Cassiopeia was pleasantly surprised when Glynn sent her an owl over the summer, thanking her again for lending him the book. He also wondered if she were available to meet up in Diagon Alley sometime, maybe have some ice cream and continue their discussions over the subject.

Cassiopeia quickly checked with her guardians for permission before sending back a letter agreeing to meet up the following week. Andromeda would be accompanying her, but promised to sit at another table far away from the pair, and to be discreet about the supervision. Cassiopeia wasn't super pleased she would have a babysitter, but nevertheless could not stop a grin from overtaking her face randomly at the thought of spending more time with Glynn.

Andromeda and Ted glanced knowingly at each other, small smiles lighting up their faces as they watched the girl practically float around the house in excitement. She even wrote to Narcissa, asking for advice on what to wear and how to style her hair. Narcissa responded almost immediately, offering suggestions from the items of clothing she had bought the young girl, and offering general advice of how to act on her first date. Cassiopeia blushed as she read the letter from her aunt, writing back firmly that it was not a date, and that he was just a friend who she was meeting for an academic conversation over ice cream. Yet she carefully filed away the information Narcissa offered, just in case.

The day finally arrived and after much begging, Andromeda promised to stay entirely out of sight, and agreed to keep watch from an entirely different café. She was anxious to not come off as a little kid who needed babysitting with Glynn, and was relieved that Andromeda had acquiesced, though she was a little annoyed at how hard Andromeda had laughed at the request.

Her meeting with Glynn started disastrously, with Cassiopeia immediately spilling a full glass of water all over the boy, in her nervousness. And then she practically fell on top of him in her eagerness to clean up the mess she made with napkins. Glynn however laughed it off and continued as if nothing happened, causally drawing all the water off with his wand. After a rocky start the rest of the day went well, with only a few more hiccups. Mainly she kept staring at him for a little too long, laughed a little too hard, and stuttered a little too much. Luckily once they started talking about epigraphy and ancient languages she grounded herself in the academic conversations.

Though these conversations brought on another wave of giddiness in other respects, mainly that she had never really had anyone close to her own age to talk to about this. Daniel and Constance were her normal study buddies, but they never showed an interest in any of the same subjects she was into, they were content to study only the content they needed to study. Glynn was the epitome of a Ravenclaw, curious about everything to the point of it almost being a distraction from his normal school work. From talking to him Cassiopeia learned that he was almost always going down rabbit holes and tangents in his research, often finding it difficult to stay on one track. He was frustrated that there was so much to learn, so many interesting things, that he felt restricted by the curriculum at times.

She confided in him that she had read ahead in a few of her subjects, and was miles further in the curriculum than she was supposed to be. They talked for hours, each neglecting their ice cream, and the stiffness in their legs as they sat at the table for a while. Finally he suggested they go for a walk, noticing the sideways looks the ice cream parlour staff was giving them as they had taken up a valuable table during such a busy time of the year for such a long time. She glanced quickly at Andromeda sitting in another café, drinking a cup of something warm and idly flipping through a magazine, giving her a very meaningful shake of her head. She didn't want Andromeda tagging along, worried about what Glynn would think. Luckily Andromeda rolled her eyes and shrugged, holding up six fingers and tapping on her watch indicating that she was should be back there by dinnertime, at 18:00.

Her and Glynn went, perhaps predictably, to a bookshop. They spent ages going through the shelves, pointing out volumes they had read to each other, and engaging in light discussion about ones that they both read, and recommending others. Cassiopeia made mental note of a few interesting books and Glynn promised to lend them to her to read over the summer, eager to have someone to discuss their contents with. Following their visit to the book store, the pair wandered aimlessly around Diagon Alley, with no particular destination in mind, walking slowly, just relishing the conversation.

Glynn glanced at her, putting his hand on her shoulder, pausing their meandering path and giving her his full attention. He smiled at her and Cassiopeia grinned back, beaming under his gaze, and blushing furiously. "Cassiopeia, I –" he was interrupted however by someone else calling her name. Cassiopeia's smile faltered as she turned to glare at whoever dared interrupt whatever Glynn was about to say, "Aunt Narcissa?" her glare dropped in confusion as she saw her aunt waving at them with a large smile on her face. Glynn's cheeks were tinged in pink as he turned his attention to the woman, giving her a charming smile.

"Cassiopeia darling, fancy running into you today. And my, who is this handsome young gentlemen with you?" She said airily, her eyes twinkling in amusement as she looked at the pair.

"Glynn, this is my Aunt Narcissa." She introduced quietly, widening her eyes meaningfully at her aunt. Narcissa however completely ignored whatever message her niece was trying to send, extending her hand with a wide smile.

