Giddy Brew

Chapter 27: True Confessions of a Grade A Tosser

By: Jondy Macmillan

A/N: Woot. 3 Casey's family. They amuse me to no end, and the twins appear in the sequel; all grown up and too hot to handle. Sexy aurors in training, yum.

Casey and Prue spent the next day playing with the younger kids. The twins each took turns teaching Prue how to hit a ball properly; both were rather big cricket fans. Corbett made fun of them, saying that cricket was nothing like what the beaters did in Quidditch, and cricket never would be as good. When little Conrad started to cry, Prue told him that his brother was just jealous. Conrad's twin brother, Chauncey, kicked Corbett very hard in the shin and screamed that cricket was a perfectly good sport.

In a very snotty voice, Corbett said, "Cricket is a muggle sport."

Casey shrugged apologetically, "I used to be like him before I went to Hogwarts."

Prue ignored the way Casey's arms looked in his white sleeveless shirt and told Corbett, "One day you'll meet a nice muggle born and rethink the way you think about muggle stuff."

"Fat chance," Corbett snorted, and Prue thought she heard Casey snort slightly as well, which made her forget how nice she had thought it was to see him lounge around in sweats and decide resolutely not to speak to him for the rest of the day. She decided to teach the twins how to play soccer, her favorite muggle game. They'd learned cricket from their step dad, who was a big fan. Casey tried to get in on the game, but Prue steadfastly ignored him.

"What did I do?" Casey demanded. They'd had such a good time the night before at the club that he'd presumed he was getting into Prue's good graces; which, after the Steffie thing he'd thought she'd never view him as potential lover material. Annoyed, he marched off the field.

When Corbett saw that Prue and Casey were fighting because of him, he discretely made his way up to her and said, "Y'know, maybe if I met a muggle born like you…"

"You're cute," Prue wrinkled her nose at him. She remembered that she wasn't supposed to let it out that she was muggle born, but maybe this once, "Wanna know a secret?"

"What?" Corbett's eyes lit up, and Chauncey and Conrad ran up, wanting to hear the secret as well. After a slight shoving match they settled down and the choruses of 'what, what, what' died down.

"Well," Prue smiled slyly, "I am muggle born."

"But you're pretty," Chauncey blurted out.

Prue blinked, "Thank you?"

"I'm sorry I made you and big brother fight," Corbett apologized. Prue remembered when she was nine years old, and she'd wrestled with all the neighborhood boys. For some reason she thought Corbett seemed much more innocent.

"It's no problem. I'm not mad at him," Prue lied, "Where did he go?"

"To the kitchens," the twins chorused, "There's a pretty girl like you there!"

"Oh really?" Prue made Corbett show her the way to the kitchens. He scampered off after he'd shown her the door, saying that he thought he might go learn cricket. Prue smiled and entered.

Casey was standing near the ovens, his step-sisters gathered around him like a flock of brightly colored birds. A pretty maid in black pumps and a black and white scarf wrapped around her hair was cooking stew.

"Prue," Casey said, startled.

The tallest of the blonde sisters, Florence said, "Oh, hello Prudence."

Casey winced, but Prue neglected to correct her. She hadn't been sure about the quiet sisters since she got here. They'd mostly ignored her, and she'd done the same in return.

"Have you met Anissina?" Short haired Marigold slinked up to her with a smirk.

Anissina, the dark haired cook in the pumps turned and curtsied slightly.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance," Prue nodded her head politely at the girl, "Ah, Casey-"

Ruthie grinned wryly, "Casey and Anissina are childhood friends."

"Truly?" Prue asked, forgetting her apology on the tip of her tongue.

"Yes, I've known Master Casey since we were very young," Anissina nodded brightly, "Back when my mother worked in the kitchens here."

"Wow," Prue said, "That's cool. I always assumed Casey had a social disease and had no friends when he was young, which would explain why he acted like a monkey when he first got to school."

Casey grimaced, "I did not."

"Oh, I'm sure you did, Master Casey," Anissina returned to her pot, "Now shoo. The house elves will be back with the chicken, and they don't like distractions."

The sisters, Casey and Prue left the kitchen.

