The Cottage
12.52 AM
Rabastan cursed himself as he hurried around his bedroom, gathering the last few things he needed for the trip. He had promised Cassie that they would leave at one, and he really didn't want to break that promise just because he had forgotten to pack everything. The moment he placed the thick wool sweater that he had been looking for in the suitcase, a rather persistent and somewhat loud knocking echoed through the room. Shaking his head, he closed the lid of his trunk before speaking loudly. "Come in."
No sooner than it being said, the door opened, and an excited Cassie entered his room. She stopped as she noticed the trunk lying on his bed, closed but not locked. "I thought you said you finished packing last night."
"I did. There were just some last minutes things that I forgot." He defended, making Cassie's eyes shine with doubt as she gazed skeptically at him.
"Mhm. “If you say so."Her eyes drifted to his trunk once more before they lit up as she remembered why she was there in the first place. "Are you ready to go?" Cassie questioned eagerly.
"About that.."
Sensing the tone in his voice, Cassie felt a sudden stroke of panic fill her as her eyes softened, and she gazed almost sadly at him. "We're not going?" her voice was so quiet that Rabastan worried his heart was going to break.
"No, no, no, of course, we are going," Rabastan stressed out, seeing Cassie visibly relax, he decided to add. "I just.. there was just someplace I wanted to take you first. Seeing as I never got you a birthday present. There was– is somewhere I want to go before we reach our destination."
Her brown eyes widened immensely as she looked up at him in shock, obviously not expecting that reply. "I know I mentioned it during the drunken letter that i wrote to you. But you really didn't need to do anything. We didn't know each other that well then."
"I know, but I wanted to," he replied while looking at her softly. "But to answer your first question, yes, I'm ready. Are you?"
A brilliant smile appeared on her face as the familiar glint of excitement once again appeared in her eyes. "Yes."
As the view around them started to appear, the first thing Cassie saw was a house, or rather a cottage. It was much smaller than the manor she'd been staying at, but somehow just by looking at it, it felt cozier. The cottage was built completely of stone, with two large windows downstairs and a few smaller ones on the second floor.
"This is beautiful. Whose is it?"
"It's mine."
Cassie turned her head so quickly that had it been another time, she would have worried about it falling off. "This is yours? " she waved a hand towards the cottage as her voice was filled with surprise.
"It is," Rabastan replied while fishing a key out of the pocket of his coat. "Though just to make it clear. This is not the Christmas present. I just figured we could stay here for a few days." He turned towards her and smiled. "Happy birthday."
Cassie bit her lower lip to keep herself from smiling, though it seemed in vain, for a few moments later, an almost face-splitting grin appeared. Her eyes lighted up as they turned towards the cottage, and a bubbling feeling of what seemed to be happiness filled her.
"Should we go inside?" He suggested.
She nodded, her eyes not once leaving the exterior of the building, taking it all in. Though it was far smaller than the luxurious houses or grand buildings she had seen, it was by far the most beautiful.
As Rabastan opened the front door, put down his trunk, and proceeded to remove his scarf, Cassie followed closely behind him, slowly removing her jacket as her eyes moved over every inch of the small foyer. Small wasn't the right word, though if you compared it to the Lestrange manor, it certainly was. There was a light wardrobe that Rabastan opened to hang his coat in, a wooden staircase that went up to the second floor, a dark grey carpet on the floor that stretched a few feet from the entrance to the wall.
"I'll just take these upstairs. Why don't you look around?" His hands gripped the handle of his trunk before reaching out for Cassie's. The girl quickly averted her gaze when she noticed how his arms flexed while lifting the two heavy trunks. Her gaze immediately landed on a closed door, and as she heard the shuffle of his feet moving up the stairs, her hand gripped the doorknob and twisted it.
The first thing that hit her was the fact that it was brighter than she would have thought. The walls, like the out exterior, were of stone. On her left was a big window overlooking a small garden outside, next to it stood a wooden table surrounded by four chairs. On her right was a counter along with an old-looking fridge that for sure wasn't electric, considering she had yet to notice any electric lamps on the wall or the ceiling. On the wall right in front of her was a log stove, with a few logs of wood lying on the floor in front of it; while on the top laid a frying pan and a pot.
