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IT WAS SAFE TO SAY THAT CASSIA HAD PARTIALLY REGRETTED helping the Weasley twins out with their little stunt. As a result, she'd had to spend the last three Hogsmeade trips stuck inside with Snape watching her whereabouts and when she'd leave the common room like an absolute hawk, and thrice she's gone with Hagrid on his patrols on the Saturday night in the Forbidden Forest. Tonight was the last patrol she'd have to accompany the gamekeeper on (which relieved her to the depths of the Great Lake) although she still had to miss another week of Hogsmeade after this one.

     The First Task was looming, in exactly three days from now. From what Cassia gathered in their Astronomy Tower meetings these last few weeks, Harry still had no clue on his tactics (he tried to play it off as being relaxed, but Cassia wasn't a fool, and managed to scour the truth out of him) for the Tournament - which did worry Cassia, because as much as she tried not to admit it, she'd grown to care for Harry lately - and, it didn't help that the entirety of Hogwarts was ganging up on him and taking Diggory's side instead, even his best friend. It was safe to say his self esteem for the Tournament was low. So he could do with an extra friend to rely on. However while Harry would be buzzing his mind about the Task and Cassia would be bored off her mind in the common room, for most others, they took the time this weekend to relieve their excitement and anticipation of the First Task over a warming Butterbeer in Hogsmeade and the like, leaving behind their school stresses in the castle for a couple of hours.

     So, it was with great envy that she had to watch her roommates get ready for a Hogsmeade trip, while she laid on top of her bed, propped up by her elbows with her fingers combing absently through her soft auburn tresses. Eva was doing her makeup at her makeshift dressing table, consisting of an unused table that used to lie in the corner of their room, the jewel-studded mirror she brought from home and the wooden chair that was provided to each of them. Maryam herself was braiding her nearly-untameable dark hair into two braids and begun to zip up her combat boots.

The other two beds in the room had been vacated earlier - for some reason, their roommates Ebony and Sadie never lingered in the room when the other three were around. To Cassia, Maryam and Eva, they had always been the ones together in the room, and naturally they stuck with each other. The two had never really been close to the others, but it wasn't like they didn't get on or anything: no, they were nice enough girls, it just seemed that they preferred to be within themselves rather than joining their other three roommates. And that was fine with them.

"Are you absolutely sure there's no way you can come?" Maryam frowns, wrapping her green and silver scarf around her neck.

Cassia shook her head defeatedly, returning her friends pout. "Nope. Snape would murder me. He's been watching me like an absolute hawk. Don't know why he's so concerned when it's only me, though. When have I ever caused trouble?"

"Doesn't make sense." Eva added, before curling her eyelashes. "He's a git of a professor anyways, probably has nothing better to do on a Saturday than make sure his students aren't avoiding their punishment."

"It's not like what you did was even bad," Maryam reasons, sighing. "I think it's unfair. No Hogsmeade and detention in the Forbidden Forest? That's just too much."

"It's like Eva said, he's a git with nothing better to do." Cassia gave a weak attempt at a grin, rocking her head back and forth on her hands. "He's still our Head of House, though. It's not like we can dislike him completely. Besides, you don't have to worry about me. I'll be fine. I'll probably check out some books in the library, finish some homework or something."

She looked at the sympathetic look Maryam was giving her, before swatting a hand at her arm, laughing. "Stop looking at me like that! I told you, I'm gonna be fine." Cassia says, managing to hide her regret. "A little bored albeit, but fine. You guys can go and have fun without worrying about me."

"Fine." Maryam says with a small huff. "Need anything from Honeydukes while we're there?"

"Let me think... a big slab of that honeycomb-flavoured chocolate would do wonders for me. I'll pay you back later." Cassia requests, looking at her friend excitedly. Has it ever been mentioned that Cassia is a huge fan of each and every type of chocolate? No? Well, there you are.

"Got it." Maryam says, grinning now that she'd been moved out of her short-lived funk. She moved over to the door, bag slung over her shoulder, looking back expectantly at Eva, who'd finished applying her pink lipgloss. "You coming, Eva?"

