musical mood: mago - gfriend

"I know your secret."

Cass felt her heart stop in her chest, as she slowly looked up from her History of Magic textbook, to face a smirking Henry. Surely he wasn't going to bring up her brother, not here, not in front of everybody. Henry was a prick, but he wasn't that much of a prick. Right?

"I don't know what you're talking about." She hissed at him, hoping to all the Gods that her face wasn't as red as it felt. All the Ravenclaws in their social circle, save for Ana, who was at the Gobstones club (whatever that was), and Naia, who was at Quidditch practice (she made the team as a chaser!) were gathered around a table in the common room, going over their classwork. Henry, who had been held back once again in some of his classes, joined the second years without an ounce of humiliation.

"I think you do." He cocked his eyebrows upwards, grinning with mischief.

"Henry Nott, I swear to Merlin-"

"You're in love with a muggle!" he interrupted her, a satisfied look on his face.

"I-what?" Cass blinked, the panic that had been brewing in her stomach settling down. She certainly wasn't expecting this.

"Well, I heard from Theo, who heard from Vasiliev, who heard from Patil - Parvati Patil, that is, that you're in love with a muggle. Personally, I would've paired you with that older Weasley bloke you're always with, and Theodore always insisted you and Diggory would be cute - he did leave you flowers when you were poisoned, after all, but whatever makes you happy I guess."

"Why would Ana and Theodore be talking about my love life?" Was the only thing Cass could think of to reply with, brushing off thoughts of a romance with George or Cedric. That would be less likely than her and Connor - they were both fourth years!

Henry shrugged. "Don't ask me. I didn't even know they were friends. Father would kill Theodore if he knew he even talked to muggleborns...but anyways, this is like, really juicy gossip. Why didn't you tell me?"

Cass inhaled sharply. Merlin, she ought to kill Parvati, spreading rumours like that. "Well, first of all, I'm notin love with Connor - I'm not in love with anyone. In case you haven't noticed, I'm twelve. And, if I was, why would I tell you that, out of all people?"

"Why wouldn't you tell me?" Henry countered, pouting.

Cass didn't respond to that, and instead just rolled her eyes. "Certainly, that first year, Colin, Creepy, or whatever his name is, confessing his undying love for Bethany in the middle of the Great Hall is more interesting than anything regarding who I fancy, right?"

"I told you to never speak of that again!" Bethany hissed, glaring up at Cass from her essay, knuckles white from clutching her quill too hard. For a moment, Cass feared the girl might throw it at her.

"How could we not?" Padma said with an amused smirk. "He's been coming over to the Ravenclaw table every day with a new type of flower. He'll run out of species soon enough."

"Actually, there are over two hundred and fifty thousand species of flowers, which makes up nearly seven hundred years straight of flower gifting. I'd hope Colin would win your heart by then, Bethany." Luna Lovegood added, not looking up from her book, which she was reading upside down. No one chose to question why she was reading her book upside down, not even Bethany.

For some reason, Luna had attached herself to the second years, instead of mingling with her first year classmates. She was odd, there was no denying, but Cass found she didn't mind too much. Luna was a breath of fresh air in a crowd of stuck up, pretentious Ravenclaws. Yes, that included Cass, and she'd be the first to admit it.

"The poor boy is smitten." Terry nodded gravely. "I swear I saw him taking your photograph from behind a pillar while we were leaving Herbology."

"What?! Why didn't you tell me?!" Bethany's head shot up.

"It was funny." Terry shrugged, going back to reading his textbook.

"I-you-bloody-fucker-" Bethany sputtered, searching for a proper comeback, but she never was able to respond, when the common room's door swung open, and in strutted two Gryffindor boys. Fred was glancing around the common room in awe, admiring everything his gaze fell upon, while George made a beeline towards their study group.

"What the - how the hell did you two get in here?" Henry stood up, eyeing the twins up and down with a look of disdain. Sure, the Nott brothers weren't as bad as say, the Malfoy's, when it came to the more serious matters, such as blood supremacy, but they certainly held the same hatred for Weasley's. With the Nott children, it was pure classism, as if their generational wealth that they did nothing to attain made them better than everyone else. Their father John, on the other hand...well, the Malfoy's were no comparison to him. How his children ended up relatively normal was completely unfathomable.

"Uh, well, that eagle thing gave us a riddle, and we answered it right, and the door opened, so we walked in." George shrugged.

"How did you know where our common room is?" Henry continued his interrogation, arms folded firmly across his chest.

"Cassie showed me, last year."

"Crouch!" Henry shot her a furious glare. "We aren't supposed to have other houses in here!"

"Didn't your brother come here the other night to write your essay for McGonagall?" Terry raised his eyebrows, and Henry's face went red.

