The screams of three third-year girls told him first. A cut-up baby mandrake, strung up in a grisly way in the Herbology greenhouse, some kind of sick prank. Eventually he pulled it down and let the professor know, but not before getting unsettled by some of the whispers overheard about what happened. That sixth year Slytherin did it. The one who’s always alone.
Cassian rounded on the source of it, blue eyes taking an impassive scan of the boy who instigated the conversation with a younger group of students who arrived to see the fuss. Cass recognized this one – one of Vince’s dormmates, the one with a smug fuck-off kind of face. The group he was with dispersed after their exchange, undoubtedly taking the rumor with them. Cassian reminded himself, he shouldn’t let this kind of thing make his blood boil.
But he couldn’t help it.
“What was that you said?” he asked, approaching him casually enough. The Slytherin straightened up with an indignant sniff.
“Surprised your shadow isn’t here,” he drawled, then added with a shrug, “Probably hiding so he won’t get in trouble for–”
“That’s awfully convenient. That you saw him,” the blonde cut in. A low, impassive tone belied by the way he closed the distance between them in two steps, and he didn’t even need to square his shoulders to tower above the other’s head. “And that you didn’t say or do anything earlier. Didn’t even stop the third years from coming in to witness the gore. Almost like you didn’t mind, scaring them with what they saw. And you know,” Cass tilted his head in mock-pensive thought, taking great care to get into Alair’s face when he did. “NEWTs Herbology isn’t until tomorrow. I was just passing on my way to the quidditch pitch when I heard the screaming, but there is the question, isn’t it?” His fellow sixth year looked more uncomfortable by the second. “Why would you be hanging around here today? Seems a little… off,” he rationalized, meeting the boy’s gaze with nothing but menace.
“...Think whatever you want,” the boy snarled, though the pallor in his face relayed more bark than bite. Cassian relaxed, and straightened up with a twitch of a smirk.
“Oh. I will. Maybe watch where you step, Alair,” he responded in warning, in a voice for only the other to hear. Cassian plowed past him then, sending the Slytherin staggering with the force of his big shoulder. He didn’t look back to notice.
~
A few hours passed, enough for Cassian’s blood to go back to a steady simmer and for him to wonder if he did more harm than good with Alair. It’s not as though he had to live with him the way Vince did. So more than anything, he wanted to talk to Vince about what happened - what he heard, what he did. Check in on how he was. It’s been… a few months. Nonchalant conversations, idle remarks about classwork, prolonged stares when the other didn’t seem to be looking.
Distance… time and distance would help with all of this, Cassian decided. Except for when that distance meant he couldn’t be there to protect Vince, the way he wished he could have today.
A sick feeling that today things weren’t right only mounted as he missed Vince at lunch, at the library, and all his typical haunts. This really just left one last option, in Cassian’s mental list of all Vince’s favorite places. It was sunny enough to get away with an afternoon under the oak tree, even if a little chilly.
Determined to find him, Cassian made his familiar charter down the winding pathways of the school grounds and around the big hill. The tree was up top, which is what made it nice and remote. If Vince was up there he could probably hear him coming from a mile away, shoes crunching down on dry leaves and grass. Then they’d see each other.
Only this time, Cassian heard Vince before he saw him up there, seeming to not notice the sound of his footfall as he recited what sounded like Shakespeare. (The effect had Cassian’s hair on his arms standing on end, Shakespeare did that to him now, and he hadn’t heard or read any of that since Summer.) So Cass expected to see Vince, but he did not expect what he saw.
The sight of his (former?) best friend snogging one of their classmates. Not just any. Another man, both entwined in what could only be a lovers’ embrace. Out here – where anyone could see, the fucking fools that they were. The sight went like a ripsaw through him, it even made him stagger back. He did not even notice the sharp sigh of shock that escaped his lips, a sound that would surely give him away if he wasn’t found already.
“What the fuck,” seemed to be all Cassian could manage, and he rounded on the scene like a decent man might turn his back if he catches a lady in undress. But even as he scrunched his eyes closed and felt the world reel, the image of what he just saw burned into the back of his eyelids.
