little miss black

-49-

Cass lay slumped against Lily in the common room. They had been up late studying, their first exam was in two days, it was theory of Charms. The rest of their friends had abandoned their work hours previously, deciding a good nights sleep was better. Cass woke with a jolt, covered in sweat and tears. This wasn't unusual, it happened often. Ever since the Christmas holidays. Lily opened her eyes.

"You okay?" She whispered. Cass clasped her head, closing her eyes.

"Yes." She said. Lily looked at her doubtfully. Cass sighed. "We'd better go to bed." Lily stared at the books in front of her almost wistfully.

"We could get this chapter done..." She said. Cass shook her head.

"Don't be daft. We'll finish it in the morning. Marlene will probably be pissed that we went so far ahead without her anyway."

"Fine." Lily said. She shoved all of the loose parchment into her bag in one quick sweep. Cass picked up her own bag and trudged upstairs to the dormitory. Dorcas and Marlene were snuggled up together in Marlenes bed. Cass glanced at them fondly, closing the curtains so they wouldn't be disturbed. Cass collapsed into her own bed, too exhausted to change out of her robes. Lily entered shortly after, rolling her eyes at Cass. She waved her wand and they were both in pyjamas. Cass shot her a sleepy smile, before falling into a restless sleep.

•••

"So how do you think that went?" Lily said. They had just finished their Defence Against the Dark Arts theory exam. Cass lay back on the grass. It was a beautiful day, the 5th years had decided to take a well earned break.

"Not sure really, think I did okay." Cass shrugged. Marlene scoffed loudly. She was leaning against a weary looking Dorcas.

"You'll have done amazing Cass, as will you Lily. It's me you have to worry about." Marlene said.

"As if!" Lily said. She fiddled with the grass. Marlene grinned.

"I just want them to be done." Dorcas said. Exams were not treating her well, she looked exhausted.

"Yeah, well we only have Transfiguration and History of Magic left." Cass said.

"And Astronomy!" Alice chirped.

"Doesn't really count though does it?" Cass said, she didn't like Astronomy.

"Hey, what's going on over there?" Marlene said. The girls looked over. Snape was hanging in the air. Lily let out a small shriek. Cass rolled her eyes, of course James and Sirius were behind it. Lily got to her feet quickly and ran across the lawn. Cass exchanged a look with Marlene but followed her.

"Leave him ALONE!" Lily screamed at the boys. Snape had pink bubbles coming out of his mouth.

"All right Evans?" James said. Lily looked livid.

"Leave him alone." She said. "What's he done to you?" Cass jogged up behind her. She tried desperately to get Sirius' attention, to get him to stop just this once. Sirius didn't appear to notice. Lily and James continued arguing. Cass looked over to Remus for help but he just shrugged. Snape had somehow got his wand back and sent a curse at James. James now had a gash on his face. Sirius nearly fainted. Before anyone could do anything, Snape was in the air with his robes falling over his head. James looked utterly furious, Lily even more so. People who were watching were laughing.

"Let him down." Lily snapped. James obeyed and Snape fell to the ground with a thump. He readied himself to shoot another curse but Sirius sent the bodybind curse his way. Lily wrenched her wand out of her robes. "Leave him alone!" She screamed.

"Come on now Evans, don't make me hex you." James said.

"Take the curse off him then." Lily said. James did as she said. Cass grabbed Lily's arm, Lily shook her off. Cass turned to leave.

"I don't need help from filthy little mudbloods like her!" Snape yelled. Cass whipped back around, her own wand out now. Lily blinked a few times. She pocketed her wand.

"Fine." She said, her tone was icy. "I won't bother in future. And I would wash your pants if I were you, Snivellus." She turned to go. Cass took her arm gently.

"Apologise!" James roared, his wand back out. Lily stared at him in disgust.

"Don't James." Cass said. James didn't seem to hear her.

"I don't want you to make him apologise!" Lily shouted. "You're as bad as he is!" James opened his mouth angrily. Seeing she was useless, Cass sprinted back over to Marlene, Dorcas and Alice. She gestured at them to come with her. They looked at her, confused, but didn't question her. They passed a fuming James, who now had Snape in the air again. Cass shot Sirius a look that said 'you've done it this time.' He looked a little uneasy at the gash on James' face. Cass didn't pause to think about it, just ran after Lily. They eventually found her curled up in the very corner of the common room. She was crying.

"What happened?" Marlene asked. Cass didn't answer for a moment, wrapping her arms around Lily.

"Snape finally showed his true colours." Cass said darkly. Lily sobbed harder.

"He called me a-a a M-Mu.." She didn't need to finish her sentence. Alice gasped. Dorcas toppled off of the back of the chair and Marlene rose angrily.

"I'll kill him!" She seethed. "I'll go and wring his neck right this second!"

"I think James was seeing to that." Cass said grimly. "As much as we appreciate the enthusiasm Marls."

"I thought he was my friend!" Lily wailed. Cass wrapped her arms tighter around her.

"He's nothing but a greasy haired, long nose, piece of utter shit!" Marlene shouted. She raised the attention of a few seventh years who shot her angry looks. She glared at them.

"I have to agree there." Alice said.

"And Potter, Potter was being horrible to him." Lily said. Cass sighed.

"Don't act like Snape wouldn't have done the exact same thing to James if he'd had the chance. James wasn't hurting Snape-" Lily shot her an angry look. "I'm not saying what he did was right! But you know fine well that Snape has hated those four boys since the day we step foot in this place. He takes the chance to curse them every chance he gets, which isn't that many because they're all a lot smarter than him. Except for Peter maybe." Cass finished.

"But if he hadn't-"

"It would have happened sooner or later Lily. I don't mean to sound harsh, but Snape calls every other muggle born that. Why should you be any different?" Marlene said. Lily looked even more upset. Dorcas nudged her. "What? I'm just saying it like it is." Marlene defended.

"You're right Marls." Lily sniffled. "I'm sorry for being such a baby, it's just he was my first wizard friend." Lily had managed to stop crying for the most part.

"You're not being a baby, there's no need to apologise." Alice said softly.

"I hope James is alright." Dorcas mused. They stared at her. "Well, I know he's a bit of a twat at times but that gash looked sore." Cass shivered. She had felt that pain once too often and it was getting harder to forget. Lily looked at her anxiously.

"I suppose we had better get back to studying." Lily said.

"Not until you've had dinner, come on." Cass said, pulling her to her feet.

"I'm not particularly hungry." Lily said.

"I don't care." Cass said. "You're coming."