The first month of classes at Hogwarts had gone on as expected. Cass of course blew off most of her lessons in favor of getting extra practice out on the pitch. They had just concluded their tryouts for the new season and as captain, Cass was confident that her team would lead them to their sixth victory as Quidditch house champs. James was a decent enough co-captain though she felt she could handle it all on her own. She was proud of him though. He was finally getting his chance at playing seeker this year. Cass looked at James before nodding and addressing the hopeful players, "okay that's it for today. James and I will talk over the assessment tonight and post the list in our common room mid week. Our first game is this weekend against Gryffindor. We want enough time to prep you for the ass kicking we will be giving those whiny assholes."
James snickered beside her, "I don't think whiny assholes is an appropriate term for a pep talk."
"Red isn't here which means I get free reign to say and do as I please," Cass's eyes scanned over their potential team mates and saw her girlfriend standing off on the side of the pitch giving her a little wave. "Third years, put the brooms away and clean up the pitch."
"What? How is that fair?" One of the younger kids spoke up.
Cass scoffed, "fairs are for tourists."
James let out a loud laugh, "I think I've heard your mum say that to you a time or two."
"Which means I'm an expert on the matter. Now," she spoke to her young team mates again, "clean it up. If I hear from the Ravenclaws that you left the pitch in a state, you will sit out the first game."
There was no further commotion from the team as they cleaned up. James and Cass started to make their way over to their respective changing rooms, "the new ones weren't so bad."
Cass rolled her eyes, "they weren't so good either. No fuss, we can pick from the lot and put them where we don't want to be. You as our seeker and me scoring the goals, we won't have any issues this year. Too bad we lost Freddy as a beater. He was really top notch."
James nodded, "first and only Weasley in the Slytherin house."
"Out of the brood of them, there had to be a less disappointing one," Cass cackled.
"I thought you liked Professor Weasley?"
Cass shrugged, "she's the exception and George. That's it. Victoria better stay out of my way at the game."
"I swear she thinks we are meant to be soulmates because her dad was best mates with my dad."
Cass's laugh sounded like her mum's, "it would help if she didn't have the personality of a soggy piece of bread." They stopped just in front of Cass's girlfriend. She looked to see if any professors were in eye shot before leaning in and pecking her cheek. "Hi. Did you see the try outs?"
"Hi," she blushed after the small kiss. Cass's affections never failed to make her smile. "I did. Well most of it. I was actually in the library with both of your sisters."
"Minnie was in the library with Pandora? And the castle hasn't gone up in flames?"
"I was the mediator," Sam assured both of the concerned looking Slytherins. "From what I heard Minerva offered to help Pandora with her Ancient Runes homework. I happened to stumble across them when I went in to return a couple of books. I had to see what was going on," she confessed.
"My sister and Minnie," James had a weird look on his face. "They hate each other so passionately."
"I'd say Minnie hates your sister and Pandora tolerates my sister. I don't think the daughter of Luna Lovegood had a hateful bone in her body."
James laughed, "oh she does but I think she reserves that for me when we are fighting. What I was going to say is I'd be willing to make a wager."
"I'm listening," Cass crossed her arms over her chest.
"100 galleons on the fact that our sisters end up getting married one day," James held out his hand in front of his friend.
Cass bit the inside of her cheek and looked from James to Sam who just shrugged. She never turned down a wager. Slapping her hand into James's, "you are on. And you are going to lose. Minerva is repulsed by everyone. Boys. Girls. Doesn't matter. She'll never date anyone let alone marry them." Cass quickly draped her arm around Sam's shoulders as the three of them started to walk back to the school. She started laughing when a memory popped into her head, "she was mortified when mums tried to give her the sex talk. I'm bound to be 100 galleons richer. I'll use that money to take my beautiful girlfriend out on a date one day."
"Well now I have to hear that story…"
Cass cackled, "so remember when we started going out?"
