Chapter 4
Eyes on the Quidditch Field
Ginny and Cadence parted ways as they walked out of the Great Hall together and Ginny promised to save Cadence a seat for their Astronomy class the next hour.
Cadence excitedly walked down to the Care of Magical Creatures class with Hagrid. She was anxious to learn about the class and start looking at creatures of all sorts.
She bounced happily to the front of the class as the gigantic man they all knew lovingly as Hagrid walked around his cabin and smiled at the mass of students.
"Well hello ter yeh all," he said in a pleasant voice. He stared at the sea of faces and turned toward a crate of boxes behind him. "As yeh' all know, we jus' got a supply a these lil' devils," he said, motioning toward the crates.
Cadence's smile spread like fire across her face. She wanted to know exactly what 'they' were.
Hagrid opened the box and a foul smell came up from it, causing most of the students to turn away in disgust.
"Now, these are wha' we call spade-footed-grouts. Mind yeh, the'r quite dangerous as newborns, they are," he told them, seeing the feared looks on their faces. "But don't mind yeh, if yeh's wearing the righ' gear, yeh'll be alrigh."
He began to hand out some thick, leather gloves and the students took them as though they were the toads instead of gloves. Cadence took hers eagerly from Hagrid's hands, slipping them on so quickly he had barely moved on. Hagrid gave her an affectionate smile, noticing her enthusiasm.
"Now, wha' yeh're gonna want ta do is handle 'em very carefully now," he instructed as the students stepped up gingerly toward the boxes. "That's righ," he encouraged. "Then, when yeh get a good hold of 'em, press down hard on the'r feet. It should calm 'em righ down."
Cadence reached into the box cautiously, pulling out the creatures. They were slimy and looked like worms with legs. They had barely visible eyes and mouths, but their feet were spade shaped, hence the name. Cadence gripped her grout's foot tightly and it instantly went lax in her arms.
Hagrid smiled at her in great admiration as other students struggled with their grouts. "Yeh see here, students!" he announced, gesturing to Cadence. "Cadence's got it! Make sure yeh're squeezing 'em real tigh' there," he said, turning to a group of students who had no idea what they were doing, giving Cadence a wink in the process.
Cadence went bright red and kept a firm grip on her grout's toe, carefully petting its head with her fingers.
After another unbearable ten minutes with the grouts, the students put them back in their respective boxes. They sat down to get the lecture from Hagrid about what kind of creatures these were, what their maintenance required, and a few other need to know things about what they would be doing involving the grouts over the next several weeks.
They opened up their textbooks, reading a bit about the creatures and then talking about them as a class discussion. Afterwards, Hagrid ordered the students to select a partner, a grout, and maintain it at their desk for the remainder of the class.
Cadence knew of no one and sat in her seat, looking around cautiously as all the students ran toward each other quickly to pair up. She looked down at her hands and sighed deeply, heaving herself out of her seat and walking over to the box of grouts.
"Who dudn't have a parner yet?" Hagrid called suddenly.
Cadence jumped and didn't want to raise her hand for fear of embarrassment. However, out of her dumb luck a boy raised his hand and she smiled, seeing his hand was the only one up. She rushed over to him quickly.
"I don't have a partner either," she whispered.
"Oh good!" the boy cried, running his hands through his dark blond hair. "I was hoping I didn't have to do it by myself."
"I was hoping that too," Cadence sighed. She smiled at him as she introduced herself. "I'm Cadence Cartwright."
It was as if the boy had just seen a golden unicorn. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "Cadence. Cartwright?"
"Yes," she answered, clearly oblivious to the excited nature the boy had suddenly. "And who might you be?"
"Ca. Cadence." the boy could no longer function a proper sentence.
Cadence didn't bat an eyelash. "What's your name?" she demanded again.
"Cadence."
"No, that is my name. What is yours?"
"Colin Creevey."
"Nice to meet you Colin. Let's get our grout."
Cadence walked away from a still stumbling Colin and grabbed the grout they were going to sustain for the remainder of the class. Colin stood rooted in the same spot when she returned, staring at her.
"Are we going to work or are we going to stand here staring at each other?" she snapped at him.
He managed to snap himself out of his daze and join her at the table. He pretended that he didn't realize who she was, but Cadence couldn't shake the feeling that Colin was still in awe of her.
They continued to keep up with the grouts and Cadence barely even looked at Colin. She knew he still had his jaw open and it was unnerving.
After a while, they were putting the grouts back in the boxes when Colin finally got up the nerve to ask her something. "D-Do you know."
She turned on him with an eyebrow raised. "Do I know whom?" she shot.
He almost jumped back at the tone of her voice. "Harry Potter?"
And Colin saw in her face that he had seen in no one else's when the name was mentioned. He saw her face lighten and her sneer lowered. Her eyes softened and he almost saw a small smile appear on her face. The tone of her voice was completely different when she responded. Instead of being rigid and cool, it was suddenly warm and gentle.
"Harry Potter?"