Now finished with her makeup, Eva looked between her two best friends, and suddenly began to grin very bashfully. "Actually, no. You see... I have a date!" She gushes eagerly, her pale cheeks reddening.

Almost immediately Maryam had abandoned her spot and the door and jumped straight onto her bed towards Eva, and Cassia too had inched up her own bed to delve further into this news.

"A date? Already? With who?" Cassia asks, her eyes growing wide with excitement just like Maryam's.

If it's not Pucey I am going to throttle you, Abercrombie, was the thought racing inside Cassia's mind because, it was pretty obvious that the older Slytherin had been pining after her blonde best friend, and she so obviously reciprocated the feelings. She could not shut up about how he had the most amazing Quidditch body and how perfect his eyes look and oh did you hear about the size of that bicep — ? Point is, they fancied each massively and if one of them didn't make a move soon, Cassia would feel herself going mad with their obliviousness to each other's feelings. Since as it stood, Pucey and his best friend Higgs found themselves hanging out with Cassia and her friends. You could call them a little group, if you'd like - though no one knows how the year-older Slytherins managed to grip their way into it.

"I'm going on a date with Adrian!" She exclaims ecstatically, unable to hide her blush. Cassia let out a very undignified squeal, while Maryam gasped beneath the massive smile she wore.

"About fucking time you are!" Says Cassia, encouragingly.

"Finally!" Maryam adds, bouncing slightly on her bed.

     "Wait.." Eva furrows her eyebrows, appearing confused. "What do you mean by 'finally'..?"

     Cassia scoffs maliciously, grinning. "Really, Eves? You can't have been that oblivious, can you?"

     "Oblivious to what?"

     Cassia shared a timid look with Maryam, both of their eyebrows raised.

     Maryam let out an exasperated sigh, before saying, "We have been banking on you two for weeks. Literally. The two of you have been giving each other doe-eyes since the start of term. It was about bloody time someone made the move!"

     After hearing this revelation, Eva's clear blue eyes widened, "But how—"

     "Okay," Cassia cut in quickly, shaking her head, "never mind that. Just tell us. Who asked who out?"

     "Well, it was quite weird actually." Eva says, her mind half in a state of contemplation. "There we were, doing homework in the common room a couple of weeks ago as per usual - you guys all left a while earlier - and I glanced over at him and he glanced over at me and then.. we kind of just blurted the question at the same time? Then we both laughed, and were like, okay, let's go to Hogsmeade together. It was quite hilarious, actually."

     "Aww, how romantic!" Squeals Maryam, her eyes twinkling with interest. "What are you guys gonna do?"

     "Each other, probably," Cassia sniggers quietly, and Eva, having overheard, pushed Cassia's arm so hard she nearly fell off the bed amidst her laughing fit.

     "Okay, no, Cass." Eva says. "Probably just go get a Butterbeer, shop a little, go for a walk.. you know, things the three of us would do, only.." (she began blushing), "It's with Adrian this time!"

     "I'm happy for you guys - you two are amazing for each other!" Maryam says, smiling. The smile then upturned into a frown. "But that means... since you'll be on a date with Adrian and Cassia can't come.. then I'll be stuck to deal with the two man-children alone?"

     Eva suddenly looked remorseful, while Cassia stifled a snort at the thought of Maryam trying to keep Higgs and Theo at bay.

     "Is Daphne going out?" Maryam asks, and Cassia shrugged in response.

     "I can go check, though." She adds, sliding off of her bed and onto her feet, making her way to the dormitory two doors along from her own. Cassia always did find it funny how the dormitory she'd been assigned to was different to that of her twin's. Because aren't siblings more likely to share with each other if they're in the same year? It's not like it would even make a difference - they were close enough as it was being twins, and they see each other during school so often that being in separate dorms gave them a chance to get a break from each other.

     She knocked on the door she knew to be her sister's and when she heard a voice chime 'come in' she pushed the oak door. Cassia walked in, and the moment her foot bypassed the doorline, she felt someone pounce at her from the side, causing her to yell and jump back in shock as she finally managed to register who it was that decided to scare her. Holding a hand to her heart in attempt to calm her racing heartbeat, she came face-to-face with Pansy Parkinson who was absolutely beside herself in laughter.