*before christmas of 2021*
Cass and Minnie returned to the Manor for Christmas as they did every year. Like always, Pap Pap and Kitty met them at the train station with their mothers and they all came home together to celebrate the holidays. Minnie was in the kitchen with her grandparents and the house elves making holiday cookies while Cass was working up the courage to approach her mothers for a talk. She found them where she always found them in the library. "Mummy? Mum? Can we talk?"
Bella looked over at the door where her oldest stood looking uncharacteristically nervous. "Sure kitten," she looked at Hermione who just shrugged, "come on in." She scooted over so there was a space between them for their daughter to sit down.
"Is something bothering you, darling?" Hermione set her hand on Cass's leg to let her know she was there for her physically and emotionally if she needed such support.
"No, not really."
"Are you in trouble at school? You didn't set Hagrid's house on fire again, did you? No Minerva would've called."
"Mummy…" Bella saw a small smile on her daughter's face so she knew it couldn't be any too detrimental. "How did you know you were in love?"
"In love?" Bella seemed taken back by that statement.
"Darling, have you met a girl?"
"Well I suppose," Cass's cheeks were blushing. "Her name is Sam and she new this year. I was having a bad day after Victoria said some crap about mummy as usual. She found me in Mummy's old room and just hung out. She was so nice to me, mums. She actually listened to what I had to say and asked me questions. She's even come to all my matches. Mummy you remember at that first game when I told you I made a friend and we were going to Hogsmeade? Yeah, that was Sam."
"Is this young lady your girlfriend?"
Cass's blush deepened, "not yet."
"Seems you are quite smitten with this girl. Tell us about her," Bella was curious to hear what type of girl Cass would be interested in. "All I remember you saying was that she was a new student and American."
She pulled out a picture and showed it to her mums. It was a picture of Cass and Sam sitting on the bleachers smiling at each other not noticing the camera. "Minnie took this after our last match. She's a hufflepuff. Muggleborn. I know mummy. I know. But she's just so nice and understanding and she doesn't judge me when I need me time."
Bella knew exactly why she meant. Things often got loud in her head and she needed time just to adjust to the noise and work through things on her own. After growing closer with Hermione, she helped her conquer the noise, "seems you've found someone special, kitten."
"You aren't mad about her blood status?"
Bella just stared at her daughter. She thought she had given up the ideology she used to hold but she must not have done as well as she thought, "of course not, my love. Your mother is one of the greatest muggleborns I've had the pleasure to get to know and love. If you are happy then I am happy."
"Your happiness is all we've ever wanted, sweetheart," Hermione wrapped her daughter in a tight embrace.
"So," Bella smirked, "you might be in love with this girl but you haven't even asked her to be your girlfriend yet?"
"Mummy," Cass groaned, "it's hard okay? I took her to Hogsmeade and we kind of met up at the ball and we hang out almost everyday but no I haven't asked her to be my girlfriend."
"Nonsense. You are a Black and we always get what we want."
"Bella," Hermione tried to reel the conversation back, "that's not helpful. Cass, it's perfectly normal to feel nervous when you start discovering you have feelings for a girl."
"But," Bella chimed in, "you've already taken her to the ball so you know she likes you. And you've been to Hogsmeade?" She nodded. "There you go. You've already been on dates. I bet this girl..."
"Sam."
"Sam already has feelings for you and is thinking along the same lines as you, darling."
"So I should just ask her? I can send an owl."
Bella cackled, "no. Not by owl. Well maybe by owl. You can ask her if she wants to spend some time with you over the break. She can come over to the manor. We'd like to meet her?" She looked at her wife to make sure she was doing this right. When she nodded, Bella smiled knowing she was on the right track, "we can already see how important she is to you. Plus I need to ask her what her intentions are with my daughter. I have to decide what dagger I should have when she meets me."
"Bella, you won't be scaring our daughter's future girlfriend."
