"I've spent all of the love I saved.
We were always a losing game."
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She's a Gryffindor. He's a Slytherin.
She's a Weasley. He's a Malfoy.
She's sweet. He's a bully.
She's dangerous. He's dangerous.
She likes him. He likes he...
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Within the space of one night, Cassie had broken her ankle, seen a unicorn, seen a frightened Malfoy, met a centaur, and spent her first night in the hospital wing.
Despite her protests, Cassie managed to get herself discharged from Madam Pomfrey's care with the excuse that she needed a full night's rest before her first exam tomorrow.
Hobbling along on her crutch, to 'strengthen the ankle', Cassie eventually made her way up to the Tower. Fred and George has crossed her path halfway and, taking pity on their younger sibling, had taken turns carrying her up all the stairs. Depositing her onto the couch, they hurried off to their dorm room, informing her that they would be telling Molly.
"Cassandra Weasley!" Hermione's shrill voice echoed throughout the common room.
Eyes widening in slight fear, the ginger haired girl tried hobbling away as the brainiac stormed towards her. However, Harry prevented her from getting too far as he wrapped an arm around her waist and directed her towards the nearest sofa.
Settling down between the red and gold cushions, Cassie turned to her best friend with a sweet smile, hoping that Hermione would be lenient.
"How could you allow yourself to get hurt around Malfoy? Anything could have happened to you?!"
"He's not going to kill me, Hermione. Malfoy may be evil but he's not yet a murderer." Cassie chuckled, patting her worried friend on the shoulder. "Besides, he's the one who signalled to Hagrid that we were in trouble."
Burning logs crackled in the background and the hushed whispers to students revising provided a soft atmosphere in the Gryffindor common room, and despite knowing they all had an exam tomorrow, the quartet couldn't bring themselves to get out their books and pour over the pages. Instead, they decided to take their minds off the stressful examinations and passed around Bertie Bott's Beans and laughed until curfew demanded they get some sleep. Ron and Harry couldn't help but laugh as Hermione helped Cassie hobble up the stairs to the girl's dormitory.
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Finally, after a stress filled couple of weeks, First Year exams were over. Whilst the two girls discussed their answers for the paper, the two boys tried blocking them out wanting nothing more than to forget about the torture they had just endured. Sat under the shade of a large tree near the lake, Cassie watched eagerly as her older brothers and their friend began tickling the giant squad, waiting to see who would get attacked first.
"I wish I knew what this means!" Harry exclaimed, rubbing his forehead with anger. "My scar keeps hurting. I mean, it's done it before but never like this."
"I'm sure it doesn't mean anything, Harry. Scars hurt, mine does. It's just a reminder of what you suffered. Something about phantom pain. Scars serve as a reminder of past injuries that never truly heal, traumatic injuries." Cassie recited, remembering the fact that she had come across in a Healer's book. "Yours hurts because of how you got it, mine hurts because it's from the terrible illness I suffered through my first year of life."
Whilst Ronald had been born perfectly healthy, Cassie had been told that she was small and frail due to a rare illness that meant she had to remain in St. Mungo's for the first year of her life.
"Go to Madam Pomfrey if it hurts that much." Hermione suggested.
"I'm not ill."
Raising her eyebrows at him, Cassie was about to make a snide remark about how he was certainly acting like a crazed man but Harry decided to ruin it with his dramatics.
Dragging his friend's towards Hagrid's hut, the dark haired wizard went off on a tangent. Apparently, black market dragon eggs seemed 'suspicious'.
"What did you talk to the stranger about, Hagrid? Did you mention Hogwarts?"
Turns out, Hagrid was supplied with alcohol and ended up revealing the secret behind Fluffy. Now, Harry was under the impression that Snape had been informed on how to get past the three headed dog. Rushing around the school in search of Dumbledore's office, they bumped into Professor McGonagall.
Shame still filled Cassie as she remembered the anger McGonagall had displayed towards her upon catching her out of bed. Avoiding eye contact, Cassie let Harry do all the talking, which didn't end up being a good idea as McGonagall sent them away with stern words about leaving the Stone alone. Much like Hagrid, she was under the impression that it was well guarded.
"It's tonight." Harry decided, rounding the corner. "Dumbledore's gone and Snape knows all he needs to know. He's gonna steal it tonight."
"Harry, are you sure? I still think Snape would be insane to steal anything from Dumbledore." Cassie said, sharing her disbelief.
She didn't want to sound like she was unsure whether she trusted Harry but she believed his opinion was rather far fetched. Snape was a horrid man but he wasn't stupid enough to steal from the one man who frightened even the Minister of Magic.
"Good afternoon." Snape greeted the four Gryffindors, staring down his nose at them.
They did nothing but gape at him.
Cassie didn't like the weird smile on his face - possibly because Snape never actually smiled. And now he was smiling at four Gryffindors. Even if it did look like an 'I'm going to skin you alive' smile.
"Be warned, Potter. Anymore night time wanderings, and I will make sure you're expelled. Good day to you all."
Turning to face the others, Harry raised an eyebrow at his ginger haired friend.
"Still think he's innocent?"
Cassie flushed.
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"Don't you understand?!" Harry exclaimed once he'd had enough of his friend's disbelief. "If Snape gets the Stone, Voldemort will come back! It won't matter if I get expelled, if there's no Hogwarts to be expelled from! If I get caught trying to save the Stone, I'll go back to the Dursley's and wait for Voldemort to kill me there. It's only dying later. I'm going through the trapdoor tonight and nothing you say will stop me." Harry glared at them.
Remorse and guilt coursed through Cassie when she remembered that Harry didn't have much left to lose. That saving the Stone would give him some sort of justice for his parents. If he could stop Voldemort from getting the Stone, then his parents death wouldn't have been for nothing. He would be using the second chance they gave him to save the Wizarding World. To shoulder that burden at the age of eleven made Cassie sad enough that she pulled her friend in for a tight hug.
"Will the cloak cover all four of us?" Ron asked.
"P-pardon?"
"You didn't think we'd let you go alone, did you?"
"Of course not. You'd never get to the Stone without us?" Hermione said, matter-of-factly.