Colin nodded, staring at her intently. A slight shade of pink crept up her face as she looked away from him. "Yeah," she said in a voice barely audible. "Yeah, I kind of know him."
Colin continued to stare at her and Hagrid's voice broke the tense silence between the two. The class was over. Cadence hastily ran over to her desk, grabbed her book bag, and fled from Colin before he had a chance to ask anything else.
She rushed to her next class and held her head down the entire way. She had been reminded of the one person she didn't know how to think about, and now she was trying to shield herself from all the questions that were suddenly plaguing her mind.
Pink cheeks? How could I get pink cheeks? What is going on with me these days? The mere mention of a boy's name could make me weak in the knees? How sad!
She shook her head and then entered into the Astronomy classroom. To her relief, she saw Ginny saving her a seat in the front row. She smiled at her and waved her over.
Cadence sat down next to her and smiled broadly. "Thank God you're in here!"
"Of course I am," Ginny laughed. "Why, your Magical Creatures class not go well?" Ginny asked with a smirk.
Cadence shrugged shyly. "Well it was good, and I actually enjoyed it, but then I met this boy who just would not leave me alone."
"Colin Creevey?" Ginny asked, leaning in and lowering her voice.
Cadence's eyes widened and she smiled at Ginny. "How did you know that?"
Ginny rolled her eyes and leaned up, still keeping her voice at a low roar. "Everyone knows that the Creevey boys are definitely the most. well. to say the least they tend to get a little too enthusiastic about people they know or admire."
"Know or admire?" Cadence rolled her eyes.
Before Ginny could reply, Professor Sinistra walked in and began the lesson. Cadence tried to pay attention but she couldn't. She somehow allowed her mind to wander onto different things. Why did Colin Creevey ask about Harry Potter and if she knew him? And why had she gone so shy and so warm all over at the mere mention of the name?
"Psst," came the sound from next to her. "Sleeping Beauty. open your book."
Cadence shook the cloud from her head and looked at Ginny. Her book was open, her quill was poised over her already full parchment, and she had a nervous look on her face.
"You okay?"
Cadence smiled, opening her book, pulling out a piece of parchment, and dipped her quill in her ink. "I'm perfect."
Ginny rolled her eyes, obviously not believing her at all. "Tell me after class," she whispered.
The lesson continued without another word between the two of them. Cadence took notes adamantly and tried to listen intently to everything that the professor was saying, but somehow she couldn't get her mind off of Harry.
And that was what scared her the most.
After two hours of a rather fascinating lesson in Defense Against the Dark Arts (with a new professor), Ginny and Cadence left and went back up to the dorms to drop off their books. They were then going to go out to the Quidditch field to fly around a bit on their broomsticks. Cadence and Ginny had gotten into a discussion earlier about how each of them loved to fly and that Cadence was dying to do so.
They took off their robes and ran down the stairs with their brooms. They walked out to the Quidditch field quickly, chattering incessantly the entire way. Cadence couldn't wait until she off her feet, feeling the freedom of flying underneath her once again. The cool breeze on her face, the warm feeling that passed in and out of her body as she felt the lift off, the grasp of the broom handle when she decided she wanted to turn her broom, dip, or go upward. She was excited.
Yet something deep down inside of her wished she had brought her practice Quidditch balls to school. To feel the enjoyment of being a Chaser again would have made her the happiest girl alive.
They arrived at the Quidditch field and Ginny smiled widely at Cadence. "I'm assuming you know how to do this."
Cadence's brown eyes became even wider as she stared at the open field in front of her. She had never seen an actual field before, and it amazed her beyond anything that it was indeed as large as her parents had always told her it was.
Ginny straddled her broom and took off, laughing. "If you're coming, make sure you close your mouth. You don't want to go catching any flies!"
Cadence closed her mouth and gave a joking glare to her friend. "I'll show you, Miss Weasley!"
Hopping on her broom felt like heaven to Cadence as she took off from the ground, heading straight for Ginny. The wind splashed on her face, causing her head to duck down to avoid it. She caught up to Ginny in no time at all, reached out, and gave her broom a gentle yank so her head flipped back a little.
"Hey! No fair!" she yelled over the roar of the wind passing them.
"Fair?" Cadence called. "What do you think this is? A game?"
They continued to fly around and within the course of half an hour, the girls had grown rather fond of being together, and nowhere near weary of being in the air.
Cadence flew over beside Ginny as she did some twists and turns throughout the air and asked, "Getting tired yet?"
"Me? Never!" Ginny called, laughing as she did a sudden dip toward the ground.
Cadence rolled her eyes and followed suit, snickering with amusement. They continued to fly around for the remainder of the hour, laughing at each other, trying to veer the other of course. Finally, they flew down to the ground with displeasure.
"It is getting dark and we have homework after all," Ginny told her.
"I know," Cadence sighed, looking upward at the sky. "But it still doesn't change the fact that I love being out here."
There was silence between the two girls for a few seconds, and as Cadence continued to stare at the sky, longing to be up there again, Ginny stared at her. The pure passion on her face for being free, the excitement she so clearly felt with wind in her hair, and the raw enthusiasm she saw on her friend's face made her smile.
