You do know it's winter, right?
"It's no trouble. I'd be happy to take it."
James shook his head and gave the older boy a disapproving glance. "I'm sure you would. But I'm saying that I can pay too, or at least take half of it."
Cassie looked up at the boy next to her and smiled softly. "Just let him take the half, or he's never going to stop," she whispered so James wouldn't hear her. Rabastan locked eyes with her and thought for a moment before he nodded. Turning his head slightly, he looked at James. "I suppose we can do half-half."
"See, that wasn't so hard." James started as he gave the older boy a gentle pat on his shoulder. The two boys made their way over to the bar to pay for the two rounds of butterbeer the group had. "Besides, we did come here unannounced and sort of crashed your meeting. It's the least we, meaning I, can do."
"Don't worry about it. Really. I had fun, and I think she did too." Rabastan smiled reassuringly at the messy-haired boy, who stared at him for a moment with an expressionless face. The older boy's smile slips gradually as he started to get slightly uncomfortable under James's stare, and just as he was about to open his mouth, a smile appeared on James's face, so sudden that the older one was slightly frightened. Though as he saw the shocked expression on Rabastan's face, James couldn't help but laugh.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to laugh," James stressed out, though he visibly relaxed as he saw the smile growing on Rabastan. James looked at him for a moment before he spoke. "You're a good guy Rabastan. Though it was unplanned, I'm glad we got to do this."
"So am i."
After the two boys had paid the bill, they exited the three broomsticks in search of the five who had decided that they'd rather wait outside, much to Cassie's dismay.
"Oh, thank Merlin, I thought I'd freeze to death out here." Exclaimed the dark-haired girl the moment she noticed the two boys walking out of the building.
"Oh, come on, Cas, it's not that bad."
Cassie shot her brother a dirty look as she noticed the black winter coat he was wearing along with the scarf given to him by James's mother, Dorea, on their birthday. Just as she was about to open her mouth to tell him off, Remus cut in, saving the older twin from the wrath of his sister.
"Well, I think it's about time we return to the castle." He stopped as he shifted his eyes from the watch on his wrist and looked at Cassie. "Dinner's in an hour. Try to be back before then, okay?"
She nodded in agreement as she sent him a rather thankful smile.
"It was nice meeting you, Rabastan," said Lily as she sent the boy a warm smile as she started to retreat to the castle with the others. James, along with Peter, smiled at the boy as they both sent him a wave. Sirius looked at the pair for a moment before he softly shook his head as if trying to rid himself of a thought that appeared.
"Try not to get caught, okay?" he warned her as he slowly started to walk backward. As he caught her nod, he changed his gaze to the boy, and surprisingly or rather not so surprisingly as Cassie thought, Sirius smiled at Rabastan. "It was nice meeting you again." A thoughtful look covered his face for a moment before he continued, "I'll look forward to next time." He sent them both a final smile before turning around and running off after the others, who had a few good meter head start on him.
"Huh, who would have thought?"
Rabastan looked down at the girl and raised an eyebrow at her as he asked, "What?"
"I'm just surprised, that's all," Cassie answered him as a small smile appeared. "This day went a lot better than I thought it would." The two watched the retreating figures for a moment before they looked at each other, smiled, and walked down the street.
"You seemed as if you had a lot of fun."
"Yeah, I did. I was a bit worried that it would be a bit awkward, considering who I am, or rather who my family is." His voice got quieter as he spoke, and though he didn't look at her, he could already feel her eyes on him.
"You're not your parents, you know. Besides, they know better than to judge someone by who their parents are." He could almost feel the sincerity in her voice, and that alone brought a comforting feeling. When he didn't answer her, she took matters into her own hands, literally.
"Christ! your hands are cold." Exclaimed Rabastan the moment her smaller hand grabbed his, his feet stopped moving immediately.
Before Cassie had managed to register it, he had taken hold of both of her hands, covering them with his own and drew them closer to his face, and blew gently on them. Cassie could feel her heart started hammering at the sudden intimacy the boy had created between the two of them. Though when she saw how his brown eyes where so fixed on her hands, how he looked so focused with his eyebrows furred together and his hands holding tightly on to hers in the hope of bringing warmth to her as soon as possible, she did feel a sudden heat appear, just not in her hands.
