Chapter 19 A/N I do not own Harry Potter. Any sentences taken from the book are not my property.
The second her head hit the pillow, Cassie fell asleep. At first she had her usual nightmares, seeing the grotesque image of her grandfather with a scalpel, the screams of the person filling her head. Those screams morphed into the shrill cries of a woman being tortured on the floor and then into the sobs of a broken man holding the limp bodies of his family. But then they changed to the handsome faced boy with cold eyes, walking purposefully through the corridors to a bathroom. And those changed yet again, this time to an otter and a hummingbird looking at the reflection of a great snake and freezing in place.
Cedric and Tommy had stayed in the common room long after everyone had gone to sleep.
"No one can know. You have to swear you won't breathe a word of this to anyone." Tommy told his friend seriously.
"I won't say a word, but it has to be illegal. She's only twelve!" Cedric cried indignantly.
"I know, but she said they took every precaution in both worlds to not have it come back and bite them in as- Cassie?"
They both looked up when she walked into the common room in pink pyjamas and barefoot.
"What's she doing?" Cedric asked when she ignored them and kept walking.
"Search me. Why's she barefoot?" he answered, standing up and going towards her.
"You don't think…" Cedric started, hating the thoughts running through his head about the possibility of her being responsible for everything.
"No, I don't think." Tommy answered quickly, not even daring to consider the possibility.
"Where's she going, anyways?" Cedric asked, wincing as she caught her shoulder on the doorframe.
"I don't know. Is she sleepwalking?" he asked, seeing her lack of response to hitting the doorframe.
"If she is, she could get hurt, Tommy. We should follow her, just in case." Cedric told him, seeing how she didn't seem to care about hitting the door.
"Yeah, you're right. Come on." he said, walking out the door.
Cassie wound her way slowly through the castle, occasionally hitting her shoulder against the corners of walls or stubbing her toes.
"She's going to wake up with serious bruising." Cedric said, wincing as she hit her hip against the stone banister.
"I don't understand why she hasn't woken up with all the times she's hit herself." Tommy whispered to him.
"No clue." Cedric said, speeding up and grabbing her around the waist to stop her from walking into the empty space where the stairwell should be. It had moved sometime before they got there and was currently on the other side of the Grand Staircase.
"We should tell someone, she could get seriously hurt, or worse. She almost walked off the staircase!" Tommy hissed nervously.
"I'm sure there're prefects or teachers patrolling the castle, we should try to find one." Cedric said, letting go of Cassie and regretting it as she started to walk forward again. Tommy was luckily in her way and stopped her from going over the edge.
"Do you think we can lead her to Snape's office, it's the closest." Cedric asked nervously.
"I'll try." he said, taking her hand and tugging her away from the staircase, but she wouldn't budge.
"Guess not." he said. "Let's just try and get her to Madam Pomfrey.
"Are you mad!?" Cedric whisper-yelled at him, "The Hospital wing is practically at the other end of the castle!"
"Well, do you have any other ideas?" Tommy asked him skeptically
"No." he admitted lamely. "Here just let her go up to the third floor, we'll try and lead her to the hospital wing from there. There's a portrait in the tapestry corridor that conceals a passage to the clock tower, we can get her to Madam Pomfrey easily through there."
"Okay," Tommy said, letting go of her hand and following beside her closely when she started up the stairs once more. "Where's she even going?"
"Hopefully not one of the Towers, she'll freeze to death. It's bad enough she's barefoot, but neither of us have our cloaks and she's wearing seriously thin pyjamas! Makes sense that they're silk, though." Cedric said, walking on her other side, and recieving a glare from Tommy.
"You're seriously making jokes?" Tommy said incredulously.
"Not like it'll wake her up." he said back, "Besides, I'm freezing and wearing wool, imagine her in silk!"
Tommy just rolled his eyes and kept following Cassie up to the third floor. "Maybe she did hear us," he said wondering where she was leading them. But before they could go anywhere, Professor Flitwick showed up.
"Where do you three think you're going?" he said from behind them, his arms crossed.
"Professor!" Tommy said in relief, holding Cassie in place.
"Cassie's sleepwalking, she almost walked right off the stairs a few floors down. We thought we should stay with her and make sure she doesn't get hurt. Well, any more than she already has." Cedric answered quickly. "We don't actually know where she's going."
