It was close to the early morning hours and ghostly silence was slowly engulfing the dark manor covered in thick layers of fresh white snow. The now vacant ballroom which had become a terrible mess with countless used trays of food, stained table cloths, brown spew, torn colourful garlands and even a small red spot of his daughter's blood on the floor she had been hit with a curse, had been sealed by a flock of aurors of the ministry, which had come automatically with the hectic call for a healer from St. Mungos.

Lucius hated having them in the house as his old family had quite a collection of old and dark objects which could prove embarrassing if found, but unfortunately his "friends" had made a mess by duelling and therefore his daughter had been caught in the middle. The presence of the interrogating and nosy aurors had prevented him from staying with his daughter being examined by the healer. He should have been there. Narcissa was probably also berating herself for not being in the ballroom because she had gone to get the stupid Parkinson girl, which had blatantly refused to answer to a house elf.

Cassandra had to be alright. He refused to think about any other scenario and what was even more astonishing was the fact that she had used accidental magic to protect her brother, without splintering herself. The picture of her spasming body, her anguished screaming, her teeth clattering while she was lying on the ground surrounded by hundreds of curious spectators who had not interfered, was forever ingrained in his memory.

He had been to distasteful spectacles of the Deatheaters before where people had been tortured for fun, but this time it was his daughter, who had been in peril and only Merlin knew what she had been hit with. Each heavy step he took towards his daughter's room resounded dully from the white polished marbled floor. He vaguely registered the barely audible whispers of his ancestors as he stopped in front of the dark brown, polished door with golden handle which was the door to his daughter's large room and put his pale hand on the handle.

In which condition would he find her? Had the healer been able to heal her? Had he found out which dark spell had hit her? Taking a deep, steadying breath he carefully pulled the handle down, opened the door and stepped in.

The dark room with normally white shining walls, was illuminated by a small green lamp beside the large, black oak bed, which cast the room in an green and orange shine. His daughter's room was contrary to her brother's very tidy. All her toys of various sizes (countless teddy bears, foxes, cats, dogs, snakes, badgers, ravens and a female lion) where neatly placed in one small corner, while large parts of her room where already filled with smartly organized shelves and stakes of books on her desk, which was still too big for her.

She could spent hours sitting on piles of pillows, her feet on the desk while reading something. As one would have expected to find dolls in a girl's room there were none in her collection of toys as she was scared of them. It was one of those irrational fears that everyone could have. Some were afraid of spiders. Cassandra was terrified of porcelain dolls and clowns for some reason. He had tried to give her one very expensive one, for one of her birthdays but she had refused to take it, because she was terrified of them. The guests at the party had found it unusual, but very cute. She had told him that she could swear that their cold dead "fish" eyes were following her around, especially in the dark.

He looked at the centre of the bed and saw his pale daughter sandwiched between her mother, who had transformed her elegant evening dress in a more casual black one and Draco who wore a green pyjama with slithering silver snakes while sleeping contently. Narcissa's normally beautiful pale face was red and puffy and he could still see the silvery lines which must have been the trails of her fallen tears. Cassandra's head was resting on her left arm as she was stroking her face tenderly. Lucius heart sunk. He had never seen his wife like this. Not even when she had been forced to break off any further contact with her favourite sister who had eloped with a muggle born.

"How bad is it?" he asked with trembling voice while he could mentally picture his father saying that Malfoys never would utter something in a trembling voice. Narcissa shook her head and new tears started to gather in her eyes and she whispered hoarsely:

"She is blind, Lucius, will feel the after effects of the Cruciatus Curse probably for months and has bitten her tongue which is why she has spat blood."

Lucius sat down on the edge of the bed and put his hand in front of his mouth to stop the bile that threatened to come up.

"But the Cruciatus, does not blind people." he whispered in an afterthought.

"No, but the healer found an earlier placed curse on her." her voice changed to an accusing tone which made his neck hair straighten. His wife was powerful and due to her Black heritage knew probably just as many dark curses as the Malfoys.