"You know who you remind me of?" she said, a smirk coming to her face.
Cadence was broken out of her trance as she looked back down at Ginny. She had a dreamy look about her face and she asked without opening her mouth, "Hmm?"
"Harry."
Before Cadence had a chance to look shocked, Ginny's expression turned rotten as she stared over her friend's shoulder. Cadence whipped around quickly to see seven people walking toward them with broomsticks, all clad in gray, silver, and green. It was the Slytherin Quidditch team.
The two girls swallowed hard when the group approached them, and Ginny forcefully grabbed Cadence's arm. They turned to walk away when an all too familiar voice sounded close to Cadence's ear.
"If it isn't the Gryffindor girl."
She stopped dead in her tracks and turned to look at Draco. "What do you want?" she asked exasperatedly.
"Oh, nothing," he replied nastily, staring her up and down. She shifted uncomfortably under his menacing gaze. "I'm just out here with my team so we can start practicing for the season. Why are you out here with this pathetic Weasley? You I could see as a Quidditch player, but I'll be damned if another of these paupers ever face me in a tournament again."
Ginny turned as red as her hair and looked away. Cadence glared up at Draco, not being intimidated the slightest bit by his power.
"You'd better take that back."
He sneered at her. "Or what will you do?"
She felt herself overcome with rage and reached into her pocket, pulling out her wand. "I'll hit you so hard with a spell that you'll wish you had never laid eyes on me."
He didn't stir at all. After a couple of seconds, he reached into his own pocket and pulled out his wand. "Then I'll hit you back."
"Not if I break your arm," she threatened, raising her wand up into the air, pointing straight at the arm holding his wand.
"Break my arm?" he asked, laughing at her. "Surely you can come up with something better than that."
She shifted the wand over and pointed it at his chest. "If I recall my anatomy, this is where your heart is?"
His face fell and he lowered his wand. "You wouldn't."
"Take it back."
"You'd get thrown into Azkaban, Cadence."
"Apologize."
"You wouldn't have the guts."
She jabbed the tip of her wand into his chest forcefully and he finally shifted his gaze over toward Ginny and muttered, "Sorry."
Cadence jabbed harder. "Louder so she can hear you."
He cleared his throat and said, "Fine. I'm sorry. There!" he directed his gaze back to Cadence. "Are you happy?"
Cadence kept the wand pointed at his chest. "Thrilled."
Draco raised his wand again and pointed it at Cadence's nose. "You don't have the guts, Cartwright."
She glared at him. "You don't either."
He tilted his head, not removing his eyes from her. "Then you don't know much about me, do you?"
They continued to hold their wands pointed at the other, and Ginny finally stepped up to Cadence and whispered, "Cadence, come on. Don't do this, it's not worth it."
"Yes that's right. Listen to the Weasley," Draco instructed. "It's not worth it to shoot a scum like me."
She said nothing.
"But I bet someone like Potter would be."
Cadence nearly dropped her wand. A flush crept up her cheeks that she knew Draco had seen because of his sudden smirk. She shook it off and gripped her wand with a trembling hand.
"What's the matter, Cartwright? Don't like to hear Potter's name?" Cadence flinched. Draco lowered his arm and backed away from Cadence. He then made his way around her, circling like a vulture. She let the wand fall back to her side and stood rigid as Draco lowered his voice into her ear.
"Nice little boy, he is, wouldn't you say? What girl wouldn't want a boy like Harry at their side? He's sweet. he's charming. he's got quite a knack for the magic."
Cadence mustered up all of whatever was in her to utter, "Shut up."
Draco acted as though he didn't hear her. "I knew Potter was a nuisance to me ever since I entered that robe shop years ago. He with his ever-present scar and his well known name. he meant nothing to me, you hear me? Nothing. He was just another young boy who had gotten his Ps and Qs mixed up. he thought the world of himself because he was THE Harry Potter. He was the sole survivor of You-Know-Who's attack, and he was invincible."
Tears stung at Cadence's eyes.
"But let me tell you something, Cartwright, I wasn't impressed. I still am not impressed, and I'm not impressed with the fact that he used his celebrity status and smile to get you caught up in his web of lies. He's nothing but a phony, Cadence. He'll use every line to tell you he's interested, he'll even pretend to care, but he doesn't. People like that never do. All they do is feed you lines and you have to be extra careful. making sure they don't poison your mind as well as their own."
Finally, with a lump in her throat, Cadence spat out, "What do you think you're going to do if I happen to enjoy Harry's company?"
"What do you think I'll do?"
Cadence closed her eyes. "I don't know you well enough to know your full capacity but I know of the evil that lingers inside of your heart."
Draco stopped behind her. She felt his cold and clammy hand grip the back of her neck. It was not a forceful grab, but more of a gentle tug to let her know he was there. He bent in so close to her ear that she could feel his breath on her skin. "I may be evil, Cadence Cartwright, but I know the difference between truth and counterfeit. Nothing in what Potter's eyes for you is genuine."
