CHAPTER EIGHTY;

A CELEBRATORY SNOG

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"He was going to use an Unforgivable. I think what Harry did was the right thing to do, in the moment," said Cassie flatly, scribbling down her name at the top of the blank parchment before her. "Malfoy got what was coming to him, really."

"Harry shouldn't've been using that cursed Potions book in the first place!" Hermione kept insisting that it was Harry who had been in the wrong that day in the bathroom; that he should not have used such a horrible curse created by the Half-Blood Prince without researching it. "Look where it's ended him! Detention, every Sunday until the end of term... He'll be missing the next Quidditch match!"

"What?" Cassie sat up suddenly, accidentally knocking a pot of ink off the table in her haste to reach Hermione. "You're not serious! But it's our last match – We only just got Katie Bell back – This is the deciding match as to whether or not we get the Cup... You're joking!"

"So you agree?" Hermione said coolly, raising an eyebrow. "Harry shouldn't have done it?"

Cassie took a moment of thought before scowling at Hermione and turning back around to siphon the ink off of the floor with her wand. "Missing the last Quidditch match.. I'll kill him..."

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"Okay.. listen, please," Cassie croaked the next day, unwilling to raise her voice higher than a raspy stern tone.

"Shut it!" Ginny did the shouting for her, and did her job quite effectively, as the entire Quidditch team fell silent instantly and turned to face Cassie and Ginny at the front of the tent.

"Right," said Cassie, her voice still the same nerve-filled inflection from before, "this is it. I would give you lot a big pep talk, but I think I'd just make your nerves worse... So, good luck, don't mess up, and let's win the Cup?"

The team gave a half-hearted cheer and exited the tent, brooms strung over their shoulders. Cassie made toward the center of the pitch, her nerves eating away at her insides, to meet with Roger Davies and shake hands.

Davies was a tall boy with muscular shoulders and dark curly hair; his eyes, and Cassie couldn't help but stare upon noticing them, were the exact shade of blue as the sky. However kind his appearance made out to be, Davies gave Cassie a sort of challenging grin and squeezed her hand a tad too tight.

   "Listen, Ginny," said Cassie a few moments later, after arriving back to confer with her team while Madam Hooch situated herself in the air. "You know how Harry likes to pull the feints every match?"

   "Yeah?" Ginny had her eyes on the Ravenclaw team, but Cassie watched them flicker to the blue-adorned stands as if in search of someone.

   "They probably aren't expecting you to do the same," Cassie advised in a low voice. Ginny nodded as she caught on.

   "How many do you think I can get away with?"

   "Two," Cassie decided, her eyed narrowed across the pitch on Cho Chang. A small pit of anger burned in her lower gut as she thought about how they had replaced Atticus with Cho, but she brushed it aside quickly and cleared her throat.  "Maybe three, if Chang's too blinded by her determination to see straight."

   Just as Cassie had predicted, Ginny started the game off strong, pulling a Wrongski Feint within the first ten minutes. A swell of satisfaction brought a grin to Cassie's lips as Cho followed Ginny, much too resolute to notice that she was about to collide with her own Chaser until it was too late. A sickening thud brought down said Chaser, Chambers, who was out for the rest of the game with a cracked collarbone.

   As for Cassie, she managed to score Gryffindor forty points within fifteen minutes. Ravenclaw, on the other hand, brought off less than half of that in double the time.

   Ron seemed to be holding his own – quite well, in fact. Every time Cassie's eyes caught a glimpse of the boy, he was either blocking a Quaffle or pumping his fists in the air to an encouraged roar of the crowd.

   After about another hour, the score was such that Cassie almost felt bad for the other team. Gryffindor had well over two hundred more points than Ravenclaw, and Ginny hadn't even caught the Snitch yet.

   No sooner than Cassie had thought such a thing, Ginny dove. This was no Wrongski Feint, and everyone watching realized it. Cho, however, was much too late to even notice that Ginny had dived; Ginny had caught the Snitch within the blink of an eye, ending the game. Gryffindor won with an astounding score of four-hundred and fifty to one hundred and forty on Ravenclaw's side.

   Cassie pointed the nose of her broom toward the ground and dove as fast as it would take her. When she reached the ground, she stumbled off her broom, a giddy grin on her face as she threw her arms around Ginny and cheered with the sea of red that had enveloped the team.

   "Bloody hell!" Ron shouted, wrapping his arms around both Cassie and Ginny. "We did it! Gin did it! Holy Merlin!"

   Cassie laughed breathlessly and threw an arm around Ron's shoulders, the other wrapping itself around Ginny and pulling the second redhead into another hug.

