𝕭𝖆𝖙𝖙𝖑𝖊 𝕾𝖈𝖆𝖗𝖘 || Fred Weasley

29

Cassie was doing her Transfiguration homework whilst in Professor Binns's class. His lecture was boring as always and Cassie thought she should be productive if she was going to sit there and try not to fall asleep.

A ball of paper was thrown at her. It landed right in the middle of the sentence she was reading. She looked it at skeptically and looked around. Cedric Diggory was one row over on her left. He made a gesture with his head telling her to read the note.

She opened the note. It read:

meet me at lunch, astronomy tower

Cassie looked back at Cedric and he had this look that Cassie identified as desperate. She wrote back and threw it to him, over the girl who was dozing off. He looked down at it and smiled.

Once Cassie had finished her lunch, she left her friends and headed to the Astronomy Tower. She greeted Professor Sinistra on the way and entered. Cedric was leaning against the rails, looking out into the distance.

"Hey," Cassie greeted.

"Cassie!" said Cedric cheerfully. "Thanks for meeting me."

"Yeah, why did you want me to meet you?" Cassie asked. "If you're asking me out, my answer is no because I don't want to waste my time with a — well, with you."

"For a moment there, I almost forgot you were a Slytherin, a Malfoy at that," Cedric remarked.

"So... "

"I need your help," said Cedric. "Rumor has it that you earned an Outstanding for your O.W.L in Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

"Is that such a big deal?" Cassie replied. "I'm sure your friends passed."

"Eh, well some of them," said Cedric. "But you're really good in that area. I was hoping you could help me. I don't know what I'll be facing."

"Better safe than sorry, right?" said Cassie. Cedric nodded. "All right. We'll do it here during lunch. That's when everyone's in the Great Hall or the courtyard."

"Great! So let's begin," said Cedric.

"Now?" Cassie questioned, watching as he pulled out his wand.

He nodded. "I should be prepared. The task is in a few weeks. I should learn all I can from you."

"All right then," said Cassie, dropping her bag. "I reckon you know the Cascading Jinx?"

He nodded.

"Avis." With a loud bang, a flock of birds shot out from the tip of her wand. "Go on. This is a simple jinx."

"How exactly is this going to be useful?" Cedric asked.

"You don't know what it is you're going up against. If there are Doxies or Acromantula, this spell will attack them all as long as they're in close proximity to each other," Cassie explained.

Cedric nodded in understanding. He raised his wand and cast the spell. It blasted the birds back and they hit the wall, falling to the ground.

"I don't think using birds was a good idea... "

"Yeah, maybe not... "

:::

A week later, Cassie started to notice the stares coming from a few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. She was on her way to History of Magic when someone had "accidentally" tripped her. She fell forward. It was a lucky thing someone had caught her.

"Thanks... " She looked at the boy, realizing it was Henri.

She turned to the girl in Gryffindor robes next to a Ravenclaw. "What the hell?"