A few more weeks passed since Enzo spent the night at Cass's dorm and Enzo spent them living up to his promise to himself and his sister. Cass watched as he distanced himself from all of the Berkshires but one and though it pained her to know that he'd lost his parents, she also knew that his parents were jerks so he probably wasn't missing much.
He tossed every letter from his mother into the fire without reading it. Packages from his father were given to the first years without even being opened. Once, they even tried to visit him but Enzo simply ignored their presence and left them hanging in Dumbledore's office. Honestly, Cass felt like they were just making it worse for themselves because now Enzo was noticing how Aria never got a letter or a package or a visit, which only made him feel more justified in his decision. He was constantly seen walking her to classes with an arm around her shoulder or sitting next to her at meals just to show her that she wasn't alone.
It wasn't all horrible, though. Cass's parents—who'd learned about Enzo from Cass's many letters talking about her new Slytherin friend—started to send extra sweets and gifts for him, adopting him in their own, weird way. Cass was still getting used to the extra attention from them but she was starting to like it, looking forward to Friday mornings when a new package would arrive by owl.
Make sure your little friend gets some muffins too. We put bananas in them for him. The potassium will be good for his matches, her mother wrote with last week's gift. Enzo would always just smile and set off to write them a thank you note.
Things between them hadn't been awkward, despite Cass's worry that the morning after their almost-kiss would be. Enzo pretended it never happened, which made her feel like her decision to stop it was the right one. After all, if he didn't want it the next morning, then he definitely was just acting in grief.
Now, it was Halloween night, the night of Hogwarts's Great Halloween Feast. Margot looked forward to it every year and had already informed Cass that Ernie would be joining them this year. Cass didn't mind; Ernie was always great company and he and Margot seemed to be on a lot more than they were off this year. Maybe this time was the time they finally stayed together.
The three of them sat at the Hufflepuff table as they ogled all of the delicious food in front of them. "Oh, look! Pumpkin pasties! Those are my favorites!" Margot exclaimed as she reached toward the middle and grabbed a handful. "Mmm. These are orgasmic."
"Should I be offended that you've never made that sound for me?" Ernie asked with a smile.
"No, babe, because you're not filled with pumpkin," Margot teased. Cass just rolled her eyes at the both of them before grabbing one of her own. The table around them was fairly bare but she didn't mind because Margot and Ernie were more than enough entertainment to go around.
On the other side of the room sat the Slytherin table, where Cass was surprised to not see Enzo. Perhaps he was just running late. He'd been talking about the Halloween feast for days so she couldn't imagine him not coming. There was another Berkshire there, however. Aria sat next to Theodore Nott—one of Enzo's good friends—who loaded up a plate of food for the girl as she smiled at him. Cass wanted to shake her head at the two of them because it was so obvious they were in love to everyone but Enzo. Even Mattheo seemed to know, and that was saying a lot because the boy was a total goofball. But Cass didn't plan on telling because it wasn't her secret to tell and she wasn't even sure she was correct.
The blue-eyed girl spotted Cass and waved with a soft smile that Cass returned. Cass had sort of met Aria a couple of times now and the girl seemed sweet.
Just then, the doors to the Great Hall opened loudly and Enzo walked in with pep in his step and a smile on his face. He looked over at Cass and waved. She waved back and expected him to go over to the Slytherin table—like he always did—but to her surprise, he sauntered over to the Hufflepuff table and sat down right next to her.
Cass gaped at him while Enzo just filled up his plate. They never sat together at meals because Enzo was always that popular guy who had tons of friends surrounding him and Cass really just had Margot. And now he picked tonight, the night of the biggest feast, to start?
"Hi, sunshine. How are you?"
She blushed at the nickname. "I-I'm good, how are you?" She was still trying to get used to the sight of him sitting next to her but she wasn't sure she ever would.
Enzo looked over at her with a smile. "Better now."
Cass didn't even have time to decipher what he meant before they were suddenly surrounded by a large group of people. "Berkshire! You tried to ditch us!" Mattheo said as he sat down next to his Quidditch captain.
Enzo rolled his eyes. "I wasn't ditching you guys. I just wanted to sit with Cass." He turned to her as he took a bite out of a chicken wing. "Are we still on for tonight?"
"Tonight?" she asked.
"Movie night. It's Saturday."
Right. It's Saturday. Cass shrugged. "I wasn't sure if you had anything planned for Halloween. I thought a few houses threw parties."
Now it was Enzo's turn to shrug. "I'd rather hang out with you."
Cass felt like her head was spinning. Enzo was sitting next to her, calling her the cutest nickname she ever heard, saying that he'd rather hang out with her and watch dumb movies than go to a party. Was she dreaming? Were there sleeping pills in those banana muffins or something?
Mattheo laughed. "I think the look on her face says enough, mate. She definitely wants the movie night."
Her blush deepened. "Yeah, we definitely can. We can watch a Halloween film?"
He smiled that dazzling smile that made her knees weak and her stomach turn. "Yeah. Sounds like fun."
Before Cass could continue talking to Enzo, she was interrupted by Mattheo. "Hey, Cass, I have someone I want you to meet sometime."
"Who?" she and Enzo asked at the same time.
"Her name's Nora. I would say you'd like her but with Nora, I can't promise. She's kind of an ice queen. A really sexy, scary ice queen."
