ᵇˡᵃᶜᵏ ᵇˡᵒᵒᵈ ; ʳᵉᵍᵘˡᵘˢ ᵇˡᵃᶜᵏ

024 - Rousing Roosters

She wrinkled her nose in disgust as Draco and her ventured around the hundreds of tents set up in preparation for the exciting occasion, having found themselves in a particularly low-born side of the site.

"Truly, it reeks of filth," she whispered to her cousin, careful to keep her voice away from nearby ears, lest she incur the residents' wrath.

"You're telling me!" he hissed in reply, looking revolted as he glanced towards an impromptu pigpen that housed two swine, which Cassiopeia dearly hoped were pets and not festive cuisine. "How can they live like this?! They're practically wallowing in their own filth!"

Despite his biting but very true words, his voice was as quiet as a fae's fair squeak, showing he too could display common sense, something she had begun to doubt him in possession of over the past few years attending Hogwarts.

"Draco, I care not where we go next, but I cannot bear wandering this sty a moment longer!" she quietly spat, not allowing the disgusted sneer to appear upon her features that desperately craved such.

"Nor can I," he just-as-quietly replied, not quite containing his own revolted expression, which she very much hoped no resident could see, only for his features to change to something more eager. "Do you suppose Weasley is here?"

"Draco!" she hissed, not wanting to remain in the area for a moment longer, especially not to look for one of his rivals for a taunt or two.

"Whatever," he huffed out, leading her away from the awful place.

Their next destination, whilst no pureblood paradise, was far from the filth-laden atrocity they'd previously visited, and it was there that they found the aforementioned Weasley clan, as well as a couple extras.

"Oh, look, Cass, a pack of rats has infested the campground," Draco taunted, waltzing up to the group with a sneer upon his fine features.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Potter asked, scowling at the boy with such disdain that she felt he'd fit right in with her kin, only for his expression to morph into a grin as he turned his sight onto her. "Hello...Black."

"Good morning, Potter," she politely greeted, showing the boy an irate scowl for his friendly greeting and grin, which only seemed to increase the magnitude of the latter.

"Hey, Crackhead, don't act so friendly towards my cousin," Draco drawled, his voice dripping with venom, and whilst Cassiopeia internally agreed with the statement, she felt it was no business of his to say such.

Instead of replying to her cousin like the girl thought the scarred boy would, however, Potter's grin grew a little more, and his gaze never once left her form.

"How has your summer been?" he asked of her, and the girl very nearly took a step away from her cousin, as she could practically feel the heat he was radiating due to his outrage at being overlooked by his greatest rival.

"Don't ignore me, Potter!" the pureblooded boy hissed.

Cassiopeia nearly shook her head in realization as Potter's gaze continued to remain upon her.

'Does he not realize the power he's giving to Potter by acting this way?' she silently wondered, exasperated at her cousin's childish blindness.

"I'm glad to see you here, Black," the scarred boy continued, and whilst she knew he was elevating his act of taunting her cousin by saying such, his smile became genuine as he'd said this to her, which baffled the girl.

"Potter!" Draco snapped, which caused her to shift her gaze towards her cousin so as to send him a patronizing glance for his churlish inability to comprehend what the boy in question was doing and why.