a/n: for those Americans out there, "revision" is the English word for study. Anyone who spots the Monty Python reference in here gets ten brownie points!! Those of you who have never heard of Monty Python then go ask your parents. LoL.
Lessons didn't start the next day. It was what the teacher's liked to call "An extra revision day to get your brains back in order after Christmas". But to everyone else it was mess-around-and-do-whatever-you-want day. Harry was wandering the castle with his friends. They were all bored and so were being generally annoying and loud. Ron called them the rulers of the school, which Harry supposed was kind of true. They were among the oldest, and Harry being Head Boy gave them extra Rulerness. Also, they had broken the most rules since the days of the marauders. Malfoy and his friends were very close to Harry, Ron, Neville, Dean, Seamus, Lavender and Parvati in the rule-breaking; close, but not ahead.
As they ran around on the "Extra-Revision Day", Harry's mind slowly wandered back to Hermione. Everything he did usually linked back to her. If she were still there, they'd probably be in the common room right now. Harry and Ron would probably be trying to persuade Hermione to go somewhere with them, but she'd be insisting on staying in the common room, or going to the library, insisting she needed and wanted to revise. She loved working. She loved thinking. She always loved trying to work things out, loved the thrill of feeling her brain tick.
"So where to next boys?" asked Parvati feeling excited.
"Let's go to the library," suggested Harry.
A stunned silence, and then everyone broke out into laughter. "Yeah, good one, Harry. Go to the library on the day the teachers actually want us to! Funny!" said Dean cracking up.
Harry shrugged. "It's what Hermione would have said," he said quietly. "Just thought it needed saying." No one said anything. Then Harry looked up and smiled. "I know, let's go down to the dungeons. See how much damage we can do with as little points taken off as possible!"
Everyone laughed and they set off down the stairs, all past awkwardness forgotten. Just as they reached the entrance hall, a glimmer of white caught Harry's eye. He turned sharply and saw Draco standing by a knight, leaning against a wall. Without thinking, Harry shouted out. "Hey, Malfoy!"
Harry started off towards Malfoy, and his friends groaned. "Oh come on, Harry," said Ron. "I'm not in the mood to fight with him today."
"This will only take a second," Harry promised before walking over to Draco. His friends sat down on the steps, watching eagerly.
Draco looked up and saw Harry approach him. "What do you want?" he said snidely.
Harry wasn't sure. He just needed to know, for some reason. "Draco," he started, knowing it would startle Malfoy to hear him say his first name, "how much do you really know about Cassandra?"
Malfoy's eyes widened. "Why the hell do you want to know, Potter? I hope you don't still fancy her."
Harry laughed and shook his head. "No, no don't worry about that Malfoy. I wouldn't go near her after what I just found out."
It worked. Malfoy looked both intrigued and suspicious. "What did you find out?"
"Do you know where she lives?" Harry asked. Malfoy shook his head. "How about who her family are?"
"Well, they're the Leaks family aren't they? And they're pure blood. What else do I need to know?"
Harry frowned. Either Malfoy was lying to him, or he really didn't know Cassandra's secrets. From the way Malfoy was staring at him (he was never good at lying), Harry assumed it was the latter. "Oh dear," Harry breathed out. This was not good. This meant his father was lying to him. This meant that something bad was going on. And it obviously didn't just include Harry and Voldemort. "Malfoy, when was the last time you talked to you father?" It just came out; Harry hadn't even known he was going to ask it.
"He sent me a letter just before Christmas." Malfoy paused, then laughed. "Why the hell am I telling you all this? Get lost; it's none of your business, Potter!"
"Just one more question, then I'll go."
"What is this an interview or something? I wasn't expecting the bloody Spanish Inquisition!"
"No one expects the Spanish Inquisition," Harry said smiling to himself. "What did you father say to you?"
Malfoy chewed on his gums a moment. Why the hell should he tell Potter? "Nothing much."
"Does he know about Cassandra?"
"I thought you said only one more question," Malfoy grumbled.
