Okay so a mixed reaction to the last chapter, which I kind of expected to be honest. So to answer a few concerns;
1. No Cassie still can't speak in the real world.
2. Yes Lily Evans was a much more complex and powerful figure than you thought.
3. It wasn't a little bit un-necessary for the plot, it was completely un-necessary but it was great fun to write.
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
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The Silent World of Cassandra Evans.
37. Let it Go.
It took a good few hours before Cassie was able to stop crying and many more before she would allow anyone to prize her girlriend off of her. Even the formidable Madame Pomfrey seemed to have taken the wise decision to not immediately jump down her throat with reprimands and diagnostic spells and just let her be for a while. There were to be no invasive tests other than a quick scan to check everything was healing nicely after the flaming chicken's unorthodox but effective treatment. What worried the school healer far more than any physical injury was the usually calm and confident young woman's shattered mental state. Which was why she was now here tucked up nice and comfy in her own bed in her own room.
Being confined to her bed, however, was starting to wear very thin indeed on Cassie. The pampering was quite nice though. Well, very nice actually. She had been released from the care of Hogwarts infirmary and packed off home to Grimmuald Place for a week's rest and recuperration and Poppy Pomfrey had very kindly sent Susan along as her home help. Which, while it had been fun for the first day or two and as much as she loved the red head, was now driving her totally mental. Cassie was pretty sure that it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows for Suzie either. Having your to help your girlfriend take a crap couldn't be all that pleasant, nor was it very conducive to keeping the mystery in your relationship. A girl had to keep some things to herself.
Still the upsides defintely outweighed the downsides. Upsides like having your own personal, girl sized hot water bottle to cuddle up to at night. One who also brought you breakfast and then seemed to take an obscene amount of pleasure in feeding it to you in tiny bite sized fork fulls. It was like every bad romantic manga she had ever read (and Cassie had read a lot of them) while somehow at the same time being unbelievably cute and endearing. Then of course there was the 'healing touch' that Suzie provided on a sliding scale depending on how good she had been in taking her potions or accepting necessary assistance without complaint. Needless to say after this system was introduced by her girlfriend Cassie was extremely well motivated to be a very good girl indeed. Which had led to a new and worrying offer.
"I could always wear a nurse's uniform while I look after you."
She knew that her girlfriend was just trying to cheer her up but Cassie still winced at her words as the memory of her mum dressed up in a too tight, medical outfit came barrelling unbidden into the front of her brain. Now that she thought about it in fact there were more than a few disturbing parallels between her girlfriend and her mum. Both had red hair, although Suzie's was a couple of shades darker than Lily's, both were ... blessed ... in the chest department and they both had an uncanny ability to guilt her into pretty much anything that they wanted. Which was an extremely difficult thing to do. It made her wonder just how messed up in the head she really was that she was basically dating her own mother. She also wondered how many people had noticed this and not seen fit to mention it. But then given her temper and her wholly deserved reputation for the violent expression of it she couldn't really blame them for keeping their mouths firmly shut about such a potentially dangerous subject. Still she would have thought that someone would have had the balls to say something.
No, I think I've had enough of nurses to last a bloody lifetime. Maybe something else like a policewoman or a cowgirl.
Cassie gave her girlfriend a cheeky grin that she hoped was still endearing after Susan had spent the last four days of helping her to the toilet and the bath and generally looking after her. Clearly the other girl had a few screws loose as she smirked back at her and answered in the vaguely positive.
"I'll see what I can do."
Awesome.
She would be looking forward to that with much anticipation. For now though Suzie clearly had other business.
"Right come on you, up you get, it's time for some physical therapy."
The speed with which the naked teenage witch was out of bed and bouncing on the balls of her feet in front of Susan was incredible, as was just how wet and wide she managed to make those insanely gorgeous emerald eyes. And speaking of eyes, hers were now feeling almost compelled to look down at Cassie's wonderfully jiggling and very naked breasts. Which her girlfriend was quick to notice.
Mmmm. Physical therapy huh.
"No, not like that you slapper." Susan managed about half a second of looking at her girlfriend's crestfallen face before relenting slightly. "Well alright. Maybe later if you're very good."
And she was off. The red haired witch shook her head and actually giggled (which in itself was an extremely rare occurrence) as Cassie skipped happily around the bedroom doing a rather good impression of the snoopy dance. Her girlfriend was such a dork. Sweet and charming (to her anyway) and hotter than the sun, but still a total dork.
