Cassius stood tall and stiff the night before our match with Ravenclaw. "I need to speak with you, Kally."
We were seated by the fireplace at our common room talking in hushed tones when Cassius approached us looking pale.
I nod my head sharing a look with Draco. He shrugs and kisses my cheek before going back to his conversation with Greg and Vince.
Daphne was busy gushing about a new fashion label from Italy with Blaise who nods along with her. Theo was as usual reading about runes.
Cassius takes me out of the common room and into the deeper parts of the dungeons.
He closes his eyes and pulls on his robes. "I can't fly tomorrow." He whispers.
"Why are you injured? I told you not to train too hard!" I reprimand in true Marcus style.
Cassius shakes his head looking desperate. "I can't fly tomorrow, Kally. I'm a coward, alright? I can't face Roger Davies. He had me fall from my broom and hospitalized at St. Mungo's for months. I don't want to disappoint you, Kally. Merlin knows I don't but I know Marcus' main objective in each game is to keep you safe and I don't think I can when I'm scared of the very thing I'm protecting you from."
My eyes soften at his words and I place a hand on his shoulder. "Cassy, first of all, you don't have to protect me. I know what Marcus told you and I love him for it but at least for the Ravenclaw game, you won't need to."
He sighs. "I still can't face him."
"I understand. You don't need to explain Cassy and you definitely don't have to play tomorrow if you don't want to."
Cassius eyes widen. "What?"
I smile. "I won't force you to play."
He pauses. "You think I should."
"As your Captain, I only want what's best for you. If you think you can't fly then I respect that but as your friend, I'm at liberty to tell you that it's Roger Davies' last year in Hogwarts and it'll be your last chance to face him."
Cassius bites at his lower lip. "If I fall again, would you break the rules and punch him in the face?"
"If you fall, I would happily be banned from Quidditch if that means I get Roger Davies in St. Mungo's for a few months." I grin offering my fist and Cassius eyes it before smiling nervously and hitting his fist against mine.
-
I meet Roger Davies at the center of the pitch and he frowns offering his hand for me to shake. True to the Slytherin tradition and fueled by my anger for Cassius, I reach for his hand and crush it.
He groans pulling away. "I see Warrington hasn't ran to his daddy yet."
"What ever for, Davies? We haven't killed you yet." I say with a sickly sweet smile that Umbridge would be jealous of.
Davies eyes flash in anger and grabs for his broom. I mount my own and take a deep breath.
For Cassius.
Roger Davies uses Cassius' emotional trauma against him making sure to fly as close to him as possible. At one point, Cassius drops the quaffle in panic when Roger Davies purposely charges at him.
I call a time out. We were still in the lead but the panic in Cassius was obvious.
Draco lands beside me. "Keep it together, Warrington."
"He can do this. Let's readjust our formations, Blaise." I say motioning at my two Chasers.
"No." Cassius grunts looking determined. "Don't change it. I can take him."
"All Beaters to Davies." Draco orders venomously. "That fool needs to learn his place."
Vince nods. "What about Chang?"
"She's a shite flyer. She won't notice the difference." Draco mutters grabbing onto his broom again. "Blaise make sure that fool gets hurt."
The whistle blows and we're back to the match.
"Quaffle with Roger Davies now- ouch! Zabini intercepts the ball with a punch to Davies' gut! Is that a foul? No?"
Blaise throws the quaffle back to me and I grunt crashing into another Chaser passing it to Cassius. Blaise flies to aid him but is stopped by a barrage of bludgers.
I'm blocked by the other two Chasers and I suddenly realize that Davies was trying to isolate Cassius. I take a shallow dive to dodge the two Chasers and they fumble.
"Excellent dodge from Emrys rushing to Warrington's aid!"
We press up to Davies squishing him between us. Cassius glances at me and I nod. I collide into Davies forcing him to push against Cassius who had his elbow out.
The satisfying sound of Davies groan vanishes all of Cassius nervousness.
Cassius smirks for the first time and easily scores a goal for Slytherin pumping his fist up in the air. With his confidence back, our lead continues to grow with Davies continuously being attacked by bludgers and Blaise.
"Draco Malfoy racing towards the snitch alongside Cho Chang- and it's Malfoy with the snitch! Slytherin wins!"
-
I frown down at the awful looking magazine called The Quibbler. It was a laughable little thing that no one took seriously until Harry Potter announced that he did an interview with Rita Skeeter.
Harry Potter looked back at me from his picture on the cover. I cringed reading the title. It was basically him speaking out about the truth that night when Cedric Diggory died.
