December 25th, 1996
Grimmauld Place
They left after that and returned to Grimmauld Place. She hung back in the hall while Snape went into the kitchen to tell them what was happening. She stood staring at the door and tapping her foot nervously, feeling a bit like throwing up from her nerves.
It wasn't helped by the hand that touched her arm.
She let out a scream and flinched back until she hit the door. That may have been an expected reaction after everything, perhaps, if it wasn't accompanied by her magic picking Dung up and tossing him all the way across the hall until he slammed into the front door and fell to the ground.
Behind her, the door opened and she found herself falling backwards. A pair of hands grabbed her to make sure she didn't fall and she jumped again, stumbling forward this time as her magic did the same and sent Sirius flying into a nearby wall. Luckily for him, he hit the wall but was caught by Amelia, who was quick to use her wand. Finally, Cassiopeia grabbed the wall to steady herself and looked between Dung and the kitchen with wide, terrified eyes.
Many people tried to surge forward to her, but the only person that was successful was Narcissa, who grabbed her into a hug which, to her shock, wasn't at all terrifying and didn't send her into any sort of flashback. Also, she didn't send her godmother flying across the room.
"What the hell was that?" Kingsley asked in shock. Most others were just as confused, aside from Draco, Theo, Blaise, and oddly, Moody.
"It can happen sometimes," Blaise said, slowly stepping closer to her. She let him, grateful for his familiar, completely non threatening aura. He grabbed one of her hands and she gripped onto it like a lifeline, the same way she had with Snape.
"It's part of why I didn't realize, because she never… did that," Draco agreed, eyeing his cousin with wide eyes. "Again?"
"Draco," Snape snapped sharply, smacking the back of the boy's head even as Cassiopeia nodded quietly. The three boys looked horrified, but they weren't the only ones. People shifted around a bit and finally, she caught sight of Regulus.
The pair of them froze completely when their eyes met. Their bond snapped back into place and it was a horrible flood of built up emotions and, worse, memories. There was so much that neither of them could move or speak for a long minute, but when they were finally released from the odd stand off, Regulus took a step back, much too knowing for her liking.
"Cas- Cassie, I wouldn't be offended if you hadn't also tossed Dung around," Sirius called, slipping out from the kitchen and ignoring their brother. "I'm not on the same level as Dung, right?"
"You both- you just startled me," she explained, glancing back to where Dung was still lying on the floor. "He's not… dead, right?"
"Nah, just knocked out," Sirius assured her before pausing. Tonks got through and hurried over to check his pulse.
"He's alive!"
Cassiopeia, suddenly feeling antsy, dropped Blaise's hand and stepped out of Narcissa's gentle hold. Both let her without fuss, and Narcissa gave a stern look to the crowd of adults and teenagers.
"You will return to your seats at the table and allow Cassiopeia in. I'm sure she is here for a reason, and we've already made this harder than it needed to be."
"Sure, but Dung started it," Sirius told them, waving the teenagers back to their seats. Harry hung back and when she finally began entering the room, she grabbed him in a very quick, tight hug. Upon releasing him, they also took their seats and she found herself at her usual seat on Sirius's right.
On her eldest brother's left sat Regulus, who was staring openly at her with a mask that she could no longer read through. Even his emotions and thoughts felt horribly muted, like he was putting a great deal of effort into hiding away. She couldn't help but feel even more unsure when he did that. The memory of him detailing the way he'd tricked her flashed aggressively through her mind and, just like that, Regulus dropped the wall he put between them.
And she suddenly understood why he'd put it up. There was more guilt in him than he knew what to do with. She supposed, in her shock, she hadn't even thought about how she'd hide the entire thing from her supposedly innocent brother. No, she tensed. Not supposedly. He was innocent.
"Uh, Cas?" Sirius said softly. His mood had shifted to be calmer, more serious. It was his voice that broke through her thoughts. She realized with a start that she and Regulus had just been… sitting there, staring at each other very openly and silently. "Not to interrupt whatever you guys are discussing-,"
"We're not-,"
"But can you share with us?"
