When we align; a Neville Longbottom fanfiction

11. The Dark Lord returns

Daphne seemed to have forgotten about her and Neville. As March passed, she didn't bring it up again. She was too occupied studying and theorising about the third and final task, which seemed to be approaching faster than she'd have thought. After the failed bet she had with Blaise, she kept her theories to herself. Cass noticed that every once in a while she would let out a small gasp and write something in her diary, surely jotting down every idea she got to prove that she guessed what it would be when the time would come.

As for Cass, it seemed like her feelings for Neville weren't planning on going away anytime soon. She would take every chance she could to spend time with him, managing to find ways to touch his hand or brush against him and making it seem like an accident. If anything, she was growing fonder of him every time she would see him.

With the bliss, came the jealousy. She would feel a jolt of anger anytime she would see him talking to Ginny Weasley or Hermione Granger. Even though she knew she had no right to feel that way, she couldn't help it.

Thinking about Neville was at least distracting her from the Dark Lord's return. She found herself thinking about it less and less. The third task seemed so distant and the Snape and Karkaroff incident was but a blurry memory. Every now and again she would face an intrusive thought, and a knot would form in her stomach, but she forced herself to forget it. She was determined to live her fourteen-year-old best life for as long as she could.

Daphne and Pansy were brought closer by gossiping about the entire castle, and soon Cass joined too. She didn't particularly like it, but it was a good way of learning people's names and deals. It was, first and foremost, fun, and it kept her distracted enough, especially at a time when Rita Skeeter was so prolific with her articles.

She had taken a liking to Pansy. Or better, now that she was also crushing on someone she understood her actions better. Had she been in her shoes, she would have probably done the same. She remembered how ashamed she'd felt when Neville had gone to the Ball with the Weasley girl, and how she had lashed out at him. The two Slytherins had a silent pact to not talk about the incident, which was making the situation better for both of them.

One morning before Potions she, Daphne and Pansy were huddled over a particularly ridiculous article on Witch Weekly about a supposed Potter-Granger-Krum love triangle when Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle approached them. Pansy handed Draco the article between fits of giggles. He snorted once he'd finished reading it. Seeing as Potter and Granger were approaching, Pansy threw the magazine at the latter, sneering.

Professor Snape started the lesson before they could catch Hermione's reaction but got the chance to do so later, when he had taken Witch Weekly from her hands, reading the article out loud.

"Well, I think I had better separate the three of you, so you can keep your minds on your potions rather than on your tangled love lives." He ordered among the Slytherins cackles. "Weasley, you stay here. Miss Granger, over there, beside Miss Parkinson. Potter, that table in front of my desk. Move. Now." He motioned him over the table next to Cass, who watched as he threw his belongings into his cauldron and made his way to her.

She smiled politely at him, but he didn't reciprocate. They hadn't interacted since that day at the Three Broomsticks, and Cass was under the impression he thought she was messing with him. She pondered whether to slip him a message, but decided against it. 

Snape had taken a liking to take points from Slytherin whenever he caught her distracted during his lessons. She was the best of the class, which often gained points for her House, but it ended not making a difference. Every point she got would be taken away by any slight inattention, which was why she had ended up sitting by herself in the front of the class. Snape's demeanour towards her had changed ever since that day she intentionally got detention to talk to Neville the previous year. If before she thought that Neville's failure in Potions was his own fault, she now pinned everything on Snape. He seemed to have deep-rooted hate for the Gryffindor, which had changed the way Cass acted in class. Obviously, Snape had noticed and started to behave accordingly.