(Sirius)

I always wanted a little sister. I would beg my parents, "Please? Pleeeeasse?" and they'd roll their eyes and tell me that it wasn't as simple as I thought. That didn't stop me from talking about it every chance I got though. Especially when Regulus was irritating me.

When they brought Lyra and Cassiopeia home, it was the happiest day of my life. They were adorable! I couldn't wait to play with them. I started talking to Regulus about who got to play with whom. I borrowed Father's quill and started making a roster so we wouldn't fight.

Cassiopeia cried a lot at first. I'd ask my parents why she cried so much and they told me it was natural. They said when she got used to us and our house she would calm down and not cry all the time. Sometimes though, she'd cry so loud that Father would have to take her into the basement where it was sound-proof so our cousins wouldn't complain.

Cassiopeia and Lyra slept in Mother and Father's room for the first month. Sometimes Regulus and I would try to join them but they'd always lock their door. Mother said their room wasn't big enough for all of us to sleep in. I was patient. I knew the two new beds with the bars that they'd set up in the room next to mine would eventually be theirs.

When my parents felt it was safe to let them sleep on their own, they started putting the girls in them. Cassiopeia wasn't crying so much anymore by then, and I would sneak out of bed and watch them sleep from the doorway. They'd take Cassiopeia and Lyra into their bedroom first and lay with them until they fell asleep, then move them to their room. Some nights after the girls were moved, I'd see Lyra lying there with her eyes open, just staring at the ceiling, so I'd go over and give her toys through the bars. A lot of the time she'd just throw the toy and then start crying and I'd have to hide in my room before Father came in to deal with her.

Eventually, they started letting Lyra and Cassiopeia sit with Regulus and I in the playroom. We were told that we weren't allowed to give them anything too small or sharp that they could hurt themselves with. I was soooo happy! I would sit behind Lyra and watch her draw and tell her she was the best little sister in the world. Regulus said the same to Cassiopeia. I showed them which toys were theirs and which were ours, but they didn't seem to care. Sometimes we'd sit on the window seat and they'd bang on the window while Regulus and I drew on it with special crayons.

School started at Hogwarts, and I went for my first year, but Lyra and Cassiopeia had to stay home with Reg. Mother said they weren't ready for school yet. I'd come home and tell the three all the stuff I 'd learned. Regulus and I drew pictures of us playing together along with our cousins. When we showed them to Father he'd say thank you and take them to keep in his office.

Then came the really bad day. I'll never forget it. I came home from school and Mother was just sitting at the table reading the Daily Prophet. She looked real sad. I went to play with Reg, Lyra and Cassie but couldn't find Cassie. When we went to ask Mother where she was, she started crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said that Cassiopeia was gone. I didn't understand totally, but I started crying too and told her "We need to find her!" She just shook her head and said she was gone somewhere we couldn't go.

Father took her bed apart but left Lyra's. He threw away all our drawings with her in them. He took my roster off the Playroom wall. Sometimes we'd find one he'd missed and it'd make us cry. I started collecting them and hiding them as did Regulus, but he found where we hid them one day by accident and got really mad. We weren't allowed to talk about her. It was like she never existed. I didn't think it was fair. I told Mother that Father was mean to make us not talk about Cassiopeia and only Lyra, but she said it was better that way and I would understand when I was older.

I saw Cassiopeia again.

It was just one time, but I'll never forget it. I was with Mother doing some school shopping in Diagon Alley. We went robe shopping then went to the post office to send some letters as our owl was being used by Father. I was humming to myself and reading posters while Mother spoke to the lady behind the counter and that's when I saw Cassiopeia. She was as cute as I remembered. I walked over and looked at the poster with her picture and Lyra's, but they'd gotten her name wrong. Somebody had written their names down as Cassandra and Lydia.

I rushed over to Mother and tugged on her sleeve and told her that Cassiopeia and Lyra were up on the wall with the other pictures of children, but she got all flustered and apologized to the lady before dragging me out of the post office. I had to shout because she kept trying to talk over me instead of listening. "I saw Lyra and Cassiopeia! They got their pictures on the wall in there!"

Finally Mother slapped me and told me it wasn't Cassiopeia and that it may have looked like her but I was mistaken and if I didn't stop I'd get in real trouble with Father when he got home. I cried and promised to be good, but even after I promised I wasn't allowed to have dinner and had to sit in my room that night. I heard Mother and Father talking in the kitchen and they got kind of loud. Somebody started banging open the kitchen drawers and then Father's feet stomped up the stairs but I heard Mother scream "Don't you dare!" and he stopped outside my room then went back downstairs.

We never went back to that post office and I never saw Cassiopeia again. This is the first time I've talked about Cassiopeia since that day. Lyra is still with us.