Chapter 10
Ron explained to Granger that I didn't mean it the way my Brother did and I winced. "Yeah, but with what Daphne said and now this--" Harry cut me off.
"She didn't mean you, she meant your Brother."
"For the record," I said. "Dad bought the Slytherin Team Nimbus 2001s as First Years can't have their own brooms. You got away with it last year, Harry, as it was a Professor who brought you your broom. If Professor Snape had brought me a broom, which would've been more understandable as he's my Godfather, he would've been accused of favouritism and I wouldn't've been allowed to keep it. So, since I have to use the Slytherin Team's brooms, Dad brought the whole Slytherin Team Nimbus 2001s and anyone on the Team next year can keep them. So, next year I'll have my own broom but this year I'm borrowing one. It gets around the rule and helps the Team out as well and since Dad was a Slytherin on the Team and now both of his children are, he sees that as a bonus. We didn't buy our way in and that comment highly offended me."
"Cassie, your hair's blue again," Draco said.
"Oh, for fuck's sake! Ah, I'll just leave it this time," I said with an eye roll.
"I, er, I'm sorry about what I said," Granger said with a wince. "Harry and Ron told me about the lessons you offered them and I'd like to join them too."
"Yeah, I already told them that's fine. You can call me Cassie, by the way. Harry, Ron... I think you two have earned that privilege too now. I... I'm sorry for using that word before you knew how I meant it," I said and she smiled.
"That's okay and you can call me Hermione."
"You're so cute like this," I said and she blushed. "You're even cuter when you blush."
"I- I'm not- I- Oh, shut up!"
"Make me." She blushed harder and some of the Gryffindor Team giggled.
"You're such a flirt, Sis," Draco said and I smirked.
"Yep. Who else would have the guts to flirt with Professor McGonagall and then point out she couldn't do anything about it as they aren't an official Hogwarts' student since they hadn't been Sorted yet and they make it clear they'll continue to flirt during the holidays as all that can be done to a student during the holidays is being confined to their dorms other than mealtimes but they can't be given detention or lose points?" The Weasley twins chuckled and grinned.
"No way," the one with a blood-red Aura said.
"You did that," the one with a dark green Aura said.
"I'm Fred," the first one said.
"And I'm George," the other said.
"You must be," Fred said.
"Tonks' little Cousin," George said.
"Right?" They asked.
"Yep! You can call me Cassie," I said and they smirked.
"The Metamorphmagus?" They asked and I nodded. They smirked again. "This is gonna be fun."
"Oh, no!" Ron said. "Now there's three of them!" The others all laughed or also looked on in horror.
...
"These lessons are boring!" Ron exclaimed.
"This is only your fifth lesson," Percy said with an eye roll. "You only have two lessons a week, Ron. If you want to pass your Etiquette Exam, you have to pay attention. Besides, Princess Cassiopeia doesn't have to waste her time on this. Don't make this harder for her."
"He's right about the Exam, Ron," I said and the twins and Ginny looked bored too but they nodded, Harry and Hermione, however, looked intrigued.
"Princess?" They asked and I sighed.
"In our first class, which was on our first Saturday since I was in the Hospital Wing before then, we went over titles, right? In the second, we went over the Sacred 28, in the third, we went over the Wizengamot, in the fourth, we went over Household Charms and in this class, we're going over dining etiquette. The next class is announcements. You'll have to wait until then or, in your free time before Tuesday, you can look up August 1st's Prophet in the library and you'll find the article announcements of 'CASSIOPEIA NARCISSA MALFOY: THE NEW PRINCESS OF WIZARDING BRITAIN!'"
"You're the Princess of Wizarding Britain?" Hermione asked. "I didn't know there was a Princess."
"There wasn't until I did my Inheritance and Heritage Test. Now, can we please get back on topic?" I asked and everyone nodded, albeit some nodded reluctantly. "By the way, after announcements is Ballroom etiquette and then after that is learning how to Ballroom dance." The boys groaned, surprisingly so did Ginny, however, Hermione looked excited. "So, the Head of the hosting House, even if they're underaged, always sits at the Head of the table with their Regent (if they have one) on their left. If they don't have a Regent, their favourite family member sits on their right with their next in line on their left. If that's the same person, they still sit on their left but their next favourite is on the right. After that, it's decided by the others. However, immediate family is always closest to the Head. Typically, the most prestigious of the visitors sits at the end of the table opposite the head so they can eye the Head of the House while they're eyed too to ensure they don't try anything. If the most prestigious of the visitors doesn't sit at the end, this is a sign of trust and should only be done if you trust someone completely, regardless of whether the Head of the hosting House has done it in the past for the visitor."
"When are we going over Heritage?" Hermione asked. "We went over the Sacred 28 and their current Heirs and you said we'll go over their Family Gifts on Halloween after dinner and Harry and Ron's detentions but what about like Family Trees and things like that?"