"What curse?" he asked confused.

"The 'Miseriam maximam amplificatio' curse." Narcissa answered gravely while stroking her daughter's cheek and pulling her closer to her as if to protect her. A new wave of tears was escaping her eyes.

Lucius gasped. While he had not seen this curse before he had read about it. It had been frequently used during the Middle Ages to curse muggles or magical opponents and was designed to amplify even the smallest misfortune or misery to drive people to eventually commit suicide, because of all the misery they were experiencing. But combined with the Cruciatus curse, he was lucky that his daughter was still alive; if she had stayed sane would be another matter.

Would she wake up only to be like a mental vegetables like the Longbottoms? He hoped that she still was herself. Annoyingly curious to the point where he often ran out of answers to her questions, but he still preferred her to be like this than resembling a mental zombie like the aurors Bellatrix had tortured.

But who had cursed her? Why had she been cursed? She was a young, innocent child. Maybe a tad bit strange, but certainly unique with her thirst for knowledge. He often had problems connecting with her which is why he spent more time with Draco as he knew how to handle him. With her sight gone how should she read her books? Although she was not old enough to get a personal house elf, she would need one now.

"We will find a way to get her sight back" Lucius whispered determined and if he had to go to the ends of the world. But Narcissa shook her head to indicate that she did not believe that they could restore it.

"Who do you think has cursed her?" Narcissa asked looking murderous again, but Lucius had no idea. They were wealthy and influential. The list of enemies was rather long and in the Wizarding World grudges could be held for centuries.

Well, he had one specific person in mind, but would his father really risk the life of one of his own flesh and blood. But on the other hand, he hated his granddaughter for some reason. He had even suggested giving her away as there had never been a female in the Malfoy line and that she was according to him a bad omen. He had phrased it to give her away, but what he had really meant was something else. Lucius had seen the truth in his eyes.

Or was it just to spite him, because he had decided to marry a different Black. Bellatrix should have been his intended according to his father, but he had forced his father's hand by asking for Narcissa's hand in marriage during a Yule Ball in front of the entire wizarding world. The Yule Ball should have been the festivity where they would officially have announced the engagement, but Lucius had never wanted to marry the grazy bint. There had been something regal, beautiful and mysterious about Narcissa which had attracted him to her. Unlike other Pureblooded women she had been outspoken about some things and not quite fit the profile of a potential perfect docile wife. Narcissa had been caught by surprise, but Lucius had felt that this had been the only right decision. His father had been angry and shouted all kinds of obscenities at him in his study and threatened that he would do something to him after he had refused to resolve his engagement with Narcissa, but he had not heeded the warning. Did his beloved daughter have to pay the price now?

"It better not be my father." Lucius growled with blazing eyes looking at his wife whose eyes now mirrored his. "But it was most likely him. The curse was invented by one of my ancestors after all."

"He must pay for this!" Narcissa hissed angrily but was stopped before she could hiss more and her gaze was drawn to the hurt girl. Cassandra, shivering slightly, moaned faintly and turned from her position on her back to her side towards her mother's warm body and cuddled herself to her mother while inhaling her scent deeply. Narcissa held her closer to herself with her left arm while her other hand continued to lovingly pet her cheek.

Lucius, holding his cane, containing his wand was watching his sleeping daughter from one of the armchairs in her room next to her desk and the shelves and was starting his diligent scheming to bring his father behind bars for what he had done to his grandchild. But he had to be careful. His father had been the one to enter him into the inner circles of the Dark Lord and therefore enough incriminating evidence against him. Probably, just as much as Lucius had on him. Perhaps he could blame the supposed Imperius he had been under until the Dark Lord's demise on his father.

"He will pay for this." Lucius confirmed. "But we have to be careful. He is very sly and we can't act like revengeful, little Gryffindors."

She heard faint voices. Dulled voices like hearing someone while being under water, but as she focused on them they slowly became clearer. One was her father's deep and calming voice and the other was her mother's. They where whispering with hushed voices to each other, but her pounding head, feeling as if it would split into two any at any second prevented her from understanding their words. There was another person lying behind her in the room, which was breathing evenly.

