musical mood: girls - nature

Turns out, when they weren't snapping at each other, Cass and Bethany made a good team. They were more alike than different - both introverts, both down to earth, and both too cynical for their own good. Bethany was smart, more than most Ravenclaws their age. While Cass was best with hands-on classes, such as potions and astronomy, Bethany was a master at spells. Between them, they were fluent in five languages, Cass knowing French and Scots, and Bethany Japanese and German, on top of their collective English.

In late February, the two were collected in the library while the rest of the Hogwarts student body were at breakfast. They were doing some last minute studying together, as the library was always perfectly quiet at this time.

"We should do it today." Bethany said as she turned the page on a book for History of Magic. "If we keep pushing it back, something bad could happen, and it would be our fault for not doing anything to stop it."

Cass looked away from her Astronomy textbook. On the first night back at Hogwarts, when she and Bethany had talked, she had been in such a rush to get to the bottom of this. But as time went by, Cass grew more and more anxious about the possibilities. Part of her wanted to remain in a blissful oblivion. Before, it had just been about Quirrell, but now, with her brother involved, it was personal.

"Yeah. We should." She reluctantly agreed after a long pause. Bethany was right, she ought not let her personal feelings get in the way, not when other students were at risk. It was odd, only months ago she didn't give a damn about anyone in the castle, but as time went by, she genuinely grew to care for her classmates, to the point where she could almost consider a few of them as friends.

Cass set her book down on the table and stood up. "We should go down to the Great Hall before breakfast ends. It's the easiest place to find George and Fred, I imagine."

Bethany followed, locking herself at Cass' side as they walked down the empty Hogwarts halls.

"Let's go over the plan one more time." Bethany whispered, despite there being no one around to overhear.

Cass fought the urge to roll her eyes. They had gone over this a dozen times in the past few weeks, but Bethany was more of a perfectionist than she was.

"You corner Quirrell before he can get too close to his office, ask him for homework help or something, just stall him for as long as possible. I get the twins to set off fireworks, or flood the halls, or something insane like that. Something that would distract him for even longer. Then, while he's busy with you and the twins, I break into his office. You join, if you can get away without being noticed, but stay near the door to keep watch."

"And you've got Alohomora down, right? If he's hiding anything, chances are it's locked up."

"I've been practising the spell for weeks, don't worry."

The two reached the open doors of the Great Hall, where all of Hogwarts' students were gathered in early morning conversation. By some miracle, Quirrell was actually at the Professors table instead of cooped up inside his classroom - a rarity nowadays, and the Weasley twins were easily able to be spotted at the Gryffindor table.

Fred was stood up, doing some ridiculous impression, while the students around him were laughing their asses off. George was sat next to him, gesturing largely to a boy Cass recognized as Lee Jordan. While Bethany walked over to the Ravenclaw table, her eyes focused on the professor, Cass made a beeline towards the redheads.

"Excuse me." Cass poked George's shoulder as she reached them.

He turned around, his confused expression lighting up when he made eye contact with her. "Cassie! Long time no see!" George nudged his twin. "Freddie, look who it is!"

Not only did Fred look at her when George pointed her out, but so did most of the other Gryffindors in their vicinity. Cass was suddenly very aware of all the eyes on her, including the nervous gaze of Neville Longbottom. If she had been uncomfortable before, now she felt as though her skin was on fire, and her under-eye scar began to burn.

Focus. Taking a deep breath, Cass redirected her attention to what mattered most at that moment. "Listen, as much as I'd love to catch up, I really need to speak to you two. Alone."

"Alone?" Fred looked over at his brother with a playful smirk as George stood up. "Sounds serious. Did ya hear that, brother-mine? Cassie wants us alone."

"It's a few days late for a Valentine's Day confession, isn't it? But, better late than never, I suppose."

"Save it for your pillow, you perverts." Cass clenched and unclenched her fists. Did they have to make everythinga joke? Perhaps it was a better idea to have Naia help out instead.

