harry
The remaining days of Christmas break flew by almost as fast as Harry's Firebolt. He couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of sadness as he sat down in the Knight Bus.
It was the first time Harry had ever dreaded going back to Hogwarts. Not only would he not be able to see Sirius until summer, but he now had to attend Occlumency lessons taught by Snape. Harry didn't understand everyone's worry, his dreams had saved Mr. Weasley's life. Why should he get rid of them?
Laughter from across the isle turned Harry's attention away from the looming gloom of this coming term. Looking up from his lap, Harry saw Cass holding onto her seat for dear life while switching between scared and excited expressions. Harry smiled, at least Cass would make this term more exciting.
Soon enough the Knight Bus arrived in Hogsmeade and the group were making their ascent to the castle. Harry watched as Cass looked upon Hogwarts for the first time. Her eyes widened while her jaw dropped towards the snow covered ground.
"Oh my god..." Cass gasped and covered her open mouth with her hand. Harry couldn't help but remember his first time seeing Hogwarts. The warm memory comforted him. Almost everything had changed since he was the naive eleven year old new wizard, but Hogwarts still remained the same.
Cass's excitement and bewilderment only grew as they got closer to the castle. Harry pointed out the Forbidden Forest, Hagrid's hut, the Black Lake, and everything else within sight.
The teens had spent so much time showing Cass the grounds they were almost late for the start of term feast. The Weasley's, Harry, Hermione, and Cass all ran through the front doors and found Professor Mcgonagall looking down at them in disappointment.
"Leave your trunks. I will have them sent to your rooms," she said while shaking her head.
Harry then began walking with Cass into the hall when they were stopped one more time by Mcgonagall. "Miss Dalton, if you could stay with me please."
Cass turned back to Mcgonagall and Harry was left trailing after Ron and Hermione into the Great Hall.
The room was filled with students bouncing from table to table and excitedly talking to their friends. Harry sat down between Ron and Fred just as Dumbledore was approaching the podium to address the students. "Oi... Where's Cassandra?" George whispered to Harry.
"I dunno, Mcgonagall asked her to stay behind."
"She's probably being sorted," Hermione chimed in.
"I really hope she's placed in Griffindor," Ron added. A wave of panic hit Harry. It never crossed his mind Cass would have to be sorted. What if she was sorted into another house? What if she was sorted into Slytherin?
"Don't worry little bro, she's the most Gryffindor Gryffindor I've ever met," Fred assured.
Harry then turned his attention to Dumbledore who was in the middle of his speech, "... now I know it's a bit unusual, but we have a new student attending Hogwarts this term."
Harry watched as the entire Great Hall erupted into whispered and everyone's heads swiveled around, looking for the new student.
Dumbledore ignored the outburst and kept talking, "I thought it would only be fair for her to experience the sorting ceremony, an honored tradition of our school," Dumbledore smiled.
The door of the Great Hall then crept open and every head shot to the back of the room. Mcgonagall walked through first carrying the stool and sorting hat in each hand. It looked like any other sorting ceremony. Until only one student appeared.
Cass shot through the door after Mcgonagall, but after she realized every person in the Great Hall was staring at her, she slowed down. She was now wearing her school robes and her hair had made it's way into a high ponytail. Harry could tell by her expression, Cass was not a fan of all of the attention. She grasped her left upper arm with her right hand and walked quickly to the other end of the Great Hall.
Harry crossed his fingers in his lap as Cass sat atop the stool and Mcgonagall placed the sorting hat on her head. The seconds slowed down and felt like hours as Harry watched Cass whisper to the sorting hat. But Harry's anxiety turned into excitement as the sorting hat belted, "Gryffindor!"
The Gryffindor table erupted into applause and began cheering as Cass made her way over. The twins then jumped from their seats and yelled, "WE'VE GOT HER! WE'VE GOT HER!"
As Cass walked over to the table, her long, dark hair bounced with each step. Her smile shined brighter than the stars across the ceiling and the sight it froze Harry. He could no longer hear the cheers throughout the hall or the shouts from the twins. He could only focus on the exceptionally striking person in front of him. All Harry could think was, Merlin I never want to lose this girl.
*****
It was quiet in the dormitory when Harry opened his eyes. Harry sat up and stretched his arms. His back hurt from sitting in the common room with Ron until 2 am trying to finish last minute homework.
Impaired by the bright sunlight, Harry blindly searched for his glasses. When his fingers brushed across the cool metal of his glasses's frames, he picked them up and pushed them onto his face. With a groan, Harry turned over to his bedside table and looked at his clock.
