BLOOD MAGIC | G. WEASLEY

39 - Defender of House Elves

"Cassie!" George spotted her as she staggered towards them, pushing through the passers-by and wrapping his arms around her before she could stop him. "Oh Merlin, you scared us half to death!"

"Sorry." She muttered into his chest as he squeezed her tight. She could feel his heart beating, racing faster than hers. He hadn't been the one running, what had he done to get such a fast heart rate?

"Where were you?" He asked, finally letting go of her but keeping his hands on her arms.

"The woods, Cedric and I ran there but I lost him...oh fuck, have you seen him? Is he okay?" In her haste relating to her brother, she'd forgotten about Cedric! What if he was hurt? What if Barty had got to him?

"Yeah, Pretty Boy is fine. Him and Amos went home earlier."

"Okay, good."

"Wait, what the hell happened to your head?"

She reached to where her head was aching, to find that she was still bleeding from her temple. Blood coated her fingers, and she swiftly wiped it away on her pants. "Er, I tripped. Hit my head. I'm fine."

"That looks bad." Percy approached her, his forehead creased. "You should get yourself checked out – you could have a concussion."

"I'm fine." She repeated through clenched teeth. She hated Percy even more now than ever, even if it wasn't entirely his fault. Percy reminded her of her father, who reminded her of her brother, who was now on the loose. How long would it be before he tracked them down and tortured them to insanity, extract revenge on his father, take out his suffering on his sister? Cass couldn't withstand torture, she knew that, she'd lose her mind.

But no, she'd be safe at Hogwarts. He couldn't touch her at the castle.

Then again, she had been poisoned there...

"Are you sure?" George's hand went to her cheek, and she nodded. He looked genuinely concerned, not in a fake boyfriend way, but a real friend way, and that provided a momentary comfort to her.

"Don't worry about me, really, I'm fine."

She could only hope her lies stuck.

*

"Your father is a terrible person, you know that, right?"

"Yes, Granger, I'm aware. You've brought it up every other minute for the past day." Cass responded, not looking up from her book. She was laid on the couch, resting on her stomach, paging through a muggle novel of Arthurs, about a couple and their son taking care of a haunted hotel over a winter, while the father grows slowly mad. It was chilling, if not a bit too close to home, and Cass was secretly glad Granger was providing a distraction, even if she was annoying.

"I just can't believe he would fire her like that! That poor elf! What did she do to deserve it?"

"Steal a wizards wand." George suggested, earning a glare from the bushy haired girl.

That was the story that was being told – Winky had stolen Harry Potter's wand and cast the dark mark into the sky, even if the elf was still denying it. Of course, the true story was that Bartemius had planted the wand with Winky, when it had really been stolen and used by Barty.

Only three people knew of it, and Cass had no intention of growing that number. As much as she disliked her father, she could never send him to Azkaban, and even if she did tell someone, who would believe her? She'd sound delusional. No, her father would deal with it, he'd track down Barty and it would all be fine.