Dear Rabastan
"Dear Rabastan,
I know we haven't spoken since our engagement was announced, and I suppose I am partially to blame. For that, I apologize.
I would like to, if possible, for us to spend some time together and get to know one another.
Have a nice day.
Sincerely
Cassiopeia Black"
"I can't believe I'm doing this." Cassie signed the letter with her elegant handwriting and let her eyes dance over the words to make sure that nothing was out of place or that anything sounded too outrageous. Still, she found it hard to believe that she was doing this. She folded the letter and gently put it in an envelope, once sealed; she turned it around and wrote Rabastans name along with the Lestrange manor address. Tying the letter on Nova's foot, she opened the dormitory window so her owl could fly out before the dark-haired could get the chance to change her mind. She let out a slight sigh and crossed the floor, making her way toward her bed.
A groan filled the room as she let herself drop face-first into her bed, spreading both her arms and legs, looking awfully like a wannabe sea star, as Lily calls it. Letting out another groan, Cassie relished in the fact that her mother was miles away and that she now could groan as much as she wanted and slouch as much as she would like, and do things that were not acceptable in the ancient and noble house of Black.
"You feeling okay, Cas?" A gentle voice filled the room as someone entered, leaving Cassie to no longer be the only person in the dormitory. However, as her face was buried in her sheets, any reply came out as a bunch of mumbles and misformed sentences.
Lily gave her friend a slight glance as she shuffled over to her bed, placed her potions homework on top of her trunk, taking off her shoes as well as her socks, and proceeded to climb on top of her bed. Turning towards her friend, she found herself a comfortable sitting position, all while a familiar glint grew in the red-heads eyes. Fingers grabbed hold of a blue-colored pillow and, with quite a force sending it flying across the small distance between their beds and hit the mark, being the other girl's head, making yet another groan fill the room.
"Seweosly?"
A grin covered Lily's face as she heard her friend's response. The dark-haired girl slightly raised her head while sending her friend the infamous Black glare.
"Well, hello to you too, sleeping beauty, now would you like to tell me what's bothering you on this wonderful morning."
Knowing her friend would not stop before her question had been answered, Cassie, against her own will, managed to slowly lift her body, turning so she was facing Lily, and pulled the blue pillow closer to her, holding on tight. The way she was feeling could not truly be described in words. But if you were to try, there is one word one could say was pretty close.
Mortified.
She hoped with all her heart that he did not reply, just so that she didn't have to go through the embarrassment of having to answer him. Her brown eyes meet the green of her friend, and she immediately felt a slight shame wash over her, but that was overtaken by the sudden color of red that overtook most of her face.
"Merlin, what happened to you?" Lily's eyes widened significantly, "I don't think I've seen your face that red since fourth year when you had a crush on Wood."
Furring her eyebrows, she took a deep breath before opening her mouth. It almost looked as if she was trying to test the words on her lips before she would say them out loud. However, it was as if a stroke of bravery hit her and made her vocal cords sing. "I.. well, I wrote a letter..."
"And?" Lily nodded her head slowly, not quite knowing where her friend was going with this.
"It was.. for R..." She trailed off, letting her sentence end in a bunch of mumbles. In another situation, the look on Lily's face would have been hilarious, her eyebrows furred together in a solid line while squinting her eyes hard as she moved her upper body slightly back and forth. Taking a deep breath, this time, Cassie let the words flow out of her mouth.
"I sent a letter to Rabastan." Her hands covered her mouth in shock; actually, her entire face screamed shock. And she was not the only one. A sudden thud was heard, and a bundle of blankets now occupied the floor along with Lily, who was moaning in pain.
"You did what?!"
Lily looked up from the floor, slightly startled, shaking her head, signalizing that it was not her who had spoken. Turning their heads towards the entrance door, the two girls met their slightly overexcited friends, who were known as their roommates. Or as Sirius would like to call them, Alice and the two Hogwarts gossipers. Dorcas let go of Marlene's hand and made her way to her designated bed before dropping down her herbology books. She ran her fingers through her black curls before moving them to her tie and started to untie it.
Since Alice's bed was the closest to the door, she just sat down her bag before walking over to Lily's bed and made herself comfortable there, but not before sending her friend on the floor a slightly curious yet questioning look. "You having fun down there?"
"Very. Just thought the floor could use some love too."
Alice shook her head in disbelief as a small smile covered her lips. She had often wondered about Lily's sanity, as she sometimes could get herself into the strangest situations. The dark-haired girl felt the bed drop and moved her gaze slightly to the left, finding Marlene, who had fallen face-first into the bed and laid on her stomach.
