chosen - harry potter

Chapter 9 - The Duel

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

The following morning, Hermione and Cassia trudged through the snow to Hagrid's cabin. Hermione knocked on the door, but they were met with silence. Minutes later, Hagrid emerged from the Forbidden Forest, snow covering his face. They spent the morning planning future lessons for his class as best as they could. They tried explaining how Umbridge would be judging his class, but he didn't seem to understand.

When Umbridge watched over Hagrid's class, he was attempting to teach about thestrals, a large horse-like creature that can only be seen by those who have witnessed death. Umbridge judged him harshly, insulting him in her comments and making him clearly nervous.

Despite Umbridge's harsh comments, Hagrid stayed. Cassia was happy to see him back at Hogwarts. It didn't seem right to be there without his kind presence.

December arrived, and the work-load was larger than ever for the fifth-years. Cassia somehow managed it, staying up late in the common room to finish all of her homework. Her meetings with Snape had slowed down significantly. Contrarily, the D.A. meetings were continuing as regularly as they could manage, and all of the members were making great progress.

She was looking forward to the holidays, for everyone was going home. Harry, Ron, and Cassia were going to get to spend the Christmas together at the Burrow. Hermione was skiing with her parents, which she had to explain to Cassia exactly what it was. She wished that Hermione was going to the Burrow with them, but having most of her friends and her family in one spot for a while was going to be a nice change.

Hermione and Ron were busier than ever. Their prefect duties had extended to putting up Christmas decorations and patrolling the corridors for the first and second years. Since the weather had grown cold, they were spending much of their time inside. And many of them, according to Hermione and Ron, were troublemakers. 

With half of their friend group desperately busy, Harry and Cassia spent a great deal of time alone together. They tried to study together, but it usually ended with them playing Exploding Snap, taking a walk outside in the cold air, or talking about a variety of things. 

"So, do you and Cho have something going on?" Cassia asked one day, feeling bold.

"No," Harry chuckled.

"You know she likes you, don't you?"

"I've picked up on it, yeah," Harry nodded, smiling. "But we don't exactly have much in common."

"Sure you do. You both love Quidditch."

"Most people love Quidditch."

"Well, she's quite pretty, isn't she?"

"Are you trying to set me up with her?" Harry laughed.

"No! I don't know, I just thought that was heading somewhere."

"Cassia!"

She turned around to see Angelina, dressed in her Quidditch robes.

"Look, we're having Beater tryouts, and Fred and George said you're pretty good. I want you to come try out."

"What?" Cassia said, her eyes widening.

"I trust Fred and George, and they said when you'd all play casually, you were good. You're not the usual...size for a Beater, but come try out anyway. There's some spare robes by the pitch."

Cassia looked at Harry, who look amused. 

"Well, come on," he said, standing.

She sighed and stood, following Angelina out of the common room.