10. Midnight Marauders
"Harry?" Cassandra whispered as she closed Snape's office door quickly behind her. Her face went extremely pale before she grabbed his arm and led him down the hallway, away from Snape's office.
"Cassie? What . . . what was that about?" Harry managed to stammer in surprise as he turned to face her. Harry knew for a fact that she wasn't in there for detentions if Snape was making her potions.
"Look Harry, you have to swear not to tell anyone please?" Cassandra begged her blue eyes pleading furiously. "Not even Ron or Hermione please Harry."
"What am I not supposed to tell them? Would you tell me what's going on?" Harry asked as Cassandra turned away from him and leaned her head back, rubbing her face with her hands before letting out a small shriek of frustration.
"For the past couple of times I've said I've had detention with Snape, I haven't been completely honest. He's been making me potions because I have a-a . . . condition," Cassandra explained whispering the last part as if it were something to be ashamed of.
"What kind of condition?" Harry asked his voice growing concerned.
"It's something with my heart that I've had ever since I was little. No one has been able to explain what's wrong with me. Professor Dumbledore knew I was having problems that man knows everything doesn't he?" Cassandra asked giving a feeble laugh before Harry nodded. "So Dumbledore knew I was having problems and he asked Snape to make me a potion to help ease the pain." Harry nodded in understanding. That answered half of his questions. He also wanted to know why she was so friendly with Snape when she showed so much hatred towards him during the first weeks of the term but he knew it wasn't the time or the place.
"Hermione told Ron and me that you left in the middle of the night last night. She said when you came back it sounded like you had been crying. Where did you go?" Harry explicated before Cassandra's face went even whiter.
"Dammit nobody was supposed to know," Cassandra murmured before she looked up at Harry again, "Sometimes the pain comes at night and it feels . . . words can't describe how terrible it feels. It's almost like my heart is exploding in my chest and its doing it over and over again. So sometimes I go down to the common room or the bathrooms or even into the hallway outside the Gryffindor Tower entrance. The pain is so intense that I can't stay in a room with people. I don't want to disturb them. I think I've ticked off the Fat Lady on a couple of occasions because sometimes . . . sometimes I'll scream and then I'll wake her up. But please Harry, please, please, please don't tell anybody. I don't need sympathy from people and I don't want people to think I'll blow up at any moment. You won't tell anyone will you Harry?" Cassandra asked her eyes pleading, begging with him.
"Your secret's safe with me," Harry said offering her a comforting smile. Cassandra looked like she could have hugged him but she gave him a bright smile, acting as if the incident had never happened.
"You'd better hurry up to your lesson with Snape, you know how he doesn't like to be kept waiting," Cassandra said giving him a wink before she headed up the stairs to the main floor, no doubt heading to the Gryffindor common room.
Harry shook his head and hurried down the hallway to Snape's office. He could hear the professor moving things around in his study before Harry knocked on his door.
"Come in, Potter," he snapped and Harry opened the door and stepped inside immediately, shutting the door behind him. "You're five minutes late, Potter. And you know how I despise lateness," Snape growled at him. Harry noticed he was sitting behind his desk, the pensieve sitting calmly on the tabletop.
"Sorry sir, got a little caught up at dinner," Harry apologized as he sat down in the chair facing Snape.
Professor Snape sneered, "Caught up in your own fame Mr. Potter? Can't go anywhere nowadays without somebody recognizing you and wanting an autograph. Tell me Potter, when will someone approach you and give you the prospect of your own theme park?" Harry could feel his hatred for the man seething inside of him. He didn't know how he was going to concentrate when all he felt was anger and detestation.
"Let's get this over with as soon as possible, Potter. I still have papers to grade and things to do. This is still a waste of my time," Snape growled as he stood up to face Harry.
"It's a waste of my time too, sir," Harry derided before he stood up and tried with all his might to clear his mind.
"Legilimens!" Snape cried without warning. He saw Snape's office deteriorate in front of him and he was left with a clear mind. 'Yes!' Harry thought with triumph, he had gotten rid of all his thoughts. And then he felt Snape's spell pushing further into his mind, delving deeper until he pulled out memories hidden inside Harry's mind. There he was in the alleyway with Dudley, fighting off the dementors . . . The Gryffindor team winning the Quidditch Cup three years ago . . . Christmas at Sirius' house . . . and then Harry saw Sirius falling through the veil in his mind, that shocked and fearful expression locked on his godfather's face. 'No!' Harry screamed inside his head. Snape didn't deserve to witness Sirius' death in his own mind. 'Not this time,' Harry said before Snape was out of his mind.
Snape's office came back into focus and Harry was shocked to see that he was still standing up, wand clutched in his hand. Snape leered at Harry before he nodded his head. "Very good, Potter. It would come to a great shock to me if you said you had been practicing before you went to sleep. No?" Snape questioned when Harry shook his head in disagreement, "Well then Potter I think we'll leave it at that for tonight. I still have your potions homework to grade." Snape sneered as Harry started to give him a nervous look but quickly covered it up.
"Thank you Professor," Harry said as he headed towards the office door, the rustling of papers sounding behind him.
*~*~*~*
The following week was rather busy for the sixth year students. Halloween was that Friday and all of the students were looking forward to the feast. Harry held true to his word to Cassandra and didn't tell Ron or Hermione about her medical conditions and she seemed extremely grateful for that. In fact, Harry didn't exactly know how Cassandra carried on day in and day out with all the homework, Quidditch practices, and staying up all night in the common room or the bathroom with her aching chest. Cassandra almost reminded Harry of a zombie, which they were studying in Romulus Lupin's class at the moment. Harry didn't know how she finished all her homework, still get good marks on them, and stay on a broomstick beating bludgers around the pitch when she was getting close to three hours of sleep a night.
The night before Halloween was dark and stormy the night sky in the Great Hall cloudy and misty, the threat of rain looming. Harry wished it would pour rain tomorrow so Katie Bell would have to cancel Quidditch practice. They had been practicing three times a week for three hours and all of the members of the team (with the exception of Katie) thought they deserved a break. After all, the first match of the season would be Slytherin verses Ravenclaw; Gryffindor would challenge Hufflepuff the following weekend.
Harry, Ron and Hermione were eating their dinner in the Great Hall when Cassandra hurried over to the table an enormous grin on her face. "Here comes trouble," Ron muttered with a snicker before Cassandra sat down on the bench beside him.
"I almost forgot what day it is!" she exulted before she grabbed some mashed potatoes and chicken, putting them on her plate.
"Cassie, Halloween is tomorrow night," Hermione explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Oh I know that Hermione. But tonight is even better than Halloween!" Harry, Ron and Hermione all looked at her if she just suggested that Snape's class was better than Hagrid's.
"And what is tonight?" Harry asked. Cassandra answered him with a mischievous grin.
"Tonight is Mischief Night," she said barely above a whisper.
"What's Mischief Night?" Ron asked clearly interested.
"It's when you run around and cause complete mayhem. We used to do it all the time at WillowBoil. We would let off Dungbombs in the hallways, throw them in teacher's classrooms, bathrooms. We would throw toilet paper in everybody's rooms and put whipped cream and shaving cream everywhere. Sometimes the students would cause so much damage that our classes were cancelled the next day and the team of janitors would have to clean up everything since no one could be blamed. Of course all the teachers knew the students were responsible for it, but they never said anything. One of teachers, before he got fired, would always help us out on Mischief Night, letting us into places that were locked and only a fully trained wizard could open them. Mischief Night is the best night of the entire year." Cassandra explained. Ron and Harry looked positively electrified by this holiday when Hermione merely sat there with her mouth hanging open in shock and almost disgust.
"Excellent!" Ron exclaimed loudly before he grabbed some apple custard from the table.
"But in Hogwarts it's hard to get away with a lot of things with Filch and Mrs. Norris, it'd be impossible to do anything," Cassandra said disappointment tingeing her voice.
"Well, when you have certain . . . materials, you'll find getting around Hogwarts unnoticed is extremely easy," Ron said throwing a devious grin Harry's way. Harry nodding knowingly thinking about his Marauder's Map and his invisibility cloak.
