Fate and Destiny

Chapter 12

The next meeting was short, which Cassie was thankful for. Gellert would be staying the night and she was admittedly excited. He had also gotten her another present and she was curious.

They returned to her small house not long after the meeting ended. She had whiskey for him. Her father had drunk it before, when she was little, but she hoped he liked it. He seemed to as he drank it while glancing at a newspaper.

“There’s an article in there about these ships that the Muggles are building,” she said as she sat beside him at the dining table. “Two big ones, the Olympic and the Titanic. They say they’ll be the biggest ships ever.”
“Biggest ever?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. “Impressive, even without magic they’ve found all these ways.”
“They have,” said Cassie. “And yet it doesn’t stop them from being cruel to us.”
“They are cruel amongst themselves as well.”

Cassie reached out and took his hand. It was warm but not sweaty and he smiled.
“Are you sure I can’t tempt you to drink?” he asked. “Not even a little sip?”
Cassie shook her head. “No, not even a little sip.” He shrugged and finished the glass.
“More for me then, I suppose.”
“I guess so.”

Cassie didn’t mind not drinking. Albus had been insistent that almost everyone would enjoy something alcoholic. She had watched her father drink and pointed out that her mother didn’t like any alcoholic drink she had tried. When Cassie had pointed that out to Albus, he didn’t like it and insisted that her mother had to like something. It had resulted in an argument where Cassie had vowed never to drink. And she never had.

Gellert looked at her and hummed.
“Do you want to get in bed?” he asked.
“It is quite late,” she said eventually. A smile spread across his face. “And even though I don’t do much in those meetings, I always seem tired afterwards.”
“It’s probably because it’s always dark outside.” Cassie furrowed her brow as she realised she hadn’t ever seen the sun during the meetings. It was either dark outside or the curtains were drawn closed. It was probably at least an hour or two ahead of the time in Britain.
“It is, isn’t it?” she said as she stood up.

Gellert followed her to the bedroom once he had put his glass near the sink. Cassie had already taken her dress off, leaving her in her undergarments. It didn’t bother her that he was watching.

“I never understood why you liked Muggle clothes so much,” he muttered. Cassie turned to look at him.
“Because wizarding fashion is horrendous. Those robes are not flattering in the least, and I swear it’s barely changed over the last century,” she said. Muggles did have some interesting fashion choices but she tended to prefer it over the robes. Besides, when they were among muggles, they were supposed to blend in. “If there’s one thing they can do, it’s make some flattering clothing. I liked the corsets my mother used to have. Some of the things are dreadful though, hobble skirts are. You can’t walk in them!”

Gellert just chuckled as I removed the corset, leaving her in her lacy combination undergarments.
“I don’t see you wearing those dreadful robes.”
“No,” he said, shaking his head as he pulled his shirt off. He had brought extra clothes earlier and had left them in the bedroom before they had headed to the meeting together. While Cassie could take the portkey alone, she much preferred to have some company. “Durmstrang was cold and robes are useless when you have fur cloaks.”

“You got cloaks?” asked Cassie as she sat down on the bed. She was frowning. “I hated the Hogwarts robes. I didn’t mind the ties though, and mine was blue and bronze which was nice.”
“Ravenclaw, wasn’t it?” Gellert asked as he sat beside her, dressed only in his own undergarments. He shuffled backwards and leaned against the headboard.
“Yes,” she said, smiling. She hadn’t expected him to remember that. “And Albus was Gryffindor. My house valued intelligence and creativity, while Albus’ was bravery and courage. I much preferred mine.”

“I still find it hard to believe a magic hat sorts you into houses based on what you thought when you were eleven.”
Cassie laughed and shrugged before moving to sit next to him. “I suppose it is a bit odd, but you would almost certainly be Slytherin or Ravenclaw. Ambition and resourcefulness for them.”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe I’d want to be with you and I’d pick Ravenclaw.”
“Well, you’re certainly clever enough for it,” said Cassie. “Slytherin seems to have a habit of producing dark wizards.”
“It didn’t make me.”
“No, it didn’t.”

Gellert pulled Cassie onto his lap, resting his chin on her shoulder. She laughed as his breath tickled her neck and ear.
“What are you doing?”
“I thought it was fairly obvious.” Cassie smiled but she wondered what would have happened had Gellert had gone to Hogwarts. Would he still have been friends with Albus and herself? Or would it all have been avoided? She was curious what the sorting hat would have thought of him.

“What was your present?” she asked. Gellert raised his eyebrows and then gestured towards his jacket. Two small books flew from his pockets to his hand. Wandless and wordless magic. It was impressive. “What are they?”

“They’re books. Only small with a few pages. What you write in one will appear in the other. And once the other person has seen it, they can tap it with their wand to make it disappear. They’ll only show the writing to its owner though, so no one else can read it,” he explained as he handed one to her. He kept hold of the other one. They had identical bindings, with a leather cover.

Cassie opened the book to see writing on the first page. There was writing on the first page, in Gellert’s handwriting. ‘For Cassie’ was written on the first page. On the next was a compliment, telling her how beautiful she was.
“Will it stay there until I tap it with my wand?” she asked. He nodded and then she smiled. “Then I hope you know I’m never getting rid of those first two pages, well, maybe the first one but definitely not the second one. Thank you.” She kissed his cheek and he smiled.
“It’s my pleasure, it’s nice seeing you happy again.” Cassie looked down at the book and then back at him.
“And it’s nice seeing you like this again, with all your planning and ideas. It’s wonderful.”