Hugging Casey quickly from behind, Prue said tentatively, "Hey you. Sorry. I overreacted."

Casey made a little noise, but grinned, "Ignored me for absolutely no reason? Forgiven."

"How cute," Ruthie drawled.

"Novel, really," Florence added.

"What are you girls talking about?" Casey asked, genuinely curious.

"Oh nothing," Marigold tittered, batting her eyes at him.

Prue thought she got what was going on. Gross. Beyond gross.

As if catching her thoughts, Florence said quietly, "You know, Anissina and Casey weren't just childhood friends. They dated."

"I have a boyfriend," Prue clarified for them, meeting her gaze evenly. Casey was caught up with Marigold still.

"Why don't you act like it," Ruthie suggested coolly.

"Um, what have I been acting like?" Prue wondered aloud, her gaze just as cold.

"What are you up to?" Casey sternly asked Marigold, then saw the hot looks Florence and Ruthie were giving Prue, "Prue, are you alright?"

"Fine," Prue replied, walking away. She lead Casey away from his sisters, "Let's go play soccer."

"You'll teach me?" Casey beamed.

"Yeah. Hey, Casey? Do your step sisters carry a torch for you or your brothers?"

"Eew," Casey frowned, "That's kind of…eew."

"But it wouldn't be wrong, would it?" Prue asked, "I mean, technically, you're not related."

"What has you bringing this up? What did they say to you?"

Prue realized she was weirding him out, "Nothing, nothing. Let's go!"

The next morning, Prue did up her hair in two fancy fairy gold barrettes (white gold) she'd borrowed from Deianeira Britton. She made sure the guitar pendant was tied securely around her neck, even though it probably wasn't a proper wedding accessory. Her dress was long and swishy, and created a slim bell shape when she spun on her heel. The skirt was made up of patches of emerald and moss and pea green colored silks and satins, a bottle green bodice, and thick cream colored satin ribbon laced low on the back. She wore light green shoes, and a couple of bangles she'd stolen from Serendipity.

"How do I look?" she asked Casey, giving him a quick twirl. He looked very handsome in a muggle style black suit with satin lapels. He was wearing a tight black t-shirt under the jacket, and the necklace she'd given him was around his neck.

"Hey, no showing up the bride," he protested.

"You're so corny," she giggled, "But quite sweet."

The wedding was beautiful. Haterii wore an off white dress with a long sheer veil and an even longer silk train. The skirts bunched near her hips, and near the bottom there was a hint of the silk and chiffon petticoats underneath. When the minister pronounced them, she gave her new husband the most chaste kiss imaginable. He pulled back and said, "I love you, Ileana."

The entire audience burst into cheers. Prue asked who Ileana was, and Casey said that was his Auntie Haterii's real name.

At the reception, they were served up a feast of filet mignon, quail, foie gras, or some sort of chickpea goulash for main entrees. The appetizers consisted of roast eggplant soup, mushroom tops stuffed full of crabmeat, goat cheese smothered in balsamic and placed prettily atop spinach leaves, and many more. There was such a massive supply of food that the meal took hours to complete. Prue got to sit comfortably between Cerulean and Casey and the rest of the Hargrove brothers, having all gotten a table to themselves. After dinner there was dancing. To her slight irritation, Florence, Ruthie, and Marigold were singing, their voices were actually charming. Already slightly tipsy on Firewhisky and a few mixed drinks involving champagne, Prue asked Casey to dance.

Casey grinned one of those grins that a little boy has, as though its Christmas day and he's gotten exactly what he asked for. He took her proffered hand and lead her onto the floor. They danced to the fast songs, and they danced to the slow songs. When their buzzes wore off, they grabbed some water to keep hydrated, then danced some more. Near midnight, the Hargrove sisters started a particularly familiar slow song.

"Isn't this your song?" Prue asked, slightly out of breath.

Casey nodded happily, "A lot of them have been. Auntie Haterii really likes our band, but she wanted us to enjoy the wedding. She figures we have to perform in public often enough."

Without a thought, Prue threw her arms around his neck, and his strong arms encircled her. He smelled good, like sweat and his woodsy cologne and spicy food and everything boys should smell like.

