DISCLAIMER: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, not me. But I would be more than happy to take it off her hands…

A/N: Helloooo! Wow, over 5,000 hits. And we've reached the 50 favorites mark! Yay! Big thanks to everyone who showed support for this story. Also, many of you may have noticed I posted another story. I just want to say that in no way will that story take priority over this one, nor will it hinder my update rate. Shameless plug: The new story is called In a Moment of Need and a lot of people like it already, so maybe you will, too.

Anyway, I'll get to writing, 'cause that's what we're all here for.

OoOoO

Soft, pale hands held a swollen stomach, gently caressing it. The touch seemed to scream love and comfort and peace. The very end of red hair reached the woman's hands, and it, too, seemed to promise safety.

Cass woke with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes. These tears were happy ones, inspired by the sweet vision she had just Seen. Somehow, she knew that those hands belonged to her mother, and Cass felt radiant joy seep through her.

But…

Her vision was saying her mother had cared about her, loved her. If that were the case, why had she dumped Cass at the fire station? Her bliss vanished, trickled away like water down a drain. Cass sat up in her bed and looked around wearily, straining to see in the darkness. She had no idea what the hour was, so she stuck her hand through the curtains and reached over to her nightstand, groping for her watch and wand.

Finding both items, Cass whispered, "Lumos!" and was immensely proud to see her wand tip light up. Her roommates wouldn't be bothered as the curtains surrounding the four-poster bed were drawn; no light could escape through its thick fabric. Cass glanced down at her watch, using her wand to see the hands of the tiny clock. It was just past five in the morning.

Cass debated in her head whether to get up or not. Deciding she could use more sleep, she extinguished her light and laid back down, pushing her hair into a fan around her head to keep it from tickling her neck. Even though she knew the feeling must have been false, Cass tried to remember the warmth she had felt during her vision. But she just kept coming back to the undeniable truth: her parents hadn't loved her. To Cass's annoyance, tears sprang up behind her closed eyelids. Stop it, Cass. You don't need their love, you have Grandma's and Grandpa's and that's all you need, she told herself stubbornly, hating the stupid tears.

After ten minutes of wrestling with herself over whether her birth parents loved her or not, Cass gave up on sleep. Being as quiet as she could, she pulled a sweatshirt on over her nightshirt and made her way over to the door, deciding to draw in the common room to pass the time until breakfast started.

A yellow, pudgy-faced cat greeted Cass in the common room. Smiling, she whispered, "Good morning, Mr. Cat. You couldn't sleep either?" The cat gave a small meow in response. Cass leaned down to pick it up, and the cat pressed itself eagerly into her body. I hope whoever owns you won't mind, she thought, gathering the fluffy animal in her arms.

Holding the cat, Cass walked over to one of the tables. Suddenly struck with inspiration, she placed him on the table, murmuring for him to stay still. To her surprise, the cat did, looking at Cass with intelligent eyes. Okay…

Cass pulled a thick piece of parchment and a quill from her hoodie's pocket. The only other thing in it was her wand, which she left inside. Realizing the common room was too dark to draw, she walked over to the fireplace and stroked the flames, making them grow in size and in luminosity. Satisfied, Cass walked back over to her place at the table and returned her attention to her parchment. Giving the cat another smile, she set to sketching him, content to sit in the silence until breakfast.

OoOoO

"Harry, can I make a suggestion?" Cass said, trying her best not to shrink back when every one of the D.A. members turned to face her.

"Yeah, of course," Harry said kindly, smiling at Cass.

"Well, we—that is, Cyrene, Sarah, and I—were at the library. And we read something about wandless magic. I know it would be very hard, and it would take a lot of practice…but could the D.A. try and learn it?"

"Think about how useful it could be. Like, if we got disarmed or something," Sarah added.

Murmurs broke out amongst the students. Cass hoped they were murmurs of agreement.

Harry looked thoughtful. Hermione gave Cass a proud smile, and mouthed, "Great idea." Cass smiled back at her and waited for Harry's answer.

"I like that idea…but you're right. It would be hard to learn, especially without a teacher—"

"—But the Patronus Charm must've been hard to learn, too!" someone piped in. Cass shot a grateful look in the general direction of the speaker.

"I'm not saying no," Harry clarified. "I think it's a great idea. But I would be learning with all of you guys, so be prepared for a lot of guesswork."

"We need a book on wandless magic," Hermione said suddenly, putting a lot of emphasis on her words.