Cadence felt a tear drip down her cheek and she brushed it away angrily before Draco could make his way back in front of her. "I know the difference," she whispered, and with that, she spun on her heel and fled the Quidditch field.
She didn't wait for Ginny as she raced through the halls of Hogwarts, trying desperately to tear into her dorm. She needed to be by herself and do some thinking.
It was almost nine-thirty when she had left the field, and that meant that it was almost time for lights out. Most students were either already in bed, studying in the library, or by themselves quietly in the common room.
Cadence didn't want to be around other people. She wanted to be alone, she wanted to cry in her bed, clutch her own pillow, and say words that no one else could hear.
She wasn't even sure why she was so upset in the first place, but yet. she was.
She ran, not thinking about anything other than the direction to her dorm. Her broomstick banged against her knees horribly, tears stung her brown eyes harshly, and her sides began to cramp after running so much. She noticed none of this.
She finally recognized the stairs, and making sure they weren't moving, she rushed up each set. She made her way toward the portrait of the Fat Lady as she looked oddly at Cadence. "Password?"
"Amare cadere," she answered quickly and the door flung open. She passed through the portrait hole, and not attention to the occupants of the common room, darted toward the stairs.
Harry, sitting on the couch in the common room, doing his homework, looked up quickly and saw Cadence flying by. Puzzled, he dropped his books and ran after her.
"Cadence!" he called as she bolted up the stairs toward the girls' dorms.
Oh no, Cadence thought to herself. Please. please. I want to be alone. She flung around, half expecting Colin Creevey to be standing behind her, a large goofy grin on his face.
The other half of her didn't expect who was actually there.
Harry readjusted his glasses as he tried to focus on her eyes. Had she been crying? The two stood in the stairwell for almost five minutes in silence, staring at each other. Thoughts rushed through their heads. What do I say? What do I do? Do I stand here? Should I say something?
Finally Harry took a step toward her and it caught Cadence so off guard that she stumbled backward. Harry jumped forward to grab her, tripping as well.
"Sorry."
"No it's my fault."
The two looked up to see that Harry had fallen on top of her. They made no direct move to speak to the other as they hastily stood up.
Harry was sick of the silence and awkwardness. If they were going to be friends, they needed not to have such a hard time speaking to each other.
"Is there something wrong, Cadence?" he finally whispered.
Cadence's immediate reaction to this was to say 'No.' But something deep inside of her told her that everything Draco had said was a lie, a ploy. and that she could really trust Harry. He needed to know.
"Actually. there is," she whispered. "But I need to get to my dorm."
"I'll take you," he whispered back.
Taking her hand, Harry led the way to the girls' dorms and from there on, Cadence led Harry to her bedside.
"Are you going to tell me what happened?" he asked.
She looked away from him, turning on her lamp and wiping tears from her face. She pulled out her wand and set it on the nightstand, staring at it for a few seconds before turning back to meet Harry's expectant green eyes. They made her weak every time she caught a glimpse.
"We were on the Quidditch field. Ginny and me. we had been flying around for about an hour and we were just on our way inside."
From there on, she told him about the encounter with Draco, what he had said, and even some things she had never planned on sharing. It amazed her how open she had suddenly become. She hadn't expected telling him everything she had felt when Draco did what he did and how uncomfortable it had made her when he put his hand on her neck, almost as if he was trying to be affectionate. It gave her the willies just remembering it.
After she had told the story, Harry didn't say a word, and Cadence begged him with her eyes to say something.
He remained silent.
"Say something." she whispered.
He looked up at her and shrugged. "I don't know what to say, Cadence."
"Well tell me. are you angry, are you upset, are you frustrated? What?"
Harry looked away and felt his own tears clinging to his eyes. He had to be strong for her. She had obviously seen so much turmoil and so much hurt. He didn't need to dump his own on her.
"I'm. I'm." he stuttered, and suddenly he knew his act had fallen through. He finally straightened up to turn back to her and say, "I'm going to let you decide on your own."
He stood up and Cadence looked all around her, confused. "What do you mean? Decide what on my own?"
He turned toward her and said nothing. He only smiled. "I'm not going to preach to you about how much I loathe Draco Malfoy, and how everything he says about me is a lie. I can tell you that he tries to emphasize the fact that I like being the only person who survived that attack fifteen years ago. but he never mentions how much I hate being orphaned. He never remembers to add the fact that I wish day after day I had a real family. That other than my two best friends. I'd give anything to have someone truly love me."
Cadence stood up and walked over to Harry. He stared down at her. She blinked softly and then in a soft voice, said, "I think I just made my decision."
She extended both of her arms and wrapped them around Harry, leaning her head on his chest. He was taken by surprise at her gesture of affection, but he was not at all going to object. He drew her in and squeezed her tightly. She allowed all of her tears to come forward at that moment in time, and as she sobbed, her shoulders shook.
Harry held her while she cried, but unbeknownst to her, tears of his own fell silently into her hair.