She closed her eyes because truthfully, she wasn't sure for the moment that she could not stare at him. She wasn't really sure where that urge came from aside from possibly their bond. They'd sworn their wand, magic, and lives to each other- they'd sworn loyalty and Cassiopeia's mind was telling her that he hadn't been loyal, that he'd hurt her, that he'd tricked her. It made sense, in a way, that their bond was trying to force them to right things. But it wasn't the time, not with everyone there.
She turned to look at Snape. "I don't know what the spell was. I don't really know how he did it, but… Riddle twisted my mind, the memories I made. He made me believe-,"
"You do not have to tell them," Snape interrupted her abruptly. "The fact that he has this spell is more than enough information."
"And what if it takes some time to get rid of the fake memories?" she shot back. "What if we get in trouble one day and those memories convince me he's- it's a matter of potential safety, Professor. It's not all about me and what I want."
"Protect yourself first, you fool," he glared at her. "I have been trying to get that through your thick skull for six years! Protect yourself!"
Cassiopeia's eyes flashed angrily. It was hard enough to feel strongly about what she was doing because of all of the fake memories and he was only making it harder. "Regulus is my brother! Having these memories could potentially put him in danger from me and you've been training me, so imagine me using everything you've taught me against him! They should know in case I just start trying to fucking attack him, professor."
Snape shut his mouth for many reasons, none of which he voiced. The first being that the only thing he thought he could say to her to get her to shut up was not something he would ever say in front of so many other people. Cassiopeia was the only person that he would allow to see him being… soft. Even that thought made him grimace. Aside from that, getting her worked up would only serve to mix up the memories more and leave her confused. That was proven by the way she trailed off and frowned.
"Cas," Sirius said gently. She looked up at him, though her frown hadn't faded. "What are you talking about?"
"I-," she winced. At the same time, she felt and saw two different memories that contradicted one another - one where a Death Eater took her from the bookstore and another where Regulus took her to Voldemort. It hurt her mind trying to figure out which one was real again.
"What Cassiopeia is trying to say," Regulus spoke up, staring only at his sister. He cared very little about ignoring their bond and its attempts to fix everything in the name of being polite. "Is that while the Dark Lord had her, he used a spell- a curse to tamper with her memories. In her memories, I took her there. I hurt her. I was loyal to the Dark Lord still. I gave her to-," he cut off abruptly as he reached that fake memory and a piece of the real one that followed with Dolohov. It made him sick and he decided they got the point.
"I separated the real from the fake," Snape told them after giving everyone a moment to process this. "But as you can see, she is still very confused. I cannot remove those memories safely yet. With how damaged her mind was even before today, getting the well placed fake memories loose was dangerous at best and foolish at worst. It will be some time before I can begin getting rid of them. A week at the very least."
"If she thinks you did this, why is she just staring at you?" Astoria questioned, nearly whispering. She was sitting between her father and sister, and all three of them were paler than usual. "Shouldn't she be… afraid? Angry?"
"She knows something is… not right," Regulus explained slowly and without moving. "She's trying to set it right with the help of our bond. I knew what happened as soon as I saw her, and now she's trying to get in line with reality again. The best way to do that is to pull on our bond."
"Cassie was never one to back down from danger," Harry sighed, putting his face in his hands. "Makes a lot of bloody sense that she'd stare down the person that she thought kidnapped her and- what did they do to her? Aside from-,"
"No," Sirius told his godson sharply. His eyes then scanned everyone in the room. "I won't have anyone questioning her about it. She can share as she wants and if that's not at all, then we just won't fucking know anything."
"As for this curse," Dumbledore said, startling a few people. He'd faded into the background almost as if he wanted to see how they'd deal with it themselves. "Severus, we need to know what it is."