Back to your dormitory. I'll handle this, off you go now." he said, casting a silvery basset hound and sending it off somewhere. "And Mr. Diggory, Mr. Loughty, I hardly need to tell you not to mention this to anyone, do I?"
"No sir." they said in unison, going back down the staircase slowly, concern shown in their faces as they glanced back at the Head of Ravenclaw struggling to keep Cassie still.
"Filius, what's going on?" Professor Sprout asked, tying her dressing gown as she appeared beside them. "Miss Gratien?" she asked in concern as she saw her blank stare.
"Mr. Diggory and Mr. Loughty think she's sleepwalking, help me lead her to Poppy. She'll know what to do, I've already notified Minerva and Albus, I expect they'll be meeting us there." he said as they tried moving Cassie towards the tapestry corridor.
"She won't move, Filius. Perhaps we should float her over, it's the only solution I can think of right now." Sprout said worriedly, panting from the exertion of trying to move her.
"Very well, I was hoping I wouldn't have to. Could you please move over Pomona."
"Yes, of course." she said, letting go of the girl and stepping aside. Cassie didn't remain still and resumed her trek, walking away from both professors. Before she could get very far, however, Flitwick had cast the levitation charm and was floating her in front of him, taking her to the Hospital wing with his colleague trailing behind.
"Someone should write her parents asking if this is a common occurrence." Flitwick said once they got to the Hospital wing, Dumbledore and McGonagall already there.
"What's going on Filius." McGonagall asked worriedly.
"She's sleepwalking, apparently. Diggory and Loughty were following her, for her own sake they said."
"Oh, dear. Just what we need, a sleepwalking student!" McGonagall cried.
"Where was she going?"
"They were on the third floor when I found them, but didn't know where she was going."
"I wonder…" Dumbledore said, standing in front of Cassie and looking into her eyes, trying to see what it was she saw. "Well, we know that either she's a greatly skilled Occlumens, or something's blocking her mind." Dumbledore said quietly after a while of not being able to see into her mind, everytime he thought he was getting somewhere, the walls would reinforce themselves and he would be pushed out. He usually was able to see past the walls
"What do you mean, Albus?" Sprout asked as Pomfrey took over and checked her out with her wand.
"I see nothing. Her mind is a blank. It wasn't like this the last time we spoke."
"What does that mean? Surely she's not the one behind…"
"I don't know, Minerva. I don't know."
"What do we do?" Flitwick asked squeakily.
"We follow her. If she is, then we can put a stop to whatever is happening, and try and find out what's going on. If she's not, then we need to put measures in place for her, we can't have her wandering around with what's going on." he said defeated, not knowing what else to do.
"Albus, are you sure?" Pomfrey asked warily.
"There is nothing else to be done, Poppy." he said, resigned. "Let her go, Filius." he said, having the Charms professor lift the spell.
Unbeknownst to the adults, Hermione had woken up a bit ago and was listening to everything, her eyes wide with fright. Cassie started walking the moment Flitwick lifted his charm, but walked right into the wall, making all the adults wince as she hit her head. Cassie walked to the side a few inches, trying to get out of the ward, and hit her knee against the edge of one of the cupboards.
"Albus! She's going to seriously hurt herself! Do something!" Pomona cried seeing how many times she was walking into things.
"Perhaps we should take her back to where we found her first." Sprout added, worried about her student. The others agreed and Dumbledore cast the levitation charm once more, causing her to float over the ground a few feet, her own feet still moving as if she were walking.
"You should stay here, Poppy. Prepare a bed for her for when we get back." McGonagall told her colleague.
The teachers all walked out of the ward, leaving the matron standing there worriedly. When they arrived back at the third corridor, Dumbledore gently lowered her and lifted the charm, all of them following closely behind her. When they saw her turn into the library they looked at each other in exasperation.
"Shall I assume we've been giving the students too much work?" Dumbledore said lightly, watching closely as Cassie walked around the room, grabbing a quill and parchment and going around one of the shelves to get a book.
