Something was wrong. Enzo didn't know what but he could feel it. Something had changed in his world. But... what?

He'd already spent the past couple of days going absolutely insane with his lack of Cass. Enzo had to have done something wrong. That was the only explanation he could think of. He had to have done something to upset or anger her. But Enzo couldn't fix it until he knew what he did wrong.

Things were going so well. He and Cass had been dating for months and ever since she told him the details of her accident, they'd been even better. He and Cass trusted each other irrevocably. She had become his best friend in the entire world. The reason his heart beat. The woman he saw in his dreams, by his side for the rest of eternity. The woman he wanted to marry. Being away from her was torture.

They'd gone from spending every night together—wrapped in each other's arms after an evening of making love and climbing to new heights—to not seeing each other at all. They'd gone from eating every meal together to Enzo eating at the Hufflepuff table alone as his friends sat around him, staring at him with pity. They'd gone from staring into each other's eyes during every Charms class to Enzo staring blankly at the wall across from him.

Enzo had gone from feeling on top of the world to feeling completely alone, terrified that he had screwed up the best thing in his life.

Where had things gone so wrong?

It wasn't as if Enzo hadn't tried to find out. He'd cornered Margot in the hallways as she carried an armload of food and earned himself a quick kick in the shins. He'd asked Nora at Quidditch practices only to get a quizzical look before a bludger got too near to his head. "Sorry, Cap!" Mattheo called out with a grin. "Can't have you too close to my girl."

Well, Nora was Mattheo's girl until his dumbassery got him broken up with yesterday but that wasn't the point.

The point was that Enzo had gone to Cass's room multiple times to see her and hold her in his arms again. He didn't care if she wasn't feeling well—Margot's terrible excuse that Enzo didn't believe for a second. All he cared about was seeing her again and making sure she was alright.

But he couldn't. Margot refused to let him in the bedroom. Enzo had even brought Ernie one time as a distraction but Margot had just let Ernie in the room before bolting the door shut. Damn traitor, Enzo thought about Ernie before sighing and leaving.

A few times during these visits, Enzo had caught Cass calling out, "I'm fine, Enzo. I just want to be with Margot." Her voice had its usual sunshine but Enzo knew it was fake. He knew something was wrong. He could feel her pain and her worry and her strife like it was his own. Why was she lying to him? And what was wrong? Ever since she'd snapped at him at breakfast several days ago—something Enzo wasn't mad about at all—things between them had been different. He just couldn't figure it out.

The lack of an answer was driving Enzo wild—and, by extension, it was driving his friends wild too. They were constantly hearing about it. "Oh bloody hell, Berkshire," Draco sighed under his breath at lunch. "I'm sure it's fine. It's probably her time of the month or something."

That earned Draco a shoe in the face, courtesy of Astoria, who was apparently Draco's girlfriend now. It was all so confusing to Enzo.

"It's not her time of the month," Enzo muttered. "That was a little over two weeks ago."

"You keep track of those things?" Mattheo asked incredulously.

"Of course I do," Enzo scoffed. "If my girlfriend can go through hell once a week every month, I can sure as hell keep track of it."

"But why?"

Enzo stared at Mattheo with disbelief. His friend was an idiot sometimes. Actually, all of his friends were idiots all of the time. That was kind, his inner voice chided. You're just frustrated.

Enzo sighed. The voice was right. He was used to feeling clueless but not about Cass. She was the one thing he was sure he was right about. The one person he felt attuned to. Feeling clueless about Cass was terrible. Enzo would do anything to make it go away. He mentally apologized to Mattheo before saying, "So I can help her make it better. Chocolates, massages, things like that."

"And that works?"

Enzo pinched the bridge of his nose. "A little, yeah."

Mattheo looked impressed. "Well, well, well. Looks like this Riddle is going to have a much better shark week."

"Shark week, Riddle? Your girlfriend isn't a fish." Theo smiled. "Actually, please do call her a fish. I'd like to see how that goes."

The two of them bickered back and forth. Enzo sighed and left the Great Hall. He spent the rest of his afternoon just walking around Hogwarts with his hands in his pockets. He wore his Head Boy badge so it seemed like he was patrolling but, honestly, he was just doing it to think. What had he done to make her upset? And how could he fix it?

