C. M. Black: Eyes of an Owl

Chapter XIX: The Nutcracker

Cassy scowled, her hands on her hips. A small part of her wanted to sigh and just let what would happen happen, because there was no reasoning that would change anything. However, a larger, more stubborn and duty-bound part of her refused. She had put her foot down and demanded Hagrid change his lesson plan the morning after she and her friends had visited him. No matter how wide her vocabulary was, or how many different ways she could think to explain the situation to him, nothing seemed to sink into his brain.

'Hagrid,' she said sharply. 'She will fire you.'

Hagrid shrugged. 'My lesson plans are good! I've saved all the best beasts for OWLs.'

'Hagrid, that might be the problem,' interjected Hermione softly.

'They are looking for a reason to fire you,' said Cassy hotly. Her temper was too short that morning to do much but be critically honest; all of her patience had been used in the last half-an-hour talking in circles in a gentle attempt to get Hagrid to see the severity of the situation he was in. He was just not understanding it though.

'Why would they do that?' he asked and sipped his coffee, unconcerned if somewhat perplexed.

'You have to look at who you are Hagrid,' said Hermione.

'What d'ye mean?'

'She hates half-breeds,' stated Cassy bluntly. 'She was the one who drafted the law that made it impossible for Werewolves to get work, let alone work with children. She will try and undermine you.'

'There's jus' no way she won't be impressed with my plan,' said Hagrid gruffly. He stood. 'Now, you two need ter get back up for breakfast before anyone finds out yer were here.'

'Hagrid, please! You must be careful,' begged Hermione.

He did not listen to her. Cassy and Hermione found themselves quickly hoisted up by the back of their coats and deposited onto the early November snow. The door slammed behind them, and Cassy immediately began to stomp back up to the castle. Hermione hurried beside her, a giant mug still held in her hands half-full of fresh tea.

'That was a waste of time,' she grumbled.

'If it were anyone else, they would have understood, but he is always happy to be oblivious,' snapped Cassy. 'I can deal with arguments, debates, court, politics, theories, and more, but someone who does not want to see reason is truly beyond me. Flattery did not work and being blunt did not work. There is no reasoning with him. It is as though everything we said was lost before even reaching his brain.'

Hagrid was not the type of person who could slowly be convinced to act. It was either an immediate agreement or a stubborn refusal. If he was not willing to listen to them before his lessons began that day, then there was truly no hope.

Hermione sighed heavily. 'We will just have to see how the lesson goes in two days' time then.'

Cassy pursed her lips. They explained to the others what they had tried to do and while Harry sighed heavily, he made no attempt to convince Hagrid himself. There was a long list of Ministry concerns with creatures and a very short list in comparison of what they deemed appropriate to teach. From the depths of the library, Cassy had extracted a thin book of creature classification and had sorted through the rank of every creature Hagrid had ever shown them. Hippogriffs were deemed dangerous, only available at NEWT level, and that had almost ended poorly in third-year without the help of any High Inquisitor. In fact, there were only a handful of creatures they had seen that had been deemed age appropriate at all, and if Hagrid was excited about his classes then she knew nothing harmless would be in them.

Instead of concentrating on the inevitable outcome of the inspection, Cassy turned her attention to her birthday celebrations that morning instead. Many parcels had made it through the rigorous screening process. Tonks and the Weasleys had sent her something, as well as a disguised gift from her father written under the name of 'Jack Green' and an unexpected gift from Remus. Although Cassy had not seen them, she was certain Plum and Kitsy had sent her breakfast. It was more delicately cooked than anything else, full of unusual foods that were pure perfection and best of all it appeared directly on her plate.

She ate it hurriedly though to give herself time to deposit her parcels upstairs. Luna had pushed another brightly wrapped present into her arms before she stood and another two were piled on top by Stephen and Astoria. She placed them all on her bed with the unopened ones from Harry, Neville, Hermione, and Ginny. Pausing, she ran her hands over the flexible, soft gift from Mr and Mrs Weasley. She ripped it open and pulled out a grey and purple knitted winter set. The woollen garments were covered in a complex cable pattern and Cassy quickly tugged the hat and gloves on and wrapped the long, thick scarf around her neck before she retreated back down to the entrance hall to meet her friends for their first lesson.

