Mischief Managed

Chapter 5

"How is it that you got dragged around by a bloody dragon and didn't loose your leg?" Ron asked with a mouthful of food. "Shut up, Ron," Tom hissed, who then looked over to Cassie and said, "Ignore him."

Cassie smiled shyly, then continued eating. Ever since the first task, she's been bombarded by questions from several hundreds of students every single day. It got annoying, even if it was her friends, who obviously saw through that. 

Deciding to change the subject, Hermione asked her, "How are you and Ben? Still taking a break?" Cassie swallowed her food and nodded. Her and Ben decided to take a bit of a break ever since he accused her of putting her name in the Goblet. 

It's been about a week, but she misses him terribly. They hang out of course and still talk, but the kissing and touching and declarations of love is what she misses most of all. It was a mutual decision to take a break, but now she's regretting it. 

"Speaking of Benny-dick, where is the sod?" Martin asked. "He has detention with Snape," Ron told him. "Still paying the price for sticking up for Cass on the first day." Great because she needed a reminder of just how perfect Ben was at the moment. 

"Excuse me," she said, while getting up from the table and walking out of the great hall. She continued to walk until she was in front of Professor Snape's room. With a loud sigh, she sat herself down by the door and waited. 

She can't do this anymore. She feels so alone without him and with all the stress and pressure she's been feeling lately, she doesn't have anyone to lean on. Sure, she has Harry and Ron and Tom, but no one can compare to Ben. It was practically a month of them not speaking and now that they are, they're having a break!

It was only a few moments later when the door to the classroom opened. Cassie quickly stood up when she saw Ben walking out. He was clearly stunned to see her there. "Cass," he said, as he shut the door, "what...what are you doing here?"

She shook her head and told him, "I don't know. No, actually, I do, I...I was reminded of how amazing you were when Ron said you were serving detention because of me and...it made me miss you. A lot. Next thing I knew, I was sitting here waiting for you. I just...I need you, Ben." 

Her eyes started to water over and he immediately dropped his books and pulled her in for a hug, being mindful of her broken arm. "Oh my darling," he said, "you have me. You'll always have me." He rocked her and rubbed her back, relishing the feeling of her in his arms again. 

"Baby, this is all my fault," he told her.  "I should have talked to you, should have gotten your side of the story, but I believed everyone else's stupid opinions instead. I am never going to do that to you again, I swear." 

He held her tighter and felt her tears seep through his robe. "I love you, Ben," he heard her say. He kissed her head and said, "I love you so much, Cass." He held her for a few more minutes, then gently pulled her away and wiped her tears with his thumbs. 

After that, he leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss. "Come on," he said, while lacing their fingers together, "let's go grab something to eat. I'm starving." They walked hand-in-hand into the Great Hall and smiled when Martin, Tom and Harry cheered them on. 

Unfortunately, Ron was too busy getting heckled by Hermione about getting a dress robe from his mother. "Why do I need a dress robe?" He asked. Suddenly, a large package was dropped in front of Ben, making him almost jump out of his seat. 

His owl had dropped a box almost as big as Ron had gotten. "I think you got one, too," Cassie told him. Curiously, Ben opened the box that was from his parents and pulled out a sleek black dress robe. He looked over at Cassie and asked, "What in the hell is this for?"

**

"The Yule Ball, is first and foremost...a dance," Professor McGonagall announced, getting mixed reactions from both the boys and girls in the room. The only two who weren't complaining were Neville and Ben. Ben had his eyes glues to Cassie as she giggled to Hermione. 

He smiled, as he's never seen her so...girly. She hates dancing and dresses, so he was curious as to why she seemed giddy about all of this. Nevertheless, that thought went away when McGonagall and Ron started dancing to a waltz. 

Ben, Tom, Martin, Harry, Fred, and George were all trying to not die from hiding their laughter. Even a bunch of the girls were trying to hide it. "Everybody come together!" McGonagall announced and all the girls stood up, but the boys stayed seated. 

Ben looked over to Cassie and saw she was the only one still sitting. With a small smirk, he got up and strode over to her. "May I have this dance, beautiful?" He asked with his hand extended out to her. 

All of the girls sighed dreamily at him, then glared at the other boys who haven't so much as nudged out of their seats. "Ben...I have one arm," she quietly told him. He shrugged, then took her good hand and led her to stand up. 

He took her out in the middle of the room, had her put her good arm around his neck, then place both of his hands on her waist. "Just follow my lead," he told her. He started moving and she went along with him. 

They were in perfect sync and gliding around the room like they were on air. When the song stopped, Ben gently dipped her and they got an applause from everybody. 

After that class, it seemed like everyone was on high alert about finding dates to the ball. Harry, Ron and Tom were the most stressed because they didn't have girlfriends like Ben and Martin. They also couldn't talk to a girl to save their lives. 

Ben didn't formally ask Cassie to the dance until about two weeks later. Cassie just assumed they were automatically going together, but that all changed one morning. She woke up to find flowers by her head that had a note attached to it.

She stretched and yawned, then blinked the sleep out of her eyes before reading the card that said; Follow the trail. She looked over at the floor and saw a trail of floating flower pedals. She noted that they came from the same flower Ben had taught her to grow with magic when they first met. 

So she got up and followed the trail that led out of the girl's common room until it ended at the railing of the stairs. She looked out into the common room and saw Ben standing in the middle of the room with a wide grin on his face. 

With a wave of his wand, the trail of flowers floated into the air above him and spelled out; Will you go to the ball with me? It was the most beautiful thing Cassie has seen! As quickly as she could, she ran down the stairs and went into his open arms. 

"So...is that a yes?" He asked. She looked up at him and said, "It's definitely a yes."