Next to Rose, a very heavy, very old-looking book appeared. With a bemused expression, the Metamorphmagus picked it up and walked over to Hermione, handing the older girl the book.

"What does it say, Hermione?" Harry asked.

All the students listened to what the bushy-haired fifth-year read. She cracked open the book, waved away the dust that came out of it, and flipped to what Cass assumed was the introduction.

"Wandless magic is very old—most likely the oldest medium of magic. It was used before staffs and wands were fashioned and before spells were crafted. It is believed by the most prestigious scholars to be the hardest of magics to cast, but our ancestors must have done it without much trouble.

"It is perhaps our use of the aforementioned wands—by which I mean our unwavering reliance on them—that makes wandless magic so difficult to master. So dependent of our wands are we that accessing our powers without them requires much concentration, much practice, and much power—"

"It's cut off by a stain right there," Hermione said with an apologetic look to the crowd.

"That's alright. Just look for some exercises," Harry suggested.

Hermione nodded and flipped to the table of contents. She pressed her pointer finger to the yellowed page and moved it down, her eyes darting around the page.

"Okay, this looks promising… 'A Beginner's Exercise.'" She found the page and began to read again. Cass made sure to pay strict attention.

"The best way to access one's magic without the use of a wand is to remember the feeling of casting with one, then trying to regain it. To start, cast a spell with your wand. Immediately afterwards, attempt to cast the same spell without it. Do not expect anything to happen on your first try."

"Brilliant…er, maybe we should…" Harry trailed off for a second, his features saying that he was thinking. "…we could do this exercise at the beginning—or end—of each meeting, then spend the rest of the time practicing defensive spells?" He ended his suggestion with a questioning tone, asking them what they thought.

Cass liked the idea. She also decided right then that she would do that exercise on her own, too. She knew she could do this, and she would push herself until she did.

Other people seemed to approve of Harry's idea as well.

"Yeah, okay," a redheaded girl said. Cass thought she might be Ron's sister, but she wasn't sure.

"Sounds like a plan to us," the twins chimed in.

"It would be absolutely brilliant to be able to do wandless magic—only really advanced N.E.W.T. students even begin to practice it…"

"I guess it could be useful," the pompous boy—his name was something Smith, Cass recalled—said, but you couldn't mistake the note of eagerness in his voice.

In the end, they decided to have the exercise at the conclusion of each session. "We'll have been doing magic for a while and it'll be fresh on our minds," Hermione had reasoned.

With that all set, Harry had everyone pair up and practice curses. For the older students, he had them practicing something called the Impediment Jinx. However, Harry had the first-years work on the Knockback Jinx, something that did exactly as the name suggested; it knocked one's opponent backwards.

This time, Cass paired up with Cyrene. "Flipendo!" Cass shouted, waving her wand.

One loud bang later and the Ravenclaw was on a mat, breathing heavily. "I'm good…that was a really great one, Cass!"

"Thanks!" Cass shouted back, feeling a little guilty. She hadn't meant to put so much power into it.

By the time everyone started to work on the wandless magic exercise, Cass had mastered the Knockback Jinx and was looking forward to begin learning wandless magic.

For this, everyone was working on their own. But all the first-years had clustered together in a corner of the room. Cass thought about which spell she was going to use for the exercise. She considered using Transfiguration, but discounted it, remembering what she had read about charms being the ideal type of spell to use in wandless magic. So far in Charms, they had gone over the Wand-Lighting Charm, the Mending Charm, and the Bluebell Flames Charm. Out of all those, Cass deemed the bluebell flames were her best bet, as the Wand-Lighting Charm required a wand (which just defeated the whole purpose) and the Mending Charm required something needing to be repaired. Besides, out of all the spells she had learned, the bluebell flames were among her favorites, mainly because it was so wicked to be holding flames in your hand without getting burned.

So, she held her wand in front of her, sat cross-legged on a mat, and cast the Bluebell Flames Charm. In her cupped hand, a blue fire appeared, warm but not unbearably so. Smiling slightly to herself, Cass tried to recognize the feeling of casting…it was the same feeling she got when she had a vision. She extinguished her flame and placed her wand on the ground. Cass closed her eyes. She muttered the incantation. She pushed power into her palms, both of them.

Something sparked in her hands. Cass's eyes flew open and saw a flash of blue, so quick she wasn't sure it had happened. She looked around; had anyone seen? Maybe they could attest to it…? But, no. Everyone was engrossed in their own practice, most with their eyes closed.

