**A/N** Hey guys! I'm sorry it's been so long since I've updated, a lot has happened! My laptop has started to glitch out and because I'm under lockdown because of the pandemic I haven't been able to get it fixed (right now I'm using my old laptop and it just doesn't have the same capabilities as my current one!). On top of that, I started university again, and honestly? Its a lot more time consuming than I thought it would be. But don't worry! I'll still be uploading when I can, probably once or twice every Sunday till I get a break from school! Thank you for being patient with me as I figure out a schedule. Also, sorry that this chapter is a little shorter, I promise the next one will be as long as my normal uploads! Lots of love and stay safe out there xx
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I heard Mum, Ophelia, Theo, and Annie in the common room. But I was not about to go out there and face Mum right now. I'd say something that I'd regret and it wouldn't be pretty.
So I stayed in my dorm till I made sure that they were gone. And I studied in the common room in peace. Everyone knew that Dom was going to win anyways so there wasn't a point in going to the match. Especially when my entire family was there.
And all was going well till the common room door burst open and practically the entire school came barging in. Seventh year students started moving furniture around to make room for the party that is happening apparently.
Not many kids who aren't in Slytherin come in here, so watching everyone's faces when they first see the common room, see the lakeview, it's kind of funny. I gather my things as quickly as I can and bring them back into my dorm before heading out to join everyone. By the time I get back into the common room there's already a Gryffindor keg in the middle of the room and about a hundred different bottles on the desks that people are using for a bar.
"Cassie! Oh my god you missed it! Craziest fucking game of my life, we won three hundred to ten!" Scorpius yells over the blaring music once he sees me.
"I still don't really understand what happened if I'm being honest with you." Rose says as she pours her drink.
"Dom literally re-wrote how we play quidditch. I don't think Slytherin will ever play the other way ever again." Albus says as he passes me a cup full of something, "It looks like you need it."
Recently I've been less of a prude when it comes to things like alcohol so I take a big drink from the cup and smile at my cousins. Looking around the room I make eye contact with Fred who is with Louis, Amar, and Evie. I quickly look away from him, the anger that I have for my brother slowly creeping to the surface.
"Does anyone else think it's weird that the guy that has been flirting with Cass since he got here is now sucking face with a girl that looks just like her?" Albus says.
We all look to where he's looking. Theseus is fully snogging Georgette. So much for protecting her from his father or whatever it is that he was trying to do. Georgette pulls away from the kiss and kisses his neck. Theseus opens his eyes and makes direct eye contact with me before pulling Georgette off his neck and kissing her lips again.
I down what was left in my cup and pour myself something else. "What the bloody hell was that?" Rose whispers to me.
I shrug, "Dunno..." I put the cup that I just filled back down on the table, "Sorry guys, I'm not in a partying mood. Have fun though. Congrats Scorpius."
I take one more look around the room before walking out of the common room and down the tunnel into the rest of the castle. I don't really know why I'm feeling this way. Nor where I'm going but I just know that I've got to get out of here for the time being.
I bump into Shawn on my way out and he nearly drops a big platter of food. "Christ! Are you alright?"
I look at him and smile, "Fine thanks, sorry."
"You're not gonna go to the party?"
I shake my head no, "Not in the celebrating mood honestly."
"But your cousin just won the cup."
"I have a lot of cousins. I'm sure another one will win soon."
Shawn looks at me hard, I'm not too sure why we have developed a relationship besides the whole manipulation thing on my part and the Honeydukes thing that we have planned, but I sort of like talking to someone other than that annoying oaf Theseus. "I'm not really in the partying mood either. We can go up and study in the library if you want?"
"I'm okay thanks. I'm sure there's people waiting for that," I look down at the platter of food in his hands, "I'll see you around alright?"
"Uh, yeah... next weekend is the Hogsmeade trip... you uhm, still want to come with me?"
"Course. I'll see you then." I smile and wave goodbye before heading down the corridor and out of the dungeons. It's not like he's a bad person or anything. I'm sure he's quite nice. But he's just not Thes... no I'm not finishing that thought. I refuse.
