[Library] Taking All I Want

[Cassandra Holden]

Cassie stormed her way up to the Owlery. Her brother wasn't going to show up for their usual 'twin time' because he was off playing Quidditch, a loathsome sport that Cassie was blaming for everything. Her long blonde hair lifted off of her shoulders as the breeze traveled through the tunnel. Fiona's feathers ruffles with the movements of Cassie and the air flow but knew better than to leave her owner's forearm. She let loose a soft 'whooo,' trying to calm the angry Ravenclaw down.

"Oh forget it, Fiona!" Cass snapped at the owl, who clicked her beak in return. The girl knew she was being exceedingly harsh on the bird. She shouldn't take her anger out on the messenger, after all.

Cassie didn't understand why her brother could no longer be there for her. Even though she had nothing important she needed to share with him, it was like he didn't care about her. She knew that she was being overly dramatic, and became even angrier. Finally reaching the Owlery, Cassandra shooed her owl from her arm, apologizing in the bird's wake. "I hate you!" she yelled out one of the windows, trying to let her pent up anger out in one release. She did have nothing important to tell him, but Cassie felt betrayed. Betrayed by a Hufflepuff. She snorted. That had to be a new one. Of course, Cassie was making a bigger deal out of it than the incident was worth. I just canceled on him two weeks ago, yet he hadn't gone ballistic like I am. The little voice of reason spoke to Cassie, breaking through the anger ever so slightly. She took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm her shaking body, and see the rationalization.

Unfortunately, Cass had had a trying week and the meeting with Caleb had been the point that was keeping her going. It's difficult, being in a different House than him. I'm just being self-centered again, the girl huffed a sigh as she looked out the glassless window. I need something to cheer me up now.

[Dean Hogarth]

Women always scared Dean and that was no real secret. The look of dread that filled his face when a female was within a ten meter radius of him was the perfect bit of evidence and with a simple glance and a small smile Dean would be a nervous wreak stuttering and trying to hide his ever growing red face. As the Hufflepuff carefully made his way through the corridors of the castle his eyes were glued to the stone flooring of the corridor as he tried to avoid any accidental glances with the opposite sex, it also did however have the plus side that he could keep an eye on where his feet where so he did not fall face first to the floor.

Today Dean was off to the owlery, note to his mother in hand which contained his weekly progress report about how life in the castle was going. It was a riddle with unanswered questions as he tried to avoid her questions about his social life, he hated having to write this letter but Dean knew that as soon as he did not send it he would get a bright red howler waiting for him the next day at breakfast. The memories of the first and only time this had happened haunted the Hufflepuff as he slowly climbed the steps of the owlery tower, but these memories where shattered when he heard someone shout above him.

Nervously he continued to climb the steps with the knowledge that he was not alone did not make the Hufflepuff feel any better and as his eyes fell on the blond haired Ravenclaw who was gazing out the window he knew she was the one who shouted. Hesitating by the door Dean thought about turning around and running back to the common room as fast as possible and face his mother wrath…but that was not really appealing. Trying to swallow back the nervous Dean slowly made his way into the room full of owls and tired to find a school owl that would not mind being woken from its nap.

“Oi!” Dean let out a small squeak of pain as a rather brown and tatty owl gave him a nip on his finger causing a small trickle of blood to stain his pale skin. ‘Great,’ he thought ‘there goes my attempt of being stealthy.’

[Cassandra Holden]

Cassandra jumped at the squeak behind her and spun around, holding her heart. The organ threatened to leap from her body as she spotted the male who had surprised her. "You nearly caused me to fall out the window!" she gasped, shocked to find that she was not as alone as she thought she had been. Cassie hated that she grossly exaggerated her first statement. "Fine, I wasn't that scared," she clarified with a huff and a stomp of her foot. "Do you make a habit of sneaking up behind people and scaring them out of their wits?"