"Memoria Simul," Snape told him stiffly. He looked to Sirius. "I will be staying with you for the rest of break."
Sirius didn't even have the energy to care. "Miffy will find you a room. Bring your things over tonight."
OoOoOoOoOoOo
Christmas was postponed.
It was a decision they only realized they'd made when it was ten p.m. and they still hadn't celebrated at all. The tree was up, presents were under it, lights were lit, but no one gave the holiday a passing thought.
After the meeting, Narcissa escorted Cassiopeia back to her room in Potter Manor. Her friends followed over and were instructed not to bother her yet. Even Harry had been yelled at when he tried to sneak into her bedroom. Eventually, the teenagers seemed to realize they wouldn't be seeing her that night and had gone to hang out in Harry's room, where they were likely worrying anxiously. Maria took them each a calming draught without prompting - she was doing a lot to take care of everyone that day.
Snape hadn't spoken after the meeting. He'd gone to gather whatever things he needed and bring them over but hadn't returned for many hours. No one asked why. His demeanour was dangerous, and it was clear that he was ready to hex someone's head off, possibly literally.
Tonks had posted herself outside of Cassiopeia's room. She stood there for hours on end and only left to use the bathroom, and only did that after she managed to convince Moody to come help her. It was clear that the man only did it because Tonks was desperate. No one could say they weren't glad for the extra protection, even in their own home.
After Narcissa helped her settle in, she removed herself to go check on the teenagers and bring them some food. She also decided to magically expand the room and put more beds in there so that they could all be in the room next to Cassiopeia's. They wouldn't be able to get in there, but it did relax them.
Regulus stayed back at Grimmauld Place, even after the Order and everyone else had left. No one knew why, and no one particularly cared. He was hardly their biggest concern.
As for Sirius, he made his way into Cassiopeia's bedroom. He closed the door quietly behind him and took in the sight. The lights were turned down low but still on, even as Cassiopeia lay in her bed sleeping. He'd have felt bad for disturbing her if he didn't see how horribly restless of a sleep it was. In fact, as he made his way over, he realized she was having a nightmare.
"Cas," he said softly, but loud enough to wake her. She jolted up and grabbed for her wand. Sirius let her, sitting down on the edge of her bed. By the time she turned back, likely to hex him, some of the confusion cleared and she relaxed upon realizing who it was.
"Sirius," she breathed, frowning deeply. "Is everything okay?"
"I wanted to check on you," he settled on. "You were having a nightmare."
She fell silent. He took the time to look her over for injuries. When Snape had brought her to Grimmauld Place, she'd been wearing a thick sweater and some pants, but now that she was trying to rest, she wore a tank top and pajama shorts. All over, Sirius saw different injuries. Some were marks of dark curses that had been partly or entirely healed but had scarred, while others were from something as simple as a knife. On her arm, he saw scars that seemed to form a word. It took a moment to figure out exactly what it said from how messy it was, but finally he could read it.
"Pet," he muttered to himself. Cassiopeia tensed, and when he looked up at her, he realized she wasn't breathing. Before he could say something - what, he wasn't sure - she spoke.
"How did you know?"
"Hm?"
"That was- that was my nightmare," she explained shortly. "How'd you… know?"
"It's… on your arm, kitten," he managed, grimacing. She glanced at where he was looking. She stared at it for a long moment before looking back at him.
"Oh."
Sirius took a moment to collect his thoughts. He found it extremely hard to stay focused if he were being honest. It was one thing for him to be so worried about her - of course he was, he was her older brother and her guardian, and he might've had a bit of a complex over protecting her after losing her for so many years, thinking she was dead - but to see everyone else just as or even more worried was… something else.
Mostly, Snape's reaction worried him. Snape knew Cassiopeia probably better than anyone else in her life. He knew her ups and downs, her traumas and her limits. And when he'd walked into the kitchen and looked over them all, told them that she was there, Sirius saw and felt the exhaustion, worry, and horror in the man. Snape was usually a master at keeping his thoughts and feelings hidden, but that day? That day, he'd been an open book, one that detailed how truly damaged Cassiopeia would be.
