Chapter 35
The Wager

After a few minutes, they all stirred and by almost unspoken agreement looked at their watches. "Class" both Ginny and Hermione said simultaneously. Ron rolled his eyes and Cassie just leaned her head back against the wall.

"At least it's Herbology. No Malfoy git there. Then we've got Quidditch practice this afternoon." Ginny looked at Hermione and Cassie. "Are you two going to be all right? Alone?"

"Of course." Hermione looked slightly affronted. "I can handle Malfoy myself. I would have done something different yesterday except that I didn't want to, uh, give away the game, so to speak."

"We understand." Harry was quick to point out. " It's just that if he had friends or something, it would be a lot to handle."

"I think we'll probably avoid the library this afternoon, though." Hermione said, and Cassie breathed a sigh of relief. "We'll study in the common room. I'm sure Pia won't complain." Cassie just shook her head.

"I hate the idea of that idiot making us feel frightened to walk around the halls of the school, though. It's like letting him win, or something."

"Think of it as . . . living to fight another day." Harry said, smiling down at the two of them as he stood and picked up his bag. "When all of us are together, it wouldn't be any trouble to take on anything the entire house of Slytherin could throw at us." They all laughed at the confidence in his voice, but Cassie somehow suspected he wasn't exaggerating. After all, Harry had fought Voldemort and she had seen with her own eyes the power that took. Draco Malfoy wouldn't stand a chance. Which is probably why, now that she thought about it, he tended to try to get her alone. This morning was a prime example. It was just she and Ginny right there before Potions, right outside of Professor Snape's classroom no less where Ginny could hardly start hexing the idiot. The Potions Master was not very fair when it came to awarding detentions. She had seen that with her own eyes as well.

"I'm sorry everyone. I really blew it this morning." She said it. The thing that was bothering her the most. If she hadn't been so anxious to get into class . . . and the reason she had been so anxious was because she really did not want detention. She was walking on eggshells right now, more than she had before, because she was terrified that something would stop her from going into Hogsmeade tomorrow. And, she admitted to herself even though she couldn't say it to anyone else, if that happened, she would just want to curl up and die. Not that she thought Professor Snape would have her in detention with him. Class today had proven what she already suspected. But he could assign her detention with another professor or even Filch or even Hagrid, she gathered from stories that some of the other students had told her. So, because she wanted to go to Hogsmeade to see George she had been hasty about getting away from Malfoy, she had agreed with whatever he said, knowing that it was stupid. And she had caused no end of trouble.

"No reason to apologize." Ginny helped her stand up. "You couldn't have known. And Hermione, the same goes for you. Let's not spend time and energy wishing we could change what has already happened. We just need to move on from here. Come on, Pia. The big bad plants are waiting for us." They all laughed and exited the little room, spreading out to go to their various classes.

Herbology was surprisingly enjoyable and Cassie was almost sad when it ended. Now that she had adjusted her thinking to deal with biting plants, it wasn't as overwhelmingly terrifying in the greenhouses as it had been that first day. Neville had been a lot of fun this afternoon, also, and he had all of their group cracking up at some of his jokes. She and Ginny were both still giggling over a particularly accurate impersonation of Professor Snape as they walked back to the castle an hour later. Even Saffron had been fun this afternoon, seemingly relaxing from her need to control everyone around her, and teasing and joking with the rest of them. Cassie knew that she heard the word "Hogsmeade" tossed around in almost everyone's conversation and it was as though the entire student body was preparing itself for a big party the next day. She commented as much to Ginny as they were climbing the steps up to the common room.

"Well, you're right. It's a really fun place and this visit right before Christmas is always particularly exciting. Everyone finishes up their Christmas shopping and there's a lot of joking around and throwing snowballs and everything." At the mention of Christmas shopping, Cassie stopped smiling. She wasn't sure what to do about buying gifts. There may be some fun stuff to buy in the wizarding village but she would have no idea what to buy or what everyone she wanted to get presents for would want.

"Would you help me buy presents tomorrow?"

"No. Sorry." Cassie looked at Ginny in surprise.

"Why not? Won't I be able to buy things?" Cassie was genuinely confused and wondered if as a Muggle she would be unable to see or purchase the things in the stores.

"Yeah, you'll be able to buy things . . . I just don't think you're going to want my help."

"Why not?"

