C. M. Black: Skin of a Dragon

Chapter XXI: Familial relations

Ink curved across the page, the edges sharp and the curves long. Faint lines of black trailed between the words from where the hand moved too quickly across to leave clean spaces. The contents of the letter were just as sharp as the letters, pointed, vicious almost, in a bid to express exactly what Cassy thought. She wrote to Narcissa. There was not a spare word on the parchment, every one demanding to know why she and Alphard were not speaking, to know what had caused them to separate so quickly and distantly. She called her ridiculous and she accused her of not caring for Alphard as much as she had thought she had if they could be pulled apart by a minor difference in interest, as Alphard had put it.

She could barely contain her rage when she re-entered the castle late on Sunday evening. As she greeted her friends in the common room, she twinged a smile, letting the relief of being back shine through for a second until she made it to the winding staircase. Although she had called back to her friends that she would be down in a minute, she did not emerge from the dormitory for an hour, not until Hermione poked her head in to check on her. Cassy had spent the time thinking over how Alphard acted during the weekend, pouring the generated worry and anger into a letter for her cousin.

It had not been as bad as Cassy thought it would be as she stood alone in their kitchen minutes after arriving. He calmed greatly and spoke slowly, too slowly, his words unusually carefully chosen. Sometimes they became clipped, heated for the off word, before fading into his usual speech. He did not register how he was talking, or at least pay any regard to it. As it continued, and Cassy watched Tonks' expression remain steady as if she had long since become used to his erratic tones, the more Cassy settled into the idea that Alphard was not behaving the way he was because of any medication, but because of pain. He twinged each and every time his voice changed and it was all through the day, not at any regular times around when he was scheduled to take pills. He was struggling to communicate because of pain, a pain so severe that he had to quit his work, and Cassy let Narcissa know about it, although not very friendly in her own tone. Whatever pain killers Alphard was on, he needed stronger ones and Narcissa should be the one caring for Alphard, not his great-niece he had only known six months. She received no reply.

If Cassy had not had greater things on her mind, she might have been scathing after reading an article Lavender had dumped on her bed mid-week. Instead, she scoffed and laughed sardonically as she threw it over to Hermione. It took less that a minute for Hermione to begin chortling on her bed.

'Love potions,' snorted Hermione. 'I've never brewed a love potion in my life, but it's flattering that even Parkinson thinks I can.'

'You need no flattery,' said Cassy. She climbed onto Hermione bed and traced her finger down the page until pausing on one line. 'This is my favourite part: "It is no surprise that Granger's actions have pushed Harry away, forcing him to seek comfort in the arms of the beautiful and mysterious Cassiopeia Black". I am so mysterious I do not even know about my own relationship, apparently.'

'Honestly, who's going to believe this stuff. Anyone with any sense knows Harry and I were never dating, and I hardly consider it that I am dating Viktor now! But, what I want to know is how Skeeter knew that he invited me to visit him in the summer. He only asked when we were alone after getting out of the lake...'

'A bit like how she managed to hear of Hagrid's conversation when Ron said she was nowhere in sight,' added Cassy thoughtfully.

'She has some sort of means to eavesdrop,' concluded Hermione. 'Interesting...'

Cassy filed the article away for another day, noting with great mirth that Skeeter reported Krum saying he had 'never felt this way about another girl' and that Hermione did not seem to protest this claim at all. She said nothing about it though, simply smirking at Hermione in a way that made the other blush a furious red knowingly. Laughing as she and Hermione entered the common room, Cassy waved to Harry and Neville, indicated the the article in Hermione's hands and told them to have a look as they made their way to breakfast.

Neville laughed openly, catching more than a few pairs of eyes. Harry stared in bemusement and then snorted, handing the magazine back with a poorly contained grin.

'That's not really the worst article she's ever written,' he said brightly.

'Only because it looks as if you have two girls fighting over you,' teased Neville.

Harry shrugged and laughed. They all entered the hall with large smiles on their faces, knocking down the hopes of the staring Slytherins, whose heads had risen in wish that the four might be arguing, or Harry was dreadfully embarrassed. Instead, they were forced to return to their breakfasts as Harry nudged his friends and they broke into a fresh round of giggles at the sight of the dashed faces.

Once they took their seats at the Gryffindor table, Neville said, 'It doesn't look like she learnt her lesson then.'

