Chapter 33 Hogsmeade Date

After dinner, I walked with Draco as we followed Harry, Hermione, and Ron to Hagrid's hut.

Harry knocked, and Fang's barks answered, but the door didn't open.

"Hagrid, it's us!" Harry shouted, pounding on the door. "Open up!"

Hagrid didn't answer, but Fang was scratching at the door, trying to get out.

Ron then went to tap on one of the windows.

"What's he avoiding us for?" Hermine asked when we decided to turn around and go back to the school. "He surely doesn't think we'd care about him being half-giant?"

"He's probably just trying to protect us. If he's seen hanging out with students after the article's release it could be more trouble than it's worth." I suggested.

I could have been right, I could have been wrong. But Hagrid didn't show for a week. He wasn't in the Great Hall at meal times, he wasn't on the grounds doing his gamekeeper duties and Professor Grubbly-Plank continued to teach the Care of Magical Creatures classes.

Parkinson was gleeful about that. She kept whispering to us when we passed each other.

"Missing your half-breed pal? Missing the elephant-man?"

When Grubbly-Plank wasn't looking, I punched her square in the nose.

So when she was interrogating everyone about what happened, more people said that she fell, while her little posse said I punched her.

We all got points taken away but she stopped after that.


I was in the library with Cassius. He was helping me with a charm's lesson since Hermione was occupied with Viktor.

"How are you doing?" He asked, gesturing to my arm.

After last year, no one was surprised to see it. Well, the first years were but that was because they haven't seen them yet.

"Better now that I can cover it up." I answered him as I took a moment to rest my hand.

"How are you doing? Have you figured out that egg?" I asked him.

He nodded.

"I don't want to talk about it, not because I don't trust you. It's just that it's not fair if Potter and I start working together and the other two Champions are left on their own." He said gently.

"I - I didn't think of it like that." I admitted.

He let out a chuckle.

"I do have a question for you, though." He said as he took my writing hand and massaged my wrist.

It was sweet that he would do something like that for me.

"What is it?" I asked, enjoying his hands on mine.

"Will you go to Hogsmeade with me? I know it's not for several more weeks." He asked.

I smiled at him, "I would like that, actually."

"Great!" He grinned at me.


Friday night, I couldn't sleep. I was excited for my second date with Cassius. So I went downstairs.

George and Fred were still awake, their heads were together.

"Hey guys." I greeted them.

They both jumped at the sound of my voice.

"Oh, hi Cassie." Fred said and gestured to an empty seat near them.

"Are you going to tell what you have been whispering about?" I asked them as I sat down.

I took a spare piece of parchment and put it in front of me.

Fred and George both looked at each other.

"If not, that's okay." I said and started to write on the parchment.

'To whom it may concern,

Professor Hagrid has been a wonderful Care of Magical Creatures teacher. He is passionate about the subject and does his best to make sure his students are safe. He teaches safety first, and then lets us interact with the creatures he has brought in.

For any injuries that have happened in the past, that is the fault of the student for not listening to what Professor Hagrid taught us about safety.

We have already lost one teacher, Professor Lupin, due to people believing the misconception that werewolves are terrible people. Don't take another person because they're not who you want them to be.

Professor Hagrid is a passionate teacher and I have learned a lot from him. Do not terminate his position as Professor of Care of Magical Creatures and Gamekeeper of the Keys and Ground of Hogwarts.

Signed,

Cassiopeia Lily Zwart-Black'

"Who's that for?" Fred asked as he read it.

"To whomever needs it to make sure Hagrid isn't fired from his position." I said as I let the ink dry.

"That's a good idea." George said and also started to write a letter.

"That woman." Fred shook his head and started writing his own letter.

"How is business?" I asked the boys.

"It's good! We've started an idea of putting together a box of different things. We haven't decided if we'll have different boxes for what the person wants or needs or if we'll just put everything in a box." George explained.

"Why not offer both? And then make another box after you get so many orders of those particular products?" I suggested.

Fred blinked at me.

"So say you have two boxes and they each offer different things. But someone places an order with a little bit of something from each box. If you get an order similar to that more than five times, start offering a box with those items?"

Fred and George looked at each other then back to me.

"Cassie, that's ingenious!" They said together.

"Not really. It's knowing your target audience. You want to make your product known to pranksters and they're all going to have different tastes. My favorite prank is still a bag of flour or powdered sugar above the door. So I would want something with harmless tissue or something that'll drop on them." I told them.

Fred was furiously writing down what I was saying.

"If we offered something like that, would you buy it?" George asked seriously.

