Changing World

Cassie raised an eyebrow at her. "Take your pick."

"I'm not going to bloody pick anything."

"Well then I'm dragging you out, and you can apperate home instead of taking the floo."

"Drag me out and you can just consider yourself moved out of the house."

"I don't care, you crossed the line when you started insulting my family." Cassie dragged the girl to the door and pulled it open.

Lyssa scowled at Cassie, and removed her arm from Cassie's grip, walking off and apparating home without a word.

Before her family could say anything Cassie said. "I'm going to Emma's," And walked out.

Lyssa walked in, having apparate to outside the house, and went to the kitchen as she was still hungry after the lunch disaster.

Cassie grabbed her bike and headed off to Emma's, racing down the hills. As it was mostly a downhill ride to Emma's house. She was seething, upset that Lyssa had been acting like she was. It wasn't like her. She didn't usually act like that, but lately, lately for some reason she had started acting in that way. Acting superior towards muggles and muggle borns. Cassie couldn't make any sense of it. She had no idea what had caused the change.

She parked her bike, leaning it on the fence and headed towards the door. Dinging the door bell. Emma's mum opened the door. "Oh hello there Cassie, come in, come in." "Hi Annie," Cassie said. "I'll call Emma." She said opening the door and allowing Cassie to walk in. Cassie smiled gratefully at her, even though inside she was still seething. "Emma!" Her mum called shutting the door behind Cassie. "Cassie's here."

"Cassie!" Emma shouted coming down the stairs and hugging her freind. "Hey Em," The two girls scampered back up the stairs, falling down onto Emma's bed. "What's up?" Emma asked watching her freind. She could tell that something was frustrating her. "Lyssa," Cassie muttered. "Again?" Cassie nodded. "What did she do this time?" Cassie told Emma the story about the lunch fiasco and what came after it.

"I think.." And she cut off. Cassie looked up at her. "What?" "Nevermind." "Emma, tell me." "No, you'll eat my head off." Cassie frowned at her. "Please? I want to know what your thoughts are." Emma sighed putting her hands down in her lap. "I dunno, you won't like it." "Just tell me, I promise not to eat your head off." "Cassie, you have never been good with that sort of promise." Cassie muttered grumpily, but good natured.

Cassie stared at Emma waiting for her to talk. Emma bit her lip looking at her lap. She looked up at Cassie. "Cassie, I think," She stopped for a moment. "I think that you need to give up on Lyssa." Cassie stared at her blinking. And Emma continued, it all coming out in a rush. "Cassie, I'm being serious here. And you know me, I'm not saying it because I'm jelouse or something."

"But-" Cassie said. "But what Cassie?" Emma asked her. "Listen, for once in your god-damn life listen." Cassie closed her mouth. Emma swollowed. "I don't know why you count her a freind, Cassie. I honestly don't. Why?" "Why what?" Cassie asked. "Why do you?" Cassie blinked at her. Rather affronted. "She makes me smile.." "Cassie, my dead cat made you smile. And you didn't keep her around." "Well course I didn't. She died. That would be gross."

"It's the same thing Cassie." "How? How is it the same thing?" Emma ignored that, instead plowing on. It seemed to Cassie that she had wanted to say this for ages, but hadn't. "Other then making you smile and laugh, what has she done for you?" Emma rasied her eyebrow. Cassie opened her mouth, her brow furrowed and she shut it again. "Exactly," Emma said. "Nothing."

"That's not true!" Cassie said. "Cassie, you're defending her. Why?" Cassie was staring at Emma like she had grown another head. "She's my, one of my best freinds." "And we just went over that. She has done NOTHING, nothing, to earn that title. Has she?" Emma stared at her. Cassie opened her mouth, making a noise that didn't sound like anything. She was rather startled at how Emma was acting.

"Cassie, you wrote to me every time you two argued. Even if it was only small. You still wrote. I have a pile of letters from the floor to my head. About you going on about it. About that you were always there for her. You always caught her when she fell. But, she was never there for you. She wasn't," Emma said seeing Cassie open er mout.

