Finally fourth year! Things have been a little weird here at times, like that big snake and an escaped prisoner, but I stay pretty much with Draco Blaise and Theo. I feel pretty safe with them. And of course the whole business with the World Cup, but I finally knew I had to be wrong in what I saw.
They told me not to worry about the snake because it was only going after people who were born with no-maj in their family. But I have friends with no-maj in their family in Ravenclaw, so I was pretty worried.
The weirdest things my friends think are not worth worrying about. Giant monster snake paralyzing people? No problem. Not as if purebloods were being attacked. They never stopped to think what happens when monsters run out of their preferred targets? We ALL become targets. Escaped criminal looking to kill Harry Potter? Who cares? It's just Potter. But who might he attack to get at Potter?
I swear if it weren't for my boys I would have demanded my parents sent me back home to the United States. At least Daddy got that old Care of Magical Creatures Professor Kettleburn fired for the troll incident. Spend time with his remaining limbs my ass!
And there is this one boy in Hufflepuff Justin Finch Fetchley, he is very nice and we study a lot together. He swears Harry Potter turned a snake on him! I don't know about that, it was all so confusing to me and mostly I was so worried about Draco. Why oh why did he have to show off so much? Justin was really upset by the whole incident.
It was during this time I also got to know Luna Lovegood. She is so sweet and pure. Daphne and I have started studying with her. At first Daph didn't want to because she said that everyone calls Luna "Loony" but after awhile she saw how nice Luna is. Daphne can be pretty sensitive and just hates to be made fun of. I was so proud she decided to hang out with Luna even if others laughed at us for it.
The three of us go out quite a bit to Hogsmeade. When I don't go with my boys that is. I usually go with my boys unless they need some guy time and I need some girl time. Even best friends need a break from each other sometimes.
When I first got to Hogwarts I thought the houses would not talk to each other much, but I had quite a few friends in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, and even a couple of Gryffinors weren't too bad. Not really friends, but if we got paired as partners we didn't complain. I got to know Padma Patil because her twin sister Parvati was friendly with Cho Chang and Cho was friends with Luna, so sometimes we all studied together or shared a table at the Three Broomsticks if the place was full. Even the boys weren't total prats when there were a few Gryffindors around.
But fourth year was going to be amazing! There was this whole Tri-Wizard Tournament thing, and these students from another school.
These Beauxbaton girls came in and they were such show offs. All butterflies and "ahhhhs". Draco looked like he enjoyed their show a little too much.
"Hmmph", I said to Daphne "it all seems a little too much, don't you think?" I reached over and closed Draco's mouth for him with a finger under his chin.
"Jealous, Cass?" he asked with a grin.
"Of a dance routine? Hardly." I sniffed.
But ooooh these Durmstrang boys. They were very handsome, and very athletic. Daphne and I were quite impressed by their display when they came in to the Great Hall. Draco glared when I whispered to Daphne "Now there is a show to get worked up over."
"Hardly anything special, and Vicktor Krum did not make a great showing at the World cup this year, remember?" I remembered mostly the fear and terror as Lady Malfoy quickly led us to a safe place while Lord Malfoy went off to assist the Ministry.
"Jealous, Draco?" I smirked at him.
"Of a dance routine? Hardly Cass." He reached out and closed my jaw with one finger. We both laughed.
I tried to be nice to Harry Potter and his friends when I was with Luna once and they stopped to talk to her, but Draco was right they weren't very nice to me. And that is an understatement. I ended up leaving in tears. Luna had called out to them and they stopped, they looked me up and down clearly trying to figure out why I was with Luna. I smiled at them shyly and said "Hello, my name is Cassandra, but my friends call me Cassie."
The red headed boy, Ron, he looked at me like he smelled something bad and said "That is that stupid slutty girl who hangs out with Malfoy."
Luna had looked at him surprised and said "I don't think so, Cassie is very smart. We study together quite often. She is not stupid or slutty." Have I mentioned how much I love Luna? I don't know if she really didn't know he meant me or if she was just reminding him not to be an ass.
Ron had rolled his eyes and said "Anyone who hangs out with Malfoy is stupid and we all know what a Slytherin girl like her who hangs out with him is up to." He sneered at me in a way that made it clear what he was thinking. I couldn't believe he thought that about me! I was only 14! I could feel the tears in the backs of my eyes start to burn.
Harry and the girl Hermione may have looked uncomfortable but they also looked like they believed it.
