Chapter 11:A/N I do not own Harry Potter, there are sentences that are verbatim from the books.
It took Cassie another month before she could find her way around the castle without getting too turned around. With the beginning of October came the frigid air, casting a damp chill over the grounds and into the castle, and a bout of colds that kept the resident healer, Madame Pomfrey, busy. Students could be seen throughout the day with steam billowing out of their ears from the Pepperup potion. Along with the chill, came deluges for days on end, the greenhouses slick with condensation from the change in temperature, the flower beds nothing but puddles, and Hagrid's pumpkins could be seen from afar due to their great size.
"I am soo glad Gabrielle convinced me to go with the black boots! Imagine just how gross the pink ones would look after trudging through the mud!" Cassie said one day as they walked to Herbology to Hermione.
"I'm using my old muggle ones, and they're starting to pinch. I wish I knew the engorgement charm well enough to make them bigger without making them too big." Hermione responded with a grimace.
"Here. Let me." Merlin said from beside them. He took out his wand and tripped over his feet, dropping the wand into the mud, making both girls giggle.
"I think I'll wait until we get inside, Merlin. You'll be dripping mud all over the place if not." Hermione said between giggles. They ran inside, well Cassie and Hermione ran, Merlin just sort of slid inside, and Hermione finally allowed Merlin to help with her shoes.
"Oh! That's much better Merlin, thanks! How are you so good at it? We've only just begun to cover the theory." Hermione asked.
"My uncle. He taught me Charms and Potions. He was a great healer, but terrible at Transfiguration. McGonagall would have had a unique look reserved just for him." Merlin answered with his signature goofy grin.
When class was over, and Merlin and Cassie made their way to their next class, Cassie told Merlin all about her latest idea for a prank.
"When are you planning on doing it?"
"I am not doing anything. I managed to… convince Leon and Tommy to get together with a few Ravenclaws and enact my plan." Cassie said, trying to sound mysterious.
"You sound absolutely supercilious, Cassie." Merlin pointed out, smiling.
"That's a big word, Merlin. You sure you know what it means?" Cassie teased him as they walked into Charms.
"What?" Merlin asked, stopping, completely shocked as her words took him back to that day in the forest outside of Balinor's cave.
"I asked if you knew what supercilious meant." Cassie repeated slowly, looking at him in concern at his reaction.
"Right. Yeah," he said, shaking himself out of his thoughts and responding cheekily, "Condescending, patronizing, arrogant." he listed off, exactly as he had with Arthur.
"Condescending and arrogant, sure. But patronizing, not quite." Cassie said taking her usual seat at the front next to Hannah.
"Who's patronizing?" she asked, catching the last of the conversation.
"Cassie." Merlin answered with a smirk, and received an elbow in the gut as a response. "That hurt!" he said, rubbing his ribs.
"Cassie's not patronizing. A bit of a know-it-all, but we have experience with Granger for that." she said, defending her roommate.
"Hate to break it to you, Hannah, but this girl is completely supercilious."
"Watch it, Merlin! You don't want to wake up one day with red hair, do you?" Cassie threatened teasingly in French, laughing at his audible gulp.
"You speak french?" Hannah asked Merlin with a raised eyebrow.
"Among others." he answered vaguely.
"You two are so weird." she said, and turned around to speak with Ernie who had just arrived.
When class was finished, both Merlin and Cassie had cast a perfect engorgio and earned ten points each to Hufflepuff-Cassie cast it before him. The two made their way to lunch and went to sit with Leon and Tommy at the Hufflepuff table.
"Hey guys!" Merlin said as he sat down. "Cassie told me all about the prank you're planning." he said, catching Cassie's eye and winking.
"And what exactly did she say?" Tommy asked, looking between the two oddly.
"Oh, just that there were some… issues, with the execution of the prank. Luckily, we've had the perfect idea." Merlin said,
"A reworking of the knockback jinx. Just underpowered enough to break open the jar without everything getting everywhere like with reducto." Cassie finished proudly.
"See, told you. Supercilious." Merlin said, bumping her shoulder with his.
"That way, none of us get any on our robes! Brilliant!" Leon said grinning widely. "I'm going to go tell Daniel and David. Brilliant!" Leon said and leaned over the table to kiss her on the cheek.
"Are you blushing?" Merlin asked her when he walked away, raising his eyebrows. "Do you like him!?" he gasped, his eyes going comically wide.
"What! Don't be ridiculous, Merlin! It just caught me off guard. Besides, Gabrielle called dibs, and I'm seriously suffering from BFW right now, so not even going to think about that."