"I don't know. I haven't pulled a prank since being here and that could just be that I don't want to compete with you guys, or that I just don't have the patience or fancy pulling pranks anymore." I answered, letting out a yawn at the end.

"I don't think I can imagine a life without pranks." Fred said, looking at George.

"And that's a life you need to make sure doesn't happen. If we don't have laughter, what do we have?" I asked.


On Saturday I walked with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, down to the Great Hall but Cassius was waiting for me.

He waved at my friends. Hermione and Harry waved but Ron huffed off.

"Weasley does not look happy." Cassius said to me.

"He isn't. He's upset that I'm 'fraternizing with the enemy.' " I rolled my eyes.

Cassius let out a chuckle at that.

Christensen and Parkinson walked by us.

Cassius put his body between me and them, but I could still feel their glares.

I sighed as we waited for them to get ahead of us.

"Well, I better tell you this now rather than later. They're starting to gather other people in their little group. They're trying to keep it so that Slytherin maintains the unhealthy rivalry between them and Gryffindor." He sighed as we headed towards the gates.

I rolled my eyes at that.

"And Gryffindor isn't going to see it as, they're the bad ones and there are good ones in Slytherin. They're just going to see all Slytherin's are bad." I sighed as he reached down for my hand.

"Like there aren't bad Gryffindors?" Cassius asked.

"Oh they're there. They're just smart enough to stay away from me because I'm friends with Harry Potter." I answered.

Hogsmeade was just as cute as I thought it would be in winter. The perfect little postcard vision with the pine trees covered in snow and the straw looking roofs on the buildings.

If only the wizarding world accepted electricity then Christmas lights would complete the look beautifully.

"You're still in awe of Hogsmeade?" Cassius asked.

He must have noticed my face.

Or he realized I had stopped walking to look at the view…

Nah, it was definitely my face.

"It's my first time seeing it in winter. I didn't come in at all last year." I answered, taking a moment to just look.

"Why not?" Cassius asked in confusion.

"Because I didn't want to be accused of getting in touch with Sirius Black." I answered.

He didn't have a response for that.

"I'm not in contact with him, by the way." I told him and took a step forward.

"I wouldn't blame you if you were." Cassius said.

I looked up at him and blinked, my mouth open.

"You're living with the Malfoys, but that didn't happen until over the summer. Otherwise you and Malfoy wouldn't have gotten so close unless something forced you two together. Meaning that you were living somewhere else." Cassius explained as we walked around the little village.

"My mom died when I was little. I don't remember what happened. I grew up in an orphanage and had no idea that I was a witch until I got my letter." I told him.

He shook his head at this.

"You have such an interesting past… I grew up with my mother and father and I learned how to play the political game the Purebloods have created for themselves." He sighed.

"I have to learn how to play the game. I've just been keeping my mouth shut and watching and listening." I sighed in return.

He pulled our hands up and kissed the back of my hand.

"When we see each other outside of school over the summer, I would love to see you keep your mouth shut at any sort of setting."

I let out a laugh at that and lightly slapped his chest with my other hand.

I felt that weird cotton ball on the front of my brain, but it disappeared just as quickly as it came.

Cassius noticed my frown.

"What happened? Did I say something wrong?" He asked immediately.

"No, not, I promise it wasn't you." I started shaking my head.

"Then what is it?" He asked, concerned.

I looked around the little street we were on.

"Is there a place we can talk without being overheard?" I asked.

He didn't want to look away from me, but he did give the street a quick scan.

"Yeah, this way." He didn't let go of my hand as he led me through the street.

He pulled up to a little tea shop with the sign, Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop at the top.

When we entered, it had a quaint feeling to it. I felt out of place, right away. Especially with the little tinkling bell above the door.

"This is… cute." I said looking around.

"Come on. I think you'll like it here." He chuckled as he led us to the counter.

I looked up at the menu and I was overwhelmed by the different choices on the menu.

"I don't know what I want." I said quietly when we were greeted by a blond hair young man.

"Can we get one cup of coffee and one cup of tea?" Cassius asked the clerk.

I nodded in agreement at what Cassius said.

The clerk smiled kindly at me and handed me a piece of parchment with the menu on it.

"Thank you." I'm pretty sure the clerk could hear the relief in my voice.

"I'll have that right out for you." The clerk said to us.

Cassius paid him and led me to a table away from the other couples in the shop.

He got my chair for me again and sat down in front of me.

"What happened? I saw your frown." He said again, keeping his voice low.

I put my hand out for his hand.

He immediately took it and tilted his head closer to mine.

