Godric's Hollow, London, England
December 27^th
Private thread with @Scarlett Aden
Outfit, coat, rucksack
Using Beauxbatons iNPC, Cassie Heather McGregor-Martin

A lot of things had happened to Cassie Heather McGregor-Martin recently.
First, she'd begun the school year with an inpromptu birthday party in the Beauxbatons Carriage, much to the disgust of the purebloods and the delight of Cassie.
Then, she'd discovered that half the First Years were sheltered pureblood brats, done her best to educate them, and made several enemies in the form of eleven-year-olds.
Then, she'd stepped foot in the UK for the first time in nearly three years to support her school in the Interschool Broom Race.
Then, she'd gone to the disastrous assuming it's gonna be disastrous, they usually are lol Masquerade Ball and Costume Party, where she had followed a ghost and discovered exactly how paranoid Hogwarts students could be - and how justified they were in being so.

These were all semi-normal things for a girl who went to a school of magic.
But one.

Because Cassie had also discovered that every single member of the Troop - the close-knit group she'd been a part of during her time in Godric's Hollow - was magical.
Talk about a bombshell.
When Cassie had seen Scarlett Aden, childhood best friend and partner in crime, in the corridors of Hogwarts, her first reaction had been death-hugs and questions. But now she knew how the Troop had laboured to keep their secret, how they had risked a wizarding prison sentence (Cassie still couldn't figure out how to pronounce the name Azkaban) if they had been able to tell Cassie, and how they never knew why she'd stopped replying to their letters.

The moment Cassie had been able, she'd sent a delighted letter to her friends with one of the Hogwarts school owls.

1^st November, 2020

Dear Troopers,

Gosh you have no idea how awesome it is to write that again. It's been SO LONG!
Wait, you don't know who this is- oops!
Guess who??

IT'S CASSIE!
As in, Cassie Heather McGregor-Martin, if you've all forgotten who I am after so long oof.

And I'm using an owl! And I know about magic!! and I'm a witch!! I go to Beauxbatons now but I saw Scarlett at Hogwarts over a school trip and she told me everything and GOODNESS I CAN'T BELIEVE I NEVER REALISED but it's all okay!!!

I'm SO SO SO SO SO SORRY I stopped writing! They said I couldn't tell anyone, and you know how bad I am at lying, plus I thought you were all muggles and there isn't a muggle post office in beauxbatons.

Aaah I can't believe it! We can all talk again, and I could even come see you sometime with the green powder thingie, and we don't have to keep secrets from each other anymore!!

GTG - someone's calling me for broomracing practice (I'm on the school team!!)

Talk to y'all later!
- Cassie

She'd received not one, but several letters back, and even a howler from Lainey, the youngest Troop member (Cassie had sent one right back), and every single member of the Troop, whether in England, Scotland, or France, was overjoyed.

So when Scarlett Aden had owled her in November, saying that she would be home for Christmas and would Cassie like to come and visit the Troopers, the French-English girl was overjoyed. She immediately set a date for the twenty-seventh and borrowed some Flu Powder from a friend, noting with a sigh that she should probably get around to buying some herself. It was quite difficult when your parents weren't able to get to the right shops.

On the twenty-seventh, Cassie was elated. It was going to be cold out, so she made sure to grab a coat before packing her rucksack with pranking gear, a chocolate swiss roll her grandmére grandmother had sent her, and just remembering to add her wand and phone on top.
"Willowby Cottage, Godric's Hollow!"
It was going to be a brilliant day.

Cassie stepped out of the fireplace gasping. She had never quite gotten used to the feeling of having your breath sucked out of you, and preferred to travel by muggle methods whenever possible.
Immediately, she saw the Troopers in front of her, and said with a grin, "So. Which witch is which?"
Cassie then gave a little laugh. "Took me all day, that one did," she joked, then looked around.

Everyone was there - Symphony, the leader of the Troopers, who had grown even taller than she had been three years ago, Caden, the older brother of the triplets, who had a crush on Symphony which Cassie wondered if he'd confessed about yet, Billy, Bobby and Benjamin, the triplets, who had always been a force of nature on the pranking side of things even when they were little, Jones and Arabella, the twins who somehow managed to stay neat and tidy even when running away from an angry adult, Lainey, whom Cassie had always thought of as a little sister, and the muggleborn could see Scarlett, Cassie's particular friend and pranking partner, through a window. "Goodness, I can't believe you're all here!" Cassie blurted, then launched herself forward and began Hugging Round, Part Two.

