[Spitfire : Chapter Forty-Seven]

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24 November, 1994

        Cassie Snow wasn't the best at maintaining patience. Minutes felt like hours and hours felt like days. Waiting for her letter back from B.S backward was like a never-ending hell. Every time she saw an owl her heart would drop, Mayhem took notice of this and made sure to enter the Great Hall every morning—even if he had nothing to deliver.

    Cassie was ready to zap the bird and feed him to a poor man in Hogsmeade.

     When the first task of the Triwizard Tournament arrived, and Cassie still had no word back from B.S backward, she assumed she was to stay out of it. A letter addressing the statement would've made her feel much better, but she would have to trust her gut.

     On the twenty-fourth of November, Cassie was a mess of anxiety and excitement. The night before she barely slept, and when she got ready in the morning all she could think about was Harry god damn Potter. Rose and Fiona were worried, not understanding why their carefree best friend looked ready to set a curtain on fire. Cassie wished she could tell them why she was so concerned over the boy she spoke to a maximum five times, but she kept silent. Putting on a smile and hoping they would drop the issue.

    Thankfully, the winter coldness subsided her worry for a few moments as she searched through her trunks for something warm to wear. Leather jackets were all she could find. "Bloody hell." Cassie mumbled to herself, pulling out a Gryffindor red leather jacket and placing it on. The jacket had no effect whatsoever, except the extraction of a compliment from Rose who said Cassie looked, "Magnifique."

      With Cassie's growing relationship with Avonte Mauss, she easily translated the French word to 'gorgeous.'

"I'm going to shiver until all of my body fat is burned, and then I will dissolve into freaking corpse dust and get blown away in by the wind." Cassie complained as she and her two winterly well-dressed friends walked down the corridor towards the Great Hall.

"It's only fifteen degrees, Cas." Rose rolled her eyes. "Merlin, if you're acting like this now, how will you survive January?"

"Like how I did last January and the January before," Cassie said, cracking her knuckles as if preparing for a battle. "by constantly complaining and keeping myself warm with my breath."

"Fantastic plan." Fiona giggled. "I could've given you a jacket, y'know. Papa always sends me extras."

Cassie thought back to Fiona's puffy jackets, ones that made noises with every movement and were smothered with glitter. "Er, no thanks." She rubbed her leathered arm. "I'll suffer."

"Suit yourself." Fiona shrugged, looking absolutely pleased in her fashion-ugly jacket, but most likely extremely rich source of heat.

"Kennedy wanted to talk to me before the task," Rose said as they made their ways to the enormous doors of the Great Hall. "alone, for some reason. We'll meet you there when it starts?"

The blonde-haired girl departed from her friends, Cassie and Fiona made their way to the Gryffindor table. Toward the end, Harry Potter was being swarmed by students interested in his well-being before the first task. Cassie pitied the boy, nearly inclined to run over masked as Professor McGonagall to scare away the other pests.

Last time Cassie morphed into a professor, she barely managed to morph back. She spent the weekend (thankfully) with a hooked-nose identical to Professor Snape's. Ever since, she was terrified of changing her face entirely.

Apparently staring at Harry too long, Fiona looked between the younger boy and her best friend with wide eyes. "Er, Cas, do you have something to say?"

"Huh?"

"You're staring Harry Potter down like you're about to eat him."

"I've cut Potter out of my diet." Cassie chuckled nervously. "Kidding, I was, er, staring in space. Didn't sleep much last night."

"You seem to stare in Harry's direction a lot." Fiona mumbled, relief swelling in her chest as she's finally stating what she's wanted to say for ages. "Is there anything . . going on?"

"No." Cassie said, her eyes flicking back and forth hoping to find a distraction. The Weasley twins were non-existent, as well as Avonte. He was still in the Hospital Wing. Isaac, most likely, wasn't awake yet, and Cassie realized she needed more friends.

     "Liar, but if you don't want to tell me, that's fine." Fiona said, turning to her plate silently and nibbling at her breakfast.

Cassie's hair flared pink as she looked down at the table guiltily. She wanted to tell her friends everything, so she didn't have to lie anymore and always keep them on edge. But by telling them that Harry was her god-brother, she'd also have to explain how. That would lead into B.S backwards entire story being exposed, somehow, and Cassie becoming a traitor. Cassie made sure to keep her mouth shut, Fiona noticeably sighed as her own guilt began to override her anger.

