Hateful Love

Chapter Forty-Eight

NOTE: I do not own any of the ideas or characters expressed in this story (except Cassie Jackson). All of these belong to J.K. Rowling.

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Cassie P.O.V.

          The bell rings to signal that first period starts in one minute, but I’m too busy listening to Katherine to hear it. We sat down in Potions a little early, so Katherine’s been telling me this crazy story about how she and Cho slipped on ice two years ago—I don’t think I’ve laughed this hard in months.

          “So then Cho tripped over me and fell right on her face,” Katherine tells me, smiling and trying not to laugh along with my uncontrollable giggles. “We were both spun out on the ice, right? And then this guy literally ran over to help us up—naturally he’d want to help out two hot girls—but he ended up slipping too! And it wasn’t even ‘cause of the ice, he tripped over his own shoes. His feet must have been twice the size of mine, no joke—“

         It really isn’t that funny, but I can tell Katherine’s seriously trying to make me feel better. I know she’s noticed how depressed I’ve been acting after what Neville and Ginny told me—not to mention how worried I’ve been about Draco’s absence for the past two days. This is the first time she’s distracted me from all that.

          By now most of the class has entered the room and the final bell has rung, but Katherine and I are still laughing as quietly as we can in the back corner. She continues her story after breaking off for a minute catch her breath. “—and it took us nearly five minutes to get up off the ground. The guy was just laying there in the ice trying to get up too, but we were too embarrassed by that point to help him. So Cho just grabbed my arm and we ran away as fast as we could without slipping again. We just left him there lying in the ice, can you believe it?”

          “That’s—that’s so messed up,” I choke out, wiping at the tears under my eyes as I attempt to control my laughter. “You two are crazy, why have I never heard this before—“

          She’s opening her mouth to respond, giggling, when we hear Slughorn clear his throat. We both look up, the laughter dissipating quickly as we realize the rest of the class is mostly silent and the professor is looking down at us disapprovingly from the front of the classroom. However, there’s a hint of a smile on his face as he says, “Quiet down, you two. Let’s begin.”

          We both mumble an apology, trying so hard not to look at each other because we know we’ll just burst out laughing again. As Slughorn begins the lesson, I force myself to quit smiling and pay attention. He tells us get our notes out so he can teach us about brewing a Forgetfulness Potion; apparently it’s too complex for us to actually make it, so we’ve got to take notes on it instead. Great.

          He turns around to draw some diagram up on the blackboard, and I’m just starting to scribble it down on my notepad when I realize I completely forgot to see if Draco ever walked in. My eyes automatically snap up to the other side of the room, and there he is, sitting in his usual seat beside Zabini. I feel my arms go weak with relief at the sight of him and I nearly drop my quill, but I suddenly feel extremely guilty for not noticing him walk in when the bell rang. I suppose it’s better this way, though, because someone surely would have noticed if I got relieved once he arrived in front of everyone. He sits more toward the front, so his back is to me and I can’t see his face.

          I suddenly realize I’m staring at Draco intensely, so I quickly tear my gaze away and look to see if anyone noticed. Everyone seems to be immersed in either taking notes or taking a nap, but Katherine and I are near the back anyway. Slughorn turns back around to explain something, so I force myself to look back up at the board.