The Harper household has always been a strict one, one with firm words and sharp eyes. Yet like every other story, there's always one person who can burn it down with a single flick of their wrist. In this fanfic of Harry Potter, that person is Cass...
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Cassandra could hardly see the remains of the cup on the ground, as tears blurred her vision. She began shaking, 'now I've done it,' she thought to herself.
It was Christmas Eve and Cassie had been helping Molly clean up after dinner, while everyone else played exploding snap outside, with a heating charm around them of course. Just as Cass was handing Molly a dirty cup, it slipped through her grasp, and smashed onto the floor in between them.
Normally Cassie would be frantically apologizing, but the lump in her throat just kept getting bigger and harder to swallow. Molly, who hadn't noticed Cassies demeanor, reached out to grab her wand to fix the cup. But just as she moved, Cassie flinched back and put her hand out in front of her.
She finally found it in her to speak and whispered out 'I'm sorry' repeatedly like a prayer. Molly could see Cassies hands shaking now with her eyes squeezed shut and stood there speechless, not expecting such a reaction. Cass opened one of her eyes when she didn't feel anything.
Molly's eyes were now filled with tears as she gazed down at the young girl. Cassie slowly dropped onto her knees and began picking up the smashed cup, not caring how the sharp edges cut her skin. Molly snapped back into reality, when she seen the red liquid pour from the girls hands and knelt down, with a wave of her wand the different parts of the cup rose into the air and mended themselves back together.
Cassandra gazed up at the once broken cup, but gasped when she felt warmth covering her two bleeding hands. She looked down to see Molly's hands holding her own, and she slowly stood up with her still trembling like a leaf, trying her best to avoid eye contact.
Molly couldn't think of anything to say to the girl, so she sat down with her at the kitchen table. She then got up and left but came back with bandages straight away. When she was done wrapping them around Cassies hands, she went and made two big mugs of tea. As she sat back down again she carefully placed one mug in front of Cass.
Cass glanced up at the older woman, Molly nodded her head at the tea. Cassie swallowed thickly and slowly grasped the mug.
No words were exchanged as the two sipped at their drinks. Cassie had calmed down more by the time she took the last sip. She gently placed the mug in front of her and stared down at the wooden table. Molly, seeing the girls calmer state, reached out to Cassies bandaged up hands. Cassandra looked up at the woman, Molly had a soft, cautious look in her eyes. She spoke in a gentle tone, almost as if she was whispering.
"I want you to know something. I want you to know that I will never hurt you, not if you drop something or break something, not if you stumble and fall. Everyone stumbles along the way, some more than others, but that doesn't mean people should punish you for that. When you stumble and fall, I want you to know that I'll be there to help pick you back up, and try my best to guide you along. Nobody here is gonna hurt you, I don't know what your home is like, but here at the Weasleys, at The Burrow you're safe."
Cassandra sniffled nodding her head slowly. Molly pursued her lips and stood up, picking the now empty mugs from the table. She signaled Cass to stand up beside her, and handed her the empty cup she had just drank from moments ago. Confused but curious, Cass took the cup from her grasp and held it, careful not to drop it. But what came out of Molly's mouth next startled her so much it almost fell.
"Drop it." Molly said simply. Cass stared at her with wide eyes. "Go on, I want to show you that's it's ok, look," as the last word came out of her mouth, she raised her hand and dropped her own mug, not to far but not close enough for the smashed pieces to bounce back at them. "your turn."
Cassandra glanced between Molly, her cup and the broken cup on the floor. Eventually she took a deep breath and dropped her cup right down next to Molly's and watched as it smashed to pieces. Molly let out a small laugh, Cassie joined in nervously but then began to relax and soon enough they were both laughing away with each other, so much so, that they didn't hear the concerned calls from outside.
Arthur, the twins and Charlie rushed inside first, them being the fastest, thinking somethings after happened. They stopped at the door frame, seeing the broken mugs.
"What's happening, are you ok?" Arthur spluttered out. Molly sent him a warm smile.
"Oh nothing, I just dropped some stuff, no big deal." Cass stiffened a bit waiting Arthur's reaction, and almost let out a sigh of relief when he smiled back in relief.
"Godric, I thought someone got hurt." He said as he flicked his wand at the cups. Fred made a beeline over to Cass and grabbed one of her hands, before realizing the bandages. He turned to his mum with a panicked look and was about to open his mouth, to question what had happened, when Molly shook her head, silently telling him to leave it.
Fred contemplated for a moment, before turning to Cass with a small smile and lead her outside with everyone else, to play some more exploding snap, joking along the way.
That night Fred, George and Cassie settled into their fort to sleep, both the twins fell straight asleep once their heads hit their pillows, but Cassie wasn't tried one bit, she got her hand out of Fred's grasp, although that was quite difficult and decided to go downstairs for some hot chocolate to help her sleep. As she was descending down the stairs, she heard rustling from the kitchen, and a small bang, followed shortly by an almost silent 'ow'.
As she poked her head around the corner, her eyes widened at the sight in front of her. "Ron?" She exclaimed quietly. There was milk dribbling down the counter and coco powder on the floor, with Ron frozen, holding his pinky tightly.
"Oh Merlin Ron, what are you doing up at this time?" Cassie questioned while wiping up the milk, with a cloth she grabbed from the table. Ron shrugged his shoulders sheepishly.
"Couldn't sleep, so I tried making hot chocolate, to make me feel tired. I don't know what I was thinking though. Asking me to make anything, is like asking you not to fall over once a day." Cass grinned at the boy and told him to sit down. She made them both a mug of hot chocolate and grabbed some biscuits for them to nibble on.
While drinking away, Ron questioned Cassie on what Hogwarts was like. He listened intently to all her answers and laughed at the story's of all the trouble her, the twins and Lee would get into. She told him all about how nasty Snape is to Gryffindors and how you should stay away from Filch and Ms Noris. They even giggled together when Cassie told the story of Fred almost falling off his broom when Ms Hooch shouted at him in flying lessons.
After a while, Cassandra sent Ron up to bed, and cleaned away the mess they had made, then she went back upstairs and crawled into the fort, cuddled into Fred for warmth and finally fell asleep with a small smile on her face.