"Albus!" McGonagall scolded, walking in to see what book she was getting. Cassie walked out of the shelves and sat down at one of the desks, opening the book and scribbling down something on the parchment for a few minutes. Her head fell on the book after a minute, quil still in her hand. Dumbledore gently removed the quill and parchment from her hand and looked it over, showing the others before saying, "This girl has beautiful penmanship, but I don't understand a word of this." The other three professors just looked at him as if he were crazy before telling him to wake her up.
Dumbldore placed his hand on her shoulder gently, giving it a slight squeeze before shaking her awake.
"W-where am I?" Cassie asked fearfully through chattering teeth as she slowly woke up, feeling pain throughout her entire body. She shivered violently once and drew her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around herself, her teeth chattering loudly. "W-what h-h-happened? W-why am I in the l-library? Without shoes?!" Cassie asked, her eyes tearing up from confusion and pain.
"You were sleepwalking. Mr Diggory and Mr. Loughty were following you when I found you three out in the corridor." Flitwick answered, conjuring a cloak and socks for her to wear.
"Th-thanks. I w-w-was s-sleepwalking? I-I h-haven't done that since I was s-six." Cassie said, trying to stop the chattering of her teeth.
"Perhaps we should continue this in the hospital wing? It's much warmer there." Dumbledore said, looking into her eyes and finding the same walls up.
"O-ok-kay." Cassie said, shaking as she slipped the socks onto her feet and wincing as she did so. When she stood up, she practically fell to the ground, she was so dizzy and in pain. "S-sorry. M-my head h-hurts and s-so d-d-does my f-f-foot." she said, teeth still chattering from the cold.
"Allow me." Dumbledore said, waving his wand and casting the levitation charm on her for the third time that night. While he was casting the spell, McGonagall looked at the book she had taken and wondered why she would grab a book on chthonic beings.
"T-t-this f-f-feels s-s-so w-wierd." Cassie said through the chattering of her teeth.
When they got back to the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey had a potion ready for the pain she would undoubtedly be feeling, as well as the bed warmer in place and the fireplace crackling merrily.
"In the covers, quickly now!" she told them, pulling the covers back and taking the bed warmer back to its place.
"Oh!" Cassie said, sighing in relief as the warmth enveloped her.
"I'm afraid we can't let you rest, Miss Gratien, until we get a few questions answered." Dumbledore told her kindly.
"I-I-I un-underst-stand." Cassie said, still shivering furiously.
"You mentioned you used to sleepwalk?"
"W-w-when I-I-I was y-y-younger, f-five or s-six, I-I-I had the w-w-worst n-n-night-t-m-mares, I-I'd always w-wake up in s-s-some other p-part of the house, and have n-no c-clue what I-I was d-doing there."
"Can you speak in French, I can barely understand you with the chattering." Dumbledore asked her, in french, not unkindly.
"Oui." Cassie said, and repeated everything she had told him.
"Have you sleptwalked before?"
"Y-yes, b-but I-I t-thought- I-I f-figured I-I j-just got hungry at-t n-night a-and w-w-walked to t-th-the k-kitchens half-awake. I've n-never w-woken up s-so f-far f-from where I-I f-fell asleep." Cassie answered honestly, the warmth finally relaxing her tense, shivering muscles and making her feel the pain from where she hit herself against the walls and corners and take in a sharp breath of pain.
"Here, for the pain, just a sip for now." Pomfrey told her, handing her a dark blue potion that tasted absolutely awful, almost astringent, leaving her mouth dry and sandpapery.
"Ugh! That t-tastes absolutely a-a-awful. I think I'd r-r-rather feel the p-pain, Madam P-Pomfrey." Cassie said, shivering in both cold and disgust.
"Why did you go to the library?" Dumbledore asked her.
"I d-don't know, s-sir."
"Can you read this?" he asked her, holding out the parchment she'd written on. Cassie took the proffered paper with a shaking hand and a wince, then started giggling as she read over the words.
"I-I c-can read this, p-professor. M-me and m-my b-best f-friend G-Gabrielle m-made up our own c-code. It says 'the red cockadoodle chirp is felled by the weasel's effluvium.' What does effluvium mean? Why would I write that? " Cassie asked, furrowing her brow and frowning.
"That, my dear, is a very good question."
"I think, Headmaster, that we should leave her to get some rest."
"One more thing, before we leave." Dumbledore said, pushing against her mental walls.
"Yes, professor?" Cassie said, recognising what Dumbledore was trying to do with his intense gaze.