"That's different! Also, Theodore didn't write it, he just...helped me."

"Helped you spell your name, more like it." Bethany added with a smirk, and Henry lunged at her.

"Anyway..." George directed his attention away from the bantering Ravenclaws, and towards Cass, who was stifling giggles of her own. "Sorry to intrude, but my brother and I require Cassie."

"What for?" Cass frowned, shutting her book and standing up slowly. Fred was still preoccupied, admiring the stained glass windows, his brown eyes wide in awe, as if he'd never seen anything so majestic in his life.

"It's a surprise." He winked. "But I think you'll enjoy it."

*

"No way. No way in hell am I participating in this." Cass said, twenty minutes later. Her arms were crossed, and she glared at the twins, completely dumbfounded. "You dragged me away from my studies for this rubbish? I thought you said I'd enjoy it!"

"Okay, so I may have told a wee little lie. Sue me."

"What's not to enjoy, Cassie?" Fred raised his eyebrows, leaning forward on the table with his head in his hands, and elbows on the wood. They were in an empty classroom on the sixth floor, one that seemed to have been abandoned many years ago. "It's just a simple prank - and Merlin knows you could do with laughing a bit."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh come on, we all know you're a tad sanctimonious. Maybe letting your hair down a bit and having some fun would do you some good. You know, break some rules."

"Sanctimonious?! How do you even know what that means?!" Cass stared at Fred, appalled. Implying she didn't ever break rules, that she was some morally superior stuck up prude, as if she hadn't broken into a Professor's office and stolen an illegal book last term! If that wasn't reckless, she didn't know what was. Sure, other than that she was pretty straight-laced, and usually thought highly of her intelligence, but she couldn't help it if nearly everyone around her was a blundering idiot with no regard for general safety.

"I heard Charlie call Percy it once. It really pissed him off." Fred shrugged.

"Anyways," George cut in, rolling his eyes. "Come on Cassie, we really need help with this prank. You're the best person at potions that we know. Please?"

"I will not turn the Slytherins into donkeys!"

"It's not turning them into donkeys! It's just altering their voices so they can only bray like a donkey! It'll only last for a few hours - a day at most. No long term consequences." George explained in a casual tone, as if discussing the weather.

"It's harmless, really." Fred insisted.

"We'd do it ourselves, but neither of us are any good at potions. If you don't help us, we might accidentally kill someone."

"Do you want us to accidentally kill someone, Cassie?"

"It would be a shame if someone were to die because you didn't help us with our Ass Tonic."

Cass stared at George, sure she was in some sort of fever dream. "You called it Ass Tonic? I can't, I truly can't with you two..." She ran her hands through her hair, sighing deeply. "Have you even thought this through? I mean, how do you plan on slipping a potion into the drinks of every single Slytherin without drawing any attention?"

"You leave that to us. You're not the only pranking associate we have." George winked at her, and she felt her face go red. "Besides, we aren't trying to get all the Slytherins. Mostly just the ones from the Quidditch team."

"Malfoy especially."

Cass rolled her eyes. Malfoy certainly deserved a Weasley prank; she could only imagine what he'd done this time to offend the general student body. "What did he do this time?"

George gulped, his expression suddenly shifting into a serious one Cass rarely saw on him. "You know Hermione Granger, right?"

"Yeah." Of course she knew Hermione Granger, not only was she the envy of all of Ravenclaw for her intelligence, but she was best friends with Harry Potter. You'd have to be living under a rock to not know her.

"Well, there was an incident at Quidditch practice yesterday...and Malfoy called her the M word. All the Slytherin's on their team laughed along."

Cass sat up straighter, running a hand through her hair, and bit down on her tongue. Holy shit.

"We nearly beat him up." Fred added. "I knew he was a prick, but I never thought he'd say something like that."

"That's...wow." She stared at the twins, unsure of what to say. She'd never expected such language from Malfoy either - of course he and his family had always been blood supremacists, she knew that, and she shouldn't have been surprised. But calling Hermione Granger a mudblood over something as stupid as Quidditch? It was beyond despicable, even for Malfoy's standards.

When no one said anything, Cass spoke again. "So, what exactly does this prank of yours consist of?"

The twins exchanged identical smirks. "Well, apparently there's this bowl in the Slytherin common room with sweets and whatnot. Malfoy frequents them. After you brew the potion, which is in this book I stole - bloody hell, Fred that hurt - I mean borrowed from the library, we'll put them in the candies. Easy as cake."