Cass closed her eyes and tried once more. This time, she knew nothing had happened because she had felt nothing, not a spark, not a slight tingle in her fingers, nothing.

She opened her eyes in frustration before taking a deep breath. Cass, you can do this. She did the charm with her wand, then immediately tried to do it again without it. Cass was pleased to feel her palms warm slightly, but, admittedly, that could have been her imagination (a thought Cass acknowledged with a small scowl).

After a few more minutes of trying and failing, everyone started to get up, identical looks of dissatisfaction on their faces. Harry pulled out his strange parchment, the same one from the last time. Once more Cass wondered what it did. Maybe she would ask him later.

"Did you guys do anything?" Rose asked amiably.

"Nuh-uh, but it's okay. The book said it would take a lot of practice," Bello replied. Cass tried to see his perspective on the exercise.

Sarah, however, did not. "Nope," she said sourly, spinning her wand between her fingers.

"I don't think anyone did, if that makes you feel any better," said Cyrene, who was examining the bookshelves while a group of Hufflepuffs left per Harry's direction.

Cass brightened suddenly. Something had just come to her. "Guys, I think we—us first-years, I mean—have the best chance to get this right," she said.

The others gave her confused looks. Cyrene turned to Cass. "Elaborate," she demanded curtly.

"Well, the book said that those who have come to rely on wands—pretty much every witch and wizard nowadays—will have the most trouble learning wandless magic."

"But we're first-years—we've barely used our wands at all!" Sarah finished, eyes alight with excitement.

"Precisely," Cass said, smiling.

OoOoO

The month of October passed. Every D.A. meeting, Cass and the first-years would learn to cast defensive spells. Simple ones, like the Knockback Jinx and the Full Body-Bind Curse, Cass was able to master fairly quickly. But there was one, the Seize and Pull Charm, that eluded her. So, naturally, this was her absolute favorite new spell.

It did exactly as the name suggested: it could pull objects towards you or latch on to bigger objects—like the ceiling, for instance—and pull you towards them. Harry said he had learned it in his third-year, but Hermione thought Cass and the other first-years might be able to pull it off, as the wand movement was simple and the incantation easy to pronounce.

So, Cass had practiced and practiced and (get this) practiced some more. She loved the challenge, but she loved the idea of pulling objects towards her with only a beam of light even more. She thought about the implications of it; one could swing from the ceiling if cast correctly! It was these hopes that pushed her through botched attempt after botched attempt.

As for wandless casting, it was a universal failure for the members of the D.A., but most people continued to try, despite the fact that rarely anything happened. In the five meetings they had been implementing the exercise, there were only two people who managed to do anything. Harry had made a feather float, but the cheers from the other D.A. members had broken his concentration, and he hadn't been able to replicate the feat since. The other person was a fourth-year named Luna Lovegood, and she had transfigured a match into something resembling a needle with a sharp point. She, too, hadn't been able to repeat her accomplishment. Cass noticed, with a little sadness, that not as many people had cheered for her as for Harry, so she had made a point to congratulate her at the end of the session.

Cass worked diligently on the exercise, using different charms in an attempt to outmaneuver whatever it was that blocked her from using magic without a wand. She knew she could do it. After all, aren't her visions technically wandless magic? But it wasn't until the Monday before Halloween that it happened.

"Ugh!" Cass groaned, fighting the urge to throw her wand across the room in her frustration. Similar sounds of disappointment were coming from the other first-years, who were all gathered around in a circle.

Breathe, you can do it, a distinctly Grandpa-ish voice told her. Cass did just that. She picked up her wand, closed her eyes, and cast the Bluebell Flames Charm. Still keeping her breathing steady, she dropped her wand and extinguished the small blue fire in her hand. Trying to keep in mind the feel of magic, Cass murmured the spell again.

Warmth spread across her palm. Next to her, Cyrene gave a soft gasp of surprise. Cass opened her eyes. In her hand was a blue fire. It was small and flickered a lot, but it was there.

"I did it…? I did it!" Cass exclaimed. Just like that, her focus broke and the flame went out in a woosh that left her feeling very tired.

"Good job, Cass!" said Bello, giving her a grin.

"Brilliant!" Rose smiled. Cass returned their grins.

"I don't know, Cass…that flame looked a bit on the small side," Brooke teased. Cass responded by narrowing her eyes.