This song was long, and the atmosphere had changed. Prue could feel Casey's heart beating rapidly against her chest. Despite herself, the soft, lilting voices of the Hargrove sisters made her feel so comforted. She was in Casey's sturdy arms. She was safe. Prue knew it would be a mistake to look up, but she couldn't stop herself. Casey's bright blue eyes were gazing down at her, that same hesitant question in his eyes. She knew that question; it had been there this whole trip, particularly that first day in his bedroom. Before she could think about the consequences, Prue closed the space between them, pressing her lips firmly against his. Casey welcomed her kiss, pulling her as close to him as he could, and still it wasn't enough. The music had faded into background noise. Her pulse was speeding up, but all she could pay attention to was Casey's insistent lips.

He broke away to whisper heatedly in her ear, "I love you."

It was the best thing she'd ever heard, even though his voice was so choked with passion and pure anger at himself for doing what he knew he shouldn't. Well, that was okay, Prue reasoned. She had started it after all. The truth was, she loved Casey as well. She'd known that since the night on the Astronomy Tower, when the air had hummed with magic all for them. She knew she didn't love Bobby. She knew that she should be with Casey. She'd just been so damn vexed because he didn't trust her after what had happened with Steffie.

"I've loved you oh, forever and a day," Casey continued when she didn't respond, "And I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, you'll never know how truly sorry I am, Prue. What happened with Steffie was unforgivable, and I'd do anything in the world to make it up to you. But when I wanted to say all that to you, you'd already left me for Bobby, and I'm sorry," it was half a sob, half the nicest thing he'd ever said to her.

"I'm sorry too," Prue wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and resolutely said, "I love you, Casey."

Their eyes met again, emerald to sapphire blue, and in an instant Casey had lifted her off her feet.

Startled, but laughing Prue demanded, "What are you doing?"

"We're going somewhere more private," Casey tried to pull of a lewd grin, but only managed a half nervous, half ecstatic smile.

As they made their way past the white chiffon draping of the reception tent, Prue spotted Arcadia nodding towards her son with approval. The only acknowledgement Casey made that he'd noticed his mother was a slight stumble over the grass. Prue wasn't worried he'd drop her.

"Where are you going?" Cerulean's stern voice almost broke the spell, but Casey refused to give in.

"To my room," Casey said shortly.

"Is that alright with Prue?" the older boy was examining her, checking to see if she wasn't drunk or temporarily insane or some such thing.

"It's alright," Prue replied softly, but steadily. She cast Cerulean a reassuring smile, then turned back to Casey and beamed. He returned her brilliant smile whole heartedly.

When they reached Casey's room, he gently carried her though the door, making sure to close it tightly behind him. He deposited her on the bed, did a quick locking spell, made sure the curtains were shut, then dove onto the bed with her.

"High hopes, haven't we?" Prue lifted an eyebrow, but the smile never left her face.

"No," Casey replied honestly, "High hopes would involve this, and this, and this."

With a shy smile and a flick of his wand, a couple of candles flew to life, their cheery flames illuminating the otherwise dark room. Soft music was playing, and Prue vaguely thought it sounded like some of the earlier Dark Symphony CD's. With one last flick of his wand the stars painted on his wall started to twinkle.

"Oh, now we're getting way too trite," Prue teased.

"I'm a hackneyed sort of fellow," Casey grinned, "Anyways, I want…I want the world for you Prue."

He leaned in and kissed her. First on her mouth, then on her cheeks. He touched on her eyelids, her forehead, her nose. He kissed her neck and her ears, all along her collarbone. For a second, Prue wondered what his first time doing this had been like, then she realized that their relationship couldn't be about that. There couldn't be jealousy, not about the past or the future. They had to trust one another implicitly. And so Prue let go of wondering. She let go of everything and instead gave into the feeling of Casey's lips, and his hands and the heat radiating off his body. Merlin, his hands were everywhere.

She wasn't quite sure when the laces at the back of her dress had been undone, or where exactly his suit jacket had gone. He had stopped touching her for almost a full minute, his eyes roving the plane of her stomach and the rest of her body. She felt naked, or practically so in her black underwear set, but he breathed, "Wow."

