Mischief Managed

Chapter 3

"Actually, we have the same birthday," Harry told her. So, Rita took the two of them by their robes and shoved them into a very cramped broom closet, where they were to be interviewed together. 

It was disastrous. 

To star off, she kept calling them "twelve", instead of their actual age and started making stuff up about them right in front of their faces. "So, Cassie," Rita said, after finishing her torture with Harry, "how does it feel to have all of this attention at Hogwarts? Is it exhilarating? Brilliant?"

Cassie looked at her oddly and said, "It's outrageous. This is never what I wanted when I came here." Rita's magical quill wrote down more than just that simple quote in the notepad. 

"How do your muggle parents feel about this? Do they understand that their only daughter will be facing immediate danger and even...death?" Cassie gulped. "Yes," she told her, "they understand. They weren't happy about it, that's for sure."

As the quill wrote, Rita asked, "And how long have you and Harry been dating?" Both Cassie and Harry told her, "No! No, no, not dating!" Cassie told Rita, "I already have a boyfriend. His name is Benedict."

Rita happily gasped. "And how did he take your news?" Cassie rubbed her sweaty palms together nervously and told her, "Not...not very well. I'm sure it'll all be fine, though. I know he needs some space right now."

Rita hummed and looked down at the notepad her quill was writing on and smirked. 

**

According to Rita Skeeter, Harry and Cassie were dating. Her reason was that since they got chosen together, they felt a "strong connection" and the impact of Cassie's "break-up" was mended by him. 

What a load crap. 

Cassie tossed the newspaper away and looked up from the couch in the common room when she saw Harry rush in. "Come on, quickly!" He said. She quickly got up and went up to him. 

He took her wrist and practically ran down the halls of the school until they reached outside. They ran to Hagrid's without Harry giving her a single explanation. 

When they got inside Hagrid's hut, she was told that there was something they each needed to know about the first task of the tournament. They followed a neatly dressed Hagrid with neatly combed hair out into the forbidden forest. 

"I'm happy about yer two coming out as a couple," he told them, as they walked. Harry quickly said, "We are not together, Hagrid. She has Ben, remember?" Hagrid ignored him and went on about how he had hoped they'd be together sooner or later, but they just shook their heads. 

When someone called Hagrid's name, Harry put his invisibility cloak around him and Cassie. Madam Maxime showed up and her and Hagrid were getting all lovey dovey, making Harry and Cassie disgusted. 

Hagrid eventually showed her something that had Cassie and Harry's eye bulging out of their heads...dragons. Five crates, each with a dragon in it. They were roaring and blasting fire at everything in sight.

"Oh my God," Cassie breathed.

**

Things before the tournament weren't getting much better. Harry and Cassie were all each other had at the moment. Ben wasn't talking to her and Ron wasn't talking to Harry. They had Hermione and Neville, but neither knew what they were going through. 

It kept getting worse when someone made badges. It was a picture of the two together, then it moved to where their faces got smushed together, turned green, then smushed down to the bottom with the words, "Hansen Potter Stink" on top. 

They were teased relentlessly. 

"You guys stink! Cedric rules!" One kid shouted as they walked by. They kept their heads up, but ignored them. They both warned Cedric about the dragons (at least he was on their side), then continued to walk and be teased. 

Cassie was doing good by keeping her annoyance and anger down, but Harry had to let it out somehow...so he did when he saw Ron.  Cassie noticed that Ron wasn't wearing the badge, neither was Seamus. 

That was a good sign. 

"Harry, let's just...go back to the common room and cool down," Cassie told him. "Come on, we both need to relax a bit, plus we need a game plan for the first task." Harry took a deep breath and nodded, but then a voice beside them called, "Why so tense, Potter?"

Of course it was Malfoy. The two tried to ignore him and keep walking, but then he called, "Yeah, go back to the lonely common room with your girlfriend! I'm sure she'll help you relax!" 

Harry suddenly changed his walking direction to Malfoy. "Shut your mouth, Malfoy!" He shouted. Cassie held Harry back before he could do any real damage. "Harry, remember what you told me," she said. "Don't give them a reason."

"I see Benedict got tired of his mud blood," Malfoy said. "My father thinks the Ministry is trying to find a way to get rid you, Hansen. An American in Hogwarts? One who was born into a filthy muggle family, too."

Cassie clenched her fists together, then suddenly decked Draco right in the nose. He stumbled back into Crabbe, then pulled out his wand and pointed it at her. "Oh, no you don't!" A angry voice shouted. 

Mad-Eye came limping over with his wand out. With a flourish of his wand...Malfoy was a ferret. Mad-Eye waved him around with his wand and even put him in Crabbe's pants. 

Harry and Cassie were laughing their asses off. Unfortunately, Professor McGonagall immediately put a stop to it and sent Mad-Eye away, but he told Harry and Cassie to follow him. 

"You're both excellent Quidditch players," he acknowledged, after making a show of taking off his prosthetic leg, "and dragons fly." Cassie piped up and said, "We're not allowed to use a broomstick."

Mad-Eye smiled, as he said, "You're allowed a wand."