"What do you think Kennedy needed to talk to Rose about?" Fiona asked, munching on a raspberry.

"Something personal, most likely. Seeing as she wanted to see her alone." Cassie's eyebrows danced at the last word, her lips contorting to a grin while looking at Fiona. The girl, bless her innocence, shrugged and continued eating her breakfast.

    A figure by the Slytherin table stood up, their bright green hair catching the metamorphmagus' eye. At first, Cassie was intrigued—she was the only person at Hogwarts with colored hair. And now this chick? Then Cassie realized who it was, her eyes widened even larger than they were before when she noticed Myrin Krow walking directly towards her.

    "Fi, hide me." Cassie panicked, attempting to shrink behind her.

     "No, wha—what're you doing?"

     "Krow."

     "I thought you liked Krow."

     "I-I do," Cassie said, her voice betraying her with a crack. "I enjoy her presence, occasionally. But Merlin, Fi, I cannot talk to her today."

     "Then you should get out of here," Fiona said, turning around to face Cassie. "a Ravenclaw is talking to her. Run while you still can."

     "You are a lifesaver." Cassie said, planting a grateful kiss on Fiona's cheek and then grabbing a croissant for herself before running out of the Great Hall. It was silent, everyone was either eating breakfast or finding seats out by the Quidditch Pitch. Fred and George were there, making bets and selling side trinkets. Cassie was invited to join the night before but they planned on waking up at six in the morning, she kindly passed that offer.

     Deciding she'd go and visit Avonte before heading to the stadium, Cassie began her long trek to the hospital wing that was on the other side of the Great Hall. She refused to take the easy way by quickly running like a lunatic across the cafeteria hall, she couldn't risk being seen by Myrin. The girl was great, truly, but she was also incredibly overbearing. A lot like Marcella, Isaac's friend, just less—no, they were the exact same.

     Cassie took the long way, hoping all the twist and turns she took would eventually lead her to Avonte's current residency.

     The rattle of a chain startled the girl, her hair flickering white before she changed it back blue. She peered down the long corridor, her eyes squinting. They widened to the size of dinner plates when a broom closet door abruptly swung open. On the floor was a chain, drug by an incredibly tall? figure. Cassie took a step back, deciding to just continue her way silently instead of confront whatever Hogwarts being was ransacking the closet.

     She stepped on a stone that slipped under her shoe, flinging against a wall. Down by the closet, Peeves the Poltergeist looked her way. Around his neck he wore numerous chains, most likely imitating the Bloody Baron, and he had many balloons balanced in his arms. On the ground was a bucket, filled to the brim with even more balloons. Cassie's heart dropped as she had just caught Peeves in a mischief planning phase.

     Cassie automatically placed her hands up. "Peeves, I saw nothing. Promise."

      Peeves tilted his head and cheshire grin erupted on his ghostly face. What was Cassie thinking? She couldn't reason with a poltergeist, their entire reasoning for existence was to wreak havoc. "Wee ickle shifty-bones! Shouldn't you be eating breakfast?"

       Cassie chuckled anxiously, holding up her croissant. "I-I'm headed somewhere."

     Peeves zoomed forward, Cassie jumped back and eyed the balloons in his arms wearily. She wanted to reach for her wand, but it was in her boot. Any movement and she was confident she'd be covered in whatever substance Peeves was toying with. "Where to, Snow-storm?"

      Cassie's eyes lit up with an idea. "To meet with Fred and George, actually. You're pals with them, aren't you?"

     "Weasel one and Weasel two are simply business partners." Peeves grinned. "Shifty little Snow-storm, are you trying to frighten me?"

      "No."

     "Peeves never gets frightened, Peeves is the fright." He picked a balloon up into his palm, bouncing it up and down like a bouncy ball in his hand.

      "That's quite a job, Peeves." Cassie said, slowly walking back. "I'll leave you to it—"

     "I wonder what pretty ickle shifty shift Snow-storm looks with red hair."

     Cassie opened her mouth, ready to offer changing her hair, but Peeves arm swung backward in an impossibly fast motion and next thing she new, her face was splattered red with paint.

     "Interesting, very very interesting." Peeves said thoughtfully. "And green?"

     Cassie yanked out her wand and pointed it aimlessly at Peeves. "Don't you dare!" She could handle red, but green? The lion in her heart roared, demanding for justice.

