Cassana slept on the right side of the bed. Currently she had her face buried in one pillow as consciousness was returning to her after a great eight hours of sleep. She found out that being married was a great way of life so far.

She loved waking up with the feeling of another person on her other side or with arms around her (but that was a rarity). It was, so cliche of her, but screw it, life was kind of just one large cliche for the most part, but it felt right to share the bed with someone else. It was king-sized bed that was far too big for her if she didn't share it with someone else. The fact that the someone else was her husband was just sort of a plus. Granted he got under her skin and tended to get her angrier than anyone to walk the face of the Earth, she had a deep fondness for him that was almost like the way she felt for her ex-boyfriend, Thom, from Tituba's but not quite. The way she felt for Devin was deeper, stronger, and it was more prominent and potent than any other feeling before.

She loved him.

It was sort of scary, but it was thrilling too. It made her jubilant to wake up and see his peaceful face in the mornings, it was almost like his usual passive face, but softer, and in that aspect sweeter as well. Because she'd been Cassana Brennham for a year as of lately, she knew him well enough to guess that most of the emotion behind his eyes weren't kind. She had grown accustomed him, to the way he took his tea to the way he preferred his pasta and even the way he favored casting spells. She smiled now, her eyes still closed in sweet memory of his face. It was strange to think she was no longer Cassana Rose, but rather Cassana Brennham but she would have it no other way.

She would have it no other and to no other person.

Her heart swelled in thought of her husband, now ready to awaken and start the day. She opened her eyes ready to great him good morning to find an empty bed.

"Dev?" She called out, her voice hoarse from sleep.

No reply, and Cassie frowned. Her eyes weren't even completely open yet, but the non-responsive answer awoke her enough that she opened her eyes and winced at the sunlight streaming in. She groaned a little before she closed her eyes again and begun to rub the sleep from them.

"Devin if you scare me I'll burn the bed, I promise," Cassie shouted into the house, then paused at the echo of her own voice returning to her. She pouted and sighed before running a hand through tangled, sleep knotty hair. She frowned and made a sound of disgruntled frustration before she kicked her feet over the side of her bed. Only for bare feet to land in softness. Her eyes shot open when she saw the pretty roses.

What the-, Cassie's brows furrowed in disbelief. She wanted to scream at him but then realized she'd be talking to herself. Alright, well this was new, she thought as she bent down to touch one gently. It was soft, and her favorite type. Roses weren't cheap. Except she knew he had money. She was touched because this was - it wasn't - it was.

It wasn't something he did.

There was a logical reason he was doing this. There had to be, so she pulled a rose to her face and inhaled the sweet, innocent scent of the yellow flower and pulled her knees up to her chest to stare at the floor. Cassie wracked her brain for ideas, for answers; roses were known for their connotations. In complete honesty, she would have never known any of the definitions of rose colors if she wasn't a Potioneer. The best love potions, the most potent ones always called for the flower of romance or of love; the rose. Each color was significant. They always had a deeper meaning. The ones on the outside were white, pink, and yellow. White meant marriage, yellow meant joy, and pink meant ... love? Pink was love in the way that was childish. not immature. Of all the different types of love pink represented the type of love friends had for each other.

Then there was the red.

It was literally a carpet of red roses. Did he mean to signify there was an award waiting for her at the end? Or did he mean to use the other connotation of roses: love? It was a love as in love like a romance movie kind.

Sighing she put the rose on her bed stand before deciding to follow the path of roses in her big sweatshirt (Merlin's Academy made the warmest!) and boyshorts. As her feet stepped on the roses, the softness of them like rubbing her face on cashmere, it made her feel adored. She smiled the entire walk down to the kitchen, a bounce in her step. As she got closer however, her heart did a dance in her chest as she inhaled a sweet, familiar aroma. When Cassie got to the kitchen, she nearly fainted of joy.

Chocolate waffles (three to be exact) with a side of half butter and no syrup (a quirk of hers she realized just months ago that it was too sweet and took away from the sweet flavor of chocolate), English Breakfast tea with enough cream and sugar it was basically warm water with cream and sugar, a cup full of strawberries and blueberries sprinkled with sugar, two sausages, and a cup of water (to wash it all down when she was done) .

All done to a tee, a perfect meal, the perfect completion of her favorite breakfast foods.

She gasped before her fingers reached the note and she turned it over to read the words.

Ana, she thought, a tight fist around her heart stopping for a moment, it was a name that Devin and only Devin called her.

