Three chapters in three days. This is some kind of record for me. Enjoy it while it lasts. Oh and a quick warning this one gets a bit grisly towards the end.

Unanonymous; The clothing and school supplies issues will be addressed in this chapter. Thanks for your continued support.

I still don't own Harry Potter otherwise I'd be writing all day instead of working to pay the bills.

Dylan the Rabbit. xx

The Silent World of Cassandra Evans.

3. Bad Girl Boogie

Cassandra and Hermione had enjoyed a fun night of 'chatting', trying new spells, discussing what their professors would be like and not much sleep, they were as thick as thieves. The two outcasts had even pushed their beds together in the dorm to both give them a bit of privacy and to slightly allay the concerns of the two girls that they were sharing with. Dumbledore knew this as he knew everything else that happened in the castle. Portraits and elves made for excellent spies after all, and their close friendship concerned him slightly. He needed for the girl to be separated and abhorred by the students in order for her to make the ultimate sacrifice that needed to be made. He frowned as he thought of some inventive ways to successfully disentangle the two witches. Hmmm. Perhaps Quirrel and his 'on head lodger' could do it for him. All he needed to do was give them a little nudge and an opportunity to do so. If the bossy mudblood were disposed of in the process all the better. Halloween would probably be best he thought and popped another lemon drop, smiling at last.

"A moment of your time please Miss Evans."

Professor McGonnagal had caught the two girls on their way to breakfast and led them to her office. Or rather she had led Cassandra and Hermione had just tagged along for the ride unwilling to let go of Cassie's hand.

The Deputy Headmistress sat and looked up and raised an eyebrow in a well practised gesture of annoyance.

"I believe I only invited Miss Evans. Why are you here Miss Granger?"

"Translator." Hermione pointed at her bestie. "Because, you know, she can't speak. So she signs and I talk."

Minerva McGonnagal was not often caught by surprise and she didn't like it when it happened. Not one bit. Why hadn't the Headmaster told the staff that the girl couldn't speak it was the kind of thing that they needed to know as it was going to seriously impact the way that they would have to teach her spells. Be that as it may she was not going to let her frustration with the old man show. She huffed a little and tried to calm herself. Especially not in front of a couple of first years.

"Very well. There a few things that we need to talk about. First was going to be uniform but I see that issue has resolved itself." She looked the messy haired girl up and down taking in the ill fitting shirt, crooked tie and too short skirt topped off with a black hooded jumper. "Sort of"

"I lent her a few things as she doesn't seem to have any. Although I'm still not sure about the boots Cassie. I mean they're super nice and they're very ... you but they must be awfully heavy and ..." She caught the Scottish professor's unamused eye. "Shutting up now."

"Second. I believe you have a pet that's not on the approved school list. Is that true?" At he girl's nod she continued. "May I see it?"

She leaned forward hoping to experience something that very few people ever had. The girl hissed gently for a while and a small snake soon appeared from beneath the back of her hoodie and looked piercingly at her. Minerva was extremely impressed but tried not to let it show.

"And you can speak to it?"

Another nod from the tense looking, silent girl.

"I think we'll just call that a familiar bond and move on shall we."

Cassandra sighed with relief. She had been dreading what would happen if they tried to take her Shortcake away from her and she had refused them. She would probably have been expelled after one day and although it would have been prpoerly impressive it would have made her whole trip here a bit pointless.

"Lastly, the elves tell me that you don't seem to have any luggage. Where are your text books and all your school supplies?"

"Oh, she doesn't have any professor because nobody showed up to take her to Diagon Alley so that she could go and get them. Isn't that your job? I mean you came and took me and my parents to ... are you alright professor? You look a bit pale."

"So you have nothing." She choked out finally. "Not even a wand?"

"No she doesn't although to be fair she doesn't actually have any money to buy anything with so it would have been quite a short shopping trip I suppose, wouldn't it."

Minerva was horrified. How could Albus have done this to one his own students. How could she have let him. Surely she would have remembered. Surely she would have argued against something on this scale of insanity. Surely she would have remembered. That devious old bastard. She did something next that she had done only once before, she made a snap decision and enforced it before she could be stopped and memory charmed again. The now very angry older woman grabbed a sack of gold coins from her desk and headed for the fireplace.

"Right. Come with me you two we're going to Olivander's."