"You can't tell me what happened in my life." Cassie muttered. "Cassie, I'm your best freind. I could tell you what's happened in your life backwards. You've confided in me, your life. Cause that's what freinds do. And they help eachother. What about when your parents were fighting? And she was too focused on her brother. Or even last year, what about then?" Emma knew that talking about that was dangerous. But at that point she didn't care. She had started, and she was not going to stop until she had said all she was going to say.

Cassie wondered what would happen if Annie walked in at that time. "What about last year?" Cassie asked. "What about ti Cassie? What about it? Where was Lyssa then? Where was she when you were stuck in a god-damn cellar. She was acting like the very thing you swore to defeat. And she, was the reason you were in there. Wasn't she? And did she help you out? No, she did not."

Cassie couldn't even say anything at that point. She was feeling somewhat overwhelmed at Emma. At her dedication, at the fact that she remembered those details. And that she was talking so feircely now, so full of passion and loyalty.

"Cassie," Emma said and Cassie could tell that she was coming to the end of her speech. "Cassie, you, are one of the best people I have ever met. And that includes everyone I have ever met. You're smart, you're loyal, you don't give a god-damn what people think. You are going to do it your way, and screw everyone else. You stand up for what you believe in, and you are better than that. You are better then her."

Emma pushed her hair behind her ear. "She doesn't deserve you Cassie, not even a tenth of you. Not even a hair off the top of your head. You are amazing, and she hasn't done a single thing to earn that. You are better than that, you are better than her. And it's about time you saw it."

Lyssa had just finished up eating when the first crack of thunder sounded outside the window. She jumped, startled at the noise, hoping that it was the only one. But then another sounded. As the storm arrived with the accompanying rain and got worse, Lyssa tried to ignore it, but found herself jumping at every sound from the storm outside. And then she wished that Cassie was there and that she wasn't alone, but she was.

"Okay," Emma said. "I'm done." And she sat back down again. Looking at Cassie who was sitting there blinking, quite startled. Emma smiled at her. "But I can't just leave her." Cassie said. "Cassie dear, do you need me to repeat my rant? Before you get it? You're not at Hogwarts anymore, you don't need to hang out with her anymore because there isn't anyone else. You're just hurting yourself Cassie, please, if not for you, do it for me. Because I can not stand to see you upset." Cassie looked at Emma and then hugged her tightly.

Later a roar of thunder could be heard and it started to rain. Cassie looked out the window, wondering if it was raining at her place. Well, her old place now, as Lyssa has kicked her out. She shrugged turning back to Emma, they were playing Black Jack, the other option has been fish. Which they ended up playing later that night anyway. Cassie was staying the night because Annie wasn't allowing her home in the storm.

"What do you suggest I do?" Cassie asked. "Do you have a four?" "Fish." Cassie picked up a card. "I think, do you have an eight?" Cassie passed her an eight and Emma put her pair down. "I think you know the house your aunt gave you when she died?" Cassie whacked herself in the head. Emma stared at her. "I completley forgot about that house, and you rembered it." Cassie facepalmed again. Emma smiled. "Well, I think that tomorrow you should go get your stuff and head over there or just back home." "Will you come with me? Any sevens?"

"How-fish- am I meant to come with you? I'm not going via any magical means, you know that." "I'll borrow Mum's car, and we can drive to Lyss' and then to my place." "Where is your place?" "Yeah I'll have to ask mum." Emma grinned. "Any jacks?"

The storm lasted well into the night and by the end of it, Lyss was pretty much buried in her bed's cover, trying to tune the storm out. Finally, at some time around 4 in the morning it stopped and she fell asleep.

The next morning Cassie and Emma road over to Cassie's. The girl had fun riding as they shouted and talked loudly ignoring the weird looks they got. Which made riding even harder because they were laughing so much. They finally got to Cassie's and Emma nearly rode into the letter box, which caused Cassie to nearly ride into the gate. They both got off their bikes stumbling up to the front door.