"What're you up to, Dev?" Cassie mused aloud with a smile on her face as she folded the note and begun to dig into her feast. Although she was happy to have her favorite food, she wanted Devin here, if not just to hear what he had to say about why she ate so damn much in the morning then to just to see his rather gorgeous face half-awake reading the paper and the Quidditch column. He'd always been attractive (hello he was a brilliant Quidditch player) but now he was so much more than that. Life was unfair like that; making her love her attractive husband who could thought of her as a sweet wife turned friend.

Cassana had felt deliriously happy with how full she was, humming to herself in happiness at a beautiful breakfast. Although she would have been ecstatic, humming with pure energy to have Devin there with her, she could content herself to a little alone time. Of course, she thought with a bit of a frown, she did hate the sound of loneliness. What to do with the rest of her day? She could wait around, like a neurotic 50's house wife waiting ever so patiently and compliantly for her husband to return home, OR owl Tess or Brooke or Parker to see if any of them wanted to go out and about. 

Within moments those considerations were crumpled and tossed out the window as Devin's owl appeared, she jumped in surprise, startled by it's swiftness. She was ready to reach out to it pet it before it flew off. She pouted at the animal. Yule was never that mean, she thought haughtily. The confusion on her face could only be interpreted as what the hell is this? It was then that the Howler echoed Devin's voice. Creepy as it might sound (maybe it was romantic to others, her not so much) but Devin's voice held a certain weight in her mind and heart. Because he spoke so rarely, and when he does sweet Morgana above did the man deserve the Sass Queen (yes Queen not King) award, she cherished every word. Of course, his lack of speaking was in the beginning of their meeting (good gosh was it hard to describe how they came to be and what exactly they were). 

Now they spoke regularly and they laughed even more often and she absolutely loved it. She loved talking to hear him, even if it meant talking about Quidditch. She knew relatively nothing about Quidditch before marrying him. Then she started reading fervently about the subject and asking questions about it, if just to see the way his jade eyes jumped up to a brighter hue of emerald; his eyes that shone with the passion of his love for the sport. She really, really liked watching him talk about Quidditch.

If only she had the stomach for the possibility of plunging to her death. Oh wait, there's no need to stomach that if she's got a head full of reason on her shoulders, so I don't need to feel guilty. She changed quickly into a skirt and peter pan collar top, a little excited by this errand run that she was to go on; she loved adventures but school and life got in the way. Whatever Devin was doing, she had to trust him enough that it would turn out for the best. 

When Cassie got there, the jeweler greeted her with a smile and a wink which made her grin a little uneasily, but then she saw it. And she gasped and bit her lower lip. She looked up at the jeweler. 


"This is unreal," she told him as she ran her fingers over it, "not in a bad way, I'm completely shocked but in a good way. It's not one of those bad kinds where you feel like trapped or nervous but I'm so ecstastic right now I'd jump for joy if I wasn't in heels and this is just beautiful. Has anyone done this for you? Oh, wait you - no I don't think anyone's bought you a pearl necklace but I - I love this." The last words came out breathlessly from her long blabber and the jeweler smiled knowingly. She was smiling as she asked him to put it on her, disregarding the fact that it clashed with her outfit, smiling

Cassie was purely in awe of the necklace because one it was gorgeous and two it was from Devin which made it all the more special to her. She was feeling a bit love drunk too, to be quite frank. Every girl liked to be given gifts, no matter how humble they were about it. In the back of her mind, Cassana knew that even if Devin were dirt poor she'd still love him the same. Hopefully however, in that world they would have met under different circumstances.

She couldn't say she liked him entirely in the beginning of their acquaintanceship. Which was hard for her to admit because she liked frogs more than she liked him, he came off as rude, pretentious, and too judgmental for her tastes. However, as time went on and through the rough-ish road it took to get to this point she discovered that he wasn't pretentious just busy and he wasn't judgmental, okay well it wasn't as bad as she originally thought, but everyone was entitled to their opinions. Cassie didn't know a relationship could even have learning in it, but it did.

She knew now to be so quick to base her own judgments on people, that sometimes silence was the best part of the day, and that the best kind of love was the kind that pushed you to be a better person. She wasn't changed, she was matured. She still carried the same amount of energy, the same optimism, but she could channel now. She sort of had to, she had to balance pacifying her parents, living on again off again with her best friend, holding her other friendships, her school, and him. However, she was doing great so far. She was excited and happy to do all she was doing.

