𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑠𝘩𝑎𝑑𝑒'𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝗁.𝗉. 𝗇𝖾𝗑𝗍 𝗀𝖾𝗇.

.nine.

Cas lifted her head off of Ophelia's shoulder as Slughorn gave the go-ahead to start making the potion of the day.

"Hey," She tapped Ophelia's shoulder, "Did he say what page the recipe was on?" Ophelia rolled her eyes.

"Yes, of course, he did." Cas gestured for her to continue. "But of course you wouldn't know that because you were too busy using my shoulder as a pillow." Ophelia shot her an accusatory glare as they stared each other down.

"Well?" Cas continued, "What page?" Ophelia looked down and ran her hands through her long hair and looked down.

"I don't know," Ophelia mumbled as Cas laughed.

"Unbelievable."

"What?" Exclaimed Ophelia, "Why do you think it's so important for you to pay attention? Because I sure as hell don't." Cas rolled her eyes and leaned over to where Al was sitting. She purposely kept her eyes trained on Al, even though every single fiber in her body wanted to look at Scorpius who was sitting right next to her best friend. It was almost as if she could feel his disapproving gaze on her. She shook it off and asked,

"What page is the recipe on?" Al grinned as Scorpius scoffed. Al opened his mouth to answer Cas, but Scorpius put a hand on his shoulder, and Al must have seen the mischievous glint in his eyes because he quickly shut his mouth.

"Why don't you find it yourself?" Scorpius interrupted smoothly, "Oh, wait, were you not listening?" Cas rolled her eyes and sent Scorpius a sarcastic smile, ignoring how her heart pounded, and her stomach flipped.

"The book has six-hundred pages, Malfoy." Cas spat, "I don't know if you're too thick to comprehend that, but that's a lot of pages." Cas' mocking tone caused Scorpius' mouth to quirk up in a condescending smirk.

Scorpius leaned over Al with an eyebrow raised and a look of mock concern painted over his face,

"Guess you're just gonna have to ask Professor Slughorn, aren't you." Cas' blood boiled as she clenched her jaw.

"You are the worst Malfoy." Cas seethed as she sat back down. Her stomach churned with anger as she saw the triumphant glint flash across Scorpius' eyes.

Cas reluctantly raised her hand and smiled politely as Slughorn looked up from his desk.

"Yes, Ms.--" He paused, clearly struggling to remember Cas' name. He looked down at a paper on his desk. "Cassianne Weasley?" Cas looked down at the desk as she felt her cheeks heat up at the use of her full name. Nobody snickered so that was a plus, nobody but Scorpius fucking Malfoy.

"Professor, with all due respect, how do you forget a name like that? Such a mouthful." That comment alone made the rest of the class start to giggle. Cas felt her heart pound as her anger towards the blond grew, wanting nothing more to hex him until his gorgeous face was unrecognizable. "I mean what idiot decides to name their poor child Cassianne."

"Mr. Malfoy," Slughorn interrupted, "That's enough." Malfoy nodded and hid a snicker behind his hand.

Cas clenched her wand in one hand and her fist in the other, as she sat down, doing everything in her power to not attack Scorpius. She felt Ophelia put a hand on her shoulder, as she shot Cas a warning glance, trying--and failing--to calm Cas down.

Then she heard it, something so quiet that nobody but Cas, Ophelia, and Al heard. Scorpius had coughed, but in between his "coughs" Cas heard him whisper, "Little Orphan Annie." Both Ophelia and Cas whipped around. She felt her blood rush through her ears as she stood up turning slowly to face Scorpius.