"Symph! Now I get why you're the only one with an email address!... Caden! Why'd you have to get so tall all of a sudden?... Billy! Bobby! Benji! I don't know why I bother, I can't even tell you three apart any more!... Jones! That's a new haircut, right? I like it!... Bella! Pretty as ever, I see; did you get highlights, or am I just making stuff up?... Laines! Gosh, you've grown, you're only half a head shorter than me!... Scar...lett! It's been so long, I haven't seen you in decades!" This last sentence was a joke, as they had only seen each other a fortnight ago.

Suddenly, Cassie realised she was hugging someone who she'd never met before, and stepped back. The girl was redheaded, like Scarlett, and quite pretty, but that didn't mean anything to Cassie. Pretty girls often seemed to be the meanest ones, in Cassie Heather's experience, but she wasn't going to make assumptions. Right? "Uh... Who're you?"

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interacting with @Lucia Fox (as cassie) + fiona + the troop
mentioning evelyn fulton, levius aden

Scarlett was in her aunt's house for the time being, after another row with her parents on the Beckett Gala and how terrible they were. She had slammed the door in their faces and was now attempting some knitting with Fiona. Her needles clicked together in a rather satisfying way as she worked on her Gryffindor scarf. Fiona glanced at her progress, nodding approvingly. "Better!" she said. "The lettering is a bit wonky, but you've made quite some progress."

"Thanks," said Scarlett with a grin. "I feel like-"

But at that moment, she heard rather loud talking outside of her house. The voice was unforgettable - Cassie! Scarlett remembered that the girl had decided to visit England for a few days at Christmas, and Scarlett had obviously been overjoyed. The fact that the rest of the Troop were going to be there just...slipped her mind.

Scarlett slammed down her knitting project and raced to the window, Fiona repressing a smile behind her. Glancing out, she saw Cassie hugging everyone - Symph, Caden, the Triplets, Ara and Jones, Lainey and Georgia. Ugh, Georgia. Since Scarlett was a girl with morals (or at least an inkling of a conscience), she knew that she shouldn't really be hating Georgia so much. But she couldn't help it. Georgia had made the wrong impression right from the start, even though Scarlett hadn't met her then. Owls from Ara and Caden and everyone gushing about the kid. When Scarlett had come home to deal with family dilemmas, she had been mortified to find out that Georgia was a replica of her, but prettier, nicer, better. Scarlett could never be those things. Naturally, she gave her friends the cold shoulder after Georgia came skipping along.

Well Scarlett wasn't going to let Cassie hug a wannabe knock-off of Scarlett, so she rushed to the door and flung it open to the crisp winter air, not bothering with a coat. She rushed to the group and slid into the conversation, just as Georgia said-

"Oh, you must be mistaken! I'm Georgia, and it's a pleasure to meet you. You must be Cassie? I've heard great things about you."

Scarlett gritted her teeth. Wannabe. With a smile plastered on her face, she almost-shouted. "Cassie! It's great to see you back!"

She collected a deep breath and instinctively turned around to Georgia, not knowing what the hell she was doing. "Hi. I'm Scarlett. Sorry for the mess earlier. I hope I can..."

What. The. Hell. How dare the world infect her with morals! How dare she have a conscience! Scarlett was about to open her mouth and rudely take it back, but at that moment, Lainey launched herself at Scarlett and she fell over in the snow with a thump.

"Scaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarlettt!" she squealed. "You're back!"

Suddenly feeling like a monster, Scarlett hugged Lainey on the ground. "Yeah," she chuckled to herself. "I'm back."

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Godric's Hollow, London, England
November 14^th
Interacting with @Scarlett Aden
Outfit, coat, rucksack
Using Beauxbatons iNPC, Cassie Heather McGregor-Martin

"Oh?" Cassie said with a little sly smile, in response to Georgia's statement. "Like how I abandoned y'all" - it made Cassie feel so American saying that, but it was quicker so never mind - "to have fun in France while them lot had to stick over 'ere?" She grinned. "Nice to meet-"

Scarlett practically shouted her own greeting, and Cassie narrowed her eyes. Something was wrong here... the greeting was too forced, the smile too bright. "Lettie..."
Then Scarlett turned to Georgia and apologised for... something. Ah, that made sense. Scarlett and Georgia had some kind of past.

Watching Lainey tackle Scarlett to the ground, Cassie felt the grin slide back onto her face. She fist-bumped Georgia and then crouched to Scarlett and Lainey's level. "Hmmm," she joked, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Lains, d'ya think we should help her up or leave her down there?"
"Leave her there!" the triplets chorused, and Cassie laughed.