Someone tapped Cassie on the shoulder. All three of them spun around to face Luna, holding her lively eagle animatronic hat against her side. It cawed dejectedly, but Luna was beaming. "You played really well," she complimented, her airy voice somehow audible over the roaring crowd. "I was on the edge of my seat during the whole match. Of course, partly, it could have been due to the Wrackspurts that kept–"

She was cut off abruptly. Both Cassie's and Ron's jaws fell open as Ginny pulled Luna into a frivolous kiss, her broom falling to the ground behind her, though Ginny didn't seem to care. Cassie quickly tugged on Ron's arm to turn away and give the girls some privacy, forgetting the fact that they were currently snogging in the middle of the Quidditch pitch.

Cassie watched Ron cautiously for his reaction, but his face melted into a smug grin and he turned to face her. "Don't reckon Dean'll be too happy about that. Y'know, I think I like Luna better."

   Cassie couldn't help it – a relieved laugh escaped from her lips and she spun again to face Luna and Ginny. Both girls were beaming with pride, sporting matching pink cheeks but practically glowing. A pair of arms wrapped around Cassie's waist and whirled her around to face Neville, a proud grin on his face as he let out a whoop of celebration at their victory.

   Once the dejected Ravenclaws had cleared off the pitch – save for Luna, who was hand-in-hand with Ginny –, Cassie threw her arms in the air for her House's attention.

   She began, "I know we're all a bit upset that our captain wasn't here to lead us to victory–"

   "–but Cassie did a great job in his place!" Ginny intercepted, followed by a loud cheer from the crowd.

   Now a bit pink-cheeked, Cassie cleared her throat. "What I was going to say is: I'm so proud of this team and our ability to work together under different circumstances. Now, let's get back to Gryffindor Tower and show Harry what he missed, yeah?"

   Ten minutes later, Cassie's front was soaked through with spilled butterbeer from the exuberant sloshing of drinks in the common room. Most of the liquid that had seeped into her jumper was due to Ron's overexcitement and eagerness to pull her into a hug – he had forgotten, in the commotion, to set down his firewhiskey before throwing his arms out toward Cassie in an embrace.

   Despite the wardrobe malfunctions, Cassie couldn't recall a time in her life when she had had so much fun. Sweets were passed around amongst the students, drinks were held in the air as music roared through the common room and provided a base for the off-beat and lively dancing.

   Cassie sat on a couch with Hermione at her side, both girls engaged in fervent and expressive conversation with the other. They argued over whether or not it was Cassie that had once pissed her pants after a late-night rendezvous between the Golden Quartet, but Cassie argued that it was Hermione who had laughed to the point of soiling her pants. Both Cassie and Hermione were giggling through the whole of the conversation to the point of Hermione falling from the couch, causing another outburst of laughter from Cassie.

   The portrait door swung open some hours later, the party still in full swing, and Harry stumbled in, a very confused look on his face. Ron staggered over to his best mate and threw an arm around Harry's shoulder, announcing something to the Boy-Who-Lived, who promptly broke into a grin.

   "Hold that thought, Hermione," said Cassie, standing and stumbling through the crowd to meet Harry and Ron at the portrait hole. She beamed at the two boys, throwing her arms around the both of them in excitement. "We won, Harry!" she said happily, laughing at Ron's string of incoherent words.

   Harry, without warning, pulled himself out of the hug and snaked through the crowd with his head lowered to walk up the stairs and enter the boys's dormitory. Cassie shared a befuddled glance with Ron.

   "What was that about?" she asked. Ron only shrugged. Cassie rolled her eyes and thrust her drink into his hands before following after Harry.

   His back faced the door as Cassie knocked and entered. Before she could even open her mouth to ask if he was alright, Harry spoke.

   "I can't do it anymore, Ron," he muttered, dropping his head into his hands. "I messed it all up, didn't I? My chances, I mean. I should've realized it sooner – that I fancied her. Shouldn't've snogged Cho. I didn't even fancy Cho, honestly.. I'm not sure why I let her kiss me. D'you think that's why Cassie doesn't fancy me anymore? 'Cause she saw–"

Cassie cleared her throat awkwardly.

Upon realizing that it had not been a very manly-sounding throat-clearing, Harry spun, his eyes widening as he registered the fact that it was Cassie he had been speaking to, not Ron. He began to stammer out excuses and apologies.

"For the record," she cut him off with an awkward laugh, "I didn't stop having a crush on you because I walked in on you and Chang. I only thought I didn't have a chance, and my feelings.. I dunno, dissolved."

Harry exhaled a nervous chuckle, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah, you – uh, you weren't supposed to hear any of that."

"I'm glad I did." Cassie managed a half-smile. "I think it's cute you're so nervous, really. Maybe you're finally getting a taste of your own medicine from when you rejected me, yeah?" She arched an eyebrow and smirked.

"Suppose you could say that," he muttered with a shaky laugh, his cheeks reddening. "I'm sorry. This is... horrible."

Cassie laughed softly and shrugged. She took a step in and placed a hand on his cheek. "After the war, Harry." She gave him a delicate hairline kiss and brushed back the jet-black mess atop his head to look into his eyes. "I promise."