"I think a certain brother of mine is going to be monopolizing all your time. If you want help with Christmas shopping, you'd better ask him." They both giggled and Cassie's heart began to race as she realized that it was now Friday afternoon and that it was now just about 18 hours or so before she actually saw George again.

"I'll need to buy him a present, though. He can't help me with that."

"Oh, he's never been shy letting me know what he wants for Christmas. He'll be the same with you, I'm sure. Once you've decided what to get him, I'll help you buy it."

"Thanks." This short conversation had drawn Cassie's mind back to her hiding place. "Have you thought of any other options for where they are going to hide me after next week, Ginny?"

"Um, well . . . Harry thought maybe in Hogsmeade. That would make sense. No one would ever look for you there and there's somewhere outside of town that is perfectly safe and no one knows about it. Okay, hardly anyone."

"What sort of a place is that?"

"It's called the Shrieking Shack."

"The Shrieking Shack! It sounds dreadful! What is it?" But Ginny never answered her because then they were at the portrait of the Fat Lady and there were a lot of other students standing outside in the hall visiting and they had to stop talking. Cassie waited in the common room for Hermione after Ginny had met up with Ron and Harry and left for Quidditch practice. There were lots of students in there this afternoon, all talking and laughing, and Cassie thought it was highly unlikely that Hermione would be able to get much studying done. She intended to relax this afternoon. She would do her homework on Sunday. Now she would write a letter home to her parents and maybe take a nap. It had been a long week and she was exhausted.

It was almost 45 minutes before Hermione slipped through the portrait hole, a huge pile of books held in front of her. Cassie roused herself and went over to help her. "What's all this, Hermione?" She pulled the top several books off the pile, helping Hermione stack them on a nearby table.

"I have an essay due next Friday in my Arithmancy class and I wanted to get started on it. So, I had to go get some materials from the library." Cassie cast a wary eye on the large pile of dusty books and realized that these were the same books Hermione had been looking at during lunch when they had interrupted her.

"Isn't next Friday the last day of term?"

"Yes. But Professor Vector feels the same way I do about such things. Every minute of class time is precious and shouldn't be wasted in light-hearted celebrations. When holidays start, they start. We shouldn't waste two weeks of class getting ready for them."

"Ah. I see." Cassie shook her head slightly. She had no idea how Hermione and Ron ever got along. Two more opposite personalities could not possibly exist. Ron had just been telling Harry not even an hour ago that in his opinion it should be illegal for teachers to assign homework the last week of term. "It takes a while to get into the proper holiday mood and we get such a short break, anyway. It would be kind of a nice beginning to the season. It's not like anyone does any assigned homework that week anyway. They should just make it official." Harry had agreed with him, although Cassie had noticed a very slight eye-rolling movement as he followed his friend out the portrait hole, Ginny following behind the other two.

The afternoon passed in quiet relaxation for Cassie, although she noticed that Hermione was working pretty hard. She wrote a letter home to her parents, replying to the one that Remus had given her that morning. She sat and contemplated her wardrobe for the next day for a while. And she also made a list of everyone she needed to buy Christmas presents for this year and decided how much money she could spend on everyone. She supposed that her parents could give her some extra money. She had a much longer list this year than she had ever had before and she had no idea what sort of gifts would be appropriate for her wizard and witch friends. She would speak to Remus about getting money from home and wished with some frustration that she had thought of this earlier. She didn't have much money for tomorrow and doubted that the credit card she had tucked at the bottom of her trunk for emergencies would do her much good.

The dinner hour finally arrived and Harry, Ron, and Ginny came back from Quidditch practice, looking cold and muddy, but happy. Cassie and Hermione waited for them to come back down from their showers and Cassie about jumped out of her skin when she heard growling behind her. She whirled, staring at the books still piled on the table. One of them was wiggling and there was a distinct noise coming from it. Hermione seemed unfazed, continuing to visit with a fourth-year girl who had approached earlier with some question or another. As Cassie stared at the pile, the book shifted out of the pile and the growling noise got louder. "Hermione?" She asked quietly, but the girl didn't answer. The book was getting more and more aggressive, and Cassie backed away from the table as casually as she could. "Hermione?" Still no reply. The book was now scuttling across the table on unseen feet, growling as it reached the edge near Cassie. She didn't know what else to do. She pulled her wand and pointed it at the book. At the same time, she grabbed the heaviest looking book out of the rest of the pile and threw it on top of the wiggling growling tome, effectively pinning it. "Hermione! I could use some help here."

