The Slytherin Princess

Chapter 37

ᶜʰᵃᵖᵗᵉʳ ³⁷⁻ "ᵀʳʸ ⁿᵒᵗ ᵗᵒ ᵇᵉ ˢᵒ ʲᵉᵃˡᵒᵘˢ, ˡᵒᵛᵉ"

Later that night, my aunt came to tuck me in bed, something she hadn't done since I was seven.

"Cassie," she began in a therapeutic tone as she gently run her fingers through my hair. "Trust me this is for your own good. But nobody is forcing you into this marriage. You can just say no if you want"

I let out a soft chuckle. "I don't know what I want." I slowly looked up at her. "How did you know?" I mumbled. "That you wanted to get married to Sirius Black?"

She let out a small laugh. "You'd been waiting to ask that for long, haven't you?" She took a deep breath. "Well, we were much older and very much in love"

"Are you still in love with him?"

"I am"

I tried to fight off the urge to ask the question but just couldn't help myself. "Can I ask what happened?" I said slowly.

She didn't seem upset and I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. Disappointing my aunt was the last thing I wanted to do.

"Our parents weren't exactly fond of our relationship. So, we'd decided to run away together," she began but her smile slowly faded away. "I was waiting at the train station and he never showed"

"Did you not try to find out why he didn't?"

She shook her head. "I wanted to hear it from him and only him. By the time I wasn't upset anymore, he was sent to Azkaban"

--

I yawned for what felt like the millionth time while searching for my friends' compartment.

I hadn't been able to get much sleep the night before. Or the night before that. Or before that.

"Cassie!" Potter's voice rang through my ears. I saw him struggling to get out of the compartment he was sitting in with Weasley, Granger and female Weasley. "How was your summer?"

"Must've spent daddy's money all through it. What else can she do?" I heard the redhead- who wasn't stuffing her face with chocolate- mutter.

I rolled my eyes at her pathetic attempt. "Yes Weasley, I do have money, more than you can ever imagine. Yes, I do spend it. Try not to be so jealous, love"

I felt a hand wrap around my neck and I could immediately tell who it was.

"Hey beautiful," Blaise smiled and I couldn't help but smile back. "And other not-so-beautiful people," he looked at Potter and his friends.

"Well, this was nice. Let's never do it again. Potter. Weasley. Female Weasley. You," I bid the not-so-beautiful people goodbye and Blaise and I walked to our compartment.

Back in the compartment, after everyone congratulated Malfoy on the prefect post, we discussed our summers as usual. I wasn't awake for the entirety of the conversation, unfortunately.

--

We were eating our dinners when Dumbledore stood up and began his announcements and all of us half-heartedly listened.

Just when things couldn't get any worse, I heard the old oaf announce the new Defence Against Dark Arts teacher. I was disappointed to hear that my godfather had lost his desired position yet again, but when I saw the woman who did get it, well, I was just revolted.

The little pink toad walked up to the podium and began her own speech. I did not hear a word since I was too busy being sickened by her and throwing out the food I'd just eaten. By the looks of it, none of the students were fans of the piglet either.

"What in Merlin's name made her wear that?" Daphne gagged. "What on Earth did I do to have seen this menace?"

"Who in their right mind would wear such a ghastly thing?" Blaise sounded absolutely disgusted.

"I can proudly say I have seen the colour pink walk and talk," Theo scrunched his nose.

After a good talk about the toad and coming up with nicknames for the atrociously pink woman at dinner, everyone was soon instructed to go to bed.

"Follow me, first years," I heard the voice of a familiar blond. "If you don't, you'll get lost and I honestly could not care less. So, do whatever you want to"

The tiny students in Slytherin uniforms knew it was better to be on his good side. He was, after all, a Malfoy.

I snuck past him and joined the first years. For the first time, I felt like I was the one towering over someone instead of being towered over.

Since all the boys were taller than me and the girls were only a few centimetres shorter than me, I never felt so big.

"That doesn't sound so prefect-y," I smirked making the blond turn around. His expression softened when he saw me give him a smile. "Mind if I join?"

"If I ever say you were bothering me, I want you to hex me," the blond joked making me giggle. I caught up with him and we were now walking side by side with a couple dozen of first years behind us.

We were silent for the first couple of moments until I broke it. "I never congratulated you about the prefect post"

Malfoy hummed at this and turned to look at me. He wanted to hear me say it out loud.

I took a deep breath. "My warmest congratulations on your well-deserved achievements, Malfoy." I knew how to flatter someone, most of all a self-absorbed blond I happened to have known since the day I was born.

"Why, thank you"

It was that day when I realised how good Malfoy was with children. He would occasionally threaten them and pretend to not care but he made sure that they were happy and safe all the time.