"I don't want you to get upset with me. But I swear to you, you didn't do anything wrong." I started.

"Okay?" He nodded to me, his blue eyes staring into my grey ones.

"There is something about me that very few people I trust know about and I'm not comfortable telling you yet." I told him, trying to choose my words carefully.

"Okay?" He asked me, confusion in his face.

"Sometimes I get these headaches, and I know what causes them, don't worry about that." I told him as soon as he started to look concerned.

He nodded at that.

"But what causes them, I don't feel ready to tell you because we just started getting to know each other. My friends all know so if you see them fussing over me don't worry too much. They'll take care of me when that happens." I told him.

He nodded again, but I don't think he understood and that wasn't fair to him.

How could I tell him when I don't know him that well still?

"Okay, is that what happened outside?" He asked, pointing out the window.

"Usually, these headaches last somewhere between a couple of minutes to several minutes. We haven't timed them out because that hasn't been the issue yet." I told him.

He nodded again and his eyes shifted.

"Why can't you tell me?" He asked.

"It is a very personal thing and I've had to tell people who I didn't want to know about it. Originally, it was just a few people who I told because I trust them not to use that information against me. And I had to include a few people because…"

I had to take a minute to think carefully about what happened.

George had found me outside the common room in an absolute mess and because of how badly of a mess I was I had to tell him and Fred why I was a mess.

I foresaw something in the future and I had no power to stop it because I knew that it needed to happen.

"It's hard to explain because -"

I couldn't find the words.

"You don't have to explain it." Cassius put his other hand on the table and wiggled his fingers.

I put my other hand in his and felt the weight in my chest start to lift.

"I don't want you to feel forced to tell me something if you're not ready for that. Especially if you're really not ready!" He said to me and tightened his grip on my hands.

The breath of relief that escaped my mouth made the both of us laugh.


I was holding onto my pillow as Hermione and I were talking on our beds.

She was telling me that Dumbledore had read my letter that I sent to him about Hagrid. She was impressed that I took that initiative to do something like that.

"I wish you had told me so that I would have written one as well." She told me.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't sleep before my date and I did something with that time." I admitted.

"How did your date go?" She asked me.

I couldn't help my grin again.

"That good, huh?" She laughed.

"You remember my headaches and how they randomly come and go?" I rubbed my temple.

She nodded in understanding.

I didn't know when Lavender or Parvati were going to walk in so it was better to be safe than sorry.

"I felt one coming on but it was gone within seconds." I told her.

"Has that ever happened before?" She asked.

"No. And when it happened he caught my facial expression. I didn't tell him about the cause, don't worry." I said quickly when her eyes widened.

She nodded at that.

"I told him I didn't want to tell him the cause because I wasn't ready to tell him, and because I had to tell two people I didn't want to tell, because of some circumstances that happened." I told her.

She blinked at that.

"Does he have an idea?" She asked.

"I don't think so. If he does he hasn't said anything. He told me that he doesn't want me to tell him anything if I'm not ready and I just about melted from the relief and sweetness of him." I grinned and pushed the pillow into my chin.

She let out a chuckle.

"What about those books?" She asked.

I froze and I looked at her wide eyes.

"I forgot about those!" I whispered.

We checked the time.

We had fifteen minutes to get to the library.

"Lets go!" I jumped out of the bed.

I was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt that had several holes around the bottom.

When the holes got too big I would throw it away, but it still fit me so I kept it.

"Cassie!" Hermione gasped.

"No time! We have to go!" I told her and ripped the door open.

I wasn't wearing shoes. I wasn't wearing socks. I didn't bother putting something warm on over my shirt. I had my silvery blonde hair up in a bun.

I looked like a lazy mess.

I ran down the stairs with Hermione hot on my heels.

"You can't go out looking like that! We'll go tomorrow!" She huffed behind me as I jogged through the common room.

"The sooner the better. Because what if he, or someone else, looks them up?" I said over my shoulder.

I ignored the stares I was getting.

"Where are you going? Fred asked me when I passed him.

"Don't worry about it." I told him and jogged out of the common room.

I lost Hermione somewhere down the stairs as I jogged towards the library. But because I wasn't running I made it to the library over five minutes too late.

"Damn it!" I swore under my breath.

"Miss Zwart."

I turned around and Dumbledore was standing right behind me.

"Professor." I grinned at him.

He raised his eyebrow at me.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, looking around the corridor we were in.

"Um. There is a book in there," I pointed over my shoulder with my thumb, "and it has information about one of my family lines and I forgot it was in there." I told him.