"Tell me and I leave you alone for the next fortnight, but you can piss me off as much as you want."
The thought intrigued Malfoy, even though he wasn't too fond of bribes. "Yeah, ok. Yes, he does know about Cassandra. He sounded happy for me, just in case you wanted to know."
"Um…and, did he already know her or anything?"
"No." Malfoy folded his arms. "Now is that all? If you don't mind I have a date." Harry was just about to make a snide comment when Cassandra stepped into his vision. He turned his head round and saw Cassandra. She brought her head up and her eyes met his. "Hi Harry," she said nervously.
Harry didn't say anything, instead he walked away. He didn't care what Dumbledore had said. He couldn't just be nice to Cassandra. Not just yet anyway. He needed some more time to toss around his anger; and to shatter his love for her…
He walked back to the stairs and smiled as best he could at his friends. "I got a better idea," he said. "Let's go outside."
"What was all that about?" asked Lavender.
"Yeah, and why were you so interested in him and Cassandra?"
"You don't still fancy her do you?" Everyone laughed.
Harry even joined in the laughter. "Oh don't worry about that. I wouldn't go near her if you paid me, the bitch." And with that everyone turned away to go outside, no one even wondering why Harry had called her a bitch. Only Ron knew why. And only Ron knew what Harry had said was a pack of lies.
Harry sat in the common room with Ron, Seamus, Dean and Neville. They were all waiting for Parvati and Lavender.
"Christ how long does it take to get ready?" Seamus said.
Ron laughed. "Hey, you've just got here, Seamus, you can't talk!" Everyone laughed and Seamus glowed bright red.
Eventually the girls did come down, looking stunning and beautiful, as they usually did. Parvati was wearing a purple robe and Lavender was wearing a rich red one that went perfectly with her blushing cheeks. Harry smiled. "Hi," he said getting up. Lavender smiled. "You look nice," Harry said, which made Lavender blush even more.
Seamus grinned. He held his arm out to Parvati. "M'lady," he said bowing slightly. Parvati smiled and took the offered arm. "Why thank you," she said, then couldn't help but giggle. Dean held out an arm to Neville and they walked arm in arm, much to everyone's amusement and uncontrolled laughter. Harry wasn't going to offer the old-fashioned arm to Lavender, but since everyone else was, he thought he should. Just for fun, though. He laughed as Lavender took it, and Lavender smiled back nervously.
When they got to the hall, Dean and Neville immediately unlinked arms and went over to the food and drink table. It wasn't compulsory to go with some one else, and so Dean and Neville had decided to skip the unnecessary embarrassment of having to ask some one and had decided to make a statement and go by themselves.
Ron found Rowan and greeted her with "You look beautiful." Rowan laughed and kissed him on the cheek. It was Ron who blushed this time. Luckily the hall was so dark (just a few lanterns on) that she hadn't noticed.
Harry couldn't help looking for Cassandra. He went on tip toes to look over the heads of everyone but she and Malfoy were nowhere to be found. "Looking for someone?" Harry turned to look at Lavender. She looked quite nervous and suddenly Harry felt a pang of guilt. He hadn't meant this to mean anymore than two old friends having some fun; Lavender obviously felt more than that. Harry pushed the thought to the back of his mind; he'd talk to her later.
"No, of course not," he said smiling, but offering nothing more of intimacy.
Lavender smiled. "Right well…I'm gonna go and find Parvati and Padma, they've scuttled off somewhere!" She laughed, and in her pretty laugh Harry wondered for a moment why he didn't like Lavender. "Um…I'll see you later, ok?"
Harry nodded and the two departed. Harry walked over to the tables and picked up a handful of crisps. It was a packed hall. Unlike the ball Hogwarts had held in Harry's fourth year, he and Rebekah had decided that everyone should get to go. Harry noticed that nearly all of the first years had just come with their friends, and Harry envied them. Why had he felt the need to ask Lavender? He should have come alone with Dean and Neville. It would have just been so much simpler. Why did he feel the need to prove to Cassandra that he didn't need her? Maybe he was trying to prove it to himself.