"I hope you three are not going to go through with this!" Hermione scolded as she whispered fiercely trying not to draw attention to them.
"Why not Hermione? Just a bit of fun for one night? You've done your share of rule breaking I've heard. Let your hair down for a bit and come out with us! You'll have a blast, I promise," Cassandra persuaded as she smiled at Hermione, blue eyes flashing in a conniving way.
"Yea Hermione, you only live once," Harry said giving her a quick nudge in the shoulder.
Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed, "Fine. But you do know Ron that if we get caught our badges will be revoked!"
"Well that's just the thing 'Mione, no one will know," Ron said before they started to work out all the details.
They all decided to meet in the common room at quarter to midnight. Harry and Ron headed down to the kitchens to get whipped cream from the house elves and Dobby nearly fainted at seeing the sight of Harry once again. "Oh Harry Potter! Dobby is glad to be seeing you sir! What can Dobby do for the great and noble Harry Potter?" Harry was quite glad that Hermione didn't accompany them to the kitchens as they got the necessary items needed for the night because she'd try to start a strike among the house elves, still up in arms about the House Elf Liberation Front.
"Look Dobby, if people come in here tomorrow and they ask you if you leant out any whipped cream . . . don't say anything. Just tell them no one was in here," Harry explained to Dobby and the house elf nodded.
"Anything for noble Harry Potter sir!" Dobby squeaked.
After saying goodbye to Dobby, Ron and Harry shoved their parcels into their robes and hurried quickly up to Gryffindor Tower trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. They reached the portrait of the Fat Lady without any difficulties and they quickly hurried into their dormitory, storing the food and things in their school trunks.
Once the midnight hour was drawing close, Harry and Ron, checking to see that their roommates were sleeping, grabbed their necessary packages (along with the map and invisibility cloak) and headed downstairs.
They sat in the large common room, on the plush arm chairs by the fire when they heard two pairs of feet creep silently down the stairs. Harry looked up and saw Hermione come down first. He could tell she was trying to enjoy herself but he could tell that the threat of having her prefect's badge taken away was more dominant in her mind.
"Where's Cassie?" Ron whispered as he started to shake up a can of whipped cream.
"Behind you," a voice whispered and Harry laughed quietly as Ron jumped three feet into the air.
"Blimey Cassie you scared me to death! And why are you dressed like that? Harry has an invisibility cloak we won't be seen," Ron explained before Cassandra stepped into the firelight.
"You look like a cat burglar," Harry commented and Harry's statement did indeed hold true. Cassandra stood dressed head to toe in black. She had a black ski cap on her head, covering her already black hair. She was wearing gloves and she also had two dark stripes underneath her eye, making her look like an American Muggle Football player.
"Even though we'll be under the cloak, we'll have to get out of it in order to do most of this stuff," Cassandra explained as she pulled out roll after roll of toilet paper from a little black knapsack that was conveniently on her back. And what makes you think the teachers won't check for fingerprints? Wearing gloves is important. They did it all the time at WillowBoil. Nearly got expelled my first year there because they thought I had flooded all the bathrooms. But it was that stupid girl in her third . . ." Cassandra muttered the last part before she threw a roll to each of them. "Let's get this started!"
And so Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Cassandra spent most of the night tee peeing teacher's classrooms and covering bathroom mirrors with whipped cream. Thanks to Harry's map they were able to steer clear of Peeves and Mrs. Norris. Peeves was currently tormenting Moaning Myrtle in the girl's bathroom and Mrs. Norris was in her office with Filch.
"We've done all of the teacher's classrooms besides Sprout, Hagrid and Snape. We need to get Snape," Cassandra explained with an evil grin. Harry threw her a look. If Snape was making potions for Cassandra, and he found out about it, would he stop helping her? Or if he found out Harry was behind it, would he stop helping Harry with his Occlumency lessons?
"Are you sure? His quarters are just off his office. I don't think that's such a good idea," Hermione said nervously who had started a habit of looking over her shoulder and jumping at the slightest noise.
"We've done all the other teachers' classrooms that teach inside and if we skip Snape we would be serving an injustice to the school," Cassandra said nobly as she stood up on one of the desks that were situated in Lupin's classroom. Hermione rolled her eyes before she gathered up the rest of her toilet paper. She grabbed Harry's cloak giving all three of them a look that read 'I want to get this over with and go back to bed.'
"We should do the common room too," Ron suggested in a whispered voice as they headed down to the dungeons.
"Are you stupid Ron? If we vandalize the Gryffindor common room, they will assume a Gryffindor did it. But unless you know the passwords to all the other dormitories then yes I say we go for it," Cassandra explained and Ron started to go pink.
They finally got to Snape's classroom and they opened up the door and crept inside. Cassandra immediately went over to where jars and jars of disgusting things were floating around in them. They were all arranged in alphabetical order from Aardvark Ala Mode to Zzanticula Tentacles. She began to rearrange all three hundred or so jars. Harry started to throw toilet paper around the classroom letting it catch on the extinguished candle holders and the large chandelier that hung in the middle of the room. Ron was drawing a rather rude drawing of Snape on the chalkboard, making a bug ski off his rather hooked nose. Hermione was spraying whipped cream on the desks before she helped Harry with throwing around the toilet paper.
They heard Cassandra give a curse, her eyes landing on the Marauder's Map. "Snape's coming!" she cried before they all exchanged frantic and panicked looks. They immediately got underneath the invisibility cloak and knowing that Snape would be coming from his office, they ran for the door they had just entered.
"What the blazes is going on here?" a voice roared from the front of the classroom. The foursome broke into a run, stuffing all their evidence into a black knapsack and they threw it into an old waste basket.
Harry could hear Snape in the hallway bellowing the stunning spell and he knew they were done for. Harry could hear Cassandra mutter a spell under her breath and then she screamed loudly.
"CRABBE, GOYLE! RUN THE OLD GIT'S CATCHING UP!" Cassandra screamed in a voice that was identical to Draco Malfoy's.
"Brilliant!" Ron whispered as they ran up the steps, Cassandra still yelling out orders as Malfoy.
Cassandra finally let the spell drop as they neared the Gryffindor Tower. Then they heard Snape's voice ringing through the entire school. "Attention teachers, there are students who are out of bed, vandalizing the school." Harry could hear Hermione whimpering underneath her breath. The group gasped in unison when they heard the pounding of feet following them. "I heard them go this way!" They heard Filch yell loudly before more feet pounded along with Filch. They were twenty feet away from the Fat Lady, ten feet . . . five . . .
Cassandra let out a gnarled scream of pain before her legs dropped out from under her. She collapsed onto the ground clutching her chest. The three of them stopped but Cassandra urged them forward. "Just go," she managed to gasp out, tears falling down her face, smearing the black makeup, "Go!"
Harry turned to Ron and Hermione. "Leave the invisibility cloak, and get yourselves into bed. I'll get Cassandra," Harry explained. The two nodded and they hurried through the portrait and into the common room. Harry turned around and grabbed Cassandra's hand, picking her up, and placing the cloak around them.
"Can you walk?" he asked her. She nodded feebly and they hurried into the Gryffindor House. "You need to wash that stuff off your face and hurry into your pajamas; I expect they'll do a search of all the houses. Are you going to be alright?" Harry asked as they stopped in front of the stairs that led up to the dormitories.
"Thank you Harry," Cassandra whispered before she tried her best to hobble up the steps, clutching her chest the entire way. Hoping she would be alright, Harry bolted up the steps and took off his black cloak, revealing his pajamas. He folded the cloak up neatly as well as his invisibility cloak before he closed his trunk and flew into his bed, pulling the red hangings closed and racing under the covers. He took his glasses off quickly and placed them on his bedside table.
He could hear Ron trying to keep his breath under control, trying to act like he was asleep. Adrenaline pumped through Harry just at the thought of almost being caught by Professor Snape. He smiled at Cassandra's pure stroke of genius by using Malfoy's voice to throw the blame off them if they should ever be accused.
"Could you imagine the trouble she'd get into if Fred and George were still here?" Ron whispered to Harry. Harry thought about this for a moment and found he could only snicker.
