Bold*- parstletounge
Italics - thoughts
"Normal"- speech and narrative
Chapter 43: A Black Dog And Hogsmede
17/10/1993
~~~~~~~~~
Cassandra had been reluctant to talk to Draco again. After the boggart incident he had apologised profusely and pulled her into a firm hug. It wasn't until Theo stated the other symbol in his cup meant guilt that Cass came to the decision to partially forgive him.
So, the last few weeks everything had pretty much gone back to normal, bar a few things.
In Defence Against The Dark Arts Professor Lupin avoided eye contact, talking to and calling on Cassandra at all times. She had realised all too late that she had called him a werewolf in her distressed state. This would make her task slightly harder but she knew she could manage it, especially with the info she had.
Another thing that was different was that she and Cedric had started to talk to, and come up to, each other more in public. They exchanged pleasantries and laughed a lot. Cass was happy that he did not care Severus was her Uncle - she would not have known what to do if the handsome Hufflepuff had stopped talking to her.
The bonus of talking to Cedric slightly more often meant she could also speak to the twins in public without it looking suspicious, for they hung out with the boy. At the moment it was only with Ced there as to not look too close, but they did say hi to each other in the corridors - much to Ronald Weasleys chagrin.
It was now a Sunday and the group of Slytherins were heading to the tree by the lake to study. Blaise was giving Cass a piggyback and Vince was giving Pansy one, the girls screamed with delight as the boys raced down the hill.
Cassandra set off sparks with her wand when her and Blaise made it there first, laughing as Pansy stuck her tongue out at them.
Something then moved in the corner of Cass's eye. She looked around and her eyes widened as she saw a great black dog that resembled the grim. Uncle Sirius?! She thought, hopping of Blaise's back.
Cassandra knew that her friends knew what to do in this situation so she had no trouble approaching the dog slowly, hand outstretched.
The dogs eyes flicked to her tie and he growled.
"Shh it's okay boy, I'm not going to hurt you!"
It snapped at her and began to back up. Cassandra noticed how thin he looked and an idea formed in her head.
"You must be hungry! I'll get you some food if you want? I promise I won't hurt you! I love animals, as do my friends - look they're over there."
She pointed over to where Draco was laughing into Daphnes shoulder as Blaise and Theo were going red trying to prove who could do a handstand for the longest, whilst Pansy shook her head at Vince and Greg who were making paper birds with the parchment supposed to be for homework.
The dog cocked his head, as if not used to seeing Slytherins behave like this, but he stopped growling at the mention of food and let Cass lead him over to the group.
"Guys look who I've found!" She called out making Theo lose his balance and fall over.
"HA I WIN!!" Yelled Blaise, switching positions so he was no longer upside down.
"No fair! I only fell because Cassie startled me!"
Blaise stuck his tongue out at him. "Nah, you're just a sore loser!"
Cassandra rolled her eyes, "guys stop arguing I found us a new friend!"
The Slytherins all looked down to the black dog who had barked at the lack of attention. They all knew this was Sirius Black and therefore knew to act all innocent and not like evil Slytherins etc.
"He looks starving!" Gasped Daphne.
"I know right! And his fur is all matted, I looked and he doesn't have a collar so I don't think he belongs to anyone - I don't even think I've heard of a dog being a pet at Hogwarts, he must have slipped through the gate. Anyway, Emerald?"
Cass's elf appeared with a silent pop, knowing she was in school and to not draw attention. "Yes mistress?"
The Riddle sat down, pulling the reluctant dog onto her lap. "If you aren't busy please could you bring us a ton of meat for this dog, a collar and a brush?"
"Emerald is never busy for young mistress! I will be getting them I will!"
"Thank you Em!" And the elf disappeared, two seconds later she reappeared, dropped the requested items off and then vanished for good.
The dog pounced at the food and began shovelling it. Cassandra took out the brush and began guiding it through his fur. "Draco you know what this matted fur makes me think about?"
"Uncle Sirius' matted hair in his wanted poster?"
"Exactly!"
The dog looked up abruptly.
"Sorry boy, did I pull on your fur?" Cass said, holding in her laughter.
Blaise came and sat next to her, throwing his arm around her shoulder. "Maybe that's what you should call him? An ode to your Uncle Sirius!"
