The Tunnels
Cassie awoke early the following morning and hastily got ready before tiptoeing out of the dorm room. The soft snores of her dorm mates were blocked as she gently shut the door behind her. Making her way through the silent castle Cassie didn’t see a soul, she was glad of that, not wanting anyone to ask any questions or offer to join her. Quickly grabbing an assortment of pastries and two steaming mugs of tea from the deserted Great Hall Cassie retraced her steps climbing back up the stairs to the upper floors of the castle. Using her shoulder to shove open the heavy oak doors she saw that the hospital wing was empty, soft winter sunlight was shining through the huge windows casting a soft golden glow over the room.
Heading towards her normal sick bay she placed the plate and two mugs of tea onto the bedside table. Behind her the squeak of the door alerted her to the presence of Madame Pomfrey.
“Ah, I had assumed it would be you, Miss Vaughn. Isn’t it a bit early for you to be here on a Sunday morning? I had assumed I would see you around midday,” the older lady said with a smile, heading towards the sick bay with her bag of potions and remedies at the ready.
“Sorry to intrude so early, I’ve got plans today but didn’t want to miss an appointment,” Cassie tried to explain, “I bought you a cup of tea and some pastries if that helps?”
“You really shouldn’t have Miss Vaugh! But the school's apple danishes are my favourite,” she said with a cheeky grin.
Before the woman got to healing the pair sat side by side on the bed, eating their breakfast and drinking their cups of tea. They made small talk about the dreariness of the weather and how Cassie’s classes had been.
“Now for the question I have been dancing around for the last 15 minutes, how is your shoulder?” the older lady questioned as she stood up, brushing the crumbs of pastry from her front.
“I think it’s doing better. It’s definitely not as painful,” Cassie said, “but then again I have been slathering it in the Murtlap Essence paste.”
“Well shall we take a look and see what we’re working with?” she asked, already bringing the curtain around the bed.
Standing up Cassie took off her chunky knit cardigan and neatly folded it placing it at the foot of the bed. Underneath she had decided to wear a lace cami that allowed Madame Pomfrey access to the wound without needing to completely strip down, she hoped to spare the both of them the same embarrassment as last time. Laying on her stomach Cassie began to daydream as her bandage was almost painlessly removed. Last night after dinner the twins had giddily invited Cassie and her group of friends to spend the day with them, when Cassie had asked about the plan the twins had told her it was a surprise and refused to divulge any more details. If she was being honest with herself Cassie was slightly nervous about their planned excursion. She was well aware that she had spent the last five years whining and complaining about the twins, now that they appeared to be friends again she wanted everyone to get along well. Cassie didn’t want to have to act like a child of divorce, seeing her friends for one weekend then the twins for the next.
“Right then Cassandra, it appears that some of the more tender swelling has gone down slightly which has probably helped with your overall pain. There does appear to be a localised infection at the top of the wound closer to your shoulder blade. I think our best course of action is a complete wound clean with the antiseptic potion, then continue with our salves and pastes and the Murtlap bandages. How does that sound?” Madame Poomfrey said professionally, bringing Cassie out of her anxious daydream.
“Whatever you think is best Madame,” Cassie said politely.
“Right, well the clean is going to be painful. I’m going to try and scrub away some of the residual pus and scabbing, hopefully that’ll hit right to the cause of the infection and clear it up entirely,” Madame Pomfrey said, taking out what appeared to be a gauze and a small brush.
Cassie didn’t like the sound of scrubbing however she trusted the older woman wholeheartedly. She had been the only one who had managed to even partially heal the wound on her back and her remedies had definitely got her pain under control. Suddenly, Cassie felt a cold liquid being squirted onto her back, it had the strong smell of rubbing alcohol and made her stomach squirm uncomfortably. In small circular motions Madame Pomfrey began to clean the wound. Casssie squeezed her eyes shut tightly and tried to breathe calmly through her nose, forcing her mind to wander to anything but the burning pain she was experiencing on her back. After around fifteen minutes and a couple of harsher scrapes from the bristled brush Madame Pomfrey announced that she was finished. Applying the soothing balms and salves she then delicately wrapped Cassie’s throbbing shoulder and began tidying up her work bench.
