***

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     THIS WAS A FIRST FOR CASSIA.

     She'd never sat a proper exam. Well, not really. There were always those "exams" in the years below where teachers assessed students for that year, but it was in speech marks for a reason. They weren't important.

     This was.

     While Cassia didn't know what she wanted to do in her future, she had to give her all in these exams to ensure that she'd even have a future.

     The first week of June was the week exams started. And on the Monday of her first exam, Cassia woke up having scrounged for the most sleep possible in her temperamental dormant life, finding Maryam already on her bed front, flipping through pages upon pages of notes. Eva had come out her duvet cave in a frenzy wishing she spent more time studying. That makes two of them.

     Today's exam was Charms. Theory in the morning, practical in the afternoon.

Cassia had this thing about being presentable during exams. She wouldn't know how to approach them best, she's never even sat any before — but she has this idea where if she has her hair done or puts a bit more effort into making herself look good, it can boost her esteem for the exams. She can go in with her head held up and get right into the paper knowing that she put effort into herself, so she can put effort into the exam. She curled her hair faintly, put a nice shade of pink lipgloss on and spritzed a sweet perfume onto herself, smelling of roses. Even if she fails, she'll do it looking pretty.

She hopes she won't fail.

"—The wand movement for turning on switch?"

"A V-shape?" says Cassia in reply to Daphne, who was currently opposite Cassia, walking backwards into the Great Hall, blindly navigating through the aisles between tables with a set of Charms flashcards in her hands. "Wait, no," Cassia corrects herself, "It's more like a tick—the right line of the V is longer."

Daphne checks the other side of the card and grins. "Yes. What charm would you use for floor sweeping?"

Twisting her face in thought, Cassia continues following the reversed Daphne, "I can never get this one—"

"Oh, shit—!"

Daphne stumbles forward with a collision into her back. The apologetic look she had instantly turned to flint at seeing who she'd walked into. Pansy Parkinson, arms folded with a lip jutted out, book in hand (being the reason she'd missed avoiding the Greengrass twin's unguided navigation into the Hall). Pansy also seemed to be someone who dressed up a bit to hearten themselves for the exams, her short dark hair pinned up at the sides with small clips.

Daphne drags her hard stare from Pansy onto Cassia, pressuring a smile to her lips. "As we were?" She says.

Cassia, frozen, shifts her gaze between Pansy and Daphne. She grimaces at Pansy before pressing her lips together in looking at Daphne. This was ridiculous. She wished they'd make up soon. And make out. Was this what people thought when Cassia and Theo stopped being friends?

Cassia sighs as she drops herself into the seat beside Daphne at the table. Theo comes strolling up opposite them, book in hand, but he wasn't reading it. Maryam and Eva were projecting through all the last names of everyone realising with dread that they'd be positioned at the very front of the exam hall due to their surnames. Blaise piped in looking smug, with his name the last on the register.

"When are you two going to make up?" says Cassia to Daphne, buttering a slice of toast.

"Who says we ever will?" Daphne hums after downing a goblet of orange juice.

"Fate does," Cassia mocks at her twin. She swats her arm lightly, resulting in Daphne dropping her spoon smack against her cereal bowl. Daphne scowls are her but Cassia ignores it. "You two can't ignore each other forever."

"Says who?"

Cassia narrows her eyes. "Me."

"It doesn't matter." Daphne brushes off, her voice harsh. "Now, can you remember what the charm was to sweep floors?"

When she'd finished her breakfast and managed to quiz Theo on his Charms terms, it left the Nott boy to quiz Daphne on hers, the alternation proved. While he was doing that, Cassia brushed off what remaining toast crumbs still hung to her robes and took a stroll veering in the direction of the Gryffindor table. She saw Harry sitting with Ron and Hermione and claps her arms down onto his shoulders.

Harry flinches. Ron sniggers. Hermione had hardly acknowledged any of it, her breakfast traded in for the book her nose was practically touching. Harry cranes his neck upwards, eyes squinted at his girlfriend.

     "We all exam ready, then?" Cassia says.

"Well, no," Ron says, "But sure."

"... Me too."

     She looks down at Harry who was having his breakfast. "You almost finished?"

"Yeah, one second—" Harry says, but he's interrupted suddenly by Ron who has his hands clasped at his heart and his eyes in a reminiscent daze, a smirk tracing his lips.

"You know, it feels like yesterday that Harry would look longingly over to the Slytherin table for his eyes to fall upon who else but Cassia Greengrass, wishing that he could spend his eternity with the Slytherin who managed to capture his heart. Sometimes he would be extra slow in class just so you could walk past him and for him to accidentally bump into you, but we realised you were a pretty fast walker. He'd think up names for your future children—"

"I didn't do that, what the hell?" Harry interjects. Ron grins sheepishly. Harry's scathing glare burned into Ron.

Cassia's mouth drops open.

"Is this true?" says Cassia.

Hermione, who was so focused on her book, ends up choking back on her pumpkin juice to witness the scene. Ron grins. "You bet, he'd have daydreams about you two riding into the sunset—"

"Ron, I will murder you one of these days." Harry deadpans, bringing his legs out from under his table, deciding he was better off with half his breakfast in his stomach than letting this continue.

     Cassia beams at Ron. "Thank you for giving me something to mock Harry about! Honestly, he's so perfect most of the time, you've shown me the other side to Harry Potter, if there's ever more—"

     Harry had already grabbed hold of Cassia's hand, dragging her from the table before anything else could be said. Ron yelled, "We'll talk more in History!"

When they reach the Entrance Hall, Harry turns to look at Cassia. Her grin torched into his side.

     "Why are you... looking at me like that?" He says.

"Maybe because Harry Potter pined after me?" Cassia states, eyes squinted like it was the most blatant thing ever.

Harry rolls his eyes.

