musical mood: talk - hozier

Two days had passed before Cass made up her mind to go through with the twin's prank, two days in which Hogwarts was in full on crisis mode.

Only a week after Mrs. Norris, Colin Creevey had been found petrified, just outside the Gryffindor common room. According to Parvati, who had been the one to discover his frozen body, he was ice cold, and still had his camera in his hand.

Luna seemed to take this especially hard. Colin was in most of her classes, after all, so in most of her spare time, she'd wander off to the hospital wing to keep him company.

"He can hear us." Luna insisted, when questioned about it by Cass. "I can tell. So it's best to read to him, and talk to him, so he isn't lonely."

And where Luna went, Naia was sure to follow, so there were now two girls consistently absent from the Ravenclaw tower. If this kept up, Colin would have a choir of people at his hospital bed. Poor kid deserved it, too.

Bethany was noticeably withdrawn - more than usual, which certainly said something. Cass assumed she felt guilty, for being so harsh to Colin, now that he had been the target of the Heir of Slytherin. But then again, Bethany didn't seem one to feel regret...

"Poor Colin." Ana had her head in her hands, during potions class, the day after he had been admitted to the hospital wing.

Cass, Ana, Terry and Anthony Goldstein were all paired together to work on a massive cure to the Black Plague potion, though Cass ended up being the one doing most of the work. She didn't mind, it was a simple enough potion, though considerably useless, and the others seemed to have enough on their minds as it was.

With a glance over at Bethany, who was hunched over a cauldron of her own, paired with Padma, Theodore and Crabbe, Cass sighed. "Yeah, it's just so awful. I can't imagine who would do something like that."

"Well, I heard from Henry Nott, that Blaise Zabini has been caught out of bed by Filch several times now. Including the night Colin was found, and he wasn't at the feast when Mrs. Norris was attacked." Anthony said rather loudly, as Cass poured a liquid into the potion, causing its colour to chance from yellow to orange. "It's a bit suspicious, if you ask me."

Cass stiffened, hoping Blaise, who was in the same class as them, hadn't overheard.

"I doubt it." Terry interjected, looking slightly less solemn as Ana. "The Heir of Slytherin would be older, don't you think? Someone smarter, that you know...could open a mysterious chamber in Hogwarts that no one has ever seen before. I don't think a twelve year old could do that. Besides, Zabini got in trouble for the same stuff last year, walking around past curfew and such, and he didn't open any chamber then."

"He's probably just a troublemaker." Ana added, with a sad smile. "But I don't know about it being someone older. Isn't it just as likely a first year got told by their parent how to do it, and is going after their orders? Has the chamber been opened before?"

The three of them shrugged, none having an answer. Cass, at least, had never even heard of the chamber of secrets until Halloween, which made her feel incredibly dumb. She'd done some reading on it since, but there was hardly any information on it that she could find, and the little she did was nothing of use.

"If we're betting on first years, I'm going for Adelaide Burke." Terry said, lowering his voice in case Bethany overheard. "She gives me the creeps. I mean, she was practically celebrating what happened to Colin at breakfast today. Her and Malfoy seemed ready to have a party."

"What about me?"

Fuck.

Cass bit back her lip to suppress a groan. Malfoy had been walking by, just as Terry said his name, and glanced between the four, a scowl on his pale face.

"Nothing." She went back to working on their potion. "Just talking about how much of a douche you are, and how much we all hate you."

"Oh, go fuck yourself, Crouch." Malfoy sneered, trying to seem unbothered.

"Hey, don't talk to Cass like that." Ana jumped in, an unusual tone of anger in her voice.

"Oh, and what are you going to do about it, mudblood?"

Malfoy seemed to immediately recognize his mistake, as chaos quickly ensued. He should've known better, really. No one messed with Anastasia Vasiliev and got away with it. She was perhaps the most beloved girl in their year.

In a matter of seconds, Malfoy had four wands pointed at him, including that of Bethany Burke, who had shot up the moment he chose to insult Ana. Her pale cheeks were burning scarlet, and her dark brown eyes were practically glowing with rage. "What the hell did you just call her?"

Cass, who had jumped up and had her own wand pointed at the blonde prick, watched as Malfoy's expression shifted from one of smugness to one of pure terror. Ana was still sat in her chair, the only one without her wand, head whipping back and forth as she took in the scene before her.

When Malfoy didn't respond to Bethany, she lunged at him, and his grey eyes widened in fear. Bethany likely would've tackled him to the ground, had it not been for Theodore, who had grabbed her around the waist last minute, holding her back.

"Nott, I swear to God, let me go now, or I will kill you in your sleep!"

"If you let her go, Theodore, I'll kill you first!" Cass threatened, now directing her wand at him, and earning a grateful glance from Malfoy. Not that she was trying to protect Malfoy, no, she couldn't care less about him, she just didn't fancy Bethany going to Azkaban for murder, which would most likely happen if she got her hands on him.

"Fuck you Crouch!" She spat, black hair flailing around wildly as Theodore struggled to keep hold of her. Out of the two, he had clearly decided Cass was scarier, and she wasn't sure how to feel about that.

Snape, who had been in the back room, came storming out after he heard the commotion, his face scolding red as he marched up to the fight. "What on earth do you think you insolent children are doing-"

Before Snape could do anything, an ear-splitting boom echoed through the classroom, followed by an abundance of swearing.

The potion Bethany, Crabbe, Padma and Theodore had been working on, exploded as Crabbe dropped the wrong ingredient in. The remnants splattered all across an unsuspecting Goyle's robes, who had been standing right next to the potion.

"Crabbe! Fucking hell!" Goyle shouted, just as a spark caught on his robe, followed by his sleeve catching on fire. "Fuck fuck fuck!" He swore, waving his arm around, desperately trying to put it out, but that only seemed to make it worse.

"Aguamenti!" A massive wave of water shot out from Cass's wand - much more intense than she had intended, sending Goyle flying into the wall with a bang. The fire was out, but so was he, his eyes rolled into the back of his head as he sunk to the floor in a heap.

Someone - a Slytherin girl Cass didn't recognize, ran to go help Goyle, but was cut off by Snape jumping in front of her.

"Idiots! You bloody idiots!" The Professor shouted, louder and clearer than Cass had ever heard him speak before. Usually, he was all mumbles and insults, but with the red hue on his face, he was clearly furious. Naia in particular seemed terrified, scurrying behind her partner, Pansy Parkinson, and peering out from behind her shoulder. "Useless, idiotic swine, every last one of you! You all have detention! All of you!"

There was a murmur of protests, of students that hadn't done anything in the chaos, but they quickly died down.

Snape turned his head to Theodore, and nudged to Goyle. "Nott, bring this useless sack of lard to the hospital wing. Crabbe, Zabini, clean the remaining Plague Elixir that Vincent blew up."

"But Professor-" Blaise began to argue, but one harsh glare from Snape and he was cut off instantly. "Sorry, sorry, on it..."

The rest of the potions class was spent with the remaining students picking up the mess that had been created. Snape, never one to fail on a promise, dished out detentions for every single person who had been in the classroom at the time. Though, of course, there were far too many students to have in one massive detention, so he spread them out over the next few weeks.

By some stroke of divine luck, Cass and Terry had detention together two days after the fiasco, polishing all the awards in the Trophy Hall. She'd been worried that she'd end up stuck with Malfoy, or Bethany, both of which were equally furious with her for what happened. Being with Terry also provided the opportunity to ask about the prank.

Just as Filch left the two with their muggle cleaning supplies, looking rather glum without the presence of his cherished Mrs. Norris, Cass glanced over at Terry. He'd already begun cleaning, having been accustomed to muggle cleaning methods already, being muggleborn and all.

She walked up next to him, and began scrubbing some Quidditch award for Regulus Black, whom she immediately recognized to be that nutjob Sirius Black's brother.

Her mind drifted back to the conversation she had with Bethany last year. According to her, Barty and Regulus had been friends back in their time at Hogwarts, which she didn't find hard to believe. They probably worked together in the war, too.

There were photographs of Regulus, stashed in that stupid book, too, she knew that. Him and Barty and Quirrell and their other friends. But every time her mind went to that book, it hit a blank. As badly as she wanted to know the contents, it terrified her for absolutely no reason, but so severely and intensely; a gut instinct warning her to run, run far away.

"Earth to Cass." Terry waved a dark hand in front of her, snapping her out of her thoughts. "You alright?"

"Yeah, sorry. Just spaced out."

"You do that a lot."

She raised her eyebrows, a soft laugh emitting from her. "Do I?"

"Yeah, it's quite concerning, actually. Padma once thought you were having a seizure, sometime last year."

She laughed again, turning her attention back to the task at hand. Cleaning the trophies was rather monotonous, the only interesting thing about it being the occasional name she'd recognize. Lucius Malfoy held several, Edward Nott had one for a duelling champion, and James Potter's name was on several Quidditch prizes.

"So, Terry." She said between polishes. "I have a request."

"Oh lord, should I be worried?"

"Maybe. Probably."

Terry ran a hand through his corkscrew curls, clearly having a very strenuous mental debate on whether or not he should continue. "Alright, what is it?"

"Well, you know Malfoy is a prick."

He snorted. "Yeah, me and half of Europe knows that."

"Basically, the twins - George and Fred, and I, are planning a prank on him. You know, revenge, for how he's been treating the muggleborn students. And potentially being the one to jinx that bludger onto Potter, but we aren't quite sure yet."

"Alright. I'm with you so far." Terry nodded. "What is the prank, exactly? More importantly, what does it have to do with me?"

There was no way to sugar coat it. "Well...we're going to douse him with a minor love potion-"

His head shot up, eyes growing to the size of saucers. "You want to make Draco Malfoy fall into an artificial state of love with me?"

"Er...yeah. Basically. It would only last for a couple days, a week at most, and we won't do it without your permission. Just, it would be rather funny, wouldn't it?"

"What, Malfoy professing his hatred for muggleborns, only for a few days later to be head over heels for one? Or, at least convince the school he is?"

"If you don't want to be involved, we'll find someone else."

"I didn't say that."

She raised her eyebrows at him, moving to start polishing a new trophy.

"I think that would be downright hilarious." Terry continued, when Cass didn't say anything.

"Really?"

He nodded eagerly, the most excited she'd ever seen him. "Oh, yes. This is genius, truly. After what he called Ana, too...he deserves worse than the embarrassment of hypocrisy. I'm just surprised you're the one doing it, that's all."

"Why is that?"

"You just don't seem to be the type. That George dude has really corrupted you."

"Oi, don't forget about Fred!"

"My bad." He rolled his eyes, absentmindedly scrubbing an award. "You don't talk about him half as much as you do George."

Cass felt her face burn up, and ripped her gaze from him, focusing her attention on the trophy she was currently wiping down. This one clearly hadn't been touched in ages, and had a massive layer of dust on it, that seemed to be stuck to the surface.

"Do you think Bethany Burke is the Heir of Slytherin?"

It took a moment for her to register the words in her mind, almost like she had hallucinated Terry saying them.

When she finally turned to look at him, he wore a casual, blank expression, like he nearly always did. It was as though he was discussing the weather, and not the current psycho terrorizing the school.

"I don't know." Cass blinked after several moments of silence. "It never occurred to me. I mean, she's a Ravenclaw."

"Maybe one of her sisters, then. The youngest one is particularly nasty. Adelaide, or whatever. You know, I accidentally bumped into her a while ago, and she called me a...well, she called me an unpleasant name."

"Maybe." She frowned. She'd hoped Adelaide would be a middle ground of the Burke sisters, but apparently that wasn't the case. "It is odd, that Colin was the person petrified, who just so happened to be the one person getting on Bethany's nerves more than anything."

"She wasn't at the Halloween feast, either, when Mrs. Norris was petrified." Terry added, which Cass, of course, hadn't known, given that she was stuck in a cupboard with George when that happened. "I want to give her the benefit of the doubt, but..."

"I don't think she'd hurt Colin, at least not like that. Sure, he was annoying, but she isn't blood prejudiced. You saw how she reacted when Malfoy called Ana that word...besides, what would she have against Mrs. Norris? She's a cat."

"Fair point. Who do you think it is then?"

"I haven't really thought about it." Cass picked at her nails.

"I call bullshit. We've all been thinking about it."

She shook her head. "Not me. I really don't know who it could be."

He pondered this for a moment, then offered up another name. "What about Malfoy? He's a pretty likely candidate, wouldn't you say?"

"He certainly doesn't try to make himself seem innocent." She muttered, more to herself than to Terry, then sighed. "But Malfoy isn't that stupid, I mean yeah, he's a complete idiot, but not that fucked in the head. Lucius is too high up in the ministry. He wouldn't risk his daddy's job and reputation for this."

"You'd know better than me, I suppose."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I dunno. You two are friends, I guess. I don't really know him, compared to you." Terry shrugged, and Cass nearly gagged, her eyes widening.

"You think me and Malfoy are friends?"

"Are you not?"

"No!" She exclaimed, more offended now than she could ever remember being in her entire life. "Why would I be friends with someone who throws around the m-word? Who treats everyone around him like complete shit? My best friend is a muggle, for fucks sake!"

"Damn, sorry. Didn't mean to hit a nerve."

"Good. Apology accepted." She grumbled, not actually feeling forgiving. Sure, she was overreacting, and she knew that, but it infuriated her. She'd spent her entire life trying to escape the natural suspicion of her beliefs because of her brother, and now, people were falsely associating her with Malfoy? Why would she go to Terry, to help her with a bloody love potion prank, if her and Malfoy were friends? How many other people assumed they were friends?

Cass focused her attention back on the task at hand - scrubbing down these stupid trophies, this time much more aggressively. The two worked in remote silence for the rest of the detention, until Cass began wiping off an older award, and read the name on it, a name she hadn't thought about in a long, long time.

Diana Bruce

Excellence in Potions Award

1959

"Holy shit." The words slipped out of her mouth before she could prevent them.

"What is it?" Terry glanced over at her.

"Er...this award...it's my mums. An award for potions." Cass scanned the description underneath the plaque - Diana had been sixteen at the time of receiving it, only two years before meeting her father, and three before having their first child together. Not for the first time, did it occur to Cass just how young her parents had been, when they had Barty. Barely adults themselves.

"Oh." Terry paused. "Is she good at potions, then?"

"I mean...she got an award for it. So, yes, I'd imagine."

"You imagine?"

Right. She forgot. Terry wouldn't know.

"She's dead." Cass said, no emotion in her voice as she finished polishing the plaque, then swiftly moved on to the next. She didn't want to dwell on these things, especially not her mother, who she knew nothing about. It felt weird, mourning someone she never knew, yet at the same time, not being sad about it.

Knock it off.

She shook her head, mentally scolding herself. She'd spent too much time in the past few years, allowing her thoughts to ruminate on her family. It was exhausting.

"I'm sorry. For your loss, I mean."

"It's alright. I didn't know her. I just didn't expect..." Her voice trailed off. "It took my by surprise, is all. Seeing her name, out of nowhere."

"Makes sense." Terry paused, then added, "It's pretty cool she got an award for potions, though. Like mother like daughter, I guess."

Cass couldn't prevent the grin that swept across her face to that.