slipping [cassia]

[harper penelope irons]

Your arms were open at my door
And you taught me what a life is for

april 3rd, 2023

The first three months of the year had passed in absolute chaos. By a lucky miracle, Cassia had made her way to the Irons’ house the night that everything had changed. So, they had remained a group of four ever since. Harper’s parents had quickly taken charge of the situation, taking the two girls north and eventually west into Ireland. They’d reached out to Minnie, but she had left a while prior and was thankfully safe on the other side of the world.

They’d settled into an abandoned cabin, reinforced by wards from Harper’s mother. Her parents were resourceful, though they often had to leave the little safe haven in search of additional supplies. Food seemed difficult to come by, as were medical supplies, especially of the magical variety. And there was really no chance of finding anything like the potions Harper had become accustomed to taking for her condition.

Her previous supply had lasted until about mid February, elongated somewhat by her lessening the dosage in the last weeks. Despite her father searching for Healers, there weren’t any around that knew about her treatments. The witch who’d crafted the potions had died and St. Mungo’s was essentially gone. Without the potion, Harper worried she’d get immediately worse.

For another week, she’d had no symptoms at all, and all of them dared to hope that she’d actually been cured by the treatment. However, the following weeks she incurred a few headaches and occasional nausea. Everything stayed relatively mild for several weeks, but as April dawned, Harper was essentially back in the same condition as she had been in the summer. Some days she seemed fine, and others it was all she could do to sit up in bed.

The previous day had found Harper alternating between a dizzying headache in bed and a spot crouched by the toilet. When she woke from a fitful sleep and indicated she felt a bit better, both her parents had left the cabin in search of anything that could help. It had once been rare for them to both leave, but was now becoming more common as the needs of a family outstretched a tiny house.

Harper napped through the morning and awoke sometime in the afternoon to find that her headache had eased away. She sat up in bed, a deep tiredness running through her as she did. She blinked, looking over at the bed next to hers where Cassia normally slept. ”Morning,” she mumbled, a delirious smile coming across her face still at the sight of her best friend. ”What time is it?”

cassia ines flint

MADE BY VEL OF GS

[cassia ines flint]

cassia ines flint

When Hogwarts had closed down, there was no one else Cassia had wanted to be with than Harper. Going home to her family sounded like an absolute nightmare, and so she had made her way to the Irons house for the holidays, and had stuck around after. Cassia's mother had made it very clear was in the Flint family, and after she told Kieran about her feelings for her best friend, she figured none of them were really interested in her being a part of the family anymore. She hadn't told any of them of her whereabouts, not even when the Irons moved all of them to a little cabin in Ireland. It was better that no one knew about where they were. 

The first months had been fine, as fine as something could be when the world was falling apart. Cassia knew that Harper's health wasn't back to normal, but things were quite okay as long as she had her potions. It was when those were all used up that things really started to fall apart. Cassia wasn't necessarily someone who took care of others, but she did her best for Harper. Either way, she hated seeing her best friend like that. Even more so because of the unspoken words between the two of them. 

”Morning. What time is it?”

Cassia had been sitting cross-legged on her bed, one of the few books they had at the cabin laying open on her lap. She was trying to read, but actually she had her eyes on Harper all the time. She didn't show her friend how worried she actually was, but whenever Harper wasn't looking, Cassia's eyebrows furrowed together. "Morning sleepyhead," Cassia said to Harper in response. "Not really morning anymore," she said with a small smile. "It's almost three," she said, "How are you feeling? Are you hungry? I can make you some food if you want," she offered. "Your parents went out again."

Cassia closed the book on her lap and put it down on her bedside table. Being here with Harper was more difficult than she could imagine. It wasn't just seeing Harper so ill, it was also that half of the time Cassia could barely hold back on the urge to kiss Harper. But, Cassia had messed that up last December. She was fairly certain that Harper didn't like her in that way and even if she still did, Cassia wouldn't know how to ask her, how to apologise for what she did. 

harper penelope irons - outfit - 417 words

aeron at GS