And, looking at the girl- the woman - in front of him, Sirius thought he agreed with Snape.
"Do you remember the day you left the Dursleys? When you came to stay with me?" he asked her finally. She blinked at him in confusion but nodded slowly. "Do you remember how I healed you?"
Suddenly, Cassiopeia seemed to understand. "The family magic?"
"Yep," he confirmed. "I want to use it again. I think it'll help you with a lot. Maybe help you clear up those fake memories even."
"You told me it was a miracle it worked back then," she pointed out softly. She pulled herself back to lean against the headboard and pulled her knees to her chest, holding them there with her arms.
Sirius nodded slowly. "It was, but I needed one. You were hurt and in shock, and there were important things to be done. Now, you're hurt a lot worse, correct?"
She nodded slowly. "Yes, but do you really think that'll mean it'll work again?"
"It has to."
"No, it doesn't."
Sirius took in a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair. He knew she was right. And really, he knew that the chances of it working the first time had been extremely low. They'd gotten lucky once and he knew better than to assume they would again. The issue was, if the family healing magic wouldn't work, what would they do?
"Just let me try," he insisted. She sighed and nodded, so he took out his wand and pointed it at her. She stiffened slightly but said nothing, so he continued. "Medicas adhibere magicae familia."
They both held their breath for a moment.
Nothing happened.
Sirius let out a string of curses and tipped his head back. "I'm sorry, kitten. I really thought it might work."
"I'll be fine," she assured him softly. "I just need to rest and… probably start listening to Snape more often."
"Well, he's staying here, so I'm sure you'll have no limit of input from him," Sirius told her with a sigh. "Well, I think I have a few things I need to do, then. If you need me for anything, send me a Patronus or one of your other messages and I'll come right away, okay?"
Cassiopeia nodded. "Thanks for trying."
"I love you kitten," he told her, getting to his feet. "We'll take care of you."
"I love you too, Sirius. Just don't do anything reckless, please."
"Me? Reckless?" he scoffed at her. "Please. I am the epitome of responsible."
Hearing her laugh softly as he left the room lifted his spirits slightly. When he closed the door behind him, he looked between the Auror and ex-Auror. "Unless she asks for anyone, don't let anyone but Snape or I in here. Actually, Narcissa as well. She seems to be okay around her."
"We've got it," Tonks promised. "Where are you headed?"
"To Black Manor. I might be gone for a while. Let me know if anything happens."
"Black," Moody said before he could walk away. He turned to glance at his old mentor, who was frowning at him. "Don't make another mistake you'll regret for the rest of your life. That lass in there needs you."
Sirius gave him a short, stiff nod before he walked away again. He supposed Moody's advice made sense. The man likely assumed Sirius was planning to track down the people that had hurt Cassiopeia. It was a good guess, especially since that was on his to-do list. The difference between that day and the day James and Lily had died was that Sirius had his priorities straight. Taking care of and helping Cassiopeia was first, and then he could see to tracking down and killing the people that had taken and tortured his baby sister.
He Apparated over to Black Manor. He landed in the office that had belonged to Arcturus and noticed immediately that it was a mess. There were magical objects all over the damn place, and it reminded him vaguely of Dumbledore's office. All of them were very clearly dark magic, and from the way that they all lit up or shifted when he arrived but didn't kill him, he assumed they were a trap to ensure that only a Black entered, or possibly only the Lord or heir.
"Maria!" he called. The elf popped in and stared up at him patiently. "You worked here for a very long time before Cassie found you here, right?"
"Yes, Lord Black."
"Then you'd know quite a bit about where we'd keep certain things, right?"
"Of course."
He nodded firmly. "Then you can help me."
