Chapter 11: To Darkness
Cassieopeia watched in amusement the next morning as Riley glared at her breakfast and rubbed the dark circles beneath her eyes, but really they were both straining to hear the hissed conversation between Remus and Sirius. The two had emerged from the boys dorm arguing and had only stopped for Remus to say hello to the two girls and then again for Remus to hold the door open for Cassieopeia and for Sirius to help Riley to her feet after she accidentally closed the portrait door on her foot.
"Maybe I'll get something in class." Riley yawned into Cassieopeia's ear, reaching over to steal some of Sirius' bacon with a wave of her wand. Sirius simply snatched the food out of the air and continued talking. Cassieopeia gave Remus an apologetic smile and he smirked, shaking his head.
"Do you even know what classes you have?" Cassieopeia asked. She was caught between trying to overhear Remus' conversation and trying to subtly curse some of the 7th years bothering Pettigrew down the table.
"Important ones." Riley replied haughtily before immediately relenting. "No, but, I have Transfiguration, Charms, and Magical Theory. I think I also have Charms." Riley paused and glanced at Sirius, who was alternating between waving a handful of bacon around to make his point and gnawing on that same bacon. "Did I tell you Mulciber thinks he saved my life?" She asked.
Cassieopeia didn't respond right away. She was too busy watching the boys' reaction to Riley's words. Sirius shook his head digustedly and Remus simply glanced over, looking almost as tired as Riley. "How bad was the fight last night?" She asked finally, keeping her voice low.
"Fine." Riley said, eating a cranberry muffin she had stolen from Remus' plate.
"What was it about?" Cassieopeia asked suspiciously, smacking Riley's hand as she began another attempt at Sirius' bacon. "I was gone for like twenty minutes. What could you possibly have done in that time?" She accused, knowing it was the best way to get an answer.
"Me!" Riley gasped. Cassieopeia gave her an innocent look, marred only by the constant glint of mischief in her childlike smile. "I was just trying to make friends! Why does no one want me to have friends?"
"But do you really have to have those friends?" Sirius interrupted irritatedly. He and Riley stared at each other: Cassieopeia looked at them uneasily, knowing each of the two were prone to ridiculous bouts of stubbornness. Cassieopeia looked to Remus for help, but he could only shrug.
"We should get to class." Remus said simply. "History of Magic, Black?"
"Alright," Cassieopeia replied reluctantly, watching the other Black glaring at Nox. "But I said I'd meet Lily on the way: she's talking to Professor Kleptic."
"Alright." Remus agreed. "Well, that explains where Potter is."
They left the table together, not talking much on their way to class except for a brief glance back at their two friends who were now talking just as animatedly as Remus and Sirius had been earlier.
"Think she'll blow him up too?" Remus asked.
"No, she'll just make jokes until they realize they're late for class." Cassieopeia shrugged.
"And from then on they'll act like nothing happened." Remus agreed.
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And sure enough, for the next week of classes Sirius and Riley acted as though there was no such thing as Slytherins, except to poke fun at them as they passed in the hallway. Riley would sneak off to the library with her other friends and no one said anything about where she was going. It might have gone on like this for much longer, keeping Sirius from acting on the Marauder's promise to show the two girls the castle, if Nox and Black hadn't taken the opportunity to start exploring the castle themselves…
"You sure you don't want to do this as Animagi?" Cassieopeia asked Riley, pausing to catch her breath as they made their way up to the sixth floor. It was just after curfew and the two girls spent their journey whispering and peering over shoulders. "Test your 'oh so brilliant' theory?"
"Oh, right." Riley puffed. "Because searching a castle is so much easier as a rabbit."
"I could carry you." Cassieopeia offered with a smirk. "Or we could get one of your boyfriends to help out…"
"Ha, right." Riley snorted. "Because any guy attracted to the obnoxious American will stick around when he knows her true self is a wittle bunny wabbit." Cassieopeia laughed and shook her head, checking the list of rooms they'd searched and moving to the next classroom.
"You take your side, I'll take mine." Cassieopeia told her friend. "Sooner we get through these classrooms, sooner we can find whatever secret rooms old Tommy picked for his silly You-Know-Whats." Riley nodded thoughtfully, pulling out a list of spells and tossing them to her friend.
"For revealing permanent magic, last three only reveal wherever Dark magic has been performed." Riley shrugged. "Try 'em out. I cast some on Boo and got decent results."
"You cast Dark magic on Boo?" Cassieopeia said skeptically, watching as the little orange creature peeked his head out of Riley's hair.
"Oh, no: those I tested on Roman." Riley joked. "Ha, as if I could find him."