     "Oh.. my.. God.. your... face!" She gasps between bouts of laughter, doubled over with hilarity.

     "Oh, shut it, Pans." Cassia says, punching the dark-haired Slytherin lightly on the arm. However, she couldn't hide the urge to laugh along with Pansy as she did so. "It's good to see you too." She adds mockingly, as Pansy finally managed to collect herself again.

     "Hey sis." A voice called out, and Cassia looked throughout the dormitory to see Daphne sitting on her bed, fixing her hair with hair clips. She realised that within the entire dorm, Daphne and Pansy were the only ones still present.

     "What brings you here, Twinnie?" Pansy asks exuberantly, dropping herself down onto her mattress, bouncing lightly upon it.

     "Actually, I was gonna ask if you guys were going to Hogsmeade?" Cassia implores, leaning her back against the tall frame of one of the unoccupied beds.

     "Yeah, we are." Pansy answers. "I thought you couldn't go, though? For helping those blasted Weasley twins try and enter the Tournament?"

     Cassia frowns at Pansy. "Don't say that. The twins are decent guys."

     "Yeah, but they're Gryffindors." Pansy says, rolling her eyes. "We aren't meant to like them."

     "Says who?" Cassia straightened up challengingly.

     "Like, every Hogwarts value or legend ever made?" She states matter-of-factly. "You can't truly admit that you feel no remorse in being friends with bleeding Gryffindors?"

     That made Cassia think, because it wasn't just the twins she'd befriended. She was also friends with Harry Potter. A.K.A, the one the entirety of Slytherin had spent their every waking moment bullying and poking fun at for being chosen as a Triwizard champion. Cassia felt horrible, she really did - not because she'd partaken in their cruel activities (Hell, she could've sworn she saw someone get a picture of his face from  the Prophet to throw darts at), and not because she was apart of the majority of Hogwarts that mocked him (if anything, she was apart of the tiny minority which supported him). But it was because she couldn't do anything to stop them from abusing Harry. These people in Slytherin were her family, her home away from home. So how on earth could she interfere and stop them from doing the activities they enjoyed, regardless of how cruel they are? What sort of image would that put in their minds of Cassia?

     You could only go so far with defending a Gryffindor in the Slytherin dungeon, before you would be the one to get turned on. And it was this cold, hard truth that made Cassia wish house stereotypes never existed.

     "It doesn't matter." Cassia states, shaking her head as she brought the topic back on track. "Yeah, I'm not allowed to go to Hogsmeade. But I was asking for Maryam. She doesn't want to be stuck alone with Higgs and Theo since those two are idiots, I can't accompany her and neither can Eva since she's going on a date with Adrian."

     "Them two are going on a date? About ruddy time!" Daphne says with glinting eyes, smiling. "But sure, Maryam can join us. Millie and Tracey have already headed down, and we're about to go. Tell her to get us in the common room." She added, and Pansy nodded, agreeing.

     "Got it. I'll go tell her." Says Cassia, pushing off of the bannister she'd slouched against, but just as she headed for the door, Daphne's voice stopped her.

     "Wait - Cass!" She says in a manner of urgency. When Cassia turned to face her twin, Daphne looked at her with a burning frenzy in her blue eyes. Smirking, she asks, "How are things going between you and Theodore..?"

     Cassia groans, knocking her head against the bannister she hadn't managed to leave yet. "I told you to give it up, Daph! He's my best friend and nothing more."

     "Think about it, though! What if you two were more than that? You two have an amazing bond, and you're perfectly pretty, and he himself has gotten pretty gorgeous this year if I may say so myself, so just imagine how good the two of you would look together!"

      Before Cassia could retort, Pansy cut in, "Wait, Daph - am I right in gathering that you are trying to set up Cass with.. Nott?" She estimates, looking partially horrified.

     "Yes, yes I am." Daphne admits easily.

     "Bad decision. They would not be a good couple. Friends, sure, its perfect. But having dated the guy last year, I must say it's a massive no from me." Pansy says, her expression serious. "I was glad when he ended it. Had enough of him as a boyfriend."