     "You, the Great Harry Potter, pined after me, a peasant. I mean, I don't know how one is supposed to wrap their head around that. Considering I'm just—"

     "Anything but a peasant."

     Cassia waves a hand away. "I'm being dramatic, let me be. You pined over me."

"Do not believe any of Ron's bullshit—"

"It doesn't sound like bullshit to me." Cassia grins. "Everyone, Harry Potter is many things, clever, a sweetheart, powerful, a little shit when he needs to be—but above all, he remains a piner."

"You're never gonna let this go, are you?" deadpans Harry.

"Never." says Cassia. "Admit it."

Harry huffs. Reluctantly, he mutters, "Maybe I pined."

"Mhm-mm," she hums satisfactorily. "I would never picture you to be a piner."

"Shut it." He elbows her in the side, only prolonging her smirk. You can't blame me, he wanted to say, because in all truth who could? For one, she was gorgeous, Phoenix and Marlowe Greengrass certainly got that right for their three children. She was realistic, harsh at times, but she'd had his back at times he could never have anticipated. You could never blame him for holding a candle for her, especially one as bright and fragrant as the one for her. He wouldn't be surprised if the whole of Hogwarts had a thing for her or her sisters. There was something about the Greengrass family, something that just continuously seemed to blow the world away.

     He turned away, so Cassia couldn't see the traitor of a smile playing at his lips.

When they returned to the Great Hall after their short walk through the courtyards, they arrived to see the house tables cast away, replaced with many small desks in straight row-and-column format. The Charms theory paper was due to start any moment, and Cassia could see her very examination motionless on her desk, behind Hermione Granger and in front of Daphne, because that's where the alphabet put her.

She sat down and looked behind, her and Daphne sharing looks with each other. When her eyes focused on the paper, it dawned on her that yes, this was her exam.

Holy shit.

I shouldn't freak out, Cassia thought. She prepared for this. She studied. She lost tons of sleep she probably wouldn't have gotten anyways. She can do this. It's just an exam.

(And besides, she wasn't continuing with Charms next year. She can afford to fail a subject.)

(Except she does not want to.)

Soon she found out there was no point in doing her hair for that day because she ended up tying a hair bobble around it in a low ponytail to prevent it coming in the way. Hair out the way, she sees the invigilators patrolling up and down the aisles, checking if everyone had everything they needed. After this, that was one paper down. After this, it would be onto the next. And when the examination started, her hand reached to the quill parallel to her paper. She opened the assessment as calmly as possible and read, and her mind became lost among the cacophony of paper shuffling, quill scratching and clock ticking.

Let's do this...

———

YOU KNOW, THE BEARERS OF TIME can be pretty unfair. It's like they enjoy making fun of the effort-to-outcome ratio that people become so engrossed in when doing something. If they have some event or job or interview or whatever coming up they make the time leading up to it an absolute nervous hell and then when that event comes to pass, it's gone in what seems like a few seconds. Likewise, students spend so long preparing for their exams, literal months, and then the actual exam season comes upon them and decides to tornado it's way past them? Without so much as a nicely-set hairdo to spare? How rude.

Time is cruel.

The exams were going by at the speed of light. Cassia hated that. One nanosecond she'd been crouched at a square desk, her quill scrawling hurriedly across the page (worried that the exam markers wouldn't be able to intercept her rushed handwriting) and the next a whole week of exams had passed and she was revising for Potions, the first exam of the second week. She'd sat four other subjects that week. Transfiguration, Herbology, Muggle Studies and Defence. She thinks they went okay.

     Theory was always the simple part of an exam. As long as you memorise the content and the exam techniques, you would be sorted. The physical aspect is more persnickety. Theory could get you as far as it did, but practical exams required talent and thoroughness. Refinery. Transfiguration went fine, and Cassia got most of her spells right apart from tiny falters, and in Muggle Studies she identified each appliance correctly and their functions, their origins and background science. And Herbology, in Cassia's opinion, was the best so far. As for her Defence practical, Cassia thinks she had it in the bag, which surprised her when given the lack of competent teaching she'd gotten that year.

     The past couple months, Cassia and her Slytherin friends had been continuing their usual practical study sessions, with the help of Luciana Nott's journal and a few obscure library books too. They nailed the defensive spells as best as possible. Way better than the lessons Umbridge gave them. And anyways, Cassia also had a couple of private lessons for Defence, thanks to Harry, who said he could teach her a thing or two. They'd found discrete spaces, and they hadn't been caught either, which benefited them in more ways than one...

     So she thinks she aced Defence.

"Since when did Michael Corner get taller than me?" Eva spurts out, her and Cassia making their way down the dormitory staircase on the way to the library before their Potions practical exam. "No, like, I wish I was kidding. Because of the register and our last names he sat a few seats down from me and at the end of the theory exam today he walked past me and he was quite clearly taller than me? How is that even possible? I literally remember sitting next to him in third year and he was, like, tiny. And I always considered myself kinda tall, because Adrian is only just a bit taller than I and he's pretty tall and now Michael friggin' Corner is taller than me? What a world."

Cassia snickers, a hand brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "It's the hormones, I'm telling you."

"Yeah, I know," Eva sighs, "But it makes me sad. I loved being one of the taller ones. Really does stuff for my superiority complex."

Laughing, Cassia and Eva turn the corner as they reach the end of the staircase, stopping abruptly in their tracks when someone emerged from the boy's end of the dormitory. Undeniably, platinum hair glinting in the sun shining through the stained glass, Draco Malfoy stood upright with his hands flattening down his robes, his Inquisitorial Squad badge gleaming horribly, a potions textbook in hand.

     "Afternoon," he says, but he looked at them like someone upturning their shoe to examine a piece of gum.