"Semantics," Bella turned to her daughter, "go owl her. After Christmas would be best, hopefully your Aunt won't be here."
present day
"Well this is adorable," Sam teased her girlfriend when Cass walked her inside of the Great Hall. She didn't even bother going to sit with the Slytherin, she and Sam found a seat at the end of the Hufflepuff table where they normally ate together. "So you invited me over to ask me out?"
"Don't act like you didn't want to ask me out, too," Cass rolled her eyes, grabbing some food from the large plate that appeared in front of them. "I'm starving," she took a huge bite of mashed potatoes. "Tryouts are a bitch."
"So," Sam helped herself to her own plate of food. "I remember coming over and meeting your mums and the daggers. But."
"But what?"
"What does this have to do with your sex talk?" She giggled.
"Oh," Cass's eyes grew wide, "that came after you went home. Remember when mummy caught us kissing in my bedroom?"
"That was mortifying."
"Mummy didn't care but she told mum and then the lecture came but she just didn't want to have it with me. She had called me and Minnie into the conversation…"
*after Christmas 2021*
Cass and Minnie sat on the couch facing the fire in the Library waiting for their mothers to arrive. Twiggy had told them that their parents wanted to speak with them. "Why are we being summoned?"
Minnie looked at her sister and shrugged, "how am I supposed to know? I didn't do anything wrong. What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything," she responded defensively. "I barely even had a chance to prank Auntie Cissy over the holiday because I was too worried about Sam coming for a visit." Her pale face seemed to pale even more, "bullocks."
"That's a sickle, Cass," Minnie conjured the swear jar.
Cass reached into her pocket and dropped it into the jar, "I could've said worse."
"Why do you look nervous?"
"The last day Sam was here before Aunt Andy took her home, well you see," she was fidgeting in her seat. "We were kind of kissing on my bed. Mummy walked in on us."
"Mummy caught you making out with a girl?! Was your door closed?"
Cass nodded, "she didn't seem to care and we haven't spoken about it. I hope she didn't tell mum."
"If this is about you and your girlfriend making out then why am I here?" Minnie sighed, crossing her arms over her chest.
"You are her my loves because your mother and I have something very important we wish to discuss with the two of you," Hermione walked into the library followed by an unusually quiet Bella.
Cass knew that tone. It wasn't just her motherly tone but the tone of the Minister for Magic. She leaned over to her sister and whispered, "she knows."
"Girls," Hermione sat down on the love seat opposite her daughters and motioned for Bella to take a seat. "We've asked you here today to have a very serious and important conversation." She looked over at Bella who looked so uncomfortable. Hermione waited to see if she was going to say anything before she elbowed her in the side.
"Your mother wants to have this conversation with you and I want no part of it but if I didn't participate she was going to withhold what we are inevitably going to be speaking about. Pet? Your turn."
"Sex," Cass said without a smile. "You want to speak with us about sex."
"Precisely," Hermione noticed Minnie losing color in her face. "Are you okay, darling?"
"I don't want to be here for this."
"We know it's a sensitive issue and something young adults don't actually want to speak about with their parents but is important to talk about the safety and responsibility that comes with having sexual relations with someone."
Bella scoffed, "sexual relations. Point is, we don't care who you are having sex with as long as you are being safe. No STDs, use condoms if that's the lifestyle you choose."
Hermione hit Bella, "heterosexuality isn't a lifestyle choice."
"There's nothing normal about penis and vagina sex if you ask me," Bella mumbled.
"Facts," Cass snickered. "I'm a lesbian mum."
"I knew that since you were five. Couldn't keep your hand to yourself at primary. Always trying to kiss on the girls in class."
The three of them turned to look at Minnie, "what?" She scowled.
"Are you going to make it a full house?" Cass laughed. "Lesbians across the board."
"I don't like anybody," Minnie rolled her eyes so hard.
"Careful, bean. Don't want your eyes getting stuck up there," Bella chuckled. "We realize you are only 13 and may not have had those feelings yet but since I got to see the show of my daughter with her tongue down a girl's throat, your mum thought it would be beneficial to have this conversation once."
