Chapter 2
Cassia sits next to Hermione in Potions class, both of them excited for the lesson. Lily had excelled at potions so she hopes she’s inherited some of that skill. Remus had teased her for reading old potions books over the summer, telling her she’s as much of a nerd as her mother was.
Professor Snape enters the room and her eyes narrow a bit. She was told all of the Snivellus stories and is prepared to be the best and the most annoying in his class. Snape immediately picks on Harry, practically ignoring her at first. He interrogates Harry about potions, asking questions only someone who has studied the subject would know and are thus impossible for him to answer. She rolls her eyes at the questions, knowing the answer to each one but also knowing Snape is simply trying to make a fool out of Harry. “Perhaps your sister knows” He turns to her thinking she wasn’t paying attention. “Draught of Living Death, stomach of a goat, and they’re the same plant” she answers matter of factly, not needing him to repeat the questions. Draco turns around to smile at her and she just smirks back. Her smirk immediately falls when Snape calls out “Five points from Gryffindor for Miss Potter’s arrogance”
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First-year students stand in two rows outside as Madam Hooch approaches, her golden eyes catching Cassia's eager green ones. She hopes to be good at flying so she can make it onto the quidditch team next year like her dad and Sirius. Following Madam Hooch’s instructions, she commands her broom up and it meets her hand just as quickly as Harry’s. Noticing that Draco still hasn’t gotten his, she offers an encouraging smile and he is then able to get it up. As he goes to smile back, Neville soars past his head, the broom out of control. Cassia sighs and looks to Hermione, both girls realizing this is going to be a rough seven years for poor Neville.
Neville comes crashing to the ground and groans out in pain. Madam Hooch quickly helps him up and orders everyone to stay on the ground while she’s gone. A small glint on the ground catches Cassia’s eye. Draco follows her gaze, finding Neville’s Rememberall, and grabs it before she can. He smirks and raises his eyebrows at her in a disastrous attempt at flirting. Harry butts in and tells Draco to give it to him which only makes the situation worse. The blond boy kicks off on his broom and flies up with the Rememberall, taunting Harry. Of course, Harry falls for it and follows him up. Cassia mounts her broom and Hermione grabs her arm, reminding her of Madam Hooch’s orders. “‘Mione neither of them know what they’re doing. I’ve at least read up on flying” Cassia reasons before flying after the two boys. Draco tosses it to her, thinking she’s on his side since she and Harry haven’t gotten along. She quickly tosses it to Harry who, for the first time, smiles at her. The twins fly back down together, celebrating their triumph.
“Potters!” Their smiles quickly fall at the stern voice of Professor McGonagall. They hang their heads and follow her inside. Cassia gives Harry a questioning look when she realizes they’re not going to her office or to Dumbledore’s. He shrugs back as they approach the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. McGonagall pulls a boy named Oliver Wood out of class and tells him, “I have found your new seeker and chaser” pointing to Harry and then Cassia.
The pair go to tell their friends and Harry seems apprehensive. “I don’t know a thing about quidditch,” he says worriedly. Cassia giggles and stops him. “Harry, Dad was a seeker. You’ll do fine” she tries to reassure him and it seems to work. Fred and George join them as they walk, congratulating them on making the team. McGonagall had assigned them to teach Cassia the basics of the game, so they head outside, leaving the rest of the group.
Once they finished up, they all went back to their dormitories where Cassia finds Hermione waiting for her. “You’ll never guess what we found” Cassia quickly climbs into Hermione’s bed, sitting across from her as she tells her about the three-headed dog guarding a hatch.
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The next day in Charms class, Professor Flitwick is teaching them the levitating spell “Wingardium leviosa”. Cassia is seated next to Draco and he can tell she’s still irritated at him for the Rememberall incident. Since her wand has a special knack for charms, Cassia gets the spell immediately. Her feather floats up gracefully, matching Hermione’s. The girls smile at each other while the boys struggle. Draco finally gives up and nudges Cassia. “How’d you do that?” He asks and she smiles softly, knowing that he’s trying to get back on her good side. She takes his wrist and guides him through the motion before letting him try it again. Harry watches the interaction and narrows his eyes at the Slytherin boy. Ever since he’s started to get along with his sister, he’s felt a sense of protectiveness over her.
Draco and Cassia leave Charms together, walking to the Great Hall until a Gryffindor girl, Pavarti Patil, stops them and tells Cassia that Hermione’s been crying in the bathroom. Draco ushers her to go and continues the walk alone. In the Great Hall, Harry asks about where Hermione and Cassia are and Neville tells them that Pavarti sent Cassia to check on her because she was crying in the bathroom.
