Cass' Crash Pad

Cass saw all of her favourite things, and out of the corner of her eye, as she remembered more and more of them, felt more materialize behind her. A guitar, dartboard, her collection of rubber duckies, her pair of shoes she forgot to bring on the train, a few favourite books, muggle and magical.
"This is the life," she said simply, before she cranked the Weird Sisters up a notch.

Alexandra, who had been wandering along a corridor, suddenly heard the sound of the Weird Sisters blaring from nearby. Pausing, she glanced around and saw a door that she hadn't noticed before. Walking over to it, she pulled the large handle and found herself in a room filled with stuff, Cass sitting happily in the middle.

"Hey," greeted Alexandra, walking over to the girl.

"YO!" said Cass as she jumped manically from one foot to the other, doing the signature 'Weird' step. "This is my favourite song, 'Wandwork by Midnight!'" Pulling Alex in to the middle and joining her, Cass upped the volume.
Brilliant.

Alexandra happily joined in the odd dance with Cass. The music blasting loudly around them, she took the time to practice her 'Weird Step'. "I love this song!" exclaimed Alex as the beat picked up. When the song was over, she sat down and pushed her sweaty curls out of her eyes, sitting down and wishing she had a drink. Suddenly an ice cold pumpkin juice appeared. "Wow!" she said, gulping it down.

Panting heavily, Cass managed to utter a "you haven't seen the half of it," and as she turned around and pointed behind Alex, two beanbags with a massive jug of what could only be presumed to be pumpkin juice was sat beside it, pintglasses upturned next to it.

After quenching her thirst, Alexandra plopped down in a beanbag chair and turned to face Cass. "So what's up?" she asked. "I haven't seen you in awhile," she said, thinking to when she had last seen her friend. "And what dorm are you staying in?" she asked, thinking of how the dorms had been split up.

"Stuff's fine," reasoned Cass as she wolfed down her first glassful. "Nothing to report on. I'm staying in a dorm with Harmony, Reina and Jennifer. Not sure the name of it though. I got the window bed!"
Cass passed her a mountain of chocolate frogs. "My leftovers," she said without embarassment.

"Yum, chocolate frogs!" said Alexandra happily and unwrapping the nearest one. Flipping over the card, she saw that she had gotten Gwenog Jones, who had been an old captain of the Hollyhead Harpies. Munching on her frog, she swallowed and said, "It's a good thing you got the window bed! I'm staying in Dorm A, with Shelby and Hilary."

"So cool, I'm lucky they left it me! Shelby's cool isn't she? She was one of my first friends to make on the train, I don't know Hilary well, but I know she's friends with Theresa," she said happily. "Ooh, you got Gwenog- I have tons of posters of her on my wall back home: she's my favourite. Who do you support?"

"Yeah, Shelby and Hilary are really nice. They're kinda best friends with Theresa I think so I don't feel like we're that close..." Alexandra trailed off. "I love Quidditch! My favorite teams are the Holyhead Harpies and Tornados," said Alexandra. "Have you gone to any Quidditch games?"

"Yeah, Theresa and I were for a while but then..." she waved her hand vaguely. "Anyway!" she brightened up, with the idea that Alexandra Black seemed to be the closest friend she had. Plus, she was pretty amazing. "I've been to a few, my dad took me to the Chudley Cannons- we actually went with some of the Weasleys that time. I got a picture with Ginny Weasley. She's really pretty."

"Ginny Weasley?" gaped Alex. "You lucky duck! Do you know any Weasleys?" she asked, leaning back in her chair. She was glad that she had found someone at Hogwarts that she could be close to. Everyone else seemed to have already formed their own groups. "I've been to a couple of games. Just with my mom. My dad's a muggle," she added. "Quidditch kinda freaks him out," she said with a smile.

"I don't know!" said Cass, just as excited as Alex at the prospect of the Weasleys- they were all so dreamy. Apart from Ginny, of course, who was just enviably pretty. "My uncle Ollivander keeps in correspondance with that Luna Lovegood- which is how my Mum got her job, by the way- and they hang around with Harry Potter and Ginny Potter, and they went to a Chudley's match. It was pretty cool. I was starstruck to say anything to Ron, Harry, Hermione or George. Ginny seemed pretty down to earth..."
Cass giggled at the idea of a muggle watching Quidditch. "Compared to their ballfoo-no, Football, it must be a little daunting."