Harry pulled on the bobble of the hat as they walked and revelled in the fact that Cassy could not easy reach to swipe his hat from his head.

He let out a loud groan suddenly, and Cassy soon sighed too at the sight of the leathery creatures on the other side of the distant fence. Sharp, pointed faces, and the rippled backs were visible over the heads of the already gathered crowd. Late autumn sunlight filtered through the stretched skin that formed the giant wings.

'What is it?' asked Hermione with a frown.

'Thestrals,' said Cassy and Harry together.

'Oh, for the love of…' muttered Hermione.

'How high on the scale are Thestrals?' queried Neville grimly in a tone that suggested he all ready knew.

'High,' they all replied flatly.

When they reached the paddock, it was plainly clear that the lesson was going to be an arduous task in itself for no one seemed to see the Thestrals at all. The students loitered near the fence, many spoke idly to one another, arms resting on the wood and eyes glazed over more each time they spared a thoughtful glance at the seemingly empty space.

It was only when Hagrid clapped his hands together when they had all arrived that the rest seemed to realise something was wrong.

'Is there anybody here who knows what's behind me?' he asked excitedly.

'A paddock?' responded a Slytherin, dully.

Hagrid rolled his beady eyes. 'Anyone else. C'mon now!'

With a heavy sigh, it was Hermione who called out to answer him. He beamed, clapped his hands again and apparently missed Professor Umbridge's alarmed shriek behind them all.

'Now, who here can see them? Don't be shy, put up yer hands,' she said.

Slowly, four hands rose into the air. Cassy, Harry, Neville, and Theodore Nott, in a surprise announcement. He was given many curious looks, but nothing like the intensity of Malfoy's incredulous stare at Cassy. His eyebrows dipped low towards his grey eyes and his mouth was open as if searching for words through his muddled thoughts.

'And exactly who have you seen die?' he eventually blurted loudly across the grassy plain. The Gryffindors had huddled to one side and the Slytherins on another.

Cassy turned to him flatly and without missing a beat, she said, 'Our uncle.'

A deathly silence fell across the two houses. Hagrid shifted uncomfortably and not even Professor Umbridge seemed to have a bitterly sweet remark to make. The moment her quill touched the parchment, Harry cleared his throat loudly. Startled, Hagrid burst back into action and the lesson began at long last, although seemed to have little proper planning. Cassy could help but stare flatly at her half-giant friend as he tried to explain what Thestrals looked like without the use of a diagram and had them draw out their thoughts instead. He was full of interesting information on them though, he had been helping to keep the herd for many years now – Professor Umbridge coughed at this – and that they favoured a diet of meat despite their horse-like appearance.

What Cassy did not wish to see was the small flock in the paddock devour a cow carcas. Despite Hagrid's merry thoughts that it would be an interesting watch, no one seemed to enjoy watching meat slowly be ripped from the bones and vanish in the air. There was an air of morbid fascination more than anything by the end of the lesson and so it came to no surprise to Cassy, Harry, Neville, and Hermione when ten days later Hagrid announced to them that he had been placed on probation.

'I think they're interesting, Hagrid,' assured Neville as he patted Hagrid's shoulder sympathetically, 'but perhaps you should stick to more normal creatures.'

'Where's the fun in that?' demanded Hagrid mournfully.

'Normal creatures can be fun too,' assured Hermione. She wore her best-forced smile and even that was utterly lopsided. It did not matter; Hagrid only had an interest in his little letter penned in pink ink.

Neville patted his back again and the four vowed to keep his probation a secret. It would only cause him more issues if anyone were to know, people might become excited by the possible return of Professor Grubbly-Plank and that would only speed up his sacking. It was not as though they had any genuine belief that Professor Umbridge cared for popular opinion, but there was no doubt she would leap at the opportunity as soon as she managed to find a suitable replacement. It was fortunate that it was rumoured towards the end of her stay Professor Grubbly-Plank had begun to feel restless in her old job and had not wanted to continue beyond the end of term.