*~*~*~*
The morning of Halloween was dark and stormy. Harry could hear the pounding of the rain outside the window as got out of bed and said cheerful good mornings to Dean, Seamus, Neville and Ron. Harry felt the gut wrenching feeling in his stomach remembering the things he did last night. Now that he thought back to it, he wasn't sure if it was the smartest thing to do. But if Malfoy received the blame and not him, it would surely be the happiest Halloween he had ever had.
Ron and Harry hurried into the common room to find everyone in an extremely happy mood. A few people were gathered around the post board looking at a new announcement.
"What's going on?" Harry asked a fourth year that was closest to the board.
"All classes have been cancelled today! Some genius person thought to ransack all of the teachers' classrooms. Filch and some of the house elves will be cleaning all day," the boy replied. Harry and Ron exchanged excited looks. So they had done it. They, along with Hermione and Cassandra had single handedly cancelled all the classes for the day.
Harry and Ron went to sit at a table, Hermione joining them. It looked like she didn't sleep at all last night. "Probably thought McGonagall would burst into her room and rip her prefect's badge away," Ron muttered to Harry. "Well, everything's just right in the world Hermione. Your badge hasn't been revoked or anything. But why do you look so tired?" Ron asked as Hermione took a seat immediately pulling out her Dark Arts homework.
"Because Cassie was in an intense amount of pain last night, I could tell she was crying but she kept it hidden extremely well. I wonder what's wrong with her."
"Where is she now?" Harry asked his face full of concern.
"I don't know. She wasn't in the room when I came down. She might have gone down for an early breakfast seeing as she didn't sleep a wink last night," Hermione explained her voice dripping with worry.
Just as Hermione said those words, the portrait flew open and Cassandra stumbled in, looking more exhausted than Harry had ever seen her. She saw them and her eyes grew bright and a smile grew on her face the fatigue leaving her brilliant blue eyes.
"You'll never guess what I just saw!" Cassandra exclaimed her bright blue eyes letting off a silent laughter.
"What?" Hermione asked looking up from her book.
"I was in Snape's room . . ."
"You were in Snape's room? Did he suspect you? Did you get into trouble?" Hermione asked her voice going pale instantly.
"No and No, Hermione. I had to pick up something to do with detention in his room and guess who was in there! Go on guess!" Cassandra said in an excited whisper so no one would over hear her. When nobody answered her, she let out a laugh.
"Malfoy!" she said with glee. The three of them gave her shocked looks before they urged her to go on, "Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were in his room. Snape bought my voice changing charm and thought that it was Malfoy who was vandalizing the school not us! That and the fact the place where we threw away the knapsack was a shortcut to the Slytherin dormitory! And you'll never guess what Snape did next!" Cassandra said happily. Harry thought that if her eyes contained one more ounce of happiness she would burst.
"McGonagall was in there as well and of course Snape couldn't just let them off easy. He said 'Never in all my years of being head of Slytherin house have I ever seen one of its own act so recklessly. I am ashamed that you are in Slytherin and I would have you three booted out if Professor McGonagall didn't talk me out of it. Each of you will serve a month's detention with Professor McGonagall.' Professor McGonagall grumbled about it not being enough punishment so then she went on to say, 'I believe, Severus that if you do not want these boys expelled points from their house must be deducted. Therefore one hundred points will be taken away from Slytherin. One hundred points each.' They have to spend the whole day cleaning all the classrooms. With no magic!" Cassandra squealed with delight before she erupted into laughter causing some first years to look at her if she were insane.
Ron acted like Christmas had come early. The only thing he wanted more in the world was for Malfoy to get into an absurd amount of trouble and here it was. He laughed harder than any of them until tears rolled down his cheeks at the mere thought of Malfoy having to scrub off whipped cream with a rag; doing what Malfoy would call 'servant's stuff.' But Slytherin was last place in the running for the House Cup now that three hundred points were deducted.
"So what are we going to do with our time off?" Ron asked grandly as they headed down to breakfast.
"We really haven't had any time to visit Hagrid. He's been so busy this year with his classes and fixing up the grounds. Not that we haven't been busy either what with homework and Quidditch and everything else," Harry proposed and all of them agreed to go down to Hagrid's hut after breakfast.
Harry found himself situated next to Cassandra as he reached over and grabbed a custard from its tray. She still looked extremely pale and it did look like she didn't sleep a wink last night. "Alright there Cassie?" Harry asked before she turned her pumpkin juice into coffee, taking a long sip of it.
"I guess so. Got Snape's potion this morning so I should be fine for a day or two. You haven't told anyone have you?" Cassandra asked a tinge of fear could be registered in her voice.
"I haven't told anybody Cassie, don't worry about it," Harry explained laying a comforting hand on her shoulder. She nodded before she busied herself with her breakfast.
"Harry! Cassie can I have a word?" Katie Bell shouted a ways down the Gryffindor table. Cassandra and Harry got up from their seats, Cassandra grumbling about how she didn't like to be disturbed during her breakfast before they stood in front of Gryffindor captain and chaser Katie Bell.
"What's up Katie?" Cassandra asked as she gave a smile to the seventh year.
"I booked the field for us this afternoon so we can practice before our game against Hufflepuff next Saturday. Meet everyone at the pitch right after lunch," Katie informed them before she turned around and started to talk to some of her girlfriends. Harry and Cassandra turned around and walked back to their seats ready to finish their breakfasts.
*~*~*
Once they had eaten their breakfast and were stuffed with food, the four headed down to Hagrid's hut to spend the morning with their favorite gamekeeper. Harry knocked on the door and they could hear Hagrid's boarhound, Fang barking deep inside his hut.
"Jus' one minute . . . Fang's just' a bi' excited to be havin' visitors," a gruff yet kind voice hollered from inside the house. The door burst wide open and Harry and his friends were staring at the largest man they had ever seen. Hagrid was twice as tall as a fully grown man and three times as wide. His hands were as big as the plates in the Great Hall and legs were as wide as a small tree trunk. They all knew that Hagrid was a half giant and his half brother Gwarp was in the Forbidden Forest uprooting trees and causing mayhem.
"Alright there Hagrid?" Hermione asked with a smile as he allowed them entrance in his hut. The four of them could easily sit down on the large arm chair that was near the entrance of the hut.
"Jus' fine Hermione. I was just fixin' up a spot o' tea when you came up ter see me," Hagrid explained as he hurried over to the fire where a kettle was wheezing about.
"Did you hear what happened up at the castle last night Hagrid?" Ron asked, barely able to keep his enthusiasm bottled up.
"O' course I did Ron. Filch was knockin' on me door at the crack o' dawn tellin' me that some students had vandalized the school or sommat like that. Came as quite a shock when we learned that Malfoy and his friends were behind it," Hagrid explained before a small grin played on his gigantic lips.
"It couldn't have been Golden Boy Malfoy, Hagrid!" Cassandra said with a repressed gasp.
"Th' very one Cassie," Hagrid replied before he burst into laughter. "I was there when they found Malfoy in th' common room. Snape told him he was in 'lot of trouble. I will never forget that shocked expression on Malfoy's face. O' course I had a feelin' that Malfoy had nothin' ter do with it but I didn't say anythin' on a count that the little rascals that ran rampage in th' school last nigh' are good friends o' mine," Hagrid explained before he gave them all knowing looks. Hermione looked like she was about to faint and Harry and Ron exchanged looks of panic. Cassandra looked as cool and as calm as ever.
"How did you know it was us Hagrid?" Hermione asked extremely close to tears.
"Now don' go off cryin' 'Mione. Besides, I can tell by th' expressions on yer faces. You all look dog tired and Malfoy and his two friends looked completely r'freshed when Snape woke them up in th' morning. Have dark circles under your eyes, the lot of you. An' I'm not about ter turn you lot in," Hagrid elucidated. Hermione looked relieved and Harry and Ron let out the breaths they had been holding in. Cassandra smiled happily and thanked Hagrid. "Now, I wan' you lot up in th' common room. You all need some rest or you won't be able ter attend the Halloween feast tonigh'"
After having a bit of tea with Hagrid and talking about the upcoming Quidditch season and Christmas the four of them went back up to the common room and into their dormitories for a quick nap.