"Malfoy." Cassia and Eva acknowledge. Both girls matched each other's rigid stance, speaking with as much warmth as they were given.

(Over the years, Cassia has just come to the conclusion that Malfoy is an ass to everyone. He's less of an ass to his friends, but by that point whatever dickish behaviour he displays is usually reciprocated. But she's not Malfoy's friend. She's something, but that isn't his friend.)

     "How are your parents, Abercrombie?" The smirk on his face was inarguably fuelled by derision, a jab at the girl whose family broke apart due to reasons far too complicated for ordinary minds. She didn't even think Malfoy knew the truth about Eva's father.

     "Certainly still more competent than yours." Eva raises an eyebrow cooly. "Which says something, considering one lives here while the other one's twenty-one miles away in Europe."

His lips twitch into a scowl.

     "Malfoy, what's the point of this?" says Cassia. "Seriously, is it that hard for you to keep your mouth shut? Because let's be honest, Eva will out-wit you in any conversation."

     Malfoy glowers. Eva smirks. That's her best friend.

     "You know, you would never have found out about your father if it weren't for me." says Malfoy. "We both know Nott wouldn't have plucked the courage to tell you. You might want to be more grateful."

     Cassia arches an eyebrow.

     "Yeah? I'll be more grateful when you make up your mind. There's no point in occasionally wanting to do good if you're never going to change you being a dick. Morals come first."

     Sometimes, Cassia couldn't believe this was the boy who warned her and her twin of her father being a Death Eater. It's like every time he comes close to doing something remotely good, he lands on the snake's head and slides back down to the start of the game board. She found it hard to sympathise with someone so full of loathing and mockery that it'd come in the way of his own absolution.

     Before Cassia leaves with Eva, she turns back to Malfoy with a pointed stare. "And Theo deserves more credit than what you're saying. He has more on his conscience than you could ever dare to believe."

Eva loops her arm through Cassia's as they stalk abruptly away, both whipping their luscious hair in his face. The glare on Malfoy's face could burn through titanium, but they didn't stay back to watch.

    "You know, people used to think me and Malfoy were twins." Eva points out.

     Cassia's features warp in disgust. "As if. You're way better looking than him." She reconsiders. "Way better, full stop."

     They'd reached the foyer when a small collection of students were emerging from the outside. While one wore her emerald training jersey, the other two wore the same colour of hoodie on top of their sweatpants. They were all carrying broomsticks, their faces glistening with sweat caused only by the glorified sunlight, laughing about something of meaning to them only. It was Maryam, Tracey and Daphne.

Cassia and Eva exchange a look, then head over there. Cassia taps on Daphne's elbow from behind.

     "Hey!" says Daphne, turning around to meet her twin's beam with one of her own.

     "Hey," says Cassia. "You guys were—?"

     "Playing quidditch!" says Daphne, grinning from ear to ear. "Just the outlet we needed for all this studying. You know, it was fun. I've never really played much quidditch, didn't think it could be my thing, but I actually enjoyed myself? Maryam did too for once, she didn't have her teammates to deal with. Apart from Adrian, sweet guy, bless him. Where were you two going?"

     "Library," says Cassia. She grimaces, remembering her previous encounter with Malfoy.

     "What was that?" says Daphne, looking up to meet Cassia's gaze.

     "Nothing...?"

     Daphne frowns. "You said something else...?"

     Cassia frowns. "No, I didn't...?"

     "You did..." says Daphne. "Didn't hear it that well, but it was something about Malfoy..."

     "Malfoy?" Cassia calls out. "I don't think I said anything about him... But Eva and I did have an encounter with him earlier."

     "Oh," says Daphne, deciding to ignore whatever just happened. "Not good, I'm guessing?"

     Cassia shakes her head slowly. "Never is. He's an ass."

     "Oh no," Daphne winces. She tugs at the drawstring of her emerald hoodie. "Wish he could just... leave."

"Yeah," Cassia sighs, "Shame Hogwarts has no secret back doors."

"I mean..."

"Huh," Cassia raises a cool brow. "You know something?"

"I mean, it'd be a betrayal to all those house elves if I told you..."

"Ah-ha!" Cassia points an accusatory finger Daphne's way. "So you do know something."

"Snitches get stitches," says Daphne with a feeble shrug.

"Huh..." Cassia narrows her eyes. "I'm onto you. Nothing gets past the eyes of Detective Greengrass."

"You're right, nothing has ever gotten past my eyes." Daphne adds. Cassia's mouth drops open in a lighthearted scoff and Daphne grins. "I'm sweaty. I gotta go shower, but I'll see you in the exam?"

"Sure," says Cassia. She lifts a straight hand to her forehead and salutes her twin. "Adieu, Detective Greengrass."

Daphne copies the salute with her broomstick. "Farewell, Detective Greengrass. May the investigative gods rain their blessings upon us for the exams."

"Bye." Cassia laughs, shaking her head and watching her twin's tied up auburn bounce away with a small smile.

———

     POTIONS HAPPENED, and so did Care of Magical Creatures, Divination and Astronomy. They all went without a fuss except for Divination, which Cassia wasn't even going to pretend that she'd failed.

Cassia's final exam was History of Magic on Thursday afternoon.

     That morning was accompanied by Theo and his intense battle with memorising every fact in their textbooks and Cassia's flashcards which, without a doubt, she'd already learnt much to his chagrin. There are few things Cassia can upstage Theo in; History of Magic was one of them.

By the time the afternoon kicked in, bringing with it that final hour of stress and cramming before the exam would begin. Rather than panicking with everyone else in the common room, Cassia opted in going down to the kitchens, her hair tied up into a ponytail from which the ends curled at the bottom, the shoes that were once covered in Fred and George Weasley's swamp now clean to the shine. She asked the house elves to make two cups of coffee with plenty of cream and sugar and when she thanked them and took the two disposable cups back upstairs, Cassia met Harry. He'd immediately folded her into a massive hug, dropping his entire weight onto her without a spared thought — his means of relieving his stress, Cassia supposed — and when he pulled away, the droop of his eyes made Cassia conclude that coffee was the right option.

