little miss black

-80-

"You look nice." Sirius said, looking up from his parchment. "Where are you going?"

"Noah's." Cass said. "I'm shitting it." She fiddled with the hem of her dress. The Easter holidays were nearing their end, so Noah's parents had invited Cass for dinner.

"It'll be fine, they'll love you." Sirius said.

"Mmm." Cass said vaguely. "What are you doing anyway?"

"Revision." Sirius muttered.

"Who are you and what have you done with my brother?" Cass said, grinning.

"Oh shut up." Sirius said, shoving her. "Exams are soon." Cass quirked an eyebrow.

"Since when have you cared about exams?"

"Since I have no clue what I want to do and need to have decent grades across the board." Sirius shrugged.

"Join the club." Cass sighed. "I'm putting off deciding a career path until the last minute."

"How are you getting to Noah's anyway?" Sirius asked.

"Noahs coming here with Will, then Will is apparating us back." Cass said.

"Cool." Sirius said. "Will you be staying over?" Cass shrugged.

"Don't know yet, why?"

"No reason." Sirius said hurriedly, scribbling something on his parchment. Cass narrowed her eyes.

"What are you up to?" She asked.

"Nothing." Sirius said, his voice rising a few octaves.

"You're a terrible liar." Cass laughed. "Just don't trash the house while I'm gone yeah?"

"No promises." Sirius grinned. Cass rolled her eyes, giving him a quick hug and grabbed her keys off the table.

"See you later."

•••

Noah's house was tucked into the corner of a muggle town. Cass staggered slightly as Will apparated them into the alley behind it. Noah caught her to stop her falling.

"There you are!" Grace called, sticking her head over the fence beside them. Cass jumped. "Sorry Cass, I've been looking out for you."

"You coming for dinner Gracie?" Will asked.

"Yeah, your mum asked me this morning." Grace said. Cass relaxed slightly, Grace was a pretty chatty person so she would hopefully manage to keep Cass from talking too much.

"We'd better get inside." Noah said. "Mum is so paranoid these days, with all this death eater stuff." He laced his fingers through Cass' and led her round to the front of the house and up the path.

"Mum! That's us here!" Will called into the house.

"At last." Sophia said, wiping her hands on her apron as she came through. "Good to see you dear." She smiled at Cass.

"Good to see you too Mrs Rosenthal." Cass said.

"Dinner will be five minutes or so. Did you see Grace on your way in?" Sophia said.