"We aren't trying to embarsss anyone here. We are just trying to make sure the two of you are educated for when you are ready to take that step with your special person. Personally, I think both of you are not at an appropriate age to engage in sexual activity. A person that young isn't emotionally mature enough to accept the responsibilities that come along with having sex."
"We were just kissing," Cass said defensively. "She just became my girlfriend. I have no intentions of… you know."
Bella smirked at the blush on her daughter's cheeks, "now kitten… if you are too shy to say the word sex then you are too young to be entertaining the idea of it."
"We aren't having sex mummy. Sam is waiting. Waiting for what, well I don't know but I respect whatever she wants. Plus, I know I'm too young."
"Perfect," Bella clapped her hands together. "So are we done here? Our daughters are going to stay virginal for the foreseeable future. Let's eat."
"I have some questions," Cass stopped her mother from getting up.
"What kind of questions, darling?" Hermione leaned in closer to her daughters.
"How does it all work? I mean I've you know… touched myself before. How does it work with another girl?"
"You want to take this one?" Bella looked over at her wife. Part of her couldn't believe her daughter just admitted to masturbating but Cass did come out of her so nothing really surprised her of course she would be comfortable talking about that.
"Absolutely not," Minnie got up and ran towards the door. "Save the tutorials for Cass. Also, I'll never have sex with a penis so save that talk, too." She had her hand on the door knob, "maybe I'll obliviate myself so I don't have to remember any of this."
"You don't want to end up like that pour git in our history of magic text. What was his name?"
Minnie rolled her eyes, "I'm surprised you even read enough of that book to know Lockhart's name."
Bella cackled, "poor git indeed. Potter told me you had the hots for him. Didn't you?" Her shit eating grin made Hermione's face turn bright pink like Gilderoy's Valentine's Day robes.
"I was young. It was a very confusing time in my life," Hermione tried not to sound defensive.
"It's okay. We all make mistakes, pet."
"Mum?" Cass was trying not to look horrified. "But he has a penis. We are a house of lesbians… and one questioning."
"I was a second year and very confused. We are not talking about this."
"That's right," Cass brought the conversation back around, "we are talking about how to please a girl."
A sound that only could be described as an uncomfortable squeak came out of the youngest Black as she fled the room.
present day*
"You talked about masturbating in front of your mothers? Oh my. I could never,"
"Oh come on, your folks? Surely they can't be a couple of prudes," Cass cackled. She had met Sam's parents a few times over the years. They were nice enough people for muggles of course.
"It was embarrassing enough for me when they found out I liked girls. I can't imagine what they would do if they gave me a sex talk. Thankfully, they love you so it all works out in my favor."
"Well," Cass smirked, "what's not to love."
Sam looked down at her plate before asking, "does it bother that we still haven't… you know… had sex yet?"
Cass reached over the table and grabbed her girlfriend's hand, "we are still young. There is plenty of time and when it does happen, it's going to be more than worth the wait."
"So did your mums give you the details after Minnie ran away?"
"Kind of," Cass went back to her plate, "they didn't go into too deep of details but gave me a relative picture and they told me about the potions used to conceive me. I was a honeymoon baby. Conceived in New York City. Should I claim dual citizenship for the UK and America?"
"I don't think it works that way Cass."
"I'm going to have to look into that," she shrugged.
"So whatever happened to Minnie? Clearly she had to recover at some point."
"Oh," Cass seemed to be thinking back. "Nobody saw her for almost a whole day. She had secluded herself in her room and would only answer to the elves because they didn't want to talk about sex. I convinced Twiggy to pop me in there and we had our own talk…"
*new years Eve 2021*
Bella had told Hermione to give Minnie some time to calm herself before trying to go back into the room to discuss matters after the dreaded sex talk went sideways. Cass wasn't going to let it go. She felt that this was a discussion best left up to an older sister. "Don't worry mums. I'll handle Minnie," she announced as she pushed back from the dinner table and left the room. She heard Hermione say something along the lines of "we can't leave this up to Cass to fix," and of course Bella had to calm her down again. "Parents," Cass rolled her eyes and she took the steps two at a time. When she got outside of Minerva's door she knocked, "Minnie? It's just me. Mums are downstairs. Can I come in?"
