November 8th, 1994
Library
Cassiopeia dropped her quill down and stared at her finished essay with satisfaction. It had taken her three days longer than she'd hoped with her friends bugging her every minute of the day. Eventually, she'd threatened everyone to stay away from her or be hexed. Having seen her hex Draco when he was bugging her about Blaise, they did the wise thing and left her alone. She picked up her book on family magic, something Sirius had given her after weeks of begging and began to read.
Until she was interrupted after moments by someone coming to stand in front of her table.
"Draco, I swear to god-,"
"Not Draco," the person said. She lowered her book in surprise to find Krum offering her a small smile.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. He wouldn't leave me alone."
"I can come back another time," he offered. She shook her head.
"No, that's alright. It's only my friends I need a break from."
"I hoped to apologize," he explained. "For Karkaroff. I understand now your situation. He has a hard time letting go of the past, you see."
"My friends explained to me what happened," she sighed, waving for him to sit. He sat next to her and faced her, listening as she spoke. "Apparently, my brother was ordered to kill his wife. My family, in general, has pissed him off a lot. My friends and my brothers think that he might want to kill me to please Voldemort, so… I can see why they're concerned."
"He is being monitored by your Ministry," Viktor assured her. "He was barely permitted entry to the country again."
"I appreciate that, but I have almost no faith in our ministry," she admitted with a small smile. "It's okay. I can protect myself."
"I will also protect you," he said firmly, nodding once. Cassiopeia let out a small, quiet laugh.
"You don't have to do that. I've got plenty of people looking out for me."
"And one more won't hurt, no?"
"I suppose not."
"I will see you around the castle, Miss Black."
"Oh, please, call me Cassiopeia," she requested, making a face. "I'm still getting used to the last name."
"Then please call me Viktor."
Cassiopeia smiled. "Okay. Thank you for talking with me, Viktor. You're very kind."
"As are you."
OoOoOoOoOoOo
November 11th, 1994
Hogwarts Grounds
"He's being a prat," Cassiopeia told Harry as they and Theo made their way over to her friends, who sat by the large tree overlooking the Black Lake. "Just ignore him. He'll get over it."
"I don't understand how he thinks you did it," Theo commented as they settled in. "There was no way to cheat that thing. If your core is underage, then there's no getting past the age line, no matter how old your body looks."
"That's why the twins failed," Cassiopeia finished the explanation, smiling sweetly at Theo. "My core was only twisted because I was an infant, which means that an adult had to have put your name in the Goblet."
"Yes, but who?" Daphne wondered. "I'd say Karkaroff, but he's constantly under watch by the British government. I think it's someone we don't expect."
"Viktor told me the same thing about Karkaroff, but I don't know if I trust the Ministry enough to control him while he's here."
"You know, none of this makes me feel better about the fact that I have to fight dragons," Harry muttered, staring at them.
"Well, that's easy," Blaise commented from the other side of the tree. "You've got a wand, you've got us as friends."
There was a beat of silence before he corrected himself.
"You're Cassiopeia's brother and we adore her," he said with a wink to the girl in question, who looked away to hide her blush. "So we'll help."
"You're my friends too!"
"Ignore him," Astoria rolled her eyes. "He's just trying to flirt with her. We really can help you."
"How?" Harry frowned. Daphne laughed softly and rolled over to lie on her stomach.
"We're very resourceful, Harry," she commented, and Cassiopeia was certain her friend was flirting with Harry. "Leave it to us, and we'll make sure you'll get through it alive."
"And if you pay us, we'll make sure you win, too," Blaise laughed, dodging the slap Cassiopeia tried to give him with a wink.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
November 23rd, 1994
Library
"Merlin, you're good at avoiding people," Astoria muttered as she and Ginny finally found Cassiopeia in the library. "Who is it this time? Blaise?"
"I'm confused," Cassiopeia muttered without looking up from the book she held in her arms. "I just want to understand what's going on before I speak with him again."
"And that'll happen by stuffing your nose in that book?" Ginny wondered, leaning over to read the title. "The Fall of the Dark Lord Voldemort and Those He Took With Him. Huh. I didn't realize they ever wrote a book like that."
Cassiopeia nodded, finally looking up. "Sirius sent it to me. I just need to know more than Snape can tell me."
"Why's this so important to you?" Astoria questioned. Cassiopeia paused.
"He was my brother."