The weight of Hagrid's imminent demotion blurred in with the massive influx of last minute homework the staff were desperate to hand out as the days passed into early December. Compared to the first half of term, Cassy found that there was relatively little occurring and for that she was glad. The stresses of her earlier weeks had faded, although an occasional flare of anger reminded her of her estranged relationship with Malfoy and a nagging voice in the back of her mind occasionally compelled her to search for Shandy at mealtimes amongst the mass of familiar Slytherins he had always surrounded himself with. She had expected him to avoid her gaze, to pretend she did not exist, but instead he would catch her eye, seemingly accidentally, before he turned and continued what he had been doing. There was no open disdain or fear and it only made Cassy more tempted to seek out his gaze and it took a lot of self-restraint to keep her eyes on her friends and food at each meal instead.

Despite the growing ease, Christmas seemed to lack the same appeal it normally did. There was no time to be festive with the work that was quickly piling up from Cassy's ten classes. Yet some enjoyment could be found in watching Hermione and Ron complain as they set out the decorations along the corridor leading up to the common room.

'They get shorter and cheekier every year, I swear,' moaned Ron as he glared over the sofas once the two had returned. 'We were never that rude!'

Cassy tilted her head to one side and said, 'True, but I think instead of insulting the décor, Neville would have accidentally ripped something down, I would have handed out a scathing remark to those bold enough to laugh, and Harry would have drawn in more unwanted attention with his forehead until the entire corridor was blocked off with rowing students. Really, you are quite fortunate with your remarks.'

Harry gave her a wary grin over his homework and Neville nodded along as though long since having accepted his clumsiness.

'I swear if you ripped it down…' began Ron.

'You will do what, Weasley?' challenged Cassy, smirking.

'Well, I'd have to think about it for a bit, but I would make it brutal,' he shrugged.

'Should we test that?' She gave him a wolfish grin and he puffed up his chest in a fashion not dissimilar to his estranged older brother Percy.

'Can we not, please?' pleaded Neville. He and Harry were desperately trying to finish their homework and the longer Cassy had watched them struggle along, the more incapable she had become at holding her tongue. Partially out of boredom and partially on purpose, she had distracted the pair since they had settled down from dinner and Neville seemed to be slowly losing grip on his will to try.

'My pride dictates I must duel,' said Cassy dramatically.

'I accept your challenge!' proclaimed Ron.

Neville sighed heavily, but looked amused none the less, while Harry shook his head with a glint in his eye that suggested it was something he would very much like to see.

'Must you?' asked Hermione.

'I do not deal well with boredom. I need constructive thought in my life,' said Cassy flippantly. Her thoughts had been lingering on the long list of advice she could hand to Hagrid to slow his descent but with no way to convince him, she had become slowly frustrated and swapped to more bearable action and that was to distract everyone and herself. True to her words, Cassy did not cope well with unconstructive thought. It was too messy, often pointless, and only lead to high emotions and mistakes. Dwelling was unconstructive; sadness was unconstructive; boredom was incredibly unconstructive and Cassy was still searching for a hobby that was outside of a scholarly line. Skills, languages, and instruments were fine hobbies, but not often entertaining and she found her life already full of chores and tasks that the idea of adding another, no matter how fascinating, was a tedious one.

Regardless of the vague want to do something different, Cassy still found herself heading to the library moments later. Cassy slipped into one of the seats, thinking hard. She could not take up an instrument because there was no music room, she could not write a novel because despite a broad imagination and decisive reasoning it would consume too much study time if her mind were allowed to wander that far, and art was out of the question as she was certain it would look worse than anything the Giant Squid could produce.

There was a distant tapping, high and short, but she did not pay it any attention.

Hobbies were difficult to think of. Hermione had knitting and Neville had his plant collection, Harry and Ginny both shared Quidditch fanaticism, while Luna was content to make her own clothes and accessories, none of which Cassy had much interest in at all.

The tapping continued, louder now. The thought of trying to teach her resentful owl some commands faded from her mind as she turned to the edge of the table just in time to see a black and red tiny figure clamber over the top. Stiffly, the tiny figure hoisted itself up, its back moved as a single block, unbending. It straightened out its fluffy beard and saluted her. The wooden soldier proceeded to march towards her, his arms swung at his side. A small flag under its arm was pulled out and the square of stiff paper read: 'Cheer up!'