     Peeves dared. Hitting her straight in the chest with the green balloon. "Oopsie—let me try that again—"

     A chain rattled. Peeves fell silent. Cassie took the moment of peace to clear her face, she spotted Peeves looking the other way. She took that moment to run.

     Peeves looked down at his chest to see the chains wrapped around himself. He began to cackle ferociously. "Peevsy, you buffoon! You're the one with chains! Shifty ickle Snow-storm, did you see—" Cassie was gone, Peeves face fell as he wanted to continue to pelt the metamorphmagus with paint balloons. "hmph. Didn't even say goodbye."

     Unsure that she got rid of all the paint, Cassie took a detour toward the third floor women's lavatory. She couldn't face the idea of confessing she lost a battle to Peeves the Poltergeist. Especially to Avonte, who's she's bragged to many times about beating the bloody thing in countless duels. Upon entering, Cassie was greeted with a shriek and glass being pelted at her.

     She ducked, looking back at the shard that was forced into the wall behind her. "What the bloody-shite, Myrtle!"

     "Get out!" The dramatic ghost shrieked, preparing to grab more glass.

     Cassie pointed her wand at the glass. "Invisibilia!" All the glass disappeared from sight, the sobbing ghost growled in Cassie's direction. "Why did you just try to kill me?!"

     "Get out of my bathroom!" Myrtle screeched. "Or I swear to Merlin, I'll have Dumbledore blow you to pieces!"

     "I doubt that." Cassie noticed a broken window by the sinks. "What happened over there?"

     The sinks turned on, thanks to Myrtles doing, and a stream of water sprayed in Cassie's direction. Soaking her, washing the remaining red paint out of her hair. "Thank you, now quit it! Be civil, Myrtle, for Merlin's sake. What happened? Can I help?"

     "No one can help!" The ghost screeched. She fell to the floor and placed her head between her knees, heavily sobbing. "No one can help, not anymore! My help is gone, gone gone gone gone GONE!"

     "Myrtle, Merlin." Cassie walked over and the ghost flew up, almost through the ceiling.

     "Leave, freak!" Myrtle ordered, "out of my bathroom!"

     "Tell me what's wrong." Cassie said, crossing her arms. Both to express confidence and then to warm herself, Myrtle soaked her with the water on the coldest setting. 

     "Can't you tell for yourself?" Myrtle sneered. Her head tilting toward the window. "I was attacked!"

    "By who?" Cassie asked.

"A dirty-dirty man." Myrtle grumbled. Cassie made her way over to the window. "I sprayed him with some water, still couldn't get off the grime. He tried to kill me! Nobody wants mean ol' Myrtle around, not even a homeless arsehole! I miss Aaa—"

    "Yeah, yeah, you miss AaaaaaaaaA." Cassie said, waving her off as she looked through the window. Toward the ground she spotted nothing. Her eyebrow flicked up. "When did you say this happened?"

     "I didn't."

     "Well, when did this happen?"

     "Not long before you broke in." Myrtle said grouchily.

     "I didn't break in, this is a res—woah." Cutting her off mid-speech, Cassie's eye took sight of a shaggy down standing below by a bush. The dog looked up at her, it's tail immediately wagging. It's fur was soaked with water, Cassie turned around. "What did this man throw?"

     "A brick." Myrtle replied, placing a hand on her nearly transparent hip.

    "Where is it now?"

    "I flushed it down the toilet."

     "Mad help you are." Cassie grumbled. "I'll tell Dumbledore what happened, don't worry. But I'll be going now."

     "Leaving me in a time of distress. How surprising." Myrtle rambled, Cassie sprinted outside of the bathroom and then toward the nearest exit. If she weren't mistaken, B.S backward was sitting right out side of Hogwarts. Realizing she was alone, Myrtle's lip quivered. "Aspen wouldn't do this to me. Oh how I miss her."

Once Cassie made it to the grass, she suddenly remembered she was drenched. As she walked she dried herself off. When she found the area with the broken window, she was met with a dog. The dog looked up at her, shaking in its fur. Cassie dried him off. "What are you doing here?" She whispered, glancing around the area.

Sirius Black looked at her and then licked her hand. Cassie wiped the slobbery hand on her jeans and chuckled. "Hi, it's good to see you too. I assume your flu is gone?"

Sirius, the dog, barked and then began running the opposite way. Cassie looked up, noticing he was heading toward the Whomping Willow. "Oi, slow down! This isn't a race."