When Cassie had stopped dancing around the room because it made her want to pee, she glanced over at Suzie to gauge if she would be able to get away with using the toilet by herself today and saw her glazed expression and the big dopey grin. Aha, Miss Bones was distracted which meant ... pranks. Being as quiet as possible she sneaked up on the red head and was just about to hit her underwear with a combined tightening and tickling hex (courtesy of Nymphadora) when the thought that this really didn't count as 'being good' entered her head. Damn. The Black heiress sighed quietly and simply hugged Suzie from behind thinking that the promised sex had better be damn well worth it. To be fair it usually was more than worth it, her flame haired lover was nothing if not reliable. Especially when it came to sex. Or looking out for their extended family.
Apparently her girlfriend had left the equally reliable Hermione in charge of their House, a decision of which Cassie thoroughly approved. If anyone had any kind of chance of keeping the effervescent and insane Lulu in check and preventing their girls getting suspended for riotous behaviour it was the former Gryffindor library queen. The speed and ease with which the bushy haired girl had totally subdued and dominated Cassie's strange and hormone driven half sister was astonishing. Quite honestly she wouldn't be surprised to see Charli wearing a collar and lead before too much longer. Giving an involuntary shudder with the mental image that she had just conjured up only served to get her put straight back to bed by the hovering, hawk eyed red head watching her every move.
By late Wednesday night, early Thursday morning Cassie had pretty much recovered from both her brush with the assassin's arrow and her upsetting visit to Death's waiting room. She still didn't have the full range of motion in her shoulder but it was certainly a lot less stiff than it had been and definitely pain free enough that she was eager to indulge in some more energetic sexy fun time with the badly neglected Suzie. The sight of her gorgeous girlfriend dressed in an old leather corset, some tall, high heeled boots and a top hat that they had found in the back of the closet (and nothing else) wielding a riding crop had her shaking in anticipation. Amelia Bones was also shaking when she walked in on them twenty minutes into their 'playtime' but it was more from horror than anticipation.
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The Friday before Cassie and Susan were due to head back to school brought the unwelcome and unasked for conference to iron out what the Hogwarts headmaster described as the 'minor differences' between her and Viktor Krum. She wasn't sure that the two of them attempting to murder each other could really be described as minor differences but if it kept certain bearded old men out of her business then she would take part in this ridiculous farce. Not with good grace perhaps but at least without killing anybody. Hopefully. Their hopes of getting through this day murder free took a serious nose dive when they saw who had decided to meet them in the atrium of the Ministry. Cornelius Fudge, Minister for magic had obviously decided to give the politically powerful Black family the full, personal treatment.
"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic Lord Sirius, Miss Evans-Black." The obsequious man in the appalling green bowler hat bowed and scraped to them as if they were magical royalty. "Since we are still a touch early for the meeting I was wondering if the two of you would like a tour of my little kingdom?"
Sirius looked at his daughter who gave him a shrug and a half nod before accepting the Minister's offer.
"Oh wonderful." The ridiculous man looked absurdly pleased by Cassie's half-hearted agreement and held out his arm for her to take. "Shall we?"
She had been told that she had to behave today so decided that punching him in the kidneys and breaking his fingers for being a patronising twat was probably not quite honouring the terms of the contract that she had made with her future step-mother. Amelia had, following an awkward encounter with a mostly naked Cassie, Susan and a riding crop in the Head's suite at Grimmuald Place on Thursday morning, made an agreement with the girls to stay out of their business and their room if the Black heiress managed to keep herself out of trouble on this visit. As tempting as it was to give the idiot Minister of Magic a good old fashioned slap for his horribly chauvenistic crimes against her gender she just couldn't fall at the first hurdle. Her continuing, uninterrupted sex life depended on it.
Surprisingly she had enjoyed some parts of the tour. I mean it was mosty awful and interminably dull but it did perk up considerably when they got to the Department of Mysteries and met the very intelligent and very peculiar Mister Croaker. Luckily, being friends with Luna Lovegood sort of immunised you against very intelligent and very peculiar so the creepy girl and the strange man got along like a house on fire. Croaker was delighted to meet the girl who seemed to be unkillable, as she had shrugged off killing curses, basilisk venom and assassination attempts with almost ridiculous ease, if the rumours were to be believed (and he did love a good rumour), while Cassie was fascinated by anything and everything in this weird and wonderful government department. The conversation between the two (translation services provided by a suspiciously helpful Sirius) went well above the Minister's head but still he was delighted when the princess of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black accepted Croaker's invitation to return in the summer to have a proper look around. Cornelius Fudge was mentally been rubbing his hands in glee at the thought of all of the highly profitable edicts that he could pass with the support of the famous old House. The foolish little man joined the growing list of those with absolutely no common sense who believed that they could in any way control Cassandra Evans-Black.