'At least it is not in the paper,' said Cassy nonchalantly. 'The Daily Prophet seem to have learnt their lesson. The only people who read these types of magazines are teenage girls and middle-aged women with nothing better to do. I consider it progress that she has not printed our faces across the front page.'

'She's certainly losing her touch. You two must have scared her well enough,' scoffed Hermione, throwing Witch Weekly onto the table and using it as if it were a table mat.

'Not enough to stop her painting me as a heartbroken idiot,' countered Harry.

'She likes you,' said Hermione waving her hand. 'She's not said a word against you.'

'Yeah, but I would rather not read another dozen articles on how my eyes glisten with the ghosts of my past, or whatever rubbish she said,' he said sarcastically, his tone dry and flat.

Cassy burst into barely contained giggles and Neville snorted into his pumpkin juice. Hermione shook her head and laughed while she said, 'She really is a piece of work.'

The post soon arrived and two short sentences were written on the parchment a scraggly owl dropped in front of Harry. It told them to meet at two o'clock past Dervish and Banges the next day, and to bring as much food as their arms could carry. It was not sighed, but they all recognised the handwriting. Sirius had finally set a date to meet, although Harry grumbled shortly about the possibility of his Godfather being seen and caught. The complaint ended as quickly as it started. Cassy watched as he looked down at his plate, his face far more relaxed than could have been expected. His rage at Sirius travelling back to Britain was long since gone and she suspected that Harry very much wanted to see him again, even if that meant risking his discovery.

Something inside her stomach twinged and Cassy could not quite place the emotion. It was the same one she always felt then thinking of her father. Sometimes she likened it to irritation, resentment almost, but other times it was certainly worry, or even happiness, but no matter what feeling cropped up, the others were always lingering close by in a sort of mess that she found hard to explain in her own mind, let alone verbalise to Harry. They both knew they were at different ends with Sirius, but neither was willing to discuss it to find out exactly how far apart their feelings were.

Once in class, the Gryffindors were quickly separated amongst the Slytherins to work in pairs. Hermione was paired with Pansy Parkinson, much to the latter's delight; she had been making snide remarks since they had entered the dungeons and appeared to be relishing the chance to try and provoke Hermione. Cassy was waiting for her to snap and hit her like she had done Draco.

'What are you smirking about?' asked Draco from beside her.

'Nothing,' replied Cassy, continuing to cut up the blue roots in front of her.

There was a pause. Draco began collecting the crushed blue beetles and moved them aside on the desk and into a little pile. As he reached for the yellow ones, he cast Cassy a long, sideways look.

'Yes?' she drawled.

He hesitated, no doubt surprised that she had noticed his stare. Then, he frowned and set down the knife and said, 'Are you really seeing Potter?'

Cassy bit her lip hard. She turned to him quickly, her eyes glittering brightly in shire amusement.

'What of it?'

'What?' shrieked Draco. He ducked his head when the other students began to turn and Professor Snape's dull black eyes rose from behind the pages of a thick tome. 'What do you mean you two are... Cassy!'

'Oh, because you have a fine choice in partner,' drawled Cassy, carefully containing her smile as she cast her eyes over to Parkinson.

'I knew this would happen,' he said dully.

'Oh?' Cassy grinned down at the desk.

'I should have tried to convince you on the train to be less like yourself.'

'Less like myself... this is going to be a flattering conversation,' muttered Cassy; Draco ignored her.

'If I had just convinced you to will yourself into Slytherin, I bet the Sorting Hat would have let you in. You have enough cunning, your stupidity just overrules it sometimes.'

'Draco, I am not dead. There is no need to be so dramatic,' said Cassy warmly. She refused to look at him directly in fear that the grin on her face would be too obvious. Still, she noted the way he shook his head and the quick chop of his knife against the hard shells of the beetles.

'I can't believe you would go for such an attention hog,' uttered Draco beneath his breath. 'It's all quite clearly gone to your head...'

'Usually it is Hermione who tells me that, but we cannot be friends any more, seeing as we are rivals in love,' sighed Cassy dramatically. She covered her mouth, her shoulders shaking in silent laughter. Draco had stiffened beside her and shuddered. As his lip curled, Cassy was forced to place her elbows on the desk to steady herself.

'What kind of comment is that – why are you laughing? You – oh, for Merlin's sake, Cassy, do you know how disgusted I was?' demanded Draco, smacking down his knife noisily.

'I think the word you were looking for is "worried", you were worried,' correct Cassy joyfully. 'But no, Harry and I are not together.'

