Chapter 10

Cassie sat next to James in the back of the Potions classroom, tipping her chair backwards on the back two legs. She had a box of chocolate in her lap that Hugo Weasley had given her after he found that she had been released from the infirmary. She had been eating chocolate and sugary foods for the past two days.

James reached over and absently took one of the chocolates from the box. Cassie's chair slammed forward. She grabbed his wrist, hissing at him.

"No! Not the raspberry one!" She snatched the chocolate from him. You know it's my favorite!

James grinned at her and reached for another chocolate, this time one of the flavors she didn't like as much. As he ate it, he felt troubled suddenly. He was remembering something Roxanne had said: "…the two of you know each other better than anybody…" Over the past couple of days, he realized that she was right. As much as she and James got in explosive fights, they did know each other extraordinarily well.

Cassie was just as distracted as James, but she was not thinking about him or her mother. She was puzzling over the mystery of the man she had thought was Lucius Malfoy. How was it that he was near Hogwarts and in Azkaban? He was here, making her life a living hell, and in Azkaban, petitioning to be released from prison early.

Neither Cassie nor James was paying any attention to the Potions professor, who was lecturing about how the potion they were about to make could be highly explosive if you were to put the rose roots into the potion instead of the rose leaves.

So, when it came to making the potion, things did not go well. Cassie was still snacking on chocolate as she chopped up the ingredients. James was staring into the cauldron as he stirred it without actually seeing what he was doing. Cassie swiftly cut up rose root.

The potions professor didn't check up on them. Cassie was the daughter of Draco Malfoy and seemed to have inherited his skills at potions; James was the son of Harry Potter and was one of the top students in her class.

Cassie swept up a handful of the rose root she had just cut up and dumped it into the cauldron. James stirred it and for a few seconds, nothing seemed to be wrong. And then Cassie was drawn from her thoughts by the presence of sparks in the cauldron and the furious bubbling of the potion.

"James!" She shouted, yanking him away from the cauldron and down towards the floor just as it exploded.

"Shit." He swore as the bubbling potion splattered on them and all over the table.

Both of them were trying to shield the other from the chunks of cauldron. Cassie was trying to push him to the floor and grab for her wand. James was trying to sweep her behind him. They tumbled onto the floor.

Their lab table was burning.

The other students were shouting in alarm.

The professor couldn't move fast enough.

The entire table suddenly exploded. Splinters of wood, cauldron, and boiling hot potion went everywhere. Cassie screamed in pain as the potion splattered over the skin of her neck. James ignored the crippling pain in his leg and started pulling Cassie away.

Gold light suddenly covered James and Cassie. James felt the peculiar feeling of it against his skin. Flashes of cool followed by streaks of warmth. Cassie's magic was shielding them from the debris flying in the air around them.

The professor cast an extinguishing charm when the pieces of table and metal cauldron settled and she cleaned up the splinters of wood in the same moment.

Cassie reached across James. He shouted at her when she pulled a splinter of wood from his leg that was the length of a wand.

"What the fuck are you doing?" He cried. "Fuck that hurts!"

"Mr. Potter! Language!" The professor scolded. "Miss Malfoy, please bring him to the infirmary at once."

Cassie ignored her. Her hand hovered above the hole in James' leg. A curtain of gold wrapped around his leg. He tensed as the Old Magic went to work healing him. He reached up to brush the side of her neck, where the potion had burned her.

"You're hurt."

"I'm fine." Her voice was thick with pain. "It's my fault anyways, I wasn't paying attention to the directions."

"Neither was i." James said with a laugh. "OW!" He suddenly cried out.

"Sorry." Cassie said without sounding as if she was. She pulled her hand back, flexing her fingers and withdrawing the gold magic.

James looked at his leg in amazement. His skin was unharmed and there was no scar. It was as if there hadn't been a chunk of wood in his leg except for the hole in his trousers. Cassie looked at her own hands uncertaintly.

"Cassie, just heal yourself."

She glared. "I don't know how."

He pointed at the glitter of gold around the burns. "Seems like the magic does."

"Alright!" The professor clapped her hands together. "And now we know why we don't put rose root into this potion. Everyone, back to your tables."

James helped Cassie to her feet. They looked at the destruction of their table with differing expression. James looked somewhat amused as he picked up their wands. Cassie looked crestfallen.

"My chocolates are gone." She whispered.

Cassie skipped lunch that day to go to the library. She had a note crumpled in one of her hands. It read: Next time, your mother won't have the chance to save you.

Cassie decided that it was time to take things into her own hands. It was obvious that whoever this man, whether it was Lucius Malfoy or somebody else, he was a better dueler than she was. Not to mention, he used dark magic of a kind Cassie had never seen before.

