Blood Magic ✦ George Weasley ✓

41 - Truth or Dare

musical mood: black water lilies - aurora

"Cassie, come on, please just talk to me."

"I have to get to class, George." She bit down on her tongue, ignoring the funny look Naia was giving her.

He'd been hounding her every day for the past week, sometimes with Fred, and sometimes, like this time, on his own, trying in various ways to get her attention, to get her to talk to him. Today, it was begging.

She knew she was being unfair, that George hadn't actually done anything wrong, but speaking to him was perhaps the last thing she wanted to do, not while she was going through an emotional crisis. He knew about her secret, he knew about Barty, and, perhaps even worse, she fancied him! Could things possibly get any worse?

Of course, there was the matter of Barty being on the loose, but she was safe from him at school, no matter what his threatening notes may say. Her father was safe - she'd actually spotted him the day prior, outside of the golden eagle statue. Everyone was safe, but her mind certainly wasn't sound.

"Cassie will talk to you after class, George. I'll make sure of it." Naia gave him a goofy smile as they entered Moody's classroom. It was a class with the Gryffindors, and they were some of the last people there, taking the only empty spots left.

"Only I can call her Cassie!" He called after Naia, who was giggling as they sat down at their desks.

"So, trouble in paradise?" Naia raised her eyebrows at Cass, who shrugged.

"He's been getting on my nerves, is all." She lied through her teeth.

"You can't dump him because he's getting on your nerves! Lavender will kill you, you know she's a hardcore fan of you two as you know, and I'll get an earful from Angelina for a month. She's really invested in your relationship, by the way."

"Angelina is? I've only spoken to her once."

"Yes, and she thinks you and George are the cutest couple alive."

"Odd."

Moody entered the classroom and began his lesson immediately, and much to Cass's horror, the subject of unforgivable curses was not, in fact, over. No, because today, Moody was going to be placing the imperius curse on all of them, to see if they could fight it.

"Is this legal?" Padma asked, looking around uncertainly. The rest of the students appeared to share the same wariness.

"Do you think the people who will be using this on you care if it's legal, Patil?"

"No, sir."

"Good! Now...Burke, let's start with you."

If Bethany was nervous about being put under an unforgivable curse, she didn't show it. With one swift movement of his wand and a mutter of his breath, Bethany was completely under Moody's control. Assuming, of course, she couldn't fight it.

But Bethany simply stood there, solid in place, eyes closed, as if she were bored by the whole ordeal.

Several moments went by, before Moody lowered his wand. "Nice job, Burke. I'd like to see the rest of you top that."

"Good job, Beth!" Ana smiled at her as she approached the front for her turn, and Bethany actually gave her a soft grin back. It looked foreign on her usually stoic face, but surprisingly suited her - Bethany was beautiful as it was, but when she actually smiled, even just a little, Cass imagined she'd have boys lining up for miles. Of course, she had no interest in boys, except for Colin, who she was for some reason still dating. Had the marriage not been called off yet?