"I will catch up with you later Luna, I need to go and… be anywhere but here." They would love to see me crying I am sure.
I turned around and left. I could hear Luna tell him "That was surprisingly rude and cruel Ronald Weasley."
When the boy Harry spoke up for the first time "She is a Slytherin Luna, they will turn on you be careful trying to be friendly with one."
The other girl, Hermione Granger, finally spoke up "Don't be nasty Harry we aren't like them."
I had never been so humiliated in all of my life. I ran down a corridor and sat on a window seat hugging my knees to my chest and buried my face in my arms. I couldn't hold back the tears any longer. Pretty soon I felt a hand on my shoulder looking up I saw the concerned face of Justin looking back at me.
"Cassie? What happened?" He sat down next to me.
"It.. it was Ronald Weasley, he said really awful things to me, and then Harry Potter said that Luna shouldn't be my friend bec… because I am Slytherin and we turn against peop…people." I could hardly get the words out through hiccupping through my tears.
Justin put an arm around my shoulders. "What did he say Cass?"
I wiped my tears with the back of my hand "He said I was stupid because I was hanging around with Draco and there was only one reason a girl like me hangs out with Draco."
A very cold voice spoke up just then "Oh? And just what reason would THAT be?"
I looked up into the face of Draco Malfoy and he was not happy. He looked ready to go curse someone within an inch of their lives. "Draco, calm down please and just let it go." I pleaded with him as we went back to the dungeons.
"They insult you, call you names, tell you that you are a slut, make you cry, the only one to stand up for you is bloody Loony Lovegood and then Justin Finch-Fletchley has his hands all over you and you want me to let it go?" Draco looked at me with such anger I thought maybe he was really mad at me. He had never been mad at me for having other friends before. Or really about anything, we hardly ever argued
"Justin? What does Justin have to do with this? He did not have his hands 'all over me' he was being nice because I was upset is all. You… you aren't saying… you think I am…" I stopped ready to start crying again.
He realized that I was upset and stopped taking me by the shoulders. I couldn't meet his eyes. "Cassie look at me." I finally did but I knew I was close to tears again.
"No I do not think you sleep around. I know you aren't that kind of girl. But are you and Justin seeing each other?" Where would he get that idea?
My lower lip trembled in relief, I shook my head no, "Justin is just a friend, I really like him, but he likes another Hufflepuff girl." Why was it so important to me suddenly that Draco knew I wasn't fooling around with Justin?
Draco let out a long breath and pulled me into a hug. He had hugged me plenty of times, but this one felt different. I laid my cheek on his chest. It was nice. "I won't let them get away with this Cassie."
"Let it go, they aren't worth it. I knew that when they first bullied you. They haven't changed my opinion." He laid his cheek on the top of my head.
He said nothing else, just rubbed her back "Feel better?" I just nodded at him.
He wiped away the rest of the tears from my face with his thumbs "Good, go grab your sweater, I am taking you into Hogsmeade for the day."
"You know… for a sleazy Slytherin, you have the best plans!" I could smile and breathe again.
"We always do, love, it is how we trick our foes into becoming friends just before we turn on them." I have no idea how minutes before I could be so upset I was in tears and just a few moments with Draco and I could suddenly smile again.
"Well, don't let that get around, I am pretty sure our stellar reputations would surely suffer and we would no longer be the golden ones." I warned him with mock severity.
"I'm pretty sure that's someone else Cass, we are the snakes who live in the basement and bite people remember?" He raised an imperious lecturing eyebrow at me.
"I bowed low, well then carry on good sir!" We both laughed and went into Hogsmeade determined to ignore the Gryffindingbats.
Later when we got back the whole place was in an uproar. Another uproar. It seemed before the Tournament commenced and names were to be drawn there would be international sports stars coming to show support for the champion hopefuls.
I was very excited because one of the exhibitions was to be Quodpot. After years of hearing me talk about it now my team would get to see it in action! There would be shows and other events before the big game. The Harvard Horntails had come out to play Michigan State. Since Michael was now attending Harvard University for Wizards I was wearing crimson and had my face painted for the occasion. I sang the Harvard fight song and cheered for our team.
The boys seemed very excited by the whole thing, but were confused when one player broke formation and flew right in front of me. He was wearing number 33. When he pulled off his helmet I screamed.
"MICHAEL!" and flung myself straight from my bleacher seat into the air trusting my cousin would catch me like always.