Disclaimer: All rights go to JK Rowling. Anything you don't recognize is mine.

Updated as of 3/28/2019.

Chapter Four

The Unexpected Exchange

"Cassie, you're going to have to get up eventually."

"There is a difference between 'having' to do something, and 'wanting' to do something," the young witch pointed out, currently buried in a tomb of sheets and pillows atop her four-poster bed in the dormitory she shared with the other three girls.

She could practically feel Marlene rolling her eyes.

"It's only the fourth day of classes," her friend countered. "You can't skive just because you don't want to go to Defense."

"I can, and I will," Cassie retorted. She knew she was being childish, but the memory of their first class and losing twenty-five points for Gryffindor was still haunting her two days later.

Marlene sighed. "Fine, stay here. But do you really think this is a good way of getting Professor Carlisle to like you?"

"I don't want her to like me." Cassie sniffed, emerging from her nest to glare at Marlene. The other girl stood at the foot of her bed, arms crossed, one eyebrow raised. "I just want her to be like every other teacher I've had and ignore me completely."

"Purposefully going out of your way to try and be ignored is only going to bring you more attention," Marlene said logically. "I get that you don't want a repeat of last year, Cass, but skiving off and snapping at your teachers – no matter how much they deserve it—" she added before Cassie could break in "—is definitely not the way to go."

Cassie sat, still wrapped in her sheets and trying to come up with an argument to that, but she couldn't. Marlene was right.

"Break's over in fifteen minutes," the blonde girl said. "I'll meet you down in the common room."

Cassie sat on her bed for another minute after Marlene left, trying to get over the dread that was settled firmly in her stomach. Even just thinking about Professor Carlisle made her tense. Just the way she'd talked about Cassie's brother, like he was a particularly nasty slug she had stepped on, had been enough. And while it didn't help her anonymity in the slightest, Cassie couldn't stop herself from feeling some satisfaction over the encounter, especially when she had felt those frosty eyes bore into her back every time she sat down to eat in the Great Hall.

Summoning enough courage to leave her bed, Cassie stood and walked to the washroom, straightening her robes as she went. She hadn't bothered to take them off when break started and she'd decided to take a nap (Lily didn't have a break this block, thankfully, or else Cassie would never have heard the end of it), so all she had to do was brush out her bedhead and be on her way.

She ran a brush through her long hair, tucking it behind her ears when it had returned to its usual flat style, and once again found herself wishing she either had Marlene's blonde curls or Lily's wavy, fiery red locks. Anything besides the brown curtain that hung past her shoulders no matter what she or her mother did to attempt another style.

Shrugging off her daily hair lamentation, she crossed back to her bed and gathered her books before shoving them into her bag and throwing it over her shoulder as she descended the winding staircase into the common room.

She found Marlene sitting in a chair in the corner closest to the portrait hole and plopped down next to her, figuring they had about another five minutes before they needed to leave.

"What was that stuff your mum sent you last year for the Halloween Feast?" Cassie asked, twirling a loose strand of hair and pouting when it still fell straight. "That really expensive hair gel that made anything hold?"

Cassie waited, playing with her hair, but looked up when Marlene didn't answer.

"Hello, Earth to Mars!" Cassie grinned at her pun as she waved a hand in front of Marlene's blank eyes. "I'm talking to you."

"Sorry, Cass," Marlene said, blinking and refocusing on her. "Hair gel? It might've been Victoire's Voluminous Vial, or something like it."

"Okay." Cassie made a mental note of the name so she could write her own mum to buy her some. "What were you staring at?"

"Nothing important," Marlene said airily. She stood up and grabbed her bag, though Cassie noticed her eyes still fixed on something across the common room.

Cassie stood as well, craning her neck to see what Marlene was staring at, but only catching sight of the Marauders sitting in chairs by the fireplace before Marlene was pulling her through the portrait hole.

"Wait, was that what I think it was?" Cassie said, grinning mischievously when the other girl walked resolutely forward, not looking at her. "That totally was."

"I don't know what you're on about," Marlene said neutrally, but Cassie could see the pink creeping into her friend's cheeks as she cackled.

"You fancy one of them, don't you?" she said, poking Marlene's arm and getting a good laugh out of her friend's clear discomfort. Suddenly Cassie flashed back to dinner a few nights ago, when Marlene had made a comment about not minding if Black was staring at her. "It's Black, isn't it?"

"No!" Marlene said, shaking her head quickly as her face flushed red. "He's attractive, I'll admit, but I would never like that git!"

"But you'd still snog him, right?" Cassie asked, laughing even harder when Marlene made a startled noise in her throat.

"I – no – I mean—" She stopped spluttering when Cassie put a hand on her arm, still grinning wickedly but looking around to make sure no one was listening.

"Hey, no big deal," she said. "I just think it's kind of cute, in a very weird and disgusting way."

Marlene shook her head. "It's not cute," she moaned. "It's a disaster! Of all the blokes in school, why does the hottest one have to be the most pretentious asshole of the lot?"

Cassie shrugged. "Merlin likes to see us girls suffer, I guess."

Marlene snorted. "No kidding."