Blinking incredulously, Cassy peered around the clearing and down all connecting aisles until she spotted a head of brown hair, a slight curl to it, thick black glasses frames in front of brown eyes and wide, toothy grin gleamed brightly in her direction. As she shook her head, she plucked the soldier from the table and wandered over to Stephen and pulled out a chair at his table.

'What's this?' she asked, setting the soldier down.

It saluted her again and pulled a wooden gun from his back and began to march again.

'We were messing around in Transfiguration because a few of us finished early and McGonagall was more concerned with stopping Umbridge murdering some lower years in the corridor than setting us more work,' he explained.

'You made this?' Cassy asked, impressed.

'Yeah, just a bit of woodwork and some paint spells, brought him to life and there you have it,' he said simply. 'Making him spatially aware though took a bit of an effort. He fell off the table twice when I wasn't looking.'

'It's adorable,' she said.

'You can keep it,' offered Stephen. 'You look like you could do with some cheering up.'

Cassy smiled and shook her head. 'I am not unhappy, I was just thinking.'

She thanked him for the soldier, which jumped from the stack of books and bent its legs stiffly at the knee-joints with a clatter and bowed to balance itself again. She plucked it back up and began further reading on the next chapter of Ancient Runes. She had considered doing some Defence Against the Dark Arts reading, but all of the books had been taken from the library and replaced with 'Ministry Approved' materials. When that was done only half-an-hour later, she returned to the common room, the soldier still in her hand, only his wooden head carefully following whoever she passed in the corridor, staring down the students with his large, blue painted eyes and his gritted teeth. Once in the common room, she placed him down on the arm of the sofa; he wobbled and carefully straightened himself, his arms spread widely. She smiled down at it.

'Cassy,' called Harry from the armchair opposite, 'what's that?'

'A nutcracker. Stephen gave it to me; he made it himself,' she explained. 'It responds entirely to its environment as well, which is advanced magic and it is well crafted. I am pleasantly impressed, to be honest.' When she looked back up at them, Neville had scooted closer to have a better look and Hermione was eyeing it curiously as it marched up and down the arm.

'Why did he make you something?' asked Harry, frowning.

'Christmas spirit?' offered Cassy absently. She was more focused on the peculiar expression Hermione had on her face. It was not the first time she had seen it lately, but Cassy could not place the cause for such a thoughtful gaze.

After a few moments of watching the soldier wobble, she took him upstairs to the dormitory and told him to stay put on her bedside table. When she returned, the conversation had already moved on. Hermione was trying to explain how unappealing she found skiing, having gone twice before when she was younger with her parents. They were wanted her to go again at Christmas, but she was not so sure she wanted to go.

'There's too much going on here!' protested Hermione when Cassy and Harry turned to give her flat stares.

'It will be fine, Hermione,' assured Harry. 'Go and have a Christmas with your family.'

'This is what Cassy tried to make me do in summer and look how staying away turned out then,' argued Hermione.

'All you will have is to be locked up with us,' warned Cassy. 'I am supposed to be spending Christmas Day with Tonks' parents, in fact, so I will not even be there.'

The letter Tonks had sent made it very clear that Cassy would be making no alternative plans for Christmas. As expected, there was no mention of Grimmauld Place and while Cassy had debated choosing to remain at school, she knew her loathing of Professor Umbridge would overrule her discontent at invading the Tonks' family dinner.

'And I've been invited to Neville's,' said Harry.

Hermione sighed heavily. The three of them knew it was difficult for Hermione to place herself; she had no family involved in the Order, and she was not the primary target of Voldemort, so she had no basis to know or demand information. While her friends would surely tell her everything, Harry continued to feel guilty. He understood what it was like to have to rely on others for information.

'With any luck,' said Cassy lowly, 'I will be able to spend most of the holiday at Grimmy. I can keep an eye on things that way and Tonks can hardly deny me it.' If she dropped the prospect of Remus being at Grimmauld Place over Christmas to her cousin, she was almost certain Tonks would agree to take her there.

