Slowly and gently, Ben carted a hairbrush through Cassie's short hair as she sat in between his legs on the couch in the common room. She had just come back from taking a bath and submerging herself and the egg underwater to figure out her next task.
Between this tournament and classes, Cassie was physically and mentally exhausted. Her arm was healed and her stitches were out, but just on time for the next task. It's tomorrow. And she doesn't know how in the hell she's going to be underwater in the black lake for an hour.
"Hey, you're going to figure this out," Ben told her, as he continued to brush her hair. "I'm going to be there cheering you on no matter what. Okay?" She turned around to face him and he helped her so she was straddling his lap.
She put her face in his neck and deeply sighed. "I'm so tired, Ben," she whined. He put his hand on her head and put his lips to her ear. "Go to sleep, baby, I'll be right here," he whispered. He didn't move a muscle as he felt her body start to immediately relax against his.
Her breaths were coming out long and slow and soon, he could tell she was asleep. He pressed a small kiss to her head and ran his hand down the length of her back. He knew she needed this more than anything and he would be damned if anything would disturb this.
"Cassie!" A familiar voice called. Ben snapped his head over and saw Neville and Harry running into the common room. Ben harshly shushed them, but Cassie jolted awake and looked over at them with tired eyes. She rubbed them and grumbled, "What?"
Neville held up his Herbology book and said, "I know how to make you and Harry breath underwater!" Cassie excitedly stood up from Ben's lap and went over to him. "Really?" She asked with a smile. "That's great! How--."
"Mr. Cumberbatch," Professor McGonagall suddenly said from the entrance of the room. Ben looked at her curiously, as she said, "I need you to come with me." He looked over to Cassie, but she shrugged. She had no idea what this was about.
Nevertheless, Ben gave her a kiss, then walked over to McGonagall and followed her out. "What do you think that was all about?" Cassie asked. Harry told her, "No idea, but we should probably get some sleep. We've got a long day ahead of us."
**
Cassie never totally had a problem with Neville. He was sweet, means well, but sometimes he can make things....complicated. Worse than they already are. And that's what he was doing with her and Harry at the moment.
They were both incredibly tense and looking around for their friends, but couldn't see any of them. Cassie eventually saw Matin, Tom and Amanda and asked if they had seen Ben. They said they hadn't seen him all morning and that he didn't even come back to the common room last night.
That made Cassie very uneasy. She needed him now more than ever and he's gotten himself lost! She let out a strangled sigh and did her damn best not to just cry. She needed him.
Harry comforted her when they were on the boats and on their way to the tournament. "He's just running late," he tried to tell her. "Just like Ron and Hermione are. It's a silly coincidence, that's all." But was it? Wasn't it odd that the three people they needed most hadn't showed up yet?
Cassie tried to put it in the back of her mind once they were standing on wooden, creaky scaffolding in the middle of the lake. Dumbledore did some announcements, then declared the tournament begin.
Harry and Cassie ate the Gilly Weed, but then started reacting oddly to it. Harry was the first to fall unceremoniously into the water and Cassie followed right after. She felt a sharp pain in her neck and fingers and feet as she went lower and lower into the darkness of the lake.
Thankfully, that pain went away in just a few seconds, but it felt like forever. She had a gill in the sides of her neck and webbed hands. It looked creepy as hell to her, but she ignored it and started to swim where she thought was the right direction.
She had to swim through this forest of underwater plants, which made her feel uneasy because she kept seeing things zoom past her from the corner of her eyes. Eventually, she took out her wand to protect herself and kept on swimming.
When she got past the forest, it opened up to this wide open space with old arches and stones that looked like they could be thousands of years old. She looked around for a moment, then her eyes landed on something.
Five bodies, tied at their foot, floating in the middle of this dark and mysterious lake. One of those people, she horrifyingly noted, was Ben. She swam over to him as quickly as she could and was trying to find a way to get him free.
She tugged and pulled at the rope, but it was too right. She then quickly swam backwards, pointed her wand at the bottom of the rope and was about to cast a spell when something hit her and made her fly to the side.
She looked around to see what it was, but just saw the open lake around her. Deeming herself insane, she went back over to Ben. She pointed her wand at the bottom of the rope once again and as soon as she casted the spell that snapped the rope and sent Ben up to the surface, she was grabbed by something around the leg and pulled down further and further into the lake!
With every fiber of her being, she tried to kick off whatever was on her leg.