"Were you having nightmares tonight?" he asked, feeling her walls give way and her answer was plain to see.
"Y-yes, sir. I-I was having nightmares." she answered, allowing him inside to see only what she wanted him to see: the cold eyes of the boy and the frozen animals. She wasn't about to let him see what monsters her family truly were.
"I see. How do you- nevermind. Poppy, I think some Dreamless Sleep would do her well, tonight." Dumbledore told her, hiding how perturbed he was by what he had seen.
"The following morning, Cassie woke up early to find Hermione sitting on her bedside, staring at her intently, trying to figure out what had happened the previous evening.
"Hermione!" Cassie cried when she was awake enough to see her friend's furry face come into view.
"What happened last night? I was awake for some of it, and none of what I heard makes sense." she demanded.
"I-I don't know." Cassie stuttered out, taken aback by the fierceness in her voice.
"Well, start from when you left here yesterday." Hermione told her.
"I left here, and found Tommy. We went outside to talk for a bit and then to the kitchens for some hot chocolate. I stayed up until around eleven or so and then went to bed. Apparently I sleepwalk, and last night I made it to the library and started reading and taking notes or something. When I woke up I was barefoot in these pyjamas, freezing and sore all over. They brought me here and asked me questions." Cassie shrugged, then regretted it as she felt a shooting pain up her arm and neck. She moved the cloak Flitwick had conjured for her to the side and heard Hermione gasp at the black bruises and swelling that had formed overnight.
"They must seriously hurt. I'll go get Madam Pomfrey." Hermione said standing up and zooming out of the curtains to the matron's office.
"Why didn't you say anything last night?" Madam Pomfrey asked annoyed.
"They didn't hurt that much last night. Or at least they didn't feel like they hurt, I was too busy shivering to think about it." Cassie said quietly. "Besides, it looks much worse than it is, I bruise far too easily."
"Yes, or you have a high tolerance for pain, Miss Gratien. You've broken your humerus, the upper arm bone, in three parts! Where else does it hurt?" she asked, huffing impatiently.
"Um," Cassie said, glancing in embarrassment at Hermione before answering, "My head, my hips, my knees, my toes and my side, right here." she said, lifting her shirt up and showing the matron with a slight wince.
"You've broken your ribs, as well, Miss Gratien!" she said in horror and disbelief. "You should have said something last night! The potion I gave you helped start to heal the breaks, but they weren't properly set. I'll have to rebreak them to set them properly!" she said breathlessly, obviously not liking the idea. "Needless to say, you'll have to be in here for a week or so."
Madam Pomfrey went about magically rebreaking the humerus near the shoulder, and making sure the ribs weren't splintered with a series of waves and muttered incantations as she passed her wand over the rest of her body. "Your ribs are healing fine, but you have two fractured toes, a small fracture on your forehead, it'll heal on its own, and a bruised hip. How you're not screaming in pain, I'll never know. You took quite a beating last night walking into walls and doors." she said, shaking her head, perturbed.
"I didn't realize. I suppose I just have a high pain threshold." Cassie said unconvincingly.
"High pain threshold…" Pomfrey muttered under her breath as she went about the wing, looking for the correct potions.
"Does it really not hurt?" Hermione asked softly, wincing when Pomfrey came back and set her toes with an audible crack.
"No, it doesn't hurt too much. I can ignore it." Cassie breathed out, mindful not to shrug anymore. "I just wish I didn't have to take any more of those potions! They taste awful." Cassie whined, grimacing.
"You complain about the potions? I can't even deal with a broken nail! They're not that bad, at least they didn't taste like Millicent's cat." Hermione said, trying to cheer her up, and it worked, Cassie let out a hearty laugh, wincing as her ribs were burning in protest.
"Ow, don't make me laugh, please!" Cassie said, tears flowing down her face.
"You should have said something, Miss Gratien, today would have been much less painful." Pomfrey said again, waving her wand over the broken bones and mending them slowly.
"Does it always hurt this much?" Cassie said through gritted teeth.
"Yes. It hurts as much as the muggle way, but heals far quicker." Pomfrey told her.
"I'd rather the muggle way!" Cassie said panting, tears forming in her eyes.