'He can't spend Christmas alone,' said Harry resolutely. 'I had a dream of him pulling a cracker with Kreacher the other night.'

Cassy and Neville laughed, while Hermione sniffed.

'I don't think even the holidays can bring them together,' said Neville.

By the time the four went to bed, the common room had mostly emptied. Neville made a passing comment that they had not seen Ginny for hours, but Hermione brushed the thought away with a shrug of her shoulders and a the idea that Ginny was in her room with her friends already. Contrary, Cassy knew exactly where Ginny was. Waking earlier than much of the House had its uses and one had been to catch Ginny sneaking downstairs in the early hours, her hair tied back and old, tatty trainers on her feet. It had only taken the sight of Cassy's large, blue-eyes peaking over the top of the sofa for Ginny to heave a heavy sigh and admit that she had been sneaking out of the castle for days now in preparation for the Quidditch Trials.

There had been a moment where she thought she saw a glimmer of the Ginny she had met in second-year, embarrassed and unsure, but it was squashed by the determined glint in her eyes and the cool confidence Ginny had developed so rapidly through the last two-and-a-half years.

'Good luck then,' said Cassy and Ginny had nodded back in thanks and that was the last the two had spoken about it. With any luck, by tomorrow evening Ginny would be the new Gryffindor Seeker.

Despite only being a Wednesday, the day that followed was critically unproductive. Snow billowed from the grey skies, swirling and dancing outside the windows all through the day and enchanted to do the same through the meals in the Great Hall. The castle smelt of cinnamon and ginger, warm from the burning fires filled the halls with vigour, and all attention drifted from the lessons to the holiday plans. Even the teachers were reluctant to push work, although Professor McGonagall had refused to let them break early for lunch.

The last day of term was not until Friday, but with the weather blisteringly cold outside and the frost that built on the steamed windows growing with each minute that ticked by, the will to learn had completely dissolved into a firm desire for the Christmas holidays to hurry forward. The weather had cancelled Astronomy that night and with the evening free, Harry had called a last minute Dumbledore's Army meeting before the term officially ended.

Cassy and Harry walked ahead of Neville and Hermione to the Room of Requirement. Hermione had called him back to discuss their latest Herbology homework results and he had been only too eager to debate. They had drifted out of sight somewhere along the way, but if ears were strained, the sound of Neville's enthusiastic chatter could still be heard some distance away.

Neither Cassy nor Harry thought anything of it, but as soon as the door opened to reveal the training room Harry had never been so thankful to have had them missing.

'Oh my God,' he muttered.

'This is brilliant,' gasped Cassy. Her eyes glittered with mirth and she grinned at the sight of the hundred baubles that hung from the ceiling. Silver and gold, they glistened in the lamplight, each one plastered with a photograph of Harry's face on one side, while the other read: 'Have a Harry Christmas.'

'Dobby,' gasped Cassy with the effort not to laugh, 'you must let me keep one of these.'

The elf turned to them from where he had been hanging stockings on the fireplace and jumped excitedly on the spot, his feet caught in tinsel he had draped across his many woollen jumpers.

'You like it?' he cried eagerly.

Before Cassy could agree, Harry cut in. 'Please get rid of them, Dobby. Let's just have plain decorations.' His voice was as flat as the glare he sent Cassy over his shoulder.

She grinned and tried to act nonchalant. 'I think they are very clever. I would like to keep one, Dobby, as a memento.'

'You will not!' Harry pushed her to the side as she reached up to pluck one from the ceiling. She chortled as he grabbed her hands and begged Dobby to charm them blank. When they had become undeniably less interesting, Harry let her go and Cassy stared forlornly up at the ceiling.

They only had a few moments to recover before other members began to flood into the room. In turn, they each marvelled at the decorations, with wild tinsel strung across the bookshelves, icicles that hung from the windows, the tree in the corner, decorated and sprite, and the ceiling that glittered silver and gold. Dobby had outdone himself and it was certainly a job better done by him than the poor effort along the hall to Gryffindor that Hermione and Ron had done not long ago. The lights were brighter and warmer somehow, offsetting the coldness of the day with a familial warmth that was truly marvellous.