"I think she does like him." Tommy said, teasing her even though it stung a bit as Merlin asked what BFW was.
"Oh, not you too!" Cassie groaned, dropping her head against the table in defeat and ignoring Merlin. "Ow." she said, making the other two boys laugh raucously. After History of Magic, which Merlin had taken to sitting with Cassie in the back, they walked back to the common room to change as Merlin teased her endlessly over her crush on Leon.
"For the last time, Merlin. I do not have a crush on Leon!" Cassie hissed at him
"Then who? You obviously like someone. It's not Harry is it? That's just too predictable, and not like you at all." Merlin said, shaking his head in thought. "Is it one of the Weasleys? You have been spending an awful lot of time with the whole family, well all the boys at least."
"Merlin, if I tell you will you just SHUT UP!?" Cassie said, loudly whispering the shut up as conversations tended to echo in the corridor that led to their common room. The corridor was completely deserted at the moment, so Cassie figured no one would hear her answer.
"Mhm. Deal." Merlin said, rubbing his chin with his thumb and index finger for a bit before agreeing.
"Fine! It's… I like... " Cassie said, not exactly wanting to tell him, and looking frenetic.
"Well, I won't tell anyone Cassie. It can't be too embarrassing." he said, stopping in the middle of the hallway and gasping, "It's not Draco, is it!?" he asked, seeming disgusted by the idea. He thought that maybe he could've been who he was waiting for, who he had Seen in his dreams, but quickly changed his mind when he realized just what kind of kid he was.
"EW, gross." Cassie said, her face twisting in disgust. "Why would anyone like the prat? No it's Tommy!" Cassie whispered loudly, not wanting it to echo, and not realizing that said boy was just around the corner, wearing the biggest grin he ever had.
"Really? Leon seems more your type." Merlin said.
"I don't have a type!" Cassie said, offended.
"Yes you do." Merlin said, knowing perfectly well her type. Or at least his Cassie's type.
"No, I don't. I would know if I had a type." Cassie argued back. They continued their ridiculous bickering all the way into the common room and stopped only to go get changed for dinner. Cassie refused to go to dinner in her school robes, and Merlin agreed with her, only to stop her from transfiguring his robes every time they went to dinner into a top hat and tails.
"Hey! You got someone to dress up for dinner!" Tommy called out in the common room when Merlin and Cassie emerged simultaneously.
"It wasn't difficult. " Cassie said, shrugging.
"Speak for yourself! Untransfiguring my robes is hard! And I don't want ten top hats and tails, thank you very much. Easier to just put on dress pants and a button up to shut her up." Merlin said, earning an elbow to the gut again. "And less painful. I'm going to end up with a broken rib one of these days." he said.
"HA. HA. Merlin, you like to dress up just as much as I do." Cassie said, rolling her eyes at him. "So, Tommy. Will it be the easy way, or will it be the hard way?" Cassie said, fingering her wand and looking at him conspiratorially.
"It'll be my way." Tommy answered, cheekily, remembering the muggle song Leon had played for him over summer. Tommy had to admit, muggles had some very soothing music. But then again,' he thought, 'there's also that band, Metallica and that's far from soothing.'
"Okay, fine. You asked for it." Cassie said in a sickly sweet voice as she smoothed out her pale pink ankle length pleated skirt.
"Go ahead, do it." Tommy said closing his eyes and opening his arms. "Well, I'm ready." He said, opening one eye and looking at her.
"You sure?"
"Positive."
"Okay, good, now you can go on up and change." Cassie said smiling at the stupid look that crossed his face.
"Mate, I would just go ahead and do as she says." Merlin chuckled from beside her.
"Fine, I'll go change." he said and kept on muttering all the way to his dorm.
"You're still going to transfigure his clothes, aren't you?" Merlin asked, recognising the glint in her eyes for what it was.
"Yes." she said, smiling up at him.
Cassie watched as Tommy walked into the common room with a smirk.
"What? I changed. I wasn't wearing these thirty minutes ago." he said walking up to her.
"All right. Let's go." Cassie said, hooking her arm with his and leading him out.
They walked that way down the corridor, just long enough to make Tommy think she wouldn't transfigure his clothes, but the second they got onto the grand staircase, Cassie pulled out her wand and transfigured his pants into a tartan kilt and his shirt into a traditional ghillie shirt with leather laces on the chest.
"Cassie!" Tommy yelled when he felt the draft on his legs and then heard the flash of a camera.
"What? You said you were going to change." Cassie asked, feigning innocence.