Draco huffed an unrestrained sigh. 'Still, it sounds dodgy that you are his most missed item,' he grumbled with a frown.

'Did you get teased by the other Slytherins?' asked Cassy, smirking.

Draco did not answer, but Cassy did not have a chance to enquire further. A knock rang through the classroom and everyone turned to look at the door. Professor Snape snapped for them all the face the front and continue their work, yet as soon as he passed them everyone had turned to watch again. The door was opened to reveal Karkaroff. He pulled at his beard, the muscles in his face tense and his thin lips drawn even closer together than normal.

Cassy could not hear what he wanted. She was too close to the front of the classroom. Curiously, she glanced at Harry, who had been stationed at the back next to Crabbe. He looked at her over the rims of his glasses, his head inclined to the roots he was cutting. Faintly, he nodded and Cassy turned back to the front of the room. She nudged Draco into turning around as well.

'Do you have any idea what that is about? Karkaroff looks very keen to keep it to himself,' murmured Cassy.

'I have no idea. It looks pretty serious though,' he whispered back.

Karkaroff did not leave once the door was shut. Instead, he paced behind the teacher's desk while Professor Snape attended to his students. The only time he left it was if Professor Snape got too close to the door. Karkaroff was incapable of remaining still, perching and standing and then sitting again. His hands wrung uncomfortably.

'We need to talk after this,' said Draco suddenly.

Cassy blinked at him, but agreed. As the class was dismissed, she caught Harry's eye and he nodded back to her before knocking over a beaker of armadillo bile. Quickly, he vanished beneath a desk and Cassy allowed herself to be shepherded out of the room by her cousin. They turned a corner farther away from the exit and just out of sight so none of the Slytherins would see them together.

He looked down at her seriously and said, 'How is Alphard? Mum will not mention him much, but I know she worried about him.'

'He is still ill. His arm and chest cause him extreme pain and he has been forced to quit his work. He shakes all the time, as if he has no strength in his right arm at all,' she said soberly.

'That can happen, can't it? I mean, he is old and it depends on the curse that hit him. It might have caused some damage, but he will be fine. Alphard is a sturdy man. I have never seen him ill before,' assured Draco easily.

Cassy frowned slightly; it was true that he had never been ill in her memory, but he was seventy-years-old and for a member of the Black family, that was a considerable age. She had not missed the slight hesitation in Draco's voice either.

'I will try and mention it to mother anyway, but her letters have been a bit odd lately. I think her and father have been fighting – try not to look so happy.' Draco stared at her flatly and Cassy had the decency to look abashed.

'You would feel the same if he was not your father,' muttered Cassy.

'Shut up,' snapped Draco, apparently having heard her. 'At least my father is not a murderer.'

Cassy turned to him doubtfully. They snipped back and forth for a few minutes before Cassy dismissed herself, saying she had all ready arranged to meet Stephen in the library. Ignoring Draco's enquiry as to who Stephen was, she hurried up the steps out of the dungeon. Her eyes scanned the entrance hall and quickly spotted the faces she was looking for.

'Harry,' she called, striding over to Harry, Neville, and Hermione.

'About time,' he said. He waited until Cassy was right beside him to continue speaking. Ducking, he put his lips level with her ear. 'Karkaroff pulled up his left-hand sleeve and said something was really clear, but Snape became really angry and told him to cover it up. I couldn't see what it was, but he said it was growing clearer.'

Cassy paused visibly, but then she wore an uncaring expression. 'He is a bit odd. Try not to think about it too much.'

'What?' asked Harry, squinting. 'That's it?'

'That is it,' she agreed.

'You're not going to elaborate at all? You must think something,' he said.

'No. Karkaroff and Professor Snape obviously have something to deal with, but that does not mean it is anything sinister and does not mean you should be involved,' she said sharply. 'I have to go. I will see you next period.'

All the while she could feel Harry's glare boring into the back of her skull, but she could not tell them her suspicions. Her mouth opened and closed quickly. It would do no good right then to mention the left arm was the one that bore the skull and serpent; that it was the arm claimed by Lord Voldemort. Instead, she strewed in her own thoughts, wondering why his calling mark would be getting clearer.

The road that housed Dervish and Banges was long and winding, passing out of the heart of Hogsmeade and far into the surrounding fields. Small shops were scatter in the distance, emptier and darker than those in the high street, built on cheaper premises. Cottages were fewer and farther between one another, with only the Hogs Head pub standing out in the distance amongst the bare trees and tall hedges. Fewer students walked the long roads to see the six of them heading towards the towering mountains.