When she entered Conference Room Four on the third floor of the Ministry building Cassie was confronted with an entire room full of such idiots, the only exception being Sirius who was there as her Head of House and translator. The actual meeting went just about how she expected it to with lots of shouting and posturing from the elder Bulgarian while Fudge made a bloody hash of trying to calm him down and smooth his ruffled feathers until Dumbledore was forced to step in. While this was going on Cassie was peering over the top of her glasses and giving Viktor the nastiest and creepiest smile in her extensive repertoire of nasty and creepy smiles. It had the effect of leaving the increasingly pale and nervous young wizard in no doubt whatsoever that once whatever deal was worked out here today's expiration date was reached she would dispose of him in the most bloody, violent and painful way possible. If she waited that long. It was very un-nerving to know with absolute certainty the exact day on which you were going to die. July the Thirtieth apparently.
His headmaster, Igor Karkaroff was faring no better today but at least he had the distraction of trying to avoid an all out war between the Krum family, including himself thanks to Viktor, and the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. The problem for him was that his young protege had already attacked the heiress of that House and her girlfriend, who happened to be related to the head of the British DMLE, which left them in a very weak position to negotiate. Not that that stopped him trying but bluster was all that he had in his arsenal and it seemed to have no effect whatsoever on the stony faced Blacks. It also freaked him out severely that the creepy teenager was just staring at Viktor with those cold green eyes and smiling, probably at the thought of finishing the job of taking him apart at the seams with that awful lightning whip of hers.
By the end of the second hour an agreement had been thrashed out where Viktor and his cronies would stay on the Durmstrang ship, well away from the school and any temptation to hurt or harrass any members of Cassie's circle. As for the Black heiress, she was to stick only to the castle with the grounds being a sort of neutral zone where each group could visit only if the other was not currently there. Enforcement would be handled by the Hogwarts staff, none of whom cared to see their school turned into a war-zone and the truce would stand until the end of July. Quite honestly the Blacks couldn't have asked for a better outcome. Their girls were safe and as an extra bonus Cassie would get a very special birthday present this year when she got to dismember the ignorant Bulgarian quidditch knob. Everybody in Conference Room Four knew what was going to happen once the temporary truce was over and most of them were of the opinion that the Bulgarians had brought this on themselves by targetting Miss Bones.
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Cedric Diggory, Hogwarts Tri-Wizard champion stood and began to applaud as the doors to the great hall banged open and the nine members of Psycho Freak House entered led by Susan Bones with a much healthier looking Cassie on her arm. To their surprise the whole of Hufflepuff House rose along with their champion and not just because Cedric had. It seemed that throwing yourself in front of a poisoned arrow to save another person from injury and possible death was exactly the kind of thing that earned you some serious brownie points with the Badgers and they responded with great enthusiasm. The Ravenclaws were much more muted in their appreciation but still rose in unison, the younger students being in awe of Cassie and the older ones in fear of her temper, still remembering the Lovegood incident from a couple of years back. As for the two remaining Houses there was a roughly fifty-fifty split of those who applauded her and those who didnt. Ron Weasley led the Gryffindor dissenters, much to the disapproval of his brothers who were now clearly planning a campaign of unrelenting terror aimed at the foolish young idiot and his moronic friends.
Over at the Slytherin table the division was almost exclusively along age lines, the first three years rising, while the upper three years stayed respectfully quiet (no booing that could piss off the dangerous young woman) but seated. Draco Malfoy looked over at the standing and softly clapping Daphne Greengrass and realised that this was one of those moments that would define how his life went going forward. Between his father's blind obedience to the Dark Lord and his mother's equally rabid adherence to the old values of the House of Black it was a miracle that Draco wasn't far more stupid than he actually was. Ironically it was his utter humiliation at the hands of the 'girl-who-lived' in his second year at Hogwarts that had started him down the road to the realisation that his family were not the all powerful force in the wizarding world that they claimed to be. If a half blood witch who couldn't even talk could trounce him so thoroughly then what did that say about his parents deeply held views on blood purity. It said that they were a total load of old bollocks, that's what and from that day he had begun a slow but steady and stealthy rehabilitation of his soul and his mind, secretly reading everything he could lay his hands on to enhance his understanding of both magic and the world around him.
