Fate and Destiny

Chapter 15

Mornings with Gellert were something Cassie tended to look forward to. Omelettes were quickly becoming her favourite breakfast. Neither of them minded the arrangement of Gellert cooking breakfast, as long as Cassie continued providing him with alcohol and freshly baked goods every so often.

“So, you think you’ll beat me at Wizard’s Chess again?”
“Oh yes,” said Cassie as she set the plates and cutlery next to the sink. She could charm them to be cleaned later. “In fact, I am rather certain of it.” He stared at her and she stared back, feeling only a little unnerved and a little of something else.
“Shall we find out then?” he asked, his lips breaking out into a grin.
“Let’s do.”

Cassie had to admit that he played a lot better this time, he made fewer mistakes at the beginning, but as they went on, he grew impatient and didn’t evaluate for any better moves than the ones he had already decided on. She could tell which moves he had decided on as he moved the pieces immediately while other times it took a lot longer. And sometimes she was convinced he was just trying to drag the time out.

Eventually, Cassie checkmated him and won.
“Are you cheating somehow?” he asked as he looked down at all of his broken pieces.
“How would I manage to cheat? They’re charmed to not listen to you if you try to cheat. And the pieces don’t like it anyway,” she said, laughing a little as she stood up.

“What do you want to have for lunch?” she asked as she headed to the kitchen.
“I’m not sure,” he said as he stood and followed her. “I’m not that hungry really, maybe we should go for a walk somewhere?”
“A walk?” Cassie asked. “Where would we even go for a walk in London?”
Gellert shrugged. “I don’t know, I don’t live here.”
“Well it’s not like I go out for a walk around very often,” she said. “The most I do is food shopping.”

“Well, why don’t we find out where we can walk?” he asked. Cassie raised her eyebrows.
“I’d say yes but… um, well, you look like you.” He sighed and pulled out his wand, waving it over him and creating a glamour. He had short blond hair now and his face was unrecognisable.
“Is this better for you?”
“No, I like your proper face,” she said, frowning slightly. “But it’s better than having you recognised and being seen with me.”
“Well, unless they want to cast a spell in public and risk breaking the Statute of Secrecy,” he said.

Gellert held out his arm to her and Cassie looked at him before slipping on a coat and linking arms with him.
“Alright then,” she said, smiling. She grabbed her keys to lock the door as they left.
“Besides, no one will have any reason to think I’m me,” he said. Cassie nodded, he had a point.

Outside, it was warm. The sky was cloudy and grey, as was usual for London. It wasn’t as cold or as snowy as it had been when the two had visited Godric’s Hollow and Cassie was glad. The two of them talked as they walked amongst the houses and shops with only the faintest idea of where they were going.

“How do you live in this place?” he asked. He looked at the crowd of people with a disgusted look. Cassie shrugged.
“I don’t know. I don’t actually spend that much time here. Besides working, I spend a lot of time at home. If it wasn’t for work, I’d happily live in the middle of nowhere. But this is convenient. Diagon Alley isn’t too far away, I can get to work easily.”
“I wish I could figure out a way for you to stay with me. Where you could still work and have everything be convenient,” he said. Cassie smiled and nodded.
“So do I,” she said. “I’d love to live with you, to spend more time with you. But I just don’t know how it would work.”

They didn’t say anything to each other for a while, just walking hand in hand. To others, it looked as though they were a couple. And to any wizards that saw Cassie and knew her, it looked as though she was happily with a man they had never seen before. Probably a Muggle, since he wasn’t known to anyone, which was probably the most amusing part.

“I’ll make it work,” he said finally. “I’ll find a way if that is what you want to do.”
Cassie’s eyebrows raised but she smiled. “It is what I want.”