"You know, I've been wondering why you haven't frozen to death in that jacket. You do know it's winter, right?" he asked her as Rabastan gazed at her with pure concern in his eyes. A small chuckle left her lips as she focused her gaze on their hands rather than look him in the eyes.
"Trust me, I know. My winter coat was gone this morning, so hopefully, it's the house elf's that took it for cleaning, unless somehow it turned invisible overnight." She joked.
Without saying anything, Rabastan let go of her hands, causing her to look up at him with a questioning expression. He raised his hand once again up almost to his face, and then he took the zipper between two fingers and pulled it down, and proceed to take off his jacket. He took a small step closer to the girl as he raised his arms and placed his jacket on her shoulders. Cassie looked speechless at him.
"Are you bloody insane?! Now you'll freeze to death." She took hold of his jacket, and just as she was about to take it off, a pair of warm hands immediately covered hers.
"Please, wear it. I already have a normally high body temperature, and I'm pretty sure my sweater is almost warmer than your jacket. I'll be fine," he replied, wearing a smile so sweet, Cassie was almost sure she hadn't seen something that sweet in a very long time. Though what she was certain of was that her face felt even warmer now than It did a few moments ago.
"If you're sure." She studied his face. "Thank you."
Rabastan was rather thankful for the thick scarf he had wrapped around his neck as he was positive the smile she had given him had turned his ears beet red. However, he was most thankful that he had decided to go with the thick brown wool sweater instead of the dark grey he had considered earlier, which was a good deal thinner than the brown. Though he wasn't freezing, he had to admit that the wind was a bit colder then he would have liked, but as he had just told her, he's always had a warm body and could endure colder temperature than his friends and his brother, something which Rodolphus always hated.
"Well, we have some time left so, let us go somewhere warm."
The moment the words left the dark-haired girl, Rabastan felt something slightly cold on his hand and suddenly felt himself being dragged towards Honeydukes, and even if he tried, which he didn't, he couldn't help but let a smile appear on his face.
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Twenty minutes later, or at least that's what Cassie's watch said that it was, she thought it was probably for the best to get back to the castle. As she wandered down the secret passage, she couldn't help but smile at the day she had had. She had been pleasantly surprised with not only her brother but with all of them, which had made her buy bars of candy to them from Honeydukes, sort of like a thank you for not making this the most embarrassing and awkward day in her life so far.
As she reached the end of the hallway, she dug her hand in her purse and pulled out a folded parchment; she folded it out, found her wand, and pointed it at the parchment as she spoke, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
Her eyes studied the writing that appeared, and she couldn't help but smile. As she opened the map, her eyes flew quickly over it, trying to pinpoint the exact location of herself.
"Oh, there's Alice and Dorcas, Lily's in the common room, James and Sirius ar-- what the -- no, I don't even want to know," she mumbled out as she shook her head, knowing that whatever it was, it was probably best if she didn't know.
Her eyes searched for a moment more before she found her name, her eyes were glued to the hallway that was right outside of the mirror she was currently behind, and she felt her body relax as there was no sight of anyone in the corridor or nearing it. Cassie opened the passage and quickly stepped outside and into the hallway, her eyes flying back and forth as they looked at the corners with the eyes of a hawk.
As she closed the entrance, she let out a sigh of relief. Cassie was beyond thankful that Remus had given her the map when they were waiting outside of the three broomsticks, as he and Lily had taken the cloak back to the castle, while the three others had again roamed the grounds like the animals they were.
"Mischief managed," whispered Cassie as she pointed her wand at the map and watched as everything disappeared and it became just an ordinary parchment. She folded it together and placed it carefully back in her bag.
A few moments later, as she entered the common room, she was immediately ambushed by Alice and the two Hogwarts gossipers. They came at her so fast that Frank, who was sitting in a chair by the fireplace, thought for a moment that they might tackle the poor girl, though thankfully they stopped just before they reached her. Their eyes were wide, and they looked almost too excited for their own good.
"So..." said Alice as she leaned slightly closer to cassie and bore a great smile on her face.
Cassie couldn't help but laugh at the trio as she slithered in between them and moved to occupy a chair next to Frank, while the trio followed her like a group of lost puppies. Cassie looked at Frank, who was too busy struggling to keep a straight face at the sight of their friends.
