I practically ran through the doorway, my stomach in a knot, my only thought to keep up with Hermione, Ron and Harry. Harry's face had turned a sickly sort of white halfway through the lesson, and Ron wasn't looking much better.
"I mean, it had to be spiders?" He mumbled.
"Hermione, why are we running?" Harry asked, his voice sounding void of any emotion.
"Not to the library again, are you?" Ron whined.
"No. To Neville." She pointed ahead of us where Neville stood halfway down the staircase, looking through a stained glass window. "Hey, Neville."
The lanky boy turned towards us, plastering on an unconvincing smile.
"Oh, hey guys. Interesting lesson, huh?" He stammered out. "Wonder what's for dinner. I'm hungry."
"Are you okay, Neville?" Hermione asked, softly.
"Oh, yeah. I'm good."
"I can walk with you, I'll probably head to the library or-"
"Longbottom." Moody's voice shocked the five of us once again. "Come with me boy, we'll have some tea. Sprout tells me you've a knack for Herbology, I've got some books you might like in my office."
Neville looked even more terrified than he had before, but nodded in agreement and started up the stairs, Moody's wooden leg clunking on every other step.
"Poor Neville..." Ron muttered.
"What was wrong with him?" I asked, not blaming the boy for his reaction to the curses. I still wasn't feeling the best after seeing them.
"Neville lives with his grandmother," Hermione started, "Because when he was little, his parents had the cruciatus curse used on them. For so long they... they were never the same. They're at St. Mungo's now. They don't even know him anymore."
My heart dropped to my feet. The image of Neville's face during class and even just now playing on repeat in my mind. Of course he wasn't okay. He had to see up close and personal exactly what had happened to his parents. Same with Harry.
"I'm headed to the library." Hermione sighed before taking off.
"Still taking divination, Cassidy?" Harry suggested as we continued down the steps.
"Yes, unfortunately. I still don't know if it's for me." I shrugged.
"Yeah, it's not for us either, not sure why we're still in it to be quite honest." Ron scoffed.
"We were going to work on that essay she assigned us, if you want to join." Harry offered when they reached their parting point.
"Essay? We didn't get an essay." I thought back nervously, thinking maybe I had forgotten.
"Aw, Bloody Hell Ron, your stupid joke got us a punishment essay." Harry slapped the side of Ron's arm.
"I'll come up, though. Keep you guys company. Maybe I'll learn something from those essays." I lied through my teeth, just thinking I could possibly see Fred.
A few minutes later, I was covering my ears so the boys could let us through the portrait hole.
"Don't bother, knowing Fred and George, you'll know it by tomorrow." Ron said as we found a spot in the common room, each of them pulling out parchment. I had spotted the twins immediately, tucked in the corner of the room and working intently on a shared piece of paper together.
"No, that sounds like we're accusing him, we've got to be careful." George's voice carried over to our side of the room, although Harry and Ron hardly seemed to notice. I looked between the two of them as they worked before walking towards the twins.
"What are you working on?" I took a seat across from them, watching their eyes flicker up towards me.
"When did you get here?" Fred asked, a grin spreading across his face.
"Just now."
"Well, we're just writing a letter to our old friend Ludo Bagman." Fred explained while George continued writing.
"From the World Cup? What about?"
"About our winnings disappearing from our pockets not an hour after he handed them over." George grumbled.
"From your bet?" I clapped a hand over my mouth to stifle a laugh.
"It's not funny! That was all of our money!" Fred nearly shouted.
"I know, I know. It's not funny, I just can't believe he would do that! He's from the Ministry!"
"Yeah, he's a slimy git is what he is."
"How much does he owe you then?" I asked, curious how much the twins had even won.
"None of your business, missy." Fred scolded, playfully as George handed over the quill for him to sign. "Come on, I want to hear about your class!"
Class. Ugh.
George grabbed the letter, waving it through the air to let it dry as he started out of the portrait hole, most likely headed to the owlery.
"How'd you like it? Isn't he amazing? Bloody crazy, but-" He stopped, noticing my reaction was not matching his. "Didn't you like it?"
I shook my head shortly.
"Did he show you the curses?" He asked, looking confused.