Her father thought otherwise as he ran as fast as he could. Cassie ran behind him, cursing that she didn't have her apparating license yet. Once she made it to the violent tree, she found it unmoving with a small space opening toward the bottom. The same space she crawled through before meeting the man for the first time, and actually speaking to him for the first time. She sighed and crawled through.

Once on the other side, she found it dimly lit with a man standing in the center of the room. Cassie's breath hitched at the sight of her father. This was the first time she was seeing him since June, or even speaking to him, for that matter.

"Hi." Sirius greeted nervously, waving a skinny hand.

     "Hello." Cassie said, copying his actions.

     "I-I got your letter." Sirius said, "I was going to mail back but couldn't figure out what to write."

     "A 'don't worry, we got this' would've  sufficed." Cassie nervously chuckled. "You shouldn't be here."

    "It's great to see you too." Sirius joked. Cassie gave him a look. Under her stare he felt like he could evaporate. A notion passed down from her mother, most likely. "I couldn't figure out what to write so I thought that coming here to talk would help me think of something."

    "Did it?"

    "Not at all."

    Cassie nodded, looking down at the floor. She noticed her strands of blue hair and bit her lip, attempting her very best to discreetly change it back to its natural state. Sirius was staring directly at her, he grinned when he watched his daughter exploit her ability. "That's bloody amazing, Cassie. I see you've got better control now."

     Cassie looked up, a small smile on her lips. "Occasionally. My friends call me a mood ring, every time I become overwhelmed with an emotion my hair changes color."

     "If you're anything like your mother, then this must be a constant quarrel." Sirius chuckled, Cassie smiled at the mention of her mother. For the first time in a while, a memory of Aspen Lee's face popped up in her mind rather than Kendra Snow. "When you were a baby, we could never get your hair to stay one color. Your eyes, too."

     "That must've been fun." Cassie said, imagining two younger versions of her parents being driven insane by their rainbow-baby. "My eyes don't change as much anymore. But when I was a kid, my mum was terrified to bring me out. Thought I'd scare the muggles if my eyes suddenly turned blue when they were just red or purple."

"Your mum . . ." Sirius mumbled. Cassie's eyes widened. "Kendra Snow, correct?"

"Aye," Cassie nodded. "hasn't been much of a mum lately, though. Not since—"

"I broke out." Sirius finished. Cassie nodded.

"But it's not your fault, really." Cassie said quickly. "She could've handled everything way differently. Not become a raging alcoholic—"

     Sirius' eyes flickered to his feet, he had on boots that looked ready to disintegrate any moment. Cassie stopped talking.

      "I came here to tell you something, something of which I hoped would come to me once I saw you." Sirius said. "In all honesty, I have no idea what to promise you about this whole scenario. No one expected Harry to end up in such a situation. But what I can say is that we're going to try our hardest to ensure Harry is okay. You, as well."

     Cassie's face shifted into worry. Sirius, for a moment, felt like he was transported to a time back in Hogwarts when Aspen would go from one worrying thought to another. Mainly concerning Cassie who was growing in her stomach at the time. The amount of times the girl though she was miscarrying could buy Sirius a new outfit of designer clothing. "You're going to be okay too, right? You'll stay careful."

     Sirius was taken aback, unsure of what to say.

     "Promise me you'll ensure your own safety." Cassie said, ordered. "After everything, I can't have my father abruptly die. Or worse, go to Azkaban again. I'm sure you don't want either of those things to happen either."

     "If you and Harry are safe, then I wouldn't mind it." Cassie glared at him, he sighed. "Fine. I promise, Cassie, that I will keep myself safe and out of the claws of the Ministry."

     "Good." Cassie said, grinning in satisfaction. "So, how's that flu of yours?"

     "Cleared up, actually." Sirius said, chuckling as he scratched his head. "Turned out to be a day-thing. I'm really sorry for not being able to make it to our meeting. I hope Moony didn't bore you too much."

    "Moony?"

     "Lupin," Sirius said. "Remus, since he's a . . . y'know. Me and the boys, back in the day, decided we should start calling him Moony."

     "Oh," Cassie said, then letting out a laugh. "sounded like he had a fetish for the moon, for a moment."

     "Eh, only once a month." Sirius said, the corner of his mouth twitching in amusement.

      "How is he doing?" Cassie asked, remembering that they were in contact.

