Michael caught me with an "oomph" and a laugh. We had been practicing my flying air tactics since... I think I was four or five the first time we did that. He pulled up on his broom and sat me in front of him, my arms around his neck and laughing with me.
"You are a LOT bigger than the last time we did that Cass!" He hugged me tight tucking my head under his chin.
I drew back to look at him "Are you calling me fat Michael? Because big time Harvard Quodpot star or not I will knock you right off of that broom!" I poked him in the chest.
"Fat? Oh no, Cassie, you are definitely not fat." He winked down at me making me blush.
I slapped his chest "You are the worst flirt Michael Graves, the very worst!"
We had flown down next to Draco, Blaise and Theo by this time. Draco was looking rather mutinous. I guess I should have warned him before I launched myself in to the air like that. I know how much he worries.
"And you are the worst cousin, Cassandra, you move to a castle I specifically told you that you would freeze to death in and was patrolled by dangerous creatures and I never get to see you anymore!" He made it like a joke, but I knew how much our separation bothered him because it bothered me as well.
"And Merlin but how you lied Michael! This place is not so cold I am going to freeze to death and there was only the one troll that got into the castle and…." Michael looked horrified by this.
"There is a TROLL in the castle!?" He all but shouted at me. No scratch that, he was most certainly shouting.
"Not now, that was back in first year. Didn't your Mom tell you?" I was rather surprised he didn't know.
"She most certainly did not. That is it Cassandra. You need to move back home. Mom would love to have you now that I am out, and all of your younger cousins and friends are…" He was getting more upset by the moment.
"My friends are here, Michael. If I had stayed in America and gone to Ilvermorny things… would have been different. But I didn't and I am not leaving my boys." I motioned to the three behind me who all crossed their arms across their chests.
"Did it ever occur to you I told you all of that stuff so that you would stay home? I didn't want you to move, Cass. I still don't like it." He looked so sad I hugged him around the waist.
"I know, Michael but it wasn't my fault. I never would have left my favorite cousin if I had any choice." I buried my face in his chest. It was so good to have him close.
"You are also the worst at introductions, Cassandra, because your friends do not look pleased to have me wrapped around you, especially that blonde boy." He whispered in to my ear.
"Yeah and you looking like you are whispering sweet nothings to me is NOT helping Michael!" his grin told me he did it on purpose.
"Draco, Blaise, Theo, this is my cousin Michael who I have told you about. He plays on the Harvard Quodpot team, except he never told me that." I glared at him.
"Sorry baby girl, I wanted it to be a surprise. Nice to meet you" he shook hands all around "Cassandra has told me a lot about all of you.
"That was a really stupid stunt." Draco said angrily "You could have got Cassandra injured or killed."
"Don't look at me" Michael held up his hands in surrender "I had no idea she was still going to try that old trick."
"Old trick?! You have done that before?" Draco looked ready to strangle me. In fact I am pretty sure he crossed his arms over his chest to prevent himself from doing just that.
"I'm sorry, Draco, I didn't mean to worry you. I have done that since I was a little girl. Michael always catches me." I stepped forward and put a hand on his arm. I knew he was only angry because I had scared him.
He just glared down at me. But Blaise and Theo were not nearly as worried.
"That was pretty cool how you just caught her like that, man." Said Blaise. "Be a neat trick to teach one of our girlfriends."
I could fee Draco's arm tense under my hand but he said nothing.
"Unless you want to start dating four year olds, I wouldn't recommend it." Michael laughed. "Cass has been pulling that crazy stunt since she accidentally fell out of a tree and I caught her. Good thing I really am as good as she thinks I am."
"I was teaching myself to fly Michael, I didn't fall, I jumped." I had this idea at that age if I could throw myself at the ground and miss I would be able to fly (*)
"I was trying to make you look less crazy Cass." He laughed and bent down to kiss my forehead. "I have to go to practice. Keep her safe for me." He looked at my friends and winked down at me.
"By Michael, see you seen, yeah?" I hated to let him leave.
"You know it babe!" he sauntered off. I noticed half the girls in the stadium were watching him leave while the others were glaring daggers at me. Whatever. If they thought they could get his attention they were welcome to him! We are cousins, or as good as. I am so not dating Michael!
"Well, I guess we know now who has noticed you are a girl." Draco said with more spite than he has ever directed at me. This time I knew it was jealousy.
