Cassiopeia thought she was doing a brilliant job of balancing everything in her life, she was keeping on top of her school work and every one of her professors showered her with compliments well all except snape who was a moody git that jumped every time cassie was in his classroom and quirell who kept his distance from the girl when he could.
Then there was her training with Emmeline which was going great and Cassie found herself relaxing around her more and more each session. And lastly her tornado of friends, they were all over them map. She had the slytherins, the inner circle as she liked to call Draco, Pansy, Blaise and Theo. Then there was Neville who she consistently went out of her was to include with the slytherins because she could see he was lonely in gryffindor tower, finally she had hermione who had been spending more time with Ron and Harry so that wasn't much hassle on cassies part.
There was only a week or so left before Christmas break so Cassie was spending more time with Neville than usual, the two of them were sitting in the Gryffindor common room with Dean and Seamus playing a card game that Seamus called crazy eights. The girl still wasn't exactly sure what was going on but she'd won 4 times so she must have been doing something right.
"Are you cheatin' using your magic or somethin' you only just learned how to play" Seamus said as he waved his hand stuffed with 19 cards in the air.
"I'm not cheating how dare you" she widened her jaw as she put down her last card and held her hands up, "it must be natural talent" she smirked at the boys.
"I've been playing this for months and I'm still not any good" Neville had less cards than Seamus but more than dean.
"I'll teach you when we're back from Christmas break" cassie nudged him.
Dean laughed at Seamus as he had to pick up another card and started to go red with frustration. Cassie didn't mean to zone out but her vision was starting to loose focus, she found herself listening not the usual type the deeper type. First she could hear deans thoughts 'wow Seamus looks ridiculous when he's angry' then she felt the nerves coming from Neville's thoughts due to the game so she pushed passed them.
She could hear internal screaming coming from above her and then what she knew was hermiones thoughts, 'for the love of god where did I see that name, I know I've read about Nicholas Flamel somewhere' there was a stress coming from her and then a loud grunt that everyone else heard as well.
"Was that hermione?" Neville stood from the couch and walked over to the stairs then another bang made cassie follow.
Cassie started up the stairs almost at the top when Neville started to follow, unfortunately Cassiopeia had turned to make sure Neville was following but suddenly the ground beneath her feet shifted and the pair of them went flying right down what used to be the stairs that was now a slide.
"AHHH!" The girl Yelpped.
"Ouch" Neville groaned as Cassie landed on top of him completely starfished out.
After they both composed themselves hermione who had came out of her dorm helped Cassie up. "Oh the stairs to the girls dorms are enchanted, boys can't go up them" hermione informed them.
"Salazar sake this castle is a death trap, it really should come with bloody warnings" Cassiopeia practically had smoke coming out of her nose.
"Cass your legs bleeding" Neville lifted up her pale green skirt slightly to show a slice on her thigh, the blood had soaked through the skirt and trickled right down her leg.
"Oh great how did that happen" cassie sighed.
"Sorry Cass I think you landed on my pencil" he picked up a pencil covered in blood.
Cassie gave him a look as if to tell him not to worry and she placed her hand over the cut and whispered an incantation while she tightened her eyes shut, instantly she felt the cut on her leg knitted back together. Once it was done she removed her hand and smiled at Hermione and Neville, "good as new" she used her skirt to wipe off the blood and showed them the small scar.
Hermione shook her head with her mouth open, "I'm not even going to ask anymore, you never fail to amaze me" she smiled brightly at her, "come on, you can borrow something of mine that skirt is ruined"
Cassie followed hermione up to her dorm with a frown on her face, Hermione just looked at her eyebrows raised and hair wild. "Frowning will not solve to problem"
"I know but I love this skirt"
"Here have a look" Hermione opened the door to her wardrobe and stood aside to let the other girl pick something.
"Mione' I really think you should let me take you shopping" she looked at the bushy haired girl with a concerned face.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione was genuinely confused.