OoOoOoOoOoOo
Snape took the floo back to his quarters in Hogwarts. He was unsurprised when, five minutes after he arrived, there was a knock on the door. With a wave of his hand and without turning around to look, he spelled the door open to let Dumbledore in while he gathered what he knew he'd need.
"Severus," Dumbledore said in a warning tone. "Do not make any rash decisions. You are, after all, one of the most logical people I know."
Snape ignored him and picked up his bag. He moved past the headmaster and down to the potions stores, where he grabbed quite a few potions including calming draughts, dreamless sleep, extra strength pain potions, muscle relaxer, and the special potion cocktail that was used for PTSD. He'd been spending a great deal of time trying to get ahold of the last two potions and had, to his renewed horror, forgotten entirely about treating her PTSD. That was, until she'd thrown Mundungus and Sirius into walls when they startled her.
"I understand you care for her," Dumbledore continued, watching him calmly. "And of course, a line has been crossed. Can you tell me what they did to her? Perhaps if we knew, we could help her more thoroughly."
That was, while infuriating, not a surprising question. Snape knew what Dumbledore had done in that meeting, the entire time they'd been trying to get her home or searching for her. The old man had sat back and let anyone else take control, just to see how things would go when he died at the end of the year. Even so, his tendency to meddle with everything seemed to be overwhelming and he'd been unable to resist prying.
"Even so, you do understand that you cannot put yourself at risk just for this," he told Snape, who froze in his movements. His back was to Dumbledore and he carefully did not move, waiting and silently daring the man to continue on with that line of conversation. "It was unfortunate, yes, but there are much more important matters to attend to. She will recover, and while she does that, you must retain your position as a faithful servent to Voldemort. She will be fine without you."
Snape turned on his heel and stared darkly at Dumbledore. He closed his bag with one abrupt movement and narrowed his eyes. "For the past six years, you have told me time and time again how Harry is the important one, how he is who we must protect. You've told me that without our guidance, there is no hope in this war."
"We have valuable information, Severus."
"So do they," he continued, his voice getting lower and angrier. "I can count the number of times Mister Potter has gotten into life threatening danger on one hand. Cassiopeia is not as lucky. She has been in a sort of danger that Mister Potter could never be in for years now, and each time, you attempt to redirect my focus. You warn me against growing to care for her too much."
"Attachment is dangerous in a job like yours," Dumbledore confirmed, still holding strong to that belief. "If Voldemort knew your care for Cassiopeia he would-,"
"Do exactly what he's already done to her," Snape snapped, his eyes flashing dangerously. "And I was there. I saw her, Albus. She met my eyes and as soon as she saw me, do you know what happened? She was relieved. She trusted me to save her. My attachment to her did not get her killed, it saved her."
"Even if it didn't happen this time, it could the next."
"I am done listening to your advice on this matter," he informed the older man, glaring so deeply that he didn't leave room for argument. "If I hadn't listened to you last year, I would have told Black about Umbridge as I originally intended to. I would have helped him get the woman fired. I care very little about how you needed to stay away from Potter. Your ploy to stay away from Hogwarts got Cassiopeia tortured for months on end. This time, I will listen to my own opinion and go to help her until she is entirely healed."
"Severus, if you leave Voldemort, we will have no spies in his upper ranks," Dumbledore told him, switching tactics. "We will be entirely clueless!"
Snape snarled and strode past him toward his rooms again. "I will not abandon my spot at the Dark Lord's side… for now. If and when I do, however, I will not seek your judgement beforehand."
OoOoOoOoOoOo
Regulus was, at that moment, still. He had been moving for the past two hours, destroying anything in sight. He hadn't been so furious with Voldemort since Sirius had been captured in 1978. His brother had managed to escape, but Cassiopeia hadn't.
She hadn't escaped on her own, and she'd been hurt worse. Beyond hurting her physically, the Dark Lord had the audacity to twist her memories? The very thought had accidental magic lighting the curtains on fire. He absently put it out and stormed into the kitchen to pour himself a drink.