Eyes on the Quidditch Field
Ginny and Cadence parted ways as they walked out of the Great Hall together and Ginny promised to save Cadence a seat for their Astronomy class the next hour.
Cadence excitedly walked down to the Care of Magical Creatures class with Hagrid. She was anxious to learn about the class and start looking at creatures of all sorts.
She bounced happily to the front of the class as the gigantic man they all knew lovingly as Hagrid walked around his cabin and smiled at the mass of students.
"Well hello ter yeh all," he said in a pleasant voice. He stared at the sea of faces and turned toward a crate of boxes behind him. "As yeh' all know, we jus' got a supply a these lil' devils," he said, motioning toward the crates.
Cadence's smile spread like fire across her face. She wanted to know exactly what 'they' were.
Hagrid opened the box and a foul smell came up from it, causing most of the students to turn away in disgust.
"Now, these are wha' we call spade-footed-grouts. Mind yeh, the'r quite dangerous as newborns, they are," he told them, seeing the feared looks on their faces. "But don't mind yeh, if yeh's wearing the righ' gear, yeh'll be alrigh."
He began to hand out some thick, leather gloves and the students took them as though they were the toads instead of gloves. Cadence took hers eagerly from Hagrid's hands, slipping them on so quickly he had barely moved on. Hagrid gave her an affectionate smile, noticing her enthusiasm.
"Now, wha' yeh're gonna want ta do is handle 'em very carefully now," he instructed as the students stepped up gingerly toward the boxes. "That's righ," he encouraged. "Then, when yeh get a good hold of 'em, press down hard on the'r feet. It should calm 'em righ down."
Cadence reached into the box cautiously, pulling out the creatures. They were slimy and looked like worms with legs. They had barely visible eyes and mouths, but their feet were spade shaped, hence the name. Cadence gripped her grout's foot tightly and it instantly went lax in her arms.
Hagrid smiled at her in great admiration as other students struggled with their grouts. "Yeh see here, students!" he announced, gesturing to Cadence. "Cadence's got it! Make sure yeh're squeezing 'em real tigh' there," he said, turning to a group of students who had no idea what they were doing, giving Cadence a wink in the process.
Cadence went bright red and kept a firm grip on her grout's toe, carefully petting its head with her fingers.
After another unbearable ten minutes with the grouts, the students put them back in their respective boxes. They sat down to get the lecture from Hagrid about what kind of creatures these were, what their maintenance required, and a few other need to know things about what they would be doing involving the grouts over the next several weeks.
They opened up their textbooks, reading a bit about the creatures and then talking about them as a class discussion. Afterwards, Hagrid ordered the students to select a partner, a grout, and maintain it at their desk for the remainder of the class.
Cadence knew of no one and sat in her seat, looking around cautiously as all the students ran toward each other quickly to pair up. She looked down at her hands and sighed deeply, heaving herself out of her seat and walking over to the box of grouts.
"Who dudn't have a parner yet?" Hagrid called suddenly.
Cadence jumped and didn't want to raise her hand for fear of embarrassment. However, out of her dumb luck a boy raised his hand and she smiled, seeing his hand was the only one up. She rushed over to him quickly.
"I don't have a partner either," she whispered.
"Oh good!" the boy cried, running his hands through his dark blond hair. "I was hoping I didn't have to do it by myself."
"I was hoping that too," Cadence sighed. She smiled at him as she introduced herself. "I'm Cadence Cartwright."
It was as if the boy had just seen a golden unicorn. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "Cadence. Cartwright?"
"Yes," she answered, clearly oblivious to the excited nature the boy had suddenly. "And who might you be?"
"Ca. Cadence." the boy could no longer function a proper sentence.
Cadence didn't bat an eyelash. "What's your name?" she demanded again.
"Cadence."
"No, that is my name. What is yours?"
"Colin Creevey."
"Nice to meet you Colin. Let's get our grout."
Cadence walked away from a still stumbling Colin and grabbed the grout they were going to sustain for the remainder of the class. Colin stood rooted in the same spot when she returned, staring at her.
"Are we going to work or are we going to stand here staring at each other?" she snapped at him.
He managed to snap himself out of his daze and join her at the table. He pretended that he didn't realize who she was, but Cadence couldn't shake the feeling that Colin was still in awe of her.
They continued to keep up with the grouts and Cadence barely even looked at Colin. She knew he still had his jaw open and it was unnerving.
After a while, they were putting the grouts back in the boxes when Colin finally got up the nerve to ask her something. "D-Do you know."
She turned on him with an eyebrow raised. "Do I know whom?" she shot.
He almost jumped back at the tone of her voice. "Harry Potter?"
And Colin saw in her face that he had seen in no one else's when the name was mentioned. He saw her face lighten and her sneer lowered. Her eyes softened and he almost saw a small smile appear on her face. The tone of her voice was completely different when she responded. Instead of being rigid and cool, it was suddenly warm and gentle.
"Harry Potter?"