"Nice kilt, Mr. Loughty." McGonagall said, trying to suppress her smile. She had seen the impressive transfiguration Cassie had done and chose to ignore the use of magic on another student. "Your laces are undone." she said, walking away quickly, her shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.
"I'm not even Scottish!" he told Cassie, glaring at the Gryffindors laughing on the way down to dinner.
"You also didn't change, Tommy. I could see the mud on the hem." Cassie said, looking pointedly at him.
"I'm going to get back at you, Cassie." he said, looking for his wand. "What'd you do with my wand?" he said, looking at her annoyed.
"Whatever do you mean, dearest? I haven't the foggiest where you've left your wand." she said loftily, high-fiving Colin as he walked past, saying how cool that was.
"Merlin, give it back." he said, clueing into how those two thought when it came to pranks.
"She made me!" he said, handing him the wand and throwing his hands up in surrender.
"Coward." Cassie jokingly said, pretending to be hurt.
"Eh, I've been called worse." Merlin said, waving her off.
"Really. Like what?" she asked him curiously, ignoring Tommy as he transfigured his clothes back.
"Oh, no way am I telling you this early in the year. We've already made the bet to see who was better at Charms. You're not getting that ammunition out of me. Uh. Uh. Nope. Not gonna do it." Merlin said all the way into the Great Hall.
"You know, you two look like such spivs." Tommy said as they took their seats at the table.
"Yes, except we're not delinquents and we can afford the clothes we wear." Merlin said. "Well, Cassie can. This is pretty much it for me, I just change the color of the shirt and make sure it's cleaned gently. The money goes towards tuition and supplies, really." Merlin said with a tinge to his cheeks.
"Yeah, I understand. Where are you planning on staying for summer? I'm assuming that you won't be allowed to stay alone by the muggle government." Tommy said.
"Well, I hadn't thought that far. It's not even autumn. Maybe going camping like I did for the rest of last summer. I mean, I have a place that was left to me, but I don't like it. Too many memories."
"Camping alone?" Tommy asked incredulously.
"Sure, why not. I can hunt and cook my own meals. And I used to go camping practically every week when I was younger." Merlin said, shrugging 'it's not as if I'm lying. I did go camping at least every week with Arthur and his stupid hunting for game,' Merlin thought.
"It sounds like fun. Maybe I'll join you for a week. I don't think I could take much longer than that living outdoors. I could see if maybe Gabrielle and her family would like to come. They usually go on trips over the summer holidays." Cassie said conversationally.
"Yeah! I mean, it's literally just occurred to me, but that could be fun." Merlin agreed. "You're welcome to come too, Tommy. Camping is better with more people. Makes the stories to tell have an audience. There's actually this one time with some friends we went camping and, as always, they stuck me with the cooking and cleaning. I swear, sometimes I felt more like their mother, but anyways, they all ate quickly and told me to feed the horses, and when I was done, and grabbed my food, they had added about a million different spices to it. I still hate them for it, and it was a LONG time ago, but I can't deny how funny I must have looked jumping around spitting and brushing the food off my tongue." Merlin said. "I actually thought about doing something to their breakfast, but that would have been too predictable. I got my sweet revenge though." Merlin said triumphantly.
"What'd you do?" Cassie asked, hungry for prank ideas.
"That's a story for another time, Cassie. I can tell you that Gwaine got his own revenge without me doing anything. The idiot stuck his hand in a beehive!" Merlin said, laughing at the memory of him being chased by a swarm of angry bees.
"You know, that sounds like something my brother would do. The spices, not the beehive. Even he's not that thick." Cassie said in jest.
"So, prank all set?" Tommy asked as Leon sat down next to him.
"The box is in place, all we have to do is make sure none of us get caught tomorrow. It's a good thing it's Saturday, the Slytherins always leave at the same time for breakfast on Saturday." Leon said with an excited grin.
"Good!" Cassie said, her eyes gleaming with excitement.
The following morning, Cassie and Merlin snuck down to the dungeons ahead of Leon, Daniel, David and Tommy and hid in the corner, making sure no one could see them and that they wouldn't get dirty. The boys knew that they needed an excuse for when they set off the frog brains; they decided on saying that they were practicing one of the potions they were learning and kept the heat too high. That way, they weren't to blame. They just 'accidentally' plastered frog brains all over dungeon five; right at the moment the Slytherins walked through there for breakfast.
"Yes!" Cassie whispered from the nook, high-fiving Merlin. They spent the rest of the day talking about the brilliance of the prank and the Slytherin's disgusted faces when the Frog brains got splattered all over them.