They were both exhausted.

And so, refusing to dedicate another thought to anything related to history or their upcoming exam, Cassia and Harry went for a stroll through the corridors that they were accustomed to walking through every day. Among all that they talked of during this distraction, guzzling their coffees down to the dregs in doing so, the topic of the previous nights shenanigans with Hagrid and Professor Umbridge and poor Professor McGonagall.

Somehow, they got onto the topic of the weirdest public experiences each of them have had in their time. One time in third year, Cassia was in the bathroom at The Three Broomsticks during a Hogsmeade trip and there were a couple of girls by the sinks talking about a party in Hogwarts. Cassia came out of her stall and it was only when the two other girls had left with their discrete party talk in tow, the door to the stall beside Cassia's had opened, and a sixth year guy was crouched on the toilet lid not even looking fazed at his being in the girls bathroom. As he was leaving, Cassia could hear him muttering, "So Jemma's hosting the party, gotta tell Jahid...—" while she'd stood there with the soap in hand, staring at him.

She'd never questioned life more.

As for Harry, he was out at the farmer's market doing the shopping for his aunt and uncle, and while he'd been figuring out which leeks to buy, a man ran up to Harry with a Jack Russell on its leash and thrusted the handle of the leash in Harry's hand. The man said something incoherent but tan away, leaving a confused Harry with this small dog in hand and his groceries scattered all around them. The man never came back for the dog. So Harry took it to the police who contacted the animal protection agency. Harry always wondered if the man ever did come back for his dog.

"...Okay, but by far the weirdest one—" says Cassia with confidence. Now that they'd disposed of their coffee cups — all energised for their exam — Harry had an arm slung around her shoulders, and Cassia interlaced that hand of his with her own, absently fiddling with it as she talked on, Harry listening beside. "—I was on holiday in Bulgaria right before third year and my grandparents were taking Daph, Tori and I to some Muggle sports game, it might have been football? Or hockey? Honestly, I can't remember. But I do recall it being a derby between two of the country's biggest rivals and the three of us realised that matches like these got heated, like, intense, and we saw the players of one team get out of their bus to go into the stadium locker rooms and, get this, the fans of the rival team were already getting riled up before the game and they broke through the queues and started chasing the players from their bus — with freaking shovels."

Harry's eyes squint. "Shovels?"

"Shovels."

"Okay," says Harry. "You win. None of mine's beating that."

     Cassia can't help but grin. "Well, a guy randomly putting a puppy into your hands is still cute. I love dogs."

     "Hm," says Harry with interest. I'll keep that in mind, was what she didn't hear him say.

     Giving him a perplexed eye squint, Cassia realised she and Harry had reached the Entrance Hall where students were nervously queueing up in. Cassia spots Theo walking up to them with is eyes trained onto a book. She calls out to him and he looks up, seeing his best friend with her boyfriend. Theo was about to make a detour but Cassia's hard gaze prevented him from doing so. With a sigh, he joins Cassia and Harry.

     "Hey," says Theo.

     "Hey," returns Cassia and Harry. Theo was giving Cassia a pointed stare, as if it wasn't weird enough that he and Harry had this strange... whatever going on, that now she was expecting him to be mutual with Harry. He just had to go out and get himself the most demanding best friend out, didn't he?

     "Did you get coffee?" Cassia asks Theo.

     Theo nods. "I did. You?"

     "I did, indeed. All buzzed up, both of us," she grins, looking to Harry.

     Theo shifts his gaze from Cassia to Harry, an eyebrow raised. "She got you coffee?"

     "Yeah, she did...?" says Harry, not finding anything wrong with what his unimpressed stare was saying.

     "You'll regret that." says Theo.

     "What—"

     "Not this again, Theo!" Cassia complains, cutting off Harry with his frown of confusion.

     "You can't expect me not to say anything—" Theo states.

     "Well, people have different tastes—!"

     "Wait—" Harry cuts in. "What are you talking about?"

     Theo deals with a heavy glare from Cassia as he explains, "Cassia has too much sugar in her coffee and it's horrible."

     "That's how I like my coffee, excuse me—!"

     "I mean, you will get diabetes one day." He brushes her off harshly. "And for what, when it doesn't even taste nice?

     "Harry didn't seem to have a problem with the taste!" She turns her eyes onto her boyfriend. "Did you?"

     Harry was suddenly very affronted by the contesting looks Cassia and Theo were giving him.

     "To be fair..." Harry starts off cautiously, "You could have toned it down with the sugar..."

     "Really?" Cassia's eyes widen incredulously at what she was hearing. "That's how it is? You're on his side?"

     Cassia jabs a thumb to Theo, who was smirking with content, forgetting for a moment it was Harry Potter he'd formed a team against Cassia with. Harry scratches his ear, a slight grin tugging at his mouth. Harry would savour this moment.

     "Sorry," says Harry with a half-hearted shrug. He shares a look with Theo.

     "Yeah, okay," Cassia rolls her eyes, attempting to hide the smile. She failed. "Idiots."

     "But you wouldn't have it any other way." says Theo. Cassia gave a muffled grunt that translated otherwise for the two boys.

     "Hey, I think I see Ron," Harry says. "Is it cool if I go?"

     "Sure," says Cassia. "Good luck."

     "I'll need it," he remarks. Harry looks at Theo. "Good luck."

     "Uh," Theo blinks twice. "You too."

     Harry nods at Theo once before leaning an arm against Cassia's shoulders. As he feathers a kiss to her hair, she hears him whisper, "Good luck. Not that you need it."