     Cassia heard this, and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, he ended it because he figured out that you were just using him to get closer to Draco. My best friend isn't as dumb as you think he is, Pans."

     "Yeah, yeah. It was all fun and games, anyways. Besides, I know he's smart. It got annoying every time he smirked at me when he got the higher grade. No one ever expects him to be that clever. He's basically the Mudblood Granger of Slytherin."

     "Don't say that word!" Both the twins yell at the same time, looking at Pansy alarmingly. Pansy's head shot back in shock, as if a gust of wind just blew itself her way.

     "Wow." She says, her eyes wide open, holding her hands up in a weak surrender. "Chill, you two. It's just a word. Besides, it's not like what I'm saying isn't true. Granger is a Mud-"

     But Pansy knew better than to say that word again when she saw the scathing and somewhat frightening look in Cassia's eyes, instead clamping her mouth shut.

     "You were saying, Pans?" Cassia says, daring Pansy in a way, to continue. She saw the glare in Pansy's eyes, but she still remained quiet, which gave Cassia a whimsical feeling of satisfaction. "That's what I thought. I'll tell Maryam you'll get her in the common room." And then she walked out of the dormitory, leaving behind only her twin sister and her pug-faced best friend in the intricate silence.

     If there was one thing that set the Greengrass family apart from other pureblooded families, it was their morals. Marlowe and Phoenix Greengrass  taught their beloved daughters to never judge anyone based on the purity of their blood, and to never put anyone down because they had no, or less magical blood than they did, or if they associated with those deemed 'inferior'. And so, despite the prejudices many Slytherins held over blood purity, and despite having friends like Malfoy, Parkinson and even Theo, who had his own prejudices too - despite all that, Cassia, Daphne and Astoria Greengrass had never caught onto their influence. Because treating someone differently over a matter they simply couldn't help was wrong.

———

NIGHTFALL SOON BLANKETED HOGWARTS CASTLE, meaning it was time for Cassia to serve her third and final detention patrolling the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid. With her black robe and green and silver scarf to shield her in the best manner possible from the biting cold, Cassia knocked on the door of Hagrid's hut, and the half-giant appeared looking fairly disheveled but... well groomed? He was wearing some kind of gruff-looking suit that had a massive artichoke-like flower pinned to it, and it looked like he'd tried to comb his hair too. Tried being the key word.

"Ah, jus' you, Cassia." He says. "Las' detention, righ'?"

Cassia nods, smiling politely from beneath her scarf-muffled face.

" 'S a shame, really." Hagrid frowns as he grabbed a hold of his lantern, slamming his door behind him. "I enjoyed havin' a bit o' company on me patrols these las' few weeks."

Cassia wished she could agree that she enjoyed her detention with Hagrid, and it was nothing to do with Hagrid himself because he himself had such a lovely personality, but she was just... terrified of the Forest. All the myths surrounding it, the creatures she knew lived within, not to mention it being called Forbidden... Cassia could've sworn she almost got stampeded on by a centaur one of the previous days.

"A righ' spectacle for ye ter see tonigh', Cassia. Very excitin'. I'll leave Fang, he won' like it. Hope ye don' mind I'll be bringin' a visitor wi' me tonigh'?"

"No, not at all." Cassia replies casually, finding that she and Hagrid weren't trekking off towards the Forest but rather... the Beauxbatons carriage?

     She trails behind as she watches Hagrid stomp his way up the extravagant red carpet they'd laid in their wake, and he knocked upon the carriage door. And when the cabin door opened, out came Madam Maxime with a glittery silk shawl blanketed her massive body.

     So Hagrid's bringing Maxime along with us for a date... their version of a romantic walk in the park, I guess?

      Cassia watched with fascination as they exchanged some words between them, obviously flirtatious. The way in which Madam Maxime batted her long eyelashes gave everything away, if they weren't obvious enough already.

But suddenly, Cassia felt something grab onto her arm in the dark outdoors, which was only barely illuminated by the lights shining through the Beauxbatons carriage windows. Her heartbeat quickened when she realised no one was present where she was so sure she felt a hand around her arm. But then a face became unravelled slightly from beneath his Invisibility Cloak, and Harry Potter half-revealed himself to Cassia.