Cass then noticed the blood on the boy's finger and immediately dropped her snarky attitude. "You have to be careful with some of those school owls," she smiled sympathetically. In her softer, feminine soprano voice, she tried to make gentle amends, "I'm sorry for what I said; I'm just not having the best of days. How about you heal that with a quick charm and you can borrow my owl so I don't feel so guilty for snapping at you? She wouldn't mind making a trip."

Her hand froze in the state of reaching out to the boy when she hesitated, unsure of her actions. She was sure that she looked like an idiot, frozen like that. She quickly pulled her hand back, sure that the boy would say if the cut was too deep for an easy healing charm. "My name's Cassandra," she said, to cover for her awkward moment.

[Dean Hogarth]

Dean was frozen, his eyes were wide in shock and the colour had drained from his face as he looked on at the Ravenclaw in pure fear that she was just going to slap him or some other thing that teenage girls normally did when they were angry, his older sisters normally slammed their bedroom doors so maybe she would do the same thing. The only problem was that his little yelp had seemed to be the starting gun for this girl as her mouth kicked into action and the more she said the more Dean wished he could just run away. Swallowing hard Dean’s grey eyes flicked down to the cut on his hand and the small river of blood as she mentioned healing it…wait…blood…suddenly the Hufflepuff went a little light headed but after being in this situation lots of times before he quickly stuck the cut finger in his mouth letting the iron tasting liquid seep into his mouth.

That was when she extended her hand towards him and Dean jumped backwards slightly worried about what she was going to do. With nervous eyes he looked from the hand to the girl and her rather striking face which straight away caused the tips of Dean’s ears to burn a deep shade of red. Then she, well Cassandra put a name to the face not that knowing her name made the situation any easy for Dean.

His now wet, although clean finger slipped out of his mouth as he dried it on his trouser leg and tried and offered Cassandra a rather timid smile actually surprised he was able to make his face form something that would resemble a smile. “I-er…D-Dean. My n-name is Dean.” As soon as he had finished talking his gaze dropt to the dirty floor of the owlery, the letter in his hand being twisted around as a way of letting out his nerves. Dean hated meeting new people, and if the new people where female then he was lost. “Y-you er…can I hel-help, you said that er…yo-you are not having a good day.”

He may not have been rubbish at talking to strangers, he may have hated having to look girls in the eyes but there was a part of Dean (which he blamed on his upbringing) that he wanted to help everyone and for everyone to be happy and right now he was having to fight through the nerves to offer his services to Cassandra not even knowing the kind of person she was.

[Cassandra Holden]

When Dean addressed the floor of the owlery with a question aimed at her, Cassie stared at the boy, wondering if he actually cared if she answered or not. She stared at him for another moment, weighing the worth of just saying her frustrations outloud. Realizing that she was waiting too long to answer his question, Cassandra smirked and said, "Yes, there is something you can do for me. Tell Caleb to stop being so selfish."

Sighing, Cassie turned to look out the window again. "I've just had a difficult week and all I wanted to do was talk to my brother." Turning to look at Dean over her shoulder, "He wouldn't meet me. He canceled on me. He has to go and play Quidditch." Cassie made an unpleasant face as she named the reason as to why her brother was blowing her off.

Cass' babbling continued as she turned to face the window again, "So here I am, returning my owl because he couldn't even tell me in person. No, he had to go and send a letter through our owl, like we don't even go to the same school or something." Cassandra's anger simmered, stagnantly remaining in her system. She turned to face Dean again.

The sunbeams caught in Cassandra's hair, making the blond curls seem even brighter. "So really, there isn't much you can do. I just wish Caleb wasn't so selfish, is all." Noticing the crumpled letter in Dean's hand, she gasped in realization of her own act of being self-centered. "Would you like to borrow my owl?" she asked, tilting her head slightly to the side. "I promise, it's no burden to her. She could use the exercise and," Cassie gestured to his hand, "she won't bite either."