"Yeah, sure, but this is near obsessive. Why does it matter so much?"
"I don't know."
"Well, have you found anything?" Ginny wondered.
Cassiopeia frowned. "This book is written by John Travers, the son of one of Voldemort's' right hands - son of the one that tried to kill Harry. He was around everything quite a bit, I guess. He wrote about how Regulus joined because of our parents' influence. When I was born, his allegiance clearly changed from Voldemort to me. Then one day, a prisoner was brought in and Voldemort handed them to Regulus. That was the last anyone saw of the prisoner and Regulus. He thinks Regulus, I don't know, snapped and helped the prisoner escape or something."
"That makes no sense," Astoria scoffed. "If he was truly that serious about you, then doing something like that would put you in extreme danger. It would possibly put you in the place of being taken by the Dark Lord since he lost Regulus."
"Yes, but get this," she said, opening the book on her other side to the correct page and pointing at the right part. "Their death dates are so close. Regulus and Orion died on the same day. We know Orion died in a fire from Lucius, but not how or why Regulus died."
"It's weird," Ginny allowed. "Tell me again why this is important to you?"
Cassiopeia shrugged, closing the Black Family Tree book. "I don't know. I just can't get it out of my mind. I just need to know more, to understand it more clearly. If I can't know him, I want to understand."
"Okay," Ginny shrugged, getting to her feet along with Astoria. "We'll leave you be but if you and Blaise don't talk within the next two days, I'm going to hex you both and lock you in his dorm so you have no choice but to talk."
Cassiopeia rolled her eyes and waved off her friends, her eyes falling back on the book that had kept her attention for so long that day.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
November 24th, 1994
Quidditch Pitch
"I'm literally going to have a heart attack," Cassiopeia gasped, wincing as the dragon aimed another hit at a few rocks. "Is this a heart attack?"
"Calm down," Astoria laughed at her. "We've prepared him fine. He's masked his scent, you taught him to disillusion himself, and we even got the dragon repelling charm from Ginny's brother. He'll be fine, lovely."
"He's got horrid luck," she mumbled, gripping Sirius and Draco's hands within her own. "He's going to get killed one of these days."
"Sure, but not today," Blaise told her from his seat in the row behind her. His pat on her shoulder was not in the least comforting as the dragon blew some fire.
"I'll believe you when this is over."
"I agree, this is fucking awful," Sirius nodded, wincing when the dragon's tail took out a rock near Harry. Still, Harry managed to sneak quietly around the angry dragon and reach the egg. When he had it, he wasted no time sprinting out of the pitch with the golden egg in hand. "Oh, thank fuck."
"Harry Potter has gotten the egg in record time!"
"Shit, I don't even care that he's in first," Cassiopeia admitted, ignoring Draco as he carefully peeled her fingers off of his hand. "He's alive."
OoOoOoOoOoOo
Slytherin harlot, Cassiopeia Black, was seen once more with multiple men. She embraced our hero, one Harry Potter, and was then defended by Quidditch player, Viktor Krum. All of this, and yet she still isn't satisfied, frolicking around with Slytherins Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott Junior.
Where will it end, and who will stop her from breaking hearts?
Cassiopeia lit the paper on fire and threw it to the floor.
She would destroy Rita Skeeter.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
November 25th, 1994
Slytherin Boys' Dorms
Apparently, Ginny had not been bluffing.
Cassiopeia found herself being stunned and disillusioned in the library, and she pushed down the panic to replace it with anger as Draco and Ginny levitated her through the castle until they finally dropped her on the floor, undid their spells, and ran out of the room before she could hurt them. When she tried the door, she found it locked with a spell that Alohomora couldn't undo.
"Fuck," she hissed, throwing her hands up angrily. "God, I'm going to hex them."
"Love to see that."
Cassiopeia gasped and turned on her heel to see Blaise grinning at her, looking much too amused. She narrowed her eyes at him. "You encouraged this."
"You're avoiding me."
"I'm focusing on other things," she denied. Her hair began to spark, which only made his grin widen, much to her annoyance. "Will you let me out of here? I know it was you that set the wards."
"Just talk to me."
"I thought you don't like serious conversations," she shot back. He shrugged a little, standing up to make his way over to her.
"That was before you fought a horde of Death Eaters in front of me. You could have died."
She couldn't help but shift, avoiding his gaze. It was too intense for her, and she bit her lip as she stared out the window instead. "I'm okay."