Cassian rounded on the source of it, blue eyes taking an impassive scan of the boy who instigated the conversation with a younger group of students who arrived to see the fuss. Cass recognized this one – one of Vince’s dormmates, the one with a smug fuck-off kind of face. The group he was with dispersed after their exchange, undoubtedly taking the rumor with them. Cassian reminded himself, he shouldn’t let this kind of thing make his blood boil.
But he couldn’t help it.
“What was that you said?” he asked, approaching him casually enough. The Slytherin straightened up with an indignant sniff.
“Surprised your shadow isn’t here,” he drawled, then added with a shrug, “Probably hiding so he won’t get in trouble for–”
“That’s awfully convenient. That you saw him,” the blonde cut in. A low, impassive tone belied by the way he closed the distance between them in two steps, and he didn’t even need to square his shoulders to tower above the other’s head. “And that you didn’t say or do anything earlier. Didn’t even stop the third years from coming in to witness the gore. Almost like you didn’t mind, scaring them with what they saw. And you know,” Cass tilted his head in mock-pensive thought, taking great care to get into Alair’s face when he did. “NEWTs Herbology isn’t until tomorrow. I was just passing on my way to the quidditch pitch when I heard the screaming, but there is the question, isn’t it?” His fellow sixth year looked more uncomfortable by the second. “Why would you be hanging around here today? Seems a little… off,” he rationalized, meeting the boy’s gaze with nothing but menace.
“...Think whatever you want,” the boy snarled, though the pallor in his face relayed more bark than bite. Cassian relaxed, and straightened up with a twitch of a smirk.
“Oh. I will. Maybe watch where you step, Alair,” he responded in warning, in a voice for only the other to hear. Cassian plowed past him then, sending the Slytherin staggering with the force of his big shoulder. He didn’t look back to notice.
~
A few hours passed, enough for Cassian’s blood to go back to a steady simmer and for him to wonder if he did more harm than good with Alair. It’s not as though he had to live with him the way Vince did. So more than anything, he wanted to talk to Vince about what happened - what he heard, what he did. Check in on how he was. It’s been… a few months. Nonchalant conversations, idle remarks about classwork, prolonged stares when the other didn’t seem to be looking.
Distance… time and distance would help with all of this, Cassian decided. Except for when that distance meant he couldn’t be there to protect Vince, the way he wished he could have today.
A sick feeling that today things weren’t right only mounted as he missed Vince at lunch, at the library, and all his typical haunts. This really just left one last option, in Cassian’s mental list of all Vince’s favorite places. It was sunny enough to get away with an afternoon under the oak tree, even if a little chilly.
Determined to find him, Cassian made his familiar charter down the winding pathways of the school grounds and around the big hill. The tree was up top, which is what made it nice and remote. If Vince was up there he could probably hear him coming from a mile away, shoes crunching down on dry leaves and grass. Then they’d see each other.
Only this time, Cassian heard Vince before he saw him up there, seeming to not notice the sound of his footfall as he recited what sounded like Shakespeare. (The effect had Cassian’s hair on his arms standing on end, Shakespeare did that to him now, and he hadn’t heard or read any of that since Summer.) So Cass expected to see Vince, but he did not expect what he saw.
The sight of his (former?) best friend snogging one of their classmates. Not just any. Another man, both entwined in what could only be a lovers’ embrace. Out here – where anyone could see, the fucking fools that they were. The sight went like a ripsaw through him, it even made him stagger back. He did not even notice the sharp sigh of shock that escaped his lips, a sound that would surely give him away if he wasn’t found already.
“What the fuck,” seemed to be all Cassian could manage, and he rounded on the scene like a decent man might turn his back if he catches a lady in undress. But even as he scrunched his eyes closed and felt the world reel, the image of what he just saw burned into the back of his eyelids.
![[Image: BC4TW0z.jpeg]](https://i.imgur.com/BC4TW0z.jpeg)
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