Was Draco sleeping in her room again? Had there been another thunderstorm? He always came to her her during Thunderstorms. Why where her parents in her room? She slowly became aware that she was lying in her soft, comfy bed as she could feel the familiar fabric of her blanket, the familiar smell of her oaken bed and the familiar soothing smell of her mother's perfume close to her nose. Her head was not lying on her soft cushion, but on something pulsating, while her front was touching something soft and warm. Her left hand was also lying on something which slowly moved up and down, while she was cuddled towards a body. She knew that scent. She was cuddling with her mother? Why? She could not remember when she had last cuddled with her and she would have liked to do so very much. Especially, after her grandfather had been mean to her again.

She wanted to open her eyes, to make herself known to her parents, but all her limps where too heavy and burned as if she had bad muscle cramps after a heavy ballet workout. For the moment she decided that it would pass in time and that she could stay like this for some more minutes before she would try again. Her entire family was in her room together without the need to represent an image and she liked that. But why were they in her room? She could not remember, therefore she wrecked her mind what the last thing she was able to remember was.

New Year's Eve? No midnight. The waltz and the pain! The horrible pain which did not stop! She tensed, shuddered and moaned remembering it. So much pain, so helpless and not control of her body! Was it over now? The voices stopped and then she could hear her mother's tender voice:

"Cassandra, darling? Are you awake?" She wanted to answer, but no words escaped her lips, just a faint moan, she tried to nod and although it felt like too much effort, she must have managed it somehow.

"Lucius, quick, she is awake." her mother whispered to her father, who if she interpreted the sounds correctly jumped up from a chair and rushed to her bedside. She could sense him hovering over her mother and her. Then there was his large cool hand on the left side of her face.

"Cassandra? Can you speak?" he asked hoarsely and she felt his concern. She tried to open her eyes and speak, but no sound escaped her lips and her eye lids just would not open, no matter how hard she tried.

"She needs to take the yellow potion from the nightstand." her mother stated while she could hear her father take it and handing it to her mother who tipped on her chin and pulled her lips apart a bit and slowly dipped the potion in her mouth while Cassandra swallowed it heavily with much effort. It tasted horrible like chalk mixed with muddy brown water. Thanks to her sometimes mean brother and his goonies she knew how muddy water tasted. But as she bravely swallowed it the burning in her limps became fainter and the feeling in her extremities slowly returned. She wiggled her fingers to try if they worked and then her toes and they did! Merlin, was she glad that her mother had that potion. Everything would be fine!

"Does it feel better, darling?" her mother asked handing her father the now empty potions bottle back.

"Yes, mother." Cassandra croaked with hoarse voice. "Please never force me to go to another ball." she begged in remembrance of last night's happenings.

"I mean. I told you that something was going to happen, but you did not believe me. Why did you not believe me?" a tear escaped her eyes in remembrance. They had never believed her when she had told them of things to come.

"We won't." her father answered gravely and she opened her eyes to look at him, but something was feeling wrong. She could have sworn that she had her eyelids open, but for some reason she could not see anything. She blinked several times as if to clear it from any dirt obstructing her vision, but the effect remained the same. There was only darkness. She quickly rubbed her eyes and tried to look again, but nothing happened.

Maybe her parents had forgotten to light the room, but she could feel the warmth of the faint glow of her green lamp on her nightstand on her face. So why was she not seeing anything but darkness as she was still lying next to her mother? She kept her eyelids open and moved her gaze from where she knew one corner should be to the other, but the darkness remained the same.

No, wait. It became lighter towards the direction of where her desk should be? She could still not see anything, but it was as if there was something emitting soothing light in the darkness. Concentrating on the soothing light it became clearer and turned into the outlines of a lightening cube with ornamented lines. She knew those lines and the cube! But the light seemed to come from within it. It somehow seemed that she was seeing it, but not with her eyes.