Without Severus, he truly didn't know what he'd do. Through everything, Cassiopeia trusted him. She'd allowed him to take care of those fake memories to the best of his ability, and Regulus knew that it was the only reason she'd managed to sit at the same table with him.
Their bond was helpful, of course, to an extent. It was painful being away from her because their bond required trust between the pair of them, and at the moment, she didn't trust him. She was afraid of him.
She hadn't even been afraid of him when he'd tortured her.
Despite that, he'd felt her desperation to believe the truth, to believe that he'd never hurt her. It had only made him feel so much more guilty. Truly, it was his fault. If he hadn't given into her insistence that she had to go shopping… He shook himself slightly and poured himself another drink.
For the first time, he found himself agreeing with Sirius - he wished he'd been braver. Braver back when it could've made a difference, when he could've denied the Dark Lord. He had no doubt that, should he have asked, Dorea and Charlus Potter would've helped him. He wondered what would have happened if he'd shown up at their doorstep and begged them to help him. He wondered what would've happened to him, to Sirius, but more than that, what would've happened to Cassiopeia.
Would she have gone to James and Lily? Would they have died? Would she have gone to Lily's muggle sister and her family?
If he'd been braver, would she be safe? Would she be happy? Would she know peace?
OoOoOoOoOoOo
When Severus left, he left Dumbledore standing in his sitting room, staring helplessly at the floo. Dumbledore's mind raced at the implications of their disagreement. It had been suspected, of course. Over the last six years, Cassiopeia Black had been more than the slight irritation he'd thought she was when she became Belle Potter all those years ago. No, she'd been a match for him at nearly every step. She'd protected Harry, she'd gotten her brother released and declared a free man, and then she'd had Harry adopted by their godfather.
After that, she'd been attacked by Crabbe and Goyle. If he could change anything about that situation, he'd have had her friends find someone else- anyone other than Snape to help her. The man had felt the first stirrings of protective fury that night, Dumbledore knew. He knew so because after getting Cassiopeia taken care of, Dumbledore had found Snape searching the school rapidly, looking for the two that had assaulted her. Luckily, Dumbledore had found him and when they'd finally found the boys, they were together and he'd talked Snape down quietly from killing two teenagers. He'd thought it was a terribly odd overreaction until he'd learned that the potions master had seen everything.
After that fiasco, Cassiopeia continued to ruin everything. She'd been attacked by Lily's muggle nephew and, on the same day, revealed to be the long lost Cassiopeia Black. That had, of course, made Snape even more desperate to protect her for the simple fact that, not long after Regulus met his sister, he'd gone to Snape and begged him to swear on his wand and magic that he'd help him protect her. The loyal friend that he was, and that being the only thing Regulus had ever asked of him, Snape had done it.
Things had gotten worse after that. Cassiopeia and Sirius took over their House, just as Cassiopeia had done with the Potter House with the help of Daniel Greengrass, who was an entirely different thorn in Dumbledore's side. The Black family began to rise from its horrible death, this time without the people that had run it to the ground, or Bellatrix Lestrange, who Sirius made an example of and had called Judgement upon.
The 1995/96 school year had been a clusterfuck, if Albus were being completely honest. It had been the year that he'd had to explain the link between Voldemort and Harry to Severus, and the man hadn't taken it well. His immediate reaction was that Cassiopeia should know, rather than Harry, because she was the more responsible and productive one of the pair. When Dumbledore explained his plan to use that link, Snape hadn't reacted well.
So the year had begun. It hadn't even been a day before Cassiopeia had gotten detention and marched into Snape's office angrily, which led to a detention where she'd been scarred with a blood quill. That had been a mess. Snape had cleaned her up and sent her off with the manufactured words that Dumbledore had given him: Umbridge couldn't be fired because the entire Board had hired her on, Dumbledore had no power, the ministry wanted her there regardless of her history with dangerous dark magic. There had been an expected and very long shouting session that Dumbledore had put up with after that.