This will be interesting..she thought, never knew Rabastan could cook on a stove. In fact, I didn't even know he could cook.
Impressed with her newfound information, Cassie walked across the room and through the door opening next to the stove. The living room, like the kitchen, was much lighter than she would have imagined, by the wall on the right side of the room stood a dark leather couch that contrasted nicely against the light colors. Turning around, there was a big fireplace standing diagonally across the couch and between the two stood a small wooden table.
On the wall to her right was a bookshelf filled with an impressive amount of books. The room was smaller than the previous, but it felt cozier, and as she noticed a couple of blankets that occupied a stool next to the couch, there was nothing Cassie wanted more at the moment than to wrap one around her, find a book from the bookshelf and sit down reading.
"What do you think?"
Startled by the sudden voice behind her, Cassie jumped before turning around and smacked the boy on the shoulder. "Honestly, you're going to bloody scare me to death one day."
Rabastan feigned a wounded expression as he rubbed the spot she had smacked him. While watching the glare he received from the shorter girl, he couldn't help himself as a grin spread out on his face. "What do you think?" He repeated as his hand dropped from his arm.
"I like it," Cassie said after a moment. "It's lighter than I would have imagined, though."
"I tried dark colors at first. But it just made it seem much smaller and darker than it was. Since the only source of light comes from the windows and the occasional candles I put up, lighter colors seemed like a good choice."
She glanced impressively at him as she sat down on the couch. "It does. Merlin, I'm impressed."
He looked away bashfully, causing the younger to chuckle at her embarrassed friend.
A few hours later, the little cottage was now filled with warmth, as the two quickly had filled the fireplace with wood and muttered a quick spell, watching as the flames came to life and danced around the logs. While Rabastan had gone outside for a moment to get some wood from a small shed behind the house, Cassie had taken it upon herself to wander around the living room and the kitchen lighting up candles with her wand, casting a warm glow throughout the first floor.
"When did you have the time to go shopping?"Cassie questioned as she opened the fridge and looked at the shelves filled with food and drinks.
"Well, I did have some time to myself yesterday when the three of you were gone looking for a dress," Rabastan explained while stirring the warm pot.
Lifting her head from the fridge, she looked at him, meeting his eyes as he raised them from the stove. "Right." She mumbled. "Were you here yesterday? Is that why I didn't have to replace a single one of your candles?"
"Maybe.." He dragged out, causing Cassie to raise a brow expectantly at him. "It was rather boring back there, so I took your brother with me, and he helped."
"You took Regulus with you?" she grinned. "And the two of you went shopping?"
Rolling his eyes, Rabastan retorted. "What? So you're allowed to go shopping with our mothers, but I can't bring your brother along?"
Cassie couldn't help herself as she cracked an amused smile. "No, I never said that. I just would have liked to see the two of you with a shopping list wandering aimlessly around in the store trying to find the things you need. How long did you even spend there?"
Rabastan turned his gaze to the boiling drink he was stirring. Though he refused to meet her eyes, a soft muttering was heard, which caused Cassie to burst out laughing. It didn't take long until their faces were red, for two very different reasons. Cassie laughed so hard her eyes teared up, and she had a problem catching her breath, while Rabastan was blushing due to the fact he was embarrassed over what he had just confessed to her.
"Two hours? You spent two hours at the store with my brother?" She questioned after her laugh had died down to nothing more than giggles.
"It was a big store." He defended.
"Still." She replied, smiling as she turned back to the fridge and took out a bottle of whipped cream that she put on the counter. Opening a cupboard, she saw several cups that were in different size. Some were small, like a teacup. Others were taller and bigger, like a coffee cup, and then some seemed to be something in between. She took out two of the larger cups, holding one in each hand as she moved closer to the stove.
"Is it done?" Cassie eyed the hot chocolate that the boy was stirring.
"Just about." He took a cup from her hand and filled it with hot chocolate before he handed it back to her and did the same with the other empty cup in her hand. "Be careful. It's a bit hot," he warned as she lifted the cup to her lips.