     She lets out a low laugh when he pulls back, giving her a grin. His hair looked extra messy today, and while any person's natural thought would be to give it a good brush, for Cassia, it was an endearing look. Her boyfriend was cute. In more ways than one.

     "Ew, I'm about to throw up." Upon hearing the disgruntled voice, Cassia's head snaps to meet Theo's gaze.

     Her eyebrows wrinkle in a frown. "Why would that be?"

     "'Cause you two are morons." He tells her. "It's gross. And you have that... that look. The infatuated one."

     Cassia scoffs. "I am not infatuated." Theo gives her a look. She sighs. "Okay, maybe a little. You can't blame me. He's cute, and he's sweet, and sometimes his glasses go wonky on his face so I fix it and gosh when you add that to the way his hair can sometimes be it's just so—"

     She clamps her mouth shut before she can say anything else. God, was she being a hypocrite right now. Thank goodness Harry and Theo weren't close enough for him to tell Harry that. He'd give Ron Weasley a run for his money.

     "Merlin, save me from this torture." He mutters under his breath. "How will I live with you two together."

     "It was either Harry or Eva if by thirty we were both still single." says Cassia. "Which, to be honest? I would not be complaining. A hundred percent, she's one of my top crushes in our year." She pauses. "But for obvious reasons, Harry is now number one."

     "Oh, yeah?" says Theo. "Who else made the cut?"

     "In our year?" says Cassia. "Harry's number one, obviously. But before him there was Eva, Maryam too for fairness but also because she's amazing, Anthony Goldstein, Wayne Hopkins—"

     "Hopkins?" exclaims Theo. "Please don't say Sterling, he's my cousin."

     "And he dated Daphne too, so as cute as he is, I'd rather things weren't weird. I absolutely have to say Pansy because she's gorgeous—she's Daphne's, though. You might have made the list back in first year when we hardly knew each other and I was that naive."

     "Thanks?" Theo squints his eyes, mildly offended. Cassia gives him a grin.

     "Who's on your list?" asks Cassia.

     "I don't need a list." Theo rolls his eyes.

     "Still firm on dying single and alone?"

     "Read my mind."

"Really," Cassia breathes, rolling her eyes.

"Really." Theo mutters.

Cassia turns on Theo, eyebrow turned. She sighs. "You'll find your person one day, Theo. I know it."

Theo doesn't say anything.

     "At least there's some sort of good news from this." says Cassia.

     "What?" Theo frowns.

     "You called Harry a moron."

     "I did. What's so good about that?"

"You called me a moron too."

"Do you have any idea what moron means?"

Cassia scoffs. "Yes, I know what moron means. I'm saying that I'm your best friend. Calling me a moron is a given. Because you still like me anyways."

"You sure about that?"

"Shut up. You called Harry a moron too. That's something."

     "You shut up." Theo retorts. "You're reading too much into this. Potter's a moron and so are you. There? They're letting us into the Hall now."

     "Fine," Cassia sighs, but is nonetheless still grinning. "Where are you sitting?"

     "Between Malone and Parkinson," Theo replies, motioning the seat behind a Ravenclaw named Roger Malone and in front of Pansy Parkinson herself.

     "Good luck," says Cassia to Theo, giving his arm a squeeze when he said You too while walking over to his seat. Cassia passed Eva and Maryam on the way in at the start, whose seats were behind Hannah Abbot's, and both Slytherin girls gave Cassia bright grins and Maryam gave her a thumbs up for good luck. Cassia found her own seat in the middle of the Hall, in front of Daphne and behind Hermione Granger. Daphne hadn't yet arrived in her seat but Hermione was there in hers. Cassia's chair scraped against the stone ground as she got into it, and Hermione turned around at the sound.

     Cassia presses her lips together, offering Hermione a sort of smile. "Good luck."

     Hermione nods, smiling back. "You too."

     A tap on Cassia's shoulder sends her gaze backwards and Daphne was there, forearms flat on the desk, leaning over enough so that she could whisper a good luck to her twin. Cassia shoots Daphne a grin, returning the gesture.

     She turns back around and Professor Tofty — the invigilator who Cassia had seen far too often in the last two weeks than she could have ever imagined — was standing there with the hourglass in hand. He started the exam, Cassia turned her page, and the minutes that flashed by were like an endless disarray of ink blotches and page scuffles and fast breaths, and Cassia's hand was doing more work than her mind ever could. Occasionally, she had to stop and flex her wrist, because by now the hand cramp was unbearable, and she also often looked at her hands regretfully. She didn't want them to look like Dalmatians forever.

     She was doing pretty well, Cassia liked to think, because the answers flowed like water from the tap with her doing minimal thinking, and it was smooth sailing till she got to the last question. She was good at History, but she never did quite manage to wrap her head around witch hunts. She remembered that back then they used these mystical powders to ward off their hunters, what was the name—?

     Thud.

It came from behind. Cassia's head snaps back, any thoughts of witch hunters having slipped from her mind. All the seats were filled, but every head was turned towards the exact same spot, to a few seats behind Theodore Nott. The seat was empty, but Professor Tofty was already hastening that way. She peeked over and—

     Why in Merlin's most blessed pair of trousers was Harry on the floor?

Cassia was worried, of course, her boyfriend had just collapsed and presumably fainted in the middle of his exam. She turns around and sees Hermione, frowning. Hermione glances at Cassia. Cassia shrugs, but hears Professor Tofty fussing about with him.

She heard Harry say he had a nightmare.

Next thing she knew, he left the Hall. People returned to their exams. As if that never happened.

Okay, she tells herself. She had to be smart about this. The examiners wouldn't just let her leave when there was an exam going on and
Ten minutes till it ended. Then she would go and see if Harry was okay. She would go and see what happened to him.