"Go away, Cass."
"Well you can either let me in, I can depulso the door, or I can have Twiggy pop me into your room," she stood with her arms crossed. A smirk formed on her face when she heard grumbling and heavy footsteps coming closer to the door. When the locked turn, the door opened and she stepped inside. "It's been a minute," she said as she spotted her sister sitting amongst her books on the ground. "Can I sit?"
"I suppose you have no intention of leaving before you say whatever it is you have to say," she saw her sisters knowing smile. "Sit."
"Thank you for such a lovely invitation. I'd love to sit down."
There was a long silence. It wasn't uncomfortable, just really long. Minnie had been sorting through her piles of books while Cass was staring at her trying to figure out what to say that wouldn't upset her sister. Maybe this wasn't a good conversation for her to initiate either. Finally Minnie broke the silence, "it's not like I never plan on having sex. I just think everyone right now is so icky. I don't even like my own self most of the time. How am I meant to want to do that with another person?"
"Have you gotten your first moon's time yet?" Minnie shook her head no. "Well that might have something to do with it. I didn't start thinking about sex until I hit puberty. And even then, I didn't really start considering it until Sam came along."
"Oh please, wasn't there a good six month timeframe when you talked about having sex with Ginny Weasley?"
Cass cackled, "don't say that too loud. Mummy would be so disappointed. She's good looking and athletic. I do have eyes you know?" It had been awhile since the girls just sat in one of their rooms laughing together. "All I'm trying to say is it's okay if you are asexual." Minnie looked at her like she was crazy, "you know…?" More staring, "if you never want to have sex with anyone, ever."
"Oh," Minnie's eyes widened. "I don't think that's me. I don't know."
"Because it's okay if you are. It's also okay if you are gay or straight. Whatever you are… well you are and I love you no matter what."
Minnie looked up, smiling for the first time in days, "thanks, Cass."
"Any time, but please if you do like girls, let me know so we can have this talk again before mum gets to you," she reached down and picked up one of Minnie's muggle books. "Can I borrow this?"
present day*
"So has anything changed?" Sam asked as they left the Great Hall, Cass walking her to the Hufflepuff common room.
"Not really. We haven't talked about that much since all of that happened. I definitely think Minnie likes girls but part of me still wonders if she's not asexual. I think she's too in love with books and her studies to care about anything like that."
When they got to the barrels outside of the Hufflepuff common room, Sam looked around and asked, "do you want to come stay the night?"
Cass smirked, "what a stupid fucking question. I'll be over after curfew. I'll send my patronus so you can let me in," she kissed her girlfriend on the cheek before taking off towards the dungeons.
Cass pulled out James' map that they often shared inside the Slytherin dungeons. She saw the coast was clear so she tucked the map back under her pillow and headed into the common room.
"Cass, where are you going?"
"Minnie," she rolled her eyes but turned around and looked at her sister. "I'm just going to the bathroom."
"Bathrooms are that way," Minnie pointed in the opposite direction. "I can't keep pretending I don't know you are sneaking out to see your girlfriend."
"Oh but you can little sis," Cass smirked, "see with my sister as prefect and my lovely cousin as head girl," she nodded when Lyra appeared next to Minnie, "I'm all set." She had a smug look on her face, "neither of you would turn me in. So just go back to bed and pretend you didn't see me."
"I'm not the only head girl, Cass," Lyra seemed mildly annoyed that she was woken up. "And there are plenty of prefects of duty. You are bound to get caught."
"But tonight isn't the night, mate," she winked at them both. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a date to keep."