"I don't think I'll ever understand how you're so good at getting people to do what you want, without telling them to do it outright." Merlin said at lunch.
"Yeah, that's my secret, and you will never know it!" Cassie said, smiling up at him from across the table.
"So? D'you get in trouble?" Merlin asked when Leon and Tommy sat down on either side of Cassie.
"Nah, we left before anyone even noticed we were there. You were right, the knockback jinx worked so much better than reducto. We could even do it from farther back so no one saw. Good thinking on David's part to leave a cauldron there, everyone assumed some students screwed up a cure for boils and ran for it when they realized it would explode."
"It was a brilliant prank!" Cassie said, shaking with laughter.
"Yeah, it was. I just feel bad for Filch. Poor guy has to clean all that up!" Merlin said with a mouthful of meat.
"Chew with your mouth closed! And don't speak with food in it!" Cassie chastised, they spent the rest of lunch joking happily with each other and left to go to the library.
It took the two a few hours to finish all their homework before they finally left the library to go to the Great Hall for dinner. They were walking down a usually deserted corridor when they heard Filch yelling at Harry.
"Mess and muck everywhere! I've had enough of it, I tell you! Follow me, Potter!" he said, making Cassie feel guilty for her prank this morning.
"Let's see if we can't get Harry out." Merlin said, rounding the corner and meeting Nick.
"Nick! How are we going to get Harry out of detention?" Merlin asked, sprinting up to him and asking without any preamble.
"I was thinking of getting Peeves to cause a commotion near his office, distract him long enough to forget about Harry." he said.
"Great idea! There's a vanishing cabinet on the floor above his office, that should be big enough to make a noise and to get Filch distracted. If it doesn't work, we'll set something off farther away." Merlin said, motioning to Cassie and himself.
"Right-o!" Nick said, floating off to find Peeves and convince him.
"What are we going to do! I'm fresh out of ideas!" Cassie hissed at him.
"Don't worry. The cabinet's expensive. He'll be too excited about getting Peeves thrown out to care about Harry." Merlin said, taking a shortcut to the circular building annexed to the entrance hall and hiding behind a pillar.
"How do you know the shortcut?" Cassie asked perplexed. Sure they'd been at school for about two months, but she still got lost on her way to History of Magic, and he knew a shortcut to Filch's? And where there was an expensive cabinet?
"Um, I got caught a few times by the caretaker. Ended up running from him one day and discovered the passage." he answered. 'It's not really a lie, just not this caretaker.' Merlin thought to himself. "Oh, look, Filch is coming back!" he said, pointing down the hallway.
Cassie saw his gleeful look and figured Merlin was right.
"Come on, if he's this happy, he'll be sure to let Harry go. Let's go tell Sir Nick." Cassie said when they could no longer see him.
"Merin! Cassie! Did it work?" Nick asked when they found him near the entrance to the classroom.
"We-
"Harry! Harry! Did it work?" Nick asked, spotting him running just ahead and gliding out through the two Hyfflepuffs, making them shiver.
"I persuaded Peeves to crash it right over Filch's office. Merlin suggested it would be enough to distract him."
"Was that you?" said Harry gratefully. "Yeah, it worked, I didn't even get detention. Thanks, Nick, Merlin!"
"I wish there was something I could do for you about the Headless Hunt," Harry said, noticing the envelope in his hands, and walking right through him as he had stopped.
"The Headless Hunt?" Merlin asked, shivering as well at the reminder that he'd already gone through him and Cassie.
"What's the Headless Hunt?" Cassie whispered curiously.
"Sort of like a Polo club, but for decapitated ghosts and the ball is one of their heads." Merlin answered back quietly as Nick spoke with Harry.
"But there is something you could do for me, Harry, would I be asking too much-but no, you wouldn't want-" Nick said, his excitement palpable at the beginning but deflating as he thought over his words.
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"Well, this Halloween will be my five hundredth deathday," Nick started.
"Oh, it is! I can't believe I forgot!" Merlin suddenly exclaimed as Nick drew himself up proudly and Harry and Cassie looked between each other confused.
"I'm holding a party down in one of the roomier dungeons. Friends will be coming from all over the country. It would be such an honor if you would attend. Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger would be most welcome, too, of course - but I daresay you'd rather go to the school feast?" He watched Harry and company on tenterhooks.
"No," said Harry quickly, "I'll come-"
"Yeah, we'll come too." Cassie said at the same time
"My dear boy! Harry Potter, at my deathday party! And, do you think you could possibly mention to Sir Patrick how very frightening and impressive you find me? You two as well?" Nick asked haltingly, though his eyes betrayed his excitement.