@Lucia Fox as Cassie
banner by juniper yu

Scarlett grinned. Being her over-dramatic self, she was expecting to have the Troop deny her their friendship, shout at her, push her away as one as Georgia presided over them, a smug look on her pretty face. The heavens would open and rain would fall, crashing down as thunder struck and lightning flashed and melancholy violin music played and - and - and evidently that wasn't the case. It was funny how things can change so quickly, in the blink of an eye, the flash of a moment. Enemies turned friends, re-unions made...and bad things turn out to be...not so bad after all. A smile on her face, she quickly turned her expression to fake-exasperated as the triplets decided to 'leave her there'.

"Excusez moi," shot back Scarlett, grinning and scrambling back to her feet. "Did living with the - what was it - pretty, popular and posh - teach you any manners?"

She spun back round to Georgia. Though she didn't say anything, she nodded purposefully and Georgia smiled back, a twinkle in her eye. Perhaps she would make a good ally after all, though no one could beat Cassie, her main partner in crime. After another quick hug from Lainey, high-fiving every triplet, hugging and apologising to Bella and Jones and Sydney and Caden - a.k.a the cooler old kids - she grinned widely at them all.

"Right," said Scarlett, rubbing her hands together in the way that a cunning mastermind would. "Cassie's staying for the holidays, though sadly, I can't be here with you guys for New Year's-" She cut off, pulling a face. "I mean, not Fiona, but...other family. Anyway! I'm thinking, after Cassie's gotten unpacked we can go prank someone."

She said the last words with a maniacal glint in her eye and grinned again. The residents of Godric's Hollow wouldn't know what had hit them.

Well, they would. The Troop was rather infamous, which was, in Scarlett's opinion, great.

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Interacting with @Scarlett Aden
Outfit, coat, rucksack, bag.
Sorry for the late reply!

"Pshh, manners," Cassie grinned as Lainey scrambled off Scarlett. "Manners are overrated."

Another round of hugs and a catching-up session (for Cassie Heather, anyway) followed, and then Scarlett took control of the situation. Wait, was she the leader now? No, she couldn't be - she was off at Hogwarts for most of the year, so if her life was anything like Cassie's (oh, what was she kidding; Scarlett's life was probably a world apart from Cassie's) her social standing would have either stayed the same or fallen. Seeing as Scarlett could send letters to the Troop from Hogwarts, hers had probably stayed the same. Unlike Cassie's - she remembered coming home after her first year and realising that her usual position when she played football with her friends had been taken. It didn't help that she wasn't allowed to tell them what she was up to during term time, and she flatly refused to lie, so plenty of questions were left unanswered and she earned the nickname of 'Little Miss Mystery'. It wasn't a nickname she liked. This was better. She didn't have to hide anything here. Wait, or did she? Georgia. Was she magical? Or was she the new Cassie? Cassie wasn't sure what she thought about that.

Pulled back into the present by Scarlett saying her name, Cassie made a mock-bow. There were general expressions of agreement at Scarlett's suggestion, and Cassie stuck a thumb up. "I brought supplies!" she grinned and picked up her bag from where she had dropped it on the floor. "We have five days, so we'd better get started! Lettie, race you!" She sprinted off inside Willowby Cottage.

When Scarlett and Cassie were alone, however, Cassie asked, "Scar, what's up? And I know there's something, so don't shrug it off. There's something going on with you and Georgia, an' you kept apologising to Symph for some reason, an' who's 'other family'?" She didn't even consider that Scarlett might prefer not to tell her. "Wait, I should unpack. Where am I going?"

outfit
speech #bf0040

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@Lucia Fox

[font=times new roman]S[/font]carlett was definitely not a runner, but she would try. At Cassie's spontaneous proposition of a race, Scarlett sprinted with her friend and jumped onto the porch of Willowby Cottage, though she mainly called it 'just Willowby'. Scarlett still didn't see why their home had to have a fancy name, but Fiona said it added to the 'aesthetic' - whatever that was - so Scarlett just went with that.

"I don't - seem - to-" Scarlett wheezed, leaning on the porch fence. Cassie had arrived a few seconds before her, of course. "-have improved with my - running - very much-" She assumed Cassie would joke along with her but her next questions totally threw Scarlett off.