She made it outside of the common room door and ran straight into Professor Slughorn. He stood there looking displeased. "See Professor," Victoria Weasley came, stepping out from behind Cass's head of house. "I told you. Cassiopeia sneaks out to see her girlfriend in the hufflepuff dorms almost every night and she's never been in trouble. What kind of example would I be setting for the other prefects if I let her get away with it?"
"You have a point, Ms. Wallenby," Slughorn sounded like he didn't want to be involved in this. "You can go back on your patrol," he waved Victoria away. "I'll handle it from here." She gave Cass a devilish smile before she disappeared up the staircase. "Madam Black," he shook his hand. "Why are you out after curfew?"
"Would you believe I forgot that I had a research paper due tomorrow so I had to go to the library to pick up a book?" He gave her a look and she knew he didn't buy it. "Can you just give me my punishment so I can go back to my bed?"
"This is a consistent problem with you, Madam Black. Detentions, extra course work, manual labor, none of this has had any impact on your behavior. I'm afraid I'm going to have to go a more serious route with you. I have already talked this over with the headmistress and your mother in anticipation of you digressing again."
"So what's my punishment?" She crossed her arms over her chest.
"Madam Black, you are forbidden from playing in the first Quidditch match of the season. You will be in detention with me during the game."
Cass stood shocked, her mouth hanging open, "but that's not fair."
"It may not be fair but nothing else has had any impact on your behavior," Slughorn replied. "Now, please go back into your dorms and stay there."
He turned and started to head back to his room when Cass yelled after her, "my mother would never have agreed to this. She knows how important quidditch is to me."
"The Minister signed off on it," Slughorn didn't wait for another reply.
Cass had never felt so upset in her life. How could her own mother take away the one thing that made her feel complete. She stormed into the common room desperately trying to hold back her tears. She did the only thing she knew how. She took out her wand and started blasting all of the light fixtures. Minnie rushed out of the dorms, "Cass?" Her sister wasn't responding to her prompts. She knew Cass had the tendency to get so wrapped up in her emotions that she couldn't handle them properly. The Blacks could be very angry and passionate individuals so it was no surprise that Cass and Minnie both picked up those behaviors though they appeared for often in the eldest. "Cass?" Minnie slowly approached her sister and wrapped her arms around her body. Holding her tight, "Cass. I'm here."
Cass was panting, tears streaming down her face. She felt the strong grip around her and tried to focus her thoughts. She took in the state of the common room. It wasn't the first time she blew up the room but this time, she felt it was warranted. "He's banned me from playing the first game," she seethed, tapping Minnie's arm four times. That was their signal that she wanted to be released and that was feeling stable enough.
"What?"
Cass fell onto one of sofas after a quick check to make sure she wasn't going to land on any glass, "he banned me from playing this weekend."
Minnie's mouth fell open, "he can't do that."
"Your mother and McGonagall signed off on it."
"Mum?" Minnie watched Cass seething. "Just because you are angry at her doesn't make her any less your mum, too. Don't be like that."
"She knows how important this is to me. To my future career. How could she do this to me?"
"How many detentions have you gotten since we've been back?"
Cass rolled her eyes, "you're not helping, Minerva."
"I'm just trying to be reasonable and see this from everybody's point of view. There's no way mum and mummy didn't fight about this. Mummy is probably just as upset as you are."
"As she should be! This is my future we are talking about," a few tears escaped now that the anger was passing and the realization was kicking in. "I'm captain. How am I meant to miss the first game?"
"You can still cheer from the sidelines."
Cass shook her head, "No I can't. I'll be in detention with Slughorn during the whole of the match. I can't even see us beat the smile off that cunt's face." Minnie's mouth dropped open again and Cass flicked a sickle into her hands. "Weasley is a cunt and I won't take it back."
"Maybe I can talk to the headmistress for you."
"And say what? There's no way Weasley didn't go to her first before Sluggy. She already knows that I was sneaking out. It's not worth your time," she hung her head. "It's only five days from now. Which means I have to work extra hard to get the team up and ready for Saturday. James is going to be pissed," she looked over at the freshly posted list of new recruits.