"Merlin, you're almost as bad as Percy." George snorted. "Whatever, whatever, c'mon Fred, let's go see what our dear Cassie desires from us...alone..."

"Would you shut up?!" Her knuckles had gone completely white as the two boys followed her out of the Great Hall, just as other students were beginning to leave as well, likely hoping to be a tad early to their classes.

They turned a corner into an empty hallway, Cass looking back and forth several times to make sure no one could possibly overhear. "Alright, before you say anything else and make me want to strangle you, I need you two to do one of your pranks once Quirrell leaves the Great Hall. I don't care what it is, as long as it distracts him for a good amount of time."

The twins looked at each other with raised eyebrows and identical grins. Clearly, this was the last thing they expected from the straight-laced Ravenclaw.

George cleared his throat theatrically. "Cassie, my love-"

"-don't call me that-"

"-we'd be most honoured to lend our services to a damsel in distress-"

"-don't call me that either-"

"-but alas, we require compensation."

Fred nodded from next to his brother, and just as every other interaction she'd had with the twins, she felt like smacking their smug little smirks right off.

Cass had two options; argue with them and potentially waste time, and subsequently, her opportunity, or give in to their ridiculous demands. As much as it hurt her pride, she let out a breath and uncrossed her arms in a sign of defeat. "Fine. What do you want?"

George blinked, his smirk faltering. He must not have expected her to agree so quickly, and hadn't actually had an idea of what he wanted for compensation. "Er...Freddie?"

Fred shrugged.

"Would you hurry? I haven't got all day here, you know?" Cass pursed her lips as more students began to leave the Great Hall, trying not to let her anxiety show. They were stretched for time as it was, and now, of course, the Weasley's had to be insufferable and probably ruin everything.

"A favour." George answered after what felt like hours. "You owe us a favour."

"A favour it is. Now, get moving!" Cass practically pushed the twins down the hall, hoping she wouldn't regret what she had agreed to.

*

The beginning of the break in went surprisingly according to plan, after she explained the steps to George and Fred, who luckily didn't ask questions. Cass and the twins watched from behind a corner as Bethany cornered the Professor just as they exited the Great Hall, trapping him in a conversation.

Then, the twins took off, to start whatever prank it was they would do, and Cass dashed through the halls as quick as she could without drawing suspicion, to Quirrell's office. No one was there when she reached the isolated door at the dead end of a hallway - his class with the fifth years didn't start for an hour.

She eyed the area around her one last time, making sure no one was nearby. When she confirmed she was alone, she pulled her slender wand out from her robe pocket, and pointed it at the door handle. "Alohomora."

With a small clicking sound, the door swung open, and Cass stepped in without hesitation. She left the door open just a crack, before allowing herself to wander through Quirrell's office. There wasn't much to it - a dark wooden desk with miscellaneous papers scattered across the top, a wardrobe that seemed one touch away from falling apart, a bookshelf, and a full body mirror in the corner, with an intricate gold frame. A rug laid over the stone floor, the same shade of purple as his turban.

There was a door to the left, which Cass knew led into his classroom, which was accessible from the hallway as well, but a mysterious door on the right was what caught her eye. She'd check in there later, for sure.

First, she directed her attention towards the wardrobe, the doors easily swinging open, without an unlocking spell needed. There wasn't much inside; some spare textbooks for his class, an old trophy for 1975 Chess Club Champion, and other useless knicknacks. Clearly, nothing of value was in here, and Cass shifted over towards the desk.

She kept an eye on the crack in the door, as she sorted through the papers on the wooden surface. No one was nearby, that she could see, nor were there any sounds indicating someone was close.

Nearly all of the papers on the Professor's desk were essays in the process of being graded - Cass even spotted one of hers. Inside the drawers was more junk - quills, spare pieces of parchment, and the likes. She grabbed one of the essays Quirrell had written remarks on, and tucked it in her pocket to compare the handwriting with later.

