It was two days before the Christmas holidays.

Cassia would have to leave for Headquarters after Draco left for Malfoy Manor, in order to avoid suspicion. Because of this, it was decided she would remain at school until the first day of the holidays, then Dumbledore would let her in on the secret.

They had went and talked to him the night before last, and he had warned Cassia that she would be keeping this secret from her family, and that she would have to be okay with that to be let in on it. Cassia had said she was never going back to her family, so that wasn't an issue.

So Dumbledore had told her the address. Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. Cassia had noted this, and her and Poppy had rejoyced in the dorm that night. She was going with them. She was going to Headquarters.

On their last day, they had a DA lesson. The Room of Requirement had really decked out, a Christmas tree and multiple wreaths appearing there for the occasion.

Neville even managed the disarming charm during the lesson.

At the end, Harry gathered them round.

"So, that's it for this lesson," he said. "Now, we're not going to be meeting again until after the holidays, so just keep practicing and doing the best you can, and well done, everyone! Great work!"

Everyone clapped for him, and on their way out, everyone thanked him. Cassia smiled gently, watching them all go.

Then she watched Cho touch Harry's shoulder, and smile at him, saying thank you for the lesson.

Cassia turned away, tears blinding her eyes, as she headed over to the mirror.

The mirror in the corner, where they had decided would be their dedication mirror. Up there was a picture of the old Order (the one James and Lily Potter had been in) and a few family members that had been killed. And there was also one other picture up there. The boy who had started all this.

Cedric.

Cassia looked up at his picture, sobbing silently. She wanted him back. But not as a boyfriend. She just wanted him back as a friend that she could talk to, could tell stuff to-

"Cassia?"

Cassia recognised that voice.

"Potter," she said, as the boy came to face her by the mirror. She quickly wiped her tears.

"Are- are you okay, Cass?" Harry frowned at her.

"Yeah, I'm fine, why would you think I wasn't?" Cassia snapped.

"Well, you've sort of been angry for a while," Harry told her. "I just wanted to make sure you were fine."

"Yeah," Cassia said. "I'm fine."

However, on the word, she knew she was lying, and she knew he knew she was lying.

Tears welled up in her eyes at the kind and so fucking earnest look on his face.

"Cass..." Harry stepped forward-

"Stop calling me that!" Cassia snapped, dodging him. "Why are you even here? Shouldn't you be off with your girlfriend or something?"

"My girlfriend?" Harry seemed shocked.

Cassia gave a watery scoff. "Yeah, Potter, like you don't know."

"No, I don't," Harry shook his head. "What's going on, Cassia?"

Cassia rolled her eyes. "Hermione wasn't wrong when she said Cho couldn't take her eyes off you, and now, thanks to both of you, I've got bruises that I've tried to get off my body for months back!"

"Wha-? I don't like Cho," Harry said instantly. "Bu- bruises- months-?"

Cassia looked down, tears filling her eyes.

Then, before either of them knew it, she was throwing herself into Harry's arms, body wracking with sobs. Harry wrapped his arms round her, resting his back against the mirror and letting them fall to the ground.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Cassia sobbed again and again. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so-"

"Cass, stop," Harry told her, squeezing her gently. "You've got nothing to be sorry for."

"A-all summer, my father used me as a slave," Cassia sobbed, heaving breaths in. She couldn't breathe but she didn't care. She- she needed to tell him. "He made me cook and clean for him, and if I didn't do it right or on time he'd hit me, or slap me, a-and he tried to stop me from coming to Hogwarts and I had to cover up my bruises for months after I got back a-a-and-"

"Cass, stop," Harry said. "Breathe, please. You have to breathe."

"I- I can't-"

"Breathe with me then," Harry said, finding her hand and placing it on his chest. "In... out... in... out..."

It took a while to calm her down. Cassia was in a proper state about it, and in addition with the stess from the Harry and Cho thing, her state was off the scale.

Once her breathing had evened out, Harry awkwardly removed her hand from his chest and Cassia rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

"Let me guess, you're not gonna tell Cho about this?"

"Did you not listen to me earlier?" Harry asked her. "I don't like Cho."

Cassia scoffed. "Yeah, right."

"I'm serious-!"

"No, you're lying," Cassia said as she got up, starting to walk away. "I know when someone's trying to spare my feelings, Potte-"

"Cassia."

Harry had taken her arm and turned her round, looking at her.

Cassia crossed her arms. "What?"

