Cassiopeia's POV
It was Monday morning and Harry, Ron and I had all finally been released from the hospital wing. If you asked me, I could have been released a week ago since the poison hadn't gotten to me too bad. It had definitely gotten Ron much worse. Harry was the lucky one, only having to be in there for one night with a cracked skull that was mended immediately.
All in all though, I didn't mind too much. Spending time in the hospital wing gave me plenty of time to spend with Fred and George. The twins were just as goofy as ever, but now that I didn't have their company, I knew I'd have to do right back to missing them.
One thing that didn't change, was that Harry was still obsessed with Draco Malfoy, and had sent Kreacher on a mission to follow him.
"I just don't think it's necessary to have poor kreacher following him around Harry," I said to my very annoyed brother.
"Malfoys up to something Cas, I know it!" Harry argued back furiously.
"Harry, even if he is up to something... it shouldn't have to be our problem!"
"Cas is right Harry, it shouldn't have to be-"
"It is our problem!" Harry said sharply, cutting Hermione off.
Sighing, I decided to stay quiet. Nothing was going to convince Harry that whatever Malfoy was doing, it wasn't his problem. The three of us, along with Ron were walking down to the breakfast hall. Harry and I were both glad that Ron and Hermione could finally be within five feet of each other with out a war starting.
Things were going well until we encountered an angry looking Lavender Brown. Harry grabbed Hermione and I by the elbow and dragged us all to the breakfast hall as quickly as possible. I nearly burst into laughter at the satisfied smirk Hermione had on her face as we sat down.
"Happy to see things not going so great with Lavender?" I asked with a smirk.
"Cas, that makes me sound awful," Hermione frowned.
"I'm kidding 'mione, I'm sorry."
It was later that night, Harry and I were walking to our next lesson with Dumbledore. Harry seemed anxious to get there, ready as always to do exactly as Dumbledore said. That was always the problem with people. The two sides in this were people who did exactly as Dumbledore wanted, or exactly what Voldemort wanted. I wish I could do neither.
Awkward silence. Really, really awkward silence.
We sat like this in Dumbledores office for a while before Harry began apologizing profusely for not getting Professor Slughorns memory. I nearly giggled at Harry's reaction to Dumbledores disappointment, but I bit my tongue. Don't be a prat, I reprimanded myself.
Our first lesson was the story of Hokey the house elf. She'd been framed of accidentally poisoning her mistress, two days after Tom Riddle had visited her. It wasn't long after that that the mistresses family discovered her two most precious items -Helga Hufflepuffs cup and Slytherins locket- were missing. Voldemort must have stolen them for his gain for some reason.
The next and final lesson, was Dumbledore's own memory. It showed us a meeting between Dumbledore and Voldemort- who Dumbledore still persistently called Tom Riddle. Riddle was after the defense against the dark arts job, which Dumbledore also refused to give him. The memory ended with a very angry Tom Riddle leaving the room, and Dumbledore pulled Harry and I out of the memory.
Not much was said after we left Dumbledore's memory. The meeting to this ending was so abrupt I was slightly shocked. Harry and I left the room with the homework of getting Slughorns memory, which my brother seemed much more determined to do.
"At least we know why we can't keep a defense against the dark arts teacher," I stated vaguely, my mind was somewhere else.
"I wonder why Slughorn's memory is so important," Harry said.
"I dunno," I said simply.
Even I found myself worrying about how to get the memory from Slughorn over the next few days. I'd even written to Fred and George to see if they had any ideas. Harry on the other hand, was still trying to figure out what Malfoy was doing.
"Harry. Focus. We've got to get this memory from Slughorn."
"Hm...? Oh yeah. The memory," Harry said absentmindedly.
I sighed, we were never going to get anywhere with the memory. Neither of us could think of anything, Harry could barely even focus on it. I understood that what Malfoy was doing was definitely suspicious, but we had more pressing matters to take care of.
"I miss Fred and George. I miss the last few years where we all just messed around and played pranks on each other," I said sadly.
"Me too Cas," Harry agreed.
*****
"Hi Freddie, Hi Georgie!" I tackled the two twins in a bear hug. It hadn't been that long since I'd seen them, but it was long enough.
"Hey Potter," they said in unison.
"Nice to see you outside of the hospital wing," Fred said with a devilish grin.
"Let's get out of here before I get busted, alright?" I said glancing behind me.
"Right," they said, once again in unison.