But then, the damned witch - Umbridge, this time - started using the Cruciatus on Cassiopeia. In fact, she'd hurt the girl so badly that, simply from a shock to her system, it had nearly killed her. Snape had taken her to his home to heal her, against Dumbledore's wishes, and had only returned to scream some more and demand he fire Umbridge. That time, the headmaster had actually been able to truthfully tell him that he no longer had the power to fire her.
And so the year went on. Every single night that Cassiopeia had detention and was tortured, Snape came into his office, ranting furiously about the situation, calling Dumbledore a slew of horrible names, some of which had to have been completely made up.
The Battle of the DOM was a mess as well. Cassiopeia had gotten herself badly cursed and spotted by a Death Eater. Snape had spent a great deal of time working with Madame Pomfrey to heal her, and even so, it had taken her some time to fully recover. That time, Snape had been quiet. In Dumbledore's mind, that was almost worse. He had no clue what the man was thinking. He wasn't sure how bad it truly seemed in Snape's mind.
And then, Cassiopeia had gone back in time. She'd found James and Lily, but then she'd messed up and gone to Snape, and he'd taken her to Voldemort. After the entire ordeal was over, she'd brought Regulus Black back with her. Dumbledore had had quite a few drinks that night.
Since then, she'd destroyed the Horcrux in Harry, taken away his power in the Wizengamot aside from using his own House's seat, and had taken over Hogwarts' student population with her well organized junior and senior Defense Associations.
Coming up with a plan to deal with her had been difficult. Pulling it off had been even more so. She was, truthfully, well protected almost always. Luckily for him, she'd been in Grimmauld Place's library during one of the Order meetings, giving him access to her. He'd had to think fast, so he slipped up there under the guise of using the restroom. And then he had cast four suggestive charms on her that told her she needed to go to a specific shop in muggle London to get last minute presents. He'd just barely managed to Obliviate her of having seen him up there and hurry away before Regulus had entered the room and she began talking about the shopping trip she wanted - no, needed - to go on.
And she'd gone.
But clearly, it had backfired.
He'd tipped off the muggle spy - which they knew about and avoided regularly - about Cassiopeia and Regulus, who had then tipped off Voldemort. He'd expected Cassiopeia to be kidnapped, maybe held for some time, and then killed.
Maybe he was getting old, but he hadn't thought to consider what would happen if they hadn't killed her. If the purpose was something else, instead. So Voldemort's meeting being called had been worrisome, but he had hoped that it wouldn't be about her. He'd hoped wrong. Then, he had hoped Narcissa would be caught. She hadn't been.
Really, in the end, it had been his fault. Losing Snape's trust in such an abrupt way was his fault. But he wouldn't have made such a hasty move if she hadn't already messed so much up and wasn't a living, breathing threat to the rest of his carefully laid out plans. So much of the Order's information came from Snape. The man's loyalty had to stay firmly with Dumbledore. If it didn't, he had to rely on Snape's sense of right or wrong in terms of the war, which he knew was a bad idea. He was a Slytherin, and he'd even yelled it at Cassiopeia that very day - he believed in one looking out for oneself before anyone else.
So as he walked back to his office to sit and draw up another plan, he admitted to himself that trying to get a teenager murdered was maybe one of the worst ones of them all. He'd left it up to Voldemort, where there were too many variables. And with the Dark Lord's obsession with the family, it made sense that he wanted revenge first. It was true that there were worse things than death.
All that meant, though, is that getting Cassiopeia out of the way in time was becoming harder. Somewhere in the back of his mind he recognized that it was too late - the power lie in her hands and the hands of her family. Killing her would do nothing other than ensure they were well informed since Snape would stay as a spy. Which… he thought would be worth it. They couldn't fight if they didn't know what was coming, after all. Snape leaving Voldemort to protect her could cost countless lives. So, really, killing Cassiopeia would be an act to win the war.
He had to do it.
For the Greater Good.
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