That made everything better. She was nervous, her fingers shaking as she kissed him and managed to undo his pants. Boys' pants were different than girls', she noted, trembling as she saw the blue and orange plaid pattern of his boxers. Ravenclaw pride, she thought, and boy did Ravenclaw have a lot to be proud of.

She took his fingers in her hand, kissing the pads of each one. He made a mewling sound as her tongue darted towards each one in turn, cherishing them. Insistently, his body fell against hers, pinning her to the stark black comforter. She wrapped her legs around him. He kissed her harder now, sliding a hand softly along the length of her thigh.

"Casey," Prue gasped, arching her body against him.

In some ways, it was better than she had expected, and in some ways it was worse. When it was over, Prue decided that expectations aside, that had been awfully nice. The after part was pretty nice.

Casey snuggled his head into the little nook where Prue's arm and her body connected.

Making a soft, amused sound of protest, Prue admonished, "Aren't I supposed to be the one who gets to cuddle up?"

"Mm," Casey made a contented noise, and absolutely no attempt to move.

A knock on the door interrupted their blissful reverie, "Casey, open up."

It was a voice Prue didn't recognize, then she realized it belonged to Casey's new uncle, Haterii's fiancée.

"What, why?" Casey called back, irritated, "Stupid old man."

He lay his head back down on Prue's chest, but the knocking continued. In fact, it sounded like pounding. Prue started, "It sounds like an emergency."

"Who cares," Casey was closing his eyes, absolutely oblivious to everything.

"I do," Prue got up, pulling on the black shirt he'd been wearing and the pair of red sweats he'd worn the day before. Casey's head flopped down onto the bed, "Hey!"

The knocking was really insistent now, and it seemed new voices had joined the foray.

"Leave them alone," Cayan yelled. He sounded awfully drunk. Prue thought she heard the sound of kids crying. The twins, or Corbett? Perhaps it was that which prompted Casey to scramble out of bed and pull on his boxers. It sounded like a fight had started outside, but most of the noises were muffled.

Casey threw open the door, not bothering to put on a shirt. Outside, his very drunk looking uncle was being restrained by an equally drunk Cerulean and Cayan. Little Corbett was sitting against a wall, crying, and the evil stepsisters were gathered in group behind a very angry looking Arcadia Hargrove. Some people Prue didn't recognize stood beside them. The new uncle's parents?

"You blood traitor," Haterii's husband screamed into Casey's face.

Rather than look even slightly put out, Casey replied archly, "Excuse me?"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up," Arcadia commanded the man, "Don't spread your filthy propaganda around my house, brother in law or no!"

The group standing behind the sisters started shouting angry, hateful things. What in the world was going on? Shouldn't this have been a happy night, in more ways than one? Where was Haterii? Prue spotted her behind the gathering of her husband's family. Tears stained her bright eyes.

Darkly Cerulean said, "The Craven family drank a little too much of the special punch. They started a roast on 'mudbloods' and 'blood traitors'."

The man they held restrained spat something obscene at Prue and Casey, both in the spitting and in the word sense. Casey moved a stunned Prue out of range. He didn't seem nearly so surprised by this outburst as she did.

"I'm sorry, Casey," Corbett cried, "I was trying to make them stop. I know Prue said it was a secret, but-"

That was about when it dawned on her. The fact that she was muggle born; Casey had said it might be a problem. So that was why this man and his family were spouting filthy words at her, and that was why the wicked stepsisters had impish smiles on their lips.

"You slept with that scum," the man told Casey in revulsion.

"It's an abhorrence of nature," a female voice piped in, and Prue thought it sounded suspiciously like Florence.

Casey blinked, "You're all bloody tossers. Except you two, and you mum. You're alright."

With that said, Casey turned to lead Prue back into his room, as though this was something she could just forget. Instead, she pulled away from him, livid.

"You have a problem with me," she said, enraged, "That's your prerogative. But for the love of god, be a bloody man about it. Don't deal with it on your wedding night. Your wife's practically in hysterics."

