Sorry for the delay, but I am back! And this time with a chapter filled with Cassie/Fred interaction! Yessssss!
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III
Acquaintances
Fred had been staring at the ceiling for about half an hour now─ even though he would've sworn it had been at least two already. George snored softly next to him, clearly asleep. Fred rolled around a couple of times trying to find a comfortable position that would let him finally fall asleep, to no avail. He let out a deep sigh and turned his face to look at the bed next to his.
"George? Are you awake?" No response. "George." Silence again, save from the snores. "George!" He shut his mouth quickly after the last call because it had been loud enough to wake someone in the rooms close to theirs.
"What the bloody hell do you want?" George grumbled. "Let me sleep." He finished, burying his head on his pillow, falling asleep again in seconds.
"I can't sleep, George. Wake up." The only response Fred got was his twin's soft snoring again. Realizing that trying to get his brother to wake up was apparently a waste of time, he groaned and got out of his bed, placing his feet inside his slippers before quietly exiting the bedroom.
Not even once had he been able to close his eyes since everyone had gone to bed. There was too much he wanted to know going around his mind all at once, and no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't stop thinking about it. He had a lot of questions that could be easily answered by one person who just happened to be sharing the same roof as him for the week─ but truth be told, he felt very intimidated. Not by her completely─ even though he was definitely a bit apprehensive─ but mostly by the fact that Severus Snape was her father. Severus Snape. If someone would've made a bet with him two days ago about Snape having a child, he would've lost all his money. And not only a child but also a wife─ and one that loved him very much, as far as he'd been able to tell. He shuddered involuntarily as he climbed the last steps of the stairs and made his way to the kitchen.
Fred and George had always done things at school to try and piss him off, but doing something that would bother his daughter was another thing entirely. He could imagine it, dying at the hands of Severus Snape because he'd asked his daughter a stupid question that had upset her. So his doubts would have to remain unanswered for now.
He entered the kitchen with his wand on his hand to illuminate the way, and served himself a glass of milk before pulling out a chair to sit in front of the table. He took a sip before putting it down next to his wand, but forgot about it once he got lost in his thoughts. Snape's wife had seemed pleasant enough, and Cassie had given no indicators that she wasn't a nice, regular girl, but he still felt doubtful. After all, Snape had been his teacher for six years now, and not even once had Fred witnessed him being something other than an ass to everyone except for Slytherins─ and sometimes even to them.
But there had to be something else, right? The man had a wife and a child. Someone, for some reason, had fallen in love with him. Apparently there was something about him to be loved. He shuddered again and shook his head to get rid of those thoughts. Then he noticed the sound of footsteps approaching before Cassie appeared on the doorway, stopping when she noticed him sitting there. She blinked once before giving him small smile.
"Hello." She greeted politely before walking in. "I was just going to get some water." Fred smiled like he wasn't just analyzing her father's life in his mind a second ago, and pointed at his own glass.
"Do you want some?" He asked, not knowing what else to say.
"Uh… no, I don't really like milk. But thanks." She answered and grabbed one glass from the counter before giving him her back, pouring the water in silence. The moment was extremely awkward, and Cassie couldn't wait to get out of there as soon as possible.
"So..." Fred said and coughed to diffuse the tension. It didn't work. Cassie wondered why on Earth he thought it was necessary to make conversation. "Your parents..." She turned around with raised eyebrows.
"What about my parents?" She asked before bringing the glass to her mouth.
"Did they… uh… leave… already?" Fred managed to say as he scratched the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable. Cassie finished her water before answering.
"Yeah, they left already." She answered simply and cleaned the glass so she could place it back on the cupboard. "You know..." She took a deep breath and turned around again, looking him directly in the eyes. "You don't have to talk to me. I just agreed to come here because my parents and Dumbledore were pretty adamant about it. It's okay, I get it. I know how everyone feels about my father." Fred was going to say something but she raised her hand, stopping him. "Really, it's fine. You shouldn't feel like you need to make small talk." She sighed. "I'm going back to bed now. Goodnight, Fred." She gave him a halfhearted smile before walking out.
"Wait!" She stopped abruptly and looked at him with a frown. Fred hadn't really thought about what he was going to say to her, but the fact that he had been so obvious in his wariness made him feel the need to apologize to her. His mother had raised him to be respectful, at least. He stood up and opened his mouth but nothing came out and Cassie shook her head, ready to leave again, when he realized something.
"How did you know I'm Fred?" He asked almost dumbfounded, and Cassie's expression went from neutral to disbelieving.
"Well," she replied with crossed arms, "it definitely wasn't because of the giant F on your chest." Her face was dead serious and Fred looked down only to find that as a matter of fact, he was wearing one of the sweaters his mother had given him, and yes, it had a giant F in the middle. He looked up again and they stared at each other for a second before Cassie let out a giggle and looked down, covering her eyes with her hand without stopping her laughter. When she looked up again Fred was staring at her with a surprised smile and she averted her eyes, biting her lip.
