Side story
Kassandra's pov
---
Chapter 252 — Very Hard!!
After Halloween, Hogwarts held its first Quidditch match.
Kassandra was bored.
Because the idiot beside her kept jumping around restlessly.
One moment he was standing on the high viewing platform, the next he was leaning forward to scan the pitch for Harry Potter.
What was he even looking for? Didn't Potter catching the Golden Snitch already give him all the attention he needed?
But then—
Someone actually cast a curse on Harry Potter's broom.
Kassandra frowned.
Had a Death Eater slipped into the school?
She glanced at the fool next to her, who was anxiously wringing his hands, and suddenly wished he would just leave Hogwarts altogether.
The school didn't feel very safe anymore.
If Death Eaters were targeting Harry Potter, how could they possibly spare Harry Potter's little brother?
Better for him to go back to his orphanage—at least there he might stay alive.
Fortunately, Harry Potter survived and even caught the Golden Snitch.
The idiot next to her screamed in excitement and actually jumped straight off the stands.
Kassandra sneered. Ridiculous idiot.
---
Christmas approached.
During Potions class, Malfoy mocked Harry Potter for being an unwanted, abandoned child.
Kassandra instinctively looked toward the idiot.
His eyes were a bit red, but he forced himself to stay calm.
Thinking of the miserable past he had at the orphanage, Kassandra—for the first time—didn't stare at him unkindly.
After class, she heard a bunch of Slytherins scolding Malfoy.
"How could you say that?"
"Yeah, his parents died. That must hurt."
"I saw him cry!"
The idiot cried?
Kassandra thought for a moment, then shook her head.
The idiot was stronger than they thought.
He might feel sad, but he wouldn't cry.
Because he probably understood that no amount of tears would change anything—no one at the orphanage cared whether he cried or not.
Kassandra pressed her lips together at that thought, irritated.
She stormed back to her dorm room.
What was wrong with her?
Potter suffering in the orphanage had nothing to do with her!
Still… thinking of his experiences, she deliberately bought a big bag of candy and biscuits.
She remembered Gryffindor had given him those terrible cookies, and he had treasured them.
She couldn't finish all the snacks herself anyway.
She might as well give them to him.
He'd been eating less lately—probably because of Malfoy's words, right?
---
After Christmas.
One day she overheard Malfoy bragging that Harry Potter had raised a dragon.
He said he was going to report Potter to the professors.
She heard Pansy whisper nervously, "What if Darren Porter is there too?"
Then Darren would get caught again.
Kassandra rolled her eyes.
Ever since Pansy witnessed the idiot stand up after being hit with the Blasting Curse, she'd suddenly started acting overly friendly toward him.
Clearly the Parkinson family had begun considering the idiot as a potential marriage candidate.
Now Pansy was trying to curry favor.
But she always did it behind his back—pathetic.
If she had the guts, she should stick to the idiot like Miss Perfect Granger did.
What good was staying in the common room all day?
As if the idiot could hear her kindness from there.
Disgusting.
She hated Pansy's stupidity and Malfoy's nastiness.
But at least Malfoy wasn't completely brainless. He added, "It won't involve Darren. I read in that Weasley's letter—they're sending the dragon off themselves and having Darren stand guard outside."
"If I go to Professor McGonagall—she likes Darren Porter best—he definitely won't be punished."
Acting together with Miss Perfect again.
Kassandra kept her face blank.
What did the idiot avoiding punishment have to do with her?
---
Except—
The next day, she learned the idiot had received two detentions.
This was Malfoy's idea of "won't be punished"?
"I didn't know he'd punish himself!" Malfoy complained. "Professor McGonagall didn't give him detention at all. He volunteered to add one to himself! And then we unfortunately ran into Professor Snape…"
He sighed dramatically.
"If I'd known, I wouldn't have reported them. I thought I'd catch them sending off the dragon, let McGonagall take it, and maybe get to see something exciting. Instead, nothing happened—and I ended up with extra detention!"
Kassandra heard a wave of laughter roll across the Slytherin common room.
But the laughter died the moment the idiot walked in—still looking guilty and miserable.
Seriously?
He felt this guilty over being dragged into it?
Kassandra never imagined the idiot's detention would be in the Forbidden Forest.
Was Dumbledore insane?
Sending students into the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the night?
Several Slytherin girls whispered that Dumbledore must be out of his mind.
Going into the Forbidden Forest that late—wasn't that basically sending them to die?
Kassandra felt that wasn't right.
Dumbledore might not care about the idiot's life… but surely he cared about Harry Potter's?
---
Then—
The idiot ended up in the hospital wing again.
Rumor was, he had saved a unicorn.
Ridiculous.
A unicorn needing to be saved by him?
At least he wasn't injured this time. The next day he came back out again.
He sat beside her and ate happily.
Then he spotted Harry Potter and ran out, beaming.
Kassandra wanted to laugh at his foolishness—but watching his retreating figure, she froze.
Why did she even care?
---
The end of term arrived.
During the Transfiguration exam, she sat right behind the idiot.
While practicing the spell, she saw him transform a mouse into an elegant Chinese-style snuff bottle.
Chinese?
This guy really did like that place.
People said the core of his wand was a reverse scale from an Eastern Chinese Dragon.
And his tastes definitely leaned that way.
Kassandra secretly changed her own mouse into a similar Chinese-style snuff bottle.
Then she noticed Professor McGonagall's clear, knowing gaze.
What kind of look was that?
She hadn't copied the idiot. She had just… imitated it. Yes. Imitated.
"It's hard, isn't it?" Professor McGonagall said softly.
"Chasing after someone who never looks back."
"I don't understand what you mean!" Kassandra snapped, marching out of the classroom.
Her posture was arrogant and proud.
She—Kassandra Vorre—needed no one's pity.
She had nothing to do with that idiot!
But…
She didn't know why her heart felt faintly sour.
She had met him first. So why did that idiot never see her?
What was so great about Miss Perfect?
That girl always dragged him into trouble—she had even nearly gotten him injured last time—so why did he always want to stay beside Granger?
Couldn't he see her?
The girl who sat quietly next to him every single day?
---