“All sorted, well done Miss Vaughn. That kind of treatment has even the toughest Aurors squirming and crying out. It’s probably going to be a bit tender for the remainder of the day but should feel better soon,” she said with a smile.
“Great, thank you for everything Madame Pomfrey,” Cassie said with a small smile.
“You're very welcome dear. I’ve made up another kit for you to take with you,” she said, handing the girl a small parcel wrapped in sterile white cotton.
“Amazing, I’ll see you next week then?” Cassie asked as she began to make her way towards the door.
“Before if you need it,” the healer said with a smile.
After saying her goodbyes Cassie rushed through the castle, aware that her appointment had taken a lot longer than she had expected. Looking at her watch she realised she was nearly 45 minutes late to meet her friends and the twins, they would surely all ask questions now she thought. Running up the spiral staircase to her dorm room she hid the parcel of medicine under her bed and grabbed her coat, scarf and gloves, just like she had been instructed to by the twins. Grabbing her handbag from the back of the door she then began sprinting through the castle, heading towards the entrance hall where they had arranged to meet. The hallways were busy with groggy students heading down to the Great Hall for breakfast, Cassie had to apologise a couple of times for running into various people accidentally in her haste.
Coming to a halt in the entrance hall she spun around looking for any signs of a rowdy group of people waiting around. Nobody was there. Not the twins, nor any of her best friends. Cassie felt her shoulder slump in defeat as she began to chew anxiously on her bottom lip, she needed to find them. They were all probably angry and annoyed that she had disappeared this morning with no warning and appeared again almost an hour late to plans they had made. Feeling sorry for herself she began listing all of the places she could look for the group, starting with the Great Hall. Before she could take a step towards the enormous room a voice from behind her called her name.
“Cass! Good Godric, where have you been? We’ve been looking all over for you! Nobody had seen you this morning, it was like you had disappeared,” Fred rambled as he pushed through the crowd towards the short girl.
“I’m so sorry, I completely lost track of time!” she said, looking up into his worried eyes.
“Everyone is waiting for us by the statue of the one-eyed witch. I think Libby’s had a panic attack and Fabian has been pacing for the last half hour and pulling at his hair. If you hadn’t turned up soon I’m 99% sure he would be bald,” he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her along behind him.
Cassie couldn’t help the hiss that fell from her mouth as his abrupt action sent a wave of pain through her inflamed shoulder instantly bringing tears to her eyes. Hearing the pained noise Fred instantly spun around to face her shielding her with his body from the bustling crowd.
“Cass? What’s wrong? Have you hurt yourself?” he asked frantically, scanning her body looking for any signs of injury.
“I’m fine, I think I must have slept funny. My neck is a bit stiff,” she lied, unable to look him in the eye, scared that he would be able to see right through her.
“Cassie?” he tried to push, knowing that there was something else.
“I’m fine Fred, let’s not keep everyone waiting,” she said with a small guilty smile. Grabbing his large hand and giving it a small squeeze she began leading him through the corridors, fighting against the flow of foot traffic.
As soon as the pair turned the corner and saw Cassie’s group of friends a mixture of sighs and curses rang out as they rushed towards the girl, Cassie knew that she had stressed her friends out as soon as Hugo and Odette began a long garbled rant in quick French.
“Where have you been?! We woke up this morning and your bed was empty, you weren’t at breakfast, nobody had seen you! You didn’t even leave a note!” Libby squealed, pulling Cassie into a tight hug.
From behind them Cassie heard George mutter, “That rant would have given mum a run for her money.”
Pulling away from her anxious friends with a guilty look on her face she looked down bashfully at her worn boots.
“I went to the library, Moody scares me too much to go and ask him for help so I wanted to do some research before our next lesson. I must have gotten engrossed and lost track of time. I’m really sorry,” she said quietly, trying to ignore the tight twisting of guilt in her stomach as she lied to her friends.
“Classic nerdy Cassie,” Hugo snorted, shaking his head slightly.
Fabian however was looking at her with his eyebrows furrowed, “Fred, didn’t you say that you had checked the library?” he asked.
