Cassiopeia, taking advantage of the flexibility of her schedule thanks to the Time-Turner, found moments to visit Draco regularly in the Hospital Wing. She was concerned about her cousin and wanted to make sure he was recovering well, bothering Madame Pomfrey a few times when Draco complained of pain.
Draco didn't reappear in classes until late Thursday morning, when the Slytherin and Gryffindor students were already halfway through their double Potions lesson.

He entered the dungeon with a haughty and arrogant posture, proudly displaying his right arm wrapped in bandages and slung in a sling. Cassiopeia couldn't help but let out a discreet giggle at the pretentious attitude of her cousin, who acted as if he were a true survivor after a heroic feat.

Pansy, with a mischievous smile on her face, addressed Draco with a question: "How's the arm, Draco? Is it still hurting a lot?"
Draco, adopting a forced expression of bravery, responded with a hint of pride: "It's hurting, but I can handle it."
Cassi, noticing Draco's wink at Crabbe and Goyle, quickly understood that her cousin was exaggerating the situation. With a casual tone, she dismissed the comment.
"He's doing great, Pansy," Cassi interjected. "Madame Pomfrey did a great job."

"With you hovering over the woman like a mother bear, it's hardly surprising," Draco sneered.

Severus Snape, concerned about the well-being of his godson, intervened: "Take it easy, Draco. Take it easy."

In that class, the students were dedicated to preparing a new potion, the Shrinking Solution. Draco, with a mischievous smile, positioned his cauldron next to Harry and Ron's, so the three of them were preparing the ingredients at the same table.

"Professor," Draco called out in a whiny tone, "I'm going to need help cutting the daisy roots because of my arm..."

"Weasley, cut the roots for Malfoy," Snape said without raising his head, and Ron turned as red as a tomato.

Cassi gave a little chuckle at Draco's antics and returned to her work.

"Your arm isn't the problem," Ron grumbled, which made Draco smile smugly.
"Weasley, did you hear what the professor said? Cut the roots," Draco taunted.

Ron picked up the knife, pulled Draco's roots closer, and started cutting them haphazardly, resulting in uneven pieces.

"Professor," Draco drawled, "Weasley is mutilating my roots."

Honestly, what a brat, Cassi thought, already feeling sorry for Ron.

Snape approached the table, looked at the roots over his hooked nose, and then gave Ron a unpleasant smile beneath his long, greasy hair.

"Switch roots with Malfoy, Weasley."

"But, professor," Ron tried to object with a pout. He had spent the last fifteen minutes carefully chopping his roots into exactly equal pieces. Cassi admired his dedication when he put his mind to it.

"Now," Snape ordered with his most menacing tone.

Ron pushed the meticulously cut roots to Draco's side of the table and then picked up the knife again.

"And, professor, I'll need to peel this pine nut," Draco said, his voice filled with laughter and malice.

"Enough, Draco. Take some of my ingredients. I made enough for two potions," Cassi intervened.

Draco huffed at not being able to disturb Potter as well, but he thanked Cassi for the pine nuts and left with a smirk.

Draco continued to annoy Harry and Ron for a while, which Cassi ignored as she focused on her own potion and assisted Pansy when needed.

A few cauldrons away, Neville got into trouble as usual.
He regularly struggled in Potions class, which was his worst subject, and his fear of Snape made things ten times worse. His potion, which was supposed to be bright and acid green, had turned out...

"Orange, Longbottom!" Snape exclaimed, scooping some of the potion with the ladle and letting it fall back into the cauldron so that everyone could see.

"Orange. Tell me, boy, does anything penetrate that thick skull of yours? Didn't you hear me clearly say that you only needed a rat's spleen? Didn't I say, without any ambiguity, that a tiny bit of leech juice would suffice? What do I have to do for you to understand, Longbottom?" Neville was red and trembling. He seemed on the verge of tears.

"Please, professor," Hermione said, "may I help Neville fix..."

"I don't recall asking you to show off, Miss Granger," Snape replied coldly, and Hermione turned as red as Neville.

"Professor, if you'll allow me?" Cassiopeia politely called out.

"Yes, Mrs Gaunt?" Snape looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Maybe Neville just needs some patient tutoring. I offer to help, if you allow it, of course," Cassi smiled and gave her best puppy-dog eyes. She knew that not even Snape could deny her with those eyes.
Snape sighed.