There had been some debate on exactly who was going to see Sirius. It was initially to be just Cassy and Harry, but then Hermione had expressed a desire to hear his suspicions and then Neville reasoned if she was to go then he was too. Ginny had insisted she come too, not wishing to be left behind and out of the loop on something so important as her friend's safety. With her demanding her own accompaniment, it made no sense to simply leave Luna behind, so she trailed along with them too. It was fortunate that Sirius had expressed a desire to meet their friends, or else they reasoned he would be most unimpressed with the large group that came to greet him.

In their arms were various paper bags, filled with various things they had brought from the village, such as tricks and treats, as well as many bottles of flavoured drinks from the local shop and two bags full of food the elves had given them from the kitchens.

At the end of the road was a stile. On the other side of the old fence was a massive, black dog standing on its hind legs with its large front paws resting on the upper post. An old newspaper was tucked in its mouth.

'Sirius,' greeted Harry, somewhat awkwardly.

The dog wagged his tail once and began to move away through the the long grass towards the foot of the mountain. There was not waiting for further greetings, or much recognition they were to follow at all. He was quicker, his four paws wading through the path most familiar to him with a lazy urgency that only suggested his interest and no real rush. He continued up the mountainside with ease, but the students were began to struggle with the growing incline. Their coats were soon removed and their breath drew short during the half-an-hour climb. Sirius did not look as if he was trying particularly hard to pick out paths the teenagers could easily walk along, but he did look back to check they were all still there.

'Does he look back and bark to tell us to hurry up, or to say he's nearly there?' gasped Ginny.

'It better be the latter,' groaned Neville, adjusting his bag strap that had begun to dig into his shoulder.

'If it is the latter then he has been making false promises for a long time,' grumbled Cassy. 'I am not built for this.'

'It is not that difficult,' breathed Hermione.

'You do this all the time at home, don't you? Cassy complained about it once,' said Harry.

Cassy shot him a glare, failing to muster any energy to do anything else.

Sirius barked again, his tail wagging. A crooked split in the mountain side was behind him, small and thin. He slipped in and disappeared.

'Go on without me,' said Neville breathlessly. 'There's no way in Merlin's baggy underpants that I will fit through that gap.'

'Of course you will,' said Ginny. 'I'll pull you through if I have to.'

One by one they descended through the hole. The rock beneath their feet was slippery and steep, shortly leading down to a flatter, larger opening. In the far corner were stacks of newspapers. Pages had been pulled out and lay across the floor, illuminated by a flickering gas lantern. Scraps of food lay in the corner beside a thin mattress.

Swiftly, the black dog morphed into a tall, equally dark-haired man. His hair was longer than it had been during the fire call. This face had once again become gaunt, although still much healthier than he had been a year previous, his clothes were ruffled and marred with dirt that he had undoubtedly gained rummaging around in the bins for all of the old newspapers he had collected. Grey eyes shone brightly through the darkness at them all.

'So these are your friends then?' he asked, looking at each of them in turn.

Unaware of exactly which of them he was addressing, both Cassy and Harry nodded awkwardly. There was a slight pause before Harry pointed to each one of them in turn and introduced them. Sirius nodded each time, as if cataloguing their faces and adding it to the information he had all ready received from the two of them about their friends. He smiled and greeted them, receiving a murmur back, but mostly looks of awe or wariness that the four of them were trying to cover up in the presence of one of the most wanted men in Britain.

'Why have you come right up to Hogsmeade?' asked Harry.

'I need to be around to keep an eye on things myself. The paper has been getting worried about what's going on, I have a lot of them here, look. Things are getting strange and you are not the only ones to see it,' he said.

Everyone followed him deeper into the cave, crouching around the papers he had carefully laid across the ground.

'But what if you're seen?' said Harry.

'It does not matter nearly as much as you think. Fudge will have to put me on trial, he knows about Peter now,' said Sirius easily. His eyes were still scanning over the papers.

'He also threatened to put you in Azkaban for the foreseeable future until they find him,' reminded Cassy curtly.

Sirius looked up. 'I have no intention of doing anything to let myself be caught. I am just pointing out that if I am, I will not be executed, which is a pretty big victory from where I was,' he said. 'Did you bring food?'

