KILLER | H. POTTER

4. JIMINY CRICKET

A couple of weeks into October, Cass got a letter from her sister.

Letters from Orion were a rare event. The girl rarely felt well enough to write, and even when she did, she never liked to do it. So, it was always nice to get a letter from her. Misspellings and all.

It wasn't a long letter. It mostly detailed the events of a book Orion was reading at the moment, then a very brief paragraph about how Narcissa was doing.

Cass didn't think of herself as a very sentimental person. She loved her sister, but she rarely truly missed her during the school year. But recently every time Cass saw the tiny first-year girls who always looked so scared... and she thought of Orion. Orion who was still three years out from starting Hogwarts (if she ever did), who always thought the best of everyone, and wore her heart on her sleeve. Cass really hoped she wouldn't be Sorted into Slytherin.

It was hard to think of Orion ever being put into a situation like this one. Fuck, if a sixth-year girl ever dared say something mean about Orion, Cass knew in her heart she had it in her to kill her.

And that was the only thing Cass could think of as she watched Pansy tear into a second-year girl who'd had the misfortune to bump into them.

Not that Cass had never said something mean to another girl, she absolutely had. She just never punched down to someone four years younger than her. Not to mention someone like this scrawny twelve-year-old who reminded Cass too much of Orion.

"Pansy, come on," Cass finally snapped at her friend. "I have better things to do."

Pansy looked like she wouldn't let it go, but a look from Cass was enough to tame the girl. Cass knew that well.

"Run along now, skrewt," Pansy conceded.

The little girl wasted no time running away.

"You're such a spoilsport," Pansy complained.

"I just don't see the point in bullying twelve-year-olds. What do we have to gain from them?"

This was a question Cass often put out to her friends. They should always do things for a reason. Always.

"We might not gain much more than their fear," Pansy justified, running along to keep up with Cass's longer strides. "But we certainly don't lose anything."

"Never play only not to lose, Pansy. Play to win," Cass said.

"Well, you couldn't have possibly had something to gain from intimidating every single girl in our year, but the body image issues from every single one can be traced back to you," Pansy argued.

This was why Pansy was often Cass's favourite among her friends. The others wouldn't have dared challenge Cass like this.

Cass raised a brow. "Believe me, Pansy, I had something to gain from all of them."

Then, like an annoying little bug inside her head, Cass could almost hear Sirius's voice. You shouldn't get people to do things for you through intimidation, Sugar.

She almost shuddered outwardly. She hated it when he did that. She'd been perfectly fine without a conscience for sixteen years.

Shit. She needed to find Granger and say something mean about her hair stat.

—

"Have you named them yet, Granger?"

"What? Who?"

"The family of rats living in your hair."

Cass didn't turn to see Granger's reaction. She could imagine it perfectly in her head. The constipated face she always got whenever Cass said something mildly mean.