[Dean Hogarth]

Caleb, he was her brother? Blinking slowly Dean tried to look for similar features between the two siblings seeing as he had had the, well in this case fortune of spending five years in the same dorm room. Dean guessed he could see a few similarities in there appearance but if Cassandra had not said anything the chances where that he would never have put two and two together. Yet the task that she had asked him to carry out, although would cause the poor Hufflepuff some distress of having to actually approach someone to talk to them, it was on Dean believed he could carry out and so with a small nod of his head he gave the Ravenclaw his word.

“Wh-when I am back in the commonroom later I…I shall pass the message on.” Swallowing hard Dean tried to take in everything that Cassandra was once again spurting out. It seemed to him that she had a lot on her mind at the moment and his mother always said it was best for you to just let it out if you have a friendly ear to talk to and in this case Dean was clearly the ear. He wished he had some sort of courage so that he could attempt to stick up for Caleb as a fellow male Hufflepuff, Dean wished he could say that her brother was an important part to the Hufflepuff Quidditch team and that he was, from what he had heard, rather good on a broom…but then Dean never had any courage so saying anything of the sort would have been out of the question. So as a result he just stood there like an idiot, blinking slowly and trying to not look like he was amazingly uncomfortable with the whole situation.

“Oh, er…o-oaky su-sure.” Dean’s shaking hand extended itself towards Cassandra; the letter that it held was now all crumbled and creased due to the boys nervous fidgeting. He was perfectly happy to use one of the school owls to send the letter but if this kind girl was offering then it would have been wrong of him to turn in down. “T-Thank you.” He stuttered as he tried to summon a small smile that sadly turned out to look more like a grimace.

All Dean wanted to do now was turn on his heel and run down the steps of the owlery as fast as his legs would carry him, but for some reason he could not seem to get his legs to move. He just continued to stand there watching Cassandra knowing if that she had that much pent up frustration it would be hellishly unkind of him to just run away, it might hurt her feelings. Maybe she just needed someone to listen too as she moaned for the rest of the day. “Y-you got a-anything nice planned for the rest of the day?”

[Cassandra Holden]

Cassie was slightly astonished when Dean said he would deliver the message to Caleb. It took her a moment to realize that Dean actually knew her brother. She stared, then responded with a roll of her eyes and a nervous giggle. "Why don't you tell him you ran into his lunatic of a sister? He just might understand the message better." Gesturing with her pointer finger, she added, "And if he starts to laugh, I promise he's laughing at me and not at you."

Stepping closer to Dean, Cassie noticed that he trembled slightly as he extended his hand to hand her the crumpled letter. Taking the letter from him, a strange thought entered Cassandra's mind. She wondered what Dean's reaction would be if their fingers had touched and how his hand would feel. She shook her head to be rid of the random and slightly crazy thought." Giving a smile in return, Cassie responded, "Oh, it's no problem. Really, you're welcome." Crossing closer to the wall where Fiona was perched, Cassie nibbled her bottom lip. "I wish I could ask you to send your best hex his way as well, but that would be asking too much of you. Besides, you're all about the loyalty ... thing," she commented to Dean, waving her hand in the air and generalizing her brother's House.

"Fiona," the girl called into the room. Immediately, the eagle owl responded, landing on Cassie's outstretched forearm. Attaching the letter to the leather string already fastened around Fiona's leg, she brought the owl to the window. "Have fun delivering this one, Fi. Don't rush back," she ducked as the eagle owl spread her enormous wings and flew out the window.

Cassie dusted her arm off and spun around to smile and answer Dean. "Now that my brother's canceled on me, I'll probably go to the library or something. Do something really boring that causes me to be even more aggravated than I already am," her sarcastic nature was an automatic reaction. Cassie took a deep breath in and let it out. "Actually, I don't have anything planned." She took a step closer to him and turned on her feminine charm. "Would you like to do something with me?"

