When Cassia woke up, Harry was there.

Not Ron, not Hermione, not Poppy. Harry.

He was stroking her hair, and squeezing her hand, and whispering to her.

"Cass," he smiled, when he saw her eyes flutter open. "You're awake."

Cassia's head was fucking aching, but there was no pain in her arm anymore. She frowned, looking around slightly. She was in the hospital wing, she soon realised, in one of the beds.

"Harry," she said, looking at the boy.

Harry's face broke into a smile wider than was necessary. "Cass."

Cassia put a hand to her head. "H-how long have I been out?"

Harry shrugged. "Few hours? Don't worry, we're holding the party off for you."

Cassia frowned. "Party?"

"We won the match," Harry told her. "I- I know you weren't in your best form, but-"

"That's understatement of the century, you and I both know I was fucking useless," Cassia said, but there was no fire behind the words. She sighed, and her voice became weaker, more thick with emotion. Tears filled her eyes and a few slipped down her cheeks. "I just..."

Harry shook his head, leaning forward and using a hand to cup her cheek, wiping her tears. "I know," he whispered to her. "Okay? I know."

Cassia shook her head. "No, you- you don't-"

"I do, okay? I do," Harry said meaningfully.

Cassia shook her head. "Liquid luck or no liquid luck, everyone played better than m-"

"There was no liquid luck."

That made Cassia stop.

"Wh- what?" She asked, not believing it.

"I... I wanted Ron to have a good game," Harry looked down. "And the only way to do that was to make him more confident. He was lucky because he believed he was lucky. But I meant it to be Hermione that noticed and told him, not you, I promise."

Cassia wasn't really sure how to respond to that.

"Please, just talk to me," Harry said, leaning forward and looking her square in the eyes. "Please, Cass. I need to know you're okay."

At this point, Cassia was amazed how she hadn't broke down yet. But she knew she had to stay strong. She couldn't let Harry past her walls, otherwise he would find out who she really was.

And she would die before knowing how he felt about it.

"I- I'm fine," Cassia said, voice stuttering. She looked up, cheeks flushing slightly as she said to Harry. "I'm sorry."

Her boyfriend was immediately shaking his head. "No, I'm sorry, it was my f-"

"No, don't say that," Cassia objected. "Harry, listen. I may have hated you at one point in my life, but today? You're literally the best part of my life. You're the reason I wake up in the morning, Potter. Don't ever think me being a selfish bitch is your fault."

Harry shook his head again. "You were angry, Cass. I get it. But I hope you understand that you aren't getting rid of me. I'm not leaving, no matter what."

Is 'I'm trying to kill Dumbledore' measured in that equation? Cassia's heart ached as she thought it.

But she was already leaning in to kiss him.

The second his lips touched hers, she forgot everything except him existed. It was just Harry and her in this world suddenly. No Voldemort. No Draco. No Dumbledore. Just them.

Harry made a muffled noise against her lips as he deepened the kiss, sliding his hands round her waist as Cassia's settled on his shoulders.

And then they broke apart for air, and everything came rushing back.

How she was selfish, and guilty and backstabbing. How she was leading Harry on not because she didn't like him, but because she was keeping secrets. How she was choosing her life over Dumbledore's.

And things about him came back as well. How amazing he was. How pure and perfect and happy and kind. How much she admired and loved him (not that she was going to tell him that, cause he didn't deserve her).

"Harry..." she murmured, eyes still closed, forehead pressed against his. "Harry, I-"

"You don't have to explain yourself," Harry whispered. "I love you, Cassia. And I always will."

Cassia let out a dry laugh. "Thank you for saving me."

Harry chuckled too. "I'll always save you, Cass. When I saw you fall... you don't understand how worried I was."

The butterflies stirred, but Cassia shoved them down. She didn't need anymore guilt than what she was going through right now.

"Thank you," she told him, her eyes still shut as she sighed.

"So, what was it you said about a party?"

❦︎❦︎❦︎

It wasn't a 'party' as much as a 'Ron Celebration'. The boy was the centre of attention, standing up in the middle of the common room, everyone gathered in a circle around him, clapping and chanting.