Harry looked at her. "What are you so afraid of?"

All Cassia could do was scoff, and raise her eyebrows. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"I- I mean," Harry took a deep breath. "I mean that every time we get close, or every time you tell me something vulnerable about yourself, you pull away. And I don't want that to happen."

Cassia stared at him in disbelief. He had caught her.

She looked down, eyes filling up with tears.

"Cass..." Harry looked at her. "Tell me."

"I- I don't let myself get close to you because-" Cassia sobbed. "Because I'm a burden to everyone in my life."

"That's not tru-"

"Yes it is!" Cassia cried. "Poppy? The best person ever, but I cause her so much hassle. We didn't speak all holidays. My father? Hates me. Always has. Would prefer life without me. My mother? Wanted a daughter she could coddle and wrap in cotton wool, and that's not me. Draco? Embarrassed of me, at this point. And everyone else? I cause everyone a problem, so much so that I'm just the problem!" She sobbed hard, tears falling down her face. "Potter, I don't even want to think about how much hell I would cause you if I- if we- because I'm such a burden to everyone!"

She finished her confession still sobbing, still overcome with emotion. She was beyond wiping her tears now. She was beyond trying to hide from him.

But all Harry did was take a step closer to her.

"You're not a burden to me," he told her. "You're not, Cassia. You- you're the greatest person I've ever met, and I don't think there's anyone else on this planet like you."

Cassia just stared at him, absolutely shocked.

"You've always been so headstrong, and so synical, and so smart," Harry said. "And I've always admired that about you, even when I hated you. And you're brave, Cassia, braver than me, and you never give up. And even though you're upset and crying right now, you're still the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

Cassia looked at him. "Harry, that's... that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me."

But Potter wasn't interested in that, he was only interested in the first word.

"You- you called me Harry," he told the girl, in absolute shock.

Cassia looked back at him.

"Don't count on hearing it again."

A small noise above them made Cassia look up, seeing none other than mistletoe above them, flowers magically growing on it.

And before either of them could think, before either of them could say anything else, they were both leaning in.

And Cassia couldn't speak, couldn't think, couldn't do anything but close her eyes and wait for Harry's lips to reach hers-

"Harry! Cassia! Where have you been?"

In a flash, Ron ran into the Room of Requirement, face slightly flushed and panting.

Fuck.

Cassia could feel her cheeks reddening as Ron said. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Cassia said quickly, exchanging a very awkward glance with Harry.

"Oh, right," Ron said. "Come on, then!"

As he chivvied them along, Cassia internally cursed herself.

Because nothing was going to be the same between her and Potter anymore.

And it was all her fault.

❦︎❦︎❦︎

Cassia and Poppy stayed awake for way longer than they should've that night. They had waited until Hermione, Parvati and Lavender were all asleep then sneaked down into the empty common room. There, Cassia had rehashed the entire story to Poppy, who had been shocked.

"What the heck? You and Harry almost kissed?" She asked.

"Yeah, and I think we would've if Ron hadn't burst in," Cassia shook her head. "I just- everything moved so fast. One second I was telling him my trauma and the next he was listing all the reasons I was amazing, then we were almost kissing!"

"I mean, if I wasn't already I diehard Potia fan, I would say I was surprised," Poppy shrugged.

"Oh my- can you stop with the names?" Cassia demanded. "Besides, I don't even know if I like Harry, I just know I'm annoyed about him and Cho."

"Okay, A, you said Harry, which is not normal for you, and B, that feeling is not annoyance, my friend, it's jealousy," Poppy smirked.

Cassia didn't even deny it, she just lay back, letting her eyes drift up to the ceiling.

"I'm just so confused," she murmured.

"What about?" Poppy asked.

"Well, first off, about why I like him," Cassia looked at her. "I mean, maybe he's hot or whatever, but on the inside, he's still Potter. Just, everything I used to hate, I now think is..."

"Nice?" Poppy raised her eyebrows. "Cassia, it's normal to change your feelings towards someone. If you like Harry, you like Harry. You can't help it."

"Yeah, but..." Cassia trailed off.

Poppy raised her eyebrows. "But what?"

"But... I'd cause him so much trouble," Cassia looked down. "If we did date, and Draco found out, he'd write to my father immediately and I would get killed. And Harry, too, probably."

"So?" Poppy shrugged. "If you dated, you'd date secretly. That's not a big deal. There's probably loads of secret couples at Hogwarts that we don't know about."