"Narcissa Malfoy, pleasure to meet you Glynn…"she started, giving him a wide smile.

"Glynn Gambol mam. I am very pleased to meet you Mrs Malfoy," Glynn answered automatically, smiling back and glancing between Cassiopeia and her aunt.

"Yes, Glynn Gambol, Aunt Cissy. We were just on our way—" Narcissa ploughed forward, once again ignoring her niece.

"My, Gambol. Any relation to Porteus Gambol? And please, enough with the mam nonsense." she asked curiously, a small smile curling her lips as she glanced between the two.

"My father ma—er Mrs Malfoy."

"Ah yes, my husband works with him of course, speaks very highly of him. Pass on regards to him from myself and my husband if you will. I should leave you two to it, Cassiopeia you must come over soon for dinner some time, and perhaps your friend can join as well."

"Yeah, uh, sure. We'll think about it." Cassiopeia ground out, trying to remain polite, before unconsciously intertwining her arm with Glynn's intending to pull him away from her nosy aunt. At least Andromeda had stayed in her café. Cassiopeia blushed bright scarlet when Glynn placed his hand over the top of hers resting on his arm, squeezing it reassuringly before adjusting her grip so it was resting comfortably above his elbow. He left his hand on top of hers.

"Certainly Mrs Malfoy, I would be honoured to." Glynn was beaming now, giving both Narcissa and Cassiopeia a bright smile.

Narcissa pursed her lips slightly, in an attempt to keep her smile from growing into a full smirk, her eyes sparkling as she glanced at their intertwined arms. "Of course, I'll let Cassiopeia know and she can plan it with you later. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a few more errands to run. You two have fun now." As quickly as she had arrived she was gone, with only her flowery perfume lingering in the air providing the only evidence that she had been there at all.

"Sorry about that. What were you going to say?" Cassiopeia muttered, gazing up at him with a shy smile. He grinned and shook his head slightly, "Nothing really, just how much I was enjoying today." And with that they continued wandering, their arms intertwined, his hand on top hers, both grinning until it was time to say goodbye.

They met up once more in Diagon Alley over the holiday, but unfortunately he spent most of the summer on the continent with his family. Despite the distance the two stayed in touch, writing or receiving letters almost daily. Everyone in the household knew just whom she was writing to based on the bright smile that curled her lips with every letter. Nymphadora rolled her eyes whenever she saw it, Andromeda found it highly amusing, while Ted threatened to invite the poor boy over so he could sufficiently intimidate him. Something he had tried and failed to do with nearly all of Nymphadora's boyfriends so far. But he threatened that one day, he would intimidate someone, and maybe Glynn would be his first successful intimidation.

Narcissa wrote her an effusive letter the evening after she crashed their day out, saying how pleased she was with Glynn, and offering advice and almost apologizing for interrupting them. Cassiopeia rolled her eyes but nonetheless indulged in boy talk with Narcissa, something she had no experience with, but she was beginning to find she rather enjoyed it.

With Glynn taking up most of her mental energy, she found herself responding to Daniel and Constance's letters less and less, and every response was filled with recaps of conversations and discussions with the older Ravenclaw boy.

When it finally came to the time to return to Hogwarts Cassiopeia was the first one ready, eager to rendezvous with Glynn at King's Cross. He said he had a surprise for her, and she was impatient to find out what it was. She waited impatiently for Nymphadora, who predictably overslept and had neglected to finish her packing, waiting at the door; her luggage already packed in the car Ted had hired for the occasion.

She barely said goodbye to the Tonks', rushing off to boy when she caught a glimpse of him. His face lit up as he turned away from his parents, completely ignoring whatever they were saying to greet the girl with a bright smile and a very surprisingly firm hug.

He pulled away; his face tinged pink, but with the wide smile still in place. Cassiopeia loved his smile, it was slightly crooked and his eyes wrinkled just so, calling attention to his blue eyes that she found so mesmerising.

But it was the shiny badge pinned proudly to his chest that drew her attention almost immediately.

"Prefect? That's amazing Glynn, congrats!" Cassiopeia enthused, grinning up at him.

"I was so excited when I got the badge in the post, and mom and dad are so pleased. Speaking of which, these are my parents, and this is Cassiopeia Tonks." Glynn introduced her to his parents, who were standing nearby, watching the two with matching small smiles.

"Yes, Lucius Malfoy's niece if I am correct? He mentioned how my son had made an impression on his wife." His father was tall, a handsome man with a square face and greying hair. He had the same bright blue eyes as his son, however they were hidden behind a pair of thick brown glasses.

