[book 1 of the "badlands" series]
•i think there's a flaw in my code•
It was ironic that a member of the least favorite House at Hogwarts was the Champion of the Triwizard Tournament.
Cassius Warrington had never expected to be seen as anything oth...
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Cassius Warrington had been waiting for half an hour. The cheerful noises that drifted over from the sprawling field beckoned him over, but Cassius did not move.
He was waiting for Persephone, who had promised to be here thirty minutes ago. But he wasn't surprised at her absence; she was rarely on time for anything. It had earned her several detentions, but Persephone never seemed to learn. Cassius didn't mind the wait, though. It was enough to stand in the sunlight with the tantalizing promise of an amazing Quidditch game filling his heart with hope.
As a Quidditch player, the Quidditch World Cup was the biggest event one could attend. Cassius was itching for it to begin, but that moment was hours away. He had already been waiting all year; he could bear another few hours.
"Cassius!" shouted a familiar voice.
Cassius lifted a hand to his brow to block the glaring Sun, and searched for the source of the voice. He found Persephone grinning and waving at him while shoving through the crowd of people that separated them.
"Sorry I was late, Mum was giving me hell," she explained breathlessly, shoving loose strands of hair behind her ear. "But she did give me this," Persephone said whole raising a bag full of coins.
He smiled back at her. "I knew I kept you around for a reason."
Persephone stuck out her tongue at the boy, and shoved the money back into the bag that was slung over her shoulder. "Did you find our place?"
Cassius nodded. "It's close enough to the arena that we can leave as late as you want."
"But we'll be there three hours later, won't we?" she sighed, giving him a knowing look.
"Of course we will. I didn't come to the Quidditch Cup to sit in a tent all day."
"No, but I did," responded Persephone. She grabbed his hand, and dragged him behind her. "Now, let's go find this tent."
Cassius laughed, and let his friend drag him through the crowd. Persephone didn't stop to apologize to the people she shoved out of the way; she trudged through like traveling upstream a raging river, Cassius in tow.
Though he pretended not to, he noticed the way Persephone held her head high enough to look regal, and unapologetically pushed people out of the way to get to her destination. She was fearless and ruthless, two things that Cassius could never be, no matter how hard he tried.
But he knew that the disposition came from a life of hardship. Her mother carried a dark reputation, which furthered once one realized that she was husbandless. Husbandless, but with a child. The Pureblood families whispered about how the Avery blood had become tainted with a dark magic, which kept many of the students at Hogwarts far away from Persephone. And, by association, Cassius.