*~*~*~*
Once Quidditch practice was over, Harry, Ron and Cassandra decided to walk around the large lake talking about the upcoming Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. They waved hello to Neville who was sitting underneath a tree reading through his Herbology homework. When Neville saw Cassandra he waved wildly and all of his papers flew away in the breeze. Neville turned a brilliant shade of scarlet before he hurried off after his papers.
"If I didn't know any better I'd say Neville fancies somebody and it certainly isn't Harry or me," Ron hinted as he nudged Cassandra in the shoulder. Cassandra laughed before she gave Ron a playful shove.
"I don't think Neville fancies anyone over here," Cassandra denied with a laugh.
"Oh please Cassie, he always tries to get a seat next to you during meals and in classes, he keeps asking you about helping him practice Quidditch. Ever since you stood up for him in Snape's class and publicly humiliated Malfoy he's held you up in some other light. In fact, I reckon he only tried out for the house team because you tried out," Ron explained a huge smile on his face. Harry could tell that Cassandra was seriously debating on whether or not to shove Ron in the lake. She looked at Harry and smiled before she grimaced and clutched her chest. Ron took no notice and continued to complain about school and gloat about Malfoy getting the blame as he began throwing medium sized rocks into the lake, the giant squid throwing a few back with one of his tentacles.
A small owl suddenly flew straight towards Ron, hitting him square in the face. "Pig you rotten tosser!" Ron yelled as the small owl whizzed around him. It took Ron nearly five minutes to get the note attached to his owl Pigwidgeon's leg and he shouted in happiness when he realized it was a note from his brothers Fred and George.
"I'm going to go write back to them, going to tell them about our escapade. They'll be insanely jealous they didn't think about that," Ron commented before he headed up to the castle, Pig in tow leaving Harry and Cassandra to finish their second lap around the lake.
"I thought you said you'd be fine for a couple of days," Harry commented as Cassandra winced once more before she put on a brave face.
"The potion has to kick in," she said shortly. Harry shook his head and knew she was lying. It had been nearly ten hours since Cassandra had gone down to Snape's dungeon for her potion and he was almost sure that it didn't take ten hours for a potion to 'kick in.' "But then again," Cassandra explained and she pulled a medium sized vial out of her robes. Harry saw the dark black liquid swirl around in the clear, clean glass and he didn't know how she could drink it. She uncorked the bottle and drank half of its contents, making a disgusted face. "This stuff is absolutely vile I can't stand to drink it," Cassandra was silent for a moment before she sighed contentedly, "that's much better."
The two continued to walk around the lake the silence surrounding them like a cloak. Harry sighed heavily and there was a hint of discourage in his sharp breath. Cassandra picked up on his uncertainty and turned to face him.
"That certainly was a depressive sigh," Cassandra commented, "Got something on your mind?"
"I'm just really confused," Harry countered back as he stared at his feet going back and forth as they rounded out onto their third lap.
"About what?" Cassandra questioned.
Harry hesitated a moment. He wasn't sure if he could tell her, he didn't think she'd understand. But there was something about Cassandra White that Harry could trust, he couldn't quite put his finger on it, but she reminded him of somebody, somebody that he could trust. After all, she had shared that she had a heart condition, something that very few people knew about; why shouldn't he tell her? "I don't know what to do about the Black Diamond," Harry began and he could see Cassandra give him a shocked look.
"Oh. The Black Diamond," she murmured quietly, "What about it?"
"I really don't know if I should tell Dumbledore about it. A part of me deep down is telling me that I need to but another part says that it could just be dreams and nothing more and that I shouldn't waste Professor Dumbledore's time because he has a lot of things to take care of."
"Is there somebody else you could talk to, like a relative or a close adult friend of yours aside from Dumbledore?" Cassandra asked her brow furrowing together in thought. Harry sighed again and a vision flashed through his mind. Sirius falling through the veil.never to return.
"There was somebody but he died.he was my godfather and I know that if Sirius were still alive I could tell him, he would let me know what to do," Harry said in a forlorn voice. He heard Cassandra's sharp intake of breath before she spoke again.
"I know what its like to lose somebody special in your life, Harry. I've been there before. I'm sure Sirius was a good man and I'm sorry you lost him," Cassandra said in a sympathetic voice. Was it just Harry or did it sound like Cassandra was about to cry?
"If you don't mind me asking: How did your parents die?" Harry asked knowing that it was probably a touchy subject with the sixteen year old.
"I never knew my father. He ran off before I was even born. My mom hated me from the beginning. She was extremely young when she had me and my father left her all alone to care for me. She was a witch who was going somewhere, she had so much to live for and then she had me. I hindered her dreams and she had to become a house witch and care for me all the time. I was a mistake.I never should have happened but I did. I don't know who my father is; every time I brought it up with my mother she would change the subject or lock me away in my room. She told me that not only was I a mistake but so was my father. My mom told me that he went out and got himself killed a few months before I was born. One day my mother couldn't take it anymore and she tried to kill me, but her wand backfired and she ended up killing herself. So there I was ten years old and orphaned. So the Headmaster at WillowBoil sent me to a regular muggle orphanage and then I came here and that's basically my life story. Pretty pathetic huh?" Cassandra disclosed. Harry could see her eyes watering but she blinked quickly and they disappeared.
Quite frankly, Harry didn't know what to say. Sure he was orphaned when he was a baby; he never knew his parents but in a way, neither did Cassandra. Her father, probably dead now, never knew she existed and her mother didn't want her. At least Harry's parents wanted him; at least he wasn't branded as a mistake an impediment to dreams. And at least Harry had living relatives even though he hated them and his relative despised them.
"Erm.sorry," he said before he offered her a comforting smile. He had a feeling that Cassandra didn't like to dig up the past.
"Why are you saying sorry? It's not your fault that my parents hated me, don't be sorry at all Harry," Cassandra said as if somebody being sorry for her horrible past was some kind of crime.
"Sorry," Harry said apologizing for saying sorry. Cassandra looked at him and started to laugh. She looked towards the west and saw that the last bit of the sun was disappearing, night swiftly on its way. "I believe we have a Halloween feast to attend?" Cassandra questioned as they headed up towards the castle, the Great Hall illuminated.
"Yeah, right. I heard Dumbledore booked a bunch of black can-can dancing cats for entertainment," Harry explained and Cassandra laughed again.
"That man is brilliant. Can-can dancing cats," Cassandra giggled as they joined the rest of their classmates in the Great Hall, ready to begin the evening's festivities.
*~*~*
And sure enough, Dumbledore did, in fact hire can-can dancing black cats. The entire Hall was on their feet, clapping and singing along to the songs the cats performed to. Many of the students were laughing hysterically, Cassandra especially proclaiming it was the best Halloween she had ever had.
Harry looked over at the Slytherin table and tapped Ron on the shoulder when he noticed Malfoy. Harry watched as Ron laughed hysterically at the sight of Malfoy. His usual slicked back, white blonde hair was in disarray and he looked half dead. Crabbe and Goyle looked uglier than usual and they tried to feed themselves miserably. Harry could tell they were extremely tired and he couldn't help but laugh along with Ron.
Once the feast was over, Harry, Cassandra, Hermione, and Ron headed back up to the common room, all of them extremely full and also very tired. As they were walking up the marble steps, Harry's scar felt like it was about to burst. He gripped his head and leaned against the railing of the marble staircase. He looked up at Ron and an emotion surged through him. He wanted to smack Ron, to hurt him in any way possible. Hurt him horribly, maybe even kill him. Harry walked up to Ron and held his hands up, ready to pounce when another emotion gushed through him. He felt light headed, giddy with happiness and now he wanted to hug Hermione, to dance around with her and laugh loudly.
Harry gasped loudly, making Hermione, Ron, and Cassandra turn around to give him questioning glances. "Alright Harry?" Ron asked his voice dripping with concern. Harry nodded but he could feel the anxiety and fear inside him. Voldemort was feeling violent and happy at the same time, something was going to happen and Harry knew for a fact that it wouldn't be a good thing.
