"You are going to look amazing," Arthur promised her. "I should know I picked out that outfit myself." He had taken Riley shopping for the perfect dress. He took great importance in looking the best for occasions like this himself and had been happy to help her. He enjoyed the style of what people wore to balls. It was so elegant.

His girlfriend seemed to be happy with this response as she came downstairs. He offered her his arm and she teased him about being old fashioned.

The Yule Ball went well for a while. They danced and had fun. He socialized a bit too, not expecting Riley to get jealous. They didn't usually get jealous with each other or start a scene but she had been very close to starting a scene then.

"You completely ignored me," she accused once they were out of earshot of the others.

"I did no such thing. I was just being friendly. We're supposed to socialize with the other schools you know."

"Yeah and of course you socialize with the Beauxtbatons girl."

"I talked to plenty of other people." This response just made Riley storm off, he tried to follow after her but she yelled at him not to.

Sighing Arthur walked off but then he spotted someone. It was Cassana. He remembered back to the first time they met.

He had just been sorted into Hufflepuff and sat down next to a girl who had welcomed him to Hufflepuff. They introduced each other and Arthur had gotten the feeling that he might have made a friend with this bubbly girl.

"Cassana?" Arthur asked once he stood before her.

Cassana was alight with embarrassment.

She absolutely hated Thom Selkins, and he just had to go and ruin her night! She should have known, she should have known that the charming Slytherin would ruin the Yule Ball for her. She had attended, dressed quite elegantly in a dress the color of the sky after the sun had set, an orange that complimented her tan skin, and gold strapped heels to accentuate them. Her date hadn't been Thomas Selkins, but rather Joshua Preston. Josh and her were close friends since he'd been infatuated with her older sister, and he'd asked her as friends. They had enjoyed the night, dancing and laughing with other Hufflepuff friends, when Thom, the sly Slytherin, had slipped in and asked for a dance. Josh was reluctant, since he knew how Cassie and Thom tended to go for each other's jugulars each time they were in close proximity.

Naturally, she didn't want to let Josh go either, but Thom was in the house of cunning ones and he reminded her it was rude for her to turn down a dance. So she let him slid his hand around her waist, encased his hand in hers, and they danced slowly. He said nothing, just stared at her, and she felt awkward as if cornered by an animal. This wasn't her Thom, Thom would have said something snarky about her appearance, would have made an acute observation about her, but instead he just stared. When the song came to a close, he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers', gentle and sweet. She panicked, slapped him, and ran out of the Hall, freaked out beyond words. Still standing she buried her face in her hands, eyes closed as she tried to calm her heart down from what she'd just done.

At the sound of her name being called, her head snapped up, face flushed and eyes wide, she felt relief wash over her.

"Arthur," she exclaimed, smiling despite her clear discomfort at the sight of one of her closest friend's, "you wouldn't believe the night I've been having." She joked, then stopped. "Where's Riley? It's so rare to see you two without each other, is everything alright? I hope it's nothing unrepairable, she'll forgive you or maybe you'll have to forgive her... You looked lovely tonight by the way, so did she," in her usual manner she had said all this one breath and inhaled deeply after she'd finished.

"What's wrong?" Arthur asked. His own worries forgotten at the moment. Had it been a problem with her date? Whatever it was it pained him to see Cassana cry. He didn't think he had seen her cry very often.

"Riley got a bit jealous and stormed off," he admitted. "I wasn't flirting with anyone. I just talked to a few people and she thinks I was interested in one of the Beauxbatons girls. I think she just needs time to cool off. Thanks, you look lovely too."

"Tell what's wrong though. Do you want me to beat anyone up?" He wasn't really the violent type but then this was Cassie.

Cassie had been shocked herself to feel tears on her cheek, she wiped them away as quickly as they came, the distress from fricking Thom still burning in her. In Arthur's presence, it was disappearing and being replaced with annoyance at herself; she was being stupid, too emotional. Her Slytherin sister would be completely irritated with her, telling her that her emotions would get her killed one day. That if Cassie wanted to become a serious Potioneer, she'd have to eliminate that sort of thing.

Yeah, that wasn't happening like ever.

Strangely, she felt relieved that Riley was gone. She wasn't too fond of the girl, but Cassie couldn't quite explain why she wasn't; it was just a gut feeling that pulled her away.

"It's good then that you guys can easily make up, some people can't and you guys both love each other so it'll all work itself out, but others aren't so lucky. You guys have the four leaf clover of relationships," she joked lightly. She laughed at the whole beating someone up. As if.

