chapter fourteen / rather lovely surprise

                      "Mine still had a spout for a tail, what a nightmare..."

"Were the tortoises supposed to breath steam?"

"It had a China-patterned shell, d'you think I'll lose points for that?"

The Gryffindors had just finished their Transfiguration exam. Everyone was fussing over how good or bad they think they'd done whilst Hermione was just irritated at how her tortoise looked more like a turtle.

After a quick lunch, it was right back upstairs for the Charms exam. Cassie aced the Cheering Charm and Hermione had left her exam with a wide grin on her face, occasionally letting out fits of giggles.

After dinner, the students hurried back to their common rooms – but not to relax, there was more studying to do.

Cassie, once she was positive she was about to crack under the pressure, stretched out in her chair. She glanced at the clock on the wall, bit her lip, and stood. Hermione didn't so much as look up from her book, but Ron and Harry sent her quizzical looks.

"I haven't seen Atticus and Cedric in ages because I've been so busy. I just wanna stop by and say hi," she explained. Harry and Ron shrugged their shoulders, too tired to say anything against it, and the girl walked out of the common room. It was only seven-thirty, and curfew was at nine, so she still had an hour and a half to catch up with her friends.

Unfortunately, it took her thirty minutes to get past the guard trolls in front of the Hufflepuff common room. She pleaded with them to let her in, as she knew the password, but they stayed impassive. One grunted that Sirius Black knew the Gryffindor password, and another said nobody was to be trusted unless they wore yellow robes.

Cassie huffed and turned on her heel, storming back down the hallway to the Gryffindor common room, when an idea struck her mind. She paused and slid around a corner so she was out of the trolls' lines of sight. When she was positive they couldn't see her, she pulled out her wand a muttered a transfiguration spell to temporarily switch her robes from Gryffindor red to Hufflepuff yellow and walked back down to the trolls.

"You may go," grumbled the guard troll, and she walked victoriously into the Hufflepuff common room.

"Cass!" Cedric shouted as soon as she stepped foot inside. He bombarded her with a hug and she laughed, hugging him back. "I haven't seen you in forever!"

"I know. I've been so busy with exams, and Harry and I have been buried in trying to figure out who the Marauders are–" Cassie sighed, running a hand through her hair. "But at least exams are half over, right?"

Cedric grinned. "Always the optimist, you are," he teased, and the two took a seat on the velvet couch nearest them. "Oh, I haven't been able to congratulate you lot on winning the cup!"

"I think it's Harry you should be telling that to," she said, shrugging her shoulders sheepishly, "but thanks."

"I'll tell him next time I see him. I mean, his playing in that game was brilliant! And when he tricked Malfoy into diving into the grass, and the two Beaters collided, and how he always kept Malfoy away from the Snitch until Gryffindor was ahead enough points, and – bloody hell, Cass, when he beat Malfoy to the Snitch? I almost fell out of my seat!"

"He is a great player," Cassie agreed, smiling lightly. "You are, too. And don't get all humble with me, Golden Boy–"

"I told you to stop calling me that," he said, an embarrassed blush on his cheeks as two fifth year girls glanced over from their couch. Cassie smirked.

"Heard from Atticus lately? I haven't seen him in like.. weeks," she said, a frown replacing the smirk. The last she'd spoken to the boy, he was overwhelmed with stress and it seemed to go deeper than just the exams.

"I haven't seen him in a while," Cedric said. He tried to be nonchalant, but the words spilled out of his mouth all too fast.

"I hope he's doing okay. Maybe I'll go check on him," she decided, standing from the couch. Cedric did the same. "I'll see you after exams?"

"See you then," he agreed, hugging her again before she wandered out to the Ravenclaw common room. It was nearing eight-fifteen, so she was cutting it close, but decided she had to risk it.

By eight twenty-three, she was in the Ravenclaw common room, sitting on a couch with Atticus's feet in her lap and Luna braiding her hair. Both Ravenclaws hummed to themselves. Cassie glared at the wall, her arms crossed across her chest.

"C'mon, Atticus, I just want to know what's been bothering you–"

"Like I said three minutes ago, Cassie, nothing's bothering me."

"You're lying."

"Am not."

"Are too!"

"Am not."

"He is," Luna cut in dreamily, still braiding Cassie's hair. Atticus snapped his head to face Luna, disbelief written all over his face. "Lying, I mean. He's quite stressed, Cassie. The wrackspurts are circling his head like a drain."

"Luna! You promised you wouldn't tell anyone," he told her, and Cassie had never heard him use such a tone of voice. As she couldn't turn her neck to face the girl since Luna was braiding her hair, she just glanced over at Atticus.

"I didn't say anything," Luna pointed out, returning to the song she'd been humming.

"What's wrong, Atticus? You know you can tell me," she said, her voice low. He stared at Cassie before shaking his head no.

"I can't. And don't ask again, or I'll snap your damn wand," he said, quite venomously. Cassie furrowed her brow at him, watching as the boy stormed off to his dorm room. Luna finished braiding her hair and draped it over Cassie's shoulder, smiling softly at her work.

"Luna, please tell me," Cassie whispered as the girl took Atticus's spot on the couch. "I just want to know."

"I can't. He's right; I did promise not to tell anyone. And breaking a promise is a horrible thing to do. I could never do it to a friend. Atticus is my friend, you know, so I could never break his promise, because that would be breaking a friend's promise, and that's a horrible thing to do, breaking a friend's promise. I could never do that to a friend," she finished, nodding her head once. Cassie just stared at the wispy blonde, scrunching her face up in confusion.

"I'll get it out of him eventually," she decided, crossing her arms. "Anyways.. how were your exams, Luna?"

"Oh, lovely. I had Care of Magical Creatures today, and Mr. Hagrid said I was just amazing at taking care of the kneazles and nifflers! He said he has never seen anyone handle them with such care," she beamed proudly at herself, and Cassie felt her frustration at the girl soften. Nobody could stay mad at her. "And Professor Sprout said I might get an O in my Herbology exam, even though she's not supposed to tell anyone what they got, but she said I mustn't tell anyone–"

"But you just told me," Cassie pointed out, raising an eyebrow. Luna tilted her head to the side.

"Oh. I suppose I did," with an airy laugh, she stood. "Well, I should probably get to bed. I have Potions first thing tomorrow, and I'm quite nervous. Goodnight, Cassie."

"Goodnight, Luna," she said as the blonde walked off, bouncing up the steps to the girls' dorm. Cassie stayed in her spot for a moment before standing and walking out of the common room, making her way back to her own dorm.

She'd just turned the corner to the corridor that held the stairs to the Gryffindor common room when a cold voice stopped her.

"Out past curfew, are we, Lupin?" Snape's voice echoed through the hallway and Cassie froze, turning on her heel. She glanced at the clock on the wall and, upon seeing it only said 8:47, furrowed her brows.

"But it's not past curfew yet," she pointed to the clock. Snape glared his eyes at it and flicked his wand. The clock now read 9:02. Cassie gaped at it and Snape tsked his tongue.

"I expected better of you, Miss Lupin. Five points from Gryffindor and I'll be telling your father about this," he said. A pool of guilt settled in Cassie's stomach.

"Please don't! It's almost the full moon, he's stressed enough as it is–"

"Well, you shouldn't have added onto that by breaking the rules, should you?" Snape said in a dull, mocking voice. Cassie glared at him.

"Actually, I didn't break the rules, Professor. If you hadn't been prejudiced against me and my House, you just might've seen that," she said accusingly after a moment.

"Twenty more points from Gryffindor for your tongue, Lupin." He glowered at her. "Now, get to your dormitory at once."