way to go, tiger | Lorenzo Berkshire

࣪𖤐 Y5 | 3 . Silent treatment

BACK TO THE OLD HOUSE — THE SMITHS
'I would love to go back to the old house, but I never will.'

When Cassie wakes up the following morning, the birds are singing a sweet melody that makes her want to fall back to sleep. She lies under her forest green duvet, her head soft against the pillow as she stares at the ceiling. Pansy and the girls are fast asleep and so when Cassie gets up, she makes sure not to make too much noise.

She slips on her familiar uniform, leaving her robes on her chair as it's still quite warm— it only being the second of September.

She can't help but remember Cedric isn't also putting his uniform on. He'd never put it on again.

When Cassie goes up for breakfast, only Blaise and Mattheo are sat at the Slytherin table. She sighs deeply and took a seat opposite the pair. They go completely silent as soon as Cassie sits down, resulting in her furrowing her eyebrows. "Morning," she smiles, trying to act normal.

"Morning." they grumble in response and silently ate their meal. What on earth is up with them? They were acting relatively normal yesterday— talking to Cassie and trying to make her laugh. What's changed overnight?

Around fifteen minutes later, Enzo and Theo also come up to the Great Hall for breakfast. Enzo sits next to his girlfriend with a smile— however, she doesn't return it. She's still speculating about Blaise and Mattheo. Not only they are acting odd, but now Theo joins them in whispering.

Enzo follows Cassie's furrowed gaze and nods. "They're acting really weird, aren't they?" he whispers in her ear.

She nods, "You've noticed too, then?"

"It's impossible not to. Has Pansy been any different?"

"Dunno, I've barely spoken to her since we arrived."

"Something's different this year. I don't like it." Enzo admits, sending a wave of relief over Cassie. She isn't the only one that feels that way.

"I've been thinking the exact same thing, Enz." she replies, a frown on her face as she watches her best friends check that nobody heard what they were saying.

Oh, how things are going to change this year.

—

First, Second and Third period drag on for what feels like years. Cassie and Enzo make their way to their Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom in a glum mood. Neither of them have enough energy to speak. They're both tired of their friends avoiding them all day. They literally walked away from them at break, whispering in a huddle.

They've never acted like this before. It really is horrible. Pansy has spoken a grand total of ten words to Cassie today— opposed to her usual millions.

Cassie kisses Enzo on the cheek when they walk through the classroom and go to their seats— which are opposite ends of the room. Thankfully, Cassie sits next to Harry. "Hi, Cassie." he smiles as she takes her seat.

At least he's not being weird with her.

"Hi, you okay?" she replies, grateful to be speaking to someone that wasn't miserable or whispering every other second.

He nods, "Alright, you?"

Cassie shrugs, "Been better. Draco and all that are being weird." She holds a finger up when Harry goes to speak. He's about to say 'Well, they are weird,' but Cassie stops him mid-sentance.

"Probably cause of their parents, right?" he says, instead of offending her.

Cassie nods and twists her bracelet on her wrist, "Yeah, I reckon."