As the music started, she got herself ready. The song ran through her head once more. She fixed the rose that was pinned on her pink suit top. She had charmed it to bloom at the right moment in the performance. She had also charmed it black for a red one would clash horribly with the shade pink that the jacket was. She took a deep breath and stepped out into the crowd. She started to sing. The audience loved the song. The performance was everything Cassandra had hoped it would be. When she went backstage after her song, she was bombarded by her two best friends, Carly and Nicole.
"You were great Cass!" said Carly.
"Yeah you rocked!" said Nicole. "Oh and by the way that cutie from Potions was totally staring at your…"
"Cassandra?" The girls turned around to see their Charms teacher, Professor Doyen. Cassandra walked over to her professor.
"Yes Professor?" she asked. Professor Doyen handed her a letter.
"This came express from England." said the professor. Cassandra's face lit up. "And you did very well tonight."
"Thank you professor." Cassandra said happily. She walked with an extra bounce in her step back to her friends. They started talking excitedly as they walked back to the girl's dormitory. The three girls plus two other in the dorm talked until midnight. They then fell asleep. Cassandra then woke up to vigorous shaking. "What? What happened?"she asked sleepily.
"Hurry get dressed! We'll meet you outside!" Nicole said as she ran out the door. Cassandra jumped out of bed. She saw flames on the ground outside her window and immediately understood. The castle was under attack! She quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and her shoes. She absently grabbed her wand. She scribbled a letter and put a spell on it so that it went straight to the person.
"To mother!" she cried and ran towards the door. She was half way down the stairs when another letter flew towards her. She shoved it in her pocket and continued on her way.
It was around 1:00 in the morning. Sybil Trelawney was walking around the corridors. She had gotten out of a late teacher's meeting some hours ago and was finding her way back to her tower. Albus had informed the teachers that they will be staying at 12 Grimmauld Place for the summer. He felt, with the threat of He Who Must Not Be Named, that his staff would be safer there. Most of them anyway. Some already had plans for the summer. Those who did have plan were to keep in touch with Albus. They were to leave in an hour. Sybil stopped as she heard a noise behind her. It sounded like the billowing of robes. All of a sudden she was grabbed at the waist. She did not scream nor did she move.
"Hello Severus." she said quite calmly.
"You say that like you know it's me." he said stepping back. She turned to him and said:
"Because it is you."
"And what if it wasn't?" he asked her. "Never mind. Now what are you doing going that way…"he pointed down the hall "when your tower is that way?" he said pointing in the other direction. He smiled as she tried to find an answer for him.
"Well I err… thought that I would take an umm…..walk to uh…" she fumbled.
"You're lost aren't you?" He laughed. "Sybil you've been here for nearly 16 years how could you possibly get lost."
"Well what are you doing sneaking around like that?" she fired back at him playfully.
"I wasn't sneaking around." He replied. "I saw you walking and thought I'd give you a little surprise. It obviously didn't work." Sybil laughed a bit.
"You need to work on being subtle." she said.
"I'll make a note of that." he said kissing her. Their kiss was interrupted by a flying letter. It hit the wall narrowly missing Severus's head. The letter hit the floor and Sybil saw that it was addressed to her. She opened it and read it.
"Oh my…! Severus take me to the North Tower quickly!" she said franticly.
"What's wrong?"he asked as they ran.
"I'll explain later." she said to him. Once they got to the North Tower Sybil scribbled her response and sent it back. She busted in and out of the numerous rooms in the tower. She changed her clothes and charmed her bags to pack themselves. After watching her for a good two minutes, Severus couldn't take it anymore.
"Sybil, what's going on?"he asked impatiently.
"It's Cassandra. Her school is under attack. She just wrote me a letter now. I wrote back to her."
"Where did you tell her to go? Your mother's?"he asked.
"No. My mother's on holiday. I sent her to 12 Grimmauld Place." Sybil said reluctantly.
"What!? Sybil you know as well as I why that is a bad idea." Severus said a bit angrily.
"Well what was I supposed to do Severus?" Sybil said doing her hair. "We can't have her wandering aimlessly in the wizarding world. That's our daughter, Severus." She turned back to doing her hair.
"I'm quite aware that she is our daughter." he said dangerously. He took a breath. "Well, we'll just have to work something out."
"What time did Albus say to meet him in the Great Hall?" Sybil asked, changing the subject. Severus, glad about the change, told her that Albus had said to meet them at 1:30. "See you then."Sybil said with a teeny smile.
"OK." Severus said. He kissed her lightly. "Bye"
"Bye"
Cassandra ran down to the entrance. As she was running she passed a hallway where two people were fighting. She nearly was hit by a stunning spell when she realized who was dueling. The two Death Eaters were fighting Professor Doyen. All of a sudden Cassandra saw a blinding green light. She opened her eyes enough to see the professor drop to the floor. Dead. "No!" Cassandra cried and ran to the professor's side. She heard the people who had killed the professor coming closer. She quickly hid behind a statue.
"Find the Child!" she heard one of them say. She was so scared. Who was this child they were looking for? Why were they looking for them? The tears flowed from her eyes as she ran out of the door. She couldn't find any of her friends so she ran to the nearby town. She ran to the street corner. She was thinking about her next move. She leaned on the wall to catch her breath. As she leaned on the wall she heard a crackling sound. She pulled out the letter from the pocket she had shoved it in earlier. Cassandra finally read the letter. It told her go to 12 Grimmauld Place. From conversations with her parent she knew that was in London. All I need is a way to get there she thought. She stepped on the street and soon the Knight Bus came zooming towards her. She smiled as she got on the bus.
