The second they returned to the Burrow all hell broke loose. Harry, Ron and Hermione had disappeared after they were found out at the Ministry, and Elysha was not the slightest bit happy about it. Cassie and Elysha had been arguing about it since they returned.

'And Malfoy? Don't even get me started on that evil son of a bitch!' Elysha screamed at her, once they were safely in the garden, and unobserved by the rest of the family.

'I'm warning you – leave him out of it!' Cassie matched her volume but overwhelmed her with emotion. Elysha glared at her.

'He could have messed everything up! How many times do I have to tell you? You cannot trust him!' Elysha told her, trying her best to show some emotion. She failed quite miserably.

'I do trust him, Elysha!' She took a few steps closer and lowered her voice. 'I trust him with my life. And evidently that paid off.'

Elysha shook her head in frustration, accidently setting a bush alight with her fury. 'Shit,' She muttered. 'Aguamenti.' She doused the fire quickly.

'Look, Cassie,' She began. 'I thought you were over him. I thought George was the one.' She lowered her voice slightly. 'Clearly I was wrong.'

Cassie drew her wand. 'You dare say anything like that, and I swear on Merlin's grave I'll hurt you.'

Elysha surprised Cassie then. She smiled at her. A warm, deep, friendly smile.

'Good,' She said finally. 'I hoped I hadn't lost you to that bastard.'

Cassie waited a moment before lowering her wand and smiling back at her. She didn't mean it though. The only reason she'd turned on Elysha was because she'd struck a nerve, and not for the reason she thought she had.

Cassie sat in George's room that night, completely unaware of what time it was. Fred was away, doing something for a radio station somewhere. He was usually gone for a few days before he came home again. George didn't seem like his usual self. He sat with his arm around her, they weren't even talking. He seemed so quiet.

He finally spoke. 'I hear you ran into Malfoy at the Ministry.' There was no emotion in his voice, it was completely monotone.

'Yeah,' Cassie replied quietly.

'What was he doing there?'

'I don't know… I didn't ask.'

'Why?'

She looked at him, unsure of what he was getting at.

'Elysha said you were talking to him when she got back. He was hugging you… and you were crying.' George continued. It sounded like he was deliberately trying to hold back emotion in his voice.

Cassie removed herself from his arm and wandered over to the window. She stared out of it and sat herself down on the ledge in front of it.

'Cassie,' George said harshly. 'Answer me.'

She turned away from the window and looked him in the eyes. 'No, George. It's none of your business, and you don't have the right to tell me what to do.' And with that she headed for the door. George grabbed her wrist.

'I'm not going to let him get back into your head, Cassie,' He said in a voice close to a whisper. 'I don't… I don't want to lose you.'

Cassie slowly spun around to face him. 'You can't lose me, George.' He smiled at her. She shook her head as tears began to well up in her eyes. 'You never had me.'

His smiled vanished as Cassie left his bedroom, the door shutting silently behind her. It shut with no sound, but in George's head it slammed as Cassie took a step further away from him.

George kicked his bed with frustration, then let himself sink down onto it as his foot began throbbing with pain. His ran his hands over his face. Did he have a choice in what was happening? Or had Cassie already made her decision? He didn't want to lose her. He loved her so, so much. But to lose her to someone he despised and loathed so much would just be unbearable.

Cassie lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling. She couldn't sleep, but she never expected to. She was too busy contemplating the day's events and wrestling with her conscience. She found something in her brain, buried deep at the back of her mind. As soon as she found it she was instantly up out of her bed. She made a grab for her wand, aiming it at the floor that separated her bed from Elysha's and Ginny's.

'Muffliato.' She whispered, as an invisible barrier was cast around her. She quickly found some clothes and got dressed, stuffing her wand into her pocket for safe keeping. Cassie opened all the drawers that she kept her clothes in, shoving them all into a bag. She wanted to cast a charm on it, to make it bigger on the inside, but she couldn't quite remember what the spell was. She'd seen Hermione do it before, but she didn't hear her properly when she cast it. She fought with the zip for a while before it slid shut over her clothes and one solitary book; Defensive Charms and Spells, Volume 5.

Cassie ripped a piece of blank paper out of Ginny's notebook, which was lying on the top of the dresser, and began scribbling a message. It wasn't a long message, she didn't have much to say. She carried the paper and her bag out of the room and onto the landing. She stopped at one bedroom door and gently pushed the note under the door. Then quickly, she left the house.

Standing outside, letting the cool spring breeze brush past her, Cassie stared at the house she'd almost been willing to call home. They'd been so kind to her. And how was she repaying them? Vanishing in the dead of night, leaving behind a note? She couldn't possibly leave things that way. She reached into her bag, and pulled out her purse. She took out all the money she had in it. All together it didn't amount to much, but it was all she had, and she knew the Weasleys, of all people, would be glad of whatever she could give them. Although… they would be saving money on a wedding now… or lack of one. She left the money on the kitchen table and once more left the house.

She took a deep breath and disapparated.

Cassie stared around her. She knew where she wanted to end up, but it didn't make it any easier. The Leaky Cauldron was hardly the Ritz. She had no other choice, she was no completely broke until she went to Gringotts, and hoped there was something left in her vault. She sighed and pushed open the creaking wooden door.

Once the darkness subsided inside the pub, she noticed that she wasn't going to have to wait for service, which was odd to say the least. Especially at one in the morning. A girl who couldn't have been any older than Cassie, was stood leaning against the reception desk, she almost looked like she could fall asleep just standing there. The girl eventually noticed Cassie, flicked her blonde hair off her face, and smiled.

'Can I help you?'

'Yeah… I want to book a room, please.' Cassie told her, approaching the desk.

The girl nodded and opened a book in front of her, picking up a quill. 'And your name, please?'

'Cassie Marsh.'

She wrote it down then looked up. 'And how long will you require the room?'

'God knows.' Cassie muttered. 'I mean… I don't really know.'

The girl gave her a kind smile. 'It's okay, see a lot of people come by here who don't know how long they're staying. Although, they usually leave very unexpectedly too… sometimes they don't even check out.' She said sadly. She shook her head and brought the false reception smile back to her face.

'Well, Cassie, here are your room keys,' She handed her a set of keys with a tag on them; Room 7. 'The gold key's for the door, and silver one's for the wardrobe.'

'The wardrobe has a key?'

She shrugged. 'We don't have a safe in the rooms, and in these times, everyone's hiding something.' She told her quietly. 'Anyway, follow me, I'll show you to your room.' She said brightly, suddenly shifting the tone.

George woke up strangely early the next morning. Fred was still away with the radio show, and it always shocked George when he woke up to see his brother's bed empty, but then he remembered where he was. He got out of bed and rubbed his eyes. He may as well get dressed now he was awake. He walked towards the door to go to the bathroom, but something caught his eye before then. A piece of paper was lying on the floor just next to the door. He picked it up. He creased it up in his hand once he'd read it. He wanted to cry, but he didn't. He was just angry. It wasn't a big letter, it simply contained one sentence.

You were right, I'm sorry.