She scanned around the room more, though nothing suspicious stood out. It was...basic. Cass stepped away from the desk and began to make her way over to the bookshelf, though her spirits were dwindling. Had this whole thing been a waste of time? Perhaps her entire conspiracy about Quirrell was based off of nothing but paranoia. Had she spent months obsessing over a man who might be completely innocent? If the handwriting on this essay didn't match the forged letter, not only had she wasted ages of her time on an innocent man, but she had actually stolen someone's homework. Ravenclaws knew just how important grades were.

After scanning the bookshelf and coming up with nothing, she was about to admit defeat, when her gaze hit an odd rising in the ancient rug spread across the floor. Once again peeking through the crack in the door, to find no one was nearby, she got down on her knees and pulled the rug up, examining the floor underneath it with a renewed suspicion.

It was an obvious fake stone, the colouring and sizing completely off compared to the surrounding tiles, and the gaps between them wide enough to slide a finger in and pull the false stone out.

She had struck gold.

Or, at least, she thought she did, until she more thoroughly examined what she had found. It was a thick, heavy book, with a tattered leather cover, and a title in a language Cass didn't recognize. It was held together by a small, thick piece of string, wrapped around it several times. Spare bits of parchment stuck out, but Cass didn't have time to look any closer, when the sound of footsteps echoed from down the hall, growing closer and closer to the office.

Shit.

Cass frantically flung the rug back into its position, grabbing the book and whipping her head around, searching for a place to hide, and kicking herself for not having thought this part through at all.

She could go into his classroom, but if Quirrell found her there with the book he had gone to such extreme lengths to hide, how would she explain that? It was far too bulky to hide under her robes, and how could she manage to go unnoticed with it once his class began? Sure, she could hide in a cupboard from him, but from twenty other students? Someone was bound to find her eventually.

There was the other room - the mysterious door which Cass had no idea where it led. It was risky, sure, but she didn't have any other option. With a quick unlocking spell, she shut herself inside the cramped, pitch black room, just as Professor Quirrell stepped into his office with two identical boys right behind him.

"-blowing up the S-slytherin's house points hourglass?! You j-just wait until your head of h-house is in-informed of this!" The Professor was shouting - or as close to shouting as Cass had ever heard. Once again, she was struck by the pure oddity of the situation, that this was the man trying to destroy the school.

Cass had to press a hand to her mouth to prevent her from laughing, peering through the crack in the door and noticing how smug the twins looked, showing no remorse for their actions. She had to hand it to the two, they could be bloody hilarious at times, even when it infuriated everyone around them. Blowing up Slytherin's house points was a genius idea - though she expected she'd get an earful from Malfoy and Theodore Nott about it.

"Y-ou both will have d-detention for a w-week, starting t-tonight! C-cleaning the l-lavatories with n-no magic!" He continued scolding the twins, pointing his finger comically.

"Oh n-no, Georgie! Not d-detention! W-what shall we d-do?" Fred snickered at his brother, as Quirrell began to fill out a detention slip, the quill snapping in half from the strength in his grip while Fred mocked him.

"T-twenty points from G-gryffindor f-for your insolence!" Quirrell continued, his face glowing red from a mixture of anger and humiliation. "Now g-go, before I m-make it more!"

Cass clutched the stolen book tight to her chest as the twins sauntered out of his office, Quirrell whipping his wand and slamming the door behind them. The lock clicked, and he sat down on his desk, holding his head in his hands and looking completely exasperated. Had he not been a maniac hellbent on killing children, Cass would've felt sympathy for him.

But it was hard to feel anything except fear when you were hidden inside a dark closet without any way to escape, and where you could be found by a psychopath at any given moment. How long would it take for Quirrell to notice his mysterious foreign book had been taken, and even more pressing, how long was she going to be stuck?