They walked the rest of the way talking about Mary MacDonald's new haircut and this year's prospects for the Quidditch team (as Marlene's younger brother was a Chaser for their House team), but Cassie was very aware of the building dread in her stomach the whole time as they approached the Defense classroom.

They walked in, and Marlene squeezed Cassie's arm as she went to her seat, which had been unfairly put in the back next to a bunch of Slytherins as Cassie steeled herself and walked to her own desk.

Her path took her directly in front of the teacher's desk, where Professor Carlisle was sitting scribbling on a piece of parchment. The icy witch looked up as Cassie was passing, fixing her with a piercing glare as Cassie gulped and slunk into her seat, refusing to meet her eyes.

She only looked up when she heard the professor's quill go back to scratching on the parchment, and she breathed out a sigh of relief when the bell rang and the stragglers trickled into the classroom – including the Marauders, as she saw Lupin taking his seat next to her.

"Take out your books and turn to page twenty-three," Professor Carlisle said without looking up from her parchment. There was a rustling of bags as the students pulled out their books: The Essential Defense Against the Dark Arts by Arsenius Jigger.

The class complied with Professor Carlisle's order and opened their books to page twenty-three, and Cassie's brow furrowed when all she saw was a chapter on how to stop hags from eating small children.

"Read the chapter, and then list and explain to me the ways one can banish a hag on a foot of parchment, to be handed in at the end of class," Professor Carlisle said, again not looking up from her own parchment as the class mumbled. "And anyone who decides to slack off on this assignment will earn a night's detention with me, so I suggest you get to work."

There was another flurry of movement as everyone pulled out quills and parchment, but the room went still again as Professor Carlisle spoke up once more.

"Also, you may work with other people on this assignment." Excited murmurs rippled through the room before they were immediately shut down. "However, you may only work with the people in your assigned row."

Cassie's heart sank. She turned away from the crestfallen expressions of Lily, Marlene, and Alice, and looked to Lupin and Avery, both of whom were not paying any attention to her. She huffed in annoyance and glared at Professor Carlisle's pale forehead.

"You may begin," the professor drawled.

Cassie sighed, settling herself in to read an undoubtedly boring chapter before she felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked to her left and saw Lupin facing her. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Yes?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to work on this with me," he said quietly, gesturing to the chapter as she stared. "I'm afraid I'll fall asleep reading this thing, and it would be a bad example as a prefect if I were to get a detention."

He gave her a lopsided grin, his green eyes earnest, but not like Potter's had been when he'd asked for her quill. It sounded like he genuinely wanted to work with her, and Cassie cursed herself for being so suspicious, but the thought that this was just another prank had planted a seed of doubt in her brain.

"All right," she hedged, scooting her desk closer but eyeing him warily. "I'll work with you, so long as you don't light my scroll on fire."

He chuckled, closing the distance with his own desk in one easy move, though he kept a respectable distance from her, she noticed.

"No fires from me, I swear it," he said. "That's James's thing, not mine."

Cassie scowled at the mention of James Potter, something Lupin did not miss.

"He didn't pull that quill stunt to get you in trouble, Cassie," he said, and she started at the use of her name. "I'll admit, James can be a git when it comes to pranking people, but he just wanted a laugh, that was all."

"Yeah, well, he didn't have to use my quill," she said, her face feeling hot again when she recalled her embarrassment. "And, no offense, but he's pretty much always been a git."

Lupin shrugged. "Fair point," he agreed. "But still, I'm sorry that it happened."

Cassie blinked, startled by his apology. She knew it was not in the Marauders' nature to apologize about anything, but this was clearly an unexpected turn of events. True, it was not Potter himself making the apology, but one of his best friends offering was better than nothing.

"Er, thank you," she said. She cleared her throat and pulled her book closer as she tapped on the page. "We should probably start reading now though. I'd rather not get a detention with her."

She nodded at Professor Carlisle, keeping her voice down all the same as they were sitting so close to her. Lupin raised a brow.

"I'd noticed you weren't too keen on her," he said. Cassie's face flushed again at the reference to her reaction the last class. "That was cruel on her part, though. There are some things we just can't help. Family being one of them."

He didn't exactly look at her as he said this last part, but Cassie nodded appreciatively, eyeing the sandy-haired boy with a new regard. Perhaps he wasn't as big a prat as his friends, as she had been led to believe the past four years.

"Yeah," she muttered. She nodded back to their books before she could have another revelation about the prefect Remus Lupin not being as Marauder-ish at first glance. "You take half and I take the other?"

He nodded, propping his arm under his book to read. "Sounds fair."

Cassie began to read, the words already making no sense as her mind flooded with thoughts of their random exchange. She'd never associated with Remus Lupin before, and with this being her first time… Well, she was pleasantly surprised, to say the least. How long his kind, sensible act would last was another matter entirely, and that alone was enough to shake those thoughts from her head and continue reading.

The dread that had been built up in Cassie's stomach the whole day was finally starting to dissipate as the class wore on, the two hours ticking by with surprising speed as she and Lupin worked together. Professor Carlisle remained sitting at her desk, not bothering with any of her students. This did not go unnoticed by Cassie's classmates, who decided to take advantage of their professor's inattention and were now gossiping or flicking pieces of parchment at each other from across the room – Potter and Black of course being the instigators despite their distance from one another.

