Potter's Girl / Butterfly Effect.

88. A Hatched Plan

CHAPTER EIGHTY-EIGHT;

A HATCHED PLAN

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Living with Neville's grandmother right after a nice stay with Andromeda Tonks was like a slap to the face. Every time Cassie slouched, she was called out on such, and when she occasionally let a curse slip out, Neville's Gran was always there to lecture her.

   Not that Cassie didn't appreciate them opening their house to her; she was beyond grateful for such a thing. There weren't too many wizards or witches so eager on allowing an underage witch who was on the run from Voldemort to stay in their house. Tonks had come by to try and persuade Cassie to return home, but Cassie firmly stated that she was living with Neville while her godfather screwed his head on right.

After two and a half weeks of living with the Longbottoms, Cassie thought it might have been time to inform Neville of her now well-formulated plan that she'd been harboring since Harry, Ron, and Hermione had left. Cassie sat Neville down in his bedroom and shut the door behind him so his gran wouldn't hear the premature stages of their planning, because Cassie would bet her entire Gringott's vault that Gran wouldn't be too keen on allowing it.

"Neville," Cassie began, her voice a bit shaky, "as you know, Harry, Hermione, and Ron won't be returning to school this term."

"Don't tell me you're not going either," frowned Neville, disappointment in his voice. Cassie quickly shook her head.

"No, I am," she assured him, "but that's what I wanted to talk about. I was planning on going back with you, but.. well, obviously I can't get around well in my own body, yeah? Vold – You-Know-Who's got people looking for me everywhere. I was wondering if maybe.. um, a few Glamour Charms could be used, and I could go as a different person? We can come up with a reason as to why the real me isn't at school, obviously, but..."

"That's really risky," Neville admitted. "There's.. there's so many ways it could go wrong. Are you so sure you want to go back?"

"I can't let you and the D.A. handle it alone," she said seriously, nodding. "I don't care if it's risky. I'm going. We can Glamour me to look different, and maybe a slight Notice-Me-Not on top... D'you think it would work?"

"We wouldn't be able to tell anyone, would we? If we keep it between us, then I think there's a chance it could work, yeah. I know I'm not good enough at Glamour charms for it, but I bet you are! And– and Ginny, Ginny's brilliant at them–"

"We can't tell anyone, Neville, you just said so," Cassie pointed out quietly.

"Not even Ginny?" Neville asked, his smile fading as he looked to Cassie with wide eyes. "Or– or Luna? We have to keep this secret from everyone?"

   "It's dangerous for people to know, Neville," she said soothingly. "I can't put them in that kind of danger. Even you're in a risky position by letting me stay with you. We can't tell anyone, okay?"

   After a tense moment, Neville sighed and nodded his head slowly. "Alright," he agreed, his voice low. "Can we at least practice? I want to see how long these charms will last and everything..."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

They spent the following week attempting Glamour Charms and timing how long they would last, the most successful being almost and entire day of Cassie's new appearance being unperturbed. They had started small, with a hair color change, then slowly began to move to bigger things like different jaw structures or nose sizes.