Because Harry's nightmares weren't just nightmares. Honestly, Cassia might have thought he was a Seer at one point. But Eva had a phase where she was obsessed with Seers — though she's a genetic Legilimens — so Cassia knows what a Seer is. Harry isn't a Seer.

She waits for the exam to finish. She had to be patient. She had go he smart. She scrawls an answer for the last question, though she can't quite remember what she wrote. Five minutes. The exam would finish soon. She looks behind her again. Harry's seat was empty. Theo, a couple seats forward, was still working on his exam. So was Daphne, so was Hermione, so was everyone else.

When the last grains of sand touched the bottom of the hourglass, a relieved exhale left Cassia. The exam was over.

Professors Tofty, the other one named Marchbanks and the few other examiners started collecting papers in one-by-one. Professor Marchbanks was collecting the papers from Cassia's line. When the paper was in the examiner's hand, the student was free to leave. So students were seen leaving the Hall, and once Hermione left her chair, Cassia was faced with Professor Marchbanks. She hands her paper to the examiner, but she didn't take it.

"You haven't written your name, Miss," says Professor Marchbanks with her eyes trained on the front of the paper, hovering out of Cassia's hand.

Cassia looks down. The name box was empty. What a dumb fuck.

"Oh, of course—" Cassia's hurried breaths led her to grab her quill and move her shaking arm over the name box on the exam paper. Rookie mistake. Her name was barely legible as her head bobbed back up, exam papers ruffling in her hand, desperate to hand them to the examiner, except she wasn't there anymore.

And when she looked back, around five more chairs had emptied. Cassia saw Daphne leaving. Professor Marchbanks continued taking each person's exam paper.

Cassia heaves herself from her chair. She walks over to Marchbanks with the paper in hand, now named.

"Uh, Professor—?" She says, but Marchbanks didn't look her way. Just continued moving down the line, taking exam papers in her pile one at a time. The Hall was almost completely empty now.

"Gods sakes," she says under her breath. She clears her throat loudly and this time, Marchbanks looks at her. Cassia pushes the paper towards her. "My paper."

"Not now, Miss." says Marchbanks. "You'll have to wait till the end. I have a system."

System, my arse.

     Cassia exhales sharply. Okay. Marchbanks was being a prick so she'd have to resort to other means. She saw Professor Tofty reaching the end of his line. He was worth a shot. She figures by the time she handed her paper to him then Marchbanks would have finished her line, but it would still be quicker. She walked briskly to the older man.

     "Uh, excuse me, Professor—?"

     Professor Tofty collects his last paper and turns to look at Cassia.

     "Yes, Miss?" he says.

     "I forgot to write my name on the paper, but I did now, uh, will you take it—?"

     Professor Tofty frowns. "But you were in Professor Marchbanks' line."

     Cassia looks back, where Marchbanks was scanning through each of her exam papers in hand. She was the only student left.

     "She said she had a system..?" says Cassia.

     "Oh, absolute rubbish." huffs Tofty. "Here, I'll take that for you."

     Bless.

     A smile breaks across Cassia's face. "Thank you. Have—have a nice day!"

     She runs from the Hall, leaving that fiasco behind her. She doesn't know why she's doing this, but it's probably because of the worry she feels towards seeing her boyfriend faint in the middle of an exam. And adrenaline. And coffee. A very influential trio.

     She runs to the Hospital Wing, but Harry wasn't there. She runs to the courtyard, but he wasn't there. Likewise by the Gryffindor common room: there was no way she could get past the Fat Lady to see. It had only been ten minutes since the exam ended.

     Then she saw it.

     Way further down in the corridor, she witnessed someone slip into the door that was Umbridge's office. She always managed to recognise that raven hair. Hermione was with Harry. Her sub-par long vision told her that much. She didn't know what Harry was doing in Umbridge's office, but she'd find out anyways. She starts moving down the corridor, until a few familiar figures come into view, and she steps back against a wall, hiding herself from view.

     Fuck.

     It was Umbridge. And Malfoy. And Millicent.

     All going into Umbridge's office.

     Harry was screwed.

     Be smart. It was ironic that after sitting an intellectual exam Cassia still had to integrate a rational mindset with herself. She knew she couldn't go in like that after them. It would be stupid. Juvenile. Reckless.

     But this entire thing was reckless.

     Still.

     Cassia will find help. Yes, she'll run down to the dungeons.

     Yet none of her roommates were in her room. She made sure to pick up her wand. Just in case. And Cassia remembered: Daphne. She scurried to the room a couple beside. But when she knocked and rushed into the room, her twin wasn't there. It was only Tracey Davis, practising warrior two on top of her yoga mat in a sports crop and yoga pants.

     "Cassia?" Tracey frowns, halting in the middle of her yoga session.

     "Uh, sorry...—" Cassia grimaces. "Um, have you seen Daphne?"

     "No, sorry," says Tracey. "Lost her after the exam. Anything I can do?"

     "Uh, no, um—" She nods, "Just continue the yoga. I'd join if this wasn't so... urgent."

     "Got it..?"

     The door shut behind Cassia in haste as she found herself back in the dormitory hallway. No Maryam, no Eva, and no Daphne. What else could she do?

     Wait.

     Theo.

Cassia runs down the stairs of the girls dorms. Then runs up the stairs to the boys dorms. She's really getting her steps in today. She finds Theo's dorm. She knocks, hears someone say Come in, then enters. Theo was the only one in there, laying on his bed with a book open over his face. The book slides off and he's looking at Cassia with wide eyes.

Theo swings his legs over the edge of the bed, folding his arms. "I know I'm great and all, but you really can't give me privacy in my own room?"

"I'm sorry, I just—" She grasps for his bedpost, stopping to heave heavy breaths out. "God."

     He arches an eyebrow. "You good?"