"That was pretty impressive. Could you tell me exactly how you did it? Were you thinking of a certain thing? Did you say it at a certain volume? The infinite variables alone present a challenging obstacle, you do one thing wrong and nothing could happen…or a great many things could happen all at once…" Cyrene was saying, a questioning look on her face.

"Er, I dunno. Lemme try again, maybe I can pinpoint exactly what I did…" Cass replied. Concentrating hard on what she had to do, she tried to cast the Bluebell Flames Charm wandlessly. She was only rewarded with a small blue spark between her fingertips. Cass sighed. "I can't do it anymore. I guess the book was right; it takes loads of practice to do it on command."

"That's okay, you'll get it eventually. We all will," Sarah encouraged. There was no mistaking the resolve in her voice.

While everyone else was leaving the Room of Requirement, the first-years talked about the first Quidditch match this weekend. Cass was excited to see it and wished first-years could play.

"Well, there was one first-year that played. My cousin told me about it, said he is bloody brilliant with a broom," Brooke said when Cass voiced her hopes.

"Really? Who?" Cass asked.

Brooke nodded in the direction of Harry. "Why doesn't that surprise me?" Cass said, shaking her head.

"Anyway, who are you guys going to support? Slytherin or Hufflepuff?" Bello asked to Cass, Brooke, and Cyrene, as they weren't in either house. When he finished talking, he levitated a quill with his wand, then tried to do the same without it. It was no surprise to any of them when nothing happened.

"Hufflepuff," said Brooke without hesitation.

"I'll think I'll support Hufflepuff," Cyrene said after considering for a second. Cass noticed Sarah look down in a slightly saddened way. Although Cass knew Cyrene and Brooke hadn't meant to, they had played right into the "Slytherins are bad" mindset.

"I'll support Slytherin," she said. Sarah looked up at her, stunned.

"Really?" she asked, eyes wide.

"Yeah, sure. Brooke and Cyrene got Hufflepuff covered, I have Slytherin. Besides, it'll be fun; I'll sit with you and Marcell."

The others stared at her, mouths open. "Honestly," Cass sighed, "it's only fair. And I want to support Slytherin. The Sorting Hat seriously thought about putting me in it; I have loads of ambition." Brooke was looking at her, shaking her head. "Come on, don't go all prejudice on me, now," she added quietly. She knew it wasn't their fault, that they adored Sarah and would never do anything to hurt her, but it must have been a slap in the face to the Slytherin to hear her friends say they wouldn't support her House.

"Thanks, Cass," Sarah said, smiling widely at her.

Cass smiled back just as big. "What for? I told you: I want to support Slytherin.

Suddenly, Brooke chuckled. "Imagine the looks on everyone's faces when a Gryffindor supports the Slytherin team. Ooh, it'll be priceless!"

At that, everyone had to laugh.

OoOoO

The next morning, Cass woke up to the smell of pumpkin pie wafting through her dormitory. Smiling, she stretched and decided right then and there that this was going to be a good day. Halloween had always been special to her—her grandparents had made sure of that. Every year they had a big party with the neighborhood. Although the decorations were cheap and the food a knock-off brand, the day was always filled with fun and scary stories. When she was old enough to hold a pencil, Cass, along with Grandpa Jimmy, would draw on a big piece of paper what costume they wanted. They would plan it all out in extraordinary detail, down to the individual buttons, and paint it afterwards. She was sure her grandparents had a hoard of them somewhere. Gradually, her sketches got better, until even Grandpa Jimmy, a very talented artist in his own right, had admitted defeat and declared her the artist of the family. Cass was fairly certain he was just saying that (any paintings of his would prove this), but every time she thought of it, she would fill up with pride and joy.

Hence, when her, "Good morning, Pauline!" was met with indifference, Cass just shrugged and exchanged bright smiles with Brooke. In the bathroom, she did her hair in an elaborate braid that resembled a spider's web. She even put good use to the first-years latest Transfiguration lesson and turned a hairpin into an orange ribbon. She then wove that through the dark plait and tucked stray curly hairs behind her ears.

At breakfast, the students were treated with a special toast with pumpkin flavored butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar. The ever-present pumpkin juice was still there, along with hot chocolate with delicious orange whipped cream.

"Wow…the kitchen staff has really gone all out," Brooke said, munching on her toast.

"Yeah. This stuff is great," Cass agreed as she tried the hot chocolate. Perfect. She would never say this to her grandma, whose hot chocolate was the envy of the neighborhood's, but this was even better than anything she had ever made. "I can't wait for the Halloween Feast!"