"No, you wouldn't. I'll give you a potion for the pain once I'm done. It'll also put you to sleep, so you will be exempt from classes today."
"I'd also rather go to class." Cassie said, gritting her teeth again as Madam Pomfrey moved to her ribs.
"I thought you said they'd heal on their own." Cassie said agonized and wanting it to be over with.
"They can, but you'll be in pain for months, same for the fracture on your forehead." Pomfrey said, giving her a moment of respite before moving up to her shoulder.
"I'd have passed out by now, how are you still awake, Cassie?" Hermione whispered tearfully.
"Being awake means I won't have nightmares." Cassie said quietly so they wouldn't hear.
Madam Pomfrey mended the fractures in her ribs-four of the ribs on her left side were fractured and the pain of her spell was tenfold compared to the pain when she woke up- and her forehead. By the time she had finished mending the ribs, Cassie had fainted from the pain and exertion of mending them.
She came to some four hours later, and was begging for something to eat: Madam Pomfrey knew that if she gave Cassie any food, it would just come back up as her body wasn't ready for anything other than water at the moment.
"Hermione, please, I haven't had anything to eat since around nine last night, I'm so hungry." she begged, putting on her best puppy dog eyes and using some of her magic behind her gaze.
"I-I would, but Madam Pomfrey scares me more." Hermione said slowly, not sure if what she said was true.
"Fine." Cassie said, pouting; partly because she couldn't cross her arms stubbornly as she normally would have done to get her way and partly because she didn't get her way. Just then the door to the hospital wing opened and Tommy and Merlin came into the room, calling out her name.
"Oh, I have to go back!" Hermione whispered in a squeaky voice, hiding behind her curtain so neither boy would see her.
"Cassie! Are you okay? Tommy refused to tell me why you're here, and no one else knows." came Merlin's worried voice as he peeked around the curtains.
"I'm fine," Cassie said, "-ish." she added at Merlin's quirked eyebrow.
"Really. Your foot and shoulder are wrapped and your forehead is still bruised." Merlin said, shaking his head. "What even happened?"
"I was sleepwalking last night. Apparently I missed studying and went to the library." Cassie said, a pink tinge coloring her cheeks.
"You're such a-"
"Seriously, Merlin, if you're going to say liar, I'm going to be disappointed, you're usually so good at the insults." Cassie said, hiding the grimace of pain behind her cool smirk.
"Oh, Cassie." he said softly, hugging her and making her whimper in pain.
"You know I'm in pain, right Merlin?" Cassie asked as she tried to pry him off with one hand.
"Sorry." he said, looking at her with sympathy. "Let's just say it's payback."
"For what?!" "Cassie asked, vexed.
"For all the times you've elbowed me in the gut. Hard." Merlin said.
"I'm not that violent." Cassie defended herself.
"Yes, you are." Merlin said, nodding his head seriously.
"Whatever," Cassie said. "I did end up going to the library though. Why didn't you guys stop me? Professor Sprout told me you and Cedric were following me." Cassie asked, looking at Tommy curiously.
"Are you kidding we did, we stopped you from walking off the staircase!" Tommy said anxiously.
"What!" came Hermione's voice from the other side of the curtain, "You almost walked off the Grand Staircase!?" she said, peeking around the corner worriedly.
"Merlin's beard! What happened to you?" Tommy asked when he saw her; Merlin and Cassie looking at each other worryingly.
"Forget that! You almost walked off the staircase! Why didn't you tell me?" Hermione asked worriedly, kneeling on the bed next to her.
"I-I didn't know, 'Mione." Cassie answered truthfully.
"So you don't remember anything?" Tommy asked, "Not even all the times you walked into walls?"
"No. Nothing. I was having a nightmare, then I wasn't. And then I woke up in the library."
"Library's part of the nightmare, that makes more sense." Merlin joked, earning a glare from both Hermione and Cassie.
"Coming back to you, what happened?" Tommy asked Hermione, knowing if they stayed in that vein, there was no stopping the battle of the wits between those two.
"Prank gone wrong on Christmas." Cassie answered quickly, too quickly judging from his reaction.
"Prank gone wrong. Right." he said, nodding his head and raising his eyebrows, clearly saying he believed her as far as he could throw Snape.
"How many times did I walk into walls?" Cassie asked, changing the subject.
