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FOLLOWING A PRETTY ANXIOUS ASTRONOMY TOWER MEETING THE PREVIOUS NIGHT, Cassia awoke on the Tuesday morning in a state of calm obliviousness. It wasn't until she'd walked headfirst into Tracey Davis while about to go into the shared dormitory showers that she'd had a brainwave of everything that happened last night and everything that was about to happen.

     "Oh - Sorry!" Cassia apologises profusely, as Tracey grabbed onto Cassia's arms to stabilise her, half-laughing.

     "Don't worry, Cass. Are you okay? You seem.. out of it." Tracey replies, smiling dimly.

"Yeah, I'm good." Cassia smiles half-heartedly, hoping it'd be enough to convince her fellow Slytherin. "Just out of it, like you said. I didn't get much sleep."

That was a bit of a lie, because truth be told, she'd had a pretty great night's sleep, despite her worries for a certain bespectacled Triwizard Champion. She couldn't let Tracey known, though. Even if she was one of the more nicer Slytherins, she was still a Slytherin who most definitely wouldn't approve of her friendship with a Gryffindor.

Tracey frowns in concern. "Well.. take care of yourself. I don't know if I could deal with your sister alone if something happened to you," She adds, chuckling.

Cassia gave her an appreciative smile. "Thanks, Trace. I'll see you later."

"See you."

And so, when Cassia headed to the showers, she recalled the previous night's events as she felt the hot droplets of water enrapture her senses. Harry arrived, making Cassia frown as she ought have thought he'd have wanted to get some more sleep since he'd be competing come thru next morning. However, he claimed he had a nerve rush that would prevent him from getting any sleep. At least he'd have been able to get some kind of tranquil feeling while talking to Cassia. She'd sat, cross-legged on the hard podium of one of the telescopes, and listened to Harry as he recited his apparent plan of action to battle the dragon. He wasn't exactly sure what he'd need to battle the dragon for, but remembering Charlie Weasley's words a few nights ago, he needed to get past the dragon anyways. So, with help from Professor Moody and some consideration of what the rules really did entail, Harry was going to use his wand to Summon his Firebolt. And from then on, he'd rely on his luck and reflex to get him through the challenge, alive. He didn't care about winning, Cassia knew. She didn't care about him winning either. What they both wanted was for him to persevere through the challenge. It wasn't a matter of winning anymore. It was a matter of survival.

So when she'd left the Astronomy Tower that night, she gave Harry a reassuring smile and told him 'good luck', because that's what friends do. And because she couldn't do anything else to help him other than cheer him on, she had this shaky pit resting in her stomach, one that quaked with the uncertainty of what was to come. Because that's what friendship does. It makes you concerned.

———

WITH CLASSES BEING FINISHED AFTER MIDDAY, Cassia found herself going to lunch with an unsettled feeling laying within her gut. Because, as soon as they'd all fuelled themselves with lunch, they'd be getting ready and heading out to the dragon enclosure to watch the First Task. Of course, no other students but Cassia herself and the champions would know it's a dragon enclosure they'd be going to - they hadn't seen what she had. Even as she tried to focus on consuming her sandwich, she couldn't help but glance over at the Gryffindor table in search of Harry himself. She hadn't spoken to him since last night, and they'd had no classes together that morning, so she hadn't been able to talk to him at all. Not like she'd even be able to, being surrounded by begrudging Gryffindors and Slytherins all around.

Cassia saw Harry, who was slumped at the table beside Hermione Granger, and he looked quite green in the face if she could say so. It would be he, after all, that would have to battle a dragon. The thought of it made Cassia stomach turn and—

"Oi, Cass." Cassia's trance was broken and she turned her head to Theo beside her, looking at her with narrowed eyes. "What's up with you?"

"Hmm?" She says with a mouthful, her eyes narrowing. Gulping down that bit of sandwich, she says, "Nothing?" She knew it was a lie, and so did Theo.

"Really?" Theo asks disbelievingly. "You've been chewing the same bit of bread for the past five minutes and staring at Gryffindor table like Nearly Headless Nick now has an actual headless twin."

