way to go, tiger | Lorenzo Berkshire

࣪𖤐 Y4 | 9 . Heartstrings

HO HEY — THE LUMINEERS
'So show me family.'

Cassie has another full moon at the end of October. This one's not as bad, she thinks. She's up and out of the Infirmary in the same day.

Her chest stops hurting three days after. When it does, Daphne bursts into the common room with an announcement. "Campfire by the lake in twenty minutes!" she exclaims, as if she's a medieval town-crier.

Cassie and her friends share a smiling look. The last campfire they had was in second year, and Mattheo burnt himself on the fire— but nonetheless, it was a bloody good night.

Cassie and Pansy go down to their dorm to get out of their pyjamas. It's early November now, which makes Hogwarts a lot colder. Especially in the dungeons at the bottom of the castle, everyone is equipped with blankets with heating charms all winter. Cassie puts on a grey tracksuit and her beloved ivy converse— a Slytherin bodywarmer to match.

When the girls go back up to the common room, nobody is there. They share a look before linking arms. "Guess we're a tad late." Pansy shrugs as they trek the many stairs of the common room.

Cassie laughs, "Oh well."

By the time they arrive at the lake, pretty much everyone is there. Loads of Slytherins, a few Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs here and there, barely any Ravenclaws. It's dark outside for only seven thirty in the evening. The fire is hard to miss, it being slap bang in the middle of the grass by the lake.

"Just blend in, nobody will even notice we're late." Cassie says to Pansy, unlinking their arms.

The girls slyly join the crowd, Cassie behind her brother. He's hard to miss, his tall figure in a Falcons sweater. In an attempt to scare him, she runs her hands up his spine like a spider and squeezes the base of his neck. He winces and turns to see the culprit. "Bloody hell, Cass."

She beams, "Did I make you jump?"

"I figured it would either be you or Eddie, so not really."

Cassie scoffs and he ruffles her hair with a laugh before she leaves to find Enzo. There were logs scattered around the fire, some people had even brought chairs. Enzo is standing by the fire, talking to Lexi and Ron with a cup of butterbeer in hand. "Hi, gorgeous." he smiles. She smiles and kisses his cheek in response.

"When'd you get here?" Ron asks.

"Literally just a second ago. Me and Pansy snuck in so nobody would notice we were late." Cassie chuckles.

"Well, Mattheo has been looking for you— something about a marshmallow competition?" Lexi shrugs.

Cassie beams, knowing exactly what he's talking about. At their last campfire, her and Mattheo raced to see who could roast their marshmallow quicker. Mattheo won last time, but Cassie has been plotting her victory ever since. She's going to win this time, she'll be sure of it.

Cassie grabs Enzo's hand and leads him towards a certain curly haired Slytherin. Mattheo is speaking to Enzo's sister and Millicent Bullstrode when they approach. "Oh, Hi Rose." Enzo says flatly, as if he wasn't expecting her to be here.

Rose's gaze drops to where Cassie and Enzo's fingers are locked together. "Hi. You alright?"

"Mhm." Enzo shrugs, looking everywhere but his sister.

Cassie looks between them with furrowed brows. She knows Enzo has never really gotten along with Rose, but she didn't realise it was this awkward. It never was when they were younger— what changed? He's alright with Atlas, but Cassie supposes that's because they're both boys.