"Reckon what the twins said is true? That there'll be banshees?" Brooke asked.

"Brooke, if the twins said it, it can automatically be counted as lies," Cass said with an air of obviousness.

"But banshees, Cass!"

"But nothing, Brooke! 'Cause that is exactly what it is, nothing!"

Just then, the Gryffindor Goons decided to walk over, much to Cass's and Brooke's annoyance. "Get ready to be blinded by the shine from their hair gel," Brooke muttered.

Cass suppressed a giggle as the three boys sat down next to them.

"Happy All Hallows' Eve, ladies," Jackson—the unspoken leader of the group—said by way of greeting.

"Sorry, I can't hear your through the hair gel—it's a bit thick," Brooke said.

Cass choked on her pumpkin juice. The looks on the goons' faces nearly made her die in laughter, but she reigned it in. "If you'll please leave us to dine in peace," she said as stiffly as possible, surprising herself when there was no trace of humor in her voice.

The three boys looked affronted, and Nick said, "Well, we try to be polite—"

"Give up, then," Brooke said with a final tone of voice. Again, Cass was struggling to hold back laughter at their overly offended expressions.

Before Brooke could do too much damage to their ego, Cass pulled her into a conversation on their favorite classes, pointedly ignoring the first-year boys. As they walked away grumbling, Cass thought, Good riddance.

OoOoO

That afternoon was DADA, and that meant more fake reading and no wands. Cass sat at her desk, alternating between scanning the page without taking anything in, pretending to take notes while drawing various toad-related pictures, and trying—failing, really—to cast magic wandlessly. To her left and right, Brooke and Sarah were doing similar things.

The spell she was using for the exercise was something they had learned in Charms class yesterday: the Levitation Charm. Hiding her hands behind her desk, Cass attempted to make a small piece of torn parchment float. Of course, she couldn't do the exercise fully, as wands were not allowed out, but she did try and locate her magic. She wondered where in her body it would be. Her head? Heart? Stomach? Legs?

Her efforts were met with nothing, nothing, and more nothing. Whenever she felt close to exploding with frustration, she would do something else. After what seemed like the hundredth try, Cass gave up and looked around the room for something to interest her. Her eyes fell upon a certain princess—Sasha. As always with the pampered Slytherin, she felt a stir of anger. Cass would never forget it was her who tripped Bello on the Astronomy Tower, almost sending him tumbling to his death. She knew that Sasha's intent was to humiliate, not to kill, but she only recognized this in the very back of her head. At the forefront, Cass felt only one thing for the "princess", as Sarah had dubbed her: fury.

So, instead of getting more worked up, Cass chose a different direction to look in. She found herself looking outside at the clear blue sky—perfect weather for a walk around the lake with her friends. It was then she realized she hadn't flipped her page in a while. She frantically turned it, hoping Umbridge hadn't noticed and, if she had, didn't think anything of it.

"Class!" Umbridge called. All at once, everyone's head turned to the toad. Cass heard Brooke stifle a groan behind her.

"I have here an impromptu test on the theory of the Full Body-Bind Curse. Seeing as how you children have been reading the chapter on this for today's class, I expect each of you to receive a passing grade," she said, giving the class her trademark saccharine smile. Cass fought the urge to purse her lips in a disgusted manner.

"Miss McGarther, if you would be so kind as to pass these out?" Umbridge asked sweetly, flashing her teeth.

"Of course, ma'am," Cass replied, equally as sweet. Annoyance flared inside her; this woman was a witch, yes? Cass knew that Umbridge could very well pass out the parchments with a spell, but she didn't. However, Cass hid her aggravation behind a carefully-constructed mask of apathy and walked straight-backed up to Umbridge.

As she handed out the tests, Cass nimbly stepped over Sasha's outstretched foot without even glancing down. Out of Umbridge's view, she smirked at the Slytherin's poor attempt as tripping her. Honestly, it's like she doesn't know I can See her. When she reached Brooke's desk, she gave a smug eyeroll, taking care not to let anyone else see it. In the D.A., the first-years had already gone over it, so this quiz should be easy as the pumpkin pie currently being baked in the school's kitchens. She gave a similar eyeroll to Sarah, and the Slytherin girl responded by giving Cass a small, hidden smile.

