Always My Almost

three

A week had passed since the beginning of term and Cassie already wanted this year to be over. Much to Lina's dismay, after only four days of being back at Hogwarts, Regulus had begun hanging out with Ambrosia Travers on a much too regular basis for either witch's liking.

Ambrosia and Lina had never gotten along, given that the Travers girl never had anything nice to say about or to Lina. Cassie obviously had a problem with this, her best friend always came first. She had tried talking to Regulus about this, but he claimed that they were purely potions partners and nothing more. Wizards, Cassie's mind screamed.

Lina had begun acting strange, which threw the entire group dynamic off. She had distanced herself from Regulus, which resulted in distancing herself from Adrian as well. Cassie was now caught in between it all, not wanting to choose her best friend over her brother, but she agreed with Lina that it was a horrid thing for him to do to her. Especially with how Ambrosia treats her.

She hadn't seen much of her twin or Adrian in recent days, but it wasn't as if she really had time to dwell on it.

Since the first day in potions class, Cassie and Severus had decided to begin studying together to make their ruse seem more realistic. They had let their friends in on the plan to avoid any unwanted questions from them, but other than that, no one knew what they had in store. Lucius had been a bit jealous of Severus for taking up so much of her time, but he understood that the pair needed to get their revenge on her brother and his idiot friends.

In fact, Lucius' jealousy worked to their advantage, making it seem more believable in public. Cassie actually found herself really enjoying her time spent with Severus, it was filled with interesting conversations and intellectual debates. Severus had a side to him that she had never seen before - he was funny.

He had made her laugh more in a few hours than she had in a few years. Other than his weird obsession over Lily Evans, she couldn't figure out why the Marauders hated him so much. He was surprisingly witty for such a quiet man.

Unfortunately for the witch, spending time with Severus meant that Sirius and James were constantly watching them. It had been funny and a part of the plan at first, but as she grew to genuinely like spending one-on-one time with her friend, it became a sudden pain in her arse. She couldn't even laugh at anything he said without hearing one of the wizards in red making an exaggerated gagging noise.

This only fueled the fire. It caused the two Silvers to step up their game. They began holding hands under the dinner table and cuddling up on the sofas in the back of the library while they read. Cassie found that she craved human touch after being starved of it her whole life. She almost felt guilty for imagining James whenever she felt Severus wrap his arm around her, but she knew Severus felt the same as her - picturing Lily whenever Cassie would run her finger along his back.

In only a short week they two had come to an understanding. They both needed physical contact and they both needed to take a piss at four Gryffindor pricks. It worked for them, no feelings attached. But in the rare moments, the young witch would become sad with the realization that the more she kept up this game, the more she craved James.

James had become more insufferable than usual while on rounds, making sure she knew how much he despised even the idea of her and Severus. He wasn't unbearable all the time, though. He had his moments that reminded Cassie just why she fancied him, why she couldn't get him out of her head. Authority looked good on James Potter, and he knew it. Ever since the first night with their encounter with Deacon, James offered to turn every corner before she did, in case the Greengrass boy was lurking on the other side. It was a small thing that Cassie was extremely grateful for, he knew how she reacted whenever she was in Deacon's presence and the toll it took on her.