"I'm fine, Theo." She persists. Cassia knew he still wasn't convinced, judging by the way he furrowed his eyebrows but he took the hint. That was the second person today to pick up on her odd behaviour.

As soon as her lunch was finished, Cassia headed to her dorm and changed out of her uniform, changing into a pair of black jeans, a yellow turtleneck and her navy blue winter coat (with the fluffy hood she absolutely adored). She finished off the look with her black boots and Slytherin scarf because it was cold. And Salazar knew how long they'd have to stay out in the perishing cold for.

     Then, she and Theo began to walk down to the dragon enclosure, which was where they were directed to go to although no one knew it'd be a dragon enclosure, and for the most part of the walk Cassia remained silent and contemplative, though she had to release a snigger again seeing Theo get tripped up by a trick wire laid along the forest floor, which was discovered as the Weasley twins' idea of a nice prank on a newly-turned Theo. That may have failed, though, because Theo began chasing the two redheads throughout the enlightened Forest. Which left Cassia alone for the rest of the walk, until she felt someone drop into step beside her, smiling.

     "Hi." Daphne says.

     "Hey, Daph." Cassia greets, smiling at her twin sister. "You good?"

     "Brilliant. What was that with Theodore — ?" Daphne asks, motioning in the direction where Theo had chased Fred and George.

     Cassia laughs, rolling her eyes. "The Weasley twins pranked Theo and he got a bit vengeful. Nothing out the ordinary, if I may say so. Theo seems to like the twins now."

     Daphne raises an eyebrow. "Theodore? Liking the twins? That is definitely out of the ordinary."

Cassia chuckled. "Yep. They're not bad, though." She saw the look her twin gave her, obviously unimpressed with her statement. "Okay, for Gryffindors they're not bad. Surely you can't expect me to hate them for being Weasley's? Even you're not prejudiced like that."

Daphne shrugged, as they came to a halt outside the enclosure. Where Cassia remembered there was the cages to contain the dragons, had now been replaced to form circular rows of stands that had been built around a massive arena in the centre, where the trial would be taking place. The arena was filled with many rocks and natural obstacles that were to get in the champions' way. They walked up the stands to find themselves at a spot near some fellow Slytherins.

"To be honest, I don't have an opinion on the Weasley's. As much as they hate all us Slytherins, it just feels downright wrong to hate on them for no reason. I'm not petty like that. I'm not Pansy, or Draco. I just hope you and Theodore aren't fraternising with Gryffindors too much." Daphne explains.

Cassia's eyes narrowed. "Fraternising, really?"

"What?! You can't be seen with them so often, or else the rest of us will start to think you'll have turned on us. To the enemy." Daphne said with a mock-spookiness to her voice, grinning as she said so.

Cassia hated to admit it, but her twin was right. If she was seen hanging around with Gryffindors so often, then they'd suspect something. Her best hope was just that no one would ever find out the friendship she'd struck with Potter, or else she truly was doomed.

"Anyways, I wanted to ask you something." Daphne said, tightening the green and silver scarf around her neck as an extra large gust of wind shot through the stands. "I already see you and Theodore getting along better than normal but... have you heard anything lately about Tori and Draco?"

Cassia sighed. Daphne still didn't know about Blaise and Astoria. But Cassia wasn't going to be the one to break it to them. She wouldn't do that to Astoria, and Blaise, even if it was to her twin. So she just has to play along.

"They don't talk to each other, Daph. I really don't understand what you see between them. If it were me, I would give up the motive." Cassia spoke.

"But there could be something, don't you think?" Daphne asked intently.

"No?"

"Okay, nevermind. Have you heard about the upcoming Ball?"

Nodding slowly, Cassia says, "I've heard of it... but no one's spoken about it in detail yet."

"Well, I need to get Astoria and Draco to go with each other. Not exactly sure how, especially since Pans is pining over the guy and will most likely end up with him, but that's my goal. And I take it you and Theo would go together?"

