To Keep the World Spinning

[Angie Swan]

July 25th, 1883

How on Earth they'd managed to pull that off was a miracle to Angie, but they'd filled her house with Cornish pixies and in the chaos had escaped to the park. Angie didn't even bother to ask how Cash had gotten his hands on the pixies; she didn't even care. With Cora safely in her room, she wasn't worried about anything in the house, her parents could deal with it on their own as long as she was out of the house for the day, she couldn't bring herself to care.

Still breathless from laughing and running, they'd made it to Padmore Park with little incident and Angie could breathe easy for the first time in months. She hated being locked up in her house, like she was under arrest for something she hadn't even done. Her parents were simply mad at her for not coming home over the winter holidays. It was ridiculous really. She was an adult now, of legal age and she was going to finish out her schooling then she'd be gone.

Her parents would be in for a surprise yet again when they found out that once she left for school in September, she'd never be coming back. They'd saved her, raised her, paid for her schooling and now they had a new baby to do it all over again with; it was time for her to go. She knew this, though she wasn't quite sure her parents did and that was okay. They'd see it sometime down the line, after she was long gone. She'd been saving her money, would sell some of her old dresses, ones she would never need for cursebreaking adventures and other trinkets she wouldn't need. She'd make it work, even if she'd never lived on her own before.

With her arm looped through Cash's, they strolled through the woods on the side of the park, hopefully out of view from nosy people who couldn't mind their own business. Just because her reputation didn't matter didn't mean she was going to drag Cash's through the mud. It wouldn't be very good if word got out he was out unchaperoned in the park with some girl who wasn't his betrothed.

"That was hilarious, I can't believe we did that." Angie sighed contentedly. She was just so happy to be away from her house and her parents and her brother that she couldn't even begin to describe how much better she felt. "Thank you." She added after a moment. "I can't even begin to tell you how much that means to me." Of course Cash knew, she didn't have to tell him; he was her best friend after all.

  

[Cassius Lestrange]

• He was quite smug with the pair of them for pulling this off successfully, even if pixies were a giant pain in the ass and if they hadn't been for Angie, Cash never would have bothered with them.
  
  They were in the woods next to the park because neither of them really had any desire for more rumors about them - the first one had made him laugh but any more would make it hard for him to argue that the rumors weren't true.
  
  He beamed at her. "I think that was, hands down, one of the best things we've ever done," he said, "It was like setting off a thousand annoying hexes at once, and there were only eleven of them."
  
  Oh, his ears were still ringing from their chittering, but they were pretty magical in a chaotic, as-long-as-they're-away-from-me sort of way. And it was worth it - both because the thought of the disaster they were creating in the Sinnet house was hilarious to him, and because he hadn't seen Angie in weeks and he had missed her horribly.
  
  That was the worst part of the summer, in Cash's opinion. He hadn't seen Eli and Angie in so long, with Eli travelling and Angie under lockdown, and he really didn't like it.
  
  Since he couldn't exactly get a portkey and interrupt Gringotts business he was going to have to break Angie out of her house.
  
  It was so unreasonable for her parents to have her on lockdown, in Cash's opinion, that breaking her out was positively reasonable by comparison. He couldn't last long without his partner in crime, anyways. Cash was worried that sooner or later he would say something that he could get away with saying to Angie to someone else, and that they would judge him forever - dealing with pixies was a small price to pay to spend time with a friend that was there for him at his very worst and whenever he was being horrible about someone.
  
  "You're welcome," he said, beaming at her and coming to a stop under a tree, "I mean, someone had to break you out. If I was in the house for so long I'd go absolutely mad, and my siblings are at least old enough to talk."
  

  

[Angie Swan]

It was impossible to keep the grin off of her face. Today was the best day of the summer so far, she was out of the house, well out of her own grounds, it wasn't as if her parents kept her locked inside the house all summer, she was allowed to wander their estate, but could go no further than their hedges. But the best part of today was that she had her best friend at her disposal. She'd missed both him and Eli terribly, but she felt more at ease with her friendship with Cash than Eli at the moment. She didn't even know where Eli was, where he stood on school or anything else that she thought she had once known.

Ange had thought about writing to him this summer, but decided against it. Whatever adventures he was having were his and she wasn't going to hassle him during them. "I am by no means an outdoors girl," That was slowly changing thanks to her friends. "But it's so nice to be out and about." It didn't even matter where, just the company and the change of scenery was all she needed.

