Blood Magic ✤ George Weasley ✓

60 - An Unlikely Union

musical mood: the river - aurora

No one knew who sent Cass the hat. Moody had spent hours outside of Grim Old Place, doing whatever it was Moody did, that would somehow find the source of the 'gift', but it was all for nothing. He eventually came back at three in the morning, shaking his head and sighing to himself. It was impossible to track down where the owl had come from, or the hat. But he was sure of one thing.

It was just a prank.

A cruel, awful prank by a cruel awful person. Nothing more.

Cass told that to herself every time she felt the panic begin to build again, every time she felt her mind slipping away into delusion.

Someone had forged Barty's handwriting. Someone had found a hat that looked like her fathers. It wasn't real. Barty was dead. She was safe. Everyone was safe.

Even then, she found herself on edge, constantly looking over her shoulder, constantly reading too much into things. At least Barty hadn't reappeared in her visions. At least she hadn't gone completely mad again.

The return back to Hogwarts was dreadful, with Cass wishing she could spend the rest of eternity with George and the others at Grim Old Place, instead of at the castle, keeping her head down and ignoring her former friends. On the train, her and George shared a compartment with Fred and Angelina, but they'd left to "use the restroom" half an hour ago. Surprisingly, Angelina was nothing but kind to Cass, which she hadn't expected, given her younger sister's sudden dislike of her. The sting of Naia's betrayal grew more and more numb as the days passed, but it was still there, ever lingering. Yet another reason she wished she could stay at Grim Old Place.

Over break, she found she'd grown to like just about everyone that resided in the former Black family home - even Moody. Sure, he was rough around the edges, but when he'd given her the headband and cut off what he thought was a proposal, she realised she might've misjudged him too early. Maybe he wasn't the worst guardian in the world, after all.

"What are you thinking about?" George asked as Cass stared out the window, mind wandering.

"I think I like Moody."

"You've finally come around then?"

She nodded, smiling to herself. "Yeah, I have. And I think he likes me too. I think I'm thankful he took me in. I mean...I hate to speak ill of the dead, but had you pulled a ring out in front of my father and actually proposed, I doubt he would've batted an eye. I like that Moody cared."

"I didn't. I mean, he ruined my marriage proposal!"

She whipped around, eyes wide, and George burst into laughter.

"I'm kidding! Merlin, Cassie, the look on your face...priceless!"

"That's not funny." She pressed her lips together, trying to suppress a laugh of her own.

Truthfully, as a child, she never imagined she'd get married. Not to anyone in Stromness, anyways. She just assumed her and Connor would be best friends forever, buy a house together somewhere far away, and maybe get a cat or a dog or a turtle, since Connor loved them. But she'd grown up, now, and when she thought about her future, all she saw was George. Maybe they would end up married, in the distant future. Far after she'd graduated Hogwarts, of course, it'd be silly to get married while still attending school.

She shook that thought away. They'd only been together for a few months, she shouldn't be thinking that far into the future already.

As if he could read her thoughts, George leaned in, his voice just above a whisper as his lips approached her ear. "For the record, Cassie, I will propose someday."