"Thanks. Do you want some cream on yours?"
Rabastan's eyes lingered on his cup for a moment debating whether or not if he wanted. "Okay, sure, but not too much." he ended up saying.
Cassie gave him a quick smile as she took the other cup in her free hand and carried them both over to the counter, where she had put the whipping cream. After giving him an acceptable amount of cream, to which he had been standing next to her and commented when it had been enough. Cassie had only given him a cheeky smile before adding a little bit more, saying that the cream was the best part.
"Do you want some cinnamon?" she lifted the glass vile she had found while rummaging through the cupboard earlier.
"What?" he gave her a puzzled glance, as he had never tried cinnamon on hot chocolate with cream.
"On your creme? do you want some cinnamon on your creme?" She gazed up at him, first now noticing how closely they were standing. Unbeknownst to her, Rabastan had moved closer as he was looking over her shoulder, watching while she drizzled cinnamon on top of her cream. "It's good. At least I think so.”
"Erh. Sure, why not. Though not too much, and I mean it this time."
"Yeah yeah," Cassie replied dismissively, though her voice was filled with amusement. She drizzled the cinnamon lightly, taking his preference into accountant this time, and gave him a brilliant smile when she was done.
As they each took their mug of hot chocolate, Cassie followed her friend into the living room and sat next to him on the couch. It was quiet for a moment; Cassie held her mug with both hands to embrace the warmth while watching the fireplace. Rabastan did the same, only he took a sip from his mug, careful not to burn himself. As the flavor filled him, he couldn't help but let his eyes widen slightly as the taste of chocolate, cream, and cinnamon lingered in his mouth.
"This is really good." He said, taking yet another careful sip.
The girl smiled at him as she added playfully. "Just as good as eggnog?"
He scrunched his face for a moment and looked straight at her. "Nothing is as good as eggnog. But it's close."
"I'll take what I can get." She stated happily. It had, after all, been her idea to make some warm chocolate once she had seen the ingredients in the kitchen cabinets. Though the burning fire gave off a comfortable warmth, there was something about a cup of warm beverage, be it hot chocolate or tea, that filled her with a whole different kind of warmth. "It's so quiet here."
Rabastan smiled as he sighed softly while leaning further down on the couch. "It is, isn't it? Do you know that we're at least 200 miles away from our parents at the moment?"
"Really?" Her eyes widened as the boy nodded.
"That was one of the reasons I chose this place. Far away and remote. A good place to take your mind off of things. Especially in the summer, the moors outside are filled with heathers and green grass, and if you look close enough, you'll find some thistles as well." He paused, turning his gaze to her.
"There's a path not too far from here, takes a few hours to walk, but the view when you reach the top... it's incredible." He trailed off, bearing a soft smile as he recalled the countless times he had walked that exact path during the summer, both before and after the engagement was announced. "I was hoping to take you up here during the summer, figured a few weeks away from everyone before the wedding would do us more good than harm. Besides, the only thing we need to do is show up."
"You're right about that," Cassie commented as she took a sip from her mug. Her eyes wandered around the small but cozy living room. It was so different from the home she had been living in for the last week. It almost reminded her a bit of the common room at school. The big fireplace with the couch in front of it, the bookcase made her remember the books they would stack like a tower whenever her friends and her would study there instead of the library. The chair with blankets reminded her so much of her favorite chair that she would often fall asleep in after quidditch practice.
"Do your parents know about this place?" She asked, moving her gaze, letting her eyes rest upon his face.
"They do." Rabastan replied, though quickly continued with, "Rather they know there's a place, but they've never seen it nor do they really know where it is. Just that it's someplace up in the Scottish Highlands, they don't really care. After all, they expect us to get a new house after we're married."
A sigh left Cassie as she felt every limb in her body getting heavier as she thought about it. Truthfully she almost felt like an idiot. "Merlin... I haven't even thought of that."
Moving his gaze from the fire, he noticed the slightly panicked look in both her face and eyes. "Don't worry. I somehow managed to convince them to wait until you graduated. As long as you don't mind spending some time at a place without electricity."