“I did, I even made sure to look up and down every bookcase. I’m not sure how I missed her,” he responded, looking at Cassie with a raised eyebrow.
“I was squashed right at the back. I like to make sure that I’m not disturbed when I’m studying,” Cassie replied, forcing herself to look him in the eye.
“Next time I’l make sure to check,” he said sharply.
“Well now that the mystery has been solved I am desperate for the toilet, don’t look at me like the Bonnie you know I’m an anxious wee-er. I’ll meet you back here in five. Cassandra, you are not to walk off,” Libby said, scowling at her, before turning on her heel and hurrying off down the corridor.
“I’ll go with her to hurry her along,” Bonnie muttered.
“I’m coming too!” Odette said, linking arms with Bonnie.
“You know what, I’m going to go and squeeze one out as well. Come on Fabian, Hugo. We’ll all go together.” George said with a false sense of cheer in his tone, noticing the aura around Fred and Cassie.
“But I don’t need to go!” whined Hugo like a petulant child, as he was dragged down the corridor by the two larger boys. Both of them throwing Fred and Cassie knowing looks.
As soon as everyone had left the corridor, Fred turned to Cassie looking down at her with a questioning look.
Sighing slightly as he ran his fingers through his long hair he said, “Look, we both know you weren’t in the library. There is something going on with you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cassie said, trying to keep her voice level.
“Cassie! Fabian has noticed it too. Apparently you’ve been disappearing since the beginning of term. Try using a different excuse than studying in the library, that one’s getting old,” he sneered, clearly losing his patience.
“What would you know about anything Fred?! You have only just started talking to me again. Surprisingly enough a lot happens to a person in five years. Don’t suddenly act like you know me because you don’t,” she yelled back.
A look of pure devastation flashed across Fred's face. He quickly turned away from her, his whole body recoiling. Cassie instantly regretted what she had said knowing that she crossed a line. She realised bitterfully she wasn’t angry at Fred but rather with herself.
“Fred, look, I’m sorry…” she began. Wondering how she could tell him how she was feeling without burdening him and feeling as though she was betraying her friends. She hadn’t told anyone about her shoulder or her continued nightmares.
“It’s fine, I get it. But the old Cassie would never lie to her friends. The Cassie I knew was brave and kind and strong. Looks like people really do change,” he almost whispered.
Cassie felt her throat begin to constrict and tears flood her eyes. Before she could respond or try to explain loud footsteps and chatting interrupted the pair. Cassie kept her eyes on the floor knowing that her friends would be able to read her facial expressions and she wasn’t ready for a second shouting match.
“Right then. Step right this way ladies and gentlemen to begin a magical day of memory making,” George began, putting on a fake posh accent and gesturing to the wall behind him.
“Mate, you have officially lost it. That is a wall,” Fabian said, looking blankly at George.
“Ah Mr Bartlette, that is where you are wrong,” Fred replied, mimicking George’s accent whilst going to stand beside him. However it was clear to Cassie that this was an act, his eyes didn’t contain their usual mischievous glimmer and his face showed no hint of his cheeky smirk.
“Behind us, and slightly to our right, is the path that all troublemakers, both young and old, have walked. It is the path to freedom. The path to the beyond,” Fred continued dramatically.
“Why does it sound like these two lunatics are going to murder us right here and now?” whispered Libby loud enough for everyone to hear, causing the whole group to laugh.
George slapped Fred harshly on the back of the head, shaking his head, “Stop scaring our new friends! What he meant to say was we wish you to accompany us on our adventure today,” George began.
“Great adventure to a draughty disused corridor. I’m heading up to the dorm to take a nap. Thanks for the fun boys. I’ll make sure never to attend one of your adventure days again,” responded Libby sarcastically.
“Bloody hell woman you’re impatient,” groaned George, “we like to add a sense of drama and mystery to things Liberty so can you shut it?” he asked.
“Geez don’t get your knickers in a twist,” Libby mumbled.
“My knickers are firmly untwisted, thank you!” George sassed back, folding his arms and pouting slightly.
“Enough children!” Cassie snapped, “Fred, George please explain what in Merlin's name is going on before we all freeze to death in a school corridor.”