"By my count, 30. And hard, Ced and I wondered why you didn't wake up the first time you did it. Let alone any of the other times."
"Explains why I had so many fractures, I guess. Did I ever hit my head? Apparently I fractured my forehead."
"Not around us, it was just you hitting your shoulder, hip and toes repeatedly." Tommy said, holding her uninjured hand and rubbing his thumb over it.
"And people say I'm clumsy." Merlin said, noticing him holding her hand like that, and distracting Hermione from noticing as well. She was liable to kick them out and start gossiping for the rest of the day.
"You are clumsy, Merlin." Hermione pointed out, not even noticing them holding hands.
"Oh, here, I have some notes from Herbology and Charms. Shall I just leave them on your bedside for you to copy later, Hermione?" Merlin asked, digging through his bag and grabbing two of his notebooks.
"Can I copy them now, I'll probably have some questions. We were supposed to start the Shrinking charm today."
"Sure," Merlin said, walking around the curtains and sitting on a chair near her bed, explaining to her what Flitwick taught that morning.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Tommy asked, moving his chair closer to the bed and using his other hand to brush a strand of hair behind her ear softly.
"I've been better. I just hope Madam Pomfrey lets me out soon." Cassie said, leaning into the hand that had remained close to her face, looking into his eyes deeply.
"So, what am I going to say is the reason you're here? Merlin, Ced and I are the only ones that actually know."
"Um, I slipped on the ice after going for a walk last night." Cassie said, forgetting she shouldn't shrug and wincing in pain. "I'm only bending the truth a little bit. It's the best way."
"You're scary, you know that." Tommy said, dropping his arm when he saw her wince a bit. "Sorry, did I hurt you?"
"No, shrugging hurts. I never realized how often I did that. Also, it might be better for Merlin and Hermione to stop eavesdropping and continue with their studying." Cassie said, raising her voice a little to let her friends know they weren't as subtle as they thought.
"We're not eavesdropping, there are just no walls to stop the sound." Merlin called back.
"Yeah, well I have to leave, I've Divination next and it's pretty far away. Bye, Merlin, Hermione." he called out, shaking his head in slight amusement.
"Bye, Tommy." they said in unison.
"Bye, Cass." he told her, giving her a quick peck and leaving quickly.
"You didn't tell me everything!" Hermione demanded, pulling the room divider back and looking at her excitedly when the door to the hospital wing closed.
"Whatever are you talking about, 'Mione?" Cassie asked innocently, not wanting to move her face because it hurt.
"You know perfectly well! Tell me everything that happened yesterday, leave out no details!" she said, the notes lay forgotten on her bed.
"We talked a bit out by the covered bridge, and when we came back inside he… may have kissed me." Cassie said, blushing deeply and talking quickly at the end of her sentence.
"Finally! You've both had crushes on each other since the beginning of the year! Before that, if what Cedric and Leon say is true. So, are you dating?" Merlin asked.
"Sometimes, you are a bigger gossip than me, Merlin." Cassie said, rolling her eyes.
"That's not true, now answer the question." he said, waving his hand dismissively at her.
"To be dating, we have to go on dates. We've never been on a date." Cassie said, shrugging again and wincing in pain. "Okay, I really need to stop doing that!"
"Yeah, you shrug as much as Seamus blows things up." Hermione said, giggling.
"I have to go too. Double potions. Stop shrugging and take that potion." Merlin said, pointing at the dark blue potion sitting on the nightstand.
"But it tastes so gross!" Cassie complained, her accent coming out far more pronounced than she intended it to. She'd been trying hard not to speak in too heavy an accent and thought it was working. Obviously not. "Ow." She groaned.
"What'd you do now?" Merlin sighed.
"I make too many expressions. My brow is hurting me terribly." Cassie answered, falling back carefully on the bed.
"You do. Sometimes it's like you try to talk with your eyes and eyebrows and not your words." Merlin said.
"Don't you have a class to get to?" Cassie asked annoyed at his persistence in bugging her.
"Yup, but I'd much prefer to stay and annoy you. It's just too easy."
"I think I'll take that sandpapery thing just for you to leave Merlin." Cassie said, reaching over with her good hand and sucking in a sharp breath as she twisted too far and jostled her ribs.