I don't go to the library though, you know me better than that at this point I think. I head up to the seventh floor, to the tapestry that I'm the most familiar with, and walk into the Room of Requirement.
For the past little bit I have been working on brewing different potions, practicing magic without practicing magic so to speak. I haven't cast a dark spell since I got this bloody bracelet. I know I can of course, but I'm nervous that I'll trigger something. Potions seem to be safe though. How safe the potions that I've been brewing recently is a whole other topic of discussion.
I walk over to the big cauldron in the middle of the room. I started a bloodroot poison late last night and if I did it properly then it should be ready by now. If I did it wrong... well we'll see won't we?
I stir the deep red liquid with the big iron ladle that I've got before I scoop out a bit of it and carefully pour it into an empty vial.
The thing about the Room of Requirement is that you cannot ask it to summon you something that is alive, which makes testing if a potion will work or not a little difficult. However, transfiguration is not a dark magic, and technically I'm not actually killing an animal when I do it, it's just a stool that looks like a cat...
I look up from the potion and stare at a stool across the room. It takes a second but it shrinks and transforms into a grey cat. It sits there staring at me for a second before it starts cleaning itself.
I walk over to it carefully, holding the small vial of red liquid in my hand. I'm not scared of doing stuff like this anymore, sure first time I poisoned a dog that was once a chair it freaked me out a little. But I'm over it now.
I summon a small dish using accio and put the dish down before filling it with the red liquid.
I take a step backwards and watch the cat carefully. Sure enough, it stops cleaning itself, and sticks its nose into the dish. One lick of the red poison and the cat stops. It looks at me, like I just killed its grandmother or something before it falls over on its side. It shakes for a second... slows... breathes once... and lies on the ground still.
I smile and go back over to the cat, "Thanks for your help," I whisper to it before making both the dead cat, the bowl, and the red potion inside it vanish.
And that's how I spend my afternoon. Adding little things into the potion to see if I can get different results, long, slow deaths, nearly instant deaths... at one point I dropped a vial and it burned a hole through the stone floor and I had to quickly figure out a way to fix it before it spread.
On my way back to the common room I only see a few students which makes me think that the party is still happening in my common room. And listen, I've been to parties before, and sometimes I've even enjoyed some of them, but when Theseus kissed Georgette like that...?
I do my best to sneak into my dorm without anyone taking notice. Freddie is too busy trying to suck Evie's face off to notice me and everyone else is plastered on the dance floor.
I half expected to see Theseus and Georgette in my room if I'm being honest with you. But they aren't. I don't know where they've went but as long as they aren't around me then I don't mind.
I put the poison that I've made into my trunk along with samples of the others ones that I've been working on. I'm not going to use them or anything, but I like having them with me, to see what I've accomplished so to speak.
I get changed into pyjamas, black silk shorts and a tank top before blowing out the candle beside my bed. The only light source now is the faint green glow that comes from the lake. The party is quieter in here, but the walls still seem to vibrate from the music.
I curl into my bed and roll over, my back towards the door, my face towards the lake. I personally think I got the best bed in the room; pushed right up to the lake. Sure it's cold but the view is unmatched.
I lie like that for hours, my eyes open looking out into the murky water of the lake, watching the seaweed way back and forth in the current. The music in the common room slowly fading away as people come down from their quidditch high.
I sort of wish I came out of my room when I heard Mum, Theo, Annie, and Ophelia in the common room earlier today. As much as I hate my parents right now I really do miss them. I could have gone for a mumma hug and some reassurance. But I know that's not what would have happened. It would have been an argument and tears and yelling and exhaustion... like what's going to happen in less than a month when we are back home from Hogwarts...
I'm not saying that I regret getting into the dark arts. I think it's one of the best things that I've ever done... but I think I regret hurting my family the way I did, scaring Mum and Dad, blackmailing Freddie when he was just trying to do what was best for me. Next year, when I can get this abmonitor off, I'll be better... I'll be more careful with it, I won't get hurt, I won't let it control me the way it did this year.
But if you think for one second that I'm stopping?
You're dumber than a doorknob.