The "Let's be friends" thing didn't last a week.

  Sure, that day in Diagon Alley was amazing, they talked a lot and all, but as soon as they stepped at Hogwarts grounds, everything turned to what it usually was. Actually no, nothing could turn into what it was before.

  August 31st; both had to finish buying their materials for their fifth year. Cassidy also helped her brother, Connor, to buy his stuff, it was his (and Lily Luna Potter's) first year at Hogwarts.

  At September first, things were a little bit different.

  Cassidy entered the Hogwarts' Express with her brother, but both split up right after the train started moving. She entered a compartment were a couple of her friends were.

  "Hi Casey!" Avery Ashryver said, smiling.

  "Hi Avery. Hello Marlee." Casey smiled, and sat down next to Avery. They started talking excitedly, until they got to a deeper point of the conversation.

  "What did you do this week?" She asked.

  "I basically bought everything school asked for me and my brother."

  "Have you heard that Fred and Roxanne Weasley's dad launched some different kind of... prank thing?"

  "Yes Marlee, it would be weird if I didn't know."

  I shouldn't have said that.

  "Why?" Avery asked her, excitedly. She rose an eyebrow.

  "Because... James showed me the whole joke shop and gave me this" Cassidy grabbed a little box from her pocket; Weasley's Wizard Wheezes just released product.

  Marlee's eyes sparkled. "He's sooo into you!"

  "I disagree," Avery scoffed. "He was just being nice to you. Making sure you'd continue on the Quidditch team. I may be from Ravenclaw, and I shouldn't be telling you that, but hell Casey, everyone admits you're a really good seeker. Even Mike Basch doesn't like playing Quidditch against Gryffindor."

  "That's not true. He wouldn't do that for anyone for free just because he wanted someone to be on his team."

  "I support Avery's thoughts. We may have won the Quidditch cup last year, but we already lost a semifinal because I was two meters away from Slytherin's seeker when he captured it, and the only Gryffindors left on the field were me and James. I'm a bad Quidditch player."

  "No, you're not!" Both of her friends yelled.

  "Yes, I am!"

  Suddenly, both Avery and Marlee went silent and started to blush. Casey looked to the compartment's door, only to see James Potter entering the compartment.

  "Hey, girls." James said, sitting between Marlee and Avery and wrapping his arms around their shoulders. "What happened?"

  "Your seeker is being stupid, Potter. She claims that she doesn't play Quidditch well."

  "But you made us win the cup last year!"

  "And the year before that I made us lose the cup!"

  "No, you didn't. We were the only ones left in field, it was almost impossible for us to win like that."

  Cassidy started shaking her head, from one side to another.

  "You know girls," James said. "Your friend is really pretty. Actually, you are all really pretty." He took his arm from Marlee's shoulder and caressed Avery's right cheek.

  "Anyway Cass, I need to practice Quidditch as soon as it's possible. And apparently, the rest of the team will focus on their studies, since almost everyone will have their OWL's or NEWT's this year. Do you want to practice this week?"

  "Sure" she said, confident.

  "Okay, then. Goodbye, girls."

  "Bye Potter!"

  "He is kind of annoying," Said Cassidy, after he left. "Cocky. And... he always does that game with all girls." She gestured weirdly.

  "He's gorgeous, I can't deny that. But he's also an idiot" Avery stated.

  "I think he's beautiful and... caring in his own way," Marlee said, dreamily. "The girl who marries him will be lucky."

  "You must be insane," Casey chuckled. "I mean, he's cool and all, but he annoys me."

  "Uh, okay... I'll let you lie to yourself this time."

  Cassidy smiled and got up. "I'm going to look for Ezequiel. See you later!" Like that, she left the compartment, and started looking for her other friend.

«—»

  After a few minutes, she finally found Ezequiel. Actually, she found both Ezequiel Harris and Mason Jones. Ezequiel wasn't tall, but wasn't a short boy either; he was right in the middle. He had both black hair and eyes; his eyes were different from most of people's, Ezequiel was a descendant of Japanese people.