As Harry took off his bag and handed it over to Sirius, he and Cassy exchanged a wary, if not annoyed expressions at his nonchalance. There was a certain recklessness in his words that neither of them liked.

'Look, there are a very limited number of people who know I am an Animagus. It's important I am here because I need to be around if anything happens and I do think something will, so don't worry about me. Besides, I would like to think I am fulfilling my role of Godfather by keeping an eye on you,' he reiterated, perhaps sensing their moods. 'Look at these bits, the ones I have underlined. All of this is suspicious. What I want to start with is exactly what happened at the Quidditch World Cup.'

Harry began a lengthy explanation of the exact events, with the others chipping in occasionally if he skipped a detail or if they had seen more. Eventually, Cassy had to admit that she had ran to see who had conjured the Dark Mark.

Sirius stared in shock for a moment. 'That's quick thinking. If you have a face you can get a name, but don't ever chase anyone connected with Voldemort ever again, understand? If he had summoned the Dark Mark then he is likely to be very dangerous.'

Cassy felt like reminding him that he had done exactly that and landed himself in Azkaban for it, but then she supposed that was probably exactly why he was warning her away from it and bit her tongue reluctantly.

'But it wasn't Winky who took the wand. There's no way she could have cast that spell!' declared Hermione adamantly.

'No. There were other people in that box. I doubt it was her,' said Serious dismissively. 'What did Crouch do one they found her?'

'Went over and sacked her,' said Neville.

'Unfairly,' added Hermione.

'Who else was in the box?' asked Sirius.

'A few Bulgarian ministers, the Malfoys, the Minister of Magic, and Ludo Bagman,' reeled off Ginny, counting each name on her fingers.

'I don't know much about Bagman at all,' muttered Sirius, stuffing another Chicken leg into his mouth, ripping the flesh off between his teeth very much like the stray dog he was pretending to be.

'He's not a bad person, but he's a bit odd. He keep offering to help me get through the tasks even though he's a judge. He says he has taken a liking to me,' said Harry.

'It was not him,' said Cassy distantly. 'The voice of the caster was too deep.'

Sirius let out a long hum.

Cassy was reading the highlighted headlines on the papers. Mystery illness of Bartemius Crouch, and Witch Still Missing – Minister for Magic Now Personally Involved. She remembered reading both articles, but some time had passed since then. Secretly, she wondered how long her father had been hoarding these papers and if Remus had been helping him, just as obsessed with staying in the loop of the unusual affairs, or if it was something Sirius was cultivating on his own.

'Do you have any leads as to why Crouch has been off work so long?' she asked, her fingers trailing along one of the yellow pages.

Sirius shuffled along to sit beside her, looking over the pages again, although with the state of them, Cassy would be surprised if he did not all ready know them off by heart.

'I know it has to be something very severe. I doubt he has ever had a sick day in his life and all of a sudden he stops showing up to work. At first, I thought it might have been embarrassment about the World Cup, because he was very involved in that, but then after working so hard to reinstate the tournament it makes no sense that he would have so much time off and so suddenly,' he said, starting to gnaw on another chicken leg.

'So you know Crouch then?' question Luna curiously.

Suddenly, Sirius' jaw tightened and his muscles tensed almost undetectably in the dim light. His long, grubby fingers tightened around the loose slacks. Darkly, his voice gruff and low, he said, 'Everyone around my age knows of him. He was the one to put me in Azkaban without trial, actually.'

Everyone tensed.

'You're joking,' gasped Harry.

'He did use to be the Head of the Magical Law Enforcement,' said Cassy flatly.

'You knew that and didn't say anything?' demanded Harry.

Cassy fixed him with a deadly stare and said, 'No. Contrary to your beliefs, I do not know everything all the time. However, I did assume he had something to do with it when I thought about it last year. There was no point mentioning it.'

'We've been over this Keeping-Everything-In-Your-Head-Thing that you do,' said Harry with a frown.

'Perhaps if you think a bit more I would not have to tell you such things,' responded Cassy with the same expression.

'Hey! Do you two always bicker like this?' asked Sirius.

Only when discussing you, thought Cassy bitterly.

'No,' she and Harry said at the same time.

'Right,' said Sirius slowly. He looked his daughter and Godson's friends, but they shifted awkwardly, not looking at either of the rowing pair.

'You were talking about Crouch,' prompted Hermione, still looking at one of the far reaching corners of the cave.

