Life is Miserable

Jasmeet was sitting beside the tree, in no mood to talk, no mood to do anything but cry. Tears were falling down her cheeks as she thought about the happenings of the past week. And most of all she thought about her father, she missed him the most.

I wish you were here dad, she thought, another tear falling down her cheek.

Lauren was wandering by the lake, getting some fresh air before she went back to the books. She walked over to her favourite tree, noting that Jasmeet was there. On closer inspection of the girl, she looked deeply upset.

Lauren walked slowly over to the Gryffindor, and sat down beside her wordlessly. She then placed an arm around her, and pulled her towards her gently.

Raven liked to come to the lake a lot. It was filled with memories for him. He smiled slightly until he saw two Gryffindor girls. He went towards them seeing it was Jas and Lauren. Biting his lip he wondered if he should intrude or not. Taking a breath, Raven nodded, as he made up his mind. Going over he nodded at Lauren and sat down beside the two girls. He kept his silence. He wasn't a huggy type of person and hoped his presence would suffice. And if he wasn't invited, he was sure that Lauren wouldn't hesitate to tell him. The same went if it was a convo that was only for girls.

Lauren smiled at Raven as he sat down beside them. Jasmeet still had not said anything, and Lauren assumed that she just didn't want to talk about it, or that she didn't want to talk about it with her. Lauren took her arm off of Jasmeet and stood up, looking at Raven.

"You may have better luck talking to her than me. Who knows?" Lauren smiled softly and then made her way back up to the castle, hoping that the girl was alright.

Jasmeet just sat there quietly, not saying anything. She didn't say anything when Lauren had come, had said nothing when Raven had come, and had said nothing when Lauren had left. All she could think about was how much she missed her dad at the time, and all she could do was cry. She wasn't weak, but it had become too much for her to keep deep inside. And now those feelings had overcome her barriers.

Raven was never good when it came to emotional people. Especially emotional females. He shifted uncomfortably when Jas had cried. He watched Lauren leave with a tad bit of fear. Biting his lip, he rummaged in his pockets and pulled out a handkerchief. His mum always made him carry one. He had no idea what for! But now, it was coming in handy. That was the only thing he could think of. He held it out stiffly for the Gryffindor to take. "Um...here."

Jasmeet looked at Rave through her tears, and saw that he was offering her is handkerchief. She slowly took it out of his hand, and cleared away the tears on her cheeks - some that were already dry and others that were fresh.

She muttered a small, "Umm… thanks," as a myriad of fresh tears covered her cheeks again. She knew that Rave wasn't comfortable with emotional girls, and was touched that he stayed sitting there next to her.

Clearing his throat, Raven nodded. Shifting again, he ventured it was safe to talk now. "Sooooooooooooo, do you want to talk about it, or just...." Raven shrugged.
He bit his lip and looked at his friend with concern. He wondered what was going on around here lately. Maybe it was stress from all the cramming or not cramming they were doing for the finals? Was that what is was? "You stressed about the finals or something?"

She shook her head at him, "Its just... its just," she tried but her tears made it hard for her to say anything. She wasn't sure what she was to say, and how she was supposed to say it.

She placed her face into her hands, and started to cry harder.

There seemed to be a soppy social gathering going on nearby Cass' favourite tree stump Stumpy, and being her, was only curious to see what the deal was.
She also had two fingers crossed behind her back- surely they hadn't walked into Stumpy?
But no. It was Jasmeet, Lauren and Raven.

Cass ran back. It was okay to see people she didn't know well crying, but Jasmeet- well-
Cass just ran back.

Jenny sat down on Jas' (how do i spell that?) other side. She didn't know why her friend was crying, but she was going to be there for her no matter what. She could see Raven wasn't very comfortable with the situation, but she didn't expect a boy to react well around crying girls. He handed her a handkerchief, which was a good move on his part. Jenny smiled at his attempt to comfort Jas. She didn't say anything, giving Jas her space to speak only if she wanted to.

Jasmeet felt rather than saw Jen seating herself beside her. She was touched by how many people cared for her, but it didn't make the pain go away. What she really wanted was to have someone hug her, and tell her that everything would be alright. Everytime she tried to form words, she would be left with nothing come from her mouth except for a slight sob.

She just completely gave up, crying into her hands, sitting there with Rave and Jen.

"If you want to talk, Raven and I would be happy to listen," Jenny spoke kindly, believing Raven would oblige. She wondered what was bothering Jas- could she have failed a final? She didn't think that was the case. Call it intuition, if you will. It was something more. Something emotional.

Seeing that Raven didn't fancy touching Jas, Jenny hugged her instead. She wasn't sure what words to say to make her feel better, or if any words could. She didn't know the situation at all. The only thing she could do was be there for her.

