This Is For Cassius
Mira Stone
1
Cassius Warrington turns eleven in the summer of 1988. He is eleven when he realizes that the whole Wizarding World is blind and that he cares enough to want that to change.
Because Cassius knows that true ambition is getting back up when you fall down, because you know - just know - that your efforts will revolutionize the world. True ambition is about progress, about change. Glory could and usually did come after.
But his revelation did not stop the slurs that chase him down the hallway.
"Sloth boy."
"Fatty."
"Slimy Slytherin."
At the end of the year, Cassius resolves in the company of his closest circle of friends to make sure the world's view of Slytherin changed with them.
2
Cassius turns twelve and finds that the world hasn't changed over the summer. Harsh names and booing still ring in his ears as he runs down the halls of class, trying to avoid tripping on extended feet and the train of his robes. The only two safe places he has are the Slytherin Common Room and Potions under the guidance of his Head of House.
After all, the rest of the school believes that the Potions Master is a vampire and Professor Snape is rather loathe to lose one of his best intimidation tactics.
It is in this year that Cassius first attempts to bridge the gap between the houses. It's in the quiet eves of the school library, that he drops a note to a studious Ravenclaw, Ellenore Whitney and then hides to see her reaction.
Ellenore smiles and Cassius wondered if she would smile like that again when she finds that one sending notes was a 'Slimy Slytherin'.
He hopes so. Cassius rather likes her smile. It's like liquified sunshine and it makes his chest warm to see it.
3
Cassius is twelve and his heart still stings with rejection, even weeks after on the train bound home.
4
He turns thirteen and thinks to join the Quidditch Team, heart trying to distance itself from any other form of heartbreak from those outside the safety of his house. He wins the position of reserve chaser by the skin of his teeth. The glow of achievement carries him through an easy conversation with a stuttering Hufflepuff named Jason Morris. Cassius is rather fond of Jason, and leaps to his defense when a Gryffindor stupid enough to insult the boy does so in his hearing.
He gets detention and a dual lecture from both Professor Snape and his Captain but that glow doesn't disappear when Jason pulls him to the side after Herbology to thank him. But it quickly turns cold when Jason asks him how he would like to be paid back.
Because Jason wasn't his friend, just a wounded and suspicious child who happens to go to the same school as he. And who would ever like a Slimy Slytherin?
5
Cassius is thirteen when Harry Potter comes to Hogwarts.
6
Cassius turns fourteen. Slytherin won the Quidditch House Cup. It's all he can really say, nothing else has really changed from any of the previous years.
7
Cassius is fifteen and he thinks he loves a girl. Her skirts swish about her ankles and her laugh makes him feel like he could dance away on air with her. Her name is Selene and it tastes like sugar on his tongue. His world erupts into a mass of sounds and colors that are brighter than anything he's ever experienced since second year.
Nothing else seems to matter. Not until he catches her snogging another boy in the broom cupboards.
His world fades back to dull greys and he wonders if this pattern of heartbreak and sorrow will ever stop.
8
Sixth year rolls around and he is on the team permanently, replacing Adrian Pucey as Chaser. Marcus Flint is Quidditch Captain.
9
They lose to Gryffindor and have to deal with the entire school throwing it in their faces. Cassius shuts himself in a bathroom and looks himself dead in the eye.
"The world is never going to change." He tells himself and it's almost enough to make him break under the despair it brings.
But Cassius, alongside the rest of his house, merely gather up the shards of their dignity and hold their heads high despite it all.
The school can call them whatever they want, but they have each other.
10
Cassius is terrified of the Dementors, and their chill is something he finds very hard to get rid of - even with heavy doses of chocolate. Ellenore's rejection and Jason's terrified stare haunt him at night. His own words ring in his ears. This world will never change.
At the end of the year, with Sirius Black still at large, he makes a resolution despite the dark clouds of depression hanging over his head.
He'll make it change, one way or another.
11
He's seventeen and gathering up enough of his courage to put his name into the Goblet of Fire. Everyone around him scoffs at the idea of a Slytherin champion for Hogwarts. Cassius shrugs and hides his doubts and wounded heart.