She smiled at him and waved her hand at the collar, summoning it towards her whilst Daphne finished off brushing the dogs fur. Cass clutched it and closed her eyes. A rush of wind flew over the group and when she opened her eyes the green collar now had 'Sirius Orion' engraved onto the tag.
Sirius had finished with the food now and looked like he was enjoying himself, considering he was with a group of Slytherins - two of which who call him uncle.
"Come here boy!" Cass stated and he padded over to her, she placed the collar over his head. "You are now called Sirius Orion in honour of my Uncle!" She then scooped him up and buried her face into his fur. Blaise joined the hug and slowly, one by one, did the others.
Cassandra knew they all thought she was faking this but in all honesty she would never stop loving her Uncle, or any family member for that matter, even if they turned to the light.
Tears were in her eyes and she did her best to hide them from the others, Sirius licked them away though. He seemed to get the dilemma, even in dog form - no one could see her upset or they would question her loyalty.
This always made no sense to Cass as just because she cares about someone on the other side doesn't mean she's going to join it. It was the same with Severus, just because he loved Lily like a sister everyone doubted his loyalty even though he was one of the inner circle and most trusted allies.
No matter what, she could not show her love for her rebellious uncle. She would not have people doubt her or her side! She was Cassandra Riddle, The Dark Lady - and she would not be known as anything but that!
"Hey Cass what've you got there?"
A voice broke her out of her thoughts and she realised all her friends had pulled out of the hug, leaving her clutching the dog.
She looked up and grinned, "hey Cedric! Hey Fred, George!"
The dog in her arm looked as confused as a dog could get as he saw two Gryffindor's and a Hufflepuff approach the Slytherin girl who was holding him.
She placed Sirius on the floor and gave Cedric a quick side hug, smiling at the twins. Luckily no one could see the blush that was appearing on her already red face.
"We found a dog! Isn't he cute?" Cass said, ruffling Sirius' fur. The dog barked as if in agreement and the four laughed.
The other Slytherins didn't.
They didn't like when Cassandra went off to talk to the Diggory boy, especially Blaise and Draco who felt overprotective of the girl. But the Slytherins all felt like they were getting abandoned and were actually quite worried as what if he distracted her from her plans?
All in all they were jealous and pissed off about it, but they knew they couldn't stop her - so they just ignored him when he came over.
———
31/10/1993
It was finally the day they had all been waiting for - Hogsmede! The group made their way to the entrance hall where Filch was standing inside the front doors, checking off names against a long list, peering suspiciously into every face - making sure that no one was sneaking out who shouldn't be going.
Cass grinned as she saw Potter with a sour look on his face and nudged Draco.
"Staying here, Potter?" she yelled, the others snickering. "Scared of passing the Dementors?"
The boy glared and stalked off somewhere into the castle.
Once Filch had finished the students all made their way down to the carriages. As they were getting into one Blaise nudged her, "isn't that Sirius?"
She looked over to where he was pointing and sure enough she saw the great black dog staring at them. Cassandra quickly looked around before patting the seat inside the carriage.
"Here boy!"
He excitedly jumped in and Cass transfigured a blade of grass into a lead, clipping it to the dogs collar. "Guys we should call him Orion in the village so people don't think we are harbouring a criminal and take the dog away don't you think?"
The group laughed as the dog barked and they all nodded.
Soon enough the carriages set off down towards the village. Sirius was starting to shake with every step closer they got towards the dementors. Cassie stroked his head and looked at Blaise with a smile, before conjuring her falcon patronus. The dog looked slightly startled and stopped shivering, choosing to look between her and Blaise instead.
"It's okay boy, we don't like them either. Draco can cast one too but I can do it easier. I looked at Blaise because that's the happy memory I use, he's like my brother."
The Italian grinned at her and swapped seats to pull her into a hug, everyone watched with softened eyes. Sirius licked her face.
———
Hogsmede was incredible, they went everywhere! Dervish and Banges, the wizarding equipment shop, Zonko's Joke Shop, the post office, Honeydukes sweet shop, the Three Broomsticks for their first taste of butterbeer, and many more.
They even got a visit in to the shrieking shack!
Sirius was kept on a loose lead and friendly witches and wizards all stopped to pet him, he seemed to be loving the attention - and the freedom.
Cassandra had to sadly leave the village before the others, and left Sirius in the care of Theo.
She had a werewolf to talk to.
