...Summer...
Blaise comes over almost every day. "Don't you have friends to hang out with?" I ask as I pick fruit from the orchard. "I do have friends but I have already made it blatantly clear that should you ever ask I would leave them in a heartbeat just to be by your side." Blaise winks at me. I pretend to gag. I climb down the ladder and he pulls me into his arms.
"What do you want to do today?" he whispers. "Can we go to your place? I'd love to see your room!" I smile hopefully. He smiles and gives my lips a quick peck. "For an hour or two I suppose." he mumbles. We take my haul inside then he leads me down the road into town.
I walk around his room taking everything in while he watches me from his bed. "What's so interesting about my room." he mutters pouting. I ignore him. Suddenly he jumps and moves a book out of my reach. "That was a book on all the Slytherin tactics. Are you sure you didn't come here just to spy and send reports back to your team?" he frowns. "Last time I checked we didn't really need to spy or resort to dirty tactics just to beat you guys. I vividly remember somebody nearly running into me and I had to launch myself over him just to recapture the Quaffle. Oh, wait. That somebody was you. And if Crabbe and Goyle weren't such vile and despicable players we would've won." I poke his chest until he falls back on his bed.
"I remember you throwing the Quaffle at me!" he counters. "You were in the way of the goal. My bad." I smirk. He pulls me down rolling on top of me. "Oh, I'm going to make you sorry." he smirks and kisses me. I stumble back home with a kiss drunk smile. I close the door and find mum and dad standing there arms folded. "Hi!" I giggle nervously. "And where pray tell have you been all day?" mum demands. "At Blaise's. He's always coming over and I wanted to see his room." I shrug.
Dad looks horrified. "Oh, don't look like that. We spent most of the day arguing about whose house team is better." I laugh. "You spent the entire day arguing? About sports?" dad chuckles. "I told you they were weird." Meredith laughs from the kitchen. I tut and walk around mum and dad. "Better than sitting around and pouting just to get kisses." I tease and run up to my room. I can hear Mere's whines of complaint and shake my head.
Mum and dad have to work on new recipes for an upcoming fair so they go to the restaurant to work with Vanessa and John. Mrs. Zabini drops Blaise off for cooking lessons. "Ma! She's evil when it comes to cooking." Blaise whines. "Oh, don't worry. Mere and Seamus are here." I offer. "Mere is worse than Cass." Seamus sighs looking drained and ghostly as he walks to the sunroom. We watch him go and Blaise tries to run.
I tackle him to the ground halfway down the drive. "Can I tell Draco I was able to pin you?" I tease. Blaise growls and I jump up and run into the house. Blaise closes the door after saying bye to his mum and I wait patiently at the top of the stairs. He sits a few steps below me and I frown. "Why are you so far away?" I hold out my hands. He smiles and pulls me onto his lap.
"I love you." I whisper in his ear. "Are you really going to tell Draco you pinned me?" he mumbles. "No, of course not. I'm going to tell Astoria." I giggle hopping up and going to the kitchen to check on Mere. Blaise follows me and Mere runs over to hug him. I roll my eyes and check the pantry. "What are we learning today?" Blaise whispers. "Ice cream cake, toffee, lava cake, and cheesecake. Well, that's what you guys are working on." Mere giggles.
Seamus comes back in pouting. "What are you working on?" Blaise wonders. "Perfecting my mile high key lime pie with candied fruit recipe. Mere's my little taste tester." I wink at her. "Candied fruit?" Seamus perks up. I nod and point to a fruit bowl in the sink. "They've been soaking since dawn." I sigh.
"Why?" they ask simultaneously. "You can candy the rinds too. They're completely edible once cooked." I laugh at the look of disbelief on their faces. "You at least should know." I point at Blaise making Seamus snigger. He sits down at the island pouting and I hand him a few recipe books to look through. "Why don't you teach me how to make the jiggly cheesecake my aunt loves so much." Blaise slides the books back.
"It's a winter recipe. I'll teach that recipe in the winter." I slide the books back. He pouts and I round the island. "If you wish to trade places with Mere just let me know. I'll be testing out coconut, avocado, basil, chocolate chip." I smile putting my arm around him. He recoils at the idea of an avocado key lime pie. "That reaction tells me that you'll want an extra big slice, right Mere?" I giggle and she nods.
Blaise groans and I kiss his cheek before opening the first book. "Don't worry, I won't poison you. Besides these are all recipes me and Mere have mastered." I smile to myself. "And when did you master them?" Seamus wonders staring in fascination at our trophy case. "Preschool." we answer simultaneously.
To say that baking with the boys is fun is understatement. Mere is on a one-woman mission to get them to try kooky flavors. I go to the alcohol cabinet full of new flavors and pull-out bison grass infused vodka and rum. Blaise frowns and I pour a few cups into my mixing bowl before putting the bottle back. "It'll cook out." I promise.
I stare at my four mile-high pies decorated to the nines. The toppings stand taller than a stack of my textbooks and I laugh before taking a few pictures. "You know, it's at times like this that I wonder if you're food insane." Seamus mumbles. Mere slaps his arm and I shake my head. I give everyone a small slice of each flavor to try.
I take out my notebook and write down their reactions so I can tweak the recipe in the future. To my delight and Blaise's horror the pie he likes the most is the avocado one. "I balanced it with the rum and vodka and added some extra citrus since the avocados take on other flavors so well." I smile taking a bite of pie. I hum softly and scoop out some of the lemon gelato Mere made a few days ago to eat with the pie.