Colin nodded, staring at her intently. A slight shade of pink crept up her face as she looked away from him. "Yeah," she said in a voice barely audible. "Yeah, I kind of know him."
Colin continued to stare at her and Hagrid's voice broke the tense silence between the two. The class was over. Cadence hastily ran over to her desk, grabbed her book bag, and fled from Colin before he had a chance to ask anything else.
She rushed to her next class and held her head down the entire way. She had been reminded of the one person she didn't know how to think about, and now she was trying to shield herself from all the questions that were suddenly plaguing her mind.
Pink cheeks? How could I get pink cheeks? What is going on with me these days? The mere mention of a boy's name could make me weak in the knees? How sad!
She shook her head and then entered into the Astronomy classroom. To her relief, she saw Ginny saving her a seat in the front row. She smiled at her and waved her over.
Cadence sat down next to her and smiled broadly. "Thank God you're in here!"
"Of course I am," Ginny laughed. "Why, your Magical Creatures class not go well?" Ginny asked with a smirk.
Cadence shrugged shyly. "Well it was good, and I actually enjoyed it, but then I met this boy who just would not leave me alone."
"Colin Creevey?" Ginny asked, leaning in and lowering her voice.
Cadence's eyes widened and she smiled at Ginny. "How did you know that?"
Ginny rolled her eyes and leaned up, still keeping her voice at a low roar. "Everyone knows that the Creevey boys are definitely the most. well. to say the least they tend to get a little too enthusiastic about people they know or admire."
"Know or admire?" Cadence rolled her eyes.
Before Ginny could reply, Professor Sinistra walked in and began the lesson. Cadence tried to pay attention but she couldn't. She somehow allowed her mind to wander onto different things. Why did Colin Creevey ask about Harry Potter and if she knew him? And why had she gone so shy and so warm all over at the mere mention of the name?
"Psst," came the sound from next to her. "Sleeping Beauty. open your book."
Cadence shook the cloud from her head and looked at Ginny. Her book was open, her quill was poised over her already full parchment, and she had a nervous look on her face.
"You okay?"
Cadence smiled, opening her book, pulling out a piece of parchment, and dipped her quill in her ink. "I'm perfect."
Ginny rolled her eyes, obviously not believing her at all. "Tell me after class," she whispered.
The lesson continued without another word between the two of them. Cadence took notes adamantly and tried to listen intently to everything that the professor was saying, but somehow she couldn't get her mind off of Harry.
And that was what scared her the most.
After two hours of a rather fascinating lesson in Defense Against the Dark Arts (with a new professor), Ginny and Cadence left and went back up to the dorms to drop off their books. They were then going to go out to the Quidditch field to fly around a bit on their broomsticks. Cadence and Ginny had gotten into a discussion earlier about how each of them loved to fly and that Cadence was dying to do so.
They took off their robes and ran down the stairs with their brooms. They walked out to the Quidditch field quickly, chattering incessantly the entire way. Cadence couldn't wait until she off her feet, feeling the freedom of flying underneath her once again. The cool breeze on her face, the warm feeling that passed in and out of her body as she felt the lift off, the grasp of the broom handle when she decided she wanted to turn her broom, dip, or go upward. She was excited.
Yet something deep down inside of her wished she had brought her practice Quidditch balls to school. To feel the enjoyment of being a Chaser again would have made her the happiest girl alive.
They arrived at the Quidditch field and Ginny smiled widely at Cadence. "I'm assuming you know how to do this."
Cadence's brown eyes became even wider as she stared at the open field in front of her. She had never seen an actual field before, and it amazed her beyond anything that it was indeed as large as her parents had always told her it was.
Ginny straddled her broom and took off, laughing. "If you're coming, make sure you close your mouth. You don't want to go catching any flies!"
Cadence closed her mouth and gave a joking glare to her friend. "I'll show you, Miss Weasley!"
Hopping on her broom felt like heaven to Cadence as she took off from the ground, heading straight for Ginny. The wind splashed on her face, causing her head to duck down to avoid it. She caught up to Ginny in no time at all, reached out, and gave her broom a gentle yank so her head flipped back a little.
"Hey! No fair!" she yelled over the roar of the wind passing them.
"Fair?" Cadence called. "What do you think this is? A game?"
They continued to fly around and within the course of half an hour, the girls had grown rather fond of being together, and nowhere near weary of being in the air.
Cadence flew over beside Ginny as she did some twists and turns throughout the air and asked, "Getting tired yet?"
"Me? Never!" Ginny called, laughing as she did a sudden dip toward the ground.
Cadence rolled her eyes and followed suit, snickering with amusement. They continued to fly around for the remainder of the hour, laughing at each other, trying to veer the other of course. Finally, they flew down to the ground with displeasure.
"It is getting dark and we have homework after all," Ginny told her.
"I know," Cadence sighed, looking upward at the sky. "But it still doesn't change the fact that I love being out here."
There was silence between the two girls for a few seconds, and as Cadence continued to stare at the sky, longing to be up there again, Ginny stared at her. The pure passion on her face for being free, the excitement she so clearly felt with wind in her hair, and the raw enthusiasm she saw on her friend's face made her smile.