"What, Pia?" She turned finally, looking frustrated at having her conversation interrupted.

"The book . . . growling and wiggling and . . ."

Hermione laughed. "You seem to have things under control." She raised her eyebrow in question at Cassie's wand pointed at the book. Cassie blushed and tucked the wand back into her sleeve.

"Didn't think it could hurt." Hermione picked up the now-quiet book and tucked it into the pile again.

"It's just getting a little bored, I suppose. Must be boring for a book to be stuck in the restricted section."

"Yes. I can only imagine." She thought maybe Hermione was joking, but her face was serious. Cassie wanted to say more, but Ginny bounced down the stairs at that moment, and a few minutes later they were all headed down for dinner.

It was a rather uncomfortable meal. Cassie felt that everyone in the entire hall was staring at her and she knew she felt Draco's eyes on her as well. She wanted to stand up and shout out to everyone that there had just been a big misunderstanding, but of course she couldn't. So, she just ate as quickly as possible, hoping to escape from the Great Hall early. Everyone else seemed to sense her unease and it was in almost record time that the five of them were finished and stood up to leave. Cassie felt as much as heard the snickers and whispers behind her back from the Slytherin side of the hall and wished she knew what Draco was telling them in the common room. She was pretty sure it was not complimentary to her. She mentioned as much to Ginny as they climbed.

"Yeah. I agree. I'm sure he's spreading all sorts of rumors about you. The git. Honestly, I don't understand why he is so obsessed."

"Neither do I. If it wouldn't get me killed, I'd tell him I'm a Muggle. That would turn him off completely."

"No kidding."

The evening passed with excruciating slowness for Cassie. She could hardly wait to go to bed, knowing that sleep would make the hours before Hogsmeade fly by. By 8, she was seriously tempted to go up and at least lay down. Maybe she would be able to sleep early, which would help time go even more quickly. However, she knew that after her nap on the couch this afternoon, it was unlikely she could sleep. And it was more fun down here in the common room watching everyone play various wizarding games than it would be lying upstairs sleepless on the bed. So she forced herself to wait for a few more hours. About 10, when she was thinking happily that it was down to only twelve more hours, Harry stood up from his chess game with Ron. A meaningful look passed between Harry and Ron and Cassie's brows drew together. What were they up to?

"I think I'll go up to bed. I'm exhausted."

"Good idea, Harry. I'll be up there soon to join you." But Ron made no move toward the staircase. Instead, he took Hermione's hand. "Fancy a walk?"

"At this hour? Are you mental?" But she was smiling broadly and they walked together over to the portrait hole. A few minutes later, Ron pushed the portrait open and slipped through. Hermione hesitated, looking at her boyfriend standing outside in the hall. "We could get detention, Ron. Maybe we should really stay here."

"You're probably right." He climbed back through and the portrait closed behind him. They held hands for a few minutes, standing there, before they settled on the couch, arms around each other. Cassie watched out of the corner of her eye. Ginny was visiting with Rhiannon and seemed to be ignoring Ron and Hermione completely. Cassie suspected that something else was going on, but she couldn't figure out what. She finally roused herself from the game of Exploding Snap she had been pretending to watch and walked over to the group of chairs and couches by the fire. She sat down in one and glanced down at her watch. It was now 10:20 and she was starting to feel tired. Ginny joined her a few minutes later.

"Are you about ready to go upstairs?"

"Yeah. I thought I'd shower tonight and braid my hair. Do you want me to do yours, also? For tomorrow?" Ginny thought for a minute.

"That would be fantastic. Thanks." But no one moved to go upstairs and Cassie shrugged to herself. Even if no one else went up, by 11, she would go. She didn't want to have dark circles under her eyes when she saw George again. After all, she had a rather nasty shock for him, and it would help if she looked as good as possible when telling him the bad news. She stared into the fire for what seemed like forever. Hermione finally glanced at her watch and muttered something to Ron. He stood up.

"Do you hear strange noises out in the hall, Hermione?"

"Now that you mention it, it does sound like there's a commotion." Cassie drew her brows together. She couldn't hear anything.