"For now," he allowed. "But you won't always be. You weren't last year. All the time I've known you, there hasn't been a year I've not seen you injured."
Cassiopeia just shrugged lightly, but apparently, he didn't like that. He slipped his fingers under her chin and ignored her gasp, pushing her face gently up until they made eye contact.
"Stop avoiding me, Cassiopeia."
"Blaise-,"
"I'm going to kiss you now," he whispered, startling her. Her eyes widened before she nodded once, and he leaned forward, pressing his lips to hers. With the touch, the tension in her shoulders left and she leaned in, wrapping her arms around him. He pulled away much too early and chuckled lowly at her small pout. "You are so bad at keeping secrets, Black."
"I don't like keeping them from you guys," she muttered, staring up at him as she bit her lip. "Kiss me again."
He grinned and did as she asked, leaning back down to press their lips softly together, relishing in her soft groan.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
"Do you think they're really still arguing?" Draco rolled his eyes. "It's been an hour."
"Sure," Daphne let out a laugh, grinning at the boys. "Or they're snogging."
Draco and Theo exchanged a panicked glance and scrambled to their feet to go pound on the door to the dorms. When it finally opened and they pushed their way in, Blaise was grinning shamelessly and Cassiopeia was blushing furiously, both of them with messy hair and chapped lips.
"How long have you two been snogging for?" Theo asked with a startled laugh. Cassiopeia's blush deepened, but Blaise answered easily.
"Almost this entire time."
"For Merlin's sake," Draco rolled his eyes. "You two cannot snog every time you're together. If you do, I'll hex you both."
"Relax," Blaise chuckled. "I haven't even asked her to Hogsmeade yet. We're not quite at the PDA phase, Draco."
"Oh, thank Merlin," Cassiopeia breathed, relaxing. She'd tensed quickly at Draco's suggestion, and Blaise laughed softly at her.
"Cassiopeia, will you go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?"
"Of course."
OoOoOoOoOoOo
December 3rd,1994
Potions Classroom - Snape's Chambers
The pounding on the door woke the man and, once he'd put on his slippers, he swung the door open with a glare, one that fell when he spotted a panicked looking Daphne Greengrass. "What is it?"
"Cassiopeia was sleeping and I think she started having a nightmare or something, but she was… scratching at her legs and arms and stomach and bleeding and- and I woke her but she's so scared and I- I didn't know what to do."
"Who is with her now?" Snape asked, waving her down the stairs. He moved to his potions stores and grabbed a dreamless sleep, calming draught, and some dittany, just in case.
"I got Astoria to come to sit with her," Daphne explained as they left the room and made their way over to Slytherin. Snape cast some spell on the stairs that then allowed him to walk up them. Upon entering the dorm, it was clear that one of the girls had cast a privacy ward. Cassiopeia was crying but there was no sound.
Snape waved Astoria away and walked over and kneeled down. She'd somehow fallen to the ground, and when he lit his wand up, he could already see bruises forming on her arms. "Miss Black."
Cassiopeia looked up at him, her eyes wide but unfocused. It was a look Snape recognized from the war, and he took in a slow breath. He'd completely missed something as obvious as PTSD, and he'd also brought the wrong potions to begin dealing with it. For a short term fix, however, they had to do. When he pressed the bottles in her hand, she looked down at them blankly as if she didn't recognize them.
"You need to take them," he told her as gently as possible. With a short wave of his wand, he uncorked one for her and pushed it up to her mouth. She took over from there and carefully drank it down, looking dizzy. Once she was looking around, confused, he helped her to her feet and canceled the privacy charm. Both Greengrass girls were watching them in concern. "Go back to bed. I will ensure she is alright."
"Professor, can I sleep here tonight?" Astoria asked, frowning at Cassiopeia. Snape nodded shortly, truthfully not caring at all. As the calming draught kicked in, he led Cassiopeia up the stairs and to the potions classroom. It took another ten minutes before she looked somewhat normal again.
"How do you feel?"
"Calmer," she replied after a moment. "I'm sorry. Daphne should never have gone to get you. I would've been fine."
"You were hyperventilating," he stared. "You would have passed out."
Cassiopeia just shrugged a little.
"How long has this been going on for?"
It took her a moment to answer. "It got a lot worse after… last year. Now it's every night. Usually, I put up some wards to let everyone rest and just deal with the nightmares, but I must've forgotten. We were up so late trying to figure out how to help Harry that I just fell asleep."
