The Great War

Avada...

When the calendar hit February, Cass had already been well on her way to recovery. After taking her first steps at Christmas, she was determined to get back on a broom before the final Quidditch matches. She needed the scouts to see her fly. Quidditch was her whole world and she was determined to get some sort of offer even if she killed herself doing so. The doctors finally gave her clearance to start walking around with only the use of crutches if she needed them. Cass was just thankful to not be restricted to her bed any longer. She had assumed that it meant she would be able to go back to school soon but her mother seemed to have other ideas.

"But I'm walking, mummy. I'm ready to go back." Cass had found Bella sitting in the library nursing a glass of fire whiskey. "Dr. Hoffman and Aunt Aviya said I'm a miracle. We already knew that but they also said I'm ready to go back to Hogwarts. I just know that flying is out of the question for another month."

"Your Aunt Aviya doesn't know what she is talking about and I'm beginning to doubt Dr. Hoffman. You couldn't move, Cass. No walking, no sitting up. You couldn't go to the bathroom. I helped Winky change your bed pan. It was quite disgusting now that I think about it."

Cass groaned, "but I can do all those things now, mummy. I don't need help anymore."

"You almost died, again. I really don't know what I would've done if you hadn't come back to me," she saw the disappointment in her daughter's eyes. "Listen kitten. It's not you. I trust you so much. I know you won't fly until you are cleared. Aunt Aviya even offered to go back to working at the school for a few months to keep an eye on things. It's the school I don't trust. How am I meant to send you back there when the headmistress has her head so far up her own ass that she can't see what happened?"

"I understand that mummy. I hate McGonagall, too. Ginny didn't even vouch for my flying skills. That's a shot to the ego."

"Come sit down," Bella patted the seat next to her.
Cass sat down carefully next to her mother. She wasn't in a lot of pain anymore but she still felt tightness when sitting or standing for too long or after a night of lying down. The doctors told her it would fade overtime. "It's that face you made sitting down that worries me. I know you are still hurting, kitten. You are so much like me and that's a scary thought sometimes. I would've done anything to get back out on the pitch."

"But I won't fly until they clear me. I swear it, mummy. I just want to go back to school. It's my seventh year and I've missed so much of it. It's valentines next week and I really really wanted to be with Sam. Take her to Hogsmeade. Maybe to see the squid. I don't know, I haven't planned it yet. I just want to go see her."

"Cass..." Bella's voice was soft and Cass knew that was about to be the end of the conversation.

"Please at least think about it mummy. It would mean so much to me to go back."

Bella didn't trust that school to be able to provide the care her daughter needed while finishing her recovery. With that Weasley girl still running around unpunished, what was to stop her from hurting Cass even more? "You know you can't sleep with your girlfriend right now. Especially at Hogwarts and don't even think about using my rooms for that."

Cass's mouth dropped open, "that's not what... no... I was insinuating that. Mummy. No," her entire face turned bright red. "We haven't even. No."

"By the color of your face I think it's safe to assume that you are still a virgin." She tried to hold in her laughter at the sheer amount of embarrassment Cass just went through.

"Yes mummy," she closed her eyes trying to hold her embarrassment inside, "we haven't had sex yet. Sam wants to wait and I respect that."

"Absolutely nothing wrong with waiting."