𝕭𝖆𝖙𝖙𝖑𝖊 𝕾𝖈𝖆𝖗𝖘 || Fred Weasley

18

"What d'you mean, we're not playing Gryffindor?" asked Cassie after their practice.

"Your brother claims to be injured," Flint explained. "He can't play with that arm."

"What about Higgs?" Cassie thought aloud.

Flint shook his head. "Higgs was good, but Draco is better. Why are you so determined to play against them? Honestly, we aren't ready."

"I want to see the look on Angelina's face once we beat them," said Cassie. She was being ignored. She shook her head.

Walking in the halls of the castle, she bumped into a few Gryffindors. She scowled and began to walk away when one of them said, "Did you hear the rumor? Apparently, a few people think Malfoy's trying to help Black get in. Her father was a Death Eater, imperiused or not, and so was Bellatrix Lestrange."

"That rumor?" said the other one. "I thought you were talking about the one where she was toying with a few students around Hogwarts — Cedric Diggory was one of them."

"What are you talking about?" asked Cassie as she turned around. "What rumors?"

The girl scoffed. "Of course no one believes it. Yeah, you're pretty, but you have a rotten personality, Malfoy."

"Don't say that," said another girl. "She might hex us."

"I guess Hogwarts is like the schools Mudbloods attended before they arrived here, invading this school," Cassie spat.

She continued her walk and spotted Cedric Diggory in the courtyard with a group of his friends. Cassie walked over, calling out Diggory's name. A few of his friends snickered as they watched her approach.

"Malfoy, what can I do for you?" he asked.

Cassie glanced at the boys who were still stifling their laughs.

"Perhaps I could talk to you in private?"

"Whatever you need to say, you can say it in front of my friends," Cedric said.

Cassie sighed. "All right. I'm going to assume you heard of the rumors going around."

"Look, I don't care for some rumor," said Cedric. "It's not true."

"You're not gonna do anything?" Cassie questioned. "I mean, you're a Hufflepuff. How is any of this fair to you or me?"

"Come on, Ced," called a friend of his.

"No one thinks the rumors are true," he said. "It's probably someone who has a grudge against you that made it up."

"Do you— "

"No," he cut me off. "I don't know. Good luck, though. Lots of people hate you."

"Do you believe the other rumor?" she asked. "The one regarding Sirius Black."

"I don't buy it," he said. "But I wouldn't put it past you. Why would you care if I believed it?"

"I don't... I just wanted to know since we're talking on this subject." Her voice got quieter with each word.