A/N: Okay, so I'm actually updating frequently! It's crazy! I've never done this before...Actually updating. It's a wonderful new thing!
EDIT: I FORGOT TO ADD WHY SHE ALMOST DROWNED. Silly me! : D Do read the end at least. It's MUCH better then before.
Time passed. March faded into April, melting the snow, April blossomed into May, bringing with it sunshine and balmy weather. The lake was calm and cool, the cheerful sun glinting merrily off the black surface, the trees swaying lazily in the warm breeze that ruffled their branches. Little first and second years ran around the grounds in the bright green grass, wading in the water and splashing each other with delighted giggles.
Nasty little sods..., Cassie thought sourly.
They had already finished their exams. For some stupid reason, the teachers thought it prudent to test them at the end of May, and while they enjoyed a month's period of carefree sunshine, the older years grappled and ran around the school desperately trying to revise.
It was on one of these occasions that Cassie was sat by the window, desperately trying to listen to Professor Binn's droning speeches on some obscure subject of history and take notes at the same time. But it was nearly impossible with the little brats making so much noise outside. It was no good. She'd fail History of Magic anyway, just like everyone else in her year. When people applied for jobs, they never looked at your History of Magic mark. Possibly because they remember how boring it was, and how they failed it as well. But, other than History of Magic, Cassie was proud of herself. She was on top of all her classes for once, par with a select few excelling students in the school. She was quite excited, really, to see her NEWTs next year.
Cassie never thought she'd see the day that she was excited for school. She supposed it was from hanging around Tom too much.
Where is he anyway?Her eyes surveyed the classroom and caught the meticulously combed dark hair sitting faced front at the desk closest to the board. He was taking notes like a madman, his eyes never leaving his paper and quill but somehow getting every bit of information that floated out of the ghost-teacher's mouth. She covered her small smile with her petite hand, resting her bent elbow on the table to prop up her head.
The bell rang loudly, resounding off of the stuffy classroom. The people who'd been sleeping (needless to say, half of the class) jumped up claiming loudly that they were paying attention, while others traipsed, yawning widely, out the door. Cassie waited until most of the class was gone before she stood to gather her things neatly into her bag. Neatness was another skill she'd picked up from Tom. Though, she had to admit, her four-poster up in the girls dorm needed some attention.
After her things were securely in her bag, she walked lazily to the edge of Tom's desk where he was still gathering his books and notes. He briefly looked up to her face, nodded, and murmured something about meeting her in the hall. She shrugged.
"You won't find me in the hall, I'm eating outside. Join me if you want to, by the old birch tree" she said simply, turning her body round to walk out the door. She heard a small noise to the affirmative side from Tom's direction, so she flounced out the door of the classroom and down to the Great Hall.
Once Cassie had safely procured some lunch from the Hall, she wandered out side and sat meekly beside the old birch, its hanging branches and gigantic thick trunk looming menacingly over top of her. She shrugged off her silly feelings. Of course it towered over her. It was as old as the school, maybe even older.
With plucky enthusiasm she kicked off her shoes, swallowed the last bit of her turkey sandwich, pulled off her socks and school outer robes and promptly pranced off into the cool lakeside. The dark mud oozed between her pale toes, covering them in a sloshy, dirty film. The water was pleasantly cold to the touch of her feet, and, minding the sudden drop off, made her way slowly into deeper water. By the time she reached knee-high, she was in a patch of lake grass and water lilies, and idly she watched the frogs and tadpoles flit from shelter to shelter, the little fish swimming fast by her legs.
Fuzzy summer memories came floating lazily to her, times fishing with her cousins, playing in the stream by her house when she and her older sister were small, swinging on a tire swing into the deep pond that connected to the stream...Good memories. When she got out of school for the summer, her cousins still visited her, and they still went fishing, every year. Last year, she'd even managed to catch a good sized trout!
SPLASH!
She opened her eyes, and she could see nothing. Complete blackness, the thick pressure of water pressing hard onto her eyes. She forced her mouth closed, trying her best to spit the water out that had crawled, freezing, down her throat. She ached to gasp for air, but there was none down here. She desperately looked upwards, but it was black all around. Air, she needed air. She twisted around violently, wildly looking for the lightness that signalled the surface. But all around her was blackness. Her lungs ached. Air. She needed air.
Air.