In that bathroom, Cassia sits beside her friend telling her that boys are useless and Ron doesn’t know what he’s talking about. “You don’t seem to think Draco’s useless” Hermione finally laughs as she teases her friend and Cassia's face turns red. Their moment is interrupted as a troll saunters into the bathroom. Both girls freeze in shock and press up against the wall to put as much distance between the troll and themselves. The stalls come crashing down with one swing of the troll’s club. Cassia fumbles for her wand, her hands shaking. Before she has the chance to cast any spell, Harry and Ron come running in. She smiles at Harry and they all work together to knock out the troll. It hits the ground with a thunderous crash and professors quickly flood the doorway. Hermione and Cassia quickly take the blame, surprising the boys with how well their stories match up.
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On the day of their first quidditch match, Cassia gets a package from Remus the same time Harry gets one from McGonagall. They open it at the same time to reveal matching broomsticks. McGonagall smiles at both of them and Cassia decides that she and Remus must have been in contact.
Harry and Cassia start the game off beside each other, both terribly nervous. They’re quickly separated once the balls are released. Cassia figures out where Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell are so that she can work together with the other Chasers. She watches as two Slytherin players flank Angeline, causing her to crash to the ground. Now it’s up to her and Katie. Cassia gets ahold of the quaffle and launches it through the hoop. During her celebration, she doesn’t notice Harry struggling with his broom or the bludger flying in her direction. Once Harry is back on his broom, she gets knocked off of hers, taking a bludger to the gut. Draco leans forward, watching worriedly as she falls before pausing and pretending like he doesn’t care.
Just as Cassia hits the ground, Harry comes tumbling off the end of his broom from reaching for the snitch and lands beside her. She sits up to check on him, groaning in pain as she moves. Her fall must have been much harder than she thought. She assumes she’s lucky to not have any broken bones, except it wasn’t luck at all. Professor Snape had slowed her down just enough to keep herself but still not be noticeable. Harry lurches forward, her pain momentarily disappearing as she worries about him. Her hand moves to his back and then he coughs up the snitch. She laughs in relief and he joins in. He laughs harder than he ever has, a smile wide on his face. This, he realizes, is what family is supposed to be.
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After the quidditch match, Cassia was taken to the hospital wing for internal bleeding. She figured that’s where her blood’s supposed to be so it was probably fine. Madam Pomfrey and Remus thought differently. Remus had written her a letter telling her to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas so she could heal and so she could spend more time with her brother.
Christmas morning rolls around and Cassia is finally allowed out of the hospital. She races to the common room to find Harry and Ron already going through presents. “Happy Christmas, boys,” she says as she walks in and they both nearly tackle her with a hug. “Your stack is over there,” Ron tells her and she sits down by it to find packages from Remus and one from Mary McDonald. Tearing them open, she reveals a stack of books from her uncle and a new Jamaican wood carving from Mary to add to her collection back in Cardiff.
As she goes to grab her quill to write Remus and Mary, Fred and George come barreling into the room. “Happy Christmas, Cassy,” they say in unison before handing her a package wrapped in brown paper. “We wrote to Mum and had her make one for you too” She opens it to reveal a hand-knitted sweater with a large letter C in the middle. “She makes em for the whole family. Harry got one too” Cassia looks over at her brother who’s squeezing his head through the hole of his own sweater. She gives the twins a hug and thanks them for including her in their family. Now Mrs Weasley has another set of troublemaking twins to worry about.
Late in the evening, Cassia sits in her bed, getting a start on her new books. A sudden knock on the door makes her jump. She opens the door and there’s nobody there. Just before closing the door, Harry’s head appears seemingly from nowhere. “Cassia you’ve got to see this, come on” he grabs her hand and drags her down the hall, throwing a cloak over her. As it sweeps over her, she notices parts of her fading away. “Harry, where did you get this?” she asks, immediately recognizing it from The Tale of the Three Brothers which she used to read as a child. “It was under the tree this morning with my name on it but that’s not important right now. Come on” he brushes her question off and continues to drag her down the hall until they’re in front of a large, ornate mirror.
Cassia stares at her own reflection, unamused, until figures start to appear around her. “Don’t you see? It’s Mum and Dad” Harry points to the two people standing on either side of them. A small smile forms on Cassia’s face as she starts to recognize the other people in the mirror. “Look, there’s Remus and Sirius too. It’s all of Mum and Dad’s friends,” she pauses as she remembers the stories Remus and Mary have told her about Dorcas and Marlene and her smile falls. “Harry, half of these people are dead… What do you think that means?” Harry shrugs and shakes his head. “I only see Mum and Dad,”