A sigh yet again filled the air, though this one was filled with relief. Although Cassie was going to marry the man, the thought of buying a house together, as strange as it sounded, seemed a bit too soon. "I think I can manage without electricity as long as I don't have to be around them all the time." She said, referring to their parents.
A comfortable silence rested upon the two as they each drank their hot chocolate. Casting a quick look outside, Cassie saw the bright crescent moon hanging in the sky and couldn't help but smile. She had always loved watching the night sky along with the moon, originally the full moon had been the one she was the most in awe of and the one she loved watching the most, at least that was before she found out about Remus's furry little problem. Every time there was a full moon, a feeling of immense dread and worry filled her as her thoughts lingers on Remus and the three others who were accompanying him. However, whenever Cassie would see the moon, a moon that was not full, her lips would curl up in a smile, not only because she appreciated the beauty in front of her but because she knew that her friend didn’t suffer because of it.
"Heard anything from your brother?" Rabastan asked curiously as he broke Cassie out of her deep thoughts while turning her gaze from the window.
"I did get a letter yesterday. He and James almost started a fire when they were baking cookies on Christmas day." she chuckled, thinking back to the letter she had written to her brother about trying to not set anything on fire. "Remus and Pete got there yesterday, so I suspect the house is as lively as ever. Sirius also wanted me to bring the dress to school so he could see it. I tried explaining to him that it wasn't possible. If he understood that, I don't know. He hasn't replied yet."
"I doubt Walburga would be very pleased if you did that, or my mother for that matter," Rabastan pointed out, already imagining their reaction.
Cassie took a sip from her mug before she commented. "Your mother is not that bad. I'm more concerned about my own. In a way, I think she would be pleased, wouldn't surprise me if she actually urged me to take it to school."
He cast her a rather confused glance as he raised an eyebrow.
"She didn't like the dress, so if I took it to school and something were to happen to it, she would, I assume, be rather pleased." Cassie elaborated, making the boy nod his head slowly in understanding.
"I see... Is it that bad?"
"The dress?" she asked. "No, I love it. My mother hates it because I didn't choose something she wanted. And she might hate it because your mother paid for it." She eyed Rabastan for his reaction as he obviously didn't know about that fact.
"My mother paid for it? Really?" His eyes were wide, and his face was pulled up in a rather surprised expression. He honestly seemed a bit taken back. "I have to admit; I didn't see that one coming. But anyway, the fact that you stood up against your mother? Bloody hell, I'm proud. I think we need to celebrate." After placing the empty mug on the table, he stood up from the couch and made his way into the kitchen.
"Celebrating? For choosing my own dress?" her voice filled with disbelief as she heard him rummaging, obviously looking for something. "Is that really necessary?" she asked reluctantly, unsure of what he had in mind.
A mop of dark hair appeared in the door opening bearing a wide smile with his hands behind his back. "Of course it is. Those two have taken control of everything. The fact that you stood up for something you really wanted, especially when it's against your mother, takes a lot of courage." he took out his right hand, which was holding two glasses, and sat them down on the table.
"What are we doing with the glasses?" She switched her gaze from the boy to the glasses and again to the boy, watching him both amused and curiously as he pulled out a blue bottle from behind his back. "No way.. are you trying to get me drunk?" Cassie grinned.
"No... what gave you that idea?" Rabastan replied sarcastically while rolling his eyes dramatically.
Watching as he opened the bottle and started to fill one glass, she raised her gaze to his face and lifted a brow as she stared at him humorously. "You planning on drinking that?"
He lifted his eyes from the glass, narrowed them slightly as he studied her, and looked almost offended. "Why? You don't think I can?"
"Oh, I know you can't." She smirked. "But go on, it will certainly be amusing for me."
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I have a bottle firewhiskey hidden away." He retorted before putting the bottle down on the table and hurried into the kitchen, only to exit a few moments later carrying a bottle of firewhiskey.
"And here I thought I would be getting some entertainment tonight." Cassie joked before scrunching her face up in an identical expression to what Rabastan himself had made the few times he had been drinking Blue Delight.