Cassia's eyebrows raised up into her head so far she felt a shooting pain in her head. What the hell? Ignoring the part about her and Theo, she said, "Daphne? You're joking, right? How could you do that to Pansy?" How could it be that Daphne Greengrass would go to such lengths that she'd prevent her own best friend from getting with the one she was so obviously infatuated with?

Daphne's stare remained prominent. "Do I look like I'm joking?" She didn't, which was the most worrying thing. "Yes, Pansy is my friend, but Tori is my sister! I want her to be happy."

Perhaps her happiness won't lie with Draco but with a certain Blaise Zabini instead? Cassia thinks, and the urge to tell Daphne had never been as scathing.

"Oh, look who's here!" Daphne points to behind Cassia's shoulder, where a very disheveled-looking Theo appeared. "Hi, Theodore."

     "We're here too–" Blaise states blatantly, having appeared out of nowhere with Maryam and Higgs at his side. Daphne ignored this.

"Hey, Daph." Theo replies. He had twigs and leaves stuck all over his hair, and there were faint dirt marks on his face. "Those blasted ginger twins–"

"You have leaves all in your hair, you idiot." Cassia mutters, picking out a very visible twig from out of his flattened quiff. She didn't realise what she was doing until she saw the grin Daphne wore. "Good god." She huffs.

"I'll leave you two to it." Daphne smirks. "Have fun!" She says, and sped off to join Millicent over the other side of the stands.

"Is she still trying to set us up?" Theo asks, staring at where Daphne once stood with incredulous disbelief.

"Yeah, she is." Cassia answers with an exasperated sigh, pulling her leather gloves further up her hands.

     (About the leather - Cassia wasn't much of a luxurious person, but it was as if Marlowe Greengrass would allow her own daughters to go to Hogwarts without satisfactory enough accessories. Her trunk had to include some of the finest items to date, by necessity.)

Theo grins airily to himself, before meeting Cassia's now confused stare. He moves closer to her, his breath inches from her face. "You know, maybe we should just pretend to date?" He whispers huskily, the smirk evident within his tone. "Just for a laugh?"

Immediately catching on to what he was saying, Cassia pushes him away from her with both hands. He stumbles back into a fifth year Slytherin, and watches as Cassia's eyes widens massively. "You are deluded, Theo!"

Theo begun to cackle, and the extent of Cassia's glare heightened.

     Cassia looks over at her roommate. "Where's Eva gone to?" She asks Maryam.

     "Guess." Says Maryam, and she pointed over to a spot in the stands further away from them, where Eva was standing talking to Adrian Pucey, the two of them looking quite comfortable with each other.

     "Ah." Cassia says, grinning to Maryam.

     "She's already taking my best friend away from me! I'm sad." Higgs pouts, looking in Eva and Adrian's direction.

     Cassia frowns, reaching out to pat Higgs' arm. "I'm sure the bromance will still live on, Higgs." She says. She takes a look around the stadium prepared for the First Task, and spots Charlie Weasley from afar, appearing as a small figure with her being so high up in the stands, yet the vibrant red hair and characteristic large burn mark being brandished on his arm was enough to distinguish the guy. He was with many of his fellow dragon-tamers, and Charlie Weasley stands near the an opening where she is so sure they'll bring in the dragons from, and he is crouched upon a large wooden crate, which sparks up a thought in Cassia's mind. What's in that crate—?

     "Welcome to the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament!" A voice booms. It was Ludo Bagman, taking the centre stage as commentator. Dumbledore, Maxime, Crouch and Karkaroff took their own spots as judges. "The Task that the chosen champions have to complete today includes them facing off of a dragon to collect their prized treasure!" At the mention of dragon, many gasps and 'oohs' were heard. Cassia stayed staring straight ahead, her arms folded. "They will get judged by our judging panel, and if they succeed in collecting the egg then they must figure out what the clue within the egg is to uncover the next task.

     "The Champions will go in this order: Cedric Diggory against the Swedish Short Snout, Fleur Delacour against the Common Welsh Green, Viktor Krum against the Chinese Fireball and Harry Potter against the Hungarian Horntail."