     Cassia inhales slowly. "Yeah. I think I just ran a marathon."

     "I bet you did." says Theo. "What made you interrupt my first post-exams nap? I have a headache."

     "Harry," she breathes.

     "Of-fucking-course." He mutters.

      "Hey." Cassia points a finger to his face. "You called him a moron, don't forget."

     He rolls his eyes. "For the last time, he matches the description, the fact he fainted in an exam proves this, I have a headache, and you—"

     "I need your help." says Cassia. "You know I wouldn't rush you from a nap or a headache if it wasn't this important."

     Theo sighs. "What did your man do this time?"

     "I don't know, but he's been cornered by Umbridge and her cronies." She gestures to three beds. "Those three too. Where's Blaise?"

     Theo shrugs. "With Mini Greengrass, I dunno."

     "Okay, it doesn't matter. We have to... help them."

     Cassia makes a break for the door, but halts at Theo's groan.

     "I hate it when you do that."

     "Do what?"

     "The good-person thing." Theo drones on. "Because it triggers my own guilt conscience, which surprisingly I do have. So when you do this, there's no way I can't not come. That and because I actually like going against the rules."

Cassia grins. She reaches out and latches his hand. "Bring your wand. Come on," she says, pulling him alongside her. They sprint all through the corridors, Theo lacking behind. Cassia always did have the better stamina. But it was probably the coffee doing it's work.

Before long, they were in front of Umbridge's door. And it was open.

Cassia and Theo exchange a glance. She goes first into the freakishly pink office, and hated what she saw. There was no Harry. But no Umbridge, thankfully. Hermione Granger also seemed to be missing. On the other hand, Malfoy was there, so was Crabbe, Goyle, Warrington, Millicent and Pansy. They each had a vicelike grip on the others with them, who happened to be Ron and Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood.

The look Cassia gave Pansy was representative of the disappointment Daphne had felt.

"Let them go." Cassia says to Malfoy. The boy had a collection of wands in his hand which he took pride in examining with a smug grin. Cassia never wanted to smack him more.

Malfoy turns at the sound of the voice, as does everyone else. They all wore expressions of shock at seeing the two Slytherins come to the rescue. Ron was gagged, but he made a muffled noise Cassia hoped was meant to be a cheer.

"Or what, Greengrass?" says Malfoy. "You're gonna fight for them? Some scummy Gryffindors?"

"I'm a Ravenclaw," says Luna Lovegood in a dreamy voice.

"Nobody cares, Looney." Malfoy snaps.

"Shut it Malfoy." says Cassia, glowering at the blonde. "I said leave them. Let them go. They did nothing to you."

"I find it hard to believe you're gonna fight me in this." Malfoy throws a look Theo's way. "Or you either."

Theo steps out from behind Cassia, his height matching Malfoy's. "Do you?" He says, his face straight. "Try me."

At Theo's remark, Malfoy's expression drops slightly. Maybe he was surprised at his alleged best friend picking the side opposite from him. Everyone seemed to be the same. Jokes on them. Theodore Nott has plenty to bring to the table.

"You're really picking them?" Malfoy lowers his voice to Theo. "Over us?"

"I am." says Theo.

     "Why?"

     "I trust my own judgement more than I trust yours."

Malfoy's mouth clamps shut, his jaw clenching.

     "Well?" says Cassia. "Are you gonna let them go or not?"

     She got the answer she needed.

     Malfoy's hands went inside his robes.

     Cassia was quicker. She disarms him, and a bouquet of wands flew into her hand. Theo flicked his wand and stunned Malfoy. He fell to the floor in a rigid line.

     The Inquisitorial Squad came alive. Their captives retreated to the back of the room.

     Crabbe moved next. He lunged for Theo. Theo acted quick. "Petrificus totalus." Crabbe dropped.

     Warrington let go of Ron and thrust his wand towards Cassia. A jet of fire shot her way.

     "Protego." Cassia ducks under her shield. The fire bounced back and onto Warrington's sleeve. Now alight, the older boy frantically hopped about, patting down his robes—but knocks back into the door, suffering a knock to his head.

     Three down, three to go.

     Goyle aimed at Theo but Cassia stunned him just in time. He fell back onto the edge of Umbridge's desk and Cassia internally grimaces, knowing there'll be blood. Maryam would be happy to hear. He still owed her a broom.

     Two.

     Millicent breathes heavily with wide eyes, not knowing what to do. On the one hand, she had this opportunity to be all-powerful and daunting and strong but on the other hand—this was her best friend's sister wanting to do something good.

     "I—"

     Millicent never had the chance to finish. Theo acted without remorse and put her under the Confundus charm. She wafted from the room in a confused haze.

     Just Pansy left.

     "Okay—okay—" Pansy sighs and surrenders in defeat, holding her arms up by her head. "They can go, just—just don't do anything to me, Merlin."

     Cassia presses her lips into a line. If the tables were turned, would she have done the same?

     But I'm better than that.

     Cassia moves to the side, allowing Pansy to go. Pansy turns towards her at last moment.

     "Why are you doing this?" says Pansy desperately. "What's the point in all... this?"

      "Because there does comes a point when doing the safe thing isn't safe anymore. It's just stupid. I may be many things, but stupid isn't one of them."

     Pansy doesn't say anything. She leaves.

     Cassia exhales deeply. She just did that. Her and Theo. Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Warrington—they were all unconscious and on the floor. And Theo ripped the gag from around Ron.

     "Um," Ron looks confused. "Thanks."

     "Don't mention it," replies Theo, looking as though he couldn't care less. He throws Ron his wand, and Ron catches it, still looking confused. He dishes out the wands to Luna and Neville too. Neville looked exasperated but thanked Cassia and Theo while Luna still looked... in a dream.

     "That was... impressive." Ron says to Cassia. "Thanks for that."

