Chapter 8
-Third year, pt 1-
That summer was full of excitement. It was Harry's first year and Cassie's thirteenth birthday. Cassie wrote to Cedric telling him the day that the Potters would be in Diagon Alley, and Cedric agreed to meet up.
Harry was bouncing with enthusiasm and Lily had to hold his hand to keep him from running off. They stopped at Ollivanders first to get Harry's wand. He almost blew up the store, but they got his wand. Next was Madam Malkins for school robes for Harry and Cassie. Then to Flourish and Botts for school books.
"Cassie! Hey! Over here!" Cedric called to Cassie from the other side of the store. She went over and found him with a huge stack of books.
"I didn't think we needed this many books for third year." she said smiling. He grinned. "Yeah, well, dad probably won't let me get all of them. But look at this one!" He handed her the topmost book. "Manthas guide to pranking: 50 charms and hex's. This could be useful." Cassie said handing it back to him with a grin.
"I've missed you." Cassie sat down next to him and kissed his cheek, lingering longer then usual. Cedric looked in her deep blue eyes. "I've missed you too." He looked towards the front and suddenly took her hand and pulled her up. "Well we better look for your books." he said, his cheeks going red.
Cassie looked in the direction Cedric had and saw James staring at her. He saw her looking at turned away, but Cassie knew what he was thinking. He had come to think of her as his daughter. She had taken his last name and everything, and now he was being protective.
"Don't worry about James, Cedric. He's really nice, but I'm afraid he might start to be protective now that I'm a teenager."
Cedric gave a small smile. "Okay. I won't. Oh! Here's another book by that Mantha guy!"
Cassie smiled and squeezed his hand. He squeezed back. That said more then a thousand words.
"Harry come on we need to hurry! We're going to miss the train!" Cassie said, exasperated. "Alright, alright I'm coming! Bye Mum! Bye dad! Bye uncle Padfoot! Bye Minnie!" Harry hugged his parents, sister, and uncle, then ran over to where Cassie was.
They waved to their family, then boarded the train. Harry ran off to find his friend Draco Malfoy, and Cassie went looking for Cedric. She found him in their usual compartment with the twins and a small boy who must be their younger brother. Cassie smiled tentatively at the twins. They had never officially made up after their slight quarrel in the spring.
"There you are! Cassie, this is Ron, our baby brother." George said smirking. "I'm not a baby, I'm eleven!" Ron argued. Fred and George just laughed. Cassie felt a wave of relief sweep over her and she sat next to Cedric.
"Nice to meet you Ron. You should go find my cousin, Harry. He's with another boy your age, he'll introduce you." Ron looked uncertain. "Go on then! Go make friends!" exclaimed Fred as he pushed his brother out the door. "Look for a boy with black hair, green eyes and glasses!" Cassie called out the door, feeling sorry for Ron.
"Come on Cassie he'll be fine." George said easily, leaning back. Cassie gave him a look similar to Lily's.
"So? What's our first prank of the year?" Fred asked. Cassie looked uncomfortable. "About that. I need to tell you guys something." Cedric looked at her curiously. "What is it?"
Cassie sighed heavily. "Lily told me yesterday that if I don't stop getting in detention for pulling stupid pranks, she'll pull me out of Hogwarts and homeschool me."
Cedric looked dumbfounded and the twins just stared at her. "But...but we need you! You're the smartest one out of all of us!" George pleaded.
Cedric looked at her. "Is Lily serious?" Cassie sighed again. "I'm afraid she is. James and Sirius were against it, of course, but Lily is the higher authority here." Cedric nodded sadly.
"But I could still help you plan them! I just can't get caught." Cassie said. "That's true, I suppose." Fred said glumly.
"Well if you can't help pull pranks I'm not going to either." Cedric said slumping against his seat. "You can't do that! We need your help!" George said incredulously.
"Ced, you don't have to be so noble. I'll be fine by myself for an hour while you guys do the work." Cassie assured him. Cedric shook his head. "It won't be any fun without you. I only do this because you do it, you know."
Fred and George wore expressions of mock insult. "Are you saying we're not fun?" Fred gasped. "How incredibly rude!" George said with a grin.
Cedric frowned at them. "Cedric, that's really nice of you, but really, you don't have to." Cassie said with a smile. Cedric smiled back but didn't say anything. Cassie squeezed his hand and he squeezed back.
Harry and Ron were both sorted into Gryffindor, along with a girl who Cassie had never seen before, but was talking to Harry and Ron throughout dinner. Draco Malfoy was sorted into Slytherin but that was no surprise.
Cassie gave Harry a big hug and a kiss on the cheek, to which Harry blushed and pulled away. They said goodnight and she followed Cedric to the dorm.
In the months that followed, the twins pulled a good many pranks, but Cassie and Cedric only planned them. The twins put Cedrics stubbornness to the Hufflepuffs loyalty and thought nothing of it. Cassie however, saw that this was not just loyalty.
The first Hogsmeade weekend was in late October and Cassie, Cedric, Fred, and George had the best time. Cassie dragged Cedric into the bookstore and found another book of charms for Fred and George.
They ended the day at the Three Broomsticks where they bought butter beers and planned some future pranks.
Harry, Ron, Draco, and Hermione (for that was the name of the girl Cassie had not recognized) became inseparable and got into some scrapes of their own. These included sneaking out after curfew to visit Hagrid, the groundskeeper, dueling with some Slytherin kid who had called Hermione a mudblood, and just hexing whoever annoyed them.
Cassie shook her head at the Gryffindor recklessness but was secretly very amused. Harry was carrying on James legacy. She just wished she could too.
That February, the twins and Cedric (who was helping them prank Snape again) got caught by Filch, and came racing into the Hufflepuff common room out of breath and excited.
"What is it?" Cassie asked in surprise. "This. Look at it! Isn't it great!" Fred said giddily while shoving a piece of blank parchment in her face. Cassie raised an eyebrow. "What's great?" George clicked his tongue in disappointment. "I thought you would have guessed, seeing as you're so clever." he said smirking.
Cassie rolled her eyes and took a closer look at the parchment. She saw strange blotches of ink randomly dropped on the paper, but didn't see anything of importance. "I don't get it."
"It's a map!" Cedric said with a grin. "How do you know? It could just be a scrap with ink spills on it." Cassie said. George shook his head. "Filch tried to hide it when he dragged us into his office. We distracted him and Diggory nicked it." Cedric grinned.
"But how do you know?" Cassie said again, exasperated. "Look!" Fred practically shouted. The strange patches of ink began to move into words. "Whoa." Cassie breathed. The words stopped and the four leaned over to read it.
Mr. Prongs would like to congratulate the persons that have discovered this treasured artifact.
Mr. Padfoot would like to add that Mr. Prongs is a pretentious git, but is also absolutely correct.
Mr. Moony would like to apologize for Mr.'s Padfoot and Prongs behavior.
"Oh my god! It's..it's James! And Sirius and Remus!" Cassie exclaimed. "You're right!" Cedric said in a dazed shock.
"Huh?" Fred asked, confused. "Padfoot, Moony, and Prongs. Sirius, Remus, and James! Those are their nicknames!" answered Cassie, gesturing to the map. "So what you're saying is...your uncle knows how to work this?" George said hopefully. "He probably helped make this!" Cassie said, laughing.
"Well what are you waiting for? Send him an owl! Ask him how it works!" Fred exclaimed happily. "Okay... but we have to be careful. Lily can't find out." Cassie thought for awhile. "I'll write a letter and send it to Padfoot, I mean Sirius. He can tell James, and Lily will be none the wiser!"
And so she did.