Blood Magic ✤ George Weasley ✓

9 - The Book Thief

musical mood: girls - nature

Turns out, when they weren't snapping at each other, Cass and Bethany made a good team. They were more alike than different - both introverts, both down to earth, and both too cynical for their own good. Bethany was smart, more than most Ravenclaws their age. While Cass was best with hands-on classes, such as potions and astronomy, Bethany was a master at spells. Between them, they were fluent in five languages, Cass knowing French and Scots, and Bethany Japanese and German, on top of their collective English.

In late February, the two were collected in the library while the rest of the Hogwarts student body were at breakfast. They were doing some last minute studying together, as the library was always perfectly quiet at this time.

"We should do it today." Bethany said as she turned the page on a book for History of Magic. "If we keep pushing it back, something bad could happen, and it would be our fault for not doing anything to stop it."

Cass looked away from her Astronomy textbook. On the first night back at Hogwarts, when she and Bethany had talked, she had been in such a rush to get to the bottom of this. But as time went by, Cass grew more and more anxious about the possibilities. Part of her wanted to remain in a blissful oblivion. Before, it had just been about Quirrell, but now, with her brother involved, it was personal.

"Yeah. We should." She reluctantly agreed after a long pause. Bethany was right, she ought not let her personal feelings get in the way, not when other students were at risk. It was odd, only months ago she didn't give a damn about anyone in the castle, but as time went by, she genuinely grew to care for her classmates, to the point where she could almost consider a few of them as friends.

Cass set her book down on the table and stood up. "We should go down to the Great Hall before breakfast ends. It's the easiest place to find George and Fred, I imagine."

Bethany followed, locking herself at Cass' side as they walked down the empty Hogwarts halls.

"Let's go over the plan one more time." Bethany whispered, despite there being no one around to overhear.

Cass fought the urge to roll her eyes. They had gone over this a dozen times in the past few weeks, but Bethany was more of a perfectionist than she was.

"You corner Quirrell before he can get too close to his office, ask him for homework help or something, just stall him for as long as possible. I get the twins to set off fireworks, or flood the halls, or something insane like that. Something that would distract him for even longer. Then, while he's busy with you and the twins, I break into his office. You join, if you can get away without being noticed, but stay near the door to keep watch."

"And you've got Alohomora down, right? If he's hiding anything, chances are it's locked up."

"I've been practising the spell for weeks, don't worry."

The two reached the open doors of the Great Hall, where all of Hogwarts' students were gathered in early morning conversation. By some miracle, Quirrell was actually at the Professors table instead of cooped up inside his classroom - a rarity nowadays, and the Weasley twins were easily able to be spotted at the Gryffindor table.

Fred was stood up, doing some ridiculous impression, while the students around him were laughing their asses off. George was sat next to him, gesturing largely to a boy Cass recognized as Lee Jordan. While Bethany walked over to the Ravenclaw table, her eyes focused on the professor, Cass made a beeline towards the redheads.

"Excuse me." Cass poked George's shoulder as she reached them.

He turned around, his confused expression lighting up when he made eye contact with her. "Cassie! Long time no see!" George nudged his twin. "Freddie, look who it is!"