"Knight Bus at your service ma'am." the conductor said.
"Wow I didn't know the Knight Bus ran in the U.S."Cassandra said to the conductor.
"Wherever you need us, we'll be there. Where you 'eaded love?" he asked.
"12 Grimmauld Place." she replied.
"That old run down place? Well if that's what you want then we'll take you." he told her. She sat down on one of the moving beds. Soon she was fast asleep.
The Hogwarts staff gathered in the Great Hall a few hours later. Sybil mind was racing as she gave in her baggage. No matter how much she tried to tell herself otherwise, Severus was right. Sending Cassandra to 12 Grimmauld Place was dangerous and risky. She was trying to think of what she could do when she was interrupted. Severus took her to the side.
"All the arrangements have been made." he said to her.
"What arrangements?" she asked.
"Your attention please." they both heard the Deputy Headmistress, Minerva McGonagull say.
"Thank you, Minerva" Albus Dumbledore said. Minerva nodded back. "Now that all the baggage has been turned in and sent to our destination, we will now group Aperate to 12 Grimmauld Place. I know this is a dumb question but, we can all aparate yes?" Everyone nodded. "Good. Now everyone join hands and form a circle. We will all aperate on three. Please hold tightly to one another. We can't afford to lose anyone. Ready? On three, 1, 2, 3……Now!"Albus yelled. Sybil concentrated and she felt the sensation of being pushed through a tight, rubber tube. She fell as her feet hit solid ground. She as she got up she checked herself for any spiltching. Thankfully there wasn't any. Minerva then did a silent head count.
"We're all here." she said. Albus nodded and they continued up to the door. He knocked and the door immediately opened. Sirius was there with his wand pointing straight at Albus. He had a gleam in his eye that told anyone that he was not to be messed with. "Sirius it's just us" Minerva said shocked. Sirius then spoke.
"If you're really Albus Dumbledore then what do you see in the Mirror of Erised?"
"I see myself holding a pair of woolen socks. These are the staff of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Albus said calmly. Sirius withdrew his wand and the gleam in his eye turned to a happy sparkle as he smiled.
"Welcome." Sirius said holding his arm out. He turned around and led them to the living room. They all went in and followed Sirius. "Sorry for the drastic measures. You can never be too sure these days."
"No need to apologize. These precautions are necessary." Albus said.
"Is Nymphadora here?" Minerva asked.
"Yes she's here. Let me call her down." He went to the bottom of the stairs. "TONKS GET DOWN HERE!!!!!!!!" he yelled.
"What is it Sirius?" she said walking to the stairs. "Oh, there here!" She rushed down the stairs but tripped on the last few and landed on her back. She groaned. "Why does this happen to me?" she mumbled under her breath. She got up and brushed herself off.
"Are you o.k?" Minerva asked concerned.
"I'm fine. It happens all the time." she said. They all sat down and Albus began.
"Now that we are all here, we will discuss the sleeping arrangements." He took out a piece of parchment. "Professor Flitwick will be rooming with Professor Sinstra. Minerva, you will be rooming with me.
"Duh" Sybil coughed. Minerva shot her a very dangerous look. The teachers, Sirius, and Nymphadora laughed. Albus merely chuckled.
"Professor Sprout will be rooming with Madame Hooch." he paused "And Professor Snape will be rooming with Professor Trelawney." he slid his half-moon spectacles down the bridge of his nose. "Please don't kill each other. Do you know how hard it is to find a Divination teacher these days?" Albus said with a smile.
"Ha-ha you're hilarious," Sybil said sarcastically.
"As long as she doesn't get in my way…."Severus said dangerously. Sybil suppressed a giggle. He had become so good at pretending to be mean and cold-hearted over the years.
"Can you please make it so I don't have to check what I eat and drink? You never know what he'll do." Sybil said folding her arms.
"What who'll do?" a voice asked. Remus Lupin strolled into the living room just then.
"Remus!" Nymphadora exclaimed excitedly. Everyone, aside from Remus, looked at Tonks with a lifted eyebrow. "I mean Remus." she said less excitedly.
"We were just talking about Severus and how he wants to kill everything that doesn't cower in fear of him." Sybil said coolly. Severus gave her a very icy glare.
"Now we that you know you roommates go upstairs and pick a room. Then you can get some rest. Not to worry," Albus said catching the looks from some people. "each room has two beds." he laughed. Sybil and Severus went upstairs. They picked a room with a nice view. Once in the room they put their bags down and embraced each other. They broke apart and began laughing hysterically.
"Kill anything that doesn't cower in fear of me. What a laugh!" Severus said wiping a tear from his eye. He looked into her eyes. He raised his eyebrows asking a silent question. She pulled away from him.
"Severus!"she said quietly."Here? With all these people? He nodded.
"That's what silencing charms are for." He said holding her waist and pulling her towards him. She stared at his eyes for awhile. She wanted to so badly. Oh to hell with it she thought.
"Ok" she said excitedly. He cast the silencing charm on the room and all sorts of locking spells on the door. Sybil lay on the bed. She playfully gave him the "come hither" motion with her finger. Sybil laughed as they prepared for their nightly adventure.