Those Damn Weasleys

Chapter Two

**Slight trigger warning, mentions of trauma and a panic attack**

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"Cassie!" Shrieks my best friend Melissa Bletchley as she bursts through the doors to the Leaky Cauldron. I wrote to her as soon as I found out Draco and I were leaving.

She runs over and hugs me tightly.

We've been best friends since first year, and she's one of the very few people I can really open up to. We always knew each other before Hogwarts, but we'd never really been friends until we became dormmates. Now I can't imagine life without her.

We've also made friends with a couple of boys in our year as well, Cassius Warrington and Graham Montague.

"I've barely heard from you all summer! How was Greece?" I ask.

Her eyes sparkle slightly as she smiles at me. "Incredible. I'll tell you everything in just a minute." She beams. "What about you? How was your summer?" She asks, looping her arm through mine as we stroll over to a table.

"Horrible, thanks to my wonderful cousin Sirius Black escaping from Azkaban. It sent my entire family into a panic and Mother and Father sent Draco and I here. Oh, and guess what? The Weasleys are here too."

Melissa groans. "You've got to be joking."

"Unfortunately, I'm not."

"Have they pranked you yet?"

"No, I only got here yesterday right before they did."

Melissa squints at me. "Did you sleep last night?" she asks.

I look down. "Yeah." I lie.

"Caaaaaaassss..."

"Not much." I admit with a sigh. "Can you tell? Are my bags bad?"

"They're not that bad, I've seen them a lot worse. But don't worry, they give you this sexy badass vibe."

I purse my lips. "You're not lying to me right?" I ask.

She holds her right hand over her heart. "On my dead grandmother."

I roll my eyes. "You never knew your dead grandmother, like that means anything."

Melissa giggles.

"Ugh not another Slytherin, they're taking over the place." A loud voice behind us says.

I whip around and glare at Fred and George. "Better us than red headed blood traitors." I snarl.

"Come on Cass, I'd rather talk somewhere else where the air isn't contaminated with filth anyway." Melissa says snarkily.

We leave into the alley and roam the streets together, catching up on our summers.

"Also, have you seen Diggory this year? Somehow, he's gotten hotter." Melissa says, fanning herself.

I roll my eyes and shove her lightly. "Please, stop, you're practically drooling."

"Am not!"

"You totally are." She rolls her eyes and I giggle. "Enough about Diggory, I want to hear more about Greece. Did you meet any handsome Greek boys?"

Melissa blushes.

I shriek. "You DID! Tell me everything!"

She spills the whole story on a handsome Greek wizard named Theseus. They met, he swept her off her feet and-

"You did WHAT?!" I shriek.

Meli blushes and shushes me. "Say it a little louder, I don't think they heard you in America." She says sarcastically.

"No, you can't shush me after telling me that you lost your virginity and didn't write to me about it instantly!" I whisper-shout.

"Could you literally be any louder?" She asks. "Besides, it's easier to tell you in person. And safer. You know your parents go through all your mail. What if they saw it?"

She avoids all my questions as we make our way back to the Leaky Cauldron to meet her parents and her twin brother, Miles Bletchley.

"I'll see you at Hogwarts darling!" Melissa calls, blowing me a kiss.

I laugh and wave goodbye before heading up to my room.

I nearly faint when I open the door to find a giant tarantula curled on the ground right by the door. I shriek and slam the door closed, jumping back into the hallway.

Fred and George's heads pop out from a door not far down the hall.

"You absolute arses!" I shout, wishing I could whip out my wand and hex them to Mars. "When I'm finished with you two-"

Draco's room door opens and he sticks his head out, his eyes narrowing when he spots me, red faced and furious at the laughing Weasley twins.

"Uh-everything alright?" He asks.

"No! They put a bloody tarantula in my room!" I shriek, trying to squash down my growing panic.

Draco's eyes widen in understanding and he glares at the Weasleys. "Get the hell out of here." He snaps.

The twins high five and dash down the hallway, still laughing.

Draco rushes to me and grabs my arms, squeezing them comfortingly. "Breathe Cass, breathe. It'll be okay, I'll get rid of it, breathe." He says soothingly.

But I can't breathe, it's like someone's grabbed my lungs and is squeezing them like a stress ball.

"I...hate...spiders." I say, breathing hard and fighting back tears, my hands shaking as I fight back the memory creeping into my head.

I can feel a panic attack creeping up on me and Draco rushes me into his room.

"Breathe Cassie, breathe." He says over and over again, almost like a chant, going over to a pitcher of tea and pouring me a cup.

I bury my face in my hands and take a deep breath in, then let it out slowly. In. Out. In. Out. Til the rush of panic slowly slips away.

I look up at Draco, who's still looking at me with the tea cup in his hands.

He passes it to me and I gladly take it, sipping it carefully to ease my parched throat.

"I'll be right back." Draco says, kissing my forehead before slipping out of his room.

I sip my tea and stare at the fire crackling softly until Draco comes back.

"It's gone." He whispers softly.

"Okay. Thank you." I say, but I don't move to go back to my room.

Draco sighs. "Do you want to sleep in here with me tonight?" He asks.

I nod.

"Okay. I'll get your pajamas."

"Don't go through the second drawer of the dresser! It's woman stuff."

Draco rolls his eyes. "What's in it, vibrators and dildos?" He asks.

I shriek. "No! It's my bras and underwear drawer, for god's sake Dray!"

He laughs and leaves, then comes back a few minutes later with a large t-shirt and shorts.

I change into them behind the privacy screen and then crawl into the bed. "Wait, did you get-"

He smirks and holds out the well loved giraffe stuffed animal I've had since I was a baby. No one except me and Draco knows I still sleep with that.

"Raffi? Of course I did." He hands Raffi to me and I pull her to my chest.

"Night Cass."

"Night Dray."

I lay there for a while, staring at the ceiling. I can hear Draco's breathing change and I know he's fallen asleep, but I stare at the wall, too scared that if I shut my eyes, I'll have to relive the memory. That I'll see the spider.

So I fight the exhaustion clawing at me and clutch Raffi closer to my chest.

It's going to be a long night.