Chapter 25 Celebrations and Congratulations

Hermione, Harry, Ron, and I were walking up to Owlery together.

I was relieved that we were all back together.

"Fits, doesn't it?" Ron looked back at me.

Harry had just filled him in about Karkaroff as we were sending Sirius a letter.

"I mean, he could have been running around with Malfoy's dad at the World Cup in those masks… I'll tell you one thing, Harry, if it was Karkaroff who put your name in the goblet, he's got to be feeling really stupid now, isn't he? Didn't work, did it? You only got a scratch! Come here - I'll do it -" Ron had grabbed his owl, Pigwidegeon.

I was told that Ginny had named the owl, and I never would have thought she had a weirder taste in names than I did!

"There's no way any of the other tasks are going to be that dangerous, how could they be?" Ron asked when Harry attached his letter.

"How could they not be?" I asked.

Hermione and Ron both shot me dirty looks at that.

"I reckon you could win this tournament, Harry, I'm serious." Ron said to Harry.

I knew he was trying to make up for lost time with him being angry about the name situation.

"Harry's got a long way to go before he finishes this tournament," Hermione spoke up, her voice serious. "If that was the first task, and Cassie could be right, I hate to think what's coming next."

"Right little rays of sunshine, aren't you?" Ron scowled at us.

He put his arm back and chucked Pig out the window.

Pig fell through the air for a few feet before righting himself and flying off.

Harry had written a long letter, giving Sirius a play-by-play of his encounter with a fully grown dragon.

I had even managed to include a small letter to him letting him know that I've been in contact with my mother's side of the family against my will but I had too.

Hermione, Ron, and Harry were still unsure how my family connection worked exactly, but they did understand that I have been in contact with my grandmother.

Hermione, obviously, wanted me to build a relationship with Kassandra. Ron and Harry were on my side of only keeping her at a distance. She didn't make an effort to get me when I was younger, why now all of a sudden?

"Well, we'd better get downstairs for your surprise party, Harry - Fred and George should have nicked enough food from the kitchens by now." Ron grinned at Harry.

We let Harry in first, since this was his party. My ears exploded from the sudden cheers and shouts.

Seamus had drawn up some impressive banners of Harry against the Horntail, and Warrington was depicted with his head on fire. I made it a point to take those banners down and I sat with them on my lap, glaring at anyone who tried to take them from me.

Harry had grabbed his golden egg and put it on a table for the common room to admire.

"Blimey, this is heavy." Lee had picked it up and was weighing it in his hands. "Open it, Harry, go on! Let's just see what's inside it!" Lee passed the egg to Harry.

"He's supposed to work out the clue on his own," Hermione said swiftly, "it's in the tournament rules…"

"There's nothing wrong with showing people what's inside." I rolled my eyes at her.

"I was supposed to work out how to get past the dragon on my own too." Harry whispered to us.

Hermione flushed and gave us a guilty grin.

"Open it, Harry!" Several people urged him.

Harry felt around for the switch at the top of the egg and opened it.

I slapped my hands over my ears as it let out a terrible shrieking noise.

"Shut it!" Fred bellowed.

"What was that? Seamus asked, staring at the egg with wide eyes when Harry shut it. "Sounded like a banshee… maybe you've got to get past one of those next, Harry!"

"It was someone being tortured!" Neville's face was extremely white. "You're going to have to fight the Cruciatus Curse!"

"Don't be a prat, Neville." George rolled his eyes.

"That's illegal." I said gently.

"They wouldn't use the Cruciatus Curse on the champions. I thought it sounded a bit like Percy singing… maybe you've got to attack him while he's in the shower, Harry." George continued on his tirade as Neville looked shamefully at his hands.

"Don't worry, Neville." I patted his shoulder in an effort to comfort him.

"Want a jam tart, Cassie? Hermione?" Fred offered.

When I turned my head he was offering a plate full of different flavored tarts.

Fred had never played a prank on me, but Hermione still stopped my hand from reaching the tarts. She was frowning suspiciously at them.

"It's all right," Fred reassured her. "I haven't done anything to them. It's the custard creams you've got to watch -"

Neville, having just taken a bite of a custard cream, choked. I patted his back and handed him a goblet of water as Fred laughed.

"Just my little joke, Neville." Fred assured Neville.

Neville was flushing in embarrassment and bowed his head.

I took a couple of jelly tarts from Fred as Hermione looked at them thoughtfully.

"Fred, did you get all this from the kitchens?"

"Yep," Fred grinned at her.

" 'Anything we can get you, sir, anything at all!' They're dead helpful… get me a roast ox if I said I was peckish." Fred changed the pitch of his voice at first to mimic the squeak of an elf.

"How do you get in there." Hermione managed to keep her voice innocently casual.

"Easy," Fred said, looking at me. "Concealed door behind a painting of -"

"Hermione." I raised my eyebrow at her.

Fred stopped and looked at her suspiciously.

She glared at me.

"Why do you want to know?" Fred asked her.

"No reason." Hermione answered quickly.

"Going to try and lead the house-elves out on strike now, are you?" George asked. "Going to give up all the leaflet stuff and try to stir them up into rebellion?"

Several people around us chortled at that.

"Don't you go upsetting them and telling them they've got to take clothes and salaries!" Fred warned her. "You'll put them off their cooking!"

Before anything more could be said, Neville had turned into a human sized canary!