"Merlin, I've missed you." She laughed. Letters were just not enough. When conversing with Cash, his expressions were half the fun and not being able to see them wasn't nearly as good as having him in front of her. So much had happened in the last year that Angie wasn't even sure who she was anymore. The changes were for the better, or at least on the whole. Some things she was still adjusting to, the emotional part she certainly wasn't going to ever get the hang of, but the having friends and a new direction in life was refreshing.

"Have you heard from Eli?" She asked slowly, thinking that Cash would have heard from him at least. Second hand news was almost as good, she supposed.

  

[Cassius Lestrange]

• "I've missed you too," he said, squeezing her arm. Seeing Angie was like a cliche breath of fresh air. He could say anything, literally anything around her and she wouldn't mind. And after their Winter of Codependency, the seven and a half weeks they had spent apart was unthinkably long.
  
  "Not yet," he said, "But I bet he'll have lots of stories when he gets back from doing the intern thing. It'll be brilliant." He looked silly when he talked about Eli and he knew it; there was a distant sort of smile on his face and he ran a hand through his hair for no real reason.
  
  "We'll all see each other next month, anyways," he said, grinning again, "And the Chaucers and Judy and Mary Burdon and Primp and... Brutus, I guess. And we'll be seventh years, that's sort of terrifying."
  
  He was mostly certain that he was going to be Quidditch Captain. That was... scary. He was sure that some people would have thought it was brilliant, that they were about to be tipped out into the world as full adults, but Cash was mostly just terrified. He didn't know what he wanted to do - apart from play Quidditch, and that wasn't happening - and he couldn't lose the feeling that he was going to lose everyone once they didn't have school to stick them together.
  
  But that was months from now, really, almost a whole year. He didn't have to be worried yet. Much more pressing was the whole Quidditch captain thing, and having to replace Dylan and Jesse that year.
  

  

[Angie Swan]

Ange nodded along as Cash continued. He was right, they would see everybody, all of their friends, in just over a month's time. Today would get her through; it would have to. Unless her parents linked the pixies back to her, but she doubted it. They'd been very careful about where and when they'd let the little buggers go. As long as Connor and Cora were out of harm's way, everything would be fine.

Oddly relieved that Cash hadn't heard from Eli either, she thought that was the wrong reaction. Then again, Cash was correct, Eli was off having adventures and simply busy, they'd hear all about it when school started again. However, the reason she was relieved was because she didn't feel entirely left out. Though that was kind of a silly, selfish notion to begin with.

"I'm ready, I think." She said of being a seventh year. By the time the year was over, she'd be all set, onto a bigger and better adventure, pending all of her NEWT grades came out the way she expected. But they were Ravenclaws, why wouldn't they be? Angie was banking on her grades to get her the hell out of her parents' house. "I need out for good and graduating is my best bet." Cash knew all of this of course, but now that he mentioned it, she was feeling anxious, not nervous, but ready to go.

"Ready for quidditch?" She chuckled knowing that would certainly get him chatting. Not that she cared all that much, but Cash cared, so she'd listen.

  

[Cassius Lestrange]

• Cash groaned. "I would give you a window into my thoughts on Ravenclaw's Quidditch team," he said, "But I'm pretty sure you might actually think I'm insane. Also, I'd never stop talking."
  
  He started anyways. "How the devil am I - assuming I'm captain, which I ought to be -" honestly at this point not being captain was entirely unthinkable to him, he was putting so much stock into it "- supposed to replace Baines? I've never seen Keeper tryouts in my life. He joined our first year, I don't even know who else is qualified..." Cash had to investigate the males of Ravenclaw tower and kidnap indoctrinate them into the world of Quidditch. He didn't think it would be very hard, because surely if he and his current teammates yelled about it enough people would join just to get them to shut the hell up.
  
  Cash trailed off. "It'll be alright, though, I'll figure it out," he said, "Who do you think're going to be our heads? If Brutus replaces Slughorn as Slytherin Prefect I'm never leaving Ravenclaw tower again."
  
  He was only half-kidding. Brutus Kettleburn being Prefect - or by some anti-miracle, Head Boy - would be, in Cash's opinion, a sign of the impending end-of-days. (Or hilarious. But mostly, it would just be completely apocalyptic, and he didn't want to be around when the ground opened to swallow them all.)
  

  

[Angie Swan]

It was sad and she'd brought it upon herself, but Angie tuned out two sentences into his quidditch ramble, so used to them by now she was amazed he hadn't figured out that glassy, far-away stare of hers yet. She smiled and nodded where appropriate, having mastered the feigned interest. He would figure it out one day and if he were allowed to, would smack her for tuning out.