"Harry?" Cassandra whispered as she closed Snape's office door quickly behind her. Her face went extremely pale before she grabbed his arm and led him down the hallway, away from Snape's office.
"Cassie? What . . . what was that about?" Harry managed to stammer in surprise as he turned to face her. Harry knew for a fact that she wasn't in there for detentions if Snape was making her potions.
"Look Harry, you have to swear not to tell anyone please?" Cassandra begged her blue eyes pleading furiously. "Not even Ron or Hermione please Harry."
"What am I not supposed to tell them? Would you tell me what's going on?" Harry asked as Cassandra turned away from him and leaned her head back, rubbing her face with her hands before letting out a small shriek of frustration.
"For the past couple of times I've said I've had detention with Snape, I haven't been completely honest. He's been making me potions because I have a-a . . . condition," Cassandra explained whispering the last part as if it were something to be ashamed of.
"What kind of condition?" Harry asked his voice growing concerned.
"It's something with my heart that I've had ever since I was little. No one has been able to explain what's wrong with me. Professor Dumbledore knew I was having problems that man knows everything doesn't he?" Cassandra asked giving a feeble laugh before Harry nodded. "So Dumbledore knew I was having problems and he asked Snape to make me a potion to help ease the pain." Harry nodded in understanding. That answered half of his questions. He also wanted to know why she was so friendly with Snape when she showed so much hatred towards him during the first weeks of the term but he knew it wasn't the time or the place.
"Hermione told Ron and me that you left in the middle of the night last night. She said when you came back it sounded like you had been crying. Where did you go?" Harry explicated before Cassandra's face went even whiter.
"Dammit nobody was supposed to know," Cassandra murmured before she looked up at Harry again, "Sometimes the pain comes at night and it feels . . . words can't describe how terrible it feels. It's almost like my heart is exploding in my chest and its doing it over and over again. So sometimes I go down to the common room or the bathrooms or even into the hallway outside the Gryffindor Tower entrance. The pain is so intense that I can't stay in a room with people. I don't want to disturb them. I think I've ticked off the Fat Lady on a couple of occasions because sometimes . . . sometimes I'll scream and then I'll wake her up. But please Harry, please, please, please don't tell anybody. I don't need sympathy from people and I don't want people to think I'll blow up at any moment. You won't tell anyone will you Harry?" Cassandra asked her eyes pleading, begging with him.
"Your secret's safe with me," Harry said offering her a comforting smile. Cassandra looked like she could have hugged him but she gave him a bright smile, acting as if the incident had never happened.
"You'd better hurry up to your lesson with Snape, you know how he doesn't like to be kept waiting," Cassandra said giving him a wink before she headed up the stairs to the main floor, no doubt heading to the Gryffindor common room.
Harry shook his head and hurried down the hallway to Snape's office. He could hear the professor moving things around in his study before Harry knocked on his door.
"Come in, Potter," he snapped and Harry opened the door and stepped inside immediately, shutting the door behind him. "You're five minutes late, Potter. And you know how I despise lateness," Snape growled at him. Harry noticed he was sitting behind his desk, the pensieve sitting calmly on the tabletop.
"Sorry sir, got a little caught up at dinner," Harry apologized as he sat down in the chair facing Snape.
Professor Snape sneered, "Caught up in your own fame Mr. Potter? Can't go anywhere nowadays without somebody recognizing you and wanting an autograph. Tell me Potter, when will someone approach you and give you the prospect of your own theme park?" Harry could feel his hatred for the man seething inside of him. He didn't know how he was going to concentrate when all he felt was anger and detestation.
"Let's get this over with as soon as possible, Potter. I still have papers to grade and things to do. This is still a waste of my time," Snape growled as he stood up to face Harry.
"It's a waste of my time too, sir," Harry derided before he stood up and tried with all his might to clear his mind.
"Legilimens!" Snape cried without warning. He saw Snape's office deteriorate in front of him and he was left with a clear mind. 'Yes!' Harry thought with triumph, he had gotten rid of all his thoughts. And then he felt Snape's spell pushing further into his mind, delving deeper until he pulled out memories hidden inside Harry's mind. There he was in the alleyway with Dudley, fighting off the dementors . . . The Gryffindor team winning the Quidditch Cup three years ago . . . Christmas at Sirius' house . . . and then Harry saw Sirius falling through the veil in his mind, that shocked and fearful expression locked on his godfather's face. 'No!' Harry screamed inside his head. Snape didn't deserve to witness Sirius' death in his own mind. 'Not this time,' Harry said before Snape was out of his mind.
Snape's office came back into focus and Harry was shocked to see that he was still standing up, wand clutched in his hand. Snape leered at Harry before he nodded his head. "Very good, Potter. It would come to a great shock to me if you said you had been practicing before you went to sleep. No?" Snape questioned when Harry shook his head in disagreement, "Well then Potter I think we'll leave it at that for tonight. I still have your potions homework to grade." Snape sneered as Harry started to give him a nervous look but quickly covered it up.
"Thank you Professor," Harry said as he headed towards the office door, the rustling of papers sounding behind him.
*~*~*~*
The following week was rather busy for the sixth year students. Halloween was that Friday and all of the students were looking forward to the feast. Harry held true to his word to Cassandra and didn't tell Ron or Hermione about her medical conditions and she seemed extremely grateful for that. In fact, Harry didn't exactly know how Cassandra carried on day in and day out with all the homework, Quidditch practices, and staying up all night in the common room or the bathroom with her aching chest. Cassandra almost reminded Harry of a zombie, which they were studying in Romulus Lupin's class at the moment. Harry didn't know how she finished all her homework, still get good marks on them, and stay on a broomstick beating bludgers around the pitch when she was getting close to three hours of sleep a night.
The night before Halloween was dark and stormy the night sky in the Great Hall cloudy and misty, the threat of rain looming. Harry wished it would pour rain tomorrow so Katie Bell would have to cancel Quidditch practice. They had been practicing three times a week for three hours and all of the members of the team (with the exception of Katie) thought they deserved a break. After all, the first match of the season would be Slytherin verses Ravenclaw; Gryffindor would challenge Hufflepuff the following weekend.
Harry, Ron and Hermione were eating their dinner in the Great Hall when Cassandra hurried over to the table an enormous grin on her face. "Here comes trouble," Ron muttered with a snicker before Cassandra sat down on the bench beside him.
"I almost forgot what day it is!" she exulted before she grabbed some mashed potatoes and chicken, putting them on her plate.
"Cassie, Halloween is tomorrow night," Hermione explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Oh I know that Hermione. But tonight is even better than Halloween!" Harry, Ron and Hermione all looked at her if she just suggested that Snape's class was better than Hagrid's.
"And what is tonight?" Harry asked. Cassandra answered him with a mischievous grin.
"Tonight is Mischief Night," she said barely above a whisper.
"What's Mischief Night?" Ron asked clearly interested.
"It's when you run around and cause complete mayhem. We used to do it all the time at WillowBoil. We would let off Dungbombs in the hallways, throw them in teacher's classrooms, bathrooms. We would throw toilet paper in everybody's rooms and put whipped cream and shaving cream everywhere. Sometimes the students would cause so much damage that our classes were cancelled the next day and the team of janitors would have to clean up everything since no one could be blamed. Of course all the teachers knew the students were responsible for it, but they never said anything. One of teachers, before he got fired, would always help us out on Mischief Night, letting us into places that were locked and only a fully trained wizard could open them. Mischief Night is the best night of the entire year." Cassandra explained. Ron and Harry looked positively electrified by this holiday when Hermione merely sat there with her mouth hanging open in shock and almost disgust.
"Excellent!" Ron exclaimed loudly before he grabbed some apple custard from the table.
"But in Hogwarts it's hard to get away with a lot of things with Filch and Mrs. Norris, it'd be impossible to do anything," Cassandra said disappointment tingeing her voice.
"Well, when you have certain . . . materials, you'll find getting around Hogwarts unnoticed is extremely easy," Ron said throwing a devious grin Harry's way. Harry nodding knowingly thinking about his Marauder's Map and his invisibility cloak.