"Weasley! Weasley! Weasley!"

Cassia was stood with Harry, Poppy and Hermione, leaning slightly on her best friend as she clapped. Her arm was healed, but she was still slightly lightheaded.

Ron grinned at them from the middle, confetti whirling around his head and a few pieces sticking in his hair. Cassia clapped along, not having the energy to roll her eyes at the look on his face.

"You really shouldn't have done it," Hermione commented vaguely, eyes still on Ron but talking to Harry.

"I know," Harry smirked. "I suppose I could've just used a confundus charm."

Cassia frowned, turning towards Harry.

Hermione, meanwhile, snapped. "That was different! That was trials, this was an actual match!"

"Wh-?"

"She confunded McLaggen," Harry murmured to Cassia, who suddenly remembered the boy shooting to the side and letting her shot in easily. "At trials. A bit like what happened today, apart from the illegalities, except..."

He smirked, pulling the sealed bottle of felix felicis out his pocket and showing it to Hermione. His best friend's eyes widened, and a small gasp escaped her lips. "You didn't put it in."

Harry shook his head, pocketing the potion again.

"Ron only thought you did," Hermione continued, turning back to said boy in the centre of the crowd.

Except it wasn't just Ron there anymore.

Lavender Brown was standing facing him in the centre, snogging his face off, confetti stuck in both of their hair, and lips locked tightly.

"If you ever do that with Potter, I swear, I will kill you," Poppy muttered in Cassia's ear.

The girl couldn't help but scoff. "Poppy, the day I do something like that, pigs will fl-"

She stopped at the look on Hermione's face.

Because, unlike Harry, Cassia and Poppy, she wasn't wearing a smirk or a scoff. She was standing, face fallen completely, her eyes going glassy and a small gasp escaping her lips.

She was gone before Cassia could stop her.

"Hermio-" she began, starting to push back through the crowd-

"I'll go," Harry said, a hand on her shoulder, looking into her eyes. He'd evidently now realised what was going on. "You stay here, with Poppy."

Cassia smiled slightly and said. "Make sure she's okay, right?" She raised her eyebrows. "Cause a heart is a hard thing to stick back together."

I would know. I'm still trying to.

Harry nodded, grabbing her hand and squeezing it before letting go and pushing back through the crowd himself.

Cassia sighed, turning back to where Ron and Lavender were still snogging.

"Alright, get a fucking room!" She finally yelled, only a hint of amusement in her voice. "Go fulfil your teenage fantasies elsewhere!"

Needless to say, she got a middle finger for this shout.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

Cassia didn't know what'd happened between Harry and Hermione that night, but she did know that Ron and Lavender had followed them out, looking for an empty room to snog in, and she also knew the two groups had met.

Regardless, it was now two days from that party, and Ron and Hermione were now not speaking. Cassia didn't find it necessarily that hard, but she knew Harry, who was a best friend of both of them, did.

But right now, Cassia wasn't thinking about any of that. She and Poppy were in the library, writing a DADA essay for Snape, and it was so boring.

"Fuck!" Cassia grunted for probably the fiftieth time, crossing out another line.

"What's wrong this time?" Her best friend, who was working opposite her, asked somewhat comically.

"Wrong. Just- fucking wrong," Cassia growled, dipping her quill in more ink and starting again.

It was then that two rather giggly girls approached them, in absolute fits.

"H-hey, Cassia," they said through their sheer mirth.

Cassia looked up to see two Ravenclaw girls, one with curly black hair and the other with straight brown. She frowned slightly, not sure why they were here and also being put off by the giggling.

"Hey?" She asked.

"Er- I'm Romilda Vane," the curly haired one introduced herself whilst her friend giggled some more. "I- I was wondering-"

She broke down into more giggles, face turning red at this point, as Cassia gave Poppy a 'who are these bitches?' look.

"I was wondering," Romilda carried on as she gained some more air. "So, you know how you're close with Harry Potter?"

"Well, I wouldn't say close," her friend put in, both of them lapsing into more laughter.

Cassia rolled her eyes. "Either tell me what you want or leave."