"You cannot continue skipping Occlumency sessions," he told her firmly. "It is damaging to your mind. You need the help."
"I don't need help," she snapped. "I'm fine. I just need some sleep."
"Miss Black-,"
"The only damn way you're going to get me to do Occlumency is by doing what Dumbledore did and I know for a damn fact that you'd never do that. I just want to go to bed, Professor. I'm tired."
"Take that potion," he instructed, tense. She downed the dreamless sleep and looked up to find him waving her away, frustrated. She left without another word. She didn't have the energy to fight with him anymore. She just wanted rest.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
December 4th, 1994
Hogwarts Grounds
"He doesn't deserve to be forgiven," she huffed. "But that's just my opinion."
"Yeah, and one he doesn't share," Ginny reminded her. "Pretty sure he thought Draco should be exiled after he called you a bossy swot last year, but you're still friends with him."
Cassiopeia frowned. "Why can't we like all of each other's friends?"
"You do," Ginny laughed. "Just not Ron and Draco. Even then, Harry doesn't have nearly as many issues with Draco as you do with Ron."
"He's a prat."
"Yep."
"The rest of your family is nice, though," she added. Ginny rolled her eyes.
"Percy's a prat, don't forget about him. But you don't know Charlie and Bill, do you?"
"I got letters from Bill last year when the twins thought I was going to work myself to death and I met Charlie this year when we found out about the dragons."
"Mm, I miss them."
"I can see why."
"So, how's it going with Blaise?" Ginny asked with a sudden grin. Cassiopeia rolled her eyes, but a blush crept up on her cheeks.
"I'm looking at him a lot different than last year," she admitted. "He's… the same funny guy, but so thoughtful and kind, and…"
"So hot," Ginny laughed as Cassiopeia shrugged and nodded. "Yeah, the World Cup really freaked him out. More than the rest of us, I think. He's had a bit of a sheltered if odd upbringing from what Theo's said and seeing you fight in such a dark way, ready to just get rid of every threat however you can… it scared him. Scared me when I heard about it. I think it shocked Astoria pretty bad, too."
"I just wanted to keep everyone safe."
Ginny bumped her shoulder. "Has he asked you to the Yule Ball yet?"
"I don't even want to go," Cassiopeia laughed. "Besides, we've had exactly one date."
"I bet you'll go together."
Cassiopeia rolled her eyes but refused to mention that she did want to go with Blaise.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
December 7th, 1994
Great Hall
The Great Hall was, for the most part, empty. Study hall had ended and while everyone else left, Cassiopeia stayed there with a cup of tea and her book, one she'd gotten to read just for fun. She'd finished all of her homework for the week and was excited to get through the last half of the book.
While the doors weren't closed, the floors did make noise as footsteps echoed easily through the empty room, so when someone entered, Cassiopeia looked up sharply. Her heart sped up at the sight of Karkaroff walking toward her, wand in hand. She got to her feet, using her book to hide the movement of grabbing a dagger.
"It is so very hard to find you alone," he told her with a sneer. "Your friends are always around. Smart."
"I don't need my friends to protect me," she told him with a glare. "Don't try anything. You might not be afraid of kids my age, but my brother has a great deal of political pull."
"I don't care for your politics," he spat, raising his wand at her. "I care to avenge my late wife."
"You sound like a bad tv villain," she admitted. "I didn't touch your wife. I never would. She was killed for shitty reasons. Whatever my brother did, he did it because he was stuck."
"But he was so good at it," Karkaroff glared darkly. "He could torture with the best. I suppose that runs in your family, though. You look so much like her, you could probably torture as good as Bellatrix did."
Cassiopeia's grip tightened angrily on the dagger. He hadn't spotted it yet, but he was still walking closer and he was too close for comfort. "I know he did shitty things. He was a Slytherin, but more than that, he was a Black. He did what it took to survive until he couldn't."
"It should not have come at the cost of my wife!" Karkaroff bellowed, throwing a curse at her. It dug into her thigh, making it bleed. She threw the dagger at him, feeling rather victorious when it dug itself into his shoulder. She grabbed the other one and let out a shout at the gouging curse at hit her just below the ribs. The dagger dropped to the ground and she staggered back, reaching for her wand instead of her daggers. She was barely able to use some of the blood already falling to put up a shield that came from blood magic, one that Sirius taught her and Harry after the World Cup.