Was that even possible? She remembered having the mysterious golden, metal box her father had originally gifted her brother with, hidden in the desk. Draco had been completely annoyed with his inability to open it and had wanted to throw it into the dustbin, but Cassandra had saved it from this fate as she had felt drawn to it. She had not been able to explain it, but it had felt as if it belonged to her and not her brother and he had no right to get rid of it. She was convinced that it would open when the time was right, but she had no idea why she thought it.

She just knew it. She stretched towards the direction where she knew that her balcony window was situated and accidently brushed her brother, who started to stir. She could not see the window, but the glowing outlines of her little sapling from her garden's favourite tree. This particular tree was centuries old and so thick that you would need at least twenty people to stand around it. According to family legend it had already been there when they had settled on these grounds. No ancestor had been able to cut down the tree and some of its samplings could be found in the forests surrounding the property. One day she had found one of its samplings and taken it to her room and planted it in a pot. And it grew to a small little tree which stood outside on the balcony in front of her window. The sampling had always felt so alive and she had even talked to it and imagined that it would answer back, just not in language. It was soothing to her to know that even though she could not visually see the sampling, she still could see its glow in the darkness. But why could she do it and why did it have the same white glow like the cube? Were they connected?

"Cassandra?" she heard her brother murmur while he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "You're awake! Are you ok?" But she ignored him although she could sense that he was curious.

"My eyes are open are open, aren't they?" she asked already knowing the answer.

"Yes, dear. They are open." her mother whispered, hugging her closer while kissing her front again.

"I'm blind. Am I not?" she asked with wavering voice as the severity of her situation came crushing down to her. How should she do anything without anyone breathing down her neck, how should she read or learn? How should she defend herself against her grandfather and her insane grandmother now? She would need people to help her with anything. Her father would not allow her to go to Hogwarts with her eyesight gone. She would always be confined to Malfoy Manor! Every chance of freedom was gone now!

"Yes, darling." her mother sniffed and sounded as if she was crying with her as she could feel her own tears rolling down her cheeks.

"We will get your sight back." her father said determined, but was scolded by his now blind daughter.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, father." He took a deep breath and vowed to prove her wrong. He would find a way to make her see again.

"Is Draco alright?" she asked turning on her back and using her left hand to search for her brother who took her hand and squeezed it gently as if to say thank you.

"Yes." He is her father answered. "Thanks to you. You were very brave and this was your first use of accidental magic. I'm proud of you."

Cassandra's anger flared up slightly. This had definitely not been her first time to use magic, but her parents had never seen those outbursts or when they had seen them then they had credited them to Draco. The heir of the house Malfoy.

"Never thought I would hear the word brave in a Slytherin household." she pouted. "and it wasn't the first time I used magic but you have never seen or acknowledged it."

Lucius sighing wondered how much books of their library she had read already. She did not sound like a five year old and he had not seen her doing wandless magic ever before. Could she speak the truth? Apparition was very difficult, but she had accidently managed it without splintering herself.

"Does this mean Draco owes me a life debt?" she asked remembering reading about the concept in one of the books.

"A what?" Narcissa asked shocked. Where did she know about this concept.

"You know. When you safe a person's life then this person ows you her life and has to repay that debt somehow." Cassandra said.

"Those practises fell out of favour centuries ago." Lucius pulse started racing hoping that Cassandra had not become crazy through the accident.

"Well, As I can't read someone has to read for me." Cassandra said and Draco could read aloud while I memorize the things he says and he also improves his reading. So it's a win-win situation.

Narcissa also took a relieved breath as she had went along the same way of thinking as Lucius.

"I can read perfectly." Draco protested. "I just don't want to read your boring books."

"You will get your personal house elf, Cassandra. There is no need to drag Draco in this." Lucius defended his son not realizing that he annoyed his daughter with this answer again.

"If she gets one, I want one too." Draco said jealously.