"Here." Hermione said, reaching over and grabbing it for her. "Now, tell me everything!" she said once Merlin had gone and they were in the Hospital Wing alone, well, apart from Justin and Colin.
"It wasn't at all like I thought it'd be!" Cassie said excitedly. She had written Gabrielle last night, and tried sending it with her magic. She'd been practicing that constantly, sending her brother and best friend letters like that to give the poor owls rest.
"Really, was it your first?" Hermione asked curiously.
"Yes, and to be honest, my emotions were so confused, I didn't really realize until I splashed my face with water, and it felt nothing like what I expected."
"What'd it feel like?"
"You know those old movies, where the guy kisses the girl and her leg kicks up behind her?"
"Yes!"
"Well it wasn't like that. It was more like that one seriously old musical with Ginger Roberts and Frank Astaire, where they kiss behind a door and when the door closes again they both have the goofiest grins on their faces and Frank's got lipstick all over his and then after she leaves all giddy, he jumps over his chair. That's more how it felt." Cassie said.
"Did you say Ginger Roberts and Frank Astaire?" Hermione asked giggling.
"Yes." Cassie said slowly, confused about why she was giggling at the names, they weren't that strange, just American.
"It's Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Cassie."
"Oh. oops." Cassie said, lifting one hand up and giving her a goofy grin. "I think I giggled after we kissed, too, and we haven't actually spoken about it. Whenever we were just about to, someone interrupted us."
"I think I know what movie you're talking about, and aww, that's so sweet! I wish Merlin would just get a clue already!" Hermione said excitedly.
"Well, Valentine's just around the corner, maybe you could send him one?"
"Can you imagine how embarrassed I'd be to send him one?!" Hermione said flustered.
"I can send it for you." Cassie offered.
"No, thanks. Besides, you've probably gotten lots of Valentines before." Hermione said sullenly.
"I haven't actually." Cassie said. "After what happened over Christmas last year, no one wanted to give me any, and besides, everyone preferred my sister to me. No one ever looked twice at me when she's around."
"You have a sister? I've only ever seen pictures of your brother."
"Twin, fraternal." Cassie said sadly, taking the potion from where it was in Hermione's hands. "She's got seriously pretty silky black hair and startling green eyes. Greener even than Harry's. Actually, now that I think about it, they could be related. Jet black hair- although she would never let her hair get as unruly as Harry's- and startling green eyes on a pale complexion."
"She sounds beautiful, why don't you ever talk about her?"
"Because she hates me. Has for a very long time, and after my grandfather, the last words she uttered to me were that I was a 'double crossing wolf in sheep's clothing' and then she slapped me so hard that it left a bruise on my face darker than the ones on my arm." Cassie said, taking a large swig of the potion and leaving the rest for later.
"Why? I can't think of anything that would justify that." Hermione asked her sadly.
"How about calling the muggle police on your grandfather and then running away?" Cassie offered quietly, tears forming in her eyes.
"Still, what your grandfather did… you did the right thing Cassie. Your family shouldn't treat you like they do." Hermione said sadly.
"My brother still treats me like always. He's even tried talking to my parents about me, but everytime he does, they get furious at him and… I've told him it's not worth it." Cassie said, her shoulders slumping a little before she hissed in pain.
"It must really hurt if just moving it a little has you in such pain." Hermione said, eyeing her shoulder warily.
"Only when I move it. But this potion is ridiculously fast acting, I'm already tired." Cassie said, stifling a yawn.
"Sleep, I think Merlin left his notes, I'm just going to study for a bit. He takes seriously thorough notes."
"Merlin?" Cassie asked incredulously, her eyebrows rising before she felt the pain and winced.
"Yes, Merlin. They're very good. I wouldn't be surprised if he beats us in end-of-term exams this year."
"Doubt it, you're the brightest, 'Mione. Merlin and I are tied for third, but you've got number one secure. Malfoy's two, we don't really like doing our work. Too busy pranking and making fun of each other."
"Oh, hush." Hermione said, suppressing a smile and blushing a bit, even though the fur hid both the smile and the blush. "Expect more questions about the kiss when you wake up, Cassie. Sweet dreams."
"Thanks, 'Mione." Cassie said through a yawn, turning onto her right side and curling up, falling asleep quickly.