had detached itself from my head because it wanted to have a little walk." Before turning and leaving him in the middle of the entrance hall she said: "Duh. I cut it."

Storming to the Hospital wing and feeling shaken up, embarrassment flooded her chest. Should she really have snapped at Kiran? She could have just answered him normally and kept walking. Casey shook her head and inhaled deeply to calm her rapidly beating heart. However, as she walked and her anxiety and embarrassment faded, a quiet yet deep feeling of dread settled in her chest like a frozen pool.

She arrived at the Hospital Wing in time to see Madam Pomfrey begin to shave off George's enormous beard. Fred, cleanly shaven and looking as normal as ever was seated on the bed next to him, making jokes directed at his brother, causing George to laugh.

"Now, hold still," Madam Pomfrey sighed, frustrated at George's head jolting one way and the other with laughter. "You'll be missing a lot more than a beard if you don't."

"I'll still be the handsome one," He muttered. "Right, Case?" Hearing her name, Fred turned eagerly toward Casey.

"Hey Casey," Fred smiled, patting the bed next to him for her to sit. As she did so, Fred gave her a dazzling grin. "How do I look?"

"What do you mean?" Casey asked absently.

"What do I mean? I mean, how do I look?" Fred said, lightly stroking his smooth cheek.

"Fred, you're setting yourself up for failure," George said. "You know she thinks I look better, so how you look doesn't matter. Why don't you just let it be?"

"Ignorance is bliss, brother," Fred said. "So I'll let you remain blissful thinking that you're the good-looking one." Casey tried her best to laugh with the twins but felt her insides become even colder.

"You're not off the hook, Case," Fred nudged her shoulder. "I asked you a question, I expect an answer." Casey met Fred's amber eyes and her gaze grazed his lightly freckled nose and newly-smooth cheeks.

"You look great," Casey said, perhaps a little too seriously, but Fred only gave her another dazzling grin.

"Good answer," Fred said, slipping arm around her shoulders. As he did so, something in her chest warmed a little, but did not eradicate the cold feeling of dread and sadness.

"You know, Case," Fred said, leaning away from her a little. "I really do like your hair like that. I didn't really express that very well this morning."

"Thanks," Casey smiled lightly.

"It's beautiful," Fred said, examining her curls and gently reaching over to touch one near her face and brush it to the side. "Sleek, I think. Mature." His eyes met her blue ones for a moment and Fred's expression broke into another smile before Casey looked away. She saw George eyeing them and smiling smugly while Madam Pomfrey finished shaving the last of his beard.

"There you are, Mr. Weasley." Madam Pomfrey said. "Good as new."

"And what do you know, still the handsome one," George said as he looked to his brother. "Wouldn't you say, Poppy?" George winked at Madam Pomfrey, causing her to start.

"Excuse me?" She said, offended, but Casey thought she saw her try and disguise a small smile before glaring at George.

"I asked if-" George started, but Madam Pomfrey continued to glare at him.

"All of you out now." She said sternly. "I have a busy afternoon and I can't have you three in here messing around."

"Daring, George," Casey said as they exited the Hospital Wing. "Flirting with Madam Pomfrey? Are you really that desperate?"

"Hey, she nearly smiled," George laughed. "I think she almost liked it for a moment."

"In your dreams, mate," Fred said.

"The ladies love me." George chuckled. "You can't deny that."

It was not long before they reached the Common Room that Casey noticed Fred and George exchanging uncertain looks.

"Fred, don't we have to work on new order forms?" George said casually.

"Yes, yes we do." Fred answered in a similar over-casual tone. "We'll meet you at lunch, Case?"

"What? Why?" Casey asked. "I can help with order forms. I have better handwriting than you anyway."

"No, Case." Fred started. "We don't need any help. We've got it."

"Fine, I can just do homework while you guys make them then."

"We need privacy." George said finally.

"Why?"

"We just do." Fred answered. "Don't worry about it, it'd bore you."

"What's the big deal about making new order forms that you need privacy?" Casey persisted.

"We're not making order forms," Fred admitted as they entered the Common Room. "But drop it, Case. We don't need you for this one, so stay out of it."

Any warmth that Casey had felt from her interaction with Fred in the Hospital Wing was snuffed and replaced with the same icy feeling of disappointment and sadness that had been there earlier, but this time it was sharper, as if there were an entire plate of ice being wedged between her lungs.

"I don't understand-"

"Casey," George said, his voice much more gentle than Fred's. "We can't tell you right now, we just need to take care of something. Please."

"Fine," Casey exhaled. "Fine." She promptly turned and strode to the staircase to her dormitory as fast as she could, leaving Fred staring apologetically behind her.

"Nice going, mate." George quipped. "You were on a roll in the Hospital Wing, touching her hair and calling her beautiful, but you just blew it."

"I called her hair beautiful," Fred muttered.

"Is that supposed to help your case?"

"No," Fred sighed.

"Exactly. Well, next time you're talking to a girl that you're falling in love with, be a little nicer," George advised. "No drop-its or bug offs."

