AN: So sorry, darlings- I know this is a little late. Hope you like it though! College application and decisión making stuff is getting pretty heavy, but we'll do our best to keep it regular. Humbly, and as ever yours -cowriter
Chapter 3-4 POV Jo
"Cas-Cas-Cas-Cas-Cas-CAS!" I shout, and she finally stops talking and looks at me, wide-eyed looking frantic. She opens her mouth, but before she can start talking again I put my hand up.
"Shut up, calm down. This doesn't have to be a bad thing," I say slowly, calmly. She doesn't move, doesn't react. She's waiting for me to come up with a solution. I don't see the need for one, personally.
It's a week before Halloween, which is Cas's favorite holiday. She's been waiting for this Halloween since last Halloween. She likes Halloween because that's when we pull all the stops on having fun and playing pranks and doing whatever we want. Normally we have a plan; a course of action. But not this time. This year George and Fred and I have been busy with Quidditch, Cas and Fred with studies, especially divination, and Ruby with...something Hufflepuff related, I guess. Not that she's really into our pranks anyway.
The point is, no one came up with a plan for this Halloween, and Cas is upset. She's down to the wire and not handling it well. She's been just spitting out different ideas for what seems like hours. Fred and George are like half-asleep listening to her, and I'm just kinda ignoring the words and enjoying her insanity.
"Cas, maybe this year...maybe we don't do anything. I mean, would it be that big a deal?" Fred asks. I hit my forehead. This was the absolute worst thing anyone could have said to calm her down. Yes, it was a big deal. Almost as big as the trolley on the Hogwarts Express.
"Yes this is a big deal, Fred! This is everything! This is our legacy, what the people will remember us by! People need to remember us after we're gone! This is it for us, if we stop now we'll never start up again, we'll lose the edge we've worked so hard to get!" She would have kept going but I spoke up.
"Cas! Hey!" Shes breathing heavy and too worked up. I cant tell if shes just being dramatic or if she really means what shes saying.
"Cassidy, really- you need to calm down," George tells her.
"No!" She shouts back.
"You threatened to poison a teacher!" He yells.
"Maybe it would be funny!" She tries, desperately. But she falters even as she tries to defend herself. At this point we all know she's lost her battle. We all expect her to stop there, and there's a moment of silence me and the twins appreciate immensely. Then she starts whining again.
"No, you know I'm right. Me and Fred- in divination you looked, today- didn't you? Looked in the leaves and saw something?" Fred bites his lip, and I honestly don't know whether the bad news is about to be for me or for Cas.
"I- I-" he stammers.
"Fred's always right about this, and we all know it," Cas says with full confidence.
"I didn't see anything, Cas," Fred finally gets out, and I sigh with relief.
"No- no, you told me you saw something!" Cas gasps. Fred avoids her gaze.
"Well, yeah- but not a sign or anything. I Looked in a crystal ball, but it just showed that Halloween is going to be Halloween- ghosts, monsters, the lot. I didn't see us in it. I'm sorry," he says, and he really means it. If I delivered news like that she'd have pulled her wand on me, but not Fred, no. She doesn't feel the need to physically threaten him. I bite back a smile, remembering our fight on the grounds the other week.
Cas's mouth keeps going- she's still pushing for it. I've had enough so I stand up and leave. George catches up to me, and I hear Cas and Fred's voices rise behind us. They're fighting, and she's not going to drop it. Me and George laugh, glad that we left.
So it's Halloween, and I've got George by the robes and I'm pulling him through the corridors trying to get to the Great Hall for dinner. I'm not super hungry or anything, I'm just trying my best to get to the Gryffindor table before Cas can find us. It's been weeks now of her complaining about Halloween and how we don't have a prank planned and all. I swear Fred's about to break, maybe George too. I refuse to let that happen, I have a few hours to get through and then this whole stupid mess will be behind us.
We turn the corner and I see the doors to the Great Hall wide open, the home stretch. I'm running now, as best I can with a grip on George, until out of nowhere it feels like someone steps on my foot, and me and George go flying forward.
"There you are!" I hear the familiar shout. I groan out of both pain and annoyance, while Cas helps me up. Fred comes a second later and gets his brother to his feet.
"Did you just hex me?" I demand from Cas. She scrunches her eyebrows in annoyance and shakes her head.
"Of course not! Do you even know what a hex is? That was a charm, and a weak one at that, and this is important. I almost didn't see you guys! We need to talk about what we're gonna do. It's Halloween!"
"We're well aware, Cassidy-" George sighs, "-which is exactly why Jo was pulling me so hard through the school. We're not doing anything, okay? Maybe next year," he tells her. I'm brushing off my robes and checking my stockings for holes when I hear it. A little sniffle. I take a deep breath in and close my eyes. I straighten up to see Cas, pink in the face, seconds away from crying. I don't believe she's doing this. I'm about to call her bluff, but Fred speaks up first.
