Across any Divide

Chapter 14

Casey didn't sleep at all.

It wasn't the shock that was her dorm room that kept her up. Nor was it the encounter with George Weasley, or the magnitude of emotions that had drowned her for hours into the night.

No, once she had picked herself up off the ginormous bed and peeled her eyes off of the glass wall submerged beneath the Black Lake, she realized something.

She was at Hogwarts. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

She was a witch.

She had a god damn wand.

So that's where she found herself in the wee hours of the morning, waving the wand she'd found in the trunk at the foot of her bed around. She'd done everything she could think of. Levitated nearly every object in her room, broken things only to mend them, summoned items from across the room and poured through texts books, causing small inanimate objects to transfigure into others, or changing pictures in the books to have mustaches or green hair.

The sky was the limit, and much too soon the sun light had come flickering in, dancing in little spots through the water of the lake. As awake and excited as she had been the night before, Casey sat straight up from her place on the floor. The clock on the nightstand read 6:30. Her meeting with Daphne flashed through her mind, and Casey found herself on her feet.

A smile pulled at her lips - she had classes to attend.

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"Oi!" Theo purposefully shoved George as he took the empty seat next to him. Draco glanced up from across the table where he sat attempting to read the morning's paper. Matteo was next to him, studiously reading a chapter of their transfiguration textbook.

George turned sharply, snarling at Theo, "Watch it! Spill my tea before I've had a chance to drink it and I'll kill you myself."

"Damn," Theo raised his hands in mock surrender, "Someone's touchy in the mornings."

"What do you want, Nott?" George growled, hooking his arm around his plate and scooting a few inches away from Theo. He cupped his tea protectively, scowling as he lifted the saucer to his lips and downed it in nearly one gulp.

"Saw you chatting to the new girl last now. How is she?" Theo wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

George rolled his eyes, "Not bad for a rich girl."

"What do you have against a rich girl?" A feminine voice wafted up from behind them. The boys' heads swiveled to find Daphne approaching, the Bonaccord girl and Astoria in tow. Riddle sucked in a breath, his gaze flickering away from the approaching girls and fastening determinedly on George.

Draco followed Riddle's gaze back to Weasley, lips pulling in a smirk at the color leeching from the man's face. He opened his mouth to respond, but Daphne spoke again.

"Is it that you simply like holding all the monetary power in a relationship, or that your insecurity runs so deep that you depend on your deep pockets to attract a woman?"

"Damn," Theo exhaled sharply. Draco snorted, keeping his eyes downcast as he attempted to muffle his amusement. Only Riddle stayed silent as George inhaled deeply.

"I only meant -"

"I don't particuarly care what you meant," a new voice spoke up - the Bonaccord girl. Her tone was sharp, but not loud. The only ones who could hear them were those sitting immediately around them. "I thought that you, being a Weasley and all, would be the last one to make assumptions about what money does to a person."