"I didn't tell her to bug off." Fred defended himself.

"You may as well have."

"Fine, I'll be nicer next time." Fred snapped. "Now let's get working on that letter, we should send it by tomorrow."

Casey was relieved to find her dormitory empty when she arrived as there were tears welling in her eyes and a horrible pang in her throat that spread down to the large plate of ice in her chest. She sat down on her bed and let out a sob. As she did so, however, she immediately felt pathetic and shameful.

Quit being such a child. She thought, taking a deep exhale. So they don't want you around. Whatever. But she couldn't not get the horrible pang out of her chest. She couldn't help but wonder how Fred could be so charming and sweet to her the next minute, but then shut her down completely when there was something that he didn't want her involved in.

Maybe this isn't such a good idea after all. She thought as she stood up, suddenly realizing how hungry she was due to not actually eating any breakfast this morning. She looked into the mirror and wiped her face, making sure there were no signed that she'd cried and she headed back down the stairs to the Common Room, looking cautiously to see if Fred and George were still there. Luckily, they had relocated to somewhere else, so Casey passed through the Common Room to go grab some toast from the Great Hall.

What were they doing anyway that was so private? Casey thought. There's nothing they don't share with me. But as she thought that, a memory rose in the back of her head of Fred and George trying to hide something from her earlier this year. She remembered the piece of parchment that Fred and George were so keen on hiding from her the day they'd arrived back at Hogwarts after her grandfather's funeral. What is so private about a little piece of parchment? She wondered. She flipped through options in her head, but she couldn't think of anything probable.

When she arrived in the Great Hall, she saw Angelina, Alicia, and Lee Jordan still sitting at the Gryffindor table.

"Still here?" Casey said as she sat next to them and took one of the few pieces of toast left over from breakfast.

"Oh, Casey," Angelina simpered. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why?" Casey lied. She certainly still did not feel okay, but she had placed all of the negativity that she could in the back of her mind, leaving nothing but the ice-plate of dread in her chest.

"We saw you and Kiran..." Angelina said softly. Casey's heart dropped a little at the sound of his name, but she attempted not to let that show on her face.

"Yeah, it was fine."

"He didn't look fine." Angelina said. "He looked like you'd slapped him in the face. You didn't slap him in the face, did you?"
"No, I didn't."

"Should have," Lee muttered and Alicia nodded.

"Probably," Casey agreed. "I just snapped at him because he asked what happened to my hair. He's a prat."

"He was probably taken aback by how amazing it looks!" Angelina beamed. For some reason, this caused Casey to feel even more queasy.

"Who cares?" Casey dismissed the topic all together, stuffing bits of toast with strawberry jam into her mouth. "How'd talking with those french boys go?"

"Good," Angelina giggled. "They left shortly after you did, but they wished me luck for the tournament."

"Better get your wedding vows ready," Casey said.

"They seemed to like you a lot, too," Angelina hinted.

"I'm not interested," Casey said. "That one was really arrogant and the other didn't stick out to me too much either."

"They weren't good enough for you, then?" Lee laughed. "Where's the hope for the rest of the men of the world if not even handsome french men impress you?"

"Men?" Casey scoffed. "Please, they were boys."

"She's just saying that because she already has a lover," Alicia giggled.

"What?" Lee's eyes widened. "What's this about?"

"Tell him, Casey," Angelina nudged her. Casey simply ignored them and reached for another piece of toast. Lee snatched it out of her hand.

"Tell me who it is," Lee threatened, danging the toast away from her. "Or the toast dies."

"Stop it, I don't have a lover." Casey said, grabbing her wand and flicking it lightly, causing the toast to zoom from Lee's hand to hers. She continued to spread strawberry jam onto it.

"Come on, Case," Angelina nearly begged. "Lee is Fred's best friend after all, maybe he can give you some advice."

"Wait, you and Fred are lovers then?" Lee asked incredulously. "I thought you two were still denying that you even liked each other!"

"We are," Casey said, flustered. "No, I mean, no. No, we're not lovers, and no we're not denying..." Casey trailed off, realizing she'd walked into a trap. The sick feeling was rising in her chest again and she felt the urge to start crying again. Lee, Angelina, and Alicia, however, all smiled at her smugly.

"Fred and I aren't anything." She said in a little too harsh of a tone. "He's a prat, too."

"What?" Angelina asked. "Come on, you like him."

"No, I don't." Casey said angrily. "Will you all leave me alone about men? It's like that's all I should care about! What about asking me how my Potions lesson was, or what I'm thinking about doing for a career after Hogwarts?"

"Casey, we didn't mean..."

"Well, maybe if you shut up now and then, you wouldn't spend so much time apologizing for what you didn't mean." Casey snapped, snatching another piece of toast and storming away from the table.

Good one, Casey. She scolded herself. You've alienated yet another group of friends.

Hello! Thanks again for reading, and I'm sorry that this one took so long, I've been very busy! But I made this one a little longer. I'll be busy working on the next one in no time. Thanks again for all the reads, favorites, reviews, follows! Please continue to review if you have any questions, comments, or criticisms!