"Are you ever going to let that go?" Rabastan groaned, seeing the mischievous glint in her eyes.
"When you looked so cute? Never." She laughed.
Suddenly Rabastan's face lighted up, and a brilliant idea appeared in his head. As he put down his bottle, his eyes were fixed on the smiling girl while he tilted his head slightly, crossing his arms. A cocky smirk spread across his lips as he stared at her like he knew something she didn't.
"You know. If you want, I could always go and get your letter. It's been so long maybe I should read it again, over and over and over again. Especially the part about my bloody fantastic smile."
Cassie's face paled as she immediately stopped laughing and stared wide-eyed at him. "You wouldn't.."
The boy couldn't help but let his smirk grow ever so slightly at the almost terrified look she gave him. "Oh yeah? Try me." He dared.
She nervously held his gaze, trying to see if he was bluffing, but the longer she stared, the more his smirk grew, and she knew that he was absolutely serious. There was no way for her to win this, at least not until she somehow managed to get her hands on that bloody letter.
"Fine.. you win," Cassie muttered lowly, not at all pleased with the outcome. She turned her gaze from the boy and stared into the fire, mostly to save herself from the smile that stretched across Rabastan's lips, a smile that was so filled with proudness that it would have made her sick had it been on another person. "I'll drop it.. for now at least," she mumbled the last part to herself in the hope that he hadn't heard her.
Rabastan filled the other glass with firewhiskey, taking both of the glasses in each hand as he moved over to the couch next to Cassie. "Here you go."
"Thanks." She smiled while taking the glass. The blue liquid flowed around as she gently moved her glass in small circles before raising it to her lips. A burning but warming sensation filled her throat as she drank, and she was almost tempted to let out a moan at the taste. However, a rather specific someone had already beaten her to it.
Cassie snorted, careful not to spit out any of the alcohol in her mouth as the boy next to her let out a deep moan. Swallowing successfully, she placed the glass on the table and started laughing at the look on Rabastan's face.
The older boy watched as her face turned a few shades darker as she started laughing. A soft smile spread across his confused features; although he didn't really understand why she laughed, the sound of it made him smile.
"What is it?" He asked after a while when she had finally started to calm down, though a few giggles appeared here and there as she looked at him. Her warm eyes shone with amusement, while her cheeks were flushed from laughing. The glow from the fireplace cast a warm light on her making her seem even more brilliant. She's beautiful, he thought as he couldn't stop his smile from growing.
"Your moan..." She laughed again. " It almost sounded as if you were having-"
"Okay, I get it." He interrupted quickly before she could say anything that would only end with him bearing an extremely flushed expression while she would just continued to laugh. That's why he decided to do them both a favor and change the topic. "So my mother really paid for your dress? And your mother was okay with that?"
"Eh... Not quite." Cassie started, thinking back to how her mother had been shooting glares at her friend. She was positive that her mother had deliberately chosen to sit between Regulus and their father at breakfast this morning so she wouldn't have to sit next to Cerys. "I suspect she feels somehow betrayed. My mother was rather set on the idea of me in a ball gown."
"So I didn't imagine the tension this morning? I thought it was strange that the two didn't sit together. Since you came last week, those two have been together all the time. You'd almost think they were married." Rabastan smiled jokingly, raising his glass to his lips. "Besides, I think in her own way, my mother likes you."
Cassie debated whether or not about telling him how his mother had started crying when she came out in her dress, but decided against it, letting it be their secret. "Speaking of our mothers, did you know they rented a castle for the wedding?"
His eyes widened significantly as he leaned back in his seat, not sure if he was more surprised or worried. "You're joking, right?"
"I have to say. I wish I were." She confessed. A normal-sized wedding at a normal-sized location would have been just fine, but this.. whatever it was they were planning was a circus.
"Bloody hell.." Rabastan drowned his glass, put it on the table, and refilled it before drowning that one too. "A castle.. do they think they are the royal family?"