     Cassia's stomach lurched. Even before Bagman had clarified Harry would be facing the Horntail did she know it'd be his opponent. One, by using powers of deduction, and two, because the poor boy's luck always seemed to take a fall into the pit of doom. She remembered Charlie's sorrows about anyone facing the Horntail; she was there when the Horntail nearly singed off her entire face with one puff of fire-breath; now Harry would have to deal with all of that.

She watched as Charlie jumped off of large crate he was perched upon, and heaved the lid off. He reached inside, bringing out a large nest of golden eggs that twinkled in what little sun amidst the grey clouds was available. Charlie begun to clamber between the rocks, placing the nest down on a large mountain of rock.

     "And now, we have Cedric Diggory facing the Swedish Short Snout!"

Cedric walks into the arena, his usual handsome face now appearing quite grim and queasy. The dragon also got brought in by chains; more dragon-tamers heaved the blueish-grey dragon into the arena, leading it towards the nest. It sat, guarding the nest with ease as the dragon-tamers ran off the pitch. Now it was just Cedric, the dragon and a huge bout of people cheering his name and a huge bout of people watching in anticipation. He begun to try a number of things, different spells and charms, but the only one that helped him just get past, though with last-minute singed hair, had transfigured a rock into a Labrador to distract the dragon. The judges put up his score. Then Fleur went next. Then Krum.

And then Harry.

The dragon-tamers brought in the Horntail he would have to be facing, who guarded her eggs meticulously, her beady eyes which Cassia so clearly remembered from having seen it the previous night. Harry walked out, looking positively frightened and his dark hair appearing more unorganised than usual. All around were people jeering, more specifically the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs (Cassia could never in her wildest imagination have pictured a Hufflepuff to do so), while the Gryffindors attempted to trump this with their own cheers for their champion.

Harry's wand arm lifted, his wand poking the air as he shouted, "Accio Firebolt!" Like Cassia had expected him to. His prized broomstick shot through the enclosure, landing in Harry's arms and he hoisted himself up onto it. Cassia could hear Bagman's commentary, could hear Theo shouting "fucking hell!" as Harry swerved sharply from beneath the strike of its' sharp, spiky tail, but paid no attention to it.

Knowing he needed an aversion from high in the air, Harry dived, the dragon following suit. She was so sure he was going to crash, but just as the Horntail shot fire from its mouth Harry pulled out of the dive in time. Cassia heard Bagman's "Mr Krum, are you watching this?" as he begun to fly upwards in a wide circle. He dodged her next bout of fire-breath, but her tail followed suit, slashing Harry across the shoulder, just as—

"Salazar, Cass, watch those damn long nails of yours!"

Cassia's eyes darted around to see her hand gripped around Theo's forearm, who recoiled his hand in pain, his eyes squinted at his best friend.

"Sorry..." She winces, figuring out her nails may have pierced into his forearm a bit too hard. I didn't even know I grabbed onto him? Cassia looked back to the event at hand, where the Horntail was reluctant in leaving her eggs.

Harry was hovering above her coaxingly, and then he soared upwards again, and the Horntail had enough, she was soaring further upwards, she'd left her treasured eggs. Just as she opened her mouth again, the fire shooting dangerously out of it, Harry made a sharp turn, avoiding the flames and he was flying towards the eggs, the dragon lacking behind, and before she knew it -

"HARRY POTTER HAS GOTTEN HIS EGG!"

Feeling that she was finally able to let go of the breath she'd withdrawn this whole time, Cassia dropped her head back with a relieved sigh, and begun to inwardly smile. Or outwardly. She didn't know anymore. All that made sense was that Harry'd gotten his egg - and alive! (With a bleeding shoulder nonetheless, but it could've been worse.) Nothing else could make Cassia smile harder than this, because hell, had she been worried.

"Look at that! Will you look at that!" Bagman yells gleefully. "Our youngest champion is quickest to get his egg! Well, this is going to shorten the odds on Mr Potter!"