"Ah, Seer Prophecies and Their Bloodlines, correct?" Dumbledore asked.

"That's the one actually." I nodded.

"I was wondering when you would come looking for that book again." He nodded.

"Yeah." I rubbed the back of my neck.

"Let me walk you back to your common room and we can talk about it." He chuckled as he gestured down the corridor I just came down.

"Thank you, sir." I nodded.

"Why today?" He asked me.

"I -" I looked around the corridors.

"We're alone, Cassie." He chuckled.

"I was supposed to have a vision today. While I was on a date with Cassius Warrington." I told him as we walked.

"But you didn't get a vision today?" He frowned at that.

"No. And I almost had to tell him but I managed not too. It helped that Cassius was willing to wait for me to tell him when I was ready." I explained.

"I see. Have you ever had a vision not happen before?" He asked, thoughtfulness in his voice.

"Only once. This is my second time not having a vision. I've been keeping a note about those moments." I answered as the stone torches lit up the way for us as we walked past them.

"I see. Have you, by chance, gotten into contact with your mother's side of the family?" He asked cautiously.

"I have. Unwillingly but I've made contact." I nodded.

"I see." He nodded himself.

"When did you remove the book?" I asked him.

"Last year, after you had found it." He answered me.

I blinked at that.

"Are you a Seer, sir?" I asked him.

He chuckled at that.

"No, Cassie. I'm not a seer." He answered.

We were at the Fat Lady portrait with the next few steps.

"Young lady what are you wearing?!" The Fat Lady let out a shriek.

Dumbledore let out a chuckle with me.

"Banana fritters." I told her.

She huffed at me but swung open.

"Cassie, before you turn in for the night," he said just as I was about to step in.

"Yes, sir?" I turned to him.

"Two things. One, maybe you shouldn't run around looking like that. Not because it's frowned upon, no no. But because I wouldn't want our guests to get the wrong idea about our students." He looked over his spectacles.

"Yes sir, I'll do that." I nodded to him.

"Two, you tried to tell me something at the Halloween Feast, is there anything you need to tell me now?" He asked.

"Excuse me? You're not going to leave me hanging here, are you?" The Fat Lady asked.

"Just a minute Elizabeth." He called out.

I blinked at that. I never thought that the Fat Lady had a name…

The Fat Lady sighed.

"Is there anything you need to tell me now?" He asked me again.

I stared into his blue eyes.

They were a different shade of blue than Cassius's.

"I probably should, but I don't have the proof." I told him.

"Tell me, I'll believe you." He urged me.

I looked at the back of the portrait.

I stepped out and walked close to Dumbledore.

He leaned down to put his ear closer to me.

"There's an imposter at the school." I whispered to him.

"Do you know who?" He whispered back.

"I think so? But because I never met this person before, I don't really know." I answered.

"You can tell me, it'll be okay." He whispered, putting a hand on my shoulder.

I felt so much comfort and safety in that simple touch.

"I don't think Professor Moody is who he says he is… I think he was actually attacked that night when his house was almost broken into. I just don't know who or why." I whispered.

"I see. Thank you for confiding in me. But alas, as neither of us have proof. We'll just have to keep a close eye on him." Dumbledore whispered back.

I relaxed under his hand.

"Thank you for believing me. I didn't want to believe myself." I whispered.

"Always believe yourself. Your instincts will never steer you wrong." He whispered back.

"Have a good night Cassie." He said as he pushed me away gently.

"Good night, Professor." I grinned at him.

"About time." The Fat Lady huffed as she closed behind me.

"Did you get the book?" Hermione leapt off the chair she was sitting on.

"No, but it's okay. Dumbledore got the book the day after I looked at it." I told her.

I ignored the stares I was getting from the boys.

"She has abs?" Someone whispered.

'I'm a quidditch player.' I rolled my eyes internally.

"That's good." She gave a sigh of relief.

"I agree." I nodded as we walked upstairs.

Dumbledore may not be a Seer, but I vaguely remember a passage about their line.

The Dumbledore lineage contains Soothsayers and the occasional forecaster.

Soothsayers are the kind who know just what to say when the moment is right.

Dumbledore could deny the Seer part, but I'm sure there's more to him than meets the eye.


Shout out to ricky kr for adding 'The Treasured Philosopher's Stone' to your favorites list!

Shout out to Pamela Hutchins for leaving a review!

Pamela Hutchins: I'm so relieved! I honestly thought you were talking about Cassie for a second there and I got a little worried LOL. But don't worry about Christensen, she'll get it all back eventually.