"Longbottom, wait with Gaunt at the end of the class. Maybe that will encourage you to prepare the potion correctly." Snape walked away, leaving Neville breathless with fear.

Cassi silently celebrated.

At the end of the class, Cassiopeia used the Time-Turner and headed to the Ancient Runes class, finding Hermione on the way. She was slightly out of breath, rushing up the stairs. With one hand, she held onto her bag, while with the other, she concealed the Time-Turner in her pocket.

"You should wear it around your neck, Mione, to avoid losing it. Come here," called Cassi, leading her friend to a deserted corner.

With a wave of her hand, the Time-Turner was securely fixed on a golden chain.

"Turn around," Cassi gently requested, safely placing it around Hermione's neck.

"Since when do you perform spells without a wand?" Hermione asked, fascinated.

"Since always, you just never paid attention," Cassi simply replied.

"Thank you," Hermione said with a smile as she played with the chain.

For a brief moment, Cassiopeia got lost in her friend's gaze, but she quickly shook her head, pushing away the thoughts. "You're welcome, now let's go."

Professor Lupin was still not in the classroom when Cassi entered for the first Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

Soon, the others arrived and sat down, taking out their books, quills, and parchment. They were chatting when the professor finally appeared.

Lupin smiled faintly and placed his old, worn-out briefcase on the desk. He was shabbily dressed as always but appeared healthier than the first time Cassi saw him.

"Good afternoon," He greeted. " Today, we will have a practical lesson. You will only need your wands."

Some students exchanged curious glances as they put away their books.

Cassi smiled, they hadn't had a practical Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson before, unless they considered the disastrous lesson from the previous year when the fraud Lockhart brought a cage of Cornish Pixies and set them loose in the classroom.

Cassi let out a soft giggle as she remembered Neville hanging from the chandelier, but she quickly contained it by biting her lip.

"All right then," Lupin said when everyone was ready. "Please follow me."

They all walked to the teachers' lounge, where there was nothing but an old wardrobe where the teachers kept spare clean robes. As the professor approached, the wardrobe suddenly shook, hitting the wall.

"Anyone here dares to guess what's inside?" the professor asked.

"There's a boggart inside. Boggarts like dark and confined places," Cassi said excitedly, as always.

"Nerd," Goyle whispered to Draco, receiving a sharp elbow from the him.

"Very good, Mrs. Gaunt."

"Can someone tell me what a boggart looks like?"

"No one knows," Hermione answered out of nowhere. "Boggarts are shape-shifters. They take on the form of whatever a person fears the most, which is why they are so..."

"So terrifying, yes," Professor Lupin completed.

She should be in another class, Cassi thought amused. Her friend wasn't very subtle.

"Fortunately, there's a simple spell to repel a boggart. Let's practice it now. No wands, please."

"Repeat after me: Riddikulus!"

A chorus echoed through the room: "Riddikulus."

"Very good!" Lupin proudly assessed. "Louder: Riddikulus!"

The class said it with more conviction this time: "RIDDIKULUS!"

"That part was easy. You see, the incantation alone is not enough. What really defeats the boggart is laughter. You need to force it to assume a form that you find funny. Let me explain."

"Neville, could you come up here, please?"

Neville gave the professor a look of absolute terror.

"Neville, what scares you the most?" the professor asked.

Longbottom whispered something.

"I didn't hear what you said. Neville, I apologize," Lupin said cheerfully.

Neville looked around, somewhat desperate, as if pleading for someone to help him, and then he whispered, almost inaudibly, "Professor Snape."

Almost everyone laughed. Even Neville smiled as if apologizing. Lupin said amused, "Snape, huh? All of us."

"Hmmm... Neville, I believe you live with your grandmother?"

"Um... yes," Neville said nervously. "But I also don't want the boggart to turn into my grandmother."

"No, no, you misunderstand," the professor said, now laughing. "Could you describe the kind of clothes your grandmother usually wears?"

Neville looked astonished but said:

"Well... always the same hat. A tall one with a stuffed vulture on top. And a long dress... usually green... and sometimes a fox. And a bag? Red and quite large."

"Right," said the professor. "Can you imagine those clothes clearly, Neville? Can you see them in your mind?"