     "Yeah, honestly," says Ginny, toeing at an unconscious Crabbe, "Greatest thing I ever saw. You were great... Both of you."

     No one missed the side glance Ginny gave Theo. And the glance Theo returned. And the uncomfortable silence that followed.

     Cassia clears her throat very loudly.

     "Harry," she says to Ron. "Where is he?"

     "I'm telling you, he's gone off on a nutter!" says Ron. "He had a dream, now he thinks his godfather is in trouble, he wants to go to the Ministry right now and he's gone off into the Forest with Hermione and Umbridge and I don't know what for, and I'm telling you, it's taken him a while, but he's truly gone mental!"

     "Okay," says Cassia. Okay. So, Harry had gone off one, apparently. He had a dream, and he fainted during the exam. Ron said his godfather. So Sirius was in harm apparently. And he wanted to save him by going to the Ministry?

"Look, uh—" Ron interrupts her thinking state. "It's surprising, but chatting to you is nice. Although—Harry's out there, and we're here, and thanks for the save, but—"

"Oh!" says Cassia. "Of course, of course, um— you guys can go ahead. Uh... good luck in the Ministry?"

"Thanks," says Ron. He and everyone else left in a hurry.

Cassia's legs are weighing down as she watched them run down the corridor. She thinks how nice her bed would be. Face mask too, maybe. She ran a lot within the last hour. But when she looks at Theo, he seems hesitant.

"I need to tell you something." He says.

Cassia frowns. "What?"

He takes a deep breath. "I didn't think it was much, but... I had another vision. It's why my head hurt. Well, I saw into my father's eyes. He was assembling with a bunch of other Death Eaters. Looked serious. But... they were going to the Ministry."

"Okay," says Cassia.

"Your father was one of them."

Oh.

Oh.

"What are you saying then?" Cassia asks hesitantly. She didn't want to know more. But she had to.

"If they're going to the Ministry..." Theo surmises. "I think you should too."

"Okay." Cassia says. She runs her hands through her hair, shaking at the roots. "But I can't."

"Why not?" Theo frowns.

"Listen to what you're saying! You're saying I should go to the Ministry—where Death Eaters are going—with my boyfriend, who's gone off his nut according to his best friend. To rescue his godfather who he dreamed was in danger. You—"

     "And look all around this room. You did this.  You are capable of doing something like this—and it's your father!"

She's breathing hard, but can't stop thinking that maybe she should go. The Death Eaters might be doing something. Her father might be doing something.

     It's not a case of being capable or not.

"You wanted answers from your father." says Theo. "This is it. You know where he's going. You know what he is. You have the upper hand."

Cassia bit her lip. "You're sure I should go?"

Theo's weighted stare ghosted right through her. "This is what you wanted, isn't it? A chance to confront your father?"

"C'mon, Cass." He continues at her silent hesitance. "It's your boyfriend, and it's your father, and it's my father too, and it's the chance you wanted to go talk to him."

Cassia pauses.

"Is this you showing you care for Harry?"

"Definitely not." Theo deadpans.

Cassia hums. She knew otherwise.

"I think you should go." He reiterates.

"I—but—yeah, I mean— but what about Daph, Tori—"

"They'll manage," Theo cuts her off. "I'll talk to them. Someone has to get there, and the only one that can is you. So go."

Stammering on the spot, Cassia's hands fidget at her side. Half of her kept turning back to where she saw the D.A. leave, while the other half turned back to Theo, indecisive with her mind.

Theo was right. This was her only chance.

The jackass always had to be right.

"Okay." Cassia's throat went dry, but there was no other thing for it. She had to go.

"Okay," says Theo. "Wait, take these wands. They were left behind."

     "That's Harry's," says Cassia, examining her boyfriend's wand.

     "This is Ginny Weasley's," Theo picks up the other. Cassia raises an eyebrow.

"...Ginny Weasley?"

Theo clamps his lips together. He may have made a mistake in saying so. "Figures."

"You sure it's her?" She gave him a teasing grin.

"She was the only one who left without one."

Cassia gives him another look. "You know that, how?"

     "Go on, you idiot." He rolls his eyes.

     "You're not coming?"

     "I feel another vision coming along. And I have no intention of seeing my father either. Unless you want me to come with you...—?"

"Uh—no. You should definitely go to the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey might be able to help you."

Theo nods. A few seconds pass and she was still there. He narrows his eyes at her delay. "Go!"

     Instantly picking up, Cassia shakes from her trance. "Right, I—er—okay, bye—"

She had left Umbridge's office, when Theo called for her.

Cassia turns round with a frown.

Theo smirks. "Give 'em hell if you have to."

Then he adds, "My father especially."

Cassia grins. Without another word, she turns on her heel and sprints towards the exit, robes flying behind her. She wasn't done running just yet.

***

***

omg it's been so long since i last updated im sorry!!! I caught covid and that was shitty but i recovered then my whole family caught covid and i had to take care of THEM and i had school too and basically i had no free time or inspo. and unfortunately there's been a family bereavement too, so this last week or so has been so swamped. AND ive started work again. it's been SO hectic i can't cope omfg im just so exhausted my sleeping schedule has gone to shit and so has my school life like the amount of overdue assignments i have🥴 i just

but here you guys are!!! it was supposed to have more but it was already pretty long so i'll continue it in the next chapter, hope you guys liked this <3 it's getting REAL.

(did you guys expect cassia to go to the ministry?? like obvs now she will theo convinced her and stuff but did you think that would have happened?? lemme know im curious!!)

(btw covid is so shitty pls wear your masks and take precautions i did and STILL got it and it was horrible ew. i slept for 18 hours one day what the FUCK. never slept so much in my life oml. but anyways. wear ur mask!!!)

stay safe and healthy ily all!!!