[Dean Hogarth]

Admittedly Dean was surprised to hear a Ravenclaw talk sarcastically about doing work, but then he guessed there would have been some secret wit behind it all that he would not understand simply because he was a Hufflepuff and not wearing blue. Oh how he was wishing he was a Ravenclaw and not a Hufflepuff! But he would not show this slight annoyance now, although he loved his house, he loved the Ravenclaw head of house more. However at this very present moment at time there was another blond haired Ravenclaw standing in front of him and she was turning on her feminine charm. That knocked the poor boy for six and instead of just his ears turning a deep red his entire face flushed redder then a beetroot.

“I-I…er….hmph…er…I d-don’t s-see why not.” His tongue seemed to have tied themselves into a million knots; he was convinced that his stomach would suddenly empty its contents all over Cassandra. He had never…EVER been asked by a girl to even walk to the Great Hall with him and now here was someone asking him if he would like to hang out with her for the day. The thought of his extra astronomy assignment was pushed out of his mind as for the present moment in time Dean was focusing on reminding himself how to breathe. ‘Breathe in and out, in and out. Blink. Breathe in and out, in and out…’

With his still trembling hand Dean reached up behind his neck and nervously rubbed it out of pure nerves that this whole situation was causing him. “W-what d-do you want t-to d-do?” Cassandra best have some idea of her plan for the day as Dean had no idea what to go with gulp girls. The letter to his mother may now have been safely flying to her but the Hufflepuff now had a new fear to face and it was an unknown fear that along with everything else scared the life out of the poor boy.

[Cassandra Holden]

Cassandra smiled brightly when Dean agreed to spent the day with her. His blushing and nervous stutter were lost on her as she hastily made plans in her head. Structure and plans were the way that Cassandra kept herself organized and consistently busy. She found herself thoroughly enjoying the spotlight of Dean's presence and wanting to pull out all the stops in order to conquer his friendship.

"Well," she started off, inching ever so slightly closer to the Hufflepuff, "We could go down to the kitchens and see if the elves will make us some food and then go eat it on the lawns. Or we could sit by the lake. Or we could go down to Hogsmeade. Or if you had something else that you had planned for today, of course I wouldn't want to interrupt ..." As Cassie had been throwing suggestions at Dean, she had sidled closer until she was very much within his space. Giving him another bright smile, she tossed her hair back and hoped that it looked perfect, even though she felt her skin absorbing the horrendous smell of owls. "There isn't anything I wouldn't want to do. Well, I mean there are some things I wouldn't want to do, but I'm open to suggestions," Cassie inwardly cringed, knowing that if she had been talking to a fresh boy that he would have suggested something that she would have to turn down immediately. However, she had a feeling that Dean would not suggest such a thing and therefore didn't take back her statement.

"So," she stated, in a matter of fact tone, "What is it that you would like to do? We need to have a plan." The urge to reach out and link arms with the boy desperately pressed on Cass' mind. However, the act would be too spontaneous for the structured Cassandra. Plus, she didn't want her flirtatious nature to seem too strong for the boy and frighten him away. Cassie didn't believe that she was flirtatious by nature and she didn't want Dean to think of her as such.

[Dean Hogarth]

Personal space was one of those things that Dean likes, he liked to know that there was enough space big enough for a person…maybe even a couple of people to walk through, especially around girls. The problem was that this was not always possible as, for example in this very situation; Dean was in a very small room and he was no where near the exit so if he had tried to back away he would have just walked into a load of owls. From experience the Hufflepuff had learnt that was never a good thing! Also what Dean had now learnt from the method of trail and error was to never offer Cassandra to make a decision and pick what they were to do, she simply had too many ideas.

As the list of suggestions continued to flow out of the Ravenclaw’s mouth like an ever flowing river Dean tried to regain his composure which was very difficult with this blond beauty standing grinning and flicking her hair in front of him. Opening his mouth to talk Dean expected the words to just form but instead air just rushed out and the Hufflepuff had to quickly shut his mouth once more to stop himself looking like a gawping fish. However he did not have to worry about filling the silence and once more Cassandra was talking again about how she was up for anything…maybe he should ask if they could spend the day in the library then so he can do his extra Astronomy assignment.