"It's so nice to put a face finally to the girl he has spent all summer writing to." His mother was shorter, with curly sandy hair and green eyes, she kept close to her husband, and wore a long sleeve shirt green cotton shirt. Cassiopeia thought it was strange for the woman to be so covered given how unusually warm the day was, but shrugged off the thought almost as soon as it occurred.

"Right, I will see you at Christmas, I think it's best if we get on the train, don't you think Cassiopeia?" Glynn gently grabbed her elbow and lead her to the scarlet train.

"I have a prefect meeting first, but I thought afterwards we could sit together?" He asked hopefully, grabbing her trunk and loading it onto the train for her.

"Er, yeah. I'm sure we can make space for you in our compartment. I normally sit with Daniel Jones and Constance Green."

Glynn's smile faltered, "Right, though I was hoping to maybe we could get our own compartment? Alone? There is so much I want to tell you about my summer, and so much to catch up on, that I worry about there being time enough if we have to stop and explain everything to two other people." He smiled apologetically, "though of course we could always try and find time later, I know they are your friends. I just, you know, really want to spend time with you now, and they get to see you during classes, when we have to find time when we can." She was mesmerized by his eyes, reading the apology and sheepishness in them as he tried to convince her.

"How about I compromise. I can sit with my friends while you're at your meeting, and you and I can sit together and catch up when you're finish?" she felt a strange tingling feeling in her chest as he smiled at her brightly, pleased with her compromise.

"Brilliant, well then, until we meet again my lady." He bowed dramatically with a crooked smile before sauntering off to deal with prefect business. Cassiopeia just stood, watching him with a dopey smile on her face, eagerly imagining just how their train ride would go.

Constance and Daniel were not as understanding and she thought they would be. "Really Cassie? We haven't seen you all summer, and every letter you wrote was all 'Glynn this' or 'Glynn that'. We want to catch up with you!" Constance moaned, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Oh sod off Constance, I wasn't that bad." Cassiopeia grouched, her neck feeling a little warm in the face of her friend's critiques.

"And besides, I get to see you guys all the time! We have classes together. I will hardly ever get to see Glynn when we get back to school." She argued half-heartedly. She was conflicted, in her years of friendship with the two; they had never really had an argument before. She wanted to keep them happy but equally she really wanted to spend time with Glynn. It had been months since they were last together, and true they had written nearly daily, it wasn't quite the same.

"Besides, its not I do much talking with you guys when we sit together. You two always argue about something or another while I just sit and listen to music or read."

"But we would still miss your company, we always sit together. In the library, in class, on the train, it's our thing." Constance retorted.

"Our thing? We have a thing? What even is that?" she barely refrained from rolling her eyes at Constance's ridiculousness.

"Yes! We have a thing! It's what we do!" Cassiopeia did roll her eyes as her friend waved her hands in the air in exaggeration.

"We've always sat together," it was Daniel who spoke this time. He had kept quiet for most of the argument, wide eyes carefully watching his two friends as they argued. His voice was low and he sounded a little confused as to why they were fighting. Something about the way he spoke took the fight out of Cassiopeia and her shoulders slumped, "look, ill still be here for half of the journey. How about we don't fight over it and just enjoy catching up."

Constance nodded slowly, staring uncertainly between her two best friends. The trio settled in, falling into their normal roles in the group, each painfully aware that something had changed, though they were not certain what it was exactly.

Xxx

As term started her routine resumed mostly unchanged. She spent time with allies in her house, plotted acts of petty warfare against the rest of the house, spent time with her friends, and studied.

She wasn't sure whether she still suffered from nightmares, finding that the only way she could get sleep was to dose herself with dreamless sleep potion. She tried to go a few nights without it but ended up spending nearly the whole night physically wired with skin crawling energy and mentally tired with a brain fog. The only way she had managed to make it through the day that followed the few sleepless nights she had was to double her dose of pepper up.

She had a niggling worry in the back of her mind that her current schedule was unsustainable, but shrugged it off as a problem to deal with in the future. Maybe she'd wean herself off over one of the breaks, or over the summer, when she didn't have the responsibilities of classes and coursework. For now it was a routine that worked, and was necessary to deal with her classes. When she was off the potions she found it difficult to concentrate, and she despised the brain fog that came with it.

