XX

The moment Cassiopeia closed the bathroom door, she could hear the shouting in what she assumed was the dining room. Ronald seemed very, very, upset, and didn't shy away from showing and yelling it out to his siblings and mother. Even with his voice muffled, she could hear very clear offences towards herself, Draco, and their whole family.

The blonde girl sighed. She knew it was bound to be a long weekend and, hopefully, the boy would be yelling less for the following days.

Later that night, dinner time was the worst staring battle she had ever seen. The two younger Weasleys had started a silent war against the twins and their own mother – and her, of course -, as their father was still at work.

They gave Cassiopeia the room in front of the twins' bedroom, and the moment the two teens were left alone by Fred, she and George sat down on the floor between the two doors. They talked and talked until both were too tired and fell asleep together, and that's how Molly had found them.

The Weasley mother wasn't 100% pleased with a Malfoy in her house. Not even 50%. Not even 10% if she was honest. Yet, the only time she'd seen George so happy when talking about something the way he did about Cassiopeia was with his inventions. He got the very same look in his brown eyes when talking about her. She already knew he loved the blonde girl, but after seeing her with him she was sure the young Malfoy felt the exact same for him - even if the two were still hiding it. Seeing the girl melting in her son's arms, and knowing from George how she was dealing with some heavy family tension had gotten her feeling a bit of pity for her in her heart.

"Come on, darling," she helped Cassiopeia up after pushing her son inside his own room and held the girl softly as she blindly entered the other bedroom. "It's bedtime."

"Good night," the blue-eyed girl muttered with her face pressed against the pillow, and Molly wondered if she was awake enough to know she wasn't home.

"Good night, Cassiopeia."

"It's not that bad," the girl faced forward, twirling a flower around her fingers. "It's just some couple of weeks until we can go back to Hogwarts."

They were sat on the warm grass in the garden behind the house.

It was officially her birthday now and the two had excused themselves like they had done the previous day. They were talking about her home once again and how she couldn't feel comfortable with all the visitors while trying to be as vague as possible.

"It will be a lot of days, though," he muttered. "Sorry you can't come to the new house, It's a huge mess and mum gets paranoid."

Cas gave him a small smile. He was lying – exactly like she was – but she couldn't bring herself into feeling upset. George had his own secrets to keep and she certainly didn't know even half of them.

"It's okay." the blonde girl reached out, touching his hand and he tangled his fingers on her.

In a hesitant but instant moment, George pulled Cassiopeia closer and let her rest her head on his shoulder.

"We can go out every day," he suggested. "The cemetery in Godric's Hollow is always empty."

The girl chuckled.

"We're so classy… Meeting in cemeteries to keep our friendship a secret. I'm sure we're the first in the world."

She fell into silence, though, at the same time he'd started making little circles with his thumb on the back of her hand.

When Cassiopeia raised her head to look at him, George's face was right there, a single breath away from her.

She simply loved his eyes. They were deep and sweet in a colour that reminded the teen of chocolate sprinkled with caramel and gold, shining everytime the sun hit it.

Without her realising, George moved his hand to her hair and put a blonde lock behind her ear.

"George..." she let out a whisper.

"Cas..." he shifted, moving ever closer to her.

Kiss me, she wanted to say. Oh, please, kiss me.

His nose brushed against her hesitantly, and Cas closed her eyes. Their lips had only brushed when the two heard a voice behind and pulled away.

"George, your mother..." the person stopped in the middle of their sentence. Cas could see George's whole face and neck reddening as he quickly stood up. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."

"It's okay," he cleaned his pants from the dirt for a moment. "I'll go see her now."

The blonde girl turned to where he'd left, feeling her cheeks and face burning in embarrassment. Standing behind her was none other than Hermione Granger with a very surprised face.

"Malfoy?!"

The older teen stared at the young witch for a moment, still a bit shocked from her abrupt interruption, but stood up.

"Granger, I would be happy if you kept whatever you saw to yourself."

The girl stared at Cassiopeia for a long moment, but swallowed down and nodded.

"Yes. Of course."