Always My Almost

four

It had been five days since the last time Cassie was forced to do rounds with James. They still had their daily duties, but Cassie had been paired with Remus while James was off doing Head duties with Lily.

She was grateful for the break James had given her. It allowed her to focus on Quidditch and spend time trying to mend her crumbling friend group. Plus - spending extra time with the tall Gryffindor wasn't the worst thing in the world, she quite enjoyed Remus' company.

Ever since tryouts, Regulus and Lina had become insufferable. Regulus was spending more time with Ambrosia and Lina refused to even be in the same room as the Black heir unless she was required to. And even then, the witch made sure there was an impressive distance between them. Lina acted as if Regulus no longer existed. Cassie knew it hurt Regulus to no longer have Lina by his side, but until he could figure out what he was doing wrong, Cassie couldn't help him.

Adrian even began doing his best to keep the group together, but even he was failing. The pair had tried sitting down with Lina and Regulus but they both stood firm in their decisions. Bloody stubborn Slytherins, she thought. Adrian was starting to feel the effects of their actions almost as much as Cassie, being in the middle of it all wasn't easy. At least it was bringing her closer to Adrian, the only two who could sit in a room together without starting an argument revolving around Regulus or Lina.

After seeing Madame Pomfrey, Cassie found out she had four bruised ribs from falling on Dorian Harper. Since they weren't broken, all Pomfrey could do for her was give her a few doses of Pain Potion before sending her on her way. The potions had since run out, leaving Cassie in enough pain that she still winced whenever she would bend over or move the wrong way.

Cassie was unusually stressed out this particular day and not even Severus cracking a joke could cheer her up. Everything was wrong, from the way her clothes felt on her skin, to the voices of her classmates. Cassie just wanted to curl up in Lina's arms and sleep the rest of the week away.

It started when Cassie awoke to the sound of Lina shouting at Adrian through the door, telling him that if Regulus wanted to see Cassie, he could get her himself. Lina had screamed into her pillow once he left, causing Cassie to startle. Cassie felt bad for the girl, truly, but she had been up most of the night due to the pain in her ribs. She was exhausted.

Regulus was no better, making her run drills with him instead of going to breakfast. Not only was she tired when she went to her first class, but she was also hungry. As the day went on, she only got worse. She had gotten a stern warning from her Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher - Professor Keys, for falling asleep in his class. He had put Harper on "Cassie Duty" for the rest of the period, which only meant he was to make sure she didn't doze off again.

This also happened to be one of the better parts of her day, getting to know Harper. He was respectful and proper, but he had a goofy side too. In order to keep her awake, Harper took to passing her notes and letting her do all the work in class hoping it would distract her long enough for the period to end. He knew what even a single detention would do to her and her reputation, and seemed to care a great deal about it. When class was over, Harper made sure to slip the notes into her bag with a smile before she left.

She was back in a horrible mood by the time potions rolled around. Sitting in her seat next to Snape, she had her head in her hands, trying to drown out all of the noise. She was absolutely not looking forward to having to watch James drool over Lily Evans. She couldn't even use Severus to piss him off whenever he was next to Lily, all his attention was always on her when she was near.

It stung, bad.

She was honestly considering ending her little agreement with Snape, no longer seeing the value in it. They had grown a lot closer due to their arrangement, but she was sure they were perfectly capable of remaining that way even after it ended. She didn't have time to approach the topic with Severus as Professor Slughorn exited his office in the back with an unnerving smile on his face.