It was horrible.
True to the headline, Potter told everything starting from the tournament, to the cemetery to the ritual and to my utter horror- names of the Death Eaters.
Malfoy, Nott and of course Goyle and Crabbe but what was more terrible was that Zabini and Greengrass were mentioned when I know -because of my inside connection- that for one, Blaise' biological father died years ago and Daphne's father was nothing more than an innocent rich business man.
He named random Slytherins that were in no way connected with the Dark Lord- at least not yet.
Daphne storms into the common room with tears in her eyes and her robes dripping in pumpkin juice. All eyes worriedly turned to the usually sneering girl.
"What happened?" I demanded discarding the offensive article.
She ran to my side burying her face in my shoulder. "I was having breakfast when a seventh year Gryffindor called me a Death Eater and poured a pitcher of pumpkin juice all over me."
Rage boils at the pit of my stomach. "What?!"
"It's that terrible article! Potter dropped my name on there. We're not Death Eaters, Kally!" She said desperately through sobs.
"Of course I know that." It was especially hard for her because she was the only girl mentioned in the article making her an easy target for the older years.
She sniffs wiping her face with an embroidered handkerchief. "Theo's at the Hospital Wing. He got jumped by older boys when he was at the library."
I gasp taking a step back. "Where are the other boys?"
"Greg and Vince are at detention for beating up the guy that poured the juice and Blaise and Draco are with Professor Snape trying to get the two boys out of detention."
"This is all Potter's fault." I snarl casting a drying spell on her.
Daphne pulls at her robes and wrings her hair. "I need to take a bath. No one can see me like this."
"Are you alright on your own?" I ask feeling nervous for her.
Slytherins from all years have surrounded us now looking equally angry and sad for Daphne.
"We'll keep you safe, Greengrass." A determined looking first year said holding his wand.
An older Slytherin boy nodded. "Slytherins look after their own."
My hearts swells at the sight.
-
I grab at Harry Potter's hand and yank him to an empty classroom.
Potter yelps and jumps away. "Bloody hell, Kally! You scared- what's wrong?"
"What's wrong?" I sneer rolling the Quibbler in my hand and striking him with it repeatedly.
"Ouch! Kally! Not the glasses!"
I throw the Quibbler at him with the force of a Chaser and seethe. "How could you? This is low even for you."
Potter grabs for the magazine that hit him in the face and stares at me like I'm a mad woman. "It's the truth. You know this is the truth."
"You mentioned names, Potter! Don't you get it? I refuse to believe you're this daft." I'm pacing now running my hands through my hair remembering the the tears on Daphne's face.
"Of course, they're Death Eaters." He says this in a way that I wanted to strike him again with the rubbish magazine.
"If they are- which I'm not confirming- you shouldn't mention them like this. They have children that go to this school. You ostracized these people, Potter. You put a target on their backs. My friends, Potter, can barely walk alone in the halls without your precious Gryffindors hexing them to oblivion. You made it unsafe for them. Do you get that? The only place they're safe is this school and you took it away from them." By this time I'm practically screaming at him.
Potter frowns and takes a step back. "Well, their parents are the ones that make it dangerous outside this school."
"They are not their parents Harry Potter." I snap pointing a finger at him. "Do not let them carry the mistakes of other people. Half of the people in there are random Slytherin names!"
He pauses and breaths out looking almost guilty. "They took my parents from me, Kally. You understand that right?"
"No. Voldemort killed your parents. Not Draco Malfoy, not Theodore Nott, not Blaise Zabini -who's father is dead by the way- and definitely not Daphne Greengrass." My heart was pounding in my chest.
House prejudice and all this bias against Slytherin. It was all making my head pound and my heart hurt. We weren't evil but I now understand why most turn evil. Slytherins are seen in such a way and expected to be this way that we just fall into it. I'm falling into it.
We must be evil right? We're told we are all our lives so we must be evil.
I turn away then not caring anymore if he understood or not.
"Kally! Wait! I can fix this. I didn't mean to list random names. It was all a rush." Potter said looking mildly panicked. "I'm sorry, Kally."
I wheel back hands trembling with rage. "Sorry? Daphne Greengrass got attacked by a seventh year Gryffindor for your incompetence. This morning alone, Theodore Nott was sent to the Hospital Wing because your 'army' beat him bloody."
"I was wrong-"
I take a step forward him menacingly teeth bared. "Yes, you're wrong. A mistake you will soon regret. Mark my words Harry Potter, if another one of my friends get attacked, you will answer to me."