Fred grabbed hold of my arm, there was a crack and we were in the flat about Weasleys Wizard Wheezes. I flopped down on the couch, stretching out as much as possible.
"Wow, why don't you leave some room for us Cas?" Fred teased.
George, on the other hand, decided to just sit on my legs. I squirmed around, trying to throw him off of me. "Get off!" I grumbled.
"You wish Cas!" George laughed.
I rolled my eyes, George is such a goofball.
"What time do you have to be back?" George asked me, smirking at me as I continued to squirm.
"I don't know a few hours? I'd never go back if it was possible," I told them grumpily. "Which just might happen if you don't get off my legs!"
Technically, I wasn't supposed to be with the twins. I'd taken the opportunity of the extra apparating lessons in Hogsmeade to sneak off and meet up with them. According to Hermione, this was the most unsafe thing I could be doing. She had a good point, but I refused to let a little risk ruin my life.
I spent the day with Fred and George, playing stupid pranks on each other, eating snacks, and for the first time in awhile- not being worried about the future and getting Slughorn's memory.
Right now, cuddled with Fred, I felt safer than I ever did at Hogwarts. He was my safe place.
George had disappeared to go meet Kileigh a little while ago, and said he probably wouldn't be back before I had to go.
"Are you okay Cas?" Fred asked suddenly.
"Yeah... yeah I'm alright."
Fred simply looked at me, raising an eyebrow, clearly not believing a word I'd just said.
"Really I'm okay... I'm just sick of all this 'chosen one' and 'two teenagers are supposed to save the damn world' thing. It's annoying," I confessed.
"I can't imagine how much pressure that must put on you and Harry. It's not fair to either of you. You know I'm always here if you need anything right love?" Fred said sincerely.
My heart fluttered and I looked up and gave him a kiss, "I know Freddie."
Too soon it was time for me to return to Hogwarts. I hugged Fred goodbye as I hurried back towards the castle to catch up with the other sixth years.
******
"Did it work? Do you think it worked? Damnit I should've gone with him!" I paced back and forth in front of the fire.
"It'll be fine, I'm sure Harry knows exactly what he's doing out there Cas," Hermione said hopefully.
"Yeah, Hermione's right," Ron added with a shrug.
"Sometimes I don't think you worry enough," I told Ron.
"I think you worry to much," Ron retorted.
Fair point.
It was hard not to worry when you let your twin brother go out by himself on an important mission. Saving a bit of Felix Felices was not worth allowing him to get the memory from Slughorn completely on his own.
"That's it I'm going to go look for him."
"Cas, it's way past curfew!" Hermione exclaimed.
"Hermione. My best friend is George Weasley. I'm dating Fred Weasley. I know how to get around that," I said matter of factly.
"Oh alright, fine."
As soon as I walked out of the portrait hole, I found Harry sprinting away from portrait hole, and the Fat Lady was calling after him.
Confused, I picked up my speed to catch up with Harry- who apparently had something very important to attend to.
"Wait up Harry, I'm not as fast," I panted when I finally caught up to him.
"Dumbledore's back! And I got the memory!" Harry exclaimed.
Soon enough we were inside of Slugorn's memory. It must have been an older version of the slug club. Tom Riddle and a few other boys sat around the table, as well as Slughorn. One of them looked familiar- Rudolphus Lestrange. A shiver went down my spine at the sight of him.
Slughorn was busy praising Riddle for the pineapple Riddle had given him. When the clock struck eleven, Slughorn ordered them all out of the office. Tom Riddle however, lingered.
Riddle began to ask questions- about Horcruxes. Slughorn answered every single one. He explained Riddle all about how you had to kill someone to tie piece of your soul to an object- all to become immortal.
Quite some time later Harry and I were leaving his office in silence.
Neither can live while the other survives.
Neither can live while the other survives.
Neither can live while the other survives.
My head was beginning to ache from the words of the prophecy repeating inside of it.
Dumbledore had such a firm belief that love was such a powerful thing to have over Voldemort, and in a way he was right. But how could love defeat the most powerful evil wizard of all time?
The ring, the snake, the diary... I checked off the list of horcruxes Voldemort had made in my head. All the things we had to destroy before we could destroy Voldemort himself.
As I fell into bed that night the only thing I could think, as selfish as it is, "this isn't fair to us."
A/N- wow an update. I'm sorry again for how long it's been. Junior year is kicking my ass. Thank you all for reading!!