, her body forced her mouth open in a vain attempt to suck in any oxygen, anything to keep her alive. But all she breathed in was water, black and thick and muddy in her lungs, and she forced her eyes closed, refusing to look at Death.
AIR!
A hand wrenched at the back of her sodden school shirt, dragging her unceremoniously onto the bright green grass and turning her onto her back. No breath came into her lungs. He checked her vitals. Nothing.
"Cassie..." he asked loudly of her, while he made absolutely sure that no breath was going into her lungs. He grimaced at her lack of response, and slowly lowered his head to hers...
and was pushed out of the way.
"I'll do it!" declared a pompous Hufflepuff Quidditch player, leaning down to Cassie's mouth as though she were Snow White. Tom forced his wand hand from twitching.
If you're going to save her life, now's the time to do it, not when cameras are around! He thought, agitatedly.
A weak little cough and splutter turned his attention back to the Hufflepuff and Cassie. Her eyes were blearily half-open, water pouring from her lungs with each cough. A cheer erupted from the gathered crowd, yelling things like "She's alive!" and "You saved her!"
But, over the din, he heard her mutter "Tom? Is that....you?" to the boy looming above her, grinning into the crowd. Tom saw her eyes adjust and focus to the sudden bright light.
She blinked, things still taking form. She tried prop herself into a seated position istead of lying like a broken toy on the ground, but her spine angrily protested, and she didn't have enough energy to fight back. Abandoning the notion of looking presentable, she flopped back onto the ground.
"Um...What happened?" she adressed the crowd weakly, trying not to sound too pathetic.
One of the surrounding students, a fifth year tawny-haired Ravenclaw glared over at some Gryffindor fourth years.
"Those guys", she said, jabbing her finger at them, "felt the need to annoy the Giant Squid. Usually, the squid dosen't get mad easily... But you should have seen them! They were throwing rocks and yelling-"
"Amanda, get to the point!" sniped a Slytherin seventh year harshly.
"Anyway", glared Amanda, "the Giant Squid was really angry. We were all avoiding the lake, but I guess since you came out later and you didn't know...The squid must've thought you'd have made a nice lunch."
Cassie could tell that the fifth year nearly had to bite her tongue from saying "In all fairness", catching the eye of that intimidating Slytherin.
"Eugh..." Cassie mumbled, closing her eyes from the glaring light that shone so bluntly down on her, possibly knowing full well that her head felt as though it were going to implode...How rude. What a mean, mean sun...She cracked an eye open, hoping to be sitting up by a tree, the whole 'Being-Mistook-As-A-Tasty-Treat-and-Nearly-Drowning' incident just a dream brought on from hours of relentless study...
But, it wasn't.
She was still lying pathetically prone on the grassy grounds of Hogwarts, a big group of curious faces staring down at her.
At least one of them had moved, and wether intentionally or not, had managed to block out the sun...
Her eyes slid in and out of focus for a moment before locking onto a familiar face.
"Sam?" she asked curiously. He wasn't who she'd expected... Her eyes slowly scanned the crowd before locking with the handsome blonde's blue eyes once again.
He smiled at her, his teeth oh-so-white, his aqua eyes sparkling, his straw-blonde hair ruffling attractively on the breeze...
She shook her head forcefully, looking shiftily to the right and hoping to hope that no one saw her unintentional fawning.
But his eyes were sooo pretty....
"Yeah?"
His voice jolted her roughly back to Earth.
"Um...Did...Did you save me?" she asked tentively, looking around once more for a certain pale, dark haired person.
"Yeah, I did" smiled the blonde.
Tom was quietly seething, but held his tongue. Slowly, he turned around and walked away through the crowd.
"Wow!" she exclaimed a little too enthusiastically, "Oh...I mean...Um...Thanks...Thanks a lot!"
She tried her best smile, taking devious care to make sure that her curly dark hair was down the side of her face in the way she liked it.
His easy smile sent her off into blissful dreamland as he reached down with his large, soft hand, clasped her tiny pale one, and lifted her to her feet.
A/N: Alright. So, this chapter may not be a mammoth like the previous ones, but at least I updated a chapter within like....A day or two of the previous one. I just had to do the Cassie-Almost-Drowns cliché. XD It has signifigance: it starts her and Sam DuPrau's relationship somewhat. Reviews are always appreciated. : D