"OH FUCK!" he yelled and flung the covers off his body. Harry was late. Class started in twenty minutes... and he had DADA first. For the next few minutes Harry stumbled around the room in a hurry.
After quickly tying his tie around his neck, Harry bolted down the stairs toward the common room. If he was even one minute late Umbridge would not hesitate putting him in detention.
He ran into the common room and nearly knocked someone over on his way to the portrait door.
"Guess I don't need to go looking for you," Harry heard from behind him. He turned and saw Cass standing by the stairs to the boys' dormitories.
"Oh hey Cass, I didn't see you," Harry said with a smile. His disastrous morning was now a bit better.
"Running a bit late?" she laughed.
Harry looked down at his disheveled appearance, "yeah... a bit."
"Well good thing I found you, I've been struggling with this for ages," Cass groaned holding up her tie. "Care to help a girl out?"
"Yeah," Harry said and walked over to Cass. He grabbed the tie from her hands and wrapped it around her neck. His fingers were slightly shaking and his heart rate quickened as he began to fumble with the tie. Harry forgot what he was doing as he realized how close he was to her. He could see that her grey eyes actually had flecks of green within, which made them sparkle under the soft light.
"Shit," Harry mumbled as he messed up the knot he was making. It seemed as if his brain wanted to focus on everything but tying Cass's tie. As he moved back down to reposition the tie, Harry noticed his fingers were awfully close to her chest. He could feel his cheeks become hot as he thought about their proximity.
After what felt like ages, Harry slid the knot up to Cass's collar. "Thanks, that's loads better than I could've done," Cass smiled.
"No problem," Harry chuckled nervously. Meanwhile, he was mentally slapping himself. How could he mess up tying a tie? Something he's done almost every morning the past four years suddenly becomes a challenge when Cass is involved. It's almost like how Harry always seems to forget everything about potions whenever Snape asks him a question.
Harry's eyes snapped up as he thought about potions class. "Oh my god, we need to go to class... like right now," Harry remembered.
He then grabbed Cass's arm and ran out of the portrait hole.
When Harry ran into the classroom he could tell he was late. All the students were reading from their textbooks and Umbridge was sitting behind her desk.
"Ah Mr. Potter, late again are we?" Umbridge asked with her usual high pitched tone.
Harry wanted to hex the pink woman into next week, but he somehow held himself back.
"Oh tsk tsk, Miss Dalton as well?" Umbridge sighed. "I don't know how you're previous school was run Miss Dalton, but here at Hogwarts, tardy students receive detention."
"I-" Cass began, but Umbridge quickly cut her off.
"Seven o'clock, my office... you as well Mr. Potter." Harry's grip on his books tightened as she spoke. It took all the control he had to not fight back.
Harry pulled out his chair and sat down in his seat next to Ron. Once he placed his books down he turned his head over his shoulder and looked back at Cass. "I'm sorry," he mouthed.
"It's okay," Cass mouthed back and gave him a forgiving smile.
Harry turned back to his book, but didn't read a single page the rest of class. His brain was too busy thinking about Cass's tie and every movement he made tying it.
*****
That night at dinner Harry didn't say a word. He sat at the table silently, pushing around his food with his fork with his other hand supporting his hand.
"I can't believe that troll gave me detention on the first day," Cass complained, "doesn't she have anything better to do."
"I think she's suspicious." Hermione whispered to the group. "First, Harry disappears right from under her nose before break. Then when we come back, Dumbledore brings a mysterious new girl no one has ever heard of before. She probably thinks Dumbledore brought you here to threaten her."
"Well that would explain her immediate hatred for me." Cass muttered. With a sigh, she took her last bite of potatoes and dropped her fork on the plate, "well... I guess we should go Harry."
"Y-yeah let's go," Harry groaned at the table, still not able to look Cass in the eyes. He grabbed his bag, slung it over his shoulder, and followed her out of the Great Hall.
When they turned into the empty hallway, Harry could feel Cass's eyes on him. "Harry you were basically mute at dinner, what's up?" she asked. Harry looked up and saw Cass staring at him with her big grey eyes.
"It's just... I... It-it's all my fault. I'm sorry Cass," Harry stuttered.
"Harry," she laughed softly, "honestly it's only detention, I'll be okay."
"No, you don't understand-"
"I do... Hermione told me." Cass interrupted.
"But if I hadn't made you late..."
"I'll be okay," she reassured, "besides I've had worse." Harry didn't have a chance to ask what she meant before they arrived at Umbridge's office.
Umbridge was waiting for them at the door with her eyes glued to her wristwatch. The hope in her eyes diminished quickly when she saw Harry and Cass walk up to the door. Harry guessed she was counting down the seconds until seven o'clock, hoping for a chance to hand them more detentions.