The man glanced back at Haterii and opened his mouth. His family jeered at her, but she continued, "You can't tell her you love her, then not accept every part of her. Even if it's a blood traitor nephew who loves the muggle born girl. Honestly, grow some balls. You want to insult me? You want to say degrading things about someone who shouldn't even be on your radar on the happiest night of your worthless life? Pssh, you don't deserve her."

"Mudblood," the man answered, not looking the least bit impressed.

Prue shot him a scathing look, but it was probably the silencing charm that Cerulean put on him that shut him up. Arcadia apologized profusely for the disturbance, and after a couple of crossed arms and hot glares from Cerulean and Cayan, the rest of the Craven family evacuated the hall. Prue told Haterii that she was sincerely sorry she messed up her wedding, and that she shouldn't have come, but Haterii sweetly replied that if it hadn't been this, it would have been something else.

"He's a bastard," Arcadia said comfortingly, but they knew Haterii loved him despite it.

Even though Casey told her it would be alright, Prue decided not to spend the night in his bed. In that way, Mr. Craven had achieved his purpose.

They arrived back at Hogwarts in grim moods. Cerulean apologetically said that he had to meet someone and quickly left the headmistress's office ahead of them. Cherridy walked with Prue and Casey back to the Ravenclaw common room. Matilda practically strangled him in a tight hug as soon as he'd gone through the portal.

All their friends were waiting there for them. When Bobby saw the look on Prue's face, he wrapped her in a tight hug and murmured, "What happened?"

Prue said they needed to talk, and lead him away from the group. While Casey filled in the others on the abbreviated version (minus the Prue cheating on Bobby part) of their story, Prue told him everything. Well, not everything. She left out the part about doing anything other than kissing with Casey, but from the look on his face, she could tell Bobby already had figured it out.

He didn't look quite as torn up as she might have expected, "I was waiting for this. Well, not for Casey's new uncle to be a git, but for you know…you guys…"

"You were?"

"I was," Bobby smiled weakly, "I just kind of hoped it would take longer. I'm going to need a little time…"

Hurt that he didn't want to talk to her, but understanding that she'd made him extremely unhappy, Prue let Bobby walk away. When Casey came over and wrapped his arms around her, the rest of the group connected the dots.

"About time," Elanore whispered, then told Serendipity, "You owe me five galleons."

Serendipity dug the money out of her pocket, handing it to Elanore, "You know, we really should see that Casey's uncle gets beaten up."

Prue suddenly turned around, pushing Casey away. Her smile was bright, "So, how much homework did I miss?"

A considerable amount, due to the fact that exams were quickly approaching.

Prue frowned, "I'll bet you guys didn't even get someone else to do it for me."

Sylvester demanded, "You get someone else to do your homework?"

"Doesn't everyone?" Elanore asked innocently. Most of the Icemen looked extremely distraught that they had not thought of this solution to homework anxiety.

"What else did we miss?" Casey asked cheerfully, having been the only one of the boys who'd had a deal worked out with a very pretty seventh year girl so that the only homework he handled on his own was astronomy.

"Oh!" Quant struck his fist, as though a brilliant idea had hit him, "I have news. It seems that there was an anti-muggle act of vandalism in Hogsmeade."

"Why Hogsmeade?" snorted Sylvester, "I mean, there aren't any muggles there."

"But there are muggle born kids visiting all the time," Frank said quietly.

"It was just a few broken windows and such. The only real indication that it was anti-muggle was some very crude writing on the wall. It was a break in to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes."

"That chain joke shop?" Prue asked.

"Yeah. But that store supplies charmed objects to ministry officials," Quant replied knowledgeably.

"Weird. It was probably just some neighborhood vandals," Casey said dismissively, "I'm exhausted…"

"It's only seven o clock," Prue stopped, realizing the very suggestive manner the red haired boy was looking at her in.

Serendipity smiled patronizingly, and Elanore examined her nails tactfully. The other boys didn't quite seem to get what was going on however, if Sylvester's, "What'd I miss?" was any indication.

"Not on your life," Prue told Casey, whose face fell.

"You don't even know what I was going to ask you," he said petulantly.

"You want me to sleep in the same bed is you," she replied coolly, "And I will not do that to Bobby, and if you had any sense of feeling, you would go up there and talk to him about what had happened."