"Yeah, Fred. And it was awful. Watching the spiders... it was awful! And you should have seen Harry's face when he did the killing curse... and Neville, I thought he was going to burst into tears. You know about his parents?"
Fred's face had fallen, no sign of a smile anywhere in his expression.
"I didn't... I didn't even really think about any of that." He muttered. "Is Harry alright?" He stole a glance to his brother and Harry who now appeared to be pulling examples right from their divination book and pasting them onto their papers.
"I don't know. He didn't really talk about it much."
Fred sat in silence now, looking a bit guilty, as if he had been the one to show off unforgivable curses in front of two students who had lost their parents to them.
"Why did you like them? Didn't they kind of creep you out?" I asked. Fred didn't seem like the type to be overly violent or to take pleasure in watching people in pain.
"I don't know... I mean, don't get me wrong, Lupin was great and I learned a ton. But like, how often are we going to come across beasts like we did last year? Half of those creatures don't even live around here. Moody's stuff today, it was just like... stuff we could actually use. You never know! Like..."
He trailed off and his gaze fell to his hands, twisting together in his lap.
"Like?" I nodded at him to continue.
"Like at the cemetery with your dad." He spit out, finally locking eyes with me again. "I could have done something way sooner if I had known what to do. He might not have even... touched you." His voice now came out as more of a growl than words.
"Fred..." I whispered. "Those spells are illegal. All of them land you in Azkaban."
"If you get caught." He met my eyes again, his own a deep brown now.
"Stop it. Please, don't say that. Don't say stuff like that." I shook my head, feeling goosebumps appear on my skin.
"Alright." He sighed, standing from his own seat and squeezing into mine, pulling me onto his lap and for a second I forgot what we had even been talking about. "I'm sorry. Forget I said anything. I'm sorry your class was bad." He leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to my cheek.
"Freddie, I've been meaning to talk to you... about-"
"Alright, it's sent! I think we did okay. He'll send us our money." George nodded, crossing his arms over his chest with a proud smile before his eyes landed on the two of us sharing a chair built for one person.
"Well I was going to ask if you were joining us for dinner, Cass, but I guess that much is obvious."
"Shove off, George." Fred scoffed, laughing as he pulled me off the chair with him. "Coming to dinner boys?"
"In a minute." They said, both still scribbling fake future's onto their parchment.
I crossed my arms over my chest for warmth as I walked with Fred in a huge circle around the black lake. We had both eaten our fill at dinner at our own house tables for once, before he had found me and asked if I fancied a walk.
"What classes do you have tomorrow?" I asked, seeing how we had been silent for a few minutes now, the only sounds the gentle lapping of the water on the gravel and some sort of birds in the distance.
"Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures in the morning, then Charms after lunch. Dunno why I didn't fail every O.W.L on purpose, have a free year off."
"Very funny." I gave him an eye roll. "Is Hagrid making you guys look after his blast ended skrewts or whatever they are?"
"Making us? He's letting us! George and I are hoping he'll let us keep a few, we could rent them out to people, you know. Anyone who needs some good old fashioned destruction."
When we had returned to our starting point of the lake, Fred nodded towards a wooden bench that was of course vacant at this time of night. We only had a while left now before curfew, but I was fine spending all of it with Fred.
"You cold?" He asked, leaning back and looking at me.
"No, I'm alright." I smiled, noticing the stars had begun to emerge in the darkening sky.
We stared up together for a few minutes, neither of us speaking, but not feeling like we needed to. After a while, I felt Fred's weight shift on the bench, sliding closer to me.
"Can I kiss you again?"
I opened my mouth to answer, but no words came out.
"I'll take that as a yes." He muttered, his lips forming a smile as he leaned into me. His hands wrapped around the sides of my head and he ran his fingers through my hair and down towards my neck, his lips tracing along mine the entire time.
We stayed like that for a long time. Probably too long, but I didn't care. I would spend the night out here if it meant more time with Fred.
Finally when the last of the color was long gone from the sky, Fred backed away and I took on my first full breath since his lips had touched mine.
"We should get inside. Don't want to be a bad influence on you." He teased, jumping from the bench and pulling me after him, laughing as I landed onto his chest.
He pulled the door open, wincing as it creaked loudly and echoed through the halls.