Sitting in charms class Cassandra was having a lovely time swishing her pretty new wand around and making a myriad of rainbow coloured sparks . The wand was brilliant piece of equipment expertly fashioned out centuries old yew wood with a threstral hair core that focused her magic wonderfully and made every spell she tried at least ten times easier. The creepy old man at the wand shop had tried to fob her off with some holly and phoenix feather affair that had just felt all wrong to her despite it's impressive array of sparks that had emerged when she tried to use it and her suspicious mind had immediately concluded that the show was staged to get her to take it. She had given McGonnagal the old puppy dog eyes treatment and shook her head sadly and the formidable Scottish witch had buckled beneath her onslaught of cuteness and convinced the man to keep going until they had found this little beauty.

"Oh that's lovely Miss Evans."

The genial face of Professor Flitwick came bobbing into her view and she smiled back at him. He had been both concerned and somewhat intrigued by the rumours surrounding the daughter of his all time favourite student Lily Evans but had quickly dismissed any fears that he had. Not that the rumours were false mind you, he had caught a brief glimpse of her little python when it made an appearance to check out the noise in the classroom and her power was obvious and startling in it's intensity, it was just that she seemed to be dealing with her situation with such stoicism and panache. He returned her smile brightly and wandered off to check on the other students thinking that she was going to be real heartbreaker in the years to come. Just like her mother.

In potions class Severus Snape was not so convinced.

He had watched Cassandra's reactions very carefully as he belittled her and exposed her total lack of knowledge to the derision of entire class and had been a bit surprised when she had simply given him a single dark look then shrugged it off and contuinued reading from the board and helping her bushy haired, buck toothed, muggle born friend. The sour faced, sharp witted man continued in his observations not quite believing his own eyes when the girl had stopped Miss Greengrass from making a potentially explosive mistake and showing her how to crush her betel nut before attempting to chop it. The blonde haired Slytherin princess' mask had almost slipped at this point and she had given the girl the very slightest of nods in thanks. Somewhere he was sure that Hell was freezing over and decided that when the class ended they wouuld be having a little chat.

"Evans stay behind. The rest of you may go."

In a few minutes the potions master looked up at two rather confused faces.

"Why are you still here? Is your name Evans?"

"Well no but you see I'm her unofficial trans ... "

"Leave."

Hermione gave her an apologetic look and fled.

Snape gazed at the young woman trying to remember exactly how he had wanted this discussion to go when she seemed to sense his hesitation and gave him a smile and a small wave. This singular action was so reminiscent of the eleven year old Lily that he thought his heart would explode from the uprising of his bittersweet memories of his own school days. He coughed to cover his distress and decided that he needed to find out just what had happened to the girl to make her so insightful and so bloody annoying.

"Evans. The Headmaster tells me that you are just as arrogant and impetuous as your idiotic father and that you hold some kind of a ridiculous grudge against me." He paused for any reaction. None was forthcoming. "Having observed you at close hand I have decided to defer my judgement on this matter until I have dicovered for myself your talents and motives or lack thereof."

The girl shrugged and nodded.

"On that subject I would like you to submit to a reading of your memories. It is not painfull or harmfull to you and will set my mind a little more at ease if I know that you're not plotting to poison me or blow me up. I will, however, be able to see all of your innermost thoughts. Do you agree?"

She paused obviously thinking about what was being sugested after a couple of minutes nodded slowly.

"Thank-you Evans." He said, established eye contact and slipped into the girl's mind.

Twenty minutes later the shocked professor rose and went into his store room to compose himself. Whatever he had been expecting the unending litany of hardships that he had just witnessed the girl live through had not even been close to it. He now understood her deep mistrust of adults and her almost desperate desire for friendship and human contact a little better and knowing this meant he would have to be very carefull how he treated her if he wanted to help the girl. He gathered a few things and returned to the classroom where the small witch with Lily's eyes sat hissing and chattering to her pet snake, seemingly none the worse for her first brush with leglimancy.

"Ahem. This is a spare potions kit that I keep for emergencies. You may use it in this class and in this class only. It will be kept on this shelf for you." His dour countenance softened briefly. "I remember your mother using it when she first came here."

Cassandra appeared to be paying attention while at the same time fishing in her bag for something. He continued.

"This book is your text book for this year. A Beginners Guide to Potions and Potion Making. Read it, study it, learn it. It is the basis of everything else we will do. It is also my copy and I will require it back at the end of the year."

As he looked back up at her he was surprised to see her holding out four muggle photographs or him to see. As he took them his heart again seemed to want to stop.

"Lily. Your mother. She was a very beautiful person." Regretfully he handed them back. "Off with you now. I have many important things to attend to."

Girl and snake both looked up at him appraisingly then she nodded, put the book into her bag, paused and slid one of the photographs across the desk. Giving one final nod to the utterly shocked potions professor she turned and left the room.