"I can't believe you two are like this every summer." Seamus chuckles. Meredith tuts and scoops out some gelato for the herself and the boys. I point to the container by the gelato and she laughs. "What did you make?" she wonders. "Caramel vodka whipped cream." I whisper in her ear. She grins conspiratorially and heaps a bunch onto the guys' plates.
Seamus tries some and starts to dig in as if he's ravenous. Blaise sniffs it and frowns. "This alcohol baby bird." he tsks. A scoop some up with a piece of pie and put it in his mouth. "Less accusing more eating." I tut. We shockingly finish everything down to the last crumb by the time my parents get home. Mere, Seamus, and our parents go into the living room to play games and I go up to my room with Blaise.
I softly close the door as Blaise wraps his arms around me. He spins me around and I place my hands on his chest. "I think we should continue our debate from the other day." he whispers kissing me. My hands slowly drop to his waist and I wrap my arm around him. "Either way I win." I whisper. He smiles and leads me over to my bed. We debate whose team is better for several hours with occasional kisses when the argument gets too heated.
I sit on my bed my back to him. He kisses my neck and shoulders. "Don't be upset. Harry's just one of the best Quidditch players to grace Hogwarts pitch. We've both been bested by him on the field." Blaise rubs my shoulders. I scoot to the end of my bed and wrap myself in my covers. He lies down and pats the space beside him. I scoot over and lay down in his arms.
I run and tackle hug Harry as soon as I spot him on the train. He chuckles then I punch his arm. "OWWW! Why?" he pouts rubbing his arm. "That would be my fault. We've been having debates about which house team is better and I may have brought up the fact that you're better than both of us." Blaise chuckles sheepishly. Harry groans and Blaise shrugs. I punch both of their arms then skip off to find my friends.
"Wow, Mere told me you spent all summer loved up with a Slytherin but I don't see him attached to you at all!" Astoria gasps. "I'm mad at him. Him and Harry. I despise them both right now." I huff. "Let's go get her fed before she despises us too." Ginny giggles. "I'd never despise you. You're our future sugar mama!" I jump on her back and kiss her cheek. "Umm, err, what?!" she laughs.
"Don't be shy. We all saw your Quidditch skills last year. You and Cass will be our sugar mamas." Luna laughs. "I didn't agree to that!" Gin and I yell at the same time. We chase after them all the way up to the Great Hall. "Whoa! Where's Mere?" Luna gasps. "Kissing Explosion Boy." I point to the courtyard. They are definitely there, attached at the mouth.
"I don't think we should disturb them." I giggle and push our friends inside. "Why do they always look more 'together' than you and Blaise? Are you using random disagreements to keep yourself from completely falling for him?" Astoria smirks. I laugh nervously. "Whaaaaaaaaat...?" I look away. Astoria folds her arms. "I think we oughta go sit down." I loop my arm through Luna's but as we turn, I find myself face to face with Blaise. "Are you?" he asks a similar smirk to Astoria's on his face. I side step with Luna and hurry to our table.
"He's staring at you." Luna giggles. I peek through the hair curtain I've set up. Astoria seems to be telling him something that makes him laugh. I smile too. His smile looks so pretty that it warms my heart and... I pause and sit back. I nearly forgot I'm mad at him. I take a deep breath and slap myself. Luna gawks at me in surprise as Mere sits in front of me in shock.
"What was that?" Mere asks covering my hands with her own. "Blaise was... and then Harry... and I was irritated... then... then... Astoria she... then he smiled... then my mind was like WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO and I slapped myself to recover." I rub my cheek which is starting to hurt. Mere's sympathetic smile drops and Luna scoots away from me. I laugh nervously. "You deserve it then!" she snaps reaching over and smacking my arm several times.
I pout through the feast unable to bring myself to eat until the desserts appear. I slip a vial out of my robes but then it's gone. I look up and find it in Blaise's hands. "Behave!" he mouths. Luckily, I brought spares and I slip them out while he's distracted by Theo. I pour them on top a tart I picked up. All too late Blaise spots the vials. I pop the tart in my mouth and put my head on the table.
"Are you messing with him again?" Luna asks. "Of course." I mumble out of the side of my mouth. Mere snatches the vials and sniffs them. "Black Pepper, apricot, blueberry, and prickly pear." she sighs. "I like the black pepper one best with the lemon tart." I sigh happily.
With my arms around Luna, we stumble giddily towards the marble steps. Mere frowns at us and Gin shakes her head. "Did they drink one of Cassie's concoctions again?" Astoria wonders. "Nope, they have had not one drop of alcohol tonight." Mere sighs as we run into the wall. "I'm just drunk off life bitch!" Luna giggles. Seamus snickers as he and Dean pass.
Neville and Collin prop her up between them and help her up the stairs. I hold out my arms to Mere. She rolls her eyes and turns to Gin. I sniffle and turn to Harry. He turns to Ron and Mione and nods up the stairs. I gasp and take my shoe off chucking it at him. "I'm keeping this as a souvenir." he smirks running away with my shoe. I frown and jump when I realize Blaise is standing next to me.
"Do you need help?" he whispers. "Your common room is in the opposite direction." I wave him away. "Are you still mad baby bird?" he purrs in my ear. I turn away and hold my arms out to Gin. She starts up the stairs with Mere. Astoria gets dragged off by Draco. "You know what I find amazing?", Blaise chuckles, "When you've been drinking, you're really calm and what not but when you're sober you act drunk as fuck."
"Drunk words are sober thoughts. I'm just trying to keep the same energy as buzzed Cassidy." I smile as Luna manages to make Collin and Neville fall down the stairs with her. "What do I have to do to get you to not be mad at me?" Blaise pouts. "Be reborn as somebody I like." I pat his shoulder and take off up the stairs.