Cassia smiles more.

"Why are you smiling so much?" Theo asks, glaring from beside Cassia. "It's only Potter?"

Shit. Cassia made a mental note to acquit any form of smile on her face before any other Slytherin around her had noticed. First his arm, now this? He'll have thought I've gone loopy..

"Yeah, you're right," Cassia says, shaking her head. "It's only Potter." She looks ahead, where Harry returns after a small excursion to what Cassia thought was Madam Pomfrey. His score is being put up by the judges. Theo takes his time to remove his eyes from Cassia, looking suspiciously between her auburn locks where her eyes should have met his.

Maxime's wand shoots a spark into the air, flowing nicely into an eight. Crouch gave a nine. Another nine from Dumbledore. Ten from Bagman. And four from Karkaroff (creepy biased git, Cassia thought). Harry is tied in first place with Krum. And Cassia is finding it difficult to not smile as they make their way down the stands, past the champions' tent and into the Hall for dinner.

———

WHEN CASSIA IS GETTING READY TO HEAD TO THE ASTRONOMY TOWER ON THE NIGHT HARRY POTTER FACED THE FIRST TASK, she's excited. She wanted to be able to congratulate him! To tell him, 'you did great!' or 'nice swerve' or even 'you daft idiot you nearly got your head burned off!'. She wanted to say something to him. Something that wasn't clouded by the rage all the Slytherin had held about Harry doing well, about drawing with Krum. Because truth be told, she still felt bad that she could do nothing about all these people ridiculing and abusing him verbally, because none of them could know of the friendship they held. (It still felt weird to Cassia, calling them friends.) But she also felt bad that she couldn't tell anyone. She wanted to be able to tell Theo, or Daphne, or someone about her new friendship. But she knows how they'll react. She can't tell them as much as she wants to stop keeping them in the dark, but thats just the way it is.

Cassia walks down the dormitory stairs at approximately 11.24pm, entering the common room which was lit only very slightly by a few floating candles around the room and the dimmed fireplace. She sees it's empty, as it always is at this time, and proceeds through the room, a dark green tint encasing it. But then a figure emerges from the tall-backed leather chair facing away from Cassia, and turns around. Even in the darkness, Cassia could still recognise that chestnut hair anywhere. She feels her heart stop for a moment, even more so when the figure turns around to face her.

     "Theo—"

"So you have been sneaking out every night then?" Theo interrupts. Something in his voice wasn't contemptuous like Cassia had imagined it to be. Rather, it was curious. Pondering. He trails a hand along the back of the leather seat, before meeting her eyes.

Cassia bites down hard on her lip. She can't lie. She knows she can't. Somehow, Theo found out. Maybe not that she goes to meet Harry every night, but that she doesn't go straight to bed either. And she can't lie anymore, because it's Theo. Her best friend. Keeping this from him would be detrimental now. Cassia can't hide it any more.

Taking a deep inhalation, she says, "How did you find out?"

Theo makes a noise, a light scoff, at the fact he was proven right. "Wow. I hadn't expected what the portraits said to be true."

"The portraits?" Cassia couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Yeah. The other day I passed by one of the paintings, you know, the one with the large ogre-like man who looks really constipated? I heard him say something about the 'blasted Greengrass twin' who'd interrupted his sleep every night since start of term by walking past him in the dead of night, outside curfew. I didn't know whether to believe it was you or not, considering it could've been Daphne too. But I also know you have difficulty sleeping, so it made sense that it was."

Wow, Cassia thought. It was mental that a bleeding portrait of an ogre-like man was enough for her secret to be revealed. Of all the tell-tale signs. Running a hand through the parting of her auburn hair, Cassia braced herself for what was coming next. She knew what Theo was going to ask next. He was smart. He never left out any detail.

"I can't understand what you were doing, though."

Cassia could tell Theo was intrigued. She would be too, had she found out her best friend had been venturing out into the halls of Hogwarts past curfew in secret. It was only natural.

"Erm - I don't really know how to say this, but, uh - every night, I've been leaving my bed and going out to the Astronomy Tower.." She winces, knowing she left out the part about Harry being there too.