"Tuesday, November 3rd, the first one after Halloween," I said. "Oh, and, here." I passed Hermione a present out of my expanded backpack. "Happy birthday, Hermione. I found out last Saturday that your birthday was today when I heard Harry and Ron talking about it. So, I used Orion to owl Borgin and Burkes. Open it." Hermione opened it and grinned.
"Thanks, Cassie!" Hermione said.
"A book?" Ron asked with a scoff.
"It's not just any book! It's a really rare one. You can only get this in the Hogwarts Library with a pass to the Restricted Section! 'Moste Potente Potions' isn't even in Flourish and Blotts! I'm pretty sure it's highly regulated."
"It is so make sure no one finds out you've got it," I said and Percy scowled but just looked away without saying anything.
...
"Where is Harry?" I asked after making my way over to the Gryffindor table. "Dinner's over in ten minutes and then we have our class. He'd better not be late for it."
"He's gotta still be in detention," Ron said. "Lockhart pulled him away to answer his fan mail as detention instead of cleaning trophies with me. We should bring him some food, he's got to be starved." Ron quickly grabbed some food and stuffed it in his robe's pockets. After seeing his raised eyebrow, I nodded at Professor Snape. I spotted Professor McGonagall looking at me and I winked at her. Then, I left with Ron and Hermione. We made it almost the whole way when I stopped them.
Kill!
"Did you hear that?" I asked.
"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed and I turned around and saw Harry.
"Did you hear it?" Harry asked.
"What are you two going on about?" Ron asked.
"The voice," Harry and I said. "You heard it too? Yeah, I heard it. It said 'kill'."
"Why'd you hiss like that?" Hermione asked.
"I heard it first in Lockhart's office, and then again just-" Harry cut himself off when we heard the voice again.
It's time!
"It's moving! I think it's going to kill!" Harry and I said and we ran as we followed the voice with Hermione and Ron running behind us.
"Kill?" Ron asked.
"Harry, Cassie, wait! Not so fast!" Hermione said.
"Come on, keep up, Hermione!" I yelled back. "This is why you should come running with me!" Harry and I stopped a few minutes later when we couldn't hear the voice anymore. "The floor's soaked." We started following the water slower so we wouldn't fall over and spotted some spiders acting weirdly. While Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at and talked about the spiders and Ron's fear of them, I noticed the wall. "The fuck is this!?" I read the message on the wall. "'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the Heir... Beware.' That is so insulting!"
"It's written in blood," Hermione said. Harry pointed out Filtch's Cat, Mrs Norris and a whole bunch of students showed up. Draco shot me a look, silently asking if I'd done this, and I shook my head. As the true Heir of Slytherin, this is extremely insulting. How dare someone, not only blame me for this, but also just use the Slytherin name! I've never been so insulted in my life! Filtch showed up and started yelling at Harry, blaming him since he was the closest to Mrs Norris.
"Argus!" Dumbledore yelled. "Argus, I-" Dumbledore cut himself off when he spotted the message on the wall. I saw Sev shooting me a look just as Draco had and I felt myself getting annoyed again. I shook my head slightly and he nodded. Professor McGonagall, Professor Sprout and Lockhart were with Dumbledore and Sev. "Everyone will proceed to their dormitories immediately." Harry, Ron and Hermione tried to leave but I knew we weren't getting off that easily. "Everyone except, you four." He pointed at us and everyone but us, Filtch and the Professors left. I ignored the conversation until Sev spoke.
"If I might, Headmaster. Perhaps Potter, his friends and Miss Malfoy were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time." The three Gryffindors shot each other disbelieving looks. "However, the circumstances are suspicious. I, for one, don't recall seeing Potter at dinner, whilst I do remember seeing Miss Granger, Mr Weasley and Miss Malfoy as it is not every day that a Slytherin approaches the Gryffindor table."
"I'm afraid that's my doing, Severus," Lockhart said. "You see, Harry was helping me answer my fan mail."
"He was in detention still," I said. "I was worried as it was near the end of dinner and I'd seen Ron but not Harry, despite them supposedly having detention together for the whole flying car incident. Since we had a class scheduled for the three of them and the other Weasleys, we wanted to make sure he'd get something to eat and be on time for the class. So, we went looking for him."
"That's where we were headed when we found Mrs Norris. The Gryffindor Common Room to wait for the other Weasleys," Harry said when he caught on to the fact that I didn't want us to mention the voice we'd heard.
"Speaking of food," I said and I gestured to Ron. He took some food out of his pocket and passed it to Harry.
"Here you go, mate," he said and Harry smiled as his stomach grumbled.
"Thanks," Harry said.
"What class are you talking about, Miss Malfoy?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"The etiquette class I set up for the Weasley children, Harry and Hermione to ensure they can be proper members of society and, in the case of the Weasleys, pass their Etiquette Exams to be reinstated into the Noble and Most Ancient House of Prewett," I said. "You can ask the other Weasleys about it if you want. Whilst I think only Percy, Hermione and Harry actually enjoy the class, they all pay attention to what I teach them and even ask productive questions."
"The Weasley twins ask questions?"