Mentally, Enzo made a list. Flowers, a relaxing bath, a whole night of listening to where he'd gone wrong, Cass's favorite chocolates—the ones with the caramel in them—a movie night with all her favorite muggle films. Enzo knew it wouldn't nearly be enough to make up for whatever he did that caused her to go almost a week without even looking at him but it was a start. He'd figure out the rest just as soon as he knew what he'd done.

The sun was high in the sky, bathing the corridor in a golden light. Enzo looked out on the Hogwarts grounds before turning his gaze back to the hallway. But to his surprise, there she was.

Cass.

She was walking out of the girl's lavatory. Margot had her arm wrapped around her tightly. It was then that Enzo noticed that Cass was crying. The sight of tears streaking down her face broke his heart in two. His girl was hurting. He should have been the one consoling her. He should have been the one with his arm wrapped around her.

Enzo hadn't even realized he was sprinting toward her until he stood in front of her, breathless from how quickly he'd gone. "Cass," he breathed, looking her up and down to make sure she looked alright. There were dark circles under her eyes and her cheeks were puffy but otherwise, she seemed okay. She wore a thick sweatshirt and baggy sweatpants. Cass used the sleeve of one of those sweatshirts to wipe her tears off her cheeks. She looked up at Enzo and plastered on a fake, sunshiny smile.

"Hi, Enz." If he hadn't seen her visibly crying in front of him only moments before, Enzo might have believed the happiness in her voice. "Shouldn't you be in class?"

"Class? Baby, I have much bigger things to worry about than class." Something that Enzo said triggered another mini-wave of Cass's tears. Her lip trembled as she wiped them off too.

"We should go," Margot said with a hard voice. Her arm was still wrapped tightly around Cass as if the petite brunette was willing to take on an entire army for her friend.

"Wait! Cass—" Enzo grabbed Cass's arm. Her hand shook from where he grabbed it. The feeling of her skin on his again was so relieving. She's here, he reassured himself. She's here and she's alright... well... mostly. Enzo hadn't realized how much he let his mind wander while they were apart. He would much rather have her angry at him and healthy than on her deathbed.

"Enzo," Cass whispered. His heart clenched. He'd missed the sound of his name on her lips.

"Cass," Enzo whispered back. The helpless feeling inside him was eating him alive. "What's wrong? Why are you crying, baby?"

Cass sucked in another harsh breath before shaking again. To his relief, she didn't tear her hand from his. "I'm fine, Enz. Really."

"You're crying, sunshine. That's not 'fine.'" Enzo looked her up and down before frowning. "And you look different."

Her eyes widened. "What?!"

Enzo grabbed both of her hands and held them tight. "You're beautiful, of course, but something about you is different. I can't put my finger on it, though." Enzo's eyes studied her. "It's... it's like you're glowing. You've always looked like sunshine but now you really look like sunshine."

Cass smiled for a brief moment—and it was the most beautiful sight in the world—before her face crumpled again. Margot's face, on the other hand, hardened even more. "Come on, Cass. We should go. You need to get some rest."

"What?" Cass's face was confused. She turned to Margot, who gave her a pointed stare. Alright, that solves it. Something is up. Especially since it seemed like Cass was leaning toward Enzo without even knowing she was.

"You haven't been feeling well," Margot said through gritted teeth. "Remember?"

And just like that, Cass's face fell even more. She took a step back from Enzo. He watched her close herself off from him as if he would ever dare to hurt her. Enzo would rather die than hurt Cass.

So why did she look like he was about to break her heart?

Margot put her arm around Cass's waist as if his girl was delicate. Enzo watched them walk away with his jaw gritted. Margot clearly wasn't going to let him talk to Cass. He'd just have to wait her out.

Cass turned to look back at Enzo just before she turned the corner. A sad smile was on her face. Cass waved and mouthed, "Bye, Enz."

And then she was gone.

Something wasn't right. And Enzo was even more determined to find out what it was. He was a Quidditch captain, after all. He would just have to strategize.

. ..