Cassia sighed, raising her eyebrows. "You really want this to happen, don't you?"

"Well, I can't say I don't," Poppy chuckled. "But it's not about what I want, Cass. This is about you."

And Cassia knew that.

"D'you think..." she looked down, tears welling up already. "D'you think Cedric would be angry at me? Y'know for... moving on so fast?"

"No, silly," Poppy told her, wiping her tears gently. "I think he'd be proud of you."

Cassia shook her head. "Nah, he wouldn't."

"Oh yeah?" Poppy raised her eyebrows. "Listen, personally, I think Cedric and you were never going to last. Not because he was bad or you were, but I think you two would've called it quits and went back to friends eventually."

Cassia let this wash over her, looking down.

"You're a fucking genius, has anyone ever told you that?" She looked at her best friend.

"All the time," Poppy smirked. "When are you gonna tell Harry?"

Cassia shook her head, letting out a sigh. "Whenever I feel ready to," she admitted. "I don't want to rush it, and honestly, he's so busy at the moment, with the DA, and Umbitch, and the Orde-"

"Poppy!"

Cassia was cut short as Ron and Harry came running into the room.

"Poppy-" Harry panted. "Need to- saw your-"

"What's going on?" Poppy asked, her and Cassia getting up. "What's happened?"

Harry was panting heavily, and a sheen of sweat covered his body. Ron looked equally as confused as Poppy and Cassia.

"Poppy- it's your mum," Harry said in a rush. "She- she must've been on guard for the Order- and she got attacked by Voldemort's snake-"

"What?!"

"- and she was lying on the ground all bloody and-"

"Harry, stop!" Cassia cried out, making the boy fall silent. "Where was this?"

"The- I don't know where it was," Harry shook his head. "I-I've been dreaming about this door for months and it was through there, but I don't know wh-"

"Poppy? Poppy, speak to me," Cassia said, squeezing her best friend's shoulder.

Poppy had gone into a sort of shock, her eyes wide and cloudy, her mouth open.

"Mum was... attacked?" She managed to squeak.

Harry nodded.

"We need to go to McGonagall," Cassia said. "Now."

❦︎❦︎❦︎

Not before long, Cassia, Harry, Ron and Poppy were rushing along the corridor with McGonagall, lit wand in hand, leading them to Dumbledore's office.

When they got there, they found that Parvati and Padma had also been woke up and taken there, and they were quickly fed the story. Harry had one of his weird dreams where he saw into Voldemort's mind, and in it, he saw Nagini, his snake, attacking Pippa.

Not before long, Cassia, Poppy, Parvati, Padma and Ron were sitting in the office, McGonagall standing and Harry facing Dumbledore, who, strangely, had his back turned to all of them.

"In the dream, we're you standing next to the victim, or looking down at the scene?" He asked, still not turning round.

"Neither, I..." Harry inadvertently glanced towards the others. "It was like I..."

He trailed off, seemingly not wanting to say what had actually hapened.

"Professor, could you please just tell me what's happening-?" He raised his voice-

"Everhardt," Dumbledore walked over to one of the portraits on the wall, still not looking at Harry. "Pippa's on guard duty tonight. Make sure she's found by the right people."

"Yes, sir," Everhardt nodded, vanishing swiftly from his portrait.

Harry was getting restless. "But sir-"

"Phineas," Dumbledore moved onto the next portrait. "You must go to your portrait in Grimmauld Place. Tell them that Pippa Patil is gravely injured and her girls will be arriving there soon, by portkey."

Cassia looked to Poppy, who's face conveyed worry and sadness and fear. Cassia knew she would have to wait a few days before getting to Grimmauld Place, and it hurt that she couldn't be there for her best friend.

"They got her, Albus," Everhardt said as he reappeared in his portrait. "It was close, but they think she'll make it. What's more, the Dark Lord failed to acquire it."

Acquire what? The weapon the Order were talking about-?

"Ah, thank goodness," Dumbledore sighed, still not looking. "Thank you, Ev-"

"LOOK AT ME!"

Cassia jumped violently, looking, concerned, at Harry, who had just yelled. Dumbledore turned to face him, their eyes making contact.

Harry was panting, sweat dripping down his neck. His voice was vulnerable, and sad, as he asked softly. "What's happening to me?"

Dumbledore seemed speechless, staring at the boy with wide eyes.

Cassia couldn't help but be shocked.

What was happening to him?