"Harry?" Harry's stomach clenched together at the too-familiar voice. Remembering Dumbledore's words Harry stood and smiled at his enemy's daughter. "Hi, Cassandra." He looked around her. "Oh good, no Malfoy. Then perhaps I can talk to you without a death threat." Cassandra laughed, though somewhat uncomfortably. "So where is Malfoy?"
"Um, he and…well…we're not…together anymore," she said quietly, looking up at Harry suggestively.
Oh dear. This was not good. "W-Why not?"
"We had a little argument, that's all. Well, quite a big argument, actually…"
"What about?"
Cassandra looked down then back up at Harry with twinkling eyes. "About you, if you really wanna know…"
Let me guess, said Harry's all too clever mind. Malfoy was saying that she couldn't be friends with me so she stupidly defended my honour and broke up with him. I thought she wanted to save me for her daddy to finish off, not let Malfoy kill me first! Harry clenched his fists to try and release his anger. It was no good pretending to Cassandra that he liked her and knew nothing if he kept getting so angry all the time.
"Cassandra, look; thank you for whatever you said to Malfoy, but you do realise he's going to kill me now, don't you? And I'm no good to you dead."
Cassandra frowned in confusion. "What does that mean?"
Shit. "Well…I mean…as a friend, you know."
Cassandra's eyes lit up in understanding. Harry breathed out in relief. "Well, you could be more than a friend, Harry…" Harry bit his lip. "I mean, only if you wanted to of course."
"Cassandra, you do know how weird this is, right? A few days ago you were telling me to back away and…something about snowflakes."
Cassandra laughed feebly but Harry could see a fear in her eyes, as she avoided his glance, which he couldn't quite understand. "Oh Harry, you…you shouldn't have listened to me. I had a bad fever and I was probably just mumbling a load of nonsense!" Before Harry could respond to this, Cassandra hurried on quickly. "Well? What do you think?" She asked, touching the edge of Harry's robe.
"What I think…" Harry started, putting his hands on hers and taking them off his robe. "Is that you are a Slytherin and I am a Griffindor. It would never work." Wait, what was he saying? Wasn't this the exact opposite of what Dumbledore had told him to do?
"Weren't you the one who was saying that the rivalry between Griffindor and Slytherin isn't real?" Cassandra said softly. "That it's just an illusion?"
"Illusions are real because we believe in them," Harry said. Bloody hell. This isn't what he was supposed to be saying. Other than the fact that Dumbledore had said he should go out with Cassandra, he also desperately wanted to, despite her family. So why the hell was he putting her off him? "Look, Cassandra, I can't be with you. Malfoy will kill me for one thing…"
"You're not telling me you're afraid of him are you?" Harry stared unblinkingly into Cassandra's eyes. Suddenly he broke away and walked off, leaving Cassandra to call after him.
Harry got to the other side of the hall successfully without any followers. He leaned against a wall and breathed out hard. Seamus, Neville and Ron came up to him. "Hey," Ron said. "You having fun?"
"Yeah, loads," Harry said sarcastically.
"What's wrong?" asked Neville.
Harry frowned then glanced at Ron. He guessed he could tell them. Everyone would know soon anyway. "Guess who just broke up with Malfoy sticking up for me?" Harry asked staring dead in front of him and away from his friends.
No one said anything for a moment, and then as mouths were opened and silent (yet still to the ear's hearing) "Ohh…"s came out of Seamus and Neville's breaths, Harry looked back ready to be hit with the sarcasms.
Surprisingly, he didn't get any. "Wow," Neville said. He looked to Seamus for support.
"So…what are you going to do?" Seamus asked.
Harry frowned. "How can you even ask me that?" he said angrily. "She's a Slytherin for Godric's sake. I can't…go out with her."
A pause. "…Why not?" asked Seamus.
"He has his reasons," Ron said stupidly. Harry gave him a warning stare.
"And…what are those reasons exactly?"
"Just that…" Ron started quickly trying to think of something. "Well, for one thing, she's Malfoy's old rubbish! Malfoy will kill him if he has Cassandra."