Sirius nodded, but could not help the frown that passed over his face. Something was making the four uncomfortable about Cassy and Harry's tiny disagreement and he was unable to place exactly what it was. He caught the end of Cassy long sideways stare at her friends before she looked back down at the papers. It was if she was trying to tell them something that had them all silent.

'Well, Crouch was always one to despise dark wizards, but things got complicated just after Voldemort's downfall,' he said.

'His son was a Death Eater,' said Neville. All eyes turned to him and he shrugged his shoulders highly. 'My Gran told me this summer after the Dark Mark was summoned. She said it ruined Crouch's career, or close enough. Crouch came down on him so hard that there's no telling if he was a Death Eater or not, he was sent straight to Azkaban and he wasn't much older than us.'

'Alphard said that Crouch did not even consider his own son's appeal. He just sentenced him immediately once the mark was found, despite numerous other witches and wizards being let off. He never liked Crouch much for his inability to see past the obvious,' added Cassy, crossing her arms.

Sirius laughed. 'I can imagine Alphard has something to say about him. He's always been one to bend the rules as far as he can. It's why he was always my favourite uncle.'

There was a split second as Cassy looked upon her father's brightened, relaxed face, that she considered informing him of Alphard's ill health. As soon as that thought arose, it sunk again and she turned to Hermione as she asked what had happened to Crouch's son.

Sirius launched into an old tale. Both Cassy and Neville knew that Crouch's son had died, but hearing the exact details were something different. It was unknown to him why the boy had died, but Sirius recalled vividly how ill Crouch's son had looked when he had been guided by his cell. Most prisoners lost their will to eat, their will to live, only months after entering the prison. Everyone would know when a death was near, because the Dementors became excited, he told them, his voice oddly nonchalant, as if utterly detached from the memories of a majority of his adult life. Deaths occurred often.

'Because Crouch was so high up in the Ministry, he and his wife were allowed to visit their son on his death bed. No one else was allowed any kind of family contact,' he said, not noticing how Cassy twitched. 'I saw them walk in and when they walked out, he was half-carrying his wife in his arms. The next thing we heard was that she died not long after from grief. He never came to collect his son's body, a lot of people don't. So, the Dementors buried him outside. I watched from the cell window.'

Crouch lost everything. His name was dishonoured and his only son dead. His wife following soon after, earning only delayed sympathy that built into an unshakeable label that he had never cared for his son. His lack of care was what lead a respectable boy into the darkest circle in history.

'It cost him the title of Minister of Magic. He was shunted into International Co-operation,' concluded Sirius. He took a long drink from one of the bottles they had brought him.

No one spoke for a long time, until Harry said, 'Moody seems to think Crouch is obsessed with catching more Dark wizards. He seems to think that might be why he was in Snape's office, but there's something I don't understand,' said Harry, frowning at Sirius. 'If Crouch wanted to investigate a Dark wizard at the school, why hasn't he been showing up to any of the Judging events?'

'Exactly,' said Sirius. 'If Crouch was trying to investigate Snape then he would make regular visits.'

'Professor Dumbledore trusts Snape,' said Hermione.

'Moody's checked Snape's office too though, Harry said he had mentioned it,' countered Ginny, but Hermione shook her head.

'Karakoff is a Dark wizard though and Snape seemed to want to keep their relationship quiet,' added Harry. He turned back to Sirius. 'Karakoff wanted to talk to him in Potions yesterday and Snape wouldn't have any of it. Karakoff was really worried about something though, although I couldn't see what was.'

'Something on his arm?' repeated Sirius slowly.

'We weren't sure what it was, but Cassy had an idea,' said Harry quickly.

Everyone turned to her and Cassy narrowed her eyes back at him briefly.

'You did go to say something yesterday and then ran off,' said Neville excitedly.

Cassy met Sirius' eyes and grimaced. She did not want to venture what she thought it was. There was no doubt that he father would have come to the same conclusion she had, but he had not mentioned it. Still, she crossed her arms a little tighter and stared placidly as she stated: 'The left arm is the one that bares the Dark Mark. I presume they were discussing the Mark growing darker. It may have faded since Voldemort's death, as most magic does.'

Sirius grimaced before she had even finished her first sentence. He put his head in his hands and groaned. 'You are too informed and too clever sometimes.'

So, he had known, thought Cassy. He had obviously not wanted to confirm that suspicion though and stared at her with half-lidded, wary eyes while everyone else burst into loud chatter, speaking over one another in demand to know what that meant.