"Wait - what?" Scarlett frowned slightly at Cassie's next words. The Georgia ordeal wasn't a fun subject to talk about but she would've told Cassie eventually - so why not tell her now? She cast a glance back at the Troop, who had decided not to race and were pattering along the pavement. "Oh that. Er, it was kind of a jealousy thing? With Georgia, I mean. And I may have accidentally-on-purpose hexed some of the Troop because of the jealousy thing. But it's a long story and it's pretty awkward and I hope it's over now so-" Scarlett's look darkened, a narrowing of her eyes only about three people in the world might notice. "As for other family, I don't have much time but I'll catch you up later. It's about-" She hushed her voice - speaking about The Two was a bit like taboo for her. "-my parents."

With that bombshell dropped, she spun on her heel to turn to the Troop, who were assembled and ready to go and prank people. Scarlett clapped her hands. "Okay!" she announced. "Cassie is going to unpack later - you can take the spare room or room with me - and we're going to see what materials she brought so we can start pranking people." Scarlett looked at Cassie curiously. "What materials did you bring Cass?"

"I vote we prank Mr Sweeney," piped in Ara.

Jones indignantly shook his head. "No way Ara," he said. "Mr Sweeney's reaction is just shaking his cane at us and yelling, which is boring. You know who's reaction is unpredictable though? Mrs Grey."

"Dude, she's my mum!" said Caden.

"So what?" shot back Benjamin, grinning. "She's my mum too."

"How about Fiona?" suggested Symphony.

"I'll be grounded for the rest of my life," said Scarlett firmly. She turned to Cassie with a mischievous smirk. "Now who do you want to prank Cassie?"

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[ Person • Person ]

English #26687E • French #72267E

Cassie Heather's eyes widened. "You hexed them?!" she gasped. "Scar! You can't hex the Troop!" Scarlett said quickly that it was a long story, but it was over now, so Cassie decided to let it go. Although she did wonder how Scarlett had managed it. Were Hogwarts students allowed to use magic over the holidays? Beauxbatons students certainly weren't. Although, now she thought about it, when Cassie had used accidental magic at her friend Charles' house, she hadn't gotten any sort of punishment... maybe they just hadn't been able to detect it, because it wasn't in France, or because it wasn't accidental. So maybe Scarlett could use magic once she'd left Scotland? It was all very confusing.

And then Scarlett's eyes narrowed a little and she said- "Oh my gosh. Oh my God." Scarlett's dad had left her and her mum before Cassie had met her, and her mum had apparently locked herself in her room, leaving Scarlett to go and live with her Aunt Fiona. Cassie remembered her mum's face when she'd retold the story to her. It had been somewhere between astonishment, pity, and disapproval. Cassie herself had always just assumed that Mr Aden and Ms Fulton were just terrible parents, and that Ms Fulton must have come out once Scarlett had gone. Maybe Scarlett reminded her too much of Mr Aden or something. But Scarlett appeared to be happy living with her aunt, so Cassie had always respected her wishes and left the subject alone for as much as possible. Until now. "Scar, you have to-"

But, apparently, Scar didn't have to do anything, because she whirled around and clapped her hands at the rest of the Troop, who had finally caught up with them. "Scarlett Elowen Mireille Aden! You don't just drop a bombshell like that and-" Scarlett just kept talking. "Oh! Well-" Cassie chucked her suitcase into the hallway and took off her backpack, sitting down on the porch steps as the others argued about who to prank. When her opinion was asked, she paused. "Will I get my head chopped off if I suggest your parents?" Cassie asked. The sentence had started out as a joke, but by the time she'd finished it, it sounded more and more like a good idea. "We could get them back for - ya know - everything. We don't have to tell anyone we did it. What do you think? Or, ya know, Mrs Grey works if not."

Once the matter of who to prank had been solved, Cassie unzipped her bag and rummaged through it. "Right. So, I have..." She took the items out of the bag as she said them and placed them down on the step next to her. "A fake eyeball... instant darkness powder... a bunch of fake jam spills and stuff like that... two fake wands... three whoopie cushions... and this!" Cassie pulled out what looked like a bundle of white fabric and set it down on her knees with a rather excessive amount of pride. "I made it myself." Cassie unfolded it. "It's basically a pillow that I took all the stuffing out of. You pour something in this hole here" - Cassie indicated a slit in the middle of the bottom of the pillow - "and then you sew it up with really big stitches and put it down on the victim's bed. When they put their head in it, it all spurts out the bottom!" Cassie proudly turned the pillow inside out. "Look! It's got a waterproof lining, so you can put water or whatever in it without it making the outside soggy." She paused. "Although actually water doesn't work very well because it just goes out the hole before you're ready. You need something, like, relatively solid. Oh! What about the thing that's really solid when you poke it and then liquid when you put your hand through? I can't remember what it's called. D'you think that would work?"