Her chest was heaving with sobs as she ran up the stairs. She was glad there was no one around, because otherwise she'd be in serious danger of getting asked what was wrong.

She was furiously wiping her eyes, but more tears were replacing them every few seconds. She had no idea where Harry or Draco were, or if they were together, or if they were talking. And if they were talking, then there was a good chance Draco was spilling her role in the plan to him as well.

Oh shit shit shit.

Cassia dragged herself up the stairs, trying to remember where Harry had gone, or where Draco would when she heard it.

BANG!

"ARGH!"

SMASH!

"URGH, YOU-"

SLAM

Cassia almost sprinted, still sobbing, as she ran up the stairs in the direction of those noises. It was Draco and Harry, no question. And they were shooting curses at each other. She could hear water spraying, and glass breaking, and then she heard it.

"SECTUMSEMPRA!"

"ARGH!"

It was Harry that had uttered the spell, because obviously it was. He had been looking at that spell in the Prince's book for ages, not knowing what it could do.

Well, it looked like he'd just found out.

When Cassia ran into the boys' bathroom, she wasn't expecting what she saw. The whole place was torn apart, with a thin layer of water covering the ground due to bust pipes. Bits of broken toilet seat and cubicle wall lay around, and Harry stood, panting, above Draco.

But it was Draco that Cassia was looking at.

He was on the ground, gasping out in pain as he writhed about a bit. His shirt was white, and underneath it, deep gashes were forming all over his body. Blood was seeping through, staining his shirt badly, and his face was contorting in pain because of it.

"Harry, what the fuck have you done?!" Cassia found herself screaming, turning on her boyfriend.

"Cass, I- he cursed Katie!" Harry yelled, gesturing to Draco on the ground.

No he didn't, I did, Cassia wanted to scream, but if she did, she'd be dead. Literally and figuratively.

"Harry, you're fucking killing him!" Cassia screamed. "Are you even going to get a teacher to help him?"

Harry's eyes widened. "Yes, of course, I- just don't mention the Prince's book, pl-"

"You're unbelievable," Cassia shook her head. "Fucking unbelievable."

And she knew she was being hypocritical, because she was betraying him and lying to him and he was just believing her, with no questions.

But he had just almost killed her brother, he had just been an idiot. An absolute fucking idiot. And she was angry.

"Come on," she told him, grabbing his arm. "We need to go and find someone to help, and if you're fucking lucky I'll not mention that bullshit book."

❦︎❦︎❦︎

In the end, she didn't. She told Snape she had no idea how Harry knew that spell, and did not see him cast it. She was let off easy, with no detention or lines. Harry got both, having to go to Snape's office everyday for a week.

Cassia hadn't spoken to him as they were let out. He'd leaned close, murmuring "thanks" into her ear, but she'd felt no butterflies, or warmth.

She hadn't said anything to that, and he hadn't pressed her for an answer. He understood where they were at, and if it wasn't talking, he wasn't going to push her.

Snape had managed to fix Draco's wounds easily, so he was still walking, still talking, and Harry hadn't killed him.

Cassia, however, was still annoyed.

She was partly annoyed at herself, because she'd been so worried to know that Harry might've discovered her secret, because it would mean she would get to keep him. And in the end, she did get to keep him, but not in the way she wanted.

So she was more keeping her distance to punish herself, not him.

But she didn't know who she was punishing more.

It wasn't until around a week later that she next spoke to Harry. She and Poppy had distanced themselves, because Ron and Hermione were (not together) getting closer everyday, and Harry just wanted to be with Cassia, but couldn't.

However, that day was different, as she and Poppy tiredly climbed the stairs up to the common room. Their conversation was dying, and both were too bored and tired to continue it.

However, as they finally got to the Fat Lady's portrait and inside the common room, they met one Harry Potter, who was looking very excited, coming out of it.

"Cassia!" He said, when he saw her, his eyes seeming to double in size. "You're looking amazing today, I- I mean you look amazing everyday, but you're looking beautiful today."

Cassia frowned at him. They didn't speak a word for seven days and then he comes out and says that?

"Yeah, whatever, Potter," she sighed, making to go into the common room as Poppy stood loyally beside her.

"No, seriously, you're beautiful," Harry told her, grabbing her arm gently to turn her to him. "Do you wanna- go for a walk?"

Cassia sighed, looking beyond Harry into the common room, where Ron and Hermione were sat, looking confused.

"Wait a second," Cassia said, walking away from Harry and towards his best friends. "What's going on with him?" She asked in a low voice. "He seems so- different, from usual."

"He's on felix felicis," Ron answered with a laugh. "He's trying to- to do something, so he took it to be lucky for it."

Cassia sighed, rolling her eyes. "And what does me going for a walk with him have to do with any of this?"

"I don't know, he was saying he had to go to Hagrid's before you came in, but he always goes heart-eyed whenever you're around," Ron shrugged. "I would just go with it."

Cassia sighed heavily as she walked back to Harry, who had struck up a conversation with Poppy about plants.

"Right, come on Potter," she rolled her eyes, catching Harry's arm and almost dragging him away. "Let's go for a walk."

"Yes!" Harry grinned, a huge smile on his face.

Cassia walked at her normal pace, but Harry practically bounced around the corridors as he led them through the castle.

"I'm sorry we haven't been speaking so much lately," he told Cassia offhandedly. "I-I don't know if you know, but Ron and I went to the Room of Requirement yesterday, and threw the book away. It's gone now, I can't use it."

Cassia didn't react outwardly to this news, but it warmed her insides. To know he did that for her... he was a good person at heart.

And I'm the worst one he knows.

"You're so beautiful," Harry told her, looking at her as he interlinked his hand with hers. "I love you so much, Cassia. I was so afraid I would lose you when I cursed your brother."

"Potter..." she said, voice thick with emotion. "You're not gonna lose me."

But she didn't promise it. Because there was a chance it wasn't true.

She'd already lost her.

"You're the best thing that's ever happened to me," Harry disclosed. "Like, I couldn't imagine my life without you in it. You're so pretty, no beautiful, no breathtaking, and you're witty and badass and funny and smart, smarter than me, and-"

And before he could think up another word she didn't deserve to hear, Cassia stepped in front of him and kissed him, long and hard. She slotted her lips with his, his tongue sliding into her mouth as innocent turned to passionate. Cassia didn't deserve any of this, and she didn't want to do it, but she had to stop him talki-

"That was amazing," Harry told her as they separated, his eyes fluttering open. "D... does this mean you'll speak to me again?"

Cassia nodded, pursing her lips. "I... you didn't deserve that, Potter. I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be," shrugged Harry. "I was a real idiot, but I promise I'll never be one again. I love you so much, Cass."

Cassia nodded, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"You have to go down to Hagrid's, remember?" She said as she pulled away. "I'm gonna go back to the common room, but you have to go to Hagrid's."

"Oh, yeah," Harry shrugged. "Sorry, I forgot, you're too important."

Cassia cursed the butterflies, and his stupidly handsome face, and everything about this boy. She cursed it.

Because she didn't want anything of it to happen to her.

Because she didn't deserve it.