"Karkaroff!" Snape shouted furiously, rushing into the room. He waved his empty hand at the man silently and didn't bother to watch him drop to the ground as he sped over to Cassiopeia. "Drop the shield."
She nodded a little and focused on doing as he said, letting her wand drop from her hand. She was dizzy and lightheaded and the feeling of open air on her wounds was painful. He lowered her carefully to the ground and began healing, speaking to her all the while.
"Stay awake," he ordered her. He sounded almost angry, so she did her best to listen while his hands moved over her wounds carefully. "This is deep, Black. You have to stay awake. You are losing blood too quickly."
"It hurts," she mumbled. It took much more effort than it should've, and she was awake enough to acknowledge that it certainly wasn't a good thing how weak she was feeling. She wasn't lying, though. Both injuries stung far more than any other injury she'd felt had stung like there was something ripping her apart slowly. "Hurts more."
Snape looked at her for a moment, thankfully understanding the gist of what she was saying: something was wrong. It led him to cast deeper diagnostic spells and, upon seeing the results, he sent a Patronus to Sirius Black. Once the doe had run off, he focused back on trying to keep her from just bleeding out before she could be healed.
It was only a couple of minutes later when Sirius ran into the Great Hall, dropping to his knees when he reached them. He'd obviously caught sight of Karkaroff if the fury in his eyes said anything. "What spell?"
"I am unsure," Snape muttered, most of his attention on holding the very difficult stasis charm he'd set on the injury. "All it told me is that it is dark magic."
Sirius made a face and waved his own wand over her as she reached over to grab his hand. He squeezed hers gently and focused on the magic. When the results came, he stilled. "How did Reg kill his wife?"
"What the hell does that have to do with her? Focus!"
"Answer me!"
"He was ordered to cut her open and poison her magic so that she bled out quicker."
"Poison it how?"
"Venenum Magicae," Snape answered a moment later when he finally remembered. He paused. "He didn't-,"
"Patet Magicae," Sirius whispered, waving his now empty hands over his sister softly. He focused first on the areas where she'd been hit, something that allowed Snape to finally heal them properly. After that, Snape got to his feet and left to find Madame Pomfrey. Sirius continued on softly, healing her damaged magic. Since he'd gotten there so soon, it took barely a few minutes to clean it out completely.
"Mm… head hurts," Cassiopeia muttered almost immediately when he finished cleaning out her magic. "It hurts."
"You were just poisoned," Sirius reasoned, smiling at her in relief. "I think just a headache and a couple of scars is a good trade for your life."
"Poisoned?" she asked, sitting up a little too fast. He grabbed her gently and guided her down to rest her head in his lap. "Sirius? I don't- what happened? Why are you here?"
"You fought another Death Eater," he told her, glancing at the spot Karkaroff had been in. It seemed that, while they were so focused on healing her, he'd gotten up and ran away. "You promised me you wouldn't do that, kitten."
"I don't remember-," she frowned. "Karkaroff?"
"Yep."
"He told me… he said some things about Regulus and Bellatrix and then attacked me. I think I managed to hit him with my dagger, though."
"Good, fucker deserves it," Sirius muttered. She grabbed onto the bench behind them and pulled herself to sit up slowly. "Maybe you should come home. Moony could homeschool you!"
"No," Cassiopeia laughed. "I'll be okay. If it helps… I won't go anywhere alone, okay?"
"Promise me."
"I promise."
"Fine, but if you get into trouble, let me know right away."
Cassiopeia set her head on his shoulder and nodded quietly. She wasn't sure what she was going to tell her friends, but it certainly wasn't that she'd fought another Death Eater, this time while in school where they were supposed to be safe. No, she'd make something up that they'd believe. She didn't need them worrying.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
December 10th, 1994
Wizengamot
Cassiopeia sat at Sirius's side as she had been doing the past few months, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for the session to start again. They'd held the trial for Lucius at the beginning of the meeting, it having been pushed off as his allies tried to get him released. Regardless of their attempts, he'd been sent to Azkaban for five years. It wasn't nearly as long as anyone hoped, but it was something.