12
A slip of paper flies up into the air.
"Cassius Warrington!"
And as he stands up to move to that room where the Champions go, the whole population of Hogwarts Students erupts into pandemonium.
Only one house cheers, and even the teachers are only politely clapping. The rest of the school is booing, yelling out slurs and simply screaming out furious denials.
Professor Snape gives him a short curt nod and Cassius straightens from the hunch his shoulders involuntarily gained.
If all else, he will make Slytherin proud.
13
"Harry Potter!"
14
Cassius isn't even surprised anymore. Potter gets in trouble every year, why isn't this one any different. Stupid, reckless, idiotic Gryffindors.
The boy is only fourteen and has no sense of self preservation. They should have pulled him out.
It's only when Cassius is back in the safety of his own bed does he wonder how Potter found out about the dragons. He ponders it for a minute then tucks it away. The Golden Trio was always favored above the average student after all...
15
Malfoy has been at his side ever since the Goblet flared first for Hogwarts. But this… this is the final straw.
Cassius takes a POTTER STINKS badge and pulls out his wand. He flicks his wrist and the badge changes itself to form the letters A HOGWARTS WIN instead. He hands it back to Malfoy.
"Change them all."
And then he walks away, leaving shocked whispers in his wake.
16
Cassius draws the Swedish Snort-Snout and is entranced by the small model's blue scales and the blue 'fire' that it puffs out that's more akin to warm air than flame, warming his finger tips.
He will go first and so tucks away the model in his pockets. His hand grips his wand and he tries to ignore the trembling in his fingers.
17
He wins by the skin of his teeth. His face aches from the burns but it's his hands that hurt the worst.
He gets second place. Only Slytherin cheers reach his ears, the rest of the school is full of stony silence. Like always.
As Cassius lies in the hospital cot, a familiar feeling of despair comes upon him. Everyone wonders why Slytherins go dark. But why don't they when everyone else is pushing them into a Dark Wizard shaped hole?
18
The golden egg is smeared with mud and grime. Cassius figures that it'd be easiest to clean it in the bathtub. He slips and falls into the water.
19
Cassius approaches the Gryffindor table with a lump in his throat and his head held high.
Potter's friends leap to defend the boy and the Slytherin smiles bitterly, two wands at his throat.
"Put the egg underwater, Potter." he simply says, breath catching somewhere between his vocal chords and his tongue.
Potter searches his eyes for a moment then slowly nods. Cassius nods back and moves away.
"That bloke's mental, Harry!" the Weasley hisses at the edges of the seventeen year old's hearing.
"It's worth a shot." comes a soft voice, and if Cassius was in any other house, he would have spun around in shock.
Warmth blooms in his chest. Maybe there is hope after all.
20
He asks Professor Snape where he might be able to find some Gillyweed in time for the task.
The next morning, an owl brings a package and a simple letter.
Make us proud, Warrington. You bring honor to the Slytherin House. - S. S.
It makes Cassius smile.
21
Cassius has to find a date for the Yule Ball. Selene's face flashes to his mind and he can barely stomach the custard he had been sampling. He doesn't want it to blow up in his face like it had when he was fifteen and thought he was in love.
He doesn't want to be hurt like then. Like he always was.
22
A quiet girl from Ravenclaw asks him to the Ball. Her name is Emily Jane Lonile and has eyes like sapphires.
Cassius likes Emily. They hold hands under the table in a quiet spot in the library and her quiet giggles chase the bad memories away.
23
On Christmas Eve Cassius and Emily dance to the Weird Sisters' Magic Works as the final dance.
"Merry Christmas, Cas." she whispers and he smiles down at her, rocking them back and forth in a circular motion.
"Merry Christmas, Emily."
He presses a kiss to her forehead just as the clock strikes twelve.
24
The Egg's song finally makes sense.
He clutches at Emily's hand as she shivers from under her towel, black hair plastered to her forehead.
Cassius is angry. But he is also relieved.
He's sure that if Emily leaves because of him, he'll break and won't be able to pick up the pieces.