What a fabulously fun day thought Cassandra as she climbed into her warm, comfy bed that night, I hope that they're all like this. They wouldn't be. Eight weeks later due to the thoughtless remarks of a ginger moron and the manipulative machinations of a bitter old man it all came crashing down.

As she came sliding around the corner into the waterlogged bathroom the troll was taking another huge swing with his club at the retreating scared, figure of Hermione. It just missed the lttle witch but its arcing momentum took out the top half of the stalls as well as a good chunk of the nearest toilet bowl spilling more water onto the already soaked floor. The black haired girls face darkened and with her wand in her left hand and her switchblade in her right she advanced on the monster that was trying to kill her friend. One swift stab to the creature's thigh got it's attention and while Hermione screamed her lungs out the two armed combatants went at each other with a will.

The troll was strong but the girl was fast and for three whole minutes they traded blows. Cassandra was doing pretty well she thought as she observed the mass of slices and cuts on her opponent's legs while avoiding the gnarled tree trunk once again being waved too slowly at her and it was too late when she realised that he hadn't been aiming at her but at the floor in front of her. The small shockwave knocked all her breath out of her and put her on her bum and she knew that she had to end this quickly. She scrambled up onto the broken toilet bowl pointed her wand at the water and glancing at the still screaming Hermione stiffened her resove and willed it to freeze. The troll slipped on the ice and hit the floor hard and was just about to get up when Cassandra jumped on his chest and drove her knife into his eye as he tried to batter her against the sinks..

The three professors arrived just in time to see Cassandra Evans, covered in blood, repeatedly stabbing the prone troll in his left eye when with a final grunt of effort she smashed her entire forearm through the foul creature's eye socket. before almost collapsing off of it's twitching body.

The shocked silence was only broken by the limping girls faltering, slippery steps heading towards the back of the bathroom. She held out her hand to Hermione, her newest, best and only friend in the world to help her up and stopped short as her world crumbled around her. The bushy haired girl looked up at her with a terrified expression and whimpered as she scuttled further into the corner. Hermione was terrified. Of her. She had ruined everything. Cassandra's shoulders slumped and she bit back tears as she turned and stumbled painfully to the entrance before passing out in the arms of a very surprised Severus Snape.

On her release from the tender mercies of Madame Pomphrey the next afteroon Cassandra took off directly to Gryffindor tower and after some small disagreement with the painting of the fat lady that involved her banging her fist into the frame she entered and headed up to the first year girls dorm. The first thing she noticed was that the beds had been moved. Hers was now alone in it's corner far away from the other three. The next thing was that Hermione's trunk was now in between the other girls. For protection. From her. The girl removed her borrowed uniform, folded it neatly and placed it on the trunk, then she retrieved her bag got dressed and looked around the comfortable dorm room sadly before leaving for what would be the last time. She exited the tower, shut the painting with an overly firm thump and made for her next class.

Later that night dressed once more in her still scruffy, if now clean, cargo pants and hoodie the girl wandered the corridors of the old castle with her bag slung over her shoulder looking for a place to sleep. Her eyes fell upon a recessed bay window with a four foot deep platform and she stopped to rest. It wouldn't do for her to bed down here as sleeping next to glass was always significantly colder but right now she just wanted to sit down and have a bit of a breather. She surveyed her surroundings as she sat drumming her heels on the panelling, noticing the well situated bathroom a few yards down the corridor and the stairs opposite that led down to the Hufflepuffs dungeon accomodations before she stopped and listened intently. The thumps of her heels were echoing. The platform was hollow. With a kind of dull excitement she thumbed the catch of her knife and pried the panel loose to reveal a four foot deep by eight foot long crawl space filled with cobwebs.

After she had made her little nest more cosy with some pilfered blankets and pillows the girl climbed in, pulled the panel back into place and lit her wand with a silent (obviously) lumos spell. In the eerie glow she arranged her meagre belongings and finally lay down studying her switchblade. The knife that she had used to butcher that troll who was trying to kill her friend. The knife that had lost her her only friend. She wanted to throw it away. She wanted to destroy it but her old instincts that had been hard learned in her short, brutal life kicked in. Survival was her top priority and the blade was too useful a tool to let go. She siged and refolded the switchblade putting it back in her pocket thinking all the things she had experienced in the last two months. For sixty glorious days she had experienced the thrill and the joy of true friendship. For one brief shining moment she had achieved happiness. And now it was over.

"It's just us now Shortcake."

"As it should be speaker."

"Can you, can you call me Cassie from now on."

"I will try."

The girl extinguished the light and pulled the blanket close.

"Goodnight Shortcake."

"Goodnight ... Cassie."

For the first time since she had lived with the Dursleys Cassandra Evans curled up in on herself and cried herself to sleep.

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