Tests all passed out, she sat down in her chair and picked up her quill. The exam was fairly simple, and Cass finished it rather quickly. It asked about the wand movement, the incantation, the end results, and the jinx's history. The only part she really struggled with was the history bit, as the D.A. hadn't gone over that. Luckily, she picked up some facts while staring listlessly at her Defense book, so she wrote everything she could remember down. To fill in the gaps, Cass merely tried to use complex sentences and the fanciest words she could think of, to mask the facts she couldn't recall. In the end, she thought she did well, and turned in the test with confidence.

While she sat waiting for everyone else to finish, Cass doodled idly on some spare parchment. She found herself sketching the beginning of a girl's face. The redhaired girl's face. Possibly her mother's face. She hurriedly scratched this out, not wanting to dive into the deep, complicated emotions that always came with that face right then.

"Miss McGarther, a word if you please?" Umbridge called out, beckoning her with a stubby finger.

Silently, Cass got up and walked over to Umbridge's desk. She felt an odd sense of foreboding, and desperately wished she would get a vision. Alas, her gift was picky about when it worked, and nothing happened.

"I would just like to know, Miss McGarther, how you received an perfect on your quiz when you have been drawing and staring out the window for the entirety of my class," said Umbridge, giving her a tight-lipped smile. Although she was whispering as if to make their conversation private, the class was quiet taking the test, and Cass knew they could hear every word. This irked her, because she knew Umbridge knew it, too.

"No, I haven't, ma'am," Cass replied steadily, surprising herself. Her heart was thumping wildly; what would happen if Umbridge questioned her knowledge? She couldn't very well tell her that she learned the Knockback Jinx from a secret club.

"Then you'll have no problem handing me the parchment on your desk."

"That is filled with drawings, ma'am. I was waiting for the other students to finish their tests. I'm sorry if that was wrong to do, I was just unsure of what else to do," said Cass, faking an innocent expression. Better to get in trouble for that than have her wondering exactly where I learned the spell, if not from the book that I haven't read a line of.

Umbridge made a tsk noise. "Then I wish to see your notes, Miss McGarther. That'll clear this whole business up," said Umbridge in a sugary voice.

Nodding politely, Cass walked back to her desk and opened her backpack. Silently, she fumed. Why isn't she asking other people for their notes? Nevertheless, she withdrew a roll of parchment, grateful she kept general notes on most defensive spells for instances just like this one. In the back of her mind, she reflected on how sad that was, that she had to carry around emergency notes to prove to her mean professor that she did nothing wrong (of course, she was in an illegal club, but does that really matter?).

She handed the rolled paper to Umbridge wordlessly, head held high and in the most defiant manner she dared to do. After reading over Cass's notes, Umbridge gave a reluctant nod. "Very well, I see you have adequate notes. I'm curious, though. How did you know to make a small loop with your wand at the end for added strength? I'm certain that wasn't in the textbook."

Don't crack under pressure, Cass. It's fine. "I read about it in the library. My grandma always told me it's good to look at different sources when you study," she said smoothly, surprising herself again at how quickly the lie came to her.

Umbridge pursed her lips in an irritated manner, but she obviously couldn't think of any more excuses to get Cass in trouble, for she dismissed her back to her seat. Relieved, Cass mimed wiping sweat from her brow at Brooke discreetly.

OoOoO

Halloween night at Hogwarts was magical, in every sense of the word. Cass could barely contain her excitement as she gazed upon the thousands of live bats, the jack o' lanterns, the eerie candles. All around her, students were muttering happily.

"Wow," Cass said in awe.

"Yeah, wow," said Brooke, eyes wide as the golden plates decorating the tables.

They took their seats with the rest of the Gryffindors at the table. Pauline sat next to them, so Cass did her very best to include the quiet girl. Brooke looked at her with exasperation, but Cass glared at her and then made a point to focus on talking with only Pauline for a while, much to Brooke's annoyance.

The food was delicious, and even Umbridge's unwanted speech regarding how grateful everyone should be that they have such a privileged life, and how wonderful the Ministry is for providing safety and care couldn't dampen Cass's happy mood (although the speech was widely met with stifled scoffs and blatant eye rolls). Halfway through it, she caught Harry's eye. The older boy mimicked a toad ribbitting, which sent her into a silent fit of giggles.

That night, she didn't have any ominous nightmares, only memories of past Halloweens with her grandparents. She also dreamt of Grandma Joyce and Grandpa Jimmy drawing on paper by themselves with bittersweet smiles on their lined faces, as if they were missing her. In the morning, Cass couldn't tell if it had been a vision or just a dream, but she knew one thing: it had been nice seeing her grandparent's faces.

OoOoO