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chapter twenty eight / unforgivable curses 101
The following day passed so slowly that Cassie was convinced the universe was purposefully dragging it out in order to keep her nerves on end.
She couldn't sit still all day – so horribly that in Transfiguration, Professor Mcgonagall even asked if she needed to visit Madam Pomfrey and take a swig from a calming draught. Cassie politely declined, though part of her was convinced a calming draught was just what she needed to keep her nerves in check. Nevertheless, she wanted to stay alert for when seven o'clock finally rolled around.
She bade goodnight to the boys the moment the four of them returned from dinner, much to their confusion, and Cassie promptly retired to her bed with the curtains drawn tightly by six fifty-seven. She lifted her wand and cast a quiet Impertuable Charm so Lavender or Parvarti wouldn't overhear anything.
Three minutes later, the faint chiming of the grandfather clock in the entrance hall signaled seven o'clock. Cassie drew in a deep breath and picked up her mirror, biting her thumbnail as she stared into it.
She wasn't quite sure how it worked – she had no background knowledge on this kind of magic. Should she tap it three times to alert him that she was there? Or was she supposed to speak into it? How did she even know this was going to—?
"Cassie?"
Oh, so it was that easy.
Sirius's face appeared in the mirror. Cassie didn't know what she was expecting, to be honest – maybe for it to function like a Muggle telephone. She'd had some experiences with those, but this was unprecedented.
She cleared her throat. "Hi.. Sirius."
It suddenly dawned on her that this was her first conversation with her father since that night in the Shrieking Shack, and they hadn't done much catching up then.
Judging by the look on Sirius's face, he felt the same nerves as her.
"How.. how are you?" she tried, awkwardly.
"I'm fine," he replied. "You?"
"Yeah, fine."
There was an uncomfortable beat of silence.
"Um, about my letter–" Cassie began, at the same time as he said,
"So, your letter–"
They both shut their mouths at the same time. Cassie exhaled an awkward laugh.
"You first," Sirius offered.
Cassie nodded and cleared her throat again. "So.. I sent it from the Quidditch Cup," she began slowly, furrowing her eyebrows, "right after the whole... well, you know what happened this year, right?"