  "Hi guys," Cassidy smiled happily. "How are you?"

  "Hi mate! I'm fine, you?" Ezequiel asked.

  "I'm good!"

  Ezequiel had this kind of Australian accent, caused by the years that he spent living in Australia when he was younger. He moved to London when he was ten.

  "You, Mason?"

  He shrugged.

  "I'm good, I guess. Better then my uncle, at least."

  What happened? Casey mouthed to Ezequiel. Before he could answer, Mason said, with disgust:

  "He was murdered by a muggle."

  She didn't know what to say. "I'm- I'm sorry Mason."

  "You shouldn't be telling me sorry, you should be telling this to him," he scoffed, angrily. He realized what he had just done and softened his voice. "But thank you, Cassidy."

  She gave him a small smile and looked at the compartment's door, that had been just opened.

  "Hi Harris, Jones, Ainsworth. Hey Mason, don't forget about our bet, okay? You already owe me ten galleons." Said Fred Weasley The Second, smiling mischievously.

  "I don't think so, Weasley. Braga Broomfleet will win."

  "No, Chudley Cannons will!" Fred replied. Cassidy just looked at them not believing at their bet. "We will discover this tomorrow.  Until then, Jones, do not spend your galleons." Fred opened the door.

  "Same goes for you, Fred!" Mason yelled, before Fred close the door. He looked at him and smirked, then went to somewhere else.

  "I can't believe you bet on Braga Broomfleet not even cheering for them! It's my team, not yours!"

  "I know, but they are the ones playing with Chudley Cannons this week."

  After the Hogwarts' Battle, 21 years before, Chudley Cannons started getting better. They won four worldwide cups on the last two decades, and for Chudley Cannons, that's really good.

  Braga Broomfleet had won nine worldwide cups on the last twenty years. By that you can see that the team is really good.

  "You know what? I think I'm going to walk for a bit. See you later. "

  "Bye Cassidy."

  Casey went out of the compartment, and started walking. Soon, she was pined against the wall by James Sirius Potter, his arm above her head.

  "What are you-"

  "Shhh." James whispered. He leaned closer to her, and she kept her poker face style. "This has to seem something more. They can't know what I'm telling you."

  "Telling me what?" She asked. He opened an empty compartment and pushed her inside. James placed Cassidy on her lap, and leaned closer.

  "I know you still hate me, so I'm sorry for doing that."

  "I don't hate you. You just... annoys me sometimes. But many people do."

  He gave her a cocky grin. "That's good. Look, be careful with who you kiss this year."

  "Excuse me?"

  "I tried to tell you before, but you were with your friends. And Avery... let's say that things are getting... somewhere with her."

  "Somewhere close to smu-"

  "Yeah, sure," he said, sarcastically. "Look, someone made a bet or something—I swear I don't know who did it okay?— That involved kissing you. I also swear I'm not involved, it was Roxanne who told me about it. And she suggests that we pretend to be dating, so no one will dare to do something with you."

  She widened her eyes and blinked. Did she hear it right? Pretend that she's dating James Sirius Potter? Ew!

  "Are you mental or something?"

  "Something. " He said firmly. "Do you want to or not?"

  "I don't want to, but I don't want people kissing me just because of a stupid bet either. Look, let's do something," she tried to wipe away her weird thoughts. "In October we start pretending okay? Until then, you can do sm-"

  "Language, Cassidy!"

  "Okay, sorry. You can do anything with anyone you want until then, so do I. Deal?"

  He leaned even closer, staying less than two inches away from her.

  "Deal. Oh, Cassidy?" He said, while she got up.

  "Yes?" She opened the compartment door.

  "Is our... be friends thing still up?"

  She hesitated. "If you don't screw it up? Yes, it is."

  She closed the door, and went to somewhere else.