“If someone would stop interrupting us we would be able to,” complained George childishly.
Cassie shot him her most intimidating look that appeared to be a perfect recreation of Molly Weasley's famously stern stare down. Shuffling uncomfortably George nudged his brother beside him, who appeared to be deep in his own thoughts.
“Basically we’ve found a hidden passage behind this statue that leads to Hogsmeade, a wizarding village about a mile away that we are occasionally allowed to visit on some weekends.” brandishing his wand and muttering an incantation under his breath he tapped the witch's hump three times.
A dull screeching sound of stone grinding against stone began to echo around them, making Cassie look up and down the corridor, worried that a teacher would come running at any moment. Turning back to face the statue she noticed that the witches hump had completely disappeared, replaced by a shadowed inky black hole just about big enough for them to wiggle through. Cassie wandered closer, her mouth hanging open in complete astonishment as she stared into the darkness.
“It's about a 2 metre drop,” Fred said quietly from behind her.
“Where does it go?” asked Bonnie, stepping forward to inspect the new passage, “Is it safe?”
“It comes up in the basement of Honeydukes, it's a sweetshop in town. It’s pretty much a straight shot from here to there. For the most part the tunnel is stone, so it probably won’t collapse on our heads. There’s a bit in the middle that's compacted dirt but otherwise it’s pretty unexciting,” George explained.
“And we’re allowed to go to this town?” Odette asked shyly.
“We are, it's just not an official Hogsmeade weekend,” George replied, grinning at the timid girl.
“How many times have you done this,” Cassie questioned, chuckling at the twins' antics.
“Roughly about 100 times since our second year,” responded Fred, shrugging nonchalantly.
“So our plan is to break all of the school rules to break into a basement of a sweetshop and wander around a wizard settlement for the day?” Fabian asked, looking between the twins, both just nodded enthusiastically at him with large grins on their faces.
“Is this really the best idea? If we get caught we’re going to be sent straight home,” Bonnie said looking worriedly between her friends.
“Have you ever been caught?” asked Cassie looking at the twins with trepidation.
“Never, that’s insulting Cassandra. How dare you question our trouble making superiority!” George responded dramatically.
“Won’t people in town know that we’re students?” Fabian responded looking at the group of teenagers apprehensively.
“If they do, they don’t care. Like I said, we’ve been into Hogsmeade hundreds of times, no one even bats an eye. Plus it's not like anyone would recognise any of you, you clearly aren’t from around here,” Fred replied.
The twins were looking around the group of nervous French students who were all looking at them wide eyed. Cassie was harshly chewing her bottom lip, eyes glued to the menacing black hole still open in the witch's hump, clearly having her own mental argument. She couldn't help but remember all of the stories that Kingsley had told her about the tiny village of Hogsmeade. She had always wanted to wander the small highstreet looking for obscure texts in the ancient bookshops, have a butter beer in the three broomsticks and buy copious amounts of sweets from Honeydukes. She had dreamt about this for years! Now was her chance.
“I’m in,” Cassie began before she was cut off by a series of loud obnoxious whoops from the twins.
“But,” that word appeared to dull their previous excitement both turned to her groaning, their faces suddenly becoming grumpy and sullen.
“To make sure that we aren’t caught and sent back home I have some requests to make. Firstly, if anyone appears to recognise us we leave straight away. Two, we have to be back before dinner. And finally number three, we all keep this a secret.”
“They’re called secret passages for a reason, Cass. We’re the only people that know about them. Apart from Harry of course but he’s not going to tell. We have never seen anyone down there or weirdly lingering around the statue which leads me to the conclusion that we are the only students who know about the passages. Meaning we won’t get caught,” George stated matter of factly.
“Well I’m only going if we’re all going. At least then when we’re sent home we’ll all be together,” Hugo said mischievously shrugging his shoulders.
“If Cassie is going I’m going. Someone has got to protect her from these two idiots,” Libby said, gesturing towards the twins.
“Me too,” Fabian agreed.
“We’re not idiots,” whined the twins whilst Cassie grumbled about not needing anyone's protection, she was more than capable of looking after herself.