'This is fantastic, Dobby,' praised Cassy.

Dobby rocked on the balls of his feet, an embarrassed grin on his little face. His hands moved from behind his back and he presented a golden ball to her.

'Thank-you!' cheered Cassy, hushed.

The Harry on the bauble smiled up at her and snow drifted lazily in the background. It was even better close up and she could not wait to string it up in Grimmauld Place and see his reaction when he had inevitably fought his way to visit her father. If nothing else, she was certain Sirius would take great pleasure from it.

'Dobby will put it in your room, Miss Black, for safe keeping,' he said and Cassy nodded in thanks before he Apparated away.

Turning with a smile still on her lips, she approached Harry and Ginny. He turned to her and nodded at Ginny. 'She's the new Seeker.'

'Congratulations,' offered Cassy sincerely and Ginny smiled back at her.

'Only for now. I want to try out for Chaser next year and besides, there won't be a place for me as Seeker when Harry's back on the team!' shrugged Ginny.

'I have a life ban,' he said, frowning.

'Everyone is hoping to "one year curse" will come into action again,' said Cassy airily.

Harry snorted and shook his head.

The session began shortly after. Everyone gathered around to listen to the review of the year so far and with merely a recap of the spells they had already learnt or practiced as the task, they all split into pairs. Cassy and Ginny moved into their own spot. On one side was Neville and Luna and on the other was Hermione and Ron, whom Cassy liked to keep an eye on during duelling because tempers were short between the pair and it was never long before Ron was blasted across the rule for undermining Hermione's skill. While he was learning, he could never quite dodge quickly enough.

'I can't wait until next year is normal again and we have a good Defence Teacher,' said Ginny as the pair froze and unfroze one another.

'It would be a terrible time for the curse to fail,' agreed Cassy.

'It's not really cursed, you know,' called Hermione. 'That sort of magic is incredibly difficult, especially to last so long!'

'I hope it's real if it gets rid of her!' said Ginny.

Cassy froze Ginny. 'Personally, I think Professor Umbridge might be the best person for defence, actually.'

Neville was so surprised that he threw his wand at Luna instead of jinxing her and Ron tripped on his feet to the floor with a loud clatter. Hermione and Ginny stared at her incredulously and even Luna looked as though Cassy had lost her mind.

'I'm sorry, what was that?' called Harry from across the room. 'Did you just…?'

Cassy blinked at him owlishly. 'Think about it. If you were ever in combat and needed a distraction, merely the sound of her voice would send the enemy into such a frenzy they would surely target her instead. She is an unfailing scapegoat.'

'Truer words were never spoken,' said Ron from the ground.

'I thought for a moment we could no longer be friends,' said Ginny dramatically.

Harry silently laughed across the room and the lesson ambled onwards to the end of the hour with little disruption. By the time he clapped his hands together and called an end to the session, they have covered everything they had learnt in the last two months and there had not been a single person unable to cast any of the spells.

Harry beamed at them all as a proud parent might to his child with an O on his homework. 'Keep this up and we might begin Patronuses next term.'

A wave of excited chatter erupted and even the eager eyes of the most sceptical members shone brightly as they left in groups of two and three. Cassy drew in Susan Bones and Ernie Mcmillan in for a conversation before they had a chance to leave. She wished them each a good holiday and asked after their families, it was merely small talk, but there was little Bones liked to talk about more than how proud of her, Madam Bones who had overseen Harry's trial, and Mcmillan had a large family of at least nine generations of pure-blooded heritage to complain about as they were forced to gather for family meals each Christmas. She praised and sympathised until the two were glowing with contented happiness before she let them go. However, rather than a simple contact arrangement, Cassy found that unlike Zabini, the pair seemed easy to talk to and genuinely pleasant people. She made a note to continue her efforts to get to know them.

She turned as she reached the door. Neville and Hermione were only a few steps ahead, but Harry had vanished as he packed away. As soon as she turned, she knew not to wait. By the mirror at the far end of the hall stood Chang. Her shoulders shook and despite the distance Cassy could see the crumpled reflection of her face. A newspaper clipping of Cedric had been stuck to the mirror, inspiration for their efforts, Hannah Abbot had said when she had brought it in. It had been largely covered by the tinsel draped over the frame, but Chang had unearthed it and stood weeping at the sight of his handsome, smiling face.