"It's only one game, Cass. The scouts won't be here until the end of the season."
"We need to win the house cup, Minnie. I need this for me…" she looked back from the list. "And for mummy. Her dad didn't let her have her dreams. I need to do this for her, too."
Minnie scooted closer and wrapped her arm around her sister's shoulder, bringing her into her side, "I know, Cass. I know."
"Can you send Sam a message? I don't think I'll be able to get my wolf tonight," she wiped a few more tears away that had fallen. It was no surprise to anyone in the household the first time Cass attempted her patronus and a wolf came out. It made sense to them that her patronus would take the shape of her mother's original animal. As soon as Cass successfully cast hers, Minnie had to follow in her footsteps not to be outdone by her older sister. It was still a mystery to everyone where her animal had come from but her mothers were still very proud of her ability to produce a patronus at a young age.
"Expecto patronum," Minnie held her wand out and I little blue wispy bee popped out of the end of her wand. "Sam. Cass won't be able to come tonight. She got caught. There's more to the story. We will tell you at breakfast." She was interrupted by her sister, "tell her I love her." Minnie rolled her eyes, "she said she loves you." She addressed the bee once more, "go deliver that message to Sam in the hufflepuff dorms. Thank you."
The pair sat together on the couch, Minnie holding her sister for awhile before a blue wisp came back through the dungeon wall. Sam's English mini lop appeared in front of the girls. Her voice sounded quietly through the small rabbit , "I was surprised your bee came to visit. Tell Cass that I will miss her tonight. I hope the story is nothing serious." Minnie felt her sister start crying again. The bunny spoke some more, "I will see you both at breakfast. Tell my wolf I miss her." The wisp disappeared, Minnie cleared her throat, "now I know you are a little sensitive tonight so I'll be in my best behavior but just know if this had been any other night I would be fake gagging in the corner finding out that Sam calls you her wolf." Minnie heard Cass let a little laugh escape her nose. She kissed the top of sister's curls, "it's going to be okay."
Cass spent extra time with the team making sure everyone was prepared for Saturday's match. When the day finally rolled around, she was confident that the team would win without her even if it was killing her as she sat inside the potion's classroom on the sunny, Saturday afternoon. She couldn't count the amount of times that she sighed since she sat down at her potions station. Slughorn was busy grading papers while Cass was tasked with brewing liquid death. So far, she had yet to begin. "You know, Madam Black, you won't be permitted to leave until you finish your potion."
"Why aren't you out there for the game? Aren't you our head of house? Shouldn't you be in the teachers' stands to cheer the Slytherins on towards the quidditch cup?"
"I'm perfectly fine right here."
"So you're telling me," she smirked, "that you are fine coming in second place to Professor Longbottom's Gryffindors?"
"You seem to be under the misunderstanding that I do not care about the status of our quidditch team. Of course I want us to win. Nobody wants to lose to the Gryffindors." Cass started to perk up until he said, "however," and her head hit the desk. "You need to learn the important lesson of accountability. This is your last year, Cassiopeia." She assumed he was softening because he hardly ever called her by her name. "It's time to start thinking about your future." He stopped her from interrupting him. "I know you have aspirations to play Quidditch but you need to think about what your other options might be in case something would happen. You need to take your NEWTS seriously and start holding yourself accountable for what happens after Hogwarts."
"My marks are all Os and a few Es, Professor. I know the course work."
"It's more than just the studies and sports. It's the attitude. How do you think you'll respond to superiors even in Quidditch if you can't handle following the rules here?"
Cass stopped, really taking his words to heart. He definitely had a point even if she didn't want to admit it, "I never stopped to think about how my attitude was perceived by others."
"You are not a Lestrange, Cassiopeia. It would bode well for you to remember that."
Cass sighed and looked at her empty cauldron, "what can I do now so that I can change and play in that game?"
"The game starts in just ten minutes."
"Please Professor, anything."