"Looks clear, come on." He whispered, leading us towards the stairs across from the Great Hall. "Do you... want to come up with me?" He asked, looking around for any sign of patrolling professors.
"Come up with you? Why ever would I do that? It's bed time, Freddie." I shot him a confused look and he rolled his eyes.
"Oh, please, you spent half the summer in my bed-"
He let out a booming laugh, shielding his face with his arms as I smacked at him.
"Even if I wanted to sleep in your crummy bed, that's seven unnecessary flights of steps."
"I'll carry you, then." He lunged for me and I held in a scream, rushing towards my own staircase.
"You going to miss me that much Freddie?"
"Perhaps. I get lonely, what can I say?" He shrugged.
I glanced at the small clock on my wrist and looked towards my common room. It wasn't terribly late, but Maddie loved her sleep. Hannah and Bri liked to be up early for class on the weekdays, so it wasn't impossible that they would all be in bed by now...
"If you're thinking of inviting me to sleep with you in the absolute oven that is the Hufflepuff dorms, then I accept."
"You really know how to charm a girl, don't you?"
"Is it not working?" He smirked, nodding towards the stairs before the two of us set off.
"If my roommates are still up, you have to go back to your own dorm." I said softly, not sure who I thought would overhear me down here.
"Should we stop for a snack, or- no, okay." He trailed off as we passed by the kitchens.
"You leave them alone in there, they need to sleep. Hermione will have your head if she finds out you've been putting extra work on them. She's starting a foundation for them, she's got-"
"Badges. I've heard. Every day now." Fred finished. "You bought one didn't you?"
"I don't completely disagree with her! I just think nothings going to come of it, they do all seem happy here. I'm sure Hogwarts is a better home for them than many other places."
"You little traitor, I'm telling. You're getting kicked out of that club." Fred scolded, tapping the barrels with his wand and leading us into the cozy room. "You ought to change that every year. You're lucky you have an in with me so I haven't pranked Hufflepuff... yet."
"Oh, what's my in with you?" I asked, giving him a waiting look.
Fred ignored me, quite pointedly, looking around the room.
"Love what you've done with the place. This wasn't here last year, this is new." He changed the subject, noticeably, tugging on a painting that I was sure had been hanging on that wall since Helga Hufflepuff herself was in this room.
"Come on, let's go." I rolled my eyes and lead us up the stairs. Judging by the lack of students in the common room and the complete silence I heard as I passed by each level of rooms, I was growing more and more confident that my friends would be asleep.
Finally we reached our floor. I turned the knob silently on the door and pushed it open a crack, seeing the room was in total darkness and nodding to Fred.
"You got lucky." I whispered under my breath.
"So lucky." He smirked as we entered the room. "Lumos."
A small light shone from the top of his wand as I made my way towards my trunk.
"You should have gotten something to wear..." I whispered, realizing he was still in his uniform.
"I'll be fine. I sleep naked."
"No you don't." I held in a laugh, knowing the comments we would get if any of the girls woke up. "I'll be right back. You can grab a sweatshirt or anything if you want..."
"Oh, thanks. Yeah, I'm usually a medium but maybe I can squeeze." He hissed through the room as I shut the door on him, pulling on a t-shirt and a pair of shorts.
"Nox." I whispered, watching the lights from the lamps in the bathroom fade out as I headed back to my bed where Fred was now laying, still in his trousers, his shirt thrown across the floor near the doorway.
"Fred!" I laughed, standing hesitantly next to the small bed.
"It's hot down here and you know it!" He pointed out, holding the blankets up and gesturing for me to climb in.
"Do you not want me to sleep here?" He asked, suddenly seeming nervous. I climbed into the bed at once, feeling the warmth from his skin already.
"No, why wouldn't I?" I asked as the two of us laid back onto my pillow, Fred propping his head up on his wrist to look down at me.
"I didn't mean to make you feel like you had to invite me, Cassy, I'll go if you want."
"No, I want you to stay." I whispered, leaning my head onto his chest when he finally settled into the blankets. "I like when you sleep with me. Less nightmares."
I felt him nod against my head slowly and the two of us fell into silence for so long that I was sure he had fallen asleep until I felt his lips press against my hair.
"Goodnight pretty girl." He whispered.