"Maybe you should check it out, Ron." Ginny offered and Ron pulled his wand, looking determined. He walked over to the portrait hole and pushed the picture open from behind. He stood for a moment staring out into the emptiness before he closed it again.

"I don't hear anything now."

"No, neither do I." Cassie didn't know what they were up to, but their acting skills really stunk. She almost laughed, but bit her lip instead. No one else in the common room seemed to think anything unusual was going on. She wasn't going to draw attention to the little melodrama. So she just shook her head briefly and concentrated again on watching the flames. Just as she had finally decided that she was going to have to go up to bed alone, Harry came back down the steps and walked over to join them.

"I couldn't sleep. You never came up, Ron." His voice was only mildly accusing.

"Sorry. I got involved talking to Hermione." Harry winked and Cassie realized that he had not been trying to sleep at all. He was still fully dressed and his hair was just as rumpled as ever, but not more like it would have been if he had been tossing and turning on his bed for an hour. Harry sat down in his usual chair and drew Ginny down onto his lap.

"I didn't have any trouble at all. But, I have to tell you that it's worse than we imagined." Cassie was puzzled. What was he talking about? "He's telling all sorts of lies about her. And he's got an extremely foul wager in place that was the main topic of discussion tonight."

"What's going on, Harry?" He looked around to make sure no one else was standing nearby and answered her in a low voice.

"I've just come back from an excursion into the heart of enemy territory - the Slytherin common room." Cassie was about to question his sanity when all the pieces suddenly clicked. He had gone out in his invisibility cloak and Ron and Hermione had been putting on a rather bad act so that he could leave and return through the hole without the Fat Lady knowing he was out of the dorm. Indeed, if she were questioned, she would undoubtedly testify that no one had come or gone that evening except for one Ron Weasley, who had changed his mind almost immediately. Good plan. Bad acting but a good plan.

"Why would you do that?"

"We decided that it was important to know what Malfoy is saying about you. We thought it a distant possibility that he had somehow figured things out and was just toying with you until tomorrow when you'd be out of the castle and relatively unprotected." Cassie blanched.

"And it's worse than you thought?" What could be worse than this?

"The crudity of the rumors he is spreading about you is worse than we imagined. But no worries about the other. He is absolutely convinced you are a pure-blood witch, and he fancies the two of you having a rather torrid love affair once school is over."

"He's completely off his nut."

"No kidding. Not that this comes as a surprise." Cassie waited to hear the rest, but Harry didn't say anything else.

"Well, do I get to hear the rest?"

"What?"

"The rumors? The wager? The whole thing."

Harry's face turned bright red.. "No. I don't think so."

"Are you going to tell everyone else?"

"Um, I was planning on it."

"So they get to know, but I don't? Is there some particular reason for that? And if you say it's because I'm a girl, or a . . . well, I'll hit you. Are you telling Ginny?"

"Look. . . I . . . It would be really embarrassing."

"I think I can handle it. My imagination is working overtime at the moment. It's probably not as bad as I'm thinking." Harry flushed a deeper color red.

"Um, well . . . I think it's probably worse."

Hermione clicked her tongue. "She deserves to know, Harry. After all, it's her that he's talking about." Harry grimaced.

"Okay. But don't say I didn't warn you." He paused a moment, collecting his thoughts, Cassie guessed. "When I got in there, Draco and a group of his cronies were all huddled in a corner. I think there were about 10 of them. I don't even know all their names, but they were all fifth year and up, I think. They were talking about all sorts of things, but then one of them mentioned Hogsmeade. Draco pounced on the opening. He said, um, 'She'll be going in with me, of course. I have a whole day planned.' Crabbe laughed at that. 'I think you're having us on, Draco. She didn't seem that interested in you today.'" Ginny interrupted Harry's narrative.

"Give the boy a Galleon. I didn't know he even noticed such things." Harry smiled, but it looked pained.

"Then Draco said something like 'Well, she can't show it in public, can she? After all she's in Goody-Goody Gryffindor. But when it's just the two of us, she's a wildcat.'" Cassie squeaked in protest. "Anyway one of the boys I don't know said something to the effect of, 'I don't believe you, Malfoy. I don't think she has it in her.'" Harry stared at the fire for a minute. "Then Draco said that you're, um, actually begging for it." Cassie wasn't sure what he meant. Certainly not what first came to mind.

