Cassidy nodded at Karli, understanding her wish to remain silent. They went their separate ways, and Cassidy had some time to kill before dinner and Astronomy, so she went upstairs to her room.
She opened her large, mahongony trunk, and pulled out a gi made of thick, black canvas. She quickly dressed herself in it, and, taking her bo staff, made her way quietly downstairs and out of the school. She chose a secluded area in one of the courtyards that seemed to be rather abandoned.
Closing her eyes, and drawing a deep breath, she sat down on one of the short, fat banisters that was at the end of the staircase leading to the courtyard. She crossed her legs, and lay the bo across them, and cleared her mind...
Trees...lots of trees. And darkness. A kind of dank darkness that was both gloomy and terrifying. Cassidy shuddered, pulling her robes tight around her and pressing onwards, her mind swimming though she fought to push the thoughts away...to keep a clear head.
"One must have their wits about you," an all too familliar voice cautioned, almost mockingly. "We wouldn't want anything to...happen, now would we?"
Cassidy grimaced as she stepped in a mud puddle. She pulled her foot out of the mud, and continued onwards, holding the lanturn for Professor Snape. She knew not what they were searching for. All she wanted was to go back to Gryffindor tower, to sleep soundly in her warm down comforter...
"It's this way," Snape said darkly, leading her to a cave. "This is where they have been keeping them."
Cassidy narrowed her eyebrows in curiosity.
"Them?" she asked softly.
Snape turned to look at her sharply. She grimaced and took a step back.
"Just hold the lanturn," he snapped, and went into the cave...
Cassidy felt her eyes slowly open to reveal she was safe and sound. She stood up, hoping the vision was not a premonition of her detention tonight. She placed her bo comfortably in her hands in a defensive position, and practiced her kata for an hour or so.
Her muscles moved easily, fluidly, practiced, as she struck and blocked the air with great force and percision. She moved faster and faster, swinging the six-foot maple rod like it was made of foam.
Panting, she took refuge in the shade of the building once more, meditating to clear her mind before she went to join her peers once more. The same vision assaulted her once again, and when she awoke from her meditation, she noticed storm clouds had begun to gather over in the west, blurring the sun as it began to sink below the horizon.
"I bet Astronomy will be hard tonight," she muttered, and hurried inside to change and go to dinner.
She threw on her robes over a pair of baggy jeans and a slimming black shirt. She tied the robes tightly around her to disguise the street clothes, and hurried down to dinner to meet up with her friends.
She arrived just in time to see the dragon boy beat up the Slytherins. She shook her head in dismay as he left to bring them to the hospital wing.
"To inflict pain on others to gain recognition of your powers is not the solution you should seek," she called after him gently, tucking her disobediant hair behind her ears. "It will never quench your thirst."
She turned on her heel and went into the Great Hall.