"You know who you remind me of?" she said, a smirk coming to her face.
Cadence was broken out of her trance as she looked back down at Ginny. She had a dreamy look about her face and she asked without opening her mouth, "Hmm?"
"Harry."
Before Cadence had a chance to look shocked, Ginny's expression turned rotten as she stared over her friend's shoulder. Cadence whipped around quickly to see seven people walking toward them with broomsticks, all clad in gray, silver, and green. It was the Slytherin Quidditch team.
The two girls swallowed hard when the group approached them, and Ginny forcefully grabbed Cadence's arm. They turned to walk away when an all too familiar voice sounded close to Cadence's ear.
"If it isn't the Gryffindor girl."
She stopped dead in her tracks and turned to look at Draco. "What do you want?" she asked exasperatedly.
"Oh, nothing," he replied nastily, staring her up and down. She shifted uncomfortably under his menacing gaze. "I'm just out here with my team so we can start practicing for the season. Why are you out here with this pathetic Weasley? You I could see as a Quidditch player, but I'll be damned if another of these paupers ever face me in a tournament again."
Ginny turned as red as her hair and looked away. Cadence glared up at Draco, not being intimidated the slightest bit by his power.
"You'd better take that back."
He sneered at her. "Or what will you do?"
She felt herself overcome with rage and reached into her pocket, pulling out her wand. "I'll hit you so hard with a spell that you'll wish you had never laid eyes on me."
He didn't stir at all. After a couple of seconds, he reached into his own pocket and pulled out his wand. "Then I'll hit you back."
"Not if I break your arm," she threatened, raising her wand up into the air, pointing straight at the arm holding his wand.
"Break my arm?" he asked, laughing at her. "Surely you can come up with something better than that."
She shifted the wand over and pointed it at his chest. "If I recall my anatomy, this is where your heart is?"
His face fell and he lowered his wand. "You wouldn't."
"Take it back."
"You'd get thrown into Azkaban, Cadence."
"Apologize."
"You wouldn't have the guts."
She jabbed the tip of her wand into his chest forcefully and he finally shifted his gaze over toward Ginny and muttered, "Sorry."
Cadence jabbed harder. "Louder so she can hear you."
He cleared his throat and said, "Fine. I'm sorry. There!" he directed his gaze back to Cadence. "Are you happy?"
Cadence kept the wand pointed at his chest. "Thrilled."
Draco raised his wand again and pointed it at Cadence's nose. "You don't have the guts, Cartwright."
She glared at him. "You don't either."
He tilted his head, not removing his eyes from her. "Then you don't know much about me, do you?"
They continued to hold their wands pointed at the other, and Ginny finally stepped up to Cadence and whispered, "Cadence, come on. Don't do this, it's not worth it."
"Yes that's right. Listen to the Weasley," Draco instructed. "It's not worth it to shoot a scum like me."
She said nothing.
"But I bet someone like Potter would be."
Cadence nearly dropped her wand. A flush crept up her cheeks that she knew Draco had seen because of his sudden smirk. She shook it off and gripped her wand with a trembling hand.
"What's the matter, Cartwright? Don't like to hear Potter's name?" Cadence flinched. Draco lowered his arm and backed away from Cadence. He then made his way around her, circling like a vulture. She let the wand fall back to her side and stood rigid as Draco lowered his voice into her ear.
"Nice little boy, he is, wouldn't you say? What girl wouldn't want a boy like Harry at their side? He's sweet. he's charming. he's got quite a knack for the magic."
Cadence mustered up all of whatever was in her to utter, "Shut up."
Draco acted as though he didn't hear her. "I knew Potter was a nuisance to me ever since I entered that robe shop years ago. He with his ever-present scar and his well known name. he meant nothing to me, you hear me? Nothing. He was just another young boy who had gotten his Ps and Qs mixed up. he thought the world of himself because he was THE Harry Potter. He was the sole survivor of You-Know-Who's attack, and he was invincible."
Tears stung at Cadence's eyes.
"But let me tell you something, Cartwright, I wasn't impressed. I still am not impressed, and I'm not impressed with the fact that he used his celebrity status and smile to get you caught up in his web of lies. He's nothing but a phony, Cadence. He'll use every line to tell you he's interested, he'll even pretend to care, but he doesn't. People like that never do. All they do is feed you lines and you have to be extra careful. making sure they don't poison your mind as well as their own."
Finally, with a lump in her throat, Cadence spat out, "What do you think you're going to do if I happen to enjoy Harry's company?"
"What do you think I'll do?"
Cadence closed her eyes. "I don't know you well enough to know your full capacity but I know of the evil that lingers inside of your heart."
Draco stopped behind her. She felt his cold and clammy hand grip the back of her neck. It was not a forceful grab, but more of a gentle tug to let her know he was there. He bent in so close to her ear that she could feel his breath on her skin. "I may be evil, Cadence Cartwright, but I know the difference between truth and counterfeit. Nothing in what Potter's eyes for you is genuine."