On her other side was Daniel Greengrass, who sat in the Greengrass seat. On the other side of him was the Potter seat, which was empty, though glowing to signify a regent in the room. He'd been chatting quietly to her and Sirius for the last few minutes, only quieting at that moment as Dumbledore and Penbrook entered and took their places. As he'd done every session, Dumbledore scanned the family area to see if Cassiopeia was still there. When he spotted her, he offered her one of his fake, typical smiles and called the meeting to order.
"First on the agenda is the Black family - this announcement is with the Potter family and the Greengrass family."
Daniel, Sirius, and Cassiopeia got to their feet when he nodded at them. As planned, Daniel took charge. "The Potter Alliance is officially back together with all of its old members and the addition of the Black family and a few members that aren't Ancient and Noble."
"I do confirm this," Sirius spoke up. Dumbledore looked to every member of the old alliance and was disgruntled to find that Daniel had been telling the truth - the Alliance was truly back together, but now with the extremely powerful addition of the Black family.
"And where is your Alliance aligned?" Dumbledore questioned with what they could all tell was a nervous smile.
"We are neither Light nor Dark, just as before," Daniel told him. "We are the Grey Alliance if you do not remember."
"You can't do that!" Dolohov shouted angrily, glaring at Sirius and Cassiopeia. "The House of Black has always been aligned with the Dark."
"I can bloody well do whatever I want with my House," Sirius shot back, grabbing Cassiopeia's arm protectively at the dark look she was getting. "And if you don't stop looking at my heir like that, I'll fucking duel you."
"It's fine," Cassiopeia muttered, pushing his hand off of her arm.
"This must be because Greengrass got to her before she knew who she was," Travers accused.
Cassiopeia rolled her eyes. "Lord Greengrass had nothing to do with the lack of bigotry in me. If I'd grown up with my birth parents, yes, I probably would be a bigoted asshole like you. Maybe I'd try to push seven-year-old kids in front of a bus like you, too. Luckily, I'm not like you."
"That is a horrible accusation," Amelia spoke up from her family seat. "Did that truly happen?"
"Lies!" Travers spat at her. She narrowed her eyes.
"You don't remember trying to murder my brother? I bet Bellatrix remembered trying to murder me."
"And then you had her killed," he shot back. "You're not so innocent, are you?"
"Magic decided she was lacking," she reminded him sharply, speaking over whatever Sirius tried to say to calm the situation. "It's an old but very legal form of family magic, Travers. We asked magic to judge her actions and it decided she was lacking, so it took her magic. She died."
"She was in Azkaban," Dumbledore cut in. "She could not have hurt anyone there, Miss Black."
"Oh, Merlin," Sirius rolled his eyes. "She did permanent damage to the House of Longbottom, tortured the heir of her own House, tortured her damn sister for marrying and having a child with a muggleborn man, and taught my own damn brother how to torture! She never listened to Arcturus and never listened to me, despite the fact that since I was heir, she should have listened to me until Arcturus said otherwise. She's killed more than I know of, tortured more than I know of, and I'm pretty sure she was in love in Voldemort?"
At least five people screamed when he said Voldemort's name, causing the commotion to continue.
"May I remind you not to swear in the Wizengamot," Penbrook reminded everyone tiredly.
"Sometimes cursing is necessary!" Lady Marchbanks called out. "Sometimes nothing else is good enough!"
Large, loud red sparks resembling fireworks erupted and flew into the air. It was a good way to quiet everyone, and once there was no sound in the room, Dumbledore nodded. "Thank you. I do acknowledge the reformation of the Potter Alliance. I suggest you all get used to the political shift quickly. It does not seem they are willing to wait for us to catch up."
"Not at all."
OoOoOoOoOoOo
December 13th, 1994
Slytherin Boys' Dorms
Cassiopeia settled down on Theo's bed, exhausted. "My name isn't that hard to say, is it?"
"Krum again?"
"Yes."
"Why do you wanna hang out with him?" he laughed. "He can't even say your name."
"Because he is incredibly starved for intelligent conversation, and I'm apparently the only girl that can actually speak to him without staring at his… him."
Theo chuckled at her. "Be careful or he might get a crush."
Cassiopeia glared at him. "That is not funny, Theo."
OoOoOoOoOoOo
December 15th, 1994
Potions Classroom
Cassiopeia sat in Snape's office on a chair with her legs pulled to her chest and her arms around her knees. She'd have gone to Madam Pomfrey, but Snape was closer, and he didn't have class at the moment, and so she didn't have to be seen.