     She let out a sigh of relief at seeing it was only Harry, attempting to swat his arm furiously, but he'd quickly blanketed himself with his Cloak again and made it impossible for her to do so.

     "What the hell, Potter!" Cassia whispers harshly to the boy who'd covered himself up again, keeping an eye on Hagrid and Maxime who were still flirting shamelessly with each other.

     "Sorry." Harry apologises quietly to Cassia who couldn't see him. "I didn't know you'd be here."

     "Detention." Cassia whispers, trying to make little movement with her lips so no one'd think she's talking to anyone. Or no-one, for that matter. "What are you doing here?"

     "Hagrid wanted to show me something." He explains, talking in a hushed tone from beneath his Cloak.

     "Apparently there's something good to see. He told me it'd be exciting." They saw Maxime descending the golden staircase, as well as her and Hagrid approaching them, and Cassia abruptly motioned for Harry to stay discrete with a haste fan of her hand. "Shush, Potter."

     "I wasn't even talking.." He mumbles grouchily as he ducked Cassia's arm, which was trying to coax him away - which, to his surprise, aimed very well at his head. It was like he didn't even have the Cloak on with an aim like that.

     Perhaps Hagrid had no idea that Cassia had been speaking to Harry under the Cloak moments ago, because he approached her standing figure with Madam Maxime tall on his heels, smiling jovially and seemingly oblivious to the two fourth years.

     "Let's go then, Cassia. Make sure ter stick close by." Hagrid says, when Maxime stopped him by placing a long-fingered hand on his shoulder. It was clear to see he nearly swooned at the action.

     "Is she coming weeth us, 'Agrid?" Maxime asks, looking almost.. repelled? Confused? It was difficult for Cassia to decipher her emotions.

"Oh, yes. She ain't trouble, though. Don' worry." Hagrid assures, giving Cassia a gentle look.

"Don't worry about me. You won't even realise I'm here." Cassia says with a small smile. Maxime looked impartial, turning to Hagrid.

"Excellent." Maxime says blankly, as they ventured out into the Forest.

With the small lighting from the Beauxbatons carriage becoming dimmed and as they neared the Forest, the surroundings became darker and darker. Ensuring to stay tightly packed in her warm robes, Cassia pulled out her wand and spoke lumos, showing light to her path. Cassia trailed behind both of Maxime and Hagrid's tall figures, a safe distance within them yet enough for the two in front of her to still get their privacy. Goodness, she'd never thought she'd play third wheel to a date like this. You could say fourth wheel if you included Harry from beside Cassia, who fell into step with her even if she didn't know it herself. But a small hunch within her told her that Harry was next to her.

"So.. how are you feeling about the First Task?" Cassia whispers, hoping that Harry had been within earshot to hear her and not off venturing the Forest like some daredevil.

     "Not good." Harry replies, as they neared some heightening voices.

     (Cassia breathed a relieved sigh. Could you imagine how embarrassing would it have been if she'd asked the question and no one was there? Her inner conscience would not give her a break.)

     She frowns, concerned. She even looked to the side his voice had came from, despite knowing she wouldn't even be able to see him.

     "I'm just hoping whatever Hagrid's wanting time show me is useful enough to help me survive only slightly out of this first task." Harry says, quickly enough that Cassia hadn't had a chance to reply.

     When they both looked in front of them, they saw Maxime and Hagrid, arm in arm yet completely unaware of the hushed conversation Cassia was having with Harry - or in Hagrid's case, completely unaware that Cassia knew Harry was with them. They could now no longer see the castle, or the Lake that skirted it, but stood in a clearing at a fence in the trees where there were flashes and roars of fire and loud, ear-splitting yells and — Dragons.

Four dragons - furious, by the looks of it - being caged in large fences, surrounded by dragon-tamers and the like, pulling on chains around the dragon's necks and pointing their wands towards them, and the dragons resisted - one dark, beady-eyed dragon let out a gut-wrenching scream, which shook Cassia's eardrums to its core.