Cadence felt a tear drip down her cheek and she brushed it away angrily before Draco could make his way back in front of her. "I know the difference," she whispered, and with that, she spun on her heel and fled the Quidditch field.
She didn't wait for Ginny as she raced through the halls of Hogwarts, trying desperately to tear into her dorm. She needed to be by herself and do some thinking.
It was almost nine-thirty when she had left the field, and that meant that it was almost time for lights out. Most students were either already in bed, studying in the library, or by themselves quietly in the common room.
Cadence didn't want to be around other people. She wanted to be alone, she wanted to cry in her bed, clutch her own pillow, and say words that no one else could hear.
She wasn't even sure why she was so upset in the first place, but yet. she was.
She ran, not thinking about anything other than the direction to her dorm. Her broomstick banged against her knees horribly, tears stung her brown eyes harshly, and her sides began to cramp after running so much. She noticed none of this.
She finally recognized the stairs, and making sure they weren't moving, she rushed up each set. She made her way toward the portrait of the Fat Lady as she looked oddly at Cadence. "Password?"
"Amare cadere," she answered quickly and the door flung open. She passed through the portrait hole, and not attention to the occupants of the common room, darted toward the stairs.
Harry, sitting on the couch in the common room, doing his homework, looked up quickly and saw Cadence flying by. Puzzled, he dropped his books and ran after her.
"Cadence!" he called as she bolted up the stairs toward the girls' dorms.
Oh no, Cadence thought to herself. Please. please. I want to be alone. She flung around, half expecting Colin Creevey to be standing behind her, a large goofy grin on his face.
The other half of her didn't expect who was actually there.
Harry readjusted his glasses as he tried to focus on her eyes. Had she been crying? The two stood in the stairwell for almost five minutes in silence, staring at each other. Thoughts rushed through their heads. What do I say? What do I do? Do I stand here? Should I say something?
Finally Harry took a step toward her and it caught Cadence so off guard that she stumbled backward. Harry jumped forward to grab her, tripping as well.
"Sorry."
"No it's my fault."
The two looked up to see that Harry had fallen on top of her. They made no direct move to speak to the other as they hastily stood up.
Harry was sick of the silence and awkwardness. If they were going to be friends, they needed not to have such a hard time speaking to each other.
"Is there something wrong, Cadence?" he finally whispered.
Cadence's immediate reaction to this was to say 'No.' But something deep inside of her told her that everything Draco had said was a lie, a ploy. and that she could really trust Harry. He needed to know.
"Actually. there is," she whispered. "But I need to get to my dorm."
"I'll take you," he whispered back.
Taking her hand, Harry led the way to the girls' dorms and from there on, Cadence led Harry to her bedside.
"Are you going to tell me what happened?" he asked.
She looked away from him, turning on her lamp and wiping tears from her face. She pulled out her wand and set it on the nightstand, staring at it for a few seconds before turning back to meet Harry's expectant green eyes. They made her weak every time she caught a glimpse.
"We were on the Quidditch field. Ginny and me. we had been flying around for about an hour and we were just on our way inside."
From there on, she told him about the encounter with Draco, what he had said, and even some things she had never planned on sharing. It amazed her how open she had suddenly become. She hadn't expected telling him everything she had felt when Draco did what he did and how uncomfortable it had made her when he put his hand on her neck, almost as if he was trying to be affectionate. It gave her the willies just remembering it.
After she had told the story, Harry didn't say a word, and Cadence begged him with her eyes to say something.
He remained silent.
"Say something." she whispered.
He looked up at her and shrugged. "I don't know what to say, Cadence."
"Well tell me. are you angry, are you upset, are you frustrated? What?"
Harry looked away and felt his own tears clinging to his eyes. He had to be strong for her. She had obviously seen so much turmoil and so much hurt. He didn't need to dump his own on her.
"I'm. I'm." he stuttered, and suddenly he knew his act had fallen through. He finally straightened up to turn back to her and say, "I'm going to let you decide on your own."
He stood up and Cadence looked all around her, confused. "What do you mean? Decide what on my own?"
He turned toward her and said nothing. He only smiled. "I'm not going to preach to you about how much I loathe Draco Malfoy, and how everything he says about me is a lie. I can tell you that he tries to emphasize the fact that I like being the only person who survived that attack fifteen years ago. but he never mentions how much I hate being orphaned. He never remembers to add the fact that I wish day after day I had a real family. That other than my two best friends. I'd give anything to have someone truly love me."
Cadence stood up and walked over to Harry. He stared down at her. She blinked softly and then in a soft voice, said, "I think I just made my decision."
She extended both of her arms and wrapped them around Harry, leaning her head on his chest. He was taken by surprise at her gesture of affection, but he was not at all going to object. He drew her in and squeezed her tightly. She allowed all of her tears to come forward at that moment in time, and as she sobbed, her shoulders shook.
Harry held her while she cried, but unbeknownst to her, tears of his own fell silently into her hair.