"I hope you three are not going to go through with this!" Hermione scolded as she whispered fiercely trying not to draw attention to them.
"Why not Hermione? Just a bit of fun for one night? You've done your share of rule breaking I've heard. Let your hair down for a bit and come out with us! You'll have a blast, I promise," Cassandra persuaded as she smiled at Hermione, blue eyes flashing in a conniving way.
"Yea Hermione, you only live once," Harry said giving her a quick nudge in the shoulder.
Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed, "Fine. But you do know Ron that if we get caught our badges will be revoked!"
"Well that's just the thing 'Mione, no one will know," Ron said before they started to work out all the details.
They all decided to meet in the common room at quarter to midnight. Harry and Ron headed down to the kitchens to get whipped cream from the house elves and Dobby nearly fainted at seeing the sight of Harry once again. "Oh Harry Potter! Dobby is glad to be seeing you sir! What can Dobby do for the great and noble Harry Potter?" Harry was quite glad that Hermione didn't accompany them to the kitchens as they got the necessary items needed for the night because she'd try to start a strike among the house elves, still up in arms about the House Elf Liberation Front.
"Look Dobby, if people come in here tomorrow and they ask you if you leant out any whipped cream . . . don't say anything. Just tell them no one was in here," Harry explained to Dobby and the house elf nodded.
"Anything for noble Harry Potter sir!" Dobby squeaked.
After saying goodbye to Dobby, Ron and Harry shoved their parcels into their robes and hurried quickly up to Gryffindor Tower trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. They reached the portrait of the Fat Lady without any difficulties and they quickly hurried into their dormitory, storing the food and things in their school trunks.
Once the midnight hour was drawing close, Harry and Ron, checking to see that their roommates were sleeping, grabbed their necessary packages (along with the map and invisibility cloak) and headed downstairs.
They sat in the large common room, on the plush arm chairs by the fire when they heard two pairs of feet creep silently down the stairs. Harry looked up and saw Hermione come down first. He could tell she was trying to enjoy herself but he could tell that the threat of having her prefect's badge taken away was more dominant in her mind.
"Where's Cassie?" Ron whispered as he started to shake up a can of whipped cream.
"Behind you," a voice whispered and Harry laughed quietly as Ron jumped three feet into the air.
"Blimey Cassie you scared me to death! And why are you dressed like that? Harry has an invisibility cloak we won't be seen," Ron explained before Cassandra stepped into the firelight.
"You look like a cat burglar," Harry commented and Harry's statement did indeed hold true. Cassandra stood dressed head to toe in black. She had a black ski cap on her head, covering her already black hair. She was wearing gloves and she also had two dark stripes underneath her eye, making her look like an American Muggle Football player.
"Even though we'll be under the cloak, we'll have to get out of it in order to do most of this stuff," Cassandra explained as she pulled out roll after roll of toilet paper from a little black knapsack that was conveniently on her back. And what makes you think the teachers won't check for fingerprints? Wearing gloves is important. They did it all the time at WillowBoil. Nearly got expelled my first year there because they thought I had flooded all the bathrooms. But it was that stupid girl in her third . . ." Cassandra muttered the last part before she threw a roll to each of them. "Let's get this started!"
And so Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Cassandra spent most of the night tee peeing teacher's classrooms and covering bathroom mirrors with whipped cream. Thanks to Harry's map they were able to steer clear of Peeves and Mrs. Norris. Peeves was currently tormenting Moaning Myrtle in the girl's bathroom and Mrs. Norris was in her office with Filch.
"We've done all of the teacher's classrooms besides Sprout, Hagrid and Snape. We need to get Snape," Cassandra explained with an evil grin. Harry threw her a look. If Snape was making potions for Cassandra, and he found out about it, would he stop helping her? Or if he found out Harry was behind it, would he stop helping Harry with his Occlumency lessons?
"Are you sure? His quarters are just off his office. I don't think that's such a good idea," Hermione said nervously who had started a habit of looking over her shoulder and jumping at the slightest noise.
"We've done all the other teachers' classrooms that teach inside and if we skip Snape we would be serving an injustice to the school," Cassandra said nobly as she stood up on one of the desks that were situated in Lupin's classroom. Hermione rolled her eyes before she gathered up the rest of her toilet paper. She grabbed Harry's cloak giving all three of them a look that read 'I want to get this over with and go back to bed.'
"We should do the common room too," Ron suggested in a whispered voice as they headed down to the dungeons.
"Are you stupid Ron? If we vandalize the Gryffindor common room, they will assume a Gryffindor did it. But unless you know the passwords to all the other dormitories then yes I say we go for it," Cassandra explained and Ron started to go pink.
They finally got to Snape's classroom and they opened up the door and crept inside. Cassandra immediately went over to where jars and jars of disgusting things were floating around in them. They were all arranged in alphabetical order from Aardvark Ala Mode to Zzanticula Tentacles. She began to rearrange all three hundred or so jars. Harry started to throw toilet paper around the classroom letting it catch on the extinguished candle holders and the large chandelier that hung in the middle of the room. Ron was drawing a rather rude drawing of Snape on the chalkboard, making a bug ski off his rather hooked nose. Hermione was spraying whipped cream on the desks before she helped Harry with throwing around the toilet paper.
They heard Cassandra give a curse, her eyes landing on the Marauder's Map. "Snape's coming!" she cried before they all exchanged frantic and panicked looks. They immediately got underneath the invisibility cloak and knowing that Snape would be coming from his office, they ran for the door they had just entered.
"What the blazes is going on here?" a voice roared from the front of the classroom. The foursome broke into a run, stuffing all their evidence into a black knapsack and they threw it into an old waste basket.
Harry could hear Snape in the hallway bellowing the stunning spell and he knew they were done for. Harry could hear Cassandra mutter a spell under her breath and then she screamed loudly.
"CRABBE, GOYLE! RUN THE OLD GIT'S CATCHING UP!" Cassandra screamed in a voice that was identical to Draco Malfoy's.
"Brilliant!" Ron whispered as they ran up the steps, Cassandra still yelling out orders as Malfoy.
Cassandra finally let the spell drop as they neared the Gryffindor Tower. Then they heard Snape's voice ringing through the entire school. "Attention teachers, there are students who are out of bed, vandalizing the school." Harry could hear Hermione whimpering underneath her breath. The group gasped in unison when they heard the pounding of feet following them. "I heard them go this way!" They heard Filch yell loudly before more feet pounded along with Filch. They were twenty feet away from the Fat Lady, ten feet . . . five . . .
Cassandra let out a gnarled scream of pain before her legs dropped out from under her. She collapsed onto the ground clutching her chest. The three of them stopped but Cassandra urged them forward. "Just go," she managed to gasp out, tears falling down her face, smearing the black makeup, "Go!"
Harry turned to Ron and Hermione. "Leave the invisibility cloak, and get yourselves into bed. I'll get Cassandra," Harry explained. The two nodded and they hurried through the portrait and into the common room. Harry turned around and grabbed Cassandra's hand, picking her up, and placing the cloak around them.
"Can you walk?" he asked her. She nodded feebly and they hurried into the Gryffindor House. "You need to wash that stuff off your face and hurry into your pajamas; I expect they'll do a search of all the houses. Are you going to be alright?" Harry asked as they stopped in front of the stairs that led up to the dormitories.
"Thank you Harry," Cassandra whispered before she tried her best to hobble up the steps, clutching her chest the entire way. Hoping she would be alright, Harry bolted up the steps and took off his black cloak, revealing his pajamas. He folded the cloak up neatly as well as his invisibility cloak before he closed his trunk and flew into his bed, pulling the red hangings closed and racing under the covers. He took his glasses off quickly and placed them on his bedside table.
He could hear Ron trying to keep his breath under control, trying to act like he was asleep. Adrenaline pumped through Harry just at the thought of almost being caught by Professor Snape. He smiled at Cassandra's pure stroke of genius by using Malfoy's voice to throw the blame off them if they should ever be accused.
"Could you imagine the trouble she'd get into if Fred and George were still here?" Ron whispered to Harry. Harry thought about this for a moment and found he could only snicker.
