Chapter 5
Morning birds twittered over Hogwarts, and Cassidy Sweet rubbed her eyes sleepily as their Divination teacher, Professor Trelawney, spoke. She sat next to Ron and Harry, Ron's eyes lingering on her for a moment more than necessary. Hermione was nowhere to be seen.
Cassidy thought Trelawney was quite funny-looking, with her large glasses and colorful, mismatched robes. She spoke airily, like she was eternally on that Muggle drug her mother had warned her never to take.
"...in this room, you will discover you possess the Sight!" Trelawney shot up from her desk suddenly, making the bottles on it clink. Cassidy tried her best not to snort, scratching on a particularly stubborn pimple as Trelawney continued to speak.
"Together, we shall cast ourselves into the future!" She sighed, raising her arms dreamily.
"I'd like to cast myself back into bed." Cassidy mumbled, making Harry snort.
"This term, we shall be focusing on tasseomancy, which is the art of reading tea leaves, so please, take the cup of the person sitting next to you."
Trelawney's voice dropped to an airy whisper, as if she were revealing some great cosmic secret. Cassidy, propping her chin on her hand, exhaled slowly through her nose to keep from laughing. Sighing, she turned to Harry and Ron, who had the same doubtful smirks on their faces.
"Dear Ronald," Cassidy mimicked Trelawney's airy voice, inspecting the inside of his cup dramatically. Ron's face grew red as he watched her part her lips slightly, deep in thought. "I see a beautiful, dark haired girl in your future. Ah, but she has a heavy accent. How are you ever going to understand her in b-"
"Cassidy, stop!" Hermione appeared between her and Ron suddenly, her face red from trying to stifle her giggles. She took Cassidy's cup as well, inspecting it with a mock-serious expression on her face.
"This is a load of rubbish," Hermione muttered, giving up suddenly as the boys looked at her with surprise. Cassidy didn't question her sudden appearance, but saw her stuff something into her robe.
"Where did you come from?" Ron asked Hermione as Cassidy put his cup down and picked up Harry's.
"Me? I've been here all this time." Hermione huffed, looking around the classroom.
Trelawney suddenly halted, her bug-like glasses reflecting the candlelight as she scanned the room. "Ah... you may not have seen me before, my dear," she murmured, peering directly at Cassidy, "but I see you."
Cassidy blinked. What?
"Er... I mean, you probably have," Cassidy said, shifting uncomfortably and passing Harry's cup to Ron. "I've been here for three years."
Trelawney ignored her. "My dear," she whispered dramatically, "there is... a shadow around you."
Cassidy raised an eyebrow. A shadow? Well, obviously. Everyone has shadows. It's called a light source.
"Are you trying to talk about the fact I'm dark-skinned, or—" Dean snorted as Trelawney held up her bony hand, gliding towards Neville Longbottom. Cassidy rolled her eyes and huffed as she watched Trelawney whisper something to Neville, eyes flickering back towards her. Neville suddenly grew very pink, grabbing his teacup, looking into it and back at Cassidy. Dean smirked, jostling Neville.
"This is absolute insanity. I'm always open-minded, but this?" Cassidy sighed, turning back to the group.
"Absolutely mental." Ron muttered, just as Trelawney popped up in front of Ron, startling him. Hermione scowled up at the woman.
"Oh! Your aura is pulsing, dear. Are you in the beyond? I think you are!" Trelawney gushed, eyes looking at Ron wildly. Cassidy cringed.
"Sure." Ron said nervously, clutching Harry's cup tightly and opening the Divination textbook.
Trelawney watched closely as Ron flipped through the text book, comparing the shape of Harry's tea leaves to the images inside. As he spoke to Trelawney, Cassidy turned to Hermione to tell her a stupid joke.
She paused when she saw how Hermione looked at Ron, her eyes sparkling slightly as she softly bit her lip, her skin reflecting the morning sun perfectly. A slight pink had come to her cheeks, and Cassidy hesitated, feeling a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Quickly, she looked back to Trelawney, ignoring the pounding in her chest.
"...that there could be the sun, that's happiness. So, uh, you're gonna suffer," Ron looked at Harry, who could barely contain his laughter, "but you're gonna be happy about it."
"Check in at St. Mungo's to see if you've got bipolar disorder, yeah?" Cassidy leaned back in her chair, and Harry shoved her playfully as Hermione giggled. Ignoring them, Professor Trelawney picked up Harry's cup and gasped loudly, causing Cassidy to fall off her chair. Ron turned to her groaning on the floor.
"You ok there, Cass?" He asked, laughing.
"Ugh, it hurts like a bi—" Hermione helped her up before she could finish that sentence, rolling her eyes at Professor Trelawney. The Professor in question looked as if she was about to faint.
"...oh dear..." she said shakily.
"What is it now?" Cassidy sighed, rubbing her eyes. Trelawney ignored her, staring at Harry.
"You have...the Grim."
"Oh wow!" Cassidy gasped in mock-horror, looking around wildly. "How horrible! How dreadful!" She swooned, getting snickers from other Gryffindors and a playful nudge from Hermione as Harry looked into his cup. She suddenly sat up and stared at Trelawney. "What the hell is a Grim?" She deadpanned.