"Well it looks like you picked out all of these clothes blindfolded, we really need to get you a style" Cassiopeia shook her head.
Hermione rolled her eyes playfully and sat on her bed, "just pick something already"
Cassie weighed her options, walk around the castle in her knickers which she didn't think was particularly appropriate, or wear a horrendous pair of trousers that looked like something a nine year old boy would wear. She threw the trousers on and looked at Herself in the mirror.
"I'm running back to my common room, do you want me to give you these back tomorrow or shall I just set them on fire for you?" She asked Hermione who started laughing and smacked her arm playfully.
"See you at breakfast Cass"
She said goodbye to the boys who were still playing cards in the common room and then she ran like her life depended on it, she took turns at full speed and managed too crash into two walls a suit of armour and a portrait of a wizard playing the trumpet. When she finally shut the door to the slytherin common room her hair was sweaty and she could hardly breathe. She leant over to catch her breath and almost instantaneously an arm was gently wrapped around her waist steadying her.
"What happened, are you hurt?" Theo asked as he walked with her to the couches that their friends were at.
Cassie looked at the blood stained skirt in her hand and her current messy attire and shook her head at Theo, "I'm fine I had to run here from gryffindor tower" she exhaled.
"Why what was wrong" Theo asked.
"Nothing I just didn't want to be seen dead in these trousers" she cringed.
"Really Cass" he gave her a stern look.
Just as they approached everyone Pansy let out an audible gasp and sped over to Cassiopeia, "what in merlins name are you wearing!" Pansy sounded like she'd been personally offended.
"I cut my leg, I had to borrow something to wear" cassie ran a hand through her hair trying not to get it caught in the knots. "I had to run all the way here"
"Is your leg okay?" Theo asked as he sat on the arm of the couch glancing at both of cassies pant clad legs like he had X-ray vision.
"It's perfectly fine I healed it, but my skirt is definitely in need of a funeral" she held up the skirt with a solemn face.
"What's that on it? Blood" Blaise grabbed ahold of the skirt and started to inspect it.
"Mhm" cassie nodded as she took a long gulp of dracos pumpkin juice earning her a nudge from her nephew.
"I can get this out no problem, I'll give it back to you in the morning" Blaise stood kissing Cassie playfully on the forehead before turning and walking to his dorm still inspecting the skirt with a smile on his face.
"Why on earth does he know how to get blood stains out of skirts?" Draco raised an eyebrow.
"If he can do it then I couldn't care less, that skirt looks amazing on you" Pansy shook her head still giving the trousers a dirty look.
"Well then I'm going to take these off and get into my pyjamas, coming pans" cassie held out her hands to her bestfriend.
"Always" she intertwined their hands and they started to walk towards the girls corridor, "night boys" the two of them said in unison.
Once the two of them were comfortable they spent an hour talking in bed and playing with Holstein and pixie who had taken to either both sleeping in cassies dorm or both in blaises dorm, neither Blaise or Cassie knew how they were going to react when they were separated at Christmas.
"I don't even want to think about going home for Christmas, I'm so used to our routine" cassie frowned as she faced the other girl.
"At least you have draco, being an only child is the worst" Pansy was fiddling with the ends of cassies braids as she spoke.
"I think I'd like it, or at least I would have when I was younger. I've always been compared to my sisters, not as knowledgeable as Narcissa, not as elegant as Andromeda, not as loyal and deranged as Bellatrix" cassie sighed deeply, "though I suppose that with that last one it's a good thing"
Pansy cocked her head slightly making direct eye contact with Cassiopeia making casssies stomach feel tingly, "you are so much more than anyone I've ever known Cassiopeia and I really wish you could see how amazing you are" she said bluntly.
Cassie tried to form a sentence but no words came out, Cassie laughed out of her nose and smiled, "Goodnight Cass"
Just like always the two of them fell asleep holding hands and ended up in tangles.