*~*~*~*
The morning of Halloween was dark and stormy. Harry could hear the pounding of the rain outside the window as got out of bed and said cheerful good mornings to Dean, Seamus, Neville and Ron. Harry felt the gut wrenching feeling in his stomach remembering the things he did last night. Now that he thought back to it, he wasn't sure if it was the smartest thing to do. But if Malfoy received the blame and not him, it would surely be the happiest Halloween he had ever had.
Ron and Harry hurried into the common room to find everyone in an extremely happy mood. A few people were gathered around the post board looking at a new announcement.
"What's going on?" Harry asked a fourth year that was closest to the board.
"All classes have been cancelled today! Some genius person thought to ransack all of the teachers' classrooms. Filch and some of the house elves will be cleaning all day," the boy replied. Harry and Ron exchanged excited looks. So they had done it. They, along with Hermione and Cassandra had single handedly cancelled all the classes for the day.
Harry and Ron went to sit at a table, Hermione joining them. It looked like she didn't sleep at all last night. "Probably thought McGonagall would burst into her room and rip her prefect's badge away," Ron muttered to Harry. "Well, everything's just right in the world Hermione. Your badge hasn't been revoked or anything. But why do you look so tired?" Ron asked as Hermione took a seat immediately pulling out her Dark Arts homework.
"Because Cassie was in an intense amount of pain last night, I could tell she was crying but she kept it hidden extremely well. I wonder what's wrong with her."
"Where is she now?" Harry asked his face full of concern.
"I don't know. She wasn't in the room when I came down. She might have gone down for an early breakfast seeing as she didn't sleep a wink last night," Hermione explained her voice dripping with worry.
Just as Hermione said those words, the portrait flew open and Cassandra stumbled in, looking more exhausted than Harry had ever seen her. She saw them and her eyes grew bright and a smile grew on her face the fatigue leaving her brilliant blue eyes.
"You'll never guess what I just saw!" Cassandra exclaimed her bright blue eyes letting off a silent laughter.
"What?" Hermione asked looking up from her book.
"I was in Snape's room . . ."
"You were in Snape's room? Did he suspect you? Did you get into trouble?" Hermione asked her voice going pale instantly.
"No and No, Hermione. I had to pick up something to do with detention in his room and guess who was in there! Go on guess!" Cassandra said in an excited whisper so no one would over hear her. When nobody answered her, she let out a laugh.
"Malfoy!" she said with glee. The three of them gave her shocked looks before they urged her to go on, "Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were in his room. Snape bought my voice changing charm and thought that it was Malfoy who was vandalizing the school not us! That and the fact the place where we threw away the knapsack was a shortcut to the Slytherin dormitory! And you'll never guess what Snape did next!" Cassandra said happily. Harry thought that if her eyes contained one more ounce of happiness she would burst.
"McGonagall was in there as well and of course Snape couldn't just let them off easy. He said 'Never in all my years of being head of Slytherin house have I ever seen one of its own act so recklessly. I am ashamed that you are in Slytherin and I would have you three booted out if Professor McGonagall didn't talk me out of it. Each of you will serve a month's detention with Professor McGonagall.' Professor McGonagall grumbled about it not being enough punishment so then she went on to say, 'I believe, Severus that if you do not want these boys expelled points from their house must be deducted. Therefore one hundred points will be taken away from Slytherin. One hundred points each.' They have to spend the whole day cleaning all the classrooms. With no magic!" Cassandra squealed with delight before she erupted into laughter causing some first years to look at her if she were insane.
Ron acted like Christmas had come early. The only thing he wanted more in the world was for Malfoy to get into an absurd amount of trouble and here it was. He laughed harder than any of them until tears rolled down his cheeks at the mere thought of Malfoy having to scrub off whipped cream with a rag; doing what Malfoy would call 'servant's stuff.' But Slytherin was last place in the running for the House Cup now that three hundred points were deducted.
"So what are we going to do with our time off?" Ron asked grandly as they headed down to breakfast.
"We really haven't had any time to visit Hagrid. He's been so busy this year with his classes and fixing up the grounds. Not that we haven't been busy either what with homework and Quidditch and everything else," Harry proposed and all of them agreed to go down to Hagrid's hut after breakfast.
Harry found himself situated next to Cassandra as he reached over and grabbed a custard from its tray. She still looked extremely pale and it did look like she didn't sleep a wink last night. "Alright there Cassie?" Harry asked before she turned her pumpkin juice into coffee, taking a long sip of it.
"I guess so. Got Snape's potion this morning so I should be fine for a day or two. You haven't told anyone have you?" Cassandra asked a tinge of fear could be registered in her voice.
"I haven't told anybody Cassie, don't worry about it," Harry explained laying a comforting hand on her shoulder. She nodded before she busied herself with her breakfast.
"Harry! Cassie can I have a word?" Katie Bell shouted a ways down the Gryffindor table. Cassandra and Harry got up from their seats, Cassandra grumbling about how she didn't like to be disturbed during her breakfast before they stood in front of Gryffindor captain and chaser Katie Bell.
"What's up Katie?" Cassandra asked as she gave a smile to the seventh year.
"I booked the field for us this afternoon so we can practice before our game against Hufflepuff next Saturday. Meet everyone at the pitch right after lunch," Katie informed them before she turned around and started to talk to some of her girlfriends. Harry and Cassandra turned around and walked back to their seats ready to finish their breakfasts.
*~*~*
Once they had eaten their breakfast and were stuffed with food, the four headed down to Hagrid's hut to spend the morning with their favorite gamekeeper. Harry knocked on the door and they could hear Hagrid's boarhound, Fang barking deep inside his hut.
"Jus' one minute . . . Fang's just' a bi' excited to be havin' visitors," a gruff yet kind voice hollered from inside the house. The door burst wide open and Harry and his friends were staring at the largest man they had ever seen. Hagrid was twice as tall as a fully grown man and three times as wide. His hands were as big as the plates in the Great Hall and legs were as wide as a small tree trunk. They all knew that Hagrid was a half giant and his half brother Gwarp was in the Forbidden Forest uprooting trees and causing mayhem.
"Alright there Hagrid?" Hermione asked with a smile as he allowed them entrance in his hut. The four of them could easily sit down on the large arm chair that was near the entrance of the hut.
"Jus' fine Hermione. I was just fixin' up a spot o' tea when you came up ter see me," Hagrid explained as he hurried over to the fire where a kettle was wheezing about.
"Did you hear what happened up at the castle last night Hagrid?" Ron asked, barely able to keep his enthusiasm bottled up.
"O' course I did Ron. Filch was knockin' on me door at the crack o' dawn tellin' me that some students had vandalized the school or sommat like that. Came as quite a shock when we learned that Malfoy and his friends were behind it," Hagrid explained before a small grin played on his gigantic lips.
"It couldn't have been Golden Boy Malfoy, Hagrid!" Cassandra said with a repressed gasp.
"Th' very one Cassie," Hagrid replied before he burst into laughter. "I was there when they found Malfoy in th' common room. Snape told him he was in 'lot of trouble. I will never forget that shocked expression on Malfoy's face. O' course I had a feelin' that Malfoy had nothin' ter do with it but I didn't say anythin' on a count that the little rascals that ran rampage in th' school last nigh' are good friends o' mine," Hagrid explained before he gave them all knowing looks. Hermione looked like she was about to faint and Harry and Ron exchanged looks of panic. Cassandra looked as cool and as calm as ever.
"How did you know it was us Hagrid?" Hermione asked extremely close to tears.
"Now don' go off cryin' 'Mione. Besides, I can tell by th' expressions on yer faces. You all look dog tired and Malfoy and his two friends looked completely r'freshed when Snape woke them up in th' morning. Have dark circles under your eyes, the lot of you. An' I'm not about ter turn you lot in," Hagrid elucidated. Hermione looked relieved and Harry and Ron let out the breaths they had been holding in. Cassandra smiled happily and thanked Hagrid. "Now, I wan' you lot up in th' common room. You all need some rest or you won't be able ter attend the Halloween feast tonigh'"
After having a bit of tea with Hagrid and talking about the upcoming Quidditch season and Christmas the four of them went back up to the common room and into their dormitories for a quick nap.