"Of - of course," said Harry as Merlin and Cassie nodded along.
"This is so exciting! I've never been to a deathday party before!" Cassie said to Merlin as they walked with Harry up to Gryffindor tower. "I doubt many people can say they have!" Cassie said keenly.
"Yeah, Nick seemed so down. And he did help me get out of trouble with Filch. I don't think I could take any more detentions with Lockhart." Harry said.
"I still don't understand how that fool got the job!" Merlin said heatedly.
"I know. I feel bad for the fifth and seventh years, especially with the big exams at the end of the year!" Cassie said
"Thank you! Hermione and all the other girls seem to have a crush on him. Hermione doesn't even care that he's not teaching us anything. Hermione!" Harry repeated incredulously as they reached the Fat Lady's portrait and he gave the password.
"He's not that attractive. Sure he's good looking but his arrogance and pretension make him ridiculously unattractive." Cassie said as she climbed through the portrait hole. "Your common room is very… red." Cassie said, not quite knowing what to say.
"Oi! It's very warm and inviting."
"I only meant that there's a lot of red and gold. It seems cozy enough. Not like the Hufflepuff common room, but very cozy indeed. The view is definitely better!" Cassie said brightly as they neared the table Hermione and Ron were sat at doing their Potions homework.
"Hey Cassie, Merlin" Hermione greeted, looking up momentarily from her homework.
"Hi 'Mione! Ron!" Cassie said happily, sitting down gently in one of the chairs Merlin had pulled closer.
"How are you always so happy?" Ron asked, looking at her in annoyance.
"It's a gift!" Cassie said, grinning like a Cheshire cat.
"Ugh!" Ron and Merlin said at the same time.
"You'll never guess what Harry agreed to!" Cassie said, not holding in her curiosity and excitement.
"Let him change and tell them himself." Merlin said, practically chastising her.
"I get now why you were more their mother than their camping buddy, Merlin." Cassie told him petulantly, crossing her arms comically and getting the response she wanted from him.
"That is so not why!"
"Is too." she said uncrossing her arms and looking at him petulantly.
"Is not!" he repeated.
"You two seem more like siblings than friends, you know." Hermione said, giggling when Cassie stuck her tongue out at Merlin.
"We practically are!" Merlin said cheekily.
"No blood relation, but he's like the annoying younger brother you just love to bother and argue with." Cassie agreed.
"Hey! I'm older than you!"
"Not by long, you said your birthday was the first week of December, mine's the second." Cassie said matter-of-factly.
"Did they tell you?" Harry asked as he sat down, finally changed and showered after the practice.
"Nah, Merlin didn't let her." Ron answered, curious about what it was.
"A deathday party? I bet there aren't many living people who can say they've been to one of those - it'll be fascinating!" Hermione said shrewdly.
"That's exactly what Cassie said." Harry replied.
"Why would anyone want to celebrate the day they died?" said Ron, who was halfway through his Potions homework and grumpy. "Sounds dead depressing to me..."
"Oi, what's this?"
"Badgers in the Lion's Den?" the twins said in succession, walking behind Cassie and startling her.
"Hello, Gred! Feorge. Like the prank I pulled?" Cassie asked, looking above her and raising an eyebrow at them
"No!"
"That was you?" they asked, in that infuriating way they had of parrying their sentences.
"Planned and all!"
"Was not! You manipulated Tommy and Leon into doing it for you." Merlin said after a snort.
"Still my idea. Worked out even better because people were none the wiser." Cassie said challenging Merlin with her look.
"Except you just broadcast it to all of Gryffindor Tower." he said, looking around pointedly.
"Eh, no one'll say anything. It was against the Slytherins. You should have seen Flint's face when he got splattered with frog brains!" Cassie said, making everyone around burst out laughing.
"Just for that, we're giving you a treat tonight." Fred said with a mischievous wink. Cassie turned around curious to what George and Fred were going to do.
Rain was beating against the windows loudly as the fireplace crackled and popped opposite it. Fred went up to his room and quickly came down with a scarlet red salamander in one hand and a package of Filibuster's fireworks in the other. He decided to feed the firework to the poor salamander who started smouldering on a table, surrounded by curious students. The poor animal ended up rocketing around the room with loud sparks and bangs as it emitted tangerine stars from its mouth. When it had a short reprieve, it ran into the fireplace, accompanied by explosions and the older Wealey brother yelling at Fred and George. Merlin and Cassie stayed for another hour before excusing themselves to go back to their dorm.