Perfect

25. Valentine's Day

It was Valentine's Day weekend and it seemed like everyone was trying to get into Madam Puddfotti's for dates. Everywhere seemed packed, Zonko's, Honeydukes, even the three broomsticks were packed.

Theo had gotten out of the Hospital wing the next day and was back to feeling better, only had some minor bruising that went away in a few days.

Since they didn't want to wait all day, Cassie and him got some food to go from one of the restaurants and some candy from Honeydukes and quickly escaped the ever growing crowds.

They walked holding hands back to the castle grounds. They passed plenty of couples doing the same. It was weird, it almost felt normal, even though nothing about their relationship was normal.

She didn't love him. Not like a married couple should. She didn't even know if she liked him. Definitely cared for him, but fancy? She couldn't be sure.

Cassie had never been in love, she had never seen anyone be in love or describe it other than in books, but they always over exaggerated in books. It was basically like listening to a story from Sirius.

The walk felt a little shorter than it normally did and they were at the black lake in no time. They took a seat against a tree on the edge of the water and unpacked their food.

"This is peaceful," Theo smiled, looking around. There were animal noises and some leaves rustling, but no busy people, no yelling, no homework.

Cassie nodded and smiled at him, "Yeah, it is."

They didn't really have much to talk about. They were with each other all the time so if something happened they were both usually there. "So, did you hear about the prank that the Marauders did on Severus?"

Cassie shook her head as she started eating her food, "no, what they do?"

"Poured pink glitter over him," Theo laughed and Cassie hit him.

"He's our friend, you should be on his side," she reminded him. Slytherins were always at war with Gryffindors, they had to have each other's backs.

Theo raised his hands, "I was on his side, I yelled at them, doesn't mean I can't laugh about it now, it was really funny."

Cassie chuckled and picked up her sandwich, her sleeve falling a little. Theo wiped his mouth from his sauce and looked at her confused, "did you get a new tattoo?" Cassie stopped eating and looked to where he was pointing.

She rolled it back down, "yeah, but it's not healed yet." Theo laughed and tried to grab her arm. "Come on, I won't make fun of you, just show me."

She kept moving her arm away and Theo looked at her and saw her worried face, "Cass– is– no..."

"Theo–" he stood up and she stood up with him. "Theo, stop!"

"We're 16, Cassie! How could you?" He asked, his eyes tearing up and Cassie gulped. She felt guilty, she didn't like seeing him cry.

"I didn't have a choice–"

"You could've asked to wait!"

"NO I COULDN'T!" Cassie snapped at him, stomping her foot. "My parents made a deal and he needed me, he couldn't wait! This is what it is!" Theo didn't look mad, he– he looked upset. Cassie was afraid he might hurt her, but he didn't look like he wanted to. He was sad.

He stepped forward then rushed forward and brought her into his arms. Cassie never really hugged anyone if it wasn't her brothers and even that was rare so it was a surprise, but she didn't mind it.

She wrapped her arms around him and it felt nice. He was warm and comforting and she smiled to herself, but stopped as she felt him crying against her shoulder. "I'm not going to get hurt, I can promise you that."

Theo pulled away and wiped his face, not wanting for it to look like he was crying. "How–"

"I just can," Cassie shut down his worries and smiled at him, "now, let's eat, that was a really good sandwich." Theo laughed and they went back to their spot to see the stuff untouched and the picked up their food.

"Cheers." Theo held out his food and she held out hers. They pretended to clink them like they were glasses and laughed at each other before continuing to eat.

~

In the following weeks, teachers were buckling down with homework, studying, and Gryffindor had beat Hufflepuff in their match.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, it was Izzy and Ash's sixteenth birthday. It was about mid-march and Cassie shook Izzy awake excitedly. "It's your birthday!" She shouted excitedly, pissing off their roommates.

Izzy rubbed her eyes, "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!"

It was a Thursday so they still had to go to classes, but they both had a bunch of presents sent to them and they were going to open them after dinner.

"So, have you sent in your finals list?" Pandora questioned her at dinner. Sometimes houses mixed for meals so it wasn't the biggest deal.

Izzy nodded her head, "I was excited so I sent it in days ago. They don't particularly like Borgin's family so they're a little wary of Den, but they're willing to look into it. They were confused on why Ash isn't asking to see any girls for dinner. Ethan was all too excited to get started."

Ash rolled his eyes and looked at Regulus, "my parents aren't that bad so I told them that I was dating a pureblood guy. They're okay with it, as long as I pass down the name somehow and don't break tradition." Reggie looked nervous, but Ash smiled at him, "don't worry, I didn't mention you."

He sighed in relief. Barty snicked and Regulus nudged him so hard he fell off the bench, making Regulus smile in satisfaction.

"Glad that's out of the way, so– my dad was wondering if you and your families wanted to go to a ministry function," Barty said as he climbed back into his seat, "Malfoy always goes, but not many people show up and he wants the ministry to feel more united during these," he coughed a little, "harder times, and if your families show up it can make that happen."

Evan blinked, "so he's going through his son's friends to make that happen?" Barty nodded a little embarrassed. "I mean, I'll be there, of course, but– what in Merlin's beard?"

Cassie shrugged, "My mom and aunt are always up for a good party, they like to gossip about others, it's entertaining."

Izzy nodded, "if her mom goes mine will too." Barty smiled a little, he was also worried that his dad would get mad at him, but he was glad that his friends had his back.

He smirked and nodded, "Great."

Severus glared at everyone and sat down pissed in the last available seat. "You okay?" Theo asked him and Severus snapped his head over.

"Potter," he smeared, looking over at the Gryffindor table. The others looked at each other and didn't want to say anything. Snape was known for making his own spells and dabbling in darker potions so they didn't want to set him off more.

"My apologies," Aries said sincerely and they all nodded. "Would you like us to plan an attack?" He was completely serious, if people got messed with too much, Slytherin would revolt against whoever was doing it.

Severus gave a barely recognizable shake of his head, "no, I've got it, I've been planning something." He had a vile look in his eye that would make any normal person shiver, but Cassie looked intrigued.

"Sounds enjoyable," she smirked and Severus smirked back.

"oh it will be."