Cassie opened in. "Hi Mum," She shouted letting Emma enter. The girls entered grinning. "Hey Cassie, hello Emma." "Hi Sam," Emma grinned at her. "Mum," Cassie said. "Can I borrow your car?" "Why?" "I want to drive over to my old place and pick up my stuff, and then head over to the place your sister left for me." "And why don't you just magic yourself over there?" "Because," Cassie said. "I want to take Emma with me AND I may as well be a muggle even if that is what caused this problem."

Sam smiled at her daughter. And got the keys. "There," She said passing them to her watching her daughter and Emma leave and shut the door. Emma and Cassie got in the car, and headed over to Cassie's. Getting quite lost as Cassie had never actually driven there before. "You are hopless," Emma said as Cassie turned down another street. "No no no," She cried lookig at the map. "You're going the wrong way!"

Lyssa spent the morning sleeping and would have slept into the afternoon had she not heard the front door of the house open up. Blinking sleep from her eyes, she got up, not even bothering to straighten out the wrinkles from where she'd slept in her clothes.

"I'll wait in the car," Emma said. "Nah," Cassie said. "Come in," "Sure?" Cassie nodded. Not in the habit of knocking and the fact that she was Cassie, Cassie opened the door shutting it behind Emma. Lyssa wasn't in the main room so Cass supposed that she was either out or in her room. Cassie and Emma headed to Cass's room, for some reason talking in whispers. "Why are we whispering?" Cassie asked getting into her room. "I don't know," Emma whispered back. "Maybe it makes us feel like spies?" She did a crap ninja like move that caused Cassie to burst out laughing. Emma started laughing to. Cassie looked around her room, grabbing the case out from under her bed and a bag. "We'll shove as much stuff as we can into these and then..I don't know." "Just, duplicate it." Emma said. "That works," Cassie said getting out her wand. She dropped it. And smiling picked it up duplicating her case. "Just shove everything in them," She said to Emma.

Lyssa followed the noise, only to hear two voices she only vaguely recognized in her sleepy stupor. She walked to the doorway of Cassie's (old) room, where the noise was coming from. Seeing Cassie and Emma, she leaned on the door frame, watching the two girls inside, having woken up enough to be completely coherent, and just waiting for them to notice her.

Emma grabbed Cassie's clothes and dumped them into one case. Not taking much care about keeping them neat. The two girls chattered as they grabbed stuff. Cassie holding an array of books in her arms turned to the case, seeing Lyssa leaning on the door frame. She glanced at her for a moment before going back to what she had been doing.

Lyssa caught Cassie's gaze for a short moment before Cassie went back to packing up, and Lyss had a feeling that if Emma weren't there she would be doing her best to take back the day before, as useless as that was.

Emma glanced over her shoulder. "I've done with the clothes, I'll put them in the car." She said as an excuse to get out of the room. Cassie nodded absentmindedly at her. And Emma pulled the case out of the room and out of the house. Though she couldn't quite lift it into the car.

Lyssa watched as Emma walked out. Then she turned to Cassie. "Cass," she said, voice crackling a little since it was dry.

"Yes?" Cassie asked not looking at her. She grabbed her photo's off, wrapping them in paper she had in her desk.

"I..." Lyssa tried to continue, wishing Cassie would look at her for just a moment, since that might make it easier. She ran her hand through her hair for a moment. "I," she started up again. "I know that I can't take back yesterday, but you have to know that I was just acting stupid, and not thinking before I spoke."

"Again," Cassie said putting the photo's in her bag. She left one on the desk, a picture of her and Lyssa taken in some summer. She set off grabbing books off of her shelf.

"Again," Lyssa agreed, looking down at her socked feet. It was better than watching Cassie pack. "If I could take it back though..." She looked up for a second before looking back down.

"Yeah yeah yeah, you would. And then..about, two days later you'd do it all again. Cassie threw the books into the case. And looked at all her other bits and bots. Some of which were fragile and couldn't just be placed into the case.