While the two girls had occupied Lily's bed, Dorcas had placed herself at the end of her own bed and was sitting with her legs crossed facing her friends. Cassie had backed up to her headboard and was sitting hugging Lily's pillow. At the same time, Lily was still sitting on the floor between Cassie's bed and her own.
Marlene leaned slightly forward before opening her mouth. "So.. you sent him a letter? Like an actual letter?" A brief sound escaped Dorcas's lips as she stared at her girlfriend in disbelief.
"No, she sent him a howler. Of course, she sent him a letter." Suddenly, Dorcas's eyes flew over to her friend's brown ones, and stared at her in disbelief. "Wait... you actually sent him a letter? Are you okay?"
Cassie burst out laughing so sudden that the four other girls were slightly frightened by her, especially Alice, whose body made a small jump at the sudden sound. Marlene's eyes meet Lily's for a moment as they heard their friends laughter becoming louder and, for the lack of a better term, crazier. A mutual understanding was shared, or rather a mutual concern for their friend's sanity, that is.
"Of course, I am okay. It is not like I bloody died." She continued to laugh just as loud and just as uncontrollable as before. At this moment, they were all looking at each other in pure concern for their friend. That is until Dorcas's eyes widened, and her face was lighted with shock.
"Merlin Cas, you sound just like your mother right now."
Everyone who knew Cassie knew that there was nothing she hated more than being compared to her pureblood loving mother. And they all knew from Sirius that their laughter was the same, just as loud and uncontrollable and crazy sounding. Suddenly silence filled the room, not only because the laughter had stopped, but because no-one dared to say anything in fear of it starting again. They had no problem with Cassie laughing. They loved it because sometimes she truly had the most ridiculous laugher. However, there were moments like these when her laugh sounded so much like her mother's, which scared them a little.
Her face was blank of any emotion. However, small breaths exited as her chest went up and down, and her face was slowly losing the redness in her cheeks. She closed her eyes and leaned her head backward, hitting the headboard in the process. A small chuckle escaped her lips as her right hand made it way up to gently rub the little bump that was starting to swell. A few minutes passed before she opened her eyes again and saw her friends staring rather intensely at her, wondering if their friend felt alright. She didn't even need to ask them to know that was what they were thinking about. Having shared a room for five, going on six years now made it slightly easy to read them sometimes.
"I am fine now. Thank you, Dorcas." A smile spread on her lips as she looked at her friend, who's smile was full of relief spread across her face. "It can't be that bad, can it?"
Marlene rolled ungracefully off the bed and shuffled over to Cassie. She moved her way up the bed and made herself comfortable against the headboard next to her friend. Raising her arm, she brought it over the dark-haired girl's shoulders and pulled her into a side hug. Cassie let her head rest on her friend's shoulder as she embraced the feeling of being comforted.
"It will be alright, Cas, it will be alright."
"Maybe he feels the same, and that's why he hasn't made any contact?" Alice's voice came out gentle and was laced with curiosity as she asked. "He might be as worried about it as you are."
Cassie wished that was the case; however, the thoughts circling her mind were nothing like what her friends had voiced. Honestly, the most significant thought was, what did he think of her? How did he feel being engaged to a Gryffindor?
The fact that she, along with Sirius, was sorted into Gryffindor was a disgrace to their parents. The Lestrange was just as prejudice and pureblood loving as her parents, which made her wonder what Rabastan might think. Would he look down at her or judge her for not being sorted into Slytherin?
"Maybe he never wrote because he dislikes the fact that he's not engaged to someone who was sorted into Slytherin."
A sudden tapping was heard throughout the room and made the five girls move their gaze towards one of the windows, where they saw a dark grey owl was sitting, waiting to be let into the warmth. Lily pulled herself up from the floor and moved her shaking newly awakened legs towards the window and opened it slightly, letting the owl fly in. He went straight for the white bowl with treats that stood next to Nova's cage and started to eat them one by one. A creme colored envelop caught Lily's attention as she walked closer and untied the thread around the owl's foot before taking the envelope and studying it.
"Aw, aren't you a cutie." Cassie gently let her fingers stroke the soft grey feathers as she stared at the owl with a small smile.
"Hey Cassie" She looked up from the owl and met the green eyes of her best friend, who had an unreadable look on her face. Lily held up the letter for everyone to see. "It is for you."
Her fingers grasped the edges as she took it slowly from Lilys hand. Her eyes not leaving her friends before the envelope was in her own hands and turned her gaze own to the elegant writing of her name, turning the paper she found yet another elegant writing just above a green wax seal. Cassie felt as if all air had been sucked out of her lungs, and a slight feeling of panic started to grow in the pit of her stomach.
"It's from him." She quickly raised her head to face the other girls. "It's Rabastan"