Having milled around long enough Cassius simply slotted into vacation mode and taking a spot on one of the couches quickly fell asleep his mind openly accepting the freedom to finally relax once in his life.
~
Hours passed as the brightness of the day began to wane with Evening fast approaching.
Cassius woke slowly.
Not with a jolt, not with alarm—just the gradual awareness that something was off.
The air felt… off... no not just off... it was as if he was being watched.
Which was concerning this tent had ever manner of defensive enchantment they could think of applied to it, and even then those were further enhanced by being written in elvish rather than magiscript.
So if they could get past all of those wards, whoever they were, that made them powerful, possibly a top notch assassin.
He remained still, eyes closed, mind slipping from the shallow haze of sleep into alertness with the practiced ease of someone who had learned long ago not to panic first and assess later.
Voices murmured softly nearby.
Quiet enough he couldnt figure out who exactly it was who was speaking but something about it felt familiar.
Cassius frowned internally.
Why did the voices feel familiar and yet so distant?
Pulling everything he knew into his mind and looking at it objectively he was at a loss, anyone capable of getting in here, and without him waking up from the attempt at that, then who would be satisfied just watching him while he was vulnerable rather than just robbing or killing him.
Which left only one possibility.
Slowly—very slowly—he cracked one eye open.
Six faces stared back at him.
Cassius froze.
Ginny sat cross-legged on the floor, chin propped in her hands, freckles vivid with barely contained amusement.
Hermione perched on the arm of the couch, book forgotten in her lap, eyes bright with curiosity.
Daphne leaned elegantly against the opposite couch, expression composed but lips twitching.
Cho sat beside her, relaxed, watching him like one might observe a rare bird.
Astoria lounged upside-down across a futon, silver-blonde hair spilling over the edge, blinking lazily.
And Luna.
Luna was kneeling right beside him, hands folded in her lap, staring with serene fascination.
"Well," she said dreamily, "this confirms it."
Cassius's eye snapped fully open.
"Confirms what?" he asked, voice hoarse.
Luna tilted her head. "That you're cuter asleep than anything else I know."
Silence.
Absolute, devastating silence.
Cassius's brain stalled.
Then overheated.
Then catastrophically rebooted.
His face went from pale to pink to an almost alarming shade of red in under two seconds.
"I—what—why are you all—how long have you been—"
He sat up too fast, blanket sliding down as he gestured vaguely between them, words tangling hopelessly. "Why were you watching me sleep?"
Ginny snorted.
Hermione clapped a hand over her mouth.
Cho laughed openly.
Even Daphne's composure cracked.
Astoria kicked her feet happily. "About ten minutes," she said cheerfully. "You drool a little. It's very endearing."
Cassius made a strangled noise and scrubbed his face with both hands.
"Merlin," he muttered. "I leave you alone for one afternoon…"
Luna leaned closer, utterly unfazed. "You also mumble about brooms. And equations. And something about 'Some mage named Ainz something or other'—though I think that was just a dream."
Hermione perked up instantly. "Ainz who?"
Cassius dropped his hands and pointed weakly at her.
"No. Absolutely not. That information is classified under 'things said while unconscious'."
He couldnt bring himself to reveal that most of what they'd heard him mumbling in his sleep was just him dreaming about anime and shows he used to watch all the time in his previous life.
Ginny grinned wickedly. "So you admit it."
"I admit nothing."
He took a steadying breath, willing the heat out of his cheeks, then glanced around the tent again—really looked this time.
They'd returned while he slept.
Set their things down.
Chosen, unanimously, apparently, to sit in a semicircle and… observe him.
Somehow, that was more unsettling than if they'd woken him.
It was beyond embarrassing even considering the whole lot of them had slept together.
"…How were the grounds?" he asked, deliberately steering the conversation away from himself.
Too late.
"Oh, fantastic," Cho said lightly. "We explored, saw the Bulgarian camp—very dramatic, lots of fire motifs. Even their own Young Seeker claiming to be the world's best."
"And the Egyptian charms are fascinating," Hermione added. "Their environmental wards are centuries old but still incredibly efficient."
Ginny leaned forward. "We also did some shopping."
Cassius narrowed his eyes. "Shopping."
Daphne smiled sweetly. "And investing."
A bad feeling crept up his spine.
Astoria rolled onto her stomach, chin in her hands. "We placed bets."
Cassius blinked. "Bets."
Hermione nodded briskly. "Quite a few, actually."
"…On what," he asked carefully.
Ginny's grin widened. "You."
The word echoed.
Cassius stared.
"You bet," he said slowly, "on me."
"Yes," Luna said serenely. "Collectively."
"All in," Astoria chirped.
Cassius leaned back against the couch, processing.
"You realize," he said after a moment, "that I'm already the top-ranked Seeker for Britain. The odds are terrible."
Hermione coughed. "Not if you account for duration."
That bad feeling blossomed into full dread.
Cassius closed his eyes. "…Explain."
Ginny clasped her hands together. "We bet on Britain winning, obviously."
"Obviously," Daphne echoed.
"But," Cho continued, "we also bet on how long your first match lasts."
Cassius opened one eye. "How long."
Astoria beamed. "Five minutes or more has excellent odds, especially since you're average win time is only three minutes-fourty-two seconds."
Silence.
Cassius sat up straighter. "You want me," he said slowly, "to deliberately let a World Cup match drag on."
Ginny winced. "When you say it like that, it sounds bad."
"It is bad."
Hermione raised a finger. "We're not asking you to lose at least."
Cassius looked at her.
"We're asking you," she clarified, "to not end it in thirty seconds and let the fans all get their money's worth for the ticket price of attending the matches to begin with."
Luna nodded thoughtfully. "The Snitch deserves a sporting chance to tour the new stadium."
Cassius stared at the ceiling.
"Do you have any idea," he said calmly, "how many variables go into a match at this level?"
Ginny shrugged. "You usually make it look easy."
"That's not the point."
Cho smiled gently. "We'd just… really like the windfall, afterall none of us want to be simply kept women living off our husbands assets."
Astoria leaned closer. "Think of it as crowd engagement."
Daphne added, "And narrative pacing."
Cassius looked at each of them in turn.
Six expectant faces.
Six pairs of eyes that trusted him implicitly.
Six conspirators who had, without hesitation, bet their collective funds on his performance.
He sighed.
Long.
Deep.
Resigned.
"I am not promising anything," he said firmly.
Ginny pouted. "Not even five minutes?"
"No, afterall if the opponent seeker gets close enough i'll have to step in to stop it since i am seeking the championship afterall."
Cassius shook his head, but a smile tugged at his lips despite himself.
"Next time," he said, pointing at all of them, "wake me up like normal people."
Ginny smirked. "And miss your adorable sleeping face? Never."
He leaned back into the couch, defeated.
Somewhere outside, the roar of the camps surged—anticipation building, magic humming, fate inching closer.
And inside the tent, surrounded by laughter, bets, and impossible expectations, Cassius Snape wondered—briefly—whether five minutes might actually be worth it.