Cassie and Lupin were just finishing up their list of ways to repel hags when a piece of paper hit the boy on the back of the head. Lupin looked more resigned than annoyed as he picked up the paper with a furtive glance to Professor Carlisle, though she was now too busy reading whatever she had written to see.

Cassie glanced sidelong at the paper Lupin was holding and read a hastily scrawled 'Moony' before he opened the folded parchment to reveal a circle, and the words 'Two days' written beneath it. There were more words, but Cassie didn't get a chance to read them as Lupin sighed, shoved the note into his pocket, and turned around to mouth something at Potter, who must have been the author.

Figuring the note was some sort of code the Marauders had devised, Cassie squashed down her curiosity and started to work on her parchment with an hour left in class – more than enough time to write a thoroughly detailed foot of parchment.

She'd only written a sentence when she felt another tap on her shoulder, though this time it came from her right. She looked up with a frown to see the Slytherin Edmond Avery pointing to her scroll.

"Do you mind if I look at your notes?" he asked. His voice was surprisingly soft – very different from how Cassie imagined it to sound. "I think I got everything, but I just wanted to be sure."

"Er, yeah, go ahead." She handed over the scratch paper she and Lupin had scrawled on as the latter was still turned around, talking silently to his friends.

He inclined his head to her as he looked over the parchment, nodding as he compared the notes.

Cassie waited, squirming slightly in her seat, unnerved by what was happening. She was used to being glanced over or scrutinized, but now here she was, partnered with a Marauder and being asked for help by a Slytherin. It was truly odd, and she was so intent upon wondering why that she didn't even notice the paper that had been held out for her expectantly until Avery cleared his throat.

"Oh, sorry." She snatched the paper back, refusing to let her face flush, even though it was useless.

"Not a problem," the Slytherin boy said. He slid back into his seat and began to work on his own scroll, his movements smooth and deft as he wrote with his quill.

Cassie leaned against her desk, elbows resting on top as she watched Avery work. She didn't know much about him, besides his first name and his House and that he was from a pure-blood family like her own. He might've been a Beater for the Slytherin Quidditch team, but she wasn't entirely sure; Quidditch was not something she participated heavily in, and she'd never seen a reason to pay attention to the other House teams. But she had heard of him and his little gang of Slytherins, who lurked around the school and hexed various students who had crossed them, most being Muggle-borns.

This reminder was enough to put her off the newfound curiosity that had sprung up when Avery had spoken to her, and she went back to her work dutifully, determined to finish by the end of class.

When the bell rang, Cassie stood from her seat and approached Professor Carlisle's desk with only some trepidation, her pride at having finished a foot of parchment in little more than an hour outweighing the dread of having to be so close to the witch. She heard Lupin following behind her, his parchment still glistening with the ink of his last three sentences, which he had finished in the nick of time, considering the rather lengthy silent conversation he'd had with his mates.

Professor Carlisle did not look up when Cassie handed in her work, but she saw the witch's lips purse when she read her name at the top. While she perused Cassie's essay, she let her eyes wander, and found them drawn towards the parchment Professor Carlisle had been working on all class.

Most of it was words, written in elegant green letters, but there were several drawings, as well. Cassie tilted her head to look at them better despite the little voice telling her it was none of her business.

The drawings turned out to be a diagram, from what she could tell; though it was impossible to decipher due to the many squiggly lines and scratched out portions. It looked like it could be a map, but before Cassie could study it further, Professor Carlisle had placed her essay atop it, giving a dismissive wave with her hand.

"Next class your grades will be handed back to you," she said to the class at large. "I will assess them as an O.W.L. proctor would, so I do hope for your sakes that this is some of your best work."

Many nervous glances were traded at this. Cassie saw Lily looking absolutely appalled as she waited in line to turn in her essay.

Professor Carlisle's eyes slipped back to Cassie, and she automatically tensed when the witch raised a pale brow at her.

"If there is something you would like to say, Miss Alderfair, then do so quickly," she said flatly. "You are holding up the line."

Cassie felt her face dip into a scowl as eyes turned on her, her classmates' curiosity and anticipation for another incident like last time making her skin itch as she backed away from Professor Carlisle's desk.

"No," she said, making her voice as hard as hers. "I have nothing else to say, Professor."

Professor Carlisle narrowed her eyes, the grey irises glittering out at her, but she turned away when Lupin handed her his essay, and Cassie was left to gather her things in peace.

Her skin was still prickling when she exited the classroom a few minutes later, and she scratched at it unconsciously, wondering why being anywhere near the professor made her so uncomfortable. It had to have been because of her snide remark about her brother, but that didn't explain the time she'd met her eyes in the Great Hall and felt as if she had been dunked into ice water.

Shaking off the discomfort, Cassie walked down to the Great Hall for dinner, soon being joined by Lily, Marlene, and Alice. She had survived her first week back at school, and by Merlin was she going to enjoy sleeping that weekend.

Next Chapter: The Midnight Marauders

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