Cass flew above the copse of the trees, following the little golden dot through the air.
She'd almost forgotten how frustrating Seeking was.
She followed it to the edge of the forest and just as it cleared the trees, it decided to go down almost to the ground.
In her rush to catch it, Cass missed just how close she'd come to the ground and when the little shit decided it was going up again, Cass's momentum was too much and she dove straight into the earth.
She barely had time to turn away so that the side of her face would bear the brunt of the fall. She turned so she could lay on her back, without getting up and stared up at the cloudy skies.
"Shit—are you okay?"
Cass couldn't gather the energy to feel upset over Potter's presence. "I know you're stalking me and all but this is a bit much."
"I was just... on the pitch, and I saw you out here. I came over when I saw you fall." He held out a hand to Cass.
Cass ignored it and sat up on her own. "That's not a good excuse."
"You're not back on the team, are you?"
"Rest assured, Potter, there is no way in hell I'm ever going to be on the Slytherin team again."
Potter frowned. He got that look on his face he sometimes had when he was about to say something stupid. "Why?"
Cass glared at him. "That's none of your business, Scarface."
Potter took a step back, uncertain. "Listen... I know it's not my business and I shouldn't have spied on you on the train but... I really think you should report Zabini, especially if what he did... on the train is a recurring thing."
Cass scoffed. Finally, she got up from the ground, dusted herself off as dignified as she could. "If I reported every wanker who sexually harassed or attempted to sexually harass me, I'd never leave McGonagall's office."
Potter looked slightly sick. He avoided Cass's eyes.
"And Zabini is not the reason I quit the team."
"I still think Zabini should be punished for... what he did."
Cass shrugged. "Maybe. But I cannot stress enough how much I don't want to deal with that right now. Believe me, his reckoning will come. Just not today or tomorrow. Now leave me alone."
After a moment, Potter started walking away, but after a few steps, he got on his broom and flew off like a shot.
It took Cass a few seconds to realise what he was doing. He was going after the Snitch she'd failed to catch. Oh hell no.
Cass got back on her own broom and chased after him. She was neck and neck with him soon enough. They both gained height rapidly, going after the Snitch at full speed.
Cass couldn't help glancing at Potter out of the corner of her eye. He looked determined. Almost like they were on the pitch at a real game again. It felt a little... exhilarating.
They didn't go for any fancy tricks or feints, it was a pure speed trial. One on one. Potter was reaching out, his fingertips almost grazing the golden ball. Cass did the same. Either of them could've caught it but in the split second it took for them to reach it, Cass lurched to the side, sending the tail of her broom straight into Potter's side, whacking him almost off his broom, and Cass caught the snitch.
He looked pissed off, slightly affronted, but if Cass didn't know better, she'd say there was the barest hint of amusement in his eyes.
She turned away from him. "Better luck next time, Potter."
Cass missed the game the next day. The Slytherin team was honestly sad this year, and she had no desire to see them get wrecked by the Gryffindors.
It was a good call on her part, she'd later find out, but it made her friends a little iffy on her mental state. Even after she'd quit the team, she never missed a game.
And so, they'd decided they needed to have a girls' night. Cass wasn't super keen on it, but she tried to just... relax for once, try and remember the times when she'd loved nights like this.
They stole a bunch of seat cushions from the common room and spread out on the floor, bottles of nail polish and an array of creams and skin potions laid out before them.
Delia painted Cass's fingernails with a delicate hand. "Your nails are so long, Cass. I wish mine didn't break so easily."
"All right, that's enough," Pansy interrupted. "Now that we're all nice and comfortable, why don't you tell us what's going on, Cass?"
Cass made a face. But she knew she had to give them something. "I didn't go to the game because I didn't want to see Adrien, okay?"
Kind of the truth. Partially the truth.
Cass had dated Adrien Pucey for the majority of last term, and they'd honestly made a good match. Adrien was one of the less despicable Slytherins, and he and Cass had an... understanding. It was a good, solid relationship. Sure, she'd been keeping a lot of secrets from him towards the end, but Adrien never pressured her into speaking about what was going on with her. Then, after Sirius died, Cass just couldn't keep it up anymore. She knew she would never tell Adrien about Sirius... so she thought it best just to end the relationship then.
Daphne looked at Cass with soft pitying eyes. "Oh, I get it, Cass. I'm still not sure what happened between you two, you were so good together."
Well, that had clearly been a mistake, but as much as she didn't really want to talk about Adrien, she'd rather talk about him than... other things.
She took her hand back from Delia, looked out the window wistfully. "It was... weird I guess. I really did like him a lot, things were going well. And then one day it just... started feeling scary. We'd fought a couple of times that last month, nothing big, really. But I didn't like it. It felt... too real. For the first time, it felt like we were a real couple. And it scared me. So, I broke it off. Maybe it was stupid of me. But I don't regret it."
It wasn't an outright lie. They had fought a bit the last months of their relationship, and Cass knew if she wanted their relationship to be real, she'd have to give him something. And she just couldn't.
Pansy was giving Cass an odd look. She didn't quite buy it, obviously.
"I think Adrien wants to get back together with you," Daphne said. "He stares at you all the time during mealtimes. And I know he's been asked to Hogsmeade by two different girls already and he's turned them down."
That checked out.
Adrien was one of the least slimy Slytherin mean, and he was very easy on the eyes. Cass had been wondering why someone hadn't snatched him up yet. Huh. Maybe he did think they'd get back together eventually. Cass vaguely remembered saying something about how she wasn't in a good place right now to be in a relationship when she broke up with him. Maybe he took that to heart, thinking eventually she'd come back.
At least he was giving her space for the moment. Cass would deal with this when it came to it. She couldn't bear worrying about it now.
"Enough about Adrian though," Cass said. "Tell me about your boys."
The girls giggled, and Daphne went on forever about some seventh-year boy she'd been hoping would ask her out.
Later, Pansy rolled over, closer to Cass, and in a low voice said, "And about... you-know-what. How is it going? Do you need... help?"
Cass tensed.
She had avoided saying anything to her friends about her... task. She didn't want to involved them at all, even if she knew they might help with the logistical side of things, keeping Cass out of sight and the such. But it's not as if there was a shortage of people in this school who would do Cass's bidding with little to no questions asked.
"I don't. So, please refrain from asking about it again," Cass snapped.
Pansy scowled, but there was a sliver of hurt in her eyes.
Cass felt kind of bad for snapping at her.
It's not that Cass didn't like Pansy or the rest of her friends. For the first four years Cass spent at Hogwarts, Pansy, Daphne and Delia had been her girls. They did everything together, and being with them felt like home.
But Cass's whole world had changed in more ways than one last year.
Her entire identity had come into question. And now... she just felt so separate from her friends. Cass was a different person but they weren't. And she knew it was hard for them to understand what the hell happened, to know what to do.
Cass still cared for the girls. That was a hard feeling to fade. Cass would protect them in whichever way she could, but she just... didn't really want to be around them anymore.
It was a bittersweet realization.
It brought her back—somewhat surprisingly—to Arvin Scotti's letter. He'd mentioned other children who had been taken by Death Eaters, just like Cass. She wondered about them. How many of them knew who they were, how many suspected.
Cass longed to talk to one of them. But she was refraining from doing anything about it at the moment. She was scared, in a way, of what it'd mean to talk to them, to reveal the truth to a stranger.
No, it was best to keep quiet for now. Too many people knew her secret as it was.
Pansy thankfully didn't bring up any other uncomfortable topics. And for the rest of the night, Cass did her best to act like her old self, the one who would've been right at home painting nails and gossiping the night away with the girls.
They deserved to have their friend back, one last time.