*~*~*~*
Once Quidditch practice was over, Harry, Ron and Cassandra decided to walk around the large lake talking about the upcoming Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. They waved hello to Neville who was sitting underneath a tree reading through his Herbology homework. When Neville saw Cassandra he waved wildly and all of his papers flew away in the breeze. Neville turned a brilliant shade of scarlet before he hurried off after his papers.
"If I didn't know any better I'd say Neville fancies somebody and it certainly isn't Harry or me," Ron hinted as he nudged Cassandra in the shoulder. Cassandra laughed before she gave Ron a playful shove.
"I don't think Neville fancies anyone over here," Cassandra denied with a laugh.
"Oh please Cassie, he always tries to get a seat next to you during meals and in classes, he keeps asking you about helping him practice Quidditch. Ever since you stood up for him in Snape's class and publicly humiliated Malfoy he's held you up in some other light. In fact, I reckon he only tried out for the house team because you tried out," Ron explained a huge smile on his face. Harry could tell that Cassandra was seriously debating on whether or not to shove Ron in the lake. She looked at Harry and smiled before she grimaced and clutched her chest. Ron took no notice and continued to complain about school and gloat about Malfoy getting the blame as he began throwing medium sized rocks into the lake, the giant squid throwing a few back with one of his tentacles.
A small owl suddenly flew straight towards Ron, hitting him square in the face. "Pig you rotten tosser!" Ron yelled as the small owl whizzed around him. It took Ron nearly five minutes to get the note attached to his owl Pigwidgeon's leg and he shouted in happiness when he realized it was a note from his brothers Fred and George.
"I'm going to go write back to them, going to tell them about our escapade. They'll be insanely jealous they didn't think about that," Ron commented before he headed up to the castle, Pig in tow leaving Harry and Cassandra to finish their second lap around the lake.
"I thought you said you'd be fine for a couple of days," Harry commented as Cassandra winced once more before she put on a brave face.
"The potion has to kick in," she said shortly. Harry shook his head and knew she was lying. It had been nearly ten hours since Cassandra had gone down to Snape's dungeon for her potion and he was almost sure that it didn't take ten hours for a potion to 'kick in.' "But then again," Cassandra explained and she pulled a medium sized vial out of her robes. Harry saw the dark black liquid swirl around in the clear, clean glass and he didn't know how she could drink it. She uncorked the bottle and drank half of its contents, making a disgusted face. "This stuff is absolutely vile I can't stand to drink it," Cassandra was silent for a moment before she sighed contentedly, "that's much better."
The two continued to walk around the lake the silence surrounding them like a cloak. Harry sighed heavily and there was a hint of discourage in his sharp breath. Cassandra picked up on his uncertainty and turned to face him.
"That certainly was a depressive sigh," Cassandra commented, "Got something on your mind?"
"I'm just really confused," Harry countered back as he stared at his feet going back and forth as they rounded out onto their third lap.
"About what?" Cassandra questioned.
Harry hesitated a moment. He wasn't sure if he could tell her, he didn't think she'd understand. But there was something about Cassandra White that Harry could trust, he couldn't quite put his finger on it, but she reminded him of somebody, somebody that he could trust. After all, she had shared that she had a heart condition, something that very few people knew about; why shouldn't he tell her? "I don't know what to do about the Black Diamond," Harry began and he could see Cassandra give him a shocked look.
"Oh. The Black Diamond," she murmured quietly, "What about it?"
"I really don't know if I should tell Dumbledore about it. A part of me deep down is telling me that I need to but another part says that it could just be dreams and nothing more and that I shouldn't waste Professor Dumbledore's time because he has a lot of things to take care of."
"Is there somebody else you could talk to, like a relative or a close adult friend of yours aside from Dumbledore?" Cassandra asked her brow furrowing together in thought. Harry sighed again and a vision flashed through his mind. Sirius falling through the veil.never to return.
"There was somebody but he died.he was my godfather and I know that if Sirius were still alive I could tell him, he would let me know what to do," Harry said in a forlorn voice. He heard Cassandra's sharp intake of breath before she spoke again.
"I know what its like to lose somebody special in your life, Harry. I've been there before. I'm sure Sirius was a good man and I'm sorry you lost him," Cassandra said in a sympathetic voice. Was it just Harry or did it sound like Cassandra was about to cry?
"If you don't mind me asking: How did your parents die?" Harry asked knowing that it was probably a touchy subject with the sixteen year old.
"I never knew my father. He ran off before I was even born. My mom hated me from the beginning. She was extremely young when she had me and my father left her all alone to care for me. She was a witch who was going somewhere, she had so much to live for and then she had me. I hindered her dreams and she had to become a house witch and care for me all the time. I was a mistake.I never should have happened but I did. I don't know who my father is; every time I brought it up with my mother she would change the subject or lock me away in my room. She told me that not only was I a mistake but so was my father. My mom told me that he went out and got himself killed a few months before I was born. One day my mother couldn't take it anymore and she tried to kill me, but her wand backfired and she ended up killing herself. So there I was ten years old and orphaned. So the Headmaster at WillowBoil sent me to a regular muggle orphanage and then I came here and that's basically my life story. Pretty pathetic huh?" Cassandra disclosed. Harry could see her eyes watering but she blinked quickly and they disappeared.
Quite frankly, Harry didn't know what to say. Sure he was orphaned when he was a baby; he never knew his parents but in a way, neither did Cassandra. Her father, probably dead now, never knew she existed and her mother didn't want her. At least Harry's parents wanted him; at least he wasn't branded as a mistake an impediment to dreams. And at least Harry had living relatives even though he hated them and his relative despised them.
"Erm.sorry," he said before he offered her a comforting smile. He had a feeling that Cassandra didn't like to dig up the past.
"Why are you saying sorry? It's not your fault that my parents hated me, don't be sorry at all Harry," Cassandra said as if somebody being sorry for her horrible past was some kind of crime.
"Sorry," Harry said apologizing for saying sorry. Cassandra looked at him and started to laugh. She looked towards the west and saw that the last bit of the sun was disappearing, night swiftly on its way. "I believe we have a Halloween feast to attend?" Cassandra questioned as they headed up towards the castle, the Great Hall illuminated.
"Yeah, right. I heard Dumbledore booked a bunch of black can-can dancing cats for entertainment," Harry explained and Cassandra laughed again.
"That man is brilliant. Can-can dancing cats," Cassandra giggled as they joined the rest of their classmates in the Great Hall, ready to begin the evening's festivities.
*~*~*
And sure enough, Dumbledore did, in fact hire can-can dancing black cats. The entire Hall was on their feet, clapping and singing along to the songs the cats performed to. Many of the students were laughing hysterically, Cassandra especially proclaiming it was the best Halloween she had ever had.
Harry looked over at the Slytherin table and tapped Ron on the shoulder when he noticed Malfoy. Harry watched as Ron laughed hysterically at the sight of Malfoy. His usual slicked back, white blonde hair was in disarray and he looked half dead. Crabbe and Goyle looked uglier than usual and they tried to feed themselves miserably. Harry could tell they were extremely tired and he couldn't help but laugh along with Ron.
Once the feast was over, Harry, Cassandra, Hermione, and Ron headed back up to the common room, all of them extremely full and also very tired. As they were walking up the marble steps, Harry's scar felt like it was about to burst. He gripped his head and leaned against the railing of the marble staircase. He looked up at Ron and an emotion surged through him. He wanted to smack Ron, to hurt him in any way possible. Hurt him horribly, maybe even kill him. Harry walked up to Ron and held his hands up, ready to pounce when another emotion gushed through him. He felt light headed, giddy with happiness and now he wanted to hug Hermione, to dance around with her and laugh loudly.
Harry gasped loudly, making Hermione, Ron, and Cassandra turn around to give him questioning glances. "Alright Harry?" Ron asked his voice dripping with concern. Harry nodded but he could feel the anxiety and fear inside him. Voldemort was feeling violent and happy at the same time, something was going to happen and Harry knew for a fact that it wouldn't be a good thing.