Emily kisses him on the cheek, lips still cold from the frigid water when he tells her this. "I won't leave, silly." she tells him. "They asked me and I agreed to it. I won't leave you over something this silly."
He puts their foreheads together and they giggle. Emily pretends not to notice the tears streaming down his face.
They stay that way until his scores are read.
25
Potter ties with him.
26
The final task is a maze.
It's a maze straight from Hell.
His leg is burned from a Blasted-Ended Skrewt and sends fiery shoots of pain up his leg and to his brain.
Cassius is hit from behind by an accented Cruciatus Curse and the pain is debilitating.
Over the sound of his own screaming he hears a young voice scream out "STUPEFY!" and the pain ends, leaving him breathless and aching. He looks up to see Potter's soot covered face and manages a shaky nod of thanks.
27
Somehow, through the twists and turns, Cassius finds himself facing Potter again. They team up together to fight an acromantula (WHERE DID THEY FIND ONE OF THOSE?! His mind screams distantly in an area not fully concentrating on staying alive) and win together. Potter's leg is injured.
28
The cup is ahead of them and Cassius turns to Potter (no… not Potter… Harry). "You should take it. You deserve it better than I do."
Cassius doesn't desire the glory winning the Tournament will bring, he only wants to show Hogwarts and the rest of the world the good a Slytherin can do.
But Harry is stubborn and insists that they both take it.
29
"On the count of three. One…"
"Two…"
"THREE!" They both grab the cub and there is the sickening jerk of a portkey's activation.
30
They're dumped into a graveyard and Harry collapses onto the ground, screaming. The boy is clutching his forehead with his hands. Cassius is immediately at his side, checking him for any spell or curse.
"R-Run!" Harry screams but by then it's too late.
31
"Kill the spare!"
Cassius sees a flare of green light and then he is gone. He doesn't even have time to think.
32
The world is stunned by the sight of a Gryffindor grieving over a Slytherin's dead body. Emily Jane Lonile sees who it is and starts screaming, sinking to the ground next to Harry Potter and grabbing Cassius Warrington's cooling hand.
"He's back." Harry Potter tells her through her tears, "Voldemort is back."
And then he's dragged away by Alastor Moody, kicking and flailing. Emily doesn't care, her boyfriend is dead.
33
The entire Slytherin House is in shock. Draco Malfoy can't believe it. Why would the Dark Lord kill one who had belonged to his old house? The House that held his bloodline?
Cassius was from a long line of purebloods who remained steadfastly neutral in all conflicts. It was in his blood to have been great.
But now… now his dreams would never be fulfilled.
When a sneering Ravenclaw dares to insult their late Slytherin's girlfriend (a Ravenclaw was an acceptable choice. It wasn't like she was a Gryffindor), the backlash is as garish and loud as if the Weasley Twins had done it instead.
Half the Slytherin House is assigned detention. Draco Malfoy is the first one in line to attend.
34
Draco Malfoy refuses to join in the Inquisitorial Squad. It's run by a woman who's denied Cassius' killer's return several times and that Cassius was even murdered. For the first time in nearly a century, the Houses stand united in one thing: Umbridge will never rule the school. Not if any of the students have a say about it.
35
Several Slytherins join the DA meetings. When asked why they were signing up on that first day, a young girl looks Harry straight in the eye and says, "He killed one of our own. Why shouldn't we learn how to fight?"
There were no more questions asked after that. The memory of Cassius's death is still too sharply engraved in their minds.
36
Two years pass and the halls of Hogwarts shake and groan under the weight of spell fire. Professor Trelawney keeps tossing crystal balls down from her window until she runs out of her stash and starts on her pieces of china. DA members run around the courtyard firing off spells alongside the members of the Order of the Phoenix.
But amongst the fighters, hoards of Slytherins take the Death Eaters by surprise with rallying cries of "FOR CASSIUS!"
37
Hogwarts stands united, a thing that hasn't happened for centuries.
Cassius had changed the world.
AN: Hi guys! I know, I know. I should be working on Till I'm Gone but Tumblr threw me a curveball with this one and I just couldn't not write it! I hope you all enjoyed this drabble series as much as I did! Tell me what you all thought!