"You will figure it out, you're a smart guy." Angie assured him. He knew everything about the sport anyway. "You could always write to Mr. Baines and ask him how keeper tryouts were conducted when he tried out." She reasoned. "You could also have your chasers attempt a certain amount of goals and the keeper that saves the most, gets the spot." Just because she didn't have any interest in the sport didn't mean she couldn't be useful. Wasn't that how things worked anyway? Give them a set of obstacles and the one that performed the best got the spot? It was like an interview of sorts.

Angie twitched when Cash mentioned Brutus Kettleburn becoming a prefect. "He has about as much of a chance at that as a toad does." Thank Merlin. "Or I will eat the Sorting Hat and drop out." She was kidding of course, well mostly. Like Cash she would probably just stay in Ravenclaw tower where he couldn't get them. "I don't know who they'll pick. Last year's were so good." She thought so anyway. Not that Angie had many run ins with the Head Boy and Girl, but she supposed she'd at least rather they'd be competent.

  

[Cassius Lestrange]

• Cash was momentarily reminded that Angie was probably more reasonable than he would ever be, at least where the things he freaked out all over the place over were concerned. (And probably in every other area, too.)
  
  "I don't think we're ever going to get a pair as good as the Leo Trelawney Odira Browne dream team," Cash said, frowning, "It could be Eli, I guess, and it won't be a Slytherin boy, and then there's that blond Gryffindor or the Hufflepuff with the buggy eyes."
  
  "And then there's Lockhart and my cousin and the pale Gryffindor and I don't even know which Hufflepuff for the girls," Cash added. He was sort of bored by their options, because even though Eli was a Prefect he doubted that his best friend would end up being the Head Boy because he was a lower-class not-pureblood that had missed part of the second semester of his sixth year. That was very lame.
  
  Cash thought that it would have been perfect if he and Angie had any shot at getting the Head positions, because they would have been absolutely brilliant at it. It really was a shame that they would only get it if everyone else died or something.
  

  

[Angie Swan]

Cash paid a hell of as lot of attention to the student staff, way more than Angie ever did. If she knew who the Ravenclaw prefects were she'd be amazed. Cash was more social than she was anyway, so that was probably why. Other than Eli (had she known that in the first place?) she was pretty sure she didn't even know who was docking points. Then again she was too busy studying to cause trouble, which didn't stop rumors from popping up constantly, but that was at least true.

"I suppose they were pretty good." Again, Angie has no idea, but she did know that there aren't any huge problems this year, that were school wide anyway, so they must have been keeping a good eye on things. "How do you even know all that?" She laughed.

"I won't be seeing much of you this year, either of you. You'll be quidditch captain-ing and Eli will be busy being a prefect, I'll be back to square one. Thank goodness I'll have Judy and Mary." She could always fall back on her roommates, though she was definitely closer with her boys. They'd been through far too much in the last year not to be close. She was just teasing him mostly. They'd still have plenty of time together, it was their seventh year after all, they'd have to make time.

  

[Cassius Lestrange]

• "I think my brain includes a pit of useless information," Cash said, "I can also tell you the names of every seeker in the world cup." He was usually good with identities, although he had screwed up Kayline's - probably because when he was thinking about her, he referred to her as 'the redhead.'
  
  He nudged her with his shoulder. "Hey, you'll see us everywhere still," he said, "I mean, who else is going to be my Arithmancy partner? You know that NEWT year I'm going to need you."
  
  Cash capital r Regretted taking six NEWT classes rather than a more reasonable number, like five, but he had done it in an attempt to not disappoint his father terribly (more terribly than the Transfiguration debacle) and now he felt stretched a bit thin, but it was too late now so he was going to have to do what he could.
  
  It was going to be one hell of a year. At least he had all of his Ravenclaw friends, (one of the main bonuses of being a Ravenclaw,) and at least he tended towards testing well in subjects he was good at - it certainly wasn't as bad as it could have been.
  

ooc: your post totally reminded me of this
also if they don't actually both take arithmancy yell at me :|

  

[Angie Swan]

haha that photo set is awesome, that's how she thinks about them though, it's wicked funny, and they do both take arithmacy!