Harry stood some feet ahead, watching her too and Cassy turned swiftly and left. She had promised herself to let him be happy whatever it meant and she was not about to interrupt such a brilliant opportunity for Harry and Chang to bond. She dared not think about the mistletoe hung above the Ravenclaw. It was this that made it impossible for Cassy not to jump in utter shock when the bottle-green eyes of Harry suddenly stared down at her only inches from her face.

He grimaced. 'Cho's crying.'

'Yes, she is,' said Cassy, somewhat perplexed.

'I probably shouldn't have just left her there,' he said lowly, the thought evidently just having crossed his mind.

Cassy, still dazed, was in no hurry to send him back to Chang's arms, nor was she willing to show her growing relief that he had turned and ran straight from her. Instead, she asked, 'And why did you?'

'She's upset about Cedric,' said Harry as though the reason were obvious. 'What can I say to that? "Sorry he didn't kill me instead"? I am probably the last person she wants to speak to right now. I was hoping one of the Ravenclaws might be out here so they can go and talk to her… I didn't see her friend here today either.'

The pair continued to walk down the near empty halls, silent from the closeness to curfew. Neville and Hermione turned to glance at them occasionally from their few steps in front, but there was no sign of another Ravenclaw in sight.

'I thought you would have wanted the excuse to talk to her,' said Cassy.

Harry blinked.

'You do still like her, don't you?' asked Neville.

Harry blinked again. 'No.'

'Really?' asked Cassy, barely managing to keep her tone conversational as the shocked word tumbled from her lips.

'Yeah,' he said with a frown. 'I haven't for ages. Is that why you keep leaving me alone with her?'

So he had noticed, thought Cassy.

'Cho likes you, Harry,' said Hermione forwardly as she fell back into step with him. 'She watches you all the time and always tries to get your attention. I think that's why she was crying because she feels guilty over liking you and moving on after Cedric.'

'Did I - ? I didn't mean… I didn't mean to give the impression I liked her back! Do you think she does?' he asked warily.

'Everyone thought you did,' admitted Neville and Harry sighed heavily and ran his fingers through his messy hair.

'I was trying to be nice after what happened with Cedric and then we speak because of the DA. I didn't realise it came across like that,' he confessed, his eyebrows scrunched guiltily. 'I just feel like… it's my responsibility to make sure she's all right because if it wasn't for me, Cedric wouldn't be dead and we wouldn't be at war.'

'Don't be ridiculous!' snapped Hermione.

'None of this is your fault,' insisted Neville.

'Voldemort would have found a way to return with or without you,' offered Cassy calmly. 'You have done more for us than anyone else at the moment anyway.'

Hermione put her hand on his arm. 'Cho will learn to deal with the loss, but having you so close won't help her feel better. She'll just feel guiltier, so maybe be a little more distant after Christmas. You have done enough for her, Harry. None of this is your fault. It was a tragedy caused by Voldemort alone.'

There were a few seconds of silence, but Harry soon nodded slowly and shot them each a little smile. 'Thanks, guys.'

Despite herself, Cassy grinned.

Sorry for the slowness of the updates. My exams are now done and went horribly, so I am doing so writing to cheer myself up.

I know Harry is very emotionally receptive and cares greatly, but I can see him being the type of person who can be very unaware of emotion directed at him. While he would never intentionally mess with someone's feelings, I think he's one of those guys that would be nice and not realise the implications, personally, and if he didn't fancy Cho then I think he still would have paid her extra attention to make sure she was all right out of a sense of duty. Exactly where his sense of duty kicked in and his feelings taper out are an ambiguous point in the plot, but it covers why he still seemed to fancy her earlier in the year. So, with that revelation, something might be coming soon. Then again, maybe not, I like to leave you guys guessing a bit! ;)

Nothing actually happens in this chapter. It just sets things up for later, but I hope you liked it none the less.

Thanks!