     "Quite swell, relieved, too, I think." Sirius said. "It's just us now, from back in the day. Me, him, and Wendy. Being back together has been great, both for me and him. Though, I think we're causing Wendy to grey faster than before."

    "Wendy." Cassie said. "Wendy Collins. I'm sure she's having a blast."

     "I could argue with that." Sirius said. "But it is fun making her angry."

"You sound like my friend." Cassie chuckled. "My friend—oh, Merlin, they must be looking for me!"

"Oh yes," Sirius said, looking around with an expression like he had just been caught by Professor McGonagall in the corridors after hours. "I can hear Fudge talking. Y-You should probably get back."

"I should, yeah." Cassie said, scratching her head. "Well, it was really good talking to you. Better than last time, at least."

"It was." Sirius nodded, a grin on his lips. "Before you go," Cassie stopped, turning back to face him. "can you give Harry a message from me?"

     "Sure." Cassie said, dreading the fact she now had to interact with the boy before his match.

     "Tell him . . . tell him; 'Padfoot is watching.'"

     "No!"

    Sirius' eyes widened. "What, why?"

    "Do you hear how creepy that sounds?!" Cassie asked, her own eyes wide. "'Padfoot is watching' Merlin, I'd piss my pants!"

     "It's a code name! My nickname from back in the day." Sirius began laughing. "He knows it, trust me. He'll be glad to hear it."

     "Oh." Cassie said, her face flushing red.

     "You should get to the match before he's set to play." Sirius said after the fit of laughs. "I'll try and come over again, but maybe I won't disturb Myrtle next time. Bloody wench soaked every bit of me."

     "Good idea." Cassie grinned. "I will—wait, should I address you as 'Padfoot' now instead of 'B.S Backward'?"

     "If you wish."

     "Do I get a nickname too?"

     "Do you have one?" Sirius inquired, his lips quirking once again but this time into a proud smile.

     "Yes," Cassie said, her expression dimming. "m-my friend, he calls me 'Spitfire.' I bloody hate it, though."

     "Spitfire it is." Sirius smiled. Cassie rolled her eyes.

     "I'll, er, see you."

     Sirius waved and Cassie sucked in a deep breath before leaving. Her heart dropped with every step further away she took from her father. She wished she could just skip the match and continue talking to him. But she knew how much Sirius' message would mean to Harry. Plus, the longer Sirius stayed on Hogwarts grounds the bigger of a chance there could be of him getting caught. Cassie was left to wonder how Padfoot, as he put it, would be watching.

    Sneaking toward the tent where the Triwizard Tournament challengers waited to participate, Cassie called Harry over. He held a tiny dragon in his palm, he walking over to her while staring at it in horror. Cassie let out a long breath. "Merlin, a Hungarian Horntail."

     "Uhuh," Harry said, still in a horrified state. "and I gotta go first."

     Cassie bit her lip. "You've got this, Potter. You've fought a bloody basilisk before, didn't you? And you survived. You'll be able to do this task easily. Especially since Dumbledore and the Ministry will ensure you won't die. You can do this."

"I can do this." Harry repeated, his voice not whatsoever convincing.

"You better." Cassie said, patting him on the back and leaning closer to whisper in his ear. "You've got to. After all, Padfoot is watching."

Harry's face lit up and he looked at her excitedly. "Is he really?"

Cassie brought a finger to her lips, indicating to keep any Sirius-business quiet. "I'm going to get in the stands, alright?"

Harry nodded readily, huffing. "Yes, I can do this."

Cassie grinned, that was much more convincing. Cassie backed out of the tent and began her way up the stadium stairs. She found a seat beside an abnormally silent Kennedy and Rose, and watched the entire match with immense worry. When Harry came out alive, as she expected entirely, they all returned to the Gryffindor common room (Kennedy included) and partied.

Cassie completely forgot to visit Avonte that day, leading to a very grumpy boy the next morning.

Authors Note:

This chapter was pretty fast-paced, but look, ~interaction~. Earlier I revamped the entire plot of Spitfire which gave me some motivation to write. There should be 35 or so chapters to go until this story ends. Sadness. I don't know what I'll do after . . . probably write my other stories, actually. (Very sorry to my "Marionette" readers, Salem doesn't deserve this silence.) Vote and comment if you liked, or if you just want to be nice, it'd be appreciated. (:

Also, do you guys have any fan fiction recommendations? I just binged some of kmbells books and now I've got nothing else to read :(

April 6, 2020
4,076 words