He was right, they did have quite a few classes together at least. And they spent countless hours together at their table in the back of the library studying, so she really didn't have much to worry about. "This is it though," she started, a sad smile coming on her lips. "Our last year." It was a thought that pops up in Angie's head every now and then and made her anxious, exited and a little glum ask at once. Everything would be different after this, Cash would have to go find himself a job, hopefully the cursebreaking thing worked out for her and then they really would hardly see one another; it wasn't very fair. And unfortunately very inevitable. Unless she found something at the ministry too, which she supposed she could do, the Department of Mysteries was intriguing as was the foreign affairs kids of things. thing... It all depended on Eli for her and she didn't even know what was going on there.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to rain on our day out." She shook away the less certain things and instead focused on the present. "How long do you think it'll take my parents to clear the house?" She chuckled. They had no magic any more and she wasn't so sure they would want to call the ministry too help. The poor household staff would have to deal with it and while Angie should feel bad, she just couldn't bring herself to worry about it.

"Maybe I don't have to go home at all." She joked, though truly wished that was the case. She knew her plans would mean a huge drop to the lower class, but again she didn't really care. There wasn't much to be done about it at this point. It wasn't something she'd ever envisioned for herself and it would certainly take some getting used to, but she was resourceful; she'd make it work.

  

[Cassius Lestrange]

• "At least a few hours," Cash said, "I have it on good authority-" well not really, no one who sold cages full of cornish pixies to teenagers in High Street alleys, no questions asked, was a good authority "-that they're nasty little buggers." It was almost beautiful, now that he was starting to forget how obnoxious they had been when they were in their cage - more beautiful was the knowledge that Hogsmeade was a city where things like cornish pixies could be bought right off the street. He loved it here.
  
  He grinned. "I could try to smuggle you into the house," he said, "Except I think my sister Tullia knows who you are, and even more than that I think my father finds out about everything that goes on there. He'd probably figure it out within about an hour of his getting home, or something."
  
  Maybe Lucius did not know everything, but he was certainly close enough for his youngest son to count him as being that way.
  
  For some reason, Cash did not really want his family members to know about Angie, or at least not the adult ones. (Most Hogwarts student relatives probably already knew he was friends with a girl named Angie, and he did not really care about that.) There was nothing wrong with her - she was upper class and maybe pureblood - but there were always assumptions about boys and girls being friends and on top of that they were the Lestranges.
  

  

[Angie Swan]

A few hours of blissful freedom from the house. Angie was perfectly content with that. A few hours was better than nothing and she would take what she could get, especially with Cash for company. "Oh I don't think that would go over very well." She laughed. For some reason Angie got the feeling Cash's sister didn't like her very much. Of course with all of the rumors frolicking about school about them, she supposed she could see why. She wasn't entirely all that sure either because for one she didn't pay attention and two she didn't quite care. She did care about getting Cash in trouble though, so that was what kept her from saying it was a good idea. It wasn't anyway, so that made sense.

"I'm just fine with the park. Even if I have to go home later it won't be for much longer." Just another month or so. She could pack up her things and say her goodbyes and that would hopefully be the end of it. Ange sincerely hoped that her parents didn't put up a huge fight over it. She was technically of age now and while yes, she was a girl and still technically belonged to her parents until she got married, Angie knew that wasn't happening, so she may as well strike out on her own early and get the hang of it. She wouldn't be on her own anyway, or at least she hoped.

"It's funny how you take the little things for granted when you don't have them any more, like a walk in the park." The grounds of her house were just not the same. There was nobody to talk to, save Cora and until cats learned to talk, it was rather lonely. Angie would have been used to it once upon a time, but after last year and the finding the friendships she had, it wasn't as easy to sit home alone and read. She was constantly wondering what her friends and roommates were up to, but she could only do so much when it wasn't her turn to reply to a letter. She could read and train Cora, bu other than that, there wasn't much.

  

[Cassius Lestrange]

Cash grinned at her. "There's something profound about that," he said, offering her his arm. This had been a nice respite from the drudgery of being unable to see her - but she had to go home before they got her in trouble, or worse before a rumor outside of the Hogwarts circuit was started about them.

"I'll walk you home," he said as they walked, "Of course." Like he had ever considered anything different! Hogsmeade was not the most dangerous of places, and Angie could take care of herself, (possibly better than he could take care of her,) but it was still a city and as he was responsible for getting her out of the house, he thought that he should be responsible for getting her back there!

Besides, Cash mostly just wanted to spend as much time with his best friend as he possibly could. There was a lot of summer left and if this was all they were going to get, then damnit he wanted to spend as much time with Angie and her vaguely profound statements as he possibly could!