"Good morning." Fred's voice appeared behind me and I watched Hannah, Bri and Maddie's eyes float above my head where I assumed the twins must have been standing. I set my mug of coffee back on the table and turned to look behind me just as Fred leaned down, pressing a kiss to my cheek lazily.
"Morning." I smiled, feeling the familiar blush rise to my cheeks as my friends smirked at the two of us over their goblets.
"You guys have Moody today, right?" George asked, looking across at the three girls.
"Yeah, why?" Hannah asked, looking eager for any information about the strange professor.
"It's... kind of a tough one. Just so you're prepared. More unforgivable curse work." Fred answered, his eyes still hooked on mine. "Can I walk you?" He asked, holding his hand out to help me out of the bench.
"I'll see you guys in class." I said, giving them each a glare to try and wipe the smirks from their faces. Fred lead the way, leaving George with the girls behind us and pushing open the heavy wood of the door.
"I just wanted to let you know, because it was a hard class this week. He tried the imperious curse on us and we had to try and fight it off. It was like... impossible. You kind of just have to accept it. He says with practice and a ton of will power, you can fight it off. But no one could in our group."
"But... that's illegal?" I asked as we reached the top of the stairs.
"Yep. But you know, Hogwarts. Rules don't apply here."
"As you and George have proved time and time again." I laughed slightly, my mind still focused on what we would be forced to do under the imperious curse.
"Hey," Fred tucked two fingers beneath my chin and brought my eyes to his. "You're going to be fine. I just thought I'd give you a heads up, but don't stress. It's quick, nothing terrible. Then you move on."
"Yeah, I guess." I leaned against the wall to wait for my friends.
"Oh, and if you're not busy tonight... Hagrid said that George and I could help him carve the pumpkins for the feast Saturday. You want to come? Should be fun, they're huge this year. I don't know how Hagrid does it."
"Yeah, I do. That sounds fun!" I smiled.
"Awesome. I'll come get you after classes, in your common room? I think I know the password."
"Shut up." I grumbled, finally spotting my friends coming up the stairs, Harry, Ron and Hermione talking loudly from the floor beneath us on their way up.
"Alright, good luck. You'll be fine." He said softly, squeezing my hand before heading back down the stairs to his own class, nodding to my friends as he passed.
"Kissing you in front of your friends now? How long are we going to let this go on and not call you two official?" Maddie wiggled her eyebrows as the four of us took spots in the back rows of the classroom.
I sat alone, my legs propped up on the armrest of the chair with my transfiguration book in my lap. Everyone had been grumbling about the work load increase for this year, but so far I didn't think it had been outrageous. McGonagall wanted us to read ahead, and that was easy enough.
"Hi." A voice whispered in my ear, shocking me and causing me to jump nearly a foot into the air.
"Fred! I didn't even hear you come in." I grumbled, waiting for my heart beat to slow down.
"Sorry. I didn't want to disturb your reading, you look so cute." He winked, his voice teasing as he took the book from my lap and pulled me onto his own.
It must have been nearly thirty seconds of me trying to come up with something witty to reply before he laughed and pulled my face into his, his lips pressing against my own for a few seconds before I felt him sucking my lower lip lightly, and I finally accepted that my heart beat would not be going back down any time soon.
I wrapped my hands behind his neck, mostly as a way to ensure that I wouldn't simply pass out and fall right off his lap. The second he felt my fingers on his skin I heard him sigh into the kiss, moving his own hands from the sides of my face and down to my hips, creating goosebumps on my forearms that he probably didn't even know he had earned.
My mind was only half focused on the kiss now, most of my thoughts dedicated to the feeling of his thumbs which had found a peek of skin along the waist band of my skirt.
"Are you okay?" He whispered, pulling away slightly and I realized I must not have been kissing him back fully.
"Of course I am." I breathed back, his fingers still tracing small circles on the skin of my hips.
"You seem nervous." I looked into the golden brown of the eyes that were staring back at me and realized he now seemed nervous.
"You make me nervous." I laughed, feeling embarrassed.
"I make you nervous?" He laughed, finally pulling his hands off my hips and grabbing onto both of my hands.
"Yes." I bit my lip, wishing now that I hadn't said that.
"How do I do that?" He wore a smirk now, apparently no longer feeling guilty and finding this whole situation amusing.