Enzo waited by the entrance to the Hufflepuff dorm. His knees were killing him from the way he'd been crouched out of sight for so long but he couldn't risk standing up, not even for a moment. He needed to stay hidden for his plan to work.

For the past several days, as Enzo lamented over Cass, he'd noticed Margot going to the Great Hall half an hour after each meal began. She moved like clockwork. Enzo had paid attention because every time, he hoped Cass would be there. But now, he was waiting for an entirely different reason.

Nothing could keep him from the woman he loved. Not even her best friend.

The only way Enzo was leaving Cass alone was if she asked him to. They'd had a long conversation that afternoon and she hadn't asked him to leave once. Enzo took that as a sign that he should "bulldoze"—as Cass had once called some stubborn muggle machine—his way back toward her.

He was getting his girl back and he was going to get some bloody answers. He didn't care if it pissed off Margot and whatever got her knickers in a twist.

Right on time, Margot bounded down the corridor on a mission. Enzo had to hurry if he wanted time alone with Cass. He just hoped that Mattheo would make good on his promise to distract her for a while. The boy could be a downright nuisance whenever he wanted so hopefully, he would have a lot of time with her.

Enzo quickly went over to the barrel that led to the Hufflepuff dormitories. He knocked on the barrel. The lid swung open and Enzo crawled through.

He strode through the common room, not stopping to talk to the many Hufflepuffs calling his name. He only had one on his mind. Enzo bounded up the stairs until he was finally standing in front of her dormitory.

Knowing that Margot had a terrible habit of leaving their room unlocked, Enzo pushed open the room.

"Margot?" Cass called out in a quiet voice. It sounded like she was in the bathroom so Enzo walked over there. "Margot, are you back already?"

"It's not Margot," he said softly. She was standing in front of the mirror with her sweatshirt up to her chin, staring at her stomach in the mirror. One hand cupped it while the other held up her shirt. That's odd. Is she concerned about her figure or something? She's never looked so bloody perfect. And he meant it. There was something about Cass that struck Enzo that evening. Something utterly wonderful. He was right when he said she was glowing earlier that afternoon. Cass had never looked so lovely.

"Enz," Cass breathed. Her shaky hand dropped the sweatshirt. "What... what are you doing here?"

"Finding out why you've been ignoring me." Enzo took a deep breath. "Do you..." Fuck, this was hard. "Do you not want to be together anymore?"

The words pained him but he had to know the truth and she had to know that he would never force her to do anything she didn't want to do, even if that meant breaking his heart. "Because if that's what you want," he swallowed, "you didn't have to shut me out. You could have just talked to me and we could have worked it out together. I—"

"It's not that," Cass said quickly.

"Then what is it?"

Cass's eyes glistened with unshed tears. "I'm not sure you'll want to be with me anymore."

Enzo laughed until he saw that she was serious. He strode over to her and grabbed her hand before kissing it. "Baby," he smiled, "I'll always want you. Nothing can change that."

"You'd be surprised," Cass muttered under her breath. As if on instinct, her hand moved to her stomach.

Enzo clocked the movement. He furrowed his eyebrows. "Cass... what's going on? You know you can tell me anything. I told you before that I'm not going anywhere."

Cass closed her eyes. A small, silent tear fell down her cheek. "Don't make promises you can't keep."

His hand moved to cup her cheek. Enzo leaned forward and placed one soft kiss on her forehead. "That's one promise I know I can keep, Cassiopeia Crane. I'm never leaving you. Not until you ask me to. Are you asking me to?"

"No!" The quickness of her answer reassured the pounding of his heart. Something was wrong—that much was clear—but she still wanted him. No matter what else, there was at least that.

"So then what is it?" Cass looked up at Enzo with her big brown eyes full of vulnerability. Whatever she was about to tell him was big. Enzo smiled reassuringly at her and whispered, "I'm not going anywhere, sunshine."

So Cass turned those big eyes on him and whispered two little words that altered his world forever. "Enzo... I'm pregnant."

I am so so so excited for this next chapter y'all. It'll be a good one! I'll try to get it out tomorrow so it can be like a Valentine's Day present hehe.