"Do you mean he's telling them all that I want to . . . to . . ." She couldn't bring herself to finish the question.

"Yeah. That's what he means. And like I said, he's got a pool going on where they can place bets on how long before he actually, uh, gets you alone in the Astronomy tower." Cassie blanched.

"How would they know whether he's telling the truth? He's obviously delusional. He's got a whole fantasy world cooked up where I'm the main star."

"Apparently they all have the same thought. After all, if they're coughing up good money, they want proof of what happened and when. And that brings us to the second wager of the evening."

"You mean there's more?"

"'Fraid so. Anyway, from what I can tell there's been a bet on in the house for quite a few days regarding the color and style of . . . um . . . well . . ." Harry's voice trailed off.

"What? Don't leave us hanging here." Harry glared at Ron.

"What she wears under her clothes, all right?" He scowled and folded his arms. Ron now looked as confused as Cassie felt.

"Do you mean her uniform?"

"Under that."

"You mean . . . her knickers?!" He practically yelped this and the few students left downstairs in the common room turned to look at their corner. Harry just nodded furiously. Cassie flushed bright red and stared at the carpet. How absolutely humiliating!

"Please, Harry. For the love of all that's holy, tell me you're having me on."

"Sorry. It's true. There's a whole list of possibilities with odds on each one. I saw the list." Cassie thought she would just prefer to die rather than face all those Slytherin boys across the Great Hall tomorrow at breakfast. "Anyway, the point is that they are counting on Draco to bring them back a pair of the . . . items so that they can settle the bet."

"And I suppose he has told them that he'll be collecting them personally as a souvenir of our time together?"

"That's about the gist of it."

"I think I'm going to throw up. Maybe I'll use one of those Puking Pastilles tomorrow when he's standing next to me and I'll aim carefully. No, never mind. I don't need it. I can be ill just at the thought." Hermione and Ginny were making furious noises and Hermione stood up and started pacing.

"This is getting seriously out of control. He's always been dangerous, but now his pride is in the mix. He's not just going to give up and go away. You realize that, don't you?" Harry nodded.

"You're right. He's definitely dangerous. Maybe you should stay here tomorrow rather than go into town." Cassie felt all the color drain out of her face. She looked at Ginny for support. Ginny caught her eye.

"Harry. I don't think that's fair. Pia's really been looking forward to seeing Hogsmeade. There's no reason she needs to stay here. We'll just keep her away from Malfoy tomorrow." Harry considered his girlfriend.

"I don't like it. But you're right. It's not fair to punish her for his creepiness. Maybe I'll get a portkey made so she can immediately get back here if she's threatened at all."

"That's an option. Good idea. You work on that. Meanwhile, I'm taking Pia up to bed. She looks like she's about to collapse." And truthfully, Cassie thought, she felt like it. Her emotions had been running so high and then to have her Hogsmeade trip almost pulled out from under her, along with the other shocks from this evening. It was too much. Twenty minutes later, she was tucked into her bed, a million thoughts running through her head and she tried to focus on the idea that tomorrow she would see George. Ginny had convinced her to shower and braid her hair in the morning. "We'll have plenty of time. We're not supposed to meet them until 10."

"Do you think I'm stupid to risk going into town tomorrow?" Cassie asked quietly before they drew their curtains shut.

"No. Don't worry about it. If Harry knew you were going to be with George, he wouldn't even bother with the portkey. Fred and George act like goofballs most of the time, but believe me, George could protect you against any threat Malfoy and his goons could launch. He's a very powerful wizard. Harry's said that several times. He fights with the twins a lot and he's impressed with their skill."

"Ah. Okay."

"Maybe you should tell Harry about your plans."

"No. I don't want him to know. And promise me you won't tell him either, okay?"

"I already told you I wouldn't . . .but he may figure things out when he sees the two of you together."

"Maybe." Cassie thought this was unlikely. But that wasn't her biggest worry. Her biggest worry at this moment was what Ginny had just said. George was a very powerful wizard. And that meant he probably would want even less to do with her than she had previously imagined. Wonderful. She groaned and rolled over. Tomorrow would bring an end to the little world of dreams she had constructed for herself and a certain Weasley twin. Maybe in her way, she was just as delusional as Draco Malfoy. She closed the curtains, staring into the darkness for a long time before she finally fell asleep.