Despite having three instead of two electives like many of her classmates, Cassiopeia found herself almost bored. Ancient Runes was interesting however a year of extra curricular reading put her far ahead of her classmates who were just being introduced to the idea of the language effect on magic. The same could be said about Muggle Studies, as Professor Snape had predicted she found the subject laughably easy and finished all her coursework for the term in a few hours one evening. Arithmancy was proving to be a challenge, as was Potions, and she was finally starting to find Defence Against the Dark Arts a very intriguing class now that they had moved beyond the very basics.

The only major change to her life and routine was the introduction of Glynn, who was steadily filling more and more of her time as of late. Not that she minded, the exact opposite in fact, she found herself making excuses with her few friends to spend time with the older Ravenclaw boy. He was just so interesting, and smart, and those blue eyes captivated her like nothing else ever had.

She sought him out whenever the opportunity arrived, regardless of whether he was with friends or alone. The first time he left his friends to spend time with her she felt the curious sensation curl in her stomach and she beamed. She had been a little worried he would be like Charlie Weasley had been around her and his friends, where he would seem embarrassed, explain their relationship vaguely, and find a reason to be with his friends over her. Glynn was the opposite; he wrapped his arm around her proudly, introduced her to his friends as one of the most brilliant girls in the school, and had excused himself to spend his time with her. He chose her over his friends. She couldn't believe it, and she certainly wasn't going to question it. She even started attending Quidditch matches so she could watch the boy play for his team. She had been initially surprised to find out he was a keeper on the house team, he had never mentioned it directly before because he knew she was not a fan of the sport. But when he casually asked if she would be going along to the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff match she had suddenly realised a few things about him. Notably how he would disappear a few nights a week, and that most of his friends were very obviously quidditch players. She felt rather idiotic for not noticing it sooner, but they honestly always had other interests to talk about.

She noticed Glynn only approached her however when she was alone, never when she was in the company of her friends. When she mentioned this observation one night while they shared a library table he blushed slightly, and gave a small embarrassed smile, ducking his head a little. "I guess I don't like to share." He said softly, looking at her carefully.

She didn't understand. He was sharing her table; they were even sharing books and notes. When she pointed this out to him, his eyes crinkled in amusement as he looked at her meaningfully "No, Cassiopeia. I meant, I didn't want to share your attentions with anyone else."

It took her a moment to understand what he meant, and the red rising on her neck signified the moment when his words clicked.

Oh. Oh.

She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what she could say. The only person who had ever been possessive of her was her mother, who treated her at times as an object to be owned and controlled. Glynn however was different; he was selfish of her time because he wanted to be with her, to be around her. She wasn't sure that had ever happened to her before, and she couldn't understand what she had done to inspire such feelings. A flash of insecurity jolted her system, what if he misunderstood something she said, ages ago, and he had a different idea of who she was? Maybe he had this strange mental image that she was someone interesting and exciting and not the boring and strange person she really was? What if he suddenly realised? Her stomach turned unpleasantly as she mentally recreated all of their early meetings, trying to find what caught his interest, so she could replicate it. Wrap herself in whatever image he saw of her.

"Cassiopeia? Earth to Cassiopeia?" Glynn had a small frown on his face as he tried to catch her attention. "You were miles away," he gave her an uncertain smile, looking suddenly unsure of herself. "Did I say something wrong? Was it too much?"

She gave him a small smile, hoping to reassure both of them. "No, Glynn. I guess I just don't understand why. I mean, most people find me annoying." She blushed, instantly regretting her words. She had just promised herself that she would pretend to be whatever it was that he liked in her, and yet there she was, undermining herself once again.

Glynn gave her a charming smile and move his chair closer to hers. "I don't think you're annoying. Exactly the opposite in fact. I think you're brilliant, both literally and figuratively. Most girls, they are so superficial, they all have agendas. But you, you're just you and you're not afraid of that. You are smart, passionate, and confident." She blinked; she was none of the things that he had just described. Well, she was a few of the things, but nothing about his description made her understand why he liked her.

He reached for her hand, and tried to catch her eye. "I like you Cassiopeia, like, really like you." He gave her an uncertain smile, ducking his head to look at her. She blushed bright red and was struck speechless. She didn't know what to say or how to react. She froze. His smile faltered as a line appeared between his eyes, "I hope that is alright, I mean its OK if you don't like me in the same way, we can always be friends too." His face was turning red as he started to pull away from her.

She panicked as she felt his hands start to leave hers, grabbing them quickly, "No—" his face fell as he tried to pull away now with more effort, she glanced at the librarian, who was giving the pair a dark look in warning, she had spoken a little too loud.

"I mean yes, I mean, ugh" she continued in a hushed whisper. "I mean, I like you too Glynn. A lot." She swallowed, her mouth feeling suddenly dry for some reason, "I like you more than a friend." She buried her face, which felt like it was on fire.