She wiped at her tears furiously as she waited for her Head of House to arrive and berated herself for crying at all. It was an emotional response and one that she hated having. She'd learned a lot about how to act while in Slytherin, and crying was one thing you just weren't supposed to do, not unless you were with someone you trusted.
Which, she realized as Snape walked in, she was. She trusted him, which she supposed was the reason she'd gone to him. He froze upon seeing her for barely a moment before he moved closer and saw the problem.
"Black, who did this?"
"Ron," she mumbled uncomfortably. Without asking, Snape pointed his wand at her and shrunk her horribly grown teeth down, even farther than before, something she was grateful for. He placed his wand back in his robes and sat at his desk.
"What happened?"
"Ron and I got in a fight, and… he'd heard me tell Harry that I hated my teeth, so I guess he figured it would be funny to grow them? And he did that and hit me with a small cutting hex, and-,"
"Where?" Snape interrupted, eyes dark as he stared at her. She shifted and stood up so he could see her torn shirt and bleeding side. "Why didn't you mention this before? This is deep."
"It doesn't hurt much," she shrugged as he ran his wand over the cut and retrieved a potion. She took it without asking what it was, and he relaxed slightly before looking at her sternly.
"You have no sense of self-preservation," he accused. "How you got in my House, I'll never know."
"I'm okay," she muttered quietly. "He didn't get me that bad."
"Did you curse him back?"
"I just tried to shield the first years behind me," she admitted. "No point in cursing back."
He looked horribly torn as he struggled to respond. "Please stay out of trouble."
"I'm trying," she sighed. "I really am, Professor."
OoOoOoOoOoOo
December 16th, 1994
Library
Cassiopeia chewed on her lip nervously as she read over her essay, rather unhappy with it. She was tapping her quill against the table, having spelled the ink back into the nearby pot. When she reached the end of the essay, she let out a sigh and leaned back, running her fingers through her soft curls.
"Would you like me to look over it?" Viktor asked, smiling at her, slightly amused. They'd spent more time since the attack from Karkaroff together, and he'd quickly noticed how obsessive she was over ensuring her schoolwork was perfect. He was a couple of years older than her, but he liked her and he enjoyed helping her. Aside from that, she could keep up with him on topics that she shouldn't even know about yet, so he was certainly not sacrificing anything by spending time with her.
"Please," she nodded. He took it from her curiously and read it over. It was a perfect ten paragraphs and he could find nothing wrong with it. After reading it twice and scanning it twice more, he set it down in front of her again.
"It is perfect," he assured her. "You have a talent for writing."
"I just want everything to be clear," she shrugged. She looked it over once more, biting her lip, before she nodded and put it away. If she kept it out, she'd just obsess over it more. She put the rest of her things away and got to her feet. "I should probably get back. I promised Theo I'd be back by nine and I've got a few things to do first."
Viktor nodded and got up as well, pushing both of their chairs in. "I was hoping to ask you something."
Distracted with shoving her book in her bag, she nodded. "Sure."
"Would you like to go to the ball with me?"
Cassiopeia forced herself not to freeze and to just look up instead. She offered him a small smile. "You're a very kind person and a good friend, but I actually already have a date. I'm sorry, Viktor."
He smiled back, just as brightly as always. "That is perfectly alright. I am sorry if I made you uncomfortable."
"No, not at all," she lied, grateful that he couldn't tell. "I do have to go, though. I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow," he confirmed. With one last smile to him, she threw her bag over her shoulder, gripping her book, and sped out of the library.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
Blaise looked up as the door opened and his girlfriend rushed in, panic on her face. He raised an eyebrow as she threw herself into the seat next to him.
"Take me to the Yule Ball?"
He took a deep breath in and let it out slowly.
"Excuse me?"
"Please, I want to go with you, I do, and I was going to wait for you to ask but Viktor asked me and I told him I was already going with you and please, I really don't want to go with someone that can't even say my name."
Blaise's lips twitched and he leaned forward to press a light kiss to her forehead, grinning as she relaxed almost immediately. "I was going to ask you tonight, actually. Yes, we can go to the ball together. I reckon it'd be a bit awkward for our relationship if we went with other people."
"Oh, thank god," she breathed, leaning forward to press a long, thankful kiss to his lips. "What would I do without you?"
"Be miserable," he laughed with a cheeky grin, surprised when she got a little serious.
"I think I might just."
OoOoOoOoOoOo