“After the World Cup we’re all sticking together,” Bonnie nodded towards Libby and Fabian. Suddenly everyone was in solemn agreement much to Cassie’s displeasure. Even Odette who had been quietly inching away from the rest of the group with a wide eyed look of terror on her face was suddenly nodding her head in agreement.
“Right, well it appears everyone is in agreement. Let’g go!” said George, climbing onto the statue's pedestal and nimbly wriggling his body through the gaping hole.
A scuffle and shout later encouraged Fabian to jump down after him. One by one everyone followed, Hugo and Fred helped the girls at the top, whilst George and Fabian caught them at the bottom (much to Libby’s disgust). Cassie was sitting gingerly on the ledge of the hole looking down into the dark abyss that Hugo had just disappeared into. Her heart was beating rapidly in her chest and a deep frown created a canyon between her eyebrows. Turning around she caught Fred’s eye. Instantly he could tell she was panicking.
“It’s a small drop Cass, they’ll catch you below,” Fred said encouragingly, coming to stand behind her whilst delicately wrapping his arms around her shoulders. He immediately felt the girl relax, slowly melting into his chest. He could hardly believe that this tender moment succeeded such an ugly argument.
After a couple of deep calming breaths Cassie turned her head slightly, “Can you shine a light, just so it isn’t quite so dark?” she asked Fred, her voice hardly above a whisper.
“Of course.”
Pulling his battered wand from his jean pocket, Fred muttered the lumos charm under his breath. Instantly the tip of his wand became a ghostly blue orb of bright light. Stepping to Cassie’s left he lent over the edge of the hole directing the wandlight to the tunnel below, looking at her with an encouraging smile he began counting down.
“1,2,3! Don’t think just jump,” Fred said encouragingly.
Stilling herself for a second more Cassie closed her eyes and pushed herself off of the ledge. She barely had time to register that she was falling before someone's arms were wrapped around her waist pulling her flush against their chest as she stumbled forward preventing her from falling to the floor. Looking up she caught a glimpse of messy brown curls and a devilishly cheeky grin.
“Next time maybe keep your eyes open so you can at least see when you're going to land,” Fabian suggested jokily as she swatted him away.
The sound of tumbling pebbles and a cloud of falling dust signalled that Fred was about to make his descent. Preferring not to be crushed by the ridiculously lanky ginger, Cassie walked behind Fabian to where the girls were waiting, casually leaning against the rock wall.
“Took you long enough Cassandra. I hope there was no funny business going on up there with a certain gorgeous ginger,” Bonnie whispered jokily, jostling Cassie with her elbows as she did.
Cassie prayed that her friends were unable to see the deep crimson blush that she could feel making its way from her neck to her cheeks.
“Shut it Bon, you know I hate the dark,” she mumbled.
Before anyone could continue teasing Cassie a clatter and groan behind her signified Fred's arrival. Turning around she found it hard to contain her laughter. Fred had clearly landed on both Hugo and George, squashing them in a tangle of arms and legs. Moaning slightly, Fred managed to extract himself from the top of the pile, brushing himself off as he went.
“Why in Godricks name would you stand at the bottom of a dark hole gossiping like Dumbledore and McGonagall over a cup of tea?” he seethed, turning to George and Hugo who were still lying bashfully on the tunnel floor.
“You told us to help everyone down,” Hugo spluttered.
Behind her Cassie could hear the other girls giggling at the boy's predicament causing a small smile to tug at the corner of her mouth.
“Not me you idiots!” Fred said, rubbing his elbow grumpily.
“I think the bottom of your shoe actually made contact with my face,” George muttered as he rolled Hugo’s limp body off of his own and stumbled to his feet.
Hesitantly walking towards George’s towering figure Cassie cast the lumos charm, shining the light on his face she tentatively looked for any cuts or broken bones.
“I think you’re going to survive with minimal brain damage,” Cassie said, throwing him a cheeky smile, “at least no more than you already had.”
That comment seemed to ease the tension in the tunnel with everyone letting out small chuckles and giggles.
“Thanks Cass,” George said, swatting her hand away playfully whilst pouting.