Then Devin's friend came in, she blinked in surprise and just opened her mouth, coming out of her lovesick daze and immediately jumping into whatever the friend said. Her eyes lit up and she grinned as she nodded excitedly, semi-speechless about what to say.

"Hey," she asked the guy as they walked, "do you think Devin knows that I'd still care for him the same way without all this stuff? I mean I love it, trust me I do, and I appreciate the way he's showing his affection and I love that he's doing this because it's so sweet of him. But honestly, I don't care for this as much because he's a great person and he could be piss poor and I'd lov-love to be married to him still."

However, he said nothing only gave her a slightly apologetic smile before directing her towards the place. Once there she sighed as she put herself into shopping mode. For some girls it meant going through thousands of clothes and looking at each cute one and giggling or sighing before putting into the 'wish-list' pile. For her it meant, giggling and sighing as she penned through each of the racks, looking for a dress that was long enough for her petite size that it would cover her legs, but also small enough that she wouldn't trip over it. After two hours and nothing, she sighed feeling a bit dejected.


As she walked around the dress store, she sighed as she looked over to the clerk counter and saw the lady fumble before something fell out of her hands and she caught it. Thank you good eye-sight because immediately she saw that the fumble had been her reaching for her wand. Her eyes darted to Devin's friend and she looked at him curiously. Then at the woman. He nodded over to her as if telling her go ahead.


After confronting the witch and discovering that she had a wixen and wizards only section in the back, as she ushered the Brennham woman towards that part of the store, Cassie felt her heart race in excitement. This day was turning out to be quite the adventure, she thought as she followed the woman who opened up a cabinet and took her wand out before the cabinet became doors, walking rhough it there wasa  large change in it. 


Every dress was floor length, some had moving images on them (specifically one with birds on it flying upwards and swirling around her legs) but then she saw it. The color and design stuck to her minds, sort of reminding her of one of her favorite musicals, Into the Woods, with the way the design winded up her legs. She smiled thoughtfully before telling the lady that was the dress. The woman nodded before taking the dress and handing it to her with a smile.

Her grin practically ate her face as she returned to Devin's friend, the expensive but beautiful dress in arms.

The guy was kind enough to carry the dress, but offered literally no conversation or clues. Before the apparation home she tried to peace the clues together. Then gave up because she was too ecstatic to do so. She’d lived a day of glorious luxury and loved each moment of it. It all seemed perfectly planned out and each detail she appreciated, the little things that happened she loved. She couldn’t wait to get home to see Devin and tell him about how much she’d enjoyed the day so far. Once she was outside the house, she could barely hold back her excitement. Taking the dress back and slinging it over one shoulder, she smiled brightly at him.
 
“I had the most fun ever,” Cassie exclaimed as she grasped at the roses and paused before following what he asked, going on the very tips of her toes she pressed her lips to his cheek, “I’ll tell you about how much fun I had during lunch, but thank you.” She murmured gratefully staring up at him before clambering up the stairs. Picking an ensemble that she felt was perfect to the occasion. After slipping into each of the clothing with excitement and applying little to no makeup. Her bedroom that she loved didn’t compare to Devin’s. She didn’t want to brag even if she felt gorgeous; she just meant to see if he too was ready to go.
 
“Jeez Devin, like I compare to you,” she murmured, cheeks flushed past her blush as she bit her lower lip because good Gods above, why was he so attractive? It was almost hurting her because of how well the suit fit him, how well it looked on his body. It upset her deeply because he was extremely attractive and she felt like a potato. Except that wasn’t a new feeling she had been having. Unfortunately.


“I’m glad I look as wonderful as food, there’s no greater compliment,” she replied grinning brightly, “but you’re like the pizza of food, which is almost the best, but I’ll keep an open mind for Copita.”  She took his arm and squeezed it, inwardly marveling at the muscle behind it and being a bit pissed he was more fit than her. As they apparated there and were seated immediately (how she loved hearing them call out the shared title, the Brennhams). Settling herself into the chair she smiled softly at him as she lifted the drink menu.
 
“What sort of drink do you want?” She asked before dropping the menu, making a table of her arms by placing her elbows on the table and putting her chin atop the bridge her hands created. “I’m leaning towards a Cigales & Toro, I’m sort of fascinated by the young version with something fruity with the taste of cherry and vanilla.” She narrowed her eyes at him after a moment, curiosity in the depths of her eye.
 

“And how was your day? What’d you do? What sort of events did you get up to? Hmm? Who helped you plan this ingenious thing, also the dessert menu looks delicious.” She asked in rapid fire succession as she fiddled with her hands.