"The Grin? What's the Grin?" Seamus Finnigan strained his neck to see Harry's cup.
"Not the Grin, you idiot. The Grim." Bem, a boy Cassidy had only spoken to when they were comparing Nigerian dishes to Ghanaian ones, was reading from the Divination textbook.
"Taking the form of a giant spectral dog, it's among the darkest omens in our world. It's an omen...of death."
The class grew silent. Cassidy's necklace warmed up slightly, and she sighed.
"Ah," Cassidy said slowly, sitting back in her chair and crossing her arms as Harry's face paled. "Of course."
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Cassidy walked down toward Hagrid's cottage with Ron, Harry and Hermione as they all made their way to their next class, Care of Magical Creatures. Cassidy was quite excited for it, even though her weird, mysterious and frankly very unnerving necklace had been warming up ever since Harry had gotten the Grim.
She'd decided not to tell him about it. He had enough on his plate.
"You don't think that Grim thing's got anything to do with Sirius Black, do you?" Ron spoke up, breaking the silence. Cassidy snorted.
"Oh honestly, Ron, if you ask me, Divination's a very silly subject." Hermione huffed. Cassidy gave her a sideways look.
"You didn't look like you found it very silly, 'Mione. You looked very interested." Cassidy said, her voice a little too light, a little too sharp. She picked at her sleeve as Hermione's face grew pink.
"Cass, what're you talking about?" Ron said distractedly.
Cassidy didn't reply, looking to the distant Dark Forest lazily.
She stopped walking.
A black bear she'd never seen on the Hogwarts grounds before stood just outside of the trees, the same one from her dreams.
Still.
Staring.
Cassidy's breath hitched as she felt a sense of familiarity wash over her, and she swallowed as her necklace cooled down.
"Cassidy?"
Cassidy startled, turning back to her friends, who were all looking at her with mild concern.
"It's nothing." She said airily, continuing to walk with them. Her eyes flicked back towards the Dark Forest, but the bear was gone.
"Anyway," Hermione continued, "Ancient Runes, that's a fascinating subject."
"Exactly how many classes are you taking this term?" Ron asked, furrowing his brow as they got closer to class.
"Yeah, 'Mione, I never see you around anymore." Cassidy said with concern, noticing bags had started to appear under Hermione's eyes. "Have you been sleeping well?"
"Hang on," Ron said, stopping. "That's not possible. Ancient Runes is at the same time as Divination. You'd have to be in two classes at once."
Cassidy remembered Hermione stuffing something into her robe when she'd arrived at Divination, and had a faint inkling of what might be going on, but decided to put her suspicions aside.
For now.
"Don't be silly. How can someone be in two classes at once?" Hermione said, and Cassidy chuckled.
"I don't know, 'Mione. You tell us." She winked, and Hermione shoved her playfully as she started to mimic Trelawney.
"Use your Inner Eye to see the Future!" She yelled. Cassidy giggled.
"Oh, Harry Potter, I see a Grin! Maybe Draco Malfoy shall fall down the stairs soon!" Cassidy mimicked, and the girls laughed even louder, holding each other as they got closer to Hagrid's class.
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"That's it, come on now. Cassie, stop using that sign with yer hands, that's rude. Ah yes, come closer." Hagrid beckoned to the class as they started their first class, and Cassidy put down the hand that had been making a very rude sign towards Malfoy.
"I've got a real treat for you today." Hagrid told everyone, when they'd settled down. "A great lesson. Follow me."
The class trailed behind Hagrid as they walked through the brush, birds singing happily as the sun filtered through the trees. Ron and Hermione walked in front of her, talking animatedly, while Cassidy walked behind them with Harry.
"Why're you looking at Ron and Hermione like that?" He asked suspiciously.
"Like what?" Cassidy replied, looking away from them quickly to turn to Harry.
"Like they dropped a Dungbomb onto your house." Harry replied swiftly. Cassidy rolled her eyes and was about to reply when Neville Longbottom caught up to them.
"Oh! Hello, Nev!" Cassidy said happily, but Neville shoved a small bottle of liquid into her hands, blushing furiously.
She blinked down at it, confused. "What's this?"
Neville scratched the back of his neck. "Bubotuber pus. Helps with acne. I, um, do extra Herbology classes and Professor Sprout lets me bottle the good stuff for extra credit, so I—I figured you could use some. Not that you look bad, just that you'd been complaining about it, and..."
Neville's voice faded out as Cassidy stared at him, mouth slightly open. No one had ever done something like this for her before. She had tried everything—every potion, every spell, every overpriced cream from Madam Primpernelle's, and nothing worked. But here was Neville, thoughtful and observant as always, just handing her something that might actually help.
Her eyes burned.
"Neville, you absolute legend." She muttered, looking at him gratefully.
Before he could react, she threw her arms around him, squeezing him tight. He made a startled sound, but after a moment, he hugged her back, warmth creeping up his cheeks.
"Thank you," she mumbled against his shoulder.
Neville coughed awkwardly, but there was a small smile in his voice when he said, "Anytime, Cass."
Ron glanced back and saw the two hugging, and his cheeks went a slight red.
He now stared at them like they had dropped Dungbombs on his house.