She slid into the library. The librarian was nowhere in sight, so she walked into the Restricted Section without hesitation. She was familiar with this section, having used it since her very first year at Hogwarts. She trailed her fingers against the shelves, reading over the titles until she found a few books which looked like they would be helpful.

Death Eater Fighting Styles.

Basic Dark Arts.

The History of Dark Art Dueling.

Old Magics Used For the Dark Arts.

Cassie found a tiny alcove that would be out of sight of anyone unless they walked right by her and opened one of the books.

She poured over the texts through lunch and her free period directly after it. She returned the books to the shelves and slipped out of the library, unnoticed by the librarian.

"What are you up to?"

Cassie jumped. James was leaning against the wall next to the library doors.

"Nothing, James." She said. "Just research."

"What kind of research?" He fell into step beside her.

"Boring research." She snapped.

She caught sight of Lily and Rose down the hall and jogged away from James to catch up to them. James scowled at her back. He knew that she was up to something; he was determined to find out what.

After Quidditch practice the next day, James followed Cassie into the library, made invisible by his father's cloak. He didn't blink an eye when she ducked into the Restricted Section; he had been there with her many times before.

He didn't realize what books she was reading until she settled into her alcove. James sat on the floor a few feet away. Anger and concern rolled off of him as he read the titles of the books. They were all about the Dark Arts.

"You aren't terribly subtle, James." Cassie said softly as she opened one of the books.

"Are you insane?" He hissed. "You can't use the Dark Arts! You'll get expelled, imprisoned or killed!"

"I'm not going to use them, James."

"Using the Dark Arts is not something to joke about! Your father may be a respected man, but he has a bad history and if you get caught, you're family will be punished for it as well!" James continued as if he hadn't heard her.

Cassie's hand snapped out and covered James' mouth. "I'm doing research. I'm not going to use the bloody stuff!"

Then what the hell are you doing?

She sighed. The Dark Arts is almost always used to cause intentional harm. It is fueled by corruption, hate, and malice. It has a connotation of being evil, but it can be used as good.

What do you mean?

The Old Magic I inherited from my mother is half Dark Arts. My ability to harm is an extremely coveted form of dark magic and many wizards and witches in the past have tried to steal it for themselves or harness those who can wield it. However, if I am good, I can use the Dark Arts for good as well.

"Cass." He said as a warning.

She let out a rattling sigh. I'm going to have to use it to defeat him. I won't use any specific Dark Art curses, but I will use my dark magic to protect people.

You mean yourself. He thought coldly.

"No!" She burst out in frustration. "Not just myself, you fucking idiot!"

She cringed when she realized what she had just done. She hurriedly put the books back and darted out of the Restricted Section.

James was just steps behind her. He tore the invisibility cloak off once they were in the hallways.

"You are so selfish!" He hissed. "How can you do this to everyone? You're putting us all in danger!"

She whirled on him. "No! I'm trying to protect everyone!"

Cassie was tall, but James was two hands taller than her. He stepped close to her, forcing her back. "You're pushing Rose and Lily away and you're freaking the hell out of me! You're obsessed with this person. For Merlin's sake, you're talking about killing him!"

Cassie's gray eyes hardened. "He's threatening to kill me! And you!"

"Cassie, you're fucking insane! He's not your grandfather! He's probably just someone pulling a prank on you!"

"Do you not remember that I almost died three days ago? That's not a prank, James!"

They were shouting at each other by now.

"Of course I remember!" He had nothing else to say.

"Exactly! So don't you dare call me insane!" She jabbed her finger into his chest. "Yes, I'm freaking out about this and it's all I'm thinking about, but I have my reasons!"

"What reasons could you possibly have?" He snapped.

"I'm scared!" She shouted. "I'm more scared than I have ever been in my entire life!"

James rocked back on his heels in surprise.

Cassie kept shouting at him. "I'm terrified that this man will succeed! I'm terrified of being killed! I'm terrified of being weak! I'm terrified of being defeated! I'm scared of not being in control of my own life and having it taken away! I'm terrified for my mother, my father, Rose and Lily! I'm terrified of you being hurt most of all!"

They stared at each other. James in shock. Cassie in anger with her chest heaving.

Then she seemed to realize what she had just said. She looked like she would be sick.

"Oh, Merlin." She gasped, putting a hand to her forehead. She stumbled back a couple of steps from James.

"Cassie-." He began, reaching for her.

"No!" She tripped farther away from him. "I didn't want to say that!" She cried. There were tears on her cheeks. "Why'd you make me say it?"

She pivoted on her heel and then she was sprinting down the hallway. James watched her go, wanting to run after her but knowing he wouldn't be able to catch up. Her long hair flowed behind her as she ran away from him.

As she tried desperately to run away from her problems.