"Draco… Michael is my cousin… he and I definitely don't notice each other that way." I knew he would never admit he was jealous. I don't even know how he felt about it. Or me for that matter. I doubt he did either.
"I have cousins, Cassandra, I am familiar with the concept. He does not treat you as just a cousin." He shook my hand off of his arm and stalked away. Blaise and Theo looked at me sympathetically.
"It will be OK, Cassie, just give Draco time. He is pretty used to having you all to himself. A sudden university sports star showing up has made him a little defensive." Theo patted my head.
"I know but he doesn't have to be. Michael is my cousin. Draco is my…" I stopped I didn't know how to finish that sentence.
"Well, that is the problem, isn't it Cass?" Blaise observed "Until you two know what you are don't expect him to be thrilled that some new guy seems intent on sweeping you off your feet. Literally."
Draco and I didn't really speak about that incident afterwards and we soon went back to laughing and joking like best friends should, but he did not exactly warm up to Michael. He did not go out of his way to be nasty exactly, and he was certainly capable of it, but he never wanted to go out with me if he knew Michael would be there.
Michael and I went out quite often that week he was there. I usually brought Daphne and Luna with me, as Draco since he was refusing to have anything more to do with him and Blaise and Theo had to stand by Draco. I understood, I just wish we could all be friends.
As Daphne and Michael started hanging out however, she started becoming less shy and withdrawn and he started teasing her more and more. I could tell they were starting to like each other and I was really glad. I love Michael and want him to be happy and I really like Daphne. I just knew they would make a good pair.
I think Isis thought so too because once he met Daphne she quit snubbing him, or worse outright hissing and snapping at him.
"I am so sorry, Michael she is not usually like that Isis, pretty much loves or ignores everyone." He just laughed it off.
Draco walked by at that moment and Isis leapt from my arms to him, startling me. Scooping her out of the air Draco shook a finger at her, which she promptly gripped in both paws "You are getting as bad as your mistress. Stop leaping like that." She curled up around his neck and glared at Michael over her shoulder as Draco walked off with her.
"I think she is letting us know who she prefers." He laughed again. I just shook my head.
One day just before the big game Michael and I decided we wanted to get up a game of Quodpot and some of his friends agreed to play with us. I told Blaise and Theo about it and they agreed to come out and watch.
We set up the pots and grabbed our brooms. It was Michael and I and three more of his friends against five of his other teammates. I was really excited to show off my new skills to Michael. I wore my Quidditch uniform to the field and stretched on my beaters gloves. Michael grinned at me and we kicked off.
The game was pretty exciting but the quod had not exploded yet. We were playing with a practice quod so I wasn't really worried about getting hurt. There is always a chance, it is an explosion, but a pretty mild one.
I finally had my chance with the quod and ducked and dodged around, almost keeping up with the college team. Michael told me once when another teammate had the quod how impressed he was with my skills.
I was almost to the pot when the quod exploded. Darned it! A two minute quod all of the other ones had been almost five minutes. I had got complacent.
I heard someone scream my name, but my ears were ringing a bit and I couldn't tell who. I was fine but covered with a fine layer of stupid crimson paint. "Cute Michael, really funny." I could hear him laughing as I descended to the ground and hopped off my broom.
I was unprepared for suddenly being grabbed and spun around in to the very concerned face of Draco. "Merlin, Cassie, you are covered in blood." He sounded terrified.
"No, wait, look Draco, it is just harmless crimson dye. For Harvard's colors, you know?" I waved my wand towards my face and said 'scourgify' cleaning it all off so he could tell I was OK.
Michael set down next to us and Draco turned on him "Leaping from bleachers, exploding balls, are you trying to get Cassandra killed!?" Michael looked amused and confused at the same time. Draco dragged me back to the dungeons and did not let me move until he had calmed down.
Afterwards he refused to let me meet with Michael on my own no matter what I said. I was OK with that or would have been if he was friendly. It was bad enough that this tournament took away Quidditch. At least with Michael around it was fun!
But after Michael left I was bored again. At least Draco was finally happy with me again. He was so angry over my spending time with Michael. I never could convince him… actually I wasn't sure what I was trying to convince him of. He was my… I don't know, but not my boyfriend.
(*) This was the tactic used by Arthur Dent in Douglas Adam's Increasingly Inaccurately Named Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy