musical mood: house on fire - sia

It was in early November that Cass grumbled her way into the stands of the Quidditch pitch, being quite literally dragged by Naia. She had managed to convince their entire dorm, including Bethany, to go watch the Gryffindor vs Slytherin match, that her sister Angelina would be part of.

"It's too early." Padma whined as they weaved their way into an empty spot in the Ravenclaw section.

"It's nearly noon." Bethany stared at her through dark brown eyes.

"Yes, but it's a Saturday. I need sleep."

Ana, on the other hand, was as cheery as ever. "It is a beautiful day out."

"It's cold." Padma continued to complain, rubbing her arms.

"Oh, please." Ana rolled her eyes. "If this is cold, you would freeze to death in Belarus's winter."

They continued to banter, while Cass leaned back in her seat, studying the two teams that were hovering on their brooms above the field, about to start the game. Angelina Johnson was easy to spot, being the tallest among the girls by far. Harry Potter, a first year that was allowed to play because of course, was also hard to miss. Even from a distance, his lightning scar was visible, and the Weasley twins both held beaters bats and wore identical smirks.

Cass still couldn't get their recent interaction out of her head. Not the twins themselves, no, but the events that had surrounded it, a little over a week ago. According to the student body, Quirrell had run into the Great Hall in a panic, screaming about the troll, and then bloody fainted. Quite a contrast from the state he had been in in the library.

In classes, Quirrell had returned back to his normal, odd self - stuttering, twitching, and not actually doing much teaching. From any other perspective, nothing would've seemed amiss, which made it all the more dodgy. Cass was itching to talk to George and Fred about what they had seen on Halloween night, but she hadn't managed to get them alone.

"Are you looking at the Weasley twins?" Naia nudged Cass with a playful smirk.

She quickly tore her gaze away from them. "No. Why would I be?"

"Because they're attractive. Duh." She waved her hand as if it were obvious. "Anyways, Angie has a massive crush on Fred, so you're not allowed to fancy him. George is fine though."

"I don't fancy either of them. That's disgusting. I hardly even know them."

Naia raised her eyebrows, but didn't say anything else as the game began, and the stands suddenly burst into cheers and boos. A kid who introduced himself as Lee Jordan was the announcer, calling out the plays as they happened. Angelina was a spectacular Chaser, making almost every single goal for Gryffindor.

"Merlin, I hope Harry will be alright." Padma muttered as the match continued, more to herself than anyone else.

Cass turned to her with raised eyebrows. "Why wouldn't he be alright?"

Padma simply shrugged, and Cass directed her attention towards Potter with a nervous feeling in her gut, though she almost instantly forgot about it as she watched him. He was surprisingly good at flying - or at least she assumed he was, given that she hardly knew anything about Quidditch, outside of the basics. For a first year to get on the team, though, he had to be more than competent. Surely, nothing would go wrong.

But, she quickly grew bored of watching the black haired boy fly around, aimlessly searching for the snitch, and directed her attention towards Quirrell, who was sitting in the Professors stand, right behind Snape.

As if the professor couldn't get any more strange, he had his hands clasped together in an upward fist, and was muttering something under his breath while he watched the match. It reminded her of when Connor and his family would say Grace before every meal.

Was he praying?

Cass studied the man, though he was far enough away that she struggled to fully gather what he was doing. Her focus didn't last long, however, when the entire stadium began shouting. Not shouts of cheers, or boos, but of surprise. Of panic. Something was wrong.

Almost everyone shot up from their seats, standing to get a view of whatever was happening, to which Cass followed in suit.

"What's going on-" She cut herself off as she realised what was happening. Potter's broom had gone rogue - jerking back and forth, completely out of control, as the boy struggled to keep on top of it. Potter was over a hundred feet in the air - a fall from that height would certainly kill him.

Peering over the shoulders of those in front of her, Cass spotted Quirrell again, still doing his weird prayer...or casting a spell. Wandless spells were a thing, according to a book Cass had read a month or so ago, though they took a very powerful wizard to accomplish. Quirrell was powerful enough to bring a troll into a school without being mauled to death in the process, surely he was capable of wandless magic.

Not stopping to think, Cass darted out of the stands and back into the castle.