"I can," Neville replied hesitantly, obviously wondering what would come next.

"When the boggart bursts out of that wardrobe, Neville, and sees you, it will assume the form of Professor Snape. And you will raise your wand... like this. And shout 'Riddikulus'... and focus all your strength on your grandmother's clothes. If all goes well, the Boggart-Snape will be forced to wear that vulture-topped hat, that green dress, and carry that enormous red bag."

There was an explosion of laughter. The wardrobe shook more violently.

"If Neville succeeds, the boggart will likely turn its attention to each of us individually. I would like everyone to take some time now to think of what they fear the most and imagine how it could be made to look funny..."

The room fell silent. Cassi tried to think of something she was afraid of, but she couldn't come up with anything physical. Her first thought was Minerva scolding her. But before she could plan a possible counter-attack to the boggart-Minerva, another image came to her. Her mother, Noctua, saying that her father would be disappointed.

Cassi shuddered and looked around, hoping no one had noticed.

"Is everyone ready?" Professor Lupin asked.

Everyone nodded their heads and rolled up their sleeves.

"Neville, we will step back," said the professor. "So you have the field to yourself, alright? I will call the next person forward... Everyone, move back now."

Everyone stepped back, leaning against the walls, leaving Neville alone next to the wardrobe, with only the professor behind him.

He looked pale and frightened, but he had rolled up his robes' sleeves and held his wand at the ready.

"When I count to three, Neville," Lupin warned, pointing his own wand at the wardrobe handle.

"One, two, three, now!"

A jet of sparks shot from the tip of the professor's wand and hit the handle. The wardrobe burst open. With his hooked and threatening nose, Professor Snape emerged, his eyes sparkling at Neville.

Neville backed away, wand in the air, stammering silently as Snape advanced toward him, getting out of the closet.

"R... r... riddikulus!" Neville finally managed with a burst of bravery.

There was a cracking noise, and Snape stumbled, wearing a long dress adorned with lace and an enormous, moth-eaten wizard's hat with a vulture perched on top. He carried a huge, bright red bag.

There was an explosion of laughter. The boggart paused, confused, and Professor Lupin laughed, hands on his knees.
"Parvati! Your turn!" the professor called.

Parvati stepped forward, looking determined. Snape advanced toward her. Another crack was heard, and where the boggart had been, there was now a bloodstained mummy with its face covered, slowly walking toward Parvati, dragging its stiff feet and raising its rigid arms...

"Riddikulus!" exclaimed Parvati.

One bandage unraveled at the mummy's feet, entangling it. It fell face-first to the floor, and its head rolled away from its body.

"Seamus!" the professor called out.

Seamus hurried past Parvati.

Crack! Where the mummy had been, a woman with floor-length black hair and a greenish, skeletal face appeared-an augury. She opened her mouth, and a ghostly sound filled the room, a long, mournful scream.

"Riddikulus!" shouted Seamus.

The augury made a rasping sound, clutching its throat with its hands, its voice fading, and then there was the noise again! The augury transformed into a rat, which ran in circles, chasing its own tail, and then... crack!

"Excellent! Wesley, you're next!"

Ron ran forward, bouncing with excitement.

Many students screamed. A gigantic, hairy, black widow spider, nearly two meters tall, advanced toward Ron, brandishing its pincers threateningly.

"Riddikulus!" Ron yelled, and tiny roller skates appeared on the spider's legs. It tried to balance itself in a funny manner.

Cassi felt proud of her friend. She remembered Ron explaining that when he was three years old, the Weasley twins turned his teddy bear into a hideous spider. They traumatized the poor boy.

And so it continued until it was Harry's turn.

There was a crack, and the creature transformed into a Dementor. Harry seemed frozen, and Lupin rushed to his side, standing in front of the boggart.

To Cassi's surprise, the professor's greatest fear was the full moon.

Suddenly, something clicked in Cassiopeia's mind. Moony, in the photograph from the album... That's how her uncle used to call him. But the question was, why would the moon frighten the professor so much? His tired eyes, his always patched-up clothes...
Cassi had an idea, but she decided to pay closer attention to the professor.

⁀➷,

At that sunset, just like at its sunrise, Cassi pointed her wand to her heart and said, "Amato Animo Animato Animagus."