Tale of Four Houses: A Tiktok Story

Part 6 - Does She Like Me, Or Does She Not?

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Kara said, putting both of her hands on Cass' shoulders. "Slow down. Who was where, and what had who in it? And take a deep breath first," she added with a lopsided smile.

Cass copied Kara in doing a few round of deep breaths. "Ok, now start over," Kara said, crossing her legs and leaning against the window as she perched on the window seat in Lexie's room.

Lexie and Myrta sat cross-legged on the floor, watching silently and waiting for an explanation. Cassandra, who sat next to Kara on the window seat, looking at all of them before speaking.

"Last night," Cassandra tried to explain again. "A boy was in my room-"

"Oh?" Kara said, a grin spreading across her face.

Cassandra smacked her face with her hand. "No - not like that! He appeared in my room. Out of thin air! And we talked for a bit... then he disappeared. It wasn't a dream - I definitely checked."

Kara made a hmm-ing sound as she thoughtfully digested that. "Alright, that is strange. You sure he's not one of the ghosts of Hogwarts?"

"I'm sure," Cassandra nodded. "I even went to check the library for the Hogwarts records to see if I could find a picture of the boy to find his name..." she trailed off.

"And?" Myrta prompted.

"Yeah, don't leave us hanging!" Lexie begged, laying down on her stomach and propping her chin up with her hands.

"I found him," Cassandra finished, taking out the book from her bag and opening to the page. She pointed to the face of Riddle. "That's him. Tom Riddle."

"Tom... Riddle?" Kara asked, jaw dropping in surprise. "The Tom Riddle? You're sure about this?"

"Positive."

They sat in stunned silence for a moment, and Myrta spoke up. "Did he express his intentions?"

Cass shook her head. "Not a word about it."

"Shouldn't we tell one of the professors? Or the Headmaster?" asked Lexie nervously, sitting up and looking warily at the book. "Shouldn't they know?"

"I don't think so," Cass said, looking at Kara.

Kara nodded in agreement. "If he's not in bodily form, I don't think there's much to worry about. Besides, we don't want to create widespread panic that Voldemort is back."

"But he is, isn't he?" Lexie pointed out. "Just not in Voldemort-y form."

"Well, yes, but if he's a ghost he can't do any harm to anyone. You've seen how the Hogwarts ghosts don't do any real harm when they parade through the halls and seemingly trashes the place but turns out they didn't?" Kara asked her, using a reassuring tone. "There's no imminent danger."

"No danger as of now," Myrta added, pointedly. "While he can't do any physical damage, he could do psychological damage. Twist people to do his bidding."

"True," Cass nodded, thoughtfully. "But if someone were to get twisted around, we'd be on them immediately because we'll be purposely looking for it."

"I still don't like it," Lexie muttered under her breath.  "But I suppose you guys are right."

Myrta heaved herself to her feet. "C'mon gang, we got to get going or else we'll be late for first period."

The group said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Cassandra headed toward her private tutoring session with the retired professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, but a figure ran out of a crowd of students and approached her.

"Cassandra, wait!" a boys voice called.

Oh great, Cassandra rolled her eyes. It's that Malfoy boy again. She stopped and turned around. "What is it this time, Malfoy?" she asked with narrowed eyes.

Dacian fidgeted nervously. "I, uh, just wanted to apologize for what I said yesterday. It was... really dumb."

Cass sighed. "It's... fine. But if you were trying to get my attention, what made you think that was the way to do it?"

"Some of the guys said it would work," Dacian muttered, giving a group of boys a glare and they laughed at him in return. "Guess it was a joke to them, then."

Cassandra smiled tightly. "I guess. Well, we're going to be late for class... but thanks for the apology."

Dacian seemed ecstatic that she graced him with a smile. "See you around!" he called, and jogged to join his buddies.

Cass watched them go, cocking her head in a thoughtful manner, before turning around and heading to her tutoring.

"How did it go?" a Slytherin boy asked Dacian in a teasing tone when the Malfoy boy rejoined them.

Dacian playfully shoved him. "Thanks for nothing, Cam. That advise yesterday was supposed to be a joke, wasn't it?"

Cam shrugged, grinning. "It did get you two to talk, right? It was better than John's idea," he pointed out, elbowing another Slytherin boy who was walking with their group.

"Hey!" John retorted. "Mine was ro-man-tic. Unlike yours, Cameron. The most important thing is that now Dace-the-Ace here has got a chance," he said, draping his arm around Dacian's shoulders and tousling Dacian's hair playfully. "I think she likes you, mate."

Dacian ducked out of John's grasp. "You think?"

"Sure," nodded John. "Just don't take any more of Cam's advise and you're golden."

"I heard that!" Cameron muttered, and they all laughed. "But seriously, Dace, the way to get a Gryffindor's attention is not through romantics... it's through using skill and maybe some bravery. Just think about it!" he called over his shoulder as he split up from the group.

"I will, thanks Cam," Dacian chuckled. "See you!"

"See you!" Cam returned, and disappeared around the corner.

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**Authors note: Sorry it's a short one today, guys! College classes started up and so did musical theatre rehearsals, so I'm finding it difficult to write something substantial at the moment. I'll try to make the next one longer and more interesting! Also, if you follow me on TikTok, I'll be joining a new tag soon called #asunderland, so definitely go check out that tag and that story line. It's super interesting! Love you guys!**