Professor Slughorn looked up from his papers. She had walked over, now standing in front of his desk. It was clear this game meant more to her and he supposed she had learned somewhat of a lesson. He really didn't want to lose to Longbottom. He would never hear the end of it at the professor's table in the Great Hall. "I need someone to clean all the cauldrons for the first years because they are truly some of the most unskilled wizards I've ever seen."
"Done. What else?"
"Effort. Humility. Kindness. Show up for class."
Cass thought it over. Her career was worth whatever he was asking for her, "consider all of that done. Please, Professor."
Slughorn stood, "well… we don't want to be late." He grabbed his graduation cap and followed her out of the classroom. "Win it for us, Madam Black." He shouted after her as she took off running up the stairs towards the Quidditch pitch.
The game was a shutout, Cass scored 8 goals herself and was feeling on cloud nine the entire game. She decided to make a conscious effort to do the things Slughorn asked of her. It was the least she could do for the opportunity to play in her first game of the year. She had seen McGonagall approach Slughorn when she had seen Cass mount her broom. From what she could see, the headmistress didn't seem angry. She knew the game was coming to a close when James took off flying across the field at rapid speeds. He must have spotted the snitch. There was no way the Gryffindor seeker was anywhere near as fast as James. He caught the golden snitch making it look effortless. The Slytherin bleachers broke out into cheers when Coach Weasley blew the whistle signaling the end of the game. Cass turned to look into the bleachers for her girlfriend and was caught off guard by something ramming into her from behind. The force of the hit sent her flying off of her broom.
"CASS!" Her sister shouted from the stands. It wasn't loud enough to get anyone's attention. She started screaming, pulling on Sam's robes. "GINNY!" She shouted at the red head who looked up just in time to watch Cass fall the rest of the way, slamming into the ground, face up. Minnie's eyes went back up to the air and saw Victoria near Cass's now empty broom, looking down at the body. Minnie grabbed Sam's hand and pulled her through the bleachers, pushing people out of their way. The headmistress along with the other professors took off towards the field. Minnie heard someone shout, "Go get Poppy."
Minnie broke free from Sam's hand, running straight onto the field, "Cass!" She shouted but before she could make it to her sister she was stopped by a pair of strong arms around her waist. She didn't need to turn to see who it was, "you let me go right now, Ginerva." She fought against the grip holding her.
"You don't need to see her like this," the stronger woman picked her up, spinning her away so she couldn't see her sister being surrounded by her Professors.
"I need to see my sister," she screamed, panting from the exertion.
"Don't even think about it," Ginny's hand reached out and caught the hufflepuff trying to sneak by. "Cass needs space and neither of you will be going over there to disrupt them."
"She fell too far," they heard one of the Professors say.
"What?" Minnie started struggling again.
The headmistress stood, "Professor Weasley please remove Minnie and Sam. We will let them know when they can come to the hospital wing."
"That's my sister!" She yelled back at the Headmistress.
"You heard the woman. Please make this easy. I will full body bind the two of you if I have to," she pleaded with the girls.
"Fine," Sam relented, reaching over to grab Minnie's hand.
"Ginerva?"
"Stay here," Ginny told the girls before running over to the headmistress. "Yes?"
"What happened?"
"I didn't see. I was waiting for James to bring down the snitch. How is she?" She looked down, seeing a very small and helpless looking Cass, unmoving on the ground.
"Unresponsive but breathing. We are waiting for Poppy and the muggle doctor on duty to come tell us how to best move her into the hospital."
"Bella is not going to be happy."
McGonagall sighed, "she has every right to be upset. Someone is responsible and knowing Bella, she's not going to stop until someone is hurt worse than Cass. I better go call their mothers."
A flash of light caught both of their attentions, turning to see Minnie with her cell phone out. She snapped a picture and sent it off to her mothers. "Someone needed to tell my mummy," the anger dripped from her voice.
Minnie took hold of Sam and started pulling her towards the castle, "are we going to wait for your mums?"
"No," Minnie almost growled. "We are going to kill Victoria."