The only thing his parents had taught him that he had held on to was to respect strength in others, athough he was pretty sure that they didn't mean that to apply to a short, green eyed witch with a hard on for violence and a mudblood for mother. But Draco knew true strength when he saw it and Cassandra Evans-Black had it in spades. The only question that had been plaguing him for the last year or so was how he was going to undo the damage that his early behaviour had done and gain the girl as an ally (albeit a secret one). His answer came, surprisingly enough, from his goons. Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle were clearly rather enamoured of the 'girl-who-lived', he guessed it was the strong, silent woman thing, and although they both knew that they had no shot whatsoever it didn't stop them mooning over her like a pair of love-struck calves. And that was his in. Greg was also a part of the very vocal and supportive Welsh contingent at Hogwarts as well as being a member of the newly formed Wrach Du Choir and had been treated to some sensationally bright smiles from not just Evans-Black but the other Psycho Freaks as well. The fact that he had allowed and even encouraged this behaviour from his bodyguard would hopefully stand him in good enough stead to make an approach without risking serious injury. An approach that needed to be made as he had picked up some rather important information from his boastfully drunk father about what would happen at the end of the final task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.
Standing slowly, Draco Malfoy, to the consternation of many in his House, began applauding along with most of the rest of the school. For his efforts he received beaming grins from his two hulking companions and a raised eyebow along with the barest hint of a nod from the black haired 'queen of awesome' as Diggory had begun to call her. Responding with a subtle bow resulted in all nine of the Freaks and a large python turning to stare at him. He gulped, smiled weakly back at them and tried very hard not to shit his pants. It would take a great deal of subtlety on his part to work around his parents prejudices but he was going to be much more comfortable when he could call the incredibly scary Cassandra Evans-black an ally. He doubted that they could ever be friends given their rocky start but allies was hopefully achievable. If the Dark Lord ever did come back and start his blood wars again he wanted to be on the side of the young woman who butchered trolls and dementors and had boiled over twenty mermen warriors to death with a poisoned arrow sticking out of her like it was nothing.
So yes, to further his own cause and possibly save his skin in the future he applauded her triumphant return and the rest of a very confused Slytherin House followed suit. Many of them, like the Greengrasses or the Parkinsons, had their own reasons for staying on the good side of the powerful Black family in general and their violent heiress in particular but nobody had expected Draco Malfoy to join them.
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The tall woman with the elegant silver-bonde hair and the impeccably tailored, cream business suit swept into the Beaubaxtons carriage with a grace and panache not often seen even among the French students and staff. Everyone recognised her instantly and scattered from her path as she strode to the Delacour sisters room and flung the door wide open.
"Fleur, Gabrielle."
There were two loud thumps as the girls snapped awake and half jumped, half fell from the bed that they shared, suddenly wide awake.
"Maman."
"Maman."
"Where are Diggory and the Black girl? I must speak with them."
Gabrielle fell over again as she struggled into her dressing gown but this did not deter her from trying to be the dutifull daughter and answering helpfully.
"I'll fetch them maman."
"You most certainly will not Gabrielle, you will stay here with me where I can keep an eye on you. Fleur will do it." Appoline Delacour's tone brooked no argument and despite wishing to stay far, far away from her, the Beaubaxton's champion headed off to find the heiress of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.
When her eldest daughter had disappeared the tall veela turned to Gabrielle and her face lost a lot of it's harshness as she smiled at her impishly. If asked she would say that she loved both of her daughters equally but in reality Gabby was definitely her favourite and the fact that she had found her mate so young thrilled her beyond measure. What didn't thrill her quite so much was the fact that her sweet child had been put in danger without her her knowledge or permission for the sake of a bloody game. It was one of the reasons she was here today. Mister Dumbledore would be getting a rather large dressing down for his part in this debacle while Mister Diggory and Miss Evans-Black would be recieving her heart-felt and undying gratitude. Sitting on the end of the bed Appoline opened her ams, preparing herself for the arrival of the small, blonde missile that leapt at her and asked her the exact question that she was sure Gabby had been hoping she wouldn't.
"So, little one. Tell me about this mate of yours."
Two hours later all three of the Delacours currently at Hogwarts were sat in the hastily tidied common room of Psycho Freak tower sipping tea and making small talk. There were a lot of nervous witches present and therefore much rattling of china which made Cassie and Appoline smile behind their teacups when they caught each other's eye. Fleur kept flicking glances over to where her rival champion was sat chatting merrily away with her mother, with the help of the French speaking and sign proficient Miss Granger. Cerys and Gabby were sat, pale and sweating, next to each other hands tightly clasped together also watching the conversation and wincing every time the word 'mate' was used.
