#cassmione

[nauticalparamour]

153. for Cassius/Hermione?

153: "I’m flirting with you.”

This is a long time coming: Pretend To Be Nice

Hope you enjoy 🙈

"Warrington," she said, raising her chin in the air. "To what do I owe the pleasure? Come to ask me about broom regulations again?" Then she caught sight of the magazine he was carrying and her frown deepened. "Or do you just have something snide to say about my appearance, too?" "Snide?" Cassius asked, halting when the negative word clicked in his head. "Why would I say something snide about you?" "Because your favorite little magazine always has something awful to say about me," she said, rolling her eyes. Taking the magazine from him, she flicked the page open and started pointing out various quotes. "Teeth too big, too skinny, not skinny enough, hair the size of tumbleweed, vying for all the wizards attention, dress too expensive, makes the dress look cheap... need I go on?" She raised an eyebrow at him. Cassius felt his mouth drop open, before he snapped it shut. "Honestly, I was too busy looking at the picture to read any of that," he said. It was the truth. He was stunned by how pretty she looked. "It's not like you don't have your own hits," Hermione said with a snort. "Too ambitious, too bossy, a burden, shrill like a banshee. Honestly, if you are just coming here to try to say something awful to me, I've heard it before." "Too—" Cassius stopped himself, before he said something worse. "Granger, I'm trying to flirt with you! I... I happen to think that those are all qualities about you that I really like."

[nauticalparamour]

Pretend To Be Nice

"Warrington," she said, raising her chin in the air. "To what do I owe the pleasure? Come to ask me about broom regulations again?" Then she caught sight of the magazine he was carrying and her frown deepened. "Or do you just have something snide to say about my appearance, too?"

"Snide?" Cassius asked, halting when the negative word clicked in his head. "Why would I say something snide about you?"

"Because your favorite little magazine always has something awful to say about me," she said, rolling her eyes. Taking the magazine from him, she flicked the page open and started pointing out various quotes. "Teeth too big, too skinny, not skinny enough, hair the size of tumbleweed, vying for all the wizards attention, dress too expensive, makes the dress look cheap... need I go on?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

Cassius felt his mouth drop open, before he snapped it shut. "Honestly, I was too busy looking at the picture to read any of that," he said. It was the truth. He was stunned by how pretty she looked.

"It's not like you don't have your own hits," Hermione said with a snort. "Too ambitious, too bossy, a burden, shrill like a banshee. Honestly, if you are just coming here to try to say something awful to me, I've heard it before."

"Too—" Cassius stopped himself, before he said something worse. "Granger, I'm trying to flirt with you! I... I happen to think that those are all qualities about you that I really like."

FFN | AO3

[nauticalparamour]

I can't help but share a little snippet from a Cassius x Hermione oneshot that I'm working on and hope to put out at some point in December. You may know, but Cassius is one of my favorite little side characters in Marcus x Hermione fics and I am excited to try to give him is own story, even if it will be short.

Cassius couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at that, wondering just what sort of sordid details she was hiding. He pursed his lips. “It’s okay, you have a type,” he said, shrugging his broad shoulders, delighting at the way her eyes seemed to graze his body, following the lines down to his strong forearms. “Quidditch players.”

“What?” she practically sputtered.

“Well, there’s Krum and McLaggen, if I’ve heard correctly,” he said, using his fingers to count them off. “And your on-again off-again situation with Weasley. And now Marcus.”

Hermione and Marcus shared a look between one another, wide-eyed and concerned, before they both burst out laughing. “Me and her?” Marcus asked, once they’d regained their composure. “Not bloody likely.”

She scrunched her nose in agreement. “Yeah, no offense, Marcus, but pass,” she said.

Relief flooded Cassius when he realized that he wasn’t going to have to stop his pursuit because his friend was already after her. 

“So maybe I got that last one wrong, but you can’t deny that the others have all played Quidditch,” he said, staring at her again. “Not that I can blame you. The physique alone is enough in their favor, but when you start to factor in the strategy and the determination, well —”

“Surely you aren’t talking about Quidditch,” Hermione said, rolling her eyes. “No, I do not find the strategy of Quidditch to be alluring, thank you very much.”

He wanted to argue with her then, to prove to her that there was actually a lot of rather complicated strategy when it came to the world’s most popular sport, no matter how much she derided it.

“You know, Cassius played Quidditch, too,” Marcus said mischievously, shooting Cassius a look and he knew then that his friend had clocked him for what he was trying to do. “He was a Chaser when I was Captain.” “Yes, I remember that,” Hermione said with a smile that had Cassius’s heart fluttering away in his chest. Was it really possible that she remembered him playing Quidditch? “Ron seemed to think that your size seemed to be the determining factor for your spot on the team, rather than your skill.”