Cassie couldn't help but smile, knowing her mother saw herself as the queen of their house. "I'm sure if you asked my mother, she would have insisted she was the queen." she joked lightly, causing his lips to curl up in a small smile. "Though don't tell her I said that."
"I won't, I promise."
"Pinky promise?" She asked innocently. Cassie didn't care at all that she sounded maybe a bit childish, not because of the alcohol she had been drinking that was starting to make her feel slightly tipsy, as Blue Delight was relatively strong. But because of the full-blown smile that spread across Rabastan's features as he eyed the little finger she held towards him.
His dark eyes moved from her finger and up to her face, letting them linger there just for a moment. "Pinky promise." his finger found hers as he hooked their pinkies together.
Cassie gently swayed their hooked fingers back and forth for a few seconds before releasing his, letting her fingers find their way back to her almost empty glass that she had placed safely on the table not too long ago. As she refilled her glass for the third time, her eyes studied the pretty blue color. It was a bit like the sky, only darker and richer in color. For a moment, Cassie thought it looked slightly similar to the blue color of Ravenclaw, which only made her think that it was a great deal darker than the sky.
"Do you have any plans for tomorrow?" She wondered.
Rabastan shook his head, letting his mind get filled with all the possible things the two of them could do. Truthfully he hadn't planned anything; the only thing he had planned was that they would spend around two days here before moving on to their next destination, well that and the food, of course. Though he had gotten some help from Regulus with that.
"I figured we could just see what happens, take our time and relax."
"Relax, huh?" Cassie leaned back in her seat, drowning a good portion of her drink as she leaned her head back and closed her eyes. "I'm ready– I'm ready to relax."
"Sure you are." Rabastan chuckled, his eyes lingering on her face. "Cassie?" He called her name gently. When he didn't get a reply, he leaned slightly closer, only to hear that her breath was slow and steady. "Ready to relax, huh?" He couldn't help letting his lips tug upwards in a smile as he watched the sleeping girl in front of him. "More like ready to sleep."
For a good fifteen minutes, he sat beside the sleeping girl, his gaze occasionally shifting between the burning fire and Cassie while he finished the drink in his hand. Rabastan wasn't all that surprised that she had fallen asleep. Over the last week, he had noticed she hadn't gotten as much sleep as she probably needed as dark rings had started to appear under her eyes. Besides, it was common knowledge that sometimes alcohol had the power to make you even more tired than you already were, which could end with that person falling asleep practically anywhere.
After placing the two glasses in the sink along with the two mugs from earlier, Rabastan put the bottles of alcohol back in the cupboard he had found them before moving back into the living room. He lingered by the door for a moment, studying Cassie as she slept. There's no way she's comfortable in that position, he thought, eying the way her head was positioned. He moved towards her and carefully placed his left arm under her knees while slithering his right arm between the couch and her waist. Rabastan lifted her carefully, making sure not to drop her, but mostly because he didn't want to wake her. Whether it was instinct or by sheer accident, Cassie's head settled by his neck, her arms hung loosely over his shoulders, while her soft breath tickled his skin, making his ears turn red.
The trip up the stairs went swifter than he had hoped. As the steps were quite narrow, he had worried about bumping into the wall or losing balance as he made his way up, but he had managed just fine. The hallway was rather small and had four doors, two on each side of the hall. The first door to the left was Rabastan's bedroom, while the first door to the right was the guest bedroom, or rather Cassie's bedroom now. The other two doors led into a separate bathroom and toilet.
Stretching out the arm under her upper body he managed to land his hand on the doorknob, and turned it until the door opened. Somehow, Rabastan truly wasn't entirely sure how; he had managed to move the comforter enough, so he was able to gently and carefully place Cassie down in the bed. He took the corner of the comforter and laid it over her. An admiring smile bloomed upon his face as he watched how she snuggled into the bed, letting out a quiet, almost missable sound. Her dark hair were spread across the while pillowcase and his fingers moved a strand of hair that had found its way to her face. It was almost as if she knew what he had done, as she smiled softly in her sleep. He leaned down and gently placed a soft kiss on her forehead as he whispered. "Good night Cassia. Sweet dreams."