"Aren't they beautiful?" Hagrid breaths, his beady eyes glazed over the scene at hand.

"Keep back there Hagrid!" One of the dragon-tamers yelled with a big chain around one of their necks. "They can shoot fire at a range of twenty feet! I've seen this Horntail do forty!"

Almost as if on cue, the dragon that wizard held onto - the Horntail - opened its mouth and spat fire their way. Cassia gasped as the fire shot her way, and she took a step back, accidentally stepping on a discarded twig which heightened her senses even more as she, along with Hagrid, Maxime and Harry managed to avoid being scathed.

Her heart was beating loud in her rib cage because god, there were dragons in there and one of them only just missed her face with fire by inches and not to mention she was in the Forbidden Forest which she hated - and it was then, in that moment, that she felt a warm hand take hold of hers and this time, she didn't freak out.

     Because this time, she knew who it was - the blank space beside her where there should have been an arm attached to the hand in hers belonged to Harry, and he did this to offer her a sense of security, seeing her backtracking her steps from the dragon pen. Cassia smiled, hoping that somewhere beneath that Invisibility Cloak of Harry's that he could see it, and know what his act of comfort meant to her.

"Stupefy!"

In that moment, all thirty or so wizards aimed their wands at the dragons after seeing brute force wasn't helping - with a massive clash of sparks and flashes against the reptile-like skin of the dragon's, they dropped all at once to the forest ground, sending vibrations through nature's core, almost like a mini-earthquake. The dragon-keepers began to chain them up and made them ingest what Cassia thought to be a Sleeping Draft - she recognised the dreamy blue colour which she could make out from the light of the hanging lanterns in the enclosure.

Wow, Cassia thought once the ringing in her ears stopped. It was pretty much the only thought that could sum it up. She saw Hagrid and Maxime begin to move in closer to the enclosure and she followed suit, albeit reluctantly, with the nudge of Harry's hand still in hers egging her on forwards. She hid their conjoined hands in the fold of her robe, just to ensure no one would see - not that anyone would be fascinated by it when there were freaking dragons in front of them.

"All right, Hagrid?" One of the dragon tamers calls out breathlessly, jogging up to them as they approached the fencing. He appeared to be the one who initially warned them about the Horntail. As he came closer, Cassia saw he had scruffy red hair, a freckly face and seemed to have a large burn mark on his exposed right arm, which had a huge chunk of his sleeve burned off. He was short, though stocky and seemed quite muscly.

His name got brought up as Charlie, and Cassia watched as he and Hagrid struck up a discussion of the four breeds of dragon being kept hostage - Hungarian Horntail, Swedish Short Snout, Chinese Fireball and Common Welsh Green. She couldn't see Harry's expression since he was hidden away from human sight, but Cassia could only imagine that he felt as bewildered as she did - he would, after all, be having to face one of these dragons, as Charlie revealed.

Charlie frowned, eventually realising Hagrid wasn't alone - he saw Maxime exploring the enclosure, and Cassia hanging a bit further away. She smiled haphazardly at his limpid frown, hoping that could make a difference.

"I didn't know you were bringing Maxime, Hagrid. The champions aren't supposed to know what's coming - she's bound to tell her student, isn't she?" Charlie frets at Hagrid, who was far too interested in the unconscious dragons. "Students aren't meant to be here either." He says, glancing at Cassia.

"Jus' thought she'd like ter see them, Charlie." Hagrid replies, unbothered. "An' Cassia's servin' detention."

"Really romantic date, Hagrid." Charlie rolls his eyes, shaking his head. He shifts his gaze towards Cassia, raising an eyebrow. "Detention, you say?" Cassia nods. "What for?"

Cassia cringes, looking to her feet momentarily. "Uhm - trying to help the Weasley twins get into the Triwizard Tournament.."

     Rolling his eyes, Charlie says, "Of course my little brothers managed to get you into trouble."

     "Brothers? You're a Weasley?" Cassia asks, taken aback slightly - though it would have made sense for that red hair to belong to a Weasley.