Cassie made her way over to where Hugo was still lying dramatically on the floor, his arm placed over his face, whilst he was taking deep breaths.
“Come on Hugo, up you get,” she said leaning down and grabbing both of his hands to pull him up, much like you would do with a tantruming child. Considering the fact that Hugo refused to use any of his own strength to get himself standing, Cassie was pretty impressed when she managed to tug him up into the upright position.
“I have been far too close to your pet twins Cassie,” he grumbled, “If one of their arses touches me again I will not be responsible for my actions.”
Cassie couldn’t help the obnoxious snort of laughter that left her mouth as she proceeded to remove cobwebs and muck from Hugo’s hair. Seeing his friend so happy and laughing made a small smile appear on Hugo’s face for a couple of seconds before it was replaced with a comical scowl.
“You wish you could touch our arses whenever you want,” a sassy voice from behind Cassie responded, making the whole tunnel erupt into raucous laughter.
Once everyone had calmed down and the girls had helped brush the grime and muck off of the boys, Cassie turned to the twins expectantly. Her eyes had somewhat adjusted to the darkness of the tunnel meaning she was able to make out some of her surroundings. Behind the group, a couple of metres away, was a large rock pile that appeared to have been created when the tunnel had partially collapsed. Her eyes followed the damp, moss covered stone walls to what was in front of them; it was pitch black, the cobbled stone floor disappeared into a dark black void. Not knowing what was ahead of her was making her anxious, knowing that anyone or anything could be hiding in the shadows caused her heart to race. Suddenly Cassie felt a dry calloused hand gently taking hers, their thumb rubbing soothing circles on the back of her hand, looking up she caught the worried eyes of Fred Weasley. She hadn’t realised how close she had retreated towards him, so close she was almost tucked up under his arm. Giving her hand a reassuring squeeze he turned to the rest of the group.
“Georgie, if everyone follows you, I’ll stick at the back of the group and make sure no one gets lost,” Fred said, in a forced, joky tone.
The group began walking in pairs, George at the front with Fabian chatting about Quidditch, next Hugo and Bonnie who were discussing homework, then Libby and Odette who were too caught up in a conversation about Libby’s hair care routine to notice anything going on around them. Finally at the back was Fred and Cassie, walking in complete silence, hand in hand. Although she could feel a deepening blush spreading across her cheeks, she was unable to let Fred’s hand go. The comforting strength and warmth made her feel safe. Up ahead George and Bonnie both muttered the lumos spell, the blue tinged light caused ghostly shadows to dance up and down the walls, chasing the group through the tunnel.
After a couple of minutes of walking, Cassie could feel the eyes of the tall redhead on her. The feeling of his thumb rubbing calming circles on the back of her hand was making her heart race and her stomach perform somersaults.
“You okay?” he whispered, unable to bare the silence any longer.
Cassie looked up at him, her eyes still wide, shifting every couple of seconds to look around the tunnel nervously.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she whispered back, trying to throw him a convincing smile.
“Cassie, I don’t mean to be rude but I think you’ve stopped the blood flow to my fingers with how hard you have been squeezing my hand,” Fred said, looking down at their interlocked hands and throwing her a cheeky smile.
“Oh gosh, I’m sorry. I hadn’t realised. You should have said something sooner!” she complained, letting go of his hand she began to anxiously play with tassels on her scarf, comfortingly twisting them and creating little plaits.
“Don’t be an idiot,” Fred laughed, grabbing her hand again firmly in his own and swinging it between the pair, “but seriously what’s going on?”
Taking a deep breath Cassie considered brushing him off again, knowing that her answer would probably lead to more questions that she either wasn’t ready to answer or couldn’t. She might have told her friends about the masked lady but she wasn’t sure she was ready to have that conversation with the twins. However, she also didn’t want a repeat of the corridor argument. She knew she was hiding too much from everyone, at some point she had to be honest.
“You’re going to think it pathetic,” Cassie laughed embarrassedly, “as you’ll probably remember I’ve always been slightly scared of the dark. I always had a nightlight as a child. I thought I’d grown out of it, but after the World Cup and everything that happened that same childish fear seems to have resurfaced.” she finished, mumbling slightly and looking anywhere but at Fred.