"Where the hell are you going?" A voice called out as Cass rushed through the empty halls, with only one goal in mind; figure out what the hell Quirrell was up to, and why.

She whipped around, her heart race skyrocketing, then sighed in relief when she made eye contact with the person who had followed her.

"None of your business, Burke." She said to Bethany, and continued her speed walk down the hall.

Bethany followed, and Cass noticed she had her wand in her hand. "Don't start with me, Crouch. You've been acting weird all week."

"Listen, as much as I'd love to chat, I'm kind of on a limited time frame right now."

With whatever was happening with Potter, the match would end soon, and Cass needed to get into Quirrell's office before he got back. Surely there was something, something she could find on him, some sort of tangible proof that he had malicious intentions she could bring to Dumbledore. Or at least find out why he was doing what he was doing - first bringing a troll into the castle and now jinxing Harry Potter's broom? What was his angle - to cause chaos for no reason? It made no sense.

"Oh come on, what am I gonna do? Tell people?"

"Uh, yes?"

"I don't talk to anyone. Come on, I could help, or whatever."

As they reached the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, Cass paused, with her arms crossed. "You want to help me?"

Bethany looked back and forth down the hallway, making sure they were alone, before leaning in and lowering her voice. "Listen, I don't know about you, but something is going on this year. I just...I want to see if we're on the same page."

Cass pursed her lips, hesitant to tell her classmate what she knew. Out of the other Ravenclaws in her year, Bethany was definitely the smartest, and would be the best ally. On the other hand, if anyone was going to sabotage everything she was doing, it would also be Bethany.

Taking a deep breath, she spoke after several moments of silence. "I think there's something wrong with Quirrell. I think he let the troll in on Halloween, and I think he might've been messing with Potter's broom. I just want to know why, and get some form of proof."

Bethany blinked, bemused. "Quirrell?"

Cass nodded.

"Well...that was random." She let out a short, dry laugh. "So your plan is to break into his office? Then what? Search for clues? Fancy yourself a genderbent Sherlock Holmes, do you?"

Of course. Of bloody course. Cass should've known better, of course Bethany would just mock her. Anyone would - without context, it sounded completely absurd that Quirrell could be behind everything.

"Well what's your theory, if you're so clever?"

Her mocking grin faltered, and she tucked a stray lock of wavy black hair behind her ear, avoiding eye contact. Cass had never seen Bethany like this before. "I think it has something to do with Vasiliev."

"With Ana?" It was Cass' turn to stare in disbelief. How could someone suspect sweet, innocent Ana of doing anything malicious?

She nodded, staring down at her shoes. "I don't know, okay! I know it sounds crazy, and I know I made fun of Johnson and Patil when they got all weird on the first night, but I looked into it, and Hogwarts has never accepted a muggleborn from Durmstrang's region. I think that the Soviets might be plotting something here, like trying to infiltrate the wizarding world in Britain or something."

"The Soviets are trying to take down Hogwarts...through an eleven year old girl?"

Bethany opened her mouth to respond, but before she could say anything, the echoing of footsteps rang through the halls. The match must've ended, as students and Professors alike swarmed back into the castle.

"Great, I lost my chance ." Cass muttered, glaring at Bethany. "Thanks a lot."

As the months went by, Cass was unable to find another opportunity to get into Quirrell's office, as he was almost always there. The Professor was hardly seen outside of his dingy classroom that his office was connected to, not even for meals.

She also downright refused to speak to Bethany, who had ruined her only chance of sneaking in. Not only that, but she had the nerve to imply that Ana was responsible for all the problems that had occurred this year.

November blended into December, and before she knew it, she was making her way onto the packed Hogwarts Express to return home for winter break.

Cass would've sat with her usual crowd - being her dormmates plus Parvati and Lavender, but since she was avoiding Bethany, she would have to find someone else to endure the train ride with.

As she made her way down the aisles, she found a compartment with just one other student occupying it - a boy she knew well enough, and slid into it.

"Mind if I sit here?" She motioned towards the empty booth across from Terry Boot, who was reading Quidditch Through the Ages, and hadn't noticed her enter.

Terry wouldn't have been her first choice - he was emotionally detached most of the time, hardly talked about anything except for quidditch, and Cass couldn't remember a single time where he had smiled. But, he was better than being stuck with Bethany, or worse, Malfoy.