"On Halloween, of course." Fred said, sliding the potions book George 'borrowed' across the table. Cass picked it up, examining the tattered cover - this was clearly very advanced potions. Probably for NEWT students, if they were even allowed to use it. She wouldn't have been surprised if the book was nicked from the Restricted Section. "Unfortunately, it'll be hard to out-prank last year. Quirrell bringing a bloody troll into the school has to be the most dangerous thing that'll ever happen here. But, it's still revenge, which is very much necessary."

"Right. Malfoy definitely needs to be put in his place. But, how, exactly, do you plan on putting the donkey potion-"

"-Ass tonic-" George corrected.

"Whatever. How do you plan on putting your ass tonic into their candies? Like you said, they're in the Slytherin dorms. Last I checked, you aren't Slytherins."

"Oh, dear Cassie." George patted her on the head like a mother might to an upset child, and she swatted his hand away. "I'm very sorry to say, you're not our only pranking ally we've made."

"You are definitely George's favourite, though." Fred raised his eyebrows, and George elbowed his brother in the gut, hard. "Bloody hell, calm your tits!"

She rolled her eyes, ignoring his comment. "Am I allowed to ask who your Slytherin confidant is?"

George shook his head. "Nope. Sorry Cassie, but that's classified information."

"You'll find out soon enough, though. That is, if you agree to help us."

Cass tentatively opened the potions book, to the page one of the twins had doggy-eared, and instantly spotted the potion they wanted her to brew .

Asinus Bibera.

"This is a really complicated potion." She frowned, reading through the directions. "It'll take ages to brew, and where the hell am I supposed to find these ingredients? I'm not sure some of these are legal in Great Britain."

"Just raid Snape's supply room. We do it all the time - he has everything. For once, that slimy git is good for something." George said.

"And you lot wonder why he hates Gryffindors." Cass sighed. "But no way in hell. I'm not messing with Snape. Last time I stole from a Professor, I wound up on my deathbed for three months and permanently destroyed my voice. Never again." Cass habitually picked at her scar, but this time, not the one under her eye, but the one on her forehead from where she cut it on Moaning Myrtle's stupid broken sink.

"Fair enough." Fred shrugged, though he didn't bother to hide his disappointment.

Cass bit her lip, hit by a twinge of guilt. The twins had done a lot for her, and Malfoy and the other Slytherins with his mindset certainly needed to be knocked down a peg or two. Besides, what was the big deal? It was just a harmless prank. It could even be fun. "Listen. I can't promise you two anything. But I'll do my best. Alright?"

The twins looked at each other, wide eyed and grinning, then turned to her and in unison said, "Brilliant."

*

By the time Cass was done speaking with George and Fred, it was far past curfew. The castle's halls were eerily quiet and empty, with all the portraits being asleep. The twins insisted on walking her back to the Ravenclaw common room, which she found she didn't mind. Sure, they could be annoying as hell, but there could be worse company than them, Cass figured, after wishing them good night and watching them walk away.

She found herself unconsciously grinning, as she tiptoed through the common room, not wanting to disturb anyone by making a ruckus. A select few students were still scattered at various desks and chairs, doing last minute homework or studying, illuminated by the dim lights of their wands. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary - only when she reached the stairwell to the girls dormitories did Cass notice a mess of bright blonde curls sprawled out on one of the couches, face buried in the blue cushions.

This could only be one person.

"Luna?" Cass slowly approached the figure, which stirred.

"Not the Nargles..." Luna muttered, not quite awake.

"Luna." She poked the sleeping girl, and this time, she woke up, pushing her blonde hair out of her face as she sat up, blue eyes wide. Luna, for some reason, was still in her Hogwarts robes instead of pyjamas, though was without any shoes.

"Oh, hello Cass. Is it morning already?"

"No, no, it's nearly midnight. I just...wanted to see if you're alright."

"Quite, thank you."

Luna leaned back on the couch, seemingly to go back to sleep, and Cass frowned.

"Er, why are you sleeping on the couch?"

"The girls in my dorm told me to."

"...why?" Cass bit her lip, already knowing the answer, and dreading it. Merlin, people could be so cruel. No matter where she went, there would always be people who wanted to make others feel bad about themselves. Muggles and wizards didn't differ in their ability to bully those who broke from the norm.

Luna shrugged. "I don't think they like me very much. I don't mind, though. Daddy says people like them are jealous, because I can be me and they can't."

"Well, you can't sleep on the couch for the next seven years at Hogwarts because some mean girls tell you to. Come on, you can sleep with us." Cass reached over, grabbing Luna's hands and pulling her into a sitting position. She was reminded of the mysterious extra bed in their dorm room, that had appeared out of nowhere. It had seemed so random, at the time, but now, it was as if Hogwarts knew.

As Cass led Luna up to their dorm room, she smiled. Hogwarts may have its fair share of bullies, but the castle seemed to have their backs instead.