She waited for his response, afraid to look up at him. When she finally mustered the courage to glance at him she was taken aback by the wide grin that split his face and the strange glittering in his eyes as he looked at her. "Would you like to er, perhaps get a butterbeer with me, at Hogsmeade this weekend? Like, a date?" She grinned back and eagerly accepted his invitation. They didn't get much studying done that evening after their conversation, each distracting the other with smiles and blushes, both lost in anticipation for their date in a few days. Cassiopeia was already mentally structuring an urgent letter to her Aunt Narcissa asking for help and advice. She had never been on a date; never thought she would ever go on a date, and had therefore never paid attention to what was normal for the process. She had a lot of questions and knew her aunt would gleefully fill her in. She just hoped that she wouldn't crash their date as she had their first meeting in Diagon Alley.

Xxx

Daniel and Constance were not pleased that she was bailing on them to go on a date with Glynn for their first ever Hogsmeade weekend. The trio had been dreaming and discussing all the things they would do together in the magical village, piecing together a rough itinerary based on other students stories of the town. She had felt a little guilty cancelling their plans, but in her defence, they had never solidified anything, and she saw them all the time. There would be plenty of other opportunities to explore Hogsmeade with her friends, but a first date with Glynn, who had also promised to show her around the village was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Though she had very little understanding of social situations, so she did tentatively bring it up to both her Aunt Narcissa and Glynn himself, wondering if she was doing something terrible. Aunt Narcissa agreed with her, she could see her friends whenever she wanted, but first dates were something very special, a day she would remember forever supposedly. She pulled a face when she read that, Aunt Narcissa was obviously exaggerating, but the sentiment made it through. Glynn had also re-iterated that they got to see her in classes and during the day, and there were plenty of Hogsmeade visits to explore everything with her friends, but he had also suggested they push it back to the second visit if she really wanted to be with her friends. His face fell as he put out his offer, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice but Cassiopeia saw right through him. Every since she agreed to the date he had been in an exceptionally good mood, always smiling and beaming. Even his friends commented on it to her in passing, and she understood. She felt the same, a strange warm tingly feeling that always smile on her face. She didn't think she had ever smiled as often in her life than she had since meeting Glynn. For that reason alone she decided to go through with the original plan and spend her first visit with the Ravenclaw boy.

And what a wonderful day it had been, Cassiopeia woke up early to get ready for her first date, carefully choosing her favourite set of robes, and she even tried to tame her wild mane of hair that she normally let run wild. Aunt Narcissa had sent a special potion that was supposed to calm the frizziness, and it had worked surprisingly well. Glynn had been the perfect gentlemen, charming as ever, immediately complimenting her hair and outfit. She returned the sentiment as the boy had clearly made an effort to look his best, looking sharp in a pair of black and blue robes and his medium length dark brown hair combed and style perfectly.

He had planned the whole day perfectly, with a brief tour of the village, a stop at the local bookshop, where he surprised her with a volume he had ordered in just for her. After that they had a light lunch at local pub, The Three Broomsticks. Unfortunately her two friends chose the same time for their lunch, Constance spent the whole visit drinking her butterbeer while loudly proclaiming how happy she was to be there with her best and only friend Daniel, each statement was punctuated by a loud thunk of her putting her drink down with more force than was needed. Cassiopeia rolled her eyes at the childish antic and sat with her back to the pair, focussing instead on just how blue Glynn's eyes were. After lunch they just wandered, talking about everything and nothing. She marvelled at how easy it was to talk to the boy, at how conversation could just flow; she didn't think she had ever had so much to say to anyone ever in her life. And yet, as easy and comfortable as their conversations were, so too were their silences. By the end of their date they were just walking in companionable silence, each taking in the atmosphere and each other, holding hands and just being very present.

It didn't even occur to Cassiopeia that the trip was the very first time while at school where she could actually use her tape player. For once, she preferred to spend her time with another person in the real world rather than lost in the world she conjured around her music. That night she was on such a high from her first date that she found she was bursting with energy and the need to talk to someone, anyone, about her date with Glynn. Not trusting her housemates and with her two friends angry with her over the trip, she settled in to write a long letter to her aunt, sparing no detail or emotion. She was so wired that she had to increase her dose of her nightly sleeping potion to feel any fatigue.

xxx

A/N Im finally getting to juicier bits of Cassiopeia's life, but ill still be going pretty quickly through the next few years.

Reviews are always welcome, comments, questions, observations. Give the story a like or whatever. Hope youre all enjoying!

tibys