“I…er…d-don’t know.” He did not have the heart to ask the girl to do such a boring thing compared to her long list of suggestions. “I-I am used t-to doing rather singular th-things.” His parents had always told him that honesty was the best policy and it was something he stuck by. His parents had also told him to follow orders and the tone in which Cassandra had used reminded him so much of a domineering leader that he felt obliged to give her an answer and so racking his mind he responded with the only one of her suggestions that he could remember.

“Ki-kitchens?” He continued to stutter and his cheeks continued to burn red and he had a feeling that unless he someone begin to feel at ease around this girl it was something that was going to continue.

[Cassandra Holden]

Cassie giggled as Dean answered her question. She started to notice that every time she directly addressed a question at him, he would stammer and blush in response. It was slowly growing on her in a shy, cute sort of manner.

"Good, I was hoping you would say that. I'm starving!" She started for the exit of the Owlery, hoping that Dean would get the point and follow her. "So, does my brother talk about me often? I mean, he and I are twins so he should talk about me some. But, I've always wondered how much he talks about me and if he's saying awful things or not. Technically, he's the older one but I'm the bossier so we even each other out."

Keeping up a steady stream of chatter, as Cassie was wont to do, she changed subjects quickly, "How about you, Dean? What's your family like? Any neurotic sisters, like Caleb has? Poor guy, I really don't know how we are related at all. Sometimes, I feel sympathy for him but then again, he is Mum's favorite. And, please tell me if I am talking too much, or talking about myself too much, because I tend to do that." Making her way down the steps of the Owlery, Cassandra had a difficult time allowing herself a breath and a chance for Dean to answer. She had so many questions to ask the boy.

It was less nervous chatter and more chatter from excitement mixed into an already existing structure, since her brother was not very chatty at all. She knew how to cover for his silences and to ease away awkwardness just by keeping the conversation flowing with a genuine smile on her face. So, she nominated herself to feed him questions to get back answers that would keep their conversation going.

[Dean Hogarth]

It seemed that his choice of activity had satisfied Cassandra as she made some quirky comment about being hungry before making her way towards the exit of the Owlery clearly expecting Dean to follow her like the good boy he was. And that was indeed what he did, his cheeks dropping the tiniest but of its red tinge so he was not actually a beetroot anymore, now it just looked like he had been badly sunburnt. Swallowing hard to try and clear his throat he continued to listen to the Ravenclaw ramble on about her, what he now knew to be twin brother Caleb. The only problem was that she had posed a question but was already quickly moved onto the next topic that Dean had only managed to stutter out ‘hmm...I-I...er....’ in response.

The next topic however it seemed like she was more interested in learning about Dean and it suddenly dawned on him how little they did know about each other! They were just a couple of strangers who, as far as he knew, only had a few things in common and the main one being that they both attended Hogwarts and both happened to know a certain person. “N-no sisters, I-I have four brothers and they are n-normal.” His eyes were fixed on the floor as he watched his steps as they made their way down from the Owlery, the last thing he wanted to do was fall down a flight of steps and land in a muddy puddle at the bottom. “I-I am the only one with magical abilities”

So at school he was the loner who had no friends while at home he was the freak who could do all that Hocus Pocus and magic could supposedly come out of the end of his fingers...it was nice to know his family bothered to learn about what on earth he did at school. But right now that was not important, what was important was the fact that he was at school, and he was talking to a girl...well no she was doing all the talking he was just listening. Although it seemed that Cassandra might have caught on that she was the one doing most of the talking.
“oh...I...er...I don’t m-mind. Y-you may have no-noticed I am not the most v-vocal of people.” He very weak smile tugged at his lips as he ventured to raise his gaze and look over at the girl who was walking beside him.

[Cassandra Holden]

Cassie nearly tripped when Dean responded. She reached for the wall carefully to steady herself and get her balance back. "F-four brothers?" she asked, not really believing her ears. "I thought having one brother was one too many. How do you handle it?"

