Chapter 12

Saturday morning, several weeks after Cassius had asked Cassie to Hogsmeade, Cassius was waiting in the Great Hall for her.

She came down with her friends.

Cassius liked her pink hair, but understood that she was making a statement by having her hair color the exact shade that Draco Malfoy's was.

He waved at her friends, getting a wave back from Harry and Hermione.

Ron looked away in a huff.

"Weasley does not look happy." Cassius said to Cassie.

"He isn't. He's upset that Hermione and I are 'fraternizing with the enemy'." She answered.

Cassius chuckled at that.

He noticed Christensen was walking by with Parkinson.

Cassius made sure to put his body between Cassie and the two of them.

"Well, I better tell you this now rather than later. They're starting to gather other people for their group. They're trying to keep it so that Slytherin maintains the unhealthy rivalry between them and Gryffindor." Cassius told her.

Cassie rolled her eyes.

"And Gryffindor isn't going to see it as, they're the bad ones and there are good ones in Slytherin. They're just going to see all Slytherin's are bad."

"Like there aren't any bad Gryffindor's?" Cassius asked.

"Oh they're there. They're just smart enough to stay away from me because I'm friends with Harry Potter." She answered.

'She's not even going to deny it?!' Cassius thought to himself, frustrated that she had a logical response.

He didn't know about Peter Pettigrew at the time.

Cassius didn't say anything, unsure of how to continue the conversation; or start a new one. So he just watched her.

She was watching the snow falling, smiling at the winter as they walked hand in hand.

Cassius was surprised when she stopped to look at Hogsmeade. Her eyes were wide with awe and wonder. He looked at what she was looking at.

It was just Hogsmeade.

"You're still in awe of Hogsmeade?" He asked.

"It's my first time seeing it in winter. I didn't come in at all last year." She answered slowly, just enjoying the view.

"Why not?" Cassius asked in confusion.

"Because I didn't want to be accused of getting in touch with Sirius Black." She answered.

'Her dad?' He wondered.

"I'm not in contact with him, by the way." She told him as she took a step forward.

"I wouldn't blame you if you were." Cassius said.

She looked up at him and blinked, her mouth open.

"You're living with the Malfoys, but that didn't happen until over the summer. Otherwise you and Malfoy wouldn't have gotten so close unless something forced you two together. Meaning that you were living somewhere else." Cassius explained as he walked her around the village to see the sights.

"My mom died when I was little. I don't remember what happened. I grew up in an orphanage and had no idea that I was a witch until I got my letter." She said to him,

"You have such an interesting past… I grew up with my mother and father and I learned how to play the political game the Purebloods have created for themselves." He told her his past to make it even.

"I have to learn how to play the game. I've just been keeping my mouth shut and watching and listening." She sighed.

"When we see each other outside of school, I would love to help you keep your mouth shut." He grinned at her.

Cassie let out a laugh, lightly slapping my chest; but then frowned.

"What happened? Did I say something wrong?" He asked immediately.

"No! Not - I promise, it wasn't you." She started shaking her head.

"Then what is it?" He asked.

He didn't want to be mad at him for saying anything inappropriate.

"Is there a place we can talk without being overheard?" She asked,

He gave the street a quick scan.

"Yeah, this way." He took her hand and didn't let go.

Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop was a popular date place. The people here were on dates, or lonely, and would not pay attention to their conversation.

"This is… cute." She said when they entered.

"Come on. I think you'll like it here." He chuckled as he took her to the counter.

"I don't know what I want." Cassie said quietly when the barista greeted them.

"Can we get one cup of coffee and one cup of tea?" Cassius asked.

"Yes sir, would you like anything else?" He asked

"No, thank you." Cassius answered.

He smiled as he handed Cassie a parchment with the menu on it.

"Thank you." Cassie said in relief.

"I'll have that right out for you." The clerk said.

Cassius paid him and led Cassie to a table away from the other couples.

He made sure to get her chair and then sat himself down.

"What happened? I saw your frown." Cassius said.

She put out her hand and he was more than relieved to put his hand in hers.

"I don't want you to get upset with me. But I swear to you, You didn't do anything wrong." She said slowly.

"Okay?" He stared at her.

"There is something about me that very few people I trust know and I'm not comfortable telling you yet." She said, choosing her words.

"Okay?"

'She's not comfortable with me yet?' He tried not to be hurt by that, but couldn't help himself.

"Sometimes I get these headaches, and I know what causes them, don't worry about that."

'Headaches?' He thought to himself.

"But what causes them, I don't feel ready to tell you because we just started getting to know each other. My friends all know so if you see them fussing over me don't worry too much. They'll take care of me when that happens." She explained.

He nodded, but was still confused.

'Why don't you want to tell me?' He thought to himself.

"Okay, is that what happened outside?" He pointed out the window.

"Usually, these headaches last somewhere between a couple of minutes to several minutes. We haven't timed them out because that hasn't been the issue yet." She explained.

Cassius nodded again, and shifted in his seat.

"Why can't you tell me?" He finally asked.

"It is a very personal thing and I've had to tell people who I don't want to know about it. Originally, it was just a few people who I told because I trust them not to use that information against me. And I had to include a few people because…"

She trailed off.

Suddenly, Cassius had a flashback to when he found the book about the Zwarts.

'She's not ready to tell me she's a Seer!' He realized.

"It's hard to explain because -" She cut herself off again.

"You don't have to explain it." Cassius said, putting his other hand on the table and wiggled his fingers for her.

She put her hand in his without any prompt.

"I don't want you to feel forced to tell me something if you're not ready for that. Especially if you're not really not ready!" He tightened his grip on her hands.

The breath of relief that escaped her mouth was enough for them to laugh.

'I'm glad she's trying to communicate with me. Even if she's not ready for the Big Thing to tell me.' Cassius thought to himself with a twinge of guilt.


Cassius was relieved to know that she wanted to trust him, and he was looking forward to the day when she did trust him.

"How is it going with Zwart?" Astrid asked him as she sat down next to him on the couch.

"It's going great." He answered, folding his arms as they stared at the common room fireplace.

She hmm'ed next to him and they sat in a comfortable silence.


Shout out to Pamela Hutchins for leaving a review!

Pamela Hutchins: I wish I could put emoji's on here so that you can see just how happy that made me LOL!