"Girls always need to talk about their feelings," Frank complained, "That is so not a guy thing."

Prue jinxed him with a particularly powerful curse that involved his eyes sealing themselves shut. After that he learned to keep his mouth closed as well. For the night, anyway.

"We'll leave you two alone," Serendipity sidled towards the portrait door, fully intent on sneaking into Polaris's bed herself.

She said 'we' as in the royal we, because nobody else made a move.

"I have an idea," Casey cheered, as though it was the first time that had happened to him. He grabbed Prue's hand. She already figured that they were going to the Astronomy tower, and she was about to tell him that she didn't plan on sleeping out in the still chilled march air when he veered to the left and pounded rather hard on an inconspicuous looking wooden door she'd never noticed before. A surly looking Rama Marcus came to the door, fair haired Alija Fairmay hanging off his arm.

"Hargrove?" Rama asked quizzically. He called Cerulean the 'eldest Hargrove', and Cherridy 'little Hargrove'.

"Hey, Rama," Casey greeted him, "Could you go to Alija's room tonight?"

"Why?" Alija asked sleepily. They were both NEWT students and needed their rest, after all.

"Because I'm borrowing your room," Casey replied casually, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

Rama made a face, "And why would I let you do that?"

"Remember that time I did that thing for you in that place?" Casey asked. Rama's eyes searched his face, a blank expression being replaced with understanding seconds later.

"Sure," Rama said, "Take it. Be sure not to mess up the sheets."

"They're still clean, right?" Casey asked.

Alija blinked, "Why wouldn't they be?"

Rama mouthed 'yes' and lead the pajama clad head girl out of the room.

Prue had never been in the head boy's room before. It was rather nice, as big as the girl's dormitory, with nice paneled wood walls. There was a four poster bed that was smaller than Casey's back home.

"So what did you do for Rama?" Prue asked gleefully, happy to privy to information that the other Saints had yet to hear.

"Oh nothing," Casey grinned mischievously, "Maybe I'll tell you later."

"You know, I'm not putting out for you," Prue said a bit timidly.

"Hey! That's not what I wanted," Casey griped, "I was worried about you. I mean, we haven't really talked about what happened yesterday."

"Oh, come on Casey, just because your uncle is some kind of prejudiced bastard doesn't mean we have to talk about it."

Injured, Casey said, "I meant what happened between us."

"Oh. Oh!" Prue realized that maybe Frank didn't know what he was talking about when he said guys didn't want to talk about their feelings.

"We…I mean, are you sure you don't regret it," he said timidly, as though he expected her to say yes, she did regret it thank you very much.

"Don't be stupid," Prue scoffed, "why would I regret it?"

Casey closed his eyes, "Well, it wasn't just a casual thing for me and…I really am the woman in this relationship, aren't I?"

"You are," Prue agreed with a soft smile, "And it wasn't…it was important to me too. I said I love you, and I mean it."

Casey softened, "Come sleep in my arms, you. We don't have to do anything. I promise."

For the rest of the night, he pretty much kept to his word. He did seem to like kissing the back of her neck, but in truth, it made Prue feel even safer while she slept.

They got Rama to lend them his headboy room for the next couple of weeks. Everyone was intent on enjoying the time they had left before the summer. The teachers were still pretty uptight about Jasminder's disappearance, but as the weeks passed and no word came, they started to wonder if there truly was something sinister about what had happened.

It was two days before exams, with barely a week left of school when they found out how wrong they'd been to ignore Jasminder's disappearance. It was the only warning they would get.

Okay, I realize the quote unquote sex scene (this is so I'm not saying they had sex, people! They had…umm…arts and crafts time) is super cliché. I realize that most people's first times are completely unlike that. It's often uncomfortable for the girl, and over too fast, and all that (I'm talking about finger painting, of course).

But you know, not to go all TMI on you, but I think my own experience was very romantic although not in the same way as Prue and Casey's. It was kind of magical. Plus, I figure Prue and Casey's first time (making houses out of glue) should be kind of nice, after what I do next. Hearts to all. I like finger painting!