Narcissa silently chuckled and looked sheepishly at her husband. Both were technically not old enough to have a personal house elf, but her daughter would need one and to prevent jealousy Draco would also get one, but they would have to order them to keep the sweets away as both of their children were sweet teeth.

"Alright you both will get one." Lucius confirmed raising his hands soothingly while Draco screamed loudly "Juhu!" which had his sister cringe because it sounded louder than usual. Her mother seeing this patted her reassuringly.

"But you have to be careful who you select, father." she said. "Eleven house elves recently had offspring and sixteen are expecting. So you can't take anyone of them because it could strain their health. It's remarkable what they are capable of doing anyway."

Lucius could not believe what he heard. His daughter took pity on their servants? It was their duty to perform as told and not to worry about them. He had never even considered why they always had house elves as they were part of the manor. That those things were procreating was not something he would like to imagine.

"They are servants and they are required to do what we are telling him to do." he lectured her. "I know father, but do you know the names or even the faces of each individual house elf working in the manor?" she asked him looking towards the place where she could sense her father.

"Of course I do." he answered but Narcissa and Draco were following the conversation with interest. Cassandra was on to something again.

"Really, father? Then please tell me the names of the house elves tending to our vast gardens?" she asked him, while it seemed that she had rendered her father speechless again as he opened his mouth to answer and closed it again.

"Those are thirty names father." she answered.

"Thirty?" her father asked. He had never seen that many house elves in the house or the gardens.

"You can't just pick any house elf, because each one has a gift at what he or she is particularly good at. We normally only come in contact with the highest ranking house elves, who are capable of doing multiple things. The personal house elves are usually from those. It's a very delicate structure." Cassandra explained.

"There is a hierarchy?" Narcissa asked stunned. Her former household had only had five house elves and there had never been any inkling of a hierarchy.

"Yes, there needs to be because we pretty much have an army of house elves, who are doing a wonderful job." Cassandra answered.

"We do not associate with servants, Cassandra." her father bellowed, but as she shrieked softened his his tone again.

"You do have two in mind?" Lucius asked processing the information. In a way the Malfoy's could be considered royalty in the wizarding world, so the amount of house elves on the property could be true.

"Yes, Trixi for me and Luci for Draco." she answered. "Both are exceptional house elves, intelligent, caring and industrious."

"Trixi and Luci?" Narcissa snorted. "Who named those two?"

"I did, mother." Cassandra said. "They had no names before I met them in the kitchens and they liked it."

"Did you give one of them father's name?" Draco asked snickering at his father's murderous look when he figured out that Luci could indeed stand for Lucius.

"No, that would have been stupid." Cassandra asked shaking her head while snickering. "Imagine, mother calling 'Lucius' and father and the house elf appearing at the same time. Trixi is short for Beatrice and Luci for Lucifer."

Narcissa could not halt her laughter and let it burst out, while Lucius unsuccessfully fought a grin.

Apparently she was still sane, but he had to teach her how to properly associate with house elves. They were their servants and nothing more.

"Alright. So be it." he answered making Trixi and Luci the personal house elves of his two children, while he vowed to help his daughter get his sight back, even if it meant that he would inscribe himself to become a healer in St. Mungos. He had to start somewhere.

The little, green Grandmaster was calmly sitting in a meditational niche in the rooms of thousand fountains. Normally this was one of his favourite places to meditate, but the pain the force sensitive child had emitted in the Force had been terrible. It seemed that she had accidently led some of the pain trickle into the Force to lessen her pain. But he had no idea what had caused that pain and it caused him some unrest.

"You seem troubled, Master Yoda." his former apprentice and now second in command of the Order Master Windu stated while sitting himself next to him with his legs crossed.

"A tremor in the Force, have I felt." he answered. "A child strong in the Force it was."

"Do you know why there was a tremor in the Force?" he asked curiously.

"In pain, she was. Terrible pain. Cry out she did with the Force." Yoda answered to a now frowning Master.

"Do you know where she is?" he asked.

"That, I do not." the Grandmaster answered sadly, emphasizing his feeling with the lowering of his large green ears.

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