When we align; a Neville Longbottom fanfiction

13. A strange summer

That summer had been strangely calm. Cass wasn't sure what to expect, but she surely thought something was going to happen.

She read the Daily Prophet religiously, making sure to never miss a single article, and she kept in touch with Neville. They would share their opinions and occasionally send each other paper clippings with their annotations written on them.

Cass was frustrated and agitated. The Ministry of Magic was aware of Voldemort's return, she was sure Dumbledore had spoken to Fudge himself, but they still wouldn't warn anyone. Moreover, they and the Daily Prophet kept dragging Harry Potter's name in the mud, saying he was delusional and attention-seeking. The hot summer air felt filled with tension even if nothing was happening.

Arnas would disappear from time to time, sometimes even for days on end, though he wouldn't share anything with his children. Or better, he wasn't sharing anything to Cass. She had caught him and Theo in the studio one night, talking in a low voice and with their heads together. Arnas had looked at her dead in the eyes, and she could swear she saw a smirk appearing on his face at her defeated expression.

For weeks, she had managed to keep her act. She would approach her father when she knew he was busy and would reject her, watching him savour her frustrated state. When Theo would visit the Malfoys, she would stay home and lie about him not inviting her. She came up with elaborate lies on why she wasn't seeing her friends, hiding their letters and only visiting them when he was gone. She made sure to appear as excluded as possible, and Arnas seemed to be buying it. She knew he would approach her when he thought her at her lowest, but she was growing tired of waiting. She kept telling herself to persist, that once he would welcome the prodigal daughter she would be let in on whatever Voldemort was planning.

As July rolled around, Arnas almost caught her slip. Cass had expressed her desire to visit Knockturn Alley to find an artefact Mr Grove, her tutor, had talked about. In actuality, she only wanted to go there to visit Diagon Alley and buy Neville a present. Her father had told her that she could send one of the House-elves but grew suspicious at her insistence of going there herself.

"Send a House-elf, Cassandra." He had ordered her. "You lack the stealth necessary to go snooping around in Knockturn Alley. Do you have any idea what people are going to say if they saw you there? We need to be careful now more than ever. Am I making myself clear?"

She tried to bring up the matter once more, promising that Theo would be there with her and that she would be careful, but to no avail. Not wanting him to doubt her any more than he was already doing, she decided she'd go there when he wasn't home.

That, however, did not happen. So, on July thirtieth, she resigned to send a House-elf, making sure to describe exactly what she was looking for. It came back after many hours when the sun was setting. Cass hurriedly found some parchment and wrote her letter:

'Dear Neville,

Happy Birthday! I apologise for being late, I had some troubles with your present.

It's a Floreal Ball, you just have to think of a flower and watch it appear in the sphere! It has an enchanted ecosystem, so you don't have to worry about maintaining it, and it will disappear once you think of another flower.

It made me think of you, and I hope you'll appreciate it.

I hope this letter finds you in good health, I'll write you another letter soon with some interesting articles I found.

Happy Birthday again!'

She signed the letter and sealed it with the Nott family crest, called her owl and had him deliver it.