"Exactly," said Harry leaning back again on the wall. "What am I going to do?" he breathed out.
Just at that moment Dean came up panting. "Dancing on your own is a lot more tiring than with a partner," he said in breaths. Then seeing the worried expressions on his friends faces added, "What's going on?"
"Cassandra Leaks, Slytherin, just dumped Malfoy for Harry," Seamus said grinning.
Harry had known the teasings had to come sooner or later. It was too good to be true. "Ooh!" said Dean grinning. "You got yourself a girlfriend have you, Harry?"
"No," Harry said stubbornly. "I turned her down."
"Why? You fancy her don't you?"
Harry opened his mouth to answer, but just turned away huffily. What was the point in lying? His friends knew him too well anyway. "So…what's the problem?" Dean asked again.
As Seamus, Neville and Ron filled Dean in on the problem at hand, Harry suddenly spotted Malfoy in the doorway. He was looking around for someone. "Oh no," Harry said standing up.
"What?" asked Ron.
"We got a problem."
"What is it?"
"Malfoy's here."
The five friends looked over to the door when suddenly Malfoy spotted Harry and began walking over to them. "No eye contact," Ron whispered in Harry's ear. Harry understood. If it came to a fight (which he sincerely hoped it would to be honest) then Harry had to control his eye-and-mind-magic and just use the old-fashioned wand.
"Malfoy, good for you to join us," Harry said sarcastically.
"I knew you were playing around with her, Potter! I knew it," Draco steamed. "Why else would you have asked me all those questions the other day, huh?"
"Look Malfoy, I have nothing to do with the fact that you and Cassandra broke up, alright? I'm actually kinda sorry; you two nutheads were perfect for each other."
And so the first fist was thrown. Harry wasn't ready for it, Draco had shown no signs yet of physical contact, but sure enough, the fist lay flat in his face. Harry staggered but recovered quickly. "Wow, second time in just a few weeks," he said, touching his face and feeling blood from his nose. Quite a few people had started to gather, but no teachers had quite arrived yet. Good, said Harry's instinctive fighting mind.
"Well…" Harry started without a pause, pretending he was going to say something, then he punched Malfoy back. It was a really hard punch and Malfoy fell backwards. A few Slytherins hurried over to help him up, and Malfoy was fuming by the time he reached Harry's height again. "Didn't think I could punch you did you? I've been beaten up enough times by my cousin to know how to."
Malfoy quickly whipped his wand out and Harry did the same. "Uh, mate, maybe it's time to back away now," whispered Harry's conscience into his ear. It was Ron of course.
"Better get out of the way Ron," Harry said quietly without turning round. With nothing he could do, Ron regrettably stepped back and over to the wall, hand closed tightly around his wand in his pocket, just in case.
But before any such wand waving could be done Cassandra ran over and stood in front of Draco blocking the spell path that lead straight to Harry's death. "Draco don't," she cried. "You'll ruin everything!"
"Everything what?" Draco asked angrily. "Everything you could have had with him?!" People in the crowd opened their eyes wide in wonder. Cassandra and Harry? Surely not. It was unheard of. A Slytherin and a Griffindor?
Cassandra started to cry. "Draco, don't," she said in more anguish.
Harry had had enough. "Cassandra move," he said. "Don't be stupid."
"No," she said rebelliously, turning round to face him. "I won't let him kill you."
"Oh yes you bloody well will!" Harry said frowning. He looked down at his wand and stared at it. Suddenly he dropped it to the floor. "Oh bugger this," he muttered then ran forward, dodging Cassandra and pushing Malfoy to the ground.
a/n: HELLO. My personal favourite chapter to write methinks. Hope you liked it :S if you didn't I think I'll die!!!!! IT'S YOUR LOVE THAT KEEPS ME GOING! Oh yeah, and your reviews, hint hint. Oh, did anyone actually get the monty python reference in there, or am I a lone fan? At least GUESS at what you think it was – if you get it right I'll give you a pressie :D REVIEW. ~rowanx