"No- no, Cas. Please don't," he says, putting a hand on her arm. She doesn't shrug it off, but covers her face with her hands, muffling the sound of more sniffles. I look to warn George that this is all a sham- it has to be, I've never in all our years together seen Cas actually cry. But one look at George and I see he's buying it too.
"Come on, Cassidy. Not here- you're gonna make a scene. Come on, now. Cassidy?" She doesn't respond, and Fred pulls her into a hug.
"Don't tell me you're actually buying this?" I plead.
"Shut up, Jo!" The twins snap. This isn't real. This is a nightmare. George is hugging her too now, and I just give up, watching this mess- this massive lie, play out. The boys stop hugging her and she drops her hands away from her face and there are tear stains on her cheeks. There are people pushing around us going into the Great Hall, and its getting close to time for the feast. I make a face at George to say as much.
"Look, Cassidy- no more tears, okay?" He says to her, "We'll come out of the Great Hall halfway through the feast and we'll do something-"
"Anything," Fred cuts in, "We'll pull something out of our asses if we have to. It'll be great, promise." Cas gives a little nod and another sniff, wiping her eyes and giving a sad smile. The twins nod at each other and at me, and I sigh heavily. It's not like it won't be fun, I guess. I just refuse to believe this wasn't an act, or a scam. Fred takes Cas by the arm and starts walking her into the Great Hall, towards the Slytherin table. I don't say anything, but I swear I see Cas smirking and damn near skipping as they leave me and George.
"I can't believe you're supporting this," I mutter at him as we make our way towards the Gryffindor table.
"I can't believe you just stood there while she was crying- you're supposed to be her best friend," he says, and I'm taken aback for a second before I see him snicker. Then I know we're still cool, that he didn't really mean it, and we find a place at the table.
As we go, lot's of people, especially girls, are calling for George to sit with them. He's really popular, between the Quidditch and our popularity as pranksters. And I guess he's not that bad looking, either. He turns them all down so that we can sit with all his brothers. They always do that on days with big feasts and celebrations. I've taken to sitting with them, which is a little awkward though, since it sometimes feels like I'm replacing Fred. There's a little consolation in the fact that apparently Fred is just as popular in Slytherin as George is here. George gets a seat next to Ron, and I'm in between George and Percy. Both me and George stiffen up a little when we sit down, seeing that Ron brought Harry Potter to sit with him.
I liked Harry enough at first, and it was cool having a living legend in my House, but that quickly got old. For some unknown reason, McGonigal pushed Oliver into letting Harry on the Quidditch team- and not just like as a sub or anything- she made the kid Seeker. I was way pissed at her for it- if I'd been allowed to try out first year I so could have made it, but no. She just makes exceptions for The-Boy-Who-Lived.
That news was softened a little by the fact that we were technically in need of a new Seeker, and it helped us cool off that Oliver was ready to throw anyone off the team who treated Harry wrong. I get team loyalty and all- but I felt a little betrayed by Wood. He was supposed to be loyal to us, the ones he's been teammates with for a year or more now. Not this new kid.
The news of Harry's joining our team was worsened by the fact that a few days ago, a couple owls arrived carrying this huge package for Harry. It was a new broom, and not just any new broom, but the best, newest one on the market. No one knows where or who it came from, just that it made him stand out even more than before.
We still haven't had a practice with him, but that'll start soon enough. I honestly don't know how it'll go- I mean, everyones had secret little talks about how unfair this is, but he's Gryffindor, and he's on the team, and apparently he's actually pretty good too. I'll just have to wait and judge that for myself I guess. But right now me and George can't exactly talk about it, with him being right here and all. Instead the Weasleys talk about Weasley things, and I try to keep up and get my two cents in whenever I can.
Dumbledore's given his holiday talk, and the food appears and we all start eating. Everything's great, as usual. Me and George keep glancing over to the Slytherin table, waiting for Cas and Fred to get up, so we can follow. I have no idea what Cas expects us to do, and planning something worthwhile so last minute isn't exactly an easy thing to do.
Before anything can happen, there's a long noise, and the entire Great Hall turns its attention to the door, where Professor Quirrell has just run in. He doesn't look so good.
"Troll! There's a troll, in the dungeon! Troll!" he shouts, before collapsing. The entire Hall erupts in chaos. Me and George look at each other, panicked.
"You-you don't think she actually-?" I ask, but George's eyes just widen. I can tell we're thinking the same thing. We jump up and push our way through the crowd outside into the corridor while Professors are trying to yell instructions and prefects are trying to keep control. We see Fred and Cas off to the side and make our way over. Fred has Cas by the hair, and she's yelping. We get over and Fred lets go of her.
"Did you poison Professor Quirrell? What were you thinking, Cas? You're gonna get expelled!" I yell, hitting her repeatedly on the arm. She's shrinking away from me, while trying to say something back. I finally stop to hear her out.