"What's your mom's job?" asked Alex curiously. "And your uncle is the wand maker?" she asked. "Wow you've actually met all those people! That's insane!" gasped Alexandra. "I could understand being starstruck. Ginny is pretty gorgeous, isn't she?" she asked, recalling pictures she had seen of the redhed. "And yeah, to muggles Quidditch is some pretty crazy stuff."

"She's a freelance reporter for the Wrackspurt Chronicles- it's like the baby of the Quibbler. Nah, Uncle Bargy's not my actual uncle- he's more the friend of the family."
Cass laughed at Alex's shock. "I didn't meet them- I stayed with my Mum and Dad mostly, but I was on the end next to Ginny. I didn't say a word to the rest of them. It was amazing though. You met anyone famous before?"

"Wow, that sounds like a cool job," commented Alexandra. "That still sounds really fun. The only famous people I've met are a couple of Tornados players. At an autograph signing," she added, smiling as she recalled how she had made her mother wait in line for hours with her.

"Oof. The tornadoes are mad on the pitch, aren't they? They're a blur. It's probably all down to their coach getting the New Cleansweep 3000's. Ginny said that Ron was really happy the Cleansweeps were the new favourites. I laughed at that."
Cass stretched her legs, searching in her ruck sack for her bottle.
"Pumpkin Juice? My mum put a savouring potion on it so that it lasts for longer." She passed Alex, a tall cup and a straw, blushing a little at the bendiness. "I... like bendy straws. Muggles are cool like that."

"Yeah the Tornados are pretty insane. The Cleansweep 3000s are awesome. Better than the new Firebolt, I'd say," said Alex. "Sure,I'll have some pumpkin juice," she said, accepting the drink and taking a sip of the orange liquid from the neon-pink bendy straw. "I know right?!" said Alexandra. "They can be very creatives. They also have slinkies!"

Cass' mouth opened agape in horror, shock and surprise.
This girl knew about slinkies?
There was nothing else to say. Apart from the song.
"Everyone loves a slinky, you've got to love a slinky... Oh, Alex!"
(a/n, am spending half an hour with little sister now, will you be online @ 10? for WW?)

Alex grinned cheekily at that. "Of course I know about slinkies," she said with a laugh. Then she joined in Cass's slinky song and took another drink from the pumpkin juice.
(A/N: It's 3:35 where I am right now. So do you mean when it should be 4 for me?)

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Cass walked back into her crash pad. She whistled a tune that she had heard played on a strings instrument in the Tallest Tower, until she stopped dead in her tracks.
There, on the wall was her posters from home. The Pigfarts 2010 poster, a picture of Boss Zefron, a picture of Matthew Parkman- a 6th year Ravenclaw Quidditch Player she adored and finally, a picture that took up half of the wall behind her from which she came from: a picture of her Mother, Father, Brother and herself- holding her favourite rubber duck and Bradley.
She smiled fondly at what Alex was holding. Her slinky.
They looked so happy.

"Hey Cass!" said Alex as she walked into the crash pad. She looked at the new decorations that were up on the wall. "That is a boss Zefron poster! Much better than Taylor Lautner," she said with a grin as she collapsed into the nearest bright purple beanbag chair.

"I'm glad you agree," said Cass wryly. "Oh! That reminds me, you know. Close your eyes, I've got your present in here."

Cass checked to see if her eyes were closed. "Right. It's your job to pick which one you want," said Cass. "There's two, so you can have one for your dorm and one can be on your side of our Crash Pad. I'm keeping the Boss Zefron on my side, though," she said protectively.

"Kay, my eyes are closed," said Alexandra, who waited patiently to tell her to open them. "Be careful with that Zefron poster. They're known to be horcruxes," she said seriously.

Cass gasped. "Whose?" she said incredulously, "I'd better not touch it."
But worry had taken over her when she saw the poster's eyes following her. Grabbing her foam sword and jabbing it with the tip, Cass yelled, "We're all in this together, Alex, join me!"

After the seventeenth crescendo of lungeful anger, Cass stopped. "I don't think its working."
A beat of silence, and the Poster fell to the floor- its glass frame cutting through the face of Boss Zefron.

She looked at Alex's shocked face. "It's fine. Paste this altogether and it'll be fine."