'This is why I did not mention it yesterday,' said Cassy flatly. 'It only causes trouble and this is my assumption, not fact.'

'Have you seen the Dark Mark, Cassy?' asked Sirius sternly.

Cassy blinked. 'Yes. I have caught a glimpse of it on odd occasions.'

She did not say on who and he did not ask. Instead, he watched her closely for a second before looking back over the group.

'Wait, so Snape is a Death Eater?' asked Harry quickly.

'He was never actually accused of it,' said Sirius. 'I would not put it past him to have something sinister going on and I have always wondered since I found out he was teaching here why Dumbledore would ever hire him, but that does not mean he is. Snape had an extensive knowledge of the Dark Arts, he knew more curses than anyone I have ever known and that was just when he started school. He was friends with loads of people who turned out to be Death Eaters, including Rosier, Wilkes, the LeStranges - ' Neville let out a small hiss at their names, ' so if he had, it would not surprise me. Plenty of people were never caught, or pretended to be under the Imperious Curse, like Avery, or Malfoy. However, if Snape really worked for Voldemort, I cannot see Dumbledore letting him teach. Dumbledore does not trust people like that easily, not much escapes him.'

'Then why would Karkaroff be showing Snape something on his arm if they weren't mutually involved?' asked Luna.

'I told you, that is only a guess. Professor Snape and Lucius are close, but that does not mean he is a Death Eater too,' said Cassy sternly. In her mind, though, she was determined not to rule the possibility out.

'Moody will have searched all offices for anything unusual, it's just who he is. He almost never killed anyone, they were always either killed in the cross fire or he brought them in alive when possible. His obsession for Dark wizards is nothing like that of Crouch's. If he is so deathly ill, for what reason would force himself up to Snape's office and how did he even get onto the grounds, let alone in the castle...' Sirius' grey eyes scanned the papers once again. 'I wonder if they have found anything on Bertha Jorkins. Bagman is quoted saying how terrible her memory is and how she has not returned. She was always a bit slow, but we used to say that was because all of her brain power went on retaining gossip. It always used to get her into troublesome situations, so perhaps that is why Bagman is not concerned with finding her.'

'Bagman said they hadn't found anything more about her,' offered Harry and Sirius hummed.

'He would say that. I am not convinced they are looking too hard, to be honest, but that is information for another day,' he said, stretching his limbs widely. 'What time is it?'

When Hermione gave him the time, Sirius stood and instructed them to get back to the castle. He looked at each of them in turn, lingering on Harry a little longer than the others, and told them not to leave the castle after dark for any reason, especially to visit him. They were to continue writing to him, but they were not to see him again unless he called for it.

'We'll be fine. No one had tried to attack me yet,' said Harry easily.

'Except for a dragon and some merpeople,' offered Ginny cheekily.

'That doesn't matter!' said Sirius hotly. 'Someone is still after you and I will not accept anything less until this tournament has ended in June, no matter how well you have done so far. I will walk you to the edge of the village.'

As Sirius transformed into Padfoot again, Cassy could not help but feel as though the entire meeting had been a waste of time. They had not learnt much of anything, and what they had learnt was of no use in reality. The only interesting bit that had shown was how closely Sirius was keeping an eye on the situation, how well informed he seemed to be from the papers, and how he had not even been surprised when she mentioned the Dark Mark darkening. He was a step ahead of them, whatever he knew, and he was waiting for something.

What another update so soon? Well, it is Hermione's birthday, so I thought 'why not'? This chapter also makes C. M. Black: Skin of a Dragon the longest of the series to date.

It is difficult to condense chapters like this one, because what is mentioned is vital, but there is no clear way of changing it to make it interesting to read all over again.

I'm not sure if Sirius seems a little too stern in this, but with Cassy revealing her obviously somewhat dark and questionable upbringing through her extensive knowledge, I thought it would concern him inwardly quite a bit. In the books he is like a teenager trying to do right, but stuck in the mindset. I figure that would change a little being landed with a baby at twenty, but Sirius is Sirius and he will forever be a bit of a playful fool. One thing I can't stand is when people characterise him as a complete child. I know he can be immature, but he clearly isn't stupid, but as that is what I see most often, perhaps it just highlights to me that my Sirius is a lot more serious than others and that is why he reads oddly sometimes. I don't know. I ended up on a bit of a rant, haha.

Thanks!