"Are you telling me that you got nothing at all out of the others?"
"Oh, that's not what they want to know." Lily laughed as she appeared behind the couch. "They want to know what happened after we left."
Cassie looked at the girls as she raised her eyebrows and let an amused smile grace her face. Her eyes met Lily's amused ones, the girl only shrugged her shoulders, however knowing her as well as she did, Cassie knew that the girl was just as curious. She just didn't say anything.
"Nothing special," She smiled almost teasingly at her friends, who by all means did not look anywhere satisfied with that answer. "We just walked and talked and went to Honeydukes."
Dorcas eyed her up and down before she replied. "How in the world did you not freeze to death in that jacket?"
Cassie felt her cheeks grow slightly warmer as at the mention, she looked down at her hand and studied it. It was strange that she could still feel his touch and his warmth in her hand so long after he let go of her. Though she had to admit the only reason why she dragged him to Honeydukes was for the chance to hold his hand again, it was extraordinary. It wasn't that she had held hands with many boys, but somehow, this felt different from holding her brothers or any of the marauder's hands.
"We.. eh.. walked fast."
Lily grinned at the poor excuse that came from the older girl, and as she could see the others getting more eager to find out what had happened, she decided to let the girl get some peace.
"Speaking of jacket, I found your coat in the dormitories when I arrived. The house-elves must have brought it up after we left."
"Really? Thanks, I should probably go up and change real fast before dinner."
"I'll go with you. I forgot my wand there."
Cassie sent her friend a look that pretty much said, why on earth would you need your wand for dinner?
As she was standing behind the other girls, Lily moved her eyes down to them, hoping her friend would catch her meaning. As she looked back up, Cassie's face still hadn't changed that much, but her eyes held an understanding that only she could understand. As the two made their way to the staircase, they heard Marlene's voice.
"Don't think you can keep it from us long. We'll find out eventually!"
The two girls looked at each other before bursting out in giggles. As they made their way up the stairs, Cassie glanced at her friend for a moment before she spoke.
"Thanks for that, not sure I want to imagine how long they had planned to question me."
"Well, you won't be thanking me tonight," she admitted as they walked through the entrance door to the dormitory. Realization dawned on Cassie as she saw that Lily might have helped her now, but that she too wanted to know, which was why she had made the other girls wait until they were going to bed because then Cassie had no way to run off if she got too embarrassed or didn't want to tell them everything.
"You're evil, you know," Replied Cassie, as she stopped in the doorway and stared at her friend in disbelief.
" And I thought I had managed to hid my horns." She retorted sarcastically as she grabbed the wand lying on her bed and placed it inside her tall boots. She raised her eyes and nodded her head to the bed next to her. "You should probably get ready. We have to go soon. See you downstairs." She smiled at her friend as she walked past her and left.
A loud sigh filled the room as Cassie stood still for a moment, just thinking. How on earth did I manage to get not only one but four friends who are way too interested in my personal life, she thought as she made her way over to her dresser; she moved her eyes quickly down at her wrist and saw that she had a few minutes to get dressed, not that it was any difficulties to find out what to wear. She opened up the bottom drawer and fished out a pair of dark pants; as she sat down on her bed, she leaned forward to unlace her shoes before kicking them off.
When she finally pulled the zip up on her pants, she returned to her dresser and found a knitted sweater she had gotten for Christmas last year by James's parents. She pulled it over her head and hoped that the sweater would immediately do its purpose and make her warm but no such luck. It did help a bit, but considering how cold she had been, she decided that a warm shower was in store for the night, hopefully before she would get ambushed by her friends.
After she had retied her shoes, she cast a glance at the clock and felt her eyes widened. Quickly she stood up and left the dormitory and dashed down the staircase. When she reached the bottom, she was surprised to see that the friends she had left not too long ago were now being entertained by Frank's roommates, namely her brother and friends.
Sirius looked up from his conversation with Marlene, and a smile overtook his face the minute he laid eyes on his sister. "Finally, I was starting to think you wouldn't show."
She shot her brother a look as she walked up to the group as she replied. "And miss dinner? Not bloody likely."
His smile grew as he stood up.
"Come on, let's get some food."