"Because!" I whined, leaning back from him on the couch, maybe hoping that if I had a few more inches of my own air that I would be able to form complete sentences again. "You're you. And I don't know what I'm doing."
"What do you mean?" His eyebrows furrowed as he turned to face me on the couch now.
"I've never done... any of this before." I admitted, even though I was sure he knew that.
"Done what, Cassy?"
I opened my mouth a few times, praying for my brain to just let me say something, anything. It didn't even have to make sense.
"I don't want you to be nervous with me. I'm never going to do anything you're not comfortable with. I like kissing you, and if you like kissing me... Then I want to kiss you." He leaned down and pressed his lips to mine, softer this time. "We're not going to do anything you don't want to do."
I knew what he was referring to of course. Something that I had been trying not to think about, Fred being with other girls before me. Of course, I knew he had been. There wasn't a doubt in my mind. But I didn't want to think about it. Sometimes late at night in bed the thought would cross my mind, and the only way to get rid of it was to sneak down to the common room and dive into my homework until I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore.
"I..." I stopped. I'm in love with you. That's what I had wanted to say. But that was insane. We weren't together. We technically weren't anything. Maybe Fred wasn't lying when he had spoken earlier. Maybe he just likes kissing me.
"You?" He pressed on, looking amused.
"I forgot." I lied, giving him a stupid smile before he stood from his spot and held his hand out for me.
"Let's get going, if you still want to carve pumpkins? George headed down there about... half an hour ago. I'm sure Hagrid's having him help name the Blast Ended Skrewts."
I laughed, shaking my head as I followed the tall boy out of the sliding door and into the hallways.
"Took you long enough!" George grumbled, waving his wand through the air and moving one giant pumpkin into a clearing at a time while Hagrid pushed his own ahead of George.
"Oh, Cassidy! Didn' know you'd be coming to help! Awfully nice of you guys, would usually take me hours."
"Oh, Hagrid, you know these boys would help you any year if it means destroying something for fun." I joked, Hagrid shooting me a twinkly eyed smile.
"Don't destroy them, though boys. They gotta look presentable or Dumbledore won't let 'em inside. First night of the tournament an' all."
"Don't worry, Hagrid, we're professionals!" Fred grinned, waving his wand for the final pumpkin to fly across the field and land in front of me as he took his place next to George.
"Alright, well... I assume you'll be doing yours by magic. I shouldn't... strictly speaking." Hagrid scanned over the three of us.
"No, Hagrid, that's boring! We'll all do it by hand." George waved his hand carelessly, as if that had been their plan all along. Fred and I pocketed our wands too and looked at the tree sized pumpkins before us.
"Come on, then." Fred shot me an evil smile and lunged for my legs, ignoring my screams as he hoisted me up to the top of my pumpkin. I grabbed ahold of the stem and pulled myself up, watching Fred and George jump to grab onto their own stems and pull themselves to the top of their Pumpkins.
"Now what!" I laughed, looking between the two of them.
"What do you mean?" Fred called as he aimed his wand at the tip of the pumpkin, tracing a circle and chucking the top to the ground, revealing a giant hole filled with pumpkin guts.
"You've never carved a pumpkin?" George asked, looking half confused and half sad.
"No, I mean. I know you have to make the face!" I shrugged, copying the boys and sending the top of my own pumpkin to the ground.
"Gotta get all the guts out first." Fred explained, leaning into his hole and pulling out a huge arm full, letting it flop to the floor with a splat.
Over an hour later, the four of us were covered head to toe in orange stringy goo, our skin tinged orange from wherever the pulp had lingered too long. My hair was coated too, after I had fallen into the pumpkin once or twice, half swimming and half climbing to the top to the laughter of the twins.
But despite the mess, our now Jack-o-lanterns looked amazing. Hagrid's looked the cleanest, most likely from years and years of practice, while the twins had opted for a scarier designed face, which I had to admit still looked awesome. My own design had not come out as good as I had pictured it in my head, but for my first time and with no magic, I couldn't complain. Hagrid had of course said that mine was his favorite, which was clearly to make me feel better for having made the worst one. But I didn't care. Spending time with the twins, doing something fun, not thinking about school or grades or Tommy or my dad or strange death eaters, it was a perfect afternoon.