"Holy shit!" I shouted in surprise.

"Oh - sorry, Neville!" Fred shouted over the laughter. "I forgot - it was the custard creams we hexed -"

Within a minute, Neville had molted and he looked completely normal. He even joined in the laughter.

"Canary Creams!" Fred held up the tray. "George and I invented them - seven Sickles each, a bargain!"

They were swarmed with students and Fred winked at me.

I managed to pull away from the crowd and no one bothered to check why the portrait hole opened and closed.

I had put my cloak over my head and stuck to the shadows. I didn't want to go up and change into my 'sneaking clothes' since I wouldn't be able to sneak down and out without anyone's attention.

Everyone would have noticed me, that's for sure.

I was sticking to the shadows and was grateful that I saw a couple of ghosts along the way.

The teachers patrolling probably avoided the tower or were sleeping off their own nerves too.

I made it to the dungeons without any problems, but when I got there, I did face one.

How was I supposed to get to the Slytherin common room?

"Why aren't you in your common room?" A slow voice asked.

I turned around slowly.

The Bloody Baron looked at me with a bored look.

"Um. Please don't get mad?" I turned around to show him my Gryffindor badge on my uniform.

He raised an eyebrow at me, but he got a suspicious look on his face.

"What do you want?" He glared at me.

"I wanted to congratulate Warrington for his time at the task today. I didn't get a chance earlier." I explained, keeping it short and to the point.

"That's all?" He asked.

"What is a fourth year going to do against a seventh year?" I retorted.

He looked at me.

He wore chains around his torso, and they hung off his arms and legs.

"Please." I tried.

He shook his head.

"Then could you pass on the message? Zwart said congratulations. Please?" I asked.

He frowned at me.

"You're a Gryffindor." He stated.

"And Warrington is a Slytherin, yes I'm aware of how this looks." I let out a chuckle.

He still had that suspicious look on his face.

"You don't have to pass on the message, I'll try to find him tomorrow." I bowed my head.

I put the hood of my cloak back on and headed back up the stairs to the castle.

"Zwart, you said?" The Baron asked from behind me.

"Yes, sir." I said over my shoulder and continued on my way.

The next day at breakfast, I was greeted at the front of the Great Hall.

"Zwart." Warrington was, surprisingly, by himself.

"Warrington." I nodded to him.

"The Baron told me you had something to tell me?" He looked at me suspiciously.

His eyes flickered over my shoulder and I turned around.

Fred was on his way to us. His chest was puffed out and he was trying to look threatening.

I put my hand up and shook my head.

His chest deflated a little bit but he stood away from us, glowering at Warrington.

"Sorry." I sighed as I turned back to Warrington.

I noticed the two other Slytherins. I thought Warrington was alone, but the two Slytherins were casually standing a few feet away from him.

"It's not smart of you to not have back up." Warrington said to me.

"Then how do I prove my intentions don't have any nefarious thoughts attached to them?" I retorted.

He blinked at that.

"Sorry, those were a lot of words. How do I prove that I'm trying if I'm walking around with guys bigger than me?" I asked again, gesturing to Fred behind me.

He blinked at that, but he was nodding slowly.

"I don't think you'll ever be able to prove it, there's too much animosity between our two houses." He answered.

"I won't be able to, but maybe if I can get the first years every year from here on out, maybe, eventually, that can change." I sighed.

He looked at me thoughtfully at that.

"I never thought about it that way. I'm always focused on what I can do today." He admitted.

I couldn't help my grin.

"I can't help but focus on what I can do tomorrow."

He looked thoughtfully at me.

"So what was it you wanted to tell me?" He asked.

"Right! Congratulations on not dying yesterday. And for getting your egg." I smiled at him.

"Thank you. I really didn't want to believe it was dragons for our first task." He admitted this time letting out a laugh.

"Me too. Harry is in over his head." I shook my head.

"Have you figured out how he got his name in the Goblet?" He asked, leaning casually against the wall.

"He didn't want to participate. Why would he put his name in?" I asked, folding my arms to match his casualness.

"Then who would want him in the Tournament?" Warrington asked.

I noticed that he was reading my face, waiting for a tell of sorts.

I forced my shoulders to stay still.

"I don't know."

A shortish and sweetish chapter. I was actually surprised with myself when I wrote Cassie to go down to the dungeons to congratulate Warrington. It's not necessarily out of character for her but the moment I thought about it I wrote it down and it just felt right.

Shout out to Pamela Hutchins, LilyLunaPotter, and Awritingbookworm for leaving a review!

Pamela Hutchins: Thank you! As for who she is going to the ball with that's actually in like 2 or 3 chapters after this one! I don't remember which chapter exactly and the only reason why I'm not looking for it is because I don't want to accidentally spoil it for you!

LilyLunaPotter: Awe! Thank you!

Awritingbookworm: I actually just finished writing the chapter with Sirius in it so you've got quite a while to go to be honest. But thank you!

Longish Life Update: My Bf was given the all clear to go back to work! But because of his injury, he isn't able to return to the occupation he originally interviewed for. But! Because he is considered a county employee, they were able to find him a job within the county.

Not even two weeks into the job my Bf gave himself a concussion...

So we got that all figured out and we are now on the road to recovery. Again.

(I still love him, don't you worry.)

He is still employed, thankfully, and everything should be uphill from here!