Fred squeezed her hand again, more to reassure himself than her. A feeling of fear and helplessness settling over him.
“That’s not pathetic,” he replied instantly.
“It’s not been this bad since the World Cup, but something about a narrow pitch black tunnel has completely freaked me out. I don’t like not knowing what could be hiding in the dark,” she tried to explain.
“Cassie, you don’t have to explain. It’s completely understandable. I had nightmares for weeks after the World Cup and I didn’t really see anything. Most people that attended were terrified by what happened” Fred said reassuringly.
“I had completely forgotten that you were there,” Cassie whispered, meeting his eye for the first time in the conversation.
“Everything after the game is a bit of a blur to be honest. All us Weasleys had gone apart from Mum, she was excited about having some peace and quiet I think. Dad managed to snag enough tickets from work that we could invite Harry and Hermione along with us. We had just got back to the tent when all hell broke loose. George and I were in charge of Ginny whilst the older 3 and Dad went to help the ministry. We just ran as fast as we possibly could and hid in the woods until all of the screaming died down. We’d managed to lose Harry in the crush and it took everything in me to keep Ron and Hermione from running out to find him. Apparently he was attacked by some ministry men, he was found close to where the dark mark originated from, he was adamant that some man had cast the spell and apparated away,” Fred explained.
“That sounds awful,” Cassie said sympathetically.
“Cass,” Fred snorted, “as much as I appreciate the sympathy I think we both know who had it harder in that situation.”
“I think it’s best not to compare trauma,” Cassie said, shooting him a small smile and giving his hand a squeeze.
“Well then, thank you. And I’m sorry about what happened to you. We tried to come and see you in the hospital but Kingsley had gone full protective bear mode and wouldn’t let us in. Mum was a right mess!” Fred said, chuckling slightly.
“Bill mentioned that when he saw us at Gringotts before school started, at the time I was mortified! I couldn’t get over how weird and awkward that would have been after not seeing you all in years,” Cassie laughed.
Fred laughed heartily at that trying to imagine how that meeting would have transpired.
“Look Cassie about what happened earlier,” Fred started, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. He wanted to try and clear the air between them. Since they had reunited he had been enjoying spending time with her, chatting and joking. He had also admittedly enjoyed the stolen hugs and secretive hand holding. He refused to waste more time letting a stupid argument get between them. Nothing, not even his own ego was going to ruin this.
“Fred,” Cassie cut him off, “I’m just dealing with a lot. The Quidditch World Cup really messed me up. I’m still working through a lot and trying to figure things out. I’m not hiding things from people deliberately, I just don’t want their sympathy and worry right now. I know I can come to my friends and you and George if I need to talk through things. Hell I reckon I could go to Ginny, Ron or Hermione if I really needed to. I’m just not ready to have those hard conversations yet,” she tried to explain in a way that wouldn’t hurt him, hoping he would understand.
Fred took a deep breath trying his hardest to be understanding.
“I can’t even begin to imagine what you’re going through. And I’m not going to force you to talk to me. I just want you to know that I care and will be there to listen whenever you decide you need to talk. You don’t need to go through anything alone,” he finally said.
Really he had wanted to bring up the mark he had seen on her shoulder in the hospital wing, positive that that was what was still hurting her now. He had been thinking about it for weeks but didn’t know how to bring it up to her in conversation. But he didn’t want to push her away, instead choosing to believe that she would come to him when she was ready.
Cassie tried to calm her emotions before she replied, knowing that her voice would be strangled by the massive lump in her throat.
“God I’m glad I have you back,” Cassie whispered, knowing that he would be able to hear.
The group continued to trudge through the tunnel in relative silence, with only the occasional moan from Hugo who was apparently embodying a 5 year old today as he constantly asked if they were nearly there yet. Gradually the tunnel began to slope upwards, the slick cobblestones under their feet becoming slippery and treacherous. Up ahead the light of George’s wand came to a sudden stop beside an ancient rope ladder.
“Above us is the basement of Honeydukes, we’ve just got to sneak through there and then we are free!” George said, looking at each member of the group.