Theo furrows his eyebrows. "Is that it?" He asks, seemingly unimpressed. "Why did you have to keep it a secret then?"

"Because.." She starts, her eyes darting around the common room. One could have said that she was keeping an eye out for any wandering Slytherins, but they both knew they wouldn't be interrupted. That was just the beauty of her luck. Stifling when she least needed it. She takes another deep breath. "Because... because I've been meeting Potter every night..."

It became so quiet you could have heard the small tinkle of a pin drop. Theo stood there, appearing blank, and Cassia took a cautious step forward in attempt to get some kind of response from him.

"Theo?" Cassia spoke quietly, hoping he wouldn't remain emotionless any longer.

He shook his head, removing himself from the blank state that had Cassia so worried. "Is this why you were so detached this morning? And why you nearly clawed my wrist off at the first task? And why you were trying so goddamn hard to not smile on the way back up to the castle?"

Cassia gave him a puzzled look.

"Yes, I saw you trying to hide your smile." Theo says, rolling his eyes. "I notice more than think, Cass. Now answer the question."

"I mean.. yeah. You seemed to have it all figured out." It surprised Cassia, how easily he managed to fit the jigsaw together. But then, he was her best friend, and knew her better than anyone else. Besides her own twin. Good god, what if Daphne found out?

Theo sat himself down on the arm of the chair he previously occupied. He examined his cuticle. "So... you and Potter are friends, then?"

"Well.. yeah, I mean." She admits. Cassia squints her eyes at Theo. He seemed to be relatively calm about it all. "Don't you have anything else to say about it?"

Theo shrugged. He had a pretty tired expression on his face. Which, made sense, because it was nearing midnight.

"I don't like the guy, as you know, but you seem to have matters sorted, yeah? He's not my favourite person ever. But, if you have a thing with him, then -"

"Hold up, Theo." Cassia says, with narrowed eyes and her hands splayed in front of her. "Me and Potter don't have a 'thing' together."

"Is that so? Then explain this whole meeting him at night thing every night."

"That's just... we just talk. About life, and school, and everything. He trusts me. And I trust him, even if he's 'the enemy'. Not as much as I trust you, obviously."

Theo grins smugly at that. Cassia looked at the grandfather clock in the room, and saw that the time was ticking away, and Harry was probably waiting for her.

"Listen, it's great that you're so accepting of this -"

"Hang on, I am not accepting of this, I'm just reeling it in -"

"Shut it, I'm getting late. I'll see you in the morning. Oh, and one more thing."

Cassia rushed forward, hugging Theo by the shoulders. She smiled, her mouth pressed against his hair. "Thank you."

"Don't go getting all soft on me now, Cass." Theo says, once Cassia pulls away from their short hug. Nonetheless, he couldn't hide the grin that slowly crawled onto his face. He threw his arm clumsily in the direction of the door. "Go on, go see your guy."

"'My guy'? Really, Theo?" Cassia says, her eyebrow raised at the idiocy of his implication.

"Go!" Theo says, an incredulous laugh escaping his mouth. "You'll be late, like you said."

Cassia grins, as she turned her head away from her best friend and began to speed silently out of the common room. Salazar, did she love Theo or what?

***

i can't get over how much i love theo and cassia's friendship 🥺🥺

the next chapter is quite busy like there's LOADS happening in it (hint hint yule ball) and i'm gonna skip thru the second task too just bc i feel like it's a bit unnecessary to the overall plot of this part. uno, like why drag things on if it can be helped??

but there's approx 3 chapters left until the end of this part and then it's the OOTP!! pretty excited for that and everything that follows ngl especially cos i'm also giving my oc from my charlie weasley fic a couple of appearances 🤩 speaking of charlie weasley fic i'm gonna post it in the very near future :p

also just a note: in my bio is resources to support blacklivesmatter so please go check it out! it's the least we can do to help.

hope you enjoyed this and that you're all doing well and staying safe and healthy!

— saar xx