     Charlie grins. "In the flesh. Where else would I have gotten this hair from? Besides, how do you even know Fred and George?" She didn't misinterpret the way his eyes glazed over her Slytherin scarf shortly before asking the question - and Cassia had to suppress the urge to roll her eyes at the stereotype being implied by Charlie. Of course, being a Weasley he'd have been a Gryffindor, meaning even he found it absurd that a Slytherin and Gryffindor could be friends, let alone his brothers.

      "I don't really remember if I'm honest - I think I came in the crossfire of one of their pranks one day and they actually felt... bad? Like, they were really sorry and I told them it was fine and we kinda just had a big chat and I thought they were decent and they told me for a Slytherin I wasn't that bad. Then they somehow found out I was good at Potions and decided to keep me within arms' length. So, yeah. And then that led to me making them an Ageing Potion for the Tournament and, well, you know what happened next. Snape subjected me to my favourite type of detention." She adds sarcastically.

Charlie nods understandingly, before asking, "What's your name?"

"Cassia." She told him, before adding, "Greengrass. Cassia Greengrass."

He arches an eyebrow, appearing to realise something. "Greengrass? You don't happen to be related to the Obliviator Marlowe Greengrass?"

Smiling, Cassia says, "She's my mum. You've met her?"

"Once." Charlie replies. "We had to bring a couple Muggles to the Obliviator Office when a dragon went loose in Aberdeen. I happened to be making an exchange trip there from Romania at the time, so I brought them to the Ministry and your mum was the one to tend to them. Saved us a right good bit of hassle, your mum did." He adds, smiling gently through his ashen face. A stern expression then graced his face, as he looked at Cassia cautiously. "I hope that you won't go telling anyone about these dragons, Cassia... no one's supposed to know about what the First Task is, especially the champions."

Almost immediately, Cassia shook her head affirmatively. "You have my word. Besides, it's not like I'm even friends with any of the champions." She says in a bemused tone, trying to hide the smirk that came through.

She had obviously said that in spite of Harry, knowing he was listening in, just to humour him. And Harry knew this - he could practically hear the smugness in her voice. In return, he gave her a barge with his arm through their conjoined hands, and she stumbled giddily, taking all the strength not to burst out with laughter in front of the dragon tamer, who was already looking at her with narrowed eyes at her sudden falter.

Charlie turned to Hagrid, who was looking longingly at the dragon eggs being brought out. "Don't think about it, Hagrid." He sighs. "How's Harry?"

The feeling of Harry's arm stiffening passed through their conjoined hands, as Cassia felt Harry tense up at the mention of his name.

"Fine," says Hagrid, continuing to stare at the eggs grudgingly.

"Just hope he's fine after he's faced this lot," Charlie says, grimacing. "I didn't dare tell mum what he's got to do for the first task, she's already having kittens about him - How could they let him enter that tournament, he's way too young! I thought they were all safe, I thought there was an age limit! She was in floods after the Daily Prophet article about him. He still cries about his parents! Oh bless him, I never knew!"

The revelation of Charlie's of Mrs Weasley's motherly anxieties about Harry left Cassia feeling slightly amused, if not heartened by her nature. That was until she felt a tug on her hand - seeing Charlie was engrossed in a conversation with Hagrid, she half-turned to her side, keeping her gaze forward on the dormant dragons to not give anything away.

"What are you doing?" Cassia whispers as Harry let go of her hand. She couldn't help but suddenly feel much frostier after the release of his warm palm.

"I have to get back - Sirius wants to talk to me in the common room, somehow. I've seen enough anyways." He answers quietly.

She looked at her watch, before saying, "Alright. I'll come. Wait a second." She yells over to Hagrid, who was now flirting with Maxime again, "Hagrid! It's half twelve. My detention's over, right?"

"What?" Hagrid answers absently, turning away from the large lady momentarily. "Oh - sure, you can go."

Before she could say thanks, Charlie looked at her with what seemed to be concern. "Are you sure you can make it out fine? It's really dark." He frowns.