In the meantime, Ben resurfaced and took in a huge breath of air as the crowd cheered and chatted for Cassie. He looked around to find Cassie...but didn't see her. "Cass?" He called.
By now, she had gotten whatever it was off of her leg and was starting to hastily swim back up. It seemed like it would take forever to resurface! She swam and swam and swam, but then felt a sharp pain in her arm. She screamed and looked over to find and damn Grindylow sinking its teeth into her!
She lifted up her arm, but then another one bit into that arm! She screamed again, then felt several more latch on to her with their tentacles. She zapped one off her arm with her wand, then did the same with the one on her other arm.
Just as she was about to cast a spell on the ones that were on her legs, they just suddenly decided to unlatch themselves and swim quickly towards something else. As quickly as she could she swan back up, but the gilly weed was starting to ware off.
She was holding her breath now and swimming at an alarmingly slow pace compared to how her webbed hands and feet allowed her to swim. She thought she was going to pass out, but then she resurfaced and took the biggest and most grateful breath she could conjure up.
Apparently, she had come up right in front of the wooden scaffolding and was immediately hauled up by Ben and Cedric. They set her down on the floor and she started coughing her lungs out.
Ben quickly grabbed several blankets and put them over her. Hermione was rubbing Cassie's arms to try and get her body temperature back, while Ben brushed back her wet hair and said with a smile, "You did it! You got first place!"
She smiled, but then continued to cough. He could see marks in her legs and quickly looked them over. He then saw blood seeping through the five blankets she had over her. "She needs to get to Madam Pomfrey," Hermione said, as she lifted the blankets to look at her arm.
Suddenly, Harry's body flew out of the water and landed harshly on the wooden deck. Hermione and Ron immediately went over to him. Ben had sat Cassie up to lean back against him. "I am so proud of you," he said in her ear. "We'll go and get you all fixed up, then we'll celebrate tonight."
Dumbledore announce the winners, deeming Cassie in first place (she got tons and tons of cheers) and Harry in second (he got the same amount of cheers) for saving, not only Ron, but Fleur's sister as well.
When they got back on land, they were greeted with the head of the magical law enforcement and the one who was watching over these games, Barty Crouch. "Mr. Potter, Ms. Hansen," he said, "may I have a word?" The two walked with him and spoke a little. Not about anything serious, just their families and what-not.
Cassie got an odd statement from him, one that wouldn't easily get out of her head anytime soon. "And Ms. Hansen, it's been an age since I've seen you. Nearly fourteen years now." She looked at him feeling very confused.
"I'm sorry?" She asked. He gave her an odd look, then asked, "Don't you know?" She let out a nervous laugh and asked, "Know...what?" Suddenly, Mad-Eye came up to them and told off Mr. Crouch for keeping them both from their friends and celebrations, while also insulting the Ministry of Magic.
After that, Cassie went back to Ben who was waiting for her. "What was that all about?" He asked. She shook her head and told him, "No idea."
They got back to the castle about an hour later and, instead of joining the celebration in the common room, Ben and Cassie went to Madam Pomfrey. She applied ointment on the marks on Cassie's legs and on her bites as well.
"Grindylows," Madam Pomfrey scoffed, "what nasty little creatures. And to have you swim with them? Has this school gone mad?" Ben and Cassie snickered. She wrapped up both of Cassie's arms, then handed the tube of ointment to Cassie and said, "Apply this every night. Give some to Potter, as well. I saw the marks on his neck."
After that, Ben had Cassie tucked under his arm as they slowly walked back to the common room. There was a huge party going on in there and when they walked in, they all cheered and were chanting, "First place! First place! First place!"
She smiled and went all bashful, but Ben knew she loved it. They stayed and mingled for a few minutes, then made their way up the stairs. Hermione invited them both to go out with her, Harry, Tom, Martin, Amanda, and Ron to celebrate with Hagrid later.
They both accepted, then said they were just going to relax for a few minutes. Hermione told Cassie she would keep a look out for anyone who would snitch that Ben was in the girl's common room. She was such a great friend.
Ben held Cassie as they lay facing each other on her bed. He could tell she was completely exhausted and wanted nothing but to see her go to sleep. When he told her that, she said she was looking forward to hanging out with the gang and Hagrid a little later, so she didn't want to.
When that time came, they were walking through the forest singing and expressing how proud they were for the two Gryffindors. Cassie smiled into Ben's chest as she held him when they were walking. He couldn't stop touching her or kissing her to express how proud he was.
Unfortunately, their evening was cut short when Harry discovered the body of Barty Crouch.