"Hold it tiger," she joked putting a hand on his arm, "it was just Thom being Thom again. I told you about that stupid Potions stunt he pulled right? When he put just a hint of Acromantula eye into my Potions and it exploded right in my face! He's a prick, Arthur, and I- I can't stand him and I wish he'd leave me alone sometimes, but I want to know why he won't just fricking leave me alone, the little git." She squeezed his arm, her last three words coming out as a growl.

"Thanks," Arthur said. He sometimes got the feeling that Cassie didn't like Riley but he couldn't think of any reason why she wouldn't. Riley wasn't mean to her or anything. Maybe it was just his imagination. "You're probably right. I'll try to talk to her about it tomorrow."

"Hey, I could beat someone up. I'm fit." He gave her hand a comforting squeeze when she put it on his arm. "If you need to talk about it I'll listen."

He pulled his hand back and nodded. He remembered very well. She sounded dangerous as she finished with a growl. He wasn't afraid of her since her anger wasn't directed at him but he wondered how far Thom had pushed her this time. Maybe he ought to have a word with him. But he didn't think Cassie would approve of that. Instead he squeezed her hand again, wondering if she realized that she had tightened her grip on his arm.

Cassana was no stranger to making friends, for she was something of a social butterfly. However, she found that sincere friends, true friend, were a rarity to come by. Arthur was one such friend. Despite the fact that they weren't attached at the hip or anything, she thought him to be a close friend. Thus forth, her tinges of jealousy for Riley weren't unexplained, and sometimes she wished close friends were more. Only as of late, had she wished that, because she'd discovered that the holidays were much more pleasant with a partner.

"I'm sure you are," she rolled her eyes, but laughed at him, feeling better to be in good company, "we haven't talked in so long Arthur, and now since I don't plan on dancing anytime soon, I say we head back to the common room and catch up." Cassie suggested, smiling at him. Using her grip, still on his arm, she yanked him into walking alongside her.

"I'm sorry," she said in shock as his hand touched her's again, she released him then, face flushed, "it's just- he's- I don't." She let out an exasperated sigh. "It's not bullying and it's not hazing, but it's definitely not stuff someone who wanted to only be acquaintances would do. Y'know? It's just so weird and irritating." She was a little relieved that he had yet to ask her what exactly happened that blew her up so much.

"Good idea," he agreed. The common room should be empty by now. The majority of Hufflepuff would be asleep or at the Ball right now. Some might have objected to being yanked along but he just tried to keep pace.

He wondered if he had embarrassed her by taking her hand again. He hadn't meant to do anything expect provide support. At the very least it had made her let go but he hadn't minded her squeezing his arm.

"I guess," Arthur said. "I'm still not sure what exactly he did. Maybe he secretly likes you. Boys will mean to girls they like, at least that's what adults would say when we were younger. He could just be messing with you though."

"Let's get to the walking already, Mr. Future Auror," Cassie joked, referring to a previous conversation they'd had months ago where they talked about what they planned to do after Hogwarts - not far from now. Just another year, they were Sixth Years after all, and they'd be another step closer to graduation, another step closer to their futures. Cassana couldn't wait to be out of Hogwarts, despite her affinity for the beautiful architectural wonder just so she could get her life moving on and out of England. Not that she didn't love it, but she did know that there was far too much out there that she was missing. She was awfully curious about the world that she had barely seen besides in pictures.

"How've classes been lately? The family?" She asked conversationally as they strolled through the Halls, some teens frittering by with quirked eyebrows, she hissed at them like a dog to their shock. Her anger with Thom Selkins had disappeared and now she was left bereft of it.

"Y'know back when we were first friends, it was so hard for me to get so much information out of you, I'm rather proud now of how much you talk," Cassie joked.

"After you Miss future-Potioneer," he joked right back. Really Arthur didn't know why he wanted to be an Auror exactly. It had just seemed right. He had plenty of time left before he had to go off to university so he tried not to worry too much about it.

Arthur was taken back at Cassie hissing at people. He was almost as shocked at the students who had quickly jumped out of the way. Her bad mood obviously hadn't lifted despite her making pleasant conversation with him now.

"Classes are great," he answered. He thought back to the frustrating amount of time he had spent trying to hone his Divination skills. He was a seer, shouldn't it come naturally to him? Maybe it was just as well because he didn't know what he would do if his predictions were better. "I'm doing well in them. The family is fine. My mom says she found her ring. It turned up in an old pair of heels of all places." His mother didn't have a habit of losing things or at least no more than anyone else. He wished he could think of something more interesting to tell her. "What about you?"

"You've loosened my tongue," he replied in good humour.