Romilda frowned at her, rolling her eyes. "No need to be rude."

Cassia sighed, putting on her best fake smile. "What was it you wanted?"

Romilda smirked slightly. "So... you know how you're close with Harry? Well, I was wondering... if you'd consider trying to get him to take me to Slughorn's party, like, not as a couple, or anything, just..." she trailed off, her giggles becoming more high pitched as she held her friend.

Jealousy shot through Cassia. So much that she begged it wasn't visible on her face.

I mean, sure, she knew that Harry was way more popular this year than the last. And yes, she did know that it wouldn't be possible for her to go to Slughorn's party with him. But she wasn't expecting this.

"So," Romilda brought her back. "Will you do that?"

"Erm-" she started, sort of stammering. "Well, Harry is sort of-"

"He's not dating anyone," Romilda told her. "So that means he's free, right?"

Cassia was speechless. Yes, he was dating someone, and no, he wasn't free, but she couldn't exactly say that to these girls-

"I-I-"

"Actually, Harry isn't free."

The last person Cassia would've expected to say that was Poppy.

Romilda and her friend turned to the girl, and the latter chuckled. "Oh yeah? Who's he taken by, then?"

Don't say my name, don't say my name, don't fucking say my n-

"Me."

Cassia almost fell off the chair she was sitting on.

She looked at Poppy, her face reading 'WHAT?' but her best friend wasn't looking at her. She was staring right at Romilda, who was beside herself.

"What?" She scoffed. "You? Harry chose you? Why?"

"She'd be a better choice than you any day of the week," Cassia rolled her eyes.

Romilda looked between the two girls, huffing. "You two're bitches," she said eventually. "And you don't deserve Harry, so good luck to him, wherever he is."

They both flicked their hair more than they needed to before stalking off.

Cassia turned to Poppy. "What in the name of-"

"I'm sorry."

Unlike her best friend, Poppy sounded meaningful. She sounded genuine.

"Huh?" Cassia frowned. "Why are you-?"

"Cause I kinda just stole your boyfriend without even asking you or him," Poppy said simply. "I wasn't thinking, Cass, I just wanted to protect y-"

"It's fine," Cassia said, smiling slightly. "Genuinlely, Poppy, it's fine."

"What's fine?"

Cassia turned to see Harry and Hermione walking through the library, making a beeline for Poppy and Cassia and sitting down at their table. Harry instantly offered his hand to Cassia, and she took it, letting him squeeze it tightly.

Poppy gave her best friend a look.

"So, d'you want to tell him, or shall I?"

Cassia rolled her eyes.

"Tell me what?" Harry frowned, looking from girl to girl.

"Okay, so you're maybe taking me to Slughorn's party," Poppy disclosed.

"What?" Harry leaned forward, absolutely shocked.

"Um, why you saying it like that, Potter?" Cassia asked with a smirk. "Happens to be my best friend you're talking about."

Poppy smiled slightly at the speechless look on Harry's face.

"Right listen, you know Romilda Vane?" Poppy said after a sigh.

"Who?" Harry questioned.

"Ravenclaw, our year, a bitch?" Cassia cocked her head.

Poppy rolled her eyes. "Anyway. She just came up to us now and asked Cass if you were free to be taken to the party, and she panicked and didn't say anything, so I told them you were taking me."

Harry digested this before Hermione stepped in.

"Okay, so he takes you," she said. "What's the problem? He can hardly take Cassia-"

"We didn't exactly give him a choice," Cassia pointed out, turning to Harry, who was smirking at her. "And quit smirking like that, Potter, we all know she only likes you cause you're The Chosen One."

Harry's sickeningly handsome smirk stared back at her. "But I am The Chosen One- ow!"

In a burst of annoyance, Cassia had struck him on the head with her roll of parchment.

"Okay, sorry, I was kidding," Harry told her, wincing.

Cassia sighed, rolling up her parchment again. "You're going to the party with Poppy. Don't try to be too disappointed, Potter."

Harry frowned. "But then, who are you going with?"

Cassia turned to him, trying to shut him out but knowing he knew her well, and could see the storm behind her eyes.

"Who says I was going?"