Blood Magic ✤ George Weasley ✓

34 - An Unfortunate Engagement

musical mood: twit - hwasa

It was easy for Cass to let her guard down, while at Hogwarts. Being surrounded by good people made it hard to push them away, to remind herself that she shouldn't get too close to anyone, lest Barty interfere. Lest they find out about him, and get her father sent to Azkaban.

She hated him, she hated him so much for putting her in this position. The choice should be easy, he'd never been a good father, after all, yet she couldn't allow herself to have him thrown in prison. She couldn't be that heartless, even though he had been.

This new revelation not only caused her to contemplate her father and brother more, but her mother as well. Diana had been the instigator in this entire thing. Diana had loved her son so much that in the end, she suffered Azkaban for him in her final days. It was bizarre, the concept of a love so unconditional. Cass wondered if her mother loved her that much, as an infant. Not that it mattered much, she was dead, after all. Who cared what the dead thought of the living?

It had been a narrow defeat for Ravenclaw, at the Ravenclaw vs Gryffindor match. Cass hadn't been paying much attention, her mind wandering throughout the game, but she could tell Naia and Terry did well. Just not well enough - Potter caught the snitch, in the end.

"Cassie!"

She turned around, stopping in her tracks as she'd been walking back to the Ravenclaw dorms. Several passing people turned to stare at her and the twins, who were still in their Gryffindor Quidditch uniforms for some reason, wearing identical smirks.

"Is there something you want?"

"Nice to see you too." Fred scrunched his nose.

"We won." George said, as though that made what he wanted obvious.

"Er, yeah, congratulations. You lot did well."

"Sooooo, you have to do you-know-what with that potion." George lowered her voice, and Cass's stomach dropped. In all the horrible things that had happened, that deal she made with them about Cedric and Ass Tonic 2.0 had slipped from her mind completely. Luckily, she'd finished the potion before break began. Or unluckily, considering she didn't want to do this.

"I hate you." She bit down on her tongue.

"We know you do." George patted her on the shoulder, and she swatted his hand away.

"So, Georgie and I were thinking, for maximum effect, we do it on your birthday. The 27th, right?" How Fred remembered her birthday was a mystery to her, considering she forgot it half the time.

"No way. I'm not ruining my birthday by drugging an innocent person!" She hissed, lowering her voice to prevent any evesdroppers.

"It isn't drugging, it's pranking." George rolled his eyes, as if she were so young and stupid. "Big difference."

"I don't care. I'm not doing it on my birthday. You're lucky I'm doing it at all!"

"You'll come around, you'll see."

*

Cass didn't return to her dorm that night, instead she chose to spend time with the Weasley twins in the kitchen, at their usual table. When they invited her, she should've said no, she really should've, but something possessed her. Maybe it was the intrigue of their positive personalities; she so desperately needed a break from her ruminating thoughts about Barty and Connor and how she wanted to die...