Terry looked up from his book, a typical blank expression on his tan face. "Yeah, go ahead."

Cass sat down, and pulled out a book of her own, getting immersed into it as the train took off. But her focus didn't last for long, as the compartment door swung open.

"Again?!" She groaned when she made eye contact with Draco Malfoy. "Don't you have some Slytherin cronies to bother?"

"I'm mad at Crabbe right now. So move over." Malfoy elbowed Cass as he sat down next to her, to which she elbowed him right back in the side, much harder.

"Oi! That hurt!" Malfoy clutched his side, and backhanded her shoulder.

"Good!"

Terry stared at the two as they abused each other, his eyes peeking over his book, though they showed no emotion.

"What are you looking at?" Malfoy raised his chin up at the boy, trying (and failing) to look intimidating.

Instead of responding, Terry simply rolled his eyes and went back to reading.

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Would you shut up, Malfoy?!" Cass glared at the blonde. Her patience had already worn thin, and she had enough on her mind as it was. Between everything with Quirrell, her fight with Bethany, and seeing her father for the first time since the summer, her scar had become so inflamed from her constant anxious rubbing that she had to borrow some special lotion from Lavender. Not that it did much of anything - the patch of skin had become so red that from a distance, it looked as though Cass was crying blood.

For the billionth time that week, she mentally kicked herself for not responding to her fathers letter from Halloween. Too much time had gone by where she had pondered what to say, that it would've been weird to reply that late. Maybe she could pretend like she'd never received it? No, that wouldn't make sense, owl post was incredibly reliable.

A dull pain suddenly stabbed Cass in the side, and she jolted out of her thoughts. "I swear to Merlin Malfoy, touch me again and I will strangle you!"

"Dramatic, much." Someone snorted, though it wasn't Malfoy. The Nott brothers had joined them in the compartment, Theodore next to Malfoy, and Henry next to an annoyed looking Terry.

"Seriously, Crouch, if you're going to kill someone, make it Crabbe." Theodore continued, wearing a cheery smile, which was slightly unsettling considering the subject matter.

"For Merlin's sake, why are you all so pissed at Crabbe?" Cass questioned, despite not actually being that interested. She didn't care about the mundane drama within the Slytherins more than she cared about Terry and Naia's quidditch debates.

"He set our dorm room on fire." Malfoy said, completely deadpan.

"...What?"

"He set our dorm room on fire." Theodore repeated, his uncharacteristically serious tone confirming Malfoy wasn't joking. "Last week. He's a bloody pyromaniac, I swear to Salazar."

Even Terry looked up at this, with raised eyebrows.

"And he didn't get, you know, expelled?" Cass looked between the two Slytherins.

Theodore shrugged. "Nope. Well, Snape put it out pretty quick, but I had to redo all my homework. He burnt my essay for Binns to a crisp." He pursed his lips, looking genuinely distraught by his loss.

"Hey, I offered to help you do it all over." Henry added, tightening his Ravenclaw tie, as if asserting his intellectual dominance over his little brother.

"Last time you helped me with my homework, Snape called my essay a disgrace to wizardkind."

"Seriously, Nott, how did you even get in Ravenclaw?" Malfoy added with an amused smirk. "Didn't you have to repeat Defence Against the Dark Arts?"

"No." Henry crossed his arms, his dark cheeks turning pink.

"Liar." Terry snorted from next to Henry, speaking for the first time since the three boys had joined them. "You're literally in our class. I overheard Quirrell talking to Flitwick, and he thinks you might have to repeat again."

"Yeah right. What does that nutter know about Defence Against the Dark Arts anyways? Until this year, he was a bloody Muggle Studies professor."

Cass perked up at this bit of knowledge, as Malfoy and Theodore burst into fits of laughter. Quirrell teaching an elective was news to her - that means the classes he taught were likely much more personal, the students likely got to know him much better than they would a required course, since the class sizes would be smaller, and his lessons more in depth. Maybe she could find someone who had had him as a Muggle Studies professor, and see if they had any insight into him.

"He taught Muggle Studies? Do you know anyone who took that class?"

Henry blinked, confused. "Uh...I don't think so. I don't really befriend people who take Muggle Studies. Why?"

"Just curious." Cass brushed it off, though her mind was racing with conspiracies once again.