Umbridge turned back to her office with a huff. Harry entered first and saw two chairs sat at the small table in front of Umbridge's desk. He was surprised to see only one paper and quill resting on the table. A flicker of hope flew through his body, maybe Cass wasn't writing lines after all.
"Mr. Potter please sit," Umbridge said while pointing to the chair sat in front of the paper and quill. Harry let out a sigh of relief as he sat down. "I trust you know what to do by now," she smiled.
Before picking up the quill, Harry looked up at Cass who was standing nervously in the middle of the room.
"Miss Dalton." Umbridge waved her hand toward the other chair and Cass sat. "I thought we should take this opportunity to get to know each other."
Harry began writing with the enchanted quill. The pain wasn't as intense as it had been before. The long break gave the cuts Harry's on hand to heal.
On the fourth line however, Harry began to wince. Harry then turned his attention to Cass and Umbridge when writing the next line in attempt to distract from the pain.
"Please I insist."
"I don't care for tea," Cass shrugged.
Harry watched as Umbridge started to lose her composure, "Miss Dalton, when an adult offers you something, it is polite to accept."
"Professor I don't know how I can phrase my response any clearer... No." Harry had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing.
Cass's response seemed to be Umbridge's last string.
"YOUNG LADY, IF YOU DO NOT DRINK THIS TEA, MR. POTTER WILL BE WRITING LINES UNTIL DAYBREAK!" Umbridge shrieked.
Cass quickly turned back to Harry. He tried to quickly hide his bleeding hand, but he wasn't fast enough. He saw her eyes widen at the sight of his blood. Cass looked at him apologetically, then Harry watched as her eyes widened once more in realization.
Cass raised her arm to her mouth and coughed. Then, Harry felt the quill on his hand disappear. To his amazement the quil flew and landed on the floor next to Cass. Before Harry could process what happened, Cass quickly bent over and grabbed the quill and handed it back to him.
Umbridge didn't seem to know what to do. She sat in her chair and opened her mouth to talk, but nothing came out.
"Harry knows of my extreme dislike for tea, he'll understand," Cass stated. Harry wasn't sure he'd agree with that statement. He wasn't sure why Cass was making such a fuss about tea, but Harry didn't raise his voice to object. He trusted Cass.
Across the room, Umbridge was fuming. "Well Mr. Potter please continue," she said, her eyes never leaving Cass's.
Harry reluctantly pressed the tip of his quill against the paper and began writing. After the second line Harry noticed he couldn't feel any pain in his hand. The quill had stopped cutting into his hand. With a smile, he began to write faster on the page.
After a few seconds of writing, Harry looked up at Umbridge. "I'd gladly write until daybreak professor," he smirked.
Umbridge's face turned redder than the Gryffindor common room. "OUT!" she shouted at the teens.
Cass didn't give her a chance to change her mind before grabbing Harry by the arm and pulling him out of the office. He stumbled after her until Umbridge's was out of sight.
"That bloody twat!" Cass exclaimed as they rushed through the corridors.
"Do you mind telling me was that was all about?" Harry asked once he finally caught up to her. "Is tea honestly that repulsive to you?" Harry was still confused about earlier. Cass placed a huge risk over a simple cup of tea.
"No of course not, I just don't trust that woman. She was being far too hospitable. There was a reason she wanted me to drink so badly," Cass huffed.
"You think it was drugged or something?!" Harry asked curiously.
"Yeah... something," she mumbled.
Cass stoped walking and dug into her bag. They were in a stairway lined with large windows. It was dark and silent, but Cass didn't seem to mind. She sat on the nearest windowsill and pulled out a roll of bandages.
Harry sat down next to her and she held out her palm, "hand," she requested. Harry slowly placed his hand in hers. He immediately regretted not wiping it first, his hands always seemed to get sweaty when he was around her. But Cass didn't seem to mind.
Carefully, Cass began wrapping Harry's hand with the bandages. The bandages were cold against his skin, but after a few seconds it began to soothe his hand. Cass's eyebrows furrowed in concentration when she placed the bandages over his cuts. Harry didn't understand why he couldn't take his eyes off her, but he knew he would never want to stop.
"I packed some murtlap bandages after Hermione told me about the quills," Cass said while pinning down the wrap on Harry's hand.
"Cass, how did you break the quill," Harry asked. He had been trying to figure out how she did it since they had left the office.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she smirked. She then stood up and pulled Harry up. "Now let's go back to the common room. I have mounds of homework to do, this school is crazy."
**********
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