The fact that Dean was the only magical brother in his clan made Cassie unsure of what to feel. She could never imagine not being able to do magic in front of her family. "How do you deal with their questions? Do they ask you to, like, make love potions and stuff for them?" Her mind couldn't fathom Muggles knowing about magic and not being able to do it. It sounded like a way to cause a family feud. "I'm sorry if my questions seem rude," she hastened to add, "It's just so different from my own lifestyle that I can't help but be curious."

A bubbling laugh erupted from Cassie. "You may not be vocal, but don't let me hog the conversation. I tend to talk too much, or so Caleb says," she giggled. She guessed that in a family of five boys, it would be difficult to get a word in edge-wise, which must cause Dean to be rather quiet. "Are you the youngest?" she asked, trying to keep Dean talking. "How do you explain carrying around your wand?"

[Dean Hogarth]

There a slight heart stopping moment when Cassandra seemed to slip and temporarily lose her balance. If Dean had good reflexes he might have reached out and grasped hold of her arm but a brain dead sloth would properly have faster reactions then Dean had and so instead he just stared on as the girl had to reach out to the wall to hold herself up. It seemed however that it was the shock of what he had said that threw the girl off balance and it was now her turn to stutter out her words. “It-it is not that bad.” Dean mused to himself out loud as he thought about the summers he spent just sitting in his room reading his books while his brothers played on muggle computer games. “T-There is only two of us left at home now, t-the others have moved out.”

They continued to wonder down the steps of the Owlery and Cassandra continued to ask questions about his life and upbringing. He guessed that it was odd to find someone like him, the only magical being in a completely muggle family and so knowing it was only polite to answer the questions that were being asked of him he tried to think of a suitable answer. She did however quickly apologise for all the questions and the Hufflepuff tried to shoot her another small smile. “T-they just accept it I guess.” He gave a small shrug; it was not something Dean had ever thought about before. “I-I only go home for the summer.” He guessed that the old saying of ‘out of sight, out of mind’ applied to him when his family were concerned and funny enough, he did not bother him. “Wh-what about y-your family?”

He did not know if that was really an understandable question, so he would not mind what way Cassandra would take it but anything to move the conversation away from him. However she seemed to have another idea as she continued to ask about what it was like carrying a wand around. “I-I d-don’t at home.” It was true, he never carried it at home seeing as he could not do magic at home or in front of muggles there would be no point in risking it snapping…he was also rather accident prone. He had been surprised that he had managed to walk down all those steps of the Owlery without tripping over at least now he only had the slightly uneven ground to deal with till they got to the castle. “I-I guess being in a-a wiz-wizarding family has its advantages.”

[Cassandra Holden]

"Being in a wizarding family doesn't always have its advantages," Cassie remarked, starting to answer Dean's question that she had deflected before. "It's kind of a tease when your parents can perform magic but you can't because you're not of age yet," she sighed. "Not that I'm complaining, mind you. I guess you either have to live with the secret or not, but either way, you can't use magic."

Cassie elaborated more on herself, sensing Dean's discomfort at being the center of too many questions at once. "It's just my parents, Caleb and me," she stated. "And we're all magical. I wish I had a younger sibling, though. Maybe some of the attention would be taken off of me. Caleb is quieter than I am, so if he wants to, he can just hide in the background and I get the spotlight. Sometimes it's good, but sometimes it gets really annoying,"she kept blathering on, even though she knew she was probably boring Dean.

As they stepped out onto the pathway back to the castle, Cassie hesitated, then spoke up more softly than before, "Please let me know if I am prying too much, but have you decided how you are going to live outside of Hogwarts? Do you have to choose between the non-magical and the magical world?" Cassie looked down at her feet to be sure of her footing and to not allow Dean to see the embarrassment in her eyes at asking such a question. "Has anyone asked you what you would like to do? I mean, have your wishes ever been considered or are you expected to have a profession that you can brag about or complain about when you visit your family?" She looked up at Dean and smiled. "I'm terribly sorry if this is too serious for you. Why don't you ask me a question? I promise I'll tell the truth."