Holding her wand in front of her face with an convincing smile, she says, "I'm good. Thanks, anyways!" And sped off, hearing Charlie shout a brief 'It was nice meeting you?' which seemed to have gotten lost within her frantic steps. She didn't know where exactly Harry had gone to, just that he'd probably taken it within his stride to be near Cassia. And then she felt that same warm feeling fill her hand as it got held onto again, and she knew he was beside her. He probably just grabbed onto me so I knew he was there, Cassia thought.

The dark path in the Forest, floored with trees, puddles and the like, was illuminated only very slightly by Cassia's wand, but so much that she's managed to make out a tall, lanky, goatee-bearded man hiding behind a tree. It was Karkaroff of Durmstrang, watching the dragons.

Harry seemed to have noticed this too, because he stopped in his tracks just as Cassia felt a tug on their hands indicating so.

"Quick. Let's go, before he notices." Cassia says, and they sped off out the Forest, and only when they'd passed Hagrid's hut on the way to the castle did they deem it appropriate to resume conversation.

"Dragons!" Harry breaths, awestruck if not frightened.

"How will you get past them?" Cassia asks, hurtling up the grassy path near the courtyard.

"No idea."

"You could always try asking your godfather?" Cassia suggests. "You are, after all, going to meet him."

"Great idea, Greengrass. Thanks." They trampled across the schoolgrounds some more until he asked, "Did you see Karkaroff?"

"Yeah... no doubt about to tell Krum."

The corners of Harry's mouth turns downwards. "But that means that with Maxime and Karkaroff bound to tell Fleur and Krum, then Cedric will be the only one at a disadvantage."

Cassia smile. broadly. "And you're gonna tell him, right?

"I have to, don't I? It's not ideal, but it's the right thing to do." He states blatantly.

Chuckling lightly, with her auburn hair flailing in all directions as they made it to the castle, Cassia adds, "Always chivalry with you, Potter." She heard him give a small laugh from beneath his Cloak.

They reached the Entrance Hall, when Harry says, "That was sly of you, by the way. The whole 'friends with champions' thing in front if Charlie." Cassia could practically hear him smiling within voice.

Shrugging, she grins. "I was placed in Slytherin for a reason, after all."

They came to a halt at the dungeons staircase, and bade each other goodnight with Cassia wishing him good luck in his meeting with Sirius. Then, she descended her footfall into the dungeons, but before she could say the password to enter the common room, a sallow, dark figure emerged from his office, almost as if he'd been waiting for her.

"Miss Greengrass." Snape says, his bleak face peeking from beneath his two greasy capes of hair. "Might I ask what you're doing here at this time of night?"

Cassia didn't even try to resist rolling her eyes. "Detention, Professor. What else would I be doing?"

***

introducing...

tom glynn-carney as charlie weasley

***

idk where this chapter was going but. some cute lil fluffy content trying to get my babies to bond🥰🥰🥰

also may I just say I will never forgive the harry potter movies for excluding charlie weasley like wtf that's my baby. how could they do this. so obvs i had to include my boy if i got the chance uno??

speaking of my lil angel charlie i have a charlie fic in the works 🙊 and came up with the PERFECT (imo) fancast for younger charlie like omg lil tommy glynn seems like the most amazing charlie in my eyes, i mean obvs there are certain things he doesn't have like charlie's hair is longer and he's freckly but you've all got imaginations haven't you??? like i know so many people imagine sam heughan as charlie and tbh i see it SO MUCH too like i love sam especially since he's scottish like
😎😌🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿fellow scot tings but as much as i love sam i also think tom would be great and he's proper underrated i've hardly seen him be used as a face claim pls y'all give my dunkirk and tolkien broadway baby boy more love!!!🥺🥺 just look at him🥺

and i may or may not be planning to include some stuff from my charlie fic in this story as a kinda au thing uno!! it's not published yet but hopefully by the time my oc from the charlie fic gets introduced in this (second part probs) i'll have it uploaded! especially since i'm getting through all the major planning now 😄

oh and here's a lil meme for the lols in case u guys haven't had enough of baby tom have some baby styles too and since this is hp it's only fitting

ok i need to shut up bye i rant way too much. anyways hope u all enjoyed this, make sure to vote comment and not ghost read (cos that makes me sad 😞) and i hope you all are staying safe🥰🥰🥰