Moonstruck | marauders era

xxi. the full moon of january '77

"So, first tutor lesson today," said Dana with a grin.

"Don't mention it," Noah mumbled as he shoved the scrambled eggs on his plate around with his fork.

"Maybe it's not going to be as bad as you think," said Samuel, shoving more bacon in his mouth, unbothered by his friend's misery. Grace grimaced.

"Wonder which Grady will have a more pleasant day," Benjy said with a grin. Cassie shook her head at him slightly but stopped when Noah looked at her with furrowed eyes.

"Why's that?"

"Our Cassie has a date," answered Dana, the little traitor.

"A second date, that is," Gabriella added and Cassie groaned.

"I thought you didn't enjoy the last date with Elias?" asked Noah with frown.

"It's not like I didn't like it. He's nice and all," she answered with a shrug.

"That's not how you talk about someone you want to date," said Sam.

"Yeah, it's more like 'oh, Celeste is so beautiful. Oh, Celeste, look at her smile! Oh and her hair,-'" Sam shoved Benjy's shoulder with a glare.

"Shut up."

"Wait, that date is today?" asked Noah, his eyes set on Cassie's.

"Yes?"

"Don't you have, you know, Astrology later?" he asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Noah, it's Saturday." said Dana.

"Yes, I mean," his eyes stayed on Cassie. "this homework for Astrology? The one the lunascope I gave you is a big help for as you said?" She felt her stomach drop as she caught on, her heart pumping faster in her chest as the realisation hit her.

"I... I thought I could finish that... homework... tomorrow." she mumbled. It was the first time Skyler peaked up during their conversation.

"No, tomorrow you and I have this thing, remember? That's why you said you had to finish Astrology today."

"You have Astrology later during the week, just do it Monday?" said Grace with a shrug.

"I don't think this is about Astrology," whispered Dana in her direction.

"Yeah, they're speaking in their weird Grady language." mumbled Benjy. Cassie rolled her eyes.

"The date is after lunch," she shrugged. "I will just go back a bit sooner than planned and do the homework after. It'll be fine."

Noah and Skyler exchanged a glance as the others decided to let the topic drop. Cassie sighed quietly to herself. 'Learn to control it. The moon is not your enemy. She's your friend.' It'd be fine, right?

Elias waited outside of the great hall for Cassie after lunch. He greeted her with another kiss to her knuckles and Cassie smiled politely at him before following him outside onto the grounds. It was cold and she had wrapped herself up in a coat, mittens and a beanie but the sky was blue and the ground was glistening with frost in the sunlight. Cassie trusted the cloudless sky enough to follow along with the date they had agreed on. They talked about their holidays a little more, Cassie told him about her friends and how she enjoyed her time with them and her family while he talked about spending most of the time during the holidays spending with his family and playing Quidditch in the yard with his brother and father. It was nice, an easy enough talk. Elias told her more about his plans to turn his passion for the sport into his career path after school and she smiled politely, nodding along, encouraging him. He was a great player, she was sure he could do it if he put his mind on it. The lack of other topics was what made her concentrate more on their surroundings, letting her gaze fly over the glistening grounds and she closed her eyes with a smile, face directed to the sun.