"Just get a move on." Cassieopeia groaned, looking carefully up and down the deserted hall. "You're the one who wanted to go to bed on time for once."
"Yeah, yeah." Riley grumbled. She disappeared into a dark classroom, muttering about a wizard's need for caffeine and fading away into the shadows as she neglected to light her wand. Cassieopeia rolled her eyes and entered her own classroom.
The classroom was a bit dusty, obviously unused with all the desks and chairs piled recklessly at the back of the room. It had a dingy feel and the number of quills stuck to the ceiling, probably from a poltergeist, did not make the large room feel any more important. But who knew what secret hallway jutted off in the mess of walls that was Hogwarts?
Cassieopeia glanced around the walls and smiled as she caught a glimpse of Roman's black tail as he explored the corners she couldn't reach. With a wave of her lit wand, Cassieopeia and the room were illuminated and light from her wand flickered off of chairs and her blonde hair as she brushed it distractedly behind her ears. Cassieopeia held the wand higher and glanced at Riley's list.
"Watch out for… Riley." Cassieopeia groaned and laughed as she read the postscript on the list of spells. 'Watch out for Professors Merrythought and Pumpernik. They are crabby.' "I'm the one who told you that." Cassieopeia thought out loud. Then, as though Riley could actually hear, she apologized. "Though I had forgotten they had offices up here. But, really, Nox? Dang it... Lumos."
Having relit her wand, Cassieopeia moved further into the room, letting the door click closed behind her. Ignoring the sense of foreboding that swept over the room as the hall light was cut off, Cassieopeia leaned to peer under the desks.
"Roman? What do you see?"
The black cat purred from the shadows and made his way over to wrap himself around the witch's ankles. Cassieopeia smiled but shook her head at the rather useless creature. Raising her wand again, she cast Riley's spells but found nothing unusual. She looked around the dark room and found that the tiny cat had curled up beside the door, blocking it from opening.
With a sigh, Cassieopeia bent down to tease him. "Roman." She growled, tickling his side. "Wakey, wakey."
Roman opened one eye and gave the young Miss Black a very disapproving look.
"What?" Cassieopeia sighed.
Roman hissed.
"What?"
Roman hissed again, looked at her smugly, and went back to sleep. His friend was left staring uncertainly at him, glancing around with a new idea she did not want to acknowledge. Then…
"Roman… Roman." The cat opened one eye. "Roman, I said I would leave that behind. I left that part of me behind."
The cat hissed emphatically one last time and then he refused to be budged. Cassieopeia was left staring into space, into the darkness. Slowly, she shook her head but the kitten was right. Her face tensed: thoughts of her father, of the messed up family she'd left behind were coming back. It seemed as though parts of her dark ancestry she would never be able to leave behind…
Cassieopeia stood as tall as her small frame allowed and opened her mouth determinedly. She knew nothing would happen, not this time, but she still hesitated before she spoke the one word.
"Open." She said, closing her eyes and picturing Slytherin's sign. Her sweet soprano was suddenly an ugly hiss. "Hesha Hassah."
At the sound of the Parseltongue, Roman stood and curled himself around her foot, trying to comfort her. He still loved her, at least. And Riley knew: or did she? Either way, Riley knew enough and she still cared… But would the Marauders… would Remus…?
Cassieopeia Black shook off the thoughts and tucked her secret away, determined to retrace every step of the castle three times if it meant keeping this part of her hidden. With a last glance to make sure nothing really had happened, to the meaningless classroom, Cassieopeia scooped Roman up to lay across her shoulders and opened the door.
Cassieopeia glanced back down the hall as she left the room, her wand raised to light her way as she wondered briefly where Riley had wandered off to. The door clicked shut and locked itself behind her as she turned to head to the next room, opening her mouth to begin singing some song—she hadn't decided which. Before she could get a note out, however, she heard movement from the hall behind her.
"Nox?" Cassieopeia asked softly. Her light went out. "Oh for-. Lumos!" Beams of light once against blossomed from Cassieopeia's wand, illuminating her face as it went from uneasy to panicky.
Then the werewolf leapt.
And Cassieopeia Black let out a spine-tingling scream before her spells ricocheted uselessly off of his thick hide.
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Author's note:
Yep.
Now you know how they'll manage to get into the Chamber of Secrets.
But that should be the end of the talents of the great Nox and Black. They'll have to use regular magic from now on.
Hoped you like this chapter. I aim to please... kinda.
Yep.
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Bookluver1999: Thank you :)
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Goodbye. Please comment more: I like feedback: It makes me want to write more.
-Pumpkin
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PS More romance is coming soon, I swear.