It was into this already strained atmosphere that potions master Severus Snape swept in being trailed by three of his male Slytherins. The two larger boys were looking around in open mouthed awe at everything and anything while their thin, blonde companion kept his eyes on Cassie and his lips set into a firm, determined line. Snape bowed deeply to the assembed witches and apologised profusely for their interruption before formally introducing Messers Crabbe, Goyle and Malfoy. The sense of polite formality that he was aiming for was slightly spoiled by Draco's two henchmen grinning and waving enthusiastically at their hostess and was even further eroded by Cassie's snorting response to their unconventional greeting.
"Ah well, we shall leave you to your next meeting, Cassandra. Come along girls." She paused for a moment. "You too Miss Williams, we have some things to discuss."
"Would you mind terribly if Charlotte and I came along, I've always wanted to see the inside of the Beaubaxton's carriage." At Cassie's subtle nod Hermione invited herself along as Cerys' chaperone.
The Delacour matriarch agreed and found herself giving a little chuckle and feigned being overcome as Cassie tipped her a wink while sloppily kissing her hand in farewell. She could see why Gabrielle was so enamoured of this group of entertaining witches. Cerys, her mate was a total sweetheart and as for Miss Evans-Black well she had never met anyone quite like her. It was clear that Fleur, who was no slouch in the magical power and temper departments was both impressed and terrified of the silent but still strangely charismatic young woman and this was enough on it's own to pique her interest. After spending the morning 'talking' to her, however, Appoline was beyond interested. This funny, charming, insanely beautiful and yes also creepy and chilling teenager was making her re-think her family's attitude towards the House of Black. There was no doubt that they were still a 'dark', or at least murky grey family but the fact that the heiress of the House, with her treatment of Gabby and the company she kept, obviously had no problem with creatures and muggle borns was quite moving.
"Alone at last." Professor Severus Snape broke the uncomfortable silence which ensued following the veelas' departure.
He had been beginning to think that his god son didn't have two brain cells to rub together or at least that he was following in his father's footsteps by not using the brains that he had been given. But then Draco had requested that he be taken to meet his 'cousin', the Freak in chief, as he had some important information that she needed to know. He was still not sure that this was a very wise course of action, as Cassie's reactions could be quite unpredictable to say the least, but at least the boy was trying. f course the damned fool then just blundered ahead like a brainless Gryffindor, blurting out his news without forethought or pre-amble.
"At the end of the final challenge there is a plan to lead you into a deadly trap cousin, I overheard my father boasting about it while celebrating with a bottle of Ogden's Finest after you were injured in the last task.
"Did he say how the trap would be sprung, Mister Malfoy?"
By silent agreement among the girls, Susan was the one to question him.
"It's the trophy."
Cassie arched her eyebrow at the Malfoy heir, leaned forward and gave him the please continue gesture.
"The trophy is the trap My Lady. It's a port-key designed to take you straight to ... him."
Does princess hair gel know why.
"Did you hear why Vol ... he wants her?" Susan interjected before her lover could really get going with some of her more imaginitive insults. Although she would admit that 'Princess hair gel' was a pretty funny one. She saw professor Snape trying to stifle a smile and the two of them rolled their eyes and twitched their lips as they each noticed the other watching.
"Sorry no, mother was trying to shut him before he said too much and you know what she can be like." He was rewarded for his attempt at humour by the slight twitching of Cassie's lip. "Whatever it is that he wants you for though, I doubt that it will be very conducive to your health."
There was a very spooky silence as the Black heiress stared at him with her cold, creepy, green eyes, clearly trying to intimidate Draco into revealing any form of hidden deceit or untruth. Honestly it would have worked if he had actually had anything to hide as he was about two seconds from soiling himself for the third time today. After what seemed like an eternity and just in time to stop him embarrassing himself by making a rather large mess the Dark Angel of Psycho Freak tower nodded slowly and released him from her gaze. Deciding not to press his luck any further for today Draco opted for a quick exit from this actual snake pit and head back to his own House's poor version of it before his bowells betrayed him.
"Well ladies this was an absolute pleasure to be sure but we really should be going."
Dragging Vince and Greg up by their collars and ignoring their grumbling protests he backed up slowly across the carpeted floor of the circular common room with a sickly smile on his face until his back hit the door. A blind fumble for the handle and a sharp tug later and Draco and his minions were out of the wild and murderous beast of the House of Black's lair. Receiving a reassuring pat on the shoulder from his god father and faculty head of House, the blond haired noble heir let out a shuddering breath of relief. His father was already dead because of his involvement with the Dark Lord's plans but Draco just hoped that he had done enough to keep himself and possibly his mother from joining the bloody fool in his self dug grave.
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Reviews are always appreciated but not necessary. I'm not going to hold you guys to ransom over them.
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