Cass turned to Enzo. "Is she the one on your Quidditch team?"
"The very same," he said with a smile. "And she's not really an ice queen; she just hates Mattheo." Enzo leaned in with a little smirk on his face. "Plus, you could melt her anyway."
She blushed just as the seats on the other side of her were taken by a bubbly girl with dark hair and bright green eyes and a blond boy with a scowl. He was holding onto the girl as if he'd rather be anywhere else than here. "I heard melting and I came!" she said with a smile. "I hope we're talking ice cream."
"We can get ice cream in my bedroom," the boy muttered under his breath before picking at the food in front of him.
The girl elbowed him playfully before turning back to Cass. "I'm Astoria Greengrass and that's Draco Malfoy."
"I'm Cass," she said, returning the girl's outstretched hand.
"Have you met the others already? Mattheo, Theo, and Aria?" she asked as the other two sat down across from Enzo and Mattheo.
Cass nodded. "Briefly."
Astoria smiled. "Nothing with Mattheo is ever brief but your kindness is noted."
"Hey! You act like you didn't yap about necklaces for thirty minutes the other day," Mattheo said with a mouthful of Yorkshire puddings, reminding Cass of Margot.
Astoria fiddled with the necklace around her as she demurely said, "And it was a riveting conversation because the one I bought was beautiful. Are you a fan of jewelry, Cass?"
She smiled. "What girl isn't?" Cass swore Enzo perked up a little from her other side but it must have been from one of the other conversations.
Cass turned back to her food only to gasp as she took in her two friends across from her. "Oh my gosh! I'm so rude. Everyone, this is Margot Moore and Ernie Macmillian. This is my friend, Enzo, and his friends."
"Ouch," Mattheo muttered under his breath just as Theo said, "Yikes."
She furrowed her brows and turned to Enzo. "I'm sorry. Did I say something wrong?"
He smiled but it looked a little pained. Cass couldn't figure out for the life of her why. Did he not want to be her friend? She thought he made it pretty clear he did the past few weeks but maybe she was reading too much into their Charms partnership? After all, didn't he call their hangouts casual? And he didn't regret not-kissing her so there was that, too.
"No, sunshine. Everything's fine. The boys are just being dumb," he said in a deep voice that gave her tingles all over. Enzo then shook Ernie and Margot's hand. "Enzo. It's great to finally meet you officially. I feel like I already know you with how much Cass has talked about you both."
Margot smirked. "Funny. I could say the same thing about you."
A blush worked its way to Enzo's cheeks. The more Cass saw it, the more she was beginning to like that sight. In her mind, it was just his massive heart making a little appearance. "So, Cass, has Enz asked you to Gryffindor yet?"
"Gryffindor?"
Enzo glared at Mattheo. "I was going to ask her tonight."
"Ask me what?"
Mattheo just smiled. "Little Enzy here is Mister Popular. He gets invited to Gryffindor parties all the time. They're rowdy little shits but they're fun sometimes. He's the only Slytherin they like enough to invite."
"That's because the one time they invited you, you pissed on a painting," Theodore Nott remarked.
"Hey! Don't have a painting with a toilet if it's not meant to be used on one." When he saw the horrified look on Cass's face, Mattheo added, "Sometimes paintings are magic. I didn't know if this one was too."
"So you tested it by peeing on it?"
"Yup. Brilliant, right?"
Enzo shook his head with a well-timed eye roll before turning to her. "Do you want to come?"
"Me? At a Gryffindor Party?"
He smiled. "Yeah, you. I think it'd be fun. You could meet all sorts of new people and see a new common room. They're having one in a week after their match versus Ravenclaw so you don't have to worry about any house betrayals."
She chewed on her lip as she debated the thought. "I dunno. I'm not a huge party person. The only ones I ever went to were with Andie and that's just because she watched over me to make sure I didn't do anything dumb."
Cass swore she could feel the light being sucked out of the conversation at the mention of her dead sister's name but Enzo, to her surprise, didn't react like the rest of them. He just smiled and grabbed her hand with a gentle squeeze. "Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on you. Nothing bad is going to happen to you as long as you stick with me. Alright?"
She wasn't worried about anyone harming her—she'd met enough Gryffindors to know that they were all pretty nice and she'd always enjoyed her Herbology lessons with Neville Longbottom. She was just worried that enough butterbeer would make her forget that Enzo didn't view her as anything more than a friend.
Still, Cass couldn't resist the look that he was giving her so she just smiled and said, "Sure. Sounds like fun."
Enzo beamed. "Great. I'll pick you up from your dorm? Maybe we can still have our movie night after if you aren't sick of me by then."
Cass was sure that she'd never get sick Lorenzo Berkshire. She wasn't sure that was even possible. "Yeah, sounds like a plan."
Enzo squeezed her hand one more time before returning to his meal with a bigger smile on his face. Cass squeezed it back and wondered how much longer she could pretend that she and Enzo could be just friends. Because right now, her heart was pounding a rhythm that sang of a lot more than friendship. Cass just hoped that she didn't ruin everything if she ever decided to listen to it.
Y'all, when I tell you that you're going to want to tune in to the Gryffindor party scene, just trust me. Like that will be a two parter (you know I love my split up party scenes) and it will be so good. That's all I'm going to say hehe.
Enjoy the double post! Glad I could get this up before I started working on something else ;)))