"I didn't do that! I like Professor Quirrell, you idiots! You're the ones who want to hurt him, not me! I had nothing to do with this," she barks. I look at her, and then at the twins. We have our own moment of silence while streams of our classmates are pouring out of the Great Hall, led by prefects shouting directions. Cas grabs me and Fred by the robes and tells George to follow while she pulls us around a corner where people won't notice us.
"I swear- you gotta believe me- I had absolutely nothing to do with this. Which means-" she starts.
"There's actually a troll in the dungeon?" Fred asks, his jaw dropping.
"It's that, or squirrely Quirrel went over the deep end," I say.
"He said the dungeon…" George adds. We all stare at each other. And a moment later we're running down the corridors towards the dungeon. We get down the first flight of steps and look into a couple of potions classrooms and storage rooms, but we don't find anything. None of us can mask our disappointment. We keep going down more and more flights of stairs, getting closer and closer to where Fred says the Slytherin common room and dorms are.
It wouldn't be there, and we all know it. Prefects were leading kids to the dorms. We slow down, and realize that not only is there no troll, but also that we missed our opportunity to pull a prank of our own. Fred and Cas slowly start going down to their common room, while me and George head back up towards ours. We're going up in sad silence when we hear it- footsteps. And not human. Louder, and heavier. We look at each other and get ourselves up to the next level. and there it is, in an open corridor of the dungeons. Like eight feet tall, blueish green and covered in warts and smelling like shit and just walking there, lugging a club behind it. I gasp and George's hand lands smack on my mouth- he's grabbing me from behind and slowly backing us down the stairs again.
"Oi! What're you two still doing here?" I hear Fred ask from behind us. George lets go of me and whips around, and I don't hear him say anything but before I know it I'm being pushed right back up so Fred and Cas can see the troll. It's still there, doing nothing much of anything. It doesn't even look that dangerous- scary, sure- but not dangerous.
"This is what Quirrell was so freaked out about?" Cas whispers, and the rest of us mutter agreement under our breath. This is nothing. We're all crouching, but I feel George stand himself up behind me.
"Don't be stupid- get back down," Fred hisses.
"You're the one being stupid- shut up or it'll hear us," George rebuts. Fred tries to pull his brother back into a crouch, but somehow George ends up getting a grip on my ponytail and tugs down as he falls to his knees- and before I can stop myself I yelp in pain.
We all snap our heads to see the troll, just as it snaps its head to see us. It bellows and starts lumbering towards us. It takes a few seconds for it to speed up, but once it gets its momentum it's actually kinda fast. We start booking it up the stairs. We can hear and feel it behind us, and Cas- the slowest of us- somehow ended up in the back of the line, screaming bloody murder. George, who's right in front of her, grabs her arm and throws her ahead of himself to me, who pushes her up to Fred, who all but picks her up. With that we're all still terrified, but at the same time a lot more comfortable knowing our weakest link isn't definitely going to die.
We get up out of the dungeons and make a random turn. I can still feel it behind us, so I turn again next chance I get. I'm banking on the fact that, like Quidditch players, the troll has slight trouble turning and needs to slow down. At some point I ended up leading the group, and looking behind my shoulder for a second I see Fred and Cas running right behind me, and George bringing up the rear.
We keep running until I feel myself slowing down. I turn around again, and realize that we're all tired, and all alone. Somewhere along the line the troll either lost our trail or lost interest. I can't say I actually care which. We all four drop to the ground and just sit in the middle of a corridor. We're all panting, but while me and the twins look energized, Cas looks miserable. She's red and sweaty looking- which I guess I probably look like that too, but it's not a good or natural look on her. She's not saying anything, which is slightly concerning.
"You okay, Cas?" I ask in between big breaths.
"Yes, friend Jo, we're all great. So glad you're concerned for our safety and wellbeing," George says sarcastically. Meanwhile Cas just stares at me and eventually shakes her head. I don't know why, but I start laughing at that. Like, cracking up. I'm the only one, but I can't stop.
"What was worse, Cas- the troll, or the exercise?" I wheeze. Fred looks shocked I asked that, and even George doesn't find it amusing the way he normally would.
"Are you crazy?" Cas asks, then pauses. "The running, you idiot!" she pants. "The troll *breath* is the best prank *breath* I've ever seen," she finishes. At this all four of us start laughing, rolling on the floor and everything.
"Did you do this for me?"Cas asks us. We all shake our heads, which brings on another bout of laughter from Cas.
After we all calm down, we split up and return to our common rooms. Me and George take the long trek up to Gryffindor, where we enter as inconspicuously as we can. We're pretty successful because there's a crazy amount of chaos in the common room. People are yelling and arguing and crying everywhere, so me and George just slip into the chaos as best we can. We meet up with Lee and Angela, who aren't concerned about the troll, but are talking about the Quidditch season. It's a simple enough transition for us, although I'm a little distracted, as it crosses my mind that if Cas didn't put the troll there, and me and the twins didn't do it, then who did?