Jasmeet felt herself pulled into a embrace, and was shocked. She wasn't sure how the Ravenclaw girl had known, but Jasmeet was only too happy to oblige. She hugged the girl, and just cried into her shoulder.

She managed a smile at her, and nodded, knowing that Rave and Jen were there for her, and that was all she needed to know.

"Hold it right... there," said a voice from behind Jasmeet, Jennifer and Raven.
Cass proped up the camera to go in ten seconds, cartwheeled over to the group and turned to Jasmeet, yelling over the loud sound of the camera counting down.

"The past is gone, the present's now. We're all here, we're all alive, we're all happy-" Cass mumbled something about a bludger and a certain Gryffindor, "and now, I really need you to smile."

The look on Cass' face was full of nothing but optimism. She looked at Raven and Jennifer. "Smile!"

Jasmeet heard the flash and saw Cass standing behind the camera. She didn't know when she had let go of Jen and had rushed towards Cass, but all she knew that she was hugging her best friend. The person that understood everything, the person she would share anything with. And she started to cry - cry for her father and cry for herself.

Still clutching the camera, and seeing as the muggle device churned out a picture, Cass embraced Jasmeet's hug. "There, there."

Motioning for Jennifer and Raven to come on over, she offered the camera out in the air. "Would it be okay if I had a picture with this ol' gal?" she asked quietly. "only, I have a few minutes to make her smile, and I want to catch it on camera," a small smile crept through.

She added, "and you guys too. I'm making a photo album, to show the family."

Jenny smiled at Jas and Cass. Maybe Cass would be able to help Jas. Jenny knew she already was just by being here.

"Of course," Jenny stood and took the camera. "Say "quidditch!" Jenny laughed, snapping the photo. She watched as it developed slowly before her eyes.

Jasmeet managed a smile through her tears, and saw the flash. After the photo was taken, she went back to hugging Cass once more, her tears returning. She realised that Rave was still sitting there on the grass.

She looked back at him, and walked back, hugging him, "Thankyou..." she whispered for only him to hear.

Letting him go, she sat down beside him, trying to clear away the tears from her face.

"Quidditch!"
This was how she was going to remember everyone, when the holidays came around. Happy, together, always helping. Yuck. The old Cass would've found that affectionate drivel disgusting. But there was definately a transformation.
What had happened to the Cass that always corrected her name into the four letters? What happened to the girl who always had a 'YO!' or a 'dude!' in every sentence she spoke? What happened to the girl who dressed just like her brother, so no-one would look at her and think 'just another boring girl'? She had gone. And it was people like Jasmeet, Jennifer, Raven and Samantha, Dixie, Indiana, Cat, Harmony, Lovegood, Scarfy. Hell, maybe even Will on an occasion, all made her different to then.

Ugh. Such a sap, still.
Cassopeia sent a thankful glance at Jennifer."Cheers for being there for her, Jennifer, Raven." And for me...

All of the people she'd met this year would be people she'd be thinking about in the summer when she'd leave to find her brother.

"Cheers," Jenny laughed, although none of them had drinks.

Jenny realized it was the end of the year. This was a nice way to end it, she though. Would her friends still be there next year? Would she?

She hoped so.

"Hey guys, let's make a pact to always be friends- no matter what happens"

Almost letting out a muggle 'lol', Cass returned to Jennifer, "sure. Don't think we'd need one though. But just in case... how about an Unbreakable Vow? My mum says those are 'hardcore.' You take your hand, and you hold it with someone elses, and you need someone else to do the actual thing, but..."

Jenny bit her lip. If you broke the Unbreakable Vow- you die. "Alright, i'll make the vow to always be friends, but I should warn you of the consequences. If we ever become enemies, we will die"

Jenny couldn't imagine being enemies with Cass, but this was the Unbreakable Vow. "You up for it?"

"Wait. What!"
The unbreakable vow killed people? "If it killed people, why isn't it illegal? That's really bad, that, you know. Maybe we shouldn't..." trailed off Cass. "Not that we won't be friends or anything. I've got enough to worry about as well as something unbreakable. Funny. I never put two and two together on that. Heh. You die if you do the vow. Heh. Anyway, Jasmeet. You ok now?"

Raven rolled his eyes at the girls' antics. "Do you really think we have enough magic for us to kill us at this point in time? And another thing. Enemy is such a strong word. We might grow apart, but I doubt we'll ever really be enemies. I mean we're from different Houses. Are we enemies because of that? Me and Jas have had arguments. Doesn't mean we're enemies. Just friends going through a rough patch."
So saying, Raven boldly put his hand out and raised his brow as he looked at the others. "Well, what say you?"