"I'm really sorry." He said suddenly and she met his eyes again, frowning.
"What for?" She asked, confused.
"Just now. I was acting all strange and─"
"Fred, it's okay. I swear." She said with an honest smile and he felt even worse for the things he'd been thinking about her.
"No, it's not… it's not. Look, I─" He ran his fingers through his hair, struggling to find the right words to say what he wanted.
"Fred─" Cassie began but he shook his head.
"Can we sit down? Do you want to sit down?" He shook his head again. "Of course not, it's the middle of the night and you want to sleep─"
"Actually, I couldn't sleep. That's why I came down." She answered and he looked up, smiling slightly.
"Me neither, and George ignored me when I tried to wake him up." She gasped in exaggerated horror, but couldn't help but laugh a little as well.
"Now that's just cruel. Poor fella just wants to get some sleep and there you are, in the middle of the night, trying to wake him up so he can entertain you. Shame on you, Weasley, shame on you." They both laughed for a moment but then the awkward silence returned once again.
"We can sit down." Cassie offered, desperate to get out of such an uncomfortable situation─ both of them standing, just looking at each other without saying anything─ it was awful.
"Yes, let's do that." Fred replied quickly, sitting again and pulling out the chair next to his. Cassie walked to him and sat down, ready for another horrible silence, but Fred was fast to speak.
"Hypothetically speaking, if I were to tell you that we all sort of absolutely hate your father... on a scale from one to royally pissed, how angry would you be? Always hypothetically speaking, of course." She smiled and leaned back, crossing her arms.
"Hypothetically?" She asked, and Fred nodded with a smile of his own. "Well I'd say about... one." His eyes opened wide and his eyebrows shot up.
"One? Oh… wow. That's very not angry. Are you sure?" She nodded, serious.
"The fact that you dislike him only means that he is doing what he's supposed to do─ and he's doing it well. He has a reputation to maintain. His life literally depends on it." Cassie's voice softened in the last sentence and she looked down at her hands, deep in thought.
"I never thought about it that way." Fred managed to say after a while.
"Of course not, I'm sure you were too busy thinking a hundred different ways to make his life a living hell." Fred let out a loud laugh before going still, not knowing if she'd meant it as a joke or not. She laughed at his reaction and he shook his head at himself, blushing.
"You know, I never thought Snape could actually get married, let alone have children, and I would've never believed that his child could be like you." She stopped laughing and narrowed her eyes, even though it was clear that she wasn't upset at his statement.
"What do you mean?"
"Well… I think that I would have believed that If Snape had a daughter she would be an exact image of him, but female. Never would've expected to be someone... like you?" He finished lamely and grimaced at his own words.
"What do you mean?" She repeated as she crossed her arms, challenging him with a grin.
"You're lovely." Fred blurted out and she looked surprised for a second before laughing at his blushing face. "I mean, you're really nice, and that's not what I would've expected of Snape's child." He grimaced again. He groaned before burying his head in his hands. "My mum would kill me if she heard me saying this to you. I'm being awfully rude." Cassie was covering her mouth with her hand because if she didn't she was going to wake up the whole house with her laughter.
"Fred, it's fine." She managed to say. He looked up at her, hopeful. "I promise." She giggled one last time before standing up. He did the same. "Good talk. You're very eloquent." She teased and he rolled his eyes.
"Ha, ha." He answered sarcastically before grabbing his wand and his almost full glass of milk. "You know, I do have a way with words. You just haven't met that side of me yet." She looked at him with a smirk.
"I'll believe that when I see it." She replied and Fred gasped in mock offense before tripping on a loose floorboard, sending the glass of milk flying in the air.
"Oh!" Cassie gasped, lifting her open palm before the milk and the glass stopped moving midair. She moved her other hand and the glass turned around until the top was up, and then moved her other hand carefully so the milk placed itself inside of it again. Once she was done, she carefully moved it back to the table.
"You ought to be more careful," she said to Fred without looking away from the glass as she set it down slowly, "otherwise you'll─ why are you staring at me like that?" She asked warily once she looked at him again. His mouth was slightly open and his eyes were wide.
"What… was that?" Fred asked, slightly breathless. She frowned, not understanding why he was so surprised when she'd already told everyone about the way she practiced magic.
"I told you my magic was wandless, did you forget?" She asked, truly confused. What did he expect?
"I didn't think…" He shook his head. "I clearly did not realize what it meant that you don't use a wand."
"Do you want to see what else I can do?